Evening star., 1922-11-20
MERICAES have had cause to
resent most of the recent

~ resent most of the recent
~ criticisms Of their conduct,
given SO freely by foreign
hypercritics. We are told that we
are dishonorable. tricky. greedy.
penurious In expecting a twelve-bil-
lion-dollar bagatelle of a loan really
to be paid back. and also, according
to French-American legionnaire,
even the American Legion is deca-
dent. thus verifying Kippling's dis
covery that all decent Americans died
in the civil war.
But while in our sensitive self-pride
We object to what the paragons of
Europeans say about us, much Of that
resentment is but the expression of
self-defense. or of chagrin that We
have not carried our BLUM as We had
expected to do. Even the ostrich OBJ
jects to being called squint-eyed,
though its head is in the sand.
However. now that our faultfinders
have shut their eyes, and we are just
here by ourselves, let US confess that
the joke is on them, in that they have
not half seen what We know of our
selves. The half has not been told.
and If there are no European report
ers, poets or librarians around, we
may concede that Americans ought to
be ashamed of their race-physically
and intellectually. We are fifty fifty
real outstanding men and women $50
present company Will take no
offense), but the other half are just
like Richard Ill
: curtaiIed of this fair proportion.
Cheated of feature by descending nature.
Into this breathing world scarce half made up.
And thsf SO lsm.ly and questionable
That dogs bark al me as halt by them.
4 X
And then our Ignorance is appalling,
We. who think We belong to the
worlds smart set and boast Of our
great system of free schools, thank
Providence that we are not like other
men, STEPPED in illiteracy. prejudice
and stupidity. Not of the Arm Tipped
American-the high browed Yankee
is the question TO be asked: Who
loosened and let down this jaw
We have read history and recall
that with the jawbone of the ass
Samson played smash. and SO we fear
lOOsed lower maXillary-like some
which have been wabbling lately
but those loose and frightful jaws of
history have always belonged east of
the Atlantic. while We have sat SNUG,
and grinned; We may get lockjaw.
but never the wabbies, like England
and France, ct al.
X 4 +
Now come Secretary of War Weeks
and Gen. Pershine telling us the thing
We had hoped everybody had forgot
ten-that in the draft for the world
war it was discovered that half the
American young men were like Rich
ard III, and a quarter could not tel
which end of a newspaper or book to
hold to the top, for they were utterly
unah Bile to read or write.
Since we are officially reminded,
something ought to be done about IL.
X * = X
No man can do justice to his soul or
his brains if he is a physical weak
was weak and sickly, and yet wrote
poetry which lives--but he could not
live on his stun today, writing it for
magazines. What did Pope ever learn
of the eternal triangle" Besides,
Pope was genius. and all rules fail
with geniuses, just as all signs fail in
dry weather.
The first requisite to modern success
is sound body. The Army demands
it; business insists upon it; the coun-
try needs it.
Cen. Pershing and Secretary Weeks.
therefore. have concluded to tell
that what they all need is
setting-up exercises. The general
seems to think that that will make
over the Richard Three-eyes of the
United states "toot-sweet," but evil
IDENTIFY he knows more about major
tactics than he does of hog-raiSing.
in ali the agricultural colleges it is
taught that If the feeder of pigs ever
lets his piglets starve. even for few
days, SO that they fail to make prog
ress daily and steadily from the day
of birth. they are stunted irredeem-
ably. All the cramming of feed in
subsequent days will not make the
hog he might have been. Perhaps that
nection with tongue or pen" Let us
learn from the pen" that 'once a
runt always a runt." and the saddest
Of these" is the human runt. That is
just what half of American man
hood is
In verification of the poet of "all
sad things" we cite also what DR..
Holmes said concerning when to be-
gin in the matter of developing the
child-was it not to be 100 years be-
fore birth? Now what does Gen.
Pershing expect to make out of our
awkward squads of ancestors. even
with all the setting-up exercises. bay
onet drills and climbing over the
top? Can stor:ed urn or animated
bust" beat the A. E. F.? Is not the
general unfair to the doughboy and
the rookie?
X
In all seriousness, has any observer
of soldiers on paraue-for instance.
on the Fourth OF July. 1919. in Paris
the physique of the
American columns, with their straight