The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-10-07

From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
X xR. D. G. PHILLIPS-the David
MI Graham who has charged the
v L Senate with treason and Ameri-
ca with being Denmark in sad state of
decay-has now written book to prove
that women are 4 failure in the United
States. undertaking provokes discus
sion. Discussion stimulates sales. Sales
mean royalties. Mr.. D. G. Phillips should
reap the reward of automobiles and other
Injuries from his new venture. But 1t is
improbable that there will be general
agreement as to the guilt of the accused
The American woman is foolish and
vain. according to the Phillips philippe.
In addition she is usually a. liar and
loafer She. is rarely a cook, and civil
lied man cannot. as all of us know, live
without cooks. Moreover, she is gay
and insouciant squanderer of the means
Of her hapless mate. She disregards the
warning of the writer Of savings bank
advertisements who truthfully points out
that the pathway of thrift leads to indie
pendence, while the toboggan slide of
unthrift leads but to grave In the pot
ters field. And then there are her NOR
ais They are, often, no better than they
ought to be. Not infrequently they are
a good deal worse than that. "She is
hopeless,-the American woman-"and
her vanity is triple-plated and copper
riveted." The attack lacks the Attic
quality of elegance, but meets the re-
quiements of the rule of composition that
recommends clarity above all things. The
reader feels sure that Mr.. Phillips has in
some way acquired what is vulgarly
called a crouch against the mothers OF
men," Yet all of 'em cannot be said to
have lived in vain since one of 'em con-
tributed D. G. to world standing sadly
In need of scolding.
,"Why Is it that married women spend
so much time in the sick bed or by it, -
thunders Mr.. D. G. Phillips. The anx-
ious inquirer learns In the paragraph i'm
mediately below the disturbing question
that 1t Is because they will not work,
will not walk, will not take any care
of themselves. and like to be cuddled by
doctors at from 50 to IS per visit. while
nobody works but father to supply the
cash to foot the bills for the coddling.
1t is all so utterly depressing! Some
one protested against dramatic criticism
on the ground that it made him ashamed
Of himself, when he enjoyed the play
prodigiously, to learn from the critics
next morning that he had Wasted his
money to witness a performance that
could not fail to bore any intelligent per-
son. Many of Mr.. Phillips readers, If
they are persuaded by his argument, will
be Inundated to feel that they should
have been hectoring Beatrice about her
lack of excuses for existence instead of
sitting out with her in the moonlight and
increasing her vanity by boosting her
charms and counting the disaster of a
life time in debt by trying to annex her
future bills to mass of outstanding OBJ
ligat ions already large enough to breed
diat engagement.
Mr. Phillips in a burst of righteous in
dignation declares the American woman
nothing more than a "doodle-wit" The
term does not occur in the dictionaries,
and presumably does occur only in burst
of righteous Indignation. While the doo-
dlewit is an ,anthropological specimen
not hitherto encountered, the reader will
feel sure, from the context and the evil
dent state of mind of the writer, that
the word describes an undesirable citizen
of. the feminine gender, whose general
cussedness is such that the lexieugra-
piers furnish the author with no term
sufficiently condemnatory to fit the case.
| 1t is melancholy to feel that many of us
have a doodlewit in the house, and lured
| her there when we might have let her
alone for some other mental incompeteI
| to attach himself to. 1t Is distinctly dis
concerning for some of us to feel that we
have fatuously asked ourselves the ques-
| ton:
| f''What is a table richly spread
| without doodlewit at its head?"
| How many bright young men, let us
pause and ask ourselves. are now avoid
| ing the cheer of the barroom and fire.
quenting the savings bank In the hope of
building home which--alas and alack--
'ili be nothing more than a high-priced
doodiewit nest? Better be jocund with
the fruitful grape than sadden after
/ none, or bitter fruit?"
And yet taking US by and large-the
100, 5000, not the muck-rakers-we are a
happy people even II delu f'n6 ~ c.'r
happiest decisions Is tina tbs as3ss