The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-09-10

II Is OsteHlaIlouSly fllted up with un-
usual auxiliaries and trappings and
/ huge monograms, all to make it diff
ferent. 1t is less car in which to
/ ride than possession to display. 1t
/ is meant to excite comment and envy
and admiration. Behold. Solomon UP
to datei Who is the Queen of Sbeba
/ of whom this snowy automobile will
make conquest?
| For the spirit of Solomon, which
was the primitive oriental spirit of
extravaganza and display shines forth
from the possession of a machine I'M
| like that of this mans neighbors. 1t
is the same sort of exaltation and
elf-glorification that. builds ornate
mansions and wears superlative jew
| elry and keeps the man-milliners
rich by providing original gowns for
women who want to win the enyious
| glances of other women.
I OF course we have improved a bit
upon Solomon. carrying self-laudation
and self glorification a step further
/ by means of the hired press-agent,
society leader" and the big" business
man.
| What a hit Solomon would have
made in New York. with all of its
avenues of s-dissemination and
publicity promotion! Our first COM
son is that the persistence of vulgar
pride and vain-g glory and display thru
out the long centuries is a depressing
fact with which all shapers of thought
must reckon. Kaiser William II was
the twentieth century version of the
solomon style of king-glory.
In Arabian Nights Fashion.
We must not be too hard upon Solo
mon. His times and his tendencies
must be taken into account: this
| boastful picture of the Hebrew mon
arch in his posing and self-exaltation
| displays him not at his best but at his
worst. He is simply the vain and strut
| ting oriental potentate. 1t was and is
the way of the East and its peoples
| to love magnificence and might and
state and pomp. The man of power
there surrounds himself with trappings
! of splendor. The Arabian Nights and
/ the story of the Queen of Shebas visit
to Solomon are cut out of the same
piece of cloth. Both are essentially of
| the East, eastern-tho the new
rich 'rotter'-"goulash millionaire"
/ they call him in northumberland
| boasting of his wealth and purchases
and possessions, is 50 thoroly at one
| with them that a person wonders
whether, after all. there are any geo
graphical limitations to vanity and
| Solomon was undoubtedly the fore
! most monarch of his generation. His
| personal sagacity built dazzlingly
upon the solid foundations left him by
his father, David. His greatness titled
| the eye of his world. In addition to
the resplendant state of his court. he
| possessed a wisdom and intellectual
| brilliance and subtlety which appealed
strongly to people who have ever hon
ored wisdom.
An interesting echo of that fact is
| the prevalence throughout the Near
East today of tales Of Solomon's cum
ming and shrewdness, and even of his
magical gifts; for the Moslem folk
lore associates him with Jim and
| spirits and other-world powers. All
manner of grotesque and extravagant
stories concerning Solomon are to be
heard in oriental cafes and camps.
/ Traces of Solomon's building may
be found afar. He extended Israel to
with the region can withhold admira-
ton from the king who ruled from
the Red Sea to the Anti-Lebanon
mountains. Palmyra. ''Tadmor in the
wilderness" one Of the wonderful
ruins of the world. in the Syrian
| desert east of HONS, was built by
him. His hand was upon the fascin-
ating old cities of Petra and of Baal-
beck. He built a city at the head of
the Gulf Of Akaba. where the British
fleet kept rendezvous with its Arab
allies during the war. 1t was wide
spread kingdom that came under
Solomon's dominion.
His own palace was of dazzling
sumptuousness, and likewise the Tenn
pie of Jehovah that he builded. What
he did was all on a grandiose scale,
and witness the huge Quarrfes under
the city of Jerusalem, whence he ex-
! cavated building material. Most of the
| devious and mysterious tunnelings be-
meath the temple area were doubtless
of the same period.
Now, all that is left are the few
scrubbed stones, worn smooth by the
kisses of Jewish devotees,. known as
the "Wailing Place of the Jews
By present standards. Solomon's
| splendor would be condemned as So
cially negotiable. being merely for
his own glory. and notzfor the welfare
| OF the people. All his buildings were
at the cost and by the toll of the COM
mon folk, who had cause to complain
bitterly at the burdens they bore
Later, when Rehoboam came to the
throne, we get a glimpse from beneath
of the magnificence Of Solomon in the
toll he took of his subjects
'Her Majesty, the Queen"
History, however, was not written in
those days in terms of the common
people; so we have at length the story
of the impressions made by Solomon's
| glory upon another monarch, a wo-
man, the Queen of Sheba, whose femf-
cross Arabia to see for herself. The
/ inter-royal visits of Europe before the
war have ancient presidents.
! And the Queen of Sheba, whose
country was the hot and sandy land
/ of spices near the lower Red sea,
which we now know as the Yemen,
had a weary way to travel before she
reached the city of Jerusalem. She
had to go by camel-and 1 can testify
that camel-riding is not like a trip in
a private car or yacht. Moreover. the
blazing sun of Arabia makes no distinc-
ton between royalty and cameleers; so
that she paid price beyond the huge
| treasures she bore for her Journey.
by vast came1-train to the king Of
Israel. Then, as now, Arabia was tur-
bulent: the Yemenites today are fight
ing the British; and an army of Bed
ouins attended her majesty on her