Today -100: January 10, 1912: Of “reluctant” candidates, resignations, and leather minorities

Theodore Roosevelt says that he will run for president – if the nomination is forced upon him. (Well, maybe: people at the event differ on exactly what he said.)

Since the French-German treaty over Morocco was signed there have been rumors in France that during the main negotiations and threats of war and whatnot, there were parallel secret negotiations between French and German financiers over business interests (railroad concessions in central Africa and Morocco). Prime Minister Joseph Caillaux gave his word of honor that there weren’t, but Foreign Minister Justin de Selves would not back him up when asked by Clemenceau in the Senate to do so, saying that he was caught between a duty to stick to the truth and a duty to the interests of the country. He has resigned.

For the first time, the rank of foreign diplomats in Germany will include a Jew, Sir Francis Oppenheimer, the new commercial attaché at the British Embassy in Berlin. The German court usually... discourages... countries from sending non-Christian diplomats.

Headline of the Day -100: “Leather Minority Restless.” I’ll bet they are, I’ll bet they are.