Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-29
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solely with regard to earthquakes, tor
nadoes and tidal waves, and perhaps q
few other events of q character which
mans intelligence has not yet learned
to influence. Ordinary events, and es-
pecially events Of the sort that we de-
scribe as public affairs"-such events
rarely happen" or-to use another
word whose use ought to be limited
rarely occur"
When a historian uses the phrase 'it
happened that" the truth is he doe:
not know what did happen-that is. hi
may know the outcome, but he doe:
not know the mechanism that brought
1t about, the steps that led up to it.
What / have said with clumsiness an6
circumlocution was once put into ar
epigram by a most brilliant practitioner
of the art which he epitomized. It wa
Will Hays who said, Things don't hap
pen; they are brought about" Mr.
Hays was, and is, himself one Of the
most effective "bringers about" in the
contemporary world. To q very large
degree he brought about" the sup
planting of the Democratic majority ir
the Lower House of Congress IN i9iS
To q considerable degree he brought
about the big majority Harding got ir
the presidential race Of 1920.
We can illustrate by . sequence OF
three events or conditions with which
Mr.. Hays was associated. About the
year 1921 there was widespread demand
from churches and newspapers for State
or municipal censorship Of motion pic
lures. The motion picture people EN-
pioyed Mr. Hays. then Postmaster Gen.
eral, to be what was sometimes called
the movie GEAR" Presently there was
less demand for motion picture censor
ship.
In the first of these conditions, the
demand for censorship did not spring
UP spontaneously as the will OF the
people," There Is no such thing as
will of the people" in the sense OF 9
Spontaneous force intelligently directed
What happened, undoubtedly, was
that many persons were shocked by the
early motion pictures. Some Of those
persons devoted themselves to bringing
about censorship. Those persons, BY
that act were "bringers about" The
fact that mans purpose Ii not per.
sonal profit does not alter the fact that
he Is propaganda or lobbyist u ne Is
engaged in bringing about statutory
action by Congress or Legislature. A
considerable portion of the lobbyists
and gandists In washington are
engaged in purposes commonly ad.
mitted to be laudable, for motives that
are unselfish. There are a. many lob
byists and propagandists In favor Of
naval limitation as there are Shearers
or others against 1t.
Paved Roads Appearance.
Let us turn to one Of the most famil-
lar of present day phenomena and con.
slider how It was drought about" and
for what motive. During the last 70
years paved roads have appeared prac-
tically everywhere in the United states
In 1909 there were practically no paved
roads. Today there are tens OF thou
Now how did that "come about"9
More accurately, how were good roads
brought about? The average man
does not know. His information goes
no farther than what he has seen. on
a certain day gangs Of men appeared
with steam-shovels and concrete-mix.
ers--and presently there was . paved
road. The average man understands
vaguely that back Of this phenomenon
was an intricate mechanism Of profit
making motive, but he rarely knows
what the mechanism was. Many aver
age men do not understand that before
the appearance Of the workmen with
steam-shovels there must have been &C.