The Topeka state journal., 1919-12-16
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY E. HOUSE.
= (From Philadelphia Public Ledgsr.)

The question as to whether therewas
been a break" between the president
and Colonel House enchains our fancy
not at ALL. II there has been no
break" there probably will be- Every
great man requires the services of q
sacrfficial goat upon whom his OBJ
vious '-boners" may be unloaded. In
the nature of things, the s. &. must be
an intimate friend deeply in the con-
fidence of the great man. Colonel
House was definitely slated to be the
capra hircus of the Wilson administra-
ton when the public was permitted to
learn that he was the presidents most
intimate adviser.
There are various thankless tasks.
We recall that of standing guard over
friend far gone in intoxication as one
OF the most exasperating of these.
Saving a woman from the beating her
husband has determined TO give her is
another That engaging the man who
is trying to make life soft for his
children is still another. But the most
thankiess task, II the grammatical in
discretion be permitted. is that of be-
ing confidential adviser to great
man, real or assumed
Mr. Bryan thinks the Democrats
may win il they will permit him to
designate the campaign issues Mr..
Bryan was permitted to designate the
campaign issues for period of years.
And everybody remembers what hap
pened to the Democratic party
The point of the matter, however. is
; not the obvious one protruding from
the preceding paragraph. The point
is that Mr.. Bryan. in contemplation OF
a return trip. is clawing at his cere-
ments.
We thank tire telegraph for its ser
Amos Pinchot. The columns filing
system is so inefficient that we had
| tcmpora mislaid Mr.. Pinehot, a bit
| of carelessness which we deeply re-
GREETED. In times past and gone he
/ served the column almost as well as
| William Jennings Bryan and the Sui
! tan of Turkey and. since he is once
more engaged in the organization of a
new political party. may do so again.
The rioting-we pause at n safe dis
tance to observe-the rioting in the
| Contemporary Club continues. and the
fear that somebody's feelings may be
hurt is being generally expressed
! We yield once more to the insatiate
/ demon of curiosity and wish to be re-
garded as first subscriber to the
! literary venture, The Life of a Typi-
ing compiled by couple OF New York
gents.
But our admitted curiosity concerns
itself not at all with the thought you
have in mind. We merely wonder
whether the typical "Foilies" girl is
as drab and uninspiring as she reveals
herself to chance acquaintances.
The nature of one of the ''funny''
stories the president told Senators
| Hitchcock and Fall has been revealed.
1t was. as we had suspected. the one
| about the Irishman. We take it the
one denied the publicity it justly
merits was that of the Denver news
paper man.
Or it may have been the one about
the young married couple. The presi-
| dents story about the young married
/ couple is a pussy swallow.
! Meanwhile. we revise our estimate
of a man of leisure. You may recall
one who had time to play n game OF
three-cushioned billiards. We now re-
gard him as one SO richly endowed
with idleness as to permit him to sit
through a pool tournament.
The year draws to a close with n
certain distinction. We recall no other
in which educated money received SO
many rebuffs in the speculative arena,
or elsewhere.
The Republican national convention
| will be held in Chicago. but there will.
we fancy, be no repetition of the em-
barrassing incident which for a time
draped the convention of 1916 in 4
shroud of gloom. For a brief period
on Wednesday of the convention week
| of 1916 every bar in town ran out of
Johnny Walker" For once Chicago,
SO to speak, felt humbled to the dust.
We shall make one more attempt
to elude the eagle-eyed proof desk IL
we fail this time we give 1t up. 1t il
| "frankfuters." not "frankfurters," the
Walnut street place is advertising.
| We are not so sure, trespassng for
the moment upon the prerogatives OF
the floor above. that peace is essen
tial to baseball" That seems to be
the view of all the sporting experts.
We have noticed that fight invari-
ably outdraws a lawn party.
! Baseball gets its impetus from the
hope, rising and falling In the breast
| of every spectator. that the umpire
| will be beaten up by player or sert-
ously injured in some other way.
Ho humi Nothing to do till tomor-
row. That is to say. nothing unless
we are called upon to explain what we
did with the ~ we had last week.
TT y