How much can change in 100 years?

Hello, everyone. Hope your year is off to a good start. I’m sure you have noticed this year’s TRG has a new look. The last time the TRG logo was updated was 1996; my colleagues and I agreed it was high time for an update. This is something we’ve been working on for quite some time. It took a while to find something we all liked that would be compatible with our new design software. I give a lot of credit to my co-worker Karie for working and re-working the masthead and page headers multiple times. She did an excellent job. I hope you enjoy the new look, and of course we plan to continue the same local news and sports coverage you expect from your community newspaper. - Next, I would be remiss if I didn’t offer my sincere condolences to Bob Berglund’s family on Bob’s passing on Saturday. As many of you know, Bob and his wife Florence owned the TRG for many years and Bob wrote the weekly column, “Over the Back Fence,” for 56 years. He and his wife were the ones who agreed to purchase the Greenwood Gleaner in 1969 and combine it with the Loyal Tribune and Spencer Record to form one merged community newspaper. If it weren’t for that decision, there’s a good chance that newspaper coverage for one or more of those communities would simply have ceased. I’m very grateful for Bob and all he did for the community, and his belief in the importance of small-town journalism. To Bob’s family: my condolences and you are in my prayers. - With us getting into a new year, 2024 (isn’t it weird to think we’re almost a quarter of the way into the 21st century?), I had the idea to look back 100 years to what life was like in 1924. Here are some fast facts, as printed in the Akron Beacon Journal and courtesy of the Summit County Historical Society.

In 1924, the U.S. president was Calvin Coolidge. A gallon of milk cost 28 cents. An automobile cost between $109 and $264. A dozen eggs cost 25 cents. New products introduced to American consumers included Wheaties cereal and the Milky Way candy bar. The company IBM was founded. The most popular boy’s name was Robert and the most popular girl’s name was Mary.

Some of the more significant events of 1924 include the following (courtesy of Historic Newspapers): — Jan. 21: Russian Revolutionary and Premier leader Vladimir Lenin dies of a stroke at the age of 53.

— Feb. 17: Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer, sets the 100-meter world freestyle record at 57.4 seconds in Miami, Fla.

— March 4: Claydon Sunny publishes “Happy Birthday to You.”

— April 15: One person dies in riots in Belgium.

— May 26: Coolidge signs an immigration law to restrict immigration to the United States. The law includes the Asian Exclusion Act banning the entry of Asian peoples to the U.S. from a variety of countries.

— May 31: China formally recognizes the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.).

— June 2: Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act, which declares all Native Americans to be American citizens.

— June 23: U.S. troops leave the Dominican Republic.

— July 10: Denmark claims Greenland. — July 20: Tehran, Persia (now Iran) comes under martial law after the American vice consul, Robert Imbrie, is killed by a religious mob

Striking a

Chord...

enraged by rumors he had poisoned a fountain and killed several people. He was the first U.S. Foreign Service officer to be killed.

— Aug. 16: A peace treaty is signed between the Netherlands and Turkey.

— Oct. 20: The first Negro League World Series takes place.

— Oct. 24: The Nobel prize for physiology or medicine is awarded to Dutchman Willem Einthoven “for his discovery of the mechanism of the electrocardiogram”.

— Nov. 30: The first photo facsimile is transmitted across the Atlantic by radio from London to New York City.

— Dec. 1: A coup attempt in Estonia staged by communists fails. Most of them are from the U.S.S.R. and 125 out 279 participating are killed. Five hundred people were arrested later on.

— Dec. 7: The Social Democrats win the election in Germany.

— Dec. 15: Winston Churchill writes a letter to Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, considering the chance of war with Japan. Churchill claims “I do not believe there is the slightest chance of it in our lifetime.”

— Dec. 17: The first diesel electric locomotive enters service in the Bronx, New York City.

— Dec. 20: Adolf Hitler is freed from jail early, having only served nine months of a five-year sentence for Beer Hall Putsch. His earlier failed coup brought attention to his name, and he spent time in prison writing “Mein Kampf ” (“My Struggle”).

— Dec. 31: Italian fascist Benito Mussolini orders the suppression of opposition newspapers.

Looking back 100 years, initially it’s hard to see many similarities. However, when looking a little deeper, plenty of parallels emerge. Of course, human nature is the same. Our propensity for wickedness is the same. Government leaders were grappling with many of the same issues: economic struggles, immigration, foreign policy, etc. World powers were asserting themselves and clashing with other nations.

Of course, there were strides forward in technology and human achievement as well. And we have to recognize the hubris we are all susceptible to, in thinking we understand how events will unfold but really we have no idea (the Churchill quote made me think of that, not to knock on Churchill). It’s just a reminder we can’t predict the future, either globally or even in our own personal lives. None of us knows how much time we have left on this planet.

Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, from “The Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien: “‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo. ‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’”