The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-06-01
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY E. HOUSE
(From Philadelphia Public Lcdesr)

p. z. wants to leave it to US as to
whether a woman can smoke and be
lady. We decline to be drawn into
the controversy. We have Known
quite a number who smoked. Some
of them were ladies and some were
not.
An editorial coadjutor is disturbed
by the news that johnson has carried
Nebraska. His alarm may have COM
municated itself to others. We should
say the hazard is so slight as to be
negligible. 1t is merely that Ne
braska is that kind of state.
Any gentleman who can beat the
hewgag Justify or sound the tom-tom
generously has an excellent chance of
carrying Nebraska. Kansas, Okla
homa. North and South Dakota. Ore
gon and Washington in any election.
And the chances are that he will get
Idaho and California.
Our own concern as to the embar-
RAISING position in which Mary Pick
ford finds herself is remote. And II
is nothing for you to worry about.
AS we have pointed out to half the
banks who has to live with her.
Possibly, this is a heartless or. at
the least. an unresponsive view; but,
such as it is. itNs our own.
The overall fad justifies certain OF
our moments of reflective mood. Years
ago we diagnosed abe chief ailment 10
which the American people are sub
ject. We decided it was their inability
to resist the opportunity lead or
march in a parade. The overall fad is
one made to order for their impulses.
J In itself the parade is harmless. We
should not wish to deny the people
THAR opportunity to join it. But, as a
method of correcting the various evils
! which beset u.s. il has a fatal defect
That defect is that as soon as the
I parade passes given point the. show
is over.
THE president" we get . from one
of the Washington correspondents,
was in jovial mood" Since every
thing the president has tried in the
last year has developed a reverse
action, there is but one explanation OF
his mood. The president has been
reading the column.
Ridiculous. you say. Very we'll
You Just tell us one other thing In the
| last SIX months over which the presi-
dent would be justified in being joviai
The award for making the least con-
siderable journey in a given length OF
time has not yet been made. and we
suggest that the gentlemen having the
matter in hand give a thought to the
James w. Gerard presidential candi-
dacy. If we are any judge of distance,
Mr.. Gerard. VINO became a candidate
! nearly two years ago, has receded four
or fi~e-miles.
1t may interest Fannie Hurst to
II hot find
tiers of her new novel. ''Stardust'--
shall we say, intriguing. Very well,
then. we find it intriguing. Her vivid
| and graphic description of the, small
purple blotch, due to the corrosion of
a collar button. which appears on ev-
| cry mans windpipe directly south Of
his Adams apple, is a wonderfully
realistic bit of writing And her gem
eral description of those. who bog
down along the marital thorofare Is
! illuminating
All that by the way and for the
purpose of leading up TO the point on
which our curiosity functions. Who
was the gent who so far forgot his
sense of shame and his duty to con-
as to remove his collar in Miss Hurst's
presence?
We have a letter from a valued
reader advising us concerning the
merit of certain picture show. He
! says we ought to see It. We doubt IT,.
We have seen three picture shows.
{ and none of them appealed to us
1 particularly.
+. The people are again deeply offend
ed. Mss Benham, it appears, married
Rear Admiral Helm without consult
/ ing them.
We slant none too abruptly in the
| direction of any of the we'll known
candidates for president, but we have
! attained the point at which we are
willing to decker We will agree TO
work and vote for any candidate for
president who promises to see TO II
that enough hay is cut every summer
| to feed the Jackson's Hole elk during
the winter. The desperate condition
in which winter invariably finds the