The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-04-26
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY z. HOUSE.
tFrcm Philadelphia Public Ledgsr.l
Old Doc McClIntock's SEVENTH Story.

The column today observes its an
nual custom of printing Old Doc Nc
as April rolls around. we resurrect
this classic of the haymow from the
limbo of memory and polish it anew
for another and rising generation OF
newspaper readers. We offer il today
for the consideration OF the columns
new clientele.
Two natives of ''smali-time' Mis-
souri, community were arrested for
fighting and hailed before justice of
the peace. The fact of the ''rookus"
was established by a dozen witnesses
and the identity of the aggressor had
been determined, but the casus belli
was still shrouded in mystery.
Finally the judge said, Why did
you hit him %
We'll. jedge.r said the combataut
defendant thus addressed, TN tell y
/ how it war. We war; a-playin' seven
up for % cents on the corner. / had
my last quarter up He war four and
war six He begged and 1 gin him
one. 1 led my trey and he fang the
deuce; led my king and he flang the
ace. Then. jedge, your honor. he
flang his queen and ketched my jack.
and then jedge, I hit him.
a busy community may also be de-
scribed as one in which a gent is COM
PEELED TO chase his own han.
We inquired a few days ago as to
the nature of the next wrong to be
adjudicated. The breaking off of ne
gotiationsl between the coal operators
and the miners reveals. It. The opera
tors want to raise the rent. THE
miners have been paying from IS to
sf2 a month for their houses" says
for them, and they naturally resent
any raise in rents" We should think
they would. The rapacity of the oper-
ators arouses our indignation, the
plight of the miners our sympathy.
Meanwhile, we go on looking for n
bay window large enough to seat two
Senator Hiram johnson has paid
his respects to the press. He says IL is
/ in the control of the Interests" to his
disadvantage. The senator-we hesi-
tate as we search for the word yield
intend to convey-the senator is bro
midic.
The allegation that the press is or
can be controlled is the Oldest of the
old stuff in the repertoire of dema-
gogy. 1t was in the medicine chest OF
every SNAKE doctor" when Rameses
was a boy.
Since Senator johnson has raised
the question, wa make bold to settle it.
The lily concealed IL not open hostility
of the press toward him is due to the
fact that the press doesn't like him.
Let it be understood the charge that
President Wilson is responsible for the
rail strike comes from the Republi-
cans We do not agree with the strik-
4 i've tn . nf
tentions, but we don't believe they are
blaming President Wilson. The men
on strike are not so lacking in graft
tude as to condemn the gentleman
who laid down in the heat of a cam
paign and rolled over for them
Furious as we are over the con-
spiracy to raise the rent on the houses
occupied by the coal miners, such fury
is as a healing lotion compared to
the outburst of indignation with which
we greet the latest outrage perpe-
trated by the Pennsylvania board of
motion picture censorship.
What was the nature OF the bastard
ly act? Why. the board actually CEN
sored 'Huckleberry Finn" Very few
of the ordinations agitate US, but this
is one occasion on which we see red.
II man is afraid to say It him.
self, he nearly always asks a newspa-
per to do it for him.
The fact that a man is downcast
doesn't necessarily mean he is in trou-
BILE. His feeling of depression may
have been induced by sight of him.
self in his mirror.
The trouble with the man who stops
smoking is that he is likely to regard
his act of abnegation as a virtue.
coiored veteran just back from
the other side when questioned about
an iron cross he was wearing. ex-
planned;
Boss. il was a extra decoration.