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Show Uncommon Sense By JOHN BLAKE I . Bell Syndlcate-WNU Service If there were no guesses there would be no lotteries. If there were no lotteries, some Nobody a millions of people Good Guesser would not lose the money they put up when they take chances which are so small as to be practically practi-cally neglible. When Isaac Newton noticed an apple fall in his father's orchard he did not content himself guessing why it fell down instead of up. He had at the time no informa-, tlon on that suliject. Probably he asked elder people so many questions about It that, they shuddered when they saw him .approaching. No grown up person likes to be asked questions when he doesn't know the answer. But the Xewton boy refused to be satisfied with the explanations that were given to him. He thought over that problem till at last he concluded that there was some force which controlled the apple's ap-ple's movements. Today that force, which no man or woman had understood before, Is being used to do about three-quarters of the . really hard physical work that is being performed on this planet, as well as controlling the movement of the planet Itself. Don't guess. Know. Know all that there is to be known. Ours may not be any more Interesting, Inter-esting, or so greatly interesting as some of the other planets, but It Is the only one upon which this race of ours will ever dwell. Our Job is to find out more about It as we study it. Don't be contented merely with looking at trees and flowers. Find out as much about them as you can. Already, thanks to Newton, you know why water flows down instead of up. Build on that. Questions and answers comprise learning. And if you do not constantly learn you will be of as little value to your fellow divellers on the earth as is the snow you sweep from Uie streets after a storm. Less value, indeed, for the snow melts and waters the plants, or joins rivers that turn mill wheels and produce power. Nothing brings such self satisfaction satisfac-tion as to know that you are doing something, building something, bringing into the world some useful thing that has never been known before. If we could get rid of the loafers and guessers and idlers in the world we would get rid of hatreds and wars. That will take a lot of energy and team work, hut eventually it will be accomplished. I know that it is a common practice prac-tice In this country to belittle poli-t poli-t i c s and p o 11 1 1-Don't 1-Don't Sneer cians. at Politics E,lt PoliHcs and politicians control the country. i They always will control thecoun-! try. ; And, as some early philosopher said: "If you can't like 'em, jine' 'em." For a great many years I was a, political reporter. In Oregon, In New' York and in Washington. I met many crooked designing politicians. But they were not, I am happy to say, In the majority. I knew many honest, earnest men who were trying their best to better such conditions as could be bettered. They had discovered that In a country where the ballot Is free what Is called politics Is the only force which can change things for the better or for the worse, for that matter. For a long time I supposed that every member of the political faction fac-tion which controlled the great city In which I live was a crook or a dolt. Since then I have learned that many of the leaders are really honest hon-est men. who would not take graft under any circumstances, and who are really trying to get bad men out of oflice and good ones In. If you will turn bnck the pages of history you will discover that some of the country's most revered men and women have been politicians. politi-cians. Lincoln was one. Franklin was another. Human nature began as human nature, and, as far as I can discover. discov-er. Is likely to remain so. Hut not every man Is office hungry hun-gry because he wants a fat salary or because he thinks that his personal per-sonal business will be helped If he joins some particular party. Many of them are sincere and honest. They want to do something to make their country better. They want to improve im-prove the morals and heighten the ambitions am-bitions of the men and women around them. They want to make of their eoun- try a better place for their children to grow up In. I |