Today -100: September 19, 1912: Of in-touch candidates, airships, and dead mules

Election 1912 Headline of the Day -100: “West Finds Wilson in Touch With Life.” Evidently he’s not a cold scholar after all (spoiler alert: yes he is). Woodrow Wilson, campaigning in Minnesota, is doing the Romney thing of trying to connect to regular voters. He said the best response to Roosevelt’s idea of tight regulation of trusts is “Rats.” NYT: “When he added ‘Let Roosevelt tell it to the marines,’ the crowd became decidedly hilarious.”

Wilson speaks warmly of President Taft’s integrity and patriotism; “If he has got into bad company it is no fault of his, because he didn’t choose the company; it was there beforehand. And if he has taken their advice it has been because they were nearest to him, and he didn’t hear anybody else. That is why I would rather have the advice of a crowd like this than the advice of a Cabinet.” That is a nicely done takedown of the chubby chief executive.

Military Headline of the Day -100: “Navy Unafraid of Airships.” Even the newest battleships will not be equipped with anti-aircraft guns or protection against aerial bombs. Rear Admiral Twining thinks ordinary rifles are sufficient protection against planes and airships.

On the other hand, the British army had to abandon army maneuvers because aerial scouting made the implementation of strategic plans impossible.

The Army convenes a board of inquiry consisting of five officers to investigate which of two cavalry horses kicked a mule to death.

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