You’ve heard about hard cider. How about hard sauerkraut? During Prohibition State Assemblyman Louis A. Cuvillier (D-Manhattan) mockingly introduced legislation to allow police authorities to search the basements of homes for “intoxicating” sauerkraut, The Glens Falls Times reported on Feb. 18, 1925.
“Some dries have contended sauerkraut is intoxicating and if that is true than the houses of people should be searched for this terrible stuff,” Cuvillier said.
In other lighter side of political news collected from northern New York historic newspapers:
“Gov. [Al] Smith, who as a boy sold newspapers on Park Row, sat down to a chicken feast today [Feb. 23] as a friend to the [New York] City’s newsies,” The Post-Star of Glens Falls reported on Feb. 24, 1925. “The occasion was the annual Washington’s Birthday celebration of the Brace Memorial Newsboys’ Home. The 1,200 newsboys gave the governor an up-roaring greeting.”
“A Plattsburgh man who called his infant son after [James A.] Garfield has received the thanks of the President-elect for making James Abram household words in his family,” the Elizabethtown Post & Gazette reported on Jan. 27, 1881.
“A record run of three hours and forty and one-half minutes, from Washington to New York, was made today by a special train of the Pennsylvania Railroad chartered to rush moving picture films of presidential inauguration scenes from the capitol to the nation’s metropolis,” The Post-Star reported on March 5, 1925. “The train consisted of an engine, one passenger car, and a baggage car.”
The 20-year-old bride from Auburn, NY, and 27-year-old groom from Lawrence, Mass. met while working at the White House.
“A Whitehouse romance that budded and bloomed under the eyes of President [Calvin] Coolidge will culminate here tomorrow in the marriage of Irwin Geiser, personal stenographer to the President, and Miss Doris Ruth Salter, who is a White House stenographer,” The Glens Falls Times reported on March 11, 1925. “The President and Mrs. Coolidge may attend the ceremony. Mr. Coolidge has given the happy couple a vacation.”
“Possibly remembering the old saying that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, Assemblyman Fred L. Porter of Crown Point certainly stands right with the men employed these days in the Assembly documents room,” The Glens Falls Times reported on March 12, 1925. “The other day the men received from Assemblyman Parker some of the finest specimens of Lake Champlain ice fish that have ever graced the tables of Albany.”
There was a spirited get-out-the-vote effort for the Hudson Falls village elections. “The election will bring out the greatest number of automobiles since the motor car was was first used in carrying voters to the polls. It is understood that more than sixty cars have been engaged for today,” The Post-Star reported on March 17, 1925.
President Coolidge did not forget his father’s birthday. “A birthday cake from the White House brightened the corners of this little village [Plymouth, Vt.] today on the eightieth birthday of Colonel John C. Coolidge, father of the President,” The Glens Falls Times reported on March 31, 1925.
“The colonel’s schedule for the day included chopping wood, gathering in the maple sap, and answering a flood of letters of congratulations.”
The Advertising Club of New York elected President Calvin Coolidge an honorary member, The Post-Star reported on March 31, 1925.
President Coolidge and his wife attended a vaudeville show in Washington D.C. on April 9, 1925 the first vaudeville show he had attended since becoming president, The Post-Star reported the next morning.
“With Senator Butler of Massachusetts, the President’s friend and chairman of the Republican National Committee, as their guest, they occupied a flag-draped box in the theater several blocks from the White House, where Woodrow Wilson found recreation as often as circumstances and his health permitted during and after his administration.”
“Governor Smith is making plans for a fishing trip just as soon as he can dispose of the thirty-day bills remaining before him. The governor will probably choose Lake George or some other body of water near Albany where fishing is good,” The Glens Falls Times reported on April 16, 1925.
Editorial wit
“One of the reasons why Governor Smith is said to be getting peevish is because the applause that follows his speeches is not so loud as it used to be.” – Ticonderoga Sentinel, Feb. 26, 1925.
“No wonder mother earth quakes in the United States this fall. She has to give back echoes of the political conventions and campaigns.” – The Morning Star, Oct. 9, 1895.
“President Coolidge does not want anything done to make his job easier. He is fortunate in age, strength and temperament, and thinks he can stand it.” – Glens Falls Times, March 6, 1925.
“Another week and then no more legislature. Some say things could be worse.” – Ticonderoga Sentinel, March 19, 1925.
“Congress reminds us of an alarm clock. It always gets cussed for doing the best it can.” – Glens Falls Times, April 9, 1925.
Photo: A New York Times pressman checking a newspaper for defects in 1942.
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