The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-03-23
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BIZ JAZZ T. HOUSE
fFren Philadelphia Public LedgsrJ

The flags of the columnists flutter
at halfmast. They We're lowered when
the news came that Bert Lesion Tay-
lor, of the Chicago Tribune, had died
in Chicago early Saturday morning.
Today, from the Atlantic to the Pa
cific, those who write in intimate and
personal vein are firing farewell
sa1utes over his new-made grave. 1t
is likely that ''B. L. T." had a larger
personal following than any other
newspaper columnist, and he was per-
haps the most erudite of his tribe and
calling. He had a. keen. cultured. we'll
titled mind, and his unusual intel
lectual gifts were buttressed by a
great fund of human experience, with
out which a columnist is at sea in an
open boat.
These lines are in no sense a per-
sonal tribute to Mr.. Taylor. We knew
him not at ALL Altho for many years
We beat in and out along the same
trail, our paths never converged. 1t is
| merely that we wish to express an APP
probation of his work. He fought
stoutly and courageously for the right,
for plain common sense in the adjust
ment of affairs, for decency and for
truth. Day after day he whaled the
eternal tar out of hypocrisy, sham and
tawdriness of word and deed. In at
tack he was the most versatile of men.
/ A10 SOQio d WITH a
SMILE rebuke cheapness or pretension
with singing satire, or. when occasion
seemed to demand it, swing upon fad
| or fofble with the force and precision
| of steam hammer. Reporters who
wrote the story of his death called him
a humorist." He did have the whim-
steal. quizzical touch of the merry
maker, but he was so much more that
| the word "humorist'' is pftifuIIy in
adequate as a descriptive term.
"B. L. IT, never pandered to
| ephemeral opinion, emotion or senti-
| ment. He catered neither to the cog
noseenti nor the proletariat. He. was
what he wax And because he was
what he was he drew about him what
| probably was the greatest personal
following ever achieved by a newspa-
per columnist. As long as the genera
Ltion he served survives he will be
quoted and remembered. And that is
| a tribute greater and more to be de-
sired than marble or bronze.
From the. foregoing crude and
of thought. One is that, no matter
| what his profession or calling, it is the
| one whose vision is clear and whose
courage is equal to the ordeal of ex-
pressing it who lives in the hearts of
ms countrymen, and survives his own
l
| the panderer lives in the public con-
seriousness They are as ephemeral as
a summer shower and leave as little
| trace. The other is that those of us
VINO write in familiar and intimate
vein must, if we would Justify our ex-
istence, have something more than a
| deft touch and glib speech We must
1 underwrite our merry making with
| courage, sense and clear vision.
st. Louis has barred Mr.. Ford's not
very well-known weekly. If it is to
| be left to us, and pretty nearly every
thing is left to us nowadays, the best
minds of st. Louis have pulled a
boner." If the people are forbidden
Mr.. Ford's not very wellknown week.
ly, they'll read it, no matter how pain
full the ordeal may be.
As the matter stands, we wouldn't
| read Mr.. Ford's weekly on a bet. we
know Mr.. Ford has nothing to say
worth hearing But the moment his
weekly is officially forbidden we shall
want it. 7
| The indicted White Sox players have
| been accorded the beneficence of the
mol pros: but don't let it worry you.
The indicted White Sox players are
back where they started. That may
/ not be adequate punishment for the
alleged offense, but it is a tolerably
| Stf6Ic pTuedl.
Another whispering Smith" Fan.
Sir-The column refers so frequent
~ of late to the novel by Frank Fl.
| Spearman, entitled ''Whispering
Smith," that I am almost compelled to
believe you have read it. It is the
book for the Sges-young, middle-aged
and old-but for a book with thrill
| in it you should recommend to read
ers of the column 1.-The Adventures of
kJimmy Dale" and your reputation as
a maker of five-foot shelves will be
raised to fair renown before you have
| finished the first foot. p. r G..
We couldn't do that. We can't rec
ommend a book~we've never read and
which we are unlikely to read. But
| We stand by whispering Smith" We
recall two passages in contemporary
literature which have stirred US. One
is Owen Wister's picture of that grove
| of whispering cottonwoods and the