The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-04-07
ALL ABOUT SMITH.
How Important He Is and How Many
There Are of Him.
IFrom the Atlanta CONSTITUTIONS

LFrom the Atlanta Constitution
By twos and tours, singly and in
battalions. from between the plough
handles and from behind the desk,
from the rank and file, from every
point of the compass. numberless as
the sands on the seashore and as ter
rifying as an army with banners, they
will sojOurn on a certain day at the
Macon fair-the Smithsi
AS on that fateful day when the
tower of Babel began to rear its men
acing head toward the armament
confusion will be awfuny presenet The
cooling Of the lover in the sequestered
shade of the weinerwurst stand the
brassy cadences Of the spieler as lac
e21tols the virtues of Smiths vermi-
fuge or Smiths popcorn or Smiths
chilblain eradicators the raucous
clamor of. the mother as she pursues
the recall citrant small boy and the
dulcet tones of the orator as he
blazens the Hlustrious history of his
tribe, Will all and singular echo to the
explanatory impulse Of
smith! Smith. SMITH"
Did you ever ponder what an
enormous, irresistible power would be
launched on the world, if all the fam
flies boasting the unassuming patro-
nynic of Smith and its numerous
etyn0 logical progeny should merge
into one mighty army, having wealth
and initiative and impulse in COM
mon? Well, if they harbored designs
against any specific government. the
doom OF that government would be
written, for the simple reason that no
nation of which we have cOgnizance,
would be able to muster a force large
enough to repel their invasions.
1t Is extremely fortunate that such
a terrific and all-demoraIizing worlds
war as is here suggested, will never
threaten society with disintegration.
Why? For the very fundamental and
remarkable reason that the people of
WI q nv no
waters of the blue Zambesi or the
turbid waves of old Father Mississippi
are kept in cohesive entity and given
the fmpregnable individuality of a ma
ton by the fnnumerable Smiths dis
tributed throughout their midst and
running the capacity of station from
the hostler to the retired capitalist.
Now. it is obvious that any conspiracy
to withdraw these polyglOt Smiths
from their divers allegiance and fuse
them into an all-conquering host
would fail mcontinently, because no
patriotic man, least of all a Smith, is
going to turn against the land which
has nourished himself and his for
bears, even though he be marching
side by side with brethren all of his
own name.
the myriad tribe of Smith is given an
estimable distinction over those of
other less forceful '4entitlements. "
This phase revolves around the theory
that each mans name represents some
condition or characteristic of his re-
mote ancestry.
With this fact in mind, look at your
dictionary, if you own a recent one
and find the definition of smith" In
bread, generic terms it is given as "a
maker Of anything" You win not
find it necessary to hunt for a defini-
ton of maker" since even a school
boy can give us, accurately, its mean
ing. In other words, the man who
carries the n1elodious cognomen of
Smith may fiatter himself that his an
eestors bore an excellent reputation in
the society of their time. They were
not drones nor laggards. They were
workers. they made" something. It
may have been in an hum bic way, but
at least they deserved credit for ac-
tivity as opposed to idleness, and am
bition as opposed to Indifference.
They may have made money-let US
hope they did SO honestly they may
have made books-lct Us EOpa that
they we're good readable ones; they
may have made butter and llay-in
this they were distinctly useful: they
may have made horSesh Oes-it may
have been a Smith that shod the steed
of Charles Afartel. and aided in the
Mahomet. Whatever they made.
whether friends or failures, they
made something" They We're not
barna cles. nor parasites. nor him
ORANGES in the degree that strenuosity
counts for progress.
They did not becueath to their de-
scendants the Tnany-sylla bled, mellow
toned names which many of our mod
err families bear, but they did hand
down a legacy of industry and enter
prise, and. even in rogues we are
bound to admire these qualities In
SDlte of the obl0quy which some pec-
pie reflect on this sturdy ancestry by
inserting a hyphen between Smith and