Domestic Events - June 1922
June 14.—The United States is "incomparably the biggest bootlegger in the world," charges August A. Busch, head of the Busch interests, in a letter to President Harding complaining that intoxicants are sold without restriction on American ships. Chairman Lasker replies that the prohibition law does not apply to ships outside the three-mile limit, and Wayne B. Wheeler, of the Anti-Saloon League, attacks the Busch statement as "simply an effort to discredit prohibition."
June 15.—Fire destroys 350 buildings in Arverne, a suburb of New York, resulting in an estimated loss of $2,000,000.
The nation faces an unparalleled coal shortage, declares John L. Lewis, President of the International Mine Workers of America, stating that the situation demands a conference of miners and operators.
June 16.—Rodolph de la Huerta, Finance Minister of Mexico, signs an agreement with the International Committee that Mexico will pay her external debts, and that payments on current interest on her bonds will start January 2, 1923, while the back interest will be cared for by amortization over a period of years. The International Committee recommends that the bondholders make substantial adjustments of their rights.
A out of $26,500,000 a year in the payment of about 320,000 more railway workers, chiefly in the clerical and station forces, is announced by the United States Railroad Labor Board. The cut goes into effect July 1, the aggregate reductions to become operative on that date amounting to $134,988,900.
The House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries recommends by a vote of 9 to 4 the passage of the ship subsidy bill.
The State Department is called in to assist in settling the Tacna-Arica dispute between Chile and Peru.
June 17.—President Harding receives the appeal of the Philippine Parliamentary mission for a grant of independence to the Filipino people, and promises an early reply.
June 18.—An effective treatment for the hookworm disease has been discovered in carbon tetrachloride, a common chemical, through the researches of the Department of Agriculture, it is announced.
June 19.—The Naval Appropriation Bill, carrying approximately $25,450,000 and providing for an enlisted personnel of 86,000 men, is passed by the Senate and sent to conference with the House.
J. Morton Howell, of Dayton, Ohio, is nominated by President Harding to be the first American Minister to Egypt.
June 20.—President John L. Lewis, of the United Mine Workers, and B. M. Jewell, President of the Railway Employees' Department in the American Federation of Labor, issue a joint statement saying, "we have no other recourse but to strike." A combined strike would mean that the 1,250,000 railroad workers affected by wage reductions would join the 680,000 coal miners now on strike.
The Senate adopts a motion of Senator Watson, of Indiana, to make the bonus bill a special order immediately following the passage of the tariff bill.
President Harding assents to postponement of action by the House of Representatives on the ship subsidy bill till after the tariff bill is passed by the Senate and sent to conference, but gives warning that a special session will be called if this Congress fails to act on the bill.