While there may not be anything inherently different between the last day of a year and the start of a new one—after all the sun still rises and sets and the stars stand sentry as they always have—the new beginning seems to have always prompted reflections on the way things were in contrast to the hope of what might be.
During the first days of January 100 years ago the opinion writers of The National City News were reflecting on the way things used to be 30 years prior.
From the Jan. 9, 1925 edition:
“Thirty years ago we remember—1895 when eggs were three dozen for 25 cents; butter 10 cents a pound; milk 5 cents a quart….Women did not powder or paint (in public), smoke, vote, play poker or shake the shimmie. Men wore boots, chewed tobacco, spit on the sidewalk, and cussed. Beer was 5 cents and the lunch was free…
“Today 1925! Everybody rides in automobiles or flies; plays golf; shoots craps; plays the piano with their feet;
“These are the days of suffragetting, profiteering, rent hogs, excess taxes and prohibitions.”
Incidentally the observation that people were playing piano with their feet was most likely a reference the popularity of player pianos in 1924. The semi-automated pianos were operated in part by foot pedals.
The United States Department of Agriculture reports the average cost of a dozen eggs in 1925 was 29 cents. Beer, on the other hand, was technically not available given that they were in the midst of Prohibition.
For comparison, the average cost of eggs nationwide in 2024 was around $3.50 per dozen (with a significant increase in price at the end of the year because of bird flu and higher demand). As for beer, one study reported the average cost of a pint of beer in 2024 in San Diego was $8.
While readers of the 1925 The National City News were reminiscing about the cost of 1895 eggs versus their own 29 cents per dozen, elsewhere in the world, the fascist Benito Mussolini was solidifying his role as Italian dictator and thug, though it would be months before another dictator, Adolf Hitler, would publish his infamous “Mein Kampf.”
Much to our peril sometimes we don’t see the broader changes ahead because we’re focussed on the smaller issues closer to home.
