Old.....But Interesting: A Look back at 1931 Facts gathered by Lynn E. Koenigs
The year 1931 saw the doubling of unemployment to 16.3%, and everybody realized that the stock market crash of 1929 was having far reaching effects. The US government started making some progress on the mob and a notable success was the conviction of Al Capone on tax fraud charges which got him an 11 year prison sentence in Alcatraz. Many car manufacturers also went out of business as people did not have money to buy new cars.
One of the few successes was the completion of the Empire State Building, and in Las Vegas the small local community made the decision to legalize gambling. Nature even conspired to make things worse by causing a serious drought in the Midwest which in turn made food more expensive and turned some areas into dust bowls.
1931 NEWS FROM SEYMOUR HIGH SCHOOL
(Taken from See-More High Spots-the school newspaper from 1931-various articles from the year).
• The first year business training students are studying about the telegraph and telephone.
• Every Friday is Current Event Day in Citizenship Class. World topics are given and the best ones are put on the bulletin board. This way we have read something besides the comics once a week.
• We juniors are always fighting, first about one thing and then another. Our present gang fight is about the selection of our class rings and design.
• The freshman class is working on the prevention of fires and heating and ventilating buildings. The students were taken into our furnace room and shown how our school is heated.
• The latest fad for the boys is medicated cough drops and the girls are introducing a liberal supply of perfume.
• As a result of a recent decision of the high school activity council the preliminary steps are being taken this week. Radio dealers of the city have been invited to submit their set as a test. The final decision will be made by the council after all sets have been tried and compared. The radio will be paid for out of the funds received from the sale of magazines during the past two years.
• On Thursday afternoon, we had the pleasure of listening to five different radios which were on trial in the assembly. Those demonstrated were the Victor, General Electric, Philco, and Majestic. The Philco was chosen by the committee.
• A new Philco radio has been set up and installed in the office. Plans are being made to find some way to hook it up with the Assembly Room and other parts of the building. Various programs will be listened to in the different rooms.
• The freshman class is reading Treasure Island. We are all working our gray matter to write a story on some buried treasure. We are determined to write another one on Mistaken Identity if we ever get finished with our first one.
• The school has received the first ten volumes of the encyclopedia “The Americana.” This is a 1931 revision. The
other twenty volumes will follow as soon
as they have been published.
• The Prom is only nine days off and every minute it approaches closer. We hope there will be a large attendance and that everyone will have a good time. Remember the date, May 20, and invite all your neighbors and friends. The admission is $1.25 and 25 cents for spectators.
• We have just completed a story about a foreigner coming to America. The students also wrote a theme on “What America Means to Me”. One of our “cut ups” said that it meant a place to hang her hat and park her gum.
Yes, 1931 was sure interesting!