The Distrubing Thesis of Capital in the Twenty First Century.

I haven't read it yet, but I've been reading a lot about Thomas Piketty's new book, Capital In The Twenty First Century.

The book sounds pretty complicated in some ways, and of course we'd expect any book on economics to be just that. But the basic thesis isn't that complicated, and may be even a bit self evident.  Pikety, an economist, argues that over time the entire Western World is returning to an oligarchic economic structure. That is, wealth is going to be very much concentrated at the top, and inherited.

That ought to be extremely distressing to capitalist, which it seems most Americans claim to be.  If Piketty is correct, and even the observed evidence strongly suggest he is, we're entering an era when real economic power and wealth will be strongly concentrated in the top 10% of the population, who will maintain that status simply by inheritance, rather than by their industry.

What I don't know is whether Piketty conducts any analysis in regard to the land aspect of this, but if he does, I think his thesis will seem all the stronger.  In Europe the rise of industrialism heavily disrupted the traditional land owning structure, as did the rise of political parties that were dominated by the working class.  That broke the land inheritance system that had existed for centuries, allowing industry to acquire land, and also allowing small farmers to own the land they farmed.  In the US, the lack of land availability was a driver of immigration, and up until mid 20th Century acquiring land in the US was fairly easy.

Now all of this is no longer true. According to Piketty, and at least partially evident, we're entering an era in which resource ownership is increasingly concentrated and inherited.

This doesn't mean that the Middle Class will cease to exist, but it does mean that the Middle Class will become increasingly marginalized, if this trend continues, and that the Middle Class will own a diminishing share of the economy. All in all, this is a disturbing trend.

As this blog seeks to track long term trends, its interesting to look at this over a long period of time, in regards to the US.  It's now 2014, let's go back two centuries to 1814.  In 1814, we'd fine wealth very evenly distributed in the US, as a rule, with some really significant wealth here and there and some desperate poverty here and there.  Some significant wealth would be found in the South, in which case we have the corruption of slavery creating a bizarre oligarchic structure there, with a high concentration of wealth in planters and accordingly real severe poverty on the part of blacks.  For whites everywhere, obtaining ownership in the economy was not too difficult to obtain, however.

A century later, in 1914, obtaining ownership in the economy was still not too difficult for most Americans.  Trades generally paid well, and land was still readily available.  There were pockets of real poverty, however, based upon region or immigration.  And there were industrial pockets of very great wealth.

Now, in 2014, obtaining ownership in the economy is much more difficult, and obtaining agricultural and essentially impossible.  Piketty's trend seems well established, and by extension, that's a serious long term concern. There are still industries and occupations which generate wealth, to be sure, of course.

The NCHS Pool

The NCHS swimming pool in an undated photo, with girls swimming team:

NCHS Pool.

This old pool is about to come down.  Hopefully the voters approve the construction of a new one on May 6.

Forces with History -- Official Blog of Robert W Mackay: Tools of The Trade (2)

Forces with History -- Official Blog of Robert W Mackay: Tools of The Trade (2):  This Tool of The Trade is of course a pair of dividers, always to be found on or near the chart table in a submarine's control room. ...

Forces with History -- Official Blog of Robert W Mackay: Tools of the Trade (1)

Forces with History -- Official Blog of Robert W Mackay: Tools of the Trade (1):  This rather odd-looking item is a wheelspanner. Ships' engineers and all submariners will be familiar with wheelspanners, as they are...

Forces with History -- Official Blog of Robert W Mackay: Canadian Cavalry Takes On Secret Service

Forces with History -- Official Blog of Robert W Mackay: Canadian Cavalry Takes On Secret Service:  Last week I published three blogs describing the scene around Moreuil, France, on March 28-30, 1918. At a luncheon in honour of Moreuil Day...

Mystery of 1918 Flu That Killed 50 Million Solved?

Mystery of 1918 Flu That Killed 50 Million Solved?

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

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

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

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.

 

Standards of Dress. Attending school

This is a 9th Grade (Freshman) Class in high school, 1946.  Specifically, is the Freshman class at NCHS in 1946 (the Class of 1949).

Now, some will know NCHS who might read this, others will not. But in 1946 this class attended school in a city that had under 30,000 residents.  It was a city, but it was a city vastly surrounded by the country, as it still somewhat is. This class of boys (there were more in it than those just in this photograph) were from the town and the country.  None of them were big city kids. Some were ranch kids.  I recognize one of them who was.. Some came from families that were doing okay, some from families that were poor.

So how do we see them dressed?  One is wearing a striped t-shirt.  Exactly one.  Every other boy here is wearing a button up long sleeved shirt.  Of those, all but one are wearing ties.

One of the ones wearing a tie is one of my uncles.

Did they turn out with ties just for their photographs that day?  Probably they did.  I suspect so, but even at that, they all actually could come up with ties.  And somebody knew hot to tie them.  None of these boys appears to be enormously uncomfortable wearing a tie.

 

NCHS Juniors in 1946, this is therefore the Class of 1947.

Here's a few of the boys in the Junior class that year.  Here too, this is probably a bit different depiction of high school aged boys than we'd see today. For one thing, a lot of them are in uniform. As already mentioned in the thread on JrROTC, it was mandatory at the school.  Based upon the appearances of the boys at the time the photograph was taken, this probably reflects relatively common daily male dress at NC.  Most of the boys are in uniform.  Of those who are not, most are wearing button up shirts, but no ties.  A couple have t-shirts.  Nobody's appearance is outlandish in any fashion, and nobody is seeking to make a statement with their appearance.

NCHS girls, Class of 1947, as Juniors in 1946.

Here are the Junior girls that year.  As can be seen, NCHS had a uniform for girls at that time, which appears to have been some sort of wool skirt and a white button up shirt.  They appear to have worn their uniform everyday, as opposed to the boys who must not have.

Uniforms at schools are a popular thing to debate in some circles, and I'm not intending to do that.  Rather, this simply points out the huge evolution in the standards of youth dress over the years.  This is s cross section of students from a Western town.  The people depicted in it had fathers who were lawyers, doctors, packing house employees, ranchers and refinery workers.  They're all dress in a pretty similar fashion, and the dress is relatively plan really.  No t-shirts declaring anything, as t-shirts of that type weren't really around. And no effort to really make a personal statement through dress, or even to really stand out by appearance.

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

The Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition completed its exploration of the River of Doubt by reuniting with a relief party led by Lt. Antonio Pyrineus.   The meeting had been prearranged.  

Three men died during the expedition, and Roosevelt had come very close to doing so.  His health never recovered, although he'd very soon be agitating for an American entry into World War One, and seeking appointment to a volunteer division for that effort.

The Cheyenne paper was predicting that was going to break out at any moment, but I mostly put this issue up for the interesting cereal and flour advertisement.

It is interesting that "The Girl I Left Behind Me" was still a popular military tune, apparently, at the time.

Post Toasties getting in the war mood, however, is a classic.

Apparently Cheyenne had its own brand of flour at the time.

Last prior edition:

Friday, April 24, 1914. Occupying Vera Cruz.

1910s, 1914, baseball, Battle of Veracruz, Canadian Arctic Expedition, Heroes, Ireland, Larne Gun Running, Mexico, Occupation of Veracruz, Russia, Siberia, Sports, Ulster, United Kingdom, Vera Cruz Mexico

NCHS 1945-1946 Swim Team

The newest NC team at the time, in its third season.

The pool they used is just about to come down, the last swim team to use it having practiced in it this academic year.  Hopefully the voters will approve the bond that allows for a new pool to be built.

Friday Farming: Moving Cattle.

The Third Branch: Civil War Tore Apart Judiciary Too.

The Third Branch

Friday, April 24, 1914. Occupying Vera Cruz.

Fighting in Veracruz ceased and the occupation of the city began.

Raising the flat at Veracruz, April 27, 1924.

35,000 obsolescent German, Austrian and Italian rifles and 5,000,000 rounds of ammunition were smuggled into Ulster from Germany and distributed by automobile in the Larne Gun Running incident to Ulster loyalists in anticipation of fighting over the issue of independence, with the Ulster Volunteers opposed to it.

Captain Robert Bartlett and Kataktovik reached Emma Town having traveled 700 miles in their effort to secure relief for his stranded party.  They secured passage there to Emma Harbour, a weeks journey, so that he could travel to Alaska by ship from there.

Emma Harbor, 1921.

The Brooklyn Federal League team was photographed.

Last prior edition:

Thursday, April 23, 1914. Wrigley Field Opens, War Panic.

1910s, 1914, baseball, Battle of Veracruz, Chicago Illinois, Equine Transportation, Illinois (Chicago), Mexico, Mexico (Veracruz), The Press, Vera Cruz Mexico

Thursday, April 23, 1914. Wrigley Field Opens, War Panic.

 

April 23, 1914: Chicago Feds open Weeghman Park, later known as Wrigley Field

The first game was between the Chicago Whales and the Kansas City Packers.

The Casper paper may have been a bit off the mark:

Mexicans were not happy, however, about the massively heavy-handed overreaction of the United States at Veracruz.

Last prior edition:

Wednesday, April 22, 1914. Fighting in Veracruz

1910s, 1914, baseball, Battle of Veracruz, Mexico, Teenagers, U.S. Navy, United States Marine Corps, Vera Cruz Mexico

What a difference 100 years makes

What a difference 100 years makes

Wednesday, April 22, 1914. Fighting in Veracruz

Street fighting was engaged in at Veracruz between landed US forces and Mexican forces as US forces advanced beyond the waterfront to secure their positions.  The Mexican forces included civilians who had received distributed Mexican arms.

Street fighting was unusual for Americans at the time, and the sailors had trouble adapting to it, whereas the Marines quickly did.

The city center was taken by 11:00.

The Titanic Engineers' Memorial was unveiled at Southampton, UK.

Babe Ruth, age 19, pitched his first major league game for the Baltimore Orioles.

Last prior edition:

Monday, April 21, 1914. The Battle of Veracruz commences.

1910s, 1914, Advertising, Battle of Veracruz, Food, Mexican Border War, Mexico, Newspapers, The Press, Vera Cruz Mexico

Lawyer is tossed out of court for wearing shorts after knee surgery

Lawyer is tossed out of court for wearing shorts after knee surgery