The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-06-17
LVEO HFIEu TILL
Mrs. Nations Actions and Mo-
tives as Seen by Others.
Papers Everywhere Comment
Upon 'Smasher's" Death.
HER CASE is PROVEN
Even Critics Admit She Made
People Study Question.
Some Word of Praise in Nearly
Every Instance.
HER CASE is PROVEN

II seems a pity that Carrie Nalloil
IS not alive today to read the cCi1Ii me- =
upon her life and work Wnlcn 80 y.
her demise. The militant sinashsr
would smile at the acknowledging :
made by even those VINO crluclsS heI
i'm commenting upon her END.
Tho expressions of sentiment below
arc taken from papers printed Oulslu
Kansas. There was no enort 10 mo d
certain kind of sentiment, the express
sions being taken at random
Some writer's sneer at the motner-
L. old woman who caused so much eN-
element in Topeka few years ago
while others take her death as an
excuse to fling taunts at kansas buI
in nearly every case It is adInltteu
that she caused people to study the
Houor question And in making this
admission even those who crluclse
her most prove that her smashing
was not altogether VAIN.
The editorials follow:
Mrs. Carrie Nation showed the
amount of fame that strenuous
woman could get if she attacked a
subject that was debatable with an
a.. She literally carved her way to
fdme=Syracuse, n. Y, journal
Poor old Carrie Nationl Her hatch
ct was a proof that government by the
individual conscience means an
archv. Yet there are those that emf
pIoy other forms of lynch law Wne
looked down upon her.-Iroys N. \.
Her life was wasted in the effort
which no doubt was sincere, but very
misguided. Still, it will not be &C
cepted as a warning by others Wnc
are guided by similar lowly coneelV-
ed instincts. The world simply mas
one less honest, but disordered en-
cmies of general evil.-Auburn, n.
Y. Citizen
THAT she had been and was men
tally unbalanced all through her ac-
tive career is probably true. That she
was insane at the time of her death
nobody doubts. Yet her insanity was
so thoroughly analogous with some
lunacies that have made Kansas
famous that it has to be ranked in a
class by itself.-Brooklyn. N. Y,
Eagle.
according to the light that was given
her, as she might have said, she did
the best she could. That her man
ner Of working the reform she so ar
IDENTITY desired was a false one, was
perhaps her misfortune rather than
her fault and for that she should be
pitied.-Utica, n. Y, Observer.
With the passing of Carrie Nation
in LeavenWorfh, Kan, the country
loses one of its most picturesque
characters. From the time the Wig
orous Kansas woman smashed her
first saloon, until she wound up heI
career by hectoring the students al
Harvard from the chapel steps, she
has been one of those unique national
figures to whom the country turned
for diversion. and whom a good many
people believed in as earnest and
aspiring
In a sense, her success and noto-
riety shed a strange side-light on the
psychology of the American people
BE sufficiently bizarre and spectacular
n crowd The nlnzrc we
patrOnize. the books We read, testify
TO that fact. And if to your odditS
YOU add a strong moral motif, as die
Carrie Nation, the combination be-
comes irresistible to the American
palate.
she may have done good. too. He1
attacks upon saloons, her harangues
against the cigarette habit. and heI
denunciatiOn of various other fOllieS
or habits, as you choose to call them
glided lightly Off the mental backs OF
most people. But it is conceivable
that she impressed a few with the
wisdom and decency of restraint-sht
made them think, at any rate. AnC
when you can get people to thinA
about things that can be misused OF
abused, you have accomplished some
thing in this world. whether you are
an American president with a talen
for mOralizing, or an humble Kansa.
woman whose seeming sole asset.
were SOUND ana LUZ 9----Allduld Con
stitutiOn-
Carrie Nation is dead. Her deatl
marks the end of a crusade that wa;
well meant, but unwise- Though &C
tuated by a great moral purpose, he
methods have been so QuiXotic as t,
hurt the cause she sought to help, ant
have aroused antagonism and hatred
instead of contributing to a rationa
working out of the liquor problem.
Alcoholic intemperance viii hardly
be cured by Incorporate and vindic
tive utterances and acts on the par
Of temperance workers Most reform
ers appreciate that fact, and have beer
as little in sympathy with the prac
tees Of Mrs. Nation as have the bar
keepers whose bottles she smashed o.
the inoffensive citizens whom she at
tackled for drinking and smoking.
The world, in spite Of alcoholic
Statistics really seems to be progress