| Show NOT YET NORMAL IN 1920 european nations especially are beset with troubles during period of readjustment PRINCIPAL EVENTS REVIEWED failure of senate to ratify peace treaty leaves united states technically at war presidential election holds interest by DONALD F BIGGS the world throughout the year 1020 fans passing through the troublesome period of readjustment and reaction that began with the close of the world w ar of nil the great pow ers that had been involved in the conflict the united states alone remained technically in a state of war with germany through the failure of the senate to ratify the peace treaty for all tacal purposes however the united states was at peace and conditions in this country were more nearly normal than in roost 0 the of europe which had accepted alie settlements agreed upon by the peace conference at paris although the great war had ended the world was not at peace in 1920 territorial disputes and jealousies growing out of the war resulted in a large number of minor conflicts the irish problem remained un and the situation in the emerald isle grew more serious as the year progressed in the united states de spite minor radical activities and the uncertainties accompanying the read of business and industrial conditions there was continued pros and optimism international AFFAIRS the world war was formally ended january 10 when germany and four teen of the powers allied against her in the war exchanged ratifications of the treaty of leh at paris the united states however was not among the nations participating in tills as the treaty had not baui ratified by the senate the league of nations came into being at paris january ac when the executive council held its alist meeting w ath represent ath es from bel glum brazil angland Ln gland italy france japan greece and spain participating the russian government made a slip toward securing peace with its warring neighbors by concluding treaties with ukraine and esthonia Esth onla the turkish peace terms were corn plated on march 3 and a week later the allies decided to use force to am pose the terms upon turkey troops to occupy constantinople the billed forces occupied the turkish capital without opposition polish troops began a spring offensive the russian in the baltic region on march 23 warsaw reported heavy fighting at many points on the mile front three days later poland offered peace terms to rus sla providing for restoration of the kingdom of 1772 return of art and ether treasures and an indemnity tor invasions since 1914 polish troops ad ministered a severe defeat to the bol at april 13 the poles and ukrainians ed a treaty on april 27 recognizing ukrainian independence from russia A combined army of poles and inns then launched an offensive against the russian red forces capturing kiev on may 8 and the great port of odessa on may 11 bolshevik troops invaded persia at agtara may 18 forcing the withdrawal of british troops Bol troops on the polish front were re enforced and launched an attack on a ninety mile front seeking to open communication with east prussia on june 3 they succeeded in flanking and driving back general s polish troops the supreme council continued ls efforts to complete the peace settlements ahe treaty with hungary was signed tune 4 at versailles ambassador wallace signing for the united states turkey was granted fifteen daya additional time to present its lews regarding the treaty alth that country while these peace negotiations were in progress fighting continued at many points over italian prisoners were hilled by albanians at tirana on june 18 in retaliation for the assassination 0 essad pasha in paris on june 13 supported by british troops and bat at malta and constantinople the greeks began a campaign to oust the turkish nationalists from parts of alln minor on july 7 the bolshevik troops cap pocono throwing the poles into retreat on the entire front poland opened negotiations for an armistice and 1 continued for a week when it wag reported that russia had or deryl the postponement of the and the capture of warsaw bolshevist troops captured lomza and act Lt lhost ost and began a drive on lomberg 1 during the next two they continued to advance and on 17 were within twelve ellsa 0 warsaw the polish capital loathed loa Tied but on the the boleo li ached B great counter of aid arne the baik in heartened by alie crush IBS t low giami the russian forces abo alie peace tani in t c ampi on adust 11 the french foreign office surprised the other powers by giving recognition to general wrangell Wr angels de facto government in south russia the turkish peace treaty waa signed on august 10 by all nations concerned except serbia and the soviet russia continued its effort to make peace with its neighbors by signing a treaty with lettla and agreeing to armistice terms with finland on october 12 the poles signed an armistice and preliminary pace treaty with to become effective october 18 the cessation of hostilities on the polish fronts enabled the to strengthen their other fronts directed by the war minister the launched a violent offensive on october 81 against the south russian armies commanded by general they succeeded in smashing general wrangell Wr angels forces and drove on through crimea the forces captured se ba november 14 general and the remnants of bis army were on board american french and british warships which steamed out of the harbor as the entered the city an agreement on the adriatic ques alon was reached november 10 at a conference between the jugo slavs and the italians and a treaty embodying the agreement was signed at ra anllo two days later the assembly of the league of nations opened its first session at geneva november 15 paul of belgium being elected president on november 29 president allson accepted an invitation extended by the council of the League ot nations to act as mediator between armenia and turkey two days later the russia bolshevik took erivan and announced the establishment of a soviet armenian republic on december 3 armenia and the turkish nationalists signed a treaty of peace several attempts to secure action on amendments to the covenant of the league of nations were voted down by the league assembly because of tills action the argentine delegates to the assembly withdrew on december on december 1 austria w as admitted to the league the first of the alllen of germany to be granted membership FOREIGN AFFAIRS ath continual strife amounting virtually to civil war in ireland with revolutionary outbreaks in germany germiny Ger miny with counter revolutionary movements developing at intervals in russia with civil war in china and with political upheavals in france italy greece and other countries the unrest and changing conditions growing out of the world war reflected in the infernal con of many countries of the old world in 1920 one of the unexpected political developments of the early days of the year was the failure of premier alc manceau to obtain election as president of france upon the expiration of the term of president paul deschanel was elected on january 17 and the following day clemenceau cau cabinet resigned alexandre AIex andre maller formed a new cabinet at the request of president the all russian government in siberia headed by admiral alexander B kolchak was finally destroyed with the killing of admiral kolchak by so caal revolutionists at on feb roary 7 in great britain the government took its first definite step toward ji settlement of the irish question on february 25 by presenting to the house of commons its irish home rule bill providing or autonomous rule under a dual parliament representing both the north and the south on march 10 ulster voted to accept the bill A new counter revolution directed by militarists broke out in berlin march 13 the revolutionists gained control of berlin and dr wolfgang kapp proclaimed himself chancellor the revolution was short lived however ending in failure on the when dr kapp resigned the arih situation continued to attract the attention of the world on march 19 the mayor of cork was killed by assassins in the house of commons the irish home rule bill passed its second reading on barcli 31 to 04 on april 4 tax offices and records were burned at many points and wire communication from belfast was cut in mexico the presidential campaign developed a revolution which resulted eventually in the overthrow of the carranzo government on april 10 the state of sonora withdrew from the republic and fighting between the troops and federal forces began by april 21 nine mexican states had joined the secession movement the revolutionary movement gained rapidly and on may 7 president carranza fled from mexico city toward tho eastern coast on may 22 car ranza the fugitive president was shot and killed by troops in his escort while asleep A cabinet crisis in italy on june 9 resulted in the resignation of premier and hla cabinet signer orlando albo resigned as president of the chain her A new cabinet was formed june 17 under former premier glovanni Glov annl gl on june 27 italian troops mu tidied at ancona and red ings broke out all 01 er italy in what appeared to be a concerted anarchist plot on august 13 mayor terence mac ol 01 cork was arrested by british troops for sedition in holding a glnn rein court at the city hall ha was convicted by a court martial on the and taken to an english pals on where he immediately entered upon a hunger strike riots and continued to assume more serious proportions at many points in the constitutional election held in mexico september 5 general AI anra obregon was elected president president deschanel of france resigned september 21 because of health and on the premier aiex andre was elected to succeed him georges leagues Ley gues minister of marine under clemenceau became premier further disturbances were reported in italy during october on the leaders of the socialist parta and the general confederation of labor ordered demonstrations in every town in italy in an effort to force the italian government to recognize soviet russia and on the following day many persons were killed and wounded in the course of a two hour strike called as a protest against the arrest of bollt leal offenders opposing the allied policy toward russia the government began a drive on the to round up all advocates of violence in the coun try after a hunger strike of 74 days which had drawn the attention of the world terence macswiney lord mayor of cork died in brixton prison lon don october 25 great pressure had been brought to bear to secure mayor release but the govern ment stood firm in its stand against the hunger strikers king alexander of greece died on october 25 as a result of a bite by a pet monkey and it was announced that the throne would be offered to prince paul third son of former king constantine lne peace in china seemed to be finally assured by a proclamation issued by the government november 1 declaring that there had been a reunion of north and south china and calling tor the election of a new parliament fierce rioting between unionists and glnn fehners broke out in north belfast ireland november 7 serious disorders were reported also at londonderry where five policemen were shot and many ships burned or wrecked the irish home rule bill passed the house of commons on its third reading november 11 at dublin on november 21 following the murder of 14 british officers a force of troops raided a football game and alred upon the crowd killing and wounding a large number of persons A political upheaval came in greece with the defeat in the general election on november 14 of the party headed by premier premier zelos resigned on november 17 and george Rhall ls former premier and leader among the followers of ex king constantine lne formed a new cabinet on december 4 the greek people in a plebiscite voted for the return of king constantine lne on december 19 constantine lne returned to athens in triumph the irish situation neared a crisis during the closing weeks of the year wholesale arrests were made by the british authorities during the last weeks of november among those taken being arthur griffith acting president of the irish republic and many other irish leaders on november 28 irish plotters set fire to several large warehouses on the liverpool water front and killed two men martial law was proclaimed in south ireland on december 10 and two days later a large part of the business district of cork was burned la reprisal it was claimed tor glnn I 1 eln raids the year 1920 DOMESTIC being a presidential election year politics held the atten alon of the people of the united states during the greater part of the year senator warren G of ohio was nominated for president by the republicans at chicago june 12 the democratic national convention at san francisco nominated governor james M cox of ohio on july 5 on the forty fourth ballot in the election on Iso vember 2 the national ticket was elected by an avem helming majority receiving electoral votes while the democratic candidates received the republicans also won an overwhelming majority in congress by winning their long fight for equal suffrage the vi omen of the country gained the right to vote tor all office in the november election the united states supreme court on january 5 upheld the constitution allty of wartime prohibition and the cad enforcement act on january 10 nationwide prohibition under the eighteenth amendment to the constitution ution went into effect on january 10 the new york assembly with bul tv 0 dissenting voices voted to exclude the five socialist members of that body pending trial on cli arges that the platform of their party Is revolutionary the antl radical campaign resulted in the indictment of 38 leaders of the communist I 1 abor party in chicago on january 21 the railroads of the country were returned to private operation on march 1 under the terms of the cum railroad reorganization act senator truman 11 new berry of michigan was convicted in the federal court at grand rapids on march 20 on charges involving the use of excessive campaign funds he and 10 ro were given prison sen bences but remained at liberty pending an appeal to the higher coulta the trial of the five socialist mem bers of the lew aorl assembly ended with their expulsion rom the begma ture april 1 several suits had been instituted during the party months of the air attacking the validity of the eight ecith prohibition amendment all these cases viere taken to the states supreme court and on june 7 S i that tribunal decided that the amend ment and the enforcement act were constitutional big increases in rates were granted the railroads ot the country by the interstate commerce commission july 31 to enable the roads to meet in creased wages passenger rates were increased 20 per cent with a pullman surcharge of 50 per cent tor the railroads freight rotes were increased from 25 to 40 per cent in different sections of the country the trial of the communist labor party leaders in chicago in progress for several months ended august 2 with the conviction of 20 who were given jail sentences the five socialist assemblyman assemblymen assembly men expelled from the hew york legislature in the spring having been elected reelected re were again unseated when the legislature met in special session september 21 sharp drops in the prices of cotton wheat and other farm products brought appeals for assistance from the farmers of the country during the latter part of the sear night riders appeared in southern states in an ef fort to force the growers to hold their cotton for a higher price and a movement was started to secure the holding of w heat from the market NATIONAL legislation the continued fight over the ratification of the treaty of versailles with the league of nations covenant resulting in rejection of the treaty for the second time occupied the attention of the united states senate |
