New Britain herald., 1924-04-24
ROTARIANS SHOWN
 THE AVERAGE MAN
Dr. 'Sternheim Filings Cutting
 Satire at Males Of America

New Britain Rotarians today had a verbal mirror held up in front of them 1 when they listened for B minutes to ! an eloquent and powerful satire on the average man, delivered by Dr. Emmanuel Sternheim of Port Chester. N. r. Dr. Sternheim is a graduate of Oxford. Heidelberg and Paris uni i versailles and has been 8 lecturer at several universities in the United States.
 He took as his theme the book by Sinclair Lewis. "Babbtt,' and said it , was Challenge to men," He painted a picture of George r. Ba abbitt, whom he described as an average citizen who was taught first l to 'get on, then to get honor and i finally to get honest" George r. Bab- bitt got on, he got married, built a home, bought a high powered car. joined a Rotary or kiwanis club, got | honor, became member of the Com mercial and the Boosters clubs, and director in the First National bank. Then, his bank balance permitting, he got honest and with the we'll known American custom of electing church officials in inverse ratio to their spirituality, he was made an elder in the First Presbyterians church He became a pillar of his home town, Zenith, U. $. A.
 Here he painted an amusing word picture of how Rabbit prominent citizen, member of, etc" took a care full survey of the public oponion in his neighborhood and then took public stand in which he expressed the result of his canvass as his own
 personal viewpoint, and attitude.
 This" the speaker said, lis one of Americas great challenges to men, America wants constructive individual thinking backed by character and the
 aims and ideals of Americanism.
 What we need in our public life is a
 practical application of Rotary and
 kiwanis and Lions club ideals"
 But all the time George F. Bab-
 bitt had been getting on, getting
 honor and finally getting honest, his
 wife still remained plain Mrs. Sab
 bitt. True he gave her a handsome
 home, high powered car and
 charge account at the department
 store and he felt hc had done as
 much as possible for her. she should be happy In the reflected glory and
 grateful for the honor of wearing his
 name.
 But he had forgotten that there
 was such a thing as love in the home,
 and when he realized it. it was too
 late. and George r. Rabbit turned to
 other loves"
 Here again the speaker saw a chal- lenge to men. Ilo secs in the home life of America today, he told his hearers, the same lust and decadence
 that prevailed in ancient Rome. Let
 us leave for our children and our chil- dren's children the recollection of a
 happy home, builded on clean, pure, domestlcated American home life,''
 he pleaded.
 He grew amusingly sarcastic on inc subject Of such advertisements as are sometimes found in magazines,
 Learn to be a lawyer in 2i hours, by , rayiify s1 down and sl week for the ? rest Of your life" He also grew satirical on inc American's contempt of foreign titles. You sheer at dukes,
 and counts and lords" he said, but
 we overwork the word professor un-
 iil we think it means anything from
 Kindergarten teacher to a chair at
 Yale. Doctor may be anything from
 corn cutter to a philosopher. ] met ! so many colonels in the South l won
 dered If they had any privates in the Southern army. An Honorable. All
 a man needs is to have been a mem-
 Der of a governors staff or something | and he becomes honorable for the rest s Of his life. no matter how dishonor- f able he may be-
 - Another instance in the life and - fortunes Of George r. Rabbit was his 8 meeting with the typical Englishman e with a monocle, dialect and cut r away coat. Rabbit laughed at the c Englishman. He saw he was a stran- Q ger and hoaved a brick at him on c general principals.
 But later when Rabbit was elected y 10 represent his town at a national - meeting in Chicago. he had 10 share | the same room with the Englishman n They learned to known and finally tc l. love each other. There came a better - understanding. "lf we see a stranEer p Of different country. different faith - belief or creed. we automatically
 hcave a brick at him today but the
 time is coming when tho Catholic
 Protestant and Jcw will bc permitted Il to proceed according to his lights and t ideals for A better love and under. I standing Of the ideals Of each other - in a better America to come" he said }. "The Kaiser and his Got Nit Us I was no worse than the Englishmar l. and his "Brittania Rules the Waves :. Let's have our America First" but II let's make it first fin art. literature ]. loyalty and ideals and 1ets have 2 s democracy that functions.
 n "The destinies of the world are 1T t the hands of the people Of the United IS States"
 N T