Friday, May 2, 2014

Saturday, May 2, 1914. National Suffrage Day

There were suffrage parades and marches across the United States.  The day, in fact, had been declared National Suffrage Day by those advocating for a nationwide franchise for women.

In a lot of ways, this was a carryover of labor protests that had occured the day prior, on May Day.

In Wyoming, where Wyoming had the vote, the news was on the war in the state to the South, where Federal troops were deploying.



In later pages, readers learned that (union) railroad workers were refusing to haul troops to the conflict zone, although I've seen photos of the railroads doing just that, which raises some questions regarding this assertion.

The telegraph company was celebrating the construction of the Lincoln Highway, which really wouldn't be much of a thing for years.


Last prior edition:


Thursday, May 1, 2014

May 1, 1914. Llano del Rio created.

 A socialist communal community was established in Los Angeles County, California as Llano del Rio.  It only existed until 1918 when political dissention tore it apart, and a new colony was formed, with less success, in Louisiana.  

While having a very brief existence, its farming enterprises were remarkably successful.

The entire experiment was interesting, and in some ways it anticipated Mondragon, which would be founded on distributist principals in 1956.  Mondragon has been quite successful, and that example may provide insight to the deficiencies of small "s" socialism in comparison to distributism.

That Llano del Rio would be founded on May Day, 1914, isn't too surprising. The entire first quarter of the 20th Century was full of all sorts of radical movements (and it's noteworthy that distributism really gained steam later).  This day say the typical May Day protests in big US cities.

Anarchist Alexander Berkman speaking in Union Square.  Berkman was a close associate of Emma Goldman and was, like her, later deported to the Soviet Union, thereby returning him to his native Russia, where he found the Communists not to his liking.  He relocated ultimately to France and killed himself in 1936 following prostate cancer which left him in constant Spain.

Of course, May Day wasn't observed everywhere.

Ottoman aircraft, Jerusalem.

Last prior edition:

Wednesday, April 29, 1914. The Ten Days War ends and the Coalfield War with it.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

The Uniform Bar Exam, early tell of the tape.

One of the threads most hit upon here is the one on the Uniform Bar Exam.  As folks who stop in here will recall, Wyoming's adoption of the UBE put the state in a class of states which now uses it, and which basically allow a person taking the test in one state to be admitted to practice in nearly any other state which uses it. 

When this passed, I maintained that the end result would be the exportation of legal jobs from Wyoming into the hands of out of state law firms, probably mostly in Denver.  Well, the state reported admissions from the last test the other day, and therefore it might be interesting, in this context, to look at the results.  Now, it must be considered of course that this was the mid winter test, which is always a bit abnormal anyhow, as recent law school graduates do not take it, and the results of one single test might not mean that much. And even if they do, we might not quite recognize what they actually mean. With that said, here's the results, with the names admitted..


Wyoming State Bar Members,

The Wyoming State Bar today announced that 23 people have been recommended for admission to practice law in Wyoming.  An admission ceremony before the Wyoming Supreme Court and the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming will be held this fall. The ceremony will be a combined ceremony of both Courts at the Wyoming Supreme Court building.

The Wyoming State Bar and the Wyoming Supreme Court would like to congratulate these future members of the Wyoming State Bar.

The following people are being recommended for admission after receiving a passing score on the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) and meeting all other requirements for admission.

The Uniform Bar Exam consists of three major parts:
  1. The Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) - This portion of the UBE test has been used in Wyoming for many years and is now used in every state except Louisiana.
  2. The Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) - Essay questions on major areas of the law.
  3. The Multistate Performance Test (MPT) - Requires prospective lawyers to complete practical application of the law on tasks associated with certain resource materials. 

  •  – Cody, Wyoming
  •  – Ft. Collins, Colorado
  •  – Denver, Colorado
  •  – Cheyenne, Wyoming
  •  – Denver, Colorado
  •  – Enid, Oklahoma
  •  – Cheyenne, Wyoming

The following people are being recommended for admission after successfully transferring a passing score from another UBE jurisdiction and meeting all other requirements for admission. Scores are only transferrable between those states that have adopted the Uniform Bar Exam.        

  •  – Ft. Collins, Colorado
  •  – Ft. Collins, Colorado
  •  – Torrington, Wyoming
  •  – Dayton, Wyoming
  •  – Belle Fourche, South Dakota

The following people are being recommended for admission on motion. This applies when attorneys are licensed in another jurisdiction and meet all requirements without examination in Wyoming.

  •  – Lakewood, Colorado
  •  – Salt Lake City, Utah
  •  – Denver, Colorado
  •  – Bethpage, Tennessee
  •  – Riverton, Utah
  •  – Williamsville, New York
  • – Denver, Colorado
  •  – Ft. Morgan, Colorado
  •  – Castle Rock, Colorado
  • – Lakewood, Ohio
  •  – Denver, Colorado
 Pretty interesting results.

So we have twenty three people who are being admitted.

Of the twenty three, seven actually took the test here.  So, less than 1/3d of those being admitted, took the test in Wyoming.  Of those, three indicated that Wyoming was their home, but that may be deceptive.  Recent grads of a law school might really be from Wyoming, or might have long ago determined to make Wyoming their home but still reflect their homes of origin.  Still, interesting results.

Five transferred in scores from another state's UBE, almost the same number as which took it in Wyoming.  Of those five, two list their homes as Wyoming.  Again, the same caveats on home listings remain, and additionally its not really uncommon for new lawyers to take a bar exam in more than one location, so this may be a variant of that.

Finally, there are those being admitted by motion, which basically means being waived in.  I don't know what the current rules on reciprocity are, but basically that reflects states with which we had reciprocity prior to the UBE.  This is something that has been slightly controversial over the years as well, as at one time, within the past 20 years, the state Bar halted reciprocity, and then re authorized it.  Like the UBE, in my view, reciprocity isn't the greatest idea in the world, but it does generally take into account some years of practice usually as an element.  Eleven lawyers are coming in through reciprocity.  At least we know they took a real state specific bar exam somewhere.

So, what if anything does this tell us?  Well, maybe not much. But what's interesting about these mid winter results is that of the twenty three individuals being admitted to the bar, five claim Wyoming as their home.   Eleven claim Colorado as their home.  Our other neighboring states claim a combined.three.

Mid Week at Work: Sheeperder, Nevada late 1930s


The Casper Journal on the School Bond Issue: I’m a yes

I’m a yes

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Wednesday, April 29, 1914. The Ten Days War ends and the Coalfield War with it.

With Federal troops arriving, John R. Lawson of the United Mine Workers ordered miners to lay down their arms, which they did on this day, but not before an additional fifteen Colorado minders were killed.

Union representative John R. Lawson, who would be tried for murder in connection with the killing of a deputy sheriff during the Coalfield War, sentenced to a life of hard labor, but whose sentence was reversed by the Colorado Supreme Court in 1917.  He became vice president of the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company in 1927, and served in that role until 1939.  He passed away in 1945 at age 74.

Protests in support of the miners broke out in New York City.


Upton Sinclair made an appearance at the protests.



In Denver, not too surprisingly, the first several pages were dominated by the private war, as well as a looming potential one with Mexico.












And it was the opening day of minor league baseball in Denver.



Last prior edition:

Tuesday, April 28, 1914. President Wilson orders Federal troops into the Colorado Coalfield War.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Naval History Blog » Blog Archive » #PeopleMatter: “Yeomanettes” Paved the Way for Women of All Ratings Today

Naval History Blog » Blog Archive » #PeopleMatter: “Yeomanettes” Paved the Way for Women of All Ratings Today

Tuesday, April 28, 1914. President Wilson orders Federal troops into the Colorado Coalfield War.

On this day in 1914, President Wilson ordered Federal troops to Colorado at the request of Gov. Eliam M. Ammons following days of fighting (the Ten Day War) between miners, Colorado National Guardsmen and mine owners that had broken out with the April 20 Ludlow Massacre, which we should have covered but managed to omit, occured.


Tensions had been high since the summer of 1913 between miners of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) and the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron (CF&I) due to low pay and dangerous working conditions.  Colorado's mine accident rate was much higher than elsewhere in the US at the time.  The UMW had started making demands to address the situation without success and adopted demands on September 16, 1913, calling for a seven-step plan of improvements and recognition of the UMW.

On September 23, they went on strike during a rainstorm.  Soon, 20,000 miners were evicted from their company housing. The union supplied tents, and tent cities resulted.  80.5% of the miners went on strike, far higher than the company's had expected. Mary J. Harris, "Mother Jones", spoke on September 23 in Trinidad, stating:
Rise up and strike! If you are too cowardly, there are enough women in this country to come in here and beat the hell out of you.

The companies brought in strike-breaking forces, and law enforcement was generally aligned with the companies.  They also had influence in the Colorado National Guard, which would soon be deployed, which was extremely unfortunate as the Guard had been working since the early 20th Century to escape this role specifically, and had made progress in that regard with the passage of the Dick Act, which made them the official reserve of the Army.  In classic Western form, gunmen were recruited from Texas and New Mexico, some of whom became National Guard "recruits".  Colorado's National Guard CO, Gen. John Chase, had, additionally, played a role in suppressing strikes at Cripple Creek in 1903-04, making him literally a pre Dict Act figure, as the Dick Act, which officially established the Guard system, came into effect in 1903.

In October 1913 the Colorado National Guard was called out, but six months later the financial drain on the state caused all but two companies to be withdrawn.  When more fully deployed miners had welcomed it, as it was a neutral party, but the change, with quite a few of the Guardsmen deployed in that period being imported strikebreakers with no military experience, changed things considerably.  Strikebreakers were additionally brought in by the mines in the form of Baltwin-Felts detectives, who had experience in the same from West Virginia.


Clashes occured all winter long, with the Guard sometimes acting as strikebreakers and sometimes acting as intervening parties between strikers and private strikebreakers.  Things had largely calmed down by early 2014, but the death of a strikebreaker near Ludlow caused increased tension once again.  Mother Jones returned in late March and was detained in dank conditions.

On Orthodox Easter, April 20, 1914, many of the miners were Greek immigrants, fighting broke out after early morning negotiations between the parties, the miner's UMW representative Louis Tikas being among those participating in discussion. The negotiations were brought about by rising tensions and threads the prior day.  Perhaps ironically, Tikas, who had initially refused to meet, was encouraged to do so by Colorado National Guard Major Patrick J. Hamrock, who had been with the Army at Wounded Knee.

UMW rep John McLennan and Patrick Hamrock.  Hamrock would be charged with murder for his actions at Ludlow, but was acuitted.  He later went on to command the Colorado National Guard.

The two parties nonetheless began to move for position and fighting broke out.  

The remaining Guard companies attacked the camp and fighting went on all day long. At some point Lt. Karl "Monte" Linderfelt, a notable figure in the actions locally, butt stroked Tikas in the head, although later examinations showed Tikas, who was a Cretan immigrant, to have multiple gunshot wounds. Linderfelt's unit had been kept some distance from Ludlow as he was so inclined to violence. Thirty-two strikers or their families, including women and children, were killed, and thirty-seven Guardsmen lost their lives. Four Hundred miners were arrested, and the camp was destroyed.

The violence at Ludlow led to a union call to arms throughout Colorado and a switch to miner sympathy on the part of the press.  The Southwestern Mine Co.'s Empire Mine was laid under siege on April 22, with the miners yielding after 21 hours, a ceasefire being negotiated by a Protestant minister.  An attempt to take Delagua, Colorado, was made by strikers who were republished, but three mine guards were killed in the assaults.  A mine guard was killed at Tabasco and the Las Animas County Sheriff's Department cabled that it had been defeated and requested Federal troops.

Linderfelt, who was also tried for murder but acquitted.  
Linderfelt had served in the Philippine Insurrection and in China with the U.S. Army and Colorado National Guard.  He's also served in the Mexican Army in 1911 and his name was in the Colorado newspapers frequently due to that at the time, usually under his nickname "Monte".  Prior to the 1913 mine labor troubles in Colorado, he's been working as a mine guard.  He was activated again during the Puntive expedition and then again for World War One, during which he rose to the rank of Colonel in the Colorado National Guard in spite of Ludlow.  His name was frequently in the news in the teens, with the papers being very hostile to him at first, but later more sympathetic as the Punitive Expedition and World War One rolled on.  The troops he was in command of did deploy to France, but not until October 1918, making it unlikely that hey saw much, if any, wartime combat.  In 1919 he purchased a farm in Custer County, Colorado.  In 1922, however, he was being foreclosed upon. He died at age 80 in 1957, at which time he was living in Los Angeles.    

While this was going on, the UMW briefly organized a truce, but at the same time the Governor attempt to deploy the National Guard to what had become a 175-mile-long front.  Of the 600 Guardsmen who were expected to answer the call, only 362 men reported showing that the insurrection and public sympathy had passed to the miners, who now had the press's full support nationwide.  One of the cavalry troops of the Colorado Guard, which included two of the Colorado Guard's commander's sons, mutinied and had to be removed from deployment.  Artillery was deployed from Denver, but the miners also secured firearms.

The Chandler Mine near Cañon City was fired upon on April 25, breaking the truce. On the 26th, 1,000 armed miners attacked and took the town.  Residents of Walsenburg's fled.  Greek miners grew unhappy with union officials and began guerilla attacks on the town and attacked the McNally Mine.  Communiques from both sides took on the nature of those from regular combatants.

The Women's Peace Association staged a sit in Denver starting on April 25, which forced Governor Ammons to act, sending his request on the 25th.  On the 26th, protesters in Denver demanded the impeachment of Governor Ammons.  One of the speakers was former Denver Police Commissioner George Creel.

The National Guard deployed in force on April 27 near Trinidad, where Tikas' funeral was scheduled to, and did, take place without incident. There had been plans to retake the town, which was in miner control, but the assault did not occur.

On this day, the Battle of Heclar Mine in Louisville took place, with that mine owned by the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company.  This was considerably further north than the other mine attacks and fairly near Denver.  National Guardsmen that had been rotated off of the southern front were sent to quell that attack.

The Army was on its way.

Ironically, perhaps, on the same day a mine explosion in Eccles, West Virginia, killed over 180 miners.

British suffragettes Hilda Burkitt and Florence Tunks burned down the Felixstow Bath Hotel in Suffolk as part of an ongoing suffragette terror campaign.

Last prior edition:

Sunday, April 26, 1914. No longer in doubt.

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Snapshot from the war in Finland

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Snapshot from the war in Finland

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Transporting by rail

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Transporting by rail

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Skijoring Finnish Troops?

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Skijoring Finnish Troops?

World War I in Photos: Introduction - The Atlantic

World War I in Photos: Introduction - The Atlantic

The Big Picture: General Fitzhugh Lee


Sunday, April 27, 2014

Mustang ROTC program turns 100

Mustang ROTC program turns 100

I posted this item yesterday, but did not comment on it.  In thinking on it, I should have.

As the article notes, NCHS's JrROTC program is a century old.  Indeed, I've heard, and believe it to be correct, that it's the oldest JrROTC program in the United States.  Pretty remarkable, really.

As such, it's an institution that's marked the passage of time, and tells us something about the times.  Therefore, it fits into the subject area of this blog ideally, and is worth a closer look.

I graduated from this high school, but was not in JrROTC.  My wife (also not in ROTC) graduated from there as well. . . as well as both of my inlaws, a lot of my cousins, and my father and his siblings.  Our connection with NCHS goes way back, but not all the way back to 1914.

JrROTC was incorporated in the curriculum of the school in 1914 as a mandatory class, on the nation's run up to World War One.  The high school is a land grant school.  We tend to think of land grant schools being colleges and universities, but that category included some high schools as well, and NCHS is one.  As such, back in 1914, the US could require NCHS to have a class on military preparedness, which it did.  The University of Wyoming introduced one about the same time.

This applied only to boys, of course, in an era when solders were in fact almost all male.  It was a very gender differentiated world in those days.  And it was a pretty serious course at that.  The young men were issued uniforms and taught basic solder skills. Drill and Ceremony, some marksmanship, and the like.  They didn't come out of it soldiers, but it took the edge off military ignorance in an era when most Americans hadn't had a family member in the service since the Civil War.   The Army was attempting to speed up training a bit, and it probably accomplished that.

After the Great War, the school kept the program, and kept it mandatory.  It was mandatory all the way up until the mid 1970s when, in the wake of the Vietnam War, the school board made it an elective.  By that time, the district had a second high school which didn't have an ROTC program at all.

In that intervening period, a lot had changed.  During the 1930s the program, I'm told, was one that parents appreciated as the school issued a set of uniforms in an era when money was really tight, and the extra clothing appreciated.  For a time the school even departed from the actual official Army uniform of the era and issued its own, very fancy, blue uniform, although this passed as the nation began to prepare for World War Two.  Keep in mind that money was so tight in this era that the 115th Cavalry Regiment of the Wyoming National Guard was effectively recruiting right in the schools, through a music teacher, and the kids and their parents were glad to join for the extra income.  Not all those recruits were of legal service age either.

It was probably World War Two that really started the changes in JrROTC.  The program was strong during the war, of course, but post war it actually saw some returning servicemen assigned back into it, as they went to complete an interrupted high school career. Suffice it to say, they were a disaster as ROTC cadets.  And the post war world saw a big military with a big training program, and a lot of men in the general population who had military service.  In short, JrROTC was no longer really needed anywhere in the same way that it had been in 1914.  I've actually heard of a story once where an NCHS graduate, who had of course been in JrROTC (he was male) found himself in a formation during basic training in which the DI asked if anyone had been an ROTC cadet. Indicating that he had, he found himself singled out by the DI, who instructed the other trainees to ignore whatever he did.

Juniors in NCHS, in 1946.  Note how many are wearing their JrROTC uniforms for their class picture.

Still, with a big military commitment existing during the early Cold War the district kept the program, and a person can find interesting recollections regarding it.  One really dedicated sports shooter I know noted that it was in JrROTC, which had a rifle team with actual .22 rifles as late as the late 1970s, early 1980s when I was in high school, where he was introduced to the sport.  Another individual I know recalled, in a less nifty recollection, that in the 60s when he was in NCHS they were still issued the old World War Two service uniform, which had wool pants and a wool jacket, and they never took them home for cleaning.

Locally, after Kelly Walsh was built in the early 1960s, and the decision was made not to have a JrROTC program there, an odd situation was created in that students had no choice as to what school to attend as this was determined geographically.  Boys at NC were in JrROTC.  Across town at KW they were not.  Amazingly, the program lived on through the Vietnam War, which says a lot about how the war was viewed in this region.  But times caught up with the program, and in the mid 1970s the decision was made to make it an elective.  I can vaguely recall the school board making that decision, when I was in grade school.  In my mind the number of years between that decision and my own period in high school seems vast, but it really isn't.  I only missed mandatory JrROTC in high school by a few years.

As an elective, it's lived on.  When I was in high school it was carried as a physical education class.  The students who enrolled in it seemed to do so either as they definitely knew that they were going into the service, or in order to have a PE credit that avoided the rough and tumble nature of high school PE here at the time.  Indeed, for some of us who may have been mildly interested, or even definitely interested, in the program the thought that we'd be regarded as shirking PE was enough to keep us out of it. Some no doubt joined it so they could get on the rifle team, which was the only way to do that, and I recall pondering that myself, as I wanted to be on the rifle team. By that time, girls as well as boys were in JrROTC, and there were female shooters on the team.  In that distant era, the indoor range was actually inside the school.

It's kept on keeping and I think today its simply an elective for people who are seriously contemplating military service.  I don't believe its a PE elective, and the atmosphere of the times that existed in my high school years is gone on a a lot of things.  In some ways the odd atmosphere created by the Vietnam War on all things military really didn't creep into Wyoming until the late 1970s, and of course never did to the full extent that they did in other regions, but JrROTC suffered for awhile because of that.  I also think that over time the program has evolved, like a lot of such programs, into more of a leadership and service program than a truly fully martial one. As late as my period of service in the Army National Guard the JrROTC cadets trained for a week at Camp Guernsey, engaged in some sort of annual war game, and had actual rifles for drill team use, none of which I believe to be true any longer.  I can recall being detailed to retrieve the trucks that had been loaned to them by the Army  Reserve, and can also recall having M1 Garands in our Armory that belonged to JrROTC. 

Anyhow, it's interesting how an institution like this, which has survived for so long in the schools, but which is a bit unusual for most schools, marks and reflects the times.

Postscript.

NC's JrROTC program is in the news again this morning, although this time it's for the fine performance of their air rifle team, which won a significant competition for the tenth year in a role.

I note that here, however, as this also illustrates the changing times. The article notes that the rifle team itself dates back to 1914, at which time they used M1903 rifles.  That means they were shooting service rifle competition at the time.

California National Guard rifle team at Camp Perry, 1908.  They are equipped with brand new M1903 rifles.

That's pretty remarkable in some ways as the M1903 is a fully sized rifle, although chances are that the boys on the team had all already shot full sized rifles.  The competition was not of the type that air rifles do at all, but was along range match.  In short, they were shooting in a fully adult competition using rifles that were the Army standard at the time.

Camp Perry, Ohio, where the national championship for service rifle competition was held, and still is.

When my father went to NCHS, JrROTC was equipped with M1917 rifles.  The M1917 rifle was a rifle that the US Army purchased during World War One to supplement the supplies of M1903s, which were arsenal built by the Army itself.  M1917s were built by Winchester and Remington, which had started off making them as the P14, in a different cartridge, for the under supplied British (the "14" stands for the year 1914).  More M1917s existed by the end of World War One than M1903s, although only barely so, and they continued on in some numbers in US use thereafter.  During World War Two the M1903 was used in great numbers, even though the M1 Garand became the most common rifle in US use during the war.  The M1917 saw much less use, but did see some, equipping Chemical Mortar and Artillery units early on, and State Guard units throughout the war.  Apparently it was also supplied to JrROTC units.  My father could remember the serial number of the one he had in JrROTC his entire life.

British Home Guardsmen with P14 during World War Two.

U.S. Marine training during World War Two with M1903 rifle.  One in Seven of all U.S. infantrymen were equipped with the M1903 during the war, and the rifle was the standard rifle for some formations, such as the Military Police.

Just before I was in high school the JrROTC unit there actually had M14s, which is a surprising thought.  I believe that they had the firing pins removed, but that both shows the extent to which JrROTC units had access to real arms, and the depth to which the M14 had fallen as a service rifle.  The M1903 was officially replaced as a line rifle after World War Two, and it had become a specialist rifle during the war at that.  It soldiered on for years and years after the war, but an improved variant of it in the new official NATO cartridge was adopted in the late 1950s. That rifle, the M14, never managed to supplant the Garand and it never even made it into Guard and Reserve units as the standard rifle before the Vietnam War brought on the M16, which ended up replacing it before it had really fully replaced the M1 Garand.  A highly regarded marksmanship rifle, the M14 lived on for a time as a service rifle competition rifle, but it also ended up in a lot of Guard armories and secondary use in the Army when its fortunes fell.

Soldier early in World War Two training with a M1 Garand.

Still, that JrROTC units had M14s is surprising.  At some point in the mid 1970s, however, they were removed and sent back to the Army, which began to reconsider the rifle for certain uses.  The rifle ended up coming roaring back into service in the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where its accuracy and long range performance made them a better rifle for trained marksmen than the M16 which had originally replaced it.  

U.S. paratrooper in Vietnam, equipped with M14, during 1967's Operation Junction City.  Junction City, fwiw, is the town just outside of Ft. Riley, Kansas.

U.S. infantryman in Afghanistan with rebuilt updated variant of the M14.

When the M14s went, the M1s came back, and when I was in high school they had some M1s.   The drill team used M1903s, however.  About the only time I saw the M1s was when I was in the National Guard, as we had their M1s on some occasion.  They had the firing pins removed.

Well, now times have changed and the rifle team, which shot at a range inside the high school, no longer uses firearms but instead shoots air rifles.  A person can make of that what they want, but its quite a change over a century.