Tom McMahon

Henry Clay: I'd Rather Be Right Than President

Henry Clay: I'd Rather Be Right Than President

The American people took ol' Henry at his word: He ran for President three times, and lost three times. Periodically a candidate will emerge with Clay's attitude (Adlai Stevenson 50 years ago, Barack Obama today) with the same predictable result. Some tid-bits about Henry Clay:

• Henry Clay introduced the Mint Julep drink to Washington, D.C. at the famous Willard Hotel during his residence in the city.
• Fifteen Clay counties in the United States are named for him.
• Clay was the first person to lie in state in the United States Capitol.
• Seven of Clay's children preceded him in death.
• First cousin once removed of abolitionist Cassius M. Clay.
• His political skills earned him the nickname "The Great Compromiser."
• In 1806, Clay was chosen to serve out the unexpired Senate term of John Adair. No one noticed that he was not yet thirty, and thus ineligible to serve in the Senate.
• Clay fought two duels, one in 1809 and the other in 1826.
• At his death, his will would free the fifty slaves he had owned and provide for their transportation to Liberia.
• Another Henry Clay quote: "Statistics are no substitute for judgment."

Israel's Peculiar Position

From a 1968 article by Eric Hoffer:

The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.

Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem.

Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it, Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchman. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese — and no one says a word about refugees.

But in the case of Israel the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees.

Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab.

Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis.

Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms.

But when Israel is victorious it must sue for peace.

Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world.

The Last Curtsey: The End of the Debutante Era In 1958

An excerpt from Fiona MacCarthy:

Half a century ago this week, a strange ceremony ended. I was among the last 400 girls arriving at Buckingham Palace to make our formal curtseys to the Queen. It was the usual wild March weather, cold winds ruffling our full-skirted silk dresses, our mothers in their furs and our moustached fathers wore top hats as we lined up by the railings, gaped at by waiting crowds kept at a discreet distance as if in an Ealing comedy.

The scene had been made poignant by the recent unexpected announcement from the Palace that these would be the last presentations. We were a soon-to-be extinguished species, the last of the English debutantes. How had we got there in the first place? What was the selection process for what Jessica Mitford, most reluctant of debs, described as "the specific, upper-class version of a puberty rite"?

By and large it was family tradition. Most debutantes were presented by their mothers, who themselves had been presented. In the circles in which I grew up, curtseying to the Queen was not a matter for discussion, it was just a thing you did. Why did it stop so suddenly in 1958?

It turns out that by analyzing the iridium layer they found out it was a big asteroid that hit off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula.

A Suffragette's Home, 1900

A Suffragette's Home, 1900

A Graphic Account of the Democratic National Convention Held in Baltimore from June 1 to 5, 1852, At Which General Franklin Pierce of the Great State of New Hampshire Was Nominated for the Office of President of the United States on the 49th Ballot

A Graphic Account of the Democratic National Convention Held in Baltimore from June 1 to 5, 1852, At Which General Franklin Pierce of the Great State of New Hampshire Was Nominated for the Office of President of the United States on the 49th Ballot

In 1856 Pierce would become the only elected president to be denied renomination by his party in US history. (via the American Presidents Blog)

The LaFollette National Progressive Party Swastika Lite

The LaFollette National Progressive Party Swastika Lite

From Wisconsinology:

A photo of Phil La Follette's well intentioned National Progressive Party launch in 1938...It doesn't show the giant banners that were arranged behind him, but you can tell by the Nazi Party meets Jefferson Davis official Progressive Party logo hanging from the podium that it wasn't a good idea....and yes,copying the iconic success of German Nazi design was their naive intention. The three time governor and champion of his father's great legacy was viewed by many as weak. This disorganized attempt to create a national party that would unite Progressives everywhere and challenge President Roosevelt soon fizzled.

And from the University of Wisconsin LaFollette page:

Called a "circumcised swastika," the symbol invented to promote the National Progressive Party was one of the factors that contributed to its failure.

See also Jonah Goldberg's new Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning.

The Oldest Living US President

Oldest living president from	Oldest living president until	President
January 5, 1933	October 20, 1964	Herbert Hoover
October 20, 1964	December 26, 1972	Harry S. Truman
December 26, 1972	January 22, 1973	Lyndon B. Johnson
January 22, 1973	January 20, 1981*	Richard Nixon
January 20, 1981	June 5, 2004	Ronald Reagan
June 5, 2004	December 26, 2006	Gerald Ford
December 26, 2006		George H. W. Bush

*did not die on this date: older person was inaugurated President.

The table above is an excerpt from the complete table at Wikipedia. A couple more nuggets:

• The President who held the title of oldest living United States President for the longest span of time was Herbert Hoover, who held the title from the death of Calvin Coolidge on January 5, 1933 to his death on October 20, 1964, a span of 31 years, 10 months and 15 days. Incidentally, Hoover also holds the distinction of having the longest retirement of any United States President, at 31 years, 7 months. Currently the United States President who has been retired the longest is Jimmy Carter, who is due to pass Hoover on September 9, 2012.
• The President who held the title of oldest living United States President for the shortest span of time was Lyndon Baines Johnson, who held the title from the death of Harry S. Truman on December 26, 1972 to his death on January 22, 1973, a span of 27 days.

Those Who Cannot Remember The Past Are Condemned To Repeat It

From Planet Proctor:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” wrote George Santayana; and Firesign collaborator Brian Westley adds, "If we ever forget what Santayana wrote, we're completely screwed."

Arthur Mole's Living Portrait of President Woodrow Wilson, Made With 21,000 Troops In 1918

Arthur Mole's Living Portrait of President Woodrow Wilson, Made With 21,000 Troops In 1918

An excerpt from Louis Kaplan:

Almost a century ago and without the aid of any pixel-generating computer software, the itinerant photographer Arthur Mole (1889-1983) used his 11 x 14-inch view camera to stage a series of extraordinary mass photographic spectacles that choreographed living bodies into symbolic formations of religious and national community. In these mass ornaments, thousands of military troops and other groups were arranged artfully to form American patriotic symbols, emblems, and military insignia visible from a bird’s eye perspective. During World War I, these military formations came to serve as rallying points to support American involvement in the war and to ward off isolationist tendencies.

Close-Up Of Arthur Mole's Living Portrait of President Woodrow Wilson

More of Mole's amazing work here and here.

Remember The Alamo!

From The Corner:

In your post, you suggest that the current immigration pattern (large numbers from one country settling on the border, not assimilating) has never happened in the US before.

This is true in the strictest sense, but if you include future US territories, then it happened in Texas when it was still part of Mexico. The Mexican government encouraged European settlement in their largely unpopulated northern territories (taking "homesteads Mexicans won't take?). The newcomers never assimilated, grew frustrated at their isolation from both their legal government and their old culture, and eventually used the power of demographics to force a revolution.

Anyone who thinks Mexicans in the US don't remember this hasn't talked to very many of them.

It's All In The Game: Another Terrible Choice For The Nobel Peace Prize, 1925 Winner Charles G. Dawes

It's All In The Game: Another Terrible Choice For The Nobel Peace Prize, 1925 Winner Charles G. Dawes

He got it for his work on the Dawes Plan for World War I reparations. And we all remember how well those worked out, don't we? But on the bright side, you may remember how he wrote a Number 1 Hit Song. Oh well, win some, lose some.

The Death of John-John: Spy Magazine Predicts The Demise of JFK Jr. Ten Years Before It Happens

I remember, it was just a little snippet that John-John was such a poor pilot that his friends really didn't like flying with him. That was in the late 1980's, and I made a point of remembering it. So when his plane went missing in 1999, my first thought was "Gee, I guess they were right."

Gresham's Law: Bad Money Drives Out Good

A nice example from Wikipedia:

For an example of this, consider the 1965 US Half-dollars which were made from only 40% silver. The previous year the half-dollar was 90% silver. With the release of the 1965 half, which was legally required to be accepted at the same value as the previous year's 90% halves, the older 90% silver coinage of the US quickly disappeared from circulation, and the debased money was allowed to circulate in its stead. As the price of bullion silver rose above the face value of the coins, many of those old half-dollars were melted down. With the 1971 issue the government gave up on including any silver in the half dollars. A similar situation is currently (2007) occurring with the rising price of zinc and copper, and has led to attempts by the U.S. government to ban the melting or mass exportation of one and five cent coins, respectively.

Common Law Crimes

Excerpts from Illusory Tenant on the case of three low-life teenagers who couldn't even get lucky with a corpse:

Acting upon one's necrophilic urges, I believe, is a relatively rare occurrence. Unless you're from Wisconsin, where it's practically a traditional State pastime. Although in this case only a couple of hundred feet separated our protagonists from being Iowans. ...

The problem is, sex with a dead body whose demise you didn't cause isn't against the law in Wisconsin. It used to be, back in the day, when the State was able to charge common law crimes – that is, activities that were deemed prosecutable by the courts rather than the legislature.

But in 1955 Wisconsin did away with common law crimes and since then the only crimes the State may charge are the ones in the criminal statutes, which is where you won't find necrophilia.

My law classes were a few years decades ago, so I looked up common law crime on Answers.com:

A common-law crime is one punishable under common law, as distinguished from crimes specified by statute. In many U.S. jurisdictions, including some in which comprehensive criminal statutes have been enacted, the common law in relation to crimes and criminal procedure has been recognized by the courts as in force, except insofar as it has been abrogated or repealed, expressly or impliedly, by statute. Thus the state may prosecute crimes that were indictable at common law even though they may not be denominated as such or be provided for by statute. In many other jurisdictions the courts have held the common law as to crimes as being abolished, and no act is punishable as a crime unless it is made so by statute, or unless the act is made punishable as a crime by the constitution.

A Rare Portrait Of An Indian Chief On An 1899 United States Silver Certificate

A Rare Portrait Of An Indian Chief On An 1899 United States Silver Certificate

The silver certificate itself was worth $5, but the blurb is priceless:

The portrait shows the likeness of one of only two Native Americans on United States currency. Chief Running Antelope, from the Sioux tribe, was depicted wearing a headdress from the Pawnee tribe. This created ill will among the Sioux and Pawnee nations.

The Enduring Controversy Over Stepin Fetchit, The First Black Actor To Become a Millionaire

The Enduring Controversy Over Stepin Fetchit, The First Black Actor To Become a Millionaire

An excerpt by Jim Emerson:

Stepin Fetchit remains one of the most fascinating, infuriating, polarizing, pathetic and perplexing figures in movie history. I've never known quite how to read him. Is he the hoary embodiment of the racist stereotype of the lazy, shuffling Negro? Is he a once-familiar humorous archetype from African-American tradition that people today -- black or white -- just don't know how to interpret or understand anymore?

The truth about him is probably complex enough to accommodate both of these perspectives... and others between and beyond them.

And an excerpt by Armond White:

Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry—the actor who created Stepin Fetchit—was born in 1902 and named to honor presidents. An emblematic figure in 1930s Hollywood, Perry played the quintessential lazy, foolish American Negro—first on the black vaudeville "chitlin' circuit," where he got the tag "The Laziest Man on Earth," and later in dozens of movies. But with the advent of the civil rights era, Fetchit became a target of radical political sentiments. He was famously excoriated on a 1968 primetime CBS documentary Of Black America narrated by Bill Cosby. In the decades since, he has been virtually forgotten.

And from Roy Hurst of NPR:

By the mid-1930s, Perry was at his peak -- and black leaders were putting pressure on Hollywood to rid the screen of the stereotype he was responsible for creating. They believed the Stepin Fetchit character was keeping white America from viewing blacks as capable of joining the mainstream.

Comedian Jimmy Walker knows something about being accused of perpetuating a negative stereotype. His portrayal of J.J. Evans in the sitcom Good Times was criticized as a return of the minstrel show.

"The way they make it sound, it's like black people are permanently harmed by Stepin Fetchit," Walker says. "And I don't agree with that -- I don't think it's a bad character. I think it's a funny character." Walker points out that the Fetchit character is actually a subversive trickster -- he never got around to fetching anything.

"The lazy man character that [Perry] played was based on something that had come from slavery," Watkins says. "It was called 'putting on old massa' -- break the tools, break the hoe, do anything to postpone the work that was to be done."

Finally, the white characters would become exasperated and do the work themselves. "And blacks understood it perfectly, and laughed heartily at it," Watkins says. For his part, Perry was laughing all the way to the bank. By the mid-1930s, he was a millionaire with a fleet of luxury cars and expensive suits.

But by the end of the 1930s, Perry's star began to wane. The NAACP was gaining some influence in Hollywood and Perry was in a constant battle with Fox Studios to get equal pay and billing as his white co-stars -- a battle he never won. By 1940, he walked away from Hollywood, and within just a few years he was broke. To the emerging civil rights movement, Perry was a symbol of something black America wanted to forget, and he faded into obscurity.

Which State Is The All-Time Most Democratic Blue State?

State	Electoral Vote Margin	Flip Year
Arkansas	173	2120
Mississippi	134	2096
Kentucky	168	2092
Georgia	265	2076
Alabama	152	2072
Louisiana	137	2068
South Carolina	95	2052
Tennessee	125	2052
D. C.	32	2048
Maryland	107	2048
Missouri	115	2048
North Carolina	150	2048
Hawaii	31	2036
West Virginia	32	2032
Virginia	54	2024
Texas	126	2020
Delaware	6	2016
Washington	21	2012

Since 1856, Georgia has sent 265 more Democratic electors than Republican electors to the Electoral College, the most of any state. And little Arkansas (6 electoral votes) would need to vote straight Republican until the year 2120 to flip over to become an All-Time Red State.

See also Which State Is The All-Time Most Republican Red State?

Download electoralcollegetable.htm

Which State Is The All-Time Most Republican Red State?

State	Electoral Vote Margin	Flip Year
Maine	147	2152
Vermont	110	2152
Iowa	216	2128
Indiana	292	2112
Kansas	159	2112
South Dakota	78	2112
Nebraska	106	2092
New Hampshire	87	2092
North Dakota	62	2088
Ohio	404	2088
Pennsylvania	440	2088
Wyoming	39	2060
Michigan	198	2052
Wisconsin	110	2052
Alaska	30	2048
Illinois	227	2048
Utah	52	2048
Colorado	76	2040
Idaho	32	2040
Montana	25	2040
Connecticut	52	2036
Oregon	45	2032
Arizona	58	2028
Massachusetts	55	2024
Rhode Island	17	2024
Nevada	17	2020
Oklahoma	24	2020
Florida	57	2016
New York	83	2016
California	79	2012
New Jersey	23	2012
Minnesota	5	2008
New Mexico	2	2008

Since 1856, Pennsylvania has sent 440 more Republican electors than Democratic electors to the Electoral College, the most of any state. But Pennsylvania is a big state. Little-bitty Maine (4 electoral votes) and Vermont (3 electoral votes) would need to vote straight Democratic until the year 2152 to flip over to become an All-Time Blue State. On the other hand, Minnesota and New Mexico could flip to become All-Time Blue States after the next election in 2008.

See also Which State Is The All-Time Most Democratic Blue State?

Download electoralcollegetable.htm

Is Your State An All-Time Red State Or An All-Time Blue State?

Is Your State An All-Time Red State Or An All-Time Blue State?

I went over to Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections and got the Electoral College data for all the elections from 1856 (when the Republican first fielded a candidate) to 2004. Then I put that data into a spreadsheet and added up the votes to see which states were net Republican (red) and which were net Democratic (blue).

Download electoralcollegetable.htm

Population of Ireland Since 1500

Population of Ireland Since 1500

A quick reminder that progress isn't always inevitable.

Tho, Altho, Thru, Thoro: The 41-Year Experiment With Simplified Spelling By The Chicago Tribune 1934-1975

From the late Ken Ives Written Dialects (pdf file):

As early as the 1870's, the Chicago Tribune began using reformed spellings. Joseph Medill, editor and owner, was a member of the Council of the Spelling Reform Association. In 1880 the Chicago Spelling Reform Association met at the Sherman House, and read letters approving the Tribune's efforts. About 50 years later, under Medill's grandson, Robert R. McCormick, and editor James O'Donnell Bennett, the Tribune began a new effort. This "practical test of spelling reform" started in January, 1934, and continued for 41 years, with various changes.

An unsystematic list of 80 respelled words was introduced in four editorials over a two month period, and used thereafter in the paper, which had the largest circulation in Chicago. On January 28, "advertisment, catalog," and seven more "-gue" words were among those shortened. The February 11 list included "agast, ameba, burocrat, crum, missil, subpena." On February 25, "bazar, hemloc, herse, intern, rime, sherif, staf," were among those introduced. On March 11 an editorial reported that "short spelling wins votes of readers 3 to 1." On March 18, the final list included "glamor, harth, iland, jaz, tarif, trafic." An editorial that day, "Why dictionary makers avoid simpler spelling" claimed that they dare not pioneer, "prejudice and competition prevent it." On September 24, 1939, the list was reduced to 40, but "tho, altho, thru, thoro," were added. Addition of "frate, frater," for "freight, freighter," came on September 24, 1945. Changing "ph" not at the start of a word to "f" came on July 3, 1949, with "autograf, telegraf, , philosofy, photograf, sofomore."

In 1970, a new style book was issued which reduced the list substantially, dropping "tarif, sodder, clew, frate," among others. An article in Chicago Journalism Review for September, 1970, reported some reasons for the change: "probably the biggest reason 'is to fall into line with more common practices, especially those taught in college." Five years later, on September 29, 1975, Tribune withdrew from the effort, with an editorial, "Thru is through and so is tho." One reason given was that "the writers of spelling texts would not yield. When Johnny spelled Tribune style, teacher sat him down." They kept the short forms for the "-og" words, and announced that "From now on, Webster's Third will be our guide."

Thus for over 40 years, a substantial proportion of people in the Chicago Metropolitan area have been exposed to a limited but unsystematic list of reformed spellings in daily use. What the effects of the Tribune's spellings have been on the practice of adults in the area seems not to have been studied systematically. Certainly "altho, tho, thru," are more acceptable in that area than elsewhere. A survey of a highschool journalism class in downstate Illinois in 1973 found students favoring "thru" by three to one.

When I was a kid I always thought those spellings were one of the neatest things about the Tribune.

Wife Number 19, or The Story of a Life in Bondage, Being a Complete Expose' of Mormonism, and Revealing the Sacrifices and Sufferings of Women in Polygamy, by Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young's Apostate Wife

Wife Number 19, or The Story of a Life in Bondage, Being a Complete Expose' of Mormonism, and Revealing the Sacrifices and Sufferings of Women in Polygamy, by Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young's Apostate Wife

The complete text of the 1875 book is online. Here's a short excerpt from Chapter 19:

The marriage of mother and daughter to one man was of so common an occurrence that it ceased to be regarded as anything out of the ordinary course of events.

I had some schoolmates, two sisters, whose mother was married to a Mr. McDonald, and when she gave herself to him, it was with the express understanding that the daughters should be sealed to him as soon as they were of a proper age. The little girls knew of the arrangement, and used to talk very openly of marrying Pa, and in very much the same way they would speak of their intention to take tea with a friend.

That mother must have taken a great deal of comfort with her children! Fancy her feelings; knowing that she was bringing up her daughters as wives for her own husband!

Wives and mothers, living outside of polygamy, can anything be more revolting to your ideas of womanly purity, more thoroughly opposed to all the sweet tenderness of the maternal instinct, than cases like this? And yet, horror- stricken as you are by them, they are by no means exceptional, but are of frequent occurrence. And it is in your own country that these outrages against all womanhood occur, under your own government, upheld by our own chosen legislators - tacitly, at least - since in this time, as in the days of Christ's actual presence on earth, those who are not for are against. And if your government and its rulers refuse to do, or even fail to do without refusing, anything to eradicate this foul blot upon national purity and honor, why, they are in so far encouraging its presence, and rendering it daily more difficult of eradication.

For the tide of evil that set so strongly in those terrible days of 1856 has never been stayed. It still rolls on with all the added ruth and abomination which it has gathered in its course, until it is one reeking mass of the foulest impurities.

Incest, murder, suicide, mania and bestiality are the chief "beauties " of this infamous system, which are so glowingly alluded to by its eloquent expounders and defenders.

Gotta love those long 19th-Century book titles, eh? I first discovered this book 17 years ago at, of all places, a funeral home. I was browsing the old leather-bound books on the bookshelf, waiting for the service to begin, and found books like "Speeches of Theodore Roosevelt" and "Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" and "The Federalist Papers" when all of a sudden my eye caught a glimpse of "Wife No. 19, A Life in Bondage". Whenever I go to a funeral service at that funeral home, I pull out that book and read a couple of pages.

The Triangle of the Slave Trade

The Triangle of the Slave Trade

From the British National Maritime Museum:

The Transatlantic Slave Trade consisted of three journeys:

1. The outward passage from Europe to Africa carrying manufactured goods.
2. The middle passage from Africa to the Americas or the Caribbean carrying African captives and other 'commodities’.
3. The homeward passage carrying sugar, tobacco, rum, rice, cotton and other goods back to Europe.

By the 1790s there were 480,000 enslaved people in British Caribbean colonies. It is estimated that 11-12 million Africans were transported across the Atlantic into slavery. Many more had died during capture and transportation.

(via the World History Blog)

New Philadelphia, Illinois: The First Town In The United States Founded By An African-American

Founded in 1836, the now-vanished town of New Philadelphia, Illinois, was established by a former slave named Free Frank McWhorter. It was the first town in the USA founded by a black man. There's even an archaeology project going on at the site. A truly fascinating story that's virtually unknown today.

The Classic Response To Multiculturalism

From General Sir Charles James Napier, a British general and Commander-in-Chief in India back in the days of the British Empire:

A quote for which Napier is famous involves a delegation of Hindu locals approaching him and complaining about prohibition of Sati, often referred to at the time as suttee, by British authorities. This was the custom of burning widows alive on the funeral pyres of their husbands. The exact wording of his response varies somewhat in different reports, but the following version captures its essence:

"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."

Rank The Presidents Since FDR. Add A 3-Word Summary. And Just For Fun, Throw In Your Favorite Super Hero.

Here is my list, assuming Superman had been President:

1. FDR: Won World War
2. Reagan: Won Cold War
3. Eisenhower: Peace & Prosperity
4. Bush: Vacation From History
5. GW Bush: Beat Taliban, Saddam
6. Truman: Cold War Containment
7. Superman: Couldn't Delegate Anything
8. Ford: Healed A Nation
9. LBJ: Micromanaged Vietnam War
10. Nixon: From Victory, Defeat
11. Clinton: Our National Embarrassment
12. Carter: Double-digit Stagflation
13. JFK: Cuban Missile Crisis

Go ahead, add your list to the comments. You can use any super hero, but you summaries must be 3 words only.

Funny Thing, Representative Democracy

John Derbyshire on England in particular and democracy in general:

A politician who came out for a total ban on all immigration from Muslim countries would be immensely popular; but he would never again hold public office. 

I clearly recall the fuss over Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech in England in 1968.  In the weeks that followed, you could hardly find anyone who disagreed with Powell.  (A source of some distress to me:  I was a 23-year-old love-the-word socialist at the time.)  I half expected Powell to be swept into Prime Ministerial power by public acclamation.  Instead, he was kicked out of the Shadow Cabinet and never again held government office.

Of course, all Powell's dire predictions have come true.

Funny thing, representative democracy.

The Family Business

Daniel Gross on Adam Smith in his book review of PJ O'Rourke's On The Wealth Of Nations:

Smith was clearly comfortable with some of the contradictions in his life and work. In 1778, he was named commissioner of customs for Scotland, following in the path of his father and other relatives in holding public positions charged with maintaining one of the great barriers to free trade -- taxes on imports. "Between book sales and the commissionership, Smith was making money with efforts to eliminate customs duties and with efforts to collect them," O'Rourke notes. "He wouldn't have thought it was as funny as we do. It was the family business."

Presidential China

Presidential China

From the American Presidents Blog:

Presidential china is one of the ways that First Ladies have left their mark on the White House. There is now a special room at the White House (appropriately called the China Room) where pieces from each set are displayed. ... The reason for new china every other administration or so is that the sets are used and therefore get broken, stole (yes, this is a big problem! Eleanor Roosevelt actually had some of the plates made larger so that they couldn't easily be put into purses or pockets!), and generally used heavily.

Pictured above is the Rutherford B. Hayes china.

Happy Casimir Pulaski Day!

Casimir Pulaski Day was celebrated in Illinois today, the first Monday in March, in honor of the birth of the Polish-American Revolutionary War hero. Basically, all the Polish in Chicago said "If the African-Americans can get a day off for Martin Luther King, then we should get a day off for one of our guys." Or something to that effect (I polished it up a little). All the schools in the state used to shut down for this day, but nowadays it's by local option.

Pulaski also has General Pulaski Memorial Day, a federal holiday of sorts, as well as General Pulaski's Day, a Kentucky holiday. Both of these are observed in October, in commemoration of Pulaski's death at the Siege of Savannah.

It's always nice to see these holidays bringing folks together . . .

The Tragedy of the Commons

Excerpts from the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics:

In 1974 the general public got a graphic illustration of the "tragedy of the commons" in satellite photos of the earth. Pictures of northern Africa showed an irregular dark patch, 390 square miles in area. Ground-level investigation revealed a fenced area inside of which there was plenty of grass. Outside, the ground cover had been devastated.

The explanation was simple. The fenced area was private property, subdivided into five portions. Each year the owners moved their animals to a new section. ... But outside the ranch, no one owned the land. It was open to nomads and their herds. ... The herds exceeded the natural "carrying capacity" of their environment, soil was compacted and eroded, and "weedy" plants, unfit for cattle consumption, replaced good plants. Many cattle died, and so did humans.

Even when herdsmen understand the long-run consequences of their actions, they generally are powerless to prevent such damage without some coercive means of controlling the actions of each individual. Idealists may appeal to individuals caught in such a system, asking them to let the long-term effects govern their actions. But each individual must first survive in the short run. If all decision makers were unselfish and idealistic calculators, a distribution governed by the rule "to each according to his needs" might work. But such is not our world. As James Madison said in 1788, "If men were angels, no Government would be necessary." That is, if all men were angels. But in a world in which all resources are limited, a single nonangel in the commons spoils the environment for all.

The spoilage process comes in two stages. First, the nonangel gains from his "competitive advantage" (pursuing his own interest at the expense of others) over the angels. Then, as the once noble angels realize that they are losing out, some of them renounce their angelic behavior. They try to get their share out of the commons before competitors do. In other words, every workable distribution system must meet the challenge of human self-interest. An unmanaged commons in a world of limited material wealth and unlimited desires inevitably ends in ruin.