THE COFFEE REBELLION

Someone has been trying to hoax Manhattan, and, judging from the furious flood of contributions to the "World", he has succeeded admirably. A man who styles himself "A. K. Fill more, President of the League for the Uplift of Moral Virtue and the Suppression of Unwarranted Pleasure" managed to get that paper to print a letter advocating coffee-prohibition. "Brain-numbing and soui-destroying brew" he terms this fluid, and ends that inasmuch as the Bible does not state that coffee drinking is not a sin it "must be classed with other licentious habits". If Mark Twain were alive today Mr. Fillmore's article would certainly have been attributed to him: it is absolutely typical of America's best-loved humorist.

Just why New Yorkers have failed to recognize this place of satire on fanatic reform as such is a mystery. With one exception they seem to have been taken in. The sole septic states with utmost gravity that he cannot and the address, of "Mr. Fillmore's" society in the directory. In all other cases this modern Dean Swin is denounced to the high heavens. In one case a fervid Manhattanite, evidently having the recent elections a bit heavy on his mind, seems to dread that "Mr. Fillmore", intends to enter politics on the platform of "The coffee-house must go" and perhaps ultimately run for president. On all sides there are waits.

Surmises of this or that new prohibition, fear expressed for "Mr. Fillmore's" sanity, and morose brooding about collapsible hip-pocket coffee-per-colators in the future.

The founder of this new society had best keep his real identity secret. It is no small matter to fool the hoards of people who read one of Gotham's largest newspapers. New York would probably follow the example of a typical Southern city and administer a coal of far and feathers to the man whose levity has caused it such anxious moments. "Mr. Fillmore's" masterpiece appears to be the best parody since Donald Ogden Stewarts "Cruisn of the Kawa", and an even more subtle piece of work. While New York's liberty is probably safe in this case. one is filled with fore boding about the fate of her sense of humor.