Today -100: November 2, 1910: Of rumors, betting, clubwomen, and trains

There is a rumor of a revolution in Spain.

A false rumor.

Speaking of false rumors, a false rumor that Jews ritually killed a Muslim girl sets off a pogrom in the Jewish quarter of Shiraz in Persia. 12 Jews were killed and every house in the quarter was systematically looted.

In the absence of opinion polling, the NYT keeps reporting on wagering. For example, a week before the election, Dix is favored 3:1 over Stimson.

In Chicago, “Mounted police today charged mobs of striking garment workers and made numerous arrests, only to be dumfounded when met by groups of clubwomen and society leaders, who, when arrested, produced calling cards in lieu of bail bonds. It was a new experience for the police, and it plainly confused them. ...Most of the clubwomen... were garbed as working girls and the police could not distinguish them from strikers until after arrests were made.” It must indeed have been very confusing for the cops not to know who it was permissible to beat and arrest. For example, one clubwoman was, um, clubbed. The NYT keeps using the word “riot” but never describes any behaviour that would justify the term.

In the year ending June 30, 1910, 3,804 people were killed in the US in railroad accidents and 82,374 injured. There were 5,861 collisions and 5,910 derailments.

Today -100: November 1, 1910: Of alliances of crooked politicians and crooked business, and flying high

In a campaign speech for Henry L. Stimson, Teddy Roosevelt says “we stand against the worst alliance of crooked politicians and crooked business that this state has seen, or this city has seen, since the days of Tweed.”

At a Stimson campaign rally in the Grand Music Hall in NYC, the man introducing him noted that when Stimson was a US District Attorney he hired Felix Frankfurter out of Harvard, even after Frankfurter explained that he was a Jew, because that’s just the kind of guy Stimson is.

Ralph Johnstone, flying one of the Wright planes, sets a new altitude record: 9,714 feet. That’s nearly twice as high as the altitude records set in July. Spoiler alert: Johnstone died in a plane crash a couple of weeks later.

Today -100: October 31, 1910: Of resurrections, revolutions, child labor, bloodless hands, and heron battles

In Bristol, Connecticut, two members of the weird-ass Koreshan cult attempted to dig up the grave of Cyrus Teed, who died two years before but had proclaimed that he would rise up as the Messiah. However, before they succeeded, “both were deprived of their reason and died before they could be taken to an asylum.”

There’s a revolution going on in Uruguay.

In a bold move, Henry L. Stimson comes out against child labor to the New York Child Labor Committee.

Yesterday, outrage and disruption prevented French PM Aristide Briand going further in a speech to the French parliament after he said of the railway strike that “Had the actual laws of the country not been sufficient, I would not have hesitated to resort even to illegal measures for the purpose of preserving the fatherland.” Today he denied being a dictator and held up his hands, saying, “Look at these hands – not a drop of blood!” He wins a vote of confidence 329-188.

Front Page Headline of the Day -100: “Sailors in a Battle With a Blue Heron.”

So now that sanity’s restored, what’s next?

I watched the Jon Stewart rally on C-SPAN, which provided the usual C-SPAN graphics, putting Father Guido Sarducci in quote marks in case we might be fooled, although R2D2 was just identified as R2D2. I skipped over most of the musical numbers, so I kept catching up with the DVR and had to alternate with the French tv series on Carlos the Jackal, which gave my evening a slightly odd vibe.

Signs spotted by me or others: “I didn’t have time to make a better sign.” “Give my false dichotomies or give me death.” “Hitler = Hitler.” “Death to Nobody.” “Look at my ironic hipster sign.” “Having a Sign Makes Me Right.” “I hope today isn’t too windy so my sign doesn’t blow away.” “My Political Views Can't Be Summarized by a Sign.” “Keep it Sane, Stupid [The acrostic of which is kiss].” “I can spell.” And the inevitable marijuana legalization sign as prescribed by law, “Fweedom,” with the “weed” in green. Dude.

In the end, I wasn’t that impressed, because while I support “sanity” in politics, pretty much by definition, I don’t see that as entailing “moderation” in politics, as Jon Stewart seems to. Skepticism is a virtue, but so is enthusiasm and principled activism and Stewart’s largely apolitical notion of politics seems to leave little room for activism and enthusiasm. Or who knows, since his message is mostly about what not to do and very little about how to engage in politics.

I also don’t share his belief that the insanity and violent rhetoric is solely a product of the media and politicians (“If we amplify everything, then we hear nothing”) and that the American people, left to themselves, would be moderate and reasonable and willing to compromise, although I’m sure it would be pretty to think so.

At any rate, we can all agree that Stephen Colbert had the better wardrobe.



(Update: 100 of the best signs – and more in comments – here. H/T to Alert Reader Josh.)

Today -100: October 30, 1910: Of campaign speeches, women voting, rubber bands, and lively Cocks

Henry L. Stimson “endeared himself instantly to a crowd of 1,000 people this afternoon on the railway platform at Saratoga” by making these remarks in a campaign speech: “Look out for the engine behind you! Look out!”

The Ladies’ Home Journal investigates what effects women’s suffrage has had in Colorado and Utah. The (male) investigator finds that child-labor laws are no better than in other states, that prostitution has not been wiped out, and that the women in Denver are bigger drinkers even than those in New York, Chicago or San Francisco. “Even some of the drug stores in Denver, according to good authority, serve whiskey and brandy to unescorted girls.” And women voters in Denver are also just as susceptible to bribery as the men.

So really, what’s the point in letting the little ladies vote?

English aviator Claude Grahame-White sets an air speed record, 60 mph, at a meet on Long Island. But the real hero, by which I mean idiot, of the day was J.B. Moisant, who entered the contest in a plane that wasn’t fully rebuilt after an accident (the rubber band that worked the controls was missing) (I’m not making that up). He took second place (and died in a plane crash in December).

Headline of the Day -100: “Littleton Making It Lively for Cocks.” Martin Littleton, running against Congressman William W. Cocks.

Today -100: October 29, 1910: Of warplanes, dubious attitudes towards matrimony, sugar trusts, Bourbons, and insane brides

Secretary of War Dickinson, in France, is rumored to be negotiating to purchase 10 airplanes for the army.

The NYT thinks Francis McGovern shouldn’t have promised to get married if elected governor of Wisconsin. For a start, “The women of Wisconsin will generally consider his attitude towards matrimony as dubious.” Fair enough.

Henry L. Stimson says the Sugar Trust is trying to defeat him.

Roosevelt calls the Democratic candidate for governor of Connecticut, former CT Supreme Court Justice Simeon Eben Baldwin (mandatorily retired at 70), retrogressive, reactionary and Bourbon because he ruled that the federal workmen’s compensation law was unconstitutional because it interferes with their liberty of contract. However, what TR doesn’t mention is that Baldwin supports a workmen’s compensation law in CT to change that legal doctrine.

Headline of the Day -100: “Bride Insane at the Altar.”

Today -100: October 28, 1910: Of undesirable aliens and election promises

The Commissioner of Immigration at Angel Island in San Francisco is suspended because of complaints from the Asiatic Exclusion League and others that he was allowing in too many Chinese, Japanese, Hindus and other “undesirables.”

Francis McGovern, Republican candidate for governor of Wisconsin, promises that if elected, he will get married, although he has no one in mind. He was elected and served two terms as governor but none as a husband. (Thanks to the Wisconsin Historical Society for research assistance.)

Today -100: October 27, 1910: Of messing with Texas, literacy tests, and repeating Dix

The New Mexico Constitutional Convention increases the amount of land it wants from Texas to 600,000 acres.

The Taft administration, under criticism for not having given a fraction the patronage to blacks that Roosevelt did, has been looking around rather explicitly for a token to promote. It now announces that it will appoint William H. Lewis assistant attorney general, the highest post a negro has ever held in the federal government. Wikipedia informs us that Lewis (1868-1949) was also the first black man ever to play college football, for Amherst and Harvard, where he coached for 11 years (which seems an odd use to make of a degree from Harvard Law School), and the first black member of the American Bar Association, where there was a strong move to expel him when his race was discovered. Southern senators will delay his confirmation until next June.

The NYT continues its laser-like focus on negro voting rights, giving an astonishing 90 words (many of them inaccurate or misleading) to the story that the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled constitutional both the “grandfather clause” for the new literacy test and the special voting procedure adopted for the referendum in which all votes not cast against the measure were counted as being for it (voters had to scratch out the words “for the amendment” with a pencil, which was not provided in every polling station).

TR says that Dix is being supported by men who “wish to employ children in their business for unlimited hours.”

A Henry L. Stimson campaign rally in Rochester is marred by “continuous interruption by eight or ten indignant and somewhat intoxicated men, who kept repeating the name of Dix.” Er, are you sure it was a name they were repeating?

Full of rage

A forensic psychiatrist hired by the Pentagon says that Omar Khadr, who has been held in Gulag Guantanamo since he was 15, is... wait for it... “full of rage.” Evidently, “He is very angry about being in custody.” Dr. Welner has a degree in duh from the University of Miami.

The camera always adds 10 pounds of fascism

Rand Paul’s designated head-stomper Tim Profitt says “the camera angle made the scuffle Monday night appear worse that it was.... and I apologize if it appeared overly forceful”.

It’s all about the camera angles.

This trial we call show (addendum)

The Omar Khadr plea deal was more shameful than I realized: it requires him to give up his right to sue the US for any abuse at Guantanamo (and for being illegally detained without trial in the first place).

Today -100: October 26, 1910: Trust issues

TR has been attacking Dem. gubernatorial candidate for NY John A. Dix with dubious claims of a connection to the defunct wallpaper trust. Dix now attacks his opponent, Henry Stimson, for gathering evidence against the sugar trust while employed as a federal D.A., then resigning and taking a large fee ($27,000, as opposed to the $12,000 a year he made as a D.A.) for prosecuting the trust as a special prosecutor.

French PM Briand claims that arrested leaders of the railway strike have confessed that it was all a plot to ruin France by violence, anarchy and civil war.

Telegraphing punchlines

More stories from the Daily Telegraph.

Officials in Toulouse are using computers to email the satnav positions and photographs of dogshit to street cleaners. Or as we in the Blogger-American Community call it, “linking to Drudge.” Says a town council spokesmodel: “no one can now say we are not on top of the problem.” So let no one now say that they are not on top of the pooh.

Daily Telegraph Headline of the Day: “‘Hiccup Girl’ Charged with Murder in Florida.” Evidently, she achieved fame at 16 in 2007 because of her non-stop hiccups, appearing on the Today Show, where she was hugged by Keith Urban (which sounds like a euphemism for something, but evidently isn’t). Naturally, her life went bad after the hiccupping and the celebrity ended. She ran away from home, fell in with the wrong crowd, and they robbed and killed a guy.

Prostitutes who walk the streets by a highway in Spain have been told to wear reflective vests or face a 40 fine. Health and safety, you know.

This trial we call show

After eight years of being held without trial, mistreated, and facing a kangaroo court, child soldier Omar Khadr pleads guilty. The judge advises him, with what degree of irony we do not know, “You should only do this if you truly believe it is in your best interests.” Note that the judge did not say he should plead guilty only if he is in fact guilty. Because that really has nothing to do with anything.

We do not go to those areas

Philippines politics. You wouldn’t think an article whose opening paragraph talks about “local candidates who had gathered to sign an agreement promising not to kill one another in the final days of campaigning before local elections” could be accused of burying the lead, but then there’s this 10 paragraphs later:

“Over there, that’s MILF territory,” Arevalo said, pointing to his left. “We’re talking by the thousands. They’re just one kilometer away. We do not go to those areas.”

Today -100: October 25, 1910: Of negative campaigning

Yesterday the Times was suggesting that Rep. John Tener, the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, would drop out. But instead, Tener today swears out a warrant for the arrest of the president of the newspaper North American, which printed that Tener is “a friend and associate of swindlers.” Tener is connected with the National Public Utilities Corporation, which may or may not be a scam. Spoiler alert: Tener will win the election. He was, I think, the first successful professional-athlete-turned-politician (baseball) .

The NYT says Roosevelt knows he is lying when he accuses Dem. gubernatorial candidate for NY John A. Dix involvement with the old wallpaper trust. Dix became a director in a wallpaper company in 1907 but the trust effectively ceased to exist years before. TR is claiming that the trust still existed because it was appealing the initial ruling, which was in a case brought by the Continental Wall Paper Company, the trust, against someone who had not paid for wallpaper. That ruling was that the company was an illegal combination and its contracts were therefore unenforceable.

TR, on a roll, also attacked Eugene Foss, the Dem. candidate for Massachusetts governor, as “a man who has made his money in speculation.”

It’s not for us

Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister slash sock puppet, says that the WikiLeaks reports of torture and murder of Iraqi civilians are “distressing to read about” and “need to be looked at.” But not by Britain. No, “I am assuming the US administration will want to provide its own answer. It’s not for us to tell them how to do that.” (Nick Clegg’s sole function in life is to enable awful things to take place while denying any personal responsibility for them. And to fetch the tea.) And of course Frago 242 said that once the US handed people over to the Wolf Brigade or other Iraqi death squads, it wasn’t for us to tell the Iraqis not to torture/kill/tickle/eat them. Guess everyone’s looking forward, not back at the smelly mound of bodies.

Today -100: October 24, 1910: Of strong campaign issues, and Crippen

Roosevelt and the Republican State Committee of NY announce that they will continue to accuse John A. Dix of involvement with the wallpaper trust. The committee’s chairman, Ezra Prentice, says he does not believe Dix’s statement denying a connection; “I do not think it will stand examination.” Asked if he had actually read the statement, he admitted he hadn’t. “I am not very well informed at present on the matter, but we are going to make it a strong campaign issue.” And that sentence has been the Republican Party motto ever since.

Dr. Hawley Crippen is convicted of the murder of his wife. Click on the image below and click again to enlarge for a bit of the London Times.

Political timing

Iraqi Temporary Interim Acting Caretaker Prime Minister Maliki accuses the latest WikiLeaks doc dump of being politically timed. You know, because it was released during that brief but critical period between the Iraqi elections and the formation of a government.

Today -100: October 23, 1910: Of exiled monks and hilarious cows

Britain proposes, and Germany agrees, that all the large European powers recognize the government in Portugal simultaneously. That’s fast. I would have expected more resistance from the kaiser over the abolition of the Portuguese monarchy.

Italians are up in arms against the influx of monks and nuns recently expelled by the new Portuguese government (Spain refused to take them). Poorer Italians remember the previous immigration from France when religious orders were banned there, and the priests used the wealth of their orders to drive up rents in Rome.

Headline of the Day -100: “Cows Acted Hilarious.” Got into some cider.