1923

Articles from 1923

A Woman of Paris
(Time Magazine, 1923)

The Time Magazine review of Charlie Chaplin’s film, A Woman of Paris, fell in line with many other reviews of the work: they all believed that Chaplin, as director, had moved the ball forward insofar as the development of film – and Time hoped that they had seen the end of Chaplin the clown. However, the 82 minute film was a commercial flop, primarily because he wasn’t in it (they chose not to publicize that he played an extra’s roll for one quick scene).


The first film Chaplin had directed was The Kid (1922) – and you can read about that here…

The Confederate Error on the First Day
(Confederate Veteran Magazine, 1923)

Alabama native John Purifoy was a regular contributor to Confederate Veteran Magazine and he wrote most often about the Battle of Gettysburg; one of his most often sited articles concerned the roll artillery played throughout the course of that decisive contest. In the attached article Purifoy summarized some of the key events from a rebel perspective. In the last paragraph he pointed out the one crucial error Lee soon came to regret- take a look.

The Spirit of Disobedience
(Reader’s Digest, 1923)

During the Jazz Age, there were a number of opinion pieces published concerning the general feeling of malaise and disillusionment that was experienced throughout most of the Western nations. In this article, written by a well known Protestant theologian of the time, it is stated that a new day has come to America – one that shows itself with a blatant disrespect for law and order.

Our most obvious lawlessness is the breaking of the prohibition laws… The shame of the present situation is that the law is not being chiefly outraged by poor people; it is mainly the men of means, prestige and influence, who ought to know better. Obviously there has been a breakdown of authority in the state and the rise of a rampant and selfish individualism.

The Resistance
(Time Magazine, 1923)

The opposite number of the Anti-Saloon League (established 1893) was The Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (1918 – 1933). As the name implied, it was organized for the purpose of repealing Prohibition in the United States and sought to achieve this end by printing pamphlets and articles and engaging lecturers. This short notice announced that the Association was setting up the Face the Facts conference in the Nation’s Capital – to be convened immediately after the League had closed their own conference. Many elected officials would be in attendance.


– from Amazon:


The Anti-prohibition Manual: A Summary of Facts and Figures Dealing With Prohibition

The ”Popularity” of Prohibition
(Reader’s Digest, 1923)

It is said that the Eighteenth Amendment would never have come into being without the efforts of one Wayne Bidwel Wheeler (1869 – 1927), and who are we to doubt it. In this column, the father of Prohibition recalls the numerous times throughout American history in which those who held minority opinions bit the bullet and acquiesced to will of the majority – all but one faction, the liquor interests. Time and again, he points out, this was the one tribe that wouldn’t budge.

The Anti-Saloon League Convenes
(Time Magazine, 1923)

During the summer of 1923, 40 state superintendents of the Anti-Saloon League convened in Westerville, Ohio in order that they might assess the changes wrought by Prohibition and draw-up plans for the coming year.

On comparing notes, they agreed that the Atlantic states are not more than 50% dry and the country as a whole not more than 70% dry…

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.’

Miscegenation
(Time Magazine, 1923)

The Crackers of old hated miscegenation (i.e.race-mixing). Sadly, they seemed to have removed the concept of love from the equation – and happily this article reminds us that not everyone felt the same way in 1923. The attached column concerns U.S. Senator Arthur Capper (1865 – 1951) and all the hot water he got into when he sponsored a bill that would have, among other things, criminalized race-mixing.

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