Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-30
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRAcEWELL.

| taught out of everything and anything
that the process would be ridiculous If
| it were not irritating. If they would
content themselves with being serious,
which is what they really are, they
would at least possess the merit Of be-
| ing honest.
1t is not strange that some of the
best men who have ever lived have
ended up by believing, If not saying,
| that the more they know of human
beings the better they like dogs. A
recent glorious book, one of the bravest
written in many q year, ends with
practically the same thought. Man,
| the creature, rubs the author the wrong
way. He does not need to confess that
he cannot get along" with his own
tribe, because he has got along for
many years with apparent success.
But his temperament has been such
| that the thoughtleSS remarks of others,
probably in most cases without malice,
strike him as malicious, and he would
willingly end his days, so he indicates
| in his beautiful book, In the company
of his dogs and his beloved birds.
There are thousands of readers of this
book-and it is much to the credit of
the American people that it has thou
sandS-who will echo his thoughts,
although it is perhaps true that they
will not say anything about It out loud,
! lest some one accuse them OF the same
thoughtless speech against which We
inveigh here.
Thoughtless speech nowhere comes
into its own so well as in relation to
ones possessions. To stick up" for
what one has is not only the fashion
of the hour but probably it is q por-
ton Of that divine common sense of
which humanity has share. When
such loyalty, however, defies both in
telligence and common sense, 1T is ABOUT
time to call halt on it.
One such instance was heard the
other day. Two men were discussing
favorite topic among men, radio.
For some reason women have little in
tereSt in the subject. But men will
talk radio" by the hour. These two
were discussing the merits of loud
speakers.
at have the best loud speaker of them
ALL" said one, naming an old phono-
graph attachment, made five years sgo.
"You have a right to like what you
like, of course" said the other. I'm
questions of taste, every man Is his own
Judge. But honestly, If you had that
speaker alongside one of the latest
dynamics, you would wonder how you
thought yours even fair in tone quality"
The first speaker showed signs of
becoming offended. Hadn't he heard
them all, and wasn't his old speaker
the best he had ever heard? Didn't
all his guests say the same thing?
Wonderful, indeedD
The second speaker quit But what
he would have liked to have said was
simply this: Then you honestly be-
lieve that the thousands of men who
have been working to improve radio
tone during the past five years have &C
complished nothing at all? That the
millions of dollars spent in research has
been thrown away? That the many
millions of Americans who have bought
later sets and speakers have been
cheated?"
But wisely the man refrained from
any such speech, for he knew that it
was simply another version of the old
story, speaking without thinking. It
used to be, Love me, love my dog" but
today it Is Love me, love my radio set,
love my motor car, love my house, love
my selection of Summer cottage"
Man may be a thinking animal, but
often enough he does not prove 1t. Not
that thoughts need be logical, but at
least they should be thoughts. Even
the human mind, as quickly as it acts,
requires some time to act sensibly. Every
person alive is q product of q complex
age, and the brain has more factors to
consider today than the brain of a
century ago. Speak, If you must, but
for Heavens sake think Just moment
about the one to whom you are
speaking.