The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-06-05
Liberal Viewpoint
BY DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

| THESE are times of rapid change-in the
| Il opinions of mankind as we'll as in our ma
terial civilization and our political experiments
Men who once stood in the vanguard of adj
vanced opinion have been outdstanced by the
progress of events and find themselves stragglers
| in the rear of the social procession.
| They manfully invoke the spirit of Herbert
Spencer and William Graham Sumner those
arch prophets of extreme lnd1v1duallsm. In
spite of the well-nigh complete collapse OF the
individualiStic system in both economics and
politics, they would stem the tide of the new
deal and turn back to the Leaders and policies
that brought us to the abyss of March 8, 1883
Perhaps the most conspicuous example OF this
remuneration of leadership and progressive per-
spective has been offered by Mr.. H. L. Mencken
of Baltimore long distinguished as an intel
lectual radical through his editorship OF the
Smart Set and American Mercury, and through
his own iconoclastic writings.
FINDING it necessary recently to kill few
Il moments of time, I turned to stack of old
copies of Life. Picking up the issue of Feb. 2,
1928, I came across heading entitled "Ameri-
cana Q945)." Mencken in 1928 was in the hey
day of his radical bombardment OF the pollCcaI
boobs and economic "hyenas."
But the writer Of this column in Life pre-
dcted that in 1945 Mencken would be the oracle
of the conventional and conservative camp lie
submitted the following tributes hypothetlcaLy
rendered in 1945 to the soundness OF Mr..
Menckens observations:
"sH l. Mencken is the greatest American
thinker since Gilbert H Hubbard Extract from
radio speech by the illustrious Fred B. Wlno-
horst of the New Philadelphia Chamber OF
Commerce.
of the American that William Jennings Bryan
carried in his eams.-From sermon by Pas
tor Homer Maxson Gidley First Zion Baptist
church, Biloxi, Miss.
"sH L. Mencken is not only Americas great
est political mind since Theodore Roosevelt ne
is also one of the keenest business men IN his
tory.-From an editorial III tne enllneuC F1lo-
bling (Minn) Herald.
oh L. Mencken ranks with Dr. Frank crane
as one of the profoundest philosophers the nation
has ever produced. From speech by MISS
Gussie Y Fambringham vice-presdent OF the
Dahlonega (Ga.) branch OF the Daughters OF
the American Revolution.
"'Show me a man, woman or child who READS
the American Mercury and will show you
man, woman or child who reveres the len COM
mandments' From a sermon by the Rev. DIR.
Hubertis Blodgett Oxenham, Second PreSoy-
terrain church, PunsataWney, Pa.
".1~HE people of America could do far worse
| than elect H L. Mencken to the Presl-
dencv of the United ates.'-From speech by
the Hon Orley K. Twillt, congressman from the
Twenty -second district, Alabama"
In all probability the writer OF this Squlo
hardly imagined that his prophecy would be 1ul-
filed even in 1945. 1t presumably was intended
as a feat of humorous writing rather than
contribution to serious social prediction
Yet this satirical representation that
Mencken would become the falr-halred BOY OF
the American reactionaries has actually peeh
borne out eleven years before 1945
During the last year of his editorshlp OF the
| MpnPkPn nPnneQ Qldtr1DGS
against Soviet Russia which would have made
Hamilton Fish blush for fear of dogmatlc excess.
After having mercilessly piloried the practical
politicians for nearly a generation, while ne
demanded the dominion of the intellectually
elite Mencken Immediately jumped into the lists
against the new deal with a ferocity exceeding
that of any Republican national committeeman
TINE BRAIN TRUST, which was almost an
i answer from heaven to Mencken's old prayer
for an intellectual aristocracy in the halls of
government, particularly enraged him. His re-
cent and much discussed radio address was only
one instance among many of his recent blasts
against the Roosevelt administration and the
| Brain Trust.
In the last six months or so, I have had occa-
sion to talk with many industrialists who were
perfect patterns of the type which Mencken used
to lambast as Rabbits"
More than half Of them referred with almost
hushed reverence to Mr.! Mencken'S onSlaughtS
on the new deal and no other American was
even close runner-up in their esteem
If Mencken is not already the darling of the
American Bourbons, he is certainly we'll on mis-
way toward edging Ham Fish, Ralph Easley and
Ogden Mills out of the love nest.