Michael Redmond

By: centraljersey.com
In 1911, William Howard Taft was the 27th president of the United States, King George V of England was crowned at Westminster Abbey, and St. Pius X (Giuseppe Sarto) was pope in Rome. The world population was approximately 1.6 billion; the U.S. population was 94 million. There were 46 states in the Union. In New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson, a leader of the Progressive Movement and president of Princeton University, begins to serve as governor. He takes on the party machines, establishes state primary elections, revamps the public utility commission, and introduces worker’s compensation.
In 1911, a half gallon of milk cost 17 cents, a pound of butter 34 cents, a pound of round steak 18 cents, and a pound of potatoes 22 cents. A first-class stamp cost 2 cents. The average annual income was $520 and a new Ford cost $780.
The most popular ditty of the year was "Oh! You Beautiful Doll," a ragtime love song with words by Seymour Brown and music by Nat D. Ayer.
Births: Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States (Feb. 6); Elizabeth Bishop, American poet (Feb. 8); Robert Johnson, legendary blues musician (May 8); Tennessee Williams, American playwright (May 26); Hubert Humphrey, senator, vice president (May 27); Vincent Price, actor (May 27); Czeslaw Milosz, poet (June 30); Ginger Rogers, actress (July 16); Marshall McLuhan, Canadian communications theorist (July 21); Lucille Ball, comedienne (Aug. 6); Mahalia Jackson, gospel diva (Oct. 26).
Deaths: Francis Galton, British polymath – anthropologist, eugenicist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist, psychometrician, and statistician (Jan. 17); Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor (May 18); Carry Nation, American temperance leader, social reformer, saloon smasher (June 9); Piotr Stolypin, Russian premier, having been shot in the Kiev opera house by a revolutionary in the presence of Tsar Nicholas II.
Revolutions: The Mexican Civil War is in full swing. Led by Francisco Madero, Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, among others, a series of popular uprisings succeeds in unseating strongman Porfirio Diaz, who had held power for 31 years. A nervous U.S. government calls up the cavalry and deploys 20,000 troops along the Rio Grande. In China, revolutionaries under Sun Yat-sen overthrow the Manchu dynasty, founded in 1644. The revolutionary movement spreads rapidly through west and southern China, forcing the abdication of the last Ch’ing emperor, 6-year-old Henry Pu-Yi. On Oct. 26 the Chinese Republic is proclaimed.
Age of the Automobile: The Cadillac Division of General Motors demonstrates the first electric self- starter, enabling women to drive alone. Introduced in the 1912 model, the electric self-starter enormously expands the market for the automobile. In Michigan, the first white center line on a roadway is introduced.
Age of Exploration: In July, Hiram Bingham, American explorer, is taken by indigenous guides to Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas," high in the Andes. He was in search of the lost city of Vilcabamba, the Incas’ legendary last refuge from the invading Spaniards. In December, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen becomes the first man to reach the South Pole, beating an expedition led by British explorer Robert Falcon Scott.
Modern warfare: During the Italian-Turkish War of 1911-1912, Italian aviator Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti realizes that aircraft could be used for more than simple reconnaissance. Flying his Taube monoplane at an altitude of 600 feet, he lobs four grenades over the side by hand. It’s the first aerial bombardment in history. The event occurred over a Turkish camp at Ain Zara in Libya on Nov. 1.
Working-class horror: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire kills 146 immigrant workers in New York City on March 25. Only13 girls survive. The fire broke out on the top three floors of the 10-story Asch Building as the workday was ending. No one knows the cause, but the blaze spread quickly, fueled by fabric scraps and sewing machine oil. The three avenues of escape were almost immediately clogged with panicked workers. Then, to the horror of spectators seven stories below, the desperate women began to jump to their deaths. Appalled by the tragedy, the New York State Legislature forms a commission whose findings lead to the creation of new fire and building codes that are soon adopted in cities throughout the United States.
Busting the trusts: On May 15, the Supreme Court of the United States orders the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. From its remains, 34 new companies were formed, including Exxon, Mobil, Amoco, Chevron, Arco and Conoco. John D. Rockefeller’s quarter interest in the parent company turns into a quarter interest in all the offspring. The action of the Supreme Court was based in part on findings by Ida Tarbell, who published exposes regarding Rockefeller and Standard Oil in McClure’s Magazine.
Political whirlwind: In March, Victor Berger of Wisconsin became the first socialist member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In August President Taft vetoes a joint resolution of Congress granting statehood to Arizona because he believes a provision in the state constitution authorizing the recall of judges is a blow to the independence of the judiciary. The offending clause is removed, and Arizona is admitted to statehood on Feb. 14, 1912. The state then restores the recall article to its constitution.
Cultural landmarks: The first feature film is released when the two reels of D.W. Griffith’s "Enoch Arden" are screened together. The opera "Der Rosenkavalier" by Richard Strauss premieres in Dresden. Leonardo da Vinci’s "Mona Lisa" is stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris by a museum employee; it turns up in Italy two years later. Marc Chagall paints "Donkeys and Others," "The Russian Village of the Moon" and "I and the Village." Edith Wharton writes "Ethan Frome." Igor Stravinsky composes "Petrouchka." Scott Joplin publishes the vocal score of his opera, "Treemonisha," from his own pocket. He had completed it in 1910, but no publisher would accept a ragtime opera by a black composer. In Russia Mendel Beilis is tried on charges of killing a Russian child to extract its blood for baking Passover matzoh. He spends more than two years in prison before a jury finds him not guilty. Franz Kafka follows the case and is believed to have transformed it into a universal symbol of arbitrary victimization in "The Trial."
Scientific landmarks: Polish-born French physicist and chemist Marie Curie wins the Nobel Prize in Physics for the isolation of the elements polonium and radium. British physicist Ernest Rutherford discovers the structure of an atom. American geneticist Thomas Morgan demonstrates that inherited factors are represented by genes placed at specific sites along a chromosome.
Winners: In May, Ray Harroun wins the first Indianapolis 500 with a top speed of 74.59 mph. In October, the Philadelphia Athletics, forerunners of the Oakland A’s, win the World Series, beating the New York Giants of the National League, today’s San Francisco Giants. Meridian wins the Kentucky Derby at 2:05 minutes.
Wild weather: On Nov. 11 at 4 p.m., the thermometer reached an unseasonal high of 74 degrees in Chicago, and a death by heat prostration was reported. By 12:30 p.m. the next day, Nov. 12, the temperature had plunged 61 degrees to 13 degrees. Two people froze to death overnight.