Today -100: December 19, 1911: Of bread & water, imperialist cooperation, and treaties

An Illinois jury attempts to add a stipulation onto the life sentence it gave a murderer: that on each anniversary of the murder, he be put on bread and water. The judge says no.

Lord Kitchener seals the border between colonial Egypt and Libya, using the pretense of neutrality to aid the Italian imperialists by cutting off the Turkish-Libyan forces’ supply of ammunition, which is almost entirely depleted. Italy, of course, can resupply its troops by sea.

Taft abrogates the treaty with Russia and asks for Senate approval. He moved quickly – and moving quickly is very much not Taft’s thing – to preempt the Sulzer resolution, which passed the House last week and is pending in the Senate but contains language Russia finds offensive, accusing Russia of violating the 1832 treaty by refusing to honor the passports of American Jews. Taft hopes Russia will stop being assholes and negotiate a new treaty before the abrogation takes effect.