The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-05-12
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY E. HOUSE
(Frem Philadelphia Public Ledger.l

1--WE are confident that the Amer
! lean public is eninently fair says
Mr.. Adolph Zukor. Well, it is and it
isn't. Sometimes it is fair to the point
at which it becomes maudlin. Not
| infrequently it is unfair to the extent
of being entirely blinded by its preju-
dices But the data at hand are not re-
assuring to Mr. Zukor's cause. The
/ public never has stood for a motion
picture hero, once the gloss had been
removed from his escutcheon.
A contemporary takes occasion to
observe that "Cap'n'' Adrian Con-
stantine Arson, who died in Chicago
recently, was the Babe" Ruth of his
day. 1t is all right to trail rhetorical
ivy upon the 'Cap'n's' memory. He
was an ornament to his time and to
the game. But why damn Ruth with
faint praise?
Arson was nothing but the greatest
hitter and the greatest baseball leader
he was only a high-minded. intelli-
gent, well-behaved gentleman who
lived Clearly, reared a fine family and
| died secure in the affections of the
followers of baseball He probably
never was arrested in his life for
speeding a high-powered motor car
on busy thorofare. 1t is not a mat
ter of record that he was ever sus-
studied violation of its written code.
Why permit his name to cast even
momentarily. shadow upon Ruth's
heroic figure,
There are a number of other mat
ters upon which we feel deeply, but
probably we shah not be able to dis
cuss them today.
Because II. E. H criticizes you for
/
lady from Moorestown.. n. J., you say
he has an inferiority complex" But
we didn't criticize Shakespeare. We
merely endeavored to explain to the
Shakespearean fans the reactions of
the common, or garden, type of mind
to the .Shakespearean drama. But
none of the Shakespearean fans who
have written us touching the matter
was. apparently, able to grasp or COM
prehend the plain. unadorned English
couched. If the Shakespearean fans
can't interpret plain English. what
good is Shakespeare's ornate, mellif-
luous and, occasionally, archaic lines
going to do them? We ask them that.
However, the guerrilla warfare
which we have been carrying on with
certain tenants of Shakespeare's do
main has revealed a great truth. We
have long been cognizant of such
50 perfectly revealed. 1t is that it
doesn't matter what one says. The
person who undertakes the work of
rebuttal invariably puts upon his
speech or written word the interpre-
tation he feels ablest to combat.
1t may interest those who have fol-
lowed the joint debate now in process
of being closed to know that we have
fixed it up amicably with Mr.. Sothern.
Taad fol HI
night At no time did the controversy
become heated. BY the terms of the
agreement we are to attend one of his
performances. If we like it well
thruout the performance. If it bores
us we are liberty to leave the
theater at the end of any act, scene
or line If he converts us to Shake
speare. we shall publicly acknowledge
such fact.
We don't know much about the
Irish question, but we gather from our
somewhat casual perusal of the for
eign service that this Michael Collins
and the late Mr.. de Valera are not
close friends.
1t is true that Mr.. Lansing and Mr..
Tumulty came out thru the same orr
flee. but Mr.. Tumulty managed to
stay until he had licked Mr.. Wilson's
boots.
The defeat of Senator New is a per-
sonaI sorrow We sag beneath it as
if it were weight of lead. But life
still breaks fifty-fifty. While Mr..
Beveridge was Swearing Senator
New the Athletics were trimming the
New York Yanks- And thus and in
such manner is resiliency served.
"WelI," the New York papers quote
Babe Ruth as saying. Il know I am
going up. but 1 don't know how 1
am coming down. and then the
speaker stepped into an elevator and
was whisked to the operating room of
the hospital, where his tonsils and
adenoids were removed.
1t may very well be that our sense
of humor is fallacious. But we can
conceive of nothing funnier than the
fact that for the two years last past
the great American public has been
worshipping a hero who had adenoids-
Reading the photographed notes
of John Golden and Eddie Guest,
which have appeared in recent num-
bers, it occurred to us that the highly
esteemed American Magazine might
be marking a new trail Neither Mr..
Golden nor Mr.. Guest attribute his
success to his mother.
But. in the current issue. the
esteemed American gets back to nor
malcy.
| GooYoo Matthew a dams