The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1920-05-17
A Matter of
Common Sense

From the Scientific American Of
May 1.
our correspondence page this week
carries an example OF the Ignorance
on the part or one who should be |
~reasnably well Informed on topics Of
genera informaiion-an example ,
which. as the ma points out who
brings u to u attention. r. by an
near one Of b most horrible things
OF the sort that could well be- imar-
lined.
When We first read the clipping IN
question we could not believe II rerr
uinc-we suspected That some bright
litue practical Joker was having his
fling al the speaker for presenting
sach a subject On such an OCCASION.
hut on second thought when We real
iacd o easy Il WAS by changing q
word here and invsrting a phrase
there, 10 reconstruct from this puddle
Of balderlaah b actual speech Of
the gentleman who was thus misre-
presented. We decided uhat The gem
was what 10 purpoIrcd 90 Qe-an
honest effert Of come 0ver-ambltious
and uniformed cub reporter to re-
produce what he thought he heard
on a subject which meant absolutely
nothing 10 him.
Taking this FOR granted We want
10 moralizc q bid on the text which
is thu presented. % - PERTAINS not
surprising that "a person who can read
and write should, in this era of en-
~iKhtcnment. nave cscapp COutIrf
with the fundamental facts N the uni-
verso. To De sure 10 seems as though
anyone who L. 81 an hterafe SHOULD
have had 81 brought TO his attention
that die earth rVtatcs on lts axis ana
revOlyes around the sun; that "a times
Loco equals $4,000. that the sun, with
respect 10 the earth. Is fixed Ia space.
that space Is measured IN miles. and
not In miles per year, that the earth
II not a lighted body unless his
phrase b. 20 be interpreted as lighted
By the SUM- in which event the Other
planets are likewise liEhtcdo bodies,
that II the earth were placed Ia the
center OF "a hollow sun Il could rotate
at a given distance from the suns sur
face only II that distance were the
determined by the given condi-
tons, M that In this event there
couldn't be 200, 900. miles or Zoo
900 Inches len over; and even that
zoe light years. instead of being "a
large astronomical quantity, Is "a toier-
ably small one.
But our modern scheme Il ecuno-
mics Is such that nobody is under
any compulsion TO know these things
unless he wants to-he can make a
~ HN"E HN NAN ANNA AMHMN NI
luxury. without knowing that the
earth iH round and that the lumln-
aries OF day ana night do not move
IN the way that appearances would
Indicate, Nh may even argue that
"a Is entirely respectable for "a person
10 devote so much OF his time to the
things THAI do matter In his daily life
hat he has no time lett 60 give 90 the
things that do rot so matter.
but ID is eth trUNIfHHfr ma 80
spectacle 90 discover that such nn out.
raEcoua perycralon OF facts ard com
mon sense can he written by "a re-
porter, get past his supeuors and run
b Estmut Of the linotype and the
proof-rcader ana the makeup man
Wlih"ut meeting "a single soul who i4
competent 10 expose %.
The thing happened in a rather
small aud out OF he way town. g.
wonder whether 10 might not lust asa
easily nave happened ln "a bigger ana
morv prominent place. To list what
extent are we 10 conclude that people
VINO cannot receive ana hold thr
Hpukrn work fauy more accurately
man this reporter has done arc Or
eup'ing places where thcy must nct
on b spoken word.
70 Just what extent are we 10 am
pose that there are at large in tb,
community. people occupying reapon
aihle places, on whose s~tuterhents Ne
must mnfn or lesH depend who can
make such statements ~ the one about
ne sun aud D earth ana tho moo. or
lhr on about "a hundred ana nny
hilnon a year. without anita
maucaily realizing that tncso gtpfo
mentA simply 90 MOI. make souse.
70 what extent DO the Alhuuuorqr.
iepofi"f and rompositor and render
represent me standard produce of or-
modern schpni FyaiemY ~ nuvbodr
can give ur an encouraging answer
(, 49, queries We should b. greatly
heaftcned 20 have ham 90 81.
II the human race h r..,llv ,,,,
~ IN uif direction indicltad b. ibts
tW Hffs toward The a~chieVomnnf M
M 4atNF1lnaily Thin UPPER srut ~
~ Who know every f5linr a,,t =
'eH'uuAi general maas WHO know nom.