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Persons are speaking New Yr as a web page turner or begin contemporary or neglect the previous. Initially of a brand new 12 months, I wish to look again a century to see what has modified and what hasn’t.
In 1923 America had lastly recovered from the Spanish flu, which killed 675,000 in america and about 50 million worldwide. If we have realized something from that pandemic, it is that it wasn’t sufficient to guard the 1.08 million Individuals who’ve died from COVID-19 (by way of November, based on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention).
The largest political occasion of 1923 was the loss of life of Warren Harding, which elevated Calvin Coolidge to the presidency. The centennial of his inauguration will likely be celebrated in a number of methods this 12 months, however it’s value noting that the majority of Coolidge’s financial ideas (smaller authorities, decreased spending; he left workplace with a funds surplus and a smaller funds than when he got here in) have been thrown to the detriment of our nationwide and of disgrace.
One in all my favourite Coolidge quotes is that this one about authorities. “If we give our greatest to our personal affairs, we will have no use of public help.” If solely that angle prevailed immediately.
By the early Nineteen Twenties, Rowell’s Listing estimated that there have been greater than 20,000 newspapers in print in america, together with dailies, weeklies, magazines, and quarterlies. As of 2018, there have been 1,279 every day newspapers in america. A 3rd of main US newspapers skilled layoffs in 2020, up from 2019. Greater than eight in 10 Individuals now get their “information” from digital gadgets, together with social media. If we get the management we deserve, the decline of fine journalism could have one thing to do with it.
100 years in the past, the USSR was born. An estimated 61 million folks had been killed earlier than it collapsed Joseph Stalin mentioned he was accountable 43 million
The final American troops left Germany after World Conflict I ended, however they might return 19 years later. Fascism was already on the rise in Germany and Italy in 1923.
Here’s a private favourite. In 1923, it grew to become authorized for American ladies to put on pants. Admit it, you by no means knew it was unlawful.
Harry Houdini was free of his straitjacket whereas hanging the wrong way up. There needs to be a contemporary political analogy that encompasses our the wrong way up economic system and politics.
Disney brothers have opened their cartoon studio. It turned out that Washington was not the one Mickey Mouse operation.
The Senate launched its first report on the scandal generally known as Teapot Dome. Extra scandals will comply with, as is inevitable when too many politicians maintain an excessive amount of energy for too lengthy. Deadlines, anybody?
In December 1923, President Coolidge gave the primary radio broadcast tackle, and later within the month the primary transatlantic radio broadcast passed off.
There have been conflicts, labor strikes and different issues which might be related immediately in a method or one other. Air journey grew to become simpler and extra accessible, though security was nonetheless a significant concern in 1923.
Wanting again 100 years, not less than two issues are clear. Whereas leaders and occasions could change, human nature by no means adjustments. As King Solomon properly noticed 1000’s of years in the past, “There’s nothing new beneath the solar.” A French proverb echoes his statement.plus ça change, plus c’est la même selected.The acquainted English translation. The extra issues change, the extra they keep the identical.
Glad new 12 months!
Cal Thomas’s newest e book is America’s Expiration Date. The Fall of Empires and Superpowers and the Way forward for america.”
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