In 1919, I guess, a person didn't have much to read from. They could probably read a newspaper from back to back while having breakfast. They didn't have a radio or television. They didn't have smartphones. They didn't have a lot of books at home either, I presume.

So it would make sense for advertisers to fill their precious page with words, because someone's going to read that.

On the other hand we're practically swimming in words these days. At any point I could touch a button or screen and receive more text than I could possibly read in an hour. Learning when to stop reading is very much an essential part of today's life. ("Ain't nobody got time for that", which is actually a surprisingly insightful statement.)

Just my two cents.