From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Jan. 19, 1912:

• “The voting on the Journal-World’s political preference ballot has been more than was expected. The voting so far as indications go is largely in favor of Roosevelt for president…. The vote on woman suffrage is hard to keep a line on. A good many men have not lined up yet and therefore nothing decisive can be found on that straw vote. The interest in this balloting is good and it shows that people appreciate the opportunity of expressing their political preference. The ballot box is kept in plain sight in the Journal-World office where it can be used by those caring to vote.”
• “Just to show ‘folks’ that winter is yet in our midst, the mercury last evening did the jumping act and shot down to a half of a degree, mind you, a half of a degree above the mark. Just why it didn’t complete the business, while it was about it, and go below the mark, no one knows. This morning at seven o’clock it was two degrees above zero. The cold did not cause much suffering however, as it was clear and crisp and the wind was not disagreeable. There are still many cases of frozen or broken pipes about town.”
• “Lawrence people are reading about the fighting in China; they are horrified about the troubles that are going on over there; they pick up the paper, read of a massacre and they shiver from the horror of it all. That is a far different thing from being an actual eye witness to the fighting, from being at the battle front. Paul Atkinson, the son of Mr. and Mrs. S. W. Atkinson of Lawrence is stationed on the U.S. Gunboat Pompey now at Shanghai where he has been ever since the trouble in China began. Letters have been received from him telling of the fighting there, word pictures that give a graphic account of the scenes that have stirred at least a part of the world.”