New-York tribune., 1919-12-20
BY Rebecca Drucker

VEN HhS IN COMMON SENSE. BY T.. w.
howe Alfred A. Knopf New York
The most astonishing thing about the
collection of aphorisms by Ed Howe
entitled "Ventures in Common Sense"
is the introduction, by II. L. Mencken
At least one reader, immensely keyed
up by Mr.. Mencken's divertng prefa-
tory tootlings, is hurt and bewildered d
by the fatness Of Mr.. Howe's subse-
quent solo performance What is Mr..
Mencken's gift of second sight that
grants him vision of Mr.. Howe as the
pathfinder of the critical spirit in
America, one of those who are demol-
ishing Philistinism with relentless wit
and realistic thinking?
Mr. Howe has some fame as a home
spun philosophers sage of the alfalfa.
By homeIy aphorism and pointed say
ing, through "The Atchinson Globe" and
later IN his own weekly, he has dis
seminatcd native wisdom far and wide.
II has been the talent Of the long line
Of homespun philosophers we have bred
that they were able by some salt of
wit to give new relish to an old saw
What they lacked in depth they mad 2
up in point. But point is precisely
what these apothegms lack. Here is
every blanket assumption clothed in
sententiousness, every triteness uttered
IN tones of revelation. every virtue
made dull Page bv page this 70 Is
itself up into monumental achieve
ment in banality.
The undiluted statement that honesty
is the best policy appears at least forty
times in these aphorisms, unqualified
by any realization that what has been
agitating mems souls for thousands of
years has been the search for new light
on what is honest. Mr. Howes own
conception Is the simple Yankee one ex-
pressed in his succinct aphorism "The
long and the short of it is, whoever
catches the fool first is entitled to
shear him"
There is the flavor of the Corn Bell
IN this stuff, but who shall say where
the Corn Belt begins and ends in Am
erican thinking The Corn Belt est
mate OF imponderables is the estimate
of all America. And the appalling thing
in all this is that this common sense
that Mr.. Howe avows is the common
sense by which America lives.
Consider this for profundity f
thinking: zone man may make mu h
Of a garden, while another will neg] .ct
1t. The industrious, thoughtful man
will weed and prune, water and cIlti-
vate, destroy natural enemies, and en-
courage natural advantages. He may
easily know what is best to do; mil
lions of men gone before have demon
strated the rules by which he will
inevitably succeed or fail. Life is as
simple problem as garden Its
rules are known beyond question. No
one need go astray. Industry, fairness
and common sense bring certain re-
suits; idleness. carelessness and i'm
politeness bring certain inevitable re-
suit" etc. And this is not an example
selected in malice.
There are few major concerns Of
men on which Mr.. Howe does not de-
liver pronouncement. OF women, Mr.
Howe says: eve talk a lot about a
woman influencing her husband and
making a man Of him, but no man ever
made a success Of marriage and Of life
who didn't influence his wife and con-
troll her"
Yet though all his wisdom is care
fully catalogucd under politics, reli-
gion, liberty, literature, philosophy, etc,
the synopsis of it all is included in only
few statements. 1t comes to a
thoroughgoing dislike Of artists, edu-
Gators and dissenters of every kind
and an intense admiration of business
success. The shoddiness of our edu-
cational system is marvelously illu-
minated by such plain speaking as
this: II have never known a unver
sity professor to be decently fair in
his comments upon those who succeed,
except as teachers or writer's; they are
as bitter as theologians because of
lack of success. Members of both
classes knew what they were doing
when they began learning their trades.
They had choice of professions as
other men have. 1t is their fault that
they chose theology or professional
careers. They knew they are not; as
rule, we'll paid. And. having chosen
their beds, they should lie on them
with more grace"
And here, without squeamishness, is