Heroism on the Western Front
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)
It was the Prussian Guard against the American Indian on the morning of October 8 in the hills of Champagne.
Changing the Uniforms to Fit the Climate
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)
A short notice printed in May of 1918 which intended to let the Doughboys know that the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps was well aware that changes needed to be made in the American uniform in response to the damp French climate.
The additional uniform items never went into production in light of the fact that the war ended six months later.
‘Failure of Indians as Soldiers”
(The Literary Digest, 1897)
The last of the companies of Indians enlisted in the regular army of the United States has been mustered out after six years trial, at Omaha, Nebraska. The Omaha WORLD-HERALD intimates that the failure of the experiment may not be entirely due to the Indians.
The journalist reporting on this matter opined that all subjugated people should never be expected to fight for a tyrannical government.
The Marx Brothers & the Joke Development Process
(Stage Magazine, 1937)
A late Thirties article by Teet Carle (the old publicist for MGM) on how the brothers Marx figured out which gag created the biggest laughs; a few words about how the movies were tested in various cities prior to each release and how assorted jokes were recited to all manner of passersby for their effect.
Click here to read a 1951 article that Harpo Marx wrote about Groucho.
I936 Saw A Wee-Bit of Prosperity
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)
This article sums up the income data that was collected by the U.S. Department of Commerce and published in June of 1937. The report stated that
The national income increased in 1936 by a larger amount, absolutely and relatively, than in 1935. Income produced rose to 63.8 billion dollars, an increase of 8.8 billion dollars, an increase over the 1935 total.
A chart has been provided.
Click here to read about the economic disaster that 1937 was
False Hope for 1937
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)
Perhaps it was the practice of magazine editors during the Great Depression to instruct their reporters to find hope where none existed; that must have been the case for this article. The unnamed journalist who wrote this slender column reported on a few rare cases involving real jobs with real salaries being offered to recent graduates; the reporter wished to believe that this was a sign that the end was nigh – but these few jobs were flukes. The author saw economic growth where there really wasn’t any at all, however he certainly made the case for its existence. The title link posted above leads to a passage from FDR’s Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression
The Era of Nationalized Religions
(The Literary Digest, 1935)
In 1935 the Biennial Congress of the Western Section of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (13,000,000 strong) gathered in Richmond, Virginia in order to discuss their concerns regarding the spread of nationalized religions in such nations as Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany:
As for anti-religious communism, said Doctor Charles S. Cleland, ‘In our missionary circles this is more to be feared than nationalism. The latter may be, and oftentimes is, a patriotic movement, while the former aims only at destruction. Communism of the type now referred to seeks not only the suppression of Christianity, but of all religions. Its purpose is to make governments entirely secular, and to free the national life from all forms of faith and worship.
Defending the Mentally Ill
(America Weekly, 1945)
Here is a short notice from a Catholic weekly crediting the editors of THOUGHT magazine for having printed a 1940 protest lodged by the German Cardinals Faulhaber (Munich) and Bertram (Breslau) for the obscene Nazi practice of murdering mental patients.
Robert Best of South Carolina
(Pic Magazine, 1943)
On July 26, 1943, in the same U.S. Federal Court that tried the American poet Ezra Pound (in absentia) for treason, Robert H. Best (1896 – 1952), formerly of the Associated Press, was also convicted on the same charges. What Iva Toguri (the alleged Tokyo Rose) was believed to have done for Hirohito, and what Pound did for Mussolini is what Best did for Adolf Hitler: he had broadcast Nazi radio propaganda.
You might also care to read about the American Bund.
Fred Kaltenbach of Iowa
(Coronet Magazine, 1943)
Pencil-necked geek Frederick Kaltenbach was born in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1895. A former school teacher, he left the U.S. to earn a Ph.D in Germany but somehow ended up translating German texts into English for the Nazi aviation magazine, ADLER. By-and-by this eventually lead to his own radio program, just like all translation jobs always do.
The Klan Influence Within the Protestant Churches
(Literary Digest, 1922)
The zeal of the Ku Klux Klan to ‘support the Church’ has been displayed by many signs, and intimations multiply, we are told, that certain Protestant ministers are in its confidence and would seem on occasion to be directing it’s activities. But to some ministers the Klan’s mark of approval appears to be embarrassing, a favor which they would much prefer to do without. Scarcely a Sunday passes without the publication of the news that a Klan has visited a church in a body, simply to signify approval, or to remain decorously through the service.
The KKK Factor and the 1924 Elections
(Literary Digest, 1924)
Written on the heels of the 1924 election, this article listed who among KKK candidates won or lost their respective contests. The journalist collected a number of opinions pulled from as many as twenty mid-western newspapers, including two Klan-owned papers: The Oklahoma Fiery Cross and The Illinois Kourier.
Lofty Words Printed on Behalf of the Klan
(The Literary Digest, 1923)
A collection of remarks made by Klansmen in their own defense as well as a smattering of similar statements made by newspaper editors and various other high-profiled swells of the day:
This editor has repeatedly affirmed privately and publicly that he is not a member of the Ku Klux or any other secret organization. But when it comes to secret societies, he sees no difference absolutely between the Ku Klux and many others, the Knights of Columbus, for instance…
Click here to learn about the origins of the term Jim Crow.
Klan Victories in Oregon and Texas
(The Literary Digest, 1922)
The Ku Klux Klan victories in Texas and Oregon, where the influence of the hooded organization is said to have elected a United States Senator in one instance and a Governor in the other, indicates to The Nation that
the Ku Klux Klan has now passed out of the amusing stage and has entered the domain of practical politics to challenge our existing parties.
Alabama Klan Convictions
(Literary Digest, 1927)
A few of the members of the Hooded Order down Alabama way got some unexpected news in 1927 when they discovered that their standard maneuvering tactics, so often relied upon to skirt the law, had failed them utterly. Three separate set-backs in as many months had resulted in the criminal convictions of thirty-six members of the Ku Klux Klan; so surprising was this event to the local residents, the Alabama press corps and those ink-stained wretches way up North at the THE LITERARY DIGEST, that soon the nation found everyone was discussing it. This article is essentially a collection of assorted opinions gathered from across the United States concerning this stunning defeat for the Alabama Klan.
The KKK in Oklahoma
(The Outlook, 1922)
An article by one of the KKK‘s most outspoken enemies in the press, Stanley Frost (author of Challenge of the Klan), who reported on the political dust-up that took place in the Oklahoma state government when the Klan made serious attempts to be a dominate factor in Oklahoma politics.
THE OUTLOOK sent Stanley Frost to Oklahoma to study the amazing political conflict which has taken place in the state. The forces at odds in the state may have a far-reaching influence upon national politics.
Spotlight on U.S. Schools in the Late Forties
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1947)
One can’t but help but cry a little when reading that the Americans of 1947 actually believed that their public school system was substandard; they had no idea the depths this same system would be thrust just thirty years hence. The Forties was a time when most school teachers believed that the school’s biggest problem was talking in the classroom or lingering in the halls. However, this article lists the ten firsts that both state and Federal governments had initiated in order to make a fine education system better.
Critical Thinking from South of the Border
(Literary Digest, 1923)
More harsh words for Uncle Sam are found in some Brazilian journals, such as the JOURNAL DO PAIZ, which observes:
Happenings like the Negro massacre at Chicago in 1919 are still fresh in our minds; nor must we forget that at the time mentioned many in this country advocated a boycott on all American goods to serve as a protest and a warning to the Unites States.
Click here if you would like to read about the American race riots of 1919.