Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-15
CLEAR. CRISP AND CLEAN
CART BEFORE HORSE

NTISTAKING effect for cause, and
wi thereby proverbially putting the
AL cart before the horse, the corpo-
ration counsel of Chicago has asked the
management of vaudeville houses in
that city to refrain from making jokes
or satirical jests with the precious rich,
the immaculate public officials or the
altruistic captains of industry for their
butts. One would have expected a
more logical and orderly disposition in
the mental equipment of a corporation
attorney. Does he think that vaudeville
performers, who are not noted for orig
inal thinking-otherwise they would
not be vaudeville performers-are re-
sponsible for the rapidly growing pub
lie opinion which makes an audience
rise readily to quips and cranks ut
tered In respect of the wig of Rookie
= Teller, the haughtiness of Hetty, or the
flamboyant bulbousness IF a striking
feature in the physiognomical land
scape of Pierpont Morgan? The claim
that it is this kind of attack that in
flames the minds of ignorant people
and breeds anarchy is preposterously
absurd. Was ever such confusion of
ideas? The corporation attorney of
Packingtown thinks in a mist His
mentation is nebulous The Chicago
fog has interfered with his cranial
functioning.
The people are not melted to anger
against sO-called plutocrats because a
variety performer or a cartoonist
makes fun of them The liberty of the
stage is closely allied to the liberty OF
the pencil and the liberty of the press
Deprive the public of the privilege of
laughing when the song and dance
artist says that the man with
the wig is rocky feller, and
that's why he is rich, and the peo-
pie will certainly and surely be pro-
voked to a spirit of intolerance witt
men who represent conditions with
which no one could possibly find fault
if they We're not accompanied by the
other conditions now engaging the at
tention of the government; a constant
tender cv to disregard, thwart or ever
break the law, and a most alarming
and unprecedented increase in the num-
Der of children and young girls who are
at work instead of at school.
The corporation attorney of Chicago
ought to realize that envy and ridicue
are not such common human passions
as he thinks they are. They don't lie
near the surface, or America long age
of another revolution.
On the contrary, the American nation
is marked by spirit Of long suffering
and tolerance. Verify we arc a patient
people. Once in a while a few hundred
or a few thousand of us may get to-
gether and sing a translation Of tho
''Marseillaise" and that ends it, We
have let off steam Jokes and jests OIL
the vaudeville stage are much more
comfortable methods of expressing
Americas deeper thought on the socia
question than more strenuous method.
would be- We advise the corporation
attorney of Chicago TO refrain from
bottling up the funny man, otherwise
he may bring about the very result ht
breads.
To be sure there are people. ant
probably the Chicago official is among
them. who believe that President Nc.
Kinleys assassination might have beer
partly provoked by cartoons in yellow
papers. But there are cartoons ant
cartoons. No malignant cartoon O
Roosevelt has ever been published. The
cartoons of Mckinley were odious, ma
lignant, hateful, hate-inspiring, and
calculated to bring into disrepute the
Office Of chief executive. If Mckinley:
reputation for unpurchasable honesty
was fagrantly assailed by the Hears
cartoons, 50 was the dignity of tht
presidency, the greatest and most re-
sponsible Office in the gift of the Amer
Jean people.