Life — December 30, 1920 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

DECEMBER 30, 1920 London Offices, Rolls House, Bre ] we are going to any fun in these times, we have must get it where we can find it pressing enough trude themselves upon attention if we let them, and them, of course, deserve notice and get it. For one thing one could wish that people of this particular parish were bet- There are de- influences cager to in- some of In the streets and especially dof ter looking. in the public conveyances the pulchritude is not very high worthy people are not very handsome. In Holland, for example, which is a very good country much, cheered by beauty in human form as he sees it going about New York. The great mix-up of here has produced a population that is not gladdening to the eye —lots of people undersized and sallow skinned with gain- ful, and too often greasy, features. It is a sturdy enough population: its units look physically strong of Americans of whatever derivation is fatter and weighs more than the old Yan- kee type, which ran more to leg and bone. The influence of foothall and sports and physical training generally, probably has to do with it, but besides all that and behind it is food. The popula- tion of New York et enough to eat and all things considered of good quality bread. probably fruit. signs of nourishment, but for beauty it is me very indeed, one is not »¢ nowadays in races This generation outdoor seems to Enough enough cereals, enough One sees in it ms coarser, more mate- rial, more physical than it used to be, and though it is good natured enough, its spir- ituality, if it has any, is not much visible. f then the way thi just now joy, VV city is governed ecially for We talk take fire at does are funny about letermination and the sound of Liberty, and try to be judi- “While there is Life there's Hope” Published by LIFE PUBLISHING COMPANY 7 West Th inst Street, New York cial about Irciand and what she ought to at home in our own town impudent have, and here we sit still and bear it whil and brutal conspirators take millions by the hundred out of helpless people, and organized rascals oppress It may be that New ile of self-government and that good nd plunder the town. York is not cap: government ought not to be expected for it. It may be that Hylan and Enright and the like of entitled to, a should be expected when, having set up them are about what we are 1 that we have about all that incompetents to govern the cit tain a legal apparatus to prosecute them when their delinquencies become intoler- able. Considering what the clectorate of New York is and how terest or combines with it, and how easily we sus- interest minor faults or even virtues destroy the popularity of good officials, the wonder is not so much that intelligent government cannot hold its job, as that we ever have it at all. The cheering thought about it all is that bad government runs out about When chances as promptly as good government. an administration is good the seem to be that the next will be bad, and when one is bad, the chances are that the next will be better. adder about these things than the economic and moral effects of them compel. Philadel- phia is corruptly governed most of the time, yet human life goes on there in the main with aa New York. Ni or what the «ax-ra But there is no use of. being any enviable composure. So matter who is Mayor, ¢ is, or what the rapac- ity of contractors and labor leaders may exact. a great deal of kindly life goes on here. In no part of the world are the conditions of life and the relations of men anywhere near ideal. Even now with all the troubles that are the legacy of the war, people in the world could get along if they could agree and work But they do not: net yet. Th confidence in together, have no another and not enough VOL. 76. No. 1991 ns Bldgs., London, E, C, confidence as yet in any system of con- trol that will make the world safe. The temper of all the world is the temper of the “morning after.” A great spree is ended and the participants are slowly re- covering. NASMUCH as the recovery of man- kind is going to be slow, and accom- panied by very many trying incidents, we cannot wait for it to be over before at- tempting to have any fun. The public disposition is not for any such delay. The public wants all the fun it can get and has had quite a bit of it, such as it was, in the last few years. It has been the kind of fun that came with big wages and all manner of profiteering, and the fever* ish nature of it has. been sufficiently re- marked hy observers. As the stream of money diminishes, if it does diminish, mer- riment will have to be cheaper and some- what more sober, which will be all to the good. Meanwhile, all innocent pleasures that do not cost much ought to be culti- vated, One of the greatest contributors of in- nocent joy just now is Bro, Boies Pen- rose, whose discourses on the problems of government are naive and delightful. Brother Penrose has been ill and is bet- ter. He has heen recuperating at Atlantic City and talking to reporters. He has no hesitations and apparently no unmanly reticence, and speaks his mind so frankly about Mr. as to Harding's prospective cabinet make the Public Ledger wonder whether the seat of prospective govern- ment is at Marion or at Atlantic City. Brother Penrose is distinctly old style. “Mr. Root f No! No!” he says, “Rout won't do at all. I r Secreiary of State? comicbooks.com