The Evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1917-1920, 1918-06-13

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stirring up disorder. When he frs
became premier the syndicalist
thought they could do whatever the,
pleased so they declared a genera
strike to tie up every railroad in tn
country. But Clemenceau put dowi
disorder with an iron hand and KEEP
the trains running in spite of every
thing. His early associates wer,
shocked at this and one Of them cam,
to demonstrate with him and sough
to confound him by quoting from some
of his youthful speeches in defense o.
the right of revolution. Clemenceau
heard him patiently and then replied
''Mais, mon ami, you do not under
stand. l am the same man l always
was but now / am on the other side
of the barricade."
When / was teaching chemistry a
dozen years ago l thought as science
professors generally do that editors
were idiots. l was eloquent in my de-
nunciation of the asininity of the So
called scientific articles that appeared
in the popular press and my favorite
amusement was to take a newspaper
or highly respected magazine before
my class and have the freshmen point
out how ridiculous were the state
ments in its account of some alleged
discovery, how much Of it was false
and how much Of it was old.
A Change of Heart.
But when l was called from the
chemical chair to the editorial chair
experienced a sudden change of
heart or rather a change of attitude.
My predecessor in the editorial office,
one of the foremost literary men in
America, and formerly a college pro-
fessor, said to me as his parting ad
vice: do not order anything from a
college professor il you can help it.
They never send you what you want
and they never send it on time" l
thought him prejudiced and presume
he was-but l have found out that he
had reason to be prejudiced. 1 did not
take his advice-but 1 have often
wished / had. Nowadays when | meet
my brother editors we commiserate
ourselves over the impossibility of get
ting readable and reliable stuff on
scientific subjects and we hold up to
ridicule the article which some dis
tinguished specialist expects us to
publish Writers swarm into our Of
fees male and female, aged sixteen
to seventy willing and anxious to give
US stuff on chamber music, military
science, Gothic architecture, Japanese
prints, Cretan archaeology, Russian
ceramics, finance, housing,
etc. Some of these writers are com
petent to treat such technical sub
jects in way to interest and instruct !
on sound in the style of |
the average reader. But if we want !
Tyndall, something on insects in the |
style of Fabre, something on chemis- |
try in the style of Duncan, something |
on geology in the style of Shaler, |
on earthworms in the style
of Darwin, something on diatoms in
the style of Haeckel, we have to go |
after it and then generally fail to get |
1t. We are not after great men for, /
to be frank about it, the name of no |
man of science carries much weight |
on the cover of a magazine. One of |
the most popular newspapers of the
country publishes its scientific articles
under a pseudonym. We do not care |
In this case to get at the man higher
up" The man lower down will suit |
us if he knows how to read scien-
tif1c literature and how to write popu-
lar literature. Our colleges and uni
versities are turning thousands of
young men and women out who are or
should be trained in both these arts. /
Where are they? and why do they |
object to earning a little money in
their leasure hours? They are not all
capable Of doing original research.
They are not all busy in technical
work. They are. many Of them, Just
the sort of people who should serve
as the interpreters Of science, the mis-
sionaries Of the movement, the middle
men of the business, the conduit from
The source to the street.
The Quest for Good Material.
Every few weeks the editor or the
publisher drops into my Office and
says: See here, Slosson, we haven't
had any popular science articles in
ong time. The last number have been
poorly balanced. There must be lots
II good material coming out now.
can't you rustic up some of it?" And
smile encouragingly and say: 'Yes.
here is lots of it. I'll see If l can't
,et something" But when he goes out
tell over on my fingers-of one hand !
the names of those l can call on
ny heart fails me- There is Prof.
A.-one Of the most interesting talk :
RS l ever heard, one of the most {
writers ever read-I'm
fraid he is mad because after l had
egged him to write up some recent I
in his field of great popu- '
ar importance, sent back his manu- I
cript twice to be rewritten because