The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-09-16
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY E. HOUSE
(From Philadelphia Public Ledger.l

By JAY Z. HOUSE
(From Philadelphia Public Ledgerl
issue with Samuel GomperS cpmpelS
admiration. It was a courageous perl
Torrance, but a rash one. 1t has been
so long since anybody in this country
stood up to- Mr.. Gompers that the
consequences of the act cannot be
foreseen.
General Pershing's contention is
that labor did not win the war. We
are not so sure of that. Labor had
everybody in this country scared stiff.
It is. reasonable to assume it had the
same effect upon the German army.
The column hereby announces the
abandonment eof its crusade against
the practice, on the part of reporters
and others, of starting fires with ciga-
rets. 1t is, we are convinced, useless
endeavor. On. the desk as we write
are sixteen newspaper clippings in
which fires are attributed to lighted
cigarets. We never know when we
are licked. but we have no difficulty
in determining when we have had
enough.
There isn't much in a reporters
and pleasures, say we. If it intrigues
him to start a conflagration with a
lighted cigaret, and it does, we are
the last person in the world to deny
him the diversion.
''MusseI Shoals"
We took occasion, a time ago, to re-
mark that if it wasn't ''Mussel Shoals
there wasn't any sense to it. The lu-
cubration brought acerbetic reproof
from a proof-reader, who said he had
looked the matter up and that all of
the authorities sanctioned Muscle
fShoals." To that the Triton Gazette
demurs and gives reasons.
Says the Gazette: ''Misspelling the
title of Mussel Shoals is almost uni
versal. When the good old A P.
starts wrong Just about all the news
papers follow. We bave had a great
deal of difficulty in getting the name
corrected for our columns from the
press dispatches, and have not always
succeeded. The shoals took their
name from the mussel, a fresh-water
bivalve mollusk, something like a
streams and those of this section.
While the right name is MusseI
Shoals and not Muscle Shoals the
latter has such a long start, it is prob
able the wrong name will go down to
posterity.''
1t isn't anything to grow excited
about, but it does afford a reasonable
basis for speculation. AS a specula-
ton it appeals to US. We'd be willing
to -hypothecate the pay check for the
week of November Is, at the usual at
tractiye odds, on the proposition that
"MuSSel Shoals was the original and
correct spelling. Are there takers?
We don't know anything about it.
could be found we'd be too lazy to
look it up. But we have noticed that
the gent who wagers his substance on
the probable and the plausible nearly
always wins.
Some sympathy is being expressed
for. Editor Van Fleet, of the Marion
Star, because of his failure to arrive
in Washington in time to go yachting
with the president. We trust the synrz
pathetic vein will not be overworked.
Doubtless, Mr.. Van Fleet, being right
in the same office, has heard all of
Mr.. Harding's stories many times.
OF course, Mrs~ Harding and Mrs.
Van Fleet had much they might have
said to each other. A lot of things
that happen in little town never get
into the papers.
And that reminds us to suggest to
the president that, inasmuch as we are
going away in a few days, it would be
better, perhaps. to postpone the game
of golf which he proposed until some
time in October. We sometimes think
the best golfing weather of the year
comes in October and November.
He Has a Reverse on Mr.. Roosevelt.
Sir%The columns golden opportun-
ity to perform signal service is now
at hand. Please do something for Mr..
Franklin>D. Roosevelt. This country
is afflicted with many ailments, of
which possibly the most enervating is
cheap talk. viii you get Mr.. Roose-
welt a job with a talking machine COM
pany? Many a talking machine has
poured forth pearls of wisdom as vol
uminously as he. The advantage of
the talking machine is that it can be
stopped at will. However. any other
gainful occupation that will insure his
perennial silence should be satisfactory
to the country at large. M. M. r.
We didn't know Mr.. Roosevelt had
been talking again, and we haven't the
faintest idea as to what he said. But
something already has been done to Mr.
Roosevelt, and we thought at the time
the punishment was inflicted, in No
vember of last year, that it was COM
with the offense.
AT any rate, we snail take no dCt1On
in the, matter. Mr.. Roosevelt is en-
titled to talk if he cares to do so.
Everybody else does.
The plan, as we get 1t from the news
columns, is for Mr. Wilson to edit
newspaper in New York. Does that
mean, idle curiosity impells US to ask, |
that he will give up his law practice
in Washington?
Whatever happens in connection
with the exhibition Of impressionistic
art in New York, those who rely-upon
it for guidance may depend upon the
column remaining calm. In fact,
strictly speaking, calm isn't the
word The column is almost non
chalant