There were marketing restrictions for bacon, onions and diamonds — three commodities you’d never expect to find on the same shopping list.
And some local churchgoers were not allowed to sing “Silent Night” in its original language.
Both prohibitions could be traced to one aspect of life 100 years ago. America was at war.
We recently looked back at how The Columbian covered the Christmas season in 1917 and noted that the conflict in Europe was reflected in war news, as well as some advertising.
But other stories emphasized significant home-front adjustments in 1917 and 1918. As a headline warned on Dec. 21, 1917, “Country Settles Down to Business of War — No More Luxuries.”
It meant that a corner grocery store could no longer deliver three eggs at 6 a.m. for your breakfast.
“Luxuries, such as bacon, onions and diamonds may be purchased,” we reported. “But the retail merchants are not to make special sales of them, or to attempt to force them on the public through large advertising.”
One particular demographic was singled out. A Columbian story on Sept. 12, 1918, reported that the county’s Council of Defense received a request from 20 members of a community known as Lambert, near Ridgefield.
Petitioning “as loyal citizens of the United States,” the undersigned wanted to conduct their church services in the German language.
“We do not get the benefit from an English sermon, and we are too old to learn it.”
A similar petition came from a congregation in Salmon Creek. The petitions would be considered, we reported, although the war was over two months later.
Off Beat lets members of The Columbian news team step back from our newspaper beats to write the story behind the story, fill in the story or just tell a story.
