Today -100: December 5, 1909: Of commissions, strikes, Hebrews, and aerial sign-posts

President Zelaya finally responds to the downgrading of diplomatic relations, and it’s a bizarre response: he asks the US to send a commission to investigate conditions in Nicaragua. He says he will resign if it finds his administration is detrimental to Central America.

In a 5-month-old strike against a subsidiary of the United Steel in Bridgeport, Ohio, five people have been shot, none fatally, in what the NYT calls a riot. It’s a man-bites-dog story in that the five who were shot are not strikers but three guards, a bystander and a 15-year-old. The strike began when the company declared its plants would all be open shops.

Various Jewish societies are asking the Immigration Commission to stop referring to Jewish immigrants as “Hebrew” in immigration reports, but instead refer to their nation of origin.

French aviator Louis Paulhan (who holds French flying license no. 10) has reached a height of 2,000 feet. He believes planes can go even higher. However, he did get a little lost on his test flight and says there really need to be “aerial sign-posts.”