Judge — July 5, 1924 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

rn — Founp Cassiobury sitting up in bed with his little bed-typewriter on his lap. A heap of cigarette butts in the i waste-basket and of torn papers in the ash trays (Cassiobury is an unusually thodical fellow) informed me that he was being driven by the ereative impulse. “The Atrabilious Weekly has asked me to do an article for them,” he explained. are going to give me a cent a word. got the title for it at last.” I glanced at the sheet extruded from his typewriter. He had written in one column the following phrases: The Truth About, Lics About, The Triumph Of, The Downfall Of. In a parallel column appeared: Immigration Restric- tion, Prohibition Enforcement, The Strik- ing Manicure Girls, and Our Civilization, “By this dev , “T ob- tain, by a simple process of multiplics tion, sixteen subjects for articles 1 merely thinking of four. I think that the one I will do first will be The Downfall of Our Civilization.” .“How are you going to work it up?” I asked. m not sure yet. I was thinking of ing it a fierce and flaming indictment erican civilization.” he editor of the Atrabilious the indictment stuff himself. He prob- ably wouldn't welcome any rivalry.” “Guess you're right. Now would you attack it from the historical point of view—show how far we have degenerated from the days of the Greeks? I’ve got a he explaine mal of A does THE DOWNFALL OF OUR CIVILIZATION book I had to study in college with some quotations from Aristotle's Politics. I could run them in fine.” “Old stuff.” “I'm afraid so, Probably it would be better to analyze the various causes of social, spiritual and political decay and illustrate them with vivid little flashes from everyday life. I have jotted down several headings: Post-War Hysteria, snzy of Business and Indus- trial Competition, Slackening of Effort in Industry—” “Those last two don’t seem to fit very well Nonsense. I can fix them all right. Then, Hidebound Conservatism of Ameri- can Peasantry, Rise of Radical Agricul- tural Movements—” “But those two contradict each other!” Domination of Government by of course, Trusts, Restriction of Enterprise by Legislation—” “But—” “—Repressive Puritanical Reform Movements, Collapse of Moral Stand- ards—” “But how are you going to reconcile the menace of the uplift movements and the menace of small-town vic “Oh, often been done. analysis. You see, if you psycho-analyze the reformer you find that his reform- ing impulse is only a sublimation of his craving for vice, so he becomes merely a manifestation of our gene Or put it another way: vice after all is i Psycho- Mrs. Gossippe—Have you had much experience as a maid? Applicant—I was with the Smiths for six months before they separated. “I think you'll suit me nicely. Now bring a chair up and tell me all about it!” 19 “T’'ve got to throw you back, nobody’ll ever believe it.” merely an attempt at self-expression. The energy that goes into the pursuit of pleasure is different in result but not in quality from the energy that goes into the pursuit of social betterment. Therefore vice is practically the same thing as virtue and rake and reformer are identical.” “Tam not sure that I quite follow you.” “Good! Good! I want the thing to be deep.” “Tt fine and deep, but it doesn’t sound quite like the Downfall of Our Civilization.” “Well, you may be right. title go till I finish the Cassiobury, after a fellow and certainly a brilliant: thinker. He told me a we ter that he had changed the title to The Glory of America and sold it to the Bondholders Monthly for five cents a word. sounds. T'll let the ticle.” i reasonable Morris Bisuop. Carrying Cynicism to the Nth Degree Several widows on Carson street show very unique and interesting displays this week, illustrating the idea of “Better Homes for America.”—The Carson City (Nevada) Daily Appeal. comicbooks.com