Today -100: July 16, 1913: The solution of the whole matter lies within cold water

Headline of the Day -100: “Georgia Votes for Bacon.” That would be Augustus O. Bacon, the first US senator elected by popular vote after the ratification of the 17th Amendment.

Mmm, Bacon.

Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan defends going on the lecture circuit for “part of my vacation.” The tour is six weeks: how long a vacation did secretaries of state get back then? He says he’s unwilling to eat into the (rather large) nest egg he’s built up “as a protection against old age.” Sen. Bristow (R-Kansas) suggests that if Bryan served pure spring water instead of “this nauseating grape juice,” he could live within his means. “The solution of the whole matter lies within cold water.”

The LAT reports that Speaker of the House Champ Clark also does the circuit for money when Congress is not in session.

Congress hastily passes a law to force arbitration and avert a major railroad strike.

The British House of Lords votes down Irish Home Rule, although since it no longer has veto power that amounts to a short delay only (unless some major international conflagration intervenes). Tory leaders in the Lords suggested that they needed to be convinced of public support for Home Rule by a referendum, only to add the next day that they would still reserve the right to amend the bill out of all recognition (“remove the blemishes and undesirable features by which it is characterized”). Prime Minister Asquith responds to this generous offer by announcing plans for a bill to abolish the House of Lords in the next session.

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