Today -100: October 26, 1911: Of war chests, college yells, and hair

Chinese revolutionaries have captured the government’s war chest of 1.5 million taels (however much that might have been in real money). This means government troops can’t be paid. Things are also tense in the fairly new National Assembly, which is threatening that if the powerful minister of posts and communications isn’t fired and punished, the Assembly will dissolve itself. Sheng Hsuan-Huai, for that is his name, was largely responsible for a policy of strengthening the national government at the expense of the provinces, one of the causes of the Revolution.

Speaking at the University of Minnesota, President Taft suggests that students could spend their time better than in “barbaric yells.” “The President’s remarks about college yells were called forth by the greetings he received from the Minnesota students under the leadership of ‘cheer leaders’ who jumped in front of Mr. Taft and went through various sorts of gyrations.” He says that back in his day, college students “got along with a less sharp yell and a somewhat more graceful hurrah.”

Crime of the Day -100: Rae Bogert, a department store model, is mugged for her hair. Which was chestnut.