Aug. 4, 1906 (Saturday)

COMSTOCK'S RAID SPARKS SOME RAGE: Reaction to the raid yesterdayby Anthony Comstock on the Art Students League has been extensive in the art community. Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke of the Metropolitan Museum says he is stunned by the attack on the artistic depictions of nudes. He says he wouldn't be surprised if Comstock decided to swoop down on the Met to confiscate some of the museum's most famous exhibits. He's quoted as saying, "A nude figure isn't indecent unless it is made nude with the object of offending public morals."
Anna Robinson, who was arrested two days ago at the League's offices, was back in her office. But she was wearing a shawl instead of her usual peek-a-boo waist. As soon as she got to work, she ordered 200 yards of opaque fabric so workers could cover a herd of pink (and nude) cows that are being exhibited at the League. For some reason, one reporter chose to refer to Robinson as "statuesque."

MEATPACKING BACKLASH SWIPES AT HARVARD: Harvard University might come out on the short end of the ongoing tainted meat controversy. Nelson Morris recently told friends that he had bought the house of John Harvard (in statue form at left) in Stratford-on-Avon (right) with the full intention of donating it to Harvard. However, Morris has decided not to make the donation because of the prejudice that has surfaced against American meat packers. He said his company has lost 400,000 pounds in the wake of the meat scandal.

CAN'T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES: Settlers in Nebraska are quite upset that they are prevented from settling in an area designated as the "North Platte forest reserve." The President had evidently been convinced to remove this area from settlement because it was supposedly covered with trees. Once it got the "forest reserve" designation, the area was promptly leased to cattlemen. A report from Omaha says that people are just learning that the area, one of the largest forest reserves in the West, has 100 trees -- a few box elders and cottonwoods that grow near some water tanks. According to The New York Times, this area covers 300,000 acres. Now, additional areas in sparsely settled counties are also candidates for this kind of "forest" designation. These are equally barren of trees.