Showing papers in "Pacific Historical Review in 1966"
29 citations
TL;DR: On the day the golden spike at Promontory, Utah, completed America's first transcontinental railroad, the celebrations in California began early and continued late as discussed by the authors, with 18 special trains steamed into the state capitol that morning bearing delegations, drums, trumpets, whiskey, banners, prostitutes, artillery and detachments of the National Guard.
Abstract: ON THE DAY the golden spike at Promontory, Utah, completed America's first transcontinental railroad, the celebrations in California began early and continued late. Eighteen special trains steamed into the state capitol that morning bearing delegations, drums, trumpets, whiskey, banners, prostitutes, artillery and detachments of the National Guard. The parade went on for hours. First were brass bands and state dignitaries. Then came the railroad company, led by nine carriage loads of triumphant Central Pacific executives. After them followed the machinists and ironworkers, the coppersmiths, boilermakers, blacksmiths. Eight of the famous crew of Irish tracklayers who had set a national record by spiking down ten miles of rail in a single day marched by with their mauls on their shoulders-. Yet oddly, the men who had dug the grade and set the ties upon which the rails were spiked, who had, in short, contributed four-fifths of the labor of building the railroad,2 took no part in the festivities at Sacramento. These of course were the Chinese; and the story of the Central Pacific's tattered army of Canton-how it came to be employed at railroad building, how it clawed its way across the Sierra Nevada-provides one of the more ambiguous chapters of California's golden age. The transcontinental line had begun as a wartime undertaking. Prior to the Civil War, Theodore Judah's engineering studies and his tireless agitation of the project in California and Washington had inspired some preliminary steps of organization; but it was only the threatened dismemberment of the Union, coupled with removal of Southern opposition to the north-central route, which finally brought
23 citations
TL;DR: In the Spanish Conquest of the Americas, the Spanish attempted to use the principle of indirect rule as much as possible to preserve as much of the native aristocracy as survived the initial conflicts and were willing to accept a submissive role.
Abstract: WITH THE SPANISH CONQUEST Of the Americas, centuries of independent government came to an end for the peoples of the new world. While the Spaniards ruthlessly destroyed the upper levels of the governmental structures of the nations they conquered, their destruction of these regimes was only partial. Like the expansionist Inca and Aztec empires before them, the Spaniards attempted to use the principle of indirect rule as much as possible. Where available, the Spaniards tried to preserve as much of the native aristocracy as survived the initial conflicts and were willing to accept a submissive role.' But this arrangement was only a partial solution, and the Spaniards soon decided upon the creation of a uniform system of local government. What finally emerged from this effort was the re-creation in the Indian communities of a modified type of the classic Spanish cabildo, or municipal government plan.2
20 citations
TL;DR: The authors pointed out that despite their generally liberal outlook, western historians have done something less than justice to a group that found much injustice in the West-the Chinese and Japanese immigrants of the last hundred and sixteen years.
Abstract: DESPITE THEIR GENERALLY DEMOCRATIC outlook, western historians have done something less than justice to a group that found much injustice in the West-the Chinese and Japanese immigrants of the last hundred and sixteen years. Although in respect to some immigrant groups sheer neglect is the major failing, that charge does not apply here. From Hubert Howe Bancroft to the present day, historians of the American West have paid a good deal of attention to Asian migrants, although the treatment of contemporary scholars is a far cry from the San Franciscan's fulminations against "Mongolians." For all this improvement, however, the coverage in western (Pacific coast and California) histories is deficient and still reminiscent of the prejudice which disgraced the first century of Oriental migration to these parts.' But rather than detail the historiography of this mistreatment, this essay will assay an
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TL;DR: For example, this article argued that the United States should play an active role in the Far East and left office eight years later persuaded that American intervention in that distant region was impossible, and this was the pattern of American far eastern policy from 1903 to 1938.
Abstract: FoR OVER TWO DECADES, historians have portrayed Theodore Roosevelt as coming to the presidency convinced that the United States should play an active role in the Far East and as leaving office eight years later persuaded that American intervention in that distant region was impossible. Two of the most influential writers on American far eastern policy, Tyler Dennett and A. Whitney Griswold, both suggest Roosevelt passed through the same cycle of hope and despair which John Hay previously had experienced in his attitudes toward the Far East. And this, claims Griswold, was the pattern of American far eastern policy from 1903 to 1938.1 Within this broad, cyclical framework, historians differ widely in their estimates of Roosevelt's far eastern diplomacy. Griswold contends that Roosevelt's policy was impaired by his mistaken assumption of the identity of British and American interests, his general ignorance of European affairs, and his often amateurish diplomacy.2 In contrast, Howard K. Beale in his Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power portrays Roosevelt as a knowledgeable diplomatist who was "an international strategist with a peculiar
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8 citations
TL;DR: In the last half of the nineteenth century swindlers and speculators found that government lands could be obtained by fraudulent operations, and that the sale of such lands for the timber or grazing areas which they possessed was highly profitable.
Abstract: IN OREGON AND CALIFORNIA in the last half of the nineteenth century swindlers and speculators found that government lands could be obtained by fraudulent operations, and that the sale of such lands for the timber or grazing areas which they possessed was highly profitable. In 1902 the government began to investigate the land frauds; in short order a series of prosecutions was instituted against the offending parties. In the course of the trials, numerous prominent political officials were exposed and tried. The trials, it should be noted, are not only interesting as a part of the history of conservation, but also as an example of the way in which the themes of conservation and progressivism were intertwined.'
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TL;DR: According to the more orthodOX canon of American history, the progressive movement was "killed" by World War I, and remained "dead" throughout the "reactionary" decade of the 1920's.
Abstract: ACCORDING TO THE MORE ORTHODOX CANONS of American historiography, the political phenomenon known as the progressive movement flourished up to about 1917, was "killed" by World War I, and remained "dead" throughout the "reactionary" decade of the 1920's. This proposition, though plausible, indeed disarmingly simple, has grave defects. It is based on the supposition that progressivism was a unified body of thought and action which could be positively identified and, thus, labeled "dead" or "alive" at any given time. As Arthur Link has shown, however, nearly the
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TL;DR: This paper studied the first case in which an Asian country, China, despaired of friendship with the West and turned to the revolutionary Communism of the Soviet Union for guidance, and found the offers of the Communists more promising than similar blandishments held out by the United States and its allies.
Abstract: THE QUESTION of how to shape American policy so as to ally the United States with the nationalism of the "emerging" nations of Africa and Asia is one of the most important facing American policy planners today. It is not an easy question to answer, but there are cogent reasons for making the attempt. First, the United States can no longer avoid influencing other countries. The choice is not between action and inaction, but between conscious, purposeful influence and unconscious, perhaps detrimental influence. Second, the Communist powers have met with not inconsiderable success in their efforts to befriend nationalist movements, and the United States must act or default to its competitors. This article is a study of an instance in which the United States was unsuccessful in its efforts to befriend a burgeoning nationalist movement. It is a study of the background of the first case in which an Asian country, China, despaired of friendship with the West and turned to the revolutionary Communism of the Soviet Union for guidance. The article will not provide a blueprint for winning the allegiance of nations once oppressed by imperialism, but it may indicate why many African and Asian leaders find the offers of the Communists more promising than similar blandishments held out by the United States and its allies.
TL;DR: In the early 1930's, approximately 80% of Japan's crude oil and refined stocks were imported from the United States and from those imports Japan began to accumulate an oil reserve for war as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: TWO OF THE MAJOR prerequisites to any war machine are steel and petroleum and in both categories Japan since its modernization depended heavily upon imports. The necessity for oil in modern warfare encompasses the needs for aviation gasoline and lubricants, fuel oil for ships, gasoline for land vehicles, and the various forms of oil used in the civilian economy which supports the war machine. Approximately eighty per cent of Japan's crude oil and refined stocks in the early 1930's was imported from the United States and from those imports Japan began to accumulate an oil reserve for war. By 1939 that reserve had grown to a peak of 55,000,000 barrels.1 With a subsequently reduced oil reserve Japan went to war with the United States and "it is highly probable that the aircraft which attacked Pearl Harbor and the carriers which transported them across the Pacific operated on American fuel." 2 How could the United States allow such a reserve of oil to be ex-
TL;DR: Forbes was a powerful financier and an aristocratic member of Boston society, with experience and connections that could be of inestimable value in expanding the islands' economy and adding stature to their society.
Abstract: W ILLIAM CAMERON FORBES enjoyed the distinction of having had as grandfathers two of the most famous men in nineteenth-century America: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Boston's financial prince and railroad developer, John Murray Forbes. A young man of thirty-five when first sent to the Philippines, he was in his own right a powerful financier and an aristocratic member of Boston society, with experience and connections that could be of inestimable value in expanding the islands' economy and adding stature to their society. For these reasons, and because he was a political protege of Henry Cabot Lodge,' Forbes was able to play a decisive role in shaping the future of the Philippine Islands. As secretary of commerce and police from 1904 to 1909, and more effectively as governor general from 1909 to 1913, he labored prodigously to create a prosperous, democratic society, based on an integrated economy in the archipelago and dedicated to the encouragement of lasting cooperation with the United States. Because he was remarkably consistent in this vision, it is possible to take a static view of Forbes' career, concentrating not on the temporary successes and failures of one or another facet of his activity, but on the broad dimensions of a single unfolding purpose. In this paper it has seemed most illuminating to consider the realization of that purpose during the most responsible part of Forbes' service in the islands, his years as governor general.
TL;DR: The AiResearch Manufacturing Company as mentioned in this paper charted the rise of the most important single entity in that industry, from its simple indebted beginnings to its present multi-faceted, multi-million dollar operations.
Abstract: dustry and its more recent space counterparts in the manufacturing and research complex of southern California is generally appreciated. That of the components industries which form their natural concomitants has, however, remained obscure. This paper is intended partially to correct this oversight by looking, in some detail, at one such industry, that concerned with the pressurization of aircraft. More specifically, it will chart the rise of the most important single entity in that industry, the AiResearch Manufacturing Company, from its simple indebted beginnings to its present multi-faceted, multi-million dollar operations. Pressurized flight as we know it today became a reality only in the mid-1930's. It had been foreseen by a long series of early inventors who had realized that flight at high altitudes would bring various advantages--most importantly, greater speed and over-weather operation.' But it required a group of interrelated improvements in
TL;DR: Otis and Chandler as mentioned in this paper used their influence to impress an indelible stamp of conservatism on the area, and in each instance in which the forces of social reform attempted to assert their claims, the Los Angeles Times threw its weight to balance the scales against the needs of the time.
Abstract: HALF A CENTURY AGO when California's Southland was young, developing and malleable, the famous father and son-in-law editorial team of Harrison Gray Otis and Harry Chandler exerted its influence to impress an indelible stamp of conservatism on the area. Accordingly, in each instance in which the forces of social reform attempted to assert their claims, the Los Angeles Times threw its weight to balance the scales against the needs of the time.' In frustration the Progressives, labor, and minority groups anathemized the Times and its management. So large loomed the editors' influence in the liberals' minds that any public dispute of an economic and social character was bound to involve Otis and Chandler in the role of villains.
TL;DR: In this article, Tocqueville compares a reading of this passage with another reading as follows: chacun d'eux (scil. the American and the Russian) semble appele' par un dessein secret de la Providence & tenir un jour dans ses mains les destindes de la moitid du monde.'
Abstract: and the Russian as being distinguished, respectively, by liberty and obsequiousness (servitude), Tocqueville says: chacun d'eux (scil. the American and the Russian) semble appele' par un dessein secret de la Providence & tenir un jour dans ses mains les destindes de la moitid du monde.' Everyone knows how greatly Tocqueville's farsightedness, as evidenced by this prophecy, has in our times been admired. I do not want to detract from Tocqueville's fame-which, after all, rests firmly on his works as a whole rather than on just the passage quoted above. Still, I should like to compare this passage with another reading as follows.
TL;DR: A. L. Burt's well-known textbook, The Evolution of the British Empire and Commonwealth from the American Revolution, illustrates the continuing role of the United States in the shaping of British imperial policy as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A S THE VERY TITLE of A. L. Burt's well-known textbook, The Evolution of the British Empire and Commonwealth from the American Revolution' illustrates, the continuing role of the United States in the shaping of British imperial policy has become part of the received interpretation of the historians of the British Empire. They have, however, localized their search for American influence. The most thoroughly worked fields are Canadian history and the study of Anglo-Canadian relations, now normally regarded as but one side of a Brebnerian "North Atlantic Triangle." The recognition of the importance of the American factor in these aspects of imperial history is understandable. After all, the establishment of a predominantly British community in continental British North America dates from the arrival of those D.P.'s, variously described as Tories or Loyalists, who either could not stomach, or be stomached by, the American Revolution. The impact of the Loyalist legend has made much of the subsequent history of Canada read like a continuing minority report on the American Revolution. Like all minority reports, it makes sense only when read in conjunction with that from which it dissents.
TL;DR: The Southern Pacific Railroad of Mexico (Ferrocarril Sud-Pacifico de Mexico) as mentioned in this paper was an important factor in the history of the Republic of Mexico from its inception.
Abstract: THROUGHOUT THE EARLY HISTORY Of the Republic of Mexico, the west coast region remained isolated and undeveloped largely because of inadequate transportation facilities. With the coming of the twentieth century a number of American business interests began considering the possibilities of exploiting this potentially rich land. As a result of their activity, the Southern Pacific Company built over a thousand miles of railroad along the west coast of Mexico. From its inception the Southern Pacific Railroad of Mexico (Ferrocarril Sud-Pacifico de Mexico) was an important factor in the history of the Republic. Notwithstanding its significance, the story of this railroad remains today relatively obscure and unknown. It is the purpose of this paper to trace the history of the Southern Pacific Railroad of Mexico.
TL;DR: The Pine View Dam as discussed by the authors is the only known man-made dam that backs up a reservoir lying on top of artesian wells which provide the principal supply of culinary water for a city.
Abstract: than fifty years, presented some of the most unusual problems of construction that engineers have faced in a dam of similar dimensions. It is the only known man-made dam that backs up a reservoir lying on top of artesian wells which provide the principal supply of culinary water for a city. Indeed, the Pine View Dam and appurtenant works constitute the only "three-decker water system" in existence. The first or lower deck is the artesian well collection system, originally developed in the early 1900's; the second is the 44,200 acre-feet of water stored by the original dam built in the 1930's to provide water for the Ogden River Water Users' Association; the third is the additional 66,000 acre-feet of water developed for the Weber Basin Conservancy District in 1955-1956 by raising the height of the dam 29 feet. In addition to providing irrigation water for 1,250 farmers in the Ogden River and Weber valleys, the water stored behind the dam constitutes a significant portion of the water supply for three of the largest municipalities in Weber Valley, Utah-Ogden, North Ogden, and Pleasant View. Brigham City also obtains some of its municipal supply from Pine View Reservoir.
TL;DR: In the twenty-year debate which preceeded the Reform Bill of 1867, British orators, essayists, and journalists repeatedly admonished their audiences to "Look at America, look at Australia," and see in those new lands models of democracy's sins or virtues.
Abstract: DURING THE twenty-year debate which preceeded the Reform Bill of 1867, British orators, essayists, and journalists repeatedly admonished their audiences to "Look at America, look at Australia," and see in those new lands models of democracy's sins or virtues. Of the two, the example of America was by far the more fascinating, particularly since many British observers saw in the struggle between the North and the South a morality play in which the strengths and the weaknesses of popular sovereignty seemed to contend. The ending of the Civil War drama in 1865 coincided with the decision by the Liberal party to introduce once again a bill for the extension of the franchise. Some Englishmen were convinced that a significant connection existed between the victory of the Union forces and passage of the Reform Bill of 1867 and several American historians have suggested that parliamentary reform in Britain had to wait until the outcome of the war could show which way the democratic tide was running.' The triumph of the North undoubtedly contributed to the attitude of fatalism in the minds of many of the ruling classes about the inevitable spread of popular governments and encouraged the working classes and gave them increased hope. But that influence was indirect and unmeasurable. It cannot be shown that events across the Atlantic moved Russell and Gladstone to frame their reform bill late in 1865 or Edmond Beales and George Wilson to organize their reform associations. Had the North lost the war or been forced to
TL;DR: In 1911, the California State Legislature submitted a woman suffrage amendment to the male voters for a second time, despite a "red-hot suffrage campaign" conducted by the seventy-six-year-old Susan B. Anthony as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: IN 1911, the California State Legislature submitted a woman suffrage amendment to the male voters for a second time. A similar amendment failed to pass fifteen years earlier in 1896, despite a "red-hot suffrage campaign" conducted by the seventy-sixyear-old Susan B. Anthony. The 1896 campaign was the last for that veteran leader of the women's rights movement. Storming up and down the state, Anthony advised women to concentrate on suffrage and to forget about temperance and religion. "What I want is for the men to vote 'yes' on the suffrage amendment," she wrote to her old comrade-in-arms, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, on the eve of the election, "and I don't ask whether they make wine on the ranches or believe that Christ made it at the wedding feast." 1 Men in the south and suburbs returned a heavy "yes" vote, but not heavy enough to counteract the thousands of "no" votes from the men of San Francisco, and the amendment went down to defeat. After the defeat, demoralized California suffragists allowed even their organizations to distintegrate. When Miss Anthony died in 1906, fiftyeight years after the declaration of the rights of women at Senaca Falls in 1848, California women still waited for political equality. Among the politically ambitious women who waited impatiently for enfranchisement in 1911 was Annette Abbott, a student at Boalt Hall, the new law school of the University of California at Berkeley. When the first suffrage amendment failed in 1896, she had been a junior at Chico State Normal School majoring in history and economics. Like many young women of the 1890's, women whom Henrik Ibsen portrayed so well in his Hedda Gabler, she resented the re-