Digital Extra: The Journal's 175th Anniversary

07.21.2004

The passing news

BESET WITH unemployment, today's youth in America is losing the idealism of its fathers, Lewis P. Lindsay, general secretary of the Pawtucket-Central Falls YMCA, yesterday afternoon told members of the Pawtucket Rotary Club . . . Young people born after the war and during a period of depression and upheaval [have] become discouraged and doubtful of the country's old ideals, he asserted. Getting members of the older generation to see eye to eye with the youth of today is a real problem, the Y secretary declared.

-- From a news story, Aug. 9, 1940, that gave a pessimistic opinion of the young people who would become known as The Greatest Generation

JUST JEALOUS

Editor:

I am sick and tired of some people that have tried to run down the character of Greta Garbo, in her latest picture, "Two-Faced Woman."

The trouble is that these narrow-minded (newsie-minded) people are jealous of Miss Garbo and should keep their minds on their own business, instead of sticking their noses into other people's affairs.

L.R.K

Pawtucket

-- Letter to the editor, Dec. 8, 1941

ROUNDUP IN Rhode Island of German and Italian aliens believed to be dangerous to the safety of the nation was underway early this morning by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation . . . The FBI refused to make known how many non-citizens of German or Italian extraction are under suspicion or to say whether those taken in the State-wide dragnet would be detained other than for questioning.

-- News story on the detention of immigrants after the start of the war, Dec. 9, 1941

SOME FASHION EXPERTS maintain that the tailored trouser suit is the natural outcome of current trends but we feel that simple frocks and tailored suits will again be in favor. And we offer a silent prayer that the mass of females in this country will never, never appear in trousers!

-- From a story on the effect of war on women's fashion, December 1941

THE WARNING!

The State Council of Defense has adopted the following uniform air raid warning signal to be sounded on factory whistles and Fire Department sirens:

The alarm -- a two-minute blast; 15 seconds of silence; a two-minute blast; 15 seconds of silence; a two-minute blast. Repeated after five minutes.

"ALL CLEAR"

The "all clear" -- three sharp blasts in rapid succession repeated three times with 15 seconds between each series of three blasts.

-- Air raid instructions published in The Journal on Dec. 14, 1941, under the headline: CUT THIS OUT -- AND POST IT UP

EVERY TIME President Truman starts speaking off-the-cuff about important matters of state, he ends up talking through his hat.

-- Editorial, Sept. 3, 1949