Today -100: March 3, 1917: Of armed ships, warnings, citizens, and flags

Headline of the Day -100:

About time, they’ve been painting penises on them for years.

Sen. Bob La Follette (R-Wisconsin) is holding up the bill to allow the arming of ships. Aside from him, senators are happy to avoid going to conference by passing the House bill intact. The House version strips out Wilson’s demand for vague “other instrumentalities and methods,” and its provision of insurance for merchant ship cargoes excludes ships carrying munitions.

Japan denies having been approached by Germany to join against the US, but Mexico ain’t talking.

Germany responds to the claim that the Laconia was sunk without warning: the warning was the declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare on Feb. 1st.

A new law makes Puerto Rican residents citizens of the United States (which they have the power to renounce within a year). Since annexation nearly 20 years ago, Puerto Ricans have not been citizens of any country (this was not an uncommon phenomenon at the time for people in colonies). And just for the hell of it, Congress also imposes prohibition on the island, although that could be reversed if wets organize a referendum.

The Iowa Department of Justice rules that newspapers containing images of the American flag are breaking the law.

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