August 2: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

August 2, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1926, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Wm. Danner, general secretary of the American Mission to Lepers, accompanied by his wife and daughter, returned to New York on Thursday last from a ten months tour of inspection of leper colonies in Japan, Korea, China, Siam, India, Sumatra and Palestine, and under the United States flag in the Hawaiian and Philippine Islands. In Shanghai Mr. Danner was instrumental in the organizing of a Chinese Mission to Lepers, with Chinese officers, for the purpose of dealing with the leper problem throughout the Chinese Republic. It is estimated that 1,000,000 of China’s population of 400,000,000 have leprosy. At Manila Dr. Danner had interviews with Governor General Wood, who is taking a special interest in the colony of more than 5,000 lepers on the Island of Culion. General Wood welcomes the co-operation of the American Mission to Lepers in helping to keep up the morale of this large body of sick people — the largest leper colony in the world. Mr. Danner says that the attitude of governments and of the public toward the leper problem is more sane than it was at the time of his world tour in 1917. People, he says, are coming to realize that the problem cannot be solved by ignoring it, nor by hysterical fear of the disease, but by scientific measures in which the public must co-operate.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1932, the Eagle reported, “Mark Twain was taken to task for his remark that no one does anything about the weather by a Kentucky colonel, Miss Margaret Ingels, at today’s luncheon of the Kiwanis in the Towers Hotel. She spoke on ‘Doing Something About the Weather.’ In pointing out that the humorist had not foreseen the present era, Miss Ingels said his remark ‘is as much of an exaggeration as was the premature report of his death.’ That something is being done about the weather was brought out by Miss Ingels. ‘In the modern home of tomorrow,’ she said, ‘will be air conditioning apparatus. The science of air conditioning is now being applied to improve the air in the home in Winter. Later it will be extended to home cooling. The importance of making the weather in which we live is being realized. Controlling not only the temperature but the humidity, motion and cleanliness of the air is a health measure and important to true comfort.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1939, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (AP) — President Roosevelt today signed the Hatch bill regulating political activity of most Federal job holders and told Congress in a special message that if administered ‘in accord with its spirit’ it would serve the purpose intended by Congress. Taking the unusual step of informing Congress why he had approved the measure, the President said questions of constitutionality had been resolved in favor of the bill. Mr. Roosevelt pointed to many of the broad provisions of the measure as involving difficulty of interpretation, but said: ‘It is because for so many years I have striven in public life for decency in political campaigns, both on the part of Government servants, of candidates, of newspapers, of corporations and of individuals that I regard this new legislation as at least a step in the right direction.’ The act, sought by Senator Hatch (D., N.M.) for nearly two years, prohibits all Federal job holders except policy-making officials from participating in politics in any way except to vote, on threat of removal from office. This will apply particularly to United States attorneys, marshals, customs and revenue collectors who in the past have been delegates to Presidential nominating conventions. Among other things, the sweeping measure also forbids solicitation of campaign contributions from persons on relief and prohibits use of relief funds to influence persons in voting.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “PLYMOUTH, ENG. (U.P.) — President Truman flew from the Big Three conference at Potsdam to Plymouth today and joined King George VI aboard the British battle cruiser Renown for a brief luncheon meeting. Immediately after the luncheon, Mr. Truman and the Presidential party will board the waiting American cruiser Augusta for a speedy trip home to report to the American people the accomplishments of the Potsdam conference. … King George, who was waiting aboard the Renown to greet his luncheon guest, had preceded the President to Plymouth by special train from London during the night. The King was in full naval uniform as the admiral of the fleet, in contrast to the plain business suit worn by Mr. Truman. Because Britain is still at war no gun salutes were fired.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “Although the increased transit fare was still too young for the formation of any general conclusions, the Board of Transportation was confronted today with the fact that passenger traffic had dropped beyond the anticipation of officials. Traffic on the subway, where the fare was boosted to 10 cents a month ago, and on the surface lines, where the tariff is now 7 cents, have shown drops below the passenger figures of July last year. The board’s auditors cited that last month had five weekends, which would account for many slack periods. The board feels, moreover, that the new fare must be tried out at least two months before any trends can be detected. Despite the drop in passenger volume, the subway was still plagued by jamming at rush hours. In connection with this, the Commerce and Industry Association continued a survey of downtown Manhattan firms with a view to arranging the staggering of working hours to ease the pressure. Many firms were reported willing to co-operate.”

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Mary-Louise Parker
Ron Eshel/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include former Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, who was born in 1939; “The House of the Spirits” author Isabel Allende, who was born in 1942; “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” star Joanna Cassidy, who was born in 1945; talk show host and writer Dennis Prager, who was born in 1948; former Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner, who was born in 1951; “The Munsters” star Butch Patrick, who was born in 1953; “The Alienist” author Caleb Carr, who was born in 1955; “Nevermind” producer Butch Vig, who was born in 1955; former “Saturday Night Live” star Victoria Jackson, who was born in 1959; “Purple Rain” star Apollonia Kotero, who was born in 1959; “Weeds” star Mary-Louise Parker, who was born in 1964; “Clerks” director Kevin Smith, who was born in 1970; “Avatar” star Sam Worthington, who was born in 1976; former N.Y. Jets safety Kerry Rhodes, who was born in 1982; and swimmer and Olympic gold medalist Simone Manuel, who was born in 1996.