Ostensibly exploring the practice of law before the internet. Heck, before good highways for that matter.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Advertising, 1918.
Wednesday, August 19, 1914. Sitting it out.
Wilson had already noted American neutrality, but today he formally declared it in an address to the nation through an address to Congress.
My Fellow-Countrymen:
I suppose that every thoughtful man in America has asked himself, during these last troubled weeks, what influence the European war may exert upon the United States, and I take the liberty of addressing a few words to you in order to point out that it is entirely within our own choice what its effects upon us will be and to urge very earnestly upon you the sort of speech and conduct which will best safeguard the Nation against distress and disaster.
The effect of the war upon the United States will depend upon what American citizens say and do. Every man who really loves America will act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality, which is the spirit of impartiality and fairness and friendliness to all concerned. The spirit of the Nation in this critical matter will be determined largely by what individuals and society and those gathered in public meetings do and say, upon what newspapers and magazines contain, upon what ministers utter in their pulpits, and men proclaim as their opinions on the street.
The people of the United States are drawn from many nations, and chiefly from the nations now at war. It is natural and inevitable that there should be the utmost variety of sympathy and desire among them with regard to the issues and circumstances of the conflict. Some will wish one nation, others another, to succeed in the momentous struggle. It will be easy to excite passion and difficult to allay it. Those responsible for exciting it will assume a heavy responsibility, responsibility for no less a thing than that the people of the United States, whose love of their country and whose loyalty to its Government should unite them as Americans all, bound in honor and affection to think first of her and her interests, may be divided in camps of hostile opinion, hot against each other, involved in the war itself in impulse and opinion if not in action.
Such divisions among us would be fatal to our peace of mind and might seriously stand in the way of the proper performance of our duty as the one great nation at peace, the one people holding itself ready to play a part of impartial mediation and speak the counsels of peace and accommodation, not as a partisan, but as a friend.
I venture, therefore, my fellow countrymen, to speak a solemn word of warning to you against that deepest, most subtle, most essential breach of neutrality which may spring out of partisanship, out of passionately taking sides. The United States must be neutral in fact as well as in name during these days that are to try men's souls. We must be impartial in thought as well as in action, must put a curb upon our sentiments as well as upon every transaction that might be construed as a preference of one party to the struggle before another.
My thought is of America. I am speaking, I feel sure, the earnest wish and purpose of every thoughtful American that this great country of ours, which is, of course, the first in our thoughts and in our hearts, should show herself in this time of peculiar trial a Nation fit beyond others to exhibit the fine poise of undisturbed judgment, the dignity of self-control, the efficiency of dispassionate action; a Nation that neither sits in judgment upon others nor is disturbed in her own counsels and which keeps herself fit and free to do what is honest and disinterested and truly serviceable for the peace of the world.
Shall we not resolve to put upon ourselves the restraints which will bring to our people the happiness and the great and lasting influence for peace we covet for them?
Last edition:
Tuesday, August 18, 1914. Lady Teacher for Lincoln County. Neutrality for the US.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Fancy?
That's not fancy. That's trashy. There is a difference
Tuesday, August 18, 1914. Lady Teacher for Lincoln County. Neutrality for the US.
The Lincoln County School District requested a "lady teacher" from the University of Wyoming for the Cumberland Mining Camp. (UW History Calendar).
Lincoln County is remote now, and it would have been even more so in 1914.
The Imperial Russian Army invaded the Austrian Crownland of Galicia, or Austrian Poland (it's now in Poland and Ukraine.
The French captured bridges over the Rhine as well as taking large numbers of German soldiers in Alsace.
President Wilson declared the United States to be strictly neutral in the war developing in Europe and spreading the globe.
Last edition:
Monday, August 17, 1914. Russia invades Prussia.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Monday, August 17, 1914. Russia invades Prussia.
The Russian First Army invaded Prussia.
The French First Army took Sarrebourg.
Last edition:
Sunday, August 16, 1914. Not going according to plan.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Things I've learned from being an author
Today In Wyoming's History: On C-Span Today
This is in the context of local history, and I'm only one of several people.
A second look at one of this season's bad political ideas. "Taking back" the Federal land
Sunday, August 16, 1914. Not going according to plan.
The Germans took the last of Belgium's military forts after an eleven day effort which was supposed to have taken two.
Serbian forces pushed the Austro Hungarians off of Cer Mountain.
The Austro Hungarian battle cruiser SMS Zenta was sunk by the Allies in the Adriatic.
The SMS Goeben and Breslau were transferred to the Ottoman Navy.
British 2nd Lt. Evelyn Perry of the Royal Flying Corps was killed in a plane crash over France, making him the first British office to die in the war.
John Redmond, in a public address in Maryborough, Ireland, stated to assembled Irish Volunteers:
[F]or the first time in the history ... it was safe to-day for England to withdraw her armed troops from our country and that the sons of Ireland themselves ... [would] defend her shores against any foreign foe.
He was really pushing his point.
The Polish Temporary Commission of Confederated Indepence Parties in Austro Hungaria formed the Polish Supreme National Committee.
Last edition:
Saturday, August 15, 1914. The Panama Canal opens for traffic.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Saturday, August 15, 1914. The Panama Canal opens for traffic.
The Panama Canal opened for traffic.
The SS Ancon, pictured above on this day, was the first ship through.
Theodore Roosevelt, who would only have been in his 60s, who had caused it to be built, didn't live to see the great event. Neither did Woodrow Wilson, who had carried through with it. William H. Taft, however, remained very much alive.
Sgt. Patrick N. Cullom of the Colorado National Guard testified that the soliders in his company had shot and killed Union activist Louis Tikas and two others at Ludlow. He testified they were attempting to escape at the time.
Last edition:
Friday, August 14, 1914. First bombing raid.
Friday Farming: Farm cat
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Friday, August 14, 1914. First bombing raid.
The French First Army advanced on German forces near Sarrebourg, Lorraine, France.
Albanian rebels attacked Durrës, the capital of Albania, but were driven back by Romanian volunteer forces, showing how confusing the Great War already was.
The first real bomber, the the French Voisin III, made its first combat run. An attack on German airship hangars at Metz-Frescaty Air Base in Germany.
The Austro Hungarian steamer SS Baron Gautsch struck a mine off of Croatia and sank, killing 150 passengers.
Last edition:
Tuesday, August 13, 1914. The Teoloyucan Treaties
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Tuesday, August 13, 1914. The Teoloyucan Treaties
Álvaro Obregón signed one of the documents related to dissolving the Mexican regime and allowing leaders of the Constitutionalist to create a new government.
The Austro Hungarian troopship SMS Baron Gautsch struck an Austrian mine in the Adriatic and sank, killing 147 men.
Last edition:
Wednesday, August 12, 1914. The United Kingdom and France declare war on Austro Hungaria.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
On Robin Williams
Richard CoryBy Edwin Arlington Robinson
The news today is full of stories and attributes on Robin Williams, who killed himself yesterday. Apparently he was battling depression and had a history of addictions, which probably were part and parcel of each other.
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,We people on the pavement looked at him:He was a gentleman from sole to crown,Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,And he was always human when he talked;But still he fluttered pulses when he said,"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich—yes, richer than a king—And admirably schooled in every grace:In fine, we thought that he was everythingTo make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,Went home and put a bullet through his head
The last time a celebrity was noted here upon that person's death, which is probably the only time a celebrity has been noted here due to death, was when Richard Seymour Hoffman died due to a drug overdose, and my entry at that time wasn't really sympathetic. I tend not to credit too much the stories of pressure and angst associated with the performing arts, as I don't think they compare to those born by the unknown and average, who often have tremendous burdens. In other words, I don't worry too much about the fame and its burdens that the famous have, as I don't think it's quite the same as being a blue collar worker in Detroit worrying about his job and his family.
But I do feel different about Williams, who seemed a fragile character in some ways, and a real one in other ways.
I wasn't an early fan of Williams, but I did start liking his work about the time he appeared in Good Morning Vietnam, and his performance in Good Will Hunting, ironically as a psychologist, was brilliant. Perhaps that role, more than any other, showed his vulnerability and tapped into a completely non comedic serious role. Unfortunately Williams could portray the deeply insightful but troubled psychologist in that movie, but apparently take no comfort from it.
I don't know what it was that was so deeply troubling to Williams, and frankly for those very seriously disturbed, nobody really can. But I note what was noted so long ago by the poem Richard Corey, set out above. I don't want to be seen to be excusing his suicide, but it can be the case that a person who seemingly has everything, does not feel that way himself. And for those oppressed with the often heavy, but ordinary burdens of everyday life, things are often much better than they might appear.