Augustus Owsley Stanley (May 21, 1867 – August 12, 1958) was an
American politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. A Democrat, he
served as the 38th Governor of Kentucky. From 1903 to 1915, Stanley
represented Kentucky's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of
Representatives, where he gained a reputation as a progressive reformer.
Beginning in 1904, he called for an antitrust investigation of the
American Tobacco Company for driving down prices for the tobacco farmers
of his district; a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court case broke up the
company in 1911. He also chaired a committee that conducted an antitrust
investigation of U.S. Steel. Many of his ideas were incorporated into
the Clayton Antitrust Act. In 1915, Stanley ran for governor and won.
Historian Lowell H. Harrison called his administration the apex of the
Progressive Era in Kentucky. Among the reforms adopted during his tenure
were a state antitrust law, a campaign finance reform law, and a
workers' compensation law.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Owsley_Stanley>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1403:
King Henry III of Castile sent an embassy to the court of Timur
(Tamerlane) to discuss the possibility of an alliance between Timur and
Castile against the Ottoman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timurid_relations_with_Europe>
1856:
A crowd of about 800 pro-slavery Americans ransacked the town
of Lawrence, Kansas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacking_of_Lawrence>
1894:
The Manchester Ship Canal, linking Manchester in North West
England to the Irish Sea, officially opened, becoming the largest
navigation canal in the world at the time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Ship_Canal>
1911:
Mexican President Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary
Francisco Madero signed the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to
the fighting between the forces of both men, and thus concluding the
initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Ciudad_Ju%C3%A1rez>
1998:
Indonesian President Suharto resigned as a result of the
collapse of support for his three-decade-long reign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
fret:
1. (transitive) To chafe or irritate; to worry.
2. (transitive) To make rough, to agitate or disturb; to cause to ripple.
3. (transitive) In the form fret out: to squander, to waste.
4. (transitive, intransitive) To gnaw; to consume, to eat away.
5. (transitive, intransitive) To be chafed or irritated; to be angry or
vexed; to utter peevish expressions through irritation or worry.
6. (intransitive) To be worn away; to chafe; to fray.
7. (intransitive) To be anxious, to worry.
8. (intransitive) To be agitated; to rankle; to be in violent commotion.
9. (intransitive, brewing, oenology) To have secondary fermentation
(fermentation occurring after the conversion of sugar to alcohol in
beers and wine) take place.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fret>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
He who tells a lie, is not sensible how great a task he
undertakes; for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain that
one.
--Alexander Pope
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope>