Evening star., 1927-08-28
i our Oil capitalists as anOthe
force for human misery


i our oil capitalists as another
force for human misery"
Sinclair is quite thobber. you
know" smiled the little man who sat
across from me as he reached toward
the tobacco jar on the table.
I was in the study of Henshaw
Ward who recently has blazed across
the skies of popular authorship by
his books on the wonders of modern
science. I had called on him just as
his Exploring the Universe was
being run off the press and he was
enjoying a little respite from his la
bors of rendering the profundities of
science understandable and enjoyable
to the average layman.
Fame Comes QuickIy.s
Mr.. Ward arrived in the world of
authorship with the same suddenness
that Lindbergh mounted the ladder
of aerial note. His first book, "Evo-
luton for John Doe" was launched
from the authors pen at the height
of the national heat over funda-
mentalism and projected or catapulted
| him into the limelight of the knowns.
But. like Col. Lindbergh. his first
| triumph was not accidental. 1t
IL
who for Is years had been engaged
| in awakening youthful minds in one
of our preparatory schools, and who
| in this period of preparation had
| learned the art of elucidation. From
| teaching, Mr.. Ward became interested
| in the wonders of science and Won
| dered why such accomplishments
| were so little known and so little ap-
| preciated. He began a new career
| explaining science to laymen-and
| today growing clientele of readers
waits eagerly until the next Henshaw
| Ward book comes off the press.
What is thobber?" l queried
You have seen them every day."
| he replied. They surround us on all
sides. They are the greatest hobbies
on progress. A thobber." he con-
tinued, sis n person who holds an
! opinion that he likes. He does not
care to examine his opinion or to
check it up with the observation of
| the eye. He holds an opinion because
| he likes it, not because he wants to
| be certain he has hold of the truth
| or wants to put his belief on the
| operating table for examination.
| agination. They have loosed them
what the eye beholds and the senses
| tell.
Illustrations Of "ThObber."
| "The history of civilization is
| made up of q mass of one never
ending truth. The intellect discovers
error and treasures it. The eye dis
covers all truth that later ages will
| indorse. Science has been an account
of how often the reports of the naked
eye have intruded on and demolished
| queer notions of the mind arrived at
| by intellectual reasoning
| Such statement is interesting"
| I said. But for fear that it may
| get abstract will you illustrate?
| Show me how thobber works"
Let me give you two or three
| illustrations" said Henshaw Ward.
''rhobbing is not an affliction only of
| the average layman. 1t extends to
| our mind run away with us and
abandon the eye and the senses as
provers of truth we 'thob'
| Take the case of the famous Kep.
| ler one of the worlds most renowned
| mathematicians. One would expect a
mathematician to be anything but a
| thobber-One interested from curl
| osity in the truth of his premises
| one who doesn't hold a brief because
! he likes it or worships it. but because
it is true. And yet for years Kepler
believed that heavenly bodies Travelled
in circles. Why did he think so? Be-
cause he reasoned but did not trust
to observation that the circle is the
perfect curve. and it was inconceiv-
able that God should set His creations
going in tracks that were less than
perfect. kepler added years to his
labors of this preconception, this pure
speculation. He trusted to his reason
and abandoned his eyes.