New years 1919.. 100 years back.. The temperature went down to 25 degrees and remained below 31 all day.
Sleet fell sporadically, mixed with rain. A blizzard loomed on the Panhandle and threatened Central Texas..
Also in the war’s aftermath, labor unions began a series of strikes for higher pay and better benefits. Unions had stalled negotiations because of the war; now times were different, but management refused to bargain.
The Santa Fe Railway’s telegraphers went on strike just before New Year’s. Other unions joined in solidarity.
“The fire department was called out twice Tuesday night (New Year’s Eve) to answer false alarms, presumably turned in by New Year’s celebrants,” the Telegram reported.
“The New Year was otherwise ushered in very quietly. At midnight, many guns were fired, but the whistles and bells joined in the noise very weakly.”
Victories in Europe allowed the United States, once considered a backward uncouth nation, to emerge victorious as a 20th century superpower…
That was then.
2019 is now.