MID-SOUTH MEMORIES
25 years ago — 1994 Washington – The Clinton administration unveiled a sweeping anti-smoking rule Friday that would ban virtually all indoor smoking wherever people work — from restaurants and bars to offices and factories. The unprecedented action would affect 6 million workplaces and protect “more than 20 million working men and women (who) face unnecessary health threats” from secondhand smoke, Labor Secretary Robert Reich said. “Lives will be saved, health care costs reduced and productivity increased,” he declared. 50 years ago — 1969 Ed Jones, 56-year-old Yorkville farmer and dairyman, carried 12 of 14 counties yesterday to win the Eighth District congressional seat with ease. Mr. Jones jumped in front of the 10-man field in the first hour of the count and, running strong in all areas, built steadily on his lead. The enthusiastic victor, a former state commissioner of agriculture, said last night he is ready to go to Washington “just as soon as they certify the vote. I don’t need a vacation or anything. I wish they would certify the vote tomorrow.” 75 years ago — 1944 One of the newest additions to Memphis’ war equipment is the machinegun and cannon testing “butt” at the Municipal Airport, which is operated under the direction of Chicago and Southern Airlines and the Material Command of the Army Air Forces. The “butt” consists of cypress logs, each 12 inches in diameter, standing on end and tied closely together. In front of the logs is a dirt and sandbag bank 24 feet deep. Behind the logs another bank of dirt 30 feet deep reinforces the entire structure. Since the project was first constructed, there have been more than 20,000 rounds of machinegun bullets fired and the butt was built to withstand the testing of 20 mm cannon if this equipment is brought here. 100 years ago — 1919 Washington – Mail seized by the Post Office Department since the signing of the armistice reveals that members of the IWW, radical socialists and others are laying detailed plans for a bloody revolution in the United States. They want the overthrow of the American government and the establishment of a Bolshevik republic. 125 years ago — 1894 The North Alabamian newspaper says: “Memphis ought to have had the great cotton exposition which is to go to Atlanta. Memphis is the largest inland cotton market in the world and could have shown more varieties than any other competitor. Atlanta is scarcely a cotton market at all, but she is a city with a population which contributes heavily to her public enterprises, and that explains a great deal.”