Today -100: November 20, 1912: But the men must be bored

Woodrow Wilson, on vacation in Bermuda, says he’s actually beginning to forget politics. Don’t worry, Tom, politics hasn’t forgotten you.

Peace talks begin in the First Balkan War. However, the allies’ terms call for Turkey to surrender places the allies didn’t succeed in capturing, including Adrianople and Scutari, so we’ll see. Cholera has everyone worried, though the NYT claims that “Mussulman fatalism makes a cholera epidemic a less important factor” to the Ottomans than to the Bulgarians.

Headline of the Day -100 (LAT): “Peace News Hurts Wheat.”

The annual luncheon of the NY anti-women’s suffrage society came to grips with the problem of how to assert themselves politically to argue against asserting themselves politically. Said the president, Mrs. William Putnam, “It is high time there should be no silent women, though that sounds bad for an anti-suffragist.” “Let every man you meet know that you are an anti-suffragist. Never sit at dinner beside a man without letting him know that you are an anti-suffragist. ... I have been afraid of boring people, but the men must be bored. Tell every carpenter and every man who works for you.” Mrs. Martha McCullouch Williams said, “It is a woman’s duty to be delightful, ornamental, and useful, and she could not be more so with the vote. If she had it she would not know what to do with it. Where the ballot is placed in the hands of those unfit to use it there follows ruin, rapine, and terror. ... Woman is no more fit for the ballot than to be a trapeze performer or bareback rider.”

Noted in the LAT: they referred to Thanksgiving as Turkey Day even back then.

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Name that penis! Another competition I may very well regret

For once – and only this once – Charles Pierce has let us down, referring to Col. Combover’s wang with less than his usual creativity as “little Petraeus.” Surely we can do better than that. So when he combs over his pubic hair and affixes the tiny row of medals beneath his cock in preparation for a night on the town, what does he call it?

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Today -100: November 19, 1912: Of Albanias, bathtub trusts, and baronesses

While the Great Powers want a new Albania established out of the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire, the Balkan League nations want to partition it amongst themselves.

Turkish troops finally do something right, stopping a Bulgarian attack at Tchatalja. This will save Adrianople and Constantinople from occupation.

The Supreme Court affirms that the Bathtub Trust was an illegal combination and should be dissolved. The ruling goes beyond bathtubs, saying that holders of patents can’t set a fixed price for retailers of that product.

Retired opera singer Minnie Hauk dies. She was the first to sing the title role of Carmen in the US, but retired when she married a German baron. This just goes to show that in this world you can be born a Minnie Hauk and die a Baroness von Hesse-Wartegg.

Correction: Her Wikipedia entry says she actually died in 1929.

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That’s preferable

Obama is in Thailand. He and PM Yingluck Shinawatra held a press conference.

A reporter asked if Thai “democracy” was “satisfying,” given the human rights abuses and people being imprisoned for very long prison terms for criticizing the king, etc. Obama answered that “democracy is not something that is static; it’s something that we constantly have to work on” and cited America’s shaky history. This is something he’s said before. Someone needs to follow up and ask some questions about American history, such as: when blacks weren’t allowed to vote in Mississippi, was Mississippi a democracy? If he’s going to keep using the word democracy for countries that aren’t very democratic, (later, on whether his trip to Burma is premature: “if we waited to engage until they had achieved a perfect democracy, my suspicion is we’d be waiting an awful long time”) I’d like to know what his definition of it is.

He was asked about Gaza. He insisted that the “precipitating event” was “an ever-escalating number of missiles,” because we all know that that’s how history started. Adam and Eve and the ever-escalating number of missiles.

He said that “there’s no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders.” Wow. Just.... wow.

“So we are fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself from missiles landing on people’s homes and workplaces and potentially killing civilians.” He did not say how Israel’s shooting missiles at journalists (for example) or “send[ing] Gaza back to the Middle Ages” constitutes defending itself from missiles landing on people’s homes and workplaces and potentially killing civilians.

He said that if the missiles can be stopped without a full-scale invasion of Gaza, “that’s preferable; that’s not just preferable for the people of Gaza, it’s also preferable for Israelis -- because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they’re much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded.” A Nobel Peace Prize Winner Explains Shit To You.

“But what I’ve said to President Morsi and Prime Minister Erdogan is that those who champion the cause of the Palestinians should recognize that if we see a further escalation of the situation in Gaza, then the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future.” Um, a follow-up, Mr President: what was the “likelihood” of that before this?

He’s stopped even tacking on a suggestion that Israel avoid slaughtering civilians while exercising its “right to defend itself.”

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Today -100: November 18, 1912: Of attempted coups, UFOs, and what a great majority of men object to

An alleged plot by the Young Turks for a quick revolution to establish a republic has been thwarted.

For a month now, rumors have been going around about a mysterious object seen in the sky over England. Now it seems to be confirmed that it was a German airship, flown by Count Zeppelin himself, possibly blown off course, possibly testing out its capabilities in the laughably unlikely event of a war between Germany and Great Britain.

It’s a light news day -100, so let’s give some excerpts from a letter to the NYT by Everett Pepperrell Wheeler, a prominent lawyer, author, and failed candidate for NY governor in 1894, on the subject of last week’s women’s suffrage parade. I quote at length not because it’s exceptional but because it isn’t. It’s a rather typical anti-suffrage screed, nicely illustrative of the assumptions and arguments of many men and quite a few women:

And so 20,000 women paraded down Fifth Avenue to the sound of the trumpet and in the glare of the electric lights. Did their leaders really think that any sensible man likes to have his wife, or his mother, or his daughter thus parade the streets? It seems to me that this parade is one of the strongest arguments against universal suffrage for women that has yet been presented. It shows such a failure to adopt means reasonable to a desired end that it destroys the confidence any of us may have had in the good sense and sound judgment of the leaders of this movement.

Some of the women who have thus exhibited themselves to a curious public seem to believe that their rights are denied under our present laws. ... If it is better legislation that these zealous women desire, we can tell them that any woman who studies any subject and masters it can always have a respectful hearing from legislative bodies. ... What a great majority of men object to is the extension of the suffrage to nearly 2,000,000 women, citizens of voting age in the State of New York, whose time and strength are fully occupied by their present duties. These duties are most important. No man can perform them. These wives and mothers bear children, bring them up, train them.

He goes on to explain that good laws are useless without such training. I mean, look at the Ten Commandments: they’ve had a lot of publicity over the years, but they’re broken all the time.

It is to the mothers and sisters that we look primarily for that teaching and training in sound principles which will keep the man from committing these crimes, and to do this requires the undivided attention and thought and interest of the great majority of women.

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Today -100: November 17, 1912: Of troop movements, insured tsarevitches, and incensed frogs

Another Balkan state is heard from: Romania moves troops to its border with Bulgaria. Trying to ensure Bulgaria doesn’t grab too much territory.

And West Virginia Gov. William Glasscock moves troops into the coal fields of Kanawha to impose martial law and protect scabs.

The LAT reports that Tsarevitch Alexei of Russia has relapsed. And says his life is insured for $5,000,000. Which seems rather unlikely.

Diplomatic Headline of the Day -100 (LAT): “France Incensed at Russia.” For not supporting all of Serbia’s claims to new territory. Although the French actually seem more pissed at Germany, as was the custom. In Paris thousands march shouting “On to Berlin!” as they did in 1870 (as you’ll no doubt recall from the last words of Zola’s novel Nana), and that didn’t end particularly well (the Franco-Prussian War and the novel). “The French army is said to be in a perfect state of preparedness.” Preparedness for what, the LAT does not say.

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Risk causing civilian casualties

The Congressional resolutions (passed unanimously today) supporting Israel’s “inherent right of self-defense” in dropping bombs on Gaza didn’t suggest any limits on that right of self-defense: even Obama suggested that Israel might try to avoid Palestinian civilian casualties, Congress did not.

Indeed, the sole mention of the fact that Palestinians are dying is this: “the recent spike in Gaza-linked terrorist missile attacks against Israel, which risk causing civilian casualties in both Israel and Gaza”. Israel not only doesn’t get blame for the death of children and others, it doesn’t even get agency: Hamas is “causing civilian casualties” with Israeli bombs.

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Today -100: November 16, 1912: Of nobels, tariffs, and cholera

Gerhart Hauptmann wins the Nobel Prize for literature. Can’t say I’ve heard of him.

Wilson announces that he will call a special session of Congress in the spring to revise tariffs, although he denies supporting free trade, which he says is not advocated by any thinking Democrat.

More bad news for Turkey: a cholera outbreak among their troops. But some rare good news for Turkey: the cholera outbreak will make the Bulgarians afraid to occupy Constantinople.

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Obama & Netanyahu shoot the shit, Palestinian children

The White House puts out a statement on today’s call by Obama to Netanyahu.

Evidently he “reiterated to Prime Minister Netanyahu the United States’ support for Israel’s right to self-defense in light of the barrage of rocket attacks being launched from Gaza against Israeli civilians.” I’m not sure what “self-defense” has to do with what Israel is actually doing.

“The President urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to make every effort to avoid civilian casualties.” Well, every effort except not firing missiles into crowded cities.

“The two agreed that Hamas needs to stop its attacks on Israel to allow the situation to de-escalate.” Because people totally have conversations that sound like this.

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Today -100: November 15, 1912: Of armistices, parliamentary decorum, and lynchings

Or maybe there isn’t an armistice in the Balkan War.

A couple of days ago, there was a huge disturbance in the House of Commons over the Home Rule Bill, forcing the House to be adjourned. Someone threw a book at Winston Churchill’s head (hit it, too). In a Tory rally in Albert Hall, Tory party leader Andrew Bonar Law says he didn’t regret the disturbance and did nothing to stop it.

(Usage note: I’m using the informal “Tory” to avoid confusion. During this period, the Irish issue was so central that the Conservative Party called itself the Unionist Party, or sometimes the Conservative and Unionist Party).

A black man is lynched near Ocala, Florida. He was seized from the jail, taken two miles out of town and told to run, whereupon the mob shot him a few hundred times.

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Obama press conference: I don’t think there’s any debate in this country that when you have four Americans killed, that’s a problem

8 months since the last presser, and he really didn’t have much to say.

On Petraeus: “By his own assessment, he did not meet the standards that he felt were necessary as the director of CIA with respect to this personal matter that he is now dealing with with his family and with his wife. And it’s on that basis that he tendered his resignation, and it’s on that basis that I accepted it.” Obama is here avoiding saying whether he would have asked for Col. Combover’s resignation. As for those “standards,” and other discussion of Col. C “failing to live up to his own Code,” since the affair took place some time ago and he only resigned when it came out, the Petraeus Code is clearly Don’t Get Caught.

He calls the latest Syrian umbrella group “a legitimate representative of the aspirations of the Syrian people.” Nice that someone found the legitimacy that Assad lost – it’s always in the last place you look.

But we won’t be recognizing them as government-in-exile or arming them (at least not openly): “And you know, one of the things that we have to be on guard about, particularly when we start talking about arming opposition figures, is that we’re not indirectly putting arms in the hands of folks who would do Americans harm or do Israelis harm”. Did you notice what group he conspicuously omitted from that list? Syrians. If intra-Syrian ethnic/sectarian/factional violence is a factor in his decisionmaking process, it seems to have slipped his mind here.

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Today -100: November 14, 1912: Of armistices and revolvers

Armistice in the Balkan War.

Disappointing Sports Headline of the Day -100: “Revolver Shooting Winners.”

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Daily Telegraphy: Ostrich anus edition

There may be a metaphor in here somewhere: “Nadine Dorries entered the jungle promising to bring serious political debate to the masses. Instead, the MP found herself eating lamb’s testicle and ostrich anus on primetime television.”

Also, a retired Anglican bishop is arrested for sexually abusing minors. His name is the Rev. Peter Ball, because of course it is.

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Today -100: November 13, 1912: This wretch has killed me

Spanish Prime Minister José Canalejas is assassinated by an anarchist, as was the custom. Last words: “This wretch has killed me.”

Punch:

George Lansbury, Labour MP (and grandfather of Angela Lansbury), resigns from Parliament in order to stand again in the resulting by-election on the sole issue of women’s suffrage. Since the NYT won’t be following this at all as it develops, I’ll do the whole story in one go. The Labour Party had decided to continue backing the Asquith government, even if the women’s suffrage amendment to the Manhood Suffrage Bill failed (as Asquith intends). Lansbury thought his re-election would leave him free to follow his conscience. But his timing was bad, he didn’t prepare his electorate (the working-class Bow & Bromley section of London) so his resignation just looked mercurial, the Labour Party disowned him, and his sole opponent, Reginald Blair (Tory), didn’t cooperate in making it the straight fight on the suffrage issue Lansbury wanted. Though Blair did use the slogan “No Petticoat Government!”, he mostly fought on other issues. Still, when Lansbury lost, the London Times claimed that on the one occasion the suffrage issue was actually squarely before the (male) voters, it lost. Lansbury continued to fight for women’s suffrage, spending some time in prison in 1913, where he hunger struck and was forcibly fed, and didn’t get back into Parliament until 1922. In 1931 he became leader of a rump Labour Party (the members who didn’t join Ramsay MacDonald (boo hiss)’s coalition National Government).

A large strike in St Petersburg to protest the death sentences imposed on 17 sailors of the Black Fleet for mutiny.

To celebrate the recovery of Tsarevitch Alexei, the Tsar pardons an army private who was sentenced to life imprisonment for stepping out of line to hand the tsar a petition (about what, we do not know).

Austria and Italy are mobilizing their navies and armies, to prevent Serbian troops entering Albania.

Headline of the Day -100: “‘Magic Flute’ to Be Revived.” Sounds like the subject line of a spam email.

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Daily Telegraphy: Boiled eggs and maggots

More news from the world’s leading newspaper.

“The Prince of Wales Does Not Have Seven Eggs for Breakfast, Insists Palace.” The story, which the Royal Family strenuously denies, is that he has seven eggs boiled and labeled according to cooking length, then chooses one of them to eat.

Nadine “Mad Nad” Dorries, a Tory MP since 2005, hitherto mostly known for proposing various forms of anti-abortion legislation, has taken some criticism (and been suspended from the Conservative Party) for taking several weeks off from her job of legislatin’ to appear on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. Everyone in the country, including her colleagues, phoned in to vote for her to be buried in a coffin with cockroaches and maggots. It did not go well.

(Update: more British news. In addition to the guy arrested by the Kent police for “malicious telecommunications” for posting a picture of a poppy being set on fire, “In Bristol, a man who skateboarded alongside a Remembrance Sunday parade wearing a pink outfit and horned mask has been charged under the Public Order Act”.)

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Today -100: November 12, 1912: Where the nuts come from

Woodrow Wilson is considering calling a special session of Congress to revamp the tariff system. Otherwise, it will be over a year until Congress meets again.

Ohio discovers that four prisoners that were transferred from the state prison to the state hospital decades ago after being found insane were just left there, although their terms were up as long as 33 years ago. Normally it takes computers to fuck things up that badly.

California’s votes are still being counted and the presidential race has been going back and forth (Spoiler alert: Roosevelt will win, 283,610 to Wilson’s 283,436, with Eugene Debs coming 3rd with 79,201, 11.7% of the vote). The Democrats are trying to have all the votes from LA County thrown out, on the grounds that someone opened the envelope containing the precinct tally books and ballots.

English Actor W. S. Penley, originator of the title role in “Charley’s Aunt,” dies.

Filthy Headline of the Day -100, If You Read It Too Quickly (NYT): “Kaiser Felicitates Greeks.”

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Today -100: November 11, 1912: Of balloonist spies and peculiar donkeys

The Great Powers are telling Bulgaria that its army will absolutely not be permitted to occupy Constantinople (just temporarily, until peace negotiations are completed, the Bulgars/Bulgarians are saying, getting rather ahead of themselves).

Headline of the Day -100 (NYT front page): “Balloonist Held as Spy.” An American blown off course wound up in Russia. He was held five days.

Headline of the Day -100 That I Didn’t Feel It Necessary to Click On (LAT): “Chinese Donkeys Are Peculiar.”

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Today -100: November 10, 1912: Of independence, judicial recall, parades, and hemophiliacs

President Taft intends to work for the rest of his term (which ends next March) and afterwards fighting against independence for the Philippines (which the Democrat platform called for). Not exactly Jimmy Carter, is what I’m saying. He’s especially worried that an independent Philippines would confiscate land owned by missionaries.

Taft, you may recall, vetoed statehood for Arizona until the provision for popular recall of judges was removed from the constitution. But in this week’s election, Arizonans voted to put it back in.

A suffrage parade marches down Fifth Avenue in New York City at night, with orange lanterns, in celebration of the four new suffrage states (actually three: everyone still thinks women’s suffrage passed in Michigan).

LAT cartoon, 11/19/12:

The Russian monarchy admits that Tsarevitch Alexei is a hemophiliac.

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Today -100: November 9, 1912: You have no right to come here and talk about chrysanthemums

Greek troops capture Salonika, which surrenders without a fight.

Headline of the Day -100 (LAT): “Bulgars Merely Laugh At Turks’ Holy War.” The sheikh-Ul-Islam declares a jihad (a word which the LAT, which spells it Jehad, expected its readers to understand without having it defined for them). The head of the Islamic faith in Turkey, the sheikh says that the Christians called it a holy war first. Which is true.

In the Balkan War, French-manufactured artillery has been working better than German.

The US sends two warships to the region, just in case the Turks get any crazy ideas about massacring American missionaries.

Austria is trying to impose conditions on Serbia carving new territory for itself from the Ottoman Empire, including permanent friendly relations and a customs union, which Serbia considers as intended to make it a vassal state, which, yes, was the idea.

Austria, Italy and Germany are agreed on the creation of an independent Albanian state, which would wreck Serbia’s plans to acquire Adriatic ports. They don’t want any of the victorious Balkan states getting too big. The term for this strategy is, of course, balkanization.

A rare North Dakota lynching, a man (presumably white, since otherwise the NYT & LAT would have said) who murdered his wife and father-in-law. “The shooting is said to have been the result of family trouble.”

British suffragettes disrupt a speech being given by President of the Local Government Board John Burns at a chrysanthemum show in Battersea, one saying, “Mr. Burns, you have no right to come here and talk about chrysanthemums.”

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Today -100: November 8, 1912: Of waddling mates, hangings, ports, and rugs

Thanks to the addition of a Bull Mooser to his congressional race, Nicholas Longworth, Roosevelt’s son-in-law, loses his seat to a Democrat. That’ll be one awkward Thanksgiving.

Now that the election’s over, the burning question is: who will be Taft’s running mate (and I can’t believe I haven’t thought of using the term “waddling mate” until right this second)? Vice President Sherman died, but there needs to be a Republican candidate for veep to receive those 8 electoral votes. The front-runner for the thankless job is Gov. Hadley of Missouri.

Oregon will celebrate the election with a mass execution of 5 or 7 men on December 13 (since the voters turned down the governor’s proposal to end capital punishment).

Serbia says it wants three of the Ottoman Empire’s Adriatic ports when the Empire’s European territory is divvied up, and doesn’t care what happens with Constantinople.

But how, the average New York Times reader is no doubt asking themself, does all this affect the price of Turkish rugs? Not much so far, the paper reassures those average readers, especially since the war is confined to the European provinces.

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California props

I’ve update my recommendations post with the results and a few comments.

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Today -100: November 7, 1912: The time has come now to do a lot of thinking

Woodrow Wilson won’t be giving out any statements. “The time has come now to do a lot of thinking.” He will take a long vacation in Bermuda but will not yet resign as governor of New Jersey (this election gave the D’s a majority in the State Senate that will be sworn in January; before then, his replacement would be a Republican).

Taft says he will go home to Cincinnati and resume his legal practice. He says Wilson will face a Congress filled with new, untried men who have come to believe in “histrionic publicity.”

Women’s suffrage was on the ballot in 5 states, succeeding in Kansas (NYT headline: “Kansas Women Win; Men Apathetic”), Arizona and Oregon, but failing in Michigan (narrowly), and in Wisconsin, where “the Teutonic and Scandinavian sections” of the male electorate were strongly opposed. That’s 9 suffrage states total.

West Virginia votes itself dry; Colorado refuses to do so, but does pass a measure to build a railroad tunnel through the Rocky Mountains.

Oregon rejects a referendum to abolish hanging.

William Sulzer, the surprise nominee of the NY Democratic convention for governor just one month ago, wins.

I predict a long and successful career as governor for Mr. Sulzer.

The Bronx secedes from NY, forming its own county. NYT: “The Bronx has been bunkoed.”

Bulgaria’s secret weapon in the Balkan War: searchlights, which allow them to attack at night.

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Wisconsin

elects the first ever United States senator named Tammy.

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In other election news

The British bookmaker Ladbrokes has suspended betting on the outcome of the race to be next archbishop of Canterbury because a sudden run of bets suggests that the decision has already been made and insiders are trying to cash on. The Church of England, ladies and gentlemen!

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Today -100: November 6, 1912: As Vermont goes, so goes Utah

Woodrow Wilson wins 41% of the vote nationally, Roosevelt 27%, Taft 23%, and Socialist Eugene Debs 6% (almost a million votes). Wilson won 40 states, TR 6, Taft won Utah & Vermont (and Vermont just barely).

Debs got more votes than Taft in Arizona, California (where Taft wasn’t on the ballot and fewer than 4,000 people wrote in his name), Florida, Louisiana, and Nevada.

Wilson won with far fewer votes than William Jennings Bryan got in 1908. But he will have the largest electoral college victory (435 to TR’s 88 and Taft’s 8) since Grant beat a dead guy 40 years ago.

In Congress, the Democrats take 291 seats, up from 230, the Progressives (who ran, er, I’m not sure how many candidates, but they managed to run full congressional slates in only 14 states) get 9, Republicans 134. And D’s have taken enough state legislatures (even traditionally Republican New Hampshire and Massachusetts) that they will also now have a majority in the Senate.

The powerful Republican House Speaker until two years ago, Uncle Joe Cannon, loses his seat (Illinois).

Victor Berger, the only Socialist member of the US Congress, loses his seat (Wisconsin).

The income tax amendment to the US Constitution has been ratified by 34 states, needing just 2 more. Evidently Louisiana and Ohio ratified a while back but failed to tell anyone and no one noticed. 4 state legislatures have rejected the amendment: New Hampshire, Utah, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The British Parliament votes down an amendment for women’s suffrage in the Irish Home Rule Bill. Many shop windows are broken in protest. Proportional representation is also rejected.

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YJYR?

Paul Ryan tweeted this picture:

Today -100: November 5, 1912: Of platforms, emperors, protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality, corsets, and triplets

Roosevelt gets up on a platform to give a speech in Mineola, NY; the platform collapses. TR is unhurt, though a water pitcher spills on him. TR, now speaking from an inclined plane, says “I assure you that the Progressive platform won’t break down.”

Because he was laid up after the assassination attempt, Roosevelt never got to register to vote. Gov. Hiram Johnson, his running mate, was too busy campaigning outside of California to register either.

Reports say that when Turkey is defeated, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria intends to name himself Emperor of the Balkans.

New Hampshire’s tenth Constitutional Convention rejects striking out the words “Protestant” & “rightly grounded on evangelical principles” from the provision authorizing towns, parishes, religious societies and bodies corporate, to hire “public protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality.” After a bunch of attempts before and after 1912, the words were finally removed in 1968.

This is not the first one of these I’ve reported recently: Joseph Hennella, a professional female impersonator, dies after collapsing onstage. Cause of death: a too tightly laced corset.

Headline of the Day -100 (NYT): “Baltimore is Disabled.” A ship, not the city, whatever you may have seen on “The Wire.”

A couple in Denison, Texas have triplets, who they name William Howard Taft Kyler, Theodore Roosevelt Kyler and Woodrow Wilson Kyler.

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Bill Clinton is always looking for people who can “do the job”

Bill Clinton says the military is now “less racist, less sexist and less homophobic, and we’re just looking for people who can do the job.”

Good, because we’d hate to have the job of killing foreigners sullied by racism, sexism and homophobia.

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Today -100: November 4, 1912: Of boss-ridden and privilege-controlled parties, mosques, the glory of war, and underwear trades

In one of his last pre-election speeches, Roosevelt says the Democratic and Republican parties are “boss-ridden and privilege-controlled” and “wedded to the dead issues of a vanished past, and they show not the slightest conception of the needs of the day or the steps now urgently necessary to take if grave disaster to the Nation in the future is to be avoided.” How times have changed, eh?

Roosevelt urges people to read the Progressive Party platform. President Taft says that that platform “attack[s] the existing Constitution of the country”.

And Woodrow Wilson hits his head when his car hits a bump in the road.

The Turks continue to lose battles and land as well as officers, who are being executed for losing battles and land.

The Germans, who trained the Turkish army, are looking sheepish.

The NYT suggests that the main goal of the Bulgarians is to turn the Church of St. Sophia from a mosque back to a Christian church (a millennium ago some Bulgarians were really impressed by the church and converted from paganism on the spot, or something)(and when Constantinople fell, the walls swallowed up a janissary who was threatening a priest, and a Voice said that a regenerated nation – which obviously means Bulgaria – would once again control the Church)(today it’s a museum).

Headline of the Day -100 (LAT): “Glory of War for Filipinos. West Point Opens Gates to Orientals.”

Fashion Headline of the Day -100: “Underwear Trade Active.”

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Today -100: November 3, 1912: Of a spirit of the courtesy and real democracy that you don’t often see in political meetings

Note: the NYT Index went down while I was doing the reading for this post and didn’t come back up for a couple of weeks (it’s still not fucking working right). I switched to ProQuest during that period, so there will be no links for the next 10 posts.

Theodore Roosevelt says that the presence of women in the election campaign has made a great difference. For example, at his speech in Madison Square Garden, there was no rowdyism or hooliganism, “and there seemed to be a spirit of the courtesy and real democracy that you don’t often see in political meetings.”

The pope refuses to endorse any of the US presidential candidates.

Russia expels the artist Leon Bakst (do you know his work? he made some interesting paintings) from St Petersburg, because he’s a Jew.

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Today -100: November 2, 1912: Respect our authoritah!

The Bulgarian army is now within 25 miles of Constantinople.

The Italian Supreme Court refuses to allow the country’s only female lawyer to practice. Although she’s actually already won one court case.

Woodrow Wilson cancels the big Wilson parade scheduled for New York, out of respect for VP Sherman’s funeral.

Headline of the Day -100: “President Warns Against Free Sugar.” (That is, he opposes ending the tariff on imported sugar, which protects the domestic beet sugar industry.)

Foreign News Headline of the Day -100: “San Domingo Rebels Defy Our Authority.” If you’re wondering “And what ‘authority’ might that be?”, you must be some sort of Dominican rebel.

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Today -100: November 1, 1912: The people are now looking forward to Bulgaria becoming a great power in the Balkans

Gone and already forgotten, the late Vice President Sherman doesn’t even rate a mention on today’s front page of the NYT, although “One Auto Rams Another” does.

The Bulgarian Army routs the Turks. Back home, “The people are now looking forward to Bulgaria becoming a great power in the Balkans, as Turkey formerly was.” Good luck with that.

A Russian aviator who volunteered for the Bulgarian air force (if there is such a thing), is shot down by the Turks, the first aviator ever killed by the enemy in a war.

Cuban elections. Both major parties are advising their voters to go to the polls armed.

Kaiser Wilhelm inspects a new synagogue in Berlin.

Woodrow Wilson speaks at Madison Square Garden, to even longer applause (63 minutes) than Theodore Roosevelt got the day before, and without benefit of bullet either. I’m sure it’s a lovely speech, but it’s a long speech, and I have no intention of reading it.

(Update: scandal scandal scandal! It seems that there were “cheer leaders” to keep the cheering going, with staggered rest breaks.)

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Today -100: October 31, 1912: Of dead veeps, free postage, strange noises, hatpins, and drag-hunts

Vice President James Schoolcraft Sherman has died at 57. Sherman was the mayor of Utica, NY in his 20s, a Congressman for many years, and a very sick vice president for nearly four years.

Taft was at dinner when he heard the news, because of course he was.

Congress granted Frances Cleveland, Grover’s widow, free mail for life shortly after his death in 1908, along with Benjamin Harrison’s widow. It is thought her upcoming re-marriage will not affect that. Congress has several times considering granting pensions to the two former first ladies, but never has, although Garfield’s widow gets $5,000 a year and McKinley’s did until her death. But I’m sure Mrs. Cleveland and Mrs. Harrison are quite happy with their stamps.

Supposedly, the Ottoman Army executed 300 soldiers who fled the battle at Kirk-Kilesseh.

Theodore Roosevelt gives a speech at Madison Square Garden, very much against doctor’s advice. Well, he tried to give a speech, but first he had to wait for the crowd for 45 minutes: “They began with cheering, and from that they went on to inventing strange noises. When the possibilities of strange noises were exhausted they would go back to cheering, and after that they would go back again to strange noises, and so it went on until it seemed as if noisemaking possibilities had been tested to the limit.” Nothing increases your popularity like getting shot in the chest.

Anyway, then he gave his speech, which frankly does not read as the most exciting speech ever. And he was only able to make his usual wild arm gestures with his left arm.

In Sydney, Australia, 60 women go to jail to protest “iniquitous and unnecessary legislation” against hatpins that stick out too far. They threaten a hunger strike if there are more arrests.

Politically Correct Headline of the Day -100: “Big Negroes in Ring.”

German Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm is injured when he falls off his horse during a drag-hunt. Which probably isn’t what it sounds like.

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Unringing the bell

Richard Mourdock, Republican candidate for the US Senate for Indiana, says he can’t “unring the bell” of his comments about rape pregnancies being the will of God.

Yeah, imagine if something awful happened, leaving you stuck with a lasting reminder of it, and you can’t get rid of it.

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Today -100: October 30, 1912: Of widows, fiendish acts, and nighty night, Mr. Vice President

Grover Cleveland’s widow Frances (he married her when he was 49 and in the White House and she was 21 and he’d known her since she was an infant and it was not at all creepy) is to remarry, to an archeology and art history professor at Wells College, a mere year or two her senior.

An unnamed member of the Bulgarian Red Cross accuses the Turks of fiendish acts and indescribable atrocities. Some Bulgarian soldiers had their necks bitten through; others were impaled. According to some random Bulgarian dude.

His family and friends are glad that Vice President Sherman was able to get some sleep last night.

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Today -100: October 29, 1912: Of leaps in the dark

President Taft says the issue in this election is “On the one hand prosperity and real progress; on the other a leap in the dark.” And any attempt by Democrats to implement the tariff reform they’re promising (a tariff “for revenue only,” i.e., not to protect American industries) would plunge the country into depression, which he claims is what happened in 1893. Interestingly, his statement mentions the American right to vote – except Republicans in California and Kansas, and black people in the South. Not that he has any plans to do anything about the latter, of course, but I’m surprised to see him even mention it.

The governor of Kansas, progressive Republican Walter Stubbs, responds that Taft hasn’t bothered to keep up with Kansas, and that both Taft and Roosevelt electors will in fact be on the ballot in Kansas.

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Today -100: October 28, 1912: Of allots, uskubs, and tsarevitches

The Bull Moose Party is not doing well at establishing itself everywhere, perhaps not surprising given that it’s only about four months old. In Washington state, judges in several counties have ordered that the party not be on the ballot. “In Mason County... Judge Sheek... decided that two men meeting on street corners and nominating themselves to office did not constitute a convention.”

Wilson, in a speech: “We do not want a big brother government... I do not want a government that will take care of me. I want a government that will make other men take their hands off so that I can take care of myself.”

Serbs are parading in Belgrade to celebrate the capture of Uskub, which can only mean that they have some idea where that is.

The NYT is now saying that Tsarevitch Alexei of Russia was shot by a revolutionist. Or he slipped in the bath.

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Today -100: October 27, 1912: Of peas, mystery victories, groins, poor aristocrats, and silent congresscritters

With Taft not appearing on the California ballot, Tafties in the state are organizing in support of Woodrow Wilson.

Headline of the Day -100: “HIT TAFT WITH A PEA.; Police Are Looking for a Boy Who Endangered the President's Eye.”

Turkey (which has lost Uskub to the Serbs) makes an official announcement that it has won a major military victory, but won’t say when or where, so it might have been in 1453.

The University of California (meaning Berkeley; there are no other campuses) has expanded rapidly recently, to 7,263 students, making it the second largest university in the country, after Columbia.

NYC Detective Dennis Killane is shot in the groin. There’s nothing special about the story, except... the NYT used the word groin. Also highwayman. Det. Killane was shot, in the groin, by a highwayman. That’s an odd combination of a word I didn’t think would be fit for print in 1912 and a word more fitted for the 18th century.

Oh, after being shot, in the groin, Det. Killane felled the highwayman with his blackjack, before collapsing on top of him.

Disappointing Cut-Off NYT Index Entry of the Day -100: “23,000 MARCH FOR RIGHT OF BOYCOTT; Labor Organizations Parade and Hold Three Meetings Against Injun...” The march, in NYC, was against injunctions, not Injuns. At the Cooper Union meeting following the parade, some guy tried to get three cheers for Teddy Roosevelt but was shouted down. Evidently Samuel Gompers often used puns in his speeches, but “Those who make iron – and steal for a living” didn’t go over well.

Crown Princess Cecilie of Germany (wife of the kaiser’s son) will hold a charity tea for the poor and needy. Well, poor and needy members of the aristocracy.

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Today -100: October 26, 1912: Of Balkan wars, tsarevitches, and libel

A lot of unverified claims continue to be made about the Balkan War, with a lot of exotic-sounding place-names. Kirk-Kilisseh, for example, may or not have been captured by Bulgaria, and there was a fight between Serb and Turkish troops at Kumanova, and Turkish troops may now be retreating towards Uskub (Skopje). At any rate, the Bulgarians (or possibly Bulgars – the NYT goes back and forth in its usage) almost certainly have been bombarding Adrianople.

Am I the only one who was thinking that Kirk-Kilisseh sounds like the last name of the children if Captain Kirk and that green-skinned alien got married?

Greece names a governor-general for Crete, despite the Great Powers having told Greece quite firmly that it was not going to be allowed to annex it.

8-year-old Tsarevitch Alexei of Russia is sick, and the court won’t tell the Russian people with what. So rumors are going around that it was actually an anarchist assassination attempt. On board the royal yacht. Whose commander, Rear Admiral Chagin, committed suicide out of shame (Chagin is definitely dead). Whereas of course Alexei has hemophilia.

(Update from tomorrow -100’s paper: evidently he climbed on a cupboard and fell off. Or it’s something else.)

Theodore Roosevelt is suing the publisher of a Michigan newspaper, The Iron Ore, for saying in the October 12 issue that “Roosevelt lies and curses in a most disgusting way. He gets drunk, too, and that not infrequently, and all his intimates know about it.”

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Today -100: October 25, 1912: Of pandering and painting

President Taft tells the Maine Teachers’ Association that teachers should get pensions.

The White House’s exterior is washed for the first time since the Cleveland administration. God knows how long since it’s been painted.

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Who would Jesus rape?

Do you suppose that when people like Republican senatorial candidate for Indiana Richard Mourdock think about rapes that result in pregnancy (“something that God intended to happen”), they have one of these images in their head,

only with, you know, rape instead of baseball?

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Today -100: October 24, 1912: Of nephews, and worships and kisses

Rebel General Félix Díaz, nephew of the former president-for-life of Mexico, is captured by government troops. He was depending on rather more of the Vera Cruz troops coming over to his side than actually did.

NYT Index Typo of the Day -100: “Turkish Battleship to Refit to Meet Greek Worships.”

Headline of the Day -100 (LA Times): “Girl Kisses Gov. Wilson and Calls It Politics.”

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Today -100: October 23, 1912: Of gambling, order, millet & red pepper, and moosettes

Wilson’s running mate, Gov. Marshall of Indiana, sends the state National Guard, with fixed bayonets, to occupy the Mineral Springs race track to prevent gambling.

US forces will “keep order” during the Nicaraguan elections.

The Daily Telegraph (UK) claims that the Sultan of Turkey, before the First Balkan War began, sent a sack of millet to the king of Bulgaria, with a note that there are as many Turkish soldiers as grains of millet; “Now if you wish, declare war.” King Ferdinand responded with a bag of red pepper, with a note saying that Bulgarians are not numerous, but like the pepper they will fuck your shit up.

I paraphrase.

Word of the Day -100: “Moosette,” a new coinage, near as I can tell, which the NYT is so happy with it uses twice today.

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The Last Presidential Debate: We can’t kill our way out of this mess

Transcript.

(Note written half-way through: I’m tempted to remove all indicators of who said what and let you guess, maybe have a quiz, watch the hilarity ensue.)

The questions start with fucking Benghazi, which is so inconsequential in the context of, you know, the world, and global foreign policy, that I am so fucking sick of hearing about this shiny-object issue.

R: an attack in Benghazi by “terrorists of some kind”

R on the Middle East: “we can’t kill our way out of this mess.” We’d have to change the national slogan from “Killing Our Way Out of This Mess Since 1776.”

I had to look back at the transcript to figure out what “this mess” meant. It’s evidently his term for the entire Middle East.

R: My strategy is to “go after the bad guys” (He’s totally into the bad boys) “to interrupt them...” Well, he’s good at that. “... to kill them.” In other words, to kill our way out of this mess.

He also wants to “get the Muslim world to be able to reject extremism on its own.” Just like he did the Republican Party.

O: “And the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.” How are the 1980s calling us, anyway? It would be extremely weird if the 1980s were tweeting at us.

Hey, Barack, 2007 called, it wants its sitcom meme back.

BUT IT SURE IS FUN: R: “attacking me is not an agenda.”

O: “I am confident that Assad’s days are numbered.” So he’s not immortal? Good to know.

R: “Syria’s an opportunity for us.” Yeah, that’s how Syrians want to hear we think about them.

Oh, it gets better. He talks about organizing the “responsible” parties in Syria. And then arming them. They can call themselves the “Armed and Responsible Party.” And he wants a “council.”

Both of them say we need to coordinate our Syria policy with Israel, which a) paints the Syrian opposition as puppets of Israel, b) suggests that it’s legitimate for Israel (as well as the US) to intervene to shape Syria’s future government. What “responsible” Syrians could work with people who think that?

O says we went into Libya and “immediately stop[ped] the massacre there”. Is that how he remembers it?

O: “Moammar Gadhafi had more American blood on his hands than any individual other than Osama bin Laden.” Unless you count George Bush.

R has mentioned “responsible” parties in Syria like thirty times now. No one is asking him to define his terms.

R: “But unfortunately, in nowhere in the world is America’s influence greater today than it was four years ago.” Because nothing said American influence like the reaction of world leaders when they heard that George Bush was on the phone.

I thought this was supposed to be the foreign policy debate, but evidently they’ve gotten bored with the rest of the world.

O: “Now, keep in mind that our military spending has gone up every single year that I’ve been in office. We spend more on our military than the next 10 countries combined -- China, Russia, France, the United -- United Kingdom, you name it, next 10.” And this was a good idea because...?

Romney says our navy is smaller than at any time since 1917. Wasn’t it 1916 in the last debate? Is this a Lusitania thing? Oh, and the air force is “older and smaller” than it was in 1947.

O notes that we also have fewer horses and bayonets. Instantly wins that exchange.

O adds that it’s “not a game of Battleship where we’re counting ships.” Navy Secretary... who the fuck is the navy secretary?... Ray Mabus... must be feeling very dejected right about now. Dude lives for a good game of Battleship.

O brags about “crippling” Iran’s economy.

R is against not only a nuclear Iran but also a “nuclear-capable Iran,” which is a term that means pretty much whatever we want it to mean, justifying attacking them whenever we feel like attacking them.

R also appreciates “crippling” sanctions. Because you can’t have enough cripples.

R would “indict” Ahmadinejad for genocide incitation. Did you know the president of the United States could indict the president of Iran? It’s right there in the Constitution, probably. Indeed, did you know that you can indict people for genocide who have committed no genocide? Me neither.

O: “You know, there have been times, Governor, frankly, during the course of this campaign, where it sounded like you thought that you’d do the some things we did, but you’d say them louder and somehow that that would make a difference.” Also, more dickishly.

Apology tour! Drink!!

R: my crippling sanctions will be more crippling than his crippling sanctions.

R on the apology tour: “You said that on occasion America had dictated to other nations. Mr. President, America has not dictated to other nations. We have freed other nations from dictators.” And from democracies. And from many of their citizens being alive. Because we’re all about the freeing.

O. says when he went to Israel, it wasn’t a fundraising tour. Another reasonably good response that he could have come up with a few months ago. And he went to the Holocaust museum, and totally bought a t-shirt in the gift shop, so don’t tell him he doesn’t love Israel.

R: “I look around the world, I don’t see our influence growing around the world. I see our influence receding”. For example, our influence around the world would be greater if our relations with Israel were better. Because Israel is the most beloved country in the world.

O says it was a good idea to kill bin Laden because he met some girl whose father was in the Twin Towers, and killing bin Laden brought closure to her. Obama is all about bringing closure to teenage girls.

That came out creepy in a way I didn’t intend.

Asked what he’d do if in 2014 Afghanistan weren’t ready to handle its own security, Romney totally rejects the premise. Unpossible! Asked what he’d do if Netanyahu called up and said his planes were on their way to bomb Iran, Romney totally rejects the premise. Unpossible!

O: “there’s no reason why Americans should die when Afghans are perfectly capable of defending their own country.” That probably sounded better in the original LBJ.

Actually, it didn’t.

R. looooves him some drones.

O. stopped China from flooding us with cheap tires. I’m pretty sure that was the plot of a Fu Manchu movie.

R: China has 20 million people coming out of the farms every year. And you thought they just grew rice.

R: we can be a partner with China. “Now, they look at us and say, is it a good idea to be with America?” It’s because we’re fat, isn’t it?

China counterfeited some valves! Nuke them!

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Let’s check the record.

MR. ROMNEY: That’s the height of silliness.

ROMNEY: “I’m still speaking.” Drink!

In the foreign policy debate, both closing statements were entirely about domestic issues.

Two references to George Bush in the entire debate, one by each candidate (fewer than the number of times Romney brought up Mali or used the phrase “spinning centrifuges”), and both of those references were on economic issues. American foreign policy began in 2009.

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Today -100: October 22, 1912: Going to Oyster Bay with a bullet in his chest

Theodore Roosevelt is heading home for a rest. So that’s a Chicago-New York railroad trip for a man who was shot in the chest less than a week ago. The biggest difficulty is keeping him from making a speech to the crowds of people who show up at every stop.

Headline of the Day -100: “Taft Sees Himself Speak.” In a motion picture. The opening act before the flick was Boston Mayor John F. Fitzgerald (JFK’s grandfather) singing “Sweet Adeline.”

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Today -100: October 21, 1912: Of hirams and impertinent interruptions

Hiram Johnson evidently didn’t know it, but the California Legislature passed a resolution allowing him to stay out of the state campaigning for the vice presidency for more than 60 days without losing his day job. Johnson & Roosevelt just had an argument about this in TR’s hospital room; Johnson was willing to give up his office to keep speechifyin’ but TR insisted that Johnson had a duty to the people of California.

The NYT says Maud Malone’s interruption of Woodrow Wilson’s speech yesterday was “not pertinent” because women’s suffrage is not an issue in this campaign, and was therefore “as impertinent as if she had asked the candidate his opinion of ‘The Affairs of Anatol’ or the latest precious novel of Mr. Wells.”

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Today -100: October 20, 1912: Of traditional barbarities

Roosevelt exhausts himself by holding meetings about the campaign in his hospital room; his doctors tell him to knock it off. One problem is that his running mate Hiram Johnson has to leave the campaign trail in a few days, or he will lose the office of governor of California for being out of the state for 60 days in a row.

Woodrow Wilson gives a speech at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Feminist Maud Malone stands up in the audience and demands to know his views on women’s suffrage. He refuses to say, claiming it is a state and not a national issue; she refuses to take “I decline to answer” as an answer, and she is arrested. She will be convicted, but not fined, which would allow her to appeal and to call Wilson as a witness. The judges tell her that she had a right to ask a question but legally was required to sit down and shut up when Wilson refused to answer. They say she provoked the audience to disorderly acts by not sitting down. She responds, “There is no telling about these foolish men. They go around and around like windmills when a woman’s voice is heard in one of their meetings.”


A Bulgarian attack on Ottoman forces is observed by King Ferdinand and “several princes.” It should be noted that Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Serbia are all monarchies (and the Ottoman Empire is an empire, with a sultan and everything), and that a bunch of princes from several of the belligerents are at the front.

I’m avoiding talking about the details of battles because 1) probably no one cares, 2) it’s all rumors and lies and censorship at this point. I do like an LA Times sub-headline: “Turks Engage in Traditional Barbarities.” Massacred three Serbian villages, allegedly.

The Idaho Supreme Court rules that the state doesn’t recognize any such entity as the Progressive Party, so its electors can’t appear on the ballot. And a Nebraska district court allows the Republican state committee to choose Tafty electors, overturning the results of the April primary, which chose Theodores.

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Today -100: October 19, 1912: Our love of peace is now exhausted

The NYT blames the new Women’s Social and Political Union militancy campaign on the “timidity” of the British government which failed to keep hunger-striking prisoners in prison.

Greece claims that Turkey has dispatched doctors with typhus and cholera microbes to the border, to engage in biological warfare.

The notes by Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia declaring war, virtually identical, claim that it’s necessitated by the anarchy in Turkey (and nothing calms anarchy like a four-front war), by Turkey’s refusal to implement reforms promised 30 years ago at the Congress of Berlin (whose provisions were pretty much all broken – Bulgaria shouldn’t even be a country now), and say that they really didn’t want to go to war but were forced to (they totally wanted to go to war).

King Ferdinand of Bulgaria issues a proclamation. Evidently, “this is a war for human rights” (of the poor persecuted Christians in the Ottoman Empire). “Our love of peace is now exhausted.”

Black heavy-weight champ Jack Johnson is arrested for “abduction” of a 19-year-old white woman, Lucille Cameron, on a complaint sworn out by her mother, who later said that she’d rather see her daughter live the rest of her life in an insane asylum than “see her the plaything of a nigger.” In December 1912 he married her, and in 1913 was convicted on Mann Act charges, after a first trial collapsed. He skipped the country for seven years, came back and did some time.

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I hope you make it very clear

So I first saw a general mention that Mittens had told some business dudes to tell their employees to vote for him, and made a mental note of what I wanted to write about that, but it was premised on a mistake on my part. That mistake: underestimating Romney’s dickishness. Odd that I should still be making that mistake at this stage, but some things are just too big to wrap your head entirely around, and Romney’s dickishness is one of them.

I was going to say that it just showed Twitt’s inability to understand the true relationship between Americans and their bosses that he thought that employees so respected their bosses and were so eager for instruction from their social superiors etc etc.

But in fact, once I saw his actual words, I realized that he understood perfectly that the employer-employee relationship is based on economic and extra-economic coercion: “I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections.” No, there is no part of the dynamic he recommends here that involves respect in either direction. The employer just makes it “very clear” what he expects his workers to do, if they want to keep their job and their future, and the employees don’t have to respect their boss, they just have to eat his shit; in this case, the shit happens to be man-sized and Mormon.

There’s another problematic word in that sentence I’d like to highlight: “in the best interest of your enterprise and THEREFORE their job”. There’s no therefore about it. Romney likes to describe his economic policies as being about jobs jobs jobs, but they are actually about expanding corporate profits. As the history of American capitalism and Bain Capital show, if a corporation can increase their profits by employing more people, they’ll do it, but if it can do so through mechanization or off-shoring, they’ll do that.

In the writing of this post, I spent several seconds carefully deliberating between the words “dickishness” and “prickishness.” When you have a blog, these are the kinds of decisions you have to make every single day.

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Today -100: October 18, 1912: I incite this meeting to rebellion

Woodrow Wilson, in a speech in Delaware (he’s still doing campaign speeches where locals went to trouble and expense, he says, but he won’t attack the recuperating Roosevelt), calls the Republican Party the “Know-Nothing, Do-Nothing Party.” And how far we’ve come in the last hundred years, huh?

The judge in the case of Roosevelt’s would-be assassin doubles his bail. Evidently motion picture people were going to pay his bail so they could film him and then recall the bail and send him back to jail.

Twins are born in the hospital room next to Roosevelt’s. One of them is named Theodore (don’t know what the other one is called). They are brought in to see the ex-president. “Well, well, no race suicide here,” he comments.

Someone sends him a bull moose steak. His doctors are deciding whether he’ll be allowed to eat it.

Turkey declares war on Bulgaria and Serbia but not Greece, which it still hopes to wean away from its allies, though that doesn’t stop Greek forces from attacking.

Having expelled the Pethick-Lawrences, the remaining Women’s Social and Political Union (Britain) leaders are making the case for escalating militant attacks on the government. Emmeline Pankhurst says “We have been greatly betrayed by the Government, and that warrants militancy. It is our only weapon.” The only limit on militancy in the future, she says, will be violence against people. At a meeting in the Albert Hall, she thunders, “I incite this meeting to rebellion.” She asks everyone to do whatever they can: if they can try to enter the House of Commons, do that; if they can break windows, do that; if they can “still further attack the sacred idol of property... do so.” We shall see what that means.

Her daughter Christabel writes in The Suffragette that militancy has been gradually increasing in severity, just as each of the plagues of Egypt was more severe than the one before. And a December 13 editorial in that newspaper says “The quiet, patient methods of the law-abiding, non-militant Suffragists are very popular indeed (with those who happen to hear anything about them), and it is just because they are so popular that they are a failure. ... The vote has never been given as a prize for good conduct. Women will never get the vote except by creating an intolerable situation for all the selfish and apathetic people who stand in their way.”

Nevada Governor Tasker L. Oddie declares martial law in Ely, where there is a miners’ strike going on and where two strikers were killed by company guards, as was the custom.

Responding to another rebellion in Mexico, led by Gen. Félix Díaz, nephew of the deposed dictator, Pres. Madero says he will never resign and only death can remove him from the presidency before his term expires. Spoiler alert...

People are always inventing new things to do from airplanes. The latest: duck shooting. By the way, the 201st aviation death is recorded, a French aviator who in an earlier incident crashed a plane into a crowd, killing one spectator.

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Today -100: October 17, 1912: Of never-falling standards, insolent notes, and Peths and Panks

Theodore Roosevelt issues a statement: “It matters little about me, but it matters all about the cause we fight for. ... the standard itself can never fall... Tell the people not to worry about me, for if I go down another will take my place.” And so on, and on. His abdomen may have been punctured, but not his pomposity.

Turkey demands that Greece and the others apologize for their “insolent” notes within 24 hours or else. Bulgaria declares war on Turkey (I’m not sure in what order these events occurred).

Another split amongst the British militant suffragettes. While they were visiting the US, Mr. & Mrs. Pethick-Lawrence are expelled by Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst from their leadership roles (and indeed membership in) the Women’s Social and Political Union, removing the last obstacle to an escalation of militant tactics. Punch, 10/30/12:



(Click to enlargen. Caption: Budding Suffragette: “I say, Prissy” (with intensity), “Are you a Peth or a Pank?”)

Since the Pethick-Lawrences (that’s a feminist-marriage hyphenated name, by the way, like Villaraigosa) own the WSPU newspaper, Votes for Women, and will continue to publish it, the WSPU starts The Suffragette, which explains in its first issue (dated tomorrow -100): “The Suffragettes are women who have profited by the freedom won for them by the pioneers of the movement. They are the advance-guard of the new womanhood.”

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