The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-10-13

Washington, D. c., Oct. 13.-He is
white umbrella decorated with
red hearts and the legend lift
up your heart; who puts the I'M
employed On the auction block,
stripped to the waist, and sells
them to the highest bidder; who
gets himself onto the first pages of
newspapers everywhere he goes
a picturesque sentimentaTst and
! visionary with a gift for self-ad-
vertising, you would say.
But when you learn that the same
man buried himself in obscurity On
the East Side for FIVE years in or
der to study the poor, you are in
clined to admit that he must be sin
cere. And VIXEN you learn that he
lived there on five dollars a week.
and yet kept himself in such good
| health that he could beat a young
athlete in a two-mile foot race, al
though he is At, you have to ad-
| NIT that he is a man of some prac-
teal ability. When you find in
addition that he has at the state
department an enviable record as
consul at Prague, Austria, that
| he has been a successful efficiency
engineer, that he did highly COM
mended work during the war for
the War Camp Community service
and the labor bureau of the War de-
| partment, and that he has been sue
cessfully employed as a profession
/ al organizer in several other enter
| prises, you realize that he cannot
be a visionary in the usual sense
of the term.
The mystery of his personality is
increased when you learn that he
not only has great influence over
the unemployed workers who are
! his special interest, but that he
also has the support and friendship
of such men as Arthur Woods, of
/ New York, Mayor Peters of Bos-
| ton, Claude Bragdon, the architect,
and many others prominent in Of
| fetal and professional life. To be
able to reach and impress such a
variety of persons certainly shows
an unusual individuality. President
Harding, after an interview with
| him, told Le3oGS that he considered
his work 1.-The greatest in the
world" Many laugh at this man
who merely hear of his exploits
in getting publicity, but all seem
| to feel his force and earnestness
when they meet him.
A Mystical Philosopher.
| To this account of his qualities
and achievements, it must be add
| ed that Urban Ledoux is pro-
| ~
| knowledge you cannot hope to IN
derstand this strange man, angel
of the unemployed" who has filed
so much space in the newspapers
recently, and has yet remained per-
| sonally unknown. LedouX believes
! in a thing which he calls cosmic
! consciousness, and that is all that
| he believes in. He is not a Social
| list or radical of any kind. He has
no recognized creed-religious po-
! litical or economic-to offer. That
/ is one reason, of course, why he Is
acceptable to all classes of men,
and is commended by radical and
conservative, capitalist and worker,
at the same time. Ledoux does not
| believe that institutions and politics
are worth worrying about. He be-
! lieves that man is capable Of a
! higher grade of consciousness than
most men have yet attained, and
that his only progress will come
from education in the broadcast
sense, which will help him to come
| into that consciousness.
Il recognize no sin except the
waste of energy" be explained
when he was interviewed in his
little hall bedroom at local no.
tel
War-strife and violence of all
! kinds. personal and nationaI-he re-
| CARDS as waste of energy. All good
comes from acting upon the mf,-
tive of love-from friendly cooper
alton. This friendly cooperation
will completely replace strife of all