Today -100: December 5, 1914: Of censorship, and crimes negroes are prone to commit

The British authorities finally allow the press to report the sinking of the Audacious, although not the name of the ship or the location.

The German authorities suppress an issue of the Vossische Zeitung for reporting on a super-secret meeting of a committee of the Reichstag at which, they say, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg said the war would go longer than expected and the German people had better tighten their belts.  The government denies he said anything of the sort.

And the Budapest authorities are trying to suppress newspapers that reported that Hungarian Prime Minister Count Tisza got a poor reception in Berlin when he tried to get troops sent to protect Hungary’s border.  Kaiser Wilhelm is reported to have been particularly upset about the “egotism of some people” whose desire not to be invaded by Russia would upset Germany’s meticulous war plans.  The Hungarian secret police are literally ripping newspapers out of the hands of people in cafés.  Everyone in Austria-Hungary is coming to realize that all decisions are now being made in Berlin.  Hungary especially was never thrilled with this war.  It disliked Archduke Franz Ferdinand and doesn’t share the Austrian interest in territorial expansion, which would just bring in more troublesome Slavs.

Fog of War (Rumors, Propaganda and Just Plain Bullshit) of the Day -100: Germany claims to have discovered in a town in Belgium super-secret pre-war papers from the British army detailing Belgian military information, showing that Belgium was never neutral, so it was totally okay for Germany to violate its neutrality.

Fog? The London Morning Post says that two of Kaiser Wilhelm’s sons had to flee the Russian army in Poland by airplane.

France, which doesn’t seem to be pressing its advantage while Germany is distracted by losses on its eastern front in Poland, is also fighting a colonial war in Morocco, where a lot of officers have been beheaded by Arab insurgents.

Massachusetts Gov. David Walsh wants to suspend labor laws, including those regulating child labor, overtime, and the 54-hour week, so that the state can take advantage of all the extra orders coming in due to the European war.  It’s called opportunity, people!

The journal American Medicine, which is published in New York, has an article by a psychologist trying – and failing – to figure out why Atlanta is so eager to execute Leo Frank for a crime Jim Conley, who testified against him, obviously did, despite the fact that “The crime [presumably rape rather than murder] is one which negroes are prone to commit, and if a white man is guilty he generally, if not always, shows signs of mental disturbance.”  It’s just science.

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