Fact-checking question from Freakonomics / Shaw quote

Hugo hugovk at GMAIL.COM
Fri Feb 7 14:50:07 UTC 2014


> Why do you think that the page 27 with the February 18, 1933 date is
> the same page as the page 27 with the quotation?

Aha, I made a mistake: I assumed there was only one page 27.

My new estimate is Saturday, April 29, 1933. Here's my workings.

On the left of same snippet as the top part of quotation, includes
dates in the past:

http://books.google.com/books?ei=TEnzUse0LIXp4wSF8IDACw&id=lssaAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22thinking+once+or+twice+a+week%22&q=%22international+reputation%22&redir_esc=y

[Begin]
J. E. Reimann, vice president of the Fred L. Gray Co., casualty and
liability insurance agency, Minneapolis, was elected president of the
company at a meeting of stockholders April 27.
Mr. Reimann has been with the company several years and succeeds
Charles H. Van Campen, who died April 24.
[End]

Searching "Charles H. Van Campen" in the same book gives a page 26:

[Begin]
Head of Gray Co. Dies
Funeral services were held Wednesday for Charles H. Van Campen,
president of the Fred L. Gray Co., who died Monday at his home in
Minneapolis, aged 60.
Mr. Van Campen attended the University of Minnesota, and ...
[End]

http://books.google.com/books?ei=TEnzUse0LIXp4wSF8IDACw&id=lssaAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22thinking+once+or+twice+a+week%22&q=%22Charles+H.+Van+Campen%22&redir_esc=y

-> He died on Monday, April 24.

-> He was 60 when he died.

Here's a 1923 lifetime biography of Charles H. Van Campen (same
university and company):
http://files.usgwarchives.net/mn/hennepin/bios/1923/vancamch.txt

-> He was born in 1872.

If he turned 60 in the year he died, the year was 1932 (1872+60=1932).
If he was to turn 61 later that year, it was 1933.

April 24, 1932 was a Sunday:
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/monthly.html?year=1932&month=4

April 24, 1933 was a Monday:
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/monthly.html?year=1933&month=4

-> He died on Monday, April 24, 1933.

So now we know the funeral was on Wednesday, April 26, 1933 and a
meeting had been held on Thursday, April 27 1933 to appoint a
successor.

We're less than a week after Monday, April 24, 1933 if they can still
refer to it simply as "Monday", and they seem to publish on Saturdays,
so my revised estimate is Saturday, April 29, 1933.

----

Anyway, as Garson said, this might have been after the "May 1933"
Reader's Digest had already come out.

Hugo

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