Show 1 A Defense of Mr Babbitt 9 By DR FRANK CRANE Mr 11 Babbitt seems to be the butt of t all critics ar and ard d highbrows generally He lives In a little town in the middle west He lie is exactly the opposite of ot the sort of person that thatIs Is supposed to live in New York lIe He is unsophisticated and s sometimes referred to as th the butter and egg man from tho west AIl All wise select him for for their victim He does not generally belong belons to a a. a church but he goes on Sunday with his wife and family He sends his children to Sunday school He belongs to the Masons or some other lodge Also he Is a communicant of the Rotary the KIwanis or Lion club I He speaks bad English but ut he ho makes good oney n noney He lIe enjoys enjo's Pollyanna literature ure and rejoices In happy endings He lie may my be a bit frisky himself but he does not care caro to read about friskiness or to see it in other people He lie is la g generally y considered a smug and narrow citizen i Still there Is something to be said in his favor Mr Babbitt makes a a living He is not so 50 learned or clever that ho he has to go about begging handouts from his friends H He has self respect enough to Stand upon his own feet and and wani wants other people to todo todo todo do the same He tells th the truth in his business transactions possibly b because cause it is good policy but anyway ha he tells the trum as s a rule He Is moral perhaps because ftc re Is afraid to be immoral but at any r rate te he is moral as a rule He does not get drunk and he is not in favor of selling s stuff to make male other people drunk When war comes he shoulders a rifle and marches out to get his 1115 head hoad blown off In the trenches All political parties tow kow-tow to him because he ha Is Isso isso isso so numerous He Lie is not adv advanced nor emancipated nor anything anything anything any any- thing of the sort but lut just lust a plain ordinary citizen But he has built up in this country the greatest re reI republic re- re public lUbliC that ever was He has has has' made the United States a nation richer than any nation ever was I before J He pays his debts and believes that other people should pay theirs I In a a. town full of Babbitts you are not afraid of having your house burglarized nor your women folks attacked You know that whatever the laws are Mr Babbitt respects them Altogether he Is a much more comfortable citizen to live with than any of those who are bitten with some new and flaming idea v Cop Copyright 1927 McClure Newspaper per Syndicate |