The fact that these risks existed a century ago is a poor argument for suggesting they shouldn't be taken seriously in the present.
We live in an era where things can be done instantly online with sufficient information. A sophisticated conman from the 1800's can now execute fraud in seconds instead of plotting for weeks, and they can do so in an automated fashion. The risk isn't anywhere near the same.
A white pages phone book hooked up to pay phone is bound to the region in which it is distributed. A bug on a website that links phone number to full name is exposed on a global scale. Not to mention, a landline number is not anything like a mobile phone number, which is a unique identifier to tons of PII.