Governor Gordon's First Signed Bill. Women's Suffrage Day.

Governor Gordon's first bill signed into law. An act establishing December 10 as Women's Suffrage Day.

ORIGINAL SENATE ENGROSSED

JOINT RESOLUTION

NO. SJ0003

ENROLLED JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 1, SENATE

SIXTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING

2019 GENERAL SESSION

A JOINT RESOLUTION recognizing December 10, 2019 as Wyoming Women's Suffrage Day.

WHEREAS, Wyoming is often referred to as the "Cowboy State," its more apt sobriquet is the "Equality State"; and

WHEREAS, women, like all persons, have always inherently held the right to vote and participate in their government; and

WHEREAS, Wyoming was the first government to explicitly acknowledge and affirm women's inherent right to vote and to hold office; and

WHEREAS, this inherent right, at the founding of the United States, was inhibited; and

WHEREAS, women, at the founding of the United States, were also prevented from holding office; and

WHEREAS, women's suffrage — the basic enfranchisement of women — began to burgeon in the United States in the 1840s and continued to gain momentum over the next decades, despite the oppressive atmosphere in which women were not allowed to divorce their husbands or show their booted ankles without risk of public scandal or worse; and

WHEREAS, during the 1850s, activism to support women's suffrage gathered steam, but lost momentum when the Civil War began; and

WHEREAS, in the fall of 1868, three (3) years after the American Civil War had ended, Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant was elected President, and chose John Campbell to serve as Governor of the Wyoming Territory; and

WHEREAS, Joseph A. Carey, who was thereafter appointed to serve as Attorney General of the Wyoming Territory, issued a formal legal opinion that no one in Wyoming could be denied the right to vote based on race; and

WHEREAS, the first Wyoming Territorial Legislature, comprised entirely of men, required consistent and persistent inveigling to warm to the notion of suffrage; and

WHEREAS, abolitionist and woman suffrage activist, Esther Hobart Morris, was born in Tioga County, New York, on August 8, 1812, and later became a successful milliner and businesswoman; and

WHEREAS, Esther Hobart Morris, widowed in 1843, moved to Peru, Illinois, to settle the property in her late husband's estate and experienced the legal hardships faced by women in Illinois and New York; and

WHEREAS, Esther Hobart Morris married John Morris, a prosperous merchant, and in 1869 moved to the gold rush camp at South Pass City, a small valley situated along the banks of Willow Creek on the southeastern end of the Wind River Mountains in the Wyoming Territory just north of the Oregon Trail; and

WHEREAS, William Bright, a saloonkeeper, also from the once bustling frontier mining town South Pass City, was elected to serve in the Territorial Legislature and was elected as president of the Territorial Council; and

WHEREAS, the Territorial Legislature met in 1869 in Cheyenne and passed bills and resolutions formally enabling women to vote and hold property and formally assuring equal pay for teachers; and

WHEREAS, William Bright introduced a bill to recognize the right of Wyoming women to vote; and

WHEREAS, no records were kept of the debate between Wyoming territorial lawmakers, although individuals likely asserted a myriad of motivations and intentions in supporting women's suffrage; and

WHEREAS, the Wyoming Territory population at the time consisted of six adult men for every adult woman, some lawmakers perchance hoped suffrage would entice more women to the state; and

WHEREAS, some lawmakers may have believed that women's suffrage was consistent with the goals articulated in post-Civil War Amendment XV to the United States Constitution guaranteeing the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude"; and

WHEREAS, some lawmakers inherently knew that guaranteeing the right of women to vote was, simply, the right thing to do; and

WHEREAS, the Territorial Legislature advanced a suffrage bill stating, "That every woman of the age of twenty-one years, residing in this territory, may, at every election to be holden under the laws thereof, cast her vote. And her rights to the elective franchise and to hold office shall be the same under the election laws of the territory, as those of electors" and that "This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage"; and

WHEREAS, when invited to join the Union, demanding that women's suffrage be revoked, the Wyoming Legislature said, "We will remain out of the Union one hundred years rather than come in without the women"; and

WHEREAS, in July 1890, Esther Hobart Morris presented the new Wyoming state flag to Governor Francis E. Warren during the statehood celebration, making Wyoming the 44th state to enter the Union and the first with its women holding the right to vote and serve in elected office; and

WHEREAS, the United States did not endorse women's suffrage until 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and

WHEREAS, despite the passage of the 19th Amendment, women of color continued to face barriers with exercising their right to vote, as American Indian men and women were not recognized as United States citizens permitted to vote until the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, and ongoing racial discrimination required the passage and implementation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and

WHEREAS, achieving voting rights for all women required firm and continuing resolve to overcome reluctance, and even fervent opposition, toward this rightful enfranchisement; and

WHEREAS, Wyoming, the first to recognize women's suffrage, blazed a trail of other noteworthy milestones, such as Louisa Swain, of Laramie, casting the first ballot by a woman voter in 1870; and

WHEREAS, in 1870 the first jury to include women was in Wyoming and was sworn in on March 7 in Laramie; and

WHEREAS, Esther Hobart Morris was appointed to serve as justice of the peace in February 1870, making her the first woman to serve as a judge in the United States; and

WHEREAS, Wyoming women become the first women to vote in a presidential election in 1892; and

WHEREAS, in 1894 Wyoming elected Estelle Reel to serve as the state superintendent of public instruction, making her one of the first women in the United States elected to serve in a statewide office; and

WHEREAS, the residents of the town of Jackson in 1920 elected a city council composed entirely of women — dubbed the "petticoat government" by the press — making it the first all-women government in the United States; and

WHEREAS, in 1924 Wyoming elected Nellie Tayloe Ross to serve as governor of the great state of Wyoming, making her the first woman to be sworn in as governor in these United States; and

WHEREAS, all these milestones illuminate and strengthen Wyoming's heritage as the "Equality State"; and

WHEREAS, December 10, 2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the date women's suffrage became law.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING:

Section 1.  That the Wyoming legislature commemorates 2019 as a year to celebrate the one hundred fiftieth (150th) anniversary of the passage of women's suffrage. 

Section 2.  That the Wyoming legislature is proud of its heritage as the first state to recognize the right of women to vote and hold office, hereby affirming its legacy as the "Equality State."

Section 3.  That the Secretary of State of Wyoming transmit a copy of this resolution to the National Women's Hall of Fame in support of Esther Hobart Morris' induction into the Women of the Hall.

Section 4.  That the Wyoming legislature encourages its citizens and invites its visitors to learn about the women and men who made women's suffrage in Wyoming a reality, thereby blazing a trail for other states, and eventually the federal government, to recognize the inherent right of men and women alike to elect their leaders and hold office.

(END)

Speaker of the House			President of the Senate

	Governor
	TIME APPROVED: _________
	DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the Senate.

Chief Clerk

1

February 13, 1919. No love for alcohol

The big Wyoming news on this Valentine's Day Eve was the passage of a "Dry Bill" that limited the production of alcohol to beverages with no more than 1% of the stuff in them.

This has been noted before here, but the curious thing about this bill is that it was wholly redundant.  It was known at the time that the Federal government was going to pass its own bill to bring the provisions of the 18th Amendment into force. So why was a state bill necessary? Well, it really wasn't.

Or maybe it wasn't.  A modern analogy might be the bills regarding marijuana, which remains illegal under Federal law.  Many states prohibited it, and still do, under state law.  The Federal law remains in full force and effect for marijuana which technically, in legal terms, makes all state efforts to repeal its illegality, which date back to the early 1970s, moot.  However, in recent years the Federal Government has chosen not to enforce the law, and states have legalized it under state law.  There's nothing to preclude the Federal government from enforcing its own laws again other than that it would be unpopular.

Something similar, but not identical, occurred with alcohol.  The Prohibition movement was successful in making it illegal under the laws of numerous states before the 18th Amendment became law.  Even running right up to that states were passing anti alcohol laws right and left, and as can be seen, some passed them even after Prohibition came to the U.S. Constitution.  But that meant than when the 18th Amendment was repealed those same states, i.e., most of them, had to figure out how to deal with the ban under their own laws.  Wyoming chose to step out of Prohibition slowly over a term of years.

To bring this current, in recent years there's been efforts in Wyoming to have Wyoming follow the smoky trail laid down by weedy Colorado, and to allow marijuana for some purposes.  If it did, that would certainly be the first step to being a general legalization under state law.  As people have become unaware that it remains illegal under the Federal law, that would be regarded as a general legalization, and indeed my prediction is that at some point in the future when the Democrats control both houses of Congress, the Federal law will be repealed.

All of that is, in my view, a tragedy as Americans clearly don't need anything more to dull their whits chemically than they already have.  While I'm not a teetotaler, and I think passing the 18th Amendment in general was a foolish thing to do, it's a shame that once it came it was reversed as society would have been better off without alcohol quite clearly.  In terms of public health, Prohibition was a success and likewise, the legalization of marijuana will be a disaster.  About the only consolation that can be made of it is that, in my view, within a decade it'll prove to be such a public health threat that lawyers will be advertising class action law suits against weed companies for whatever long lasting health effects, and it will have some, that its proven to have.  It'll vest into American society like tobacco, something that we know is really bad for us, but people use anyway, and then they file suit against companies that produce it based on the fact that they turn out to be surprised that its really bad for you.

In other 1919 news, a big blizzard was in the region.

February 12, 1919. Lincoln's Birthday. Returning heroes, Women and radios, Highways in Wyoming, Worker's Compensation and Villa not dead.

Black soldiers of the 369th Infantry, New York National Guard, who had won the Croix de Guerre in France.  February 12, 1919.

Returning black soldiers were photographed returning to New York.  The link posted in above details their heroism and their later lives, something I always find interesting.

Women radio operators of the U.S. Army, February 12, 1919.

Women were brought into the service in the Great War in substantial numbers for the first time.  Among their roles was that of radio and telephone operators.  As with other soldiers, some stayed on in Europe after the war, where their services remained in need.

I'll have a post on something in the 2019 genre that is related to the above, but the winds of change were blowing in the state as evidence by the article that the State was getting into highway funding in a major way.  $6,600,000 was a huge amount of money in 1919, and it was going into highway construction.

The automobile era had arrived.

A renewed war scare was building as well as it appeared that Germany was about to rearm.  It would have had a really hard time doing so in 1919, but the fear was understandable.

And surprisingly, there was discussion in the legislature about adding agricultural workers to the Workers Compensation rolls.  They were exempted when the bill passed a few years earlier, and they still are.  Such a suggestion would get nowhere today, but then there was a higher percentage of the population employed in agriculture in 1919 than there is in 2019.

And Villa was reported dead again, but the paper was doubting the veracity of that report.

And at Kooi Wyoming, a mining camp near Sheridan Wyoming, thirty five miners were arrested for assembling.

Blog Mirror: “And They Thought We Couldn’t Fight:”* Remembering the Nine Soldiers in a World War I Photograph

“And They Thought We Couldn’t Fight:”* Remembering the Nine Soldiers in a World War I Photograph

February 11, 1919. Looking back, seeing the future, and How Dry I Am.

The news on this day, Lincoln's Birthday and a holiday, was a bit ominous.  And knowing the future to come, it proved a scary look into something that was coming.

But also in an insight as to views of the time.

The Casper paper reported that Japan was about to go to war with China. . . which in fact it was, although not for a bit over a decade from the date of the paper.  That things were brewing, however, was pretty obvious.

And the Germans were already discontent with the Versailles Treaty they hadn't even signed yet.

Stores in Casper were taking half a day off in honor of the late President Lincoln.

All the Wyoming papers were reporting that the amount of alcohol that could legally be in a beverage was now down to 1%.  Down from 2%.  Just yesterday, if you keep track of things here, you would have seen that certain religious leaders were unhappy with the 2% figure.  Perhaps their voice had been heard.

A voice that wanted to be heard, as you can read in the papers above, is Frank Houx's, who was insistent that had done nothing improper regarding land rights acquisitions.

And notable cities in the former Russian Empire were changing hands as the fortunes of the Reds seemed to be reversing on the battlefield.

And France and Britain wished to remain friends with the United States going forward, they both had declared.

And the clothing shortage made both the front news, and the cartoons.

The goofy cleanliness of the modern world.

The other day, I posted a thread here with this Leslie's magazine cover:

On the same day, the same cover was posted on Reddit's 100 Years Ago today subreddit, but not be my.

I posted a link to this in the comments:

As you can see, there's a Salvation Army Rest Room posted there, which caused some Reddit wag to post:

Great, now I want to see if the S.A Restroom had any hand sanitizer.

Not a good idea really. From Time Magazine, regarding hand sanitizers.

But that zeal is hurting us. According a recent World Health Organization report, our obsession with germ killing has resulted in antibiotic-resistant bacteria in every corner of the globe, thanks in part to our willy-nilly use of wide-spectrum antibiotics and, yes, our love of hand sanitizer. [Update: Many hand sanitizers, it has been rightly pointed out to us by the makers of Purell, are alcohol based and have not been named as a cause of bacterial resistance; those of documented concern are the ones that contain triclosan or triclocarbon.] But we’re not even the main problem. In the U.S. the overuse of antibiotics in farming to prevent animals from getting sick and to fatten them up is also widely fingered as the No. 1 source of drug-resistant bacteria. And every year, 2 million Americans get infections not treatable with antibiotics — and 23,000 of them die. The animals get slaughtered, but we get sick.

Yup, they're making the world more dangerous.

Now, I know that I'm swimming upstream on this one, but I absolutely despise hand sanitizers and the way they absolutely stink.  This probably reveals something to do with my upbrining and roots, but not in the way you might suspect.

Now, let me note what I'm not saying.  I'm not saying that you should eschew soap and water.  Nope, not at all. Wash your hands, normally, before you eat. Brush your darned teeth too (indeed, it might help prevent you from getting Alzheimers).  But had sanitizers . . .bah.

When I was a kid I can recall my mother, if somebody obviously sick had come over, washing this or that with Lysol, which reeks.  The theory was that this was going to kill germs, and it probably does, but it also stunk up the place and in my youthful logic I figured that whatever killer germ had come in from the sick person was now there and I'd probably breathed it in already.  Engaging in chemical warfare wasn't going to help.

And to make things plain, being a rude primitive who has hunted my whole life and who has ranched as well, I know darned well that I've injested quite a bit of raw blood of various animals simply accidentally at one time or another.  Indeed, I hvae hovel hand scar I acquired when a sage chicken scratched me and my wrist was already bloody and I didn't realize our blood had co mingled.

Don't believe me?  Here's the fresh wound after I discovered it:

I didn't die from the wound and I didn't go to the hospital or get a tetnas shot or anything. Maybe I should have.  It infected and I put idodine on it pretty early on. Probably as soon as I washed up and found it.  It's healed into a nifty looking scar in my mind.

Hey, German aristocrats wanted dueling scars. . . . I have one that I came by honestly.

Anyhow, the point is that it seemed obvious to me, perhaps because of a scientific bent at an early age, that while we don't want everything swimmiing in bacteria and cleanliness is really important in preventing infection, sterilizing the planet achieves the opposite.  Cleaning is one thing. . . soap and water is good. . . but treating our hands like we're characters in The Andromina Strain or Outbreak is over the top.

But we've become manic about in a way that's a little freaky.

One of the compulisons that Howard Hughes develoepd was to constantly wash his hands.  They were clean, but he washed them and washed them.  This was rightfully regarded as odd.  But now I see people all hte time who can't pass by a hand sanitzier dispenser without glopping it on their hands.  I've been to the hospital to visit people and been there with others who pass by one, and then another, and then another and use it every time.  I don't use it at all.  I don't intend to use by bare hands to do exploratory surgery on a person infected with ebola.  Yes, I know that I might touch something in the hospital.  If things seem to me icky enough, I'll wash my hands when I get home.  But I'm not going ot use the hand sanitzer.

For that matter, I see the stuff in offices now and during cold and flu season I'll see people use it again and again and again. I go through most flu seaons without getting the flu.  I cna't take the shot for it as I'm allergic to one of the constituents, so I'm out there just risking it old school style.  If anyoen should be using the hand santizer in a paranoid fashion, it's me, but I'm nto going to.

Just give it a break.  You're making it worse.  You need to be exposed to some regular bugs in order to have a functioning immune system. And bugs evolve a lto faster than you do, so they're outstripping any hand sanitzer on the market pretty quickly.

So say no to hand sanitizer.  Do your immune system and the planet a good turn.

Monday, February 10, 1919: Theodore Roosevelt Mourned, IWW Men Deported, Butte Broke, Allies to Depart Russia but Japanese Not So Much, and Bad News for Houx

Readers of newspapers across the nation were reading of recent tributes to the late Theodore Roosevelt.  In Casper, locals read about just that occurring locally in the Methodist Church by Judge Charles Winter. 

First United Methodist Church today.

First United Methodist Church, the one referred to in the article, is still there and is one of Casper's oldest churches.  It didn't look quite the same, however, as it was added to in 1927, twenty years after its initial construction, and again in 1951.

Charles Winter had a son, Warren, who served as a very long time Casper lawyer and lived to be nearly 100, keeping his office open the entire time.  He had also been a Federal Magistrate for a time, so he reprised a judicial role in his family.  His entry into the law, however, was delayed by the Great Depression, as there were no jobs at the time he passed the bar.  A great track athlete in his youth, his funeral service was in this same church.

Big news was present in the form of the story that the Allies would be withdrawing from Russia.  The various allied nations were engaged in Russia in various degrees, with the British being particularly active in combating the Red Army.  A person could be somewhat skeptical that the withdrawal was going to go really well as the paper also related that the Japanese were becoming more involved.

The strike in Seattle wound down and a selection of IWW men were being sent backing back to their native lands.  In Butte Montana, lack of funds were causing public employment layoffs.

And the bad news just kept coming for former Democratic Governor Frank Houx, who had lead the state during the Great War but who had lost his seat to Governor Robert Carey.  Oil leases he had gained were reportedly being recaptured due to accusations of impropriety.  Democrats in general were also in the local news as they were being blamed for the failure of a bill to amend the Constitution to require suffrage for women.

The Laramie newspaper was reporting snow for the week. . . in a week where we also expect snow.

And both papers reported the Germans were threatening to surrender Germany to the communists if better terms weren't worked out in regarding war indemnity.

Exciting Western themed movies were opening that week for those who might wish to escape the news for awhile.

Sunday Morning Scene. Churches of the West: Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord Russian Orthodox Church, Ninilchik Alaska

Churches of the West: Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord Russian Orthodox ...:

Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord Russian Orthodox Church, Ninilchik Alaska

This is the Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord Church in Ninilchik Alaska.  This community has had a Russian Orthodox Church since 1846, but this structure dates to 1901.  It is a regular Russian Orthodox Church in the Orthodox Church of America's Diocese of Anchorage.

Again, while we do not generally delve into such topics here, some explanation is again in order.  This church is a conventional Russian Orthodox Church, but its subject to the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church in America, which is one of two bodies that formed in the U.S. to govern Russian Orthodox Churches following the Russian Revolution.  The Orthodox Church in America is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church that started to govern its affairs separately when Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow directed all Russian Orthodox churches outside of Russia and was originally the Russian Greek Orthodox Church in America.  It was granted autocephaly by the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia in 1970 and changed its name at that time, although the validity of that action is disputed by some.

Best posts of the week of February 3, 2019

The best posts of the week of February 3, 2019.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Church of St. Nicholas, Old Believers Russian Orthodox, Nikolaevsk Alaska

It's Superb Owl Sunday! (Apologies to MKTH).

Pinks and Greens

That nagging sense that something's wrong. Lex Anteinternet: The Year in Review | Catholic Answers (Mid Week At Work)

But wait, Captain Crabby, maybe you've missed the point. More Pinks & Greens.

Surrendering in Afghanistan. Maybe the Senate has learned history even if the President has not.

But Wait Once Again, the Canadian Special Operations Forces Pink & Green service uniform. Was Lex Anteinternet: But wait, Captain Crabby, maybe you've missed the ...

February 2, 1919. Beating the high cost of living, Wyoming troops returning home. Senate passes land bill for soldiers. Donuts.

Canadian Special Operations Forces troops and American Rangers on parade. How are you going to tell them apart? Berets everywhere.

Canadian Special Operations Forces troops and American Rangers on parade. How are you going to tell them apart? Berets everywhere.

An odd thought occurred to me yesterday after posting this item, for which I've reset out the photograph below.

But Wait Once Again, the Canadian Special Operations Forces Pink & Green service uniform. Was Lex Anteinternet: But wait, Captain Crabby, maybe you've missed the ...

 Canadian soldiers of the Canadian Special Operations Forces marching past sailors and airmen of the Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force.  This Canadian Army photo is about the only one available to illustrate the new service uniform of the unit which is distinctly different from the Canadian Army's in cut and color.  It's odd to realize the extent to which an American uniform is adopted here by a military that really doesn't like to be confused with American services as everything about the uniform except for the beret and the insignia recalls an American World War Two item. It's also interesting to note the extent to which World War Two uniform items have been either retained or brought back into use by various armies. . . indeed nearly every army that fought in World War Two.

Now that the U.S. Army, in late 2018, did what the Canadian Special Operations Force did in 2017, how are you going to tell who is who when they're in their pink & green uniform?

It won't be easy, at a distance.  And headgear has a lot to do with that.

Now, with the American uniform, troops are authorized to wear the wheelhouse cap or the garrison cap, but they're also authorized to wear the beret.

Now, as I've commented on it from time to time, I'll be frank on what everyone already knows.  I hate berets. They're just silly headgear. But I will concede that they look sharp in some military applications. And those applications, in my view, are in other armies, not the American Army.  Americans don't know how to wear berets and they look weird when they do.

But they've come into U.S. use and they don't seem to be leaving anytime soon, unfortunately.  In fact, beret coloration is expanding.

While I know that I've posted on it before, I'll briefly recap here, so that my comments above make sense.  The U.S. Army first used berets in 1956 when the Special Forces started wearing them in a green coloration that soon came to identify them. That first use was unauthorized but it soon came to be approved.

Special Forces troops in 1956 before the wearing of the beret was authorized.  These were obviously private purchase and lacked the stiffner that later U.S. berets featured.

The color was "Rifle Green" which is a color the British also had used for awhile, but not for commandos.  It was really close, however, to the British "Commando Green" which was worn by the Special Boat Service, one of several British special forces units created during World War Two, albeit one that was part of the British Marines.

The similar coloration was no doubt intentional as the British really brought their style of beret, which is generally what the U.S. and Canada both use, into military use when it adopted berets early in World War Two. The French had been wearing a differently pattern for a long time for their mountain troops, the Chasseurs Alpine, but that pattern is both huge and distinct.  By going with the British style beret and the dark green color, the Special Forces were intentionally adopting the British coloration and use.  That other British units use green berets of other shades was apparently not noticed or, because there was no intent to adopt berets for general use at the time, simply not worried about.

It's odd, however, that tan or khaki wasn't chosen, as we'll see.

Special Forces Warrant Officer in blue dress uniform wearing the Special Forces Rifle Green colored beret.  Note the crossed arrows that are the symbol of this branch.

Canada, it might be noted, also has a green beret in a dark shade, that being Canadian Forces Green.  It's issued to every soldier in the Army who doesn't wear a different shade, in keeping with the post World War Two effort of the Canadian Army to have a distinct looking uniform.  In their current dress uniform, therefore, they look just like U.S. Army members of the Special Forces back when the U.S. Army Class A uniform was the Army Green Uniform.

Oops.

Anyhow, the U.S. Army adopted the black beret for general use when berets went Army wide.  We've discussed this before but this upset Rangers who had worn it unofficially in Vietnam, as had tankers in the 1970s.  The tanker use actually also relied upon the prior British use going back to the 1920s, which was ironically copied soon thereafter by German tankers, in adopting black berets, something that probably reflected the grime present in armored vehicles.  Canadian tankers also wear black berets, leaning on the British pattern.

German Panzerjaeger in 1989 wearing a black beret of the British pattern.

Indeed, British tankers were the first to wear the type of beret that has spread to general military use.  It came about due to British tankers being exposed to French Chasseurs Alpine during World War One and deciding that their headgear would be handy for use in tanks.  The British didn't like the giant French beret however, and redesigned the modern beret based on its style but using the Basque beret size, for a new pattern.  The resulting beret is smaller and closer fitting than the American and Canadian ones.

The U.S. Army beret is in fact really close to the Canadian one but we never quite got the shape and size right.  Some American troops, for that reason, buy the Canadian ones aftermarket, as they look better.

U.S. Army private shortly after the black beret was first authorized.  The cut of the American beret has never been quite right.

This, therefore, meant that there was also a time when Canadian tankers in dress uniform looked identical to American regular soldiers of all branches, save the Special Forces and the Airborne, in dress uniform.

The Airborne of both nations, we'd note, was different as the United States also went with the British maroon beret for airborne, after the black beret came in, which the Canadians had been doing ever since World War Two when their troops served with the British airborne, who had adopted that color in one of the worst choices for military headgear of all time.  It was particularly bad as red stands out and the British airborne had a very strange practice of wearing their berets in combat, which was very ill conceived.  Canada doesn't have many paratroopers however so confusion would be unlikely, and the British beret looks quite a bit different when worn by a British soldier.

Brigadier General of the 82nd Airborne when the Army Combat Uniform was in use.  It's photographs like this which show why the Army had adopted the pinks and greens as use of a combat uniform for a portrait shows that your dress uniform is really disliked.

All of this really upset Rangers who had unofficially had a beret at one time only to have the color co-opted by the Army for everyone.  To rectify that situation, the Army adopted the tank beret.

Ranger Colonel in the ACU uniform with the tan beret.

And that's where we get back to our point.

The tan beret, like the green beret, went back to World War Two British commandos for inspiration, in this case the Special Air Service, the commando branch of the World War Two British Army (well. . one of them anyhow).  They use that color and have since World War Two.

So does the Canadian Special Operations Forces, for obvious reasons.  So does the Australian SAS.  So did the Rhodesian SAS.  In other words, everyone inspired by the British, have done the same.

Which means that American Rangers in the new Army Green Uniform will look just like the Canadian Special Operations Forces commandos in theirs.

Odd.

Well not quite identical.  Or maybe not.

The Army is authorizing Airborne units to wear World War Two style russet paratrooper boots with their pinks & greens. The Canadian Special Operations Forces did the same in 2017.  Will that extend to Rangers?

I don't know.  But if it does, and I think it likely, that has to be a bit aggravating to the Canadians who got there first.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Postscript

As we've discussed every other sort of beret in use by the U.S. Army we ought to mention the new Security Forces Assistance Brigade, which is a military advisory group.

They wear brown.  It's supposed to symbolize mud, i.e., "boots on the ground".

This is also the color, fwiw, worn by British cavalry units, or at least a couple of them, so there's obviously no intent to follow the British here.  However, it was also the color used by Rhodesian Selous Scouts, which is a bit awkward.

One thing we noted here is that the Canadian Special Operations Forces are not a branch of the Canadian Army, but a separate force made up of members of other branches of the Canadian Forces.  We also noted that the Canadian Forces in general have a beret and that originally the troops of the Special Operations Forces at one time wore the beret and insignia of the units they were drawn from, much like European mercenaries once did (oops).  This same practice, we'd note, is sort of done now by the U.S. Security Forces Assistance Brigade in reverse.  It includes members of the Air Force who wear that beret when serving with it.

French Chasseurs Alpine wearing their distinctive enormous blue beret.  They also have a dress white giant beret.  Blue is the same color worn by French air commandos.

Indeed, the Air Force has its own set of berets, some of which lean on the Army's colors.  Air Force pararescue men wear maroon berets, which recalls the British Airborne's use of them and which is also done by the U.S. Army's airborne.  They also use a scarlet beret for combat controllers for some reason, which is odd.  That same color is the traditional color of the British military police who have worn a scarlet cap for eons and who now wear a scarlet beret.  Canadian military police also wear a scarlet beret. In spite of that, the USAF policemen wear a dark blue beret.  Oh well. The Boy Scouts at one time also wore a scarlet beret.  Dark blue in British use is now the general issue beret, like the American black, for everybody who isn't otherwise issued one of the many colors they issue, replacing the khaki colored (OD) beret of World War Two in that use.

French Marine paratroopers (its complicated) wearing British style maroon berets.  French Legionnaires wear green berets in all uses.  French soldiers often wear remarkably inconsistent uniforms and this is an example.  The soldier on the left is carrying a French pattern bayonet and wears combat boots that are based on the old U.S. M1943 type.  The soldier on the right is carrying a bayonet of a different pattern that resembles one for a Soviet AKM.  His combat boots are also two buckle boots but are of a different pattern.

Bizarrely, USAF Special Operations Weather Technicians have their own beret, and it's pewter grey.  And Survival Operations and Escape specialist wear a sage green one.

USAF Survival and Escape specialist wearing a sage green, British style, beret.  Note how closer fitting it is compared to the typical U.S. Army beret.

And their Survival Escape and evasion specialists wear a sage green beret for some reason.

Navy Seal, Vietnam War.  The Seals have never had an official beret, but obviously at least a few of them wore them unofficially back in the day.

All of which is more than a little confusing.

Diesel bites the dust in Germany. . .

the land of its birth.

Diesel restrictions in Belgium and The Netherlands, bans in Germany

Rudolf Diesel was a French born and raised German who invented the famous engine named after him in 1883, just in time for its application to motor vehicles.  He died under mysterious circumstances in 1913, but his engine was and is a marvel.

Diesel engines are highly efficient.  Much more so than gasoline engines.  But they emit a lot of soot.  Germany, an early user of the engine, is banning them for some sort of environmental reason, presumably this is it.  Similar proposals are afoot in other European nations.

Nothing of the sort, of course, is presently proposed here.  Well. . .that's not quite true. . .based upon what little I know about the Green New Deal proposal, maybe there actually is. But it's certainly not going to happen overnight.  Indeed, diesels, and I have one (it's my second) only really entered the American light truck picture about twenty five years ago or so, after having had been a big deal in Europe forever. And they're hugely popular here now.

But stuff like this has me vaguely wondering about something.  I probably should replace a vehicle with a newer one, and my vehicles are largely trucks.  I can't predict the future of course, but I hang on to my vehicles for a long time.  We've reached the point where all the major car manufactures are seriously starting to manufacture electric automobiles.  Are internal combustion engine vehicles on the way out, and if they are, should I hold off?  It'd be the pits to get stuck with an expensive vehicle that becomes obsolete.

A Boomer Snot

It will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we receive. The green dream, or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they're for it, right?

So said that beloved politician Nancy Pelosi about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's "Green New Deal".

Now, I haven't read the bill, and I don't know if its good, bad, or in between.  I do think that with a Republican controlled Senate, the chances of it becoming law are really remote.  At least right now.

But I'm not really commenting on the bill itself, but rather the reaction to it.  And at that, I'm not really commenting on the right wing reaction.  That has been fairly predictable.

No, I'm commenting solely on Nancy Pelosi's reaction.

What a snot.

If it wasn't clear before, what should be clear now is that Ms. Pelosi, age 78, who has been in politics since 1976, isn't about to let some young whipper snapper who was born in 1989, steal her freakin' thunder.  It doesn't matter if Ms. Pelosi may have the same general views as Ms. Oscasio-Cortez, young AOC is just that, young.  And we can't have that, now can we?

Left or right in your views, there's the central problem the Democrats have right there.  Billing themselves as the party of youth, and the party that isn't "establishment", their leadership is clearly establishment, ancient, and likes it that way.

What she's likely to find, however, is that Millenials, Gen X, and Gen Y, don't really tend to see things that way.

Sunday February 9, 1919. 116th Ammunition Train's Wyoming Guardsmen come home, the Spanish Flu strikes in Cheyenne, 2% alcohol brings protest, Game & Fish supported, Chewing gum, Chinese alphabet, Coffee substitutes, Old Restaurants

So what news greeted Cheyenne subscribers to the Cheyenne State Leader on this Sunday, February 9, 1919?  The Sunday paper, for papers that print them, is usually the flagship edition of the journal. And a lot was going on, with peace talks in Parish, revolution in Russia, the flu epidemic spanning the globe, and the legislature in session.  Let's take a look.

Unemployment was going up and up, as war industries closed down and servicemen went home.  In an era in which the only thing a government could think to do in this situation was to keep servicemen in the service, which was an expensive option that no Congress of that period would tolerate long, the direction things were headed in was obvious, and not good.

Some of those servicemen from Wyoming, in the "116th", would soon be home.  

The paper wasn't clear about what the "116th" was, but it was the 116th Ammunition Train, one of the units that was formed out of the men of the Wyoming National Guard after it was reassigned from its infantry role and broken up. They were a logistical transport unit that took ammunition to the front.  They were part of the 41st Division.

American boys who were coming home just yet, those serving in Northern Russia, were reported to have given the Reds a "licking". That was true of it meant that they'd inflicted heavy casualties upon the Red Army that was advancing against them, but they were not holding their ground.  The Reds were winning in Russia against the Allies and Whites in that area.

A group that some feared was turning Red, strikers in Seattle, were reported to have been beaten in the huge strike going on in Seattle that had been running for several days.

Tragedy struck in Cheyenne when a young woman, age 20, died of the Spanish flu leaving an infant.  Her husband was at sea.

Also in Cheyenne, Governor Carey and Senator Powers received the protest of Sheridan Area ministers regarding the Wyoming state prohibition bill, an act that was pointless in the first place as the 18th Amendment had just passed, as it would still allow 2% alcohol.

In news that remains important to this very day, the same legislature that passed a pointless prohibition bill passed a really important Game & Fish bill that put the Wyoming Game & Fish Department on a permanent footing with a set of statutes on the state's game and fish.

We should all be thankful for the 1919 Legislature for that one.

The Cheyenne paper ran a society page at that time, which seems so odd now.  That same page featured a major advertisement for chewing gum in the form of "sweetmeats", which I've never seen it called before.

Personally I'm not a huge chewing gum fan, liking the rarely seen black licorice chewing gum more than others.  I'll buy Wrigley's on occasion however.  Interesting to see how long its been around and how it was originally advertised.

On the Society page the paper also let us know "one reason China is messed up", which was its written language, the paper felt.

As racist as that sounds, there was some truth to that at the time, which was why there was quite an effort to adopt the western alphabet to the Chinese languages (amongst others).  Indeed, the western system of alphabet was a major achievement due to the ease of its use.  

Be that as it may, now in the computer age, the advantage that once existed in regards to the western alphabet has somewhat diminished, and in China knowledge of its traditional characters is in fact greatly expanding in the current era.

On a different wildlife related topic, major discussion was going on in Cheyenne on the damage caused by predatory animals.

And people were being told, advertisement wise, that Instant Postum "is better for the family than coffee".  No, I don't think so.  We are told that "There's a Reason", but we aren't told what that reason actually was.

A furniture store in Cheyenne was selling out, with illustrations of their wares.

The Albany Cafe was open on Sunday, as restaurants typically are, and was offering a Sunday chicken dinner for .75.

The Albany is still there, and still in the same location.

And new Studebaker's were being advertised.

February 2, 1919. Beating the high cost of living, Wyoming troops returning home. Senate passes land bill for soldiers. Donuts.

The Wyoming Tribune advised on this Saturday, February 2, 1919 that with a good cow, a flock of hens and a small garden, you could beat old "Mr. H.C.L.", that being the high cost of living.

It's an interesting and possibly accurate observation in some context.

And men from the 41st and 91st Divisions would be back in the U.S. shortly.

The U.S. Senate was anticipating that some of those returning me would want to become agriculturalist, which was in fact correct.

In light of that fact, the Senate's bill did something to give homesteading returning servicemen an advantage, although I frankly don't know what that was.  The various homestead acts were still in existence, so they could have homesteaded anyhow.  The impact of the law, however, was a real one as I know of at least two instances of individuals who took advantage of this provision and I knew one of them.  By reports, this was a fairly popular option for returning World War One servicemen, but a similar effort to reopen the homestead act, on a limited basis, for returning World War Two servicemen, on certain designated grounds (at least some of which were Indian Lands) would not be.

Returning soldiers were celebrated on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, depicting a soon to vanish means of transportation in use by somebody who is probably supposed to be an aged farmer.

Leslie's, on the other hand, was looking back to World War One still and celebrating the Red Cross and Salvation Army donut girl, although having said that the efforts of the Red Cross were still in full swing in Europe, although a lot of those women were now returning home.

If that illustration looks familiar, it's because it was from an actual photograph.  And if you have a hankering for trying Great War donuts, here's your chance with the recipe.

The donut girl was one Stella Young, serving in France.

I don't know anything else about her, but I'd note that, while a person isn't supposed to make such observations, she has a classically English appearance and my guess is that was her nationality.

Today In Wyoming's History: February 8, 1919. Edwin Kieth Thomson born.

Today In Wyoming's History: February 8:

February 8

1919  Edwin Keith Thomson born in Newcastle.  Thomson had risen spectacularly young, graduating from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1941 at which time he was only 22 years old.  He entered the service thereafter and became the youngest battalion commander in the Army during World War Two, reaching that position at age 24.  He was still in his 20s when discharged as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1946.  He became the Congressman from Wyoming in 1955.  He was elected to the Senate in 1960, but died of a heart attack at age 41 before assuming his office.  His widow, Thyra Thomson, served as Wyoming's Secretary of State for 24 years.

But Wait Once Again, the Canadian Special Operations Forces Pink & Green service uniform. Was Lex Anteinternet: But wait, Captain Crabby, maybe you've missed the ...

Ah, the seductive nature of those Pinks and Greens.

Just yesterday we published this item reconsidering our item of earlier this week criticizing the Army's new re-adoption of the officers uniform for World War Two, to be issued to all ranks:

Lex Anteinternet: But wait, Captain Crabby, maybe you've missed the ...: Signal Corps lieutenant, World War Two. On Monday, I ran this item criticizing, I guess, the Army's adoption of a new Army Green U...

Something I didn't note is that the U.S. Army isn't the only Army that's taken this path recently. . . the Canadian military has, on a very limited basis, as well.

 Canadian soldiers of the Canadian Special Operations Forces marching past sailors and airmen of the Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force.  This Canadian Army photo is about the only one available to illustrate the new service uniform of the unit which is distinctly different from the Canadian Army's in cut and color.  It's odd to realize the extent to which an American uniform is adopted here by a military that really doesn't like to be confused with American services as everything about the uniform except for the beret and the insignia recalls an American World War Two item. It's also interesting to note the extent to which World War Two uniform items have been either retained or brought back into use by various armies. . . indeed nearly every army that fought in World War Two.

What the heck?

Yes indeed.

This uniform was adopted solely by the Canadian Special Operations Forces and if it appears to strongly recall The American officers uniform of the World War Two era, it is supposed to.  Indeed, other than the khaki beret, it looks a lot like the Army Service Uniform for the American airborne.

The reason for this is that Canadian armed forces are making an effort to provide for a distinctive uniform for the Canadian Special Operations Forces command, which otherwise would have worn the dress uniform of the Canadian Army.  Having a special dress uniform for a single unit would be a really odd thing in the American Army but not in the Canadian Army in general which is, after all, an heir to the  British tradition, and the troops of the Special Operations Forces aren't actually in the Canadian Army, as odd as that may seem.

In the British Army individual unit uniforms are extremely common and at one time were in fact the rule.  I'm not an expert by any means on British uniforms but I can relate that they followed a somewhat similar path to that of American uniforms in that the British Service Uniform was at one time its field uniform except that the  British wisely never phased it out as a dress uniform and it simply kept on in use in a somewhat modified form as the No. 2 Dress uniform.  It's a sharp looking uniform and its sort of what the U.S. Army is basically trying to get back to.  Be that as it may, where the U.S. Army and the British Army really depart is that the U.S. Army has never liked distinctive uniforms for individual units for their dress uniform and the British have always done that.

The Canadian Army was naturally heavily influenced in every fashion by the British Army and that has reflected in its uniform heritage.  It adopted British Service Dress early in the 20th Century when the British did but it's also traditionally had a lot of individual unit dress uniforms.  When the Canadian military was technically unified (which even some Canadians either don't realize or refuse to actually acknowledge) the Canadian Army somewhat followed the path of the American Army, however, and adopted a new Service Uniform of very dark green. At that time the Canadians were attempting to really break away from their British heritage for some reason in all things.  That made it plain that Canadians weren't British, but it also meant that the new uniform wasn't as good looking as the old one had been.  Indeed, at first glance its really difficult to tell the Canadian Service Uniform from an older shade of the Army Green Uniform, which gives rise to a common complaint in the Canadian Army that they look like the American Army, at any one point, of about twenty years prior.

The Canadian Special Operations Branch is technically a separate branch of the armed forces in the Canadian system which reflects the unified nature of the Canadian Armed Forces.  This is truly odd compared to other militiaries  but it is not wholly illogical.  It prevents Canada from having what the United States, and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom, have in the existence of a multiplicity of special forces. Canada only has one such unit but its technically not in the Army, Navy or Air Force and those in it have transferred into it from any branch of the Canadian military.  Given that, the thought was that it could have its own uniform that expressed its own heritage.

What that heritage is, of course, was a bit problematic. During World War Two Canada fielded its own airborne troops at the battalion level but it didn't field its own Special Air Service or Special Boat Service. At that time, if a Canadian wanted to serve in that capacity he could transfer to the British units.  A special unit was created during the war which included Canadians and Americans jointly, that being the First Special Service Force, however, and that unit was equipped and uniformed by the American Army.  Contrary to what is generally supposed, while that unit saw action in Italy, it was disbanded during the war with its members mostly going to the airborne units of their respective nations, showing the level to which airborne units were regarded as elite at the time.

At any rate, while Canada has occasionally had special forces units since World War Two, its chosen the 1st SSF as its origin point. When the Special Operations Branch was formed in 2006 it wore Canadian Army dress uniforms at first but recently, as it is its own branch, it's won the right to have its own distinctive dress uniform.  As it wishes to recall the 1st SSF in its heritage, it adopted a variant of the dress uniform worn by the officers of that unit, including Corcoran jump boots, as its dress uniform, although the insignia are distinctly Canadian. The headgear adopted is the tan beret which was also adopted by the Rangers of the U.S. Army but Canadians, in a practice that otherwise unintentionally recalls the practice adopted by post war European mercenaries, wear the badges of their former units that they transferred in from.

So what's this say, if anything, about the Pink & Green uniform?

Well, people like the way it looks.  And it also seems that for a lot of nations, ours included, World War Two, while it may have been a giant bloodbath, is looked back upon somewhat fondly.

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Related threads:

Pinks and Greens

But wait, Captain Crabby, maybe you've missed the point. More Pinks & Greens.