The Washington times., 1921-07-27
Today
New York to Los Angeles.
Sky Above the Corn.
Senator capper's Mirror.
Tho Mystic White Cloak.

00tloIOt SopP0t V"'S''
Tho Mystic White Cloak.
by ARTHUR BRISBANE
Copyright, 1891.
On the train going from New
York to Los Angeles, at this
moment, the corn Is 80 high out
side the car window that you see
only the sky over the top of the
corn. It is necessary to study
the country In the newspapers,
the mirrors Of civilization. A
good mirror is the Topeka Daily
Capital, owned and edited by Sen
ator Arthur Capper.
The Capital tells you that the
railroads by extortionate freight
rates take for their share one
half of the ordinary cattle. A
farmer ships four steers OF ordi-
nary grade-at the end OF the
journey two belong to him.
two belong to the railroad. That
is more than the ancient bandit
barons controlling the highways
in medieval Europe used to take
from travellers. 1t was etiquette
with them to leave something
for the next baron bandit farther
on. Railroads are less squeamish.
The Ku Klux Klan is moving
into Kansas. Shrines of "the
mystic white cloak" are estab-
lished here and there, sometimes
secretly and taken seriously. You
have seen older children turn over
the rocking chairs, cover them
with table cloth, crawl under
meath and have a mysterious club.
The younger children are very
much impressed. So with the Ku
Klux Klan.
Senator Capper prints on his
front page letter from the Ku
Klux threatening him and his
paper for misrepresenting the
glorious "white cloak"
The Ku Kluxer writes to the
Senator -" "What protection has
your daughter or mine. our great
est and most precious jewel 2"
1t turns out that the Ku Klux
Klan means to frighten off the
]. w. W., the Non-partisan
League and everything that is not
100 per cent American"-in
addition to protecting the "pre-
cious jewel"
The Senator's editorial page, as
the Thought for Today" offers
this-"The very best asset that
any man can have is a good
wife" Also this thought-"When
hope and love have gone from
your life you're dead. 1t does not
make any difference whether they
have buried you or not"
Whirling rapidly from the grave
to gay, the Senator's paper en-
deavors to animate the young
men of the corn field with this
When pretty gira pins flower
on young mans coat, she
always tilts her chin up and looks
at 1t sidewise. The fellow who
doesn't tumble had better stay
indoors when a funeral procession
is passing for fear the hearse will
run over him."
You do not see in Kansas men
with toothbrush mustaches and
Masonic charms that you met in
Main street" You see earnest
men at the railroad stations wor-
rying about the growing love of
luxury, and the habits imported
from royal courts of Europe. The
Topeka Taxi Company has four
closed cars, Ford sedans, lined up
at the station and every one of the
drivers wears the following uni
form-heavy pigskin leather leg
gins, dark blue breeches, light blue
shirt, with sleeves rolled up, no
coat or waistcoat, no hat. That
looks like the entering edge of
effeteness.
In Kansas, original prohibition
State, as in Maine, King Alcohol
dies as slowly as the head of a
swapping turtle after you cut its
head off. A special dispatch to
Senator Capper's paper from
Manhattan, Kansas, tells of an
anxious farmer taking a valuable
hurting dog to the veterinary.
"Your dog is poisoned" the vet
erinarian told the lamenting farm
er, "and the only thing to save
him would be to force a pint of
whiskey down his throat"
"Well," replied the farmer, "if
] could get pint of ,whiskey, I'd
let the dog die"
IE Senator Capper's paper the
really important news that human
beings ought to be interested in is
on the front page. The editorials
discuss matters that, really inter-
est readers, war, robbery of the
Government, the possibility of pre-
venting robbery. etc.
Inside the newspaper you find
collections of thoughts and facts
under headings that tell of
serious reading public. These are
some Of the headings: Kansas
Grass Roots. Try This on Your
Wise Friend. I've Been Reading.
Local Chuckles. Thus Spake the
Sages.
Each self respecting Kansas