The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-11
KANSAS COMNENT

THE BUSTED STEERING GEAR.
When the physicians and surgeons
had pasted together the remains of
man who drove an automobile over d
Joy-rld1ng course in Seattle yesterday
the ruins signified by a sign that
statement was ready for the press;
This statement, being whispered
through the bandages. was to ttF eff
feet that the steering gear bro<e. 1t
explained the fact that six ladies and
crushed and otherwise mutilated in the
accomplishment of instant death or
permanent injury.
The Seattle tragedy, and sundry 9TH
ers which enliyen the days news from
all parts of the country indicates that
Joy ride is a joy ride, whether under
taken with benzine or distilled liquors
on foot, horseback, automobile speed
way or down the primrose pike which
leads between mechanical pianSS and
red Nominations A Joy ride is a joy
ride. and there always is a defective
steering gear before or after taking,
and always a bump and grinding noise.
and rush of the police to thrown
tarpaulin over the Something that lies
there, hurt to death
The person in Seattle who began a
merry evening with a party of lady and
gent friends was a skilled driver, and
ne nit 'er up with the confidence OF
long experience in burning speed ordi
nances-which, after all, are for plain
plugs who lack the nerve to negotiate
danger. The incident would have closed
In much glory and the conviction that
a good time was had, but for the fact
tnat the steering gear went wrong on
the top of a trestle, and the fire de-
partment and ambulance corps spent
haf the forenoon gathering up and
classifying what was left.
1t. would have been all right If the
steering gear had held, but it didn't
hold, any more than the steering gear
held for the man who could drink or
let 1T alone. who could play a stiff
game with his Saturday night pay
check, who could pass gay dogs COM
piiments with fiirtatious ladies. It
didn't hold, any more than it held for
the rising young statesman who could
see things differently after he got in
office.
Speed ordinances never would be
necessary, but for the unreliable quail
a sGe,,, of 80 steering 6;n1 gears: But history
steering gear. and neglect of the speed
ordinance, is the way to the morgue
ana the coroner's inquest, though it is
the necessary selection in the making
of JOY ride-Ottawa Herald.
o.
A REMARKABLE MAN.
The Atchison Globe. which came to |
the Gazette office contained more read
able matter than any other newspaper
of the big bundle that came in today |
It had more items. and those items |
were better written. than a New York
paper. Its news comes from more |
quarters of the earth than any paper |
printed in city of less than 10000 |
people, in the whole country. 1t is a |
'emarkable paper-but chiefly because
is editor is the most remarkable man
Kansas or the middle west ever has
He can do more work, and
10 1t better than any other newspaper
nan in the country.
Moreover, he has written the greatest |
lovel ever writtentsin or about Kan
las or the middle west. It stands and |
will stand for a generation, as the
great expression of this Missouri valley
n literature. Whenever one goes east |
n west among people who know books,
The Story OF a Country Town is
mentioned when Kansas is mentioned.
other books may come and go: the best
eller today is forgotten tomorrow. But
The Story of a Country Town" is en-
Turing. 1t is one of the ten best novels
written in America. 1t Will be read,
md its influence felt. long after frothy
popular books about the west have
'assed in the tide which brought them
o the surface.
Edgar Watson Howe, newspaper man
md author, is the best expression of
Kansas nationally, and so long as he
ives and works he will continue so to
Gazette.