The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-04-15
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY z. HOUSE
tFrom Philadelphia Public Ledger.)
Taking HaroId Too serlousIy.

Taking Harold Too Seriously.
Sir-As Harold evidently does not
smoke. how came he to be as he is?
OF what habit or affliction is he a
pose his stuff is printed to show what
q fool a. non-smoker can make of him
self. incidentally. it appears that he
lis no more addicted to photography
than to fumigation. It is news to me.
and I think to most of US, that the
iTnurderouS impulse came to CzolgosZl
from the effects of his smoking. If
Harold really believes that tobacco
and liquors go together. he must be
| familiar with the environment of
booze runners have INDUCED in the
| ''devilish vice" for more than forty
years. Perhaps that is the reason l
am unable to comprehend and appre-
ciate Harold. But perhaps Harold was
created by yourself to get smokers
goats. A. L.
| We have long held to a theory. 1t
is that if the extremist is given a
chance uninterruptedly to discuss his
fayorite topic he will talk his cause off
the map and out of the picture. We
have long believed that folly thrived
upon the disposition of its opponents
to take it seriously. We are no longer
so sure about it. Harold's disquisition
| on tobacco was so ridiculous-so pal
pably the excreta OF a biased ana un-
Informed mind-that. buttressing it as
we did with certain facetious illusions,
we thought it perfectly safe to permit
it to ride without comment you'd De
surprised at the number of persons
who took it seriously.
| One of these was a manufacturer OF
tobacco and it's by-products. He took
HaroId's disQuisition as an attack upon
his business and threatened to cancel
a $4,000 advertising contract because
of it. In emitting what we had in
tended to be the final installment of
the classic" we very carefully exT
planned that we had lost the paper
containing it. And that was true.
When it did not appear, members OF
the Anti-Tobacco League bore down
upon the powers that be and charged
that the influence of the Tobacco
Trust had been employed to stop fur
Their publication of Harold's propa-
ganda. 1t seems incredible. but that
also is true.
Now, nobody knew we were going to
print Harold's piece. Nobody suggested
that the publication of further Install
ments be discontinued. We heard of
pressure on the editorial and business
departments only after we had ad-
mitted our inability to find the con-
Guiding installment.
We give the fish peddler with the
raucous voice who frequents the alley
| in the rear of 4624 Chestnut street
| fair warning. He may finish out his
week, but If he appears at his &C
customed spot on Monday morning we
| intend to shoot him.
We used to have a particularly ex-
| pressive rejoinder to those who made
| impertinent requests. We have it yet.
| for that matter. It would constitute
q perfect retort to the Democrats who
| are demanding that President Hard
/ ing explain to them his reasons for
| Diminishing twenty-nine employees of
the bureau of engraving and printing.
But, of course, the president couldn't
| use it.
| Not publicly. at any rate.
! We haven't seen 'Lilliom" but from
| what we hear of it, 1t is going to be
great treat for those who considered
John Ferguson" comedy.
We are compelled to disagree with
| the Rev. o. c. Poland, of Waltham.
Mass, whose reaction is that people
don't want to hear the truth. We
think they do. Our observation is that
they are hungry for it. But they want
it from some one whose judgment OF a
given situation is not swayed by pre-
conceived ideas, who has a sense of
proportion and who knows what he is
| talking about.
We have told pretty nearly every
body else what is the matter with
them. We take this occasion to adj
WISE Sd(AA VI [iAS tACA BY as eAl dNtclApt-
ing to deal in drastic way with cur
rent sin and vice. The mass reaction
to every shaft aimed by clergyman
at the activities about him is that he
possibly can not know what he is talk
ing about. The result is that his ar
row blunts itself upon a public which
discounts the impact before it is de-
livered.
It is true that the country is run
ming wild. But we have begun to
doubt that anything can be done about
1t. We do know that the condition Of
shall we say congestion, has failed to