Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1913-01-23
SHAW IS the premier
PANACEA|ST OF The AGE
Nothing Is Right But Himself,
the Famous q. Bernard
Believes.
From the Saturday Evening Post.

From the Saturday Evening Post.
The only thing in the universe
George Bernard Shaw thinks he per-
sonally could not improve upon ia
himself For all other doctrines. per-
sons, ereeds. landscapes, natural func-
ttons, policies, parties. food, clothing,
literature. political visions. sciences.
arts crafts, theories, philosophers and
any other demonstration of any field
OF endeavor in his own country, which
is England. or in any and every other
country. he is prepared to furnish
plans and specifications showing how
I he would make over anything and
everything according to his ideas, and
with great resultant Improvement and
incidental benefit to the human race,
OF course.
Holding himself apart as the one
perfect specimen OF the handiwork of
nature and the embellishments Of civ
tlization tnereupon, he is willing and
anxious to undertake the reconstruc-
ton and amendment Of all other ami
mate and inanimate things, OF all be-
liefs and all believers. On days when
he is feeling especially At 1t Is no task
for him to dash OF in a few hours a
comprehensive, detailed method for the
even when he is bit seedy he can
elaborate between breakfast and tea
project for the remaking of the eau
casian race-and not half try! The
remodeling OF a nation is but an hours
diversion for him. and the renovation
Of an Individual requires but a few
minutes thought.
He is the premier panaceaist of the
age He has Il remedy for everything
from social conditions to the courses
Of the stars. Nothing is right but him
self. Every time he leaves his home
on Adelphi Terrace. in London. he has
contrived new and important reform
before he reached the corner of Adam
street, and by the time he has turned
up the Strand and come to Trafalgar
Square he has torn the everlasting up-
holstery off the nebular hypothesis and
Is engaged on a device for slowing
| down the revolutions of the earth.
However, problems like this are of
no general interest; and he must be Of
| general interest-must Shaw-for he
has living to make. So he usually
dallies with the alteration Of the social
or such democracy as there Is to suit,
his judgment on the subject. Starting
early with the broad general PROPOSE
ton that whatever is is wrong, he
reached the conclusion that nothing
can be right until he Axes It; and he
has worked along those lines for years.
Every time he hands down an opinion
1t is final and irrevocable until such
time as he needs to make some more
copy on that phase of his subject
Wnen ne, being the court or last re-
| sort, revokes his former irrevocable de-
cision in such a manner as copy ne
cessities may demand, and gets away
| with it!
Shaw Is the most advanced and scien-
tific josher Of the day. He has the
wisdom, too. to josh himself on oc-
casions. not because he thinks he is
deserving Of the josh, even from HIM
| self, but because he understands the
human nature he pricks and prods
we'll enough to know that critic who
criticises himself gets further with the
ordinary subjects of hls censure or
analysts than a critic who spares HIM
self and never spares others Being
a critic. his chief aversion is critic,
and nobody can blame him for that;
for the self comp!acency of the usual
critic who sets himself up as Judge
ordinarily by standards Of his own
making-over the work Of others Jars
even lesser mentalities than Shaw's.
Oliver Wendell Holmes was class
mate of DIR. Charge at Harvard, and
according to the "reminiscences Of the
latter, the autocrat was as witty then
as later. One day the two were talk
ing metaphysics, when the bright
tongued little great man exclaimed, "In
tell you, James, what think meta
| physics is like. It is like man split
ting log. When it is done he has two
more to split