The Washington herald., 1918-12-20

Special Correspondent Of The Washington Herald.
New York. Dec. 1s.-There used to be
considerable spoofing OF spiritualists In
pungent paragraphs and zippy edito-
rails in New York newspapers. Even
the green cub felt at liberty to poke a
quib or SO at any story with the
psychic atmosphere.
Conditions have changed, however.
The other day a respectable old New
York Journal waxed facetious in the
editorial columns to the extent of a
half column at the expense of spirit
uallsts and their belief.
The storm of dlsapproval that came
down upon the newspaper by mail,
telephone and telegraph swept the edi-
torial advisory board off its feet.
Nearly half the city, II seemed. be-
lieved in spiritualism or believed that
II should not be held up to ridicule.
There were letters from plutocrats.
letters from classy East Side ad-
dresses, doctors, lawyers and mer-
chant princes, as well as from the
bourgeois. The letters were vigorous
and ominous. and left no room for
doubt that a similar course would
mean a loss OF circulation and adver-
tising.
1t was pointed out that no respect
able paper will hold the Catholics, the
Methodists, Presbyterians, Christian
Scientists or other church folk up to
ridicule, and consequently II was a
breach OF journalistic manners to scofr
at the spiritualists.
In a bit of back-tracki the news
paper pointed out that there are 1900
900 acknowledged spiritualists in the
world and that the article was not in
tended the way 1t was received.
1 am not a spiritualist, and l do not
believe I could ever become Interested
IN the subject, but the storm of pro-
test Is n healthy sign. 1t Is an indi-
cation that 1t is the twentieth century
and the thoughtful man will no longer
laugh or scoff at the religious belief OF
anyone.
William F. Kirk used to delight
Sunday newspaper readers with his
parodies on the popular sentimental
songs OF the day. It would be hard to
reduce the lyrics of the present-day
popular songs to parody. so much have
they improved. There is, for instance.
a new immediately-after-t song
which Is called 1.-The Rose of No
Mans Land" As a bit of lyric writ
Ing il stands as a striking example of
the improvement in Tin Pan Alley.
Here 1t is: There's a rose that grows
on No Mans Land and it's wonder
full to see, though it's sprayed with
tears. 1t will live for years in my gar
den OF memory. It's the one red rose
the soldier knows. it's the work of
the Masters hand; mid the wars
great curse stands the Red Cross
nurse; she's the rose of No Mans
Land"
The stop-the-war inventors have de-
serted the hotel lobbies. Now that
the armistice has been signed an en-
tirely new and infinitely more optim-
istic troup of untrammeled minds are
at work upon the matter of recon-
struction.
In every lobby there is the echo OF
inventions which will revolutionizc
virtually everything, and in the eco
| nomic developments of peace time n
becomes apparent that coal will lean
from cart to bin at the sound of a
whistle. motor cars will proceed n
couple of hundred miles on a pint OF
charcoal and elevators may be oper-
ated with an eye dropper full Of nitro
glycerine
All that new arrival has to do Ia
have complete privacy in the New
York hotels these days is to announce
that he is an inventor. Instantly the
throng scatters.
Before the armistice nearly every
other hotel guest had theories and
| actual inventions by which il would
| be possible to snap shove or blow the
Germans back to their unspeakable
source without the loss of life or the
expenditure of a single penny,