Judge — April 3, 1915 — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Another Sort of Reform NE WOULD think that a red-headed man as aggressive as Victor Murdock, on retiring from Congress, after twelve years of service during which he has upheld the traditions of his hair, would carry red- headed methods back to newspaper making, which he resumes at Wichita, LS Kan. But although he is said to literally bulge with ideas as to journalism differing from those he practiced years ago when young at the game, Mr.. Murdock is not to con- duct his Eagle, at Wichita, in a red- headed way. It is true that some of his notions are not those commonly seen in news- papers, but there is nothing inflam- matory or exciting about them. He is going to publish a page of Wash- ington news in large type, so that it may be read by the aged and near- sighted, and as one runs; and he is going to print the names of persons who pass through Wichita in parlor cars as matter of great local intere: The great innovation he purpos however, is to print society news— Wichita society news, no doubt— without employing adjectives. Such words as ‘*beautifu charmin, de- lightful,"’ ‘‘select,’? ‘*becoming,"’ ‘‘exqui- site’’ and the like, used to describe per- sons, dinners, guests, dress, decorations and other things that fill society columns, are with Mr. Murdock absolutely taboo. He will make the most elaborate social func- tion as plain and commonplace to the public Brainy one—We kin beat dis game, Billy. here an’ sees how much we weighs an’ then divides it by two oO R as is the casual meeting of cronies on a cor- ner for a ‘‘good-morning.’’ Mr. Murdock has been noted in Congress as a pursuer of abuses and a reformer, and it is now his turn to reform his newspaper in Wichita. Undoubtedly his local contemporaries bid him welcome and wish him luck. Why Not? [Aves and legal processes have mys- tified most of mankind from the cradle to the grave; and who has not wondered why it requires five hundred words for Sam Jones to inform posterity that he has sold his house and lot to John Smith and half a lifetime for Smith's heirs to prove it? one Adam Smith w. years ago, when he wrote: modern [1776] Europe ns, the payment of clerks of court according to the which they ha ion to © their pay- Yet wise’’ years and vasion a like Ww proceedings, The joke has been on the great un- washed for a long time. Why not shift just one congressional committee from the threadbare job of trying to scare up something to investigate to the more useful enterprise of invent- ing a few legal phrases that the unin- itiated might use once in a while without the aid of dollar-a-minute assistance? Of course, if such an undertaking succeeded and was not immediately declared unconstitution- al, pendente lite or ultra vires, lean pickings might result for many per- sons who revel in large, awe-inspiring, leather-bound books. But some plan could probably be discovered for feed- ing and clothing most of them, until they had mastered plumbing or some other useful occupation. Brief Decisions 'O MAN is so helpless that he can’t make excuses. We both gits on A flirt is a woman who goes shop- ping for hearts. That man is some jockey who can ride a hobby and win out. Virtue is its own reward. ‘The boy who keeps clean gets washed just as often as the boy who has a good time and gets dirty.