The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-01-26
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAZZ E. HOUSE
sErom Philadelphia Public Ledger.l

4
perience as a fulcrum under the idea
we are trying to pry loose. We are an
average person. Our own experiences
are the common lot. We reason that
the basic idea can be brought little
closer to the reader if it is embroi-
dered with experiences which are the
counterpart of its own. But every
time we point conclusion with a per
sonal revelation somebody foars his
head off.
We have such a protest. written by
| a reader upstate, on the desk beside us.
Writing of prohibition the other day
we clinched a conclusion with a per-
sonal revelation 1t fit exactly the ex-
perjence of every man who has little
liquor in his home, and a great many
I have. Perhaps majority have little
liquor in the home. We find it pretty
nearly every place we go, and we cir
| culate extensively.
Noting the paragraph the reader
Upstate wrote: When did disloyalty
to the constitution become unimpor
tant or law violation matter to boast
of? Only the fact that 1 have been
| reading the Public Ledger for many
years has held me to it since the
column appeared. 1 am now taking
Young America"
That protest set the columnist think
ling. We don't believe the matter of
disloyalty to the constitution was in
volved in the paragraph. Certainly
we had no intent to boast of the small
store of liquor in our home, If we
had seven or eight barrels we might
brag about it; others do. But it seems
to US than only the question of ethics
is directly involved. In other words, if
a newspaperman knows a certain con-
dition exists, should he print and COM
ment on it? Or. should he try to- keep
| it secret2
A good deal of disloyalty to the con-
stitution has proceeded from prohibit
| ton. But those who are disloyaI do
not consider themselves so. What is
the proper method of treating that sit
uation2 Should the truth about it be
printed, or should it be laved in a
flow of fine words and = burning
phrases about the constitution and law
and ORDER
Another thought that intrigues the
columnist is the assumption that Young
America can be diverted into any par
ticular channel of thought by with
holding a given newspaper from it
Young America digs its own channels
of thought. In some mysterious way
it learns everything there is to know
at a very early age. Particularly is
Vicfous-and taboo. IF it is bad, the
probabilities are that nothing you
can do will prevent your. boy from
finding out about it.
We reach this conclusion partly
from observation and partly from our
own experience. By the time we were
eighteen We Knew everything bad and
| vicious and disreputable that we now
know. What We lacked-the only
thing that age and experience have
given us-was a better understanding,
q sense Of proportion and philosophy
concerning it. And We were reared
riot in the abyss of the city, but at
THAT fountainhead4of purity and man
ily strength and manly virtue, the
farm. No daily newspaper directed
our in1pressionable mind to question:
able lines of thought There was no
daily newspaper. But We learned
about everything that was known then
or IS known now.
Another thing the columnist thinks
about is that he may be over writing
some topic of more or less popular
interest. The fear that his own inter
est in it, or familiarity with the sub
| ject, may lead him to become bore
some is ever with him. Zeal kills
more projects than casual interest, A
good handy man can write anything
to death. The thought that he may
kill some petted child is ever with
the columnist.
As furnishing an. example in point
Sen. George Wharton Pepper is the
latest victim of this tendency to over
writing. Senator Pepper, a fine gen
tleman and an able man, recently has
been over-exploited by the press
Being what he is, he likely will survive
the ordeal; but it will handicap him
for months to come.
AT present" says Life in a recent
ISSUE every coIurnnist when he is
not writing about himself, is writing
admiration paragraphs about other
columnists.' Every columnist thinks
a good deal about that, because, In a
measure, it is true. A columnist is
neither fish, flesh nor fowl. He can
follow neither the canons of editorial
writing nor the standards set for the
relation of the news The column de-
ponds upon his personality. He is
there to exploit it, but he is always
gripped by the conviction that he is
over-playing himself
We have written a good many
columns. We recall only one or two
at which we did not blush because of
the extent to which we had projected
ourseIf The eoluu7nist usually is as
much ashamed of his column as you
are.
These, then, are a few of the things
of which a columnist thinks. and
some of them occur to him every day
of his life.
"Debs Cheered on His Way North"
is a newspaper headline. We beg the
privilege of putting question. What
for
Now. we are not saying 1t is right.
or just. or proper that this is so. We
merely are saying it is so.
Samuel Gompers says the labor
unions emerged from a year of con~
fliet unscarred- Mr.. Gompers Is. ex-
peeted to say that sort of thing and
! probably is justified in doing so. But
| in point of fact. the labor unions
emerged from a year of conflict per-
/. forated in a thousand places.