The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-05-23
The MuffIed Approach.

Sir-'Tis a fair column as a rule,
and ever able to observe itself with a.
humorous eye. Why, then, so acerbic
whenever Woodrow's name comes up :?
Didst hypothecate the worthy cheque
in ~ and lie? P. B. c.
> Now, that is very Interesting
thing, psychologically speaking. Like
iy Mr.. Wilson is a great man. 1t is
there will always be a little uncon-
SciouS vitriol in the comment of those
who do not follow him blindly. Mr.
Wilson lacks a certain human quality.
He has hosts of admirers and not a
few grow hysterical IN expressing
their admiration. But nobody seems
to love him. He is an isolated human
peak, lofty, grand and m&jectic, but
crowned. so far as the general public
is concerned, with eternal ice and
snow. He has blind. adulatory fol-
lowers almost without number but
apparently no friends. Most of those
who tried to be friendly with him
have been kicked in the Stats. Prob
ably those who have not already been
kicked will be. Upon that type of
public man, partisan comment-and
this column is mildly Republicans
always biting.
We met Mr. Wilson but once. There
seemed to be nothing naughty or
austere about him. He was chatty and
informal. He told very good and
somewhat audacious stories exceed
ingly we'll. But we couldn't love him
as we should have loved, say, the late
Champ Clark in similar setting and
circumstance. His qualities do not
thrill as did those of that rugged,
human character, Grover Cleveland.
The attitude of the public toward
most of it's public men is formed not
by contact, but by impressions. A case
analogous, if somewhat further re-
moved from the pinnacle of states
manship, is that of Bryan and La Fol-
partners in folly. Bryan is pretty well
liked by everybody. Nobody loves La
Toilette. Bryan has the human quail
ity which softens the words of those
who speak of him in deprecatory
fashion.
That probably is the reason Re
publican comment on Wilson always
carries sting. If it isn't the reason.
our psychology is wrong and we
should be glad to be set right about it.
Supposing a Case.
Sir-Suppose Mr.. Darwin, as he
might logically have done, speaking
mentally rather than chronologically,
had written "ascended from the ape"
instead of descended" etc. Would it
have made a difference to sensitive
souls like w. J. B.? A. r. W.
Probably not With w. J. B. it
isn't a matter of sensitiveness at all.
His is a rock-bound nature projecting
into the valley of despair. His mental
is such that he frequently
is inundated by floods of emotion, and
he, being rockbound, the flood does
not ''seep" away but spills instead
over so much of the territory as is
contiguous. w. J. B. is in a state of
fIux. To one with his background, his
concern must always be with moral
and religious matters; his emotion
must always spend itself upon them.
However, that is not all what we
set out to say. We have been told
Darwin didn't say it. Involved in the
of our own Incidence
we never took the trouble to look it
up. The result would be interesting if
somebody should do so. VIII some
studious and industrious customer
take over the commission Let's have
the popular conception of the Oar
winian theory disproved or anthem
ticated.