The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-03-09
ON SECOND THOUGHT
By jar q. HOUSE.
trron Fhnadelphia Public Ledsssl



Highbrow Stuff
Sir-Cabell, in Beyond Life" de-
fines prohibitionists as '-sectarians of
the period. who uphold Mohammed in
the matter Of beverages and make
of dietary preferences a national issue,
in imitation-of the wars of Lilliput and
Blefescue over the preferable manner
of eating eggs"
The prohibitionists get SO little sup
port from the Fourth Estate that they
probably would be delighted to get a
little aid in their good work, so if you
would like to attract them as custom
ers to your column you might try pub
fishing that text from the Alcoran of
Mohammed, upon which they base
their teachings. You will find it in
the Fifth Surah of the Koran, the
chapter entitled the Table. the ninety
third and ninety-fourth verses:
80 true believers. surely wine and
lots and images and divining- arrows
are an abomination of the work of
Eblis ii. e.. Satan); therefore, avoid We
seeketh to sow dissension among you
by means of wines and lots
In those that believe and do good
works it is no sin that they tasted
wine or gaming before they were for
bidden.'
While you are out after trade. you
might just as well secure the friend
ship of the Blue Sunday crowd, which
you can easily do by printing the sixty
first verse of the Second Surah, the
chapter entitled the Cow;
Moreover we know what befell
those of your nations who transgressed
on the Jumah (i. e.. Friday, the Sab
bath day). We soid unto them. be
We changed into apes, driven away
from the society of men,"
Incidentally, you may be able to
start up another form of prohibition.
Mr.. Chesterton. in his lecture on The
Inevitable, spoke of hypothetic
police. recent legislation having been
enacted to make the game of chess
immoral" In the first quotation from
the Koran the word images was
originally "chess, the game played
with images" c. H. F.
c. H. F. means we'll, but he opens
up no new trade territory for us. We
have never been able to sell the pro-
hibitionists a line of stuff. and the
Blue Sunday crowd won't even look at
our samples.
Maybe They Said ''TriIlions.''
Sir-Referring again to the baby
Dill which the lady lobbyists at Wash
ington say millions of woman back
home" are paipitatingly longing to see
passed by congress, L have, since writ
ing you, been striving to find some
woman who knows what the bill is
about. I asked every woman of my
numerous acquaintance. About half
of them come back with the foolishly
obvious joke that the question was a
kid" The other half seemed to
think, judging by their manner, that
the question was vaguely insulting. I
nd VII .afyz -
them there really was baby bill be-
fore congress But 1 was enlightened
at last. 1 put the question to niece
who recently presented her husband
with a bouncing baby boy. THE baby
BILL" said the young mother, "of course
I know him. He's the dearest bundle
of loneliness in the whole world.
There he goes now. He must have
heard you; and 1 thought he would
sleep fe- two hours. But Iwon't have
him called by that horrid name. am
always telling his father that the dar-
tlings name is William" JEFF.
/ We don't know anything about the
baby bill. Likely it is meritorious leg
islation. Which is to say, it is unlikely
that it will hurt anything. But we do
view with alarm the Capitalization OF
the power of this government into the
hands of the women lobbyists. If the
Lining hSSpS up GeOTSe washington
bled and died in vain.
| There are, we go on to say to carry
| the preceding train of thought over
another portage, two kinds of laws.
One class is dangerous to life and
liberty. The other does no harm.
Consider 1t Done.
Sir-Not sharing your prejudice
against the motion pictures, I VEN
tured to the theater to see Charlie
Chaplin in 1.-THE Kid" Sometime
occurred which seems to me of ire
mendous Importance and one which
should be called to the attention of the
column. In the course of the evening
the orchestra played Dixie There
was not a single clap, cheer or other
demonstration of any kind from the
professional Southerners present. !, IT
strikes me warning should be issued to
all cabaret orchestrasf vaudeville ar
fists, ct cetera. that the old standby
no longer pulls. D. NJ.
However, we have no prejudice
against the "fillums." Can't a chappie
stay away from the ''fillums'' without
being accused of having a prejudice
against them?
The reason we don't go to the mo-
ton picture theaters is that their stuff
IS over our head. We seek more ele-
I4a or To1 ,1r-,e