From our archives, 100 years ago

The Valentine’s Day trade hasn’t changed much over 100 years.

Candy and flowers were “now quite the correct thing,” said The Spokesman-Review. Both were bought and delivered in great quantities.

One thing was a bit different: The most popular valentines were postcards. Today, the e-card is probably more prevalent.

From the love and romance beat: Meanwhile, a squad of Spokane “child welfare investigators” – undercover mothers, really – were doing their best to squelch certain kinds of romance in the city.

They went out in disguise to area dance halls, noodle joints and restaurants to see if young girls were drinking and meeting men. Their results were surprising: They found the dance halls and noodle joints to be free of minors, but the fancier restaurants – the Silver Grill and Davenport’s – were freely serving liquor to girls.

“Instead of being called the Silver Grill, it ought to be the ‘silver hell,’ ” said “woman sleuth” Edith Ashbaugh. “There should be an inscription over the entrance, the same Dante observed over the gate of hell: ‘All hope abandoned, ye who enter here.’ ”

Ashbaugh also observed young girls drinking beer in the city’s German social clubs.