The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-01-01
ON SECOND THOUGHT
By JAY e. HOUSE.
(Fron Philadelphia Public Ledgas.)

| In an address recently before the
| Citizens union in New York, Leonard
M. Wallenstein is quoted as saying the
wave of crime in New York City would
shame Jesse James. We quote the
gist of Mr.. Wallenstein's remarks in
| order that We may publicly resent
them. In comparison with New York
banditti of the various types, Jesse
James was as pure as the driven snow.
| It was not ours to know the re-
doubtable Jesse. When in April,
1882. in that humble story-and-a-half
cottage in st. Joseph, Mo-. Bob Ford
put the "fixings'' to Jesse. we were
but an unsophisticated farm lad bus
lily engaged in tooling q team of mules
across a prospective and projected
\ cornfield. But we came, in after
years, to know his brother Frank very
well. And of the two, Frank James
was the deadlier and the more inn
placable. Jesse had the style and the
personality that lived in the hearts of
the people, but Frank carried the wal
lop for the family. And yet he was
but spare, sandy-coL .,1exioned little
man with STOPPING shoulders. who
murmured his apologies to life in soft,
gentle tones and who presented the
fierce exterior aspect Of a skipping
| lamb.
AS compared to the gunner of New
| York and Chicago. Jesse James was
sucklning dove. Mentioned in the same
| breath with the hotel, theatrical,
booze, card and merchandising BAN
| ditti of our massed centers, he had the
apologize manner of a gentle phil
anthropist surreptitiously engaged in
| bestowing largesse upon the poor and
| needy. 1t is true that after Bob Ford's
forty-five had parked at Jesse's I'M
protected back they wrote a popular
song about him. But Jesse wasn't to
| blame for that; he couldn't sing a
note. 1t is equally true that in his last
days in st. Joe he lived in a Queen
Anne cottge; but the Queen Anne mo-
| tiff in architecture was not then SO dis
reputable as it is now. And Jesse did
not build the cottage; he rented it.
| The fact is, the banditti of the pres
| ent day would have taken Jesse's gun
away from him, and they would have
made him eat it.
AS the song to which we have re-
ferred ran, Jesse had wife. He
also had heart.
Having observed Mr.. Harding in the
| stress of victory, we now are ready to
| pass limited judgment upon him. The
| time may come when Mr.. Harding will
slump forward in his swivel chair, but
| he will never blow up.
We, therefore, humble our felicita-
tons in soft speech. An exploded
| statesman is the sorriest mess.
We know little something about
newspapers, having been connected in
varying capacities with dailies and
weeklies for more than thirty years.
The one sorrow that sits supine upon
our soul is that we never were able to
| land a job with a monthly. The idea
| of not being compelled to write any
| thing until three weeks from next
Tuesday intrigueS us. But, having
| been connected with newspapers for
| more than thirty years, our laugh has
| grown as noiseless as a snakes track.
| 1t is only when an assemblage of grave
and serious citizens, without any
knowledge of newspaper making, gets
together to sit in judgment on the
press that we bubble into loud hilarity.
It is our notion, and it may be a very
absurd one, that nobody is competent
to sit in critical judgment on a news
paper until he knows something
about a newspaper.
He Can Consider Himself Asked.
Sir-Will you please ask the gentle
| man two columns to your left mean
| the one who daily indignates and en-
| joys special privilege in the random
use of heavy-face type-his authority
for apparent paradox" I always
understood that the phrase is seem
ing paradox He is not, however,
without precedent in his linguistic in
dependence. One of Mr.. Babson's pro-
fessional assistants yesterday ex-
planned the method of deducing logi-
| cally that "roses smell sweetly." and
the brunette gentleman who served me
, inquired If I wished my ''ice cream ON
top Of my pie a la mode" r. o. C.