The Literary Digest

Articles from The Literary Digest

The Fascist Blue Shirts of Portugal (Literary Digest, 1933)

Black shirts in Italy, Brown shirts in Hitlerite Germany and now comes a new imitator in Portugal’s Blue-Shirt Fascist movement known as National Syndicalism.


Portugal’s Fascism is described by a Lisbon correspondent of the London Morning Post as a blend of Hitlerite Fascism and Mussolini Fascism. Because it is called the National Syndicalist movement it must not be confused with the Red Syndicalism of Spain. Its leader is Dr. Roalo Preto, who is said to bear a personal resemblance to Hitler.

A movement of opinion and ideas toward a more just and equitable social organization…We aim at substituting the principle of liberty of work by a system of ‘harmony of direction’ under which capital, technical knowledge, and labor will cooperate under the protective care of the State in maximum productive return for the welfare of the nation.

Sun Yat-sen is Returned to Power (Literary Digest, 1923)

A magazine article about a political leader who is considered the founder of modern China: Sun Yat-sen (1866 – 1925):

The return of Sun Yat-sen to power in South China is much more than a mere personal triumph, who are assured by his adherents, who say that it is ‘a sign of the times which merits the thoughtful consideration of the Great Powers in their roles of guardians of the Far East.

‘Soldier Man Blues” (Literary Digest, 1927)

This article is essentially a collection of lyrics from an assortment of songs sung by the Black Doughboys who were charged with the task of loading and unloading trucks far behind the front line trenches during the First World War. It was written in 1927 to serve as a review for Singing Soldiersstyle=border:none by John J. Niles, who compiled the labor songs while stationed in France as a fighter pilot:


All dese colored soldiers comin’ over to France

All dese soldiers an’ me

Goin’ to help de Whites make de Kaiser dance

All dese soldiers an’ me…

When Germany Quit the League of Nations (Literary Digest, 1935)

In October, 1933, Baron Konstantin von Neurath (1873 – 1956), Germany’s Foreign Minister, sent a telegram to the Geneva Disarmament Conference announcing Germany’s resignation from the Conference and the League of Nations. The resignation will become effective Sunday, October 20, two years after notice of retirement was given… In March, 1935, Chancellor Hitler announced universal military conscription for Germany, thereby making the Treaty of Versailles a ‘scrap of paper’.


Italy left the League of Nations in 1937 – click here to read about it.

Jewish Americans Boycotted German Products (Literary Digest, 1935)

Having suffered from a Jewish-lead boycott of German goods that had been in place for two years, the businessmen of Nazi Germany dispatched Dr. Julius Lippert (1895 – 1956) off to Washington in order soothe hurt feelings and bring an end to it all. Seeing that Lippert was a devoted anti-Semite and the whole dust-up commenced because of the widespread anti-Semitic sensations that made up the very core of Hitler’s Germany were still in place and not likely to subside any time soon, Washington functionaries probably yawned and informed him that there was nothing that could be done on the Federal level.

The Economic Collapse of the World (Literary Digest, 1933)

Published in May of 1933, the attached article concerned the much anticipated London Economic Conference which was scheduled to convene the following month in London. The world leaders who agreed to assemble were all of one mind in so much as their shared belief that collectively they would stand a better chance in defeating the economic depression that was bedeviling all their respective countries. It was their intention to meet and review all existing international trade and tariff agreements and to make an effort at stabilizing the currency exchange rates.

He Re-Organized (Literary Digest, 1937)

Congressional eyes bulged last January when President Roosevelt handed Congress his plan to streamline the executive branch of the Government. He asked for sixspecial assistants, two new cabinet officers, an auditor general (to supplant the all-powerful Controller General), a reshuffling and consolidation of boards and bureaus and an expansion of the civil service in all directions.

‘The Pleasures of Gas Warfare” (Literary Digest, 1937)

Gas, even in its most virulent form, is the most rational as well as the most humane weapon ever employed on the battlefield. It is also – and this should certainly be of interest to the advocates of strict neutrality – the only weapon in the arsenal of Mars which can truly be called defensive.

Nanking Falls (The Literary Digest, 1937)

Exactly four months after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese hostilities on the Shanghai peninsula’ a New York Herald Tribune correspondent cabled from Shanghai last week, ‘Nanking, China’s abandoned capital, for the third time in it’s more than 2000 years of history, was captured by an alien foe when the Japanese military forces completely occupied the city.’ …To this, Quo Taichi, Chinese ambassador to England, replied defiantly: ‘Capture of Nanking will by no means mark the end of China’s resistance.’

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