The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-20

| Among the successful business men,
farmers, mechanics and professional
men will be found most of the best
men, women and children in the
world./
Back of every good act is the con-
/ seriousness that it pays; that sober.
useful kind and honorable men and
women get something out of it more
desirable than the punishment that
always follows bad conduct.
The greatest objection to folly is
| that it doesn't pay; the vital thing
about good conduct is that it pays.
1t pays to grant the rights of others
! The people are as touchy about their
rights as they are about their women;
you can save time and disagreeable
controversy by being fair, and even
liberal The man you wrong will re-
sent your action, and the fight that
follows will injure you You can get
without much trouble all that is COM
! ing to you fairly. I do not care to fool
! any man: when he discovers 1 have
| fooled him, he will do me more harm
than my cunning did me good.
Half the disaster and honesty in the
world are due to carelessness. A con-
tract signed and witnessed is evidence
| that is rarely disputed. A year after
| a man has made a verbal agreement,
he begins to forget the interests of the
! other party to it, and invents clauses
in his favor which he says he dis
tinctly remembers, but at the begin
ming of a transaction men are willing
to sign a contract, and their intention
usually is good There is always a
temptation take advantage of the
careless men; be careful, and you will
save many men from the sin of rob-
bling YOU.
When they urge improvement in
the human race, Americans particu
larly specify more religion, more pat
riotism, higher education, more lib
erty, more love, more regulation of
the money power, etc What we
really need is more industry, more
plain common sense, more selfishness,
more politeness, more fairness, better
homes, better husbands. better wives
and children; a better, citizenship,
more practical education, less big nom
sense, and more efficiency.
The Reformers, with all their talk
of honesty. have made public ex-
travagance a greater menace than
private ills or graft ever were.
Most politicians are good fellows"
many of them are my friends, and
have voted for them because they
were as good or better than their OPP
ponents But I do not know one who
is not working for his own personal
interest. Anna bility is their trade;
they learn to control your vote and
mine with little favors and polite at
tention. They know their calling as
you know yours, from long practice,
study and experience; but always and
forever their object is personal pre-
ferment at your expense. They can
only prosper by public extravaganza.
Whatever a politicians pretenses may
be, we know from experience that the
tax rate steadily increases. His party
is exactly like the party you assisted
in turning out to oblige him, except
that it is a little more eXtravagant
and careless. The people have made
except politics, and this they must do
before they can expect change.
do not say an upright, Industrious
life will always insure great success:
only that an industrious and upright
life will result in more success than
vicious idle, careless life and is
easier.
I say that any man of average
health and intelligence may get along
in reasonable comfort if he will obey
the accepted laws and rules, and that
it is easier to obey them than it is to
disobey them.
Every good thing is finally accept
ed. and every bad thing finally re-
jected.
"Best Man Writing Today
Concerning Mr.. Howe as writing
man, Willard Wattles, an instructor
in the English department of Kansas
university, who spent his summer va
cation in the east, writes
There is a man in New York, H. L.
Mencken, who is beyond question one of
two or three men in America. whose eriti-
cal opinion is of high worth. There is
probably no other man anywhere better
informed on American or European litera-
ture, one who is more outspOken and
curate In his judgment, one who cares less
whose dfstfn guished and sacred foes he
walks on If he desires to speak the truth
Mencken is a man whom all the eastern
man sworn at and worn by with equal
, fervor. 1t is to my considerable humilf-
Mencken that I first heard of the high
position accorded in the east to our own
+. w. Howe, Of Kansas: and it was lately
in Mencken's office that he said: After
Theodore Dresser, who has his serious de-
fects, the best man writing in America to-
day is E w. Howe. He is the most in
teresting, the most honest and the best
artist"
/ Edward Box, editor Ladies' Home
/ Journal, says: Il wish thousands OF
young fellows might get hold of this
/ little book, and read and heed it. It's
a big little book"
The book will be sent by mail to
! any address for seventy-five cents by
Crane & Co, Topeka, Kansas.
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