Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-12-14
BY w. A. DAVENPORT.

T. VERY day some individual or some
commission fares forth with secre-
tsries and typewriters to investigate
some particular phase of us and returns to
write solemn report. He. she or 1t has
gone down into the mill and factory town
or out into the farming regions; or the ques.
for knowledge has led down the mine shaft
or across metropolitan streets.
Mayors teachers, Students workers, idlers
and who not are interviewed. Impressions
are gathered and statistics compiled. In the
end we Rave some persons or some commits
sions opinion. And that opinion, setting H.
self up to be an honest consensus of thought,
is supposed to guide us in correcting this or
that evil or charging this or that virtue.
The main point to this prelude is that SUCH
investigation is the result of mora or less
conscientious and intelligent digging. Its
value is in direct proportion to the material
the investigator has been able to extract.
And in nine cases out of ten the digger has
found the ground rebellious. Almost in
variably he has come back with nothing
more than a regional diagnosis or repre-
sentative" analysis
Therefore, it made one yearn to have one
or a dozen of such professional researchers
on board the special train that carried Mar
sinai OCH from new 1OTR 10 hdilSdS tlIy
and back again. 1t gave one to thick what
sort of report sociologist, for instance,
would nave made had he or she ,umblad
along that HOO miles of railroad track
watching us Americans who stood at rail-
way stations and at crossroads between
watching the elaborate train of Pullmans
going by.
Nation as Whole Emotional,
So Discount Must Be Made
OF course you must deduct something for
the famous American sentimentalty. To
boot, we're an emotiopal people. We love
sentimental songs about the lads dying on
the battlefield chanting the names Of their
sweethearts, despite the fact we know no one
who has ever witnessed or heard such I'M
pleasantly. We must deduct something fer
that In brief, we must make allowances for
the undeniable love the American he's for a
parade or it's equivalent. We are nation Of
band followers. We applaud a play tina;
never should have been written, much less
staged, merely because one Of the actors
waves the Stars and Stripes or deDounceS
the country's imaginary enemies.
Make what allowances you will fo- all that
and come along with Marshal Foch across
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, MissJrri and
back up through Illinois and Michigan. And
then try to write report upon the state OF
the people-how much affected they have
been by radical political propaganda and how
far they have departed from the CID fash
Toned band wagon stuff that We call
patriotism for the want Of a more accurate
name. Consider first the village If Wolf
Lane
The special train didn't even hesitate as
it passed through Wolf Lane. The gazetteer
informs us that it has a population Of 345
There were at least 200 citizens hudded
beneath the wooden awning over the narrow
station platform, for it was raining. They
all had flags. A woman was holding a SER
vice banner decorated with six cod anG
silver stars, emblematic of Wolf Lanes con-
tribution to the undong of the Hohenzol.
lerns. Two fat unexpectedly The town
butcher collaborating with the chief of
police-were saving away on fidd,es. You
can only imagine what they were playing.
Four boys in olive drab uniforms Tor what
was left Of them) stood stiffy at attention in
front of the crowd On both tanks of this
valiant rank the children huddled togethe-,
screaming in sheer excitement. TIE Stars
and Stripes foated from pole behind the
depot, and beneath the Stars and Stripes the
Tricolor, obviously made for the occasion,
because the colors were sewed together in
reverse order.
The great special train roared through
without even blast from its locomotives
whistle. The Marshal was sitting inside
reading book. He doesn't know yet tina.
he passed through Wolf Lane and that Wolf
Lane will be talking about the day he passed
through for half year. Those 200 didn't
get so much as glimpse of the great man.
Now, just what is wrong with Wolf Lane
il anything?
Probably rents have Increased there ana
food costs 100 per cent. more than It did IA
1917. Probably half the town is suffering
from the unemployment curse. Maybe Wolf
Copyright. 1921. by The