The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-05-01
ON SECOND THOUGHT
By JAY Z. HOUSE
(From Fh,ladelphia Public Ledgsr.)
By JAY Z. He

An editorial coadjutor propounds
the question as to whether the cleo
torate is purchasable to the extent that
a national election could be swung by
the crude use of money and has asked
us to answer il. We doubt that our
opinion will be accepted as conclusive,
but it is a great pleasure to reply in
the negative Taking it by and large,
we have no exalted opinion of the cleo
torate, but only comparatively small
segment of it is for sale at that price.
Despite the mystery in which the
common or garden type of mind
clothes them, the processes of politics
are exceedingly simple. Elections
yield to the personal touch and 1t is
the most potent influence in affairs.
because he has placed certain in
fluential persons Under obligation to
him. In the practical working out of
the system the county boss owes some
thing to the state boss, the precinct
worker owes something to the county
boss. various members of the prole-
tariat owe something to the precinct
worker. In a political campaign the
state boss passes the word to the
country boss, who relays his instruc-
tions to the precinct worker who, in
turn, lays down on the proletariat.
The political game has many ramifi-
cations. but that's the process skele-
tonized, boiled down and cut to the
bone.
No trouble at all. We strive to serve
the public in a practical way. Having
done so. we shall proceed to tighten
the general gloom with an unparal-
leled display of wit and humor.
p Every man is on trial before jury
composed of the women of his neigh
borhood, and the probabilities are that
the verdict will be guilty as charged"
The Cultured Sconndrel!
Sir-"It has been drawn to my at
tention." as a subscriber TO a clipping
bureau would say. that you have put
yourself on record as admiring, or not
admiring, as the case may be, my use
of the useful whatever-it-is (sic), and
that you would feel more or less gratc-
full If some one would put you hep to
what it is. Now, If there is one thing
/ like more than another it is some
thing else-the quest of useless know
edge, for instance. Far be it from me
to hold aloof. So, here's what 1 know:
SIC. adv. L. sic. OIL. seic slice, so,
thus, Isl, locative form OF prom. stem
sa, that. x-ce, demonstrative suffix.
If after all you are a good editor.
then as a reward you shall have the
privilege of paying the funeral ex-
penses of a certain school teacher, now
awaiting sentence. who put me up to
this. CHI
1t may interest c H. F. to know that
his communique on Mormonism
brought protest from an indignant
reader who, very properly We think.
took the ground that it was not up to
the moral standard OF the Public
Ledger.
The luck is not equitably distributed:
some men have 1t all. We've been try
ing for months to arouse somebody to
indignation. We have tried hard to
achieve the reputation OF being an i'm
moral person who laughs at all the
sacred things. Except the woman who
wrote in to tell us we are an ass, we
haven't stirred a soul. Along comes
G. H. F., nonprofessional, who is SO
TO speak, not in the business at all, and
with one swing enbeds his pick in the
four-foot vein of trouble.
Observations of the CaIlowhiIl Thistle.
Go ahead. do your fellowman a
Kindness, and then whine about the
kick you get for it.
When a woman is in possession of a
fact she does not like to own up to sine
calls 1T her woman's instinct
little learning is critical thing.
THE THISTLE.
Another of the inviolable rules Of
dramatic production is that the I'M
Gle Toms Cabin" company gives the
longest street parade and the poorest
show.
Readers of the column are familiar
with our grievance against Leonard
Wood, as his campaign committee has
nicknamed him. The refusal of
Leonard, with whom we were once
hooked up in speaking program, to
laugh at our jokes left US bitter and
,resentful. 1t has seemed to be our
duty to oppose his nomination.
But we are frank to say we deeplv
regret any duty the Performance of
which places us with Senator Borah
1ndianaoplis-"A guy can't get no rest
here" Charles Pierson, livery barn watch
man, told police after he had peered into
the bore of dangerous looking nistols nnd