Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-18

Calvin Coolidge is being hammered
these days by the smart-alecks VINO
somehow believe that the obvious ought
never to be put into print.
One may feel quite sure that Cal
doesn't give a whoop what any one
says about his short daily writings for
the papers, but quietly grins up MS
sleeve when he thinks that he is max
ing more money than all of his critics
put together, in all probability.
How one feels about stating the OBJ
vious depends entirely upon whom one
is writing for. 1t may not be known
to the general public, but there are two
classes of newspaper men, those VINO
write for other newspaper men ana
those who write for the subscribers.
Mr.. Coolidge, not being newspaper
man, although he is writing for the
newspapers, has not yet discovered TINS
queer state of affairs.
Any one would suppose, OF course,
that every newspaper writer would
write for the subscribers to his paper,
but that is so far from the truth that
we now have the spectacle OF writers
poking fun at distinguished recruit
because he is doing precisely that tning'
If one writes for other writer's solely,
he shrinks from the obvious, because
the obvious is not clever, and cleverness
b the urge Of the hour.
To say a thing differently, II no
better, than it has been said before
ah! brothers, there We bring smile
of gladness to the bespectacled face OF
some shrimp whose opinion, after all,
does not amount to very much.
To put punch into our utteranceS
that is the be-all and end-all OF too
many. no matter who will be hurt in
the process, or how much untruth or
half-trJlth parbleS the telling,
II
The different" might be we'll enough,
il there were not such obvious pains
taken to achieve it. But there are at
most not more than half dozen writer's
in the United States who really can
write differently" as naturally as
breathing. The rest of them are mere
imitators.
Think back over the rage which ex-
listed at one time in the New York
papers for the phrase "or what have
you" 1t got to a point where 1T was
almost impossible to pick up sheet
without finding it one or more times.
Each writer, subconsciously thinking
of his brethren, patted himself on the
back as he appropriately unreeled that
phrase at the end of pet sentence. He
knew that it would brand him, among
the elect, as one who had passed.
So work all the ramifcations of this
curious frenzy for the clever" Direct
ness is frowned upon: simplicity of heart
is old-fashioneds righteousness is posi-
lively taboo.
Nor does it make any difference to
this merry tribe that most of the great
hits" which are made in the writing
world are based upon the old solid vir-
tues. These may have plenty of "clev-
erness," perhaps but it is incidental.
Take "Bambi," the story of the deer,
which came from an Austrian writer a
few years ago. Its cleverness lay in its
idea, not in the way it was written; the
writing itself was as simple rs the eager
" told tale of child to its mother.
The obvious ought to be stated.
No one ought to be ashamed of the
obvious, and no one Is. unless he has an
unfortunate inferiority complex, which
makes him afraid Of the envious carp
ing of others.
The obvious Is too much part of life
to be Stunned as if it did not exist.