Today -100: August 5, 1911: Of alphabets, poltroons, Reciprocity, and icebergs

Rep. Fred Jackson (R-Kansas) introduces a bill calling on Taft to call a conference of all nations to consider the creation of a Universal Scientific Alphabet.

German ultra-nationalists are worried that the government may compromise with France over Morocco. The Pan-German Post calls Kaiser Wilhelm “The Valorous Poltroon.” What is the German for poltroon, and how do you spell it in the Universal Scientific Alphabet?

Update: Google Translate says the German for poltroon is feigling, which seems to me to capture the literal meaning but not the tone.

President Taft names his new horse Reciprocity, after the Canadian trade treaty. There’s probably a joke in that somewhere.

In a freak accident that will never be repeated, the passenger liner Columbia, traveling from Glasgow to New York, hits an iceberg. No one was hurt.