The Nome daily nugget., 1935-11-29
Howe About: Drinking and Smoking Policemen
 Sane Writing
By ED HOWE
C. is'' Bell syndisate.-wNU Service.

< "A me he drank so much he lost his job. If he could quit two weeks he said he could overcome his bad habit, and again become salary earner and respectable citizen.
 In my reply l said If he would quit drinking, and write me in six months l would quit smoking, a habit In which I had indulged many years. Something I wrote seemed to encourage him; he replied later he had passed the critical two weeks, was again on the pay roll, and doing well. He further said he, too, was a smoker, and if I'd quit right away, he would.
 In replying, I said: Another of my bad habits Is to put off until tomorrow that which I should do today; so I beg you will grant the delay l ask. In addition, I suggest you do not overload yourself in good endeavor. Would 1t not be wis CT for both of us to have the solace of smoking while thinking of the great reform we have promised to accomplish in six months?'
 Everyone has probably remarked how bold policemen are in arrest ing citizens disposed to obey the law. Such man, I learn from the Associated Press, was lately arrest ed and fined three times In ten minutes. The man said in court he had been a taxpayer forty years, and had never before been arrest ed. The judge fined him a fourth time for that. The offending citi- zen had bought pistol, owing to the prevalence of burglars, and was taking 1t home. Also everyone has probably remarked how slow po- licemen are in arresting men who not only carry concealed weapons, but machine guns, or sawed-off shot guns, which cannot very well be concealed about the person.
 I am greatly interested in a manuscript sent me lately for crlti- cism. The author says in an ac- companying letter that I once sug- gested that writing entitled "The Autobiography of Failure" might attract public favor; that he has prepared such writing, partly while an inmate of an insane asy- lum (where he spent ten years), and partly while an inmate of poOrhouse (where he Is at present, troubled with palsy, rheumatism and bad eyes.) AS to the merit of the writing, will let the reader judge, by giving several examples. The author confesses he may occasion ally quote unconsciously from oth- CTS, of which the reader may also judge from the following para graphs: Ut Is quite job to main tain sane policy in an insane world. He Is a prudent man who Is not only undecelyed by apparent stability or instability, but Is able to forecast the lines on which move ments will take place. An op- timist Is one who believes that noth- ing will happen but naturalization of his dreams. .. How unanswer- able history proves that nothing in- spires bad faith like perfect faith . Though would not part with such scraps of education as I have learned at school, I do not place the same store by them as of cer- tain odds and ends I came by in the streets. .. If nobody dropped out at the eighth grade, who would hire the college graduates? Am bition beyond capacity Is the first American weakness. The only semblance of equality Is found in an insane asylum. There all are treated alike; 1t is socialism in ac- ton. '. One woman outlived three husbands, each leaving her a for tune. When she died, her money was left to spread a screech from the grave of mans worthlessness. Buy at a secondhand book store a few books of deep thought in which the former owner has marked numerous passages. Leave them ly- ing about your room. The cham bermaid will see them, and be awed by your learning. She will tell the nelghbors; they will tell everybody. Judging a man by what he reads is as wrong as to say he swal- lows all he smells. .. No man Is a complete failure until he delights to think his virtue Is what keeps him poor"
 A man whose book was published as far back as 1928 says: "Knowl- edge has put stop to chiyalry, as she one day will to war" It Is true certain absurd legislators, riding horses and carrying lances, were laughed off the field by Ger vantes, but legislators of pen and honeyed word who ride the radio, telegraph, moving picture and print ed page, are far more numerous now than In the days of "Don Qulxote." The chlvalry and gallantry laughed at by Ceryantes was small mat ter compared with the demagogues whose knighthood Is Towering to- dav Tho homo that Ua aha II