The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-01-11
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY E. HOUSE
tFrom Philadelphia Public Ledger.l
a Competitive. Event


desire to write the column for Janu
airy 20, that we have decided to make
it a competitive event. The best col
umn submitted will be printed on Mon
day morning. January 80. The second
best column will receive honorable
mention and may be printed on some
subsequent date, provided the golfing
season opens early In order that
there be no claim of foul or fayoritism,
Cullen Cain will judge all manuscripts
submitted, and will select the one
which he considers best.
The suggestion has been made that
q Senator who will represent the en-
tire State of Pennsylvania in Congress
be selected. 1t is a ringing phrase and
will appeal to many as the ultimate in
wisdom; but. as matter OF fact, 1t is
pish posh.
No two men could agree on the
question as to what constitutes repre-
sentation of an entire state. If they
could agree on every detail of the
task, no human being could perform
it.
The columns heroine, Miss Alice
Robertson, has announced that she
will be u candidate for reelection.
We don't know how Miss Robertson
feels about 1t, but we are none too
sanguine of the result. If we know
Oklahoma, and We think we do, it will
not for a second time brook the dou-
Bile insult of a woman and a Repub-
lican representing it in the Congress
of the United States.
Oklahoma is a chivalrous State It
does not countenance the trial of q
| woman for murder and is furious
when an attempt to convict one such
| is made. But unless we mistake the
temper of Oklahoma it will not long
stand for a woman in Congress.
And that reminds us that Mrs.
Jake" Hamon is married again. You
don't recall Mrs. Hamon? Oh, very
well!
| No wonder the people are dissatis-
fled and restless! Every effort so far
made to learn the extent of the late
Senator Penrose's fortune has been
futile. Probably its value never will
be known The people do not demand
much, but they do insist on knowing
how much the deceased left.
We imagine, too. the disposition of
the property will come in for some
criticism. 1t always does.
The stores were open again yester-
| day, and we take it that this Senator
McCumber, who is to take Senator
Penrose's place, bought himself a pair
OF heavy insoles.
| Those who profess to write expertly
of politics are trailing ivy over the
| Old Guard. They express the belief
that it passed with Penrose. We are
not SO sure. To US the obsequies seem
| premature. We've witnessed the pass
ing of the Old Guard any number of
| times in the twenty years last past. We
never saw it more supremacy in COM
| mand than it was in the Republican
convention of 1920.
Individual members of the Old
| Guard die, but their places Immediate
| 1y are filled. The qualifications for
membership in the Old Guard are a
conservative viewpoint, a forceful per-
sonality, courage and abdominal ade-
Quacy. 1t is that type of man who
| once he gets into politics, stays there.
Except during the period of sporadic
| outbreaks, he dominates his party
ncils. When his party goes on the
rocks, he stays by the wreck, and when
it is patched into some semblance OF
| seaworthiness, helps launch it again
The shaking aspen of politics seldom
survives more than two campaigns
often he disappears at the end of one
| The ole guardster has his faults, but
he las also the quality of endurance
We express a doubt as to whether the
gentlemen of the press will be a BILE tC
| eliminate him from further considera-
tian. They never have been able t.
Id1 so.