The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-05-16
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY z. HOUSE
(From PhiladelphIa Public LedEer)

Just the other day we expressed the
opinion that humanity slowly but
steadily grows cleaner, saner, broader
minded, more tolerant and more decent
to its kind. We find confirmation OF
that opinion in the reaction to
casual discussion of religion recently
projected herein. Most of the letters
about it are from clergymen; and
while they are not in entire agreement
with the views expressed, they are uni
formly considerate. fair and kindly.
Had an onIooker. so recently as
twenty years ago. projected in news
paper so free and frank a discussion
of religious matters he would have
been burned at the stake of public
opinion.
Some will not be able to reconcile
our belief that the world grows steadily
better with our frequent asseveration
that it is running hog-wild. We find
no difficulty in squaring it in mind.
Our notion is that We, the people, are
in revolt against too much law, too
much statutory restriction. But it is
an ephemeral condition. 1t will cease
to exist when the tendency to control
every manifestation of human activity
thru statutory enactment wears itself
out.
The world runs in cycles. The cycle
of statutory control has about reached
IT'S naQ1r, II II mas not already QOAS
SO. We are due for q long period of
inactton. In that period humanity
will again find itself.
Probably you won't like the fore
going prescription. In that event.
you are entirely at liberty to consult
another physician. We merely dag
nose the disease and indicate what
seems TO US to be the proper treat
ment. But we don't insist that it be
followed
The alleged marital yearnings of the
various members of the Mccormick
family is a good story. We can under
stand why news editors print it. A
newspaper must make concessions to
its women readers. But so far as we
are concerned, they could leave it out
of the paper; we wouldn't miss it.
Anyhow. we are reading fourteen
serial stories in eleven magazines and
we have no time for the newspapers
Possibly you are curious as to our
taste in serial stories. One never can
tell exactly what will intrigue the
public. Well, all we have to say is
that none of the fourteen is by Rupert
Hughes.
Mr.. Hughes used to be one of our
favorite authors. He came out of a
little town of which we 1yot. He used
were also acquaintance of ours. But
since Mr.. Hughes drowned one of his
heroineS in a lake, encased her in
thick ice. sawed out the block of ice
containing the body, shet it up against
the side of a camp in the Adirondacks
and left it there for days, our ardor
for him has cooled.
Quite aside from the fact that it was
no way to treat the decedent, we
couldn't stand another story like that
would bore US stiff.
Incidentally the defeat of Senator
New for denomination did the New
York World so much good that we are
halfway reconciled to it. The World
is a grand newspaper, and it hasn't
had much fun lately.
And there are precious golden mem
cries which no subsequent cataclysm
in politics can take away from us. One
is the election of an avowed stand
patter as President of the United States
in 1920.
'I don't know how big a fool you
are" begins a cherished reader. Well.
that's a point that has always been
in controversy.
A traveller recently returned from
the great wide-open spaces thinks a
sign he saw in a Long Beach restau
- SCON IOl tue
ne says 1t read, Eat here and keep
your wife for a pet"
However, fer our own personal use
we prefer the story he picked I'D in
Montana. 1t concerned a young Wo-
man from the east. not thoroly Injured
to the vivid phraseology of Montana
ana ore of the primary pupils of the