Not only was it very American in 1925 (perhaps Mencken wondered why a fish would write such cardboard about water?) but it still is.

Very few days go by when the HN Front Page does not remind me of Jay Gatz:

Gatz' schedule:

  Rise from bed..................................6.00...........A.M.
  Dumbell exercise and wall-scaling..............6.15 - 6.30...."
  Study electricity, etc.........................7.15 - 8.15...."      
  Work...........................................8.30 - 4.30....P.M.
  Baseball and sports............................4.30 - 5.00...."
  Practice elocution, poise and how to attain it.5.00 - 6.00...."
  Study needed inventions........................7.00 - 9.00...."

general resolves:

  No wasting time at Shafters or [a name, indecipherable].
  No more smoking or chewing.
  Bath every other day.
  Read one improving book or magazine per week.
  Save $5.00 [crossed out] $3.00 per week.
  Be better to parents.

Edit: and compare the reference made by the book Tom Buchanan was reading with our spate of anti-woke tweets or "replacement theory" videos, and you will have a good idea of the amount of technical and moral progress the US has made between the 1920s and the 2020s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rising_Tide_of_Color_Again...