The Literary Digest

Articles from The Literary Digest

The World Navies Expand
(The Literary Digest, 1937)

Here is a concise report illustrated by a chart that indicates the size and tonnage of the leading naval powers in 1937.

In 1922, when a halt was called on the vicious race for bigger and better battleships by conclusion of the Washington Naval Treaty, later supplemented by the London Pact of 1930, there were but five major sea powers: America, Britain, Japan, France and Italy. Today, the world picture has changed and two new faces are on the list, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.

All in all, as the treaties end, the United States Fleet stands on par, if not superior to, the armada of the British Empire…


Click here to read more about the expansion of the U.S. Navy.

Click here to read another article about the pre-WW II expansion of the world’s Naval powers.

Click here to read more about the demise of the Washington Naval Treaty.

John Philip Sousa: The March King
(The Literary Digest, 1897)

This 1897 profile of composer John Philip Sousa (1854 – 1932) was written shortly after his triumphal return from Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, where he was feted like a native son for all his glorious march compositions – particularly The Washington Post March, which was performed while her household infantry passed in review:

There is probably no composer in the world with a popularity equal to that of Mr. Sousa. Tho he sold his ‘Washington Post’ march outright for $35.00, his ‘Liberty Bell’ march is said to have brought him $35,000…At the age of twenty-six Mr. Sousa became the leader of the United States Marine Corps Band. In the twelve years of his leadership,he developed this unimportant organization into one of the best military bands in the world.

Enter Plastic
(Literary Digest, 1937)

This article is about the chemist Dr. Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863 – 1944) – who left the world a far more plastic place than when he had found it.

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The American Sailor Uniform: An Explanation
(The Literary Digest, 1917)

When watching the old newsreel footage from the two world wars you see a fair amount of American sailors going about their business. They wore a uniform that seemed to have its origins in the Nineteenth Century, with bell bottom trousers and an odd shirt called a jumper. The blue jumper of an American sailor is decorated with various white stripes, stars and topped off with a queer little black silk kerchief; this article seeks to explain what the origins behind them all were largely British.

Lenin, Rockefeller and Diego Rivera
(The Literay Digest, 1933)

When it was made known to Nelson Rockefeller that the muralist he retained to decorate the lobby of his New York Building (Rockefeller Plaza) had taken the liberty of painting the likeness of Lenin in the work, letters were exchanged between the two men. The attached column is an excerpt from a longer piece that pertains to the dust-up.

The Japanese Soldier In China
(Literary Digest, 1933)

An article that seems remarkable for lacking those politically correct qualities we’re all so used to reading in today’s magazine columns, this article presents a somewhat slanted, pro-Western vision of the Japanese Army, depicting it as an organized and highly disciplined peasant army:

Some of the finest raw material in the world makes up Japan’s infantry…The material is not so adaptable for horsed and mechanized units, as the Japanese possess little natural aptitude for dealing with animals or machines.

Some attention is paid to the strict diet of the Japanese soldier.

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The Loss of the Macon and It’s Aftermath
(Literary Digest, 1935)

Just before dark, the $2,450,000 Macon had lurched crazily and inexplicably skyward, then had settled stern first into the sea. All but the chief radio operator and a Filipino mess-boy among the eighty-three officers and men aboard had taken to rubber life boats and had been picked up by war ships on Maneuvers.

All Congress needs to do is announce its refusal to condemn more American seamen to death; to declare that no more funds of American taxpayers will be squandered on these useless gas-bags.


Click here to read about a much admired American aviator who was attracted to the fascist way of thinking…

The Forgotten Child
(Literary Digest, 1935)

This magazine article from 1935 documented the Federal aid that was made available for America’s poorest children. The malnutrition visited upon the boys of America’s indigent would render some of them unfit for military service in World War II.

With nearly one-sixth of the nation’s child population in families dependent upon emergency relief, welfare agencies call for a solution of their grave problem.

The problem was laid before the recent National Conference on the 1935 Needs of Children held under the auspices of The Parent’s Magazine in New York City. Before them Katherine F. Lenroot, Chief of the United States Children’s Bureau, made one of her first public appearances since taking office:

…These children have a right to expect that Federal, State, and community relief policies of 1935 will provide more adequately for essential items in the family budget.


Another article about children of the Great Depression can be read here…

Dr. Fosdick’s Brand of Liberation Theology
(The Literary Digest, 1922)

Reverend Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878 – 1969) got some attention in the press when he preached that the work of saving of souls had much to do with man’s maintenance of a sound and just economic system here on the earth. Dr. Fosdick gained much of this understanding in the slums of New York City, in 1903, where he worked as a Baptist Minister.

In the twentieth century the greatest conflict in the world’s life is centered in economics. The most vital questions with which we deal are entangled with economic motives and institutions.

Click here to read further about Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick..

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America Commits Itself to the War
(Literary Digest, 1928)

In writing a piece for La Revue Mondale ten years after the Armistice, Stéphane Lauzanne (1887 – 1928), Editor-in-Chief of the semi-official Paris Matin wrote a few bitter-sweet words about the American character and how it was both a hindrance and a benefit to the Allies in the war. Yet he was full of praise when he recalled the bold and forward-thinking manner in which America entered the war and committed both blood and treasure.


Click here to read an interview with the World War I American fighter pilot Eddy Rickenbacker.

French Insecurity in the Face of German Might
(Literary Digest, 1913)

Attached is a 1913 article from an American magazine in which the journalist reported on a strong sense of insecurity experienced by France as a result of Imperial German military hubris. The reporter illustrated the point with various quotes from French papers of the day and in a similar vein, sites a number of German papers that express an arrogant contempt for France.

Colorful Menswear
(Literary Digest, 1937)

This 1937 fashion report let it be known that men’s fashions were getting more colorful; items that we associate with the Fifties such as plaid cummerbunds made their appearance first in 1937. The first clothing item to cross the color line was, in all probability, the Hawaiian shirt – which came into vogue some five years earlier.


Click here to read a related article from 1919.

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Dogs as a Source of Food
(Literary Digest, 1897)

This article originally appeared in a French magazine and it lists numerous cultures, both ancient and modern, that eat dogs regularly:

We do not know the edible dog or the edible cat, in France, and probably since the siege they have been little served (openly at least) on the tables of Paris restaurants. At Peking, and throughout China, there is no dainty repast without its filet or leg of dog; the cat is rather a dish of the poorer classes.

Leniency For The Defendants of the Hebron Massacre
(Literary Digest, 1929)

Jews do not seek vengeance, despite the opinions commonly held in certain quarters that the god of of the Jews is a a God of vengeance. We repudiated
this concept of God and religion and religion since the days of when Joshua established the cities of refuge and have entirely outgrown it since the days of the Bible prophets… Wes stand with the majority proponents of the ennobling suggestion, and trust that the counsel of forgiveness, mercy and loving-kindness will prevail.

Christians 2: Buddhists 1′
(Literary Digest, 1921)

In 1921 a Kyoto Bible school was challenged by a neighboring Buddhist temple. The confrontation did not involve the finer points of theology (not openly, anyway) but which of the two tribes was superior at baseball. It was a Hell of a game.


The uncredited foreign correspondent made it known within the opening paragraphs that the Kyoto Buddhists were irked by the spread of Christianity in that region of Japan and chose to deploy any means at their disposal to gain some sort of advantage.


Twenty-one years later a Japanese team would play an American team. Read about that game here…

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The Case Against Flappers
(Literary Digest, 1922)

A collection of low opinions concerning the Flapper and her confederates, gathered from numerous clerical magazines throughout the fruited plane:

There is a great deal of frank talk among them that in many cases smacks of boldness. One hears it said that the girls are actually tempting the boys more than the boys do the girls, by their dress and conversation…

The Flapper as a Religious Force in the World
(Literary Digest, 1927)

Scorned for too long by churchmen as an ambulatory example of folly, the flapper at length finds herself defended by the Church. She is not, in this new view, the brainless, overdressed Jezebel that she has been pictured to be. ‘She is a symbol of the times. As she sweeps down the street, she is like nothing so much as a fine, young spirited puppy-dog, eager for the fray’.


Unlike some members of clergy, the wise sages of Hollywood were clearly numbered among those who held favorable views about flappers, but they didn’t always produce films that were sympathetic to their causes; for example, the editors of Flapper magazine hated this movie.

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