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Show I Why He Got Peeved j I OR THE. TALE Of A I LEADING CITIZEN I And the Traffic Cop H - . 4 ,BV FLOYD V TIMMEBMAN.) tf; Between a mountain nnd a mole hill M there is vast difference. And the M ,-atlo of v-ttaeM l Just as proportional proportion-al :iie between the manner in which r newspaper reporter writes a news story M and the way in which the principal in H the storv wants It written. M jut thia l not to mention n story 13 about 'a man who has accomplished ti somcthlnK of which he Is proud and M desires to have hie acoomplwhnienti M displayed in Blaring; headlines. No, in-l in-l deed. It is the story telllne the world SI of something of which the principal (II is not proud has not accomplished IH something which ho desires to tell the. ill world and in fact, wants to keep to B himself, and himself alone, and to; H make the rest of the universe blissful!;- I believe that nothing at nil has hap-, fl pened. .11 91 A HOLT PAH. M Kor instance, when o certain citizen has not missed the Sunday night church sermon for ten years, has Hj never stayed out after 9 o'clock p. m.. H except when his car broko down eom-n eom-n Ing back from the Sunday school pic-Nf pic-Nf nlc. or has never carried more than HI iwo matches in his pocket at one time. H his reputation is pretty near par In his H community, H But, supposing this same man hap- I pens to be a few minutes lato in ab- I sorblng Ids soft boiled eggs some HI morning and desires to get to the office H a little early to keep an appointment H lie jumps from Ms breakfast table H into his car and leaves the backyard In H a cloud of dust, .spurred on by the I minute hand on the dock on his dash I board he "steps or "er," and Is uncon- H hcIous that the speedometer reaches! the thirty-five mile an hour mark H and points to forty. l R 1 I'll ( OP IN I l Rl - DED. H Suddenly he is conscious of a roar B alongshlo his machine and peeps' Bj around to set that a traffic cop is I sticking to him like a leech. He steps H on the throttle harder in a desperate If effort to pull away, but the race flnal- ly ends with the result that ho Is U 'pinched." At the police station he is allowed M liberty on his own recognisance until his case comes before the court. He H appears, pleads Rullty and the Judge II exacts a Tine of $5 and the man goes I away blissfully feeling that the affair I Is ended. I Ah. but things have Just begun. The I newspaper reporter appears on the I scene, examines the court records and Js soon cognisant of the fact that John I Brown, well-known citizen hns been I arrested, taken before the court and H fined for speeding I Now, a newspaper reporter has Just R one thing to do to hold his job and that Is to write the news. Because " I Is John' Brown who has been caught . speeding does not mean that the re- H porter should pass it up because John Brown Is a hading citizen If the H army of reporters throughout the H country used this method It would mean that the newspapers would be B filled with nothing more interesting H than want ads and reports of straw - m Lerry festivals I 3o, In the course of his day's work I the reporter Includes among his storie.s I a few lines tellimj about Mr Brown's I experience like this: John Brown, hns Blank street, was arrested tldfl morning bj a mo ton jre-c i ro ffli ol fic ;r, and charged with speeding. The arresting ar-resting officer declared that Mr Brown wag proceeding along Washington avenue at the rate ,r fortv miles an hour. Mr Brotvn later appeared in tin- . jt conn and m fined $5 Ills I RIEKD II II S. NOW, such a story, when read hy hundreds of citizens who an- not di- rectly concerned, means but little To those who know Mr. Brown, it might rail forth a chuckle at the dinner ta- ble and a remark such as. "Well. I see B here that old man Brown got pinched this morning for burning up the road Fined five bucks, haw haw." It Is then probably forgotten But, to Mr. Brown himself, 'h- Itory seems to leap out at him and the jfpe magnifies until It appears like a I billboard poster. He reads It over and over and feels B prickly feeling slowly climbing up the back of his neck He thinks "f his flawless reputation and then reads the story again Finally he leads himself to believe that his reputation has been smashed and bent beyond repair and of course I lie newspaper news-paper Is to blame The next day he hops up the stairs to the news room of the newspaper and calls loudly for th0 reporter who dragged his good name in the gutter. I"What In all thunder." he roars, "did vnn not :i thin like this in the paper for '" he fumes. What's the matter with It?" inquires in-quires the scribe, "any mistake?" "No, there's no great mistake" answers an-swers Mr. Brown, but you could have made it a little easier on me. You' should not have printed such a thing anyway. And the manner In which it was written makes it appear thai 1 was entirely wrong. You could have, worded 11 diff' r. nt II you had to print it, but I don't see why you hud toj print d al till, when you should knOWj it WOUld hurt my reputation. "Well, I tried to make as short . as possible," the reporter would an- swer. "Yen. you made It so short thai you didn't evpluln how the thing came to, happen, nnd the real reason I was go-' Ing too fast. You should look into; these thing.; before you write a story; Slandering a man of good reputation " HIS N't And, if Mr. Brown had his way, thej whole thing would havo not appeared In the paper. And, If he found he couldn't k-ep It out entirely, this Is tin- way he would have liked it written and wished on the poor, unsuspecting public. John Brown, prominent citizen and a man of lnti reputation, who has always been extreme!) law-abiding law-abiding and careful no I to fracture frac-ture ui ol tlic laws placed In force b nor legislature, had sn Important engagement i" hie office of-fice at it o'clock this morning ajnd -iiopiN nan to do uk re ai muh time, or perhaps lose In big business busi-ness deal, Hi- found that when he lefi home he had bnl two minutes min-utes in which to Ki t t the office bj thai time and for this reason in iua have slight!) exceeded the rate of speed set bj law, Decline De-cline that be was In n lun-r., and had Ho- pn -ln: business engagement, engage-ment, u motorcycle officer i"'.- lowed Idm and tin n Insisted 1 1 ill c Mr Brown slmuld accompany idm to the Station. Mr. Brown a not placed under arrest, but woe jnt taken to the Station b) tho officer, who did not arresl htan, but allowed him to go on tho promise thai he would appear In tho court during the afternoon, it meet not i)- construed thai Mr. Brown at an) time Was under ar rest. .Mr Broun, ol niiir-c apo-.ucd in Hi.- court as in had promised, iMll ai no time did an Officer tak him hi charge. Mr Brown attempted at-tempted lo tell Hie Judge tin whole story - it might be mi- dcrstOOd that .Mr. Brown was not wilful!) breaking the law. but tlie .ohIl'i refused to listen bo iii-- i-planaflon. i-planaflon. The judge Insisted that Mr. Brown answer the questlpn "Arc you culit or not guilty?" kftcr several infaintce during wldch time Mi Brown pleaded to ! permitted to tell the whole Btorj while the Judge i Insisted that Mr. Brown answer "guilty" or 'mot guilty," Mr. Brown decided decid-ed he had gone n little too fast and ansn ered guilty. i be court not knowing the real circumstances surrounding the ea-e. and the reason w h Mr. Brow Q bad UU1 rlCtl lO I llCO, ordered tluit Mr. Brown pa) $5 Mi Brown paid over mono) Immediately, feeling thai he should do what the court ordered ami come within the law as he has a reputation ol being law-abiding Itlzcti While in the court room Mr. Brown not in an ua under arrest, and no police officer ws near him. He was noi phv d In the Jail. Because lie via- not under arrcel and consequently did not liave he released, Mr, Brown Walked from the oourt rHni Im-nukllatcly Im-nukllatcly and went to his office.'! l ii DONE This kind of stuff would b a fine lahbl for Mr Brown. but it wouldn' get far with the majority of the read era, would It? Well, this is the Mm ,..r grief a newspaper reporter has t face even rew days, so Instead of pro vidlng Funds for tho poor people o Harmonica or some other foreiKi country, why not raise a subscriptloi I for the DOW$ hounds who are sen jto the insane asylum or the Infirm 'ary. or the hospital on account of try JlnK to please the man he writes abou land the readers at the same time? - |