Chapter 94: The Roaring Age
Because it once extensively featured *The Yellow Kid*.
Joseph Pulitzer's *World Daily News* was at one point called "The Yellow Kid Newspaper." This name was later simplified to "yellow newspaper."
At the same time, the specialized term "Yellow Kid News" eventually became "yellow journalism."
This was the origin of what later generations would know as yellow journalism.
However, in the later stages of the yellow journalism era, as Joseph Pulitzer himself grew weary of it and citizen groups began to boycott, the *World Daily News* seized the opportunity to transform into a more serious newspaper. The *New York Journal*, meanwhile, declined as a result, never to recover.
And The Yellow Kid, as the icon of 'yellow journalism,' also gradually faded from public view with the end of the Yellow Press Era.
It is said that The Yellow Kid last appeared on January 23, 1898, in a comic about hair conditioner.
On May 1, 1898, The Yellow Kid became a prominent feature in the satirical comic *Children's Coin Museum at Casey's Corner*, in which he was ridiculously depicted as a bald old man with a large beard, wearing green pajamas that read, "Oh my! I'm already old enough to be a collector's item!"
The 'yellow journalism era' had long since faded, to the point where many had forgotten the meaning it once represented and its connection to the *World Daily News*.
However, Colin, through the latest *Superman* comic serialized in *The Messenger Newspaper*, made readers remember it all.
Especially with the Newspaper Agency's newly acquired color rotary printing press, the colors of the era represented by The Yellow Kid were clearly brought to life in the comic's story, forming a stark contrast with Superman's red cape.
Colin also used the yellow in The Yellow Kid's attire to allude to the knock-off Superman in *Super Soldier*, the latest comic serialized by the *World Daily News*.
In the comic's conclusion, Superman, representing the *Daily Planet*, single-handedly defeated the mastermind from the *Metropolis World* who had caused chaos in Metropolis. Looking down at The Yellow Kid clutching his cheek on the ground, Superman declared, "Your era is over, sir. An imposter can never defeat the real Superman!"
…
The latest *Superman* comic in *The Messenger Newspaper* became the talk of New York City.
People not only discussed the newspaper's new color format but also relished the clash between Superman and The Yellow Kid in the comic.
Although the 'Yellow Press Era' had ended, the new wave of the 'Yellow Tabloid Era' lasted for a full decade.
Beginning in the 1920s, that absurd, bizarre, crazy, and tumultuous decade left a deep impression on people. If not for the onset of the Great Depression, which made hunger, crime, and unemployment the primary concerns of the populace, people would not have instinctively felt such revulsion and resistance towards the hedonistic reporting style of the yellow tabloids.
Perhaps, the new wave of the 'Yellow Tabloid Era' might have lasted even longer.
It was precisely because of the existence of this history—the 'Yellow Press Era' and the 'Yellow Tabloid Era'—
Therefore, readers, whether they had experienced the initial 'yellow journalism era' or were living through the 'yellow tabloid era' of the time, all felt a sense of empathetic immersion when the yellow journalism storyline appeared in *The Messenger Newspaper*. Through this plotline in the *Superman* comic, people began discussing the various absurd news stories of the 'Yellow Tabloid Era.'
That crazy, absurd era, however, made people living through the Great Depression yearn for it.
Because that was also America's golden twenty years, the glorious "Roaring Age."
From a pre-war debtor nation, it had transformed into a creditor nation. A powerful construction boom was unleashed, with vast amounts of capital invested in infrastructure. Although the people at the very bottom remained impoverished, more people's lives improved, achieving a comfortable standard of living or becoming wealthier than ever before.
In that era, from the Alps to America's West Coast, prosperity was everywhere. A tidal wave of technology swept through Europe, and half the world's wealth accumulated in America. Highways and railways were built across the eastern and western United States, and everyday items like automobiles and refrigerators found their way into thousands of households.
In 1920, commercial radio was born in Pittsburgh, America, and over 12 million households owned a radio. A massive amount of information was transmitted on the move, and numerous business models emerged. The number of urban residents in America surpassed the rural population, and white-collar workers appeared in skyscrapers. Men carried briefcases, women favored knee-length straight-cut skirts, and installment payments became popular nationwide.
At night, jazz flowed from radios, repeatedly telling tales of the prosperous age's elegance and vanity. City neon lights were like an endless jungle, and on giant posters, women encouraged every family to buy two cars. Living in such a dreamlike era, people possessed a bewildering confidence. Everyone fantasized about a future of infinitely advanced technology, and talk of consumer upgrades was everywhere.
At that time, national electricity generation had increased sevenfold, and telephone lines spanned the North American continent.
Before the "Roaring Age" began, the automobile was a luxury item, but by 1927, Ford had sold 15 million cars. In 1927, an American flew an airplane across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. The following year, construction began on the Chrysler Building in New York, then the world's tallest building. Although domestic debt was complex, from 1925 to 1928, America's average annual overseas investment was 1.1 billion dollars, equivalent to hundreds of billions of dollars today.
In 1928, President Hoover, not yet a hated figure, said upon taking office: "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us."
At the time, Hoover proudly declared, "With the help of God, we shall soon be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation." His popular promise of "a chicken in every pot and two cars in the garage" spread like wildfire across the country. In his inaugural address, he also stated, "The fruits of our accomplishments are firmly reliable, and no other nation can surpass us."
In the summer of 1929, peace and prosperity reigned everywhere in America.
Several consecutive years of a bull stock market reflected the American people's bright hopes for the future. General Motors stock rose from 268 to 391, and U.S. Steel stock also climbed from 165 to 258. When people met, they talked only about stocks, and nothing else.
September 3, 1929, marked the glorious peak of the American stock market: the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 386.10 points, with a total trading volume of 4.44 million shares for the day, an increase of 504% compared to its lowest point on August 24, 1921. The U.S. Secretary of the Treasury told the public that the "high tide of prosperity would never cease."
And economists said that American stock prices were now standing on a "permanently high plateau."
Until…
October 29, 1929, marked the arrival of Black Tuesday.
The Great Depression began.
(end of chapter)