The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-01
GIL BIAS COMES
TO OUR FAIR
METROPOLIS
Through Him We See Wash
ington as a Place of Hy-
pocrisy, Sham, and Mirth-
Provoking Moral Pretension
BY ANIES KENDRICK.


- RnopO is considerably more
than a good-natured fling at our
fair town. We are accustomed to
have our shortcomings exposed to
the gaze Of outlanders, and to listen
to their obscene mirth when our
small-town habits are made the
subject of ridicule. Even foreign
ers have now and then manifested
az. unholy glee at our pretensions
to cosmopolitanism. In vain have
the apologists pointed to our
miles of paved streets, our multi
tudinous shade trees, our benefit
cent sewers, the purity Of our
morals, the dependability Of our
bootleggers, and our freedom from
the evils attending on self.gov-
eminent; the alien within our
gates admits these and other
premises with his tongue in his
cheek. We are without honor in
our own Capital.
AS we said,- If Capitol Hill"
were but another novel seeking
its bit of notoriety at our ex-
pense, we should not feel con-
strained to any ballyhoo in its
behalf. But it has far greater
significance and purpose, for it is
90 packed with keen observation
OF certain aspects of democracy
as it exists and is practiced in
the republic as to make it a So
cial document of first-rate i'm
portance. We have the feeling
that it is going to outrage the
tender sensibilities of a good
many right-minded folk, and that
the author will be denounced as
q scoundrel and a menace to the
peace and security of the land.
We would not be at all surprised,
when the full purport and tenor
OF the book have had time to per-
colate the minds of enough OF
the right sort, to hear of the
passage Of condemnatory resolu-
tons. Some one is almost GER
tain to liken the author to John
Dos Passos.
Equally, 1t should be the
cause of inordinate mirth among
the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS men,
free thinkers, professional lobby
lists, and such forlorn and
abandoned creatures. We can
picture Henry Mencken open
ing a bottle Of squareface, and
whooping it up in the Smart Set
and can well imagine Ben Hecht
In full cry in the bizarre Chicago
Literary Times.
The story, briefly, is that OF
Ralph Dolan, modern Gil Bias,
who tires of making a liv-
ing swindling sophomores, and
decides that Washington offers
q fertile field for a person Of
his natural attainments. His
beginning in our town Is
humble and inauspicious-he is
Vlctimized by a fancy woman who
gets his ROLAND he next is
discovered working in a one
arm lunch. A better job fol-
lows, and he abandons his cheap
room on the lower Avenue for the
7. NJ. C. A.
He achieves a measure of
prosperity, but his mind is
fixed on the gaudy spectacle
on the Hill. There, he is sure,
Is where the money is to be
had, where the game is easiest.
and he never stops until
he finds himself landed in the
Government feed trough. His
rise IL immeasurably facilitated
by the advent of the war. and
he finally marries a comfort
able fortune.
So much for the story, which
ID interesting as stories go.
But we get a picture of Wash
ington from twenty years ago on
ward which brings back to us glee-
full memories of places and events
long since forgotten. Those were
the days when a petticoat govern
nent, working through a new
chief Of police who was known
to be a young man of high
moral enthusiasm" devoted itself
to the announced purpose of MAX
ing the city a place of spotless
morals. The Magdalenes were
hunted from pillar to post; cheap
hotels suspected of harboring
them were raided; doors were or
dered removed from private din
ing rooms Of certain cafes.
"" But presently there &C.
CURED a great boom in the
taxicab business. Country
roads near the Capital at night
were lined with cars, their
curtains discreetly drawn. The
Christian chief Of police sent
out a special flying squad of
motorcycle men to patrol the
roads within the District of
Columbia, and called upon the
police Of Maryland and Vir
ginia TO cooperate with him
In hia hePctIIean hattie AGAINST