Halloween now is so much better than it was in the good old days

It’s human nature to think things were always better in the “good old days.” Politicians build entire campaigns on that idea.
Generally, the premise crumbles under scrutiny. That’s especially true when it comes to Halloween. It’s a subject worthy of some reflection.
Consider this exasperated editorial from the Deseret News, published Oct. 23, 1936:
“Time was when Halloween was observed (on) the one evening,” it said. “Grotesque costumes, pumpkins, corn stalks, cider and doughnuts and false faces characterized parties given for young people most often, and sometimes for their elders …
“But look at the children now! Soap smeared on the finish of automobiles, electric light bulbs stolen from outside lights, garden hoses cut or dragged away, bird baths topped over and broken, milk bottles broken and thrown into the street, lawns trampled, shrubs pulled up — all vandalism of the most exasperating sort in the name of a holiday. And it continues for a week.”
The writer ended with a plaintive, “Where are their parents?”
Their parents … ahem … your grandparents, great- or perhaps great-great-grandparents, that is, were likely looking the other way, remembering their own younger years better than that editorial writer did.
How do I know? Because you can search even farther back (as I did, using newspapers.com) and find much the same. In 1922, the Long Beach Telegram reported that one resident suffered property damage worth $150 (nearly $3,000 in today’s money).
“The aggregate property loss sustained by the community is far from trifling,” the paper said. “There is nothing funny about it … the vandalism must be curbed one way or another.”
In 1918, a streetcar conductor in Kansas City was seriously injured after some youths waxed the tracks going up a hill. The car slipped backwards, crashing into a streetcar behind it.
Yes, I know Halloween vandalism still occurs. In Detroit, people used the occasion to set fire to vacant homes as recently as the 1990s. It was called Devil’s Night. Reports say fires there are rare now, but vandalism still occurs in places.
But back in the ‘30s, even small towns had to deal with a lot more tricks than treats. In 1932, the Democrat-Herald in Albany, Oregon, population of about 8,500, lamented that “considerable damage has been done to property simply on the basis of doing damage to property with no motive except destruction …”
If you hear complaints about Halloween these days, it’s mostly about excesses or adult participation, or about teenagers who still go door-to-door trying to get candy. Our ancestors would have been delighted if that’s all they had to worry about.
According to the National Retail Federation, Americans are expected to spend $11.6 billion on Halloween this year. That’s a little below last year’s $12.2 billion, but way below the $184 billion they were expected to spend on Christmas last year.
But only about a third of the Halloween spending, or $3.8 billion, will go toward costumes. Another $3.8 billion will be spent on decorations, of which some houses will be adorned in ways that rival Christmas, while $3.5 billion will be spent on candy and $0.5 billion on greeting cards.
Before you get upset about this kind of spending, or about the many adult costumes included in that figure, not to mention costumes for dogs and cats, consider how much better this is than spending to fix broken items or ripped up lawns. Voluntary spending is always better than unexpected spending for repairs.
Some time in the early 1950s, Halloween changed. Perhaps it had something to do with the new Peanuts comic strip and its depictions of trick-or-treating, but it’s probably more complicated than that. In 1953, the Deseret News said of vandalism, “That’s old hat now.”
We should all be grateful.
So if, on Thursday, you become disturbed by encountering Little Bo Peep behind the counter at a bank or the Big Bad Wolf behind the cash register at your grocer’s, remember that in the good old days, things were much worse.