Today -100: May 27, 1913: Of strikes, military service, and heading into the Second Balkan War, hurrah!

Major clashes between IWW-backed silk strikers and the police in Paterson, NJ. The strikers say one of theirs was shot, but the police say they only fired into the air – a lot.

Conscripted soldiers in France are not taking well the news that their hitch has been extended from two years to three. Some mutineers have already been sent to punishment squads in Africa, while the rest of the military is confined to barracks and their letters are being censored. Protest rallies are growing.

Serbia is demanding from Bulgaria a revision of the alliance treaty by which they joined forces against Turkey. It thinks it deserves a lot more land (when doesn’t Serbia think that?). Russia is mediating between them, and between Bulgaria & Romania, but everyone (Spoiler Alert: correctly) expects a war.

There has been much discussion in the letter pages of the NYT on the causes of baldness. Too frequent haircuts? Stiff hats? Germs? One weirdo even suggested it was hereditary. Another correspondent says religious convictions are proof against going bald (something about uric acid).

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