The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-09-13
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC =. HAsKIN, Director.
Warrington, D. @.
LIGHT on THE MIGHTY.


time seems to be close at hand when
no politician will be a hero to his con-
lstituents-when in fact, no public
Figure. dead or alive, will be hero to
any one who reads.
Instead of considering presidents,
senators, diplomats and generals
great men, remote and different from
yourselves, We will know more about
their weaknesses and faiIings than
about any one else's. A certain public
man, for example, has impressed the
whole world with his dominating man
Iner. He seems to regard himself al
most as a god. A certain writer who
has studied psychoanalysis, among
other things, writes a piece about him
and shows that he is really timid
fellow with an inferiorIty complex, and
1 that all his lordly manner is a desper-
ate effort to pump UP his own cour-
age and make himself believe that he
is of some account.
The writer may not be wholly cor
rect. but at least he has offered a
plausible theory. Heretofore our
public men have been sold to us by
campaign oratory and journalism. A
voter might easily have read five years
ago in the magazines and heard in
speeches million words about lead
ing public men, and have known less
about them than he did before e
started. The reason vas that nearly
every word he read or heard had a
political bias. He could read an
article on the presidential candidate,
pratsing him to the skies, comparing
him to Lincoln and Roosevelt and all
the other party gods. showing a pic
ture OF him with his nine children and
explaining what a model family man
he was, setting him up as nothing
less than unmitigated perfection.
I With equal ease this man could
find articles in which the same presi-
| Dental candidate was shown up as an
| incompetent and a tool of the trusts.
1t would be proved by documents that
his observation-disclosures was an
indian horse thief and that he him
self once went to Atlantic City for
a weekend with his cook
| What should the voter believe. If
| a stupid and partisan man he would
agree with what supported his party,
| and If an intelligent and minded
| fellow he would believe nothing He
would admit thtat it was inpossible
FOR him to get any real estimate of
| the men for whom he had to vote,
| that SO per cent of everything written
| and said about our public men has
been Just so much sand in the voter S
eye.
| There have been a few exceptions,
| of course. The brilliant journalist,
| Samuel g. Blythe, wrote a long series
OF sketches of public men which were
distinguished by satirical and COM
/ Pe-1 olANSAy dIlDldSeu point Oh view, de
destroyed more than one meretricious
reputation, and politicians feared him
as a darby fears the devil. But he
was a lone and exceptional figure,
and Furthermore he was a caricatur-
! list in words rather than a competent
| analysist Of men and events.
The honest and scientific analysis
| OF public men is an art which has
come into being within the past few
years, and which is just now getting
a foothold in this country. Beyond a
doubt 1t derives its strength and its
| method from the science of psyche
| analysis, however much some of its
| practitioners may try to deny the fact
Its most conspicuous example so far
| IS the anonymous book, Mirrors of
Washington" which has made a SEN
sation in the capital city. 1t is modelled
Downing Street" which has treated
the British administration in the same
way and achieved wide popularity in
England. 1t is series of sketches of
American politicians-presiden ex-
presidents, senators and diplomats.
The most striking thing about it is
that it evidently is quite without po-
Htteal bias. The unknown author of
this book sees his subject from the
viewpoint of an artist. His only OBJ
ject is TO portray and interpret his
man--to make you see and understand
verse criticism as we'll as much praise.
1t has been said that in some cases his
facts are wrong, and that in others he
has revealed a personal dislike. He
also has been blamed for not signing
his name to a book which is so sure to
be resented by great many people.
But even his detractors admit that
he has written a brilliant and interest
ing book. No mere human can ever
get at the complete truth about any
one. The best he can do is to offer a
plausible theory logical and supported
by evidence. This the author of Mir
rors" most effectively does. \Out of
many such attempts comes the nearest
approximation to the truth that we
can hope for. If our public men were
constantly subjected to this sort of
cool, scientific analysis, every voter
who reads would finally come to have
clear idea of them.
That is the one thing above all
others that the voter needs, and in the
past has lacked. It has been said a
thousand times that in America politi-
cal life attracts only second-rate men,
that the real brains of the country sell
dom get into its government. Surely
| one reason for this has been that the
real stature and capacity of our politi-
cal figures has always been hidden,
Our political journalism and oratory
has been a smoke screen behind which
frauds and Founders of all sorts have
advanced to high positions and have
done inealcu1able harm. A book like
Mirrors, whatever its faults, is a
| brave attempt to throw a beam of
light thru this cloud of obscurity. to
reveal the true size and nature of some
Of the strange beings that dwell be-
hind it.
And the same spirit and viewpoint
that animates Mirrors may be found
cropping out in other places Some
of the magazines display far more
critical and detached view of public
men than they used to. There is
strong reason to believe that a new