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Show Uncommon Sense 1 John Blake . Bell Syndicate. WNU Servlce Unless you really want to know the "whys" of things, you may go through kindergarten, school and college, and at "Why?" the end of your days you will be lucky if you are able to do more than earn a bare living. Obviously we were intended by the Creator to be curious. It is because of the able, wondering people who have gone before you that you are not chasing wild animals around with a stone hammer, so that you can eat their flesh and make clothing out of their hides. All the good teachers I ever have had were men and women who, when I plied them with questions, told me to go and find out for myself. The best any teacher or professor can do is to awaken the curiosity of those in their care. Once start them wondering about the "whys" and they will do the rest. It was not so many years ago that the people of the earth took it for granted that apples on a tree, when they ripened, should fall down and not up. Then Isaac Newton came along, looked at the same kind of apples on the same kind of trees that had been growing for ages, and inquired of himself him-self why this should be. So the attraction of gravitation was discovered, and out of that discovery grew the science of physics. It constantly occurs to me that we of this generation are fortunate in the date of our birth. We came into the world in a thinking think-ing and an inquiring age. The intelligent people all over the world are not satisfied to know that apples fall, that the sun shines, that water runs down hill. They demand to know the reasons. And as they discover them one by one they pass them on to those who don't want to take the trouble to think. Always there are problems to think out, always there is work on hand, always al-ways there are opportunities to prod others into a realization of how much is to be done, and how much can be done. Today the scientists are outstripping all other groups of people. But presently the men and women who are working to reduce poverty, to put an end to crime, and to increase opportunity in the world will have their innings. You and I have seen a great advancement ad-vancement in thought, a great spread of education. We shall see much more of these things in our life times, if we use our eyes and ears as knowledge scouts, and our mind to put into use the information in-formation that they bring to us. Not long ago I was shown a copy of a newspaper published before the Civil war. Eyes of A scant third of it the World was news- The remainder consisted con-sisted of opinions of the newspaper's editors, or of prominent people, or of long letters to the editor, written by very dull people who obviously had a deep belief in their own ability. The newspaper reader of today would be astonished if he found that kind of a sheet on his doorstep. Most of the news would be old, sometimes a- week, sometimes six months. There would be no pictures, no tidings at all of great catastrophes, news of which would not reach the town or city of publication pub-lication for weeks to come. The newspaper that you are reading now may be a great metropolitan publication, pub-lication, or It may be a smaller paper out In a town of a few thousand people. peo-ple. But it will tell you what is going on all over the world. It will be your eyes and ears while you are sitting at the breakfast table. It may differ with you in politics, but It will tell you as much about what your political party Is doing us It does about what Its own party Is doing. Reporters today are trained to state facts briefly and succinctly, to write the news so you will know what is actually ac-tually happening, and why. Today the newspapers which do not favor the administration give as much news about it as the organs which. In their editorial columns, strongly approve of what Is going on In Washington. And In n I own so small that it has only a weekly, you can still get the news without prejudice. I believe that more men and women are sending their children to college because be-cause they, and the children as well, read what the colleges are doing, and how much they do for the young people peo-ple committed to their care. 1 believe that In almost every depart uieni of modern life the newspaper is a great and growing factor. Moreover 1 am certain Unit every man and woman who reads a modern newspaper every day will Increase his Intelligence, and become more and more a factor tor good In the world. I am DOt rooting for any given pa-pit. pa-pit. i have worked ami written tor many of them. Hut i inn tor them, without them this country would never have grOWD no rapidly, ,md would never bave been governed so wisely. |