Milsurp After Hours

Strike up the band. Whup it up. We are at war. Just what we wanted. Well maybe not everybody. And if you are a Negro or a German you may be suspected of treason. Notice two stories under the headline story on this front page.

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Well, 100 years ago today, Cuba declared war on Germany, I bet that really scared the Kaiser......

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Yup, no more cigars for the troops

Being of German birth in the US now meant your home could be searched and any weapons found could be confiscated....more of that keeping America safe stuff. All Germans are alike you know...naturalized citizen or not making no difference. The 4th Amendment is being "interpreted" to suit the fear....or maybe the word is "ignored".

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Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Still not as bad as what we did to Japanese-Americans on the West Coast at the beginning
of WWII. But as with all things like this, it's easy to look back and see what we should have done.
But we weren't there and it was "different times". I know that doesn't make it right, but it is what
it is, and was what it was. You can't change history, although some try to rewrite it.......

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I agree, Vern. But that Rosehill address.... 115 assorted rifles and "200" rounds of ammo. Hardly a good mix of ammo to guns for a good uprising. Maybe the guy was going to ship them to Ireland. LIke the Irish in America did... because they really hated the British running Ireland and some Germans sympathised with the Irish and did likewise...but that was a different problem and nobody was thinking about that sort of thing at the moment. Being paranoid based on "others than us" is a pretty human condition. Only problem is "us" changes depending on who we are afraid of at a given time and who we include in "us" and who we define as "them".

There is a series on WWI that has started on PBS.It's in three parts for about six hours in total. The first part was last night. Very good presentation.... for the pictures and parts of films from the time particularly. I'd think the series should show up on PBS online shortly after it's over.

It offers more sympathy to Wilson than I would have on America's effort to keep out of the war. But it does say some other things that the US papers of the time didn't. Like... early on... Britain cut the atlantic cable to mainland Europe. They controlled what news got to the states through the only direct link to Europe by the cable to England. The US only got the Allies side of things and the propaganda of only one side. And the newspapers printed it. The British released the Zimmerman note at a time when it would produce the most anger and likely to get the most read into it by assumption of a done deal between the Mexicans and Germans. The film did point out that the US neutrality didn't slow down it's efforts to produce arms for the allies nor huge war loans engineered by J. P. Morgan. It also pointed out that when Germany started sinking American ships bringing the allies war material ...and the Allies weren't..because the British had the German ports of entry bottled up and useless for outside sea import of anything.... the die was cast.

It does stress one thing... Wilson's remark in his request of Congress for war. Wilson said Americans were to be fighting to ensure that the world was a safe place for Democracy and not for territory nor any gain or reparation. England and France were Democracies. Russia had recently deposed the Czar. But Germany and Austria were actually run by Monarchs. And America became the major World Power when they got into the war.

Patriot women who organize and want to do their bit for the war have a code of conduct constructed. Makes no sense....but it was patriotic.

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The famous Lafayette Escadrille composed of American flyers who formed a volunteer part of the French Air Force now assume their true colors.

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