The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1920-12-24

why cannot the pencil punhsrr LET
the lAureis 20 10 the right ones Aa
the natural svoiutions Of history BE-.
stow thsmT Why must they persist
in trAnspoaiug It's factsf Arc They
bent on making history reverse ~
self instead ~ repeating itself
Yet when pr. Crane plays tho role
u coroner and makes up his yer
dict on the death OF Booze, he shows
disregard for the historic usshod and
the collective rights Of ''ihs terrible
army u progress" which nsfiouHy
reflects against his reliability az
writer. lie saya. 1T was not uhe r.
natscH. rnoraiistn and meddisrs who
took away our darling tsppie. II was
tho cold-hlooded scientists That
statement IN neither new nor true
The sam. statement In substance has
been previously made BY other writ
ers and speakers. Then why the
copyrish,7 Does hs think II can
give truth and historic frity 20 his
verdict
II ia not true. II IE not even .
good half truth. "a anyone knows.
with a. years OF active acauainiane,
with the lineup of this most stub.
born figh, Of the century.
Booza may be dead. but the corpse
seems 20 be very Slow In reaching
| the rigor morris stage, But in so faf
as he il dead. who caused his death !
IA for credit. II matters little
whether those who first jumped the
FOX and traiied him to the end. or
those who cut in on the chase just
in time 20 be in nj the Kill. shall
have the brush. Nevertheless. the
verdict IL an objectionable slight on
| the memory and vaiiancy OF the
Neal Bows. John r. Coughs and
others who headed the army of
progress. The true reformers are 20
glad there has been a kill and that
they have lived to see 1920. they are
not going to quarrel over matter
of credit There Ia glory enough
for all.
hut history iR another matter. II
il not To be used to wetblanltet tbs
worthy memory OF any man. II IL
not to be used az a vehicle TO carry
lies, haIftriiths or III Unbalanced state
mants Of truth to the coming genern
tons. IL liz concerned In the align
meht and relations OF all the facts In
the case. Even famous writer's can
not reckleEsly deal with those fact,
without challenge.
Winning the booze war was ~
much q composite victory ms winning
the world war. All contributed q,
nightly, tho some came into II .,
belatedly. that II is folly TO risk tn,
Job of fixing the ratio of credit which
belongs TO any single force. All CAV,
hand and but few were handicap
The "touaie-headed professors witt
their test tubes" ferrctinR out IN,
facts, gave invaluable aid in the crea
ton OF a literature during tho latel
stages of tho war which made tho 20
sition Of the fighting ranks impreg
nable. Insurance actunriea compiled
the figures which were valuable pri
marty 10 their companies, but earn,
into the fray with machine gun dead
Illness Efficiency experts succeeded
In purging the industry OF the couu
try from the palpable cause of II
weakness and 80 contributed not onl,
10 the strength OF their companies
but 20 the strength OF reforms cam
paign.
But valuable as they were, few o
them made tho facts. figures an,
conditions they discovered the basi
for any real. personal aggression
against booze. Indeed. some OF then
did their utmost to find reaaons 70
. legalizlng Il. The fellow that foun
the food content Of alcohol TO he r.
small that II would take u hogshea
d" Of booze 10 furnish n kiogram o
food is n good case in point.