June 26: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 26, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — Frederic A. Delano has offered President Wilson his resignation as a member of the Federal Reserve Board, to accept a commission in the Army Engineer Corps to do railroad reconstruction and management work in France. The resignation has not been accepted. This is the first resignation of a member of the Federal Reserve Board since its organization four years ago. Owing to the number of important questions of policy now before the board, some doubt is felt as to whether the president will relieve Mr. Delano of his duties.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1921, Eagle columnist Frederick Boyd Stevenson wrote, “There is an epidemic of crime. Why? Some say it is due to the war — that the spirit of unrest and consequent disorder always follow wars. Perhaps in part that was the cause for the initiation of a crime wave spreading over the country. It is not the cause for the continuance and increase of crime. The chief cause for the continuance and increase of crime is imitation. A famous authority on crime and criminals — Gabriel Tarde, former magistrate and professor in the College of France — says: ‘Before anything else we ought summarily to define and analyze the powerful, generally unconscious, always partly mysterious action by means of which we account for all the phenomena of society, namely, imitation.’ That is the soundest solution of the problem of a crime wave. Now, then, if we stop those who set the example of committing crimes, we shall get at the very beginning of the cure.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “A bill amending the National Firearms Act, which probably will find little favor among sportsmen, has been submitted to Congress by Attorney General Cummings. The bill is quite similar but somewhat stronger than those parts thrown out at the insistence of sportsmen when the act was passed in 1934 and at various times since then. According to George Huber, the Cummings Firearms Bill is now in the hands of the Ways and Means Committee, but that body probably will not take any action on it because its members still recall vividly past fights on the matter. A much better measure, which really deserves the support of all sportsmen, is the Copeland Firearms Bill, which is designed to affect the criminal element only. This particular bill has passed the Senate and is now lying dormant in a House committee. Should it be considered, the Cummings Firearms Bill will create a most unpleasant situation for those owning or possessing sporting firearms. To start with, all firearms down to the smallest .22 caliber pistol now in one’s possession will have to be registered. Furthermore, a special tax of $500 for manufacturers, $200 for dealers and $300 for pawnbrokers must be paid each year.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Senate and House conferees sought to reconcile differences on OPA curbs today amid reports that the Office of Economic Stabilization was violently opposed to one amendment. That was the House-approved ‘food czar’ amendment which would give the secretary of agriculture veto power over all food regulations. Congressional sources believed the administration would accept the food czar amendment but would fight all other restrictions on OPA. But the OES was known to believe that giving the secretary of agriculture final say on food prices would strip it of power to hold the line against inflation, the job it was set up by Congress to do. The OES feels that regulation of food and commodity prices is interlocked with regulation of wages. Its job is to coordinate both.”

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Ariana Grande
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “The Time Tunnel” star Robert Colbert, who was born in 1931; 5th Dimension co-founder Billy Davis, Jr., who was born in 1938; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mick Jones (The Clash), who was born in 1955; “Gung Ho” star Gedde Watanabe, who was born in 1955; “Wicked Game” singer Chris Isaak, who was born in 1956; Scandal singer Patty Smyth, who was born in 1957; “The Kids in the Hall” star Mark McKinney, who was born in 1959; U.S. Bicycling Hall of Famer Greg LeMond, who was born in 1961; “Boogie Nights” director Paul Thomas Anderson, who was born in 1970; “Will & Grace” star Sean Hayes, who was born in 1970; “Here for the Party” singer Gretchen Wilson, who was born in 1973; N.Y. Yankees legend and Baseball Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, who was born in 1974; and “No Tears Left to Cry” singer Ariana Grande, who was born in 1993.

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RAISING THE BAR: The bar code was introduced on this day in 1974. A committee formed in 1970 by U.S. grocers and food manufacturers recommended in 1973 a Universal Product Code for supermarket items that would allow electronic scanning of prices. The first item to be scanned was a pack of Wrigley’s gum. Today bar codes are used to keep track of everything from freight cars to cattle.

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THIS IS US: On this day in 2000, biologists J. Craig Venter and Francis S. Collins announced that their research groups had mapped the human genome, a strand of DNA with three billion parts that spell out our genetic code.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

Quotable:

“I love it when people doubt me. It makes me work harder to prove them wrong.”

— N.Y. Yankees legend Derek Jeter, who was born on this day in 1974