The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-11-03
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY E. HOUSE
(From Philadelphia Public Ledger.)


Break CIeanIy in the Clinches, Gentle
men.
Str--Allow me to correct 6. c. B.,
who threw a fit over the translation of
De mortuis nil visa bonum. He trans
lated itsas "Of the dead there is notFp-'
ing but bones" It should have been,
"Of the dead there is nothing but
Of his tempt, don't you think? And
how did the proofreader slip by that
L. L. Q.
The thing we desire to impress upon
the business of being modest) two
or three readers of the column is that
it isn't our fight. We have no inter
est in that and we are stage-maFag ing
it merely as a courtesy to the combat-
ants. But our contemplation of it
inspires the thought that this is a sad
world.
Unhappily. somebody gets Latin
quotation wrong and the people are
plunged into gloom. Only yesterday
we heard a gentleman lamenting the
fact that he must stand in line to get
into a motion-picture theater and life
turned into monotonous succession
Of dull browns and steel grays. The
women are unhappy because one of
their number was not selected to sit in
the arms parley. The men who had
to stand up coming downtown on the
street car this morning are dissatisfied
and discouraged. Life seems hardly
worth living.
We have had the experience of
reading Mr.. Blanton's amazing con-
tribution 10 the Congressional Record
And, having been reared in a rural
community. We can understand pretty
near " every word OF it.
OF fact, only one phrase eludes
US, and meditation and reflection may
bring that back.
Beer for medicinal purposes will
not be available for two weeks. The
delay is regrettabIe. Such of the sick
and afflicted as need beer need it now.
'As this situation developed" Mr..
Sheppard, of the conductors, is quoted
as saying, I'VE found that in striking
we would not be hitting the people we
wanted to hit, the railroads, but would
be, fighting the government"
That's the talk. Down with the
railroads! They are a menace to the
country and an enemy to the working
man. No wonder the conductors and
others who get their living from the
railroad hate them! The railroads
are no good. Those who have invest
ed their hard earned savings in railway
securities should be punished. Let's
out the property and prefer a charge
of felony against every individual con-
nected in any way with railway man
agehent. If care were taken in each
instance to try the culprit before a
jury composed of members of the
rail unions conviction would be easy
and justice would be done.
After the railways were destroyed
the government could step in and ap-
int fe%5y 0f
conductor, a switchman and a section
foreman to >rehabilitate~the properties
and put them on a Sound business
basis. That is the only way out, and
we suggest that it be done.
We have directed attention to the
amazing fact that they have begun
to play a little crude football west
of the Allegheny mountains. We
gather from the report of Saturdays
troduced south of Mason and Dixon's
line.
The time Is coming, probably It is
not far distant, when football will be
played as far west as Keokuk, Ia, and
as far south as Nashville, Tenn.
The North Dakota experiment in
credulity and gullibility has been pro-
nounced a failure by those who made
y
phases. 1t was the largest sale of
crayon portraits of prosperity, at a
uniform price of SIS the copy, in the
history of art.
The moral of it all is that the gentle
man who can paint a word-picture, no
matter how Grass it may be, will al
ways have a clientele if he observes
the precaution of settling up his studio
at some point west of the Mississippi
river.
Not that the West is more stupid
than the East. Mass for mass, it prob
ably is less stupid. But the West is
always falling into the error of think
ing it thinks. The East makes no pre-
tense Of doing SO.
Our favorite author of light and
casual fiction, who is none other than
Arthur Brisbane, commends the land
lord who, after getting ready to put
Evelyn Nesbit Thaw out of her tea
room for non-payment of rent re-
Tented to the point of permitting her
to remain until today.
We are not one of those who abuse
landlords, but inasmuch as Mrs. Nes-
bit Thaw was compelled to attempt
suicide to secure the concession, the
quality Of mercy disclosed is not IN
duly impressive.
Reporters who covered the story
say, altho Mrs. Nesbit Thaw is
thirty-five years old, she still is a
good-looking woman. Inasmuch as
that is what the public wants to know
about Mrs. Nesbit Thaw, we relay the
information to readers of the column
However. the rule is that a woman
who isn't ,good-looking at thirty-five
NJ, lsar h