Evening star., 1923-06-10
By THOMAS II. MARSHALL.
Former Vice President Of the United
States.

| bh THOMAS IL. MARSHALL.
Former Vice President Of the United
| States.
F Ralph Waldo Emerson was right,
IL consistency Is the hobgoblin Of
small minds, then small minds no
| longer exist, for consistency has
| utterly disappeared. AS a mark Of
! real greatness, inconsistency has be-
| come common to those we regard as
| great or near great. OF Emerson it
| may be said that he appreciably en-
| larged the hat sizes of men.
| There was a time when however
| vacillating men might be about par
| ticulars they clung tenaciously to
| principles. They had to hold fast or
| lose their influence. we'll remember
| when the weathercock in any calling
| in life had no influence upon the
| thought and conduct of mankind.
Now II seems that the more rapidly
! a man changes his opinions and shifts
his position as public prejudice and
private interests dictate. the more
! rapidly he grows in. public esteem.
| Mayhap. the electric age in which We
live is responsible for this Our i'm
and over the radio. Flashes of
, thought come TO US with such light
ning-like speed that We do not have
opportunity to consider any one of
them. We have no time TO determine
Whe ther q, preceding fash was more
| Illuminating. With the public mind
in such a state. consistency is super
fuous.
There is a right in d. man TO right
about. Aye, more, there is a duty
incumbent upon him to right about
when he finds himself wrong. Most
Of us would be better off If we spent
less time in trying to go forward and
more time in trying to orient our
, selves in order to ascertain whe ther
; we are going in the right direction.
| But with his right and frequently his
duty to shift his position. q man who
seeks to mold public opirN,n owes
it to those he has infiuencs~ in the
past to tell them why he has shifted
that they may determine the Adcerity
Of his conversion. The old fashioned
revival service where men barred their
souls not only in the presence of an
angry God, but also in the sight OF
friends and neighbors, where they
frankly and penitently confessed the
error of the past and gave their rea-
sons for believing it wrong, promis-
ing at the same time a different
course Of conduct for the future. has
passed into the limbo OF things for
| gotten. And | would not revive this
| ancient custom in morals. i saw too
many fights arising out Of confessions
thus made TO deem them on the whole
conducive to the peace. quietude and
| good order Of a neighborhood. But
| would like to see established a
! similar custom of public confession
pertaining to the politics and the
! business Of the country.
! x x !:
I should like to be told, for in
stance, why the man who has
pre- ached for years the necessity and
benefits OF organized labor accepts a
| superintendency and at once begins
a crusade to destroy the union to
which his workmen belong. He is not
a man of small mind, according 10
Emerson, for he certainly is not con-
sistent. I would like to be informed
also, why men who when poor were
the bitterest enemies of wealth. were
transformed upon becoming rich into
wealth's staunchest defenders and its
greatest apologists. Moreover, it
would contribute 10 my peace of mind
IL could be privately informed how
it comes that states'-rights democrats
are so much in favor of centralized
government, why tariff-for-revenue
senator's vote for a high protective