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8 February 1940
February
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Winter War
Ninth day of fighting in the Karelian Isthmus
War at Sea
French steamer Marie Dawn sunk
Great Britain
The third contingent of the Canadian Active Service Force arrives in Britain
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for Black Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the United States. The Civil War had officially abolished slavery, but it didn’t end discrimination against Black people—they continued to endure the devastating effects of racism, especially in the South. By the mid-20th century, Black Americans had had more than enough of prejudice and violence against them. They, along with many white Americans, mobilized and began an unprecedented fight for equality that spanned two decades.
8 Things You May Not Know About the Gallipoli Campaign
1. The Allies wildly underestimated their enemies.
Long called the “sick man of Europe,” the Ottoman Empire had suffered one military defeat after another in the lead-up to World War I. Its reputation was so bad, in fact, that the British and their main allies, the French, half-thought they would cause the government to collapse simply by showing up. With their modern battleships busy fighting Germany, they almost exclusively employed outdated models during the Gallipoli campaign. They also made little effort to gather intelligence on the opposing Ottoman force. Lacking adequate maps, the steep gully-filled terrain caught them by surprise. And to top it off, most of their troops were inexperienced.
Graphic map of the Dardenelles.
2. The Allies hoped to win with their navy alone.
Believing that victory could be achieved without the use of the army, the British and French opened up the Gallipoli campaign on February 19, 1915, with a long-range naval bombardment. After a bad weather delay of nearly a week, they then knocked out the forts at the mouth of the Dardanelles, the narrow strait separating Europe from Asia that served as the gateway to Constantinople. The next step involved sending minesweepers into the strait to clear the way forward however, steady howitzer fire from shore prevented them from effectively doing their job. Since big warships could not shoot accurately enough, and marine landing parties faced stiff resistance, all attempts to silence these howitzers failed. Yet Allied leaders back home enjoined their military commanders to press ahead anyway, and on March 18 they attempted to power their way through the strait with 18 battleships, along with cruisers, destroyers and numerous other support vessels. Sure enough, mines and shellfire sank three of these battleships and severely damaged three others, forcing a retreat. Days later, it was decided that army troops would be needed after all.
3. The Allies never made it much past the beach.
The ground attack began on April 25, when Allied soldiers landed simultaneously at various points near the mouth of the Dardanelles. British troops carved out a foothold at Cape Helles, the southernmost point of the Gallipoli Peninsula, located on the European side of the strait, and were soon reinforced by the French. But despite several bloody battles, they never managed to advance more than a few miles inland. Not far to the north on the Gallipoli Peninsula, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps established an even more tenuous foothold, having been stopped in its tracks by future Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, then a divisional commander. With both bridgeheads devolving into trench warfare similar to that on the Western Front, the Allies launched a new amphibious assault in early August. This only succeeded, however, at forming a third static foothold.
Turkish troops on parade, 1915. (Credit: FPG/Hulton Archives/Getty Images)
4. One of the few things that went well for the Allies was the withdrawal.
Historians often criticize the Allied generals for acting incompetently throughout the Gallipoli campaign. Yet they did get one thing right. As they gradually evacuated the peninsula in December 1915 and January 1916, they ordered the troops to bring in empty supply boxes, leave up extra tents, light extra cooking fires, continue firing artillery and even put helmets on sticks to exaggerate their numbers. Such trickery helped prevent the Ottomans from understanding exactly what was happening until it was too late to press their advantage. During the entire evacuation process, they inflicted virtually no casualties—much to the pleasant astonishment of the Allied force’s newly installed top commander, who had estimated losses of 30-40 percent.
5. Submarines played a major role in the campaign.
Though Allied troops and surface boats struggled to make any progress at Gallipoli, several submarines succeeded in sneaking through the Dardanelles and into the waters around Constantinople. Attacking merchant vessels, warships and troop transports alike, they largely prevented the terrified Ottomans from moving men and supplies by sea. One particularly daring British submarine commander, Martin Nasmith, destroyed more than 80 enemy craft. He once even fired at soldiers along the shore and landed a saboteur to blow up a railway bridge. The Germans likewise had submarines operating in the area, including one U-boat that sank two British battleships in the span of 48 hours. Meanwhile, up in the sky, British seaplanes made history with the first-ever aerial torpedo attacks.
British troops advancing at Gallipoli, August 1915. (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
6. Gallipoli almost derailed Winston Churchill’s career.
As Britain’s powerful First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill masterminded the Gallipoli campaign and served as its chief public advocate. It was no surprise then that he ultimately took much of the blame for its failure. Demoted in May 1915, he resigned from the cabinet altogether a few months later and took off to head an infantry battalion on the Western Front. “I am finished!” Churchill supposedly remarked. By 1917, however, he had received a new cabinet post. From there, though his political opponents delighted in shouting out “Remember the Dardanelles” in the House of Commons, he slowly worked his way back up, culminating in his appointment as prime minister in 1940 when Britain stood essentially alone in the fight against Nazi Germany.
7. Three separate national identities were forged at Gallipoli.
Despite having just gained a large (albeit incomplete) measure of independence from Britain, Australians and New Zealanders did not necessarily identify themselves as distinct until the horrors of Gallipoli awakened their national consciousness. Since 1916, the two countries have held an Anzac Day every April 25, named for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) that fought in the campaign. The holiday, somewhat akin to Memorial Day in the United States, commemorates those who have died in war and is celebrated, among other things, with a dawn service, veterans’ marches, the wearing of red poppies and the gambling game two-up. A heightened sense of nationalism also emerged among the victors at Gallipoli, which Atatürk and his cohorts used to great effect in founding the independent Republic of Turkey out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. Australians, New Zealanders and Turks all commonly make pilgrimages to the battlefield, now a protected national park with numerous gravesites and memorials.
Australian soldiers on the beach at Anzac Cove on April 25, 1915. (Credit: Philip Schuller/The AGE/Fairfax Media via Getty Images)
8. The last Gallipoli survivor made it to the 21st century.
Having lied about his age to enlist, 16-year-old Alec Campbell arrived at Gallipoli in October 1915, only to fall ill with a bad case of the mumps. Subsequently discharged as medically unfit, he spent the rest of his life in his native Australia, working on a cattle station and then as a carpenter before getting his economics degree and joining the civil service. Of the roughly 1 million British, French, Australian, New Zealand, Indian, Canadian, African, Ottoman and German men who took part in the Gallipoli campaign, an estimated 110,000 died on the battlefield. Of the rest, only a handful lived to see the 21st century. Campbell was the last known survivor, finally succumbing in May 2002 at the age of 103.
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8 February 1940 - History
Sherlockian Stirrings—Edgar Rises Higher at Work—
A Baker Street Irregular at Last—The Approach of War in
Europe—“Mr. Mooney Tries to Stop the Second World War”
These same first months of 1940 should have been Edgar Smith’s happiest since reading The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes . On January 30, the first BSI annual dinner in four years took place at the Murray Hill Hotel, a Victorian relic on Park Avenue, as a publication party for 221B: Studies in Sherlock Holmes , the BSI anthology edited by Vincent Starrett that included Edgar’s Appointment in Baker Street . Edgar was not at the head of the table that night (seventh up the table’s left side in the dinner photograph below), but he helped organize the dinner, pre-pared and sent out the announcement to the Irregulars, and afterwards drafted the event’s minutes, as he would do for the next twenty years of BSI dinners. He was now the Buttons, soon the Buttons-cum-Commissionaire, in accordance with Elmer Davis’s Constitution, and a splendid choice for that. “The happiest achievement of the B.S.I.,” Christopher Morley wrote six years later, “was when it attracted the attention of our devoted Edgar Smith. . . .
Edgar Smith’s affectionate zeal, not less than his Sherlockian scholar-ship, his gusto in pamphleteering, his delight in keeping orderly records, and his access to mimeographic and parchment-engrossing and secretarial resources, all these were irresistible. I don’t suppose that any society of Amateur Mendicants has ever had a more agree-able or competent fugleman .
And in April, Smith traveled to Boston for the founding meeting of the BSI’s first scion society, The Speckled Band, held the 26th at the Hotel Victoria. A moving figure of it, P. M. Stone of Waltham, Mass., wrote in 1961 about meeting Edgar at the 1940 BSI dinner in New York:
I was tapped on the shoulder by a genial, smiling, individual, whose warmth of greeting and firm handclasp are gratefully remembered to this day. . . . Edgar W. Smith possessed also, to a remarkable degree, the rare gift of placing one at ease immediately, and in my own case he soon removed any trepidations I might otherwise have experienced upon entering the unfamiliar inner sanctum of the Society for the first time, and taking part, later on, in its scholarly discussions.
It was the first such occasion for both men, and so was the Speckled Band meeting three months later at which Edgar made a puckish entrance:
As the door opened in response to a discreet knock, a card was extended even before we could recognize the individual who stood silently in the ill-lighted outer corridor. And one can imagine our momentary amazement when we discovered that we were being highly honored by a visit from:
He quickly added further con-vincing force to the impersonation by inquiring, plaintively, if he could be favored with “a glass of milk and a biscuit.” Steps were taken immediately, of course to remedy the grave situation, and our guest — of whose identity we were now so fully aware — was handed a full-sized libation of somewhat more potent order than the one he had requested.
The Speckled Band was the first of many BSI scion societies Edgar encouraged or indeed sparked. Despite the pressures of work and the distance between the two cities, “his faithful attendance at our Speckled Band gatherings constituted a record of which the Chapter may indeed be proud,” Stone remembered. “Ofttimes these visits were undertaken at a time when he was very busily occupied with pressing problems of the General Motors Company in New York. In consequence of this fact, Edgar generally arrived in Boston with only a few minutes to spare before the meeting opened, and he made a hurried departure around midnight in order to catch the Owl train from the South Station, or Back Bay, to Grand Central.” It was a pattern Edgar repeated many times in years to come, with additionally The Dancing Men of Providence, The Six Napoleons of Baltimore, The Sons of the Copper Beeches of Philadelphia, and farther afield with The Amateur Mendicant Society of Detroit, when business took him to his corporation’s headquarters.
Work was a different story. In January, the month Edgar attended his first BSI annual dinner on the 30th, he was given additional respon-sibility as director of research in public affairs for the General Motors Corporation, indicating that not only New York but Detroit had confidence in his judgment. But GM had one big problem on its hands that might go public, James Mooney’s personal crusade to stop the war in Europe, and Detroit did not share what it knew about it with Edgar fully, which he must have found frustrating.
That January found Edgar involved in discussions of Mooney’s mission with Graeme Howard in New York and Alfred Sloan in Detroit. An April 4, 1940, report by Edgar’s new immediate boss, Edward Riley, indicates that Edgar, at Mooney’s request, and based on four reports of his, was keeping the most powerful New York member of GM’s board of directors, Donaldson Brown of Dupont, informed about Mooney’s activities. But it also indicates that Edgar had not been shown a fifth one laying out Mooney’s own views about an acceptable European peace. This was regarded as explosive, to the point that Riley, in Detroit during this period, was stung by Alfred Sloan remarking derisively “some of us are rather pro-Nazi.” Riley was no such thing, and did not feel Mooney was but he could not ignore Sloan, nor Donaldson Brown’s opinion that Mooney could be accused of pro-Nazi leanings if his activities became known.
Withholding Mooney’s fifth report from Edgar suggests that he was regarded as too pro-Allied for Mooney’s thinking to sit well with him. For one thing, Goering’s plan that Mooney was pushing would leave Germany dominating the European continent, including France, and Edgar was a Francophile with a French wife. Riley himself was edgy about Mooney’s activities, and felt, with Donaldson Brown, that Mooney should come home and coordinate with the President before continuing. Riley discussed this with FDR’s friend Basil O’Connor, who agreed, but Edgar was left out of this discussion too. Nor did Riley include him in discussions around this time with the well-connected Roman Catholic archbishop (later cardinal) of New York, Francis Spellman, who was in favor of Mooney continuing his efforts.
On June 1st, though, as Germany conquered France, Mooney was in Cleveland to put his personal views on the public record, and his speech “War or Peace in America?” to Case Institute’s alumni association got a good deal of attention in the press. The war, he said, was a colossal tragedy that might well grow far worse, “the conse-quence of a long series of political and economic blunders.” Hitler and Mussolini had rearmed, he claimed, because they feared Britain and France throttling their countries’ food supplies and trade Britain and France had to fight for their lives now because Germany was fighting to “keep from being starved to death.”
It was a remarkably faulty explanation of the war, with nothing said about Czechoslovakia, the Nazi-Soviet Pact, or Poland. Surely some in the audience, not to mention Edgar reading the speech in New York, recognized it as dubious or downright specious. And when Mooney turned to the United States in it, he grew alarmist. Isolationism would serve U.S. interests best, he said, but America probably could or would not stay out of the war: “We are already conducting an undeclared ‘economic war’ on countries we have identified as our potential enemies,” Mooney claimed, and “have embarked on a stupendous increase in our armaments.” “As time goes on,” he continued, “the general hysteria will be increased in our country by war news and propaganda, a war psychosis will have been generated, and eventually some dramatic incident will be seized upon to precipitate us into the war.”
Instead, he declared, America should use its economic and potential military power to “compel a discussion of peace” between Germany and Britain — giving no hint of the Goering proposal he had lobbied various governments for, including his own, the past seven months. In London, Winston Churchill, after becoming prime minister, had narrowly won a cabinet struggle with Halifax and other Chamberlainites who wanted to seek terms from Hitler. Mooney was proposing that America use its power to force Britain to do just that.
Baker Street Irregulars in a different sense?
On June 18th, General Motors announced that James Mooney would give up his post in New York. Thereafter, in Detroit, he would be special assistant to acting GM President Charles Wilson “for [in Alfred Sloan’s words] the purpose of better coordination and more effective administration of the corporation’s part in the national defense program.” Graeme Howard now became vice president in charge of GM Overseas Operations, with Ed Riley as acting general manager. It is difficult to believe Mooney’s speech in Cleveland did not precipitate the shake-up, but the wartime conversion work he took up was in fact of great importance, and did call for his sort of dynamism.
Before we leave Mr. Mooney for the present, there is one more aspect of special piquancy to us. In June another businessman came to New York, a Canadian named William Stephenson, to be Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) representative. He’d been an aviator in World War I, then in the 1930s part of a British industrial intel-ligence network reporting on German mobilization and rearmament. Some Americans were involved in this as well, notably Philip Astor, a wealthy scion of that storied family who headed a shadowy group of men who, says British GM historian David Hayward, “met monthly at 34 East 62nd Street, New York City, in an apartment: hence was called ‘The Room’—
essentially a private intelligence service that worked in collaboration with the British Secret Intelligence Service or S.I.S. headed by Sir Robert Vansittart until 1937 and thence by Sir Alexander Cadogan, and under them by ‘C,’ Sir Stewart Menzies. The Room was either superseded by or to have had contact with the Walrus Club in N.Y.C., a dining club whose members were Anglophiles. These institutions had the closest of links with the [binational] Ends of the Earth Club and the 1b Club of which Sir Stewart Menzies and Sir William Wiseman [SIS chief in America in World War I] were mem-bers as well. Further, William Stephenson reputedly had Mooney as a member of the ‘Baker Street Irregulars’ [emphasis added], the amateur intelligence-gatherers who had adopted the name of the amateur sleuths that assisted Sherlock Holmes. . . . Whether James D. Mooney was a member of The Room or the Walrus Club, or even knew of their existence is not known, and yet there is a degree of circumstantial evidence concerning the interconnections.
More than a bit woolly but believed by his own family, his son Michael M. Mooney saying in a formal statement after the war that his father had been “a trusted source for British Intelligence. He thought by accepting a commission in the U.S. Navy [in 1937] his intelligence activities would be less ‘unofficial’.” One would like to know if those particular “amateur intelligence-gatherers” were indeed called Baker Street Irregulars by shadowy authorities aware of their activities — and, if James Mooney was part of it, whether his protégé Edgar W. Smith was too. They had, after all, applied for membership in the Army & Navy Club of Washington together in 1938. It is something the definitive Smith biographer will wish to run down.
Autumn 1938 to autumn 1939 had witnessed Munich, Kristallnacht , Hitler’s seizure of Czechoslovakia, the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and the invasion of Poland. Now Edgar’s wife’s native land was also at war with Germany once again (though few actual hostilities had occurred for the better part of a year), and his long-time mentor Jim Mooney had been acting as Hermann Goering’s emissary to Paris, London, and Washington, even after Goering pulled the plug on the original proposal. What Edgar thought of this is not recorded, but he surely boggled, quite aside from his occupational concern with what would become of GM’s Opel works now that Germany had gone to war. Perhaps in his mind was his own neutrality toward Europe’s war in 1914-15, and how differently he’d come to feel subsequently.
Getting to Know the Irregulars
It was some time before he indicated his mind to his still-small Irregular circle, as far as the surviving correspondence indicates. In 1939-40, he appears to have wanted to know the Irregulars better. He had previously met Felix Morley, and could not have failed to be aware of his isolationist leanings, since Felix had made them clear as editor of the Washington Post in the 1930s, and was making them clear again. Edgar read the Saturday Review of Literature now, and in October 15, 1938’s issue would have seen, by Christopher Morley, a prelim-inary version of what soon appeared in book form as History of an Autumn , legitimizing Neville Chamberlain’s Munich Agreement. The New York Times ’ “Books Published To-day” column of November 25th called it “a mental history of the average man during the recent crisis,” and the newspaper’s book reviewer said scoldingly:
Mr. Morley is on the whole rather surprisingly optimistic. He is optimistic because he is one of those who believe that the Peace of Munich is — even if impermanent — a real peace. “If no one wins a war, no one loses a peace,” he says, with better balance of phrase than of thinking.
Edgar likely agreed privately with the reviewer’s conclusion: “Mr. Morley’s book does not prove a case: it expresses honestly what the author believes and what many others believe with him. And no one can read this little book without a deep sense of the tragedy not only of war’s actual destruction, but its defeat of beauty and thought and spiritual values, its negation of civilization, its terrible withering of life.”
No surprise then, if Edgar was discreet about such subjects in his fledgling Irregular correspondence. In January 1940, Chris Morley arranged for Felix to speak at the BSI’s revival dinner at the Murray Hill Hotel. (Felix had left Washington to serve as president of their Quaker alma mater , Haverford College.) Boston’s James Keddie Sr., reporting to Vincent Starrett by letter on February 7th, said that Felix “proved (I think!) that Watson’s clear-sightedness had enabled him to envision Chamberlain and Anthony Eden, and he read descriptions of the callers at Baker Street in the matter of ‘The Second Stain’ that quite bore him out. He also suggested that only Hitler could have written the impetuous and irresponsible letter which caused all the trouble.” Edgar enjoyed Felix’s joke his dinner minutes said: “The piece de resistance of the evening was the presentation of a paper by Mr. Felix Morley on ‘The Significance of the Second Stain,’ which dealt convincingly, if somewhat metaphysically, with the current political and diplomatic implications foreshadowed by this 19th Century ac-count of international intrigue.”
If Edgar had spoken freely, he could have said a great deal himself that night about international intrigue, without once departing from his own work-life. But when he did express his views, somewhat metaphysically himself, it was as a veiled advocate of U.S. aid to Britain’s war effort, with a fatalistic view of what Britons were calling “the phony war” and the Germans Sitzkrieg . It appeared in the letters column of the New York Times :
“Holmesian Prophecy Recalled”
I wonder how many of us who fear the holocaust of a total war in the spring will remember and take courage from the prophetic words uttered by Sherlock Holmes on the night of Aug. 2, 1914, at the conclusion of the last — and the most significant — of all of the adventures that filled his great career. Then, standing in the road with the spy von Bork safely trussed and ready for delivery to his just desserts, and with the lights of Harwich shining in the distance, one of the most beloved characters in our fiction pointed to a moon-lit sea and said to his chronicler and friend:
“There’s an east wind coming, Watson.”
“I think not, Holmes. It is very warm.”
“Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There’s an east wind coming, all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it’s God’s own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.”
May the great man be right again!
It was not a prospect Edgar could view unemotionally: his oldest son was an ROTC student at Princeton University. But neither could Jim Mooney, to be fair. His oldest son was entering the U.S. Naval Academy, and his daughter was in England, as a volunteer in the Anglo-American Ambulance Corps, and engaged to an RAF pilot. Piece by piece, the world and its children were going to war.
Edgar’s Irregular correspondence in 1940 dealt then with 221B: Studies in Sherlock Holmes , returning to the welcome pre-war custom of winter vacationing in Florida, helping conduct the revival BSI dinner and seeing to its aftermath, his eagerness to see BSI scion societies come about, meeting Dr. Julian Wolff who would draw Holmesian maps for Edgar’s next Pamphlet House project, Baker Street and Beyond , and even purchasing the country house below in Basking Ridge, N.J., for his family, and dubbing it “Thorneycroft.”
At work, not Jim Mooney’s escapades alone consumed his time. Edgar remained busy with the World’s Fair and its World Trade Center, and in February he spoke on “Management Efficiencies Inherent in a Free Enterprise System” to the Society for the Advancement of Management. He may have been gratified by the letter from Secretary of State Cordell Hull to the April meeting of NYU’s Foreign Trade Club, whose import was described by the New York Times as: “Hull Reveals Gain Over Reich’s Trade.” Edgar never lacked a wide array of issues to occupy his working hours, even though he now made time for Baker Street too.
What Edgar thought of Jim Mooney’s June 1st speech in Cleveland, so selectively misleading about the causes of the war, and of Mooney’s extended argument in the August 3rd Saturday Evening Post , is not hard to imagine. Mooney’s article was a public affairs headache with which Edgar in particular, with his responsibilities at work, had to cope, because it garnered considerable adverse publicity after the political periodical P.M. made Jim Mooney a subject of its Fifth Column series “How Hitler Spreads His Net in US.” (And Mooney wasn’t done: in October he was urged by the World War I chief of British intelligence in America, Sir William Wiseman, to continue his efforts, leading to new meetings with Archbishop Spellman exploring the possibility of the Vatican fronting a peace initiative.)
America and a New World Order — To Pearl Harbor
And Beyond — “interpretation of politico-economic trends”
1 “Clinical Notes of a Resident Patient,” Baker Street Journal , July 1946, in Irregular Memories of the ’Thirties , pp. 15-16. For a full account of the 1940 BSI annual dinner, see that volume’s ch. 16, and my 1998 BSJ Christmas Annual, “Entertainment and Fantasy”: The 1940 BSI Dinner.
2 P. M. Stone, “Just the Other Day (In Fond Tribute to E.W.S.),” Baker Street Journal , April 1961, pp. 74-80.
3 General Motors Documents Relating to World War II Corporate Activities in Europe, Box 4, Folder 3706-3717, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University.
4 James D. Mooney papers, Georgetown University.
5 Mooney, “War or Peace in America?” (Cleveland, Ohio, June 1, 1940), in Vital Speeches of the Day , vol. 6, no. 17, June 15, 1940, pp. 542-44. In the August 3rd issue of the Saturday Evening Post , Mooney expanded significantly on his speech, for nationwide consumption. Alfred Sloan told him that he “had not agreed with your thinking — not that I would not like to see it come about, but to my mind it is thoroughly impossible. A racketeer is an outlaw. He will never recognize anything but force. The only way to meet the issue is through more force.” Turner, p. 126.
6 David Hayward, “James D. Mooney: A Man of Missions,” www. gmhistorian.btinternet.co.uk/JamesMooney.htm. Irregulars here should not be confused with the nickname later given to Britain’s Special Oper-ations Executive (because its offices were originally in Baker Street), which was still some time off.
7 General Motors Documents Relating to World War II Corporate Activities in Europe, Box 1, Folder 476-494, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University. (Statement by Colonel Edward I. Barlow, wartime head of Military Intelligence in New York City, on GM Overseas Operations war effort and intelligence assistance, December 19, 1975.)
8 It was, though, enough for me to make Edgar part of a pro-Allied cabal or two in my novel Baker Street Irregular (2010), in ch. 9, pp. 171-74, ch. 10, pp. 190-91, ch. 11, p. 213, and ch. 12, p. 227.
9 Elliott V. Bell, “Miscellaneous Brief Reviews,” New York Times , December 11, 1938. Morley’s book had a second printing by January 4th. A later Times book reviewer called it “widely read,” saying scornfully: “Calm Mr. Morley puffed his pipe and all but endorsed, with Bunny Austin, the principle of Moral Rearmament” — a movement advocating “the art of living together once more” whose spokesman H. W. Austin, a former British tennis champion, was on a U.S. speaking tour for his book Moral Rearmament: The Battle for Peace . Ralph Thompson, “Books of Our Times,” New York Times , January 23, 1939. Historian Frederick Lewis Allen gave Morley’s book a similarly regretful review in the December 3, 1938 Saturday Review of Literature.
10 In my “Entertainment and Fantasy”: The 1940 BSI Dinner (my BSJ 1998 Christmas Annual), p. 43.
11 Ibid. , p. 8 in Irregular Memories of the ‘Thirties , op. cit. , p. 224.
12 New York Times , February 17, 1940. (Letter dated February 14th.)
13 As a boy, Edgar’s family had what James Morris called “his father’s modest summer place on Staten Island,” in “Memoirs of Edgar W. Smith,” op cit. , p. 93.
14 “Management Men to Hear Smith,” New York Times , February 12, 1940.
15 New York Times , April 30, 1940.
16 Referring to the late 1940s, when Edgar was even busier with Baker Street affairs, including at work, his secretary Dee Alexander said: “Edgar Smith was liked by everyone and nobody in General Motors ever said anything about his ‘hobby.’ I don’t think they cared. He worked very hard on G.M. matters too. He was a brilliant G.M. man.” Letter to the author, June 5, 1998. Dee Alexander worked hard too: “Smith did much of his BSI work at home — writing out his letters for me to type the next day. He was forever going to G.M. meetings so I had a chance to do the BSI letters while he was away. It was always a busy, busy job.” Letter to the author, July 9, 1998. In the January 1948 Baker Street Journal , she wrote about it in an essay called “My First Meeting with Sherlock Holmes,” whose text is in my Irregular Crises of the Late ’Forties , pp. 60-62.
17 And I did so in my novel Baker Street Irregular , pp. 171-74. See also its companion volume Sources and Methods (2015), pp. 60-61.
8 February 1940 - History
ARGUS ARGOFLEX EF - 1948-51. The EF was a Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) made by Argus from 1948 through 1951. It took 620 roll film and had an aperture range of f4.5 to f18 with a 75mm lens. The body was metal and it had flash sync. Shutter 1/10 - 1/200 second, time and bulb. The tag with the set above indicated a price of $91.88, but did not include the lens hood, adapter and filter. That may not seem to be a lot, but in 2012 dollars it would be $877.71! The winning bid on eBay was $16.17. The camera is in near mint condition and the leather case shows little use other than wrinkles at bend points. For those with a small budget who would like to develope a reasonable collection without spending too much, the above is a good example of what to look for: 1) Low minimum bid with few or no bidders, 2) excellent to near mint condition, 3) Original box, manual and other accessories. Although some camera owners are ardent photographers, many cameras, especially movie cameras, spend most of their life tucked away in a drawer, thus remain in excellent condition. At any one time there are thousands of vintage cameras listed for sale on eBay. If you are willing to spend the time searching through the listing several times a month you will be able to build an impressive camera collection with minimum expenditure.
KODAK VIGILANT JUNIOR SIX-20- 1940-48. The Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-20 was a folding camera made in the USA and Canada by Kodak from 1940 to 1948. It took 6x9cm images on 620 film. It was similar to the Kodak Vigilant Six-20, but with a simpler lens and shutter. There was also a larger model, the Vigilant Junior Six-16. The camera came equipped with either a simple fixed focus Kodet meniscus lens in a Dak shutter, or a better 3 element Bimat lens in a Dakon shutter. This particular sample is in excellent condition and was purchased on eBay with the original box and manual for $10. Original MSRP $11.00 ($170 in 2010).
KODAK 35 RANGEFINDER - 1940-51. The 35 Rangefinder was introduced t o compete with the Argus C-series. The rangefinder was gear-coupled to the front lens element through a cumbersome external linkage. This resulted in a camera design that has been described as "one that only a mother could love". Anastigmat 50mm f/3.5 lens. Shutter 1/10 - 1/200 second.
AGFA B2 SPEEDEX - 1940-50. There were apparently two versions of the B2, the first having a silver shutter button and the second sold 1946-50 having a red shutter button. Lens f/4.5 85 mm. Shutter 1/2-1/250 sec, B, T. The above camera in excellent condition was obtained on eBay for $10.50.
FIRST U.S. COMMERCIAL TELEVISION LICENSE - 1941. On July 1, 1941, NBC was the first to have commercially sponsored broadcasts. CBS, DuMont and others followed that Fall. NBC began with a 10 second "Bulova" watch commercial. This first commercial, a simple picture of a clock and a map of the United States with a voice-over proclaiming, "America runs on Bulova time," gave the network a profit of $7.00!
AGFA / ANSCO READYSET SPECIAL - 1941. Bellows type cameras continued to be common up through the 40's. The Readyset Special was produced by the AGFA Ansco Corporation, Binghampton, NY. It is not necessary to spend a lot of money to have a nice camera collection. The above camera was purchased for less than $20 in like-new condition.
WESTON MASTER II MODEL 735 - 1945-55. Ask the typical consumer camera owner today what a light meter is and most could not tell you even though they make use of one every time they take a photograph. All new cameras now except the very cheapest and some speciality models have the light meter built in. This was not so in the past. Before so much technology was built into the camera itself it was necessary for the photographer to use some type of device to determine the strength of the light in order to properly set aperture and shutter speed. Weston was one of a number of companes that produced hand-held light meters over the years, but no longer do so bcause of the almost total dominence of cameras with internal light meters. Light meters came in two general types those that read reflected light and were pointed at the subject, and those that read light fallling on the subject and were thus pointed at the light source. Some types did both. The above light meter was donated to the museum by Joan Klonowski, Grants, New Mexico.
KODAK BROWNIE TARGET SIX-20- 1946-52. Donated by Susie and Kevin Casanova. A continuation of the cardboard Brownie cameras that began in the late 1800s. Designed for 620 film, but due the difficulty of finding that film today some users wind 120 film onto 620 spools. Design on the front of this camera and many similar Brownies is called Art Deco. The above sample is relatively uncommon due to its excellent condition. There is no visible wear on the edges of the covering, probably due to being stored away for most of its life. Original MSRP in 1946 $3.50. Shown with a Kodak developing tank of the early 1900s.
A VERY SPECIAL HANEEL TRI VISION – 1946-49. This camera belonged to Norman Breslow. Yes, the same Norman Breslow who was the originator of the process for digitally altering photos prior to the development of apps for doing such artwork and who is shown on our 1991 page. Norman didn't use this camera for any of his projects, but the mere fact that he owned it makes it a collectible item. The Haneel Tri-Vision was a Bakelite stereo camera for making 28x28mm double exposures on 828 roll film. It was made by the Haneel Company in Los Angeles, CA. The first version had a Bakelite back, the later metal back was an improvement. The camera has a characteristic rounded shape. Together with the aperture adjustment knob between the two Lestra-Lite 1:4.5/60mm lenses and the two shutter release buttons, one for 1/50 sec and the other for B mode, the camera has a very individualistic design.
HOUGHTON ENSIGN FUL VUE - 1946. Houghton cameras date back to 1834 when George Houghton joined Antoine Claudet as a glass seller. After the announcement of the Daguerreotype process in 1839, Claudet secured a license directly from Daguerre and spent most of his time operating his own studio while Houghton began selling Daguerreotype requisites. The firm came together for manufacturing purposes with W. Butcher in 1915 and they merged as Houghton-Butcher Ltd. and a selling arm, Ensign Ltd, was set up in 1930. George Houghton's sons and grandsons continued in the business until the firm disappeared in 1961. The Ensign model of 1946 was of an unusual design and made entirely of metal. It was also sold in red, blue and grey. If you find one in other than the four original colors, it is because some owners have applied their own. Many such unique cameras can be purchased at very low prices in excellent condition for those looking for an educational hobby to pursue. Now is a good time to begin camera collecting as the advent of digital photography has brought untold numbers of film cameras onto the market. Searching for the word camera on eBay under the drop-down menu of cameras and photo elicits more than one hundred thousand items!
ANSCO SPEEDEX 4.5 - 1946. At the beginning of the 1900's the Ansco trademark was found on many excellent large-format bellows cameras made for professional use, in addition to a range of smaller medium format pocket folding cameras which used the 116, 616 and 818 film formats. After a merger with Agfa in 1928, Ansco products began to include U.S versions of several Agfa models, which in North America displayed the Agfa-Ansco trademark. For most of the 1950's, a good number of Ansco's better 35mm and medium format cameras were imported directly from Germany and were for the most part relabelled Agfas. As a camera collector I never cease to be amazed at the condition of numerous readily available vintage cameras. The above Ansco with leather case was purchased in virtually mint condition ($44) despite being sixty years old. Would that we could all be such condition at that age!
WHITTAKER MICRO 16 - 1946. If you're into spy cameras, the Micro 16 should be in your collection. The Whittaker Micro 16 is smaller than a pack of cigarettes at 2 3/4 x 1 x 2 inches, yet this all metal subminiature is heavy at 8 3/8oz. It was made in Los Angeles, California by the Wm. R. Whittaker Co. Ltd. The firm was owned by William and Robert Whittaker, makers of aircraft parts. The camera was designed to fit into a cigarette wrapper and hundreds where sold to police departments and detective bureaus throughout the United States. Numbers on the counter show through the small hole in the back of the camera. The above camera in excellent condition was purchased on eBay for $17.
KEYSTONE K-25 CAPRI– 1946. . Keystone Mfg. Co., Boston, began to sell their equipment through Paramount Mfg. Co, Warren Mfg. Co. and Sears Roebuck. This is the type of movie camera most amateurs had to deal with for many years – windup power supply, guess at the correct f/stop and depend on the fixed-focus lens to obtain a viewable image – a feat seldom accomplished by most. No wonder amateur movie makers were delighted with cameras such as the electronic Yashica Super 60E (1968) that came onto the market in the 60’s. Keystone was bought out in 1965 by Berkey. Subsequently, in 1991, Keystone stock and brand names were bought by Concord Camera Corp. Avenel, NY, USA .
BELL & HOWELL MASTER 400 FILMO 122 8mm PROJECTOR - 1946. Typical of projectors of that era with very sturdy construction. Projectors of this type can be purchased in excellent working condition for as little as $10-20, but beware, you may have to pay $50-60 for a bulb! The photo on the right is an oil painting of the Master 400 by Wendy Chidester that sold for several thousand dollars.
GRAFLEX CROWN GRAPHIC PACEMAKER- 1947-1970. One of a wide variety of so called "Press Cameras" made by Graflex which were used quite extensively by news photographers. The pacemaker model was available in 21/4 x 31/4, 3 x 4, and 4 x5. Early models had a side-mounted Kalart rangefinder. In some models an attachment called the Focuspot containing a light bulb could be fitted to the top of the rangefinder. A light beam could then be sent through the two windows of the rangefinder onto the subject. When the beams merged the subject was in focus. In 1995 the Kalart was replaced with a top-mounted Graflex rangefinder. The speed Graphic models were equipped with a focal plane shutter, but the Pacemaker models had front shutter only. A wide variety of accessories were made for Graflex press cameras over the years, a few of which are shown above. These cameras are readily available on eBay and other sites in a variety of conditions and at a variety of prices.
KEYSTONE K-774 ELECTRIC EYE ZOOM- 1947-1955. With zoom and automatic exposure control, the K-744 was one of the better amateur movie cameras of the time. This sample in near mint condition along with a Kestone movie light, also working and in like new condition, was purchased on eBay for $15.50.
STEKY 16mm Subminiature - 1947-57. The Steky is a series of 16mm cameras introduced in Japan after WW2. The first camera with the Steky name appeared in 1947. It was the first "successful" Japanese camera to use 16mm film. Most of the 16mm cameras at that time were of low quality, toy-like. However, the Steky came with interchangeable lenses, variable shutter and aperture speeds in a very well-built camera. The basic camera was flexible, but there were also many accessories available: a 40mm (f5.6 - 16) telephoto lens, a 40mm (f3.2 - 16) lens, and a 17mm wide-angle slip-on converter, filters (UV, red, green, 80A), lens hoods, cases, pocket tripod, flash gun, viewfinder masks, clip-on viewfinders and leather case. The Model IIIA (above) had interchangeable, fixed-focus 25mm (f3.5-16) lens shutter B, 1/25-1/100. Steky cameras are fairly common on eBay, usually 2-3 dozen models with various accessories (and prices) available at most times.
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Shockley, Bardeen, and Brattain The First Transistor
Click for Enlarged View
THE TRANSISTOR - 1947. In 1956, the Nobel Prize was shared by William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain of Bell Labs for their work in developing the transistor.
ZENITH COMET - 1948. The Zenith Comet is known primarily for two things - cheapness of construction and weirdness of function. The quality of construction would be an embarrassment even to the Russians. The Comet shown above was made by the Zenith Camera Corporation in Chicago, but others were apparently manufactured in Webster, NY. The focus has two positions: under ten feet and over ten feet. If the subject is less than ten feet away the lens is left all the way in. If the distance is over ten feet the lens is pulled all the way out. The shutter is cocked by turning a small knob on the front of the lens and then snapped by pushing a button, also on the front of the lens. The viewfinder is located such that it is necessary to look through a peephole in the rear door of the camera in order to frame the subject. The Comet was apparently produced for a number of years with little modification. The one shown above was found new in its original box in a store that closed in 1948 and was not reopened until the 80's. One difference in later models is the inclusion of increment marks on the side of the lens. There is no need for such marks on this early model as it moves only 1/8 of an inch! A second difference between late and early models is the design on the box. A third difference is that later models had a lever on the right side of the lens that allowed the user to select either f/11 or f/16.
INSTANT PHOTOGRAPHY - 1947. On February 21, 1947, Edwin Land demonstrated instant film at the Optical Society of America meeting in New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_H._Land
EDWIN LAND MARKETS THE POLAROID MODEL-95 - 1948. First commercially successful self-developing camera system. On November 26, 1948, the first instant camera, Polaroid Model 95, and film (40 series roll film) were sold to the public at the Jordan Marsh department store (now Macy’s) in Boston, Massachusetts. Ansel Adams was hired by Polaroid's founder, Edwin H. Land, as a consultant to test new films and analyze results.
EDWIN LAND MARKETS THE POLAROID MODEL 95 - 1948. First commercially successful self-developing camera system. On November 26, 1948, the first instant camera,the Polaroid Model 95 and film (40 series roll film) were sold to the public at the Jordan Marsh department store (now Macy’s) in Boston, Massachusetts. Ansel Adams was hired by Polaroid's founder, Edwin H. Land, as a consultant to test new films and analyze results. The Model 95 used twin rolls of film dropped into opposite ends of the body. Later Polaroid models used single rolls of film with all chemicals contained in the one roll.
CABLE TELEVISION - 1948. Cable television, first called "community antenna television," was launched in small towns in Pennsylvania and Oregon as local electronics entrepreneurs constructed antennas on hilltops to transport distant television signals to areas with little or no over-the-air television reception:
(1) John Walson, an appliance store owner in the small town of Mahanoy City in the mountains of Pennsylvania.
(2) Ed Parsons sold electronics equipment and ran a radio station in Astoria, Oregon. On Thanksgiving Day, 1948, the Parsonses watched KRSC’s inaugural broadcast even though the TV station was 150 miles away in Seattle. Parsons had found he could pick up a usable signal on the roof of the John Jacob Astor Hotel where he lived. He set up an antenna there and strung a cable from it to his living room. When Parsons installed a set in the hotel lobby, it attracted so many gawkers that guests could not reach the registration desk. Then he put a set in a store window across the street and brought the signal to it with coaxial cable - the first recorded use of coaxial to carry television.
http://www.todayinsci.com/
GE DW-68 - 1948. The first of the DW-68s required the use of GE's Film Values booklet in order to properly use their light meter as the ASA system was not yet adopted. Later film values booklets contained both GE and ASA film values. The above meter in excellent condition with original box, case,manual and film values booklet was obtained on eBay for $14. Original MSRP $24-$27 (about $220-$245 in 2011 dollars).
KODAK TOURIST CAMERA - 1948. Very enjoyable collections dedicated to a single brand of cameras or series within a single brand can often be built at minimal cost. Kodak has produced hundreds of models over the years and most are still available in collectible condition at low prices. The Kodak Tourist Camera shown above was purchased in like-new condition with original manual in excellent condition and original box in good condition for only $20. Film: 620 2 1/4 x 2 1/4. Lens: Kodak Anaston F:6.3, 105 mm. Shutter: Kodak Flash Diomatic.
ARGUS ARGOFLEX SEVENTY-FIVE - 1949-58. Donated by Susie and Kevin Casanova. One of a number of inexpensive cameras designed to resemble their more expensive twin lens-reflex cousins. Used 620 film which is now hard to find. Some users roll 120 film onto 620 spools in order to operate the camera.
LEITZ BINDOMAT - 1949. The Bindomat was designed to ease the process of binding the edges of slides encased in glass. This sample in excellent condition was obtained on eBay for $18, which by coincidence, was the original MSRP, however, $18 in 1949 would be about $166 today.
XEROX MODEL A - 1949. The first commercial copiers produced by Xerox were large and difficult to operate. Introduced in 1949, the Model A required multiple manual steps to produce a single copy. The engineers at Haloid read Carlson's manual about the copying process and followed it step by step. An early Haloid (Xerox) brochure described thirty-nine steps for making good copies on its first commercial copier which was sometimes called the Ox Box.
FEDERAL 16-A - 1949. Federal of Brooklyn, a well-known manufacturer of enlargers at that time, marketed the model 16-A, a unique enlarger designed to copy negatives from 8mm or 16mm film onto 127 film so that prints could more easily be made with commonly available enlargers.
UNIVERSAL CAMERA COPORATION MINUTE 16 - 1949-52. The Minute 16 recorded twelve images on a 16mm film cartridge. Shutter 1/60 sec. Lens f/6.3, f/8, f/11, f/16. In used condition, the Minute 16 by itself is commonly available on e-Bay for $25-50. The complete set with flash may sell for several times that. Original catalog ad shown on lower left. Minute 16 case and 16mm film cartridge shown on lower right. The above camera in unused condition was donated to the museum collection by Joan Klonowski, Grants, New Mexico.
It reached - 60 °C during 'Worst Storm in Canadian Railroad History'
Monday, February 8th 2021, 6:04 am - Transporation Saskatchewan came to a halt.
Thursday, Jan. 30, 1947, was the first day of a 10-day blizzard that hit the south of Saskatchewan. And not just your average 10-day winter storm, the "Worst Storm in Canadian Railroad History" according to Environment Canada.
The entire province was essentially forced to shut down.
Courtesy of Saskatchewan Archives Board
The storm wrapped up on Feb. 8, but it concocted some unbelievable conditions during its stay.
On Feb. 3, Regina set a North American record with the ridiculous temperature of - 60 °C.
Harold Orr -Saskatchewan blizzard of 1947. Courtesy of Saskatchewan Archives Board
All highways that led in and out of Regina were closed for 10 days. Some roads remained closed until the spring.
Railway transportation had to cease operations for weeks. Crews had to shovel several metres of snow just to find the tracks.
Courtesy of Saskatchewan Archives Board
Ground transportation in and out of Saskatchewan came to a halt.
This of course caused supply issues. Between the snow and the cold, it was almost impossible to get deliveries or to go out for home essentials, like food and coal.
Photo of C.N.R. train buried by 1947. Courtesy of Saskatchewan Archives Board
A hundred carloads of coal were stranded in Regina. People tried to travel on a sleigh to get to trains that were loaded with goods, but their mode of transportation could not hold up against the wind.
Farmers had trouble feeding their animals. Butchers ran out of their meat supply. Butter and yeast were also sold out. People had to get creative with baking.
Schools had no fuel and were forced to close. Homes and businesses reduced their heat consumption as municipal power plants rationed electricity with "dim-outs."
We think Environment Canada got it right when saying "Worst Storm in Canadian Railroad History."
To hear more about this record-breaking storm, listen to today's episode of "This Day In Weather History."
This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by The Weather Network that features unique and informative stories from host Chris Mei.
Historical Context
Wikipedia: 1940-1949
Events:
- 1940 – Ties become wider, with bolder patterns that range from art deco designs to tropical themes.
- 1942 – Rosie the Riveter is the star of a song that praises the American women working in factories. Her much-admired practical image has her dressed in blue coveralls, hair concealed underneath a red spotted scarf.
- 1943 – The Zoot Suit riots explode in Los Angeles, California. White sailors and marines take umbrage at young Mexican-Americans wearing suits that use large amounts of cloth.
- 1944 – Rationing becomes severe, and where economies in designs can be made, they are. Fabrics are cheap and cuts are sparing. A highly visible, military presence provides inspiration for designers during wartime. Civilian fashion seeks to emulate the uniform of servicemen and women.
- 1946 – The first Paris collections after the war foreshadow Dior’s New Look of 1947.
- 1947 – Princess Elizabeth of Great Britain marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten her Norman Hartnell wedding dress is the main topic of conversation. Dior shows his first collection, immediately named “The New Look” by American fashion editor Carmel Snow, putting Paris back on the fashion map.
- 1948 – The 21st academy awards introduces an award for Best Costume Design.
- 1949 – Dorothy Shaver, president of Lord and Taylor department store, launches a line of casual but elegant sportswear dubbed “The American Look.” It is based on an earlier advertising campaign featuring designs by Claire McCardell, Clare Potter, and Bonnie Cashin.
On The Last Day Of Black History Month, Here Are 10 Important Moments That Happened Feb. 28
B lack History Month originated in 1926, founded by Carter G. Woodson and was created to celebrate achievements, births, important timelines, events and to remember those we lost. However, this year it has been a wild Black History Month.
There was Gucci. After an avalanche of criticism, the luxury branded ended sales of its $890 balaclava black-knit women’s sweater that could be pulled up over the lower half of the wearer’s face. It featured signature bright red lips associated with blackface as a cut-out for the mouth. Due to the backlash, Gucci announced initiatives that included hiring global and regional directors for diversity and inclusion, creating a multicultural design scholarship program, launching a diversity and inclusivity awareness program, and implementing a global exchange program.
Soon after Burberry, had to apologize for a hoodie with a noose around the neck.
Just yesterday, during Michael Cohen testimony, Republican Rep. Mark Meadows pulled out Lynne Patton, who is reportedly Eric Trump‘s former party planner, to prove 45 could not be racist. Meadows babbled,“Lynne Patton says she would not work for a man who is racist… She disagrees with you. She says as a daughter of a man born in Birmingham, Alabama, that there is no way that she would work for an individual who was a racist.” Meadows, who somehow believes Patton represents all African Americans, asked, “How do you reconcile the two of those?”
As Patton silently stood behind Meadows, willingly debasing herself even more than she already has being part of the Trump administration, Cohen said, “Ask Ms. Patton how many Black people are executives at the Trump Organization? The answer is zero.”
During Cohen’s opening remarks he said about Trump, “He is a racist. The country has seen Mr. Trump court white supremacists and bigots. You have heard him call poorer countries ‘shitholes.’ In private, he is even worse. He once asked me if I could name a country run by a black person that wasn’t a ‘shithole.’ This was when Barack Obama was President of the United States.”
He continued, “While we were once driving through a struggling neighborhood in Chicago, he commented that only Black people could live that way. And, he told me that Black people would never vote for him because they were too stupid.”
For all of these reasons, we had to close Black History Month with some positivity.
1. Hattie McDaniel Wins An Oscar
In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first Black person to win an Oscar. She won for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in “Gone With The Wind” at the 12th Academy Awards.
2. Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley passed away on Feb. 28, 1784. She was only 31, but she is the first African-American woman to be published, paving the way for so many after her.
Alco "S-1" Locomotives
The Alco S-1 was one of the first switcher models the company produced and debuted just after the company had released its first ever main line design, the DL series.
The American Locomotive Company's history with switchers actually dated as far back as the boxcab design it had developed in conjunction with General Electric and Ingersoll-Rand in 1918 for the Jay Street Connecting Railroad (#4).
In 1931 it began constructing more standard designs beginning with a 300 horsepower variant (despite railfans classifying these switchers as "High Hood" types, Alco never used such terminology as John Kirkland notes in his book, "The Diesel Builders: Volume Two").
Along with this model Alco built 600, 660, 900, and 1,000 horsepower versions through July, 1940. Convinced that it could successfully market a line of switchers, the builder released its "S" series (Switcher) soon after.
The dichotomy of Alco is fascinating the builder proved quite successful with its switchers and light road-switcher models (RS-1, RS-2, and RS-3).
However, it struggled to catalog an effective and rugged road-switcher design that could handle the stresses and beating of daily freight service. Today, numerous S1's are preserved around the country, many of which are still operational.

The Alco S1 was first produced in 1940 featuring an end-cab design using McIntosh & Seymore's 539 model prime mover. The model came equipped with 660 horsepower and was well liked by short lines and Class Is for yard work and light branch line duties.
The engine the S1 employed proved quite adept in this capacity although the builder would come to find that producing a reliable main line design was a far trickier task.
This was mostly due to the fact that the Schenectady manufacturer did not see diesel locomotives as standard freight and passenger power, a fatal decision that would haunt the company for years. In any event, to its credit Alco correctly foresaw the demand for switchers, at least early with first-generation examples.
Alco's Other Switcher Models
The S1 employed many design characteristics that the company had refined during its early years of collaborating with Ingersoll-Rand and GE, particularly during the construction of its initial switcher line.
This series was produced in conjunction with Westinghouse and McIntosh & Seymore featuring the former's "Visibility Cab" design, which was wider and, usually, taller (unless the hood was mounted flush with the top of the cab) than the trailing hood to give crews maximum visibility.
Alco would make this cab the standard for its S series and early RS (Road Switcher) locomotives. The manufacturer also carried over the carbody design features Otto Kuhler had employed on the HH locomotives, primarily in the way of soft bevels and curves.

The Alco S1 was classed by Alco as its E1530 design and was quite similar to its later S3 model (actually, all of the S series locomotives were very similar in appearance, externally).
It featured four, General Electric model 731 traction motors and also used main/secondary generators from the company. Additionally, Westinghouse supplied all air components (both companies supplied Alco with these parts virtually through the end of its time as a locomotive manufacturer).
For a small switcher that only weighed 105 tons it could produce quite a bit of tractive effort 57,500 pounds starting and 46,000 pounds continuous (a trait certainly not missed by railroads).
Alco S1 Data Sheet
Alco S1 Production Roster
Owner | Road Number(s) | Quantity | Date Built |
---|---|---|---|
Alco (Demo) | 660 (To Tacoma Municipal Belt Line Railway, #905) | 1 | 1950 |
Alco (Plant Switcher) | 5 | 1 | 1947 |
Alco (U.S. War Department) | GT-1304 | 1 | 1942 |
Alabama Great Southern (Southern) | 6501-6502 | 2 | 1941 |
Alameda Belt Line | D-1, D-2, D-3 | 3 | 1942-1946 |
American Steel & Wire | 2 | 1 | 1941 |
Ann Arbor | 2-3 | 2 | 1944 |
Armco Steel | E106, E107, E108 | 3 | 1949-1950 |
Baltimore & Ohio | 223-227, 250 | 6 | 1944 |
Belt Railway Of Chicago | 304-306 | 3 | 1941-1942 |
Birmingham Southern | 100-101 | 2 | 1941 |
Boston & Maine | 1163-1172 | 10 | 1944-1949 |
Broward County Port Authority | 410 | 1 | 1943 |
Canadian Car & Munitions (Canada) | 5 | 1 | 12/1941 |
Central Of Georgia | 4, 6 | 2 | 1940-1941 |
Central Railroad Of New Jersey (CNJ) | 1024-1025 | 2 | 1941 |
Champlain Paper & Fibre | 25 | 1 | 1947 |
Chicago & Eastern Illinois | 103-105 | 3 | 1941-1942 |
Chicago & North Western | 1202-1205, 1213, 1223-1229, 1232-1236, 1247-1258 | 29 | 1941-1948 |
Chicago Great Western | 11-15 | 5 | 1948 |
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha (C&NW) | 56, 57, 69 | 3 | 1944-1948 |
Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific (Southern) | 6000-6001 | 2 | 1941 |
City of Prineville (Oregon) | 101 | 1 | 1950 |
Danner Hanna Coal Company | 2 | 1 | 1941 |
Day & Zimmerman (U.S. Army Munitions Depot, Iowa) | 3-100 | 1 | 1941 |
Defense Plant Corporation | DPC25.23, DPC25.24 | 2 | 1943 |
Delray Connecting | 66, 68, 70, 72 | 4 | 1945 |
Des Moines Union | 1-4 | 4 | 1940-1946 |
Detroit & Mackinac | 646 | 1 | 1946 |
East St. Louis Junction | 100 | 1 | 1948 |
Elgin, Joliet & Eastern | 213-217 | 5 | 1940-1941 |
Erie Railroad | 306-321 | 16 | 1946-1950 |
Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil (Brazil) | 3001-3005 | 5 | 11/1942 |
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (Mexico) | 5000-5004 | 5 | 9/1944 |
Ford Motor Company | 6601-6604 | 4 | 1946 |
Great Lakes Steel | 32 | 1 | 1945 |
Green Bay & Western | 102 | 1 | 1949 |
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio | 661-664 | 4 | 1940 |
Hunken Conkey Construction | 1001-1002 | 2 | 1941 |
Inland Steel | 53, 56, 61-62, 64-66 | 7 | 1940-1945 |
Inland Waterway | 1 | 1 | 1942 |
Iowa Transfer | 2 | 1 | 1950 |
John Morrel Company | 7 | 1 | 1941 |
kalamazoo, Green Bay & Western | 103 | 1 | 1941 |
Kansas City Terminal | 40-44 | 5 | 1940-1941 |
Lehigh Valley | 117 | 1 | 1950 |
Long Island Rail Road | 404-408, 413-421 | 14 | 1946-1949 |
Louisville & Nashville | 16-19, 24-39, 34-68 | 55 | 1941-1950 |
Maine Central | 953-960 | 8 | 1941-1949 |
Margam Steel Works (Wales/United Kingdom) | 801-805 | 5 | 10/1949-2/1950 |
Massena Terminal | 8-9 | 2 | 1940-1943 |
Minnesota Transfer | 60-64 | 5 | 1941-1946 |
Missouri Pacific | 9007-9008 | 2 | 1940 |
Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis | 1-4 | 4 | 1941-1946 |
Newburg & South Shore | 3-7, 9-10 | 7 | 1940-1942 |
New Jersey, Indiana & Illinois | 1 | 1 | 1940 |
New Orleans & Lower Coast (MP) | 9013-9015 | 3 | 1947 |
New York Central | 811-873, 950-957 | 71 | 1941-1950 |
Nickel Plate Road | 85 | 1 | 1950 |
New Haven | 931-995 | 65 | 1941-1949 |
Northern Pacific | 131 | 1 | 1945 |
Northern Pacific Terminal | 30-34 | 5 | 1940-1941 |
Pennsylvania | 5661-5670, 5954-5956, 9100-9103, 9137-9146 | 27 | 1947-1950 |
Point Comfort & Northern | 5 | 1 | 1945 |
Port Huron & Detroit | 51-52 | 2 | 1945 |
Portland Terminal | 1005-1008 | 4 | 1945-1949 |
Proctor & Gamble | 9 | 1 | 1948 |
Pullman | 20-21 | 2 | 1941 |
Reading | 50-54 | 5 | 1940-1941 |
Red River Ordnance Depot (U.S. Army) | 7372 | 1 | 1941 |
Republic Steel | 15-17, 312-314, RSCX-D840, RSCX-D841, RSCX-D810 | 9 | 1943-1945 |
River Terminal | 52 | 1 | 1941 |
Santa Fe | 2303-2304 | 2 | 1944 |
St. Louis & O'Fallon | 51 | 1 | 1946 |
Seaboard Air Line | 1201 | 1 | 1941 |
Sheffield Steel Corporation | 11-13 | 3 | 1943-1949 |
Solvay Process Corporation | 1-3 | 3 | 1946 |
South Buffalo Railway | 51-52, 60-61 | 4 | 1940-1941 |
South Omaha Terminal | 1-5 | 5 | 1945-1947 |
Southern Pacific | 1017-1020 | 4 | 1941 |
Southern Railway | 2000-2001, 2006 | 3 | 1940-1941 |
Spokane, Portland & Seattle | 10-11 | 2 | 1941 |
Studebaker Corporation | 2-3 | 2 | 1945 |
Tennessee Central | 51 | 1 | 1941 |
Tennessee Coal & Iron | 700-702 | 3 | 1942-1946 |
Tennessee Copper | 104-105 | 2 | 1947 |
Terminal Railroad Association Of St. Louis (TRRA) | 521-524 | 4 | 1940-1941 |
Texaco | 19 | 1 | 1949 |
Texas & New Orleans (SP) | 10 | 1 | 1941 |
Texas City Terminal | 30-31 | 2 | 1947 |
Texas Pacific-Missouri Pacific Terminal | 3-4 | 2 | 1940-1941 |
Timken Roller Bearing COmpany | 5911-5912 | 2 | 1950 |
Toledo, Angola & Western | 101 | 1 | 1949 |
Truax-Traer Coal Company | 10 | 1 | 1944 |
Union Railroad | 451-454 | 4 | 1947 |
Upper Merion & Plymouth Railroad | 54 | 1 | 1945 |
U.S. Army | 7132-7136, 7141-7142, 7374-7375, 7459-7460 | 11 | 1941-1943 |
Wabash Railroad | 151-159 | 9 | 1941-1948 |
Weirton Steel | 200, 203-204 | 3 | 1945-1946 |
Western Maryland Railway | 102 | 1 | 1941 |
Western Pacific | 504-511 | 8 | 1942 |
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company | 661-665 | 5 | 1947 |
- Foster, Gerald. A Field Guide To Trains. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
- Kirkland, John F. Diesel Builders, The: Volume Two, American Locomotive Company And Montreal Locomotive Works. Glendale: Interurban Press, 1989.
- Pinkepank, Jerry A. Diesel Spotter's Guide. Milwaukee: Kalmbach Publishing Company, 1967.
- Solomon, Brian. Alco Locomotives. Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 2009.

A reliable and agile locomotive, railroads found the S1 incredibly useful. In all, the locomotive would sell more than 500 examples to numerous Class I companies, smaller railroads, and a handful of private industries.
Alco itself even used an S1 for switching duties at its plant, #5. While the Montreal Locomotive Works also produced the S1 few were built, just one was constructed for the Canadian Car & Munitions located in Quebec.
8 February 1940 - History
CLEAR Timeline of
Hawai&lsquoi Labor History
2017
-May 1, Workers' Day March & Rally in Honolulu: 800 union members with banners from twenty different public and private sector unions and supporting organizations rallied at the Hawaiʻi State Capitol and marched to the Federal Building to protest anti-union labor laws being proposed by Congress and the white house after te November election
2016
-12 December, Puʻunēnē, Maui: the last sugar plantation in Hawaiʻi brought in its final haul of sugar cane, marking the end of a more than century-long time period where sugar mills operated in the islands.
-May, BEW Local 1260 is placed in trusteeship by the IBEW International to resolve issues of financial mismanagement, resulting in the resignation of Buiness Manager Bran Ahakuelo and election of new leadership.
2013
-January, workers represented by ILWU, Local 142 overwhelmingly approve their first labor contract with the Pacific Beach Hotel after a strike that dragged on for 10 years despite court rulings & NLRB injunctions over the mass firings, intimidation & other Unfair Labor Practices.
2007
-December 21, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 142 opens a free store stocked with food to help workers who lost their jobs recently at The Pacific Beach Hotel.
-December 17, Represented by Teamsters Local 996, 116 unionized workers in the meat department strike Times Supermaket over medical benefits.
2006
- July 22, after four years of bitter struggles, picketing, and a boycott, UNITE HERE, Local 5 successfully concludes negotiations on a 4-year contract with Benchmark Hospitality for 340 Local 5 members at Turtle Bay Resort.
- June 24 to October 27 (126 day) strike by Hawai&lsquoi Nurses' Association against Wilcox Hospital ends with ratification of a new contract.
2005
-November 1, a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court accusing Wal-Mart in Hawai&lsquoi of wage tampering.
- October 15, as part of its plan to reorganize its financial obligations, Aloha asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris to let the carrier terminate its employee contracts and pension plans.
- September, an attorney for Turtle Bay, embroiled in a long dispute with UNITE HERE Local 5, writes a letter to the local office of the U.S. Department of Justice accusing itself of "illegal benefits to Local 5 representatives" for its previous practice providing union agents with free parking.
- Between June and September, 4 major national unions disaffiliate from the AFL-CIO to form the new "Change to Win Coalition" [Service Employees International Union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, United Food and Commercial Workers, and UNITE HERE], representing about 4 million members, nationally.
- August 19, 22 Northwest Airlines mechanics in Honolulu join the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) national strike over airlines wage cuts and layoffs. Sept 14 the airline filed backruptcy.
- March 30, Nearly 150 substitute public school teachers marched at the state Capitol yesterday afternoon to rally support for back pay, as well as to encourage state lawmakers to pass two bills that address the substitute pay issue.
2004
- December 14, Unity House Inc., the hybrid labor organization created more than 50 years earlier by Art Rutledge, was seized by Internal Revenue Service, following a restraining order issued by Senior U.S. District Judge Samuel King that froze some $42 million in assets held by the nonprofit organization.
- July 1 to July 4, 60 dispatchers and harbor-based personnel represented by the Inland Boatmen's Union strike Young Brothers Ltd. and Hawaiian Tug & Barge.
-June 29, developer Actus Lend Lease and the Hawaii Building and Construction Trades Council sign off on a project labor agreement ("Ohana Stabilization Agreement ") spanning 50 years and covering $5.1 billion in construction and renovation work for military housing in Hawai'i.
-May 3, Five hours after Governor Lingle vetoed an 8 percent wage increase awarded in arbitration, the state senate voted to overide the veto of the raises for the 23,000 members of HGEA affected.
-April 8, University of Hawai&lsquoi faculty represented by UHPA ratify the longest-term (six-year) contract in the history of Hawaii's public sector bargaining. They agree to annual raises for the 3,442 members of the bargaining unit of 1, 3, 2, 5, 9 and 11 percent, in that order, between 2003 and 2009.
-February 6 through April 2, 144 Cement workers represented by Teamster Local 996 strike Ameron for 57 days. They are joined by 60 workers at Hawaiian Cement (from Feb 7 to March 19).
2003
-August 26 through September 28 more than 1,300 O'ahu bus workers represented by Hawaiʻi Teamsters and Allied Workers, Local 996 strike Oahu Transit Services.
- November 26, claiming the hotel was stalling negotiations over the contract covering about 300 workers, which was last renewed in 1999. HERE LOCAL 5 initiates a consumer boycott of Turtle Bay Resort, which was purchased in 2001 by Oaktree Capital Management.
-May 5 through July 17 about 65 Registered Nurses represented by Hawaiʻi Nurses Association Collective Bargaining Organization strike the 162-bed Wahiawa General Hospital for ten weeks.
2002
-December 3, 1400 nurses represented by Hawaiʻi Nurses Assn. strike Queen's Medical Center, Kuakini and St. Francis-Liliha medical centers (three of the Big Five Hawai&lsquoi hospitals).
- November 19, Gary Rodrigues, State Director of United Public Workers Union (AFSCME Local 646) is convicted of 101 counts of mail fraud, money laundering and embezzlement. Two days later AFSCME, UPW's parent national union, suspends him from office and subsequently places UPW in an administrative trusteeship.
- September, ILWU dock workers on the West Coast are locked out by shippers for 11 days in late September and early October following a self-imposed work slowdown, tentatively agreed to a contract in November but not before the Bush administration forced them back to work by invoking the little-used 1947 Taft-Hartley Act
-July, Local 5 hotel workers, at odds over wages, pensions and outsourcing, begin reaching contract agreements in September with the biggest Waikīkī hotels, Sheraton, Hilton and Hyatt, after several days of selective picketing.
-April 5, 10,000 Public school teachers represented by HSTA and 3000 University of Hawai&lsquoi faculty represented by UHPA shut down all public education in the State in the nation's first such higher and lower education strike.
2000
-A Labor and Community based coalition called SOS ("Save Our Star-Bulletin") battle the corporate decision to shut down one of the State's two major daily newspapers
-May 1, over 700 Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA members in Hawai&lsquoi join a nation-wide strike against producers of TV and radio commercials that lasts six months and sees local pickets at GM dealerships like Cutter Chevrolet in Honolulu.
-April 19, thousands of private and public sector labor union members rally at the State capitol to protest legislative proposals to cut back public employee rights and benefits in the name of "civil service reform."
1999
-November 24, 150 meatcutters represented by Hawaii Teamsters Local 996 strike 13 Times Markets on O'ahu for four days.
-October 21, workers at Embassy Vacation Resorts on Maui elect HERE Local 5 as the union representative for 270 employees.
-July 30, workers at Straub Clinic & Hospital elect ILWU Local 142 as the union representative for 200 non-professional employees.
-June, 400 of Hawaiʻi postal wokers (NALC & APWU) and supporters march in informational picket around the downtown Honolulu post office as part of a nationwide salary protest
1998
-October 8, more than 100 workers at Young Laundry & Drycleaning represented by Hawaii Teamsters, Local 996 strike over wage and benefit reductions. They are permanently replaced and the union is decertified the following May after the NLRB rules the 100 strike replacements eligible to vote.
-August, 5,000 national delegates from AFSCME attend first major convention hosted in Honolulu at the new Hawai&lsquoi Convention Center. Rev. Jesse Jackson is the keynote speaker.
-March 13, Teachers at Kamehameha Schools in Kapalama vote in NLRB election, 186-36 to certify the Kamehameha Schools Faculty Association as their union representative.
1997
-August 4, Hawai&lsquoi Teamsters local 996 joins the National strike against UPS for 15 days supported locally by all 250 UPS workers state wide.
-July 9th, ninety-eight ILWU Stevedores and clerical workers shut down Young Brothers in a "sickout" protesting the lack of good-faith bargaining.
-April 28th, 400 ILWU Stevedores in Honolulu and at Barbers Point walkout for one day to protest the slow pace of negotiations with Hawaii Metal Recycling.
-April 24 & 25, Inland Boatmen's Union picket Uaukewai Diving, Salvage and Fishing,Inc at Honolulu Pier 21 for its refusal to bargain after the union won a representation election for its 19 workers.
-April, at its convention in Honolulu, the ILWU changed its name from the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Union to International Longshore and Warehouse Union to become gender neutral (motion by ILWU maritime division member, Lila Smith)
1996
-September, the Hawai&lsquoi State AFL-CIO clebrates Labor Day at Thomas Square.
-April 22 to July 9, 16 Security Guards at St. Francis Hospital in Honolulu strike to get a first contract between the hospital and their new union, the Hawaii Association of Security Officers, Local 1.
1994
-December, Laborers Union local 368 begins an 18 month boycott of St. Francis Hospital for refusing to accept the results of a September 1st representation election for 149 clerks, custodians, laundry and kitchen workers.
-June 3, workers at Kilgo's hardware store on Sand Island (Oʻahu) represented by HERE Local 5, strike in protest of the company's resistance to recognize and refusal to bargain in good faith.
-April 18-29, twenty thousand clerical & white collar professional employees of the State and its four counties (units 3 and 13 of the State's 13 bargaining units) represented by HGEA/AFSCME Local 152 conduct the first strike in that union's 60 year history.
-April, State Foundation grants are shifted from the Honolulu Symphony Society to three non-profit organizations with whom Musicians Local 677 is able to contract for a reborn 62 member Hawaii Symphony Orchestra.
-Dole Food Co. announces its intention to close North Shore O&lsquoahu's Waialua Sugar Co.
-January 19, the Hawaii State Teachers Association rally 500 teachers and supporters at Enchanted Lake Elementary School in Kailua to protest the Department's plan to transfer Lena Kanemori out of the school for speaking up to the principal on behalf of her fellow teachers.
-September, the Honolulu Symphony Society declares impasse and unilaterally implements wage cuts forcing members of Musicians Local 677 to go on strike for several months.
-Despite the best joint union-company efforts to avert it, after two years struggling to survive, Hamakua Sugar on the island of Hawai'i declares bankruptcy.
1992
-Teamsters Local 681 struck Hawaiian Cement for 11 days in June.
-Dole Food Co. closes down its pineapple plantation on Lana'i.
1990
-7500 hotel worker and members of HERE, Local 5 strike 11 major hotels from March 3 to March 24 to protect their pension benefits.
1989
-June 15, the Japanese owners of Hawaii Country Club lay off all 11 (Filipino) maintenance workers belonging to Laborers, Local 368
1988
-Three week strike of Hawaiian Cement by members of Teamsters Local 681.
- April, The ILWU affiliates with the AFL-CIO.
1987
- November 1, 30 years after it had been expelled by the AFL-CIO, The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was readmitted to the AFL-CIO.
1986
-Symphony musicians represented by Local 677 strike for 15 weeks between August and November.
-850 members of HERE, Local 5 strike Kaiser Hospital from October 13 to November 29.
-September, IBEW, Local 1186 (from the 10th) and Carpenters, Local 745 (from the 19th) strike which became a lockout by the General Contractors Association bringing the construction industry to a complete halt for 16 weeks.
-Lone Star Hawaii Rock Products and Pacific Concrete & Rock Co. lock out 170 workers and members of Teamsters Local 681 when the local struck Ameron HC&D.
1983
-On June 4, United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 480 strikes the 10 Safeway grocery stores in Hawai'i.
1982
-Appealing the results of a representation election held in February, the owner of Diners Drive-In fires most of the union supporters and refuses to negotiate with the union. July 6 to September 9, HERE Local 5 conducts a ULP strike against Diners Drive-In. The strike is broken.
1979
-October 22 to December 1, UPW is the first public sector union to go out legally on strike. However, the strike is declared illegal mid-way through.
1978
-January 23 - February 1, 3000 Construction & General Laborers belonging to Local 368 of the Laborers Union (LIUNA) strike the General Contractors Assn., Masonry Contactors, Home Builders Assn., and the Pacific Bureau for Lathing and Plastering (200 contractors state-wide). During the strike, an estimated 15,000 other construction workers refused to work behind the Laborers picket lines (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 2/13/78).
1977
-The Ironworkers Local 625 strike stops construction state-wide from mid-August through September.
- More than 160 members of IBEW 1260 which represented clerical, engineering, and other off-camera employees of KITV, KHON, and KGMB went on strike on Sept. 1, 1977. The strike ends on Sept. 25.
1976
-on December 3rd, 5,000 union construction workers march down Kapiʻolani Blvd. to City Hall in protest of the City Council's proposed construction moratorium.
-in January, 800 R.N.s belonging to the Hawai&lsquoi Nurses Association strike six O&lsquoahu hospitals and 72 nurses strike Wilcox Hospital on Kauaʻi.
-May 7, 3300 Members of IBEW 1357 strike HawTel that lasts 40 days and tests the State's Unemployment Insurance "substantial curtailment" regulation.
-from April 7, 6,000 ILWU pineapple workers on O&lsquoahu, Maui and Lana&lsquoi strike for 21 days.
-from the 9th of March, 9,000 ILWU sugar workers strike for 39 days.
1973
-from November 19th, 1100 members of IBEW Local 1260 strike Hawaiian Electric over pensions, wages, fringe benefts, and subcontracting
-April 2 to 16, HSTA becomes the first public sector union to go on strike under the new State law. The strike is declared illegal.
1972
-March 1 to April 10, 300 members of IBEW Local 1260 strike Dynalectron Corp. at Barking Sands Pacific Missile Range on Kaua'i.
1971
-HGEA and UPW put an end to many years of rivalry and jurisdictional disputes and become locals of the same international, AFSCME.
-from July 1st, 15,000 dockworkers on the West Coast and in Hawai&lsquoi strike for 134 days. President Nixon temporarily halts the strike in October, but after the 90 day cooling off period expires on Christmas Day, the strike continues until February 1972.
-60-day bus driver strike, after HRT announces a wage and benefit cut from January 1 to March 1.
1970
-Hawai&lsquoi enacts the Hawai&lsquoi Public Employment Relations Act (now HRS 䆕) to give State and County workers the right to join unions and bargain for wages and working conditions.
-October 9 to December 24, 2000 hotel workers represented by ILWU strike neighbor island hotels for 75 days.
1969
-The various island units of the Hawaii Education Association convene and form the new Hawaii State Teachers Association, excluding school principals and other personnel not to be included in the new bargaining unit determined by state law.
1968
-ILWU pineapple workers strike for 61 days.
- Feb 21, Honolulu Symphony Musicians walk out of rehearsal in a "wildcat" strike over wages, the first strike in the orchestra's history.
1967
-March 1, employees of the HRT represented by Teamsters Local 996 begin a 67-day strike.
1966
-July 8 to August 19, the Machinists (IAM) strike Eastern, United, Northwest and TWA.
-Local 5 members strike 'Ilikai Hotel for 8 weeks.
-In convention, 160 representatives from 44 local unions form the new Hawaii State Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO on January 7th replacing the old Central Labor Council of Honolulu [see Pa&lsquoa Hui Unions].
-The Hawaii Fire Fighters Association (HFFA) is first organized.
June 21, forty-seven day strike of Advertiser and Star-Bulletin by six unions, 850 workers.
-Local 5 members strike Halekulani Hotel in Waikīkī.
1961
-Dennis McCarthy takes over the NLRB subregion office in Hawai&lsquoi.
1960
-First state-wide master agreement in construction between the contractors association and IBEW, the Carpenters, and the Laborers unions.
-Hawaii Meat Company lockout & Amalgamated Meat Cutters strike lasting 40 months. The strike is lost after the Ninth Circuit's decision to overturn the NLRB charges against the company.
-ILWU signs Mechanization and Modernization Agreement, which pioneers the tradeoff of members' job security for the employers' right to introduce labor-saving equipment.
1958
- February 1 to June 6 (128-day) sugar strike of 26 plantations involving some 13,700 workers, called "The Aloha Strike" because the ILWU made sure the cane was irrigated and kept alive until it was over.
-Local 594, Amalgamated Meat Cutters, forerunner of UFCW, is chartered in May by 30 members at Foodland Foodland workers strike for 38 days.
-January 20, Smith Act convictions of "Hawai&lsquoi Seven" reversed.
1954
- Dec. 1, Hod Carriers Local 368 (later known as the Laborers Union) is chartered.
-A Democratic Party revolution changes what was once a Republican Party political bastion in the Territorial legislature.
1953
-Thirty-eight of Hawaiʻi AFL unions reorganize and revive the Central Labor Council.
- June 19, ILWU begins a four day general strike in sugar, pineapple, and longshore to protest the Smoth Act convictions of Jack Hall and six others.
- June 16, Jack Hall of the ILWU and six others (the "Hawai&lsquoi Seven") are convicted under the Smith Act for being communists. These convictions are later overturned by a federal appeals court.
1952
-Matson Hotel Strike by Local 5, HERE, lasts 14 days.
-August 28, Jack Hall of the ILWU and six others (the "Hawai'i Seven") are arrested under the Smith Act for being communists and advocating the overthrow of the government.
- Feb. 27 - Sept. 14, the second longest strike (201 days) in Hawaiʻi to that date on Lānaʻi. Led by ILWU business agent Pedro de la Cruz, 800 Pineapple workers strike the world's largest pineapple plantation, run by Hawaiian Pineapple Co.(Dole) and gain a 15 cent wage increase for themselves (3 cents more than they asked for) and a seven-cent an hour increase at 7 companies for 9,000 workers industry-wide in addition to union recognition, union shop and job seniority. Read more
- Feb. 23, Machinists Lodge 1998 (Pearl Harbor) is chartered.
-After 35 days, a strike that began before Christmas the previous year wins a major wage increase for Bus Drivers at HRT.
1950
- Oct. 4, Machinists Lodge 1979 is chartered.
-August 29, International Longshoremen and Warehouseman's Union, with 65,000 members in the West Coast and Hawai&lsquoi, becomes the seventh union of eleven to be expelled from the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
-April 10-21-Un-American Activities Committee hearings to "expose" Communism in Hawai&lsquoi several ILWU leaders held in "contempt of Congress" for refusing to answer questions.
1949
-August 7, November 1, Dock seizure acts passed by special session of legislature.
Great Hawaiian Dock Strike: longshore workers in Hawai&lsquoi strike for six months (May 1 to October 25) to win wage parity with mainland dock workers. [Rice & Roses video available online in two-parts:]
1948
-October 11, most of the 1500 plantation workers strike Olaa Sugar, on the Big Island .
-September 21 to October 18, Mutual Telephone Strike by IBEW Local 1357.
-September 3 to October 8, Transit Workers strike unsuccessfully against HRT.
- May 7, electricians' strike of one contractor leads to a lockout by other O&lsquoahu contractors to force "open shop" on the new IBEW Local 1186 agreement.
1947
- July 11 though 15, over 18,000 pineapple workers represented by the ILWU strike, ending in partial defeat of union.
1946
- The Great Hawai&lsquoi Sugar Strike: The ILWU leads 21,000 sugar workers throughout the state in a strike against the Hawaii Employers Council for 79 days from September to November. [Rice & Roses video available online in two-parts:]
- July 12 and 13 the transit workers of HRT instead of going on strike refuse to collect fares. The company fired 29 Amalgamated drivers. Drivers for the gas and oil companies go out on strike in sympathy until the Territorial Attorney General intervenes and forces the company to hire the drivers back.
- July 1, IBEW Local 1186 signs its first "master agreement" with an Oahu contractors' association.
1945
-The Territorial Legislature enacts the Hawai&lsquoi Employment Relations Act (now HRS 𨷑), the little Wagner Act" to extend the provisions similar to the National Labor Relations Act to Hawai'i's agricultural workers.
-January 27, State, County & Municipal Workers of America, Local 646 is chartered in Hilo by the CIO later becomes UPWA and is today United Public Workers (UPW), an AFSCME affiliate.
-The first ILWU agreement for sugar workers is signed by flashlight at night on top of a garbage can in the alley in back of the Waikiki Tropics.
-January 12, NLRB rules that "Sugar plantation workers, excepting those who are employed in the cultivation of soil (including the harvesting of crops and the rearing and management of livestock), are employees within meaning of NLRA" and not exempt from the coverage of that federal law granting workers the right to form and or join labor unions [Pepeeko Sugar, 15 NLRB 1532].
1944
-ILWU helps win election for 16 House members and 8 Senators in the Territorial legislature.
-January 11, Teamsters Local 996 is chartered. [originally organized as Chauffeurs, Teamsters & Truckdrivers Union, Federal Local 22398 on July 22, 1940]
1943
-IBEW Local B-1357 is chartered on July 1.
-The Hawaii Employers Council is formed Jim Blaisdell is brought in early in 1944 as its first chief negotiator.
1941
-IBEW Local B-1260 is chartered in February.
-February 1-28- the first bus strike in Hawai&lsquoi. Strike for union shop at Honolulu Rapid Transit (HRT) several gains, but no union shop.
-June 12, the first written contract in Hawai&lsquoi's longshore history is signed by Castle & Cooke Terminals and the ILWU.
1940
- June 6, IBEW Local 1186 is chartered.
-from July 18, ILWU Longshoremen at Ahukini on Kaua&lsquoi strike for 298 days.
1938
-The Hilo Massacre: August 1st, a peaceful demonstration of sympathy strikers is attacked by the Hilo Police. Fifty unarmed unionists, men and women, are hit by shotgun fire. [Available online: Rice & Roses video, and the book]
-August 1st, the Central Labor Council of Honolulu (AFL), ancestor of the Hawai&lsquoi State AFL-CIO, is chartered.
-In June, Arnold Wills opens Hawai&lsquoi's NLRB office.
- February, after a 50 day strike, Workers at Primo Brewery win a union shop clause.
-Hotel Workers' (HERE), Local 5 is chartered on January 1.
1937
-June 7, Stage Employees (IATSE), Local 665 is chartered.
-June 6, the Newspaper Guild of Hawai&lsquoi, (CIO) Local 117 is chartered
-May 1, the first International Workers' Day Parade in Hawai&lsquoi is held on Maui. Complete with an eight-piece band, 2,500 Filipinos led by a young Filipina holding a Philippine flag marched the four miles from Wailuku to Kahului. Signs read, "We Want To Work - But We Want Justice" and "Make This A Workers' Paradise." That evening crewmen from the S.S. Golden Cloud provided entertainment, gave donation, and assured maritime support
-April 10 to June 16, at Pu&lsquounēnē on Maui, the Filipino labor union, Vibora Luviminda , conducts Hawai&lsquoi's last racially exclusive strike.
-January 8, the Metal Trades Council is chartered.
1935
-Hilo Longshoremen's Association is organized, later to become ILWU, Local 1-36.
-October 28, Jack Hall, organizer for the Sailors Union of the Pacific and the Marine Cooks and Stewards arrives in Hawai&lsquoi.
1934
-March 24, U.S. Congress passes the Tydings-McDuffie Act (Philippine Independence Act) reclassified all Filipinos living in the United States as "aliens" and restricted entry of Philippine labor to 50 per year.
-Pacific Coast Longshoremen lead the San Francisco General Strike for 81 days on July 5 (Bloody Thursday) two pickets were killed by the police.
-On October 25th, Art Rutledge first arrives in Honolulu.
1933
-Honolulu City & County workers at the Board of Water Supply form the Hawaii Giovernment Employees Association (HGEA).
1924
-September 9th, 16 Filipino sugar workers striking at Hanapēpē, Kaua&lsquoi are killed by police. Many of the surviving strikers are jailed and then deported.
see also: UH Center for Oral History's 1924 Filipino Stike Project.
- May 26, 1924 Calvin Coolidge signed the 1924 immigration bill into law, effectively ending Japanese immigration to the U.S.
1923
-Anti-picketing law passed (in force until 1945) - one of many anti-labor laws.
-July 23, Musicians Local 677 is chartered.
1922
-The Higher Wage Movement of Filipino laborers is established in the fall.
1921
-Hawaii Education Association, the ancestor of the Hawaii State Teachers Association-NEA is formed.
1920
- Jan. 19, 1920, 3,000 members of the Filipino Labor Union walked off their jobs Japanese workers soon joined them. By early February, 8,300 laborers on six O&lsquoahu plantations were on strike, representing 77% of the work force, This landmark coalition strike lasted five months (165 days) against the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association. But the coalition broke down and the strike was lost.
-from May 3, a strike of Mutual Telephone by IBEW Local 545 successfully raises wages but is unable to achieve union recognition.
-January 19, seven-day strike by one hundred teamsters at Honolulu Construction & Draying is broken up my strike-breakers and police.
1919
-In November an AFL organizational meeting used the newspaper to invite clerks in Honolulu to form a union is disrupted by union-busters. -In October, Plumbers, Local 675 is chartered.
- In August street car motormen and conductors of the Honolulu Rapid Transit and Land Company meet to discuss A. F. of L. affiliation and to formulate wage demands. - Women telephone operators on the island of Maui strike Mutual Telephone Company for two days in July to get rest & meal breaks
-The Federation of Japanese Labor in Hawai'i is formed to unify and coordinate the different Japanese labor organizations that had formed on the various plantations.
-Machinists Lodge 1245 is chartered in Honolulu on Feb. 25.
1916
-September 19, 1,500 Hawaiian and Japanese Longshoremen newly organized in an ILA local strike for higher wages and a union shop. They win raises but not recognition. [read more]
1912
- Americn Association of Masters, Mates and Pilots, Honolulu Harbor No. 54, succesful strike against Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co. -all vessels tied up for six days over non-payment of over-time and a demanded wage increase.
-Industrial Workers of the World is listed in the Honolulu directory. Activity is reported in November among Japanese sugar workers.
1909
-May 9 to August 5, the Japanese Higher Wage Association leads the sugar workers strike in &lsquoAiea, Waipahu, and throughout O&lsquoahu, supported by neighbor island Japanese workers. After several months the strike is broken by scabs.
1908
-December 1, under the leadership of Tomoyuki Negoro, Japanese intellectuals and community leaders form the Higher Wage Association to improve the pay and working conditions of sugar workers.
1907
-February 18, Congress approved amending existing immigration legislation which allowed President Theodore Roosevelt to issue an executive order stopping the migration of Japanese laborers from Hawai&lsquoi and Mexico on Mar. 14, 1907.
-February 24, the U.S. concludes a "Gentlemen's Agreement" with Japan in the form of a Japanese note agreeing to deny passports to laborers intending to enter the United States and recognizing the U.S. right to exclude Japanese immigrants holding passports originally issued for other countries.
1906
Dec. 20, the first group of 15 sakadas (Filipino plantation workers) recruited by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association arrive in Honolulu aboard the SS Doric and were assigned to the Ola&lsquoa plantation on the Big Island. By 1916, 18,144 Filipinos arrive in Hawai&lsquoi. By 1932 the number rises to 100,000.
-Januaru 16-22, 1,700 Japanese sugar workers strike in Waipahu.
1905
-September 29 - October 6, Lāhainā, Maui, 1,500 of 2,200 Japanese field hands strike for 15c/day increase. Strike is lost except for minor grievances settled. Koreans refuse to join strike. Considred a sequel to the Pioneer Mill strike (May 20-24)
-May 29, Pā&lsquoia, Maui, about 160 Korean sugar workers are fired for beating a luna 80 more at Kailua Camp strike in sympathy. Four leaders are arrested near riot results. -May 20-24, A strike by 1,700 Japanese sugar workers at Pioneer Sugar Company in Lāhainā is broken with assistance from the Japanese consulate and after a violent attack on the strikers by Maui police.
1904
-December 2-11, delegates elected by the contract cane cutters at Waialua Agricultural Company on O&lsquoahu supported by the other Japanese workers on that plantation refuse work until their grievances are addressed. The strike lasted one week and involved 1,196 workers. 26 of their 32 demands were granted in what is probably the first example of collective bargaining in the Hawaiian sugar induistry.
July 20-25, 1,400 of 2,400 Japanese sugar workers strike in Waipahu against unfair 'profit-sharing' contrats and for removal of another luna. The luna is transfered but the so-caled 'profit sharing contracts are kept.
-May 2-5, 1,390 of 2,400 Japanese field hands stike Waipahu sugar plantation for discharge of the head luna (Patterson) who was running a lotter racket and other grievances. Strike is won. Patterson is fired & most other grievances are adjusted. first Korean plantation workers arrive.
1903
-The first Korean plantation workers arrive.
1901
-August 22, 150 stevedores at Hamilton, McCabe & Renny (working at 30 cents an hour, 9 hours a day) struck in protest against a wage cut. When the 150 "Portuguese, Italians, Porto Ricans, Negroes and natives" walked off they were promptly replaced with Japanese who had been recruited beforehand.
-March 16-July 2- Machinists Lodge 341 strikes Honolulu Works for 8-hour day and union shop both strike and union smashed.
-July, Carpenters Local 745 is chartered.
-June 22-24, 188 Chinese and Japanese field hands and mill workers strike against the retention of a percent of their wages.
April 30, The Organic Act was signed by President McKinley. This act incorporated Hawai&lsquoi as a Territory of the United States. As a territory, the existing oppressive labor contracts were no longer legal in Hawai&lsquoi once the act went into effect on June 14.
-April 4th to 13th, 1,160 Japanese field hands on the Lāhainā plantation organize a strike over wages, conditions and industrial injury compensation -generally considered the first successful strike in Hawai&lsquoi.
-January 20, thirty-eight acres of Honolulu's Chinatown burns to the ground leaving 4,000 Chinese homeless.
-January 8, the S.S. China arrives in Honolulu with the first new plantation laborers from Okinawa.
1899
-On Maui, 130 Chinese workers march from Wailuku to Sprecklesville to demand hot meals be served in camp.
-Another "riot" of Chinese workers at Wai&lsquoanae Plantation is crushed by camp police "posse". 17 Chinese are injured and the 4 strike leaders are arrested and imprisoned for 18 months.
-May 20, Boilermakers Local 204 is chartered.
-July 28 and 29, the first non-plantation strike of Boilermakers, Local 204 in protest over the discharge of a foreman.
1897
-Chinese workers at Līhu&lsquoe Plantation "riot" in protest of the brutality of the head luna . One Chinese is killed and 15 are deported.
1895
-The Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association (HSPA) is formed, replacing the Planters' Labor & Supply Co.
1891
-In August, 300 Chinese workers "riot" at Kohala Plantation, protesting the plantation's requirement that they return one third of their pay or be deported.
- March 5, Hawaiian Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the Masters & Servants Act of 1850 after a contract laborer from Japan sues for release from his employer, the Hilo Sugar Co. claiming "involuntary servitude" (Hilo Sugar v. Miyoshi)
1889
-On October 28, Katsu Goto, one of the first Japanese contract laborers was lynched by two luna. and a haole shopkeeper in Honokaʻa on the island of Hawai&lsquoi for helping the Japanese plantation workers. [read more]
1886
-The Hawaiian Kingdom Chinese Exclusion Act is passed, prohibiting further importation of Chinese labor after 1888.
1885
-On February 8, the first Japanese contract field workers arrive on board the City of Tokio : 676 men 158 women.
1884
-August 9, Typographical Union, No. 37 is chartered in Honolulu.
1883
-The Kingdom enacts its first law to limit Chinese immigration.
1882
-The United States Congress passes the first Chinese Exclusion Act.
-The Planters' Labor and Supply Company s formed by plantation owners in Hawai&lsquoi to facilitate the importation of laborers.
1878
-The first Portuguese laborers begin to arrive.
1876
-The Sugar Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Kingdom of Hawai&lsquoi.
1869
-July, Honolulu Longshoremen strike to raise their wages to $2 a day again they are replaced by scabs.
1868
May 17, The Scioto set sail out of Yokohama for Hawai&lsquoi, carrying 153 Japanese migrants bound for employment on the sugar plantations. These adventurers constituted the first mass emigration of Japanese overseas. They became known as the Gannenmono..
1867
--May, Honolulu Longshoremen strike to raise their wages from $1 to $1.50 a day they are replaced by scabs.
1857
-September 1, the Hawaiian Mechanics Benefit Union is chartered. It was disincorporated in 1893.
1853
-After half an hour of deliberation, the Supreme Court of Hawai&lsquoi finds a White landowner not guilty of the beating death his Chinese laborer despite overwhelming testimony to the contrary. [The King v Greenwell]
1852
-On January 3, the Thetis arrives with the first 175 Chinese field workers bound to serve for five years at $3 per month. Immigration of Chinese workers begins. 46,000 enter prior to Annexation.
1850
-April 29, sugar planters hold their first meeting in Honolulu to organize the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society so they can form a "union of interest and feeling, and concert of action".
-June 21, the Hawaiian Legislature passes the Masters and Servants Act which establishes a system of contract labor.
-August 31, Kamehameha III declares Honolulu to be a city and the capitol of the kingdom.
1841
-July, Hawaiian sugar workers on the islands' first plantation at Kōloa, Kaua&lsquoi who were being paid in pasteboard scrip at the rate of 12½ cents a day, conduct Hawai&lsquoi's first strike.
1835
-William Hooper of Ladd & Co. arrives at Kōloa on the island of Kaua&lsquoi to begin management of the kingdom's first sugar plantation.