The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-05-24
TN
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Bath Tub AppetiteS
VoISteadiSno
Dirt Behind Door
FanatiCiSnn
BY Nj. E. Tracy

You can imagine such rugged
thirst as would fill a bath tub with
champagne or even something
stronger, but what kind Of an
appetite is it that would sit naked
girl in the tub and then line up glass
in hand, especially if the contents
were ginger ale?
In the ship-yards Of the Roarin
Forties," it was customary to knock
in the head Of the rum barrel and
hang a pint dipper on a nail and
there is something to admire about
the rough old leathernecks, who
gathered around so frequently, took
their poison straight and then
sweated it out by swinging adj and
set maui from sun to sun.
Earl Carroll is being tried in New
York, you understand, not because
he filled a bath.tub with wine, if he
did, nor yet because he had a nude
female submerge herself in it, if he
did, but because he told the grand
jury the tub contained ginger ale
Quite as interesting, he is being
tried, not because the officers Of the
law found him out, but because he
was so enthusiastic over the stunt
and so eager for publicity, that he
told Philip Payne, editor Of the Daily
Mirror. to "go as far as you like"
in telling about it.
Payne says that he considered the
story unimportant, though he put it
in first page Of his paper.
He says that it did not have the
slightest bearing upon the big move
ments Of the world past, present or
future.
| think what he did with it shows
better Judgment than what he says
about it.
j. !
If this episode doesn't reveal the
addle-pated vulgarity Of the times as
a logical reaction to the anticipated
repression of the times, then cpl
sodes have no meaning.
A clean cut by-product OF Volstead
ism, l would say and Of other SNUG
notions Of how to revise human ma
ture through law.
It may not be typical as a per-
formance, but it certainly typifes
a frame Of mind, and Earl Carroll
though he may have fathered the
stunt as charged should not be put
down as such a whale Of an ex-
ception, as some Of his pals and
cronies will try to make out IL he
is convicted of perjury.
BY constitution and statute we
can stand by the smuggest pharisee
OF them all and thank God we are
not as other men, but when 1t comes
down to life, as life is lived, we must
admit that our power to become so
suddenly spotless is due to the fact
that we have swept a lot Of dir, be-
hind the door and under the bed.
What is worse, the more we try to
keep up this spotless appearance for
official inspection, the more dirt is
going to accumulate in those self
same places.
J.
Self-preservation is commonly re-
garded as the first law Of nature. but
how about the law OF balance, or
compensation. as some call It? Have
you ever noticed that when one class
Of people crawls out on limb,
whether to attain pity, or vice. an
other class crawls out on another
limb in the opposite direction to
keep things In equilibrium.
The worst orgies in Rome took
place, not before, but after the Sen
ate had passed all kinds Of laws
against extravaganza, promiscuity
and display
Russia went bolshevik not before
but after the Car banned vodka.
Extreme leads to extremes and
you can't get away from it.
Repression Of personal liberty has
"a way of breeding vice and delin-
quence.
The old idea of putting men and
women on their honor has gone out
Of our political system and with it
has gone the idea of self-restraint
which they considered necessary for
sheir own protection.
- i. T.