The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-02-15
barometer of Public Opini0n
Moro Nboni PnlIicklsm.


The whole trouble is, Polly wants a cracker ana
wants II wct," loving line Of an article by Frank
y smith In barometer n you are not driven
TO silence and despair by the scholarly ania Bile.
ness which tried to squelch you by that line ns
climax 10 Hitler thrusts at you as u 'protago-
MIST OF misconceived ideas Of liberty" and your
'tunkeNisfn TO the gilded and hoary evils OF
NE; dealt you some twice or so by a prcten-
tious smatterer In history, allow friend TO sug-
gest that you not neglect the "Pollckism" after
III "hICh lS the butt OF that scholarly amia hi
ness. That very Pollickism ridlculed by
the fcrvid and urbane scholar Smith. though
~ he, H. despite, the most cngrossing x
and altogether tho most promising contribution
to the thought Of this confused time that has
been offered this year. so far More men and
women agree with It than ten thousand Smiths
with their espionage system driving their asso-
rlates into habits of protesting one thing and
icuhg az wei as thinking another could ever
know. Sanity, suppressed while these experts
IN supcrmOra ism experiment with their theor les
or cruelty as means OF publication. Is burst
ing for vent Aud its thought and feeling be-
ing given voice by so excellent one as Judge
Pollock gives 1t its vent in direction and in man
ner which are healthy. without the least apol-
ogy TO the demigods OF supermoralism | compll-
ment you most heartily upon your endorsement
OF Judge Pollock even to your manner of It In
noting as one or the incidents OF his pronounce
ment that he would he inevitably the target of
volleNs such as above quoted from the amiable
ilk who react to the description deep throated
PACK even as smith has reacted quite typi-
Cally
Your correspondent Smith, has given you
sweep OF history" to display his understand ng
of the hundreds OF years" OF Temperance"
Improvement What little history he has made
definite reference to is "A part of the history not
OF temperance but OF puritanism. What little
philosophy there IL in the stuff he contends
for Is not by any means the philosophy Of tenn
perancc but the no-philosophy OF arrogance and
cruelty, legal moral, political and religious bgo-
try, based upon assumed superiority of virtue
and OF rights. which have characterized the
puritan in Whatever age, race, or religion he has
appeared in numbers sufficient to put over his
pet ambitions. His role has been based always
upon an obsession that his current profession of
suDprgOOu which q
All others unworthy to be trusted with defiant
though discrcditod liberty" That profession OF
super good has not always centered upon what
he now calls temperance. As your urbane
corresp notes by allusion. II is not long
since our puritan and his jug were quite true
pals. And speaking of historical facts one OF
them is that the puritan is the only man who
ever developed II custom Of drinking which de-
MED the right of another to drink or not when
the puritan asked him TO drink. No one but a
puritan or n puritan's son ever shot another man
FOR refusing TO drink with him. The puritan had
"A hug on "godliness" In England which led him
to the conclusion that laughter was sign and
means OF satanic influence over men and, rum
ming true to form, when he got the army OF
England In hand along with the parliament, all
laughter was erected into Il crime. And,
means of rcscuing the children from satanic
promptngs. the army leveled all the May-polcs
on the island IN one gloriously SNUG and gloomy
day enforcement officers" searched the island
for evidence which cast Thousands in goal"
every Monday for the crime Of playing n
devils musical instrument on the sabbath. one
of tho first acts by the barcbones parliament
was the adoption Of "A resolution that mo man
should be admitted to the public service until
the house had been satisfied as to his real god
lness" 1t was the business OF the enforce
ment officers of that glorious puritanical pc
riod To rake the land for evidence relevant to
that test which all men had to stand to meet
the puritanical standards. A very interesting
book liz lately out by Henry Adams, a scion of
a once intensely purtianical house. detailing, as
per its title, the "ema ncpation OF Massac achuseus
from the puritars I'm tho generation when the
bug was not Temperance" by darned sight
but religious liberty in pursuit of which they
.l..ta In1n LIST
other disciples OF the "Polockism" OF that pc
riod..
Il is quite plain n you notice Il, that the pres
ont era OF rampant Rwmakng, displacing the
ten commandments, dsplacng all moral law
and right, with statutory offcnscs erected into
Grimes" Is after all but one Of the recurrent
Cbultions OF puritHUism, II has it's cause II
not It's justification In the rather too loose man
ncr OF things, say, as to drink, or. say, as o.
sunday observance which TO tell the truth is
sometimes all too loose now, or as to some other
things some of which To tell the truth is some
times all too loose now, or as to some other
things some of which the puritan does not offer
to help, eve do not see him trying by his
"lcgisatinG habit" 10 keep divorce, within any
sort OF houndsD His breaking out and endeaN-
oriug as he always has cudoayorcd II ne could,
by law to choke his professions down our
throats has plainly some justification perhaps.
But his rule is unnatural. And our real quar-
rel with him is not about hts professed purpose
to better things but about the botch hc makes
of things by his vruolties and the relapse which
follows inevitably to the other extreme, the last
condition" inevitably worse than the first
The end Of the puritanizing 10y law is
coming Of course, albeit II may go another glor-
ious leap or two into statutism before the revolt
catches M with II. The nationwide applause
given Judge Pollock is eNldonc" Of the revolt
becoming artculatc. Tho books of Mcnkhcu
and Nathan, Dean Martin and Sinclair Lcwis
and their wonderful vogue are evidence. An
other recent book, rather dishcarteniug in what
II discloses, is one by puritan authorize ion,
namely Pinchot and Gill's six Thousand Coun-
try churches No fact is more prominent than
tho increasing vogue which the literature OF
revolt is having in these days 1t is surely much
TO he hoped and prayed for that when the re-
action sets In we may have the guidance of tenn
pcratc men such as illustrate and preach "Pol-
loo kism."