Giraffe Must Gargle Throat Is Sore

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March 1938 (Des Moines Register)

"A giraffe - of all animals - developed a sore throat Wednesday at the Brookfield zoo. The victim, Isiolo, was placed in an isolated stall. Sympathetic keepers had a beastly problem to determine what they should do to ease the irritation in her seven-foot neck."

"They recalled that giraffes, after eating, lower their heads into water and shake them back and forth vigorously to rinse their mouths. So they filled Isiolo's basin with tepid water and a salt solution. They hope she will get the idea and gargle."

Our New Home Grown Drugged Cigaret

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March 1938 (Des Moines Register)

"What could be more surprising just now, when we think we have discovered everything; than to learn that a wholly new narcotic drug has been evolved, and that out of a weed that grows everywhere in the United States!"

"The reader no doubt has noticed references in the news to 'marihuana' cigarets and the apparent stimulation they have given to disorderly tendencies wherever they have been smuggled. This marihuana is our American word for the plant 'Canabis sativa L', (Indian Hemp) every part of which seems to have a resin that can be extracted and that smoked in cigarets produced a peculiar form of intoxication, generally stimulating to violence."

"Explaining what marihuana does the Buereau says: 'The toxic efects produced by its active narcotic principle appear to be exclusively on the higher nerve centers. While the effects are variable with different individuals, it usually produces first an exaltation with a feeling of well-being, a happy jovial mood, an increased feeling of physical strength, and a general euphoria. There is also a stimulation of the imagination followed by a more or less delirious state characterized by vivid kaleidoscopic visions, sometimes of a pleasing and sensual kind, but occasionally of a gruesome nature. Accompanying this delirious state is a remarkable loss in spatial and time relations; persons and things in the environment look small; time is interminable; seconds seem like minutes and hours like days.'"

"Of course this is very similar to what is said of hemp and the narcotic drug that comes from it, hashish, which also is quite generally smoked. But hashish we always think of as an Asiatic intoxicant, remote and easily proscribed, while in marihuana we have something that flourishes at our own door step."

Fascism to Be Feared in U.S.

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February 1938 (Des Moines Register)

"Fascism established itself in Italy, and remains to this day. In Germany the same thing happened. Communism grew in Germany until there was imminent likelihood of its succeeding; in one election the Communist Party had some five million votes. In this condition there came forward a leader named Hitler who had what he said was an antidote to communism. He called it Nazi-ism - it is the equialent of fascim. Nazi-ism established itself in Germany and grew rapidly in power."

"Today democracy's remaining strongholds are the United States, Great Britain and France, together with some smaller countries. Fascism marches conqueringly on. Within six months it has spread to the American continent - South America is seething with fascist ferment."

"For  us, the world situation raises obvious problems. First, shall we let fascism get a foothold here? Against that, of course, we will be vigilant, or we think we will. Yet the fact is that some of the changes in America, and some that have made an actual beginning, point in the fascist direction."

"Yet another problem is: in a world wide conflict between democracy and fascism with fascism winning and democracy in retreat; with three powerful nations, Germany, Italy and Japan, united to spread the fascism ideal - in that condition should we co-operate with the other democratic countries, especially Great Britain, in defense of the democratic ideal?"

Pabst Beer

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August 1899 (Des Moines Leader)

"The world is being enlightened on the purity of foods and beverages"

"People look to Pabst for purity in Beer"

"The sale of Pabst Beer increases with enlightenment"

Free Help For Weak Men

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August 1899 (Des Moines Leader)

"'CALTHOS' Prof. Laborde's Marvelous French Cure for Lost Manhood. Five Days' Trial Treatment Sent Absolutely Free By Sealed Mail To All Sufferers. No C.O.D. Or Deposit Scheme."

"After using it five days the sufferers will find new vigor in their organs, new force in their muscles, new blood in their veins, new ambition, and rapid progress toward the buoyant feelings and sensations of younger days."

"It doesn't make any difference what caused the weakness - whether bad habits in youth, or excess, or overwork, or business troubles. 'CALTHOS' will effect a cure, no matter what big name the disease may be called by doctors."

"The Von Mohl Company treats all correspondence in perfect confidence. Under no conditions will it make public the names of the thousands who have written testimonials telling of their restoration to robust manhood after other medications and appliances have proved worthless. 'CALTHOS' is regularly used in the French and German armies, and the soldiers in those countries have come to be perfect models of strength and vitality. Cures are effected at all ages from twenty to eighty years. There is no case except where the stage of epilepsy or insanity has been reached, which it will not radically, quickly and permanently cure. Sexual weakness does not cure itself. It grows worse from week to week. Each day aggravates the mental and physical anguish."

Iowan Held in Threat to Gable

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February 1938 (Des Moines Register)

"The federal bureau of investigation announced Thursday night it had taken into custody a man alleged to have written an extortion note to Clark Gable. They said the man signed the name of a young woman neighbor against whom the man had a 'grudge'"

"The bureau said Gaylord Forsyth, 39, of Fonda, Ia., 'confessed to writing' an extortion note to the motion picture actor, demanding payment of $1,000 'If you value your life or your future.' The note, the bureau said, was written over the signature of Alice Schnetter, also of Fonda, but Forsyth said she had no knowledge of the 'extortion plot and that he signed the name to the letter as a spite proposition.'"

"'She likewise stated, upon interview,' the bureau added, 'that she knew nothing whatsoever about the extortion letter.' The letter, the bureau said, was postmarked and dated Feb. 9. It was addressed to Gable at Hollywood, Cal. The letter was referred to the bureau by the actor, the announcement said."

"'Forsyth would not admit,' the bureau said, 'that he had additional plans for obtaining the money from Clark Gable in the event it was mailed to Alice Schnetter. Investigation,' the bureau said 'disclosed that the woman is reputable and comes from a well to do family.'"

Giant Highway Network Sought

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February 1938 (Des Moines Register)

"Advocates of a vast system of super highways to criss-cross the nation renewed pleas this week for their proposals which were submitted to congress a year ago and sidetracked. Representatives Sayder (Dem., Penn.) and Randolph (Dem., W. Va.) and Senator Bulkley (Dem., Ohio) have proposals pending, but that of the Pennsylvanian has the greatest detail and provides nine trunk routes as shown on the map."

Although construction on the Interstate Highway System would not be authorized until 1956, there were discussions and planning as early as 1938. It is interesting to note some of the smaller cities and monuments that are listed on the map - although these exact paths were not used, the Interstate that was eventually built is a pretty close match.

Wife-Beater Screams Under Lash

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February 1938 (Des Moines Register)

"Strapped to the century-old whipping post in the Baltimore, Md., city jail, Clyde Miller screamed and strained at his bonds Tuesday as Sheriff Joseph C. Deegan, 6 feet  2 inches tall and weighing 220 pounds, lashed his back 20 times with a cat-o'-nine tails - punishment for beating his wife"

What's the Matter with Iowa Flappers?

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September 1924 (Des Moines Register)

"Dr. Rodney P. Fagen Says Lack of Iodine in Soil Causes 'Hyper Thyroid' Condition, Flapper Temperament and Increase in Divorces"

"'She's more to be pitied than censured; She's more to be helped than despised.' It's the bobbed-haired, carmine-lipped, flippety-floppity, excitement hunting little Iowa flappers to whom the quotation is being applied today - and the medical profession has made the diagnosis. After being preached at by the club women; psycho-analyzed by authors; condemned by reformers; exploited by the movies, the flapper is now in the doctor's office. And the doctors, after consultation, have reported, 'Hyper-thyroid condition. Very serious.'"

"Dr. Rodney P. Fagen, secretary of the Iowa state board of health, sees danger ahead in the rapidly spreading prevalence of enlarged thyroid glands among growing girls and the resulting restless 'flapper' temperament."

Quote from Doctor Fagen: "After marriage such a girl finds that the new responsibilities of homekeeping make her more nervous, more restless and more emotional. She craves excitement and she is 'tied down.' Quarrels, 'incompatibility' and what she considers cruelty on the part of her husband naturally follow. Hence the rush to the divorce court after three years of married life. The 1923 figures on divorce in Iowa show that more divorces are granted to couples who have been married three years than five or ten."

Major League Baseball Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis visits Des Moines

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August 1924 (Des Moines Register)

Landis is described as "czar of all organized baseballdom."

"Judge Landis is coming here as the guest of President K.L. Keyser of the local ball club"

Also note that Detroit is referred to here as the "Tygers" and the Yankees are referred to as the "Huggmen," after then manager Miller Huggins.

Astronomer Says There's Life on Mars (Part 2)

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August 1924 (Des Moines Register)

Quote from Captain See: "The chemical elements in Mars are the same as upon earth; the electrical, atomic and molecular forces are similar in all respects; all physical conditions are the same; therefore Mars and Venus are habitable, like the earth and therefore also inhabited like our own globe. The canals of Mars most likely are vegetation banks along water courses."

Quote from Captain See: "If any one ask if we can signal to Mars, we answer that we can but that the chance of an answer is slight because we could not have answered such a signal ourselves thirty years ago; radio telegraphy was not then invented."

Quote from Captain See: "It is unlikely that the Martians could answer us, even if we signaled them, for a thousand years. Hence the prospect of signaling to Mars is slight, though some kind of life certainly exists there."

Astronomer Says There's Life on Mars (Part 1)

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August 1924 (Des Moines Register)

"Capt. T.J.J. See, professor of mathematics, United States navy and government astronomer at Mare Island, in a statement today said that astronomical research has proved beyond a doubt that Mars is a habitable planet and therefore it is inhabited by vegetable and animal life of some kind. Of that Captain See is certain."

Quote from Captain See: "Mars has polar caps of ice and snow, which melt with the advance of the Martian summer and are built up again with the return of the Martian winter. We can see this very distinctly in the several large telescopes I have used during the last thirty years. And wonderful to relate, we can see the clouds floating in the atmosphere of Mars."

Grape Bouquet

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August 1924 (Des Moines Register)

Grape Bouquet was a short-lived product made by Anheuser-Busch during Prohibition. This advertisement also notes several other Anheuser-Busch Prohibition products: A-B Ginger Ale, Bevo, and Malt-Nutrine. 

"Are Bobbettes Driving Men From Barber Shops?"

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August 1924 (Des Moines Register)

Quote from a University place barber: "Our customers are mainly college guys and when a dame comes in to have her hair bobbed they mostly will know her. They just chew the rag as if they were a bunch of men. Only they don't cuss, you know. It don't make any difference about smoking. I notice the laws don't chew so much when there's a lady around."

Quote from an east side barber: "Oh, I don't know; it don't cut much ice. We've got a regular run of customers of course that mostly know each other. Occasionally we get a bob, but most fellows take more interest in watching a girl get her hair bobbed than they do in what they were saying to each other, anyway."

"'Women are more pernickety than men,' the head of a hotel barber shop said. 'but they know what they want, which is more than you can say for most men. With a woman it's a proposition of cutting her hair as she wants it done. With a man you just have to go ahead in the dark and then the chances are he looks so homely naturally he has to blame part of it on the barber - and there you are.'

'But homely women?'

'I'm su'prised at you, son. There ain't any homely women - as far as they're concerned anyway.'"

"Three shops of twenty, all of them in outlying districts, preferred the men's trade. All of them were barber shop club rooms where 'the gang' came in for a shave and talked of cabbages and kings and other phenomena not so polite"

Quote from local barber: "They're always bringing little Billy or little Oswald in to have his curls off and sniffling around the place."