The Agrarian's Lament: 1920s

Showing posts with label 1920s. Show all posts

A corn husking bee, January 18, 1924.

The news recalled 1916.

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, August 18, 1923. Silent Cal goes riding...

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, August 18, 1923. Silent Cal goes riding...:

Sigh, oh for the days this was normal, and not the sh** show the nation's politics are today.

Saturday, August 18, 1923. Silent Cal goes riding. Hoff family goes walking.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, April 22, 1923. Agrarian rise.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, April 22, 1923. Agrarian rise.:

Sunday, April 22, 1923. Agrarian rise.

The British commenced their occupation of Rawandiz, in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Kurdish city is near the Turkish and Iranian borders. The United Kingdom was occupying the country under a League of Nations Mandate. The border was contested by the Turks, who had occupied the city only a year prior, which motivated the British to garrison the town.

The Bulgarian Agrarian National Union won the vast majority of the seats of the country's Parliament. The agrarian party is the only such party to come to power by a majority of votes being cast for it outright.

The party was a founding member of the International Agrarian Bureau and part of a strong rising agrarian movement in Eastern Europe. The movement would eventually spread to Western Europe as well, but the rise of Communism and World War Two would effectively destroy it and its influence waned. The Bureau dissolved in 1971.

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, March 15, 1943 A Wyoming Federal Reservation

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, March 15, 1943 A Wyoming Federal Reservat...:

Monday, March 15, 1943 A Wyoming Federal Reservation, Germans retake Kharkiv

Today In Wyoming's History: March 15: 1943 Franklin Roosevelt used executive authority to proclaim 221,000 acres as the Jackson Hole National Monument, the predecessor to today's Grand Teton National Park.

Demonstrating how Wyoming really hasn't changed much, the move was hugely unpopular in Wyoming, or at least was politically unpopular.

The history of the reservation dated back to 1924 when John D. Rockefeller, Jr. purchased a collection of ranches and amassed 37, 117 acres in the valley. The area was always spectacularly beautiful, but ranching conditions were generally poor. Rockefeller's intended purpose from the onset was to donate the land to the Federal Government, something which of course appealed to him but much less to locals who were scraping by in industries derived from the region's natural resources. In 1929 Rockefeller's initial donation of land went forward on a reduced basis, with only the Grand Teton National Park coming into existence. The donation was smaller as Wyoming's Congressional representation opposed the larger donation, leaving Rockefeller with 32,000 acres and an annual tax bill of $13,000.

In 1942 Rockefeller informed Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes that if the project did not go forwad, he would sell the land. This resulted in President Roosevelt's Federal reservation.

On March 19, Wyoming's Congressman Frank A. Barret introduced a bill to return the land to National Forest status. In Congress, he based his argument on preserving the grazing permits in the former Federal domain that was part of the reservation. Teton County Commissioner Clifford Hansen, who would later become Governor, and whose Mead family contributed a later Governor and other significant state politicians, also spoke against, although he was directly impacted, holding grazing permits in the area.

The bill passed both houses of Congress, but Roosevelt issued a pocket veto that contained a memorandum stating:

The effect of this bill would be to deprive the people of the United States of the benefits of an area of national significance from the standpoint of naturalistic, historic, scientific, and recreational values,

Campaigning by conservationist deterred any further legal effort to abolish the reservation, and its being opened to grazing in 1945 due to wartime conditions somewhat allayed local fears. In 1950 the controversy was resolved through S. 3409 which merged the monument and neighboring national park, but also provided: no further extension or establishment of national parks or monuments in Wyoming may be undertaken except by express authorization of the Congress." This did not prevent later wilderness designations, which have continued to be opposed in ways that can be argued to be short-sighted.

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, February 5, 1923. Parti libéral du Québec...

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, February 5, 1923. Parti libéral du Québec...:

Monday, February 5, 1923. Parti libéral du Québec retains its position.

Louis-Alexandre Taschereau retained his position as Premier of Quebec, as he would all the way through 1936.

Taschereau was a member of the Liberal Party (Parti libéral du Québec) and had been elected in 1920 as the Canadian economy started to sink, in advance, into the Great Depression. He was an opponent of Roosevelt's new Deal, comparing it to fascism and communism, and instead encouraged private enterprise to develop Quebec's forest and hydroelectric potential. As he did so, his policies challenged Québécois agrarianism, which would begin to lead to its end.

And therefore, I am not a fan.

That may sound silly, but agrarianism is what allowed the Québécois to remain that. Their agrarian separation and close association with the Catholic Church is what allowed them to remain a people for two centuries of "English" domination.

Taschereau was not a disloyal Francophone or Catholic, but by attacking the agrarian nature of Québécois society he was by default attacking its essence in favor of money. Ultimately that attack would succeed, leading to the downfall of Québécois agrarianism and ultimately to the undercutting of the culture itself. It remains, of course, but badly damaged by the experience.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, January 16, 1923: Work on cattle ranch, ...

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, January 16, 1923: Work on cattle ranch, ...:

Tuesday, January 16, 1923: Work on cattle ranch, Z/T Ranch, Pitchfork, Wyoming

A truly great photograph.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday October 7, 1921. 4H Clubs and Baseball Clubs.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday October 7, 1921. 4H Clubs and Baseball Clubs.:

Friday October 7, 1921. 4H Clubs and Baseball Clubs.

A Third year high school girl in the chemical laboratory, - Greenbank Consolidated School, Oct. 7, 1921. Location: Pocahontas County, West Virginia

A photographer spent a second day documenting the lives of teenagers and the condition of schools in West Virginia. In doing so, he took this photo of a "third year" (either a junior or a senior) girl in the chemical laboratory.

The photos speak volumes. She's of our age, but not Very plainly dressed and very adult looking.

On this day in 1921, The New York Giants beat the Yankees 13 to 5 in Game 3 of the 1921 World Series.

China responded to a demand from Japan for certain rights in Shantung province with a complete rejection. The demands were based on the Treaty of Versailles transferring German possessions to Japan following World War One, which included port cities in the province. The Chinese were not willing to go along with the treaty on these points, and ultimately their position prevailed.

Austria and Hungary submitted a territorial dispute between them to the League of Nations, with Italy to act as the mediator.

The same photographer that toured schools in West Virginia took the photos of members of a 4H Club.

Betsey Price, - First year High School at her club sewing. 4 H Club work - Marlinton, W. Va. She would have been in 9th or 10th Grade, but again looked quite mature in this photo.

Forest Kellison, 4 H Club Member raising a sheep. Examining the quality of the fleece under direction of Harold Willey, Farm Bureau Agent. Location: Pocahontas County, West Virginia

Forest Kellison, 4 H Club member, treating his sheep for internal parasites.

Susie Kellison, raising chickens. Examining the wing and looking for smut. The club in this county had 250 members at the time. Location: Pocahontas County, West Virginia.

Harry Harper, with his registered calf. Location: Pocahontas County--Hillsboro, West Virginia.

Earl Kidd, with his registered calf. Hillsboro, Pocahontas Co. W. Va. Location: Pocahontas County--Hillsboro, West Virginia

The photographer also documented conditions at schools, some of which were quite advanced, and some not so much. This was a one-room schoolhouse, and the photographer disapproved of the location of the privies.