The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-16
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY E. HOUSE
(From Philadelphia Public LedgerO
AS Between the Two.

As Between the Two.
| Adelaide,
Who is learning to drive,
Shows skill, mechanical perception
And judgment.
Already she boasts that she is
! Much the better driver of the two.
| That being true,
1 know what will happen to me
When I strip the gears,
| Stall the motor,
| Scorch the brakes
| Or find myself marooned
| Ten miles from a garage.
I'll be jolly well bawled out;
| That's what I'll be.
| Still, as between the two,
| 1 prefer a woman who knows her car,
And is a little "cocky" about it,
| To one who is
Externally screaming from the back
| seat.
For the sum of $500 a year." runs
| a news item, Miss Stewart will try to
do for the youth of the country of
| both sexes between legal working age
and twenty-one what their mothers
and fathers really ought to do for
| them" Having no children of our
| own. we~readily can believe that Miss
| Stewart, who, assumedly also is child
less, can be trusted better to look after
| the children than their fathers and
mothers.
But the point we make an the con-
nection is that the job is too big for
| one frail woman. Looking after all
of the children in this country is no
sinecure- Miss Stewart should have
| an assistant.
A Professor Speaks.
Sir-In re Public Sentiment vs. The
Bootlegger, perhaps a professor of
psychology can explain the scientific
principles underlying the following
| fact about law enforcement, but any
person who. has bad. experience in
law enforcement can tell you that it is
| a fact: When the number of Offend
ers who are caught and tried is only
a very small proportion of the offend
ers at large and when this fact is COM
| mon knowledge among jurymen a
conviction is very difficult. For in
stance, if mob violence is done and
| only four members of the mob are
apprehended. conviction by a jury is
rare, unless, perhaps. the persons
caught are proved to be leaders.
Again, if in school many members of
a class have been cribbing but only
two are singled out for punishment.
popular sentiment will be against the
| teacher.
This fact does not mean that the
| O1IenSG
| condemned and the practice stopped,
1t means something else-probably a
| rebellion against the unequal visitation
! of the law.
AS long as we have thousands of
| pootieggers, punishment of individuals
VIII be difficult until the public be-
| gins to classify bootleggers into diff
ferent degrees or kinds of law
breakers. Then the worst class, in its
estimation, will begin to get theirs
1 n n = = = s.
ranking. the others will sooner or
| later get theirs. But it will be a long
process, because the public reasons
| slowly. A.sR, w.
| Specifically, A R. w reasons well,
| but the thing is deeper, much deeper
| than he has dug 1t once fell to our
| lot to enforce a prohibitory liquor law
| in a considerable community which
| taking 1t by and large, was very high
| class. Prohibition was grounded in
the public consciousness. For forty
years it had been generally accepted
| as a wise statutory restriction. No
body who was anybody talked against
! prohibition. To many it was more
than a wise statutory restriction; ii
was a fetch. There was no class or
rank among the bootleggers. The H.
| licit liquor industry was exclusively
conducted by disreputab1e and unde-
1 sirable citizens who were known as
such. But it was almost impossible to
| induce a reputable citizen to testify
against a bootlegger and exceedingly
difficult to secure jury that would
convict.
| We ran the bootleggers ragged
| Some of them still are painting from
| the exertion. One way or another. we
| secured the conviction of a consider
| able number: we made 1t a very ex-
pensive recreation for the others But
| no citizen in that community now re-
members that we did so. If he should
remember 1t he wouldn't care.
The professors will have to try again
A. r. W. has opened a trench. whet
is needed is an excavation.
i The Chauffeur Language.
/ "Officer gave signal to go and I was
about three feet back of him and he
| stopped all at once, gave no signal
and the bumper hit the back of hi.