The Literary Digest – Page 7 – Old Magazine Articles

Comedian Bert Williams: R.I.P.
(Literary Digest, 1922)

The African-American comedian Bert Williams (1874 – 1922) was a funny fellow who ascended to great heights in his life; he performed in the great theaters of Europe and was adored by many of the foreign potentates of his time. Yet despite all his international glory, he never received acceptance in his own country. Like many African-Americans at the time, Williams simply came to accept the myopic views of race as it was understood by the majority of his countrymen, and learned to do without the appreciation he so craved. Bert Williams died in 1922. One of his more memorable lines:

Being a Negro is not a bad thing, it’s just terribly inconvenient.

The Army as Moral Guardian…
(Literary Digest, 1917)

Our boys are to be drafted into service. We cannot afford to draft them into a demoralizing environment.

-the words of Mr. Raymond B. Fosdick (who would later be lampooned by Chester Gould in the comic strip, Dick Tracy as Fearless Fosdick) as he announced the intentions of the Federal Commission on Training Camp Activities. This long forgotten and failed government program was set up two years prior to prohibition to combat the demoralizing influences so the officers and men could concentrate on more sublime topics, like chemical warfare.

The Hastening of Prohibition
(The Literary Digest, 1918)

The Dry forces in Washington, who vigorously patted themselves on the back for having been able to get the Eighteenth Amendment through Congress in December of 1917, wanted the law to take effect sooner than the amendment had mandated. Shortly after the signing of the Armistice, they rallied their members on the Hill and launched a piece of legislation through Congress called the Emergency Agricultural Appropriations Bill:

President Wilson signs the Emergency Agricultural Appropriations Bill, whose rider provides for national prohibition from July 1 next until the American Army is demobilized.

Billy Sunday Campaign Trail for Prohibition
(Literary Digest, 1913)

I 1913 Presbyterian preacher Billy Sunday (1862 – 1935) was, without a doubt, one of the most visible advocates for the successful implementation of any federal legislation that would outlaw liquor across America. When it became clear to many that Prohibition was causing far more problems than it solved, he continued to strongly support the legislation, and after its repeal in 1933 the Preacher called for its reinstatement.

W.W. I and the Advancement of Prohibition
(Literary Digest, 1916)

Since the earliest days of World War I, the European combatant nations made some adjustments in regard to the sale of alcohol and the hours in which pubs could operate. When the U.S. entered the war in April of 1917, Congress decided that they had better do the same – but they were far more harsh on the topic – closing bars entirely and outlawing all wines and spirits – except for their use in religious sacraments. In the attached article journalist gathered data from various newspapers that were located in states that were already dry in order to study how the experiment was proceeding.

Bootleg Whiskey as Poisoner
(Literary Digest, 1922)

A 1922 magazine article concerning the dangers of black market liquor in the United States during the Prohibition period (1919 – 1933):

When you drink bootleg the chances are better than nine out of ten that you are drinking rank poison.

This is not the statement issued either by Prohibitionists to discourage drinking, or by a Anti-Prohibitionist to show what Prohibition has brought us to. It is the conclusion of a large newspaper service, which had it’s men in various parts of the country buy the ‘ordinary mine-run of bootleg liquor’, and then had the samples analyzed to get an idea of what a man’s chances are of getting poisonous booze.

Click here to read about President Woodrow Wilson and his wish to re-write the post-war Prohibition restrictions.

The New Guy Who Took Her Place
(Literary Digest, 1929)

Making his bow to the nation with the praise of the Anti-Saloon League and of Andrew J. Volstead, father of the Prohibition law, ringing in his years, Mr. Youngquist (1885 – 1959) was quick to announce that

“I am dry politically and personally, but I am not a fanatic on the subject.”

Prohibition Polled
(Literary Digest, 1930)

One decade into Prohibition, the editors of THE LITERARY DIGEST polled numerous states in an effort to understand the law’s standing within the nation.

Upper-Class Bootleggers Arrested
(Literary Digest, 1923)

When the four brothers La Montagne were arrested for violating the Volstead Act in 1922, the social butterflies of New York society were shocked; not simply because some of their own had been roughed-up by the police, but shocked because they had no idea as to where they were to acquire their illegal hooch in the future.

The plea for leniency made by several well-known lawyers, on the grounds of social prominence of the accused, was ‘pitiable and foolish’, in the opinion of the New York Globe.

In summing up his case…the United States District Attorney said:

‘To allow these defendants to escape with a fine, it seems to me, would…justify the belief that men of great wealth or influence or power are above the law.’

Why Men Don’t Like Going to Church
(Literary Digest, 1900)

Assorted reasons were put forth in the attached article from 1900 as to why the Christian male prefers to remove himself from the pews every Sunday; here is one:

If we consider the minister, and his power in the pulpit, sincerity must be at the heart of all that comes from him. Men are drawn by earnestness and honesty, and frankness, more than by beauty and the fragrance of flowers. Truth is what man wants, not the straining after effect, which results in verboseness, for he will come only to hear the unvarnished truth, red-hot from a courageous heart.

Click here to read a 1929 article on the same exact topic.

Charles Darwin and 1920’s Society
(The Literary Digest, 1922)

An article which discusses the growing number of state legislatures given the task to vote up or down on the issue as to whether or not to allow the Darwin theory of evolution to stand as a legitimate topic for discussion and instruction in their respective school systems. Mentioned in the article was one of the major players leading the charge on behalf of creationism: William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925).

Three years following the publication of this magazine article, Bryan would be standing in defense of Christian faith during the famous Tennessee Scopes Trial.

Converting Texas Protestants
(The Literary Digest, 1913)

Texas is today an American state that is almost entirely Catholic, however this was not always the case, as this short article makes clear. During the young Twentieth Century the Catholic Arch Dioces saw fit to harness the wonders of the internal combustion engine and create a mobile chapel in order to help bring an end to the Protestant dominance of Texas. However, in the end it was not the Churchmobile per se that raised the number of Catholics in the region so much as the rising tide of uncontrolled immigration from the bordering nation of Mexico.

In it’s defense, however, it should be noted that the Churchmobile did get remarkable mileage.

Billy Sunday in Columbus, Ohio
(The Literary Digest, 1913)

Presbyterian preacher Billy Sunday (William Ashley Sunday, 1862 – 1935) was, without a doubt, one of the leading figures advocating for the adoption of Prohibition in 1919. When it became clear to many that Prohibition was causing far more problems than it solved, he continued to strongly support the legislation, and after its repeal in 1933, the Preacher called for its reinstatement.

Billy Sunday Goes to New York City
(The Literary Digest, 1917)

Mr. Sunday pays his compliments to New York and gratefully revises his first impressions. He declares that when he first saw the big building(s) he believed they were right when they called it the ‘graveyard of evangelism’.

Christians Butchered
(Literary Digest, 1922)

Attached is an article filed during the closing days of the Greco-Turkish War (1919 – 1922) which takes into account that seven years after the 1915 Armenian slaughter in Asia Minor, the victorious governments of the West had never dolled out any punitive measures whatever, and the murder of Christians was continuing under cover of the Greek military withdrawal from that region.

…the Christian population is flying, like herds of frightened sheep, and the fate of those who lag behind is death.

Reverend Fosdick’s Rebellion
(Literary Digest, 1922)

Heresy Hunters are on the war-path again, we are told, their latest attack being directed against Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick…who is charged with rejecting the four great doctrines of Christianity -the virgin birth, the inspiration of scriptures, the atonement of Jesus, and Christ’s second coming…

A Near-Death Experience from the Thirties
(Literary Digest, 1935)

A short article from 1935 reporting on the near-death experience of a British gardener named John Puckering who insisted that when his heart ceased beating for four and a half minutes during the course of a complicated surgery his soul slipped away, and joined a heavenly company…

A second article dealing with the same subject can be read here.

Good Christians & Good Soldiers
(The Literary Digest, 1897)

Accompanied by a German political cartoon that more than implied that army generals do not belong in God’s heaven, this article is a digest of a number of articles from Germany that thought carefully about a speech given by Kaiser Wilhelm, in which the sovereign opined:

He who is not a good Christian is not a good man, nor a good Prussian soldier, and he cannot possibly fulfill the duty of a soldier in the Prussian army.

The Teutonic press corps rightfully pointed out that Jews had been serving in that army since 1812, and had been recognized as a patriotic and reliable pool of recruits.