Flashback Friday - January 28, 1921

Most news stories are from January 29, 1921, because the stories would have mostly happened Friday.

OIL PRODUCTION INCREASES....

--The New York Times, January 29, 1921

The US produced over 443,000,000 barrels, and consumed the "unprecedented" amount of over 531,000,000 barrels. The article notes the US is becoming more dependent on foreign supplies. Based on data from 1920!.

Now if this government page is accurate, we use over 18,000,000 barrels a day--that's 6,851,415,000 barrels a year--not quite 13 times more than in 1921. About half of that is imported.

Not trying to get political; just find it interesting that some of the things we worry about today were concerns 90 years ago.


With film recording making up most news stories, you don't see many descriptions like this anymore. Though I don't know why there were two different spellings of the same place. Then again, I'm not French...

LAST FRENCH RITES FOR UNKNOWN HERO

Burial Beneath the Arc de Triomphe Is Completed With Simple Ceremony....

--New York Times, January 29, 1921

The article is very artistic. I think Americans tend to forget World War I since we took so long to enter into it, but America felt it keenly at the time, and it really hit Europe hard.

CHRISTMAS SALES NORMAL.

So-called "Consumers' Strike" Did Not Affect Buying Here....

--New York Times, January 29, 1921

There was a pretty serious recession in 1920-1921 (deflation, decreasing wages, and I read unemployment rates may have been 12%). Sound familiar? As far as I understand, things were awful for farmers, too. Unfortunately, most pages on the topic seem to be highly economic and/or political.... Anyway, when I write about the 1920s it tends to be later in the decade, so I'm not so up on this part. I will work on it.

And I couldn't quite find any good info on the supposed "consumer's strike" referenced above but this quite is a little chilling. Too close to today (replace "coal" with "oil").

The 'consumers' strike' so vociferously denounced in recent weeks has a twofold origin: the actual straits of many families and institutions at a time of lowered incomes, and the absence, so far, of any authoritative statement why the price of coal at the present time should be higher than a year ago when retail prices of almost all other commodities are falling.

--The Survey, Vol. XLVI - April, 1921--September, 1921

Let's conclude with a happy story! Even if some of the language is rather old-fashioned.

BLIND GIRL LED GRADUATES.

Got 100 Per Cent. In All Studies but One--Plays, Dances and Sews....

--New York Times, January 29, 1921

The story tells about 14-year-old Rosa Cohen, who led a public school, mixed-gender class of 35.