Volume 14 , Issue 25

The Tacoma Times, 18 June 1912

It was one hundred years ago today that the frontage headlines in The Tacoma Times, the only independent newspaper in Tacoma Washington, dated Thursday, 18 June 1912, had the following headlines: "Women are No Housekeepers Any More;" "Balloons Will Tell Who Is Nominated;" "Elopers Lead In Wild Love Chase Around Big World;" and much more.

Back in June, 1912, it was discussed that paper gas bags balloons flashed high in the air would tell who was nominated and victor of the republican convention for president.

1. If Col. Theodore Roosevelt was victor, Times balloons carrying 30-foot red, white and blue streamers by day and colored fire streamer by night;
2. If Pres. William Howard Taft was victor, Times balloons without streamers day or night; (these were the balloons that flashed the results of the Republican National Convention Nomination and Victor.)
3. If Robert LaFollette was victor, Times balloons carrying red flag by day and red fire by night;
4. If Sen. Robert Cummins was victor, Times balloons trailing green flag by day and red fire by night;
5. The Times balloons were furnished by Frank A. Neyhart & Co., 935 So. C St. Mr Neyhart would superintend the sending up of the balloons.

This was all done simultaneously with the flashing of the news direct from the Coliseum in Chicago over the United Press leased wire into the Times office, the balloons would be liberated in such a manner that all in Tacoma may know who is nominated.

The United States presidential election of 1912 was a rare four-way contest. Incumbent President William Howard Taft was renominated by the Republican Party with the support of its conservative wing. After former President Theodore Roosevelt failed to receive the Republican nomination, he called his own convention and created the Progressive Party (nicknamed the "Bull Moose Party"). It nominated Roosevelt and ran candidates for other offices in major states.

Democrat Woodrow Wilson was finally nominated on the 46th ballot of a contentious convention, thanks to the support of William Jennings Bryan, the three-time "Democratic" presidential candidate who still had a large and loyal following in 1912.

Eugene V. Debs was the nominee of the "Socialist Party" of America and got 6% of the popular vote, getting second place in several states.

Wilson defeated Taft, Roosevelt, and Debs in the general election, winning a big majority in the Electoral College and 42% of the popular vote, while his nearest rival, Roosevelt, won only 27%.

How times have changed, huh? Now we have the social networking, smart phones and television to catch up on the presidential conventions of today.

Women Are No Housekeepers Any More "Women are no housekeepers any more," was declared by a delegate to the state federation of Woman's clubs. The article quoting Miss Anna Agnes Maley of Everett, stated that Miss Maley told the State Federation of Woman's Clubs at the High School the morning of 18 June 1912, "Housekeeping has gone out of our hands."

Miss Maley's address to the club women was one of the most powerful ever heard in the city. She spoke on the social significance of the development of machinery in industry. "It was the old duty of women to rear children, weave the cloth to clothe them, bake the bread to feed them and keep house," Miss Maley said, "But the machinery, operated by the modern trust plan of economy at the sacrifice of intelligence, virtue and life, had stripped women of their calling as well as deprived man of his job."

Miss Maley went on to state, "What kind of housekeeping is this that has come since the machine has taken it from women. I tell you we women are going to take a hand in this public housekeeping and we will give the men such a housecleaning as they never knew in their lives."

Following the address of Miss Maley the address was discussed and one woman declared she wanted the federation to go on record against the present regime which makes it impossible for a man to get work and then locks him in jail if he asks for bread on the streets.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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