I assume this comic is from 1918 because of the flu reference, but I don’t know for sure.
Crazy how little changes in 110 years
There’s a book I think by John Barry about the 1918 flu and everyone did literally the same things as in 2020. Politicized it, refused masking, fought vaccinations, the whole thing. Great read.
It’s pretty incredible how relevant a lot of the comics in this series are today.
Early research done during a previous epidemic demonstrated definitively how airborne transmission occurs, and how masking and to a lesser degree ventilation of indoor spaces could prevent transmission. This research was misinterpreted until SARS-CoV-2, when the research was reexamined. Masks, and other forms of air filtration work to prevent transmission of airborne pathogens. The number of people sickened and killed by COVID-19 was increased by the policies of the trump administration, and by the politicization of masking, a scientifically proven means to prevent transmission of airborne diseases. The trump administration has ‘blood on its hands’ for this action. And trump, and the others involved should be tried for these treasonous crimes. Please vote to make sure that their coup in progress doesn’t destroy democracy in the US and elsewhere.
A search revealed a post claiming May 29, 1912, but I can’t back that up.Probably false
I found a couple examples from November 18, 1918. But comics syndication worked different back then, and it might have been a reprint:
- https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/oru/batch_oru_belknap_ver01/data/sn88086023/00202194813/1918111801/0497.pdf
- https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/uuml/batch_uuml_julich_ver01/data/sn85058396/print/1918111601/0532.pdf
Edit: interesting Help Wanted ad on the second link: “U. S. Department of Labor U. S. Employment Service: JOIN THE INDUSTRIAL ARMY Be a patriotic worker, aid the government to build the $50,000,000 plant started at Nitro (near Charleston) , West Virginia. Laborers $4.40 per day. 10 hours’ work 11 hours’ pay. Double time on Sunday. Free railroad fare. Meals free en route. Room rent free and board at commissaries, cafeteria style at about $1.00 per day. Medical attention and amusements free.”
Oh yeah, see [email protected] for more of Everett True’s doings.
According to inflation calculator … $4.40 a day converts to $91.88 a day in 2024 … minus $1 a day for food ($20.88 in 2024) … equals $71.00 a day … (all US dollars of course)
More significantly is all the freebies. room, board (food), medical and amusement. That at least doubles it so over 3k a month.
Masking was an issue during the Flue Pandemic 1918-1920. The date suggested by @[email protected] is more plausible.
That one was about the Titanic. A guy wants to tell Everett about a Titanic joke and Everett smashes him on the floor and tells him to joke about that for a while
