Today -100: July 27, 1921: Our governors are not born kings

Headline of the Day -100:  

Southern politicians and newspapers indignantly reject the idea that famine and pellagra are running rampant in the cotton zone, which has been hit badly by declining cotton prices. They reject any aid from the federal government. (It doesn’t help that medical science is unsure – when not outright wrong – about the cause and treatment of pellagra.)

Sangamon County, Illinois Judge Ernest Smith rules that the governor is not immune from arrest. “Our governors are not born kings. They were not born with halos around them.” This is true: in Illinois they are born with handcuffs around them; it saves time. Judge Smith scoffs at Gov. Len Small’s threat to call out the militia to prevent his arrest, saying the militia can only be called out to help enforce the law, not break it. Small immediately leaves town.

I cannot move on without disclosing that the governor’s lawyer is a Mr. Fink.

The lower house of the Georgia Legislature votes to tax all bachelors over the age of 30 $5 a year. An amendment to tax all couples married three years who have yet to produce offspring $500 fails.

The small Upper Austrian town of Eferding issues an edict that no Jew may stay in the town longer than 24 hours.

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