(Editor’s note: Billy Chism grew up around newspapers; his father was publisher of the Pelham News. He ended his career as editor and publisher of the White County News in Cleveland for nine years. He retired in September 2016 and now lives in Toccoa.—eeb)
By Billy Chism
TOCCOA, Ga. | A number of years ago, while browsing in a used bookstore on St. Simons Island, I found a thick volume titled: “American Newspaper Annual and Directory – 1926.” I carefully lifted the heavy book from the shelf, noting it was in fair condition.
Chism
After bartering with the owner, we agreed on $25. The original selling price: $15, was considered a lot of money back then.
For me, this volume, three inches thick, became a prized possession. It offered a snapshot of our country in 1925, including a list of all newspapers published in the U.S. in 1925. Indeed, these annual directories served the newspaper world with facts and figures now available on the Internet. (The book was published annually by N.W. Ayer and Son of Philadelphia, Penn., and was known in the trade as “The Ayer Directory.” It was last published in 1986. Ayer was the nation’s first advertising agency.”)
My 1926 volume focused on the year 1925, giving a detailed look at (then) all 48 states. Color maps of each state showed every county, every little town. Population charts listed each state’s population county by county.
1926 N.W. Ayer Directory is three inches thick
In the directory’s introduction, the editors extoll the book’s many features. Among them: “A description of every place in the United States and Canada in which a newspaper is published, including railroad, telegraph express and banking facilities; also state, territory, or province, giving the location of surface and soil, chief products and manufacturing, forming a valuable guide to the judicious placing of any advertising.”
In 1925, radio was in its infancy. Radio broadcasting didn’t become a nationwide phenomenon until the 1930s. Many Georgians didn’t own a television set until the mid-50s or later.
Newspapers were king in 1925 and beyond. Thankfully, those left today are sometimes struggling, but still doing their job.
How did Georgia look 100 years ago? The book tells us.
The population was 2.9 million. Urban residents numbered some 700,000, rural 2.2 million. There were 310,732 farms, averaging 82 acres. Chief crops were peanuts, tobacco and corn. The chief fruits were peaches and apples.
In the mule census, Georgia came in second with 375,000 mules, surpassed only by Texas. This is in the book. As I write on my MacBook Pro laptop today, it’s hard to remember the last time I saw a mule.
Obviously, Georgia has changed tremendously in 100 years. The world has changed.
Is our world a better place today than in 1925? Hard to say, since I wasn’t born until 1951.
World War I ended in 1918, followed by a world-wide flu epidemic that killed millions. Finally, good times arrived in the Roaring Twenties, but were short-lived.
The Great Depression, sparked by the stock market crash of 1929, brought our nation to its knees. But we eventually prevailed.
My hope is we prevail today, despite the dismantling of many of our great national institutions, which have kept us safe, secure and healthy.
Where will the next 100 years take us?
I have no idea, but embrace the words of Winston Churchill, who quipped: “For myself I am an optimist—it does not seem to be much use being anything else.”
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