Selected from the pages of The Middletown Press and lightly annotated by Sally Haase
No Warrants No Raids. Washington, Mar. 01, 1920: Uncle Sam’s army of “rum raiders” was given general orders to observe strictly the provisions of the fourth amendment of the federal constitution, which shields private citizens against unlawful search and seizure. Hereafter there are to be no raids unless properly drawn warrants have been issued by courts for suspected individuals.
Adapting Surgery of the Battlefield. Washington, Mar. 01, 1920: Lessons in plastic surgery learned in war are to be adapted to the needs of peace to the end that facial injuries received in accidents, industrial or otherwise, may be so treated that disfigurement may be reduced to a minimum. Dr. Y.H. Kazanjian, chair of oral surgery at Harvard Dental School, is now engaged in fitting the surgical methods he learned in war to the needs of peace. “It was not I,” he said, “It was the great need of the times that evolved the technique which made it possible for injured men to speak again, to look something like they did before. Small credit is due the doctor when we consider the enormous need that made the new invention necessary.
Wilson Takes Auto Ride. Washington, Mar. 03, 1920: For the first time in nearly six months, president Wilson left the White House and went for a ride. Great secrecy was observed at the White House concerning the Trip. The two big cars were brought around to the rear entrance and unobserved…the president walked to the car carrying a cane. He was supported by Mrs. Wilson and Dr. Grayson. The ride lasted about an hour and twenty minutes.
Diplomats Are Dry. Washington, Mar. 05, 1920: Diplomats, facing diminishing “stocks” of wet goods in their cellars, contend their residences are “foreign territory” and in no sense are affected by the terms of the national prohibition law.
Palestine To Build Cities. Boston, Mar. 05, 1920: Future cities in Palestine will be replicas of localities in the United States, according to the New England Zionist Bureau. The first to be established will be Lynn named after the Massachusetts Shoe City. More than $100,000 worth of land certificates have been purchased by the city’s Jewry. The Lynn emigrants say they will attempt to reprint (reproduce) the city on the sands of the Palestine desert. Also, telegrams reveal that there will be a New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia.
Villa’s New Reign Of Terror. Washington, Mar. 08, 1920: Attacking a passenger train near Chihuahua and burning it, Francisco Villa has proclaimed a new reign of terror along the Mexican border. An American engineer was carried away as a prisoner for ransom. All the passengers were either killed or robbed before it was set on fire.
India Seeks Self-Rule. New York, Mar. 18, 1920: Hunger is the problem of the Hindu proletariat according to H. Maitra, a Hindu Brahmin. “In a recent Indian uprising,” he said, “the direct cause was hunger. Weavers, who used to get three pounds a month per family, now are lucky to earn eighteen shillings. I do not speak against England with hatred. It is wrong and futile to hate. [Yet], England wishes to perpetuate her rule and to exploit natives everywhere she goes (colonizes.)”
Turks Slaughtered 10K Armenians. New York, Mar. 23, 1920: Ten thousand Armenians were slaughtered by the Turks in a single outbreak north of Aleppo, according to a relief worker who arrived here after he spent 18 months in Turkey. He accused Great Britain of blocking every effort to settle the Turkish question for political purposes. He said that American relief workers who tried to rescue Armenian girls from Moslem homes were stopped by the British officers.
Troubled Europe, Mar. 19-25, 1920: Germany – Following the collapse of the short lived military regime at Berlin, the spartacist soldier bolshevik sympathizers are struggling to establish a soviet republic. Anti-Jewish troubles have broken out in Berlin. Turkey – Anti-allied activities of the Turkish nationalists are reported spreading throughout Asia Minor. Poland – The Russian bolshevik army and the Poles are in hard fighting over a wide front. Reports indicate that the Poles are withstanding all of the Russian assaults. Italy and Jugoslavia are at loggerheads over the Adriatic territory. Hungary – Militarists, in control, are threatening Rumania. In Turkey, a nationalist commander proclaimed a revolution against the allies. Greece has offered an army for use against the Turkish national forces.
100 years ago, much has changed and, then again, nothing has changed.
