The Dispatch. [volume] (Provo City, Utah) 1891-1895, 1891-01-21

fore'ssssss g skb Eg
One might s., q est. perhaps, that the
correctness of The judgment depended
somewhat upon the ability of the per-
son rendering the decision to discrim-
mate between crankS ard other per-
sons; but it is useless to advocate such
All idea just as every human being
has an implicit belief III his ability to
ran hotel or to conduct a newspaper
so he would laugh to scorn any sugges-
tion even of his inability to detect d
crank and classify him. We all be
| lieye in certain intuitiye capacities.
and among them III our innate power
| to detect crankS.
This being SO, it is evident that no
general rule can be formulated by
which a crank can be accurately dis
! tinguished from other men. Just as
! the world has always been unable to
accurately define such abstract notions
us beauty, goodness, happiness, evil,
and the like, SO it is impossible to lay
down universal rule for the determ-
ination of crank. Our friend A may
be crank to us, and yet may have a
circle Of admirers who believe in him
as a heaven-b0rn genius, and who con-
! iidently expect that he will vet startle
! the world with his IDEAS or achieve
ments. Our neXt-dooT neighbor may
| be willing TO make an affidavit that our
mutual friend b is a crank of crankS.
! and yet we ourselves may know that b
! is an industrious, courteous, kindly and
honorable gentleman, and that his
crankinesS consists in his devotion to a
particular thing which he has told us
in confidence, but has not seen fit to
impart to our neXt-door neighbor.
The fact is that everything that has
| eyer been done in this world which is
memorable or Of value to the world has
been done by so-called cranks, and that
unless man is crank to a greater or
less degree he is Of very little use to
any one except those who depend upon
MIN TO supply their material wants. If ii
/ be at once conceded that originality has
any place Ii the world; that genius has
done OF will ever do anything for
humanity; that enterprise and dash are
| Of any value, or That there is any
legitimate path in life except the
! beaten highway in which the mass OF
mankind toll along from the cradle TO
| the grave-tnen the case of the crank
is complete, and he stands, or should
stand, in public estimation not as one
degree removed from lunatic, but as
a flower of humanity. the apex of the
pyramid, the GROWING glory OF the
| human race.
If we take the history Of the world,
whether related 10y sacred or profane
/ historians, we shall lind that whenever
notable parsonage has appeared and
done anything out Of the ordinary
course OF things he was instantly
dubbed a crank, or whatever CORE
| sponded TO it in the speech Of other
times. John the Baptist came, neither
eating nor drinking, but proclaiming
the coming OF the Messiah, and the
! Scribes and Pharisees, the ''uncoguid''
of those times, said, He hath devil. >
! When Paul stood before FeStus and
Agrippa and defended himself against
the accusations of the chief priests and
elders. the most noble Festus, unable
to find any flaw in his defense, could
only say with a loud voice: Paul,
thou art beside myself, much learning
doth make thee made And yet the
civilized world after nineteen centuries
agrees that John the Baptist was a
prophet, II such ever existed, and that
Paul, 80 far from being mad, was u
keen I0giciaH, close and accurate
thinker and powerful advocate.
When Christopher Columbus haunt
ed the court Of Spain for seven weary
years, trying TO convert the King and