The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-01-21
ON SECOND THOUGHT
By JAY =. HOUSE
(From fhiladslphia Public Ledgss.)

Mr.. Harding, whose alleged prefer
ences as to cabinet officials seem to
constitute major portion of the news
of the world, is credited with a desire
Secretary Baker. 1t is a worthy am
bition- At the time Mr.. Baker was APP
pointed we expressed grave doubt as
to whether the selection of a pacifist
for the post of secretary of war at
moment when the country faced an ir-
repressible conflict would prove
happy one.
There is. however, compensation in
MI Bakers administration of the war
department 1t has served thoroly to
explode Mr.. Baker.
Since we wish to wiring another
PARAGRAPH from it, we continue the
discussion of Mr.. Harding'S cabinet
long enough to say that the one Sc
lected for him by Robert Small is as
satisfactory to US as any SO far offered
by the newspaper correspondents.
But, We Didn't Say So.
Sir-It may be true, as you say,
that the small town has no sense of
art and beauty and no intellectual
aim, but are you sure the great ma
Jority of the people living in large
cities are at all superior in these re-
spects to their fellow countrymen of
oOpIST ETdlrle L nave llNeQ IN
small town and, for the last thirty
years, on Manhattan Island. 1 affirm
unhesitatingly that the average of in
telligence and culture of the 5000
people of the town was far above the
100000 of this city. There are
lew thousand persons here whose
views on literature. art. science and
public questions are a little above the
dull level of mediocrity. AS for the
rest, consider this one fact: that L.
100000 copies of the Hearst newspa-
pers are sold daily.
New York is a great oVergroWn VIII
lage, without a sense of even village
community spirit. Consider that by
the all-wise editors of this city's news
papers, Prof Irving Fisher, with his
lunatic-fringe notions about and on
expanding contracting standards of
values, is regarded as a profound and
powerful thinker on economics and
finance! Where but in this provincial
city would H. c. Mencken achieve
reputation as critic on the strength
OF frequent repetition of dull plati-
tudes and Calculations of "Pish
posh! over the ideas and ideals of
those he is unable to comprehend?
Life in the small towns may be pref
" barren and even mean. The people
of these towns have at least one salts
faction: They do not humbug them
selves with pretensions to culture and
air their petty fancies as the embodi-
ment of sound conclusions regarding
the things that are most excellent.
WHIDDEN GAUHAM.
As We have indicated, we didn't say
it 1t was Sinclair Lewis. Mr.. Lewis
didn't say it either. But he intimated
it rather broadly. One of our proud
boasts is that We know this country
pretty well. Such knowledge doesn't
get us much. Nobody attaches any
significance to it, but we value it as a
personal possession of little iatrinsic
value and employ it to point to GER
tain conclusions which we shall herein
after set forth.
One of these conclusions is that the
average of intelligence, knowledge,
education. culture and understanding
is higher in the small city of from
10000 to $4,000 Inhabitants than it is
anywhere else in this country. The
proportion of those who have aspira-
tons is greater, as is the proportion of
those who have attained the thin
veneer of culture and refinement. But
the deniZen of the small city. whatever
his aspirations, retains his keen inter-
est in the affairs Of his country and
the life about him and is mentally
alert, widely read and we'll informed
on all current topics. Stupidity and
Grass ignorance achieve their climax in
the hearts of great cities.
The resident of the purely rural re-
gion is, taking him by and large,
neither stupid nor ignorant. The one
who plays him for an intellectual
Reuben is himself sucker" But,
possibly, because no one has told him,
he hasn't learned how to live. A
trained nurse who once sat for many
weary weeks at our bedside told US
story of the rural regions which eX-
actly expresses the idea We would
project. She had been called far into
the country to attend a farmers fam
lily which had been stricken with ty-
phoid. Five members were in critical
condition from the disease. She was
driven from the railway station in an
expensive car to a fine new farm
house. Inside the home she found
not a single modern comfort or con-
venience. There were five sick-beds
and only two sheets in the house.
ga great h1under" we quote from