Today -100: December 16, 1915: French kiss-off

Gen. Sir Douglas Haig is made commander-in-chief of the British forces in France and Belgium, replacing Sir John French. This should go well.

French supposedly asked to be relieved after 16 months of stress, but really he’s been given the push because it’s increasingly been felt that he’s not up to the job.

US Gen. Frank McIntyre, chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, tells the Senate Philippines Committee that it should remove from the forthcoming bill for greater self-government a provision banning polygamy, which could only be enforced on the Moros with great bloodshed.

The NYT says the recall of Capt. Karl Boy-Ed, the German naval attaché in Washington, was demanded a few days after it was discovered that he’d received a top secret naval report prepared for Woodrow Wilson even before it reached Wilson’s desk. Boy-Ed’s American secretary ratted him out to the government.

Americans will no longer be allowed to leave the country by ship without a passport.

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