Today -100: August 3, 1911: Of enlistments, extinctions, women lawyers, menacing revolutions, and useless husbands

There is a controversy in the US Army over whether army enlistments should be short, with a high turnover so that a large number of people can be trained and then called up if needed, or conversely whether enlistments should be increased to five years.

The chief health officer of Richmond, Virginia, notes that negroes have a higher death rate than whites and predicts they will become extinct in the 21st century.

Arabella (“Belle”) Mansfield, the first woman admitted to the bar in the US (Iowa, 1868), although she never actually practiced law, dies. She was dean of the College of Arts at DePauw University.

Well that was fast: “New Revolution Menaces Mexico.”

Condescending Headline of the Day -100 (LA Times): “They’ll Give Up Candy For Sake of Suffrage.” California suffragists are fund-raising for the October state referendum on women’s suffrage through a “self-denial week.”

Headline of the Day -100: “KILLED USELESS HUSBAND.; Wife Gives Excuse That She Could Not Make a Man of Him.” But she could make a dead man of him – it’s compromises like this that make marriages work.

The Southern Pacific Railroad will no longer hire women. They get married just when they’re becoming useful.