The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-06-04
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY e. HOUSE.
trrom rhiladelphis Public Ledgerl

Mr.. Will H. Hays's plan to make
Mr.. Charles Evans Hughes permanent
chairman of the Chicago convention
impresses one as a neat ana tasty ply
Of masonry. MIR. Hays is master
hand with the trewel and mortar. lie
is a demon worker when it comes to
Matching the cracks. and he can de-
| tect a fissure in the defense with the
naked eye. But, from time to time, {
occurs to us that ne is not always
happy in the selection of his material.
Not that we have anything against
Mr.. Hughes. He is a great and good
man. But a national convention is, at
| best a sad spectacle. Why further de-
press the spirits of those who attend it
! BY compelling them to listen to q long
i speech by Mr.. Hughes?
intellectually, Mr.. Hughes is one OF
natures giant contributions to his
time. He is keen, .suave, polished and
1mpecca BILE. There rests upon his pub
! lie career not the shadow of ques-
tionable deed or a coarse act But he
lacks the wallop. What is needed to
jazz" the Chicago convention into an
ecstasy OF deiirium is a rough-and-
tumble orator who knows, the names of
the patron saints of his party and who
can wave the old flag with both hands.
We have commented upon the skill
of MIR. Hays in the use of troweI and
/ mortar. In addition, he is, of all the
titular heads his party has known, the
most careful. He is the old. original
Safeguard and. at the same time, a
stage director of such skill that he
makes David Belasco look to his
iaurels. When Mr.. Hays gives a show
the mechanical effects work without
creak!ng and soft lights endow the
spectacle with the warm tints of the
rose.
We attended enc of Mr.. Hays's
dress rehearsals while age. 1t was
a most felicitous occasion. If we have
not hitherto publicly expressed an APP
probation of his hospitality. we wish
10 dc so now. But we noted one
thing: no orator who served the occa-
sion was permitted to follow the trail
of Republican glory further down the
llne than the epoch made vital by
abraham Lincoln. They all began at
Washington and stepped at Lincoln.
10 nave mentioned Grant would have
=. involved some reference to Garfield,
Blaine and Logan. To have spoken
OF these would have made it obligatory
upon the speaker to carry the Sc
Iauence of Republican achievement
thru Mckinley to Roosevelt and Taft.
somewhere along the line a Earring
note might have communicated itself
to the audience. And Mr.. Hays saw
! to it that the hand that might have
J struck the Earring note was stayed be-
fore it fell.
We give it to Mr. Hays. More than
that, we arise from our comfortably
, redundant position on the chaise
: Tongue and hand it to him.
What do you suppose 1t is cost
3 ing the Lit'ery Digest to poll the coun-.
t1-x-p a
haven't an idea, but a great deal more
I than it is worth. we dare say. Finding
out who the country, ostensibly, wants
for president after the delegates have
! been elected impresses itself upon our
! too practical mind as zero in expense
. | accounts.
t We have stood valiantly by Mrs.
. Fannie Danielson- Hurst in her some
what irregular conjugation of the mar
E ried state. But we warn her now that
! she is going to lose an adrnirer If she
i doesn't let the old heart songs alone.
d In novel. serially current in one OF
+ | tEe magazines Mrs. Danielson-1i Hurst
e speaks frreyerently, almost contemptu-
I ously of Darling Sue"
! Musically considered Darling Sue
: may very well be a trivial and trashy
e composition. 1t is possible the words
y of the ballad are prattle. But it is
: the best song ever written Tor the per-
sonal use of the young man whose
!. lady friend has just closed the gate
: upon him.
J. We continue to poke our way thru
: the nists of the yesteryears DO young
men nowadays, we wonder. still recite
to their young women the two verses
e Joined together by their author under
{ the caption Fate? We used that
. act extensively, and it was one of the
: best in our limited repertoire.
The agent out ahead of the show
: usually is pretty enthusiastic concern
/ ing the merit of his attraction, but he
: has nothing on the airl who has an
! out-of-town friend coming to visit her.
7 "A man is just naturally out OF iuck.
) If he is duh the people laugh at him;
if he is smart they hate him.