Category: Debate
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McAdoo Talks of the Railways
Most of America’s railroads were placed under federal government control in December 1917 because of World War I, in a move called “possibly the largest American experiment with nationalization.” The new U.S. Railroad Administration was headed by Treasury Secretary William McAdoo. Under existing law, control of the railways were set to return back to private […]
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Is An Air Ministry Necessary?
America is debating whether to create a new military branch: the Space Force. 100 years ago to the week, America debated whether to create the air force — or, as they called it then, an “Air Ministry.” A key difference between then and now was the stance of the president. While Donald Trump supports the […]
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Who Will Be Drafted Next?
What should be the minimum and maximum ages for potentially getting drafted to serve in the military? This 1918 article details the then-current state of affairs: When the present law was before Congress the War Department asked that the draft be imposed between the ages of 19 and 26, inclusive. In both houses opposition developed […]
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A Whole World Outraged
If Germany lost WWI, should they be granted the same status they had previously held in the European and world geopolitical landscape? That was the question facing American and the world in May 1918. George Trumbull Ladd, a professor emeritus of philosophy at Yale, argued no: The feelings of an outraged world against an outrageous […]
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Spies and Plotters
What’s the best way to handle and punish spies who give information to America’s enemies? In World War I, the different options split the country. On one side was Sen. George Chamberlain (D-OR), whose bill introduced in Congress would have tried spies by court martial. On the other side was President Woodrow Wilson, a fellow […]
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Case Against National Prohibition
In February 1918, six of the required 36 states had ratified the constitutional amendment prohibiting alcohol, after the House and Senate had both done so the previous August and December, respectively. Edgar M. Cullen, former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals (the state’s highest court), broke his decades-long silence on political matters […]
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Conscription of All Men Up to Forty-five Years?
Maryland Senator Joseph Irwin France was Congress’s primary advocate during WWI of forcing all men between ages 18 and 45 to register for the draft. That is not to say that all men up to aged 45 would actually be forced to fight in combat. As France explained: “The second section of the bill… authorizes […]
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Has the Power of Public Opinion Waned?
Was the power of public opinion on American politics declining in 1918? Job E. Hedges, former Republican candidate for New York governor, said yes and blamed it on political primaries: With the increase in our population, the average citizen is necessarily unable to have before him all the facts from which to draw his conclusions […]
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The Case Against Suffrage
If you thought the people fighting for the women’s right to vote were all women and the people opposing it were all men, think again. Some women didn’t want the right to vote at all, as shown in this 1917 article about the wife of the U.S. senator from New York who also led the National […]
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When Women Fight: Dr. Graeme M. Hammond Discusses “The Female of the Species,” Her Warlike Qualities and Limitations
In one of the best examples of backhanded compliments ever, George MacAdam wrote in 1917: “Women make good soldiers? Why not? Women are a great deal more combative than men. If you don’t believe me, ask any married man. A fighting woman is by long odds fiercer than a fighting man. If women had the […]
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