Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-04-01
TOO MUCH APRIL FooLiSHNESS
IN THE SEATS OF THE MIGHTY
Some Reflections Of the Day Involving
Folly by a Lot Of Important Folk
Who Should Know Better

L In the fact that n small minority of the
representatives Of big business--those indi.
vidual bituminous mine owners who refused
to honor President Harding's request for q
wage conference and deliberately snubbed
the Federal Department Of Labor and SO
made general coal strike inevitable-chose
the first day of April to give your Uncle
SamuefS hat an astonishing, an unprece.
dcnted kick.
That used to be an unkickable hat. When
it was put upon the ground as n symbol Of
authority to draw a crowd and inspire
friendly discussion, it was always respected.
We shall soon know whether there was
brick in it and whether It can be kicked
with impunity.
The incident is freshly suggestive Of rather
alarming prevalence Of April Foolishness in
the high places Of this 80 called civilized
world. The more eminent man may be in
public affairs. the reader he may be nova
days to be deluded by appearances and mis-.
led by his own irrational hopes. You could
go out in Pennsylvania with a net and catch
at least hundred really influential poll
tcans who still believe that this is the
gear 1882 and that elections should be de-
cided by marching clubs with oilcloth capes
and torches. Alarm clocks are whanging all
over the State. The women'a organizations
are alert and contemptuous Of the Old
Crowd, but the Old Crowd will not wake up.
On the first Of April or on any other day
You do not have to kid the politicians. They
are ever ready to kid themselves and save
you the trouble.
We in this country have no monopoly Of
the transient foolishness that is supposed
to be in the lightsome air Of April. In
Europe they are worse off.
There Is NJ. Millerand, new President Of
France, shamelessly rattling the saber under
the spring skies and talking like Wilhelm
Of the Germany That Was and seeming to
believe that he, Millcrand, is reincarna-
ton Of the First Napoleon.
There are the Die Hards at Belfast and
the Dic-Hnrds in Dublin, perfectly willing
to spill blood all over Ireland to perpetuate
n sort Of hate that makes them happy.
There Is Lord Curzon. in the British For
eign Office, who made all India--all Asia
gasp when he caused Gandh to be put in
Jail and started something that he may
never be able to finish
Such persons as these go upon their err
ratio way and look down upon the somber
faces Of their peoples and wonder why they
are growing irreverent, why they aren't
satisfied, why the younger generation refuses
to take the older generation as seriously as
it did before the war and why unrest and
dissatisfaction and agitation are on every
hand.
The general result of all this lazy, nn.
thinking, uncritical drift led uy foolish and
powerful men is not happy one. Profess
sors who tell their pupils to be successful by
Getting the Money. statesmen who think
only of spoils, captains of industry who seek
only power and profits are deluding them
selves, but they aren't deluding all the pub.
lie. For it is not merely money or spoils
that most people want.
People in America and everywhere else
want primarily a little more happiness-or,
to put It in a better way, a little less of
uphappiness. They want to be at peace.
They don't want to be hungry or to see their
children hungry, and they want right to
hope and to exist in decency. These are
normal desires and healthy ones. You can
not safely ignore or attempt to suppress
them. Any one who tries to do that plays
at an extremely dangerous game that has
been played n thousand times before with
disastrous results.
But the fools in authority do not seem to
know this. possibly because they know too
little Of human history. They have been
doing n great deal to make our civilization
hard and unsntsfying and very ugly In
spots, yet they become indignant when the
al. kra
dislike it.
All Asia gnped while the white race rolled
in the dirt OF five bloody years. why
said the Oriental to other Orientals, 1--WE
were led to believe that the white man was
intelligent and wise. Tie doesn't seem to be
intelligent at all or even safe. If this is
what his civilization leads to we shall have
no more Of 1t u
This may be primarily why India is be-
coming insurgent against the British.
Vanity is q sort of fooishness, and if
people everywhere are in mood of mpa-
tience with officehoders and rulers and
dlplomatists it Is because too many men in
power are too vain to imagine that they
might be subject to questioning or criticism.
They are too disposed to feel that money or
material possessions can be substitute for
wisdom and righteousness.
The fact Is that money or even material
power matters little. 1t is what you do
with it that counts.
A man or II country without philosophy
or an aim in life satisfactory to the collective
conscience Of humanity cannot so far. There
is too much talk of money in American
politics and in education. Arbucklc got the
money. Protiteers got it. Most of the
people who figure conspicuously In divorce
courts got 1t, and almost any man can get
it who is at once INSCRIPTIONS and energetic.
But money is no more Of an assurance of
happiness or even peace to any man than
transient power is to n nation. You've got
to have good principles to make money valu-
able.