Love-Making in City Parks a Summer Sport: Sex, Drugs and Gambling on the Front Page 100 years ago – Calgary Herald

Article content

A look back at the Calgary Daily Herald 100 years ago shows the news of the day was never dull some might even call it a bit racy for the time. So, what was making news on May 27, 1921?

* Headline: Love-Making in the City Parks Summer Sport The Kansas City Chief of Police said love-making in public parks was a legitimate summer sport, according to a front page story in the Herald on May 27, 1921. Police officers, he said, have something more to do than to clear park benches of boys and girls making love. Its worth noting, however, that the phrase had a much more innocent meaning a century ago, referring more to the practice of kissing, holding hands and making googly eyes at each other.

* Headline: Mayors Are Devising Some Scheme to Fight the Traffic in Drugs Some may find it surprising to learn there was an illegal drug trade occurring in Canada 100 years ago, but its been a problem for a long, long time. Several big city mayors were working together in 1921 to devise ways to stop the trade and the growth of opium dens. In 1908, the federal government banned the use of opium and prohibited the use of cocaine in medications. Cannabis became a prohibited drug in 1923.

* Headline: Newspapers Are Encouraging the Gambling Habit Some newspapers had been holding guessing contests in 1921, in which people could pay a sum of money and enter to win a prize if they correctly guessed the results of sporting events. Yep. Sounds like gambling. This article didnt detail which newspapers were holding the contests, but the practice was being condemned by the W.C.T.U. the Womans Christian Temperance Union as this article notes.

* Headline: Tractor Delays Trains Train schedules must have been taken pretty, pretty seriously back in the day. This brief story about a tractor stalling on railway tracks and holding up a train for 10 minutes was a short front page story on May 27, 1921.

Continue reading here:

Love-Making in City Parks a Summer Sport: Sex, Drugs and Gambling on the Front Page 100 years ago - Calgary Herald