Articles from 1912
This article was written by the well respected British bacteriologist and immunologist Sir Almroth Wright (1861 – 1947) concerning his belief that women should be denied the vote. Relying upon his scientific training, Wright held that women, as a result of their flawed nature, simply lacked a sense of reasoning.
This article was written by the well respected British bacteriologist and immunologist Sir Almroth Wright (1861 – 1947) concerning his belief that women should be denied the vote. Relying upon his scientific training, Wright held that women, as a result of their flawed nature, simply lacked a sense of reasoning.
For many it will come as no surprise that the Confederate States of America entered it’s twilight with the same hubris and cupidity that gave it life. This 1912 article solved a mystery: what had become of the gold and silver from the vaults of the CSA when it finally became clear to all that the rebellion was over.
Click here to read a memoir of the Union victory parade in 1865 Washington.
The Collier’s Magazine obituary for Wilbur Wright (1867 – 1912) was written by the aviator and journalist Henry Woodhouse (born Mario Terenzio Casalengo, 1884 – 1970).
The Brothers Wright gave flying instructions to a young boy who would later become one of the first U.S. Air Force generals – you can read about him here…
Click here to read about a much admired American aviator who was attracted to the fascist way of thinking…
He is only thirty-eight now and he is a member of the English Ministry… he has been a wonder of the Empire since he was twenty-five. The only American he can be compared to is [Teddy] Roosevelt; and that comparison is not especially apt, because Churchill writes far better than Roosevelt does, talks far better, and at thirty-eight has gone farther than Roosevelt had when he reached that age… Churchill will undoubtedly be a prime minister of England one of these days.
The attached two paragraphs appeared in Popular Mechanics some six weeks prior to the maiden voyage of Titanic:
As many as 4,500 different bergs have been actually counted in a run of 2,000 miles; estimated heights of from 800 to 1,700 feet are not uncommon, and bergs with lengths of from 6 to 82 miles are numerous.
The notice indicated that if the Indian Ocean is suffering such a large number then certainly it can be surmised that the North Atlantic will be plagued doubly. It stands to reason that if the editors of this magazine were aware of the heavy presence of South-bound icebergs, then the naval community must also have been in the know.
Marguerite O’Kane, a genuine enthusiast of the Arts and Crafts Movement, enjoyed the unique distinction of writing the first review for American VOGUE covering the work of Mariano Fortuny (Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo: 1871 – 1949). Although celebrated in Europe since making his first gown in 1906, the Knossos Scarf, a long sheer silk rectangle inspired by the costumes of ancient Crete, he was unknown to most fashion-minded Americans until this article appeared during the closing weeks of 1912.
Iconic fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent began his meteoric career as a very young man; click here to read about him.
This article was penned in 1912 by a Mexican editorial writer who shared his countryman’s deep distrust of American motives and believed that the United States is the natural enemy of Mexico:
No other people can have less friendship for this hostile neighbor than the Mexicans.
A brief article on the military career of Civil War General George Gordon Meade (1815 – 1872) with particular attention paid to his leadership during the Battle of Gettysburg.
Meade will not be ranked by the historians with the great commanders, but his career is that of a well-trained, capable, and patriotic soldier, and he must always be remembered in the history of the war and of the country as the General who, for the longest period in its history, held the command of the Army of the Potomac, and to whom came the well-deserved good fortune of winning with this army the decisive battle of the war.
The Titanic catastrophe was not seen by many to be a poetic topic, however there were a few wordsmiths who did address the subject. The link above will lead you to two of these poems; one by Charles Hanson Towne (1877 – 1949), a poet, essayist and playwright who, at the time of the sinking, was serving as an editor at Designer magazine. The second poem was penned by M.C. Lehr, of whom there is no surviving information.
Two eyewitness accounts relaying the last moments in the life of millionaire investor John Jacob Astor IV (born and his gallantry in refusing a place in the lifeboats. According to Mrs. Churchill Candee (born Helen Churchill Hungerford, 1859 – 1949)and Second Class passenger Hilda Slater (1882 – 1965) he lived up to the expected standards of the day:
I saw Colonel John Jacob Astor hand his young wife into a boat tenderly and then ask an officer whether or not he might also go. When permission was refused he stepped back and coolly took out his cigarette case.
‘Good bye, dearie’ he called gaily, as he lighted his cigarette and leaned over the rail, ‘I’ll join you later.’
The arctic explorer Admiral Robert Peary (1856 – 1920) was no stranger to icebergs. In this short essay he reminisces about spotting icebergs, the most dangerous types of icebergs, the times when an iceberg can prove helpful to a skipper and the remedies for the future.
The attached obituary of Isador Straus (born 1845) as it appeared in THE NEW YORK TIMES the day after the news of his death was made known. At the time he had secured passage on board Titanic, Straus was co-owner of the Macy’s department store with his brother Nathan. A trusted advisor to U.S. President Grover Cleveland, he was elected to represent the New Yorkers of the fifty-third district and served in that post between 1894 and 1895. He died in the company of his wife Ida; unlike Straus, her body was never recovered.
A couple of admirals weigh in as to the innocence or guilt of Bruce Ismay (1862 – 1937), Managing Director of the White Star Line. While the PITTSBURGH DISPATCH seemed to think that a debate was simply not necessary:
…But it cannot be ignored that the man who in the management of the line had sent the great steamer to sea with lifeboats for about one-third of the ship’s company, bore a responsibility that might well have been atoned by joining the gallant men who went down with the ship.
Not long after the Titanic catastrophe was made known to the world there were many rumors and half truths that had to be sorted out and recognized as such in order to fully understand the full scope of the catastrophe; the editors of The Nation printed this article which contributed to that effort:
…two terrible, damning facts stand out: the first, that the ship was speeding through an ice-field of the presence of which its officers were fully aware; the second, is that every life could readily have been saved had there been boats and rafts enough to keep people afloat in a clear, starry night on an exceptionally smooth Atlantic sea. Both these facts are indisputable.
As for the lifeboats, these expensive affairs that could cost the large sum of $425.00 apiece – there were but twenty of them in addition to a few rafts…
An eye-witness account from one of the survivors concerning the last minutes of Titanic Captain Edward Smith:
‘I will go down with the ship,’ he cried. He sank immediately, and although those on the collapsible boat watched for him to come up that they might drag him aboard, he never appeared.
This is a small notice from THE NEW YORK TIMES reporting on the surprisingly impulsive behavior of the men of high civic standing on-board Titanic who were among the first to scramble for the lifeboats:
It was our Congressmen, our Senators, and our ‘big men’ who led in the crush for the lifeboats.
It was also pointed out that many of the Titanic heroes that night were also men of prominence within their communities, fellows such as Isador Straus and John Jacob Astor who refused to accept lifeboat seating.
The author reported that in the year 1912 one could easily find a plethora of useless and needless faiths and denominations:
These religions come to naught in the end.
