A neglected Anniversary by H.L. Mencken

Last semester in my Hemingway and Fitzgerald class, I remember reading a story of Hemingway's where his main character has just returned from the war. When talking to the people from his town the veteran realizes he must embellish his war stories for people to believe him and listen to him. It reminded me of what Mencken talks about when explaining his bathtub story. He believes people are too eager to believe. And once they put their faith in something--he references the Washington Cherry Tree fable--it becomes part of history. This is what Mencken, with his experiment, found very distressing--that people are naturally gulible and antagonistic of changing their beliefs.
I would believe Mencken's article if I took it at face value. If someone told me it was legitimate I would believe the article was true. So I believe Mencken is being too critical of his readers and those who published encycopedia enteries about his article. People expect the article, written in a newspaper, to be real. The encyclopedia writers should have been more thorough, but the average reader can't be expected to question everything printed in newspaper. People rely on truths and yes Mencken fooled us, but it wasn't a fair test.