The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-08-09
ON SECOND THOUGHT
5Y/JAX E. HOUSE
(Fron PhiiadeIphia> Public Ledssf.I

Meanwhile. we wish it distinctly I'M
derstood that the demand for a tour
of the country by Mr.. Harding doesn't
proceed from the column
We are, as most readers of the col
! umn know. always reluctant to discuss
politics and politicians. But we ask
that those who read il, IL such there
be. bear with US while we express the
Senator Gore. To US the failure of
/ Oklahoma to return Senator Gore is
more than a. blow. II almost gives us
pause.
The "shortgrass" country. in the act
of expressing its emotional excuses at
the polls has filled the sails of many
unseaworthy gentlemen But give the
'shortgrass" credit. once its affec-
tons have been spent in public exhi-
billions of fondling and oscillation, ii
sinks them as ruthlessly as any pirate
of the Spanish Main.
! Meanwhile, as we weep with and
for the senator from Oklahoma, we
direct attention to the fact that there
still is much to be done. The work
might well be extended to Idaho. Ne
dozen others - the prairie and pla-I
| teau states. 1t takes time Now is
none too soon to begin.
| 1t is, perhaps, unwarranted assump-
I ton on the part of a thick" reporter
to criticiz, the New York newspapers.
but IL We are any judge of news values,
the epic of the triumphaI return of
! Doug and Mary was grossly overwrit-
/ ten. We CHANGED to be a casual OBJ
server of the parade up Fifth avenue.
1t consisted Of brass band and four
motorcars.
/ As one who has had opportunity to
observe the "ballyhoo" in many of its
manifestations, we claim-a brass band
is out of all proportion to four motor
cars.
1t is pertinent in this connection
! that none save the few New Workers
| VINO were on the avenue turned their
| heads to view the spectacle, or gave it
| more than a passing glance. Great
| throngS of middle west buyers gave it
either the most casual attention or
permitted it to pass unnoticed. And
| the middle west is the heart of the
Doug and Mary country.
We should not go SO far as to say
the dew is entirely off the rose, but
the precipitation is lighter than it was
Those who read the column may re-
call the furore we managed to stir up
over the well known "mousetrap'' QUO
! tation- 1t was. from publicity stand
point, the most successful bit of agi-
tation we have induced in fourteen
months. 1t finally was decided that
Emericon wrote it, Ebert Hubbard and
considered in the circumstance. A
friend has sent us Mr.. Hubbard's re-
Elections on the incident after 1t had
died natural death. 1t may be of
passing interest, and we reproduce 1t.
What Hubbard Said About 1t.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a great
imam. We all admit that. But there
are good many things he might have
said and would have said if he had
happened to think of them
The mousetrap crack-out-o f-the-box
caught a lot of literary mice intent on
orphic cheese.
One thing. trivial. of course, and not
worth mentioning-an that is why
write it downs that the mousetrap
CUFF isn't true.
No one will make a path to your
door nowadays. no matter how good
your mousetraps are, unless you ad-
vertise them widely and extensively
land arrange to have a free lunch at
the moustrap factory with motor cars
to meet all visitors at the railroad
lstatioR.
/ Good mousetrap factories have con-
crete walks and Turing flowerbeds
lalong the way, where hollyhocks grow
lush and lusty.
The men who have made the best
monsetraps the world has ever seen
have usually languished in garrets,
or were forgotten in their sylvan dales.
the tall uncut. showing not a foot
print, surrounding them on every side.
! Hubbard rests somewhere at the
bottom of the sea. but, before he went.
he uttered a number of mouthfuls.
Mrs. Chaplin says, her husbands al
legged cruelty was mental, not physical
AS We read her petition. Charlie was
so stingy he wouldn't hit her with a
custard pie.
We quarrel with the phraseology of
the headline writer's who make 1t ap-
pear that the New York. Democrats
have Endorsed 2.75 beer. No party or