Today -100: April 29, 1911: The philosophy of what now?

Taylorism. Frederick Taylor holds a demonstration of “scientific management” at Carnegie Hall. He showed how 30 girls in a bicycle factory can do the work of 100 in less time. Taylor bemoans the short-sighted trade unions for opposing putting 70 girls out of work through scientific management. For example – and watch out for one of the greatest phrases in the history of the English language – “When my friend [Frank Bunker] Gilbreth worked out his philosophy of bricks he ran against the unions.”

Headline: “Russia Grants Privilege to Jews.” Recently Russia’s been expelling Jews from the cities and restricting their education, so it’s good to see them being granted an entirely new privilege. Jews in Siberia will be allowed to use the curative waters of Minusinsk for up to two months, provided they have a medical certificate and don’t engage in trade while they are taking the cure.

Wait, which sports stars?

So the British will be voting on whether to hold elections under the Alternative Vote system. The Tories, currently running Britain despite having received just 36% of the votes in the last general election, like the current system just fine and say that AV, in which voters rank candidates according to preference, is simply too confusing for the poor, stupid British people (Jimmy Carr points out that AV is just basically a game of fuck-marry-kill) (although he called it shag-marry-kill, which is just adorable).

Anyway, I got an email from the Conservative Party chairthing which has this convincing sentence: “So if, like me, like Churchill, like many leading historians, sports stars and scientists, you know that AV would be a disaster for our democracy...”

(The other big news story in Britain is that at Prime Minister’s Questions, David Cameron adopted a line from an insurance commercial and told Labour MP Angela Eagle, who had just pointed out that he had told an untruth, “calm down, dear.”) (Cameron says the furore over this proves that socialists have no sense of humor.)

Today -100: April 28, 1911: Of reapportionment, a Jew in Egypt, the value of fingers and toes, dinners, and bosh

The House votes on a reapportionment bill, expanding the House from 391 to 433 (435 if and when Arizona and New Mexico become states). That would be one rep per 211,877 people. This is the last time the size of the House was increased, as was done in every previous decade (every previous decade also saw the accession of new states). (Historical oddity: after the 1920 census, there was no reapportionment. Not sure why; check back here in ten years.)

Reapportionment of districts will be decided by the states as usual; the D’s voted down an amendment to have it done by the Department of Commerce and Labor and another one which would have allowed for referenda for those states so inclined. Republicans from Democratic-dominated Kentucky and Missouri complain that gerrymandered Democratic congressional districts in their states have much smaller populations than Republican ones, and propose several amendments to correct that, all of which fail.

Rep. Victor Berger, Socialist from Wisconsin, proposed a joint resolution for a constitutional amendment to abolish the Senate, which he described as “an obstructive and useless body, a menace to the liberties of the people and an obstacle to social growth; a body many of the members of which are the representatives neither of a State nor of its people, but solely of certain predatory combinations”. Berger may be disciplined for violating the House rule against telling the truth about criticizing the Senate.

France announces that its military intervention in Morocco is necessary to protect foreigners at Fez, re-establish order, and protect the sovereignty of the sultan. Isn’t it nice of them to help out like that?

In other North African colonial news, Britain is rumored to be planning to send Sir Mathew Nathan to Egypt as its new Resident. Or as the NYT puts it, “Jew May Rule Egypt.”

Headline of the Day -100: “Value of Fingers and Toes.” In Lake County Superior Court, an employee at the Standard Steel Car Works who lost four fingers in an industrial accident was awarded $100, and another man got $500 for five toes.

President Taft is visiting New York City. Last night he attended a dinner of newspaper publishers, a dinner of Methodists, and a dinner in honor of retired Congressman J. Van Vechten Olcott.

Headline Expletive of the Day -100: “Bosh, Says Taft of Annexation.” At, I believe, his second dinner of the evening. He again denied plans to annex Canada. Canada must be feeling either relieved or kind of insulted by the constant repetitions of how the US is just not that into them.

Today -100: April 27, 1911: Of unwanted colonies, unwanted immigrants, and robes

The Dutch seize an American possession, Palmas Island, part of the Philippines. But the US doesn’t plan to object because the island is considered valueless. Don’t know what the 50 or so residents of the island feel about that. Hurt, is my guess. The issue went to arbitration in the 1920s, when Palmas was awarded to the Netherlands. Today it is still part of Indonesia, although closer geographically to the Philippines.

Canada may start banning the immigration of African-Americans on the grounds that they can’t adapt to the cold climate and are therefore likely to become public charges.

Headline of the Day -100: “Kitchener in Robes at Last.” Lord Kitchener takes his seat in the House of Lords for the first time since being ennobled 12 years ago.

Today -100: April 26, 1911: Of truces

Madero didn’t have the authority to agree to a meaningful truce after all. Other rebel leaders continue to fight.

Daily Telegraph headlines containing phrases that sound like euphemisms for masturbation, but aren’t

From today’s paper. Those phrases highlighted in red for the masturbation-euphemism impaired.

“Menzies Campbell Accuses David Cameron of Stoking AV Row.”

“Key Chernobyl Officer Criticises Japan’s Fukushima Efforts.”

“Women Join Morris Men.”

“Clobbering Clegg is Too Harsh a Punishment.”

“Royal Wedding: Heavy Rain Forecast for Big Day.”

From bias free of every kind, this trial must be tried

ProtectMarriage, the people who brought us Prop. 8, California’s 2008 anti-gay-marriage initiative, are demanding that the ruling against the proposition be set aside on the grounds of the judge’s bias, not because he’s gay – no they certainly would never suggest such a thing – but because he’s in a long-term relationship with another dude. If Judge Walker were having one-night stands with a different pickup from a leather bar every night, they would be okay with that. And a little bit aroused.

ProtectMarriage do not say in their appeal whether judges in heterosexual marriages, or indeed in long-term heterosexual relationships that might lead to marriage, should also recuse themselves.

A very Hope-y Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day

Another year, another “Armenian Remembrance Day,” the term Obama uses for Armenian GENOCIDE Remembrance Day. Again, he uses the words massacre and atrocity, and the Armenian term Meds Yeghern (great tragedy), but not genocide, never genocide, and again he uses the passive voice: “In 1915, 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their death”. By whom? He does not say. Possibly by a Martian invasion. Possibly by leprechauns. He talks about the need to learn from history, but he’s awfully vague about what that history is.

My favorite euphemism for genocide – “common history”: “I support the courageous steps taken by individuals in Armenia and Turkey to foster a dialogue that acknowledges their common history.”

And what should they do after this dialogue? They should “rebuild bridges of understanding toward a better tomorrow.” So get right on that, guys.


Naturally, Turkey complained about the mere acknowledgment that Armenians died, saying that Obama “distorts the historical facts. ... One-sided statements that interpret controversial historical events by a selective sense of justice prevent understanding of the truth.” Damn that selective sense of justice, always getting Obama into trouble and hilarious hijinks!

Today -100: April 25, 1911: Of colonies and kidnapping

France is using some unrest in Fez as a pretext to land troops and turn Morocco into a French colony.

Los Angeles Assistant District Attorney W J Ford is arrested in Indianapolis for kidnapping for his part in the apprehension of John McNamara for the LA Times bombing, and they’re looking for the LA Times’s private detective as well.

Today -100: April 24, 1911: Of noisy deaf schools

The terms of the armistice in Mexico: all combatants stay where they are, not reinforcing their positions; work on fortifications, railroad repair, etc to be suspended; provisions can be brought into besieged Juarez (but not booze).

The Mexican rebels cut the last remaining railroad route to the US, because it was being used to move government troops. The rebels had an understanding with the railroad company that it was not to do such a thing if it wanted to keep operating.

Disappointing Headline of the Day -100: “Too Noisy in Deaf School.” A couple of employees like to party.

It’s official

Syria hates sad people.

I never had anything new

Michigan state senator Bruce Caswell proposes that the $79 a year the state spends on clothing for children in foster care only be spent in thrift shops for second-hand clothing, saying that when he was a kid, “I never had anything new.”

Poor Bruce. I propose that we rectify this by all chipping in to get Bruce Caswell everything, and I mean everything, new in the Sears catalog.

Inserted anally.

Today -100: April 23, 1911: Of armistices, trucks, dirigibles, and cigarettes

Madero agrees to an armistice, without Díaz having agreed to resign. Madero is now denying that he ever demanded that. Whether all of Madero’s lieutenants actually consider the armistice binding on them is another matter.

The NYT notes that Madero has been pretty much out of the loop, not having seen a newspaper in his camp for a month, and has just learned, for example, of the negotiations between his father, the Mexican ambassador to the US, and Finance Minister Limantour.

Rebels capture Acapulco.

NY has a parade of trucks. The article has pictures of 1911 oil trucks, armored bank cars, dump trucks, mail wagons etc., if you’re into that sort of thing.

However, horses were still in big use in commercial deliveries (but losing ground: another article compares the cost per mile and finds autos substantially cheaper), which is doubtless why horse theft is bigger in 1911 New York City than in the Far West.

Germans are planning to build a really, really big dirigible, capable of carrying 200 passengers, with cabins, a promenade, dining saloon, an onboard newspaper, and parachutes for every passenger. They will carry passengers across the Atlantic, which will take 3 days, for a fare of $200.

The McNamara brothers, union officials, are arrested by private detectives for the dynamiting of the LA Times building last October, along with one Ortie E. McGonigle, which sounds like the name of a W.C. Fields character. A rather large quantity of dynamite was found as well.

(Update: no fun: later editions correct the name to Ortie McManigle.)

The lower house of the Colorado Legislature votes to ban cigarettes.

Bomb bomb bomb, bomb Libya

McCain of Arabia spent several hours in Libya and was therefore able to declare, “I have met these brave fighters and they are not Al Qaida.” So that settles that.

None of these people are Al Qaida

However, if the US doesn’t step up the military intervention, “I do worry that if there is a stalemate here, that it could open the door to radical Islamic fundamentalism.” So they’re not Al Qaida but if they become Al Qaida it’ll be Obama’s fault for not dropping enough bombs. Okay then.

Today -100: April 22, 1911: Of the helplessness of the American potato

NY Gov. Dix explains that he appointed William Buchanan as a delegate to the 3rd National Peace Congress because he had been active in the peace movement in the past. But not the recent past, since, it turns out, he’s been dead for two years. But, to be fair, quite peaceful.

The Mexican government responds to Madero’s demand for Díaz’s resignation by breaking off negotiations.

The Canadian Reciprocity Bill passes the House, you will be delighted to hear, 264-89. Though this was the biggest item on Taft’s to do list for 1911, the Republicans voted against it 78-67. My favorite sentence in the article: “Mr. Nelson tried to get the other side to recognize the helplessness of the American potato against Canadian competition.”

Today -100: April 21, 1911: Of ultimata, lynchings, and retaliations

Francisco Madero gives President-for-Not-Very-Long Díaz 24 hours to resign, or he will attack Juarez.

Sen. William Stone (D-Missouri) introduces a resolution, in the badly chosen words of the NY Times, “authorizing the President, if necessary, to cross the frontier and by force guarantee the protection of American lives and property”. Let’s all take a moment to imagine President Taft waddling across the border to by force guarantee the protection of American lives and property. Other senators objected that this resolution would be tantamount to a declaration of war. It is tabled for now.

A black man who shot a white man in a pool room in Livermore, Kentucky, is lynched in the opera house (which the marshal had thought more defensible than the jail house). 50 men shot him from the orchestra pit.

The Republican-dominated Rhode Island Legislature refuses to appropriate money for a new science hall at RI State College in retaliation for the role some of its professors took in the 1910 election working for the Democrats, who took control of the South Kingstown city council.

Today -100: April 20, 1911: Of church & state, and disputes at the border

Portugal will issue a decree for the separation of church and state. Priests will be off the government payroll and will be legally allowed to marry.

Mexican President-for-Now Díaz writes, and leaks (I’m not sure if he ever officially sent it), a reply to Washington, denying any responsibility for the stray gunfire during the fight for Agua Prieta that killed Americans in Douglas, AZ. He casts blame on the rebels and on Americans fighting on the rebel side, and he counter-charges various violations of neutrality, saying that US soldiers disarmed some Mexican soldiers and turned over their weapons to the rebels and that a Federal lieut. was wounded by a shot from the American Custom House. He also says that the citizens of Douglas who were shot had only themselves to blame for being lookie-loos.

Perspective

Obama held an Easter Prayer Breakfast at the White House, because he’s totally not a Muslim.

EVERYONE AGREES THAT JESUS’S ATTEMPT TO FOLLOW-UP ON THE LOAVES & FISHES THING WAS REALLY LAME: “We all live in the hustle and bustle of our work. ... The inbox keeps on accumulating.”

REMINDERS LIKE LISTENING TO JOE BIDEN’S STORIES ABOUT HOW HE USED TO RIDE THE TRAIN: “we must always make sure that we are keeping things in perspective. ... But nothing beats scripture and the reminder of the eternal.”

WHAT HE PRAYS FOR: “I pray that our time here this morning will strengthen us, both individually as believers and as Americans.” So he’s praying for the success of the prayer breakfast? And does he then pray for the success of his prayer for the success of the prayer breakfast?


WHAT WE ARE REMINDED OF: “we are reminded that there’s something about the resurrection -- something about the resurrection of our savior, Jesus Christ, that puts everything else in perspective.” CONTEST: Exactly what does the “resurrection” of “our savior” Jesus Christ put into perspective for Obama?

Today -100: April 19, 1911: Of retreats and vivisection

The Mexican government accepts Washington’s demand that both sides in the civil war arrange themselves so that bullets in the civil war stop crossing the border. Or to put it another way, they are willing to accept the establishment of a neutral zone that just happens to favor them in Agua Prieta and Juarez.

Taft has been making it clear that he will not order troops to cross into Mexico without explicit instructions from Congress, as he believes, correctly but almost uniquely among presidents, the Constitution requires.

The rebels evacuate Agua Prieta; they’d won all the battles but ran out of ammo. They blame US customs and secret service agents for seizing 100,000 rounds of ammunition shipped to them on the Arizona side of the border. The rebels object strongly to this action, noting (correctly) that arms sales to Mexican rebels do not violate US law. However, the former commander-in-chief of the rebels in the city, the guy who fled to the US yesterday, blames the defeat on rebels who drank up all the booze in the city.

The NYT has a pro-vivisection editorial.

Today -100: April 18, 1911: Of surrenders, extending racism, and beverages in the Philippines

The battle for Agua Prieta, on the US-Mexican border, continues, with federal attempts to recapture the town from the rebels being fought off, although at one point the rebel commander surrendered himself – to the Americans. Both sides ignored the American demand that they not fire any bullets that might cross the border, and 7 people in Douglas, AZ are wounded.

Rep. Everis Hayes (R-CA) introduces a bill to extend all existing laws excluding Chinese immigrants to “Japanese, Koreans, Tartars, Malays, Afghans, East Indians, Lascars, Hindus, and all other persons of the Mongolian or Asiatic race”.

A US cavalry officer in the Philippines is killed by someone described by the NYT correspondent as “a Moro fanatic, who, crazed with religious passion, ran amuck, thirsting for the blood of a Christian.” There will be more of this.