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San  Francisco,  California 
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II 


The 

^American 


VOL.  CCXXXVIII 


Tyriusque  mibi  nullo  discrimine  agetur 


NEW  YORK 
587  FIFTH  AVENUE 


T/ 


Copyright,  1934,  by 
NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW  CORPORATION 


All  Rights  Reserved 


O 

5ooo~ 
INDEX 


TO  THE 


TWO  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-EIGHTH  VOLUME 


OF  THE 


American 


AAA  Succeeds  —  in  Helping  Foreign  Farmers, 

The,  553. 
Alan  (Story),  39. 

Answer  to  the  Economists'  Prayer,  455. 
Aperitif,  i,  97,  193,  289,  385,  481. 
ASTLEY,  ELIZABETH  JANE.  Poem,  218. 

BELLAMY,    FRANCIS    RUFUS.    Evangelist    of 

Music,  565. 
BERCHTOLD,   WILLIAM    E.   The   Hollywood 

Purge,  503;  The  World  Propaganda  War, 

421. 

Big  Salaries  and  Bonuses,  227. 
Biographical  New  Dealing,  546. 
BLACK,  WILLIAM  P.  Tariff  Bargains,    1585 

Uncle  Sam,  the  Junkman,  2  1  9. 
BRICKELL,   HERSCHEL.   The   Literary   Land 

scape,  88,  184,  279,  376,  472,  568. 

CARTER,   HENRY.   The   Permanently   Unem 

ployed,  142. 

China  and  World  Peace,  100. 
COHEN,  BERNARD  LANDE.  Is  Fascism  a  Capital 

ist  Product?  390. 
Come,  Jenny  (Story),  253. 
COOMBES,  EVAN.  Come,  Jenny  (Story),  253. 
Country  Press  Reawakens,  The,  260. 
CREED,  VIRGINIA.  Habsburgs  on  the  Horizon, 


Darrow  vs.  Johnson,  524. 
DEWiTT,  WILLIAM  A.  Aperitif,  i,  97,  193, 
289,  385*481. 

Evangelist  of  Music,  565. 

Fascism  and  the  New  Deal,  559. 

FIELD,  LOUISE  MAUNSELL.  Biographical  New 

Dealing,    546}    Idealism's    Bank    Holiday, 

177. 
FREDERICK,    J.    GEORGE.    Big    Salaries    and 

Bonuses,  227. 
FROST,  FRANCES.  Man  Alone  (Poem),  2385 

This  Is  Peace    (Poem),   466  j   Year's  End 
(Poem),  552. 


Garden  of  Sweden,  The,  414. 

GERHARD,  GEORGE.  The  Nazis  Meet  Some  Ob 

stacles,  49  j  The  Nazis  Turn  to  "£rw/z," 

461. 
Government  by  Trial  Balloon,  24. 

Habsburgs  on  the  Horizon,  331. 

Has  the  Supreme  Court  Abdicated?  353. 

HAYWORTH,  DONALD.  Horse-Car  Liberal  Arts 

Schools,  494. 
HIRSCHFELD,  GERHARD.  Plebiscite  Puzzle  in 

the  Saar,  172$  The  AAA  Succeeds  —  in  Help 

ing  Foreign  Farmers,  553. 
Hitler  and  the  Catholic  Church,  438. 
Hitler  or  Hohenzollern?  513. 
Holiday  on  Parnassus,  367. 
Hollywood  Purge,  The,  503. 
Horse-Car  Liberal  Arts  Schools,  494. 
How  the  English  Handle  Crime,  486. 

Idealism's  Bank  Holiday,  177. 

In  Time  of  Drought  (Poem),  471. 

Is  Fascism  a  Capitalist  Product?  390. 

Is  the  Lid  Off?  no. 

Is  There  Any  Solution  for  the  Labor  Problem? 


Japan  and  World  Peace,  198. 

JOHNSON,  BURGES.  Modern  Maledictions,  Exe 
crations  and  Cuss-  Words,  467. 

JOHNSON,  G.  E.  W.  Hitler  and  the  Catholic 
Church,  438}  Hitler  or  Hohenzollern?  513; 
Mussolini  Muscles  In,  118$  Poland  Plays  a 
Dangerous  Game,  268;  Something  New  in 
Peace  Machinery,  3125  Soviet  Russia  Be 
tween  Two  Fires,  30. 

JONES,  PAUL.  Legitimate  People  (Story),  225. 

KELM,  KARLTON.  Pink  Soap  (Story),  406. 

Last  Testament  (Story),  361. 
League's  "Black  Baby,"  The,  233. 
LEBOURDAIS,   D.   M.   Purifying  the   Human 

Race,  431. 

Legitimate  People  (Story),  225. 
Let's  Have  a  Really  New  Deal,  4. 


INDEX 


LEWISOHN,  LUDWIG.  The  New  Meaning  of 

Revolution,  210. 

LINEAWEAVER,  JOHN.  Alan  (Story) ,  39. 
Literary  Landscape,  The,  88,  184,  279,  376, 

472,  568. 
LOSELY,  H.  P.  The  Silver  Cart  Before  the 

Horse,  1365  Wages  and  Ethics,  306. 
Louisa,  Lady  Whitney  (Story),  128. 
LUBELL,  SAMUEL.  Russia's  Rising  Proletarian, 

4485  Strong  Arm  Economics,  346. 

Man  Alone  (Poem),  238. 

MASON,  ALPHEUS  THOMAS.  Has  the  Supreme 
Court  Abdicated?  353. 

MASON,  LOWELL  B.  Darrow  vs.  Johnson,  524. 

MATHER,  WILLIAM  G.,  JR.  A  Use  for  Human 
Interest  Stories,  543. 

MAUROIS,  ANDRE.  Louisa,  Lady  Whitney 
(Story),  128. 

McKEE,  OLIVER,  JR.  Professors  Put  to  the 
Test,  34oj  The  Opposition  Looks  for  Lead 
ers,  66. 

MEYER,  ERNEST  L.  Pacifists  in  the  Next  War, 
398. 

Miss  Letitia's  Profession  (Story),  61. 

MISSOURI  FARMER,  A.  They've  Got  to  Show 
Me,  323. 

Modern  Maledictions,  Execrations  and  Cuss- 
Words,  467. 

Mussolini  Muscles  In,  118. 

Nazis  Meet  Some  Obstacles,  The,  49. 
Nazis  Turn  to  "Ersatz,"  The,  461. 
New  Meaning  of  Revolution,  The,  210. 
NICHOLS,  F.  B.  Answer  to  the  Economists' 

Prayer,  455. 
NOLTE,  J.  M.  Government  by  Trial  Balloon, 

24. 

Opposition  Looks  for  Leaders,  The,  66. 

Pacifists  in  the  Next  War,  398. 

PATTERSON,  FRANCES  TAYLOR.  Strange  Slum 
bering  (Poem) ,  405. 

Permanently  Unemployed,  The,  142. 

PHAYRE,  IGNATIUS.  The  League's  "Black 
Baby,"  233. 

Pink  Soap  (Story) ,  406. 

Playing  the  Numbers,  533. 

Plebiscite  Puzzle  in  the  Saar,  172. 

Poem,  218. 

Poland  Plays  a  Dangerous  Game,  268. 

Professors  Put  to  the  Test,  340. 

Purifying  the  Human  Race,  431. 

Raid,  The  (Story),  299. 

REDDING,  J.  SAUNDERS.  Playing  the  Numbers, 

533- 
Rehousing  America,  1 64. 


RIDER,  FREMONT.  Is  There  Any  Solution  for 
the  Labor  Problem?  239}  Let's  Have  a 
Really  New  Deal,  4. 

ROBINSON,  HENRY  MORTON.  Is  the  Lid  Off? 
no.  *" 

Russia's  Rising  Proletarian,  448. 

SAITO,  HIROSI.  Japan  and  World  Peace,  198. 

SHAW,  ROGER.  Fascism  and  the  New  Deal,  559. 

Silver  Cart  Before  the  Horse,  The,  136. 

SIMONS,  RODGER  L.  Submarine  Marvels,  74  j 
The  Garden  of  Sweden,  414. 

Social  Insurance  for  America,  292. 

Something  New  in  Peace  Machinery,  312. 

Southern  View  of  Northern  Reformers,  A,  149. 

Soviet  Russia  Between  Two  Fires,  30. 

STEINBECK,  JOHN.  The  Raid  (Story),  299. 

Strange  Slumbering  (Poem) ,  405. 

Strong  Arm  Economics,  346. 

STYRON,  ARTHUR.  A  Southern  View  of  North 
ern  Reformers,  149. 

Submarine  Marvels,  74. 

SZE,  SAO-KE  ALFRED.  China  and  World  Peace, 
100. 

Tariff  Bargains,  158. 
They've  Got  to  Show  Me,  323. 
This  Is  Peace  (Poem),  466. 
TOLLES,  N.  A.  Wanted:  a  Plan  for  Our  Bank 
Credit,  16. 

Uncle  Sam,  the  Junkman,  219. 

Use  for  Human  Interest  Stories,  A,  543. 

VERNON,  GRENVILLE.  Last  Testament  (Story), 
361. 

Wages  and  Ethics,  306. 

Wanted :  a  Plan  for  Our  Bank  Credit,  1 6. 

WARD,  MAY  WILLIAMS.  In  Time  of  Drought 

(Poem),  47 1. 

WHICKER,  H.  W.  Holiday  on  Parnassus,  367. 
Why  Not  Produce  Things  That  Pay?  80. 
WILKINSON,  LUPTON  A.  Miss  Letitia's  Profes 
sion  (Story),  6 1. 
WILLIAMS,  OLIVER.  Why  Not  Produce  Things 

That  Pay?  80. 
WILSON,    CHARLES    MORROW.   The   Country 

Press  Reawakens,  260. 
WILSON,     OLIVER     WHITWELL.     Rehousing 

America,  164. 
WILSON,    P.    W.    How   the   English    Handle 

Crime,  4865  Social  Insurance  for  America, 

292. 
WINN,  MARY  DAY.  The  Woman  Puzzle  and 

the  College  Professor,  55. 
Woman  Puzzle  and  the  College  Professor,  The, 

55- 
World  Propaganda  War,  The,  421. 

Year's  End  (Poem),  552. 


p    I  !' 

Tros  Tyriusque  mibi  nullo  discrimine  agetur 

. 


XV.S4.  '  &J& 

^f  -  N**"-  :;  CT\  * 

^American  J^evtew 


VOLUME  238  JULY,  1934  NUMBER  i 


Aperitif 


.                        .  geneous  population";  "knowledge  of 

Regimenting  Leisure  the  existence  of  these  facilities"  ;  "train- 

EST  year,  at  the  instigation  of  the  ing  for  the  wise  use  of  leisure"  j  and 

NRA,  Mr.  Raymond  B.  Fosdick  "effort  to  discover  the  potential  inter- 

and  others  calculated  that  shorter  work-  ests  and  skills  of  the  public."  In  each  of 

ing  hours  would  give  New  York's  ap-  these  categories  it  made  specific  sugges- 

proximately  five  million  workers  some  tions,  such  as,  respectively,  using  school 

two  hundred  million  leisure  hours  a  gymnasiums  for  those  above  school  age 

week.  In  good  modern  fashion  Mr.  Fos-  who  wish  to  play  basketball,  setting  up 

dick's  committee  straightway  set  about  central  information  places  for  those  in 

thinking  of  means  to  fill  this  appalling  search  of  avocations,  expanding  public 

vacuum,  efficiently,  decorously  and  with  art  and  music  schools,  and  continuing 

an  eye  on  human  progress.  Its  report  the  so-called  "frills"  in  our  education 

reached  this  office  a  few  days  ago  and  as  system  which  tend  to  bring  out  special 

an  indication  of  the  new  spirit  abroad  in  aptitudes  for  leisure  activity  among 

our  land  is  worth  attention.  children. 

Two  considerations  apparently  were  There  were,  of  course,  a  great  many 

at  the  back  of  the  committee's  think-  other  suggestions.  But  it  is  apparent 

ing:  a  simple  desire  to  make  everybody  from  these  that  the  business  of  provid- 

wholesomely  happy,  and  the  feeling  ing  leisure  activities  for  all  the  people 

that  large  numbers  of  people  when  un-  will  not  tend  to  reduce  tax  burdens.  Al- 

happy,  wholesomely  or  otherwise,  make  ready  taxpayers  have  raised  a  hue  and 

trouble,  if  not  revolutions.  Young  men  cry  over  the  expense  of  "frills"  in  our 

take  to  criminal  pursuits  if  there  is  no  school  system  and  demanded  a  return 

baseball  to  be  played,  and  crime  waves  to  the  three  R's.  But  the  committee 

are  more  expensive  than  baseball  fields,  pointed  out  that  the  national  effort  to- 

The  committee  felt  that  there  were  day  is  in  the  direction  of  distributing 

four  major  factors  involved  in  "effec-  real  income  more  fairly  among  the 

tive  community  planning  for  the  en-  whole  populace,  that  the  likeliest 

joyable  use  of  free  time":  "facilities  to  method  of  accomplishing  this  is  through 

meet  the  varied  interests  of  a  hetero-  higher  income  taxes  on  large  incomes 

Copyright,  1934,  by  North  American  Review  Corporation.  All  rights  reserved. 


2  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

and  consequently  possible  expansion  of  pensive  community  effort  to  wean  the 

governmental    services    to    all,    and,  public  from  lower  to  higher  forms  of 

finally,  that  it  is  much  cheaper  to  pro-  entertainment.  Maybe  the  authorities 

vide  such  facilities  by  collective  than  by  can  persuade  us  to  forego  jazz  bands, 

individual  effort.  but  if  they  succeed  in  changing  us  to 

Now,  no  one  would  object  to  spread-  regimented  Bach-lovers  there  will  be  a 

ing  happiness  among  the  people,  if  it  great    deal    of    justifiable    bitterness 

does  not  break  the  nation.  But  it  is  pos-  among  the  self-made  intelligentsia,  for 

sible  that  a  few  malcontents  will  criti-  these  will  have  to  learn  new  and  even 

cize  the  tendency  to  place  so  much  of  the  higher  tastes, 
ordinary  man's  free  time  under  govern 
mental  supervision.  Throughout  the 

committee's  report  were  hints  of  an  The  truth  is  probably  that  the  man 
ulterior  purpose  to  educate  working  in  the  street  could  do  with  more  ample 
men  and  women  in  their  leisure  time,  recreational  opportunities,  particularly 
to  force  higher  tastes  upon  them,  for  physical  exercise,  but  that  the  man 
"Early  development  of  high  standards  of  wealth — who,  the  committee  said, 
would  influence  commercial  entertain-  can  afford  to  buy  his  own  entertainment 
ment,"  said  the  report — which  might  be  — is  the  one  who  really  needs  supervi- 
alarming  to  radio,  movie  and  magazine  sion.  How  does  he  spend  his  free  hours 
executives.  Elsewhere  it  is  stated  that  now?  Writing  indignant  letters  to  the 
the  ways  in  which  most  of  us  entertain  press,  making  indignant  speeches  at 
ourselves  in  our  spare  time — with  the  banquets,  journeying  indignantly  to 
radio,  movies  and  idle  visiting — are  not  Washington,  worrying  indignantly 
necessarily  the  ways  which  we  should  over  the  state  of  his  business.  If  he  plays 
choose  if  we  could  have  a  choice.  Often  golf,  it  is  with  more  than  the  usual 
we  should  prefer  an  intelligent  theatre  venom  that  the  game  brings  forth  in 
performance,  playing  a  musical  instru-  dubs.  If  he  goes  to  the  theatre,  he  car- 
ment,  boating  or  camping.  So  we  say,  at  ries  with  him  a  host  of  vexations  to  spoil 
any  rate.  But  there  is  still  a  question  his  enjoyment.  Nowhere  does  he  find 
whether  the  great  majority  of  us  really  that  relaxation  which  is  necessary  to 
want  our  tastes  improved,  our  idleness  counteract  the  effects  of  modern  busi- 
disrupted  with  purposeful  activity,  our  ness  on  the  nerves.  Plainly,  with  Dr. 
ignorance  dispelled.  If  we  are  not  satis-  Pitkin  and  others  writing  best-sellers  on 
fied  with  tabloid  journalism  there  are  how  to  relax,  the  need  is  felt, 
plenty  of  more  intelligent  newspapers  Perhaps  it  would  help  to  write  an 
on  the  stands,  at  the  same  price.  other  code.  Business  men  should  be  al- 

Aside  from  the  question  of  its  prac-  lowed   no   more   than   one   speech   a 

ticability,  an  attempt  to  force-feed  the  month,  one  letter  to  the  editor,  one  trip 

masses  with  culture  seems  more  like  an  to  Washington,  and  so  on.  They  should, 

indication  of  the  break-down  of  our  on  the  other  hand,  be  required  to  attend 

touted  individualism  than  anything  that  the  evening  schools  where  history  and 

has  happened  in  the  economic  sphere.  American  principles  and  what  the  Con- 

The  tradition  of  Abe  Lincoln  strug-  stitution  was  really  intended  to  accom- 

gling  against  terrific  odds  for  an  educa-  plish  are  taught.  None  of  these  matters 

tion  is  hardly  compatible  with  an  ex-  is  very  accurately  interpreted  by  the 


APfiRITIF  3 

average  business  man  of  wealth  and  a  Finally,   in   a   section   devoted   to 

better  understanding  should  have  the  "Needs  Requiring  Further  Study"  the 

effect  of  calming  him.  committee  said:  "We  need  to  know 

Further,  he  should  be  kept  from  more,  in  addition  to  the  little  we  know 

spending  more  time  on  his  business  than  already,  about  the  intellectual  capaci- 

the  codes  allow  his  underlings.  Pre-  ties  of  adults  and  how  they  can  be 

sumably  we  are  entering  an  age  when  measured."  This  should  be  proof  to  the 

the  philosophy  of  work  for  work's  sake  committee  of  our  contention  that  the 

is  to  be  discarded  or  radically  altered,  authorities  ought  to  reserve  most  of 

It  will  not  do  to  have  our  business  lead-  their  supervision  for  the  man  of  wealth, 

ers  setting  a  bad  example  of  long  hours  Under  such  a  dispensation  they  might 

and  overconcentration  for  younger  men.  even  be  able  to  detect  the  capacity  of 

If  they  found  it  impossible  to  manage  an  Insull  for  "honest  errors  of  judg- 

their  affairs  in  the  restricted  time,  other  ment"  before  a  very  great  deal  of  harm 

men  would  doubtless  be  willing  to  take  is  done, 

on  the  status  of  business  leaders  to  help.  w.  A.  D. 


Let's  Have  a  Really  New  Deal 

BY  FREMONT  RIDER 

Who,  having  no  confidence  in  present  Administration  methods, 

though  he  believes  in  its  aims,  suggests  some  drastic 

modifications 

COMMENTING  on  what  he  called  that  result.  Furthermore,  they  have 

the    "Roosevelt    Experiment"  come  to  have  the  uneasy  feeling  not 

one  of  our  keenest  publicists  re-  only  that  most  of  its  proponents  have 

cently  wrote:  "No  unbiased  spectator  of  had  no  previous  practical  experience 

the  adventure  can  withhold  his  admira-  whatsoever  with  the  subject  matter  of 

tion  for  the  courage  such  an  effort  has  their  experiment,  but  that  some  of  them 

implied.  Success  or  failure,  it  bears  upon  at  least  are  prophesying  one  result  while 

its  face  the  hallmarks  of  great  leader-  working  strenuously  to  attain  quite  an- 

ship."  With  this  appraisal  I  agree,  for  other. 

the  social  desirabilities  of  many  of  the  If  this  be  true,  if  there  is  danger  that 
objectives  of  the  Roosevelt  programme  history  will  record  that  the  finest  con- 
seem  to  me  unquestionable,  and  I  ad-  structive  effort  of  modern  times  was 
mire  intensely  the  verve,  forcefulness  killed,  not  by  its  enemies  but  by  its 
and  good  nature  with  which  the  Presi-  avowed  friends,  it  would  seem  worth 
dent  has  driven  ahead  to  translate  his  while  to  examine  with  some  care  some 
programme  into  actuality.  of  its  possibly  mistaken  methods. 

But,  although  the  ultimate  aims  of 
this  vast  new  "noble  experiment,"  if  we 

define  those  aims  to  be  the  curbing  of  By  way  of  prologue  to  all  other  criti- 

human  waste  and  selfish  rapacity,  and  cism  of  the  New  Deal  it  is  unfortunately 

the  rebuilding  of  our  present  social  or-  necessary  to  point  out  how  unwisely  in- 

der  on  surer  and  finer  foundations — al-  tolerant  the  New  Dealers  have  been  of 

though  these  aims  meet  with  general  this  very  thing,  criticism,  even  of  criti- 

accord,  millions  of  Americans  of  un-  cism  sincerely  intended  to  be  helpful, 

questioned  sincerity  are  beginning  to  Altogether  too  many  of  them  have 

doubt  the  wisdom  of  the  methods  which  tacitly  assumed  that  any  criticism  of 

are  being  used  to  attain  them.  It  is  not  their  "experiment"  was,  either  openly 

because  they  do  not  wish  to  see  the  "ex-  or  hypocritically,  destructive.  Ascribing 

periment"  successful,  but  that  they  have  good  faith  to  no  one  but  themselves, 

come  increasingly  to  fear  that  the  meth-  they  deem  any  one  who  ventures  to 

ods  in  question  are  likely  to  fail  to  have  suggest  amendment  not  merely  mis- 


LET'S  HAVE  A  REALLY  NEW  DEAL  5 

taken,  but  disingenuous.  At  first  it  was  promulgated  last  June  the  country, 
"unpatriotic"  to  venture  comment  of  thanks  to  a  change  in  national  psychol- 
any  sort.  Congress  itself  was  for  months  ogy  for  which  the  energetic  initiative  of 
little  more  than  a  legislative  blank-  the  new  Administration  was  mainly  re- 
cheque  mill.  And  when  there  finally  sponsible,  was  definitely  out  of  the  dol- 
came  an  Administration  about-face,  drums  of  the  depression  and  had  gone 
when  we  were  told  that  criticism  was  a  strong  three  months  forward  on  the 
"invited" — veritable  "field-days"  of  it  road  toward  recovery.  Second,  that  the 
— it  was  nevertheless  made  abundantly  initiation  of  the  NRA  definitely  and  im- 
clear  that  even  then  nothing  in  the  na-  mediately  interrupted  this  recovery  im- 
ture  of  genuine  criticism,  criticism,  that  petus,  and  kept  business  at  a  standstill 
is,  of  fundamentals,  was  to  be  permitted,  for  almost  six  months.  Third,  that  re 
but  only  suggestions  for  the  amendment  covery  began  again  only  when  the 
of  minor  details.  The  basic  pillars  of  the  strangle-hold  which  had  been  placed  on 
New  Deal:  the  NRA  law,  the  crop  sur-  industry  by  the  labor  clauses  of  the 
plus  destruction  policy,  the  repudiation  NRA  was  relaxed  a  trifle  by  the  deci- 
by  the  Government  of  its  financial  obli-  sion  which  ended  the  automobile  strike 
gations — all  these  things  were  to  con-  deadlock.  And  for  "Fourth"  I  will  go 
tinue  to  be  held  sacrosanct  and  in-  further:  if  tomorrow  the  President — as 
violable.  he  has  full  legal  power  to  do,  as  he  has 

To  their  first  assumption,  that  any  indeed   promised   to   do — should   an- 

real  criticism  of  the  New  Deal  was  un-  nounce  that  the  "emergency"  for  which 

thinkable,  its  proponents  conjoined  an-  it  was  promulgated  is  over,  and  should 

other,  a  self-defensive  one,  that  govern-  drop  the  whole  present  NRA  scheme 

ment  was  wiser  and  more  competent  to  into  the  political  waste  basket — if  tomor- 

deal  with  all  matters  relating  to  business  row  he  did  this,  I  venture  that,  with  the 

and  finance  than  were  the  business  men  terrible  incubus  of  it  removed,  the  na- 

and  financiers  of  the  nation.  By  indirec-  tion's  business  would  almost  overnight 

tion  and  carefully  staged  publicity  the  spring  forward  into  the  beginning  of 

impression  was  created,  or  sought  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  boom  periods  this 

created,  that  most  business  men  had  country  has  ever  known, 

risen  to  power  through  legal  trickery  For  get  this  clearly,  very  clearly  and 

and  financial  piracy.  And  this  second  as-  very  emphatically,  in  mind:  the  depres- 

sumption  of  course  involved  the  corol-  sion  with  which  we  have  been  strug- 

lary — which    we    heard    repeated    ad  gling  for  the  past  four  years  represents, 

nauseam — that  the  New  Deal  was  initi-  not  the  break-down  of  a  free-working 

ated  last  summer  to  meet  a  grave  emer-  system  of  individual  initiative,  but  the 

gency,  a  crisis  in  which  our  time-worn  break-down  of  a  system  of  individual 

system  of  individual  initiative  had  so  initiative  in  which  individual  initiative 

completely  "broken  down"  that  all  busi-  had   been   increasingly    forbidden    to 

ness  was  rapidly  nearing  a  state  of  com-  function.   It  was  the  break-down   of 

plete  collapse.  what  had  already  become  only  a  quasi- 

Now  the  validity  of  every  one  of  competitive  system,  of  a  competitive 
these  assumptions  should  be  challenged,  system  which  was  being  ever  more  and 
beginning  with  the  last.  What  are  the  more  baited,  badgered,  hampered,  crip- 
facts?  First,  that,  when  the  NRA  was  pled,  cribbed,  cabined  and  confined  by 


6  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

a  myriad  of  interferences — of  govern-  ence  with  economic  law  will  not  and 

mental  interferences — in  the  form  of  can  not  work  any  sound  or  lasting  cure 

wars,  licenses,  income  taxes,  public  util-  for  any  business  ill.  In  the  newspapers 

ity  commissions,  protective  tariffs,  legis-  just  today  was  a  most  significant  an- 

lative  committees,  workmen's  compensa-  nouncement:  that,  because  the  NRA 

tion  laws,  excise  taxes,  doles,  legislative  had  failed  to  realize  the  hopes  of  its 

investigations,    reparations,    question-  promoters,  it  was  understood  that  they 

naires,  inspection  bureaus,  labor  laws,  were  about  to  propose  that  its  powers  be 

cartels,  reports,  managed  currencies,  sta-  greatly  increased  and  extended.  This  is 

bilization  plans,  and  literally  endless  what  always  happens  once  we  start  the 

other  attempts  to  "regulate"  artificially,  downward  path. 

by  government  mandate,  the  normal         It  will  help  to  keep  one's  feet  on  the 

free-working  interrelations  of  business  ground  if  this  is  ever  held  firmly  in 

and  finance  and  the  normal  free-work-  mind:  that,  left  to  itself y  business  can 

ing  interactions  of  supply  and  demand,  solve  any  of  its  problems,  can  recuperate 

Under  such  a  pulling  and  hauling  of  itself  from  any  depression,  can  adjust 

conflicting  interests  no  economic  sys-  itself  to  any  foreknown  situation — and 

tern  of  any  sort  could  long  survive,  can  do  all  these  things  with  the  mini- 

What  we  term  the  competitive  system  mum  of  loss,  delay  and  friction.  That  is, 

certainly  proved  its  amazing  toughness  in  fact,  the  amazing  and  unique  char- 

and  pliability  when  it  stood  this  sort  of  acteristic  of  all  business,  its  efficient  and 

manhandling  as  long  as  it  did  without  prompt  adaptability  to  meet  trouble. 

cracking.  And  it  is  no  answer  at  all  for  But  only  if  it  is  left  unhampered.  Once 

the  advocates  of  government  "regula-  let  government  interfere  in  any  way — 

tion"  to  retort  that  many  of  the  most  except,  as  we  always  except,  to  see  that 

disastrous  of  the  above-mentioned  in-  it,  and  its  competitors,  do  not  do  things 

terferences  were  efforts  made  by  gov-  that  run  counter  to  moral  law — and 

ernment  to  help  certain  favored,  or  waste  and  delay  accumulate, 
economically    necessitous,    groups — in 
fact  were  often  exerted  at  the  direct 

solicitation  of  such  groups.  For  that  is  This,  of  course,  by  no  means  suggests 
what  government  interference  in  busi-  that  our  business  system  is  perfect.  It  is 
ness — when  it  is  interference  based  on  organized  and  run  by  human  beings: 
economic  instead  of  moral  grounds —  they  have  their  frailties  and  it  has  its 
always  is,  a  tug-of-war  between  various  abuses.  It  is  beyond  argument  that  some 
more  or  less  powerful  and  more  or  less  businesses  have  done  things,  and  are  do- 
selfish  political-economic  interests,  a  tug-  ing  things,  that  transgress  both  crimi- 
of-war  growing  increasingly  more  com-  nal  and  moral  law.  And  most  business 
plicated  and  more  frenetic  as  society  men  would  welcome,  and  would  sup- 
itself  becomes  more  complicated  and  as  port  enthusiastically,  any  sincere  and 
the  bureaucratic  spirit,  growing  with  well-intentioned  effort  on  the  part  of 
what  it  feeds  on,  tries  frantically  to  bring  government  to  eliminate  from  all  busi- 
order  out  of  the  chaos  which  it  has  itself  ness  such  immoral  practices  and  such 
created  in  its  efforts  to  please  this  or  that  criminal  businesses.  For,  because  all  real 
special  interest  or  to  cure  this  or  that  business  abuses  will  be  found,  on  anal- 
business  ill.  For  government  interfer-  ysis,  to  represent  infractions  of  morals 


LET'S  HAVE  A  REALLY  NEW  DEAL  7 

if  not  violations  of  present  law,  it  is  a  porations  requires  a  high  level  of  corn- 
proper  function  of  government,  it  is  the  mercial  honesty."  And  he  adds  this 
function  of  government,  to  prevent,  de-  suggestive  Anhang:  "Among  many 
tect  and  punish  them.  It  is  not  for  lack  peoples  of  the  earth,  it  is  probable  that 
of  laws  that  government  has  failed  in  large-scale  production  could  not  be  com- 
this.  We  have  laws,  a  plethora  of  them,  pletely  developed  because  their  stand- 
forbidding  bribery,  barratry,  conspiracy  ards  of  business  integrity  would  make  it 
and  adulteration,  not  to  speak  of  plain  difficult  to  operate  large  corporations." 
forgery,  theft  and  larceny.  And,  if  these  Just  as  business  is  something  quite  out 
and  our  other  criminal  laws  were  actu-  of  the  normal  province  of  government, 
ally  enforced,  most  of  the  problems  so  the  prevention  of  crime  is  something 
which  hamper  and  hamstring  legitimate  quite  out  of  the  normal  province  of 
business  today  would  be  automatically  business.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say 
solved.  that  this  Republic  was  founded  upon  the 
The  average  American  citizen  knows  principle  that  the  primary,  if  not  the 
perfectly  well  that  the  recent  hue  and  sole,  function  of  government  was  the 
cry  about  the  dishonesty  of  business  men  protection  of  person  and  property  from 
is  something  that  has  been  very  much  assault  and  spoliation.  And,  when  gov- 
exaggerated  for  purely  political  affect,  ernment  has  fallen  down  in  its  primary 
He  knows  that,  however  dishonest  some  function  as  lamentably  as  it  has  in  these 
business  men  may  be,  such  men  can  not  United  States  it  can  hardly  be  won- 
be  in  the  majority.  For  modern  business  dered  at  that  thinking  men  and  women 
exists  on  credit ,  and  could  not  continue  look  askance  at  any  proposal  to  give  it 
to  exist  for  a  single  day  were  it  not  for  increased  powers  and  new  responsibili- 
the  fact  that  the  average  business  man's  ties,  especially  when  the  new  powers 
trust  in  the  honesty  of  his  fellow  busi-  and  responsibilities  which  it  seeks  in- 
ness  man  is,  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  volve  matters  concerning  which  it  has 
hundred,  justified.  Professor  Slichter  of  had  no  experience. 
Harvard,  in  his  monumental  Modern  And  this  reluctance  is  intensified  in 
Economic  Society y  makes  this  significant  the  mind  of  the  average  citizen  when  he 
commentary  on  this  particular  assump-  sees  government,  not  only  entirely  ob- 
tion  of  the  New  Dealers.  "It  is  plain,"  livious  to  the  necessity  or  desirability  of 
he  says,  that  if,  generally  speaking,  cor-  setting  its  own  house  in  order,  but  actu- 
porate  officials  were  not  honest,  "cor-  ally  trying  to  alibi  itself  out  of  its  incom- 
porate  enterprises  would  be  seriously  petencies  in  doing  its  own  job  by  trying 
handicapped  in  competing  with  the  indi-  to  throw  the  blame  for  them  upon 
vidual  proprietorship  and  the  partner-  business.  Is  it,  after  all,  the  fault  of 
ship.  .  .  .  In  other  words  we  are  able  honest  business  men,  or  of  business  itself 
to  obtain  the  advantages  of  large-scale  as  an  institution,  that  some  bankers 
production  only  because  the  officers  of  thieve,  some  retailers  cheat,  some  politi- 
corporations  .  .  .  allow  their  actions  to  cians  graft,  some  manufacturers  bribe, 
be  largely  determined  by  traditional  some  labor  unionists  work  in  collusion 
standards  of  commercial  integrity  with  racketeers,  and  that  almost  all 
rather  than  by  the  deliberate  pursuit  of  courts  so  interminably  befuddle  their 
self-interest.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  functions  as  to  make  common  justice  a 
that  the  successful  operation  of  large  cor-  luxury  for  the  rich  ? 


8  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

And  does  government,  leaving  quite  of  socialism ;    that   the   propagandists 

aside  its  failure  adequately  to  protect  so-  of  this  new  venture  are  really — if  he 

ciety  against  outright  crime,  maintain  in  would  only  recognize  them — his  best 

its  own  dealings  even  so  high  standards  friends. 

of  common  morality  as  are  taken  for  But,  unfortunately,  he  has  found  it  in 

granted  in  the  world  of  business  ?  What,  practice  difficult,  if  not  impossible  to  dis- 

f or  example,  would  the  ordinary  busi-  tinguish  any  real  difference  between  the 

ness  man  think  of  a  banker  who,  when  "regimentation"  of  the  New  Deal,  and 

he  was  perfectly  able  to  pay  his  deliber-  that    openly    avowed    state    socialism 

ately  plighted  obligations,  sought  and  against  which  they  assure  him  that  they 

obtained  special  legislation  permitting  are  on  guard.  When  the  average  man 

him  to  cut  them  in  half?  What  can  we  gets  through  reading  a  few  of  the  codes 

say  of  that  special  brand  of  hypocrisy  he  fails  to  see  how  there  is  left  to  him 

which  accuses  the  wealthy  man  who  in-  anything  but  an  invisible  modicum  of 

vests — quite  legally  and  properly — in  either  individual  initiative  or  personal 

tax-exempt  bonds  of  "tax  avoidance"  liberty.  If  you  think  that  this  statement 

(with  the  insinuation,  of  course,  that  is  an  exaggeration,  read  for  yourself 

tax  avoidance  is  something  reprehen-  some  of  their  details.  True,  they  are 

sibleor  even  criminal),  and  yet  persists,  tedious  reading.  Already  they  run  up 

against  the  protests  of  almost  all  busi-  into  thousands  of  pages  of  small  print, 

ness  men  and  economists,  in  continuing  But,  if  we  are  to  have  clearly  in  mind 

to  authorize  tax-exempt  bonds  so  that  the  real  facts  regarding  the  New  Deal, 

the  wealthy  man  may  be  afforded  his  we  must  go  to  its  codes,  for  in  them 

opportunity  for  tax  avoidance?  Whose  alone  is  first-hand  information, 

here  is  the  primary  moral  responsibility,  Very  briefly  then,  to  clinch  this  point 

if  there  is  any  moral  responsibility?  If  quickly,  let  us  run  over  a  few  of  them, 

tax-exempt  bonds  are  socially  unwise  is  quite  at  random.  Pick  up,  for  example, 

it  in  this  case  the  pot  or  the  kettle  which  the  "Code  for  Fair  Competition  for  the 

is  blacker?  Macaroni  Industry,"  and,  turning  its 

pages,  you  may  read:  "Macaroni  prod- 

IV  ucts  in  the  form  of  noodles  shall  corn- 
Certain  of  the  New  Dealers  accuse  prise  not  less  than  $.$%  of  egg  or  egg 
their  critics  of  lack  of  good  faith.  Re-  yolk  solids  by  weight  on  a  dry  basis." 
luctantly  one  is  obliged  to  utter  the  tu  Now  possibly  it  may  strike  you  that  this 
quoque:  the  average  business  man  tends  quotation  has  some  sort  of  a  humorous 
to  distrust  their  new  experiment  because  connotation.  I  assure  you  it  has  not. 
he  feels  that  some  of  its  proponents  are  Read  it  again.  It  says,  you  will  notice, 
either  disingenuous,  or  else  that  they  not  that  manufacturers  who  may  wish 
are  amazingly  blind  to  the  inevitable  to  make,  or  customers  who  may  wish  to 
sequelce  of  their  adventure.  He  is  as-  purchase,  noodles  less  rich  in  egg  con- 
sured,  for  example,  that  they  are  really  tent  shall  be  obliged  respectively  to  tell, 
offering  the  individualist  his  last  chance  and  to  be  told,  the  exact  facts  regarding 
to  survive  in  a  world  that  has  outmoded  the  ingredients  in  their  product.  That 
him;  that  either  he  must  subscribe  to  the  sort  of  legislation — the  prevention  of 
"ordered  society"  of  the  New  Deal  or  misbranding  or  adulteration — would  be 
find  himself  cast  into  the  outer  darkness  like  the  prevention  of  any  other  sort  of 


LET'S  HAVE  A  REALLY  NEW  DEAL  9 

fraud,  a  perfectly  legitimate  and  proper  supreme  control  of  the  State"  which 
function  of  government.  Stalin  recently  announced  to  be  the  corn- 
No,  the  purpose  of  this  section  of  this  munist  ideal. 

code  is  something  quite  different.  It  is  If  you,  a  free-born  American  citizen, 
not  seeking  to  prevent  misbranding  or  are  to  be  forbidden  by  law  to  eat  noodles 
adulteration.  Its  purpose  is  simply  to  with  five  per  cent  egg  in  them  j  if  you, 
dictate  a  standard  recipe  for  a  certain  having  the  means  to  pay  therefor,  are 
food  product,  regardless  of  the  personal  only  by  express  permission  of  the  state 
preferences  of  either  the  makers  or  the  to  be  allowed  to  have  made  for  your 
consumers  of  it.  I  submit  that  these  two  house  a  special  size  of  radiator  not  laid 
objectives  are  as  fundamentally  differ-  down  in  some  code  for  the  Soviet  of 
ent  as  day  and  night,  that  no  free  gov-  "Nonferrous  and  Steel  Convector 
ernment  of  a  free  people  has  any  right  Manufacturers"  j  then  you  may  claim, 
whatever,  or  any  business,  to  tell  one  of  and  I  think  you  may  claim  with  right, 
its  citizens  that  if  he  prefers  noodles  that,  however  much  its  forms  and  sem- 
with  five  per  cent  of  egg  in  them  instead  blances  may  have  been  retained,  the 
of  five  and  a  half  he  shall  be  by  law  for-  American  Republic  has  ceased  to  exist! 
bidden  to  have  them  made.  If  you  still  think  this  danger  is  exag- 
Or  read  Rule  1 5,  of  Code  271,  that  gerated  I  can  only  suggest  that  you  read 
for  "Fair  Competition  in  the  Nonfer-  some  more  of  the  codes.  Shuffle  through 
rous  and  Steel  Convector  Manufactur-  the  pile  of  them  again.  The  "Code  for 
ing  Industry."  In  that  rule  we,  the  Fair  Competition  for  the  Carbon  Black 
general  public,  are  granted  what  ap-  Manufacturing  Industry"  (Art.  4, 
pears  to  be  a  very  unusual  concession.  Sec.  2)  informs  us  that:  "The  present 
"The  right,"  it  says,  "of  any  manufac-  capacity  of  the  carbon  black  factories  of 
turer  of  concealed  radiators  to  build  the  United  States  being  as  a  whole  in 
special  sizes  or  types  on  special  order  is  excess  of  present  or  any  prospective 
recognized."  Read  that  rule  over  again  needs" —  Stop  there.  Who  is  this 
also,  and  ponder  its  full  significance,  prophet  who  so  clearly  reveals  to  us 
Consider  not  merely  its  content,  but  the  future?  Who  is  he  so  wise  that  he 
that  the  code  authorities  thought  it  nee-  can  say  what  the  world's  "prospective" 
essary  to  insert  it.  For  in  this  brief  rule,  needs  for  carbon  black  may  be  next 
hidden  away  among  thousands  of  other  month  or  next  year?  Who,  in  govern- 
similar  rules,  as  in  the  noodle  section  ment  or  out  of  it,  has  the  vision  to  fore- 
quoted  above,  lies,  it  seems  to  me,  the  see  possible  new  domestic  uses,  or  to 
fundamental  issue  of  this  present  New  gauge  the  demands  of  new  foreign  mar- 
Deal  that  is  being  foisted  on  us,  the  kets  now  unthought  of?  And  is  so  sure 
fundamental  issue  being  whether  the  of  his  prevision  that  he  feels  able 
American  Republic,  as  it  was  founded  to  dictate:  "any  material  increase  in 
by  our  fathers,  and  as  we  have  known  it  the  plant  capacity  of  any  manufac- 
for  seven  generations,  is  going  to  con-  turer"  shall  be  made  "only  after  the 
tinue  to  endure,  or  whether  it  is  going  approval  of  such  increase  by  the  code 
to  be  transformed,  surreptitiously,  with-  authority." 

out  our  assent,  into  what  is  to  all  intents  So.  That  means  that  hereafter  no 

and  purposes  a  socialist  commonwealth,  manufacturer  of  carbon  black  can  en- 

that  "ordered  regimentation  under  the  large  his  business  without  the  consent 


10 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


of  the  state — and  of  his  competitors! 
And  that  means  of  course,  since  both 
these  things  would  require  plant  change 
or  enlargement,  that  no  manufacturer 
hereafter  is  going  to  be  able  to  reduce 
the  cost  of  his  product  through  mass 
production  of  it,  or  to  introduce  new 
methods  of  manufacture,  to  reduce  cost 
— without  the  consent  of  his  competi 
tors!  Against  their  obvious  and  united 
opposition,  and  the  natural  barriers  of 
government  red  tape,  just  what  would 
be  the  chances  of  any  further  develop 
ment  or  progress  in  the  carbon  black 
industry? 

According  to  the  daily  press — I  have 
not  had  the  official  text — the  new  "Code 
for  Boat  Yards"  provides  that  no  owner 
of  a  boat  shall  hereafter  be  permitted  to 
make  repairs  on  his  own  boat.  This  is 
indeed  a  far-reaching  and  instructive 
precedent!  Shortly,  to  create  a  similar 
monopoly  of  work  for  the  building 
trade  unions  and  the  building  con 
tractors,  for  the  machinist's  unions  and 
the  repair  garages,  we  may  expect  to  see 
new  codes  providing  that  no  house 
holder  shall  thereafter  be  allowed  to 
,  make  repairs  upon  his  own  house,  that 
automobile  owners  shall  be  forbidden 
to  give  first  aid  to  their  own  cars,  that 
farmers  shall  be  forbidden  to  be  handy 
men  in  maintaining  their  own  farm 
equipment,  etc.,  etc.  This  is  surely  in 
evitably  logical.  And  how  clearly  it 
points  the  way  to  a  revival  of  national 
prosperity,  and  to  the  survival  of  per 
sonal  liberty! 

But  even  yet  we  have  barely  touched 
the  full  implications  of  the  codes,  for 
in  this  astonishing  new  "ordered  soci 
ety,"  now  being  forced  upon  us  by  gov 
ernment,  almost  everything  is  to  be 
dictated  by  some  sort  of  a  centralized 
authority.  Methods  of  shipment  and 
delivery,  for  example,  are  specified  in 


the  codes  down  to  the  last  possible  de 
tail.  The  "Code  for  Envelope  Manu 
facturers,"  for  example,  permits  them 
to  ship  orders  for  a  million  envelopes  in 
two  lots,  but  provides  that  orders  for 
less  than  one  million  must  be  shipped 
all  at  one  time.  As  to  discounts:  manu 
facturers  in  the  "Men's  Garter,  Sus 
pender  and  Belt  Manufacturing  Indus 
try"  are  permitted,  we  are  informed,  to 
give  customers  cash  discounts  of  only 
two  per  cent,  except  that  (chivalrous 
gesture!)  "Garter  belts  sold  to  corset 
departments  may  be  sold  at  cash  dis 
counts  not  greater  than  eight  per  cent, 
ten  days  E.  O.  M." 

Can  "regimentation"  go  further  than 
that? 


It  is  perfectly  evident,  for  one  thing, 
from  the  above  quotations  that  the  re 
iterated  title  of  all  these  codes  is  itself 
a  misnomer,  just  as  it  is  perfectly  evi 
dent  that  when  they  were  made  the 
interests  of  the  consumer  were  left  al 
most  entirely  out  of  consideration. 
These  are  not  "Codes  for  Fair  Compe 
tition,"  they  are  "Codes  for  the  Elimi 
nation  of  all  Competition."  For  there  is, 
properly  speaking,  as  I  have  already 
pointed  out,  only  one  sort  of  "unfair" 
competition,  and  that  is  competition 
which  involves  acts  which  are  repugnant 
to  the  moral  sense.  To  give  short 
weight,  to  adulterate,  to  pay  sweat  shop 
wages,  to  secure  illicit  rebates,  to  cheat, 
to  bribe  purchasing  agents — these  are 
the  sort  of  acts  that  constitute  "unfair 
competition,"  because  they  are  all  mor 
ally  wrong. 

But  to  endeavor  to  give  better  service 
to  a  customer  by  hurrying  to  him  an 
advance  delivery  of  a  part  of  his  order, 
to  manufacture  for  a  customer  a  special 
type  of  equipment  to  meet  his  exact 


LET'S  HAVE  A  REALLY  NEW  DEAL  11 

requirements,  to  encourage  the  turn-  dred  sorts,  they  were  rapidly  brought  to 
over  of  working  capital  by  offering  a  a  state  of  complete  entanglement, 
discount  for  the  prompt  payment  of  a  There  was  exactly  the  same  sort  of 
bill,  to  increase  production,  or  to  intro-  misrepresentation  as  this  behind  the  re 
duce  new  methods,  which  will  result  in  cent  easy  assertion  of  one  of  the  glib 
lowering  the  price  of  a  product  to  its  paragraphers  for  one  of  our  more  radi- 
consumers — none  of  these  acts  consti-  cal  weekly  reviews  that  the  "trouble" 
tute  "unfair  competition,"  or  are  the  with  our  railroads  today  was  that  they 
proper  subject  matter  of  government  "were  dead  from  the  neck  up."  The 
"regulation,"  because  there  is  nothing  only  "trouble"  with  our  railroads  to- 
about  them  that  offends  the  moral  day — God  help  them! — is  that  their 
sense.  They  are  the  very  essence  of  managements  no  longer  have  any 
genuine  competition,  the  fairest  kind  of  power  to  manage.  When  any  business  is 
fair  competition,  the  kind  of  competi-  told  by  government  where  it  shall  buy 
tion  which,  if  the  consumer  is  to  have  its  materials,  and  what,  and  how  much 
any  protection,  or  if  we  are  to  progress,  it  shall  pay  for  them  j  when  it  is  told 
socially  and  economically,  we  ought  to  how  much  it  shall  pay  its  employes, 
do  everything  in  our  power  to  encour-  how  long  they  shall  work,  what  each 
age,  not  to  hamper  or  forbid.  one  shall  do,  and  how  many  it  shall 

"Planned  economy"  versus  individ-  hire  5  when  it  is  told  what  rates  it  shall 
ual  initiative.  We  do  not  have  to  wait  to  charge  for  each  sort  of  traffic,  what  dis- 
see  what  the  former  inevitably  leads  to.  counts  it  shall  give,  and  how  its  traffic 
For  a  decade  we  have  had  a  splendid  shall  be  handled,  diverted  and  divided; 
example  of  it,  in  all  its  fine  flower,  very  when  it  is  told  exactly  how  its  book- 
much  on  our  hands.  We  have  called  it  keeping  shall  be  conducted,  where  and 
the  "railroad  problem."  whether  it  shall  borrow  money,  and  at 

If  you  want  to  make  any  old-time  what  rates  and  from  whom,  where  and 
railroad  man  see  red,  all  you  have  to  do  whether  it  shall  issue  securities, 
is  to  express  your  surprise  and  regret  at  through  whom  and  under  what  condi- 
the  way  the  railroads  "broke  down"  tionsj  when  it  is  told  what  form  and 
during  the  War,  for  every  railroad  man  styles  of  equipment  it  shall  have  and 
knows  perfectly  well  that  the  splen-  what  it  shall  do  with  them;  when  it  is 
didly  efficient  operating  organisms  of  told  these  things,  and  a  thousand 
which  he  was  so  proud  never  "broke  others,  I  ask  you:  what  has  manage- 
down."  He  knows  that  what  happened  ment  left  to  do? 

to  them  was  that  they  were  broken  down  As  a  matter  of  fact  about  the  only 

for  him  by  a  chaotic  maze  of  ill-advised,  function  that  any  railroad  executive  has 

mutually  contradictory,  semi-hysterical  today  is  to  make  reports  to,  and  to  pass 

orders  from  a  score  of  well-intentioned  on  orders  from,  Washington  and  from 

but  uncoordinated  and  utterly  inexperi-  each  of  the  fourteen  or  more  State  capi- 

enced  governmental  bodies.  He  knows  tals  with  which  his  railroad  is  involved, 

perfectly  well  that  the  railroads,  left  to  Of  course,  one  inevitable  result  of  this 

themselves,  would  have  carried  their  state  of  affairs  has  been  that,  for  the  past 

war  load  without  the  slightest  difficulty,  twenty  years,  railroading  as  a  business 

but  that,  hampered  and  bedeviled  with  has  ceased  to  attract  the  keener  types  of 

governmental  interferences  of  a  hun-  executive  ability.  And  so,  until  the  para- 


12  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

lyzing  hand  of  government  is  removed,  and  Warren  have  given  expression  to  a 
we  shall  continue  to  have  a  "railroad  fundamental  injustice  of  our  present 
problem."  The  alternative?  I  can  only  currency  system  that  can,  and  should, 
say  this:  if  any  one  of  our  leading  rail-  be  righted — even  though  one  may  corn- 
roads  were  placed  tomorrow  in  the  pletely  disagree  with  them  as  to  the 
hands  of  a  real  railroad  executive,  and  method  which  has  been  followed  to 
he  were  left  unhampered  by  govern-  accomplish  that  result.  Although  some 
mental  interference  of  any  sort  (except,  of  the  methods  which  he  has  been 
as  we  have  said,  the  prevention  of  the  directed  to  work  out  seem  also  to  me 
infraction  of  moral  law)  there  is  not  fundamentally  wrong,  I  have  gained 
the  slightest  doubt  that,  within  a  year  the  impression  that  Secretary  Wallace 
or  two,  there  would  cease  to  be  any  has  administered  what  is  at  present  an 
"problem"  so  far  as  that  road  was  con-  extremely  difficult  post  with  unusual 
cerned,  that  the  railroad's  employes  ability. 

would  be  receiving  higher  wages,  that  But,  on  the  other  hand,  I  am  not 
its  owners  would  be  getting  better  re-  prepared  to  admit  that  Senator  Carter 
turns  on  their  investments,  that  its  Glass,  because  he  opposed  repudiation, 
patrons  would  be  getting  better  service  is  "in  the  pay  of  the  interests,"  or  that 
at  lower  rates — all  these  things  simul-  there  is  no  one  in  "the  Street"  who 
taneously — simply  by  giving  railroad  knows  the  meaning  of  integrity  and 
management  a  chance  to  manage.  For  who  might  not  suggest  possibly  wise 
that  is  almost  always  what  happens,  in  amendment  to  such  acts  as  the  Securities 
the  long  run,  when  government  hon-  Law.  Mr.  Newton  D.  Baker,  Mr.  John 
estly  and  efficiently  does  its  own  proper  W.  Davis,  Mr.  Alfred  Smith — to  name 
job,  but  otherwise  leaves  business  alone,  only  members  of  the  majority  party — 
That,  in  short,  is  why  the  whole  would  seem  to  be  men  whose  advice 
plexus  of  cross-purpose,  mutual  distrust  might  well  be  heeded.  I  believe  that 
and  plain  hypocrisy  that  the  NRA  now  Mr.  Henry  Ford  is  more  sincerely  in- 
is,  particularly  in  its  labor  aspects,  is  so  terested  in  the  improvement  of  the 
utterly  deplorable.  On  both  sides  of  its  daily  life  of  the  "forgotten  man,"  and 
bitter  controversies — for,  make  no  mis-  has  himself  done  a  hundred  times  more 
take,  no  matter  what  you  may  read  in  to  better  his  condition,  than  has  been 
the  daily  press  or  may  hear  over  the  done  by  all  the  critics  who  ever  sneered 
radio,  down  underneath  bitter  contro-  at  him.  In  short,  to  attempt  to  work  out 
versies  are  now  going  on — on  both  sides  a  New  Deal,  without  the  help  and  co- 
of  them  are  men  of  the  highest  ideals,  operation  of  men  of  the  type  of  the  men 
of  the  most  profound  good  intent,  of  just  named,  not  only  misses  their  con- 
trie  most  intense  sincerity.  That  is  the  structive  stimulus  but  also  tends  to 
tragedy  of  the  situation.  As  I  have  said,  alienate  a  great  body  of  vitally  neces- 
I  yield  to  no  man  in  my  faith  in  Mr.  sary  public  support. 
Roosevelt's  idealism,  or  in  my  admira 
tion  for  his  courage  and  vision.  Cer 
tain  aspects  of  General  Johnson's  job  But,  insist  the  New  Dealers,  in  any 
absolutely  require  those  qualities  of  "new  deal"  we  must  blot  out  the  curse 
character,  training  and  temperament  of  child  labor  j  we  must  abolish  the 
that  he  has  displayed.  Professors  Fisher  sweat  shop  j  we  must  afford  opportunity 


LET'S  HAVE  A  REALLY  NEW  DEAL  13 

for  work  to  every  able-bodied  man  and  shall  be  paid  not  less  than  fifty-six  cents 

woman.  If  we  do  not  do  these  things  we  an  hour,  and  except  in  the  States  of 

have  no  new  deal.  Florida  and  North  Carolina  where  they 

I  agree —  shall  be  paid  not  less  than  fifty-four 

And,  to  do  these  things,  they  say,  we  cents,  and  except  that  in  factories  where 

must  have  laws,  rules,  a  code.  stillmen  do  any  of  the  work  of  bleach- 

I  agree.  But  one  code,  one  something  ers" — etc.,  etc. 

more  or  less  like  the  temporary  but  So,  again,  is  it  not  one  thing  to  say: 
generally  admirable  "Blanket  Code"  "No  man  or  woman  in  the  United 
with  which  the  President  initiated  the  States  shall  work  for  wages  for  more 
NRA,  one  code  not  hundreds,  one  ex-  than  forty  hours" — or  what  you  will — 
tremely  simple  fundamental  charter,  "a  week"?  To  such  a  fundamental  law 
not  a  governmental  regulation  of  every  — universal,  basic,  unequivocal — busi- 
detail  of  economic  life.  The  difference  ness  could  and  would  adjust  itself.  But 
between  these  two  things  may  at  first  is  it  not  quite  another  thing  to  say:  "Oh 
seem  a  mere  form  of  words,  a  matter  of  yes,  we'll  have  a  maximum  hour  law  but, 
detail:  it  is  not;  it  is  basic.  One  aim  at-  unfortunately,  we're  obliged  to  start 
tempts  to  preserve  competition  and  in-  off  by  refusing  to  admit  to  its  protection 
dividual  initiative,  but  simply  tries  to  about  two-thirds  of  our  working  popu- 
-place  both  on  a  higher  ylane,  on  such  a  lation,  such  as  farm  laborers,  domestic 
humane  plane  as  will  protect  the  em-  servants,  teachers,  nurses," — many  of 
ployer  with  decent  instincts  against  the  them  exactly  the  classes  which  most 
ruthless  competition  of  a  rapacious  need  the  protection  of  such  a  law?  Fur- 
competitor.  The  other  aim,  exemplified  thermore,  we  will  provide  that  some 
in  the  New  Deal  with  which  we  are  at  workers  in  some  industries  shall  be  per- 
present  experimenting,  aims  to  kill  in-  mitted  to  work  seventy-two  hours  a 
dividual  initiative  by  a  standardized  week;  that  other  workers  in  other  in- 
regulation  of  everything  under  govern-  dustries  shall  be  permitted  to  work  only 
mental  direction — which  means,  finally  thirty  hours;  that  in  some  industries  in 
and  inevitably,  to  kill  personal  liberty  some  States  they  may  work  forty  hours, 
itself.  in  the  same  industries  in  other  States 

Surely  the  difference  is  clear.  It  is  only  thirty-six  hours;  that  overtime 
one  thing  to  say:  "No  man  or  woman  shall  be  permitted  here  but  not  there; 
in  the  United  States" — no  hedging,  no  paid  for  at  one  rate  here,  when  per- 
exceptions,  no  favoritism — "no  man  or  mitted,  and  at  another  rate  there;  that 
woman  in  the  United  States  shall  work  exceptions  shall  be  permitted,  in  reply 
for  any  one  for  wages  of  less  than  thirty  to  this  solicitation  but  not  to  that;  that, 
cents" — or  what  you  will — "an  hour."  in  short,  every  possible  conceivable 
This  sort  of  a  statement  is  a  labor  char-  sort,  kind  or  combination  of  labor  hours 
ter,  a  fundamental  law  of  competition,  shall  be  specifically  and  exactly  regu- 
a  basic  code  founded  on  moral  right,  lated,  changed  and  re-regulated  by  gov- 
But  it  is  quite  another  sort  of  thing  to  ernment  down  to  the  last  possible  detail, 
say:  "Toppers,  bleachers  and  stillmen  at  the  special  behest  of  this,  that  or  the 
shall  be  paid  not  less  than  fifty-eight  other  particular  business  interest,  par- 
cents  an  hour,  except  in  the  States  of  ticular  labor  group,  particular  geo- 
Alabama  and  Wisconsin,  where  they  graphical  region,  or  particular  industrial 


i4  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

situation,  each  one  clamoring  for  more,  means  to  make  it  practicable,  for  "im- 

jockeying  for  position,  crowding  here,  practicability"  is  in  this,  as  in  most  cases, 

wire-pulling    there — the    "protective"  really  only  another  word  for  "political 

tariff  struggle  all  over  again  in  a  new  expediency." 

form,  but  one  of  infinitely  greater  com-  What  we  ask  then  is  not  something 
plexity  and  of  enormously  greater  possi-  which  is  politically  expedient,  but  in- 
bilities  to  work  mischief.  Our  present  stead  something  which  is  morally  just, 
seething  mass  of  undigested,  mutually  a  certain  decent  modicum  for  every 
inconsistent  and  unenforceable  NRA  worker,  without  exception,  and  begin- 
"codes"  is  not  a  sign  of  governmental  ning  always  with  the  man  lowest  down 
"dictatorship" — except  in  its  original  in  the  economic  scale,  a  delimitation  de- 
dictatorship,  the  insistence  that  there  be  fined  in  such  simple,  unequivocal 
codes:  the  details  of  the  codes  are  rather  phrases  that  every  one  could  under- 
an  obvious  manifestation  of  govern-  stand  it  at  one  reading.  Such  a  law 
mental  weakness,  of  inability  to  protect  would  be  enforceable :  the  present  codes 
the  general  mass  of  our  population  are  not,  and  will  never  be — except  at  the 
against  self-interest.  cost  of  a  veritable  army  of  spies  and 

Isn't  there  all  the  difference  in  the  informers, 
world  between  these  two  kinds  of  legis 
lation?  One  act  might  well  be  what  it  vn 
has  here  been  called,  a  basic  Charter  of  Finally — but  very,  very  briefly — let 
Rights.  The  other  act,  or  series  of  acts,  me  add  a  few  other  matters  that  it 
is  regimentation,  the  uttermost  extreme  would  seem  that  our  "new  deal"  should 
of  interference  by  government  in  the  include,  matters  which  are  not  in  the 
common  details  of  everyday  life,  for  NRA  or  any  of  its  sister  acts  at  all. 
which,  unless  we  do  indeed  mean  to  First:  our  new  deal  would  immedi- 
have  a  socialistic  economy,  there  is  no  ately  expand  existing  opportunities  for 
justification  whatever.  And  an  act  which  employment  for  those  of  the  normal 
in  practice  has  already  proved  itself  un-  working  ages  by  entirely  abolishing  all 
workable,  as  every  socialistic  economy  old-age  labor  for  hire,  and  would  abol- 
has  in  practice  proved  itself  unwork-  ish  it  by  instituting  at  once  for  the  old 
able.  Nor  is  it  any  answer  to  say  that  (and  also  for  the  blind  and  permanently 
any  such  universally  comprehensive  crippled)  a  completely  comprehensive 
minimum  wage  and  maximum  hour  and  completely  adequate  system  of  old- 
laws  as  have  been  here  suggested  would  age  pensions,  not  a  sop  but  adequate 
be  "impracticable."  "Impracticability"  living  pensions.  A  "dole"?  Yes.  But  a 
is  too  easy  an  evasion  of  moral  respon-  dole  for  the  socially  deserving,  not  for 
sibility.  Remember  that  all  we  would  the  able-bodied.  These  three  things- 
attempt  to  do  would  be  to  set  limits,  abolition  of  child  labor,  abolition  of  old- 
limits  of  labor  decency  as  it  were,  not  age  labor,  progressive  shortening  of  the 
to  try  to  fix  a  million  details  in  the  com-  hours  of  labor  of  all  working  men  and 
petitive  field  which  lies  above  those  low  women — seem  to  me  the  socially  desir- 
limits.  The  fixing  of  these  should,  as  able  ways  to  take  up  our  "technological 
now,  be  left  to  the  interaction  of  normal  slack,"  both  present  and  prospective, 
economic  forces.  If  any  end  is  a  just  one,  (Just  as  also,  by  the  way,  these  three 
then  it  is  our  responsibility  to  devise  a  seem  also  to  me  the  economically  sound 


LET'S  HAVE  A  REALLY  NEW  DEAL  15 

ways  to  solve  our  farm  "overproduc-  fit  of  his  exercise  of  those  abilities,  yet 

tion"  problem,  most  of  which  is,  of  if  the  individual,  by  that  free  exercise, 

course,  not  an  overproduction  problem  has  profited  personally  to  a  socially  un- 

at   all,   but   a   world-wide    undercon-  desirable  extent,  it  is  both  wise  and 

sumption    problem,    a    problem    due  proper  that  society  should  step  in  to 

almost     entirely     to     maldistribution  curb  his  undue  personal  acquisitiveness, 

of  purchasing  power  on  the  domestic  But  this  curbing,  you  will  note,  is  all 

side  and  to  governmental,  "national-  done  at  one  time,  at  the  end,  not  at  a 

istic"  interference  with  normal  trade  thousand  points  in  between.  This  policy 

interchanges  on  the  international  side,  would,  of  course,  inevitably  cause  a 

But  the  farm  problem  is  a  topic  in  spreading  realization  among  the  entre- 

itself.)  preneur    class    that    business    activity 

Second:  it  would  assure  that  financial  which  was  carried  on  merely  for  the 

support  were  given  to  organized  society  sake  of  increasing  personal  acquisitive- 

in  more  direct  ratio  to  the  benefits  re-  ness  was  not  only  anti-social,  but  that  it 

ceived  by  the  individual  from  it.  And  was  not  worth  the  candle  j  that  the  full 

this  would  mean — and  here,  I  fear,  is  and  free  exercise  of  personal  abilities 

where  my  conservative  readers  will  be-  for  their  own  sake,  for  the  common 

gin  to  hold  up  their  hands  in  protest —  good,  offered  adequate  or  even  greater 

greatly  increased  income  and  inheri-  satisfactions. 

tance  taxes,  taxes  so  greatly  increased  You  see,  it  all  boils  down  to  this:  in 
that  in  the  "upper  brackets"  there  any  society  some  one,  as  Mr.  Davis  re- 
would  be  practically  nothing  left.  I  be-  cently  put  it,  "must  sit  in  the  driver's 
lieve,  in  other  words,  that,  although  it  seat  and  hold  the  reins."  Our  only  real 
is  socially  and  economically  unwise  to  question  is:  who  is  better  able  to  conduct 
restrict  in  any  way  the  details  of  the  business  efficiently,  and  for  the  best 
exercise  of  personal  initiative,  although  good  of  society,  the  man  selected  auto- 
every  individual  should  be  given  op-  matically  for  his  position  by  the  long 
portunity  to  exert  to  the  full  his  abilities  and  bitter  struggle  for  place  in  the  pres- 
for  business  organization  and  manage-  ent  competitive  system,  or — a  'political 
ment,  so  that  society  may  have  the  bene-  appointee? 


Wanted:  a  Plan  for  Our  Bank  Credit 

BY  N.  A.  TOLLES 

Suggesting  some  measures  for  more  adequate  control  of  the  ninety 
per  cent  of  our  money  supply  now  practically  unregulated 

THE  Gold  Reserve  Act  of  1934  has  with  our  present  problem  of  salvaging 
removed  many  uncertainties  con-  a  monetary  system  from  the  wreckage 
cerning  the  future  of  the  dollar,  of  war.  The  so-called  "banking  school" 
Our  fiat  money  period  is  past.  The  gold  of  thought  advocated  the  control  of 
bullion  standard,  in  the  style  of  post-  the  quality  of  credit,  while  the  "bullion 
War  Britain,  has  been  wedded  to  Fish-  school"  stressed  the  control  of  quantity. 
er's  compensated  dollar.  The  expected  The  conflict  continues  to  this  day.  Sena- 
child  is  to  be  a  dollar  "which  a  genera-  tor  Carter  Glass  is  one  representative  of 
tion  hence  will  have  the  same  purchas-  a  large  group  who  trace  our  recent  dis- 
ing  power  and  debt-paying  power  as  the  asters  to  the  unwise  use  of  credit  before 
dollar  we  hope  to  obtain  in  the  near  fu-  1929.  Witness  the  losses  on  securities 
ture."  But  the  child  will  not  be  allowed  bought  for  a  rise,  on  real  estate  devel- 
to  upset  our  international  household  too  opments  and  on  overbuilt  productive 
much.  The  dollar  is  to  be  kept  within  facilities.  Control  the  quality  of  credit 
fifty  to  sixty  per  cent  of  its  former  gold  advances,  this  group  tells  us,  and  the 
value.  quantity  will  adapt  itself  to  our  needs. 

The  problem  of  bank  credit  has  not  Professor  J.  H.  Rogers  of  Yale,  a  Presi- 
been  so  neatly  settled.  About  nine-tenths  dential  adviser,  represents  those  who 
of  all  our  spending  is  done  with  cheques  stress  the  control  of  quantity,  the  mod- 
drawn  upon  bank  accounts.  This  is  the  ern  variation  of  the  "bullion  school." 
really  chaotic  part  of  our  money  supply.  Inflated  spending,  whether  by  paper 
Since  1 92 1,  the  volume  of  bank  deposits  money  or  by  excessive  bank  credit,  is 
has  shot  up  from  thirty  billion  dollars  cited  as  the  reason  for  the  boom  with 
to  over  fifty  billions,  only  to  shrink  to  its  unusually  profitable  production  and 
about  the  original  figure.  Dizzy  "pros-  its  temptation  to  speculation.  Depression 
perity"  was  followed  by  miserable  de-  and  unemployment  are  considered  the 
pression.  We  can  not  have  a  reliable  inevitable  results  of  the  losses  which  a 
dollar  until  this  spending  power  is  con-  violent  contraction  of  spending  brings 
trolled.  Without  a  plan  for  bank  credit,  about.  Regulate  the  quantity  of  money, 
we  shall  gain  little  by  a  stable  gold  especially  the  volume  of  bank  credit, 
standard — or  by  a  manipulated  one.  -  and  the  tidal  waves  of  business  would 

A  century  ago,  England  was  faced  be  prevented. 


WANTED:  A  PLAN  FOR  OUR  BANK  CREDIT  17 

The  recent  discussion  of  banking  has  credit  is  the  indirect,  if  not  the  immedi- 
been  dominated  by  criticism  of  the  quali-  ate,  goal  of  many  of  the  proposed  re- 
tative  aspects  of  credit.  This  was  natural  forms.  Ex-Comptroller  of  the  Currency 
in  view  of  the  overwhelming  number  of  Pole  never  ceased  to  advocate  the 
bank  failures,  the  RFC  attempts  to  spread  of  branch  banking.  Such  reform- 
thaw  out  frozen  assets,  and  the  notori-  ers  hope  to  eliminate  the  small  bank 
ous  state  of  foreign  bonds  and  real  estate  which  invested  so  recklessly  and  to  re- 
mortgages.  Moreover,  the  Senate  Com-  place  it  by  a  unit  large  enough  to  afford 
mittee  on  Banking  and  Currency  has  cast  expert  advice  and  diversified  risks.  Mr. 
doubt  upon  the  judgment,  and  occasion-  John  T.  Flynn  leads  the  movement  for 
ally  the  integrity,  of  some  of  our  "great"  a  still  more  certain  divorce  of  banks 
bankers.  But  when  we  have  finished  from  security  affiliates,  thus  hoping  to 
meting  out  the  blame,  how  do  we  intend  purge  banking  of  its  promotional  psy- 
to  protect  the  future  against  mistakes  in  chology.  Messrs.  Berle  and  Means  ad- 
the  use  of  credit?  Our  hopes  appear  to  vocate  restraints  on  holding  companies, 
be  based  on  three  types  of  reform:  in  so  as  to  discourage  the  deceit  and 
the  judgment  of  credit  needs,  in  bank-  warped  judgments  which  arise  when 
ing  and  business  structure,  and  in  direct  one  person  may  represent  both  seller 
banking  regulation.  and  buyer,  borrower  and  lender.  Mr. 

Owen  D.  Young  expects  that  trade  as 
sociations,  released  from  the  anti-trust 

The  gross  mistakes  of  the  "new  era"  laws,  will  enable  business  to  adjust  pro- 
are  generally  admitted  today.  Have  we  duction  capacity  to  demand  and  so  im- 
not  learned  our  lesson?  Many  "practi-  prove  the  use  of  borrowed  funds, 
cal"  men  seem  to  think  so.  They  wish  As  methods  for  controlling  credit, 
to  depend  on  the  mere  accumulation  of  these  measures  have  the  defect  of  rais- 
experience  to  teach  bankers  and  busi-  ing  so  many  other  problems.  Branch 
ness  men  a  wiser  lending  and  borrowing  banking  and  the  repeal  of  anti-trust  laws 
policy.  Our  history  suggests,  however,  obviously  tend  to  concentrate  economic 
that  such  caution,  bred  of  experience,  power.  They  will  be  opposed  by  those 
lasts  for  about  four  years.  We  vowed  who  favor  restraints  upon  integration  in 
that  the  1921  crisis  would  never  be  re-  banking  and  industry.  A  more  fatal  de- 
peated.  Did  not  the  growth  of  forecast-  feet  is  that  all  of  them  together  would 
ing,  business  statistics  and  scientific  busi-  not  eliminate  the  motive  for  speculative 
ness  training  insure  against  the  mis-  financing  which  exists  whenever  exces- 
placement  of  credit?  It  did  fairly  well,  sive  spending  provides  glittering  pros- 
perhaps,  until  about  1924.  After  that,  pects  for  profit.  Credit  will  surely  be 
the  temptation  of  immediate  profit  was  shunted  into  speculative  fields  by  secret 
so  great  and  the  belief  in  a  new  era  so  understandings  and  the  ingenuity  of 
plausible  that  the  restraints  vanished.  A  corporation  lawyers,  whatever  the  law 
dozen  similar  examples  could  be  cited  decrees  as  to  the  form  of  private  enter- 
from  other  periods.  We  can  not  depend  prise. 

upon  memory.  Governmental  supervision  of  bank 

Can    we    depend    upon    structural  portfolios  provides  the  most  direct  at- 

changes   in   banking   and   business   to  tack  on  the  quality  of  credit.  American 

guide  credit  correctly?   High  quality  banks,  probably  the  most  regulated  in 


1 8  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

the  world,  are  apparently  due  for  still  thing  conclusive  as  to  the  liquidity  of 
more  complicated  supervision.  The  the  bank's  assets  or  as  to  the  ultimate 
Banking  Act  of  1933  has  already  added  use  of  the  funds  obtained  by  the  cus- 
restrictions  on  loans  to  bank  officers  and  tomer.  The  security  loan,  now  in  dis- 
affiliates,  restrictions  on  loans  to  any  one  repute,  is  probably  the  safest  and  most 
party,  restrictions  on  the  concentration  liquid  of  all  for  the  bank,  simply  be- 
of  bank  investments,  and  a  threat  to  cause  the  collateral  may  always  be  sold 
deny  rediscounting  facilities  if  security  in  case  of  danger.  The  commercial  loan 
loans  become  excessive.  But  until  our  seems  to  be  liquid  because  it  has  a  short 
commercial  banks  are  confined  to  self-  maturity,  but  the  bank  will  actually  col 
liquidating,  short-term,  commercial  lect  only  if  the  business  fortunes  of  the 
loans,  reformers  like  Senator  Glass  will  borrower  permit  this.  Otherwise,  the 
not  be  satisfied.  Here  we  find  the  purest  American  bank  generally  grants  a  re 
form  of  the  thesis  that  our  credit  money  newal,  rather  than  to  ruin  a  valuable 
may  be  left  perfectly  elastic,  provided  customer  or  to  drive  him  to  a  competing 
only  that  bank  funds  are  restricted  to  lender.  Even  the  direct  bank  invest- 
the  serving  of  the  temporary  needs  of  ment  may  be  more  liquid  than  the  com- 
"legitimate"  business.  mercial  loan,  so  long  as  security  markets 

permit  a  sale  without  loss.  True  bank 

111  liquidity  can  not  be  judged  without  an 

But  can  this  ideal  be  translated  into  intimate  investigation  of  the  financial 

effective  law?   There  are  grave  diffi-  and  market  position  of  every  borrower 

culties,  both  with  the  supervising  au-  and  a  forecast  of  the  security  markets, 

thorities  and  with  the  definition  of  the  This  is  quite  outside  the  range  of  rou- 

standards  themselves.  Our  old  banking  tine  examination, 

standards  would  have  resulted  in  the  These  difficulties  were  nicely  illus- 

early  closing  of  many  banks,  had  they  trated  by  our  experience  in  the  years 

been  enforced.  We  have  sworn  testi-  1928  and  1929.  Here  was  a  clear-cut 

mony  to  show  that  the  examiners  did  failure  to  control  the  use  of  credit  by 

not  enforce  them.  The  reason  is  not  dif-  attacking  the  form  of  the  bank  advance, 

ficult  to  find,  and  it  does  not  necessarily  The  Federal  Reserve  Board  refused  to 

involve  corruption.  The  closing  of  a  check  the  volume  of  credit  for  fear  of 

large  bank   has   serious   repercussions  hurting  "legitimate  business,"  but  it 

throughout  the  banking  and  business  wished  to  stop  the  flow  of  credit  into 

community.  Knowing  this,  the  exami-  the  security  markets.  Resort  was  had  to 

ners  live  in  the  perpetual  hope  that  differentiated  interest  rates,  according 

questionable  assets  will  be  eliminated  as  to  the  form  of  member  bank  borrowing, 

a  result  of  advice  only.  The  Bank  of  and  to  appeals  to  the  banks  to  stop  the 

Kentucky  received  such  advice  continu-  increase  in  their  very  profitable  security 

ally  from  1926  to  1930  without  making  loans.  The  result  was  that  "legitimate 

any  real  correction  in  its  credit  lines.  business"  borrowed  excess  funds  in  the 

Even  if  we  grant  that  regulations  of  approved  ways  and  lent  the  proceeds  to 

this  kind  can  be  enforced  rigidly,  we  the  stock  market.  Stopping  a  credit  in- 

are  still  faced  with  the  problem  of  what  flation  by  qualitative  measures  is  like 

forms  of  credit  to  prohibit.  The  form  trying  to  dam  a  torrent  with  a  picket 

of  the  advance  does  not  indicate  any-  fence. 


WANTED:  A  PLAN  FOR  OUR  BANK  CREDIT  19 

cost  became  more  than  the  prospective 

IV  return  from  the  use  of  the  funds,  the 

Control  over  the  quantity  of  bank  expansion  of  bank  credit  would  be 
credit  is  the  logical  extension  of  our  checked.  Moreover,  if  member  bank  re- 
well-established  practice  of  regulating  serves  were  adequate  to  support  an  un- 
coinage  and  the  issue  of  paper  money,  desirable  credit  expansion,  the  Reserve 
Unlimited  issues,  whether  by  private  in-  banks  might  dump  their  holdings  on 
dividuals  or  by  governments,  have  al-  the  open  market.  Whoever  purchased 
ways  been  uncertain  in  value  and  have  this  paper  would  have  to  draw  on  his 
often  become  worthless.  Today,  when  bank  and  thus  deplete  the  reserve  de- 
bank  deposits  do  most  of  the  work  of  posits  necessary  for  credit  expansion, 
purchasing,  it  should  be  obvious  that  The  creation  of  purchasing  power  might 
the  volume  of  bank  credit  must  be  thus  be  checked  by  higher  rediscount 
watched  even  more  than  the  volume  of  rates  and  open  market  sales,  while  the 
coins  or  notes.  opposite  measures  would  encourage  its 

Since   1863   national  bank  deposits  expansion. 

have  been  limited  by  the  requirement  There  is  now  a  wide-spread  skepti- 
of  minimum  reserves  of  gold  or  legal  cism  concerning  the  efficiency  of  such 
tender  money.  Bank  loans  might  ex-  measures.  Our  high  hopes  for  the  Fed- 
pand  during  prosperity  until  the  result-  eral  Reserve  system  crashed  with  the 
ing  deposits  had  reached  the  reserve  stock  market  in  1929,  and  they  were  not 
limit.  This  profitable  expansion  left  lit-  revived  by  the  results  of  easy  credit  in 
tie  extra  power  to  lend  during  a  finan-  1932.  Yet  these  methods  dealt  success- 
cial  crisis.  The  Federal  Reserve  Act  of  fully  with  two  threats  of  unhealthy 
1913  attempted  to  make  bank  credit  booms,  in  1923  and  1925,  and  with  two 
more  elastic.  The  twelve  Reserve  banks  periods  of  declining  business,  in  1924 
came  to  hold  the  important  stocks  of  and  1926.  By  1927,  Mr.  R.  G.  Haw- 
gold,  while  the  member  banks  kept  trey,  financial  adviser  to  the  British 
their  reserves  in  the  form  of  deposits  Treasury,  could  say  that  the  American 
with  these  twelve.  By  borrowing  or  re-  technique  of  credit  control  had  been 
discounting  certain  of  their  assets,  mem-  "magnificently  demonstrated."  The 
ber  banks  might  obtain  additional  de-  subsequent  debacle  is  to  be  blamed  on 
posits  when  necessary  and  hence  be  able  the  mistaken  objective  of  stabilized 
to  expand  their  own  credit.  If  the  Re-  commodity  prices  rather  than  on  the 
serve  banks  and  the  Federal  Reserve  method  of  quantity  control  itself. 
Board  could  control  the  volume  of  these  For  eight  years  before  the  stock  mar- 
reserve  deposits  they  might  deliberately  ket  crash,  the  United  States  succeeded 
manage  the  maximum  credit  which  in  maintaining  a  reasonably  stable  aver- 
member  banks  could  extend.  age  of  commodity  prices  in  spite  of 

The  mechanism  for  this  management  large  receipts  of  gold.  Falsely,  this  ap- 

consisted  of  power  over  rediscount  rates  peared  to  be  a  sufficient  aim  of  credit 

and  power  to  buy  and  sell  commercial  policy.  Quantity  theorists  as  different  as 

paper  and  government  obligations  in  Professor  Irving  Fisher  and  Professor 

the  open  market.  An  increase  in  the  re-  J.  M.  Keynes  agreed  on  this  goal  dur- 

discount  rate  would  raise  the  cost  of  ing  these  years.  Rising  price-levels  had 

acquiring  additional  reserves.  When  the  marked  the  dangerous  periods  of  infla- 


20  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

tion  of  the  past.  Moreover,  price-level  reserves,  on  the  basis  of  which  member 

stability  coincided  fairly  well  with  busi-  banks  may  expand  their  loans  and  in- 

ness  stability,  until  1926.  During  the  vestments.  But  until  production  costs 

next    three   years,    commodity    prices  and  capacity  have  been  adjusted  to  the 

showed  no  alarming  rise.  Indeed  the  new  conditions  of  demand,  business  will 

Bureau  of  Labor  wholesale  price  index  not  find  it  profitable  to  use  this  available 

was  falling  slightly,  at  the  very  time  credit  no  matter  how  cheaply  it  is  of- 

when  speculation  was  most  exagger-  fered.  "Such  a  condition  of  stagnation," 

ated.  By  the  price-level  test,  further  Mr.  Hawtrey  has  observed,  "is  not  pos- 

credit  expansion  seemed  desirable,  and  sible  except  in  the  course  of  a  reaction 

this  course  was  followed.  from  a  riot  of  inflation.  If  the  inflation 

Actually,  a  more  rapid  fall  of  com-  is  prevented,  the  stagnation  will  never 
modity  prices  was  called  for.  A  revolu-  arise."  Easy  credit  may  prepare  the 
tion  in  industrial  technique  was  rapidly  ground  for  revival,  but  the  definite  con- 
reducing  the  unit-costs  of  production  and  trol  of  credit  volume  must  be  exercised 
promising  to  reduce  them  even  more  in  during  prosperity.  It  is  not  too  soon  to 
the  future.  Thus  a  wide-spread  prospect  lay  our  plans  for  credit  control  for  the 
of  speculative  profit  from  capital  invest-  beginning  of  the  next  boom.  These 
ment  appeared,  even  though  prices  did  plans  must  include  a  strengthening  of 
not  rise.  In  the  past  industrial  booms  our  control  over  the  quantity  of  bank 
had  been  produced  by  the  rise  of  selling  credit,  no  matter  what  we  do  to  regulate 
prices  faster  than  the  costs  of  produc-  its  quality, 
tion.  But  similar  effects  may  result  from 
the  fall  of  production  costs  faster  than 

selling  prices.  In  this  case,  there  was  an  Shall  we  proceed  by  trying  to  im- 

overstimulation  of  factory  and  office  prove  the  Federal  Reserve  technique  or 

building  and  a  speculation  in  securities  by  using  some  more  automatic  substi- 

and  real  estate,  quite  in  the  style  of  an  tute  for  it?  The  case  for  each  must  be 

ordinary  boom.  We  had  an  inflation  of  examined.  The  influence  of  the  central 

profits  even  though  there  was  no  gen-  banks  might  be  increased  by  extending 

eral  inflation  of  prices.  This  called  for  a  Federal  Reserve  membership,  broaden- 

restriction  of  credit  volume,  the  precise  ing  their  operations,  or  changing  their 

opposite  of  Major  Douglas's  "Social  methods.  Mr.  Thomas  W.  Lament,  a 

Credit"  scheme  for  preventing  depres-  Morgan  partner,  represents  a  group 

sions  which  aims  to  add  continually  to  who    would    compel    all    commercial 

purchasing  power.  banks  to  join  the  system.  It  has  usually 

Having  failed  to  prevent  the  boom,  been  assumed  that  such  compulsion  on 

the    Federal    Reserve    administration  State  banks  would  be  unconstitutional, 

failed  to  stimulate  a  quick  revival  after  but  the  Attorney-General's  office  now 

the  crash.  Even  rediscount  rates  below  tells  us  that  this  difficulty  could  be  sur- 

two  per  cent  and  a  billion  dollars  of  mounted.  So  far  we  have  done  nothing 

open  market  purchasing  during  1932  but  to  provide  a  guarantee-of-deposits 

were  met  with  a  continued  decline  in  system.  This  may  increase  the  induce- 

bank  credit  and  in  spending.  Yet  this  ments  to  membership,  if  it  remains  a 

should  not  surprise  us.  Central  bank  permanent  part  of  our  banking  system, 

control  can  do  no  more  than  to  provide  Mr.  L.  B.  Currie  has  written  a  Har- 


WANTED:  A  PLAN  FOR  OUR  BANK  CREDIT  21 

vard  University  thesis  to  prove  that  the  Professor  Harold  L.  Reed  of  Cornell. 

Reserve  banks  should  deal  directly  in  He  contends  that  the  volume  of  bank 

the  security  markets,  certainly  in  the  credit  should  be  constantly  compared 

call  loan  market  and  perhaps  even  by  with  the  index  of  the  volume  of  physi- 

the  free  purchase  and  sale  of  long-term  cal  production.  As  soon  as  bank  credit 

securities.  This  would  be  a  drastic  at-  increases  much  more  rapidly  than  the 

tempt  to  provide  central  control  over  goods  whose  production  is  presumably 

all  kinds  of  credit,  deliberately  aban-  being  financed,  it  can  be  known  that  a 

doning  that  concentration  on  short-term  credit  inflation  is  in  progress.  This  test 

commercial  credit  which  is  so  dear  to  was  announced  by  the  Federal  Reserve 

the  hearts  of  the  followers  of  Senator  Board  itself  in  1923,  but  later  aban- 

Glass.  Mr.  Currie  also  supports  Pro-  doned.  Had  it  been  followed,  a  much 

fessor  Keynes's  suggestion  that  central  earlier  restriction  of  credit  would  have 

banks  be  given  power  to  alter  the  been  called  for  before  1929.  But  the  test 

minimum  reserve  requirements  of  their  still  leaves  a  good  deal  to  be  desired, 

members  at  will,  a  plan  which  was  con-  How  can  we  be  sure  that  there  is  no 

sidered  and  abandoned  in  1917.  It  is  unhealthy  speculation  in  the  production 

clear  that  credit  expansion  could  be  ab-  of  goods  itself,  especially  in  the  produc- 

solutely  stopped  by  sufficient  increases  tion  of  capital  goods?  This  will  have  to 

in  required  legal  reserves  in  combina-  be  tested  by  a  number  of  other  indexes, 

tion  with  high  rediscount  rates.  The  recognition  of  a  credit  inflation 

The  more  power  of  this  kind  we  give  is  probably  not  beyond  the  power  of 
to  the  credit  managers,  the  more  essen-  qualified  experts,  using  the  statistical 
tial  it  becomes  that  the  authorities  un-  data  now  available.  But  the  condition  is 
derstand  when  credit  should  be  cur-  sure  to  be  a  complex  one  when  it  arises, 
tailed  or  expanded.  They  can  not  afford  This  complicates  the  problem  of  man- 
to  wait  until  gold  reserves  run  low.  Had  agement,  for  a  democratic  state  will  de- 
they  done  this,  the  credit  expansion  mand  justification  for  any  authority 
would  have  proceeded  even  after  1929.  which  curtails  the  individual's  chance 
No  longer  can  they  be  content  with  a  for  profit.  A  boom  is  always  popular 
stable  price  index,  especially  if  technical  while  it  lasts,  and  there  is  bound  to  be 
improvements  in  production  are  des-  pressure  on  the  central  authority  to  de- 
tined  to  continue.  They  must  aim  to  lay  credit  restriction  until  it  is  too  late, 
control  the  volume  of  credit-purchas-  Some  American  farmers  have  never  f  or- 
ing-power  which  is  spent  so  as  to  pre-  given  the  Federal  Reserve  Board  for 
vent  undue  business  profits  or  losses,  "deflating"  them  in  1920,  in  spite  of 
This  is  a  problem  of  reading  the  indexes  the  obvious  fact  that  a  dangerous  infla- 
correctly.  tion  was  then  in  crying  need  of  credit 

Professor  Keynes's  Treatise  on  restriction.  And  there  is  considerable 

Money  has  laid  out  some  theoretically  evidence  to  show  that  the  Reserve  banks 

perfect  tests  of  credit  inflation  and  defla-  were  restrained  in  1928  by  politicians 

tion,  which  are  completely  free  from  the  who  feared  to  injure  business  just  be- 

"stable  price-level"  fallacy.  Unfortu-  fore  a  Presidential  election.  This  was 

nately,  however,  none  of  his  factors  are  bad  enough  when  the  Secretary  of  the 

satisfactorily  measurable  at  present.  Treasury  was  only  one  member  of 

More  practical  is  the  test  proposed  by  the  controlling  Board.  The  danger  is 


22  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

greater  now  that  the  Gold  Reserve  Act  tute  for  central  banking  policies."  De- 
has  given  the  Treasury  power  to  nullify  liberate  management  would  still  be 
anything  the  Board  may  do.  required  to  cope  with  seasonal  changes 

in  the  demand  for  funds  and  with  large 

v  inflows  or  outflows  of  gold.  Moreover, 

Control  of  the  quantity  of  bank  credit  member  banks  might  still  recoup  their 
would  be  much  more  practical  if  some  reserves  by  rediscounting.  The  redis- 
automatic  device  could  be  substituted  count  rate  would  still  be  at  the  discre- 
f or  discretionary  management.  A  mere  tion  of  the  central  authority, 
gold  standard  has  been  clearly  shown  The  second  suggestion  has  received 
to  be  insufficient,  and  the  present  plan  far  too  little  attention.  It  is  the  work  of 
of  altering  the  gold  content  of  the  dol-  a  group  of  economists  at  the  University 
lar  is  no  substitute.  It  involves  all  the  of  Chicago.  It  involves  nothing  less 
problems  of  management  without  af-  than  a  permanent  separation  of  the  busi- 
fecting  domestic  bank  credit  as  directly  ness  of  lending  from  the  business  of 
as  Federal  Reserve  control  may  do.  The  handling  deposits.  Two  sorts  of  institu- 
same  objection  may  be  made  against  the  tions  would  replace  the  modern  corn- 
current  agitation  for  increasing  and  "na-  mercial  bank.  One  would  keep  its  cus- 
tionalizing"  the  use  of  silver.  But  there  tomer's  funds  and  transfer  them,  but 
are  two  proposals  worthy  of  serious  would  be  prohibited  from  lending  or 
consideration.  investing  the  balances  held.  The  other 

The  first  is  to  be  found  in  the  1931  would  lend  or  invest  the  proceeds  re- 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Bank  Re-  ceived  from  subscriptions  to  its  stock  or 
serves  of  the  Federal  Reserve  System,  bonds,  but  would  be  forbidden  to  accept 
The  report  laid  out  a  fixed  plan  for  reg-  deposits.  It  would  resemble  the  invest- 
ulating  legal  reserves  which  would  have  ment  trust  except  that  it  might  make 
the  effect  of  increasing  the  requirements  short-term  loans  as  well  as  investments, 
automatically  as  the  turnover  of  bank  All  expansion  of  our  purchasing  power 
deposits  increased.  This  would  be  a  by  the  banks  would  thus  be  prevented, 
valuable  improvement.  The  largely  fie-  No  one  could  lend  except  as  funds  had 
titious  distinction  between  time  and  de-  previously  been  received.  Investments 
mand  deposits  could  be  discarded.  More  in  plant  or  inventories  could  increase 
important,  member  banks  would  find  only  to  the  extent  that  equal  sums  had 
themselves  short  of  reserves  much  been  truly  saved,  that  is  withdrawn 
earlier  in  the  boom  period,  even  if  the  from  current  consumption  uses.  Bank- 
central  authorities  took  no  restrictive  ing  would  become  in  fact  what  it  now 
steps.  More  rapid  spending,  as  well  as  only  pretends  to  be,  a  business  of  plac- 
a  greater  volume  of  purchasing  power,  ing  savings  to  the  greatest  advantage, 
is  involved  in  every  inflation.  Under  the  The  safe-keeping  and  transfer  of  funds 
proposed  plan,  some  pressure  would  be  would  be  paid  for  as  a  service,  without 
applied  during  the  period  when  restric-  any  chance  of  loss  from  mistaken  credit 
tive  measures  were  being  debated.  Yet  management. 

Dr.  B.  H.  Beckhart  has  truly  observed  By  these  means,  it  would  be  possible 

that  these  changes  in  reserves  must  be  to  fix  the  total  volume  of  our  purchas- 

considered  "in  the  light  of  significant  ing  media  for  all  time.  Since  discretion 

handmaidens"  rather  than  as  "a  substi-  would  be  eliminated,  the  pitfalls  of  con- 


WANTED:  A  PLAN  FOR  OUR  BANK  CREDIT  23 

fused  analysis  and  political  pressure  tuating  turnover  of  money  is  probably 

would  be  avoided.  In  particular,  the  due,  for  the  most  part,  to  speculation 

knotty  problem  of  inflation  through  in-  on  rising  prices  and  hoarding  during 

creased  productive  efficiency  would  be  depression.  These  changes  would  be 

solved  automatically.  The  price  level  avoided  if  we  could  prevent  the  crea- 

would  fall  as  more  goods  came  onto  the  tion  and  extinction  of  purchasing  power 

market  to  be  purchased  with  an  unal-  by  our  banking  system, 
tered  quantity  of  money.  This  price  de-         The  problem  of  the  dollar  is  far  from 

cline  would  not  be  of  the  drastic  kind  solved.  If  we  are  to  achieve  any  real  re- 

we  have  recently  witnessed  and  need  form,  we  must  begin  by  abandoning  our 

not  result  in  any  general  depression.  It  childish  faith  in  gold,  whether  as  an 

would  be  roughly  parallel  to  the  fall  in  automatic  or  as  a  managed  regulator, 

production  costs,  and  not  the  result  of  Much  remains  to  be  done  to  improve 

a    destruction    of    purchasing    power  the  quality  of  our  bank  credit,  but  the 

through  the  decrease  in  loans  or  the  utmost  regulation  we  can  expect  can 

failure  of  banks.  hardly   solve   our   banking   problem. 

It  would  be  possible  to  increase  the  Some  effective  control  of  the  quantity 

quantity  of  money  by  outright  printing  of  bank  credit  must  be  undertaken.  If 

of  government  notes,  if  this  were  neces-  we  can  not  develop  a  clear  and  effective 

sary.  This  might  be  advisable  if  addi-  method  of  central  management,  then 

tional  goods  came  on  the  market  as  a  we  must  turn  to  a  complete  reorganiza- 

result  of  an  increased  population  or  the  tion  of  the  functions  of  our  commercial 

discovery  of  natural  resources.  Ideally,  banks.  Control  of  the  volume  of  pur- 

the  volume  of  money  ought  to  be  al-  chasing  power  should  require  less  gov- 

tered  to  compensate  for  changing  rates  ernmental    "tinkering"    with    private 

of  turnover,  in  addition.  But  the  Chi-  business  than  any  effective  alternative, 

cago  group  believe  that  these  are  minor  If  there  be  friends  of  free  enterprise 

factors.  There  is  not  likely  to  be  a  great  left,  they  should  press  vigorously  for 

increase  in  the  future  population  or  such  control.  After  the  next  wave  of 

area  of  the  United  States.  And  the  flue-  speculation,  it  may  be  too  late. 


Government  by  Trial  Balloon 

BY  J.  M.  NOLTE 

There  is  an  increasing  desire  for  the  President  to  state  his  aims 

more  plainly,  so  that  in  the  fall  elections  we  can  know 

whether  we  are   voting  for    "patriotism 

or  pork" 

OVER  and  over  in  the  past  few  these  possible  purposes  of  Presidential 
months  we  have  read  in  press  listening  which  is  simple,  but  hard  to 
comments  upon  affairs  at  Wash-  make  definite.  It  is  patently  the  duty  of 
ington  something  to  this  effect:  "It  is  any  administration  to  use  to  the  utmost 
generally  thought  that  the  Administra-  all  reasonable  means  of  keeping  in  touch 
tion  regards  the  measure  now  pending  with  its  constituency.  No  one  may  justly 
as  a  trial  balloon,  sent  up  to  find  out  cavil  at  it.  Yet  the  way  in  which  infor- 
which  way  the  political  wind  is  blow-  mation  about  the  state  of  public  opinion 
ing."  Echoes  of  such  opinions  have  is  employed  by  an  administration  may 
reached  us  in  the  supplementary  com-  be  dictated  by  motives  so  diverse  as  to 
ments  of  journalists  on  the  President's  give  cause  either  for  satisfaction  or 
"fan  mail,"  which  is  evidently  examined  alarm — depending  upon  one's  interpre- 
minutely  by  "the  pale  augurs,  mutter-  tation  of  what  America's  government 
ing  low,"  much  as  the  Roman  priest-  should  be.  If  a  President,  working  to 
hood  in  ancient  times  examined  the  realize  a  definite  programme,  seeks  to 
flight  of  the  birds  of  prophecy  or  the  gauge  the  chances  for  success  or  failure 
entrails  of  the  sacrificial  oxen.  There  of  a  next  step  by  learning  popular  re- 
seems  to  be  more  than  a  slightly  and  action  to  steps  already  taken,  that  is  one 
occasionally  expressed  opinion  that  this  thing.  If  a  President,  on  the  other  hand, 
deliberate  laying  of  the  administrative  really  has  no  programme  except  to  be 
ear  to  the  ground  (to  vary  the  figure  popular,  and  seeks  from  the  reactions 
unconscionably ! )  is  done  not  so  much  of  voters  to  determine  for  himself  and 
with  the  diagnostic  intelligence  of  a  his  party  what  they  must  do  to  remain 
physician  seeking  to  learn  through  his  popular,  that  is  another  thing.  The  dif- 
stethoscope  how  his  patient  is  reacting  f erence  between  these  attitudes  asks  the 
to  treatment,  as  with  the  evasive  in-  question  whether  the  American  idea  is 
telligence  of  the  fox  seeking  to  learn  trial  balloons  for  the  advising  of  gov- 
where  the  hounds  are  to  avoid  them.  ernment,  or  merely  government  by 
There  is  a  nice  distinction  between  trial  balloons. 


GOVERNMENT  BY  TRIAL  BALLOON  25 

This,  in  turn,  is  only  another  way  of  at  all  except  in  the  purely  adventitious 
putting  a  question  familiar  enough  to  sense  of  being  at  the  head  of  the  scurry- 
all  partisans  of  our  political  mode,  for  ing  mob;  such  critics  insist  that  the 
it  re-awakens  the  age-old  conflict  be-  leaders  are  mere  sycophants  who  fawn 
tween  the  delegated  powers  of  a  feder-  upon  the  electorate.  Still  other  critics 
ated  republic  and  the  mandatory  sug-  find  the  Administration  hopelessly  en- 
gestions  of  a  numerical  democracy.  In  tangled  because  its  confessed  politicians 
a  republic,  the  people  elect  leaders  who  are  vote-hungry  "practical"  democrats, 
rule.  In  a  democracy,  the  people  them-  while  its  self-admitted  statesmen  are 
selves  rule  by  direct  vote.  (The  terms  vote-careless  "academic"  republicans, 
"republican"  and  "democratic"  are,  of  The  urban  dweller  finds  in  NRA  and 
course,  used  in  this  sense,  and  in  what  AAA  thoroughgoing  republican  con- 
follows  in  this  article,  without  reference  trol  and  regimentation  by  an  expert 
to  political  parties.)  Where  is  the  re-  class.  The  farmer  finds  AAA  either  offi- 
pository  of  political  wisdom?  Is  it  in  the  cious  interference  by  meddlers,  or  an 
"experts"  in  government,  in  those  of  unblushing  attempt  to  buy  his  vote,  to 
superior  judgment  and  capacity,  to  pay  him  enough  shekels  to  alleviate  his 
whom — following  Hamilton's  advice —  distress — until  after  election.  The  med- 
we  have  entrusted  the  power  to  rule  us  dling  is  bureaucratic  republicanism  5  the 
in  our  interest?  Or  is  it  in  the  people  bribery  is  degenerate  democracy.  One 
themselves,  in  us  as  individual  voters,  large-scale  industrial  leader  finds  NRA 
who  are  competent — as  Jackson  in-  an  unwarranted  extension  of  republican 
sisted — to  make  decisions  and  to  express  powers ;  another  finds  it  a  necessary 
judgments  which  are  binding  upon  our  democratic  expedient  to  establish  limits 
officers,  themselves  our  pawns  in  the  for  the  play  of  rugged  individualism, 
political  play?  Most  small-scale  operators  consider 

One  is  likely  to  conclude  that  the  at-  NRA  oligarchical  control  of  naturally 
tempt  to  answer  these  questions  indi-  republican  functions.  Many  business 
cates  an  appalling  confusion  in  the  men  assert  that  our  fiscal  necessities  de- 
United  States  today.  One  is  tempted  to  mand  dictatorial  extension  of  republi- 
say  that  our  citizens  honestly  do  not  can  executive  power  over  the  monetary 
know  the  answers,  or  at  least  do  not  system,  the  tariff  and  foreign  debts, 
know  how  to  act  upon  the  answers,  and  Other  business  men  insist  that  in  such  a 
that  our  leaders  oscillate  between  one  direction  lie  actual  dictatorship  and  fur- 
answer  and  another.  ther  depression  and  the  madness  of  war. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  cite  book  and  page 

11  for  the  foregoing  opinions:  they  cry  out 

Some  critics  of  the  Administration  at  one  from  the  pages  of  every  news- 
castigate  it  for  subverting  democracy j  paper  and  every  journal  of  opinion, 
they  look  upon  its  works  and  find  offi-  One  is  reminded  of  the  fable  of  the 
cious  bureaucracy,  unwholesome  regi-  three  blind  men  and  the  elephant,  ex- 
mentation,  an  obstinate  and  haughty  cept  that  here  it  is  a  donkey  that  the 
attempt  to  tell  the  country  what  is  good  blind  men  are  inquisitively  fondling, 
for  it.  Other  critics  castigate  the  Admin-  When  one  turns  to  the  politicos  them- 
istration  for  betraying  republicanism,  selves,  the  confusion  is  worse  con- 
charging  that  our  leaders  are  not  leaders  founded.  The  brain  trusters  shout  that 


26  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

they  have  no  national  plan  subversive  Deal  itself,  which  is  thus  interpreted  as 

of  individual  rights,  and  thus,  presum-  the  very  utmost  in  democracy — a  de- 

ably,  no  plan  subversive  of  democracy,  mocracy  so  complete  as  to  be  socialistic. 

But  their  works  often  seem  to  lead  di-  One  swallow  does  not  make  a  summer, 

rectly  to  wide-spread  socialized  control  of  course,  but  similar  expressions  of 

and  regimentation,  which  is  a  straining  socialistic  sentiment  are  being  made  un- 

of  republicanism  towards  a  denial  of  in-  officially  throughout  the  Middle  West, 

dividual  competence,  and  thus  in  effect  On  the  other  hand,  everywhere  in  local 

a  denial  of  democracy.  President  Roose-  elections    this    spring    there    was    a 

velt  says  there  is  no  academic  plan  at  noticeable  trend  towards  conservatism, 

all,  that  he  knows  only  that  we  are  going  towards    old-fashioned,    delegated-au- 

out  of  the  depression  with  all  the  f  eath-  thority  republicanism.  The  depression- 

ers  still  on  the  eagle,  even  if  the  eagle  is  broken  dreamers  about  the  millennium 

temporarily  "blue."  Secretary  Wallace,  are  fashioning  out  of  rainbows  their 

however,  speaking  as  one  of  the  Admin-  ultra-democratic  platforms  j  but  the  tax- 

istration's  Chautauqua  staff,  says  that  ridden  bourgeoisie  are  at  last  getting 

there  must  be  a  plan,  a  well  understood  out  the  vote,  and  the  vote  is  for  our 

plan,  or  we'll  never  get  out  of  the  de-  original  republican  formula,  "elect  a 

pression.  Congress  is  for  the  New  Deal  good  man  and  stand  behind  him." 
as  long  as  it  can  define  "deal"  after  the 

fashion  of  the  late  David  Harum:  Con-  In 

gress  is  jealous  of  the  liberties  of  the  This  all-infecting  confusion  indicates 

people,  but  in  an  ambiguous  sense.  It  in  the  United  States  a  "house  divided" 

cherishes  the  liberties  when  they  can  be  attitude  which  has  decided  implications 

fastened  to  the  prerogatives  of  Con-  for  mischief.  The  mischief  is  likely  to 

gress  j  it  resents  the  liberties  when  they  result  if  the  Federal  Administration, 

tend  to  diminish  Congressional  author-  having  set  in  operation  grandiose  long- 

ity  and  importance.  Congress  is  repub-  time  melioristic  schemes,  then  "sells 

lican  at  Washington  and  democratic  at  out"  to  democratic  opportunism.  A  brief 

home.  rehearsal  of  recent  history  will  clarify 

Nor  are  the  people  themselves,  as  a  this  statement. 

whole,  any  clearer  than  their  economic  During  the  1932  campaign,  Mr. 
and  political  leaders.  The  blind  lead  the  Roosevelt  wisely  made  as  few  definite 
blind.  In  Minnesota  recently,  for  in-  commitments  as  possible.  He  and  his 
stance,  the  Farmer-Labor  party  (which  platform,  however,  pledged  his  party 
in  1930  and  1932  polled  an  absolute  — among  other  things — to  beer  and  re- 
majority  of  the  votes  cast  for  governor,  peal,  to  balancing  the  budget,  to  main- 
and  which  today  runs  the  common-  taining  a  sound  currency,  to  the  ending 
wealth)  set  forth  in  its  platform  for  the  of  oligarchical  control  in  banking,  in- 
November  elections  that  capitalism  has  dustry  and  government,  and  to  the  re- 
failed  and  must  be  abolished  forthwith,  moval  of  agricultural  disabilities.  The 
and  that  State  ownership  or  cooperative  people  voted  for  a  clean  slate,  and  for 
ownership  of  all  economic  facilities  and  Mr.  Roosevelt.  After  election,  they 
industries  must  be  accomplished  by  "im-  found  that  the  New  Deal  apparently 
mediate  steps."  The  sanction  for  this  meant  more  than  they  supposed.  Beer 
attitude  is  taken  from  the  national  New  and  repeal  arrived  ahead  of  schedule. 


GOVERNMENT  BY  TRIAL  BALLOON                     27 

The  budget  balancing  was  indefinitely  Now,  while  we  may  not  be  concerned 
postponed,  and  the  national  deficit  in-  with  the  philosophical  background  of 
creased.  "Sound  money"  either  was  government  in  the  United  States  simply 
abandoned  or  proved  to  be  an  equivoca-  as  such,  while  we  may  not  care  from  a 
tion.  Reform  in  government  seemed  at  philosophical  standpoint  whether  an 
first  to  make  great  headway,  but  with  administration  uses  trial  balloons  to  de- 
the  influx  into  office  of  thousands  of  termine  how  much  leeway  it  is  making 
Democrats  to  spend  billions  of  public  from  a  plotted  course  or  whether  it 
money,  real  reform  became  impracti-  sends  up  trial  balloons  and  then  plots 
cable.  The  housecleaning  activities  in  its  course  to  follow  the  balloons,  we  are 
banking  and  industry,  and  the  aid  to  concerned  with  the  financial  and  social 
agriculture,  proceeded  apace  under  the  effects  of  long-time  meliorative  schemes, 
segis  of  unusual  powers  granted  to  the  and  we  do  care  whether  or  not  our 
executive  for  the  emergency.  Government  is  actuated  by  a  political 
As  months  passed,  however,  and  the  philosophy  that  insures  a  decent  chance 
emergency  seemed  to  grow  less  acute,  to  have  the  schemes  carried  out  success- 
it  was  plain  that  the  melioristic  schemes  fully.  Such  projects  as  TVA,  AAA, 
for  industry  and  agriculture  required  RFC  and  HOLC,  for  example,  require 
time  and  patience  for  their  success.  The  the  disbursement  of  billions  of  public 
New  Deal  came  to  mean,  practically,  money  j  they  require  centralized  con- 
PWA,  CWA,  CCC,  AAA,  the  Federal  trol,  long-time  planning,  and  a  high  de- 
power  projects,  and  the  Federal  money-  gree  of  technical  competence  in  man- 
lending  agencies.  Excepting  the  first  agement.  They  may  fail  in  spite  of  the 
three,  all  of  these  have  come  to  look  to  best  talent  and  the  most  comprehensive 
the  future.  The  New  Dealers,  by  em-  planning.  But  are  they  not  sure  to  fail 
phasizing  the  long-term  character  of  if  they  become  subject  to  government 
part  of  their  programme,  created  for  by  trial  balloon,  if  we  abandon  them  to 
themselves  a  convenient  "alibi"  for  fail-  any  administration  that  lives  by  sub- 
ure  of  specific  meliorative  attempts,  limated  mob  rule? 
When  short-term  results  were  not  im-  One  thus  returns,  as  one  always  must 
pressive,  behold !  the  scheme  in  question  return,  to  the  absorbing  debate  which 
became  part  of  the  long-term  pro-  has  run  through  the  history  of  our  pop- 
gramme.  And  vice  versa.  AAA,  ular  government  from  the  beginning: 
combined  with  the  quantity  theory  are  we  the  people  competent  to  govern 
monetary  experiments,  was  to  restore  ourselves,  are  we  able  to  decide  correctly 
agricultural  prices  to  parity  with  the  the  questions  concerning  technical 
general  commodity  list.  After  a  year  minutiae  which  obtrude  themselves  in 
and  a  half,  the  goal  is  still  out  of  sight,  the  discussion  of  every  phase  of  modern 
AAA  is  now  part  of  a  philosophical  sys-  governmental  activity?  Or  is  the  best 
tern  and  is  on  the  long-term  pro-  that  we  may  expect  of  ourselves  a  more 
gramme.  In  its  sociological  aspects,  or  less  sensitive  compliance,  which  gives 
NRA,  in  so  far  as  it  is  more  than  an  us  at  least  the  illusion  of  choosing  de- 
attempt  to  lift  ourselves  by  our  boot-  voted  public  servants?  If  the  present 
straps  financially,  also  started  in  as  an  Administration  is  sending  up  balloons 
emergency  measure  and  soon  became  an  and  inspecting  oracular  entrails  merely 
item  of  professed  long-time  policy.  to  perform  hocus-pocus  designed  to 


28  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

keep  the  opposition  from  the  halls  of  asunder.  The  Republicans  have  had  the 

Congress,  is  it  likely — in  view  of  the  task  of  uniting  similarly  irreconcilable 

long-time  programme  now  under  way —  elements,  to  be  sure,  but  they  have  had 

that  we  have  chosen  devoted  public  a  background  of  success  and  of  trium- 

servants?   Mark  you,  the  question  is  phant  moral  idealism  to  start  with.  One 

merely  asked,  not  answered!  is  reminded  of  the  editorial  in  the  New 

York  Times  on  that  morning  in  1916 

IV  when  it  conceded  to  Mr.  Hughes  the 

President  Roosevelt's  tradition  is  dis-  election  that  three  days  later  went  to 

parate.  It  is  country-gentleman-individ-  President  Wilson.  The  Times  had  sup- 

ualist  and  Mr.  Ickes  and  Miss  Perkins  ported  Wilson,  but,  convinced  that  Mr. 

and  Harvard,  which  is  all  to  the  good.  Hughes  had  defeated  him,  it  said,  in 

But  it  is  also  metr op olitan-and- Albany-  effect,  "Well,  anyway,  the  country  does 

politician  and  Mr.  Farley  and  Charlie  more  and  feels  better  under  a  Republi- 

Michelson  and  bureaucratic- Washing-  can  administration."  That  sentiment  is 

ton,  which  is  possibly  not  quite  so  good,  in  the  air  today,  just  as  it  was  in  1918 

One  may  without  reservation  applaud  when  Wilson  urged  the  people  franti- 

the  evident  beatitude  of  his  aims.  But  cally  to  hold  up  his  hands  by  reflecting 

one  may  also  make  a  plausible  case  for  a  Democratic  Congress.  The  sentiment 

the  theory  that  his  nobility  of  purpose  is  by  no  means  as  strong  as  it  was  in 

sometimes  enfranchises  ignoble  means.  19185  but  it  has  been  growing  for  sev- 

About  the  White  House  there  are  little  eral  months,  and  the  fact  that  it  exists 

ghosts  that  will  not  be  laid — some  of  at  all  is  proof  that  the  dissentient  heter- 

the  Presidential  appointments,  loud  lip-  ogeny  that  catapulted  Franklin  Roose- 

service  to  measures  that  the  President  velt  to  office  has  not  yet  been  solidified 

nevertheless  did  not  consider  important  into  a  real  political  entity.  Perhaps  its 

enough  to  drive  through  Congress,  pub-  elements  can  not  be  fused.  Perhaps  the 

lie  utterance  a  trifle  too  suave  and  distribution  of  patronage  and  of  funds 

politic.  Perhaps  if  one  could  know  and  was  not  the  way  to  fuse  them, 

feel  the  force  of  all  the  perplexing  cur-  Before   the   autumn   elections,   the 

rents  and  counter  currents  that  engulf  a  leaders  of  the  Administration  are  likely 

President  there  would  be  no  ghosts,  to  be  forced  to  decide  whether  they  are 

Perhaps.  trial-balloon  democrats  or  old-fashioned 

The  tradition  of  the  Democratic  republicans.  It  is  almost  unthinkable 
party  is  similarly  disparate.  Because  of  that  they  should  choose  to  be  the  for- 
historical  accident,  no  doubt,  it  has  for  mer,  yet  stranger  things  have  happened 
three-quarters  of  a  century  been  the  in  American  history.  Their  strongest 
victim  of  a  defeatist  or  at  least  a  "dis-  appeal,  it  would  seem,  is  not  to  the  un 
affected"  psychology.  To  it  have  flocked  blushing  self-interest  that  has  been 
irreconcilable  groups,  united  tempo-  "greased"  heretofore  by  the  distribution 
rarily  by  adversity,  but  in  themselves  of  patronage  and  of  public  funds,  nor 
fundamentally  too  hostile  to  remain  even  to  the  hopelessness  bred  of  penury 
long  in  the  same  tether.  Differences  of  and  woe.  The  most  powerful  appeal  of 
interest,  of  religion,  of  economic  and  President  Roosevelt  to  date  was  his 
political  creeds,  of  philosophy— these  bank  holiday  radio  address.  Since  that 
have  always  managed  to  split  the  party  occasion  his  popularity — although  it  is 


GOVERNMENT  BY  TRIAL  BALLOON  29 

still  tremendous — has  dwindled.  Amer-  bureaucracy  under  the  New  Deal,  and  a 
ica  is  confused;  it  doesn't  know  itself  reaffirmation  of  the  President's  promise 
whether  it  is  for  republican  delegated  that  he  will  conduct  our  affairs  in  the 
authority  or  democratic  you-go-to-  permanent  interest  of  the  majority  of 
Washington-and-do-as-we-tell-you  at-  our  citizens — including  the  taxpayers, 
torneyship.  But  the  imminence  of  a  One  may  hope,  therefore,  that  the 
general  election  and  the  mounting  pres-  emphasis  on  trial  balloons  in  the  Wash- 
sure  of  public  debt  will  compel  it  to  a  ington  dispatches  is  misplaced,  and  that 
decision  shortly,  and  from  most  indica-  the  Administration  is  going  to  stand  for 
tions  one  may  assume  that  it  will  favor  the  fall  elections,  in  so  far  as  it  has  a 
the  traditional  and  constitutional  philos-  part  in  them,  on  the  high  ground  of 
ophy.  President  Roosevelt  has  a  present  courageous  and  adaptable  measures  of 
opportunity,  by  modifying  some  "radi-  political  reform  under  such  direction 
cal"  tendencies  of  the  New  Deal  and  by  and  control  as  derive  from  the  princi- 
asserting  again  the  necessity  of  carrying  pies  of  the  Constitution.  Win,  lose  or 
out  his  long-time  programme  under  draw,  it  will  be  better  for  the  country 
competent  auspices,  to  turn  this  bour-  to  have  the  issue  clean-cut  and  plainly 
geois  republicanism  into  a  dynamic  help  drawn  between  patriotism  and  pork,  be- 
to  his  party.  But  this  conservatively  tween  self-assertion  and  drift,  between 
liberal  element  is  not  likely  to  follow  bona  fide  representative  government 
trial  balloons.  It  demands  an  outspoken  and  opportunist  compliance  with  popu- 
definition  of  the  limits  of  socialistic  lar  whims. 


Soviet  Russia  Between  Two  Fires 

BY  G.  E.  W.  JOHNSON 

Japan  in  the  East  and  Germany  in  the  West  are  disturbing 

Kremlin  composure,  and  there  is  a  question  whether 

they  may  not  join  forces 

THE  year  1933  saw  a  very  signifi-  cused  upon  two  nations  from  which  the 
cant  change  in  Soviet  Russia's  at-  danger  of  attack  has  become  very  real, 
titude  toward  other  countries.  The  Japanese  conquest  of  Manchuria  in 
For  years  Russia  had  regarded  herself  1931-33  and  Hitler's  conquest  of  Ger- 
as  the  spearhead  of  the  proletarian  many  in  1933  are  two  concrete  facts 
revolution,  which  all  the  capitalist  which  are  full  of  ill  omen  for  Russia's 
nations  were  conspiring  to  overthrow,  future,  menacing  her  at  the  eastern  and 
This  doctrine  was  a  natural  heritage  western  extremities  of  her  six-thousand- 
of  the  days  of  the  Allied  interven-  mile  expanse  of  territory, 
tion  in  191 8-20,  when  the  powers  had  Russia  is,  in  a  territorial  sense,  one  of 
extended  military  and  financial  sup-  the  satisfied  nations  of  the  world.  In- 
port  to  the  anti-Bolshevik  forces.  In  the  eluding  Siberia,  she  comprises  the  larg- 
years  that  followed  there  was  a  mutual  est  continuous  tract  of  the  earth's  sur- 
repulsion  between  Russia  and  the  out-  face  under  one  sovereignty ;  she  has 
side  world.  The  Soviet  Union  saw  in  within  her  own  borders  all  the  territory 
every  move  of  the  "bourgeois"  govern-  she  needs  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
ments  a  move  against  Russia 5  the  bour-  her  large  population.  But  it  is  her  mis- 
geoisie  of  the  world  regarded  the  Soviet  fortune  to  be  situated  between  two  of 
Union  as  a  vast  malarial  swamp  from  the  most  land-hungry  nations  of  the 
which  there  continuously  exuded  a  world — nations  which  are  also  most 
noxious  miasma  that  bade  fair  to  pollute  formidable  in  their  capacity  for  military 
the  whole  of  their  civilization.  effort.  What  is  more  natural  than  that 
But  a  train  of  events  set  in  which,  Japan  and  Germany,  searching  for  an 
after  rapidly  gathering  momentum  in  outlet  for  their  rapidly  increasing  popu- 
193 2,  came  to  a  culmination  in  1933  and  lations,  should  fix  their  eyes  upon  the 
in  a  surprisingly  short  time  effected  a  vast,  thinly  peopled  expanses  of  the 
radical  transformation  in  the  Russian  Russian  plains,  which  cover  one-sixth  of 
attitude  to  foreign  countries.  Instead  of  the  land  surface  of  the  globe?  Both 
the  vague  suspicions  directed  indis-  countries  have  had  their  appetites 
criminately  against  all  capitalist  powers,  whetted  by  decisive  victories  in  the  re- 
Russia's  fears  have  been  definitely  fo-  cent  past.  Japan  demolished  the  myth 


SOVIET  RUSSIA  BETWEEN  TWO  FIRES  31 

of  white  invincibility  by  defeating  Rus-  have  adopted  the  realistic  attitude  of 
sia  in  1904-055  Germany,  with  one  making  friends  with  whoever  is  willing 
hand  tied  behind  her  back,  battered  to  reciprocate  their  advances.  As  a  coun- 
Russia  into  a  pulp  in  1914-18  and  ex-  ter weight  to  the  Japanese  menace,  Rus- 
torted  from  the  reluctant  Bolsheviks  sia  has  sought  and  secured  recognition 
the  treaty  of  Brest-Litovsk,  although  by  the  United  States  j  as  a  counter- 
she  was  barred  from  enjoying  the  fruits  weight  to  the  German  menace,  Russia 
of  this  achievement  by  her  subsequent  has  spared  no  pains  to  place  her  relations 
defeat  upon  the  Western  Front.  with  France  and  Poland  upon  a  firmer 

For  a  long  time  following  the  Great  basis. 
War,  Japan  and  Germany  were  quies 
cent  j  but  the  economic  depression  which 

settled  upon  the  world  in  1929  awak-         The  tendency  toward  a  readjustment 

ened  in  both  countries  the  dormant  of  Soviet  foreign  policy  in  this  direction 

spirit  of  militarism,  which  looks  for  a  might  have  been  detected  as  early  as 

solution  by  conquering  alien  lands  in  1924,  the  eventful  year  which  saw  the 

which  their  cramped  populations  can  death  of  Lenin,  the  recognition  of  Rus- 

find  new  homes  and  new  markets.  sia  by  the  powers  of  western  Europe, 

The  Japanese  menace  became  acute  in  and  the  beginning  of  the  violent  quarrel 

the  early  part  of  1933,  when  the  sub-  between  Stalin  and  Trotsky  as  to  the 

jugation  of  the  Russian  sphere  of  influ-  proper  line  for  Soviet  foreign  policy  to 

ence    in    Manchuria    was    completed,  follow.  Stalin  favored  closer  economic 

Almost  simultaneously,  by  a  strange  relations  with  the  capitalist  powers  j 

and  fateful  coincidence,  Adolf  Hitler,  Trotsky  opposed  them,  and  argued  that 

who  had  long  dangled  before  the  Ger-  a  world  revolution  was  an  essential 

man  masses  visions  of  vast  conquests  at  prerequisite  to  the  success  of  the  Soviet 

Russia's    expense,    gained   control    of  experiment  in  Russia. 
Germany.  Stalin  was  victorious  over  Trotsky, 

Under  these  circumstances,  Russia's  who  was  ousted  from  one  office  after  an- 
ideological  picture  of  the  outside  world  other,  and  finally  exiled  from  Russia  in 
has  undergone  drastic  revision.  She  no  1929.  Under  Stalin's  dictatorship,  So- 
longer  sees  it  as  a  complex  of  states  that  viet  foreign  policy  entered  upon  what 
are  equally  evil  because  they  are  all  may  be  termed  its  second  phase,  which 
alike  capitalist ;  she  now  sees  it  as  com-  lasted  from  1924  to  1933.  The  new  pol- 
posed  of  separate  units,  some  of  which  icy  was  intended  to  be  merely  a  modus 
are  real  menaces  to  her  security,  and  vivendi;  intercourse  with  capitalist 
some  of  which  are  potential  friends,  countries  was  to  be  confined  to  the  mini- 
Her  leaders  have  discarded,  or  at  any  mum  necessary  for  achieving  the  indus- 
rate  profoundly  modified,  a  theoretical  trialization  of  Russia.  It  did  not  in  any 
world-outlook  based  upon  the  dogmatic  sense  imply  the  establishment  of  cordial 
thesis  of  an  inexorable  conflict  between  relations  with  bourgeois  governments 
capitalism  and  communism.  In  so  far  as  with  a  view  to  common  diplomatic  ac- 
this  thesis  is  still  maintained,  the  com-  tionj  on  the  contrary,  it  was  still  held 
ing  conflict  has  been  relegated  to  a  fu-  that  as  the  socialist  experiment  ap- 
ture  so  remote  that  it  has  no  bearing  preached  success,  the  proletariat  in  capi- 
upon  present  policy.  The  Soviet  rulers  talist  countries  would  become  restive 


32  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

and  the  bourgeois  governments  in  des-  at  one  period  or  another.  .  .  .  Side  by 

peration  would  form  a  coalition  to  de-  side  with  the  very  few  countries  which 

stroy  the  Soviet  Union.  have  already  either  replaced  diplomacy 

It  was  the  crystallization  of  the  Japa-  by  war  operations  [like  Japan],  or,  be- 

nese    and    German    menaces    during  ing  still  unprepared  for  it  [like  Ger- 

1932-33  that  ushered  in  the  third  phase  many] ,  are  preparing  to  do  this  in  the 

of  Soviet  foreign  policy  under  the  astute  near  future,  there  are  those  which  are 

guidance  of  Maxim  Litvinov,  People's  not   yet   pursuing   such   objects.  .  .  . 

Commissar  for  Foreign  Affairs.  The  There  are  also  bourgeois  states — and 

Soviet  Government  is  now  evincing  a  they  are  quite  numerous — which  are  in- 

willingness,  and  even  an  anxiety,  to  terested,  for  the  immediate  future,  in 

transform  its  economic  relations  with  the  maintenance  of  peace  and  are  pre- 

well    disposed    powers    into    political  pared  to  pursue  a  policy  directed  to- 

friendships  and  ententes  y  to  say  nothing  wards  the  maintenance  of  peace.  I  am 

of  alliances,  with  view  to  common  de-  not  going  into  an  estimation  of  the  mo- 

fensive  measures  against  an  aggressor,  tives  for  such  a  policy,  but  am  merely 

Such  an  objective  has  naturally  pushed  stating  a  fact  which  is  highly  valuable 

the  concept  of  world  revolution  into  the  to  us.  ...  In  striving  therefore  to- 

background.  Indeed,  it  has  become  a  ward  the  establishment  and  mainte- 

source  of  positive  embarrassment  to  nance  of  friendly  relations  with  all 

Moscow  that  Communist  parties  work-  countries,  we  devote  particular  attention 

ing  in  countries  with  which  Russia  is  to  the  strengthening  of  relations  and 

seeking  friendlier  relations  should  iden-  maximum  rapprochement  with  those 

tify  themselves  as  instruments  or  even  countries  which,  like  ourselves,  furnish 

allies  of  the  Soviet  Government.  As  proof  of  their  sincere  desire  to  preserve 

Mr.  Walter  Duranty  expressed  it  in  a  peace  and  show  that  they  are  prepared 

dispatch  to  the  New  York  Times  of  No-  to  counteract  any  violation  of  peace, 

vember    20,    1932,    "The    Bolshevist  .  .  .  The  whole  world  knows  that  we 

Kremlin  today  regards  the  growth  of  can  maintain  and  are  maintaining  good 

the  revolutionary  movement  in  Europe  relations  with  capitalist  states  under  any 

with  real  anxiety."  regime,  including  also  a  Fascist  re- 

The  principles  now  governing  Rus-  gime." 
sian  foreign  policy  were  set  forth  in  a 
speech  of  the  utmost  significance  deliv 
ered  by  Commissar  Litvinov  to  the  All-  Whatever  may  be  one's  opinion  of 
Union  Central  Executive  Committee  on  the  sincerity  of  Russia's  devotion  to  the 
December  29,  1933.  In  this  speech  he  cause  of  peace  in  the  abstract,  there  can 
undertook  the  task  of  adapting  Com-  be  no  doubt  that  there  is  nothing  that 
munist  dogma  to  the  necessities  of  the  the  Soviet  Government  more  earnestly 
new  diplomatic  situation.  After  a  ritual-  desires  at  present  than  an  avoidance  of 
istic  repetition  of  the  familiar  postulate  the  strain  which  a  war  would  impose 
that  capitalism  inevitably  breeds  war,  upon  her  industrial  system.  It  is  corn- 
he  continued:  "But  not  every  capitalist  mon  knowledge  that  this  system  is  al- 
state  has  an  equal  desire  for  war  at  all  ready  being  strained  to  the  uttermost 
times.  Any  state,  no  matter  how  im-  under    the    Government's    industrial- 
perialistic,  may  become  deeply  pacifist  ization  programme.  There  are  large 


SOVIET  RUSSIA  BETWEEN  TWO  FIRES  33 

sections  of  the  Russian  population,  par-  Ukrainian  nationalism  was  not  the  main 

ticularly  among  the  peasants  and  certain  danger  in  the  Ukraine  j  but  when  the 

national  minorities,  whose  disaffection  fight  against  it  was  stopped  and  it  was 

might  prove  disastrous  were  they  called  given  a  chance  to  spread  to  such  an  ex- 

upon  to  endure  the  further  sacrifices  en-  tent  as  to  make  common  cause  with  the 

tailed  by  a  war.  During  1931-33,  many  interventionists,  that  deviation  became 

of  the  peasants,  resenting  the  forcible  the  main  danger." 
collectivization  of  their  farms,  engaged 

in  a  wide-spread  campaign  of  sabotage  IV 
which  brought  large  areas  in  Russia  to  After  this  glance  at  the  combination 
the  verge  of  starvation  and  caused  a  of  external  dangers  and  internal  stresses 
sharp  increase  in  the  mortality  from  which  have  motivated  the  change  in  the 
malnutrition.  Perhaps  it  is  not  without  Soviet  outlook  on  foreign  affairs,  it  will 
significance,  as  indicating  the  Soviet  be  interesting  to  see  how  the  new  orien- 
Government's  opinion  of  their  reliabil-  tation  has  been  reflected  in  Russia's  rela- 
ity,  that  the  proportion  of  peasants  in  tions  with  foreign  powers, 
the  Red  army,  according  to  the  official  The  Japanese  menace  first  loomed  on 
figures  of  War  Commissar  Voroshilov,  the  Far  Eastern  horizon  in  September, 
has  been  reduced  from  57.9  per  cent  in  1931,  when  the  Japanese  army  began 
1 930  to  42.5  per  cent  in  1 934.  to  oust  the  Chinese  authorities  from  the 
In  addition,  some  of  the  national  mi-  provinces  of  Manchuria  served  by  the 
norities,  especially  the  Ukrainians,  have  Japanese-controlled  South  Manchuria 
not  been  wholly  reconciled  to  their  in-  Railway.  In  December  Litvinov,  in  an 
corporation  into  the  Soviet  Union.  The  effort  to  save  the  Russian  sphere  of  in- 
Ukrainian  independence  movement  has  fluence,  which  was  served  by  the  Soviet- 
been  driven  underground,  but  it  retains  controlled  Chinese  Eastern  Railway, 
a  vigorous  life,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  proposed  to  the  Japanese  the  signing  of 
the  repeated  discoveries,  announced  by  a  non-aggression  pact.  The  Japanese 
the  Soviet  Government  every  few  years,  protracted  the  negotiations  for  over  a 
that  highly  placed  Communist  officials  year.  During  this  interval,  they  method- 
m  the  Ukrainian  Soviet  Republic  are  ically  proceeded  to  mop  up  that  por- 
really  secret  agents  of  the  nationalist  tion  of  Manchuria  which  the  Russians 
counter-revolution.  Stalin  admitted  the  had  been  wont  to  regard  as  their  own 
seriousness  of  the  Ukrainian  disaffec-  preserve.  The  Soviet  Government,  hop- 
tion,  which  he  adroitly  linked  with  ing  to  avert  the  confiscation  of  the 
threats  of  German  intervention,  when  C.E.R.,  refused  to  associate  itself  with 
he  addressed  the  Seventeenth  Congress  the  League  of  Nations  and  the  United 
of  the  Communist  Party  on  January  26,  States  in  their  condemnation  of  Japan, 
1934.  "I  have  spoken  of  the  tenacity  and  adopted  a  policy  which  to  other 
of  the  survivals  of  capitalism,"  he  de-  countries  seemed  complaisant  and  even 
clared.  "It  should  be  mentioned  that  servile.  Their  reward  came  early  in 
survivals  of  capitalism  in  the  conscious-  1933,  when  Japan  broke  off  negotia- 
ness  of  man^have  retained  their  tenacity  tions  for  a  non-aggression  pact,  offered 
much  more  in  the  national  question  than  to  purchase  the  C.E.R.  for  what  the 
in  any  other  sphere.  ...  It  is  not  so  Russians  considered  a  ridiculously  in- 
long  ago  that  the  deviation  towards  adequate  sum,  and  applied  pressure  by 


34  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

disrupting  the  operation  of  the  line  with  frain  from  direct  propaganda,  but  it 

a  variety  of  restrictions  and  aggressions,  would    restrain    all    organizations    to 

The  Russian  Government  soon  be-  which  it  lent  financial  aid  from  engag- 
came  convinced  that  Japan's  ambitions  ing  in  such  activities.  Hitherto  the  So- 
were  not  confined  to  Manchuria,  but  viet  Government  had  always  clung  to 
that  she  aspired  to  absorb  a  substantial  the  fiction  that  the  Communist  Interna- 
slice  of  Siberia.  "A  section  of  the  mili-  tional  with  its  headquarters  in  Moscow 
tary  people  in  Japan,"  asserted  Stalin  was  an  independent  organization  not 
in  his  report  to  the  Seventeenth  Party  under  its  control,  but  by  this  pledge  it 
Congress,  "are  openly  preaching  in  the  implicitly  undertook  to  curb  the  Inter- 
press  the  necessity  of  war  with  the  national's  activities  as  far  as  the  United 
U.S.S.R.  and  the  seizure  of  the  Mari-  States  was  concerned, 
time  Province,  with  the  approval  of  an 
other  part  of  the  military,  while  the 

Government  of  Japan  pretends  that  this  Reconciliation  with  the  United  States 

does  not  concern  it,  instead  of  calling  had  strengthened  Soviet  Russia  in  her 

the  incendiaries  of  war  to  order."  dealings  with  Japan  5  at  the  other  ex- 

Internally,  the  Russians  have  striven  tremity  of  her  borders  she  was  also 
to  protect  themselves  against  Japanese  feverishly  at  work  building  a  defense 
attack  by  a  heavy  concentration  of  mili-  against  possible  German  aggression, 
tary  force  in  the  Far  East;  externally,  Adolf  Hitler  had  become  dictator  of 
they  have  sought  to  counterbalance  the  Germany  in  January,  1933.  Here,  in- 
Japanese  menace  by  a  rapprochement  stead  of  the  symbolical  bogy  men  at  the 
with  the  United  States.  Fortunately  for  mention  of  whose  names  all  good  Com- 
their  desires,  a  new  Administration  had  munists  were  wont  to  shudder,  was  a 
assumed  office  which  was  prepared  to  real  fire-eater.  In  his  book,  Mein 
depart  from  the  old  tradition  of  aloof-  Kampf,  Hitler  had  declared  bluntly 
ness  and  to  meet  the  Russians  half  way.  that  Germany  must  seek  territorial  ex- 
On  October  10,  1933,  President  Roose-  pansion  at  the  expense  of  Russia,  which 
velt  dispatched  a  message  to  President  he  described  as  having  fallen  into  the 
Kalinin,  informing  him  that  he  would  hands  of  the  Jews,  who  were  acting 
be  pleased  to  receive  a  representative  to  upon  it  as  a  "ferment  of  decomposi- 
discuss  all  questions  at  issue  between  the  tion."  This  book  was  written  many  years 
two  countries.  The  Soviet  Government  ago,  and  it  might  be  presumed  that  Hit- 
eagerly  accepted  the  invitation,  and  ler  has  since  been  sobered  by  the  respon- 
Commissar  Litvinov,  canceling  all  other  sibilities  of  office.  Litvinov,  however, 
engagements,  arrived  in  the  United  who  is  himself  a  Jew,  expressed  his 
States  early  in  November.  On  the  six-  skepticism  in  the  speech  to  the  Central 
teenth  of  the  same  month,  President  Executive  Committee  already  referred 
Roosevelt  announced  the  restoration  of  to:  "We,  for  one,  are  unaware  of  a  sin- 
normal  diplomatic  relations  with  Soviet  gle  responsible  statement  that  would 
Russia.  In  order  to  secure  this  prize,  have  completely  erased  the  conception 
Litvinov  committed  the  Soviet  Govern-  mentioned  by  me.  The  literary  work  in 
ment  to  the  most  sweeping  pledge  which  this  conception  is  preached  con- 
against  subversive  propaganda  that  it  tinues  to  circulate  in  Germany  without 
had  ever  made.  Not  only  would  it  re-  any  expurgations  in  new  editions,  in- 


SOVIET  RUSSIA  BETWEEN  TWO  FIRES 


35 


eluding  an  edition  with  1934  as  the  year 
of  publication.  The  same  conception  is 
openly  discussed  even  now  in  the  pages 
of  the  German  press.  Only  about  half 
a  year  ago  at  the  London  International 
Conference  a  member  of  the  German 
Cabinet  [Dr.  Hugenberg]  expounded 
in  a  memorandum  the  same  idea  of  con 
quering  the  East.  True,  he  was  dis 
avowed  and  we  have  no  right  to,  and 
will  not,  consider  this  memorandum  as 
an  official  document,  but  the  disavowal 
of  a  minister  does  not  destroy  the  fact 
itself  of  the  submission  of  the  memoran 
dum,  which  shows  that  the  ideas  stated 
in  the  document  are  still  current  even 
among  Government  circles." 

In  seeking  to  checkmate  German  am 
bitions,  it  was  natural  that  Russia  should 
turn  to  those  states  that  also  fear  Ger 
many,  of  which  France  and  Poland  are 
the  most  conspicuous.  Poland  and  the 
Baltic  States  lie  between  Germany  and 
Russia.  There  can  be  no  German  inva 
sion  of  Russia  without  these  intervening 
countries  either  conniving  in  or  resist 
ing  such  an  attack.  After  having  seen 
the  destruction  of  the  Manchurian  buf 
fer  state  in  the  Far  East,  it  was  to  be 
expected  that  Russia  would  take  every 
precaution  to  strengthen  her  relations 
with  the  bulwark  of  buffer  states  on  her 
western  frontier.  Over  a  period  of  sev 
eral  years  Russia  had  already  negotiated 
individual  non-aggression  pacts  with 
several  neighboring  countries.  While 
the  London  Economic  Conference  was 
still  in  session,  Litvinov  took  advantage 
of  the  disquiet  excited  among  the  dele 
gates  of  the  border  states  by  the  publica 
tion  of  the  Hugenberg  memorandum  to 
negotiate  a  treaty  defining  the  concept 
of  aggression  in  precise  terms.  On  July 
3>  J933>  this  treaty  was  signed  by  Lit 
vinov  and  the  plenipotentiaries  of 
nearly  all  the  border  states — Poland, 


Estonia,  Latvia,  Rumania,  Turkey,  Per 
sia  and  Afghanistan. 

Even  more  significant,  however, 
were  the  gestures  made  by  Russia  to 
ward  a  rapprochement  with  France.  A 
non-aggression  pact  had  been  signed  by 
the  two  Governments  in  November, 

1932,  during     the     premiership     of 
Edouard  Herriot,  leader  of  the  French 
Radicals.  In  August  and  September, 

1933,  M.  Herriot,  though  no  longer 
holding  any  official  position,  paid  a  visit 
to  Russia,  and  was  soon  afterwards  fol 
lowed  by  Pierre  Cot,  French  Minister 
of  Aviation.  Both  were  cordially  enter 
tained  by  the  Soviet  Government.  M. 
Herriot  in  particular,  as  a  known  cham 
pion  of  closer  Franco-Soviet  relations, 
was  singled  out  for  special  praise.  In  his 
December  speech  to  the  Central  Execu 
tive  Committee,  Litvinov  went  out  of 
his  way  to  pay  a  personal  tribute  to 
M.    Herriot — an    honor    which    the 
French  statesman  shared  with  President 
Roosevelt.  "After  the  signing  of  the 
non-aggression   pact,"    said   Litvinov, 
"our  relations  with  France  have  made 
rapid  strides  ahead.  .  .  .  The  recent 
visit  to  our  Union  of  M.  Herriot  [ap 
plause]  ,  one  of  the  most  prominent  and 
brilliant  representatives  of  the  French 
people,  and  one  who  reflects  their  peace- 
loving  sentiments  .  .  .  gave  fresh  im 
petus  to  Franco-Soviet  rapprochement" 

VI 

Needless  to  say,  the  course  of  the 
Russian  rapprochement  with  the  United 
States,  France  and  Poland  was  viewed 
with  distinct  concern  in  Tokyo  and 
Berlin.  Both  Foreign  Offices  were  not 
long  in  launching  a  diplomatic  counter 
attack,  aimed  at  detaching  these  newly 
won  friends  from  Russia.  Germany  en 
tered  the  struggle  first.  Hitler  and  his 
aides  were  obsessed  by  the  fear  that 


36  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

France,  Poland  and  their  allies  might  security  by  giving  Germany  a  free  hand 

launch  a  preventive  war  and  crush  Ger-  in  eastern  Europe, 

many  before  she  had  time  to  rearm.  A  The  Radicals  and  Socialists,  on  the 

high  degree  of  tension  had  been  gen-  other  hand,  are  strongly  opposed  to  any 

erated  between  Germany  and  Poland  agreement  that  involves  offering  up 

by  the  well  known  desire  of  the  Ger-  Russia  as  a  sacrifice  on  the  altar  of 

mans  to  regain  the  Polish  Corridor.  Franco-German  amity.  They  are  sympa- 

This  tension  was  materially  eased  when  thetic  with  the  Soviet  experiment  and 

the  two  powers  subscribed  on  Novem-  bitterly  hostile  to  Hitler's  policy  of  do- 

ber  15,  1933,  to  a  joint  declaration,  mestic  repression.  They  argue  that  to 

which  was  subsequently  implemented  turn  Germany  against  Russia  is  only  to 

by  a  formal  treaty  to  last  ten  years,  postpone  the  day  when  the  menace  of 

whereby  they  agreed  to  renounce  the  Hitlerism,  bloated  by  conquests  in  the 

use  of  force  in  settling  any  disputes  that  East,  will  have  to  be  met — and  to  be 

might    arise    between    them.    Hitler,  met  without  the  assistance  of  a  defeated 

knowing  that  this  declaration  would  be  Russia. 

interpreted  in  Paris  as  an  anti-French  The  recent  political  crisis  in  France 

move,  immediately  followed  it  up  by  saw  the  replacement  of  the  Left  cabinet 

granting  a  French  journalist  an  inter-  of  M.  Chautemps  with  a  cabinet  of  na- 

view  which  was  published  in  Le  Matin  tional  concentration  headed  by  ex-Presi- 

of  Paris  on  November  22.  This  inter-  dent  Doumergue,  who  is  noted  for  his 

view  was  remarkably  conciliatory  in  conservatism.  Since  this  change  took 

tone.  Hitler  categorically  surrendered  place,  rumors  of  an  impending  military 

all  claim  to  Alsace-Lorraine.  He  sought  alliance  with  the  Soviet  Government, 

to  win  French  sentiment  by  depicting  which  had  been  given  currency  in  the 

himself  as  a  bulwark  against  Commu-  French  Right  press  in  December,  have 

nism.  War  between  France  and  Ger-  died  down.  However,  M.  Herriot,  the 

many  "would  mark  the  downfall  of  our  outstanding  champion  of  Franco-Rus- 

races  .  .  .  and  eventually  we  should  sian  intimacy,  is  a  member  of  the  Dou- 

see  Asia  installed  in  our  continent  and  mergue  cabinet,  and  it  is  unlikely  that 

Bolshevism  triumphant."  the  tendency  toward  a  gradual  strength- 

This  pacific  gesture  of  Hitler's  pro-  ening  of  Franco-Russian  relations  will 

voked  a  cleavage  of  opinion  in  France,  be  interfered  with  as  long  as  he  is  in  the 

The  conservative  wing  of  French  politi-  Government. 

cal  thought,  or  at  any  rate  a  section  of  The  most  recent  indications  are  that 

it,  is  inclined  to  look  with  favor  upon  France,  instead  of  seeking  an  entente 

Hitler's  offer.  If  Germany  is  willing  to  directly    with    Russia,    has    adopted 

renounce  Alsace-Lorraine  and  to  guar-  the  more  cautious  policy  of  promoting 

antee  to  respect  the  integrity  of  French  Russia's    adherence    to    the    League 

territory,  there  is  no  reason,  they  argue,  of    Nations,    and    thereby    fortifying 

why  France  should  not  meet  Germany  that  body  in  the  task  of  dealing  with 

half  way  and  sign  a  peace  pact  which  German  obstreperousness.  It  is  an  open 

would  in  effect  be  a  pledge  of  non-inter-  secret  that  the  French  Foreign  Office  is 

vention  in  the  event  of  war  between  now  conducting  the  necessary  prelimi- 

Germany  and  Russia.  To  put  it  baldly,  nary  negotiations  with  certain  of  the 

they  are  prepared  to  purchase  their  own  lesser  powers  that  have  an  anti-Soviet 


SOVIET  RUSSIA  BETWEEN  TWO  FIRES  37 

bias  to  ensure  that  at  the  September  ses-  able  Japanese  protestations,  such  as  that 

sion  of  the  League  an  invitation  to  be-  of  Foreign  Minister  Koki  Hirota  to  the 

come  a  member  can  be  extended  to  Japanese  Diet,  that  "Japan  fervently 

Russia  by  unanimous  vote.  Soviet  Rus-  desires    American    friendship."    The 

sia  once  regarded  the  League  as  a  Japanese  are  realistic  enough  to  know 

"Holy  Alliance  of  the  bourgeoisie  for  that  a  war  with  the  United  States  might 

the    suppression    of    the    proletarian  well  prove  disastrous  to  their  ambitions 

revolution,"  but  Litvinov's  December  in  the  Far  East.  An  undisguised  expres- 

speech  contained  a  significant  passage  sion  of  Japan's  anxiety  at  the  state  of  her 

which  bears  all  the  earmarks  of  the  be-  relations  with  the  United  States  was 

ginning  of  a  pilgrimage  to  Geneva:  manifested  by  the  "informal  and  per- 

"Not  being  doctrinaires,  we  do  not  re-  sonal    message"    dispatched    by    Mr. 

fuse  to  make  use  of  any  amalgamations  Hirota  to  Secretary  of  State  Hull  in 

and  organizations,  either  existing  or  pos-  February.  The  correspondence,  includ- 

sible  of  formation,  if  we  have  now  or  ing  Mr.  Hull's  reply,  was  made  public 

in  the  future  reason  to  believe  that  they  on  March  2 1 .  Although  no  concrete 

serve  the  cause  of  peace."  issues   were   discussed,   the   exchange 

Meanwhile,  relations  between  Ger-  seems   to   have   cleared   the   air   and 

many  and  Russia  still  continue  strained,  paved  the  way  for  less  strained  rela- 

On  March  28,  Litvinov  proposed  to  tions.  The  removal  of  the  bulk  of  the 

Germany  a  joint  treaty  whereby  the  two  United  States  navy  from  the  Pacific  in 

powers  would  mutually  guarantee  the  April  was  another  step  in  this  direction, 

independence  and  inviolability  of  the  but  the  gradually  improving  sentiment 

Baltic  States.  According  to  official  state-  between  the  two  countries  suffered  a 

ments  made  public  in  Berlin  and  Mos-  severe  setback  when  a  spokesman  of  the 

cow  on  April  26,  this  offer  was  rejected  Japanese  Foreign  Office  issued  an  in- 

by  the  German  Government,  which  formal  declaration  on  April  17  which 

rather  brusquely  declared  that  "any  at-  was  in  effect  the  proclamation  of  a  Mon- 

tempt  to  throw  doubt  on  the  sincerity  of  roe  Doctrine  with  respect  to  China.  The 

this  [German]  policy  must  be  categori-  essence  of  the  declaration  was  the  state- 

cally  rebuffed."  ment,  "We  oppose  any  attempt  on  the 

part  of  China  to  avail  herself  of  the 
influence  of  any  other  country  in  order 

The  recognition  of  Russia  by  the  to  resist  Japan." 

United  States  was  a  grievous  disappoint-  Why  Japan  should  have  chosen  such 
ment  to  the  Japanese.  Whether  rightly  a  time  to  issue  a  statement  which  added 
or  wrongly,  they  fear  that  it  implies  nothing  fundamentally  new  to  her  well 
American  assistance  in  some  form  to  the  known  attitude  toward  China,  but  pro- 
Soviet  Government  in  the  event  of  a  vided  one  more  occasion  for  raising 
Russo-Japanese  war.  Like  Hitler,  diplomatic  temperatures,  remains  a  sub- 
therefore,  Japan  also  was  not  long  in  ject  of  conjecture.  It  may  indeed  pre- 
embarking  upon  a  diplomatic  counter-  sage  that  Japan,  having  now  decided 
attack  in  an  effort  to  dissuade  the  United  that  war  with  Russia  has  become  too 
States  from  associating  itself  too  inti-  dangerous,  has  resolved  to  tackle  help- 
mately  with  Russia.  There  is  no  reason  less  China  instead.  On  the  other  hand, 
to  doubt  the  sincerity  of  the  innumer-  it  must  not  be  ignored  that  the  declara- 


38  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

tion  may  indirectly  pave  the  way  for  a  no  overt  evidences  of  such  a  develop- 
clash  with  Russia.  Was  it  sheer  coin-  ment,  though  many  incidents,  all  trivial 
cidence  that  a  spokesman  of  the  Japa-  enough  in  themselves,  point  unmistak- 
nese  legation  at  Peiping  on  April  28  ably  to  a  mutual  desire  of  both  go vern- 
announced  that  Japan  was  watching  ments  to  remain  on  friendly  terms  with 
with  concern  recent  developments  in  each  other.  It  is  very  likely  that  the 
Sinkiang  Province,  where  Chinese  Com-  Japanese  Foreign  Office  is  still  dubious 
munists  were  waging  a  bitter  civil  war  of  the  advantages  that  would  accrue 
against  Chinese  Mohammedans?  The  from  an  alliance  with  a  government 
Japanese  spokesman  expressed  sym-  whose  relations  with  the  powers  of  west- 
pathy  with  the  Mohammedans  and  ern  Europe  are  strained  j  it  does  not 
charged  that  the  Soviet  Government  wish  to  provoke  the  ill  will  of  France 
was  supplying  war  materials  to  the  and  Great  Britain  in  addition  to  that  of 
Communists.  In  addition  to  this  alleged  the  United  States.  If,  however,  Ger- 
Russian  intervention  in  Chinese  affairs,  many  could  succeed  in  patching  up  some 
there  is  the  fact  that  Outer  Mongolia,  sort  of  political  entente  with  France 
although  nominally  still  a  Chinese  which  would  give  her  a  free  hand  to 
province,  is  actually  a  Soviet  Republic  as  rearm  for  action  against  Russia,  the 
completely  under  the  control  of  Russia  world  should  not  be  surprised  to  see  her 
as  Manchuria  is  under  that  of  Japan,  form  an  alliance  with  Japan.  It  is  there- 
If  Japan  seriously  plans  taking  any  ac-  fore  a  favorable  augury  that  France, 
tion  to  enforce  her  latest  declaration,  it  instead  of  striking  such  a  bargain,  con- 
would  be  very  easy  for  her  to  find  an  tinues  to  insist  that  the  League  of  Na- 
excuse  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  Russia.  tions  shall  be  the  channel  through  which 

Whatever  may  be  the  significance  of  Germany  shall  air  her  grievances.  The 

the  Japanese  declaration,  it  has  not  con-  persistence  with  which  France  has  been 

duced  to  better  feelings  between  Tokyo  clinging  to  this  policy  is  expressed  very 

and  Moscow.  The  Soviet  Government  clearly  in  the  French  note  of  March  17 

has  intensified  its  already  feverish  war  to  the  British  Government :  "Whatever 

preparations.  The  Japanese  continue  to  may  have  been  said  or  attempted  against 

build  strategic  railways  in  Manchuria  the  League,  it  remains  the  only  organ- 

and  to  accumulate  war  materials.  ization  capable  of  furnishing  a  collec 
tive  guarantee  of  peace.  .  .  .  Germany 
could  give  no  better  guarantee  of  world 

There  is  a  question  which  must  inevi-  stability  than  her  return,  free  of  all  con- 

tably  arise  in  the  minds  of  all.  Is  there  straint,  to  the  community  of  states." 

any  possibility  of  an  alliance  between  If  Russia  should  join  the  League  and 

Japan  and  Germany  for  the  attainment  cooperate  sincerely  with  the  other  pow- 

of  a  common  objective?  Both  countries  ers,  it  will  afford  the  League  what  may 

are  ambitious  to  expand  territorially  at  well  prove  to  be  its  last  chance  of  recov- 

the  expense  of  Russia,  both  have  re-  ering  from  the  blows  to  its  prestige  suf- 

signed  from  the  League  of  Nations  in  fered  through  the  defection  of  Ger- 

a  huff,  and  both  feel  ostracized  by  the  many  and  Japan,  and  of  making  itself 

rest  of  the  world.  A  political  alliance  be-  strong  enough  to  curb  the  warlike  spirit 

tween  the  two  would  seem  to  be  in  or-  of  these  two  powers  before  they  unite  to 

der.  So  far,  however,  there  have  been  precipitate  a  world  crisis. 


P  * 

^oj 


Alan 


BY  JOHN  LINEAWEAVER 
^f  Story 

l/-w  SJ'HE  lodge  stood  on  stilts  near  the  of  a  deep  intimate  laughter,  suggesting 
summit  of  the  bank  facing  the  a  Negro's,  belonged  indubitably  to  the 
-IL  lake,  and  at  twilight  after  supper  elder  Jenkins,  brother  of  the  kid  who 
even  on  fine  evenings  pine  branches  was  in  his  cabin.  He  could  pick  out 
brushed  against  its  walls,  making  a  others  but  of  these  two  he  was  certain, 
sweeping  noise  like  that  of  a  dozen  new  or  almost  certain,  and  for  a  fleeting  sec- 
brooms,  in  the  sharpening  breeze  of  on-  ond  he  thought  of  walking  up  to  the 
coming  night,  while  from  the  lake  Recreation  Hall,  where  the  play  which 
twenty  feet  down  sounded  the  lapping  Alan  had  coached  was  about  to  begin,  in 
of  waves  against  the  smooth  rock  bar  order  to  verify  his  detections.  But  im- 
which  formed  the  swimming  pier.  mediately  he  thought:  what  kind  of  a 

On  this  evening  there  was  also  a  fool  idea  is  that?   .  .  .  Well,  he  an- 

third,  less  soothing  sound:  a  distant  swered  himself  a  moment  later,  it's 

chorus  of  excited  children's  voices  waft-  damn  good  practice  anyway, 

ing  down  from  the  Recreation  Hall  and  Meanwhile  Alan,  the  joints  of  his 

striving  comically  with  the  more  usual  fingers  pale  from  effort,  continued  to 

concert  of  the  frogs  in  their  pools  under  work  with  the  tie.  His  teeth  bit  into  the 

the  lodge.  side  of  his  full  lower  lip,  his  free  chin 

On  a  cot  in  the  locker  room  on  the  jutting  pugnaciously,  and  he  was  frown- 
second  floor  Bob  Hansen  lay  watching  ing  now,  making  whitish  creases  in  his 
with  ironical  eyes  while  his  fellow  coun-  otherwise  sun-browned  forehead.  Re- 
sellor  and  friend,  Alan  Whitaker,  for  garding  him  impersonally  Bob  thought 
the  second  time  unknotted  and  began  for  perhaps  the  thousandth  time:  he 
reknotting  a  new,  lavishly  colored  neck-  sure  is  a  good-looking  devil.  You  can't 
tie  j  and  as  he  watched  he  found  himself  get  away  from  that. 
half-consciously  trying  to  pick  out  indi-  Then  at  last  it  was  done.  He  pulled 
vidual  voices  in  the  Recreation  Hall  the  ends  and  leaning  forward,  eyes 
chorus,  just  as  a  moment  before  he  had  intent  on  the  little  steel  mirror  hung 
been  engaged  with  that  of  the  frogs,  on  the  wall  before  him,  gave  the  knot 
That  shrill  piping  one — corresponding,  a  final  critical  look.  After  his  eyes  left 
it  occurred  to  him,  to  that  of  the  oak  it  they  traveled  upward  to  linger  a 
toad — was  young  Penny's  j  he  was  al-  moment  on  his  face — an  action  which 
most  sure  of  it.  That  other,  the  one  full  did  not  escape  Bob's  notice,  and  sensing 


40  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

this  he  straightened  at  once  and  crossed  should  think  you'd  want  to  be  there, 

to  an  open  army  trunk,  pasted  with  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  you've  hurt 

labels  announcing  that  its  owner  had  some  of  those  kids'  feelings.  Starting 

traveled  Tourist  Third  on  the  French  them  off  in  a  whirl  of  enthusiasm  like 

Line  and  was  a  student  at  Princeton,  that,  they  don't  understand  it." 

where  he  fell  to  rummaging  under  sev-  "If  you  don't  look  out,"  Alan  an- 

eral  books  and  cartons  of  cigarettes  to  swered,  "you'll  have  me  feeling  bad." 

bring  out  at  last  a  pair  of  gray-  and  "Oh  go  to  hell,"  Bob  said, 

white-checked    woolen    socks.    Sitting  For    answer    Alan    laughed.    He 

down  on  the  bench  against  the  wall,  he  slipped  his  belt  through  the  final  strap 

prepared  to  draw  them  on,  saying:  and  pulled  it  tight — a  bit  too  tight  for 

"Damn  if  this  primitive  life  doesn't  comfort,  Bob  would  have  thought — and 

get  you.  Even  tying  a  tie  and  putting  on  stood  up.  "There,"  he  said.  "Now  for 

socks  gets  to  be  an  operation.  Matter  of  my  cloak.  .  .  .  What  the  hell?  I  could 

fact,  I  don't  believe  I've  had  either  have  sworn  I  took  it  out  of  the  locker, 

on  since  I  went  into  Northport  last  .  .  .  Oh,"  as  his  glance  fell  on  the  coat, 

Wednesday."  flung  over  the  end  of  the  bench. 

"Oh  yes  you  have,"  Bob  answered  While  he  got  into  it  Bob  regarded 

from  the  cot.  him  silently.  He  said  suddenly: 

"Had  I?  When?"  "One    thing    you    can't    complain 

"Outdoor  chapel,  Sunday."  about's  that  tan  you  got  up  here.  Much 

"That's  right.  I  had.  I  took  them  off  as  I  hate  to  tell  you,  it's  very  becoming, 

right  after  lunch,  though."  A  great  improvement." 

"Of  course  I  wouldn't  remember  the  Alan   bowed.    "Granting   that    im- 

finer  points,"  Bob  said,  "but  one  thing  provement  was  possible,  of  course." 

I'm    sure    of — Camp    Skyles    hasn't  Bob  regarded  him  expressionlessly. 

bothered  your  tie-tying  any.  You  never  "The  awful  thing  is,  you  really  mean 

could  tie  a  tie  decently.  In  the  original  that,"  he  said. 

well-dressed  man  that's  always  struck  "Of  course  I  do,"  Alan  answered, 

me  as  odd,  sort  of."  "I'm  the  handsomest  thing  in  this  neck 

"We  temperamental  people,"  Alan  of  the  woods." 

replied,  reaching  under  the  bench  for  "And  you  mean  that  too." 

his  shoes.  "You've  got  to  make  allow-  "But  naturally,  sir.  It's  true,  isn't  it?" 

ances  for  us."  "Probably  it  is." 

As  he  drew  the  first  shoe  on  the  dis-  "Then  why  not  say  so?" 

tant  chorus  suddenly  ceased,  to  be  re-  "No  reason,  I  guess — except  of  course 

placed  almost  instantly  by  a  tumult  of  that  nobody  would  but  you." 

hand-clapping,  whistling  and  stamping,  Alan  smiled  amusedly.  "I  suppose 

and  shortly  thereafter  by  comparative  you're  right." 

quiet.  "Well,  try  it  on  Esther,"  Bob  said. 

"My  little  darlings  are  evidently  "It  ought  to  go  over  big  with  her.  You 

about  to  get  under  way,"  Alan  com-  might  tell  her  it's  just  an  old  goy 

mented.  "How  can  I  bear  to  be  away  custom." 

from  them?  I  ask  you,  Hansen,  how  Alan's  fingers  paused  in  the  process 

can  I?"  of  buttoning  the  coat,  then  went  on, 

"As  a  matter  of  fact,"  Bob  said,  "I  while    his    smile    broadened.    "You 


ALAN  41 

know,"  he  said,  "I'll  never  get  over  there  rushing  about  behind  the  scenes 

giving  thanks  I  know  you,  Hansen.  wild  with  enthusiasm,  getting  the  same 

You're  a  positive  education — all  the  sort  of  kick,  in  some  obscure  way,  that 

mass  reactions.  Why,  talking  to  you's  as  he  was  going  to  get  out  of  this  evening 

good  as  reading  a  tabloid ! "  before  him — and  both   kicks   equally 

"Seems  to  me  we've  had  that  before."  false  and  yet  honest.  Strange  fellow.  He 

"Well,  you  see,  it  never  ceases  to  be  turned  his  eyes  to  the  ceiling  and  auto- 

a  miracle  to  me.  Why,  my  boy,  you're  matically  began  scratching  his  chest.  He 

-perfect.  A  specimen,  no  less.  You  ought  hoped  the  ape  had  not  forgotten  to  put 

to  do  radio  scripts."  oil  in  the  Dodge  anyway. 

"Oh  go  to  hell." 

"Precisely  the  answer  anticipated." 

Bob  raised  himself  on  an  elbow  and  Alan  let  in  the  clutch  and  with  some- 
met  Alan's  gaze  straight  on.  They  con-  thing  less  than  the  usual  sputter  and 
tinued  thus  for  several  seconds,  Alan  fuss  the  Dodge  started  down  the  hill, 
smiling  the  superior  smile,  and  in  spite  He  steered  as  usual  with  one  hand,  his 
of  himself  Bob  felt  the  old  familiar  right  arm  resting  along  the  back  of  the 
surge  of  irritation.  They  had  known  seat,  grinning  in  recollection  of  the  sta- 
each  other  for  five  years — four  spent  in  tion  wagon  parked  clandestinely  in  the 
the  same  house  at  Lawrenceville  and  trees  behind  the  kitchen.  The  station 
one  in  a  boarding  house  on  Bank  Street  wagon  belonged  to  the  camp  director's 
in  Princeton — and  still  he  let  himself  family,  who  stayed  in  a  cottage  a  mile 
get  ruffled.  He  turned,  punched  the  pil-  or  so  down  the  lake,  and  once  or  twice 
low  behind  him,  and  let  himself  fall  each  week  it  visited  the  camp  after 
heavily  back  again.  He  was  large  and  nightfall  to  stock  up  with  provisions, 
the  ancient  cot  creaked  menacingly.  Good  old  graft,  he  thought.  The  great 

Alan  crossed  to  the  locker  and  lifted  American  sport. 

his  hat  from  the  hook.  He  slammed  the  As  he  came  out  on  the  road  and  en- 
locker  door  closed  and  settled  the  hat  tered  the  gully,  pitch-dark  between 
on  his  head.  "Well,"  he  said,  looking  high  weed-grown  banks,  he  felt  the 
about  him,  "I  guess  that  does  it.  We'll  damp  vault-like  air  separate  the  hairs 
continue  this  enlightening  discussion  on  the  back  of  his  neck  and  he  stepped 
later  when  I'll  prove  to  you  how  dumb  on  the  gas  and  shot  bumping  ahead, 
you  are."  During  the  day,  passing  through  this 

"That  will  be  swell,"  Bob  answered,  stretch  made  him  think  of  entering 

"It  will  be  something  for  you  to  look  Broadway   movie   houses   on   August 

forward  to."  afternoons,  but  at  night  there  was  some- 

At  the  door  he  turned.  "Don't  for-  thing  sinister  about  it  and  he  always 

get  to  kiss  my  kiddies  good-night  for  experienced  an  absurd  feeling  of  relief 

me,"  he  said,  and  went  whistling  on  as  he  put  it  behind  him. 

down  the  stairs.  Leaving  the  road  for  the  highway,  he 

For  several  minutes  after  he  had  slowed  down  again,  going  slower  and 
gone  Bob  lay  motionless.  From  the  slower  until  the  car  was  merely  creep- 
Recreation  Hall  sounded  an  uproar  of  ing  along.  It  was  going  to  be  a  splendid 
laughter  and  he  thought  how,  a  few  night,  he  saw.  Overhead  a  pale  moon 
weeks  ago,  Alan  would  have  been  up  was  already  showing  in  the  smoke-col- 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


ored  sky  and  there  was  an  invigorating 
snap  in  the  air,  just  enough.  He  won 
dered  what  time  it  was.  She  had  said 
any  time  after  nine  and  he  doubted 
whether  it  was  now  much  later  than 
eight-thirty,  for  the  play  had  been 
scheduled  for  eight  and  had  been  run 
ning,  he  calculated,  not  longer  than 
half  an  hour.  Then  he  thought  of  the 
conversation  with  Bob.  Good  old  Bob. 
He  was  really  fond  of  him,  he  supposed, 
tiresome  as  he  could  be  at  times — 
"dumb  but  faithful."  And  Bob,  he  felt 
sure,  was  fond  of  him  in  his  mildly  dis 
approving  way.  He  smiled  tolerantly  to 
himself.  No  doubt  many  people  won 
dered  what  he  saw  in  Bob,  but  he'd 
never  believed  in  knowing  persons  of 
one  type  only.  .  .  .  And  he  began  to 
go  over  in  his  mind  the  variety  of  types 
with  which  he  had  at  one  time  or  an 
other  been  intimate. 

After  a  while  his  thoughts  turned  to 
the  evening  before  him.  Esther  had  is 
sued  the  invitation  only  the  Tuesday 
before.  He  had  asked  her  to  the  Satur 
day  night  public  dance  at  Belmont 
Mills,  the  single  spot  about  the  lake 
where  Jews  were  welcome.  He  had  been 
a  bit  hesitant,  uncertain  as  to  how  she 
might  take  it.  But  either  she  had  not 
considered  that  angle  or  she  was  a 
talented  actress,  for  she  had  simply 
answered  equably  that  she  would  love 
to  go  but  that  her  father  was  coming  up 
from  New  York  for  the  week-end  with 
friends  and  her  mother  had  invited 
some  people  in  for  the  evening — not  a 
formal  party  by  any  means,  but  she 
would  have  to  be  there.  They  would  be 
glad  to  have  him,  Alan,  also,  however, 
if  he  cared  to  come.  She  had  given  the 
invitation  quite  casually,  just  as  if  he 
were  another  Jew  and  wouldn't  be  the 
only  Gentile  there — as  of  course  he 
would  be,  for  the  other  summer  resi 


dents  were  growing  increasingly  resent 
ful  of  the  thriving  Jewish  colony  and 
made  a  point  of  having  nothing  to  do 
with  it.  And  this  had  pleased  him; 
proved,  if  proof  were  necessary,  that  he 
actually  was  broad  and  without  bour 
geois  prejudices.  .  .  .  No  doubt,  how 
ever,  she  was  being  rather  nervous 
about  the  success  of  the  evening.  How, 
indeed,  could  she  help  it?  And  he  re 
solved  once  more  that  he  would  set 
about  putting  her  at  ease  immediately. 

She  was  a  good  sort  really,  he 
thought,  quite  intelligent — and  not  at 
all  bad-looking  either,  if  you  were  with 
out  bias  and  could  see  beauty  in  the 
physical  characteristics  of  another  race: 
something  he  was  glad  to  know  he  had 
never  had  any  difficulty  in  doing.  Which 
reminded  him  of  Bob's  almost  violent 
reaction  when,  several  years  ago,  he  had 
raved  for  days  about  a  Negress  he  had 
met  on  a  party  he  had  managed  to  join 
in  a  Harlem  speakeasy.  He  chuckled 
aloud  in  recollection.  She  had  been 
damn  good-looking  too,  for  a  Negress ; 
could  have  passed  for  Spanish  any 
where. 

But  to  get  back  to  Esther,  she  was 
really  a  bit  of  all  right.  He  liked  her. 
Yes,  honestly  liked  her:  he'd  admit  it 
to  any  one.  And  what  a  kick  (though  I 
says  it,  he  thought,  as  maybe  shouldn't) 
she  must  be  getting  out  of  all  this  at 
tention  from  him.  Possibly,  living  all 
her  life  in  New  York,  as  she  had,  and 
getting  away  only  to  places  like  this,  she 
had  never  before  known  a  Gentile  so 
well.  He  only  hoped  she  would  not  be 
come  too  serious  about  him — though,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  why  shouldn't  she? 
And,  for  that  matter,  why  shouldn't  he? 
This  wasn't  the  Seventeenth  Century, 
after  all,  or  Nazi  Germany. 

For  several  miles  he  played  with  that 
idea,  examining  it  from  every  liberal 


ALAN  43 

side,  and  then  his  mind  turned  back  to  me  some  last  winter,  during  your  New 

the  first  time  he  had  seen  her — sitting  Year — was  it? — and  I've  been  wanting 

alone  on  the  miniature  dock  in  front  of  more  ever  since." — Something  like  that, 

her    cottage    dangling    her    straight  only  polished  up  a  bit  of  course.  It 

smooth  legs,  copper-colored  in  contrast  wouldn't  matter  that  the  Jewish  school 

with  the  white  of  her  swimming  suit,  friend  would  have  to  be  purely  imagi- 

in  the  water  and  letting  her  almost  nary.  ...  As  a  matter  of  fact,  how- 

breathtakingly  abundant  black  hair  dry  ever,  it  ought  to  be  unnecessary  for  him 

glistening  in  the  sun.  What  a  body !  he'd  to  have  to  say  anything.  His  behavior 

thought,  and  on  the  impulse  had  rested  toward  her  must  have  told  her  by  now, 

his  oars  and  spoken  to  her:  "Hello."  and  his  acceptance  of  the  present  invita- 

"Hello,"   she'd  answered.  And  then  tion  especially.  Why,  there  wasn't  an- 

they  both  had  laughed  and  he  had  other  Gentile  on  the  lake  who  would 

headed  the  boat  in  toward  the  pier.  Fif-  have  been  caught  dead  at  a  party  given 

teen  minutes  later  they  had  been  deep  in  the  Jewish  colony!   .  .  .  But  per- 

in  an  argument  about  Ernest  Heming-  haps  that  was  it !  Perhaps  she  had  asked 

way  and  an  hour  after  that,  as  she  had  him  as  a  sort  of  final  test.  Now  that 

prepared  to  go  in,  he  had  made  a  tenta-  that  had  occurred  to  him  he  was  almost 

tive  swimming  date  for  the  following  sure  of  it.  He  felt  a  sudden  thrill  of 

morning — which  she  had  kept  so  that  anticipation.  Well  if  it  was,  he'd  show 

he  had  made  another  and  then  another  j  her.    "Who    is    that    charming    boy, 

and  now  he  was  going  to  her  home.  Esther,  and  tell  me,  is  he  Jewish?  He 

The  thing  he  kept  remembering,  doesn't  look  Jewish.  .  .  ." 
however,  was  a  little  incident  that  had  Suddenly  the  Dodge  began  to  rattle 
taken  place  the  third  time  he  had  seen  and  he  reached  down  quickly  and 
her.  They  had  been  sunning  themselves  changed  gears,  seeing  that  he  was  start- 
on  the  pier  when  a  child  belonging  some-  ing  up  Pine  Mountain.  Not  much 
where  in  the  Jewish  colony  had  passed  longer  for  the  old  boat,  he  thought, 
in  a  canoe  and  called  to  Esther.  She  had  Probably  Bob  would  agree  to  leave  it 
laughed  as  the  canoe  passed  out  of  hear-  here  when  they  went  back.  Then  the 
ing  and  said:  "What  a  terrible  voice!  lake  appeared  again,  a  vast  dark  mass 
But  of  course  it's  mean  to  laugh,  since  which  shortly  would  be  shimmering  in 
there's  nothing  she'll  ever  be  able  to  do  the  light  of  a  three-quarters  full  moon, 
about  it:  it's  simply  racial."  It  was  the  and  along  the  edge  of  the  lake,  just  be- 
one  reference  which  had  so  far  been  low  him,  there  now  shone  a  little  cluster 
made  between  them  to  The  Question  of  lights — Stratford  Landing,  one  of 
and  he  had  been  wishing  ever  since  that  the  finest  situations  on  the  lake.  Trust 
he  had  seized  the  opportunity  to  make  the  Jews  every  time,  he  thought,  and 
his  position  clear.  Since  then  he  had  been  fed  more  gas. 

on  the  alert  for  other  openings  but  she  Seven  minutes  later  he  was  entering 

had  never  given  him  one  and  he  sup-  the  wooded  driveway  which  led  to 

posed  he  would  soon  have  to  take  the  Esther's  house  and  shortly  thereafter 

bull  by  the  horns  and  make  one  himself,  he  saw  Esther  herself,  standing  on  the 

"By  the  way,  is  there  anywhere  around  porch  with  a  man.  She  looked  down  as 

where  I  could  get  some  unleavened  he  appeared  on  the  circle  and  waved  to 

bread?  One  of  my  friends  at  school  gave  him,  motioning  him  to  go  on  around 


44 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


and  park  at  the  side  of  the  house  in  a 
space  where,  he  observed  now,  stood 
other  cars  of  various  expensive  makes. 
He  was  surprised  at  how  eager  he  was 
to  have  the  evening  begin. 

in 

She  came  halfway  down  the  steps  to 
meet  him.  She  was  wearing  a  simply 
made,  close-fitting  gown  of  some  pe 
culiar  shade  of  red  and  her  hair  was 
arranged  in  two  tight  glistening  coils 
which  covered  her  ears  and  formed  a 
kind  of  exotic  cap.  Waiting  in  the  pool 
of  light  from  the  doorway  above  she 
achieved  an  effect  that  was  almost 
dramatic. 

As  he  approached  she  smiled  her  slow 
smile — smiling  more  with  her  eyes  than 
with  her  lips,  like  an  Oriental — and  said : 

"So  here  you  are.  I've  been  on  the 
look-out  for  you." 

"Not  late,  am  I?"  he  asked  in  pre 
tended  anxiety. 

She  dismissed  the  question  with  a 
toss  of  the  head.  "Of  course  not.  There 
wasn't  any  special  hour." 

He  stopped  below  her,  smiling  into 
her  eyes  and  thinking  again,  or  rather 
continuing  to  think,  how  beautiful  she 
was — really  beautiful. 

An  instant  later  he  was  telling  her  so. 
"You  know,  you're  looking  very  ele 
gant  tonight." 

She  bobbed  her  head  in  mock  grati 
tude.  "Thank  you.  The  dress  is  moth 
er's  contribution,  if  that's  what  you 
mean.  I  wasn't  at  all  sure  about  this 
particular  red  but  I  seem  to  be  getting 
away  with  it." 

"You're  doing  a  bit  better  than  that," 
he  answered. 

For  a  moment,  surprisingly,  the 
smile  vanished  and  she  regarded  him 
oddly.  Then  she  laughed  and  said,  turn 
ing  away: 


"Come  along.  I'm  a  working  girl  to 
night,  you  know — just  took  a  little  time 
out  for  a  cigarette." 

"But  you  just  now  told  me  you  were 
watching  for  me ! " 

"Well,  I  was  doing  that  too.  Now 
come  along.  Don't  argue." 

He  reached  for  her  hand  but  she  had 
already  started  back  up  the  steps.  There 
was  nothing  to  do  but  follow.  But  as  he 
dropped  his  hand  to  his  side  he  grinned 
significantly.  Just  you  wait,  young 
woman,  he  said  silently — just  you  wait. 
For  in  the  past  few  minutes  he  had 
reached  a  decision. 

They  crossed  the  porch  to  the  open 
door  just  inside  of  which  a  colored  but 
ler  was  standing.  So  they  kept  a  butler. 
For  some  reason  he  was  amused.  She 
walked  into  the  dimly  lit  hall  and  he 
trailed  after  her,  glancing  surrepti 
tiously  about  him.  There  was  disap 
pointingly  little  to  see:  against  the 
farther  wall  a  small  early  American 
table  holding  a  bowl  of  roses,  above  it 
a  mirror,  and  on  the  nearer  wall  an  oil 
painting,  a  landscape,  in  no  way  spec 
tacular  but  obviously  good. 

When  they  arrived  at  a  second  door 
way,  from  which  came  the  sound  of 
voices,  she  paused  and  said: 

"Nearly  every  one's  already  here. 
Do  you  want  me  to  take  you  the  rounds 
or  introduce  you  to  a  few  and  let  you 
circulate?" 

Alan  hesitated  an  instant.  Which 
would  she  prefer  that  he  did?  Perhaps 
there  were  some  people  present  whom 
she  would  rather  he  didn't  meet.  "The 
few  by  all  means,"  he  said.  "I'm  really 
a  swell  circulator.  Don't  make  me  feel 
like  a  visiting  duke." 

She  looked  at  him  and  he  felt  him 
self  flush.  What  a  stupid  thing  to  have 
said!  But  she  only  remarked:  "Which 
ever  you  please,"  and  moved  on. 


ALAN  45 

He  found  himself  entering  a  large  He  wondered  whether  he  was  expected 

room,  rather  too  brilliantly  lighted,  full  to  join  them.  But  doubtless  she  would 

of  cretonne-covered  furniture,  flowers  return  in  a  moment.  He  became  con- 

and  people.  She  led  him  at  once  to  a  scious  that  Dwarf-size  was  staring  at 

group  standing  nearest  the  door.  He  him.  When  he  faced  round,  meeting  her 

had  time  to  notice  a  tiny,  almost  dwarf-  gaze,  she  said: 

sized  woman  with  astonishing  lemon-  "Been  here  all  season,  Mr.  Whitaker, 

colored  hair,  around  whom  the  group  or  did  you  come  up  with  Sol?" 

seemed  to  be  formed,  before  the  intro-  Sol!  That  must  be  her  father's  name, 

ductions  began.  "This  is  Mr.  Whitaker,  Good  God,  he  thought.  And  then: 

all  of  you.  Alan,  this  is" — and  the  names  Well,  after  all,  why  not?  He  smiled 

came   crashing   into   his   ears.    "Miss  and  said: 

Hotzman,  Mrs.  Baumann,  Miss  Zwei-  "I've  been  here  since  June.  I'm  one 

sig,  Mr.  Sondheim,  Mr.  Goetz.  .  .  ."  of  the  governesses  over  at  Camp  Skyles, 

Every  one  bowed  and  the  two  young  you  know." 

men  shook  hands  with  him.  The  little  She  did  not  notice  his  joke.  Not,  he 
bleached  woman  who  had  been  speaking  admitted,  that  it  was  so  awfully  funny, 
when  they  came  up  nodded  briefly  and  "Camp  Skyles? "  she  said.  "Is  that  some- 
went  on.  "To  me,"  she  was  saying,  "he  where  around  here?" 
suggests  unlimited  talent,  really  in  the  He  felt  his  smile  stiffen.  "It's  a  boys' 
strictest  sense  genius.  The  most  prom-  camp  run  by  a  master  from  my  former 
ising  alive,  I  think — though  I  grant  you  school,  Lawrenceville,  over  near  North- 
this  last  book  is  disappointing  after  the  port."  He  stressed  Lawrenceville  and 
others."  was  rewarded  by  feeling  the  whole 

"Some  one  told  me  he  doesn't  think  group's  attention  rivet  upon  him.  He 

so  well  of  The  Orators  himself  any  guessed  that  would  hold  her. 

longer,"  one  of  the  other  women  put  But  whether  it  would  or  not  he  had 

in.  "Was  that  you,  Sam?"  no  chance  to  discover,  for  the  moment 

"Not  I,"  Sam  said.  was  summarily  shattered  by  the  sudden 

"Well,  it  was  some  one ;  or  perhaps  I  approach  of  a  large  waddling  bald  man, 

read  it  somewhere."  flat-footed  and  absurdly  hook-nosed — a 

"I'm  not  surprised,"  Dwarf-size  re-  veritable  caricature — whose  name,  from 

marked.  "But  he'll  like  it  again  later,  the  cries  of  greeting  which  instantly 

Somebody  said  of  it  that  it's  a  book  went  up,  appeared  to  be  Julius.  "Hello, 

poets  twenty  years  from  now  will  be  Julius" — "  'Evening,  Julius" — "How's 

reading.   I  agree  with  that  estimate  the  boy,  Julius" — "Haven't  seen  you 

perfectly."  since  the  Morning  In  May  opening, 

The   young    man    beside    him    ex-  Julius" — this  last  from  the  young  man, 

plained :  "We've  been  talking  about  W.  Sam  Sondheim,  who  had  first  spoken  to 

H.  Auden,  the  young  English  poet."  Alan.  No  one  bothered  to  present  him 

"Oh,  yes,"  Alan  nodded,  wondering  and  Julius  said: 

who  Auden  was.  Some  Jew  writer,  he  "That  was  a  show.  I  had  six  seats  for 

supposed.  No  telling  by  names  nowa-  that  opening  and  it  hurts  me  to  say  they 

days.  Must  look  him  up  sometime.  He  cost  me  twelve  bucks  per.  It  was  worth 

turned  toward  Esther  as  she  was  taken  it,  though — if  any  show  is." 

in  tow  by  a  cruising  middle-aged  pair,  "Oh,  do  you  think  so?"  Dwarf-size 


46 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


said.  "I  was  disappointed.  Anna's  set 
tings  were  nice,  though." 

"For  myself,  I  had  a  better  time  at 
the  Ritz  afterward,"  one  of  the  other 
women  said.  "Julius  here  did  it  up 
brown,  you  know,  and  afterward  we 
went  on  to  Michener's.  It  was  one  swell 
party — and  I'd  say  it  even  if  you  weren't 
here,  Julius." 

"I'll  bet  it  was,"  the  second  young 
man  said. 

This  was  more  like  it,  Alan  thought. 
This  was  the  sort  of  thing  he  had  ex 
pected.  He  set  himself  to  listening  care 
fully,  but  just  then  Sondheim  said 
something  about  Untermeyer  and  the 
conversation  veered  off  to  Germany. 

And  then  suddenly  Esther  was  be 
side  him  again.  "I  want  you  to  meet 
mother,"  she  said,  nodding  vaguely  be 
hind  him.  "She's  sitting  alone  over 
there  on  the  divan." 

"That's  fine,"  Alan  answered.  "I've 
been  wanting  to  meet  your  family." 

"Well,  come  ahead,"  Esther  said. 
"Or  could  you  do  with  a  drink  first? 
There's  some  sort  of  punch  I  haven't 
tasted  and  champagne." 

"Sounds  grand,"  Alan  said,  "but  I'll 
wait  until  after  I've  met  your  mother." 

"Just  as  you  say." 

She  led  him  across  the  room,  thread 
ing  a  way  through  various  groups,  to 
bring  up  at  last  before  a  massive  divan 
upon  which  in  solitary  splendor  a  plump 
white-haired  woman  with  dark,  in 
tensely  living  eyes  and  a  dry  cracked 
skin  the  color  of  leather  was  seated.  She 
had  observed  their  approach  when  they 
were  still  some  distance  away  and  when 
they  stopped  before  her  she  put  out  her 
hand  without  waiting  for  Esther  to 
speak.  "So  this  is  Mr.  Whitaker,  is  it?" 
she  said  as  Alan  pressed  it,  and  with  her 
free  hand  indicated  a  place  beside  her. 
"Do  sit  down,  if  you  can  spare  a  mo 


ment  for  an  ugly  old  woman  who  no 
longer  even  tries  to  keep  up.  You  too, 
Esther.  I've  been  watching  you  and  you 
haven't  once  sat  down  all  evening." 

They  took  their  places  to  left  and 
right  of  her,  Alan  thinking  amusedly 
that  Esther  and  he  must  be  resembling 
an  engaged  pair — family  group.  She 
continued: 

"I've  just  been  lazing  here.  There 
was  a  day  when  I  was  as  energetic  as 
Esther,  but  now  I'm  content  to  sit  quiet 
and  look  on.  My  guests  must  come  to 
me  and  if  they  can't  amuse  themselves 
with  what's  before  them — well  they 
may  blame  me,  if  they  like." 

Alan  smiled  his  most  charming  smile. 
"I  think  it's  much  nicer  that  way,"  he 
said.  "Every  one  has  a  better  time."  He 
considered  mentioning  those  profes 
sional  hostesses  who  had  made  such 
nuisances  of  themselves  at  debutante 
parties  a  few  years  back.  But  before  he 
could  decide  whether  the  allusion 
would  be  tactful  or  not  Esther  said: 

"Oh,  dear.  There's  Sam  paging  me 
again."  She  rose.  "I'll  be  back  just  as 
soon  as  I  find  what  he  wants." 

Mrs.  Goldman  and  Alan  were  silent, 
watching  her  progress  across  the  room. 
Again  Alan  thought:  how  lovely  she  is! 
He  said: 

"I  want  to  tell  you  how  nice  I  think 
it  was  of  you  to  let  me  come,  Mrs.  Gold 


man. 


She  laughed  lightly.  "I'm  awfully 
glad  you  did  come,  though  of  course 
it's  Esther's  party  really.  My  idea,  that 
is,  but  Esther's  application.  I  thought  it 
would  be  pleasant  for  Mr.  Goldman 
and  now  this  evening  he  isn't  feeling 
any  too  well  and  hasn't  come  down." 

"I'm  so  sorry,"  Alan  said.  "I  had 
looked  forward  to  meeting  Esther's 
father."  He  wondered  why  Esther  had 
not  mentioned  to  him  that  her  father 


ALAN 


47 


was  ill.  It  occurred  to  him  that  Esther 
had  really  talked  very  little  about  her 
self  and  her  affairs  during  their  several 
meetings. 

Mrs.  Goldman  regarded  him  specu- 
latively  for  a  moment,  then  said: 

"Well,  there  will  be  other  oppor 
tunities,  of  course.  You  must  come  to  see 
us — less  formally,  shall  I  say? — some 
time  soon  again." 

He  smiled.  "You  will  probably  be 
seeing  more  of  me  than  you  care  to," 
he  said.  "I've  grown  most  awfully  fond 
of  Esther  the  short  time  I've  known 
her.  We've  had  some  marvelous  talks." 

"Esther's  a  splendid  girl,"  Mrs. 
Goldman  remarked. 

"She  is,"  he  agreed. 

"And  a  splendid  daughter,"  Mrs. 
Goldman  added.  "That's  not  quite  so 
usual  as  it  once  was,  I  realize,  and  I 
flatter  myself  that  I  am  wise  enough  to 
value  her." 

Alan  nodded  soberly,  suppressing  a 
chuckle.  This  was  coming  just  a  little 
too  close  to  suggesting  Alert  Mother 
and  Eligible  Young  Man. 

"Yes,  a  splendid  girl,"  Mrs.  Goldman 
went  on.  "We're  going  to  miss  her  ter 
ribly,  her  father  and  I.  But  Sam  is  a 
splendid  boy  also.  We've  known  him  all 
his  life.  His  mother  and  I  are  friends. 
Esther  and  he  played  together  as  chil 
dren.  ...  So  it's  not  as  if  we  are  actu 
ally  losing  her." 

For  a  moment  Alan  sat  rigid.  His 
ears  had  recorded  each  word  of  Mrs. 
Goldman's  speech  and  after  she  had  fin 
ished  he  experienced  a  curious  sensation, 
as  if  it  were  being  played  back  to  him. 
He  felt  nothing.  It  was  as  if  he  were 
standing  outside  himself,  looking  on. 
.  .  .  And  then  suddenly  he  was  angry, 
deeply,  crazily  angry.  Why,  the  god 
dam  kike,  the  damn  dirty  kike.  .  .  .  He 
began  to  realize  that  Mrs.  Goldman  was 


staring  at  him,  that  he  was  flushing,  that 
his  face  must  be  telling  her  everything. 

And  then  he  looked  up  and  saw  that 
Esther  and  Sondheim  were  coming  to 
ward  them  and  he  felt  himself  go  cold, 
waiting  for  them.  They  were  standing 
above  him.  He  raised  his  eyes  and  saw 
Esther  more  clearly  than  he  had  ever 
seen  her  before,  as  though  the  rest  of 
the  room  were  in  darkness  and  a  white 
light  was  playing  upon  her. 

He  stood  up,  facing  her.  "Your 
mother  and  I  have  been  getting  on 
famously,"  he  heard  himself  say.  "Just 
one  more  reason  to  make  me  sorry  I 
made  the  date  I  unfortunately  did  make 
to  dance  tonight  over  at  the  Rock  Lake 
Inn."  That  for  you,  his  tone  said — the 
Rock  Lake  Inn,  you  kikes  and  your 
filthy  ghetto!  And  he  saw  that  he  had 
made  himself  understood. 

He  bent  down  and  shook  hands  with 
Mrs.  Goldman.  He  smiled  at  Sondheim 
and  Esther.  Then  he  turned  on  his  heel 
and  left  them,  trying  to  remember  how 
Esther  had  looked,  whether  she  had 
said  anything.  .  .  . 

Once  outside  the  house  he  ran  for  the 
Dodge y  jumped  in ;  banged  shut  the 
door.  Deliberately  he  backed  on  to  the 
lawn  and  into  a  large  flowering  shrub  of 
some  sort,  hearing  the  crunch  of  twigs 
with  pleasure.  Then  he  pressed  down 
on  the  gas  and  the  Dodge  leaped  ahead, 
narrowly  missing  a  second  bush  as  he 
swung  into  the  drive.  The  sight  of  his 
cold  eyes  in  the  mirror  pleased  him. 


IV 


It  had  been  a  long,  noisy  evening  but 
within  the  last  half  hour  the  kids  had 
been  quieting  down  and  Bob  was  begin 
ning  to  think  of  turning  in.  He  closed 
the  book,  a  treatise  on  the  herpetology 
of  southern  New  England,  stretched 
yawning,  slid  back  his  chair  and  was 


48  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

about  to  rise  when  footsteps  sounded  on  "Thanks,"    Bob   said,   and   waited, 

the  porch  outside.  And  finally  it  came.  "The  fact  is  ... 

He  turned  as  the  screen  door  opened  You're  going  to  have  a  hard  time  get- 

and  shut,  finding  himself  staring  at  ting  it  5  I've  had  myself  ...  I  kept 

Alan.  thinking  about  the  show  back  here. 

"Well,  well,"  he  said  after  a  moment.  Couldn't  get  it  out  of  my  mind.  I  must 

"What's  the  meaning  of  this?   They  be  getting  foolish  or  something  .  .  . 

didn't  throw  you  out,  did  they?"  How  did  the  thing  go  anyhow?" 

Alan  grinned  and  came  on  into  the  For  perhaps  forty  seconds  Bob  sim- 

room.  He  walked  to  the  cupboard  and  ply  looked  at  him.  Thoughtfully  he 

pulling  open  the  doors,  said  casually:  lifted  the  glasses  from  his  ears  and 

"Sure.  How  did  you  know?   I  got  thoughtfully  polished  them  on  a  tail  of 

caught  trying  to  kiss  the  butler."  his  shirt.  Then  he  looked  up  again, 

Very  deliberately  he  took  down  a  tin  bringing  Alan's   reddening   face  into 

and  began  working  his  fingers  around  focus. 

under  the  lid.  "As  a  matter  of  fact,"  he  Well,  he  thought  finally,  he  believes 

said,  "it  was  a  very  amusing  evening,  it  himself  anyhow — now.  He  said: 

Even  you  would  have  appreciated  some  "You  needn't  have  worried.  They  say 

of  it."  it  went  off  perfectly." 


The  Nazis  Meet  Some  Obstacles 

BY  GEORGE  GERHARD 

The  carefree  theorists  of  earlier  years  discover  that  financial 

problems  refuse,  after  all,  to  be  waved  aside 

THERE  was  a  time  when  the  Nazi  ment  which  can  succeed  only  if  the  big 

sky  hung  full  of  promises.  That  landed  estates  are  divided  among  the 

was  the  time  when  Hitler  regis-  millions  of  unemployed,  as  was  prom- 

tered  the  largest  gains  in  his  member-  ised  in  former  years.  But  though  some 

ship  drive  j  when  the  swastika  banner  of  the  higher  voices  have  come  out  time 

emerged  from  the  Bierkellers  of  Mu-  and  again  with  the  insistent  demand 

nich  first  to  confound  and  then  to  sweep  that  the  land-owners  must  make  place 

the  whole  nation.  Promises  and  slogans  for  the  mute  and  miserable,  the  Gov- 

are  as  a  rule  the  backbone  of  any  po-  ernment  itself  has  done  nothing  to 

litical  campaign,  and  as  such  one  is  wise  divide  the  estates — with  the  result  that 

not  to  take  them  with  the  tablespoon  of  the  Junkers  are  still  holding  the  heri- 

unlimited  confidence  but  with  the  tea-  tage  of  their  forefathers.  Obviously, 

spoon  of  critical  doubt.  Many  of  course  they   are   still   powerful   behind   the 

predicted  that  Hitler,  back  in   1931,  scenes,  as  they  were  300  years  ago,  and 

would  soon  find  out  the  difference  be-  know  how  to  prevent  the  division  of 

tween  carefree  political  campaigning,  valuable  properties.  It  may  be  taken 

where  theory  can  fly  as  freely  as  the  for  granted  that  the  Junkers  also  know 

swallow  over  the  fields  and  forests,  and  just  how  much  the  Government  has  to 

the  hard,  practical  and  tremendously  rely  on  their  wealth  and  generosity  to 

troublesome  business  of  politics,  once  swell  the  party  fund,  the  armament 

he  was  in  power.  The  discovery,  they  fund,  the  propaganda  fund  and  various 

said,  might  shortly  be  followed  by  his  other  funds. 

downfall.  Another  important  item  in  the  Nazi 

To  be  sure,  he  still  is  in  the  saddle  leaflet  of  campaign  promises  was  the 

— and  may  be  there  for  a  long  time  yet.  planned  overthrow  of  big  business  in 

But  the  Nazi  sky  has  lowered  its  clouds,  favor  of  the  small  man.  However  (and 

In  several  fundamental  ways  the  cam-  luckily  for  the  Government),  German 

paign  pledges  have  not  been  realized,  heavy    industry    in    and   around    the 

Take  the  "tyranny  of  interest"  which  Rhineland  seems  more  securely  placed 

was  to  be  abolished.  Instead,  the  war  now  than  at  any  other  time  since  the 

against  the  bankers  has  been  called  off.  days  of  Versailles.  Not  only  is  there  no 

Then  there  is  the  back-to-the-land  move-  talk  of  the  abolition  of  big  business,  but 


50  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

the  present  boom — for  which  arma-  flict  to  prove  this  fundamental  Nazi 
ments  are  said  to  be  very  largely  re-  theory,  and  while  they  are  to  all  ap- 
sponsible — should  make  for  a  bigger,  pearances  arming  for  just  such  a  pur- 
better  and  bolder  "big  business."  pose  (though  they  swear  to  the  con 
trary) — the  signs  are  that  their  effort 
can  not  succeed.  Politically  the  chances 

These  are  a  few  of  the  flaws  in  the  are  all  against  it :  first,  because  Germany 
realization  of  campaign  pledges.  Many  is  the  geographical  center  of  Europe, 
more  could  be  added,  the  cry  for  abso-  and  to  create  an  island  of  primary  racial 
lute  and  outright  self-dependence,  the  purity,  one  would  have  to  disprove  the 
cry  for  the  return  of  the  minorities,  lessons  of  5,OOO  years  of  history ;  sec- 
cancelation  of  the  Versailles  Treaty,  the  ond,  because  the  Nazis  themselves  have 
colonies  and  the  like.  Little  is  heard  of  late  been  busy  making  trade  treaties 
about  these  demands  which,  when  first  with  most  of  their  smaller  neighbors, 
proclaimed  by  Hitler  and  his  lieuten-  such  as  Switzerland,  Poland,  Yugo- 
ants,  made  the  world  shudder  at  the  slavia,  Denmark,  Finland,  Czechoslo- 
mere  thought  of  a  Nazi  Government  at  vakia,  Hungary,  Rumania;  third,  be 
any  future  time.  Is  it  that  the  German  cause  the  structure  of  the  country  is 
Fascists  were  not  serious?  unsuited,  and  has  always  been,  to  the 

It  is  this  writer's  opinion  that  the  principle  of  autarchy. 
Nazis  were  never  more  serious.  The  Germany  is  the  manufacturing  coun- 
core  of  their  success  story  probably  lies  try  u/par  excellence"  A  large  part  of 
in  their  tremendous  faith  in  themselves.  German  industry  has  been  built,  and 
At  any  rate,  it  was  apparent  that  any  one  could  have  been  built,  only  on  the 
who  promised  so  drastic  a  change  as  the  strength  of  sales  possibilities  abroad, 
resurrection  of  the  German  nation  had  Cut  off  the  foreign  outlets  and  you 
to  start  from  very  unconventional  undermine  the  most  important  sectors 
premises.  And  they  did.  The  War  left  of  the  industry.  Looking  at  it  from  the 
Germany  in  chains,  political  and  espe-  other  side,  the  markets  of  the  world 
dally  economic.  The  Nazis  promised  furnish  Germany  with  raw  materials 
freedom  on  both  counts.  But  foreign  without  which  the  wheels  of  industry 
nations  controlled  (or  held  down)  the  would  come  to  a  sudden  stop.  The  fun- 
development  and  return  to  more  nor-  damental  economic  problem  of  Ger- 
mal  conditions.  So  the  Nazis  launched  many,  then,  is  to  provide  work  for 
the  theory  of  the  Teutonic  race,  upon  millions  of  people  by  keeping  the  in- 
which  to  build  and  preach  the  ideal  of  dustrial  machinery  well  oiled  with 
"autarchy,"  that  is,  absolute  self-suffi-  orders,  and,  furthermore,  to  provide 
ciency  in  every  respect.  On  this  basis  the  funds  with  which  to  finance  the 
they  could  simply  ignore  the  Treaty  of  purchase  of  raw  materials — and  this 
Versailles,  could  withdraw  from  the  fundamental  problem  has  nothing 
League  of  Nations,  could  arm  to  their  whatever  to  do  with  the  sort  of  regime 
hearts'  content  and  could  behave  as  if  that  steers  the  Ship  of  State,  be  it  Nazi 
there  were  no  other  nations  around.  or  Communist,  Monarchist  or  Repub- 

In  this  they  have  erred  seriously,  lican. 

And  while  the  Nazis  may  be  willing  to  In   spite    of   all   the    Nazi    efforts 

go  through  the  terrors  of  armed  con-  throughout  the  past  year  to  make  the 


THE  NAZIS  MEET  SOME  OBSTACLES                    51 

country  self-dependent,  they  could  not  solution  of  this  clash  on  economic 
change  the  fact  that,  with  a  total  value  grounds.  In  a  style  all  their  own,  they 
of  production  amounting  to  approxi-  have  tried  to  cut  the  Gordian  knot  of 
mately  forty  billion  marks,  the  raw  raw  material  problems  by  simply  re- 
materials  thus  manufactured,  domestic  stricting  imports.  The  latest  decree 
or  foreign,  ran  to  fifteen  per  cent,  or  issued  in  the  first  days  of  May  stipu- 
about  six  billion  marks,  of  which  nearly  lates  that  the  allotments  of  foreign 
fifty  per  cent  came  from  abroad.  The  exchange  to  German  importers  for  that 
statement  does  not  seem  exaggerated  month  are  further  cut,  to  twenty-five 
that  no  country  which  is  predominantly  per  cent  of  their  original  requirements, 
industrial  and  which  depends  for  almost  which  compares  with  thirty-five  per 
half  of  its  raw  material  needs  upon  cent  for  April,  and  with  forty-five  per 
foreign  countries  can  ever  hope  to  at-  cent  for  March.  It  will  be  seen  from 
tain  economic  self-sufficiency.  One  may  the  above  that  Germany  can  not  take 
well  go  a  step  further  and  say  that,  such  a  step  without  serious  repercus- 
aside  from  the  very  dependence  upon  sions  at  home.  Her  industrial  produc- 
the  world  for  raw  materials,  the  changes  tion  is  bound  to  suffer  and,  with  it, 
of  world  market  prices  must  exert  a  employment.  If  radical  import  restric- 
definite  influence  upon  the  German  tions  were  decided  upon,  nevertheless, 
economy.  If  copper  jumps  from  twenty-  it  could  be  for  only  one  reason:  that 
eight  pounds  six  in  December,  1932,  to  there  were  no  funds  with  which  to  pay 
over  thirty-three  pounds  at  the  time  I  for  imports  above  twenty-five  per  cent 
am  writing,  or  cotton  from  7.2  cents  to  of  original  requirements.  The  economic 
over  fourteen  cents  (quoted  at  Bre-  problem  thus  narrows  down  to  financial 
men),  or  rubber  from  2.4  pence  a  considerations. 

pound  to  around  six  pence,  it  can  be  The  wealth  of  the  country  consists 

imagined  how  difficult  it  is  for  Germany  principally  of  resources  which  can  not 

to  pay  prices  twice  as  high  as  they  were  be   liquidated   into   readily   available 

eighteen  months  ago  when  the  task  of  funds,  resources  such  as  forests  and 

providing  funds  for  raw  material  pur-  agricultural  land,  mines  and  buildings, 

chases  proved  already  a  trying  one.  The  machinery  and  highways  and  furnish- 

difficulties  are  aggravated  when,  as  in  ings.  The  wealth  abroad  may  be  fig- 

this  case,  the  higher  prices  affect  such  ured  as  one  liquid  asset,  and  the  gold 

primary  materials  as  rubber,  cotton  and  stock  as  another.  The  wealth  abroad  is 

copper  which  are  absolutely  indispen-  estimated  at  various  billions  of  marks  5 

sable— particularly  when   a  powerful  most  of  it  "flew"  from  Germany,  and 

industrial  nation  decides  to  produce  there  is  no  sure  way  of  getting  it  back, 

armaments.  There  remains  the  gold  stock,  which  in 

the  first  three  months  of  the  current 

111  year  has  been  reduced  by  RM  145,- 

A  definite  solution  of  the  clash  be-  000,000,  as  compared  with  a  loss  of 

tween   the   purely   Teutonized   Nazi  RM  450,000,000  over  the  whole  of  last 

theories  and  grim  -political  realities  may  year.  What  is  worse,  the  Reichsbank 

be  postponed  (till  the  next  war).  But  continues  to  lose  gold,  so  much  in  fact 

there  is  evidence  that  the  Nazis  have  ar-  that  the  note  coverage  which,  according 

rived  at  the  crossroads  regarding  the  to  the  law,  should  be  around  thirty-five 


52  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

per  cent  has  dropped  almost  to  five  per  exports.  The  long-cherished  plan  of 

cent.  The  gold  standard  in  Germany  autarchy  collapses  when  the  Nazis  stop 

has  become  a  shaky  promise.  The  mean-  to  pick  up  the  trend  of  foreign  policy 

ing  behind  the  outflow  of  gold  is  that  where  the  Governments  of  Bruening, 

Germany  can  not  earn  in  exports  what  Schleicher  and  von  Papen  left  it.  But 

she  requires  for  the  purchase  of  im-  where  Hitler's  predecessors  were  suc- 

ports.  cessful  to  a  certain  extent  in  increasing 

And  this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  up  exports,  the   new  regime   encounters 

to  now  Germany  has  been  able  to  sell  difficulties.  It  is  now,  in  the  words  of 

more  goods  than  she  had  to  buy,  and  Dr.    Schacht    (and    everybody    who 

thus  to  obtain  an  export  surplus.  Last  studies  world  market  conditions  will 

year,  her  exports  totaled  4,870,000,000  agree  with  him),  three  times  as  difficult 

marks,    and    imports    4,200,000,000,  to  sell  in  foreign  markets  as  it  was  four 

leaving  an  export  surplus  of  670,000,-  or  five  years  ago. 
OOO  marks.  Out  of  this  surplus,  the         There  is  for  one  thing  the  deprecia- 

Reichsbank  is  supposed  to  strengthen  its  tion  of  foreign,  that  is,  non-German 

gold  reserve,  to  build  up  capital,  to  buy  currencies,   the   dollar,   the  yen,   the 

more  raw  materials  in  order  to  sell  Czechoslovakian  crown  and  others.  One 

more  finished  products  to  the  outside  has  only  to  look  at  their  export  gains  to 

world.  Instead  of  doing  all  this,  she  measure  and  to  appreciate  the  advan- 

had  to  add  to  this  surplus,  and  pay  the  tage   of  currency  depreciation.   Then 

interest  service  on  her  foreign  debt;  there  is  the  anti-German  sentiment  as 

hence  the  outflow  of  gold.  expressed  through  the  wide-spread  boy- 

The  amount  required  in  foreign  ex-  cott  movement.  Finally,  the  rising  tide 
change  to  meet  the  full  service  on  for-  of  import  restrictions,  quota  systems 
eign  debts  in  1934  is  RM  1,210,000,-  and  tariffs  is  a  mighty  handicap  for 
OOO.  The  negotiations  between  Dr.  German  goods  on  the  world  market. 
Schacht  and  the  foreign  creditors  now  The  nationalist  trend  has  affected  most 
going  on  in  Berlin  may  bring  some  countries,  and  especially  the  larger  ones, 
changes  in  the  manner  in  which  the  Germany  feels  the  effect  of  the  very 
interest  service  on  the  loans  is  being  same  measures  which  she  has  thought 
met.  However,  they  can  hardly  change  wise  to  introduce  for  the  German  good, 
the  fact  that  Germany's  exports  are  for  instance,  tariff  protection  for  her 
either  too  small,  or  the  imports  too  own  farmers,  import  quotas  for  the  sake 
large,  to  finance  both  the  raw  material  of  tariff  bargaining,  extreme  national- 
needs  and  the  foreign  debt  service.  ism  and  so  on. 

The  Nazi  way  of  meeting  the  emer 
gency  has  been  to  cut  imports,  which  IV 
can   only   be   a   temporary   measure ;         What  is  the  Nazi  answer  to  a  "world 

otherwise  the  Hitler  Government  will  of  closed  markets"?  Formerly  it  was 

ruin  its  own  plans  of  giving  employ-  "autarchy."  Now  they  have  thought 

ment  to  every  man  through  full  use  of  of  another,  a  wider  scheme,  a  sort  of 

industrial  capacity.  What,  then,  are  the  "regional  organization,"  that  is,  the  es- 

aims  that  will  soon  replace  the  import-  tablishment  of  treaties  with  a  number 

restricting  policy?  The  question  is  sim-  of  neighboring  countries  all  of  which 

pie,  and  so  is  the  answer:  to  stimulate  would  form,  together  with  Germany,  a 


THE  NAZIS  MEET  SOME  OBSTACLES                      53 

market  large  enough  for  the  exchange  land  certainly  does  not  rely  solely  on 
and  interchange  of  all  their  products  j  Germany,  for  she  has  a  reasonably  satis- 
one  is  reminded  of  the  ancient  idea  of  a  factory  agreement  with  Britain.  And  so 
Great  Germany  inherited  from  Bis-  with  Czechoslovakia  and  Rumania, 
marck's  times  5  the  development  Jugoslavia  and  Turkey,  Greece  and 
planned  is  certainly  along  similar  lines.  Bulgaria  and  the  Baltic  States.  They  all 
In  an  attempt  to  realize  this  regional  know  that  in  crowded  Europe  no  single 
arrangement,  a  dozen  or  so  treaties  have  state  can  afford  to  limit  its  economic 
been  concluded  with  the  nations  men-  interests  to  another  single  power.  Not 
tioned  above  and,  on  the  German  side,  even  the  Balkan  States  have  found  it 
the  plan  looks  promising  enough.  convenient  to  adhere  to  France  as  they 

An  observer,  however,  might  find  did  for  decades  j  certainly,  France  had 
that  the  development  is  by  no  means  done  much  more  for  the  Balkans  in 
confined  to  heroic  Teutonic  efforts.  On  loans,  in  military  concessions,  in  com- 
the  contrary,  virtually  all  of  these  mercial  privileges  than  Germany  could 
smaller  nations  have  concluded  similar  probably  ever  afford  to. 
pacts  with  other  large  states,  trying  to  It  may  therefore  be  reasonable  to 
reap  the  best  possible  advantage  from  assume  that  the  new  Nazi  policy  of  what 
all  of  them.  Poland  may  serve  as  an  is  called  "Raumwirtscfaft"  or  regional 
instance  j  she  has  signed  an  agreement  economy,  is  doomed  to  failure,  for  the 
with  Germany  which  in  the  Wilhelm  reason  that  markets  so  diluted  will  be 
Strasse  was  hailed  as  a  long  step  in  the  unable  to  absorb  Germany's  products, 
right  direction,  that  is,  the  creation  of  They  then  will  face  these  unpleasant 
this  big  Central-European  unit  of  mar-  facts:  they  must  have  imports  to  main- 
kets,  self-dependent  in  the  sense  that  tain  their  industrial  strength,  to  provide 
they  would  all  be  brothers  and  properly  work  and,  last  but  by  no  means  least,  to 
divide  the  spoils.  But  a  few  weeks  later,  produce  armaments.  Only  exports  can 
Poland  signed  an  agreement  with  provide  the  funds  in  view  of  the  nearly 
Soviet  Russia  which,  possibly,  is  even  exhausted  Reichsbank  reserve.  These 
more  important  than  that  with  Ger-  exports  must  be  pushed  to  the  extreme, 
many,  since  it  guarantees  that  there  will  If  Raumwirtschaft  will  not  do  it,  would 
be  no  alliance  against  the  Soviets,  not  currency  depreciation  help  as  it  has 
Then,  Poland  is  negotiating  with  Great  helped  the  exports  of  the  United  States, 
Britain;  she  also  let  a  handsome  con-  of  Japan,  of  Great  Britain,  of  France 
tract  for  state  railways  to  the  American  and  also  of  Germany  back  in  1923?  It 
Westinghouse  Company.  And  let  us  not  does  not  seem  likely  that  depreciation 
forget  that  M.  Barthou,  the  French  would  materially  help  in  this  case.  The 
Foreign  Minister,  recently  visited  War-  world  market  is  not  the  same  as  it  was 
saw  to  strengthen  the  Franco-Polish  ties  ten  years  ago.  Quotas,  tariffs,  treaties 
— which  is  bound  to  be  followed  by  and  the  like  have  offset  to  a  large  ex- 
some  more  vigorous  exchange  of  a  com-  tent  the  advantages  accruing  from  a 
mercial  nature.  depreciated  currency.  This  is  particu- 

This  Polish  example  has  been  fol-  larly  true  of  Europe  where  these  im- 

lowed  by  almost  every  other  nation  port  restrictions  have  been  piled  one  on 

with  which  Germany  signed  treaties,  top  of  another.  More  important,  the  cut 

Hungary  signed  one  with  Italy.  Fin-  in  the  gold  value  of  the  Reichsmark 


54 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


would  have  disastrous  effects  at  home; 
it  would  step  up  the  prices  of  import 
goods  so  bitterly  needed  j  it  would  in 
flate  German  foreign  debts  5  it  would 
raise  the  cost  of  living  in  Germany.  In 
flation  seems  to  be  out  of  the  picture. 

There  is,  then,  only  one  way  left:  to 
obtain  foreign  credits  with  which  to  buy 
raw  materials.  There  are  indications 
pointing  to  this  possibility.  Dr.  Schacht 
has  of  late  become  more  conciliatory 
toward  the  demands  of  foreign  credi 
tors,  though  it  may  be  but  a  passing 
gesture.  The  world  market  is  in  need  of 
such  a  good  customer  and  purchaser  of 
raw  materials  as  Germany  j  and  in  spite 
of  Dr.  Schacht's  insistence  that  Ger 
many  does  not  want  loans,  and  in  spite 
of  the  unwillingness  of  the  world  to 
help  Germany  with  more  loans,  ob 
taining  foreign  credits  seems  on  paper 
the  one  way  in  which  Germany  would 
be  enabled  to  maintain  raw  material 


imports  without  putting  too  much  of  a 
burden  upon  her  exports. 

Assuming  that  foreign  loans  were  not 
forthcoming,  the  choice  of  economic 
solutions  to  the  economic  problem 
seems  to  be  exhausted.  Germany  would 
be  thrown  back  on  her  political  re 
sourcefulness,  with  which  the  Nazi 
regime  is  obviously  very  well  equipped. 
It  would  be  a  question  of  continuing 
policies  of  an  economic  nature  in  an 
uneconomic  way,  that  is,  war.  It  would 
not  be  the  first  time  in  history  that  the 
struggle  for  economic  equilibrium  at 
home  was  carried  into  the  outer  domain 
of  an  armed  conflict.  In  this  solution 
there  would  be  at  least  a  remote  possi 
bility  of  Nazi  Germany's  emerging  in  a 
stronger  position  than  that  in  which  she 
finds  herself  in  a  "peaceful"  world, 
with  doors  closed  on  all  sides. 

And  that  is  a  thought  for  others  be 
sides  Germans  to  consider. 


•or 

lic  Librar 


<  » 


The  Woman  Puzzle  and  the 
College  Professor 

BY  MARY  DAY  WINN 

Women  have  been  a  riddle  to  ages  of  lesser  men,  but  modern 

pedagogues  have  found  the  answer — in  fact,  great 

quantities  of  answers 

IT  REALLY  is  time  something  was  prevented  the  United  States  from  sign- 
done  about  this  persistent  key-hole  ing  a  treaty  at  the  Hague  because  it  did 
campaign   to    discover    all   about  not  give  them  nationality  rights  equal 
women  and  rob  them  of  their  mystery,  to  those  of  men.  Yet  when,  in  1933, 
A  few  years  ago  Irvin  Cobb  coined  the  the  smiling  Latins  offered  American 
phrase,  "no  more  privacy  than  a  gold-  women  a  treaty  containing  exactly  what 
fish."  It  ought  to  be  changed  to  "no  they  had  asked  for  three  years  previ- 
more    privacy    than    the    American  ously,  the  inexplicable  creatures  spurned 
woman."  it — at  first — as  if  it  were  an  improper 

Of  course  women  as  a  sex  have  al-  proposal.  Masculine  shoulders  in  Vene- 

ways  been  baffling  to  men.  Even  those  zuela,  Panama,  Brazil  and  points  south 

extraordinary  men  who  understood  in-  were  raised   expressively,   hopelessly, 

come  tax  blanks,  time  tables  and  the  resignedly.  El  Buen  Diosy  they  said, 

writings  of  Gertrude  Stein  have  been  had  written  women  in  code  form — and 

bewildered  when  they  tried  to  figure  lost  the  key. 

out  what  women  were  thinking  on  any  Well,  men  south  of  the  Rio  Grande 
given  occasion  or  what  they  would  do  may  still  feel  discouraged,  but  almost 
next.  Shakespeare  and  John  Erskine  every  visit  of  the  postman  brings  me 
and  a  few  other  men  could  find  their  proof  that  the  North  American  male  is 
way  around  in  the  feminine  mind,  but  much  more  hopeful  of  solving  the  rid- 
to  the  great  majority  of  males,  Woman  die  of  the  Sphinx.  There  are,  to  bring 
was  an  Enigma.  my  metaphor  up  to  date,  still  a  few 

We  can  all  remember  the  hopeless  little  pieces  of  the  picture  puzzle  called 
amazement  of  delegates  to  last  year's  "Woman"  which  he  has  not  yet  been 
Montevideo  Conference,  when  Ameri-  able  to  fit  together;  but  give  him  time 
can  women  apparently  reversed  them-  and  he  will  do  so.  He  has  discovered  a 
selves  so  suddenly  on  the  question  of  new  method,  and  a  new  and  most  en- 
nationality.  In  1930  their  insistence  had  thusiastic  helper. 


56  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

The  method  is  our  old  friend  the  with  all  the  time  between  nine  in  the 
questionnaire  and  the  helper  is — guess  morning  and  five  at  night.  Mrs.  John 
whom !  — the  college  professor.  There  is  Doe,  it  seems,  reads  magazines,  news- 
no  phase  of  woman's  life  or  thoughts  so  papers  and  books  for  an  hour  and  a  half 
intimate  or  so  trivial  that  it  has  not  been  daily  j  cooks  meals  and  washes  dishes 
the  subject,  during  the  last  few  years,  of  for  three  hours  j  shops  and  mends  for 
a  questionnaire,  most  of  which  have  an  hour  and  a  half;  dresses  and  makes 
been  sent  out  by,  or  in  collaboration  up  for  one  hour,  and  devotes  another 
with,  members  of  college  faculties.  New  one  and  two-thirds  hours  to  "leisure" 
thrills  have  come  into  the  lives  of  count-  occupations.  Although  these  leisure  oc- 
less  pedagogues  as  they  have  turned  cupations  are  not  mentioned  in  the  re- 
from  deciphering  Etruscan  tombstones  port,  it  seems  a  safe  guess  that  answer- 
to  finding  out  what  (if  anything)  makes  ing  questionnaires  plays  a  big  part.  This 
the  modern  woman  blush,  how  a  sub-  picture  of  how  the  average  woman 
deb  feels  about  dancing  with  a  fat  man,  spends  her  average  day  is  as  innocent  as 
and  the  relation  between  blonde  locks  a  Mickey  Mouse  film,  and  ought  to  be 
and  salesmanship.  In  other  words,  we  reassuring  to  those  husbands  who  have 
women  are  being  probed.  That,  as  I  see  suspected  something  very  different, 
it,  is  the  real  news  about  the  question-  Never  imagine,  though,  that  the 
naire.  In  the  April  number  of  THE  questionnaires  sent  out  by  knowledge- 
NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW,  P.  W.  Wil-  hungry  men  are  all  as  reticent  as  the 
son  calls  the  questionnaire  a  menace  one  I  have  described.  Far  from  it;  most 
because  it  tends,  as  he  believes,  to  questionnaires  are  as  free  from  inhibi- 
standardize  individual  thinking.  But  I  tions  as  Huey  Long.  They  ask  every- 
think  it  is  a  menace,  and  I  believe  most  thing  about  everything.  Observe  this 
women  will  agree  with  me,  because  it  is  one  which  found  its  way  to  my  desk:  it 
an  attempt  to  solve  the  "woman  puz-  is  from  Colgate  University,  and  is  on 
zle."  For  every  one  questionnaire  that  the  already  mentioned  subject  of  blush- 
you  receive,  Mr.  Wilson,  I  find  at  least  ing.  Colgate  wants  to  know  why  I  blush, 
five  in  my  mail,  almost  all  of  them  sent  under  what  circumstances  I  blush,  and 
by  men.  Sending  questionnaires  has  be-  whether  the  aforesaid  blush  is  a  hot, 
come  the  newest  masculine  vice,  and  face-crimsoning  affair,  or  just  a  maiden- 
answering  them  the  latest  feminine  ly,  apple-blossom  tint.  After  reading  the 
weakness.  list  of  situations  under  which  I  am  evi 
dently  expected  to  blush  (but  do  not), 
11  I  can  not  decide  whether  we  moderns  of 

I  have  a  neighbor,  a  typical  "home-  the  weaker  sex  are  all  shameless  hussies, 

maker,"  who  has  answered  so  many  or  the  professor  who  drew  up  this  ques- 

questionnaires  that  now  the  professors  tionnaire  was  simply  a  throw-back  to 

know  more  about  her  than  her  own  hus-  the  days  of  Elsie  Dinsmore.  It  will 

band.  She  was  one  of  twelve  thousand  probably  be  quite  a  shock  to  him  to  learn 

women  who  bared  their  souls  recently  that  I  do  not  blush,  even  very  faintly, 

to  investigators  from  the  Psychologi-  "when  introduced  to  men  or  boys" ;  nor 

cal  Corporation  of  New  York.  Among  does  my  face  become  red  "when  telling 

the  many  facts  which  this  survey  re-  a  slight  falsehood."  But  though  these 

vealed  was  just  exactly  what  wives  do  admissions  seem  brazen  enough,  what 


WOMAN  PUZZLE  AND  THE  COLLEGE  PROFESSOR       57 

— oh   what — will   Colgate   University  seeking  an  answer  to  that  important 

think  when  it  finds  out  that  not  even  problem:  what  color  scheme,  in  eyes 

"thinking  about  things"  can  crimson  my  and  hair,  is  most  likely  to  bring  a 

cheek?  woman  success  in  business  and  in  the 

But  let's  not  linger  over  the  blushes  more  respectable  of  the  arts  and  profes- 
any  longer  j  there  is  bigger  news  ahead,  sions?  (The  qualifying  adverb  is  mine.) 
Our  next  sightseeing  trip  into  the  f emi-  The  obvious  place  to  dig  for  such  in- 
nine  heart  was  personally  conducted  by  formation  is  in  Who's  Who,  and  that  is 
the  Chicago  "Committee  of  Fifteen."  exactly  where  Professor  William  M. 
This  group  wanted  to  find  out  what  Marston,  of  the  university's  Depart- 
kind  of  women  seek  husbands  through  ment  of  Psychology,  has  been  prospect- 
matrimonial  bureaus  and  why  they  do  ing.  He  recently  sent  a  questionnaire  to 
so — all  things  considered.  I  hasten  to  a  number  of  Who's  Who  women,  ask- 
say  that  I  was  not  one  of  the  guinea  pigs  ing  the  color  of  their  eyes  and,  confiden- 
in  this  particular  investigation.  I  have,  tially,  of  their  hair.  He  has  not  quite 
however,  got  hold  of  a  copy  of  the  Com-  completed  his  investigation,  but  has 
mittee's  report  j  it  pulls  a  few  more  veils  generously  given  me  the  results  as  far  as 
from  the  souls  of  us  women.  he  has  gone. 

It   exposes   the   fact   that    100,000  I  might  as  well  say  at  once  that  they 

women,  registered  in  over  a  hundred  are  bad  news  for  the  brunettes.  Among 

matrimonial  bureaus,  are  willing,  even  these    top-of-the-ladder    women,    Dr. 

eager,  to  pin  little  white  bows  on  their  Marston  found  a  larger  percentage  of 

lapels  and  go  to  trysts  with  utter  stran-  blondes  than  was  to  be  expected  in 

gers — "object,  matrimony."  The  great  proportion  to  the  usual  number  in  the 

majority  of  these  lonely  hearts  have  population.   Blondes,  apparently,  get 

brown  hair  and  blue  eyes.  In  that  reve-  there — in  business  offices  as  elsewhere, 

lation  we  have  a  real  ethnological  prob-  Whether  their  success  is  by  fair  means 

lem,  one  which  ought  to  provide  follow-  or  foul,  this  survey  does  not  reveal.  In 

up  work  for  some  university  for  quite  a  occupations  "involving  management  of 

while.  Why  are  there,  comparatively  other  people,"  brunettes  appear  to  be  on 

speaking,  so  few  blondes  among  the  the   inside   track,    whereas    red-heads 

hundred  thousand?  What  is  there,  deep  "prevail  in  stage  and  acting  profes- 

in  the  sub-conscious  of  Herr  Hitler's  sions."  This  all  sounds  a  little  contradic- 

blonde  Aryan,  which  makes  her  distrust  tory,  but  perhaps  the  professor  will 

matrimonial  bureaus?  (Or  perhaps  feel  make  it  clear  when  he  has  carried  his 

that  she  can  get  along  without  them?  researches  a  bit  farther. 

See  Anita  Loos.)  But  let  us  leave  him  at  his  pleasant 

occupation  and  see  what  Dr.  Harry 
Kitson,  of  Teachers  College,  Columbia 

Though  this  problem  of  the  blondes  University,  has  been  doing  to  solve  the 
and  the  bureaus  remains  to  be  tackled,  woman  puzzle.  Nothing  less  ambitious 
the  facts  that  men  really  have  found  than  finding  out  whether  the  business 
out  about  women  via  the  questionnaire  and  professional  woman  is  happy  in  her 
method  do  add  up  impressively.  Here  career,  or  whether  she  does  not  some- 
is  a  contribution  from  Long  Island  Uni-  times  wish,  in  the  middle  of  the  night, 
versity.  This  centre  of  learning  has  been  that  she  had  married  that  home-town 


58  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

boy  who  asked  her,  since  his  prospects  views  on  marriage!  Nearly  three  hun- 

seem  to  have  turned  out  better  than  dred  students  of  New  York  University 

was  originally  expected.  had  a  thrill  like  that.  From  what  they 

The  method  which  Dr.  Kitson  used  confided  to  him,  Professor  C.  G.  Dit 
to  discover  how  well  self-supporting  merr  learned  quite  a  lotj  for  instance, 
women  like  their  jobs  was  to  ask  a  large  that  a  third  of  his  girl  students  would 
number  of  them  to  imagine  that  they  favorably  consider  matrimony  while 
had  suddenly  fallen  heir  to  a  million  they  were  still  in  college,  though  not 
dollars.  In  such  a  happy  circumstance,  nearly  as  many  of  the  boys  approved 
how  would  they  spend  most  of  their  the  idea.  Also  that  nearly  three-fourths 
time?  Traveling?  Shopping?  Playing  of  the  girls  were  willing  to  go  on  work- 
bridge?  All  right,  give  this  favored  oc-  ing  after  marriage  if  by  so  doing  they 
cupation  a  score  of  100.  Now  chew  your  could  hurry  things  up  a  bit,  and  that 
pencils  a  while  and  decide  what  score  they  looked  forward  confidently  to 
you  would  give,  using  the  same  scale,  to  mothering  exactly  two  and  six-tenths 
the  way  you  usually  spend  most  of  your  children  apiece, 
time — that  is,  your  job.  Since  psychologists  realize,  however, 

Ought  we  to  be  surprised  that  only  that  student  ideas  on  marriage  are  based 

seventeen  per  cent  of  the  teachers  who  on  theory  almost  completely  unham- 

were  questioned  in  this  particular  sur-  pered  by  facts,  they  have  not  confined 

vey  were  whole-heartedly  enthusiastic  their  investigations  to  the  campus.  A 

about  their  work?  And  that  only  thirty-  few  years  ago  thousands  of  women 

three  per  cent  of  the  nurses — whose  graduates  received,  with  their  toast  and 

matrimonial  opportunities  are  notori-  coffee,  questionnaires  on  subjects  far  too 

ously  better — felt  that  they  would  prob-  intimate  ever  to  be  discussed  with  their 

ably  prefer  to  go  on  tying  up  wounds  husbands,  but  not  too  intimate  for  the 

and  soothing  fevered  brows  no  matter  eager  eyes  of  the  New  York  Bureau  of 

what  other  opportunities  were  offered?  Social    Hygiene.    And   many   of   the 

alumnae  obligingly  wrote  down  their 

IV  answers  to  these  probings  and  returned 

Since  most  of  this  scouting  in  the  for-  them  to  the  senders.  It  was  Salome's 

merly  unmapped  territory  of  the  femi-  Dance  of  the  Seven  Veils  all  over  again, 

nine   heart   is   being   led   by   college  except  that  Herod's  throne  was  occu- 

professors,  the  first  women  to  be  ex-  pied  by  the  American  Ph.D. 

plored  have  naturally  been  students,  It  would  seem  to  the  casual  observer 

faculty  and  alumnse.  And  how  it  has  that  there  is  at  least  one  thing  which 

livened  up  college  life!  Imagine  com-  men  already  know  about  women,  and 

ing  into  class,  seeing  the  room  decked  about  which  they  need  no  further  en- 

with  examination  blanks,  and  having  an  lightenment  j  that  is,  why  women  are  so 

awful  presentiment  at  the  pit  of  one's  irritating.  The  average  man  can  list  a 

stomach  that  a  quiz  is  being  sprung  on  dozen  reasons  on  almost  no  provoca- 

"The  Functional  View  of  Education  in  tion.  Yet  even  this  has  been  the  subject 

Contrast  to  the  Utilitarian  View."  Then  of  a  questionnaire.  Professor  Hulsey 

imagine  picking  up  the  question  papers  Cason,  of  the  University  of  Rochester, 

and  discovering  that  all  the  professor  reported  the  statistics  a  few  years  ago 

wants  are  your  secret  and  unsigned  to  the  Ninth  International  Congress  of 


WOMAN  PUZZLE  AND  THE  COLLEGE  PROFESSOR       59 

Psychology  meeting  at  New  Haven,  as  it  lies  on  my  desk  is  the  report  from 
More  than  six  hundred  people  of  both  the  Woman's  Bureau  of  a  question- 
sexes  had  been  asked  to  list  their  pet  naire  which  recently  probed  the  hearts 
annoyances,  aversions  and  irritations,  of  20,000  business  and  professional 
telling  exactly  the  degree  of  each.  The  women.  It  aimed  to  find  out  from  the 
results  were  very  unfavorable  to  us  women  how  they  had  fared  since  ven- 
women.  Apparently  we  are  much  the  turing  into  competition  with  men,  and 
more  annoying  of  the  two  sexes,  as  we  whether  or  not  the  prospect  of  a  penni- 
drew  a  higher  score  from  the  men  than  less  old  age  gives  them  the  jitters.  The 
they  suffered  from  us.  (Or  could  it  be  summary  of  their  answers  is  too  lengthy 
that  the  women  were  kinder  and  more  to  discuss  here,  and  not  particularly  sig- 
gallant?)  nificant.  One  debonair  fact,  however, 

It  must  be  admitted,  though,  that  the  strikes  my  eye :  although  more  than  half 
irritants  which  showed  up  most  promi-  of  these  women  had  dependents,  only 
nently  in  Professor  Cason's  list  were  two  per  cent  "worried  a  great  deal  about 
those  for  which  women  are  likely  to  be  their  jobs,"  and  less  than  ten  per  cent 
responsible  j  for  example,  "arguing,"  worried  about  how  they  would  get 
"finding  a  hair  in  the  food,"  "crowding  along  when  they  were  too  old  to  work, 
in  front  instead  of  waiting  in  line,"  Was  this  faith  in  God?  Or  simply  not 
"talking  about  one's  illnesses,"  "gush-  enough  sex  appeal  in  the  financial  sec- 
ing  manner,"  and  "seeing  an  intoxicated  tions  of  our  newspapers? 
woman."  A  good  deal  of  light  was  Though  the  Federal  Government  is 
thrown  on  the  vexing  matter  of  over-  curious  about  the  inner  workings  of  the 
weight.  The  average  man's  irritation  feminine  mind,  its  curiosity  is  nothing 
when  he  has  to  dance  with  a  fat  partner  compared  to  that  of  the  advertising 
was  revealed  as  almost  twice  that  of  the  men.  Well  do  these  go-getters  know 
average  woman's  in  the  same  situation,  that  whether  or  not  hundreds  of  thou- 
The  woman  who  is  afraid  of  being  a  sands — nay,  millions — of  dollars  do  or 
wall-flower  seems  to  be  more  grateful  don't  ooze  from  the  pockets  of  the  pub- 
for  little  things — or  rather,  for  big  lie  into  those  of  their  employers  may 
things.  depend  upon  how  accurately  the  writer 

of  advertising  copy  understands   his 

v  woman  reader.  Will  she  be  more  likely 

In  their  delighted  safaris  into  the  to  remember  the  name  of  his  tomato 

feminine  soul,  the  Ph.D.s  have  had  two  juice  if  a  handsome  man  is  pictured 

enthusiastic  helpers — Government  and  drinking  it?   Or  would  her  favor  be 

Big  Business.  These  two  have  frequent-  more  easily  won  by  a  straightforward 

ly  financed  the  expeditions  and  even  statement    of    tomato    juice's    merits, 

carried  the  guns  and  cameras.  Asking  minus  the  masculine  charm?  And  how 

women  questions  about  themselves  and  should  ads  be  planned  to  sell  those 

adding  up  the  answers  seems  to  be  an  things  which,  admittedly,  men  still  buy 

important  reason  for  the  existence  of  without  the  help  of  their  wives?  Is  the 

the  Woman's  Bureau  in  Washington,  picture  of  a  pretty  girl  the  right  ap- 

and  a  very  popular  sport  of  the  Depart-  proach  to  a  big  executive  who  is  plan- 

ments  of  Commerce  and  Agriculture,  ning  to  acquire  a  steam  shovel? 

Looking  at  me  with  a  melancholy  eye  These  are  weighty  problems,  and 


60  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

questionnaires  are  sent  out  about  them  which  threatens  them  from  a  sector  of 

almost  every  year,  made  necessary  by  the  masculine  front  formerly  consid- 

the  notorious  fickleness  of  the  feminine  ered  as  harmless.  No  longer  can  the 

heart.  A  survey  made  in  1932  showed  "absent-minded  professor"  be  thought 

that  in  that  year  the  pulling  power  of  of  as  a  dear  but  harmless  soul  absorbed 

romance  fell  from  ninth  to  thirteenth  in  his  books.  Probably  he  is  nothing  of 

place.  Nineteen  Thirty-Two  seems  to  the  kind.  If  he  isn't  supervising  the 

have  been  a  poor  batting  year  for  Cupid,  country's  economic  system,  he  is,  more 

nobody  knows  just  why.  Detailed  re-  likely  than  not,  serving  as  a  spy  in  femi- 

sults  of  this  survey  must  have  been  nine  territory.  His  very  handshake  may 

awfully  disconcerting  to  the  men  who  be  part  of  a  laboratory  experiment  to 

saw  them.   For  the  survey   showed,  measure  sex  appeal,  and  his  comments 

among   other   things,   that   the    man  about  the  weather  may  carry  heaven 

reader  is  twice  as  much  influenced  by  knows  what  hidden  implications, 

sex  appeal  in  an  ad  as  is  his  wife.  Also  But  now  that  this  clanger  has  been 

that  he  lingers  more  wistfully  over  pic-  pointed  out,  what  will  women  do  about 

tures  of  big-muscled,  handsome  brutes  it?  Will  they  go  on  giving  their  secrets 

than  a  woman  does  over  photos  of  ladies  away  as  light-heartedly  as  a  congress- 

who  have  kept  their  youth.  Finally,  the  man  voting  government  moneys?   If 

survey  proved  that  a  man  is  far  more  they  do  so,  and  the  last  piece  of  the 

likely  to  read  the  story  about  the  fellow  Woman  Puzzle  falls  snugly  into  place, 

who  surprised  all  his  friends  by  answer-  will  men  themselves  be  any  happier? 

ing  the  waiter  in  French  than  his  wife  is  Or  will  they  discover  too  late  that, 

to  give  time  to  the  unhappy  maiden  with  the  puzzle  solved,  they  have  lost 

who  was  often  a  bridesmaid  but  never  their  most  stimulating  occupation? 

a  bride.  Before  the  professors  go  any  farther, 

The  few  examples  mentioned  are  maybe  there  ought  to  be  a  questionnaire 

sufficient  to  warn  women  of  the  danger  to  settle  that  question. 


Miss  Letitia's  Profession 


BY  LUPTON  A.  WILKINSON 


A  Story 


M 


iss  LETITIA  MALLOW'S  profes 
sion  and  her  appearance  were 
utterly  incongruous.  The 
only  comparable  example  is  the  trite 
one  of  the  hirsute  male  who  chews  a 
black  cigar  and  curses  through  ginny 
breath  as  he  edits  "Advice  to  the  Love 
lorn." 

Miss  Letitia's  mind,  this  bright  after 
noon,  was  not  on  her  source  of  income. 
Her  thoughts  seldom  dwelt  there,  ex 
cept  when  she  was  actually  at  work.  Her 
professional  self  was  a  sort  of  gold- 
paying  Letitia  Hyde  to  a  very  delicate 
Miss  Jekyll. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate 
that  impression  of  delicacy  as  the  slight 
figure  bent  over  a  glowing  petunia  bed. 
Petunias  were  a  good  deal  like  weeds, 
Miss  Letitia  decided,  grubbing  among 
the  roots  with  a  tiny  white  hand;  next 
year  she  would  have  less  of  them.  The 
sunny  garden  looked  like  a  color  print 
of  some  New  England  yard:  it  had 
variety  of  color,  yet  all  the  lush  rows 
were  prim,  geometrical,  old-fashioned. 

Somehow  this  garden  had  got  itself 
transplanted,  as  it  were,  to  Long  Island, 
where  it  warmed  the  left  lawn  of  a 
large,  modern,  pleasant  house. 

Miss  Letitia's  silvery  curls,  as  she 
bent  over  the  petunias,  hung  a  little 
forward,  to  either  side  of  a  face  of  which 


the  skin  was  white  like  incredibly  thin 
china.  Her  gray  silk  dress,  with  a  skirt 
that  widened  at  the  bottom  and  ruching 
at  the  sleeves,  resembled  a  cut  from  that 
old  arbiter  of  fashion — Godey's  Ladies9 
Book. 

The  truth  was,  since  the  doctor  had 
talked  to  her  so  plainly,  Miss  Letitia 
expended  decreasing  attention  on  the 
big  house,  the  coupons  that  the  bank 
clipped  and  entered  in  her  pass-book, 
and  the  recent  newspaper  hubbub  over 
the  work  that  remained  so  easy  and  took 
so  little  out  of  her.  Her  garden  and  her 
friends,  in  the  new  knowledge,  seemed 
more  important. 

Studies  of  herself  in  her  rosewood 
mirror  had  failed  to  alarm.  The  added 
pallor  she  had  lately  acquired  caused 
her,  she  concluded,  to  look  more  and  be 
comingly  fragile. 

"Feeble,"  was  the  word  in  John  the 
gardener's  mind  as  he  approached  on  a 
green  inner  path  and  coughed.  The 
word  would  have  made  Miss  Letitia 
delicately  furious  5  the  cough  flustered 
her. 

"Why,  John,"  she  exclaimed, 
straightening  up,  "I  thought  you  had 
gone  downtown."  She  had  given  the 
yard  man  and  both  the  house  servants 
the  afternoon  off,  so  she  could  putter 
among  the  flowers. 


62  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

She  did  look  absurdly  fragile,  stand-  little,  she  took  in  sewing.  She  petted 

ing  with  garden  soil  on  her  hands,  as  if  Rodney  firmly  into  the  ranks  of  job- 

a  housemaid  had  neglected  to  tidy  one  seekers.  He  trod  countless  literary  ave- 

of  the  parlor  ornaments.  nues  and  bypaths,  wandering  finally 

"I  was  just  going,"  said  John,  shiny  into  the  building  owned  by  a  very  large 
with  pressed  serge,  clean  shoes,  company  that  published  many  maga- 
scrubbed  face  and  Sunday  hat.  "But,  zines  on  rough  paper.  The  editor-in- 
ma'am,  you  won't  find  a  mite  o'  grass  in  chief  wanted  to  save  five  dollars  on  a 
them  petunias.  No  later  than  Tuesday  salary j  Rodney  took  the  job  at  twenty- 
morning — "  five  a  week.  The  name  of  his  particular 

"I  know,"   Miss  Letitia  confessed  charge  was  Hot  Clues. 

apologetically.  "I  was  only — fiddling."  Miss  Letitia  sewed  in  and  sewed  out. 

"The  doctor—"  began  John.  He  had  The  cottage  sprouted  a  lop-sided  mort- 

tended  that  garden,  and  the  rose  arbor  gage.   In    1907   Rodney's  salary  was 

on  the  other  side,  for  ten  years,  and  had  raised  to  thirty  dollars  5   in   1916  to 

privileges.  thirty-five. 

"I  know,"  Miss  Letitia  surrendered.  One  day — it  must  have  been  about 

"I  know."  1920 — the  editor  commuted  home  in 

She  stepped  past  a  perennial  border,  disconsolate  mood. 

seated  herself  in  a  twisted-wood  seat  "I'm  afraid  I'm  going  to  be  dis- 

under  a  Japanese  maple  and  watched  charged,"    he    announced    gloomily, 

the  gardener  depart  virtuously  among  "Hot  Clues  is  losing  circulation  every 

the  flowers— out  a  white  gate  flanked  by  month." 

a  fence  supporting  honeysuckle.  Miss   Letitia   knew   at   once,   with 

Over  the  blossoms  John  could  be  woman's  instinct  for  direct  thinking  in 

seen  tilting  his  hat  to  a  holiday  angle.  a  crisis,  that  what  he  feared  must  not 

happen.  It  must  not  be  permitted  to 

11  happen. 

Miss  Letitia's  choice  of  her  incredible  "What's  the  matter,  dear?"  She  laid 

profession  had  come  about  in  a  circui-  down  her  sewing, 

tous  way,  impinged  by  the  irony  life  "It's  this  true  story  craze,"  Rodney 

dealt  to  her  brother,  Rodney  Mallow,  explained.  "Only  a  few  writers  have  the 

Rodney  was  Yale  '905  he  was  thin,  knack  of  it  yet,  and  they're  in  great  de- 
anaemic-looking,  wore  spectacles  and  mand.  I  can't  buy  the  product  at  the 
blinked  through  them.  He  lacked  the  rate  Doag  and  Hart  permit  me  to  pay 
alertness  that  ambushed  behind  Miss  authors,  and  our  competitors  are  just 
Letitia's  gentle  blue  eyes.  eating  us  up." 

Rodney  piddled  at  writing  six  years,  Miss  Letitia,  mind  grappling  with 
but  his  futility  did  not  matter,  for  Rod-  this  alien  problem,  recalled  a  full-page 
ney,  Sr.,  had  left  his  children  a  moder-  advertisement  she  had  seen  in  the  news- 
ate  income,  a  chest  of  silver  from  Eng-  paper,  heralding  a  new  magazine, 
land  and  a  cottage  in  Connecticut.  "You  mean,"  she  asked,  blushing  at 

Miss  Letitia  saw  the  panic  of  1897  the  phrase,  "Confessions  oj  Love?" 

wipe  the  investments  as  blank  as  the  "No.  No.  We  use  crime  material 

paper   that   reposed   so   long   in   her  only.  Reminiscences  of  crooks  is  what 

brother's    typewriter.    Shuddering    a  we  need.  But  it's  the  same  principle." 


MISS  LETITIA'S  PROFESSION  63 

"Why,  Rodney!"  Miss  Letitia  was  guage.    Dinging    for   begging.    Bugs, 
alarmed.  "Will  you  have  to — to  seek  jiggers,     saps,     high     heels,     splints, 
out  criminal  individuals  and  persuade  dummy  gags  and  throw-me-outsj  all 
them  to  write  their  memoirs?"  devices   for   faking  physical   ills  and 
"Most  of  them  couldn't  write  a  par-  arousing  sympathy.  She  was  the  first 
don  letter  to  the  governor,"  Rodney  purist    to    write    "yeag"    instead    of 
deprecated.  "Trained  hacks  invent  and  "yegg>"  tracing  the  word  to  the  Ger- 
write  the  material  and  the  magazines  man  jaegary  a  hunter, 
sign  likely  names."  All  this  in  the  realm  of  fancy.  Her 
"I  shouldn't  think  it  would  be  very  Dr.  Jekyll  self,  the  real  Miss  Letitia, 
difficult,"   Miss  Letitia  observed,  "if  never    believed    that    actual    human 
you  can  just  make  it  up."  beings  manufactured  wounds  with  lye 
There  followed  a  time  of  secret  but  to  draw  tears  and  roast  beef  from  house- 
keen  excitement.  The  very  next  day  the  wives. 

little  woman  from  the  cottage,  whom  "The  writing  part  is  simple,  just  as  I 
everybody  liked,  walked  down  to  the  thought,"  she  explained  at  the  neces- 
railroad  station  and  persuaded  the  sary  time  to  Rodney.  "You  give  the 
newsstand  proprietor  to  let  her  have  his  boy  a  drab  background,  city  or  small 
left-over  magazines,  the  very  cheap  town,  to  show  that  fate  was  against  him. 
ones,  of  which  he  had  only  to  send  back  Then  you  conduct  him  through  a  long 
the  torn-off  covers  to  secure  refund  series  of  crimes.  No  connecting  thread 
credit.  Later,  she  discovered  to  her  joy  is  needed — no  plot.  You  spice  the  nar- 
that  there  existed  glossaries  of  criminal  rative  by  relating  it  in  slang  and  inter- 
slang.  When  points  puzzled  her,  she  posing  frequent  physical  conflict.  After 
wrote  sacheted,  hand-script  letters  to  two  or  three  prison  sentences,  the  hero 
prison  wardens  and  chiefs  of  police,  reforms,  and  is  telling  the  story  of  his 
who  chuckled  and  replied.  She  made  life  to  warn  others.  That's  the  for- 
all-day  trips  to  New  York  and  browsed  mula." 

in  the  Public  Library.  Rodney  blinked  through  his  spec- 
Miss  Letitia  read  hundreds  of  thou-  tacles,  amazement  bordering  on  horror, 
sands  of  words  on  tawdry  subjects.  The  Soon  Miss  Letitia  was  supplying  the 
words  fascinated  her  j  the  topics  did  not  magazine  with  as  many  as  three  true 
distress  j  these  true  stories  were  evi-  stories  in  a  single  issue.  She  grew  ac- 
dently  fairy-tales  for  adult  readers  with  customed  to  seeing  her  work  under  such 
an  odd  turn  of  mind.  signatures  as  "Mike  the  Dip"  or  "Dag- 
She  decided  to  try  her  hand  first  at  a  gers  Moran."  When,  in  1 925,  gangland 
career  of  safe-robbing  (as  she  called  it  stories  leaped  to  popularity,  she  made 
then)  inspired  by  a  news  item  detailing  the  transition  easily,  becoming  the 
a  local  merchant's  misfortune.  Quickly  amanuensis  of  imaginary  gunmen,  hi- 
she  learned  that  nitroglycerine  was  j  ackers  and  narcotic  racketeers.  Always 
soup;  that  a  safe  was  a  pete  and  the  the  research  for  new  vocabulary  fasci- 
criminal  specialist  involved  was  a  peter-  nated  her,  maintained  enthusiasm  and 
man.  Her  investigations  were  drawn  nourished  facility  of  pen. 
far  afield.  She  found  that  safe-blowers  Through  the  years  Miss  Letitia's  en- 
began  as  punks,  or  apprentices  to  terprise  garnered  cumulative  results, 
hoboes,  and  here  was  a  whole  new  Ian-  The  circulation  of  Hot  Clues  returned 


64 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


to  vigor  5  Rodney  Mallow  was  per 
mitted  to  raise  the  rate  of  pay  from  half 
a  cent  a  word  to  three-quarters,  then 
munificently  to  a  cent.  His  own  salary 
increased,  by  driblets,  to  fifty  dollars  a 
week. 

Other  editors  learned  of  the  diminu 
tive  penmaiden  to  crime.  It  became 
advisable  to  live  on  Long  Island,  so 
they  could  confer  with  her  readily.  In 
1927  she  received  her  first  cheque  at  a 
five-cent  rate.  Even  though  she  never 
neglected  Hot  Clues  she  maintained  a 
three-cent  average  during  the  new  de 
pression!  The  Doag  and  Hart  people 
paid  Rodney  a  hundred  a  week,  to  hold 
his  sister. 

Early  in  1934  success  proved  embar 
rassing.  A  metropolitan  newspaper, 
learning  Miss  Letitia's  story,  sent  out  a 
pert  young  woman  and  a  freckled  pho 
tographer.  Details  of  the  Long  Island 
house,  from  Miss  Letitia's  curls  to  the 
Mallow  silver's  interlaced  monogram, 
were  blazoned  in  Sunday  supplements. 

It  all  seemed  a  little  childish,  in  view 
of  what  the  doctor  said.  The  scales  told 
Miss  Letitia  she  was  growing  smaller  j 
her  mirror  said  paler ;  more  than  ever 
as  she  grew  weaker  she  seemed  fragile, 
gentle,  utterly  out  of  congruity  with 
the  springs  of  the  restored  Mallow  for 
tunes. 


in 


Sitting  in  the  twisted-wood  seat 
under  the  Japanese  maple  Miss  Letitia 
saw  the  big  Lugano  cabriolet  of  Mrs. 
Elmore  Bacon  glide  to  the  porte- 
cochere  of  the  white  house.  She  liked 
Mrs.  Bacon  very  much  and  she  stepped 
a  short  way  across  the  garden's  bright 
bands.  Her  voice  had  always  been  low, 
slight  j  to  call  out  loudly  now  would  be 
one  of  those  exertions  the  doctor  for 
bade.  The  gray  dress,  though,  was 


easily  discernible  against  the  patterned 
flowers,  and  Mrs.  Bacon  traversed  the 
lawn  to  join  her. 

They  chose  a  more  comfortable  seat, 
in  the  sun,  and  fell  to  talking  of  the 
forthcoming  charity  bazaar. 

"I  don't  think  people  just  ought  to 
give  money,"  Miss  Letitia  voiced  opin 
ion.  "They  ought  to  do  something.  I'm 
working  some  'petit  'point  table  covers. 
They're  old-fashioned,  but  they're 
rarely  seen  now  and  I  hope  some  one 
will  want  to  buy  them." 

"I'm  sure  they  will,"  Mrs.  Bacon 
approved.  "You're  wonderful,  dear.  So 
many  activities.  .  .  ."  Her  mind  was 
busy  with  the  Sunday  supplement  flare, 
but  she  couldn't  devise  a  reasonable  way 
to  mention  it  to  such  a  porcelain  figur 
ine. 

For  the  better  part  of  an  hour  they 
conned  affairs  social,  religious  and 
charitable  in  that  section  of  Long 
Island  j  then  Miss  Letitia,  animated, 
walked  with  her  visitor  to  the  big 
Lugano,  watched  the  blue  magnificence 
roll  away,  mounted  steps  and  entered 
her  wide,  old-type  hall.  She  felt  cheered 
but  tired  j  it  seemed  a  good  idea  to  go 
upstairs  and  sleep  awhile  before  dinner. 

Foot  on  the  second  step,  she  paused. 
The  big  house  seemed  empty,  lonely  j 
she  wished  she  were  back  in  the  Connec 
ticut  cottage.  A  positive  weariness  op 
pressed  her. 

Miss  Letitia  had  been  reared  a  good 
church  member  and  her  view  of  alco 
hol  remained  rigorous.  Neither  the 
concoctions  of  Prohibition  nor  the  raw 
distillations  of  repeal  had  sullied  her 
lips.  But  there  was  in  the  house — had 
been  since  its  building — a  residue  of 
fine  sherry,  imported  long  ago  by  Miss 
Letitia's  father. 

A  mental  image  bloomed  of  the  pre- 
Revolutionary,  cut-glass  decanter, 


MISS  LETITIA'S  PROFESSION 


warmed  by  the  brown  glow  of  the  wine. 
A  small  sip  of  that  would  be  grateful: 
one  could  feel,  it  seemed,  too  fragile. 

The  little  figure  stepped  down,  as  if 
the  past  curtsied  to  the  Twentieth 
Century  front  door.  Miss  Letitia 
walked  softly  through  an  opening  to 
her  right  and  across  the  deep  pile  of  the 
sitting-room  rug.  Thus  she  reached  the 
folding-doors  that  she  had  had  placed 
between  there  and  the  dining-room,  to 
remind  her  of  Connecticut. 

The  doors  were  partly  open.  Miss 
Letitia  gasped. 

A  man  who  had  been  standing  at  the 
sideboard,  stowing  the  Mallow  silver 
silently  in  two  suit-cases,  whirled  and 
drew  from  inside  his  coat  an  automatic 
pistol. 

Miss  Letitia  was  startled — out  of 
reality,  not  into  it.  The  stranger  seemed 
the  figment  of  a  familiar  dream.  She 
had  described  him  so  often:  black,  part- 
less  hair  that  lay  back  as  if  glued  j  lithe, 
quick  hands  j  skin  a  muddy  olive  j  cruel 
mouth  j  rattiness  gleaming  in  hot  eyes. 

A  sentence  in  Miss  Letitia's  last  true 
story  came  naturally  to  mind:  "Joe's 
automatic  seemed  to  leap  from  nowhere 
into  his  hand."  Even  the  name  coin 
cided,  but  the  author  did  not  know  that. 

"Not  a  sound ! "  the  man  ordered,  but 
the  rattiness  faded,  the  cruel  look  soft 
ened,  as  he  looked  at  Miss  Letitia.  The 
late  afternoon  light,  lemon  pale,  more 
like  sunrise  than  evening,  slanted 
through  the  dining-room  windows.  The 
soft  hues  of  the  gray  dress  and  the  sil 
very  curls  gave  a  pastel  effect,  but  the 
small  face,  very  white,  more  nearly 
resembled  an  old  cameo. 

"Drop  that  rod,  gimmick!"  Miss 
Letitia  said.  "If  you  gat  me  you'll  fry 
in  the  hot  seat." 

Gentleman  Joe's  mouth  opened  to  a 
round  "O";  his  nostrils  trembled ;  over 


his  eyes  flashed  the  look  of  a  man  con 
vinced  of  hallucination. 

He  did  exactly  what  Miss  Letitia  had 
told  him  to;  the  automatic  fell  from  a 
nerveless  hand. 

Miss  Letitia  picked  it  up.  She  re 
garded  it  curiously,  the  first  she  had 
ever  seen.  But  how  many  times  she  had 
described  it:  blunt,  stub,  blue,  ugly. 

"Don't  hand  me  any  tough  luck  pat 
ter,"  she  warned.  "You  can't  beat  this 
rap." 

"G-gawd!"  stammered  Gentleman 
Joe.  "One  of  us  is  nuts." 

"Don't  crack  wise."  The  gentle  voice 
held  its  even  modulation.  "You're  no 
big  shot.  You've  probably  been  sniffing 
joy-powder  to  hop  you  up  for  this  haul. 
You're  a — an  ump-chay ! " 

Gentleman  Joe  could  stand  no  more. 
The  gun  had  become  the  least  of  the 
terrors  confronting  him.  He  stared  a 
last  moment,  incredulous.  With  a 
strangled  cry  he  ran  headlong  across 
the  room,  plunged  through  a  French 
window  and  sped  across  the  lawn, 
trampling  flowers,  as  if  all  the  fiends 
clattered  behind  him. 

Miss  Letitia,  grieved  for  the  flowers, 
stood  a  long  minute  holding  one  hand 
over  her  heart,  which  hurt. 

She  had  forgotten  about  the  sherry. 
She  placed  the  automatic  gingerly  on 
the  sideboard.  Then  she  returned  to  the 
sitting-room,  wavering  a  trifle,  and 
there  pressed  a  button,  bringing  rose- 
glow  to  electric  coals.  She  lowered  her 
self  into  a  comfortable  chair  before  the 
fire-place  and  picked  up  a  small  hoop, 
drum-tight  with  embroidery.  Uncon 
sciously  her  fingers  began  to  work  but 
the  needle  and  thread  shook. 

Presently  she  looked  up,  face  white, 
wistful. 

"He  took  it  on  the  lam,"  Miss  Letitia 
sighed.  "No  guts." 


The  Opposition  Looks  for  Leaders 

BY  OLIVER  McKEE,  JR. 

Republicans,  venturing  out  of  their  political  dug-outs  since  the 
air  mail  affair,  begin  thinking  seriously  of  1936 

TIME:  June,  1936.  Place:  a  Mid-  our  politics  are  in  substantial  agreement 
Western  city.  Guest  artists:  the  with  him.  Good  times  and  the  full 
mayor  of  the  city,  Will  Rogers  dinner  pail  have  carried  the  G.O.P.  to 
for  his  wisecracks,  press  agents  and  toot-  victory  more  than  once  since  the  Civil 
ers  for  favorite  sons,  and  orators  chosen  War  under  a  standard-bearer  whom  no 
for  their  ability  to  make  the  eagle  amount  of  press-agenting  could  trans- 
scream — not  the  Blue  species — and  to  late  into  a  Lincoln.  Assuming  that 
hit  the  key  of  i  oo  per  cent  Americanism.  Franklin  D.  Roosevelt  is  the  Democratic 
Object:  selection  of  a  Republican  candi-  candidate  in  1936,  that  economic  im- 
date  for  President  of  the  United  States,  provement  continues,  and  that  a  public 
Though  the  actors  and  their  parts  have  notoriously  fickle  in  its  loyalties  does 
yet  to  be  assigned,  the  drama,  in  its  not  withdraw  the  favor  which  Mr. 
scenes  and  setting  is  easily  envisaged.  Roosevelt  has  enjoyed  to  so  extraordi- 
You  can't  kill  a  party  that  polled  1 6,-  nary  a  degree,  Republicans  face  a  tough 
000,000  votes  in  1932.  Almost  as  cer-  job  two  years  hence.  A  second-rater  may 
tainly  as  that  the  sun  will  set  tomorrow,  have  served  their  purposes  in  more  than 
G.O.P.  delegates  and  alternates,  a  one  past  campaign,  but  if  present  signs 
thousand  or  more  men  and  women,  are  read  aright,  he  will  not  turn  the 
with  their  retainers,  camp-followers,  trick  in  1936.  For  leadership  is  the  big 
job-hunters,  and  so  on,  in  less  than  two  problem.  We  find  no  commanding  fig- 
years,  will  troop  into  their  convention  ures  in  the  ranks  of  the  G.O.P.,  no 
city,  to  pick  their  candidates  and  write  leader,  as  yet,  who  stands  out  as  a 
a  platform,  sending  their  salesmen  im-  worthy  foeman  for  Franklin  D.  Roose- 
mediately  into  the  field  thereafter  to  velt  in  a  bid  for  the  votes  of  Main  Street 
persuade  the  voters  of  America,  through  and  those  of  the  "plain  people." 
all  the  arts  of  political  cajolery  and  bal 
lyhoo,  to  give  Franklin  D.  Roosevelt 

and  the  New  Dealers  the  gate.  Presidential  elections  are  won  and 

The  American  people  choose  few  but  lost  on  issues  of  the  moment.  Candi- 

second-rate  men  for  their  Presidents,  dates  must  be  picked  to  fit  the  popular 

James  Bryce  tells  us  in  his  American  psychology  and  mood  of  the  hour.  It 

Commonwealth,  and  other  students  of  was  the  vote  against  the  depression  that 


THE  OPPOSITION  LOOKS  FOR  LEADERS  67 

sent  Herbert  C.  Hoover  back  to  Palo  Right  will  favor  the  selection  of  a  Re- 
Alto,  and  Mr.  Roosevelt  from  1932  publican  conservative  of  the  Calvin 
down  to  the  present  has  cut  his  cloth  to  Coolidge  type.  If  the  swing  reaches  only 
fit  the  liberalism  of  the  times,  directing,  the  half-way  mark,  nomination  of  a 
in  response  to  a  popular  demand,  the  middle-of-the-road  man  will  be  in  order 
changes  in  the  social  order,  badly  creak-  — one  who  does  not  propose  to  discard 
ing  under  the  impact  of  the  hurricane  the  New  Deal,  hook,  line  and  sinker, 
which  descended  on  the  country  in  1 929.  Republican  shock  troops  have 
In  mid-1934  the  trend  of  popular  psy-  emerged  from  their  dug-outs  during 
chology  in  1936  is  any  man's  guess.  If  the  past  few  months,  as  the  zero  hour 
the  patient  has  a  relapse,  if  there  is  no  for  the  congressional  campaigns  of  1934 
shrinking  in  the  army  of  the  idle,  the  approaches.  During  Mr.  Roosevelt's 
political  pendulum  may  move  farther  to  honeymoon,  a  few  G.O.P.  skirmishers 
the  Left.  If  conditions  continue  to  im-  occupied  the  front  lines,  but  the  party 
prove,  and  if  the  regimentation  and  leaders  as  a  whole  acquiesced  in  most 
control  policies  of  the  New  Deal  prove  of  the  requests  of  the  Administration 
irritating  enough  to  create  a  backfire  for  emergency  legislation.  The  cancela- 
against  its  political  philosophy,  in  retro-  tion  of  the  air  mail  contracts  was  the 
spect  the  Lexington  resolves  of  1934,  signal  for  raids  in  force  on  the  enemy 
presented  to  Congress  as  a  protest  of  the  lines,  and  the  G.O.P.  raiders  threw  a 
Massachusetts  townsfolk  against  the  ex-  real  scare  into  the  Administration  by 
pansion  of  Federal  bureaucracy  and  al-  revealing  some  weak  points  in  its  de- 
leged  violations  of  liberty,  may  prove  fenses.  Detached  observers  in  Washing- 
as  significant,  historically,  as  the  revolt  ton  see  in  the  cancelation  of  the  air  mail 
of  the  forebears  of  these  same  towns-  contracts,  and  the  spanking  administered 
men  on  the  eve  of  the  American  Revo-  to  Colonel  Charles  A.  Lindbergh,  the 
lution.  Again,  too,  if  a  reaction  against  first  major  blunder  of  the  Roosevelt 
the  New  Deal  develops  during  the  next  Administration,  a  blunder  all  the  more 
two  years,  we  have  no  means  of  telling  conspicuous  because  up  to  that  time,  Mr. 
exactly  where  the  bed  of  the  main  Roosevelt  had  been  hitting  par  on  prac- 
stream  of  revolt  will  lie.  Focal  points  tically  every  hole.  Cancelation  of  the 
of  irritation  may  be  taxes,  the  NRA,  air  mail  contracts,  and  the  loss  of  life 
the  AAA,  or  the  "insolence  of  office"  among  the  gallant  army  flyers  gave  the 
displayed  by  the  rapidly  expanding  Administration  anything  but  a  good 
Federal  bureaucracy.  The  Republican  press,  and  what  is  more,  from  the  Re- 
aspirant  who  strikes  the  correct  popular  publican  vantage  point,  it  created  in  the 
key,  the  leader  who  catches  the  ear  of  public  mind  the  impression  that  after 
the  people  on  the  issue  which  at  the  mo-  all  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  not  infallible, 
ment  agitates  in  the  public  mind,  may  and  that  because  of  this  striking  so  high- 
steal  a  march  on  other  candidates  for  handedly  against  commercial  aviation 
the  nomination — provided  of  course  his  other  industries  had  good  reason  to  fear 
candidacy  measures  up  to  geographical  the  New  Deal  controls, 
specifications.  Then,  too,  something  will  The  Brain  Trust  inquiry  by  the 
depend  on  the  extent  of  the  swing  back  Bulwinkle  committee,  following  the 
to  the  Right,  if  the  political  cycle  moves  charges  of  Dr.  William  A.  Wirt,  the 
in  that  direction.  A  full  swing  to  the  Hoosier  schoolmaster,  gave  the  G.O.P. 


68  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

another  opening.  The  inquiry  itself  was  publicans  who  during  the  party's  exile 
a  fiasco,  an  opera  bouffe  performance  in  the  wilderness,  have  essayed  the  role 
that  gave  the  capital  some  of  its  best  of  guide  and  mentor.  The  list  logically 
laughs  of  the  year.  Behind  the  fagade  begins  with  Ogden  Mills  of  New  York, 
of  burlesque,  the  investigation  had  a  Hoover's  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  a 
real  significance,  in  disclosing  for  the  man  whose  abilities  even  the  Frankfur- 
first  time  that  a  popular  mistrust  existed  ter  Brain  Trust  boys  from  the  Harvard 
as  to  the  purposes  and  final  objectives  of  Law  School  will  concede.  An  aggres- 
the  Administration  and  its  Brain  Trust,  sive  fighter,  able  executive,  a  demon  for 
A  counter  attack  sent  the  New  Deal's  work,  Mr.  Mills,  both  in  the  House, 
heaviest  artillery  into  action,  to  assure  where  he  was  a  member  of  the  Ways 
the  public  that  the  changes  taking  place  and  Means  Committee,  and  in  the 
in  the  social  order  are  merely  the  nor-  Treasury,  proved  himself  one  of  the 
mal  process  of  evolution,  not  revolution,  most  capable  public  servants  of  our  day. 
But  no  final  answer  has  been  given  to  He  was  the  number  one  assistant  in 
the  questions  implied  in  the  Wirt  in-  Hoover's  fight  against  the  disintegrat- 
quiry,  and  during  the  late  spring  the  ing  forces  of  the  depression,  and  con- 
Republicans  have  become  bolder,  strik-  tributed  much  to  the  strategy  of  that 
ing  at  the  Roosevelt  policies  over  a  wide  campaign.  Since  the  inauguration  of 
front.  In  brief,  as  we  enter  the  summer  Franklin  D.  Roosevelt,  Mills  has  been 
of  1934,  Mr.  Roosevelt  and  his  policies  one  of  the  most  outspoken  of  his  critics, 
face  a  real  challenge.  How  serious  that  laying  down  his  heaviest  fires  on  the 
challenge  is,  only  time  can  tell.  Roosevelt  monetary  policies.  If  sound 

money  is  the  big  issue  two  years  hence, 
Mills,  as  the  man  who  has  most  point- 
Though  no  one  speaks  as  yet  with  edly  challenged  the  Roosevelt  monetary 
the  accent  of  ecumenical  authority  for  policies,  will  have  strong  support  for 
the  1 6,000,000  Republicans  who  voted  the  Presidential  nomination.  But  hard- 
for  Herbert  C.  Hoover  in  November,  boiled  political  realists  will  see  two  ob- 
1932,  this  is  not  because  the  Republican  stacles  to  his  nomination,  either  of  which 
opposition  has  been  silent.  Far  from  it.  alone  would  probably  be  formidable 
There  are  many  voices  in  its  chorus,  enough  to  keep  him  from  it.  First,  he  is 
pitched  in  varying  keys.  Republican  too  closely  identified  with  the  Hoover 
governors  are  almost  as  scarce  as  hen's  policies — many  regard  him  as  the  heir- 
teeth,  and  in  House  and  Senate  the  apparent  of  the  Hooverites — to  make 
G.O.P.  is  represented  by  only  a  fraction  him  acceptable  to  the  large  number  of 
of  its  former  strength.  Yet  many  Re-  Republicans  who  are  insisting  on  a  corn- 
publicans  even  now  are  known  to  have  plete  new  deal  for  the  G.O.P.  Second, 
their  eye  on  the  1936  Presidential  as  a  man  of  vast  inherited  wealth,  he  is 
nomination.  On  the  list  are  at  least  too  close  to  big  business  and  finance  to 
half-a-dozen  who  measure  up,  in  polit-  satisfy  those  who  want  a  standard-bearer 
ical  ability  and  administrative  experi-  without  a  Wall  Street  tag.  For  the 
ence,  with  the  average  of  the  men  "money  power"  is  still  anathema  to 
nominated  for  the  Presidency  during  Main  Street,  and  Republican  chiefs,  in 
the  past  half  century  by  either  party.  picking  their  standard-bearer,  must  bear 
Let  us  turn  for  a  moment  to  those  Re-  in  mind  the  popular  prejudices  of  the 


THE  OPPOSITION  LOOKS  FOR  LEADERS  69 

hour.  These  are  big  handicaps  which  In  Charles  L.  McNary  of  Oregon, 
Mills  faces,  and  the  realist  must  reckon  Senate  Republicans  have  a  leader  who 
with  them.  Realities  of  the  same  kind  may  have  strong  backing  in  the  next 
have  more  than  once  in  the  past  stood  convention.  Fulminations  against  the 
in  the  way  of  the  nomination  by  both  Roosevelt  policies  he  has  been  quite  con- 
major  parties  of  their  ablest  men.  tent  to  leave  to  others  j  like  Vanden- 

berg,  he  has  been  sparing  in  his  criticism 

IV  of  the  New  Deal.  McNary  seldom 
The  Senate  offers  three  possibilities  makes  a  speech,  and  even  more  rarely 
for  the  Republican  Presidential  nomi-  does  he  go  after  an  opponent  on  the 
nation,  with  one  or  two  others,  under  floor,  hammer  and  tongs.  He  is  essen- 
certain  conditions,  conceded  an  outside  tially  a  coordinator,  a  smoother,  a  con- 
chance.  The  first  of  the  three  is  Arthur  ciliator.  He  has  the  knack  of  getting 
H.  Vandenberg  of  Michigan.  Of  all  along  well  with  both  Western  progres- 
those  who  have  figured  in  the  1936  dis-  sives  and  Eastern  conservatives.  His 
cussions  up  to  date,  the  Michigan  Sena-  popularity  with  the  Democrats  has 
tor  seems  to  have  the  most  elements  of  helped  the  Republicans  in  many  a  tight 
political  availability.  He  has  refrained  hole.  Though  he  looks  like  a  boy,  he 
from  making  any  frontal  assault  on  the  was  sixty  in  June.  As  an  Oregonian,  he 
New  Deal,  adroitly  placing  his  bets  on  speaks  the  language  of  the  agrarian 
both  horses.  He  has  tendered  enough  West,  and  if  the  G.O.P.  is  to  stage  a 
support  to  the  New  Deal  to  keep  him-  come-back,  it  must  regain  some  of  the 
self  persona  grata  to  its  friends,  without  territory  lost  in  the  West.  As  the  co- 
allying  himself  with  La  Follette,  Cut-  author  of  the  McNary-Haugen  Bill, 
ting,  Johnson  and  Norris.  His  status  as  McNary  is  known  to  millions  as  a 
a  regular  Republican  is  unchallenged,  friend  of  the  farmers.  Born  on  a  farm — 
Geographically  Vandenberg  hails  from  no  mean  political  asset  when  publicity 
the  proper  part  of  the  country.  It  would  men  begin  their  pre-convention  bally- 
be  better  if  Ohio  had  sent  him  to  the  hoo — McNary  goes  back  to  his  Sabine 
Senate,  but  Michigan  is  good  enough,  retreat  out  West  when  Congress  ad- 
An  easy  mixer,  with  a  sense  of  humor,  journs.  Like  Vandenberg,  he  is  believed 
not  the  least  bit  high-hat,  invariably  to  have  a  fairly  good-sized  White  House 
cheerful,  with  a  touch  of  the  philosoph-  bee  in  his  bonnet.  The  lightning  will 
ical  in  his  make-up,  Vandenberg  has  have  to  strike  somewhere,  and  McNary 
many  of  the  qualities  that  brought  the  appears  to  be  within  its  range, 
greatest  prize  in  American  politics  to  Pennsylvania,  in  the  person  of  its  sen- 
McKinley  and  Harding.  If  he  is  the  ior  Senator,  David  A.  Reed,  presents  a 
choice  of  the  party,  it  will  mean  that  far  more  forceful  figure  than  either 
Republican  leaders  do  not  intend,  at  McNary  or  Vandenberg,  and  a  greater 
least  in  1936,  to  make  rejection  of  the  intellect.  No  Republican  Senator  has  at- 
New  Deal  their  big  issue.  Vandenberg  tacked  the  New  Deal  more  sharply,  or 
faces  one  danger.  He  is  too  patently  an  challenged  more  boldly  the  implications 
aspirant  for  the  1936  nomination,  what-  of  the  social  and  political  philosophy  on 
ever  it  may  be  worth.  The  early  bird  which  it  is  based.  Reed  has  placed  all  his 
often  fails  to  get  the  worm.  A  case  in  bets  on  one  horse.  Given  a  free  hand,  he 
point  was  Leonard  Wood  in  1920.  would  make  mighty  little  of  the  New 


yo  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Deal  permanent.  Able  constitutional  H.  Snell,  minority  leader,  and  James 
lawyer,  a  man  of  courage  and  positive  W.  Wadsworth  of  New  York.  During 
convictions,  Reed  is  not  rated  a  good  the  years  of  Republican  ascendancy  just 
politician.  Men  respect  him,  but  he  lacks  prior  to  the  depression  the  House  was 
the  magnetism  and  qualities  of  personal  ruled  by  a  triumvirate  consisting  of 
leadership  that  have  stood  President  Nicholas  Longworth,  speaker,  John  G. 
Roosevelt  in  such  good  stead.  And  Reed  Tilson,  floor  leader,  and  Snell,  chair- 
faces  the  same  handicap  under  which  man  of  the  Rules  Committee.  Snell 
Ogden  Mills  labors.  Closely  identified  alone  remains  in  the  House.  Longworth 
with  the  Mellon  interests  in  Pennsylva-  is  dead,  and  Tilson  has  retired  into 
nia,  Reed  seems  too  vulnerable  to  the  private  life,  after  being  beaten  by  Snell 
"money  power"  cry  to  make  him  a  likely  for  the  post  of  minority  leader.  Snell  is 
choice  of  'the  next  convention.  Then,  too,  rated  as  one  of  the  ablest  practical  poli- 
there  is  a  certain  hauteur  and  pride,  if  ticians  in  either  party.  With  the  material 
not  arrogance,  of  intellect  in  Reed  that  at  his  command,  he  has  done  a  good  job 
further  militates  against  his  prospects,  as  minority  leader.  With  Western  Re- 

Notwithstanding  his  knight  errantry,  publicans  he  is  fairly  popular,  perhaps 
his  magnificent  isolation,  and  his  prone-  because  he  comes  from  an  agricultural 
ness  to  destructive  criticism,  rather  area  in  up-State  New  York.  A  thorough- 
than  constructive  suggestion,  William  going  partisan,  Snell  shocked  the  pious 
E.  Borah  of  Idaho,  were  he  ten  or  fif-  when  he  hailed  the  action  of  the  House 
teen  years  younger,  would  have  strong  in  overriding  the  veto  of  the  Independ- 
backing  as  a  man  who  could  appeal  to  ent  Offices  Bill,  as  a  deserved  spanking 
the  West  and  liberal  elements  in  the  of  the  President,  and  more  recently  he 
party.  At  sixty-nine  Borah  is  too  old  to  has  condemned  the  New  Deal  as  a  fail- 
be  considered  for  the  nomination,  even  ure,  joining  with  those  who  want  to 
if  conservative  Republicans  were  will-  shelve  it.  A  graduate  of  Amherst — as  is 
ing  to  take  a  man  of  his  type.  Arthur  Speaker  Rainey — the  New  Yorker  is 
Capper  of  Kansas  hails  from  the  Corn  quick  on  the  offense,  a  "tough  guy"  in 
Belt,  and  is  a  safe  middle-of-the-road  his  ability  to  take  punishment,  and  in 
man,  trusted  both  by  the  conservative  spite  of  the  roughness  of  his  exterior  is 
East  and  the  radical  West.  L.  J.  Dickin-  well  liked  by  most  of  his  fellow  Repub- 
son  of  Iowa,  in  the  heart  of  the  Corn  licans.  Old-fashioned  Republicanism  is 
Belt,  a  sharp  critic  of  the  Roosevelt  poli-  his  creed,  and  if  the  G.O.P.  wants  to 
cies,  and  1928  keynoter,  is  another  Re-  wage  the  next  campaign  with  conserva- 
publican  high  in  the  party's  councils,  tism  the  issue,  it  could  do  worse  than 
Bull  Mooser  Hiram  Johnson  of  Cali-  take  Snell.  As  a  rugged  party  man,  bred 
fornia  is  still  listed  as  a  Republican,  but  and  born  to  a  partisan  environment, 
having  received  the  blessing  of  F.  D.  in  Snell  is  akin  to  Jack  Garner  of  Texas, 
his  contest  for  reelection  in  California,  once  leader  of  the  House  Democrats, 
the  G.O.P.  could  hardly  choose  him.  Though  ancient  enemies  on  the  floor, 

the  two  men  are  close  personal  friends. 

v  Wadsworth  is  no  less  available  than 

Republicans  in  the  House  offer  at  Snell,  if  the  trend  favors  a  man  of  his 

least  two  men  whose  availability  ranks  conservative  type.  An  up-State  New 

high  in  discussions  of  1936 — Bertrand  Yorker,  whose  father  served  in  Con- 


THE  OPPOSITION  LOOKS  FOR  LEADERS  71 

gress  and  wore  the  blue  in  the  Civil  the  death  warrant  to  American  individu- 

War,  Wadsworth,  as  a  youngster,  be-  alism,  and  personal  liberty,  he  has  failed 

came  speaker  of  the  New  York  assem-  to  make  much  of  an  impression  on  the 

bly,  and  then  served  two  terms  in  the  House  or  to  have  attracted  public  atten- 

United  States  Senate.  As  a  Senator  he  tion  outside, 
was  conspicuous  for  his  courage,  and  his 

ability  as  a  legislator.  Few  of  his  col-  VI 
leagues  could  handle  an  appropriation  Outside  Congress  there  are  other  Re- 
bill,  or  other  piece  of  legislation  on  the  publicans  who  are  helping  to  stir  the 
floor  as  well  as  he.  Wadsworth  became  broth.  Those  who  demand  a  repudiation 
recognized  as  one  of  the  real  leaders  of  Old  Guard  leadership  have  rallied 
on  the  Republican  side,  and  the  veteran  behind  such  men  as  Theodore  Roose- 
Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  majority  leader,  velt,  whose  work  in  reorganizing  the 
used  him  as  one  of  his  principal  lieu-  G.O.P.  in  the  Empire  State  is  corn- 
tenants.  Wadsworth,  ahead  of  his  time,  manding  wide  attention,  Chase  Mellen, 
took  a  definite  stand  against  Prohibi-  Jr.,  Hanford  MacNider  of  Iowa, 
tion,  so  he  was  beaten  in  1926,  as  Re-  Trubee  Davison  and  several  others, 
publican  drys  insisted  on  his  scalp.  Now  Fiorello  LaGuardia,  mayor  of  New 
the  G.O.P.  has  caught  up  to  Wadsworth  York,  may  be  worth  watching,  if  the 
in  the  matter  of  Prohibition.  In  terms  G.O.P.  decides  to  move  to  the  Left.  In 
of  1936  the  New  Yorker  has  three  as-  Massachusetts,  former  Governor  Alvin 
sets;  first,  he  was  never  identified  with  Fuller,  a  powerful  vote-getter,  might 
the  Hoover  Administration,  and  does  later  be  projected  into  the  national  pic- 
not  share  in  the  heritage  of  its  troubles;  ture,  and  in  New  Hampshire  Governor 
second,  he  has  a  certain  courage  and  Winant  is  believed  to  have  his  eye  on 
forthrightness  conspicuously  lacking  in  the  White  House.  If  the  Republicans, 
so  many  of  the  Old  Guard's  political  who  once  drafted  Charles  Evans 
hacks.  Third,  as  a  landed  proprietor,  he  Hughes  from  the  Supreme  Court,  de- 
has  a  recognized  community  of  inter-  cide  again  to  go  there  for  their  candi- 
est  with  the  farmers  of  the  West,  and  date,  their  choice  undoubtedly  would  be 
though  a  man  of  means  he  is  not  iden-  Harlan  Fisk  Stone,  appointed  by  Cool- 
tified,  in  the  popular  mind,  in  any  close  idge  in  1925.  Meanwhile,  Justice 
way  with  the  money  power  of  Wall  Stone's  New  Deal  decisions  will  be 
Street.  Wadsworth,  however,  labors  un-  watched  closely.  If  the  decisions  of  the 
der  certain  handicaps.  He  has  made  Court  reveal  Stone  as  a  champion  and 
some  enemies,  notably  because  of  his  at-  friend  of  the  New  Deal,  the  G.O.P. 
tacks  on  Republican  drys,  during  the  could  hardly  consider  him  an  available 
days  when  Prohibition  was  a  great  de-  candidate  in  the  event  that  its  leaders 
stroyer.  Second,  as  a  product  of  St.  decide  to  make  the  permanency  of  the 
Marks  and  Yale,  there  is  a  certain  New  Deal  the  major  issue  of  the  next 
amount  of  the  high-hat  in  his  make-up,  Presidential  campaign.  Out  in  Chicago, 
and  some  members  of  Congress  feel  that  "  Frank  Knox,  publisher  of  the  News,  is 
his  wife,  the  daughter  of  John  Hay,  is  regarded  as  a  man  of  great  weight  in 
not  enough  of  a  glad-hander.  Third,  as  councils  of  the  party, 
a  new  member,  in  spite  of  his  clear-cut  At  this  writing,  no  successor  has  been 
challenge  to  the  New  Deal,  as  carrying  chosen  for  Everett  Sanders,  chairman 


72  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

of  the  Republican  National  Committee,  tional  policies.  They  are  chiefly  inter- 
Though  the  chairman  may  have  some  ested  in  increasing  Republican  represen- 
influence,  the  forces  which  shape  the  tation  in  House  and  Senate,  picking  the 
policies  of  a  political  party  are  far  be-  issues,  both  local  and  national,  that  seem 
yond  a  single  individual's  power  to  best  calculated  to  bring  this  about.  The 
control.  Today  there  are  two  main  con-  congressional  campaigns  will  have  a  real 
tests  within  the  Republican  party.  The  importance  in  clearing  out  the  weeds, 
first  is  that  between  the  Old  Guard  and  and  disclosing  the  issues  which  offer  a 
the  younger  liberals  and  progressives,  promise  for  effective  capitalization  in 
who  insist  on  new  blood  and  the  com-  the  Presidential  contest  two  years  hence, 
plete  rejection  of  Old  Guard  leadership  No  discussion  of  Republican  pros- 
and  the  control  by  big  business  and  the  pects  can  omit  mention  of  the  name  of 
financial  interests  that  the  name  Old  Herbert  C.  Hoover,  still  the  titular 
Guard  connotes.  The  second  contest  is  leader  of  the  G.O.P.  Mr.  Hoover,  his 
between  those  who  want  the  party  to  friends  in  Washington  have  said,  has 
make  an  aggressive  fight  against  the  no  thought  of  seeking  for  himself  the 
New  Deal  and  the  regimentation  and  nomination  in  1936.  Mr.  Hoover, 
social  control  that  it  implies,  and  those  nevertheless,  must  remain  in  the  back- 
who  want  to  accept  those  elements  of  ground  of  the  picture.  Only  a  sharp 
the  New  Deal  that  have  demonstrated  reversal  in  public  opinion,  a  shift  to  the 
their  value  and  usefulness  by  the  prag-  Right,  almost  a  revulsion  against  the 
matic  test.  These  contests  necessarily  New  Deal  and  its  alphabetocracy  could 
overlap  at  many  points,  and  not  until  rehabilitate  Mr.  Hoover,  and  bring 
1936  when  candidates  are  picked  and  about  a  situation  in  which  party  leaders 
platforms  written  will  be  known  defi-  would  turn  to  him  as  the  man  most 
nitely  the  results  of  the  battles  now  likely  to  lead  the  G.O.P.  out  of  the 
under  way  for  control  of  the  Republi-  wilderness.  The  closest  parallel  is  that 
can  party  and  its  policies.  of  Grover  Cleveland,  who  left  the 
The  senatorial  and  congressional  Presidency  after  his  first  term  under  a 
committees  this  year,  both  financially  cloud  of  criticism  and  popular  disfavor 
and  otherwise,  will  work  independently  not  unlike  that  which  marked  the 
of  the  national  committee  in  trying  to  Hoover  exit  from  the  White  House, 
elect  Republican  senators  and  repre-  Yet  Cleveland  lived  not  only  to  see  the 
sentatives.  Senator  Daniel  Hastings  of  fickle  tide  of  public  favor  again  turn  in 
Delaware  heads  the  Senate  group,  his  direction,  but  to  receive  another 
Closely  associated  with  the  Du  Pont  nomination  and  to  serve  a  second  term 
ruling  dynasty,  Hastings  is  a  stout  little  in  the  White  House.  But  Cleveland  did 
man  of  much  energy  and  a  good  if  not  a  not  face  a  Franklin  D.  Roosevelt,  and 
brilliant  party  worker.  The  House  com-  Mr.  Hoover,  most  observers  agree,  will 
mittee  is  headed  by  two  young  Harvard  not  figure  in  the  money  two  years  from 
men,  Chester  Bolton  of  Ohio,  and  Rob-  now. 
ert  Bacon  of  New  York,  son  of  the  for 
mer  Secretary  of  State  and  Ambassador 

to  France.  Neither  the  senatorial  nor         If  we  can  find  no  outstanding  figure 

the  congressional  group  is  concerned  in  the  Republican  party,  our  survey  is 

directly  with  the  formulation  of  na-  far  from  showing  that  the  G.O.P.  is 


THE  OPPOSITION  LOOKS  FOR  LEADERS  73 

completely  bankrupt.  To  go  no  farther  Administration  through  the  1936  elec- 
afield  than  Congress,  the  small  Repub-  tion,  if  not  longer.  If  F.  D.  turns  in  even 
lican  membership  in  House  and  Senate  an  average  performance,  if  he  escapes 
will  not  suffer  in  comparison  with  an  too  many  major  blunders,  and  if  eco- 
equal  number  of  Democrats  picked  at  nomic  conditions  continue  to  mend,  the 
random.  The  majority  party  in  Con-  Republican  candidate  in  1936  will  enter 
gress,  with  a  few  exceptions  like  Wag-  the  lists  as  an  under-dog — as  much  of  an 
ner  of  New  York,  has  contributed  little  under-dog  as  James  M.  Cox  in  1920, 
enough  to  the  New  Deal,  the  architects  and  John  W.  Davis  in  1924.  The 
for  which  are  mainly  Brain  Trust  mem-  Democrats  stand  to  benefit  politically 
bers,  and  certain  Cabinet  officers,  no-  from  the  economic  recovery  of  the 
tably  two  former  Republicans,  Ickes  country,  just  as  Mr.  Hoover  was 
and  Wallace.  In  the  States,  traditional  blamed  for  the  depression, 
nursery  for  Presidential  timber,  new  As  the  opposition  party,  charged  with 
Republicans  may  come  to  the  fore  in  this  the  duty  of  audit  and  control,  the  Re- 
year's  elections.  The  victory  of  a  Re-  publicans  have  a  real  responsibility.  But 
publican  governor  in  a  pivotal  State  they  need  new  ideas,  a  programme  at- 
now  controlled  by  the  Democrats,  or  tuned  to  the  spirit  and  temper  of  the 
the  unseating  of  a  Democratic  senator  age.  No  political  party  can  rehabilitate 
in  a  spectacular  upset,  would  forthwith  itself  by  turning  back  the  hands  of  the 
add  another  star  to  a  firmament  that  clock  of  progress.  As  the  G.O.P.  comes 
now  has  few  shining  lights.  In  their  to  life  again,  as  its  captains  become  ar- 
search  for  Presidential  timber,  G.O.P.  ticulate,  the  contest  now  under  way  for 
strategists  will  closely  watch  the  State  control  of  the  party  and  its  policies,  as- 
elections  this  year,  and  if  a  likely  man  sumes  a  large  importance.  Upon  the 
appears,  no  time  will  be  lost  in  building  outcome  of  that  contest  depends  not 
him  up  as  one  who  may  later  be  able  to  only  the  effectiveness  of  the  G.O.P. 
take  the  measure  of  Mr.  Roosevelt.  Lin-  challenge  to  the  New  Deal,  but  the  al- 
coln  was  a  comparative  unknown  when  ternative  which  will  be  offered  to  the 
chosen  to  lead  the  Republican  party,  voters  of  America  in  place  of  the  regi- 
and  so  was  Wilson,  when  the  Demo-  mentation  of  American  life  by  a  steadily 
crats  took  as  their  standard-bearer  the  expanding  Federal  bureaucracy.  The 
governor  of  New  Jersey  who  had  been  Republican  party  never  stood  in  greater 
president  of  Princeton.  need  of  real  leaders,  men  of  vision,  who 
If  the  cycle  of  politics  runs  a  normal  are  progressive  enough  to  keep  up  with 
course,  the  Roosevelt  sweep  will  prob-  the  times,  and  sane  enough  to  conserve 
ably  be  strong  enough  to  keep  the  the  things  of  permanent  value  in  the 
Democrats  in  control  of  the  National  heritage  of  the  past. 


Submarine  Marvels 


BY  RODGER  L.  SIMONS 


awry  about  depletion  of  our  natural  resources  on 
land  may  be  comforted  at  the  possibilities  in  water 


WHEN  world  powers  scramble 
for  gold  wherewith  to  balance 
budgets  and  stabilize  cur 
rency  systems,  when  embargoes  are 
declared  against  the  exportation  of  the 
yellow  metal  and  laws  are  invoked  to 
forestall  its  hoarding  by  hyper-cautious 
citizens,  it  is  a  bit  of  a  jolt  to  discover  in 
the  1933  Edition  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution's  Physical  Tables  that  there 
is  enough  gold  in  sea  water  to  provide 
every  one  of  the  earth's  two  billion  in 
habitants  with  a  fortune  of  $24,000  at 
prevailing  rates. 

A  cubic  mile  of  ordinary  "ocean" 
holds  from  twenty-three  to  1,200  tons 
of  gold.  Tons,  mind  you,  not  ounces  or 
even  pounds,  but  tons!  The  quantity 
varies  between  the  lesser  amount  in  sur 
face  and  coastal  waters  to  the  greater 
figure  in  the  depths  of  the  high  seas. 
With  gold  worth  at  least  $500,000  a 
ton,  these  appalling  statistics  mean  that 
at  the  smaller  percentage  there  is  eleven 
and  a  half  million  dollars'  worth  of  gold 
in  every  cubic  mile  of  sea  water,  while 
at  the  richer  equivalent  the  briny  deep 
has  a  gold  content  of  six  hundred  mil 
lion  dollars  to  the  cubic  mile!  Of  course, 
if  all  this  gold  could  be  extracted  from 
the  sea  and  diverted  into  channels  of 
commerce  it  would  bring  about  an  inter 


national  financial  and  political  collapse 
by  contrast  with  which  all  previous  and 
recent  upheavals  have  been  mere  school 
boy  outings.  But  so  costly  is  the  process 
of  gold  recovery  that  no  such  holocaust 
is  remotely  conceivable. 

Like  most  questions  involving  gold, 
this  problem ,  of  its  occurrence  in  and 
extraction  from  sea  water  has  long 
charmed  scientific  and  pseudo-scientific 
investigators.  Though  earlier  men  had 
dabbled  with  it,  one  of  the  first  to  make 
accurate  determinations  of  the  gold  con 
tent  of  ocean  water  was  a  San  Franciscan 
named  Luther  Wagoner,  who  at  the  be 
ginning  of  this  century  busied  himself 
from  the  rope-strewn  deck  of  the  little 
steamer  Albatross  in  dredging  up  sea 
water  and  bottom  sludge  off  the  shores 
of  his  native  California.  He  discovered 
minute  amounts  of  both  gold  and  silver 
in  the  proportion  of  twenty  to  one,  not 
the  more  familiar  Bryanesque  ratio  of 
sixteen  to  one,  and  was  followed  a  few 
years  later  by  H.  S.  Blackmore,  who 
had  been  especially  eager  to  canvass  the 
feasibility  of  gold  extraction.  Black- 
more's  rather  conclusive  answer  lay  in 
the  discovery  that  after  spending  four 
or  five  thousand  dollars  over  a  period 
of  several  years  he  obtained  about  five 
dollars'  worth  of  gold  and  silver. 


SUBMARINE  MARVELS  75 

Latest  and  perhaps  most  conclusive  ment  refused  to  percolate  and  a  hurry- 
and  discouraging  information  on  this  up  call  was  dispatched  for  Mr.  Fisher, 
chimera  was  that  dug  out  by  Dr.  Fritz  Jarnegan's  general  manager.  Fisher  was 
Haber,  Nobel  Prize  Winner,  whose  re-  in  Boston,  and  in  his  absence  it  was  dis 
port  on  the  prospects  for  gold  removal  covered  that  he  had  slyly  been  "load- 
from  the  sea  is  one  of  the  most  pessi-  ing"  the  mercury  with  gold  filings,  a 
mistic  tid-bits  in  all  scientific  literature,  stunt  managed  so  adroitly  as  not  to  have 
Backed  by  the  resources  of  the  Kaiser  incited  the  least  suspicion  on  the  part  of 
Wilhelm  Institute,  Herr  Haber  scooped  superintendent,  chemist  or  directors, 
up  and  analyzed  water  from  a  wide  The  company  popped  then  and  there 
range  of  places  and  from  the  surface  to  and  Jarnegan  and  Fisher  flew  the  coop, 
undersea  depths  greater  than  6,000  feet 
— he  even  melted  and  examined  polar 

ice — and  then  resorted  to  the  needle-in-  Thales  of  Miletus,  the  ancient  Greek 
a-haystack  simile  to  express  the  futility  philosopher,  astronomer,  inventor  and 
of  yanking  gold  out  of  sea  water  on  a  statesman,  was  a  shrewd  old  duffer, 
commercial  basis.  In  fact,  Haber  often  Ambling  along  the  shores  of  the  Ionian 
found  more  gold  in  various  kinds  of  Sea,  contemplating  the  universe,  strok- 
marine  life  and  minute  organisms  than  ing  his  long,  white  beard,  Thales  con- 
in  the  water  itself.  eluded  that  "water  is  the  origin  of  all 

An  enterprise  for  the  alleged  purpose  things  and  to  water  all  things  return." 

of  extracting  metallic  gold  from  the  sea  And  that  statement,  taken  in  its  literal 

actually  was  set  up  in  1897  under  the  sense,  should  rank  Thales  as  the  father 

imposing    name    of    the    Electrolytic  and  founder  of  the  science  of  oceanog- 

Marine  Salts  Company,  with  a  million  raphy. 

dollars  paid  in  toward  its  book  capitali-  From  water  all  things  come  and  to 

zation  of  ten  million.  Backed  by  respon-  water  all  things  return.  And  now,  2,480 

sible  and  presumably  shrewd  business  years  after  Thales'  day,  we  are  still  dis- 

men  of  New  England,  the  project  de-  covering  added  facets  of  that  fundamen- 

pended  for  its  operation  upon  a  process  tal  truth.  For  sea  water  is  not  the  only 

invented  by  the  Reverend  P.  F.  Jarne-  thing  that  makes  up  an  ocean,  and  gold 

gan,  who  had  apparently  pursued  extra-  is  not  the  only  occupant — nor  even  one 

curricular  studies  not  taught  in  divinity  of  the  chief  ones — of  sea  water.  The 

school.  entire  mass  of  the  ocean  is  about  i  .57  X 

A  reduction  plant  was  thrown  to-  io18  tons,  representing  a  volume  of 
gether  at  a  remote  point  on  the  Maine  418,000,000  cubic  miles,  each  one  of 
seacoast  and  filled  with  a  formidable  which  weighs  4,700,000,000  tons  and 
assemblage  of  machinery  and  chemical  contains  an  average  of  1 66,000,000  tons 
doodads,  from  which  regular  weekly  of  dissolved  salts,  among  them  sodium 
shipments  of  $20,000  in  gold  bullion  and  magnesium  chloride,  calcium,  mag- 
went  to  Boston.  Fostered  by  such  "re-  nesium  and  potassium  sulphate,  calcium 
suits,"  stock  in  the  swindle  went  from  carbonate,  arsenic,  phosphorous  and  all 
thirty-three  to  1 50  and  buyers  cried  and  sorts  of  other  stuff.  Thus,  in  addition  to 
clamored  for  a  chance  to  make  their  the  obvious  hydrogen  and  oxygen,  fur- 
fortune  from  the  sea.  Then  the  ghastly  ther  constituents  include  copper,  tin, 
moment  came.  A  new  piece  of  equip-  lead,  zinc,  nickel,  iron,  aluminum,  car- 


76  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

bon,  lithium,  strontium,  vanadium,  mately  is  freed  and  rejoins  the  air, 
cobalt,  silicon,  boron,  titanium,  bromine,  eventually  to  be  precipitated  again  by 
manganese,  caesium  and  molybdenum,  another  crash  of  lightning.  In  thus  liber- 
This  soup  is  mingled  with  about  ating  insoluble  or  only  partially  soluble 
1 50,000  tons  per  cubic  mile  of  dissolved  products  in  the  soil  this  fixation  of  nitro- 
albumen  and  other  organic  matter  in  gen  by  atmospheric  electricity  has  an 
stupendous  quantities.  For  ages  untold  important  part  in  the  carrying  of  min- 
such  substances  as  are  not  water-soluble  erals  from  land  to  sea.  Even  such  of 
have  been  settling  to  the  bottom,  pro-  them  as  iron,  copper,  zinc  and  others 
ducing  an  overlay  of  mud  and  ooze  hun-  which  fall  into  man's  use  are  only 
dreds  of  feet  thick  and  containing  the  slightly  delayed  in  their  resistless  prog- 
remnants  of  dead  animals,  plants,  skele-  ress  to  the  deep.  Manufactured  into 
tons,  shells,  precipitates  and  crystalline  automobiles  and  other  machinery,  into 
matter.  And  ships.  household  appliances  and  the  other  im- 

This  state  of  affairs  has  been  achieved  pedimenta  of  the  mechanical  age,  they 

largely  through  the  despoliation  of  the  are  in  time  worn  out,  discarded  as  junk 

land  by  the  sea,  a  process  which  goes  on  and  left  to  corrode,  rust,  disintegrate, 

to  the  tune  of  2,735,000,000  tons  a  year,  dissolve  and  thus  are  soon  washed  off  to 

The  cycle  begins  with  the  seepage  of  the  ocean. 

rain  through  the  soil,  dissolving  out  the  Other  vast  forces  have  their  part  in 

salts  and  minerals.  First  to  go  are  the  the  enrichment  of  the  seas,  influences 

more  readily  soluble  substances,  such  as  that    have    been    tirelessly    at    work 

iodine,   bromide   compounds   and   ni-  through  ages  past.  Meteors  and  clouds 

trates.  They  are  flushed  into  springs  and  of  meteoric  dust  that  strike  into  the 

rivers  and  thereby  find  their  way  to  the  earth's  atmosphere  in  huge  amounts 

sea,    along   with    other    disintegrated  every  twenty-four  hours  have  better 

materials  and  millions  of  tons  of  sedi-  than  an  average  chance  of  plopping  into 

mentary  mud.  the  sea,  whose  bottom  is  strewn  with 

The  less  soluble  items  and  those  such  objects,  great  chunks  of  rock,  iron, 
which  approach  insolubility  are  released  nickel.  Submarine  earthquakes,  fissures, 
through  an  involved  process  executed  springs  and  fumaroles  heave  up  materi- 
by  the  atmospheric  elements.  With  als  from  what  are  quaintly  designated 
every  flash  of  lightning  in  the  sky  the  as  the  "bowels"  of  the  earth.  Volcanoes 
action  of  the  electric  spark  discharge  are  lavish  beneficiaries  of  the  sea,  con- 
creates  nitric  acid  out  of  the  oxygen  and  tributing  directly  and  through  volcanic 
nitrogen  present  in  the  air,  about  dust  tossed  into  the  atmosphere,  wafted 
250,000  tons  being  the  estimated  daily  about  by  winds  and  brought  down  by 
production.  Brought  down  by  rains,  this  rain.  Glaciers  comb  the  largest  moun- 
nitric  acid  combines  with  such  soil  ma-  tain  valleys  and  bring  to  the  sea  all 
terials  as  soda,  lime,  potash  and  others  manner  of  rocks,  debris,  animal  and 
and  forms  nitrates,  readily  soluble  sub-  vegetable  refuse  and  other  matter.  This 
stances.  Some  of  these  nitrates  are  ab-  and  all  the  rest  of  it,  the  dejecta  of  man 
sorbed  as  food  by  plants  on  land,  but  and  nature,  goes  trundling  off  to  the 
the  far  greater  portion  take  the  river  sea — the  waste  basket  of  the  world, 
route  to  the  sea  and  thus  fertilize  marine  Only  the  scantiest  influence  tends  to 
vegetation.  There  the  nitrogen  ulti-  retard  this  vast  march.  In  earlier  times 


SUBMARINE  MARVELS  77 

the  original  forest  growth,  with  its  wonder  that  the  pressure  on  the  ocean 
tangle  of  leaves,  trunks,  vines  and  vege-  floor  at  such  levels  is  nearly  16,000 
tation,  kept  the  top  soil  in  place  and  pounds  to  the  square  inch,  the  water  so 
thereby  to  a  limited  degree  checked  the  compressing  itself  that  were  this  fright- 
seepage  and  flow  of  water  and  pre-  ful  weight  to  be  relieved  the  sea  level 
vented  a  too  speedy  erosion  of  the  land,  would  go  up  104  feet — an  odd  statistic 
But  with  the  denudation  of  forests  and  to  recite  during  a  lapse  in  conversation 
the  laying  bare  of  a  large  part  of  the  at  your  next  dinner  party, 
earth's  surface  in  all  civilized  lands,  the  As  sunlight  dwindles  out  after  seep- 
soil  and  its  contents  have  been  flushed  ing  through  about  200  feet  of  ocean, 
away  more  rapidly  than  before  in  the  these  bottom  depths  represent  the  very 
form  of  mud  and  silt.  It  is  to  correct  blackest  kind  of  "night,"  a  degree  of 
this  exhaustion  of  the  land  that  the  darkness  which  we  on  earth  can  not 
fertilizer  industry  is  feverishly  trying  begin  to  appreciate.  And  it  is  cold — so 
to  restore  to  the  soil  such  elements  as  cold  that  even  hardy  bacteria  do  not 
potash,  nitrogen  and  phosphorus,  survive  down  there.  This  is  a  break  for 
Other  deficiencies  which  soil  chemists  the  home  team,  for  it  means  that  the 
are  learning  of  and  hope  to  alleviate  are  bodies  of  fish  and  animals  which  drift 
those  of  copper,  iron,  manganese,  titan-  down  after  mishaps  above  never  spoil, 
ium  and  boron.  Any  suggestion  of  a  are  perfectly  preserved  until  consumed 
reverse  movement  at  the  hand  of  nature  at  leisure  by  the  chill,  clammy  creatures 
is  negligible.  A  trifling  amount  of  the  who  populate  those  regions, 
sea  is  washed  a  few  feet  on  shore  and  Containing  as  it  does  all  the  elements 
some  of  it  is  blown  a  few  miles  inland  imperative  to  the  sustenance  of  life,  sea 
as  mist,  but  in  either  case  it  soon  is  water  is  an  ideal  nutrient  medium, 
drained  back.  Moreover,  its  composition  is  very 

nearly  uniform,  because  it  is  continually 
stirred  and  mixed  by  tide,  current  and 

The   ocean   is   a  sizable   affair,   its  wind.  Not  completely  understood  but 

area  of  139,295,000  square  miles  being  very  interesting  is  the  routine  by  which 

almost  three-quarters  of  the  world's  ocean  life  extracts  these  minerals  and 

surface.  Similarly  three-fourths  of  the  food  matter.   Thus   oysters,  lobsters, 

earth's  living  creatures  are  in  the  sea.  clams  and  kindred  beasties  have  some 

More  than  four-fifths  of  the  ocean  bot-  little-known    technique    of    gathering 

torn  is  a  mile  under  water  and  the  aver-  large  quantities  of  lime  from  sea  water 

age  depth  throughout  the  world  is  esti-  for  the  building  of  their  shells.  They 

mated  at  almost  two  and  a  half  miles,  also  concentrate  copper  and  manganese, 

The  lowest  known  point  is  no  longer  the  as  other  wee  sea  animals  secrete  gold, 

Challenger  Deep,  southwest  of  Guam  but  their  means  of  accomplishing  these 

in  the  Western  Pacific,  sounded  in  1 899  metallurgical  mysteries  has  never  been 

by  the  United  States  steamer  Nero  at  adequately    explained.    Sponges    and 

5,269    fathoms,    but    the    Philippine  various  sea  weeds,  as  is  well  known  to 

Trench,  just  off  the  northeast  coast  of  even  amateur  dieticians,  contain  a  much 

Mindanao,  measured  in  1927  by  the  higher  percentage  of  iodine  than  the 

German  cruiser  Emden  and  found  to  be  water  native  to  them,  but  how  they 

5,900  fathoms  or  6.7  miles  deep.  Little  transform  it  is  still  a  puzzle.  As  another 


78  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

instance,  diatoms  are  little  affairs  living  the  United  States.  Fearful  of  the  ex- 

in  the  sea  by  the  millions  and  trillions  haustion  of  these  supplies,  the  manu- 

and  having  shells  or  skeletons  of  silica,  facturers  recently  put  up  an  experi- 

which  is  chemically  the  same  as  common  mental  extraction  plant  at  Ocean  City, 

sand.  Though  sea  water  contains  the  Maryland,  later  transferring  it  to  a  ship 

merest  trace  of  silica,  the  tiny  diatoms  off  the  North  Carolina  coast,  and  set 

have  a  way  of  extracting  it  for  their  about  the  removal  of  bromine  from  sea 

purposes.  Similarly  another  small  or-  water.  With  a  bromine  content  of  but 

ganism  assembles  its  frame  of  stron-  .006   of  one  per  cent,  the  prospects 

tium,  an  uncommon  element  so  rare  in  would  hardly  appear  encouraging.  But 

the  sea  as  to  make  their  finding  of  it  a  they  were — and  vastly  so.  The  floating 

deep  mystery.  laboratory  processed  7,000  gallons  of 

The  success  which  these  small  crea-  water  a  minute,  drawing  it  up  through 

tures  have  had  in  withdrawing  minute  huge  pipes,  submitting  it  to  a  chemical 

quantities  of  valuable  elements  and  ma-  reaction  for  the  removal  of  the  bromine 

terials  from  sea  water  suggests  a  pos-  and  returning  it  to  the  ocean.  And  yet, 

sible  and  not  entirely  improbable  an-  successful  though  the  stunt  was,  so  great 

swer   to   those   who   shake   prophetic  are  the  ocean  reservoirs  that  a  plant 

heads  and  warn  of  the  depletion  of  our  producing  100,000  pounds  of  bromine 

natural  resources.  If  our  land  deposits  a  month  could  operate  for  392  years  be- 

are  approaching  the  bottom  of  the  bar-  fore  exhausting  the  supply  in  a  single 

rel,  we  may  find  it  increasingly  neces-  cubic  mile  of  sea  water, 

sary  and  profitable  to  put  a  new  inter-  Vivid  prospects  are  suggested  by  the 

pretation  on  the  ancient  "call  of  the  sea-weed   industry   along   the   Pacific 

sea."  Not  only  does  the  ocean  contain  Coast.  Though  chemists  are  able  to 

in  some  form  and  in  unbelievable  quan-  squeeze  potash,  iodine  and  other  prod- 

tities  every  basic  substance  used  and  ucts  from  sea  water,  marine  plants  are 

needed  by  man,  but  these  substances  are  much  more  efficient  in  the  storing  up  of 

continually  being  synthesized  and  re-  these  substances.  Thus  the  manufactur- 

created  in  that  superlative  industrial  ers  find  it  more  lucrative  to  process  the 

laboratory — the  ocean.  Whatever  ele-  sea-weed  than  the  sea  water.  The  next 

ments  and  materials  are  whisked  out  of  step  would  seem  to  be  to  find  or  breed  a 

the   sea   are   ineluctably   destined   to  sea-weed  or  sea  animal  which  could 

return,  there  to  reenter  the  vast  process  secrete  gold  and  then  start  a  ranch  for 

of  dissolving,  absorbing,  redissolving,  their  large-scale  cultivation.  Another 

precipitating,  going  into  plant  and  ani-  department  of  the  business  might  have 

mal  life,  being  constantly  shifted  about,  radium  within  its  purview,  for  the  esti- 

exposed  to  every  sort  of  light  and  to  mated  amount  of  radium  in  the  seven 

every  manner  of  chemical  reaction.  The  seas  is  worth  $7,6 1 6,000,000,000,000  at 

ocean  never  runs  "out  of  stock"  on  any  market  rates, 

item.  The  staggering  possibilities  in  the 

An  instance  may  be  cited  in  the  case  way  of  what  the  ocean  can  give  us  are 

of  bromine,  which  is  used  in  the  manu-  only  approached  and  paralleled  by  the 

facture  of  the  alleged  "non-knocking"  tremendous  potentialities  in  the  line  of 

gasolines  and  which  comes  from  a  very  what  she  can  do  for  us.  Thus  the  restless 

few  wells  in  a  very  limited  locality  in  and  resistless  motion  and  energy  of 


SUBMARINE  MARVELS  79 

tides,  waves,  currents,  suggest  sources  of  man's  latest  playthings — air-condition- 
industrial  power.  Wave  motors  and  ing.  With  millions  of  cubic  miles  of  this 
engines  operated  by  tidal  rise  and  fall  cooling  brine  just  outside  New  York 
have  long  been  the  plaything  of  the  and  every  other  seaport,  there  loom  up 
inventively  minded  and  will  some  day  charming  thoughts  in  the  way  of  zest- 
doubtless  enjoy  practicable  fruition,  ful,  tempered  homes,  offices,  subways, 
Georges  Claude,  French  scientist  and  in-  factories. 

ventor,  is  proceeding  along  definitely  Skeptics  disposed  to  an  attitude  of 

sound  scientific  principles  in  his  efforts  scorn  toward  the  possibility  of  ulti- 

to  liberate  power  from  the  differences  mately  extracting  power  or  materials 

in  temperature  between  surface  and  from  the  deep  are  tolerantly  reminded 

deep-down  waters.  The  major  difficulty  of  the  quaint  incident  that  the  first 

has  been  to  develop  his  power  at  a  point  steamship  to  cross  this  same  sea  from 

reasonably  near  its  point  of  application.  England  to   America  brought  along 

This  fact  of  the  very  low  tempera-  copies  of  a  book,  just  off  the  press,  prov- 

tures  at  sub-sea  depths  suggests  still  ing  that  ocean  transportation  by  steam 

another  application  of  the  sea  to  one  of  was  theoretically  impossible. 


Why  Not  Produce  Things 
That  Pay? 

BY  OLIVER  WILLIAMS 

If  our  Yankee  progenitors  grew  rich  by  trading  products  of 

American  well-paid  labor  for  products  of  foreign 

cheap  labor,  why  can  V  we  ? 

ANY  of  us  feel  that  there  is  liberate  American  commerce  will  in- 
little  use  in  planning  to  de-  volve  a  political  reformation — a  refor- 
velop  our  businesses  or  prof  es-  mation  toward  honest  conservatism.  If 
sions  today  because  the  whole  structure  freedom  is  to  live  in  America  we  may 
rests  on  the  quicksand  of  a  mistaken  na-  have  to  create  a  new  conservative  politi- 
tional  policy.  An  avenue  of  constructive  cal  party.  Perhaps  only  in  this  way  can 
effort  will  be  opened  to  us,  however,  if  our  men  of  business  be  set  free  to  make 
we  can  determine  what  it  is  that  democ-  business  successful,  and  our  men  of  gov- 
racy  and  individual  initiative  involve  if  ernment  emancipated  for  nobler  things 
they  are  to  be  the  foundations  of  Ameri-  than  the  donation  of  shelter,  bread  and 
can  life.  shoes  to  submerged  portions  of  our 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  note  population. 

that  in  the  decade  when  the  seeds  of  our  Tariffs  are  taxes  on  imported  mer- 

present  unbalance  were  sown  America  chandise.  An  interesting  example  is  the 

had  departed  from  regulated  individu-  tax  on  imported  watches,  which    has 

alism  in  industry.  She  had  fallen  into  a  been  equivalent  to  eighty-six  per  cent, 

system  of  favoritism  which  was  no  more  Watches  are  the  principal  article  of 

individualism  than  it  was  collectivism.  American  trade  with  Switzerland.  It  is 

It  was  the  invalidism  of  an  apathetic  de-  interesting  to  note  that  Switzerland  has 

mocracy.  The  principal  favoritism  was  been  a  country  practically  without  a 

that  of  tariffs,  and,  unfortunately,  favor-  slum,  and  that  her  wealth  per  person 

itism  toward  particular  groups  always  has  been  higher  than  America's.  This 

entails  discrimination  against  others.  To  mountain  state  can  not,  however,  grow 

discontinue  this  tariff  preference  is  an  cotton  and  can  not  produce  sufficient 

issue  which  the  politicians  and  the  press  foodstuffs  to  supply  its  needs  for  more 

of  today  dare  not  face  realistically  be-  than  one  month  out  of  twelve.  For  that 

cause  the  result  would  be  painful  to  so  reason  the  Swiss  must  trade  in  order  to 

many  politically  important  interests.  To  live,  and  as  they  need  American  cotton, 


WHY  NOT  PRODUCE  THINGS  THAT  PAY? 


81 


wheat  and  meat  more  than  we  need  the 
watches  which  they  can  make  so  well, 
America  has  an  opportunity  to  drive  an 
advantageous  bargain.  Our  watch  tariff, 
together  with  others  such  as  that  of 
ninety  per  cent  on  embroidery,  as  a  sub 
sidy  for  small  American  groups,  has  de 
prived  most  of  us  of  these  articles  and 
thrown  many  of  our  own  people  into 
idleness.  In  1920,  Switzerland,  a  coun 
try  of  enormous  individual  purchasing 
power,  took  American  merchandise  of  a 
value  of  864  million  Swiss  francs.  In 
1933  it  purchased  but  ninety  million 
francs'  worth,  a  drop  of  eighty-nine  per 
cent.  This  destruction  of  Switzerland  as 
an  American  customer  has  had  its  share 
in  destroying  the  income  of  certain 
American  farmers  who  are  in  distress 
although  not  yet  statistically  "unem 
ployed" — who  are  working,  but  get  next 
to  nothing  for  their  labor.  And  the 
American  fine  watch  manufacturers  are 
operating  at  a  loss. 

Let  us  consider  a  tariff  which  protects 
a  farm  interest — the  duty  of  two  cents 
a  pound  on  Cuban  sugar,  equivalent  to 
about  1 60  per  cent  even  on  the  1930 
price  of  sugar.  The  climate  and  soil  of 
Cuba  make  her  the  world's  cheapest  pro 
ducer  of  sugar.  Americans  have  invested 
about  a  billion  dollars  in  developing 
Cuba,  and  in  one  year  she  purchased 
$515,000,000  worth  of  American  ma 
chinery,  automobiles,  lard,  wheat,  milk 
and  other  products.  In  1933  she  pur 
chased  but  $25,000,000.  Cuba  was  once 
one  of  our  ten  best  customers. 

There  was,  however,  a  group  of 
American  sugar  farmers  who  could  not 
prosper  unless  they  procured  the  gov 
ernment  assistance  of  a  tariff  wall  against 
cheap  Cuban  sugar.  This  group  was  led 
by  Senator  Reed  Smoot  of  Utah,  then 
chairman  of  the  powerful  Senate  Fi 
nance  Committee.  The  result  of  their 


activity  was  to  plunge  Cuba  into  desper 
ation.  By  its  sugar  law  of  May  9,  1934, 
the  Democratic  Administration  chastised 
Cuba  for  her  cheap  sugar  by  a  tariff  of 
one  and  one-half  cents  a  pound  which 
unless  Cuban  preference  is  changed  will 
be  equivalent  to  almost  100  per  cent,  be 
sides  a  processing  tax  of  one-half  cent, 
the  proceeds  of  which  do  not  go  to  Cuba, 
and  an  extra  quota  of  misery  in  the  form 
of  a  restriction  of  exports  to  the  United 
States.  Cuba's  cane-field  laborers,  forced 
to  work  from  dawn  to  dark  for  maxi 
mum  wages  of  forty-five  cents  a  day,  say 
to  Americans,  "With  our  blood  we  make 
the  sugar  which  we  sell  you."  Our  trade 
with  the  island  republic  is,  of  course, 
largely  destroyed,  which  is  one  example 
of  what  tariff  protection  has  done  for 
potato  farmers  in  Aroostook  County, 
milk  canners  in  the  Mohawk  Valley, 
automobile  mechanics  in  Detroit,  and 
other  Americans  who  used  to  work  upon 
export  merchandise.  We  must  pay  more 
for  the  sugar  on  our  breakfast  tables, 
and  many  of  us  who  put  our  savings 
into  Cuban  investments  must  take  our 
losses. 

We  are  not  concerned  here  with  the 
corruption  indicated  by  such  things  as 
the  payment  by  a  beet  sugar  corporation 
of  $13,000  to  Ernest  W.  Smoot,  clerk 
of  the  Senate  Finance  Committee.  It  is 
the  industrial  wreckage  of  this  tariff  to 
which  we  call  attention.  Is  the  American 
home-grown  sugar  business  worth  the 
tremendous  price  which  every  one  of  us 
is  paying  to  maintain  it?  This  industry, 
mainly  in  beet  sugar,  is  unadapted  to  our 
climate  and  to  our  normally  highly  paid 
labor.  The  work  of  producing  sugar 
beets  is  highly  seasonal,  and  the  plant  in 
vestment  is  idle  for  about  three-quarters 
of  the  year.  In  so  far  as  sugar  production 
in  America  necessitates  importation  of 
unskilled  labor  for  the  hand  work  of 


82  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

beet  cultivation  it  is  destructive  of  Amer-  think  it  should  cover  only  the  difference 

ican  wage  levels.  The  value  of  the  prod-  between  low-priced  foreign  labor  and 

uct  is  only  about  one  per  cent  of  the  total  our  own  first-class  labor."  And  Franklin 

of  our  continental  farm  crops.  D.  Roosevelt  wrote  in  1 933,  in  Looking 

We  have  mentioned  but  three  out  of  Forward,  that  "workers  who  are  sweated 

our  total  of  some  three  thousand  tariffs,  to  reduce  costs  ought  not  to  determine 

A  list  of  them  is  published  by  the  De-  prices  for  American  made  goods,"  and 

partment  of  Commerce  in  a  light  brown  that  "tariffs  should  be  high  enough  to 

book,  Foreign  Commerce  and  Naviga-  maintain  living  standards  which  we  set 

tion  of  the  United  States y  to  be  found  for  ourselves."  On  April  2,  1934,  the 

in  the  reference  rooms  of  public  libra-  President's  special  European  represent- 

ries.  This  list  might  be  considered  as  ative,  Mr.  Richard  Washburn  Child, 

something  more  than  a  dry  government  stated  that  Japanese  competition  must 

record.  It  might  be  looked  upon  as  the  lower  world  living  standards, 

score  board  of  a  game — a  game  which  is  It  is  a  mistaken  assumption  that  our 

world-wide  in  its  effect,  and  tragic  in  its  high  standard  of  living  was  maintained 

silent  destruction  of  the  prospects  and  by  our  trade  barriers.  On  the  contrary, 

hopes  of  millions  of  men  and  women.  our  favorable  living  conditions  have 

been  sacrificed  because  of  our  acceptance 
of  the  protective  theory.  The  implica- 

High  tariffs  were  enacted  during  the  tion  that  we  can  secure  wealth  by  a  wish- 
Civil  War  as  a  complement  to  the  high  ful  "setting"  of  high  standards  belongs 
taxes  which  were  required  for  the  con-  in  rhetoric,  "the  cemetery  of  human 
duct  of  the  war.  After  the  war  the  taxes  realities,"  and  social  legislation  can  not 
were  reduced  but  very  high  tariffs  some-  begin  to  repair  the  wreckage  caused  by 
how  remained.  This  system  has  been  anti-social  tariff  laws.  If  we  look  back 
maintained  by  the  political  pressure  of  in  American  history  to  the  glorious  era 
interests  who  benefited  by  it,  and  our  of  the  China  clipper  ships  we  find  no 
politicians  have  attempted  to  justify  the  fear  of  foreign  low  wages.  The  Yankees 
tariffs  on  the  theory  that  they  have  of  that  virile  generation  knew  their 
raised  the  level  of  wages  in  America,  strength.  The  red  cloth  which  they 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  in  1902,  said  that  produced  so  easily  they  exchanged  for 
"our  laws  should  in  no  event  afford  cheap  though  laboriously  produced 
advantages  to  foreign  industries  over  chinaware  and  other  products  at  Hong 
American  industries.  They  should  in  no  Kong,  and  the  Yankees  saw  that  their 
event  do  less  than  equalize  the  differ-  advantages  in  natural  wealth  and  hu- 
ence  in  the  conditions  at  home  and  man  inventiveness  were  too  great — that 
abroad."  That  was  the  Republican  doc-  their  wages  were  too  high — to  make  it 
trine  of  protection,  and  it  was  adopted  profitable  for  America  to  operate  some 
by  the  Democrats  in  the  campaign  of  types  of  potteries.  But  in  recent  times 
1928,  when  the  Democratic  inheritance  we  have  built  an  eighty  per  cent  tariff 
of  a  tariff  for  revenue  only  was  buried,  barrier  against  plentiful  Japanese  table- 
Alfred  E.  Smith  expressed  his  tariff  the-  ware,  and  have  thus  prevented  the  Japa- 
ory  before  the  Senate  Finance  Commit-  nese  from  working  for  us  on  favorable 
tee  in  the  spring  of  1933,  when  he  said,  terms.  Instead  of  taking  upon  them- 
"Pm  not  for  scrapping  the  tariff,  but  I  selves  the  disadvantages  of  China  the 


WHY  NOT  PRODUCE  THINGS  THAT  PAY?  83 

Yankees  built  ships,  traded  their  cheap  tion  can  well  be  paralleled  to  a  jack- 
cotton,  and  became  affluent.  Today  ten  knife,  the  steel  of  which  is  the  forty-nine 
thousand  merchant  ships  lie  idle  in  the  million  total  of  American  workers.  Of 
world's  ports,  with  tarpaulins  over  these  people,  as  Mordecai  Ezekiel,  a 
their  funnels  to  keep  out  the  rain.  In  Government  economist,  wrote  in  Today, 
this  ridiculous  and  tragic  day  there  is  less  than  half  are  in  the  actual  produc- 
confusion  as  to  what  national  wealth  ing  industries  which  form  the  cutting 
really  is.  edge  of  our  national  knife  blade.  The 
In  simpler  times  we  thought  that  remainder,  the  back  of  this  knife,  are 
goods  were  wealth  and  did  not  hasten  in  the  service  industries  of  transporta- 
to  Washington  to  protest  when  our  ship-  tion,  communication,  distribution,  pro- 
loads  of  good  bargains  made  fast  to  the  fessional  work,  public  service,  housework 
wharves  of  Salem  or  Charleston.  Now,  and  so  on,  and  in  the  construction  in- 
with  the  world  in  debt  to  us  for  the  first  dustry.  The  back  of  our  national  knife 
time  in  our  history,  we  are  troubled  by  does  not  cut  and  its  portion  of  produced 
the  prospect  of  an  "invasion  of  alien  goods  depends  upon  the  sharpness  of 
goods,"  and  we  legislate  against  debt  the  cutting  edge.  The  twenty-five  mil- 
payment  in  any  form  of  merchandise  lions  in  the  back  of  the  knife  are  not 
other  than  gold!  Yet  we  must  accept  directly  affected  by  tariffs,  and  of  the 
an  import  balance  to  make  possible  a  twenty-four  millions  in  the  cutting  edge 
continuance  of  the  interest  payments  on  two-thirds  or  sixteen  millions  would 
our  business  investments  abroad,  which  either  be  helped  by  or  be  unaffected  by 
make  us  a  net  creditor  to  the  extent  of  the  removal  of  the  barriers  against 
eleven  billion  dollars.  Such  an  import  trade.  They  are  in  low-cost-of-produc- 
balance  of  merchandise  our  statisticians  tion,  nationally  profitable  industries, 
would  call  an  "unfavorable"  balance  of  The  remaining  eight  millions,  only  one- 
trade.  Would  it  necessarily  be  favorable  sixth  of  our  workers,  are  in  farms  and 
for  us  to  ship  overseas  every  movable  industries  of  which  many  units  are  not 
object  we  have,  from  shoestrings  to  loco-  nationally  profitable  and  are  being  sup- 
motives,  in  return  for  what  gold  is  left  ported  by  tariff  aid.  In  this  way  Re 
in  the  hands  of  foreigners?  publican  and  Democratic  protection  has 

We  do  not  really  suffer  from  over-  forced  approximately  one-sixth  of  our 

production.  We  see  a  surplus  of  cotton,  workers  to  form  dents  along  about  a 

for  example,  which  is  of  no  value  to  third  of  our  productive  front,  thus  dull- 

us,  and  enact  laws  against  production,  ing  our  whole  economic  knife  of  forty- 

but  we  do  not  see  that  the  standard  of  nine  million  workers, 

living  of  the  American  cotton  cropper  It  is  true,  as  protectionists  say,  that 

approaches  that  of  the  savage  simply  be-  we  have  not  exported  more  than  ten 

cause  we  refuse  to  exchange  our  cotton  per  cent  of  our  exportable  national  pro- 

for  china  and  several  thousand  other  ar-  duction.  But  we  have  had  high  tariffs 

tides  in  the  specious  belief  that  these  since  the  Civil  War,  and  had  it  not  been 

would  be  "cargoes  which  put  Americans  for  this  self-imposed  blockade  America 

out  of  work."  might  have  increased  the  production  of 

A  knife  is  more  or  less  useless,  strong  her  strong  industries  in  which  she  leads 

though  it  may  be,  if  its  cutting  edge  is  the  world  in  low  costs.  She  might  have 

nicked.  Our  national  economic  organiza-  exchanged  not  one-tenth  but  a  third  or 


84  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

more  of  her  national  production  for  today  is  a  serious  one,  and  will  become 
more  valuable  wealth  which  she  has  more  serious  tomorrow  when  crop  re- 
forced  herself  to  go  without.  duction  forces  many  farmers  into  unem- 

The  American  coal  industry  is  an  ex-  ployment.  From  the  tobacco  roads  of 

ample  of  a  naturally  strong,  low-cost-of-  Virginia  to  the  apple  valleys  and  wheat 

production  industry  which  is  now  said  basins  of  Oregon,  our  farmers  are  in  dif- 

to  be  chronically  sick  and  over-manned,  ficulty.  It  is  reported  that  many  cotton 

In  Kentucky,  for  instance,  the  unem-  "share-croppers"  are  making  as  little  as 

ployed  coal  miners  have  gone  back  up  thirty  dollars'  cash  income  in  a  year, 

the  trails  again  to  the  hills,  some  fami-  In  three  States  nearly  one-third  of  all 

lies  crowding  together  eight  in  a  shack,  farms  have  been  taken  from  their  own- 

and  existing  on  what  corn  and  pork  they  ers  by  defaults  during  the  past  five 

can  raise  on  the  rough  mountain  sides,  years.  Is  our  protective  tariff  policy  to 

These  wilderness  slums  may  have  a  answer  for  this?  Italy,  for  example,  im- 

close  connection  with  our  trade  warfare,  ports  wheat,  but  we  have  had  tariffs 

for  not  so  many  years  ago  export  coal  which  even  on  1930  prices  were  equiv- 

rumbled  down  the  valleys  to  Hampton  alent  to  fifty  per  cent  on  her  olive 

Roads  over  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  oil  (to  protect  the  two  per  cent  of 

and  the  Norfolk  and  Western  railroads  our  consumption  which  we  produce  our- 

in  hundred-car  trainloads.  At  the  piers,  selves)  j  sixty-eight  per  cent  on  her  lem- 

automatic  car  grabs  would  dump  the  ons  (to  make  it  "profitable"  to  irrigate 

"black diamonds"  into  the  waiting  ocean  an  American  desert)  j  sixty  per  cent  on 

freighters  until  their  red  bottoms  were  Leghorn  hats,  and  so  on.  The  American 

hidden  under  water.  We  shipped  an  ex-  farmer  has  been  kept  out  of  his  logical 

port  balance  of  coal  and  coke  valued  at  trade  with  northern  Europe  by  tariffs 

ninety-nine  millions  in  1929,  but  that  is  like  those  of  fifty-nine  per  cent  on  the 

a  memory  now.  Even  more  important,  sweaters  which  he  would  like  to  buy, 

one-quarter  of  our  coal  is  normally  used  fifty  per  cent  on  aluminum  pans,  fifty- 

for  locomotive  fuel,  one-fifth  for  coke  four  per  cent  on  eyeglasses,  seventy-two 

and  steel  manufacture,  and  another  fifth  per  cent  on  violins,  seventy  per  cent  on 

in  manufacturing.  When  we  strike  down  toys  which  his  children  would  like  to 

our  exports,  we  reduce  our  railroad  have,  fifty-one  per  cent  on  Bordeaux 

freight  haulage,  our  steel  making,  and  wine  for  his  holiday,  and  sixty  per  cent 

our  heavy  manufacturing,  and  as  a  re-  on  surgical  instruments  for  his  sick  ones, 

suit  we  throw  much  coal  capacity  into  While  he  goes  without  these  things  the 

idleness.  In  May,  1932,  Senator  Alben  workers  of  Europe  can  not  find  em- 

W.  Barkley  of  Kentucky,  who  was  the  ployment  in  their  factories  and  are 

"keynote"  speaker  at  the  Democratic  cultivating  little  patches  of  land  with- 

Convention  that  June,  helped  enact  an  out  machinery  by  almost  the  same 

import  tariff  on  this  export  product,  methods  which  prevailed  in  the  Fif- 

coal,  and  tariffs  were  also  enacted  on  oil,  teenth  Century.  They  are  "protected" 

lumber  and  copper.  Must  we  forever  by  tariffs  against  our  cheap  grain 

treat  symptoms  and  not  causes  in  our  at-  and  packing  house  products — and  bread 

tempts  to  revive  our  stricken  giants  of  and  meats  and  fats  are  scarce  and 

industry  and  agriculture?  dear.  Thus  is  the  world  becoming 

The  situation  of  the  American  farmer  medieval  again. 


WHY  NOT  PRODUCE  THINGS  THAT  PAY?  85 

ployed,  six  million  were  in  the  durable 
goods  industries,  less  than  five  million 

Nationalists  believe  with  Wallace  B.  in  the  service  industries  and  less  than 
Donham,  Dean  of  the  Graduate  School  seven  million  in  the  consumption  goods 
of  Business  Administration  of  Harvard  industries.  A  report  by  Arthur  R.  Teb- 
University,  that  we  should  "put  our  own  butt  of  the  Graduate  School  of  Business 
national  house  in  order"  before  it  will  Administration  of  Harvard  University, 
be  safe  for  us  to  trade  our  wares  in  issued  in  August,  1933,  points  out  that 
the  world's  market-places.  The  opposite  in  three  recent  years,  while  the  consump- 
view  was  well  put  by  Harold  G.  Moul-  tion  of  consumer's  goods  dropped  but 
ton  and  Leo  Pasvolsky  of  the  Brookings  ten  per  cent,  the  iron  and  steel  industry 
Foundation  in  Washington,  who  wrote  dropped  eighty-three  per  cent,  and  lum- 
that  "the  assumption  that  domestic  trade  ber  seventy-one  per  cent.  This  report 
could  be  expanded  simultaneously  with  states  that  to  secure  an  increase  in  the 
the  curtailment  of  foreign  trade  is  with-  making  of  new  plants  and  other  "pro- 
out  foundation.  If  producing  areas  are  ducers'  goods"  will  require  new  in- 
seriously  depressed  as  a  result  of  the  vestments  of  capital,  and  these  will 
loss  of  foreign  markets,  the  purchasing  take  place  only  as  confidence  is  inspired 
power  among  vast  sections  of  our  popu-  among  the  investing  public  in  the  sound- 
lation  is  curtailed  and  in  consequence  ness  and  permanency  of  the  recovery, 
their  ability  to  purchase  goods  in  the  Such  expenditures  mean  not  "buy  now" 
domestic  market  is  lessened.  The  agri-  but  "invest  now."  We  might  ask  why  in- 
cultural  depression  has  brought  with  it  vestors  or  banks  should  invest  savings  or 
the  failure  of  thousands  of  banks,  and  credit  in  our  strong  industries,  from  elec- 
widespread  default.  It  is  doubtful,  in-  trical  manufacture  in  Boston  to  motion 
deed,  whether  our  economic  system  picture  production  in  Los  Angeles,  when 
would  survive  amid  the  difficulties  that  these  enterprises  can  not  use  even  their 
would  be  involved  in  making  the  whole-  present  plant  capacity  because  of  the 
sale  shifts  that  would  be  required  to  laws  which  keep  them  from  trading 
make  this  country  independent  of  for-  their  production.  On  the  other  hand, 
eign  trade."  why  should  capital  be  invested  in  an  in- 

We  come  to  the  problem  of  why  no  dustry  which  is  so  unadapted  to  Ameri- 

American  industry  is  expanding,  and  of  can  conditions  that  it  can  not  continue 

what  direction  our  industrial  growth  can  without  tariff  crutches?  If  it  does  not 

take  under  present  conditions,  and  of  profit  our  private  banks  to  loan  credits 

the  consequences  of  our  ceasing  to  ex-  for  exports  or  for  construction,  it  will 

pand  at  all.  There  is  a  very  large  group  not  profit  citizens  to  have  the  Adminis- 

of  industries  which  depend  upon  con-  tration  use  their  money  or  credit  for 

tinued  investment  as  distinguished  from  these  things.  Our  protective  system  is 

continued  consumption.  These  indus-  keeping  our  horses  of  savings  locked  up 

tries  include  the  production  of  building  in  their  vaulted  stables,  and  is  keeping 

materials  such  as  steel,  lumber  and  ce-  the  American  construction  and  machin- 

ment,  and  tool  and  machine  manufac-  ery-making  industries  from  giving  em- 

turing.  It  was  estimated  by  the  American  ployment  to  their  skilled  workers.  And 

Federation  of  Labor  in  March,  1934,  it  has  urged  $1,200,000,000  of  Amer- 

that  of  eleven  million  and  more  unem-  ican  capital  into  the  employment  of 


86  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

foreign  labor  in  two  or  three  hundred  before  for  his  better  rewarded  medical 
uneconomic  little  branch  plants,  in  an  practice.  To  continue  this  logic  further, 
endeavor  to  overcome  retaliatory  tariffs  the  doctor  might  feel  that  a  "no  trade" 
and  hold  overseas  customers.  policy  was  even  more  necessary  now  that 
American  productive  genius  excels  in  the  cobbler's  wages  are  lower  than  they 
invention  and  in  the  low-cost,  high-  were  before  the  doctor  stopped  purchas- 
wage,  standardized  production,  on  both  ing  shoes  from  him !  The  confusion  in 
a  large  and  a  small  scale,  of  bulk  com-  this  reasoning  about  competitive  stand- 
modities  and  of  thousands  of  articles  ards  of  living  is  in  the  failure  to  distin- 
from  radios  and  refrigerators  to  belt  guish  between  sharing  one's  home  with 
conveyors  and  dynamos.  Such  produc-  a  man  and  letting  him  make  one's  shoes. 
tion  goes  hand  in  hand  with  broad-  It  is  the  confusion  of  free  immigration 
gauge  marketing  and  world  trade,  and  with  free  trade  j  of  sentimental  interna- 
our  wages  are  no  bar  to  competition,  for  tionalism  with  practical  and  confident  in- 
the  wage  element  is  small  in  machine  ternational  business  relationship.  Could 
production.  But  if  we  force  ourselves  to  it  be  that  American  foreign  policy  has 
compete  with  foreign  hand-work,  high-  been  based  almost  entirely  upon  such  a 
cost,  low-wage  industries,  we  force  labor  confusion  of  principles?  We  may  learn 
out  of  high-wage  and  into  low-wage  pro-  that  the  only  true  protective  policy,  if 
duction.  national  as  opposed  to  minority  prosper- 
In  discussing  the  tariff,  one  finds  that  ity  is  the  goal,  is,  first,  a  prohibition  of 
there  is  considerable  fear  that  to  buy  the  the  immigration  of  persons  not  excep- 
products  of  lower  standard  countries,  as  tionally  able,  and,  second,  an  increase  in 
Caret  Garrett  has  written  in  the  Satur-  our  total  capital  that  there  may  be  more 
day  Evening  Post,  is  equivalent  to  ad-  demand  for  the  workers  whom  we  al- 
mitting  their  lower  paid  laborers  to  ready  have.  If  we  make  useless  a  portion 
America  to  compete  with  American  la-  of  our  machinery  by  stopping  the  inter- 
bor.  This  is  perhaps  the  most  fundamen-  national  exchange  of  its  output  we  de- 
tal  misunderstanding  of  our  times.  As  a  stroy  part  of  our  capital  and  reduce  the 
matter  of  fact,  our  wage  level  has  been  demand  for  and  the  wages  of  American 
higher  than  that  of  poorer  nations  partly  labor.  Before  we  say  with  Stuart  Chase 
because  we  were  willing  to  trade  the  that  "we  have  put  our  necks  in  tech- 
products  of  our  superior  capital  and  re-  nology's  noose,"  that  capital  displaces 
sources  for  the  products  of  the  labor  of  labor  in  its  net  effect,  it  would  be  logical 
less  fortunate  countries.  It  may  not  be  to  give  our  capital — our  machinery — a 
too  far-fetched  a  simile  to  liken  a  nation  chance  to  employ  our  man  power  by 
with  superior  endowments  to  a  man  bringing  the  potential  customers  of  our 
who,  like  a  physician,  has  advantages  of  machines  into  the  expanding  circle  of 
training  and  experience.  If  a  physician  world  trade. 

should  decide  not  to  "trade"  with  his  Our  future  could  be  dynamic,  if  we 
shoemaker  on  the  ground  of  the  latter's  set  free  our  productive  genius  and  our 
low  material  standard  of  living,  the  machinery.  "If  we  think  of  the  350  mil- 
physician  would  have  to  make  his  shoes  lion  people  in  India  who  are  now  con- 
at  home.  He  might  be  just  as  efficient  tent  to  wrap  themselves  in  a  cotton 
at  making  shoes  as  the  shoemaker,  but  sheet,  who  will  deny  the  advance  in 
obviously  he  would  have  less  time  than  civilization  that  these  human  beings  may 


WHY  NOT  PRODUCE  THINGS  THAT  PAY?                 87 

take  before  the  year  2000?"  In  Amer-  rate  on  our  imports  from  each  nation 

ica,  for  every  100,000  people  there  are  which  shall  be  of  the  same  percentage 

21,923  motor  vehicles  j  in  China,  only  as  the  highest  tariff  which  that  country 

seven!  The  foreign  trade  of  440,000,-  levies  on  any  American  products.  Noth- 

ooo  Chinese  is  little  more  than  that  of  ing    more    complicated    than    that    is 

1 1,000,000  Argentines,  and  the  same  is  needed. 

true  of  India,  a  nation  of  350,000,000  America  is  like  a  sailing  ship  which  is 
people.  In  Mr.  Grundy's  State  of  Penn-  rolling  under  bare  poles  in  a  favoring 
sylvania  the  mighty  iron  works  stand  trade  wind.  We  are  too  sea-sick,  too  tim- 
ready  to  meet  a  large  part  of  the  world's  orous  of  the  competitive  swell  to  raise 
opportunities  for  the  profitable  use  of  our  sails  and  steady  the  vessel.  We  stay 
steel  in  water  systems,  rails,  signals,  below  decks  and  experiment  with  pull- 
bridges,  locomotives  and  cars,  cranes,  ing  upon  our  bootstraps.  Instead  of  con- 
road-making  machinery,  automobiles,  viction  and  leadership  our  officers  exhibit 
buses  and  trucks.  America  could  be,  confusion  and  followership.  The  captain 
among  many  other  things,  the  prosper-  extols  both  trade  and  trade  barriers.  The 
ous  road-builder  of  the  world!  And  she  purser  forces  an  undervaluation  of  the 
should  not  fear  that  other  nations  would  dollar  abroad,  which  is  equivalent  to  a 
harm  her  if  they  should  raise  their  new  tariff,  and  hopes  to  be  given  "at 
standards  of  living  by  buying  her  tools  least  nine  months  or  a  year  so  that  we 
and  machinery,  for  her  greatest  trade  may  find  out  a  little  more  about  the  situ- 
has  been  with  the  wealthy  industrial  ation."  The  steward  circulates  a  ques- 
nations.  We  should  change  the  slogan  tionnaire  on  crop  prohibition  and  asks 
"We  Can  Make  it  in  America"  to  "Let  for  debate  on  the  ship's  course,  saying 
Americans  Make  What  it  Pays  Them  that  he  "leans  to  the  international  solu- 
to  Make."  Free  commerce  is  free  indus-  tion"  but  that  this  solution  is  extreme, 
try,  and  when  we  unshackle  our  trade  in  and  he  proposes  a  vague  "planned  mid- 
genuine  reciprocity  we  shall  set  free  our  die  course."  But  that  course  will  only 
strength!  keep  us  in  the  middle  of  the  sea,  and 
Let  us  decide  simply  to  set  a  tariff  that  is  a  restless  haven. 


HE  I 


by 


IDE  by  side  with 
frantic  prepara 
tions  for  the 
next  war,  in  which  the 
United  States  is  par 
ticipating  as  eagerly  as 
any  other  nation,  we 
have  a  complete  ex 
posure  of  the  interna 
tional  traffic  in  arms 
in  two  of  the  most 
important  books  that 
have  been  published 
in  recent  years,  al 
though  whether  or  not  they  will  have 
any  effect  whatever  upon  a  situation 
of  steadily  increasing  seriousness,  the 
Landscaper  hesitates  to  prophesy. 

When  we  come  to  bury  the  next 
Unknown  Soldier  in  Arlington  or  else 
where,  however,  something  ought  to  be 
said  in  the  funeral  oration  about  the  ex 
treme  probability  that  he  was  killed  by 
American  munitions,  from  the  manu 
facture  of  which  his  own  family  may 
have  profited. 

The  salient  point  about  the  munitions 
business,  one  of  the  largest  and  best  or 
ganized  industries  in  the  world,  is  that 
people  who  deal  in  the  marvelously 
effective  death-dealing  devices  of  the 
present  day  are  merchants  who  sell  to 
people  who  have  the  money  to  pay  for 
what  they  want.  It  is  wholly  a  question 
of  cashj  patriotism  has  nothing  what 
ever  to  do  with  it.  Indeed,  as  has  been 
said,  the  only  perfect  example  of  inter 
nationalism  in  existence  is  the  traffic  in 
arms,  and  if  that  isn't  enough  to  give 


HERSCHEL   BRICKELL 


all  the  idealists  in  the 
world  a  headache, 
they  must  have  harder 
heads  than  one  would 
think  from  observing 
their  actions  and  read 
ing  their  remarks. 

The  current  interest 
in  the  matter  of  arms 
traffic  was  aroused  sev 
eral  months  ago  by 
the  publication  in  For 
tune  of  an  article 
called  Arms  and  the 
Man,  which  has  now  been  reissued  by 
Doubleday,  Doran  at  ten  cents,  and 
which  is  being  widely  distributed  by 
peace  societies.  Even  before  this  striking 
exposure  was  published,  there  had  been 
brought  out  a  small  volume  by  Otto 
Lehmann-Russbuldt  (King),  called 
War  for  Profits,  which  contained  the 
essential  facts. 

Two  (joodTZooks 

The  new  books  on  the  subject  re 
ferred  to  in  a  foregoing  paragraph  are 
H.  C.  Engelbrecht  and  F.  C.  Hani- 
ghen's  Merchants  of  Death  (Dodd, 
Mead,  $2.50),  and  George  Seldes's 
Iron,  Blood  and  Profits  (Harper, 
$2.50),  the  first  a  Book-of-the-Month 
Club  choice,  and  as  this  is  being  written 
a  best-seller  j  if  one  should  be  forced  to 
a  choice,  it  is  in  some  respects  a  better 
book  than  Mr.  Seldes's  volume,  espe 
cially  in  its  cool,  detached  and  factual 
tone,  but  there  are  many  things  in  the 
Seldes  book  not  in  the  other  volume. 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  89 

They  are  both  good  and  both  valu-  mitted,  but  enough  has  been  written  to 

able  j  it  would  be  a  pity,  really,  if  any  give  a  clear  idea  of  what  the  two  books 

intelligent  American  citizen  failed  to  are  about.  Mr.  Seldes  has  a  good  deal 

read  them,  or  if  not  both,  one  j  or  if  not  to  say  about  the  horrors  of  the  next  war, 

one,  at  least  the  Fortune  article.  especially  from  the  use  of  some  of  the 

It  would  be  easily  understandable  poison  gases  that  have  been  invented 
that  the  makers  of  arms  should  sell  to  since  the  1914-1918  outburst  of  insan- 
anybody  able  to  pay  for  their  goods,  ityj  other  experts  differ  from  him  on 
since  this  is  perfectly  in  line  with  the  this  point,  but  there  is  certainly  little 
ethics  of  contemporary  business,  but  reason  to  doubt  that  the  coming  con- 
even  the  cynical  are  likely  to  be  shocked  flict  will  be  more  terrible  than  anything 
by  the  accounts  of  high-pressure  sales-  in  history. 

manship  to  be  found  in  the  two  books  j  What  to  do?  As  usual,  this  is  the 

of  the  wonderful  work  done  by  that  hardest  question  of  all  to  answer.  A 

man  of  mystery,  Sir  Basil  Zaharoff,  who  world  that  sanctions  war  will  find  it 

as  a  loyal  citizen  of  the  Greek  nation  very  difficult  to  make  any  changes  in  the 

once  presented  his  native  land  with  a  free  sale  of  arms;   the  complete  na- 

submarine  and  then  promptly  sold  the  tionalization  of  arms-making  would  be 

Turks  two  boats  of  the  same  type,  using  a  help,  but  not  a  complete  cure,  for 

the  Greek  ownership  of  his  gift  as  a  where  this  has  happened,  in  Japan,  the 

sales  argument.  outside  sale  of  munitions  has  continued. 

This  is  one  of  the  bitterly  ironical  China  bought  vast  quantities  of  arms 

stories  in  the  collection  $  another  con-  from  Japan  the  year  of  the  Shanghai 

cerns  the  visit  of  a  Chinese  and  a  Japa-  war.  Neither  Messrs.  Engelbrecht  and 

nese  delegation  to  a  British  arms  factory  Hanighen  nor  Mr.  Seldes  can  offer  any 

which  was  supplying  both  their  coun-  pat  solution,  but  they  give  the  facts  and 

tries  with  munitions.  They  were  not  some  suggestions  5  the  rest  is  up  to  all 

supposed  to  meet,  but  they  did,  by  ac-  of  us. 

cident,  and  immediately  fell  into  a  dis-  ^                  L 

cussion  of  the  prices  they  were  being  ******* OJ  Plenty 

charged.  The  upshot  of  the  conference  Concerning  the  Age  of  Plenty  in 

was  a  demand  for  a  cut  in  the  scale !  which  we  live  at  present,  there  has  been 

This  was  while  the  Shanghai  incident  no  better  and  more  exciting  book  yet 

was  under  way  and  the  civilized  world  written  than  Lewis  Mumford's  Tech- 

was  holding  up  its  hands  in  horror  at  nics  and  Civilization  (Harcourt,  Brace, 

the  needless  butchery  that  was  going  on.  $4.50) ,  which  is  a  history  of  the  devel- 

cr1 7    m   •       ^    •      7  opment  of  machines  and  of  their  influ- 

The  <Bney  episode  ence  upon  the  human  race  that  carries 

It  would  be  easy  enough  to  multiply  the  story  back  a  thousand  years,  and 
these  anecdotes — to  mention  again,  for  does  not  fall  into  the  mistake  of  begin- 
example,  Mr.  Seldes's  retelling  of  the  ning  the  period  with  Watt's  invention 
Briey  episode  in  the  World  War,  when  of  the  steam  engine, 
the  French  refused  for  good  reasons  to  Mr.  Mumford  is  extraordinarily 
attack  the  Briey  basin,  although  the  good  at  diagnosis,  at  explaining  just  ex- 
War  could  have  been  ended  months  actly  how  we  happen  to  find  ourselves 
sooner  if  such  an  attack  had  been  per-  with  more  goods  than  we  know  what  to 


9o  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

do  with  under  existing  systems  of  dis-  seize  upon  others  equally  foolish  else- 

tributionj    the    Landscaper's    quarrel  where.  If  we  could  manage  to  be  born 

with  him  begins  only  at  the  point  where  clear  and  free  of  the  past  there  would  be 

he  takes  up  the  discussion  of  remedies,  a  chance,  perhaps,  of  our  being  perfectly 

All  he  can  see  is  a  world-wide  spread  of  happy  in  a  designed  modern  world,  but 

basic  communism,  that  is,  not  commu-  we  aren't  born  free  at  all;  the  Land- 

nism  in  the  Russian  sense,  but  the  scaper  was  thinking  about  the  Mumford 

public  ownership  and  operation  of  fun-  book  and  its  implications  a  few  nights 

damental   utilities  together  with  the  ago  just  before  dropping  off  to  sleep  and 

complete  abolition  of  the  profit  system,  suddenly  realized  that  through  a  great- 

This  having  been  done,  the  next  step  is  grandmother  he  had  actually  touched 

a  world  federation,  with  economic  plan-  at  first  hand  the  life  of   1815.  .  .  . 

ning  on  a  universal  scale,  and  the  hu-  Whatever  we  meet  in  books  or  in  life 

man  race   happy  in   a  Le   Corbusier  becomes  a  part  of  us,  willy-nilly,  and 

world,  with  all  its  silly  old  attic-furni-  some  of  us  at  times  look  longingly  at  a 

ture  having  been  cleared  away,  and  world  swept  bare  of  the  past  but  at  the 

nothing  to  do  except  to  enjoy  life,  in-  same  time  realize  we  would  never  be  at 

eluding,  explains  Mr.  Mumford,  whose  home  in  it.  In  other  words,  we  are  not 

survey  is  nothing  if  not  complete,  love-  reasonable,  logical  or  even  intelligent, 

making  under  ideal  conditions.  and   Mr.   Mumford  flatters  us  very 

One  reviewer  of  the  book,  who  also  much  indeed  when  he  thinks  we  are  or 

found  it  tremendously  interesting,  and  that  we  can  be  made  so  under  another 

who  also  expressed  his  admiration  for  system. 

Mr.  Mumford's  erudition  and  his  His  is  a  book,  however,  that  is  tre- 
philosophical  approach  to  the  whole  mendously  worth  reading,  thought-pro- 
complex  problem,  said  Mr.  Mumford  voking  and  stimulating.  It  is  full  of 
reasoned  that  because  basic  communism  long  words  that  ought  to  be  shorter, 
seemed  the  only  logical  solution  of  our  but  it  has  something  to  say  that  is  of 
present  dilemma  we  should  therefore  vital  importance  to  any  one  alive  today, 
inevitably  have  it,  and  went  on  to  point  and  the  Landscaper  recommends  it  as 
out  the  folly  of  this  conclusion  in  the  one  of  the  season's  most  highly  indis- 
light  of  human  history.  The  point  is  pensable  volumes, 
well  taken;  Mr.  Mumford's  engineer-  _,,  _  .  .  .  _ 
economist  Utopia  has  to  the  Landscaper  The  ^Advertising  Racket 
just  two  things  wrong  with  it:  people  Another  recent  book  that  touches 
would  not  like  it,  and  there  are  no  engi-  upon  one  of  our  most  important  ques- 
neer-economists  living  intelligent  and  tions  is  James  Rorty's  Our  Master's 
honest  enough  to  run  it.  Voice  (John  Day,  $3),  which  is  a  fiery 
crz.  rr  -  m  discussion  of  the  advertising  racket, 
1  fie  C  Imgmg  Past  especially  as  it  was  practised  in  America 

Of  course  what  will  happen  will  be  before  the  depression  set  in.  On  the 

that  the  human  race  will  continue  to  debunking  side  Mr.  Rorty,  who  was 

fumble  and  stumble,  advancing  a  bit  once  an  advertising  man  himself,  does  a 

here  and  retreating  a  bit  there,  holding  superb  job,  and  some  of  the  material  is 

on  tight  to  ancient  beliefs  and  tabus  at  amusing  as  well  as  revealing,  but  Mr. 

one  place  and  turning  these  loose  to  Rorty  is  like  Mr.  Mumford  in  seeing  no 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE 


91 


way  out  of  our  difficulties  except  a  of  such  men  as  John  Dickinson,  Assist- 
revolution.  ant  Secretary  of  Commerce,  A.  A. 
He  blames  the  profit  system  for  the  Berle,  Jr.,  Leo  Pavolsky,  Rexford  Guy 
evils  that  cling  to  advertising,  for  the  Tugwell  and  Leo  Wolman.  Mr.  Dick- 
bunk  and  the  ballyhoo,  the  downright  inson  gets  the  volume  under  way  with 
dishonesty  and  deliberate  misrepresen-  the  statement  that  the  New  Deal  does 
tation,  and  says  flatly  that  there  can  be  not  mean  any  kind  of  revolution, 
no  such  thing  as  honest  advertising  with  merely  a  more  carefully  regulated  capi- 
things  as  they  stand.  The  answer?  Wipe  talism.  Mr.  Berle  writes  about  banking 
the  slate  clean  and  start  over.  Without  reform  and  thinks  the  reform  most 
wishing  to  seem  tiresomely  repetitious  needed  is  in  the  bankers  themselves  $ 
the  Landscaper's  answer  to  this  is  that  Mr.  Tugwell  speaks  for  experimenta- 
Mr.  Rorty  believes  a  new  world  can  be  tion,  and  so  on.  The  book  is  a  collection 
made  out  of  the  same  old  people  merely  of  the  William  C.  Cooper  Foundation 
by  changing  the  form  of  government  j  Lectures  delivered  at  Swarthmore  Col 
in  short,  he  thinks  the  bunk  in  adver-  legej  it  contains  an  introduction  with 
tising  comes  from  the  outside  and  is  some  interesting  criticism  of  the  Roose- 
f  orced  upon  a  reluctant  public,  whereas  velt  programme  by  members  of  the  eco- 
the  Landscaper  believes  the  public  likes  nomics  department  of  the  school, 
the  bunk  and  would  not  be  satisfied  with  Then  there  is  Harry  Guggenheim's 
anything  else.  The  United  States  and  Cuba  (Macmil- 
Mr.  Rorty  thinks  we  may  have  fas-  Ian,  $2.50),  a  readable  and  fair-minded 
cism  in  this  country  before  we  have  com-  study  of  the  relations  between  the  two 
munism,  and  that  when  it  comes  it  will  countries  written  by  the  former  Ambas- 
find  advertising  a  powerful  agency  in  its  sador  to  the  island,  who  has  definite 
behalf.  This  is  not  in  itself  anything  remedies  to  suggest  for  the  improve- 
against  advertising  5  if  communism  ment  of  the  existing  situation.  This  is 
came  we  should  have  all  our  advertising  the  other  side  of  the  picture  from  Carle- 
and  publicity  agencies  turning  out  prop-  ton  Beals's  The  Crime  of  Cuba,  pub- 
aganda  for  the  Reds,  and  it  wouldn't  be  lished  last  autumn  by  Lippincott,  and 
a  bit  more  fundamentally  honest  than  makes  a  valuable  complement  to  Mr. 
the  tripe  for  which  they  are  responsible  Beals's  sensational  attack  upon  the  effect 
today.  This  has  relatively  little  to  do  of  American  capitalism  upon  the  lives 
with  the  fact,  however,  that  Mr.  and  fortunes  of  the  islanders. 
Rorty's  book  is  readable  and  informa- 

tive.  He  suspects  the  heyday  of  the  ad-  He  Knows  History 
vertising  man,  the  boom  years  of  '26-  And  a  small  book  called  Crisis  Gov- 
'29,  are  over  j  one  hopes  he  is  right.  ernment  by  Lindsay  Rogers  (Norton, 
7  $1.50),  which  discusses  the  so-called 
^M ore  tAbout  Us  downfall  of  democracy  during  the  post- 
CD  f  other  books  bearing  directly  upon  War  period,  and  optimistically  con- 
our  immediate  situation  there  are  sev-  eludes  that  those  countries  which  have 
eral,  including  America's  Recovery  Pro-  held  on  to  democracy  have  done  quite 
gram-  (Oxford  University  Press,  $2),  as  well  as  the  ones  that  have  fled  to  more 
a  collection  of  discussions  of  various  primitive  despotisms  of  one  sort  or  an- 
phases  of  the  New  Deal  from  the  pens  other,  ranging  from  communism  to  fas- 


92  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

cism,  but  all  implying  the  destruction  of  with  the  work  of  even  the  worst  and 
the  liberty  of  the  individual.  This  dullest  of  the  Moderns, 
will  come  as  a  surprise  to  a  good  many  The  books  crowd  in  for  discussion, 
people;  the  incredibly  dumb  attitude  but  there  are  so  many  more  to  be 
of  admiration  to  be  found  even  touched  upon  that  several  will  have  to 
among  supposedly  intelligent  people  be  content  with  little  more  than  passing 
for  all  kinds  of  dictatorships  is  one  mention.  Among  these  is  a  handsome 
of  the  most  discouraging  things  in  our  volume  called  Portrait  of  America  by 
world.  Diego  Rivera  (Covici-Friede,  $3.50), 
Prof essor  Rogers  writes  delightfully,  with  illustrations  from  Rivera's  fres- 
and  with  common  sense.  He  is  optimis-  coes,  including  one  from  the  famous 
tic,  but  not  unreasonably  so,  and  he  Radio  City  wall  that  is  now  blank, 
knows,  which  is  most  unusual  in  this  day  Rivera  writes  an  introduction  in  which 
and  time,  that  human  history  did  not  he  gives  another  cheer  for  communism, 
begin  day  before  yesterday.  His  book  is  and  Bertram  D.  Wolfe  contributes  an 
one  of  the  most  intelligent  available  essay  on  the  New  Workers'  School  fres- 
about  the  governmental  situation  to-  coes,  painted  with  the  Rockefeller  con- 
day;  it  ought  to  be  widely  read  and  tribution,  and  to  the  Landscaper  about 
appreciated.  as  complete  a  perversion  of  American 

sr\       7     f  ™*    7       •  history  as  could  be  invented.  There  is 

T>eathoj  ^Modernism  much  to  be  said  upon  the  subject  of 

To  drop  these  eminently  practical  Don  Diego;  Thomas  Craven  has  said 
matters  for  a  moment,  Thomas  Crav-  a  good  deal  of  it  in  one  of  the  best  chap- 
en's  Modern  Art:  The  Men,  the  Move-  ters  in  Modern  Art. 
ments,  the  Meaning  (Simon  and  /•».-»«  <r> 
Schuster)  is  another  book  the  Land-  ^M^Sowet  "Books 
scaper  found  most  enjoyable;  it  is  a  There  are  three  recent  books  on  Rus- 
rousing  cheer  for  a  new  day  in  painting  sia,  every  one  of  which  deserves  more 
and  other  forms  of  expression.  Modern-  space  than  will  be  given  to  the  trio ;  they 
ism,  Mr.  Craven  says,  is  dying,  if  not  group  themselves  very  easily  because 
dead,  and  art  is  coming  back  to  the  peo-  they  are  all  deeply  critical  one  way  or 
pie  and  to  life.  The  work  of  Rivera,  another  of  the  Soviet  regime.  On  the 
Orozco  and  our  own  Benton  he  cites  as  whole  the  books  about  Russia  have  been 
an  example  of  what  he  means;  he  has  fair  or  more  than  fair;  the  newspaper 
praise,  too,  for  Frank  Lloyd  Wright,  stuff  we  read  every  day  has  to  be  favor- 
George  Grey  Barnard,  Jacob  Epstein  able  because  of  the  terribly  rigid  censor- 
and  a  few  others.  There  are  splendid  ship  that  is  maintained.  In  these  books, 
critical  appreciations  of  Van  Gogh  and  however,  we  get  the  other  side  of  the 
Gaugin,  an  entertaining  autobiography,  picture,  and  it  is  somewhat  less  glow- 
and  many  fine  illustrations  among  the  ingly  Utopian  than  we  have  been  led  to 
others  of  the  book's  treasures,  and  on  believe. 

the  whole  it  is  an  exciting  and  readable  The  most  important  of  the  lot,  both 

— if  prejudiced — volume  of  art  criti-  because  it  is  first-hand  stuff  and  because 

cism,  with  which  many  people  will  dis-  it  is  most  exciting  as  well,  once  one  has 

agree  violently,  of  course,  particularly  got  past  the  feeling  of  sadness  it  en- 

the  art  dealers  who  have  done  so  well  genders,  is  Escape  from  the  Soviets  by 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  93 

Tatiana  Tchernevin  (Button,  $2.50),  both  in  America  and  England  j  Dorothy 
which  is  the  story  of  an  intellectual  lib-  Fisk's  Exploring  the  Uffler  Atmos- 
eral  and  his  wife  and  child.  The  man  ^phere  (Oxford  University  Press, 
was  sent  off  to  a  prison  camp  near  the  $1.75),  a  highly  intelligent  and  under- 
Finnish  border,  his  wife  served  five  standable  book  about  the  stratosphere 
months  in  prison,  although  there  were  and  other  recent  scientific  developments 
no  charges  against  her  5  they  were  both  relating  to  the  nature  of  the  cosmos  j 
highly  educated  people,  innocent  of  any  Sir  Wilfred  Grenf ell's  The  Romance  of 
wrong-doing  against  the  Soviet  Govern-  Labrador  (Macmillan,  $4),  the  whole 
ment.  They  succeeded  in  escaping  from  story  of  the  bleak  land  that  Dr.  Gren- 
the  camp,  the  three  of  them,  the  boy  fell  has  made  his  own  with  his  magnifi- 
then  in  his  teens,  and  made  their  way  cent  humanitarian  work,  containing 
after  incredible  hardships  into  Finland  excellent  chapters  on  the  flora  and 
and  out  from  under  the  shadow  of  the  fauna  of  the  country  j  and  Aldous  Hux- 
New  Russia,  which  in  their  case  was  a  ley's  Beyond  the  Mexique  Bay  (Dou- 
place  more  horrible  than  most  of  the  bleday,  Doran,  $2.75),  an  account  of  a 
hells  the  orthodox  have  succeeded  in  visit  to  Central  America  with  much  bril- 
imagining.  It  is  a  heart-breaking  and  liant  comment  upon  a  wide  variety  of 
thrilling  tale,  with  its  full  share  of  topics, 
poignant  truth.  . 

One  of  its  companions  is  Max  East-  Outstanding  Fiction 

man's    Artists    in    Uniform    (Knopf,  The   outstanding   fiction   published 

$2.50),  a  discussion  of  the  plight  of  the  since  the  last  Landscape  was  written  in- 

writer  in  the  U.S.S.R.  Mr.  Eastman  is  eludes    Blair    Niles's    Maria    Paluna 

a  follower  of  Trotzky  and  Lenin  and  (Longmans,  Green) ;  Grace  Flandrau's 

doesn't  like  Stalin,  for  whom  he  blames  Indeed  This  Flesh  (Smith  and  Haas, 

the  regimentation  of  the  Russian  poets  $2.50)  j  Robert  Cantwell's  The  Land 

and  novelists  and  the  persecution  of  the  of    Plenty     (Farrar    and    Rinehart, 

few  free  spirits  left  among  them.  The  $2.50)  j  Stephen  Vincent  Benet's  James 

other  is  Malcolm  Muggeridge's  Win-  Shore's  Daughter  (Doubleday,  Doran, 

ter  in  Moscow  (Little,  Brown,  $2.50),  $2.50)5  Ruth  Eleanor  McKee's  The 

a  bitter  and  malicious  account  of  an  Lord's  Anointed  (Doubleday,  Doran, 

eight  months'  stay  in  Russia  by  the  $2.50)5  Tess  Slesinger's  The  Un-pos- 

former  correspondent  of  the  Manches-  sessed  (Simon  and  Schuster,  $2.50)3 

ter  Guardian.  Mr.  Muggeridge  did  not  and    Louis    Golding's    Five    Silver 

like  the  U.S.S.R.,  and  while  his  book  Daughters     (Farrar     and     Rinehart, 

suffers  somewhat  from  being  ill-tern-  $2.50). 

pered,  it  is  entertaining  and  probably  Also  a  widely  discussed  and  very 

the  truth  from  a  certain  angle.  talented  novel  from  the  French,  Louis- 

r\  7       ^      j  cr>  Ferdinand  Celine's  The  Journey  to  the 

Other  good  Vooks  End  of  the  Night   (Littlej  Brownj 

Other  important  non-fiction  books  $2.50),  a  book  that  has  sold  something 

are    Edith    Wharton's    A    Backward  like  a  quarter  of  a  million  copies  in 

Glance  ( Applet on-Century,  $3),  a  most  France  and  is  also  being  widely  read  in 

charming  literary  autobiography  that  other  European  countries,  but  which 

recreates  delightfully  a  vanished  world,  the  Landscaper  did  not  like.  It  is  a  novel 


94  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

of  the  underdog,  bitter,  horrible,  full  Spanish  civilizations  5  it  is  handled  with 

of  misery  and  bad  smells,  and  with  no  genuine  scholarship  and  understanding 

contrast  to  give  it  either  relief  or  truth,  and  made  into  something  significant  for 

It  is  on  the  last  score  that  the  Land-  the    future.    Mrs.    Niles    knows    her 

scaper  objects  to  the  book}  the  physi-  Guatemala  at  first  hand,  and  she  has 

cian  who  calls  himself  Celine  can  see  treated  her  historical  material  with  the 

nothing  pleasant  or  cheerful  or  hopeful  greatest  respect,  so  that  her  studies  of 

in  the  human  race,  which  he  finds  about  Alvarado,   Cortez,  Bartoleme  de  las 

as  attractive  as  a  collection  of  maggots.  Casas  and  other  characters  from  life  are 

There  is  no  denying  the  power  of  the  both  accurate  and  artistic, 
book,  but  it  is  far  too  one-sided  for  the         Mrs.  Flandrau's  Indeed  This  Flesh 

Landscaper's  taste;  it  errs  in  not  seeing  is  the  story  of  a  man's  life  in  St.  Paul 

that  the  human  race  is  both  detestable  during  the  boom  days  of  the  Minnesota 

and  admirable,  both  noble  and  ignoble,  country;  denied  love  or  even  compan- 

Several    proletarian    reviewers    have  ionship  at  home,  Will  Quayne  is  forced 

called  it  revolutionary,  and  one  saw  in  into  Sin  against  his  emotional  convic- 

it  a  true  picture  of  a  dying  capitalism,  tions — he  has  abandoned  religion  intel- 

but  it  is  actually  without  propaganda  lectually  but  is  still  influenced  by  it — 

of  any  sort,  and  why  so  hopeless  a  pic-  and  finally  comes  to  complete  tragedy, 

ture  can  be  called  revolutionary  is  be-  one  of  his  betrayals  being  that  a  suc- 

yond  the  Landscaper's  feeble  mental  cessful  man,  with  all  the  outer  accoutre- 

grasp.  Why  go  to  the  trouble  of  a  revo-  ments  of  virtue  upon  which  the  age  set 

lution  if  people  are  really  like  this?  As  so  much  store,  fails  him  in  a  crisis.  The 

for  the  dying  capitalism,  every  time  a  book  is  done  with  remarkable  insight 

proletarian  looks  out  of  his  window  he  into  masculine  psychology  and  against  a 

sees  signs  of  the  coming  revolution.  He  background  that  is  handled  with  great 

is  as  good  at  this  as  true  believers  used  subtlety.   It  is  Mrs.   Flandrau's  best 

to  be  about  signs  of  Judgment  Day;  in-  piece  of  work,  and  easily  one  of  the  best 

deed  there  are  many  close  parallels  be-  American  novels  of  the  year, 
tween  the  communists  and  the  mil-  . 

lenarians.  With  a  profound  belief  that  "9VLore  American  Stones 
the  truth,  no  matter  what  it  is,  should         James  Shore's  Daughter  is  another 

be  looked  in  the  face,  the  Landscaper  typical  American  story  in  which  a  suc- 

can  not  admit  that  M.  Celine  has  told  cessful  Western  pioneer  comes  East  with 

the  truth,  so  what  reason  is  there  for  his  attractive  daughter  and  fails  to  find 

reading  him?  the  changing  world  as  conquerable  as 

^  7     0  A      .  ,   ~  the  simpler  frontier.  From  New  York, 

The  Spams/,  Conquest  the  novd  becomes  intemational  in  its 

To  return  to  the  list,  Mrs.  Niles  has  scope,  and  winds  up  in  the  present,  with 

written  a  very  attractive  historical  ro-  a  world  facing  the  Machine  it  has  so 

mance  in  Maria  Paluna,  the  background  painstakingly  created  and  wondering 

being  the  Spanish  conquest  in  Guate-  what  to  do  with  its  vast  powers.  Mr. 

mala,  and  the  plot  turning  upon  a  love  Benet's  style  is  admirable;  he  writes 

affair  between  Maria,  a  Quiche  girl,  and  with  poetical  economy  and  insight,  and 

one  of  the  conquerors.  The  theme  of  the  his  novel  is  not  only  good  reading,  but 

book  is  the  blending  of  the  Indian  and  full  of  significance. 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  95 

In  Robert  CantwelPs  story  of  a  mill  Sillier  Daughters,  which  is  like  Mag- 
town,  The  Land  of  Plenty  y  we  have  one  nolia  Street,  except  better  5  a  crowded 
of  the  best  of  the  so-called  proletarian  book  that  swarms  with  characters  and  is 
novels,  good  not  because  of  its  propa-  full  of  the  sense  of  life  and  motion.  The 
ganda,  but  because  Mr.  Cantwell  is  a  Silver  family  history  makes  the  book, 
novelist  who  knows  his  material  and  Sam  the  head  of  the  house  rising  from 
handles  it  skilfully  j  in  Tess  Slesinger's  a  place  in  a  Magnolia  Street  factory  to 
The  Unpossessed  we  have  a  brilliantly  great  wealth  during  the  World  War, 
wrought  study  of  futile  intellectuals  in  and  the  five  daughters,  as  different  as 
New  York,  people  who  are  running  possible,  touching  life  at  many  points,  so 
away  from  life  as  hard  as  they  can,  espe-  that  the  book  has  a  wide  scope  in  place 
daily  when  they  are  talking  about  it  and  time,  and  includes  sections  on  Rus- 
with  the  most  energy  and  emotion.  Mr.  sia  during  the  Revolution,  Germany 
CantwelPs  technique  is  orthodox  j  Miss  during  the  Inflation,  the  Riviera,  and  so 
Slesinger  writes  in  the  manner  of  Vir-  on.  Mr.  Golding  gives  his  readers  full 
ginia  Woolf  and  others  of  the  stream-  measure,  pressed  down  and  running 
of-consciousness  school,  although  she  over;  his  is  a  rich  book,  unrestrained, 
has  mastered  their  manner  to  a  point  It  is  already  a  best-seller  and  will  prob- 
where  it  becomes  her  own.  She  is  a  new-  ably  continue  to  be  popular  -y  such  prod- 
comer  in  the  field  of  the  novel  and  has  igality  as  the  author  has  displayed  de- 
made  a  most  promising  beginning.  serves  a  reward. 

Hawaiian  ^Missionaries  Elizabethan  England 

Miss  McKee's  The  Lord's  Anointed         Another   good   English   novel,   al- 

is  a  long  and  solid  chronicle-novel  of  though  it  is  slight  and  might  have  been 

missionary  life  in  Hawaii,  from  the  compressed  into  a  short  story,  is  Sheila 

time  the  first  handful  of  young  men  and  Kaye-Smith's  Superstition  Corner  (  Har- 

women  sailed  to  the  islands  to  save  the  per,  $2.50),  a  tale  of  Elizabethan  Eng- 

souls  of  the  hitherto-happy  natives  al-  land  centring  around  Catherine  Alard, 

most  down  to  the  present,  the  book  cen-  a  young  girl  who  is  loyal  to  the  Catholic 

tring  around  Constancy,  the  rebellious  Church.  Done  with  delicate  irony,  her 

wife  of  one  of  the  missionaries.  Con-  tragic  life  and  the  terrors  of  the  period 

stancy  is  a  fine  character,  and  the  whole  make  a  novel  that  again  shows  Miss 

story   remarkable    for   its   feeling   of  Kaye-Smith  to  be  an  artist,  although 

truth  j  a  curious  chapter  in  the  long  his-  this  is  not  one  of  her  most  important 

tory  of  Christianity  and  its  conflicts  books, 
with  sinful  pagans  in  far  places.  A  remarkably  good  Negro  novel  is 

It  will  be  observed  that  with  the  ex-  Zora  Neale  Hurst on's  Jonah's  Gourd 

ception  of  the  Celine  book,  the  novels  Vine  (Lippincott,  $2),  the  tale  of  a 

of  the  month  are  American  in  origin  and  handsome  brown-skin  boy,  who  grows 

interest,  and  this  gives  the  Landscaper  up  into  a  successful  preacher  and  proves 

pleasure,  for  the  choice  was  not  made  on  too  attractive  to  women  for  his  own 

any  nationalistic  basis,  but  merely  be-  good.  The  framework  of  the  book  is  less 

cause  of  merit.  commendable  than  its  fine,  juicy  and 

The  most  interesting  recent  novel  out  eminently  natural  humor,  and  its  record 

of  England  is  Louis  Golding's  Five  of  curious  folkways;  it  contains,  too,  a 


96  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

magnificent  sermon  in  full.  The  author  Brown,  $2).  It  is  up  to  the  Wodehouse 
is  an  authority  on  Negro  folk-lore  who  standard,  which  ought  to  be  recom- 
was  born  in  an  exclusively  Negro  com-  mendation  enough, 
munity  in  Florida  and  educated  at  Of  the  older  books,  it  is  a  pleasure  to 
Barnard,  where  she  specialized  in  an-  mention  the  fact  that  Isak  Dinesen's 
thropology.  This  is  her  first  novel,  and  very  curious  Seven  Gothic  Tales  has 
to  the  Landscaper's  way  of  thinking  eas-  caught  on,  and  looks  as  if  it  might  be 
ily  the  best  piece  of  fiction  from  a  mem-  one  of  the  most  popular  books  of  the 
ber  of  her  race,  with  the  exception  of  year.  It  was  discussed  at  some  length  in 
Langston  Hughes's  Not  Without  the  last  Landscape,  but  it  deserves  an- 
Laughter.  other  mention,  for  it  is  something  corn- 
Also  there  is  a  new  Wodehouse,  pletely  off  the  beaten  path,  a  strange, 
Thank  You,  Jeeves,  a  whole  novel  with  appealing,  individual  and  oddly  unf  or- 
Jeeves  as  the  principal  character  (  Little,  gettable  piece  of  fiction. 


C£? 

\ 

jf  Public  LiBrar 

'    gft.^* 
fyriusque  mibi  nullo  discrlmine  agetur 

The  ZNgrfh  American  Review 

VOLUME  238  AUGUST,  1934  NUMBER  2 


Aperitif 

American  business  interests  would  be  in- 

Romance  of  "Debts  and  Idleness  sured  against  the  possibility  0£  foreign 

HENRY  CARTER,  in  later  pages  of  invasion  of  their  home  markets,  which 
this  issue,  argues  that  there  will  was  the  basis  of  the  furore  which  at- 
be  several  millions  of  permanently  un-  tended  Secretary  Hull's  hint  to  Eng- 
employed  persons  in  the  United  States  land  concerning  payment  in  kind.  The 
even  if  a  great  deal  of  prosperity  re-  theory  was  that  no  foreign  nation  could 
turns.  His  thesis  is  widely  accepted  at  refuse  to  pay  its  debts  in  a  way  which 
present,  as  are  also  a  number  of  the  ways  would  not  take  gold  out  of  its  own 
to  care  for  these  unemployed  which  he  borders  or  disrupt  international  trade, 
describes  and  which  are  apparently  un-  There  is  now  a  good  deal  of  room  for 
der  consideration  in  Washington.  But  doubt  of  this  theory,  but  it  was  a  good 
Mr.  Carter's  methods  involve  a  large  enough  one  at  the  time,  and  the  pro- 
burden  on  the  Federal  payroll,  and  tax-  posal  was  sound.  We  should  have  got 
payers  will  inevitably  object  to  this  and  something  of  cultural  value,  perhaps 
demand  some  cheaper  solution  of  the  saved  a  bit  in  taxes  for  education  and 
problem.  There  happens,  fortunately,  not  looked  quite  the  improvident  dupes, 
to  be  at  least  one  such  solution  with  so  far  as  our  loans  to  the  Allies  were 
attractive  aspects,  despite  a  simplicity  concerned,  that  we  now  do. 
almost  fantastic.  However,  Mr.  BoublikofPs  idea  was 
Some  while  ago  Mr.  A.  A.  Boubli-  merely  to  approach  the  War  debts  prob- 
koff,  who  contributes  occasionally  to  this  lem  in  a  realistic  manner  j  he  was  not 
magazine,  proposed  as  a  partial  solution  specifically  concerned  with  unemploy- 
of  the  War  debts  puzzle  that  American  ment.  The  students  who  would  have 
students  be  sent  abroad  for  cultural  pur-  benefited  by  his  plan  largely  come  from 
poses  at  the  expense  of  the  foreign  na-  families  able  to  support  them  in  one  de- 
tions  owing  us  money,  the  cost  to  be  gree  or  another  of  comfort.  But  if  we 
deducted  from  the  total  of  their  debt,  twist  his  idea  into  a  scheme  for  reliev- 
In  this  way  the  so-called  transfer  prob-  ing  our  government  of  the  expense  of 
lem,    principal    European    excuse    for  caring  for  unemployed  persons,  it  takes 
non-payment,  would  be  avoided,  and  on  an  even  more  admirable  appearance. 

Copyright,  1934,  by  North  American  Review  Corporation.  All  rights  reserved. 


98  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Instead  of  handing  all  those  billions  of  statuary,  considering  the  American  pro- 
dollars  to  Mr.  Roosevelt  for  distribu-  pensity  for  souvenirs,  would  probably 
tion  among  our  needy,  we  ought  to  hand  need  extensive  repairs  themselves — if 
our  needy  to  our  debtors  for  distribu-  the  natives  cared  to  bother, 
tion  of  food,  shelter  and  clothing  while  It  is  undeniably  a  pretty  little  circle, 
we  have  no  useful  employment  to  oc-  Without  the  burden  on  our  public  and 
cupythem.  private  purses  of  supporting  unem- 

The  debtor  countries,  of  course,  have  ployed  millions,  this  country  would  re- 

their  own  unemployment  and  budget  turn  quickly  to  prosperity.  Then  the 

problems,  and  would  hardly  accept  such  foreign  countries  could  more  easily  ex- 

a  proposal  with  undiluted  enthusiasm,  port  to  us  their  products  and,  becoming 

But  unless  they  could  show  that  it  was  still  more  prosperous,  might  eventually 

an  impossible  strain  on  their  resources  be  so  pleased  with  the  arrangement  that 

they  would  have  either  to  consent  or  they  would  want  to  borrow  billions  of 

face  the  so-called  odium  of  wilful  de-  dollars  from  us  again — perhaps  even 

fault,  an  appearance  of  which  they  are  fight  another  war  on  our  credit.  How- 

now    turning    handsprings    to    avoid,  ever,  that  would  be  another  question. 
France,  Germany,  Italy  and  England 
all  have  splendid  merchant  marines,  so 

they  would  not  need  to  send  money  out         But  what  of  the  emigrants  them- 

of  their  own  countries  to  pay  for  trans-  selves?    Would  they   object  to  being 

portation  across  the  ocean.  Once  across,  shipped  abroad  in  carload  lots?    Not 

the  Americans  would  be  good  spenders  niany  of  them,  surely.  For  most  it  would 

(why  not? ),  and  if  there  is  anything  in  be  a  unique  opportunity  to  see  the  world 

the  theory  that  a  rapid  circulation  of  at  somebody  else's  expense — a  much 

money  makes  for  good  times,  their  visit  more  pleasant  occupation  than  staying 

ought  to  stir  up  business  tremendously,  at  home  on  the  job.  It  might  even  be 

thus  increasing  tax  collections  and  facili-  difficult  to  persuade  them  to  return  to 

tating  payment  of  their  upkeep.  their  jobs  when  prosperity  recreated 

It  is  a  pretty  little  circle.  For  instance,  them. 

in  some  of  our  debtor  nations  there  has  With  Hitler  shooting  even  high  gov- 
been  considerable  agitation  for  large  ernment  officials,  France  rioting  on  the 
governmental  spending  programmes,  slightest  provocation,  Austria  exploding 
Nowhere  else  has  it  taken  hold  as  it  has  bombs  every  few  minutes  and  many 
in  America,  but  its  proponents  would  other  countries  in  a  chronic  state  of  agi- 
doubtless  be  pleased  at  a  scheme  like  tation,  it  might  be  thought  dangerous 
this,  which  would  accomplish  the  same  for  the  emigrants  to  send  them  abroad 
effect  and  not  dot  the  landscape  with  just  now.  But  aside  from  the  alternative 
needless  architecture  and  statuary.  Stim-  danger  of  starving  at  home,  there  are 
ulation  of  heavy  industry  is  the  aim,  one  or  two  other  considerations  with 
principally,  of  governmental  spending  which  to  answer  such  an  objection.  Ad- 
programmes,  and  the  Americans'  per-  mittedly,  there  is  a  strong  possibility  of 
sistent  use  of  railroads  and  steamships  war  in  Europe  in  the  near  future.  How- 
ought  to  keep  it  very  busy  indeed  mak-  ever,  if  five  or  six  millions  of  Americans 
ing  replacements  and  additional  equip-  were  milling  about  the  countryside,  the 
ment.  Also,  existing  architecture  and  possibility  would  materially  lessen.  For 


APfiRITIF 


99 


one  thing,  most  of  them  would  insist  on  would  find  their  bombs  tampered  with 

taking  their  cars  abroad  with  them  (even  and  their  machine  guns  jammed  or  dis- 

unemployed  Americans  all  have  cars),  mantled.  All  the  varied  mechanical  par- 

and  European  highways,  constructed  aphernalia  of  modern  warfare  would 

for  a  much  less  abundant  motoring  life  come  under  the  innocent  but  devastating 

than  our  own,  could  hardly  be  expected  curiosity  of  the  neutrals  and  the  vast 

to  carry  the  burden  of  warfare  and  the  bulk  of  it  would  be  rendered  useless, 

burden  of  these  Americans  at  the  same  Of  course,  if  the  combatants  insisted  on 

time.  No  one  who  knows  our  automo-  going  ahead  with  hand-to-hand  encoun- 

tive   habits   would  give   the   military  ters,  there  would  be  cheers  from  the 

traffic  an  even  chance  if  it  came  to  a  Americans  on  the  sidelines — but  also  a 

showdown  between  the  two.  bedlam  of  kibitzing  advice  and  no  small 

As  a  further  obstacle  to  war  there  is  amount  of  old-egg-throwing  and  Bronx 

the  unconquerable  curiosity  of  Ameri-  cheers  besides.  The  soldiery,  not  being 

cans,  particularly  when  idle.  At  home  paid  as  well  as  a  Primo  Camera,  could 

they  have  a  faculty  of  getting  in  the  hardly  stomach  such  ridicule  for  long, 

way  of  people  building  buildings,  clut-  And  European  governments,  at  last  see- 

tering  up  the  sidewalk  before  any  kind  ing  the  virtue  of  our  contention  that 

of  display,  gathering  in  great  multi-  reduced  armaments  would  enable  them 

tudes  to  watch  athletes  race,  jump,  play  to  pay  their  debts  (seeing  it,  of  course, 

golf,  pummel  each  other,  or  simply  sit  in  the  sudden  prosperity  of  American 

on  flag-poles.  This  characteristic  curiosity  spending) ,  might  thereupon  proceed  to 

is  so  intense  that  it  would  not  permit  the  disarm. 

emigrants  to  stay  away  from  the  field  of  So,  with  prosperity  promised  for  cred- 

battle.  Americans  would  surround  the  itor  and  debtors  alike,  peace  as  nearly 

gunners  of  an  artillery  battery,  asking  assured  as  it  can  be  in  so  unstable  a 

questions,  fingering  mechanisms,  trip-  world,  and  a  long-deferred  good  time 

ping  up  officers  and  men,  so  demoral-  in  prospect  for  the  unemployed,  why 

izing  every  one  that  firing  could  not  not  try  the  scheme?  The  answer  just 

continue.  Tanks  would  be  so  thoroughly  possibly  may  be  that  the  European  coun- 

investigated  that  nothing  could  make  tries  do  not  care  sufficiently  about  their 

them  run  again.  Airplanes  would  be  pre-  obligations  to  fall  in  even  with  so  emi- 

vented  from  leaving  the  ground  by  idle  nently  logical  a  proposal.  It  seems  too 

groups  of  inquisitors  or,  if  they  did  rise,  bad. 

w.  A.  D. 


China  and  World  Peace 

BY  SAO-KE  ALFRED  SZE 
The  Chinese  opposition  to  a  Japanese  Monroe  Doctrine 

IN  THE  last  few  days  many  eyes  have  cial  and  other  interests  of  the  Western 

been  attracted  to  the  Far  East  and  powers  in  that  part  of  the  world  placed 

particularly    to    those    territories  in  jeopardy,  but  an  example  has  been 

which  are  so  often  termed  the  cradle  of  presented  to  the  world  of  the  aggran- 

conflict  or  the  tinder  box  of  Asia.  War  dizement  of  a  state  at  the  expense  of 

vessels   have  been   despatched   under  the  rights  and  interests  of  a  friendly 

forced  draft,  fleets  have  been  hastily  as-  neighboring  state,  and  by  means  that 

sembled  and,  if  some  press  reports  are  are  in  open  and  flagrant  violation  of 

to  be  credited,  expeditionary  forces  have  those  standards  of  international  right, 

been  held  ready  for  embarkation.  And  which,  with  especial  effort  since  the 

why  these  warlike  preparations,  it  may  Great  War,  the  civilized  world  has 

be  asked?  As  it  now  appears,  simply  be-  sought  to  establish.  Added  to  this  is  the 

cause  a  minor  consular  official  had  ab-  evidence,  abundantly  offered,  that  Ja- 

sented  himself  from  his  post  without  pan  is  not  yet  satiated  by  the  gains  she 

advising  his  superiors.  The  vagaries  of  has  thus  far  secured,  but,  upon  the  con- 

this  unfortunate  man  will  have  served  a  trary,  awaits  only  the  occasion  most 

most  useful  purpose  if  they  reveal  upon  agreeable  to  herself  to  increase  these 

what  a  slender  thread  hangs  the  peace  gains. 

of  the  world.  Japan's  present  policies  in  the  Far 

Briefly  stated,  the  situation  is  that  East  are  plainly  indicated  for  her  acts 

Japan,  in  violation  of  her  covenants  as  conform  with  precision  to  a  general 

a  member  of  the  League  of  Nations  and  plan  which  has,  upon  more  than  one 

as  a  signatory  to  such  important  multi-  occasion,  been  frankly  stated  by  her  po- 

lateral  international  agreements  as  the  litical  and  military  leaders. 

Washington   Nine   Power  Treaty   of  This  policy,  stated  in  its  most  general 

1922,  and  the  Kellogg  Peace  Pact  of  terms,  is  that  Japan  shall  dominate, 

1928,  has,  by  force  of  arms,  seized  and  politically  and  commercially,  the  Far 

now  controls  a  vast  area  of  Chinese  East,  and  allow  no  considerations  of 

territory,  containing  great  natural  re-  treaty  obligations,  or  respect  for  the 

sources  and  a  population  of  more  than  rights  of  other  nations,  to  stand  in  the 

thirty  millions.  Thus,  not  only  has  the  way    of    this    achievement.    Included 

balance  of  political  power  in  the  Far  within  this  purpose  is  the  intention  to 

East  been  destroyed,  and  the  commer-  extend  Japan's  political  control  over 


CHINA  AND  WORLD  PEACE  101 

such  areas  of  eastern  Asia  as  she  may  peace  of  the  United  States.  The  increase 
think  necessary  for  the  realization  of  of  the  territorial  or  other  political  inter- 
her  desires.  The  extension  of  her  sover-  ests  of  non-American,  and  especially  of 
eignty  over  Korea,  her  acquisition  of  a  European,  powers  upon  the  American 
lease  of  the  Kwantung  Peninsula,  the  continents,  the  United  States  has  held, 
imposition,  in  1915,  upon  China  of  the  will  create,  or  tend  to  create,  that  dan- 
treaties  which  were  based  upon  the  in-  ger.  The  United  States,  has,  therefore, 
famous  Twenty-One  Demands  which  served  notice  upon  the  world  that  it  will 
she  then  made  upon  China,  and  her  re-  not  permit  such  an  increase,  however 
cent  acts  in  Manchuria,  including  the  brought  about.  As  a  corollary  to  this 
establishment  of  the  puppet  state  of  proposition,  the  United  States  has  at 
Manchukuo,  have  been  but  steps  in  the  times  found  it  advisable  to  use  its  power- 
execution  of  this  general  plan  to  bring  ful  influence  with  certain  Central  or 
all  of  eastern  Asia  so  fully  under  Ja-  South  American  states  to  cause  them  to 
pan's  domination  that  she  will  be  able  correct  conditions  which,  under  gener- 
to  exclude  or  expel  from  that  area  any  ally  acknowledged  principles  of  inter- 
political,  financial  or  commercial  inter-  national  law,  might  justify  European 
ests  which  she  may  deem  prejudicial  to  states  in  intervening  for  that  purpose, 
conceived  interests  of  her  own.  The  American  doctrine  has  not  been 

directed  against  the  continued  posses 
sion  by  European  powers  of  such  colo- 

In  attempted  justification  of  her  acts,  nies  as  they  may  already  have  in  the 

already  committed  or  proposed  to  be  Americas   or   in   the   waters   adjacent 

committed,  Japanese  writers  and  states-  thereto.  Nor  does  the  United  States  put 

men  have  declared  that  Japan  is  en-  forward  its  doctrine  in  justification  of 

titled  to  enforce  in  the.  Far  East  what  an  extension  of  its  sovereignty  or  po- 

they  have  termed  an  Asiatic  Monroe  litical  control  over  additional  areas  of 

Doctrine,   which,   inferentially,   is   as-  land. 

serted  to  have  the  same  political,  legal         The  American  doctrine  has  not  been 

and   ethical  justification   as  that   pos-  used  as  an  excuse  or  justification  for  in- 

sessed  by  the  Monroe  Doctrine  which,  terference  by  the  United  States  with  the 

for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  the  purely  internal  affairs   of  any   other 

United  States  has  asserted  its  right  and  American  state.  On  the  contrary,  its 

intention  to  uphold.  consistent  aim  and  effect  has  been  to 

When  examined,  however,  the  Japa-  protect  those  states  from  such  external 

nese  and  the  American  doctrines  are  aggression.  Thus,  to  quote  one  of  the 

found  to  differ  in  vital  respects.  In  fact,  most  emphatic  statements  of  the  doc- 

they  exhibit  only  slight  and  superficial  trine,  namely,  that  by  Secretary  of  State 

resemblances.  Olney,  in  1895:  the  doctrine  "does  not 

The  American  doctrine,  so  far  as  it  contemplate  any  interference  in  the  in- 

has   won   recognition   and   acceptance  ternal  affairs  of  any  American  State  or 

from  other  countries,  is  based  upon  the  in  the  relations  between  it  and  other 

valid  principle  of  self-defense — in  other  American  States.  It  does  not  justify  any 

words,  the  prevention  of  the  develop-  attempt  on  our  part  to  change  the  estab- 

ment  upon  the  American  continents  of  lished    form   of   government    of   any 

conditions    which    will    endanger   the  American  State  or  to  prevent  the  people 


102  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

of  such  State  from  altering  that  form  lie  with  me,  a  non-citizen  of  the  United 

according  to  their  own  will  and  pleas-  States  and  the  official  representative  of 

ure.  The  rule  in  question  has  but  a  another  country,  to  appear  as  counsel 

single  purpose  and  object.  It  is  that  no  in  her  behalf.  What  I  have  said  I  have 

European  Power   or  combination   of  said  in  order  to  show  that  the  so-called 

European   Powers   shall   forcibly   de-  Japanese  Monroe  Doctrine  is  some- 

prive  an  American  State  of  the  right  thing  far  different  from  the  American 

and   power    of   self-government    and  Monroe  Doctrine, 

shaping  for  itself  its  own  political  for-  This  Asiatic  doctrine,  as  expounded 

tunes  and  destinies.  .  .  .  The  States  by  Japanese  public  men,  resembles  the 

of  America,  South,  as  well  as  North,  American  doctrine  only  in  so  far  as  it 

by  geographical  proximity,  by  natural  asserts  that  it  is  contrary  to  the  vital 

sympathy,    by   similarity    of    govern-  interests  of  Asiatic  states,  and  of  Japan 

mental  constitutions,  are  friends  and  in    particular,    that    Western    powers 

allies,  commercially  and  politically,  of  should  increase  their  political  interests 

the  United  States.  To  allow  the  sub-  in  eastern  Asia. 

jugation  of  any  of  them  by  an  Euro-  In  support  of  such  a  doctrine  for 
pean  Power  is,  of  course,  to  completely  Asia,  thus  limited,  much  can  be  said, 
reverse  the  situation,  and  signifies  the  Much  can  also  be  said,  though  this  goes 
loss  of  all  the  advantages  incident  to  beyond  the  scope  of  a  Monroe  Doc- 
natural  relations  to  us."  trine,  in  justification  of  the  desire  of 

Though  thus  in  a  position,  materi-  Asiatic  powers  to  obtain  a  decrease,  and 

ally  speaking,  to  exercise  a  control  over  ultimate    total    annulment,    of    such 

the  other  American  states  wider  than  forms    of   political    control    as    other 

that  covered  by  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  powers  now  claim  the  right  to  exercise 

the  United  States  has  never  asserted  a  within  their  borders, 

right  to  do  so.  Thus,  as  the  basis  of  the  However,  the  Japanese,  when  they 

Monroe  Doctrine,  or  of  any  other  doc-  speak  of  an  Asiatic  Monroe  Doctrine, 

trine,  the  United  States  has  not  sought  have    much    in    mind    beyond    those 

for  itself  any  commercial  privileges  or  purely  defensive  features.  Under  their 

opportunities  for  financial  and  other  doctrine  they  assert  for  Japan  a  right  to 

economic  exploitation  from  which  other  dominate    in    eastern    Asia — a    claim 

countries  were  to  be  excluded.  And,  as  which  carries  with  it  a  right  to  subordi- 

I  have  already  said,  never,  standing  nate  to  Japanese  political  and  economic 

upon   that   doctrine,   has   the   United  interests  the  political  and  economic  in- 

States  sought  to  extend  its  territorial  terests  of  the  other  Asiatic  states.  If 

sovereignty  over  areas  recognized  to  Japan  conceives  that  she  needs  addi- 

lie  within  the  boundaries  of  the  other  tional  territory,  whether  for  political 

American  states.  or  economic  reasons,  she  asserts  the 

right  to  take  it.  If  she  needs  preferen 
tial  commercial  treatment,  in  addition 

I  have  made  the  foregoing  state-  to  the  advantages  already  enjoyed  by 

ments  with  regard  to  the  American  her  by  reason  of  her  geographical  posi- 

doctrine,  not  with  the  view  of  defend-  tion,  she  deems  that  she  is  justified  in 

ing  the  United  States  against  any  pos-  demanding  this  at  the  point  of  the 

sible  criticism,  for  it  certainly  does  not  bayonet  as  she  did  in  1915  when  she 


CHINA  AND  WORLD  PEACE  103 

presented  to  China  her  infamous  Japan  seized  and  militarily  occupied 
Twenty-One  Demands.  I  describe  the  great  Chinese  province  of  Shan- 
these  demands  as  infamous  for  they  tung,  from  which  eight  years  later  she 
have  been  so  regarded  by  all  the  rest  reluctantly  agreed  to  withdraw  only 
of  the  world.  under  the  pressure  of  an  adverse  world 
The  fact  is  that  there  are  abundant  opinion.  In  1918,  in  violation  of  prom- 
reasons  for  believing  that  Japan,  since  ises  given,  she  attempted  to  bring  the 
before  the  Chinese-Japanese  War  of  eastern  Siberian  regions  of  Russia  un- 
1894-1895,  has  had  the  desire,  and  to  der  her  political  domination,  but  found 
that  end  has  pursued  the  deliberate  her  resources  then  inadequate  to  hold 
policy,  to  make  herself  politically  su-  them  for  more  than  a  few  years, 
preme  in  the  Far  East — a  supremacy  In  negotiating  the  Lansing-Ishii 
which  will  mean  the  subjection  of  all  Agreement  of  1917,  Japan  sought,  as 
other  eastern  Asiatic  states  to  the  po-  Secretary  Lansing  has  testified,  to  ob- 
litical  will  of  Japan,  if  not  to  the  actual  tain  a  recognition  by  the  United  States, 
incorporation  of  the  territories  in  the  which  recognition  the  United  States  re- 
Japanese  Empire,  and,  as  a  necessary  fused  to  give,  that  Japan  had,  as  vis-a- 
consequence,  the  annulment  of  such  vis  China,  a  political  position  superior 
political  and  commercial  rights  as  the  to  that  of  the  other  powers.  In  the 
Western  powers  now  possess  in  eastern  negotiations  leading  up  to  the  creation 
Asia  or  perhaps  in  all  Asia.  As  a  step  of  the  International  Banking  Con- 
towards  the  realization  of  this  ambi-  sortium  of  1920,  she  again  put  for- 
tion,  she  prepared  for  and  fought  the  ward,  but  again  vainly,  the  same  claim. 
Sino- Japanese  War  of  1894-1895,  as  At  the  Washington  Conference  of 
a  result  of  which  she  obtained  not  only  1921-1922,  Japan,  because  of  her  acts 
a  huge  indemnity,  but  the  annexation  of  the  preceding  years,  appeared  essen- 
of  the  large  island  of  Formosa  and  the  tially  as  a  defendant  in  the  discussions 
Pescadores  group  of  smaller  islands,  that  were  had  as  to  Pacific  and  Far 
In  1904-1905  she  fought  Russia,  as  a  Eastern  questions.  Japan  then,  in  addi- 
result  of  which  she  was  able  not  only  tion  to  other  special  agreements,  signed 
to  take  over  from  Russia  the  leased  the  Nine  Power  Treaty  by  which  she 
Chinese  Kwantung  Peninsula,  and  engaged  herself,  in  common  with  the 
Russia's  other  interests  in  Southern  other  signatory  powers,  "to  respect  the 
Manchuria,  but  to  be  free  to  annex  the  sovereignty,  the  independence,  and  the 
Kingdom  of  Korea  which  she  effected  territorial  and  administrative  integrity 
in  1910.  In  1915  came  the  Twenty-  of  China,"  and  "to  provide  the  fullest 
One  Demands,  which,  had  they  been  and  most  unembarrassed  opportunity 
secured  in  full,  would  have  meant  that  to  China  to  develop  and  maintain  for 
all  China  would  then  and  there  have  herself  an  effective  and  stable  govern- 
passed  under  the  political  control  of  ment." 
Japan.  As  it  was,  Japan  was  able,  by 
a  threat  of  war  within  fifty-one  hours, 

to  obtain  a  considerable  increase  in  her  It  was  then  the  hope  of  the  other 

political    and    economic    interests    in  powers  that  Japan  had  been  persuaded 

China,    and    especially   in    the    Man-  to  abandon  her  imperialistic  ambitions 

churian  provinces  of  China.  In   1914  with  regard  to  the  mainland  of  eastern 


IO4 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


Asia,  and,  for  a  number  of  years  fol 
lowing  the  Washington  Conference  it 
seemed  as  though  this  hope  would  be 
fulfilled.  During  this  time  the  more 
liberal  and  moderately  minded  Japa 
nese  statesmen  were  in  control  of  the 
Government  of  Japan. 

This  enlightened  policy  proved, 
however,  very  objectionable  to  the 
more  imperialistically  minded  portions 
of  the  Japanese  people,  and  especially 
to  Japan's  military  and  naval  officials. 
Those  latter,  using  the  special  powers 
given  them  by  the  Japanese  Constitu 
tion  and  by  Imperial  ordinances,  were 
able,  on  September  18,  1931,  to  take 
matters  into  their  own  hands  and  to 
enter  upon  that  course  of  military  ag 
gression  in  Manchuria  which  has  con 
tinued  to  the  present  time. 

That  the  military  element  is  still 
strongly  dominant  in  Japan  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  the  Japanese  budget, 
which  was  recently  approved  by  the 
Japanese  Diet,  met  with  little  real  op 
position  notwithstanding  that  forty- 
four  per  cent  of  its  total  was  devoted  to 
military  expenses.  These  military  ex 
penses  alone  amount  to  almost  the 
total  regular  revenues  of  the  Japanese 
Government,  and  the  deficit  has  to  be 
met  by  borrowings. 

Many  of  Japan's  spokesmen  have 
sought  to  make  Japan's  policies  a  part 
of  a  wider  purpose  which  they  have 
termed  a  Pan-Asiatic  Movement,  or 
"Asia  for  Asiatics,"  or,  stated  in  plain 
terms,  the  eradication  from  eastern 
Asia,  or,  indeed,  from  all  Asia,  of  every 
vestige  of  European  or  American  po 
litical  interest,  including  colonies,  de 
pendencies,  leased  areas,  and  extra 
territorial  and  other  jurisdictional 
rights.  Those  who  have  advanced  this 
doctrine  have  sought  to  make  it  appear 
that  Japan  is  seeking  to  advance  not 


simply  her  own  interests  but  those  of 
the  other  Asiatic  peoples — the  Chinese, 
the  Siamese,  the  Indo-Chinese,  the 
Malays  and  races  of  British  India.  This 
appeal  has  not  met  with  any  approving 
response  from  these  Asiatics,  for  it  has 
been  evident  to  them,  as  it  has  been  to 
Americans  and  Europeans,  that  Japan, 
so  far  from  having  any  real  regard  for 
the  rights  and  interests  of  peoples  other 
than  her  own,  has  held  those  rights 
and  interests  in  contempt  and  has  not 
hesitated  to  disregard  them  when  she 
has  felt  it  to  be  to  her  own  interest  to 
do  so.  The  real  purpose  of  Japan,  too 
obvious  to  be  concealed,  is  to  dominate, 
in  an  imperialistic  way,  the  entire  Far 
East.  Indeed,  her  public  men  have  not 
hesitated  to  say  that  henceforth  her 
will  is  alone  to  determine  what  shall 
be  done  in  the  Far  East,  whether  by 
the  United  States,  by  European  nations 
or  by  the  more  than  fifty  nations  united 
into  the  League  of  Nations.  She  alone 
is  to  decide  what  the  situation  demands, 
and  this  without  regard  to  what  her 
treaty  obligations  may  be.  This  arro 
gant  assertion  Japan  calls  "maintaining 
the  peace"  in  eastern  Asia.  This  peace, 
she  has  declared,  must  be  on  terms  and 
conditions  which  will  be  fixed  wholly 
by  herself.  Thus,  we  find  General 
Araki,  Japanese  Minister  of  War,  as 
reported  in  the  London  Times  of  Octo 
ber  4,  1932,  declaring:  "It  is  no  idle 
boast  to  say  that  if  anything  obstructs 
Japan's  mission  of  peace,  we  are  ready 
to  do  away  with  it."  In  other  words, 
not  until  Japan  has  obtained  all  that 
she  wants  in  the  way  of  additional  terri 
tory  or  special  political  and  economic 
interests,  will  conditions  in  the  Far 
East  be  stabilized. 

There  have  been  some  Japanese 
spokesmen  who  have  outlined  for 
Japan  policies  even  more  grandiose 


CHINA  AND  WORLD  PEACE  105 

than  those  that  I  have  described.  These  tary  and  naval  forces  themselves  decide 

super-imperialists   have   asserted   that  what  policies  it  is  proper  for  them  to 

the  time  will  come  when  Japan  will  be  pursue.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  Japan  there 

able  and  disposed  to  extend  her  control  are  absent  those  restraints  upon  mili- 

across  the  Pacific  and  even  to  regions  tary  acts  of  aggression  which,  in  all 

outside  the  littorals  of  the  ocean.  Such  other  countries,  are  deemed  absolutely 

views  are,  of  course,  so  absurd  as  to  be  essential.  The  fact  is  that  a  country  or- 

unworthy  of  discussion.  Yet  they  have  ganized  as  is  Japan,  is,  at  all  times,  a 

a  significance  in  that  they  indicate  the  menace  to  international  peace, 
heights  to  which  the  confidence  of  the 

Japanese  in  their  own  powers  can  rise.  v 

I  have  devoted  the  time  that  I  have  I  will  now  speak  of  the  implications 
to  reviewing  Japan's  policies  and  acts  which  the  recent  acts  of  Japan  have  for 
in  order  to  show  the  truly  grave  situa-  the  entire  civilized  world.  Since  the 
tion  that  Japan,  by  her  recent  acts,  has  Great  War,  all  the  nations  have  sought, 
created  in  the  Far  East.  These  acts  are  by  every  means  within  their  power,  to 
sufficiently  serious  in  themselves,  but  create  agencies  for  the  peaceful  settle- 
they  assume  their  full  significance  only  ment  of  international  disputes  to  the 
when  they  are  shown  to  be,  as  I  have  end  that  situations  likely  to  provoke 
attempted  to  show  them  to  be,  steps  war  may  be  prevented  from  arising,  or, 
toward  the  realization  of  a  comprehen-  if  they  should  arise,  that  they  may  not 
sive  imperialistic  programme.  The  lead  to  a  resort  to  war,  or  to  acts  of  war, 
other  nations  of  the  world  know  the  for  their  settlement.  To  this  end,  as  re 
issue  that  is  presented  to  them,  and,  in  gards  specifically  the  Far  East,  the 
the  light  of  that  certain  knowledge,  it  agenda  of  the  Washington  Conference 
remains  for  them  to  determine  what  on  the  Limitation  of  Armament  was 
they  shall  do  to  meet  that  issue.  broadened  so  as  to  include  a  considera- 

It  would  seem  that  this  issue  as  I  tion  of  Pacific  and  Far  Eastern  ques- 
have  thus  far  presented  it  is  a  sufficiently  tions — a  consideration  which  led  to  the 
grave  one.  But  it  is  seen  to  be  still  more  signing  of  a  number  of  multilateral 
portentous  when  regard  is  had  to  the  agreements,  the  most  important  of 
character  of  the  government  which  Ja-  which  was  the  Nine  Power  Treaty.  To 
pan  possesses.  This  government  is  one  the  same  end  of  preventing  the  arising 
under  which  it  is  specifically  provided  of  controversies  which  may  endanger 
that  its  military  and  naval  branches  the  maintenance  of  peace,  many  Euro- 
shall  not  be  subject  to  control  by  its  pean  treaties,  such  as  those  signed  at 
civil  authorities.  Every  other  constitu-  Locarno  in  1925,  have  been  entered 
tionally  organized  state  in  the  world  into.  As  a  guarantee  that  such  inter- 
has  deemed  it  to  be  of  absolutely  vital  national  disputes  as  may  arise  shall  be 
importance  that  its  foreign  as  well  as  settled  without  the  employment  of 
its  domestic  policies  should  be  deter-  force  practically  all  the  nations  of  the 
mined  by  its  civil  authorities  and  that  world,  including  China,  Japan,  Russia 
its  armed  forces  should  exist  solely  for  and  the  United  States,  have,  by  the 
the  purpose  of  enabling  the  state  to  Kellogg  Peace  Pact,  renounced  war  as 
carry  those  policies  into  effect.  In  Ja-  an  instrument  of  national  policy  in 
pan,  however,  this  is  not  so.  The  mili-  their  relations  with  one  another,  and 


106  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

have  declared  that  the  settlement  or  further  agreed  that  they  will  carry  out 
solution  of  all  disputes  or  conflicts  of  in  good  faith  any  arbitral  award  that 
whatever  nature  or  of  whatever  origin  may  be  made  or  any  judicial  decision 
they  may  be,  which  may  arise  among  that  may  be  rendered.  If  inquiry  by 
them,  shall  never  be  sought  except  by  the  Council  is  the  mode  of  settlement 
pacific  means.  resorted  to,  it  is  provided  by  the  Cove- 
As  regards  specific  modes  of  peace-  nant  of  the  League  that,  if  the  Council 
ful  settlement  of  international  contro-  is  unable  to  bring  about,  by  conciliatory 
versies,  hundreds  of  treaties  have  been  means,  a  settlement  satisfactory  to  the 
entered  into  by  individual  states  pro-  parties  to  the  dispute,  it  shall  make  and 
viding  for  recourse  to  commissions  of  publish  a  report  containing  a  statement 
enquiry,  to  boards  of  conciliation,  to  of  the  facts  of  the  dispute  and  the 
tribunals  of  arbitration,  or  to  judicial  recommendations  which  are  deemed 
bodies  such  as  the  Permanent  Court  of  just  and  proper  in  regard  thereto.  The 
International  Justice  established  in  parties  are  not  obligated  to  accept  these 
1920.  But  the  one  great  agency  for  the  recommendations,  but  it  is  provided  by 
maintenance  of  peace  which  the  nations  the  Covenant  that,  if  this  report  by  the 
have  created  is,  of  course,  the  League  Council  is  unanimously  agreed  to  by  its 
of  Nations.  As  declared  in  the  Pre-  members  other  than  the  representa- 
amble  of  its  Constitution,  the  purpose  tives  of  the  parties  to  the  dispute,  there 
of  the  League  is,  "to  promote  inter-  shall  be  no  resort  to  war  against  any 
national  cooperation  and  to  achieve  party  which  complies  with  the  recom- 
international  peace  and  security  by  the  mendations  of  the  Council.  It  may  be 
acceptance  of  obligations  not  to  resort  added  that  the  Covenant  further  pro- 
to  war,  by  the  prescription  of  open,  just  vides  that  the  inquiry,  the  report  and 
and  honorable  relations  between  na-  the  making  of  recommendations  may 
tions,  by  the  firm  establishment  of  the  be  transferred  from  the  Council  to  the 
understandings  of  international  law  as  Assembly  of  the  League,  and  that  this 
the  actual  rule  of  conduct  among  gov-  has  been  done  in  the  present  pending 
ernments,  and  by  the  maintenance  of  Sino- Japanese  controversy, 
justice  and  a  scrupulous  respect  for  all 

treaty  obligations  in  the  dealings  of  VI 

organized  peoples  with  one  another."         As  regards  the  handling  of  the  Sino- 

Specifically,  the  states  who  have  be-  Japanese  controversy  by  the  League  it 

come  members  of  the  League  of  Na-  is  to  be  noted  that  in  every  respect 

tions  have  pledged  themselves  not  only  China  has  fulfilled  her  obligations  as  a 

to  respect  but  to  preserve,  as  against  member  of  the  League.  There  can  be 

external  aggression,  the  territorial  in-  no  dispute  as  to  this.  When  attacked  by 

tegrity  and  existing  political  independ-  Japan,  she  immediately  brought  the 

ence  of  all  members  of  the  League,  controversy  before  the  League,  and 

Also  they  have  agreed  that,  if  there  since  then  she  has  done  nothing  to 

should  arise  between  them  any  dispute  render  a  settlement  more  difficult.  This 

likely  to  lead  to  a  rupture,  they  will  is  testified  to  by  the  Lytton  Commis- 

submit  the  matter  either  to  arbitration  sion,  and  by  the  formal  report  of  the 

or  judicial  settlement  or  to  inquiry  by  Assembly  of  the  League,  accepted  on 

the  Council  of  the  League.  They  have  February  24,  1933.  As  regards  Japan, 


CHINA  AND  WORLD  PEACE  107 

however,  both  the  Lytton  Report  and  "The  Covenant  and  the  Pact  of  Paris 

the  Report  of  the  Assembly  set  forth  are  the  corner  stones   of  the  world 

that  Japan,  by  a  long  series  of  acts,  has  edifice  of  peace  that  have  been  so  labo- 

constantly  aggravated  the  situation,  the  riously  erected  in  the  years  since  the 

most  serious  of  these  acts  being  the  World  War  and  if  they  crumble,  the 

attack  upon  the  Chinese  city,  Shang-  edifice  collapses.  For  is  it  likely  that 

hai,  the  creation  and  recognition  of  the  nations  who  witnessed  this  tragic 

the  puppet  state  of  Manchukuo,  and  collapse  of  the  Covenant  and  the  Pact 

the  Japanese  military  operations  in  the  of  Paris  at  its  first  great  test,  with  all  its 

province  of  Jehol  and  south  of  the  dire  consequences  throughout  the  East, 

Great  Wall  of  China.  Reinforcing  this  would  assemble  quietly  at  Geneva  to 

authoritative  contrast  between  the  rec-  disarm?  Would  they  not  rather  draw 

ords  of  China  and  Japan  as  members  the  conclusion  that,  after  all,  each  state 

of  the  League,  Lord  Cecil  of  Chel-  must  rely  on  its  own  armed  forces,  and 

wood  said,  "We  cannot  evade  the  con-  on  these  alone?  Finally  if  we  fail  and 

elusion   that   throughout   this   matter  the  world  is  thrown  back  on  suspicious 

China  has  acted  as  a  loyal  and  honor-  nationalism,  hostile  alliances  and  a  race 

able  member  of  the  League  of  Nations  in  armaments,  if  the  East  is  plunged 

and  many  of  us  feel  that  it  would  be  a  into  a  state  of  turmoil,  what  chance 

very  grave  exaggeration  to  say  the  have  we  of  securing  effective  coopera- 

same  of  Japan."  In  a  still  later  public  tion  in  connection  with  the  financial 

statement,  made  in  the  latter  part  of  and  economic  crisis  that  bears  so  heavily 

J933>  we  find  Viscount  Cecil  saying  upon  the  world? 

that  were  he  to  summarize  the  broad  "The    crisis    widens    and    deepens 

conclusions  of  the  Assembly  as  em-  daily,  almost  hourly,  and  we  are  aware, 

bodied  in  its  Report  of  February  24,  all  of  us,  that  only  far-reaching  and 

J933>  it  would  be  that  "undoubtedly  close  cooperation  between  the  civilized 

Japan  had  not  acted  in  accordance  with  nations  can  avert  danger.  However  re- 

her  obligations  under  the  Covenant  of  mote  and  irrelevant  this  disturbance  in 

the  League  of  Nations."  He  added  the  Far  East  may  seem  to  the  West, 

that  the  same  might  be  said  of  Japan's  engrossed  in  its  pressing  cares,  the  web 

lack  of  regard  for  her  obligations  un-  of  fate  binds  us  all  together  and  unless 

der    the    Nine    Power    Washington  we  can  cooperate  effectively  in  this 

Treaty  and  of  her  promises  made  upon  grave  emergency,  we  shall  fail  in  dis- 

more  than  one  occasion  to  the  Council  armament,  we  shall  fail  to  inspire  any 

of  the  League.  "I  do  not  think,"  he  confidence  in  international  security  and 

said,  "that  any  of  these  facts  are  capa-  order  and  we  shall  fail  to  grapple  with 

ble  of  dispute."  the  world  economic  crisis." 

Here  I  would  like  to  repeat  what  I  It  may  be  that  some  may  think  that 
said  as  the  representative  of  my  coun-  in  making  these  statements  and  in 
try  before  the  Council  of  the  League  at  painting  this  dark  picture,  I  am  carried 
one  of  the  earlier  meetings  for  the  away  by  indignation  which  few,  how- 
examination  of  the  situation  created  by  ever,  but  little  acquainted  with  the 
Japan  in  Asia.  These  words  are  as  true  facts,  will  regard  as  unrighteous.  In 
and  as  vital  to  world  security  now  as  any  event,  I  am  able  to  fortify  my  posi- 
then,  indeed  more  so.  I  said:  tion  by  quoting  similar  views  of  emi- 


io8  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

nent  statesmen,  of  other  nationalities,  tance  of  the  faithful  observance  of  the 
whose  territory  may  not  be  immedi-  covenants  therein  to  all  the  nations  in- 
ately  involved  but  whose  people  have  terested  in  the  Far  East.  It  is  not  neces- 
as  ultimate  a  stake  in  the  situation  as  sary  in  that  connection  to  inquire  into 
have  mine.  To  begin  with  I  shall  quote  the  causes  of  the  controversy  or  at- 
from  the  famous  letter  of  Mr.  Stimson  tempt  to  apportion  the  blame  between 
when  he  was  Secretary  of  State,  ad-  the  two  nations  which  are  unhappily 
dressing  Senator  Borah,  Chairman  of  involved  j  for  regardless  of  cause  or 
the  Foreign  Relations  Committee  of  responsibility,  it  is  clear  beyond  perad- 
the  Senate.  His  judicial  words  and  re-  venture  that  a  situation  has  developed 
strained  language  should  dismiss  for  which  can  not,  under  any  circum- 
all  time  the  contention  of  some  Japa-  stances,  .be  reconciled  with  the  obliga- 
nese  officials  who  wish  to  believe  that  tions  of  the  covenants  of  these  two 
the  Nine  Power  Treaty  was  entered  treaties,  and  that  if  the  treaties  had 
upon  in  ignorance  of  Chinese  condi-  been  faithfully  observed  such  a  situa 
tions  and  that  recent  alleged  develop-  tion  could  not  have  arisen, 
ments  release  Japan  from  all  obliga-  "That  is  the  view  of  this  Govern- 
tion  to  observe  its  stipulations.  ment.  We  see  no  reason  for  abandon- 

"The  program  for  the  protection  of  ing  the  enlightened  principles  which 

China  from  outside  aggression,"  wrote  are  embodied  in  these  treaties.  We  be- 

Mr.  Stimson,  "is  an  essential  part  in  lieve  that  this  situation  would  have 

the  harmonious  steps  taken  for  the  pur-  been  avoided  had  these  covenants  been 

pose  of  aligning  the  conscience  and  faithfully  observed,  and  no  evidence 

public  opinion  of  the  world  in  favor  of  has  come  to  us  to  indicate  that  a  due 

a  system  of  orderly  development  by  compliance  with  them  would  have  in- 

the  law  of  nations  including  the  settle-  terfered  with  the  adequate  protection 

ment  of  all  controversies  by  methods  of  the  legitimate  rights  in  China  of  the 

of  justice  and  peace  instead  of  by  arbi-  signatories  of  those  treaties  and  their 

trary  force.  The  program  for  the  pro-  nationals. 

tection  of  China  from  outside  aggres-         "In  the  past  our  Government  as  one 

sion  is  an  essential  part  of  any  such  of  the  leading  powers  on  the  Pacific 

development.  The  signatories  and  ad-  Ocean  has  rested  its  policy  upon  an 

herents   of   the   Nine   Power   Treaty  abiding  faith  in  the  future  of  the  peo- 

rightly  felt  that  the  orderly  and  peace-  pie  of  China  and  upon  the  ultimate 

ful  development  of  the  400,000,000  success  in  dealing  with  them  of  the 

people  inhabiting  China  was  necessary  principles  of  fair  play,  patience  and 

to  the  peaceful  welfare  of  the  entire  mutual  good  will.  We  appreciate  the 

world  and  that  no  program  for  the  immensity  of  the  task  which  lies  before 

welfare  of  the  world  as  a  whole  could  her  statesmen  in  the  development  of 

afford  to  neglect  the  welfare  and  pro-  her  country  and  its  government.  The 

tection  of  China.  delays  in  her  progress,  the  instability 

"The  recent  events  which  have  taken  of  her  attempts  to  secure  a  responsible 

place  in  China,  far  from  indicating  the  government  were  foreseen  by  Messrs. 

advisability  of  any  modification  of  the  Hay  and  Hughes  and  their  contem- 

treaties  we  have  been  discussing,  have  poraries  and  were  the  very  obstacles 

tended  to  bring  home  the  vital  impor-  which  the  policy  of  the  'open  door' 


CHINA  AND  WORLD  PEACE  109 

was  designed  to  meet.  We  concur  with  that   treaties   and  covenants   are   not 

those  statesmen,  representing  all  the  scraps  of  paper  to  be  tossed  aside  when 

nations,  in  the  Washington  Conference  their  stipulations  prove  inconvenient, 

who  decided  that  China  was  entitled  to  We  hope  and  believe  that  this  view 

the  time  necessary  to  accomplish  her  will  be  upheld  by  the  nations  who  have 

development."  solemnly  guaranteed  the  sanctity  of 

treaties  and  whose  leaders  have  on 

vn  many  occasions  declared  that  the  in- 

In  conclusion  it  can  not  be  said  that  violability  of  these  instruments  is  the 

the  issue  today  which  is  clearly  the  hope  of  the  world, 

choice  of  peace  or  war,  of  prosperity  Come  what  may,  China  will  never 

or  destruction,  has  come  as  a  surprise  surrender  an  inch  of  her  territory  nor 

to  the  observant.  More  than  ten  years  any  of  her  sovereign  rights  under  stress 

ago  Dr.  Hornbeck,  now  in  charge  of  of  military  force  which  she  condemns 

Far  Eastern  affairs  in  the  Department  and  is  determined  to  resist  to  the  best 

of  State,  wrote  in  his  work  on  contem-  of  her  ability.  This  is  the  creed  of  my 

porary  politics:  "If  China  can  develop  Government  and  of  my  people  today, 

strength  to  defend  her  own  integrity,  The  treaties  and  the  covenants  to  which 

the  peace  of  the  Orient  may  be  pre-  I  have  referred  are  in  our  judgment 

served.  If  the  'partition  of  China  once  the  bulwark  of  peace  and  prosperity 

seriously  begins  nothing  can  save  the  today,  in  the  West  as  well  as  in  the 

Far  East  for  the  next  several  decades  East,  in  Europe  as  in  Asia.  Should 

from  being  a  theatre  of  aggressive  con-  they  fail  us,  however,  I  would  be  less 

flict  and  political  redistribution."  than  candid  if  I   did  not  state  that 

It  is  proper  for  me  to  recall  that  in  my  countrymen  will  leave  nothing  un- 

the   great   emergency   that   overtook,  tried  to  maintain  their  independence, 

and  nearly   overcame,   the  world  in  to  safeguard  the  honor  of  their  Gov- 

1914  China  entered  the  War  to  defend  ernment  and  the  integrity  of  their  ter- 

the  position  which  she  holds  today,  ritory. 


Is  the  Lid  Off? 

BY  HENRY  MORTON  ROBINSON 

Virtuous  heads  shake  over  the  nation's  sudden  embracing  of 
strong  drinks,  gambling  and  destruction  of  censor 
ships.  Are  we  really  in  for  a  debauch  ? 

IT  WAS  unbearable,  and  we  bore  it  for  ourselves  as  we  stood  before  pyramids 
a  long,  long  time.  of  polished  glass  and  heard  the  gurgle 
An  oppressive  stone  lay  on  our  of  legal  liquor.  But  scarcely  had  we  ac- 
vitals,  and  the  sickness  of  restraint-too-  customed  ourselves  to  the  sensations  of 
long-endured  swam  in  our  bloodstream,  sampling  honest  wine  and  lifting  full- 
A  weirdly  onerous  morality  encum-  bodied  beer  to  our  lips,  when  we  heard 
bered  our  lives,  and  the  fingerpost  of  the  clear  accents  of  a  United  States  Dis- 
restrictive  prudery  pointed  out  the  way  trict  Judge  telling  us  that  it  was  no 
we  should  go.  Censorship  and  Prohibi-  crime  to  own  a  copy  of  Ulysses.  Persons 
tion  checked  the  normal  outflow  of  our  who  had  acclaimed  this  masterpiece  ten 
appetitive  energy,  and  Puritanic  sluice-  years  previously,  by  paying  forty  dol- 
gates  diverted  it  into  furtive  channels,  lars  in  Paris  for  a  single  copy,  and  were 
expensive  to  society  and  toxic  to  our-  then  obliged  to  smuggle  it  past  customs 
selves.  In  retrospect,  we  seemed  to  be  officials  like  a  baneful  drug  or  porno- 
moving  through  one  of  those  harrowing  graphic  postcard,  could  now  buy  the 
nightmares  that  suffocate  the  dreamer  Saga  of  Dublin  in  any  bookshop,  read 
beneath  intolerable  burdens  of  anxiety  it  in  any  library,  and  watch  it  find  its 
and  guilt.  own  level  among  the  literary  produc- 
Then,  almost  without  preliminaries,  tions  of  the  age.  Surely,  a  new  yeast  was 
we  felt  the  stone  being  lifted,  the  at  work  in  American  life,  and  the  joy- 
weights  fell  from  our  limbs.  Hesitantly,  ousness  of  its  leaven  shone  in  our  eyes 
as  if  doubting  the  testimony  of  our  and  voices  as  we  greeted  each  other  in 
senses,  we  gazed  about  the  American  bookstores  and  cafes, 
terrain.  We  saw  the  Eighteenth  Then  in  April,  1934,  with  Prohibi- 
Amendment  repealed  so  passionately  tion  scrapped  and  genius  legalized, 
and  suddenly  that  even  the  whiskey  Governor  Lehman  of  New  York  signed 
manufacturers  were  startled  and  un-  a  bill  permitting  open  betting  on  the 
prepared.  The  rest  of  us  accepted  our  race-tracks  of  the  Empire  State.  True, 
thrice-distilled  blessings  in  the  spirit  of  bets  had  always  been  made  in  New 
mirage-swallowers.  "It  is  a  demented  York,  and  always  will  be  made 
vision,  a  date-palm  dream,"  we  told  wherever  blood  and  horses  run,  but  it 


IS  THE  LID  OFF?  in 

required  the  loosening  influence  of  the  obliged  to  go  through  the  vile  contor- 

Time  Genius  to  bring  it  out  into  the  tion  of  hiring  a  professional  co-respond- 

open,  to  make  it  a  legitimate,  tax-yield-  ent.  Either  party  can  claim  "intolerable 

ing  activity.  The  aleatory  instinct  of  cruelty"  as  cause  enough  for  a  divorce, 

human  beings,  hitherto  classified  as  a  as  indeed  it  is.  New  York  State,  which 

crime,' has  in  recent  months  managed  shares  with  South  Carolina  the  grim 

to  get  itself  recognized  as  a  normal  and  distinction  of  having  the  most  archaic 

not  necessarily  degrading  outlet  of  hu-  divorce  law  in  the  civilized  world,  came 

man  energy.  Thus  another  Puritanic  within  three  votes  of  passing  a  humane 

barrier — one  of  the  oldest  and  highest  bill  of  divorcement  this  year.  Only  the 

— comes    tumbling    down,    and    the  maneuvers  of  a  stubborn,  reactionary 

boundaries    of    personal    latitude    are  Roman  Catholic  lobby  held  down  the 

again  extended  by  statute  amid  general  lid  of  revolt  in  the  State  legislature, 

applause.  But  it  was  like  trying  to  put  a  plug  in 

A  more  intimate  yet  very  noticeable  Vesuvius.  Next  year,  or  the  year  after, 
extension  of  this  personal  latitude  is  the  citizens  of  New  York  State  will  in- 
taking  place  in  the  advertising  and  sale  sist  upon  having  a  divorce  law  more 
of  birth-control  appliances.  Now  few  nearly  in  consonance  with  the  age. 
persons  are  quite  naive  enough  to  be-  Minor  shivers  of  the  anti-Puritan  up- 
lieve  all  the  claims  made  for  these  mar-  heaval  persistently  jiggle  the  social 
velous  devices;  emphatically,  the  writer  seismograph.  The  nude  human  body 
disclaims  his  intention  of  recommend-  grows  commoner  and  less  self-conscious 
ing  even  the  best  of  them.  The  miracle  both  in  life  and  art  5  anti-nicotine  cru- 
is,  not  that  they  prevent  conception,  but  sades  are  voluntarily  dropped  by  dis- 
that  no  one  seems  alarmed  by  their  un-  couraged  reformers  who  can  no  longer 
abashed  appearance  in  our  midst.  They  convince  anybody  that  tobacco  is  the 
now  fill  our  drugstore  windows  and  are  original  Shrub  of  Evil.  Cock-fighting 
advertised  in  our  home-going  maga-  steps  out  into  the  open;  censorship  of 
zines.  Five  years  ago  any  drugstore  win-  stage  and  movies  is  pleasurably  less 
dow  displaying  these  wares  would  have  rigid.  Staid  old  Massachusetts  enter- 
been  smashed  by  ardent  reformers  tained  legislative  proposals  for  a  State 
trumpeting  the  high  moral  note,  but  lottery  this  year;  police  officers  are  re- 
today  it's  a  regular  over-the-counter  buked  by  busy  judges  for  bringing  in 
business,  with  never  a  blush  or  even  a  "number  players"  and  slot-machine 
preliminary  purchase  of  toothpaste.  gamblers.  And  even  Mr.  Voliva,  apostle 

Other  straws,  and  some  good-sized  of  the  world's  flatness,  and  archetype 
lumber  too,  dash  by  on  the  rising  wind  of  the  Ban  Militant  on  All  Forms  of 
of  anti-Puritanism.  The  long  fight  to  Mortal  Pleasuring,  finds  himself  un 
make  divorce  a  private  matter  between  able  to  get  elected  to  his  own  school 
a  dissatisfied  man  and  woman — some-  board.  Undeniably,  a  new  spirit  of 
what  the  equivalent  of  a  surgical  opera-  liberalism  walks  abroad,  and  a  freer 
tion  when  other,  milder  therapy  has  temper  flashes  forth  as  the  moldy  tab- 
failed — gains  ground  in  every  State  in  lets  of  the  Puritan  decalogue  are 
the  Union.  In  Vermont,  that  granite-  smashed  by  well-aimed  rocks  of  protest, 
walled  trench  of  conservatism,  a  man  The  two  most  conspicuous  facts  about 
set  on  obtaining  a  divorce  is  no  longer  this  anti-Puritan  protest  are:  (i)  its  be- 


ii2  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

latedness,  and  (2)  the  whole-hearted  long  reign  of  Puritanism  and  account 

enthusiasm  behind  it.  If  commentators  for  its  contemporary  crack-up, 

are  somewhat  at  a  loss  to  explain  why  It  is  fairly  easy  to  understand  why 

the  United  States  waited  so  long  to  the  original  colonists  of  New  England 

make  a  demi-volt  in  public  morality,  were  a  dankly  moral  crowd.  English 

they  are  even  more  puzzled  by  the  non-  though  they  were,  their  theology  came 

chalance  of  the  demi-volters.  Today  straight  from  Scotland,  a  land  where  a 

there  is  almost  nothing  of  guilt  on  the  stinting  diet  of  oatmeal,  a  bleak  climate 

public  conscience  as  it  drinks,  gambles  and  no  economic  surplus  to  squander 

and  peeps  into  Ulysses.  (As  Judge  John  on  alleviating  joys  had  made  of  religion 

M.    Woolsey    pointed    out,    "Every  a  gloomy  hair  shirt  that  kept  neither 

grown  person  knows  all  the  four  letter  soul  nor  body  warm.  Anti-papists  all, 

words,  anyway.")  Apparently,  nobody  they  could  not  appeal  to  the  maternal, 

is  suffering  from  those  apprehensions  comfortably  upholstered  Virgin  to  me- 

of  social  ruin  that  were  once  the  chief  diate   between   them   and   the   gaunt 

ammunition   of   Thunderers-in-the-In-  wrath  of  God  the  Father;  they  had 

dex.  The  concept  of  "sin"  has  quite  com-  nothing  but  the  Old  Testament  to  ward 

pletely  disappeared  from  our  lexicons,  off  his  angry  chastisements.  Prayer  and 

and  we  have  somehow  dared  to  assume  procreation  were  their  only  outs ;  they 

publicly  what  we  long  ago  decided  pri-  were  powerful  in  both,  but  from  neither 

vately — that  love,  alcohol  and  cigarettes  did  they  obtain  the  ecstatic  relief  that 

are  capable  of  a  use  and  interpretation  makes  love  and  prayer  the  two  happiest 

not  necessarily  linked  with  hell.  of  emotional  safety-valves. 

How  did  it  all  happen?  And  why,  All  this  melancholy  furniture  they 

fellow-citizens,  did  it  take  so  long?  imported  to  America,  where  for  the 

first  few  decades  they  faithfully  repro 
duced  the  barren  existence  they  had  left 

The  mysterious  wrist-lock  and  full-  behind  them.  Bred  in  a  philosophy  of 
Nelson  by  which  Puritanism  pinned  the  scant,  they  were  spiritually  geared  to 
American  people  to  the  mat  for  three  the  early  privations  of  Colonial  life.  But 
long  centuries  is  one  of  the  great  puz-  imperceptibly  the  new  country  began  to 
zles  of  the  Western  world.  Why  an  creep  up  on  them;  its  fish-crammed 
energetic  race,  taking  possession  of  a  seas,  its  fertile  fields,  snug  harbors  and 
new  continent  packed  with  material  heavily  timbered  forests  soon  became 
wealth,  should  have  submitted  for  sources  of  tidy  profit;  this  profit  quickly 
three  hundred  years  to  a  guilt-ridden,  multiplied  itself  into  surplus  capital; 
tight-lipped  morality  imported  by  some  fleets,  mortgages,  rum  and  slaves  en- 
starving  Calvinists — and  how  the  quav-  gaged  this  capital,  and  very  shortly  a 
ering  voice  of  prudery  and  reform  few  of  our  first  New  England  families 
could  so  completely  overtop  the  bel-  began  to  accumulate  earthly  riches  in 
lowing  lust  of  a  pioneer  people— these  addition  to  those  they  were  diligently 
are  questions  that  no  social  investigator  storing  up  in  heaven, 
has  yet  answered.  I  believe,  however,  Another  race  might  have  laid  aside 
that  certain  neglected  aspects  of  Amer-  heaven  at  this  point,  and  gone  com- 
ican  history  offer  broad  clues  that  must  pletely  Mammon.  But  not  the  Puritan, 
be  followed  if  we  are  to  understand  the  since,  under  a  convenient  interpretation 


IS  THE  LID  OFF?  113 

of  his  Calvinistic  creed,  he  was  not  ribaldry  and  license  of  the  frontier 
obliged  to  divorce  profit  from  religion,  camps  was  anathema — not  only  because 
Every  Calvinist  hoped  and  believed  it  reeked  of  Beelzebub  but  (and  this  is 
that  he  was  among  the  number  of  God's  much  more  important)  it  marked  the 
Elect,  and  while  no  one  could  be  posi-  beginnings  of  a  powerful  party  of  op- 
tive,  while  on  earth,  of  his  Heavenly  position,  a  democratic  organism  hostile 
Election,  it  was  very  comforting  to  re-  to  the  Eastern  oligarchy.  It  is  extremely 
ceive  from  God  strong  cash  assurances  difficult  to  give  this  frontier  party  a  lo- 
that  you  were  on  His  list.  Such  testi-  cal  habitation  and  a  name,  for  at  various 
mony  enabled  you  with  a  clear  con-  times  its  centre  has  been  found  in  every 
science  to  carry  on  His  work,  whether  State  west  of  the  Alleghenies,  and  its 
by  putting  usurious  thumbscrews  on  less  leaders  have  ranged  from  Andrew  Jack- 
godly  men,  or  by  trafficking  in  be-  son  to  Franklin  D.  Roosevelt.  Yet  it  has 
nighted  heathen  from  the  coast  of  a  constant  characteristic — it  has  always 
Africa.  This  cashbox  theology,  which  been  composed  of  men  with  a  strong 
very  sincerely  made  financial  success  the  agrarian  bias  and  an  active  distaste  for 
outward  mark  of  God's  presence  in  Eastern  manners,  morals  and  financial 
one's  life,  was  the  origin  I  believe  of  methods.  Furthermore,  it  has  rarely 
the  "virtue  for  profit"  motif  that  still  been  in  control  of  our  Federal  Govern- 
dominates  American  morality.  ment.  Whenever  it  has  succeeded  in 

But  this  Pharisaic,  property-support-  gaining  control,  shrieks  of  alarm  were 
ing  code  of  the  Eastern  merchant  was  heard  up  and  down  the  Eastern  sea- 
not  the  only  morality  being  generated  board,  and  mingled  with  these  patriotic 
in  America.  As  early  as  1700  another  noises  was  the  shrill  whinny  of  the  Puri- 
type  of  behavior  was  coloring  the  crests  tan  at  bay.  When,  for  example,  Andrew 
of  those  pioneer  waves  that  broke  Jackson  descended  upon  Washington  in 
across  the  American  continent.  This  1832,  the  mercantile  East  saw  a  demo- 
"frontier  morality"  was  a  lustier,  hon-  cratic  danger  to  be  held  sternly  in  check, 
ester,  more  indigenous  cult  than  Puri-  an  opponent  to  be  discredited  by  every 
tanismj  it  was  a  morality  of  men  with-  stainful  means.  Witness,  therefore,  the 
out  women  j  of  men,  also,  who  were  the  reception  accorded  to  Jackson  in  the 
overflow,  the  misfits,  failures  and  rebels  New  England  press.  Warnings  of  dan- 
of  the  Eastern  system.  Having  no  prop-  ger  to  the  Federal  banking  system  were 
erty  to  entail  or  wives  to  fear,  they  paralleled  by  descriptions  of  the  licen- 
drank,  gambled,  danced,  fornicated,  tious  drinking,  smutty  stories  and  con- 
killed  and  chewed  tobacco  with  a  zest  cubinage  that  went  on  among  Jackson's 
that  one  might  have  expected  from  sons  henchmen.  To  the  Puritan  mind  these 
living  in  the  bosom  of  an  opulent  things  actually  went  hand  in  hand.  Two 
mother.  Frontier  morality  was  our  first  of  the  unsolved  problems  in  the  life  of 
native  American  product,  the  purest  my  old  grammar  school  principal  (a 
culture  we  ever  developed  here,  and  Deerfield  Puritan)  were:  how  could  a 
only  now  are  we  beginning  to  refer  to  great  statesman  like  Abraham  Lincoln 
it  with  the  nostalgia  of  men  who  tell  improper  stories,  and  how  could 
didn't  value  a  good  thing  when  they  that  otherwise  blameless  American 
had  it.  character,  Chief  Justice  White,  chew 

To  the  mercantile  East,  however,  the  tobacco? 


1 14  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

frontier  flush  faded,  the  reform  ele 
ments    were    busy    consolidating    the 

As  long  as  there  was  free  land  to  ab-  triumphs  of  mercantile  morality,  point- 
sorb  western  emigration,  American  ing  out  with  prideful  truth  that  this 
morality  was  divided  into  two  mutually  code  was  putting  plenty  of  cash  into 
exclusive  camps:  the  democratic,  wide-  everybody's  pocket.  Doubtless  the  Iro- 
open  West,  and  the  hard-caste,  puritanic  quois  medicine  man  used  the  same  argu- 
East.  As  the  Eastern  Puritans  grew  ment  when  the  buffalo  were  running 
richer,  the  spiritual  differences  between  well,  for  it  is  the  happy  duty  of  all  pro- 
the  two  regions  grew  more  acute.  Ex-  fessional  religionists  to  prove  that  their 
ternals  of  dress,  manner  and  diction  system  alone  can  successfully  propitiate 
emphasized  these  differences,  but  actu-  the  One,  the  True,  the  Fat-Producing 
ally  they  penetrated  much  deeper  into  Deity. 

the  realm  of  what  was  holy  and  what  It  has  never  been  pointed  out,  I  be- 
was  not.  Mark  Twain,  prototype  of  lieve,  that  the  chief  reform  eras  in  the 
everything  rugged  in  Western  taste  United  States  closely  coincide  with 
and  morality,  mortally  offended  Emer-  periods  of  great  material  prosperity. 
son  and  Longfellow  by  his  "irrever-  The  prudish  cloaking  of  the  human 
ence"  at  a  Cambridge  banquet  j  the  ir-  body,  the  wrongly-styled  "Temperance 
reverence  consisted  of  putting  selected  Movement"  and  the  axe-wielding  cru- 
lines  of  their  poetry  into  the  mouth  of  sades  of  vice-crushing  evangelists,  were 
a  wandering  prospector,  juxtaposing  the  spiritual  corollaries  of  the  vast  fi- 
the  verses  so  comically  that  the  reader  nancial  expansion  that  this  country 
still  falls  off  the  hassock  with  laughter,  witnessed  between  1890  and  1917. 
But  not  the  Cambridge  audience  j  it  sat  These  were  indeed  good  buffalo  years  j 
frozenly,  then  walked  out  in  silence,  wages  rose  steadily  and  profits  were 
The  Ordeal  of  Mark  Twain  was  not,  as  enormous.  It  was  also  a  time  of  un- 
Van  Wyck  Brooks  suggests,  that  the  age  matchable  prudery  and  Puritanism 
forced  him  to  be  humorous  when  he  Triumphant.  At  one  time  things  got  so 
wanted  to  be  a  philosopher.  His  real  bad  in  the  East  that  the  curator  of  the 
tragedy  was  that  Eastern  prudery  emas-  Hartford  Museum  would  not  permit 
culated  his  frontier  energy,  and  docked  men  and  women  to  view  the  partially 
the  native  burliness  of  his  wit  until  it  draped  Greek  statues  together.  In  Mai- 
became  decorous  enough  for  a  Concord  den,  Massachusetts,  a  student  could  not 
Lyceum  platform.  obtain  a  copy  of  Fielding's  Tom  Jones 
This  "Lyceum  crowd,"  as  Walt  unless  he  had  a  note  from  his  doctor  or 
Whitman  called  them,  practically  ca-  .teacher.  That  sweet  innocuous  picture 
ponized  our  Nineteenth  Century  cul-  "September  Morn"  was  stoned  as  it 
ture,  and  certainly  deodorized  any  un-  hung  in  a  Boston  art  shop,  and  Margaret 
couth  odors  wandering  in  from  the  Sanger  was  arrested  in  New  York  City 
West.  Until  the  outbreak  of  the  World  for  disseminating  birth-control  inf orma- 
War  the  Eastern  mercantile  moralists  tion.  San  Francisco  prostitutes  might,  as 
were  firmly  rooted  in  the  saddle  j  when  late  as  1910,  prolong  a  moribund  fron- 
they  yanked  the  bit  we  all  gagged,  and  tier  morality  by  exposing  their  wares 
when  they  took  snuff  we  all  sneezed  in  in  uncurtained  shop-windows,  but  in 
unison.  As  the  century  turned  and  the  that  year  Committees  of  Public  Morals 


IS  THE  LID  OFF?  115 

in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  were  States.  This  was  the  flood  tide  of  Puri- 
pushing  the  girls  deeper  and  deeper  tanismj  higher  the  repressive  waters 
into  back-street  shadows.  Even  the  great  could  not  rise,  so  they  promptly  started 
Canfield  was  put  out  of  business,  and  to  ebb.  From  1920  onward  there  was 
when  his  famous  roulette  wheel  stopped  an  accelerating  decline  in  private  mo- 
whirling,  a  mighty  shout  went  up  from  ralityj  the  "lost  generation"  had  its 
the  Puritan  hosts:  "Frontier  Morality  innings,  and  under  the  influence  of  a 
is  dead,  and  its  children  are  crushed  be-  post- War  psychology,  even  nice  women 
neath  the  Heel  of  Righteousness."  began  to  absorb  gin  and  smoke  ciga- 

Frontier  morality  was  dead,  and  ap-  rettes.  Still,  as  long  as  prosperity  con- 
parently  its  children  were  destroyed  tinued,  as  it  did  for  ten  dizzy  years  of 
forever.  But  actually  now,  what  was  instalment  buying,  there  was  a  disposi- 
happening  to  the  millions  of  people  tion  on  the  part  of  most  Americans  to 
whose  ancestors  had  been  the  human  string  along  with  the  Public  Morality 
surplus  of  the  Eastern  clerkaday  world,  that  was  stuffing  good  money  into  our 
the  misfits  and  rebels  of  the  mercantile  pay  envelopes.  So  quite  apart  from 
system?  As  long  as  there  was  free  land  what  we  did  in  private  we  continued  to 
they  could  stretch  their  energies  across  offer  up  public  oblations  to  the  gilded 
it,  but  when  the  public  lands  were  ex-  calf  of  Profitable  Puritanism, 
hausted  (around  1890)  these  restless  Not  until  the  bad  news  broke  in 
elements  of  the  population  began  to  1929  did  we  fully  realize  that  our  mo- 
seep  backward,  eastward,  into  the  cities,  rality  was  printed  on  the  same  paper 
Here  they  met  immigrant  hordes  flock-  as  our  stocks  and  bonds.  It  was  fine 
ing  the  other  way;  hard  times  and  the  stuff  while  you  could  cash  in  on  it,  but 
grave  labor  troubles  of  the  'Nineties  something  to  write  off  if  you  couldn't, 
were  the  direct  consequences.  Signifi-  So  we  wrote  it  off.  At  the  first  general 
cantly,  too,  the  Democratic  Grover  election  after  the  crash,  the  resurgent 
Cleveland  rose  to  power  in  these  years,  elements  of  frontier  morality  washed 
and  for  a  time  it  seemed  to  the  financial  over  the  land  again,  breaking  the  altars 
East  that  the  "rabble"  was  about  to  of  the  Grand  Old  Prudy  gang,  and 
have  its  day.  But  fortunately  for  the  smothering  the  advocates  of  no-longer- 
Eastern  dollar-moralists  and  the  Re-  profitable-Puritanism  under  a  tidal  wave 
publican  party,  America  discovered  its  of  that  traditionally  democratic  bever- 
new  imperialistic  policy  just  in  time,  age,  beer. 

World  markets  were  found  for  Ameri-  It  was  a  glorious  victory,  and  to  a 

can  products,  and  for  another  thirty-  long-submerged  majority  of  our  peo- 

five  years  there  was  Fat   (and  Fine  pie,  a  mighty  gratifying  one. 
Morals)  for  all. 

This  prolonged  era  of  prosperity  ele 
vated  Profitable  Puritanism  to  such  Is  the  lid  off?  Will  the  United 
fanatical  heights  that  it  became  a  crime  States  now  proceed  to  enter  upon  an 
to  sell  cigarettes  in  Kansas  or  a  copy  of  unrestrained  debauch  of  drunkenness, 
Jurgen  in  Boston.  Then,  to  top  every-  gambling  and  sexual  excess?  Will  street- 
thing,  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  al-  walkers  throng  our  thorough  fares,  while 
cohol  as  a  beverage  was  prohibited  for-  uncensored  films,  literature  and  art  ex- 
ever  within  the  borders  of  the  United  cite  our  grossest  longings?  Jeremiahs 


ii6  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

are  not  lacking  to  predict  a  hurricane  of  row,"  is  about  as  effective  an  argument 
divorce,  filth,  drunkenness  and  venereal  for  virtue  as  the  moralists  of  this  world 
disease  that  will  tear  us  loose  from  the  have  ever  thought  up. 
sweet  anchorage  of  sobriety  and  sweep  A  second  major  reason  why  America 
us  out  upon  monster-infested  seas.  is  not  likely  to  scrap  its  fly-wheel  of  re- 
But  for  at  least  two  reasons  I  believe  straint  can  be  found  in  the  new  "adult 
that  the  American  people  do  not  intend  responsibility"  clause  that  is  being 
to  be  swept  from  their  moorings.  In  written  into  the  social  contract.  For 
the  first  place,  the  indigenous  code  of  under  the  pressure  of  hard  times  it 
mores  that  I  have  tried  to  describe  un-  seems  that  we  are  actually  growing  up 
der  the  name  "frontier  morality"  is  by  — and  permitting  others  to  do  so.  The 
no  means  a  clear,  unembarrassed  thing,  notion  that  a  grown  man  or  woman 
Although  three  centuries  of  contact  should  be  allowed  to  make  his  own 
with  North  American  soil  and  climate  moral  choices  and  take  the  conse- 
have  had  a  robust  invigorating  effect  on  quences  is  the  index,  I  believe,  of  a  re- 
our  physiology,  giving  us  urgent  appe-  cently  developed  maturity  in  our 
tites  and  plenteous  means  of  satisfying  attitude  toward  our  neighbor  and  our- 
them,  making  us  a  true  "new  world"  selves.  Now  the  acceptance  of  adult  re- 
race  comparatively  free  of  medieval,  sponsibility  is  the  single  severest  trial 
European  taints — yet  there  is  some-  that  men  are  ever  called  upon  to  meet, 
thing  more  than  simple  physiology  at  and  even  in  the  best  of  cases  it  is 
work  among  us.  Our  democratic  batter  achieved  only  with  hesitation  and  many 
contains  a  rich  mixture  of  caste-con-  defeats.  But  we  were  weary  of  linger- 
scious,  property-holding  ideology,  best  ing  forever  on  the  borders  of  infanti- 
described  by  that  imported,  much-  lism,  taking  our  moral  and  psychic 
abused  term  "bourgeois."  Drilled  in  orders  from  knuckle-rapping  school- 
bourgeois  doctrine,  twenty  million  marms,  so  we  broke  the  ferule  of 
home-owners  can  not  go  permanently  school-marm  morality  and  decided  to 
wrong — the  banks  holding  their  mort-  make  a  few  decisions  for  ourselves.  It 
gages  will  attend  to  that!  The  fact  that  was  a  definite  step  toward  the  adult- 
property  is  always  holier  than  human  hood  to  which  virile  races  and  individ- 
life  (else  why  should  bank  vaults  burst  uals  aspire.  But  adulthood  presumes 
with  idle  money,  while  human  hearts  responsibility,  and  it  is  this  newly 
burst  with  jobless  despair?)  is  the  best  awakened  sense  of  our  responsibility  to 
guarantee  that  Americans  will  permit  society  and  ourselves  that  will  increas- 
no  wholesale  dumping  of  those  moral  ingly  temper  our  passions  and  our 
restraints  which  are  admittedly  the  lives.  The  experience  gained  in  trying 
safeguards  of  a  profit-making,  profit-  (and  sometimes  failing)  to  rule  our- 
taking  society.  Moreover,  as  the  pos-  selves  will  eventually  enable  us  to  take 
sibilities  of  profit  return,  there  will  be  the  position  that  men  are  neither  Cir- 
a  partial  recrudescence  of  the  old  Puri-  cean  swine  nor  salvation-struck  fanatics, 
tanistic  spirit.  Clerks  will  again  be  but  something  infinitely  less  simple 
cajoled  into  believing  that  abstinence,  and  better-balanced — organisms  capa- 
or  at  least  moderation,  is  the  preferred  ble  of  slow  perfection,  yet  subject  to 
path  to  the  important  money.  "I  want  devastating  and  understandable  re- 
a  clear  head  for  the  big  deal  tomor-  lapses  into  their  imperfect  past.  Also, 


IS  THE  LID  OFF?  117 

there  is  already  current  among  us  a  headed  for  an  era  of  rather  tight  eco- 

suspicion   that   certain  things  in   this  nomic  restriction,  and  seeks  to  compen- 

world  are,  in  and  by  themselves,  not  sate  for  this  restriction  by  loosening  up 

hurtful  to  health,  happiness  or  profit,  on  what  used  to  be  known  as  "personal 

The  Puritans  represented  alcohol,  sex  liberties."   It   doesn't   make  the   eco- 

and  playing-cards  as  devices  of  Evil,  nomic  shackles  less  binding,  but  most 

but  today  we  regard  them  merely  as  assuredly  it  sprinkles  a  pennyworth  of 

three  very  excellent  means  of  getting  soothing  talcum  on  the  chafed,  uncom- 

through  the  long  and  otherwise  diffi-  fortable  parts. 

cult  hours  between  work  and  sleep.  There  is  a  whole  school  of  malcon- 
There  is  a  final  aspect  of  present  day  tents  who  believe  that  the  contempo- 
latitudmarianism  that  compels  our  at-  rary  crack-up  of  Puritanism  is  merely 
tention  here.  I  speak  of  the  shrewdly  the  prelude  to  the  complete  ruin  of  our 
pragmatic  attitude  of  the  government,  social  system.  It  is  impossible  to  assert 
both  Federal  and  local,  toward  the  definitely  that  such  ruin  can  never  over- 
milling  masses  they  have  been  called  take  us,  but  a  scrutiny  of  the  American 
upon  to  govern.  Our  reigning  adminis-  soul  convinces  me  that  our  present  con- 
trators  know  that  they  are  stoking  a  dition  is  not  one  of  decay.  It  is  not  our 
rickety  social  boiler,  one  that  is  hissing  social  system  that  falters  nowj  it  is 
perilously  at  the  seams  as  the  internal  Puritanism  that  withers  and  dies.  It 
pressure  rises.  Rather  than  lock  the  may  jolt  Americans  to  be  reminded 
safety-valve  and  court  a  social  explo-  that  Puritanism  was  once  a  philosophy 
sion,  our  leaders  are  permitting  the  of  personal  liberty,  that  its  founders — 
boiler  to  blow  off  most  entertainingly.  Pym,  Hampden,  Milton — were  men 
It  is  a  standard  device  of  wise  govern-  who  gave  to  the  English-speaking  race 
ments,  and  one  that  never  fails  to  bring  its  first  notion  of  democratic  self-gov- 
relief.  As  taxes  mount  and  govern-  ernment,  and  exalted  the  freedom  of 
mental  regulation  of  economic  life  in-  the  individual  in  matters  of  faith  and 
creases  it  becomes  necessary  to  loosen  conscience.  But  this  primitive  Puritan- 
up  the  restrictions  on  the  private  lives  ism  died  long  ago;  embalmed  in  a 
of  the  populace.  Human  beings  need  barren  theology,  it  lay  like  a  sepulchral 
slack  somewhere  and  the  likeliest,  most  weight  upon  our  lives  for  scores  of 
effective  form  of  slack  is  in  their  per-  years.  We  do  not  disintegrate  spiritu- 
sonal  pleasurings.  A  glass  of  whiskey  ally  when  we  now  rise  to  throw  it  off 
may  never  add  a  cubit  to  our  moral  stat-  and  embrace  a  new  morality,  a  stronger, 
ure,  but  it  can  prevent  a  mile-high  younger  one,  native  to  our  hardiest 
blow-up,  both  personally  and  socially,  forebears,  and  indigenous  to  our  rich 
Washington  fully  realizes  that  we  are  American  soil. 


Mussolini  Muscles  In 

BY  G.  E.  W.  JOHNSON 

Hitler's  meeting  with  the  Italian  Fascist  last  month  showed 

how  completely  Mussolini  dominates  European  diplo 
macy  today 

NE  of  the  most  deplorable  conse-  than  seven  different  sovereignties.  The 

quences  of  the  World  War  was  ailment  known  as  "Balkanitis,"  instead 

the  extension  of  the  boundaries  of  being  confined  to  a  remote  backwash 

of  the  Balkans  deep  into  the  heart  of  of  European  civilization,  has  spread  like 

Europe.  The  Balkans  used  to  be  re-  a   cancerous    growth    throughout   the 

garded  as  a  turbulent  region  in  south-  length  and  breadth  of  the  Danubian 

eastern  Europe  much  addicted  to  stag-  basin.  The  boundaries  of  the  Balkans, 

ing  palace  revolutions,  murdering  kings  speaking  in  psychological  rather  than 

in  their  beds,  and  waging  petty  though  geographical  terms,  now  march  with 

sanguinary   wars.   Everything   in   the  those  of  Italy  and  Germany*  Indeed,  if 

world  is  said  to  exist  for  a  purpose,  and  Switzerland  be  included — and  in  an 

the  Balkans  existed  to  furnish  an  inex-  article  contributed  to  the  June  issue  of 

haustible  source  of  melodramatic  in-  THE    NORTH    AMERICAN    REVIEW    I 

spiration  to  the  composers  of  musical  pointed  out  how  far  Balkanizing  tend- 

comedy  and  the  concocters  of  Rurita-  encies  had  progressed  in  Switzerland — 

nian  romance.  But  since  that  fateful  day  we  may   even  say  that  the  Balkans 

in  June  of  twenty  years  ago,  when  an  border  upon  France.  As  thus  defined, 

assassination  resulting  from  a  sordid  the  Balkans  comprise  ten  states.  Six  of 

Balkan  intrigue  set  in  motion  a  series  of  these — Jugoslavia,  Rumania,  Albania, 

billows  that  gathered  volume  as  they  Bulgaria,  Greece  and  European  Turkey 

traveled  around  the  world  until  they  — form  the  Balkans  proper,  and  the 

became  a  tidal  wave  engulfing  all  hu-  other  four — Austria,  Hungary,  Czecho- 

manity,  it  has  not  been  easy  to  regard  Slovakia  and  Switzerland — are  states  of 

the  Balkans  in  quite  so  complaisant  a  the  upper  Danubian  basin  that  have  be- 

mood.  come  Balkanized  by  the  War  and  its 

The  end  of  the  War  saw  the  disin-  aftermath. 

tegration  of  the  whole  region  of  Central  It   is   widely   recognized   that   this 

Europe    formerly   united   under    one  Balkanization  of  so  large  a  part  of 

sceptre  in  the  Austro-Hungarian  Em-  Europe  sadly  complicates  the  task  of 

pire.  The  dominions  of  the  Dual  Mon-  maintaining  peace.  It  has  erected  a  well 

archy  were  partitioned  among  no  less  nigh   impenetrable   network   of  tariff 


MUSSOLINI  MUSCLES  IN  119 

barriers  that  strangle  the  trade  of  the  manded  their  liberty.  Under  the  pres- 
whole  region.  It  has  created  hundreds  sure  of  nationalistic  uprisings,  the  Turk- 
of  miles  of  new  frontiers  that  have  to  ish  Empire  crumbled  brick  by  brick 
be  policed  and  fortified.  It  has  multi-  over  a  period  of  a  century.  The  Habs- 
plied  the  number  of  danger  spots  where  burg  Empire  managed  to  hold  together 
those  "incidents"  may  occur  that  lead  until  the  end  of  the  War,  but  in  1918, 
to  war.  like  the  one-hoss  shay,  it  went  to  pieces 
What  are  the  underlying  factors  that  all  at  once.  When  the  subject  nationali- 
predispose  a  region  to  this  ailment?  ties  of  these  two  empires  gained  their 
Balkanitis  is  a  disease  likely  to  afflict  any  independence  and  sought  to  go  their 
part  of  the  world  where  there  are  a  separate  ways,  they  could  not  agree 
number  of  petty  states  suffering  from  where  the  boundary  lines  between  them 
economic  backwardness  and  cultural  im-  should  be  drawn.  Those  who  had  over- 
maturity,  lacking  a  firmly  established  flowed  their  original  limits  naturally 
consciousness  of  national  unity,  and  be-  wanted  to  incorporate  into  their  new 
deviled  by  an  insoluble  complex  of  states  all  the  territories  in  which  they 
stubborn  little  racial  groups  whose  now  had  or  claimed  a  majority 5  those 
linguistic  boundaries  are  so  hopelessly  whose  ancient  territories  had  suffered 
entangled  with  one  another  that  they  encroachments  insisted  upon  restoring 
can  not  be  made  to  coincide  with  any  the  historic  frontiers  of  five  hundred  or 
political  boundary  that  could  con-  a  thousand  years  ago,  regardless  of 
ceivably  be  devised.  In  both  the  Balkans  present  conditions, 
proper  and  the  upper  Danubian  region,  Differences  of  this  kind  always  make 
the  causes  that  led  to  this  condition  were  for  trouble.  The  tragedy  of  the  situa- 
similar.  For  hundreds  of  years  the  tion  is  that  no  matter  where  the  bound- 
Turkish  Sultanate  and  the  Habsburg  ary  line  is  drawn,  there  will  always  be 
Monarchy  had  borne  sway  over  terri-  a  disaffected  group  yearning  to  move 
tories  containing  many  diverse  national,  the  frontier  a  few  miles  in  this  direction 
ethnic  and  linguistic  groups.  Each  im-  or  that  so  that  they  can  belong  to  the 
perial  system,  by  establishing  a  common  country  they  regard  as  their  own.  And 
sovereignty  over  the  subject  national-  despite  the  excessive  number  of  petty 
ities,  had  obliterated  their  traditional  states  already  in  existence,  there  are 
boundaries.  During  the  centuries  that  still  unhappy  minorities  like  the  Mace- 
elapsed  there  were  continual  migrations  donians  and  the  Croats  clamoring  for 
of  population  within  each  empire.  One  independent  states  of  their  own.  It  is 
group  would  gradually  and  almost  im-  out  of  such  a  complex  of  thwarted 
perceptibly  infiltrate  into  the  region  in-  aspirations  that  wars  are  born, 
habited  by  another.  But  unhappily, 
though  the  various  groups  became  in 
extricably  interwoven  geographically,  It  would  not  be  so  tragic  if  it  were 
they  continued  to  maintain  a  rigorous  possible  to  insulate  the  Balkan  region 
exclusiveness  linguistically,  culturally  and  to  localize  the  wars  that  inevitably 
and  socially.  With  the  spread  of  na-  flare  up  out  of  this  seething  broth  of 
tionalistic  sentiment  in  the  Nineteenth  humanity.  Then  the  rest  of  the  world 
Century,  the  subject  peoples  became  could  cry  "A  plague  o'  both  your 
conscious  of  their  individuality  and  de-  houses ! "  and  forget  about  it.  But  un- 


120  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

fortunately  the  rival  ambitions  of  the  that  only  one  of  these  seven  conflicts 

great  powers  bordering  on  the  Balkans,  turned  out  to  be  a  world  calamity,  but 

who  see  in  the  turmoil  only  an  oppor-  most  people  feel  that  it  was  one  too 

tunity  to   extend  their  influence  and  many. 

sometimes  their  territory,  have  pre-  The  game  of  the  great  powers  which 
vented  the  successful  consummation  of  are  busily  engaged  in  building  up  blocs 
a  policy  which  could  be  put  into  effect  and  maneuvering  against  each  other  in 
only  by  the  voluntary  cooperation  of  all  the  Balkans  has  been  in  full  swing  ever 
concerned.  And  so  the  old  game  con-  since  the  end  of  the  War,  and  it  now 
tinues  its  dreary  round.  Some  great  seems  to  be  approaching  a  major  crisis, 
power  takes  under  its  wing  a  bloc  of  two  As  the  chances  are  nine  out  of  ten  that 
or  three  states.  At  once  their  neighbors  the  next  European  war  will  start  some- 
are  alarmed^  They  hasten  to  place  them-  where  in  the  Balkans,  it  may  be  worth 
selves  under  the  protection  of  some  while  to  review  the  events  that  are  lead- 
other  great  power,  which  is  only  too  ing  up  to  a  climax  that  may  have  mo- 
glad  to  assume  the  role.  Rival  systems  mentous  consequences, 
of  alliances  are  built  up.  There  is  a  long  The  three  great  powers  that  are  to- 
period  of  increasing  tension  and  a  sud-  day  fishing  in  the  troubled  waters  of 
den  crisis.  After  a  frantic  scurrying  to  the  Balkans  are  France,  Italy  and  Ger- 
and  fro  of  diplomats,  a  disaster  is  many.  France  got  in  on  the  ground  floor 
averted,  or  at  any  rate  the  ensuing  war  right  after  the  War.  Her  most  brilliant 
is  successfully  localized.  Peace  is  coup  was  the  formation  of  the  Little 
eventually  restored.  Then  comes  an-  Entente,  consisting  of  Czechoslovakia, 
other  period  of  increasing  tension.  The  Rumania  and  Jugoslavia.  These  nations 
sequence  is  repeated  again  and  again,  had  all  profited  enormously  at  the  ex- 
Sooner  or  later  there  is  sure  to  be  a  slip,  pense  of  the  defunct  Austro-Hungarian 
Two  great  powers,  which  may  have  no  Empire;  and  they  therefore  had  a  corn- 
direct  quarrel  with  each  other,  find  mon  interest  in  keeping  the  rumps  of 
themselves  locked  in  a  life  and  death  Austria  and  Hungary  weak,  and  in  see- 
struggle  in  order  to  "defend"  the  rights  ing  that  they  did  not  become  too 
of  their  little  proteges.  Each  big  power  friendly  with  each  other  or  with  Ger- 
has  its  friends  and  allies  and  drags  them  many.  This  fitted  in  nicely  with 
in  after  it.  A  world  war  is  on.  France's  project  of  establishing  a  cordon 
The  cardinal  importance  of  the  Bal-  sanitaire  around  Germany.  For  years 
kan  question  may  perhaps  be  better  ap-  France  was  without  a  rival  to  challenge 
preciated  when  we  recall  that  almost  her  hegemony  in  the  Balkan  and  Dan- 
every  European  war  of  the  last  sixty  ubian  regions. 

years  has  originated  in  the  Balkans.  The         For  a  decade  and  a  half  Germany 

list  is  worth  repeating:  the  Russo-Turk-  and  Italy  were  unsuccessful  in  their  at- 

ish  War  (1877-78);  the  first  Greco-  tempts  to  make  inroads  upon  the  French 

Turkish     War     (1897)5     the     Italo-  position.  Germany,  of  course,  was  fast 

Turkish    War    (1911-12)5    the    first  bound  by  the  peace  treaties.  Her  at- 

Balkan  War   (1912-13);   the  second  tempts  at  penetration,  which  invariably 

Balkan  War  (1913);  the  Great  War  took  the  form  of  seeking  an  Anschluss 

(1914-18);    and   the   second   Greco-  or  political  union  with  Austria,  were 

Turkish   War   (1921-22).   It  is  true  consistently  balked  by  France  and  the 


MUSSOLINI  MUSCLES  IN 


121 


Little  Entente.  In  1919,  Austrian  senti 
ment  showed  itself  to  be  very  definitely 
in  favor  of  Anschluss,  but  the  project 
was  specifically  forbidden  by  the 
Treaties  of  Versailles  and  St.  Germain. 
Again  in  1931,  Germany  and  Austria 
negotiated  an  agreement  to  establish  a 
customs  union  between  them,  but  they 
were  obliged  to  back  down.  In  1933, 
Adolf  Hitler,  himself  an  Austrian  by 
birth,  became  Chancellor  of  the  Ger 
man  Reich.  The  campaign  for  An 
schluss  was  resumed  with  redoubled 
vigor.  But  to  his  discomfiture,  the  Ger 
man  dictator  found  himself  faced  by  a 
far  more  resourceful  rival.  Austria  be 
came  the  scene  of  a  head-on  collision  be 
tween  Hitler  and  Mussolini. 

in 

Italy  had  regarded  France's  he 
gemony  in  Central  Europe  with  ill- 
concealed  jealousy.  For  a  long  time 
Italy  was  unable  to  make  any  headway 
with  either  of  the  two  main  groups — 
victors  and  vanquished — into  which 
these  nations  were  divided.  From  Aus 
tria  Italy  had  taken  South  Tyrol  and 
other  territories,  and  this  fact,  com 
bined  with  the  bitter  memories  of  a 
traditional  enmity  and  a  recent  war,  for 
many  years  precluded  the  possibility 
of  any  rapprochement.  At  the  same 
time  Italy,  though  one  of  the  victor 
powers,  was  unable  either  to  share  or 
to  challenge  French  influence  over  the 
Little  Entente  because  of  her  bitter 
quarrel  with  Jugoslavia  over  the  dis 
tribution  of  the  spoils  taken  from  Aus 
tria.  Both  countries  had  claimed 
Trieste,  Fiume  and  Dalmatia.  In  the 
secret  London  Pact  of  1915,  Trieste 
and  Dalmatia  had  been  promised  to 
Italy  by  Great  Britain  and  France  as  her 
reward  for  joining  them  in  the  War 
against  the  Central  Powers  j  and  Italy 


subsequently  laid  claim  to  Fiume  as 
well. 

These  demands  were  in  keeping  with 
Italy's  long-standing  ambition  to  turn 
the  Adriatic  Sea  into  an  Italian  lake  by 
securing  control  of  the  coast  line  op 
posite  Italy.  The  Dalmatian  coast 
possesses  a  vast  number  of  inlets,  har 
bors  and  islands,  which  form  a  network 
of  ideal  submarine  nests,  while  the 
Italian  shore  facing  it  is  almost  devoid 
of  natural  harbors.  In  consonance  with 
her  design,  Italy  had  already  before 
the  War  spread  her  tentacles  into 
Montenegro  and  Albania,  which  form 
the  continuation  of  the  Dalmatian  coast 
southward. 

At  the  Peace  Conference,  however, 
President  Wilson  vigorously  supported 
Jugoslavia's  claim  to  Fiume  and  Dal 
matia.  Hot  tempers  were  further  ex 
acerbated  when  the  fiery  D'Annunzio, 
at  the  head  of  a  private  army  of  ad 
venturers,  seized  Fiume  in  September, 

1919.  Although    his   action   was   dis 
avowed  by  the   Italian  Government, 
Italy  and  Jugoslavia  on  several  occa 
sions  seemed  to  be  on  the  verge  of  war. 
Late  in  1920,  when  it  became  evident 
that  President  Wilson  was  about  to  fade 
from  the  international  scene,  Jugoslavia 
expressed  a  willingness  to  compromise. 
Accordingly,  the  two  countries  signed 
the  Treaty  of  Rapallo  in  November, 

1920.  By  this  settlement,  Trieste  went 
to  Italy  and  Fiume  became  a  free  city. 
Dalmatia  was  allotted  to  Jugoslavia 
with  the  exception  of  the  seaport  of 
Zara.  In  virtue  of  its  predominantly 
Italian  population,  this  town  was  suc 
cessfully  claimed  by  Italy,  who  thereby 
assured  herself  of  a  foothold  on  the 
Jugoslav  coast. 

Despite  the  concessions  made  to  her 
demands,  this  settlement  was  regarded 
by  the  more  extreme  Italian  national- 


122 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


ists  led  by  the  Fascist!  as  a  diplomatic 
defeat.  Italy  was  to  meet  still  another 
setback  at  the  hands  of  Jugoslavia. 
Italian  relations  with  Montenegro  had 
become  peculiarly  intimate  in  1896 
through  the  marriage  of  King  Victor 
Emmanuel  (then  Crown  Prince)  with 
Princess  Elena,  daughter  of  King 
Nicholas  of  Montenegro.  The  high 
hopes  kindled  thereby  were  destined  to 
suffer  grievous  disappointment  at  the 
close  of  the  War,  when  the  Montene 
grins,  to  Italy's  great  disgust,  voted 
for  union  with  Jugoslavia,  and  King 
Victor  Emmanuel  found  himself  sad 
dled  with  the  duty  of  extending  hos 
pitality  to  an  unemployed  father-in-law. 
In  Albania,  too,  things  did  not  go  so 
well.  Italy  had  proclaimed  a  protec 
torate  over  that  country  in  1917,  but 
the  declaration  was  subsequently  re 
tracted  in  the  face  of  combined  Albanian 
and  Allied  opposition. 

IV 

Such  was  the  situation  when  Benito 
Mussolini  took  the  reins  in  1922.  The 
Fascisti  bitterly  castigated  the  politi 
cians  of  preceding  Italian  regimes, 
whom  they  branded  as  nnundatany  for 
having  neglected  Italy's  interests  when 
the  decisive  steps  were  being  taken  in 
the  peace  settlement.  Mussolini  imme 
diately  set  about  remedying  the  situa 
tion  in  his  characteristically  energetic 
fashion.  In  1924  he  compelled  Jugo 
slavia  to  agree  to  a  revision  of  the 
Treaty  of  Rapallo  whereby  Fiume  was 
annexed  to  Italy.  In  1926  he  negotiated 
the  Treaty  of  Tirana,  a  pact  of  mutual 
support  and  cooperation,  with  Ahmed 
Zogu,  the  Mohammedan  President  of 
Albania.  This  caused  a  hostile  reaction 
in  Jugoslavia,  and  for  a  time  diplomatic 
relations  between  that  country  and  Al 
bania  were  severed.  Albania  retaliated 


by  signing  a  defensive  alliance  with 
Italy  in  1927.  In  the  following  year 
Ahmed  Zogu,  assured  of  Mussolini's 
support,  proclaimed  himself  King  of 
the  Albanians. 

Looking  farther  afield,  Mussolini 
next  established  close  relations  with 
Bulgaria.  As  one  of  the  vanquished  na 
tions,  and  one  which  had  suffered  a  loss 
of  territory  to  both  Jugoslavia  and  Ru 
mania,  her  feelings  for  the  Little 
Entente  were  far  from  cordial.  She 
proved  receptive  to  Italian  influence, 
which  was  further  cemented  in  1930 
through  the  marriage  of  Princess  Jo 
anna  of  Savoy,  daughter  of  the  King  of 
Italy,  with  King  Boris  of  Bulgaria. 

So  far,  however,  Mussolini  had  not 
scored  any  very  startling  coup.  Albania 
and  Bulgaria,  with  a  combined  popula 
tion  of  only  seven  million,  wer£  but  a 
paltry  counterweight  to  the  three  mem 
bers  of  the  Little  Entente,  which 
boasted  an  aggregate  population  more 
than  six  times  as  great.  Any  alignment 
that  was  seriously 'to  rival  the  Little 
Entente  required  the  adhesion  of  Aus 
tria  and  Hungary,  and  this  was  long 
out  of  the  question.  Austria,  in  fact, 
looked  to  Germany  to  back  up  her 
claims  against  Italy.  As  late  as  1926 
there  were  bitter  verbal  clashes  between 
Italy  and  the  two  Teutonic  powers. 
German  politicians  and  newspapers 
made  vigorous  protests  backing  up 
Austria's  complaints  against  the  harsh 
methods  Mussolini  was  using  to  Italian 
ize  the  German  inhabitants  of  South 
Tyrol — or  Upper  Adige,  as  the  Italians 
have  rechristened  it.  Some  even  went 
so  far  as  to  advocate  a  boycott  of  Italy. 
It  was  in  reply  to  this  agitation  that 
Mussolini  gave  utterance  to  his  famous 
invective  against  Germany.  "We  are 
sufficiently  insolent  and  explicit,"  he 
cried,  "to  substitute  a  new  formula  for 


MUSSOLINI  MUSCLES  IN  123 

an  old  one,  namely,  this  one:  we  exact  and  had  succeeded.  Would  she  now  be 

the  payment  of  two  eyes  for  the  loss  of  content  to  see,  through  the  union  of 

only  one  eye  and  of  a  whole  set  of  teeth  Austria  and  Germany,  the  Habsburg 

for  the  loss  of  only  one  tooth ! "  Monarchy  replaced  as  her  neighbor  by 

Later,  however,  relations  with  Ger-  a  still  greater  German  Reich  of  seventy- 
many  were  somewhat  improved  when  three  million  people — nearly  double 
Mussolini  began  his  policy  of  pin-prick-  Italy's  population?  Hitler  might  prom- 
ing  France  by  harping  upon  the  neces-  ise  to  forego  South  Tyrol  today  j  but 
sity  of  conceding  Germany  the  right  to  after  he  had  effected  his  union  with 
rearm  on  a  basis  of  equality  with  other  Austria,  what  then?  How  long  would 
nations.  In  the  early  part  of  1933,  when  he  abide  by  his  pledge?  Moreover, 
Adolf  Hitler  seized  power  in  Germany,  would  not  the  augmented  German 
there  was  much  grandiose  talk  of  the  Reich,  finding  itself  removed  by  only 
impending  formation  of  a  Fascist  Inter-  fifty  miles  from  access  to  the  Adriatic, 
national  by  Germany  and  Italy.  An  begin  to  hunger  for  the  return  of  some 
alliance  with  Italy  had  long  been  a  former  Austrian  territory  in  order  to 
cardinal  aim  of  Hitler's  foreign  policy,  have  a  corridor  to  the  sea  at  Trieste,  just 
To  facilitate  the  attainment  of  this  end,  as  Poland  had  obtained  a  corridor  to  the 
the  Nazi  spellbinders  had  received  or-  Baltic  at  Germany's  expense?  No,  the 
ders  to  forget  all  about  the  wrongs  of  Anschluss  project  was  unthinkable,  and 
South  Tyrol.  Mussolini  welcomed  Hit-  Mussolini  soon  made  that  clear.  In  the 
ler's  advances.  He  was  flattered  by  the  early  part  of  1934,  when  the  Nazi 
success  of  one  who  had  undisguisedly  threat  to  Austria's  independence  loomed 
imitated  his  methods,  and  gratified  by  largest,  it  was  even  rumored  that  orders 
Hitler's  complaisance  on  the  South  had  gone  forth  to  prepare  the  Italian 
Tyrol  question.  Rumors  were  bruited  army  for  action  in  the  event  that  Hitler 
abroad  that  the  two  dictators  were  con-  should  seek  to  engineer  a  cou-p  d'etat  in 
templating  a  joint  hegemony  of  the  Austria.  Fortunately  for  Mussolini,  the 
European  Continent  that  would  throw  Austrian  reaction  to  Hitler's  dictatorial 
France  and  Russia  into  the  shade.  methods  played  right  into  his  hands. 

All  these  hopes  were  rudely  shat 
tered  when  Mussolini  discovered  that  v 
Hitler  was  willing  to  renounce  South  The  Fates,  or  Norns,  or  whoever 
Tyrol  only  as  the  price  of  securing  they  be  that  prescribe  the  actions  of  men, 
Italy's  consent  to  Austro-German  union,  must  have  a  strange  liking  for  irony. 
To  this  plan  Mussolini  is  unalterably  Only  so  would  they  have  ordained  that 
opposed.  From  the  Italian  point  of  the  accession  of  a  son  of  Austria  to  the 
view,  the  greatest  benefit  of  the  War  supreme  rulership  of  Germany  should 
had  been  the  destruction  of  the  Austro-  have  been  the  decisive  factor  in  turning 
Hungarian  Empire,  Italy's  hereditary  the  sentiment  of  Austrians  against  the 
oppressor  and  foe,  whose  population  of  thought  of  union  with  their  blood 
fifty  million  had  overhung  Italy's  Al-  brothers  in  Germany.  Only  so  would 
pine  frontier  like  a  vast  glacier  that  they  have  decreed  that  Italy,  after  hav- 
might  at  any  time  melt  into  an  over-  ing  done  her  utmost  to  push  the  Austro- 
whelming  flood.  Italy  had  entered  the  Hungarian  Humpty  Dumpty  off  the 
War  in  order  to  remove  that  menace,  wall,  should  have  feverishly  begun  to 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

marshal  all  the  king's  men  and  all  the  ing  to  keep  both  Hitler  and  Mussolini 

king's  horses,  or  rather  their  equivalent  out  of  Austria,  and  this  coincided  with 

in  the  person  of  //  Ducey  in  a  desperate  French  policy. 

effort  to  put  the  pieces  together  again.         Step   by  step,   Mussolini  began   to 

Yes,  indeed,  the  world  is  out  of  joint ;  squeeze  his  two  rivals  out  of  Austria. 

but  it  probably  never  occurs  to  Musso-  The  Austrian  Nazi  party  had  already 

lini    and    Hitler    to    ask    themselves  been  suppressed  in  June,  1933,  and  the 

whether  they  were  really  born  to  set  Italian  dictator  now  egged  on  Dollfuss 

it  right.  to  proscribe  the  Socialists.  French  diplo- 

Hitler's  proscription  of  the  Social  matic  pressure,  discreetly  applied,  kept 
Democratic  party  and  his  brusque  treat-  the  Socialists  safe  for  several  months, 
ment  of  the  Roman  Catholics  estranged  However,  on  February  6,  1934,  bloody 
the  sympathy  of  the  corresponding  riots  broke  out  in  Paris,  plunging  France 
groups  in  Austria.  The  Austrian  Social-  into  a  grave  internal  crisis  of  so  acute  a 
ists,  who  had  been  among  the  foremost  character  that  some  observers  predicted 
advocates  of  Ansc hluss^  were  completely  it  would  end  in  revolution.  For  several 
alienated.  The  Roman  Catholics,  who  days  the  French  Government  was  too 
had  never  been  more  than  lukewarm  at  preoccupied  with  domestic  troubles  to 
the  notion  of  union  with  a  predomi-  pay  much  attention  to  foreign  affairs, 
nantly  Protestant  country,  went  into  On  February  12,  by  a  strange  coin- 
active  opposition  and  became  the  back-  cidence,  the  Austrian  Government 
bone  of  Chancellor  Dollfuss's  Father-  launched  an  attack  on  the  Socialists, 
land  Front,  which  derives  its  eclectic  and,  after  a  sanguinary  battle  of  several 
inspiration  partly  from  Roman  Cath-  days'  duration,  succeeded  in  suppress- 
olic  Clericalism,  partly  from  Italian  ing  and  destroying  the  party.  Musso- 
Fascism,  and  partly  from  a  revival  of  lini's  first  objective,  that  of  breaking  up 
Habsburg  monarchist  sentiment.  Only  the  forces  that  might  become  centres  of 
the  Austrian  Nazis,  representing  a  third  German  or  French  influence  in  Austria, 
or  more  of  the  population,  remained  had  been  attained, 
loyal  to  the  Anschluss  idea.  The  Aus-  Mussolini's  next  step  was  to  win  over 
trian  Government,  fighting  for  its  very  Hungary  to  the  bloc  he  was  seeking  to 
existence  against  the  Nazis,  naturally  build  up  in  Central  Europe  by  encour- 
followed  Hitler's  example  in  sinking  aging  her  to  enter  into  closer  relations 
the  South  Tyrol  question  in  order  to  with  Austria.  There  was,  of  course,  the 
win  Mussolini's  support.  long  tradition  of  Hungary's  intimate 

By  the  middle  of  1933,  Austria  had  association  with  Austria  as  the  junior 

become  the  battleground  for  the  three  partner  in  the  Habsburg  Dual  Mon- 

great  powers  interested  in  furthering  archy.  This  connection  had  been  rudely 

their  influence  in  the  Danubian  region,  broken  in  the  revolutionary  upheavals 

Germany  suborned  the  Austrian  Nazis  of  1918.  The  action  of  the  Allied  pow- 

to  engage  in  a  fanatical  and  often  violent  ers  in  transferring  Burgenland  Province 

agitation  j    Italy  subsidized   Dollfuss;  from  Hungary  to  Austria  on  the  ground 

and  France  lent  her  moral  support  to  that  it  had  a  German  majority  had  sown 

the  Socialists — of  course  not  because  of  the  seeds  of  discord  between  the  two 

any  love  for  the  tenets  of  Marxism,  but  countries.  Although  this  loss  was  but  a 

simply  because  the  Socialists  were  fight-  trifle  compared  with  the  other  territories 


MUSSOLINI  MUSCLES  IN  125 

which  Hungary  had  been  compelled  to  a  common  policy  directed  to  promote 
cede  to  the  Little  Entente  powers,  it  effective  collaboration  among  European 
served  for  many  years  the  useful  pur-  States,  particularly  among  Italy,  Aus- 
pose  of  keeping  Hungary  and  Austria  tria  and  Hungary.  For  this  purpose  the 
from  uniting  against  their  rivals — a  re-  three  governments  will  proceed  to  corn- 
suit  probably  not  unanticipated  by  the  mon  consultation  whenever  any  one  of 
Allies  when  the  transfer  was  decreed.  them  considers  it  desirable." 

Hungary's  foreign  policy  is  domi-  The  economic  protocols  were  de- 
nated  by  a  single  idea  which  can  be  signed  by  Mussolini  for  the  purpose  of 
summed  up  in  one  word — revisionism,  attaching  his  two  clients  to  him  by  giv- 
She  is  willing  to  ally  herself  with  any  ing  them  the  trade  outlets  they  so  badly 
power  that  will  help  her  to  effect  a  re-  need  and  have  not  heretofore  been  able 
vision  of  the  Treaty  of  Trianon  and  a  to  obtain  anywhere  else.  They  estab- 
return  of  at  least  part  of  her  lost  prov-  lished  general  principles  of  cooperation 
inces.  The  agitation  of  Germany  and  which  were  worked  out  in  detail  by 
Italy  for  revision  was  watched  by  Hun-  eight  supplementary  interlocking  ac- 
gary  with  eager  expectation.  General  cords  signed  on  May  14.  The  salient 
Gombos,  the  Hungarian  Prime  Minis-  provisions  of  these  economic  accords 
ter,  made  a  point  of  keeping  on  good  may  be  summarized  as  follows:  Italy 
terms  with  both  Mussolini  and  Hitler,  and  Austria  contracted  to  purchase  a 
He  was  somewhat  disconcerted  when  specified  quantity  of  Hungarian  wheat 
signs  of  coolness  between  the  two  great  at  a  price  above  the  prevailing  market 
men  made  themselves  manifest  and  he  rate;  Italy  and  Hungary  agreed  to 
found  it  necessary  to  choose  either  one  grant  lower  tariffs  to  exports  of  Aus- 
or  the  other.  Mussolini's  success  in  out-  trian  manufactures;  Austria  and  Hun- 
witting  Hitler  in  Austria  and  the  petty  gary  promised  to  use  the  Italian  ports 
annoyance  caused  by  Nazi  agitation  of  Trieste  and  Fiume  as  far  as  possible 
amongst  the  German  minority  in  Hun-  in  their  foreign  trade  (a  measure  cal- 
gary  decided  Gombos  to  throw  in  his  culated  to  divert  traffic  from  the  Ger- 
lot  with  Mussolini.  man  port  of  Hamburg,  which  is  already 

suffering  from  the  depression  and  the 

VI  Jewish  boycott);  and  all  three  coun- 

The  organization  of  the  Austro-Hun-  tries  pledged  themselves  to  promote 

garian  bloc  under  Italian  tutelage  as-  trade  generally  among  themselves  by  a 

sumed  formal  shape  when  Dr.  Dollfuss  system  of  reciprocal  tariff  concessions, 

and  General  Gombos  foregathered  with  Although  the  protocols  were  signifi- 

Signor  Mussolini  at  Rome  on  March  1 7  cant  of  the  trend  of  Italian  policy,  they 

and  drew  up  three  treaties — one  politi-  were  not  very  startling  in  their  formal 

cal  and  one  economic  protocol  signed  by  content.  Ostensibly,  they  were  directed 

all  three  parties,  and  one  economic  pro-  against  no  other  power;   indeed,  the 

tocol  applying  to  Austria  and  Italy  only,  pious  hope  was  even  voiced  that  Ger- 

The  political  protocol  pledged  the  many,  the  Little  Entente  and  any  other 

three  powers  "to  agree  among  them-  countries  that  were  so  inclined  would 

selves  on  all  problems  which  partic-  see  their  way  clear  to  adhere  to  the 

ularly  interest  them  and  on  those  of  a  pacts.   But  the  spirit  underlying  the 

general  nature  in  order  to  pursue  .  .  .  agreements  was  revealed  quite  frankly 


126 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


by  Mussolini  in  an  address  delivered 
on  March  1 8 — the  day  after  the  signing 
of  the  protocols — before  the  Quinquen 
nial  Assembly  of  the  Fascist  Party. 
Mussolini  made  it  clear  that  it  was 
Italy's  policy  to  present  Austria's  ab 
sorption  by  Germany  and  to  support 
Hungary's  claims  to  treaty  revision  at 
the  expense  of  the  Little  Entente. 
"Austria  may  be  assured  she  can  count 
on  Italy  at  all  times,"  he  declared.  "No 
effort  will  be  spared  by  Italy  to  assist 
her.  .  .  .  Hungary  has  asked  for  jus 
tice  and  for  the  fulfilment  of  promises 
that  had  been  made  to  her.  She  has  been 
terribly  mutilated  and  millions  of  her 
people  live  in  foreign  lands.  Italy  has 
supported  and  will  continue  to  support 
Hungarian  aspirations.  Hungary  de 
serves  and  will  have  a  better  place  than 
has  been  reserved  for  her  hitherto." 
This  speech,  taken  in  conjunction  with 
General  Gb'mbos's  subsequent  state 
ment  that  Hungary  could  not  enter  into 
political  compacts  with  any  country  that 
did  not  admit  Hungary's  right  to  treaty 
revision,  made  it  patent  that  Musso 
lini's  bloc  was  actively  directed  against 
the  Little  Entente,  and,  in  the  sense  that 
it  was  intended  to  serve  as  a  buffer 
against  any  extension  of  Nazi  influence 
in  Austria,  against  Germany  as  well.  In 
Jugoslav  circles  especially  the  reaction 
was  one  of  alarm,  for  they  suspect  that 
Mussolini's  ardent  championship  of  the 
claims  of  Hungary  is  simply  a  pretext 
for  furthering  his  own  design  of  ac 
quiring  Dalmatia  for  Italy. 


VII 


As  the  situation  now  stands,  there 
fore,  we  see  most  of  the  nations  of  the 
Danubian  and  Balkan  regions  arrayed 
against  each  other  in  two  rival  blocs, 
each  under  the  patronage  of  a  great 
power.  Under  France's  tutelage  are  the 


three  states  of  the  Little  Entente,  with 
a  combined  population  of  forty-seven 
million.  Under  Italy's  protection  is  a 
four-power  bloc  composed  of  Austria, 
Hungary,  Bulgaria  and  Albania,  with 
a  total  population  of  twenty-three 
million. 

So  far  Germany  has  been  unsuccess 
ful  in  building  up  a  bloc  of  her  own. 
General  Goring,  the  Prime  Minister  of 
Prussia,  made  a  good  will  tour  of  the 
Balkans  on  behalf  of  the  German  Gov 
ernment  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  in 
the  course  of  which  he  visited  Jugo 
slavia,  Greece  and  Hungary  j  but  he  ap 
parently  brought  home  no  bacon.  His 
original  itinerary  included  Rumania, 
but  this  country  was  omitted  when  her 
Government  intimated  that  a  visit  from 
Goring  would  prove  embarrassing. 

The  establishment  of  Mussolini's  in 
fluence  over  Austria  and  Hungary  at 
one  blow  deprived  Germany  of  her  two 
most  logical  allies.  Mussolini's  coup, 
coming  almost  simultaneously  with 
Soviet  Russia's  rapprochement  with 
France,  reminded  Hitler  that  he  was 
treading  upon  ground  that  still  shivered 
with  the  reverberations  of  1914.  Ger 
many  lost  the  last  war  because  Italy, 
after  weighing  the  bribes  that  both  sides 
were  willing  to  offer  her,  threw  in  her  lot 
with  the  Allies  instead  of  the  Central 
Powers,  thus  completing  the  iron  ring 
that  France  and  Russia  had  forged  to 
hem  Germany  in.  If  Hitler  were  to  per 
sist  in  his  designs  upon  Austria,  he 
would  be  likely  to  make  Mussolini's 
fear  of  Germany  outweigh  his  jealousy 
of  France.  Should  Italy  join  a  Franco- 
Russian  bloc  aimed  at  Germany,  the 
eagle  of  Prussia  would  be  caged  before 
she  had  a  chance  to  try  out  the  new 
pair  of  wings  with  which  Hitler  has 
equipped  her.  All  his  dreams  of  world 
power  would  come  to  naught.  It  is  ob- 


MUSSOLINI  MUSCLES  IN 


127 


vious  that  he  would  be  prepared  to  pay 
almost  any  price  to  avert  such  a  diplo 
matic  disaster  and  to  keep  Mussolini 
favorable  to  the  notion  of  German  mili 
tary  equality.  So  he  decided  to  follow 
the  example  of  that  German  King  of 
nine  centuries  ago  who,  when  excom 
municated  and  threatened  with  deposi 
tion  by  an  inexorable  Italian  Pope,  made 
the  journey  to  Canossa  to  pay  the  price 
of  his  reinstatement  into  grace.  On  June 
14, 1934,  the  German  Chancellor,  using 
a  somewhat  more  modern  means  of 
transportation  than  his  predecessor,  flew 
by  airplane  to  Venice  to  win  the  favor 
of  an  Italian  dictator  who  has  inherited 
the  mantle  of  authority  worn  of  old  by 
the  popes.  Pope  Benito  did  not  make 
King  Adolf  wait  barefoot  in  the  snow 
for  three  days,  but  he  demanded  his 
price  and  Hitler  paid  it.  Hitler  re 
nounced  his  most  cherished  ambition — 
to  unite  the  land  of  his  birth  with  the 
land  of  his  adoption.  Beneath  the 
smiling  countenance  with  which  he 
greeted  Mussolini,  his  resentment  must 
have  been  bitter — all  the  more  bitter 
because  he  dared  not  display  it  openly. 
His  heart  can  not  but  deny  the  pledge 
framed  by  his  lips — and  Mussolini  must 


be  shrewd  enough  to  sense  that  in  the 
long  run  it  is  a  man's  heart  that  deter 
mines  his  actions,  and  not  his  lips. 
Should  the  opportunity  ever  present  it 
self  to  Hitler  to  renege  on  his  pledge 
with  safety — but  such  conjectures  be 
long  to  the  future. 

It  is  not  at  present  possible  to  assess 
all  the  consequences  of  Hitler's  rap 
prochement  with  Mussolini.  It  opens  a 
new  chapter — and  needless  to  say,  an 
ominous  one  as  usual — in  the  extremely 
involved  network  of  intrigue  that  has 
fouled  all  the  diplomatic  fishing-lines 
of  Europe  ever  since  Hitler  strode  upon 
the  scene.  Even  Mussolini  does  not 
seem  to  be  overconfident  of  the  out 
come  j  as  he  stood,  side  by  side  with 
Hitler,  on  a  Venetian  balcony,  he  ex 
plained  to  the  throng  of  Italians  gath 
ered  below  the  significance  of  the  his 
toric  meeting;  and  with  a  quotation 
from  his  speech  we  may  fittingly  close. 

"Let  it  be  said  again,"  he  shouted, 
"Europe  is  faced  by  a  terrible  alter 
native.  Either  she  can  achieve  a  mini 
mum  of  political  understanding,  of 
economic  collaboration,  of  social  com 
prehension,  or  her  doom  is  irrevocably 
sealed!" 


Louisa,  Lady  Whitney 

BY  ANDRE  MAUROIS 
A  Story 

WENEVER  I  go  to  England  other  to  admire  some  fresh  acquisition, 

>r  any  length   of  time,   I  some  novel  arrangement  of  the  old,  a 

lake  it  a  point  to  spend  a  walk  that's  just  been  flagged  or  tiled,  a 

week-end  with  my  friends  the  Parkers,  curtain,  a  drapery  that's  new.  They're 

who  live  in  Wiltshire.   It  isn't  easy  weighty  judges,  though  they're  kind; 

for  a  Frenchman  to  understand  how  they  can  tell  that  a  few  inches  of  lead 

pleasant  and  self-contained  life  can  be  molding  have  restored  a  window  to  its 

in  the  rural  districts  of  England.  Wilt-  old  perfection.  Gravely  they  nod,  and 

shire  is  such  a  lovely  place,  all  sand-  approve,  and  even  the  stranger  is  as 

hills   and   chalk-cliffs   and   grass   and  breathless  as  his  hosts,  and  as  relieved, 

gardens,  and  the  nicest  little  country-  Throughout   all   Wiltshire   the   good 

houses,  and  the  nicest  people,  retired  news  spreads:  "Reggie  has  completed 

army  officers  and  farmers  who  don't  his  library ;  it's  just  right.  .  .  .  Mrs. 

have    to    farm,    and    diplomats    who  Parker  has  finished  the  embroidery  for 

aren't  on  parade.  They  read  a  little,  and  her  sofa-cushions.  The  colors  are  an 

they  ride  a  little,  and  they  visit  the  an-  awfully  good  match."  To  me,  their  seri- 

tique-shops  of  Bath,  and  they  grow  flow-  ousness,  their  preoccupation  with  pleas- 

ers.  Such  things  occupy  them;   they  ant  trifles  is  rather  delightful,  after  the 

smile  at  those  who  lead  fuller  and  more  melodramatic  ardors  I'm  used  to  at 

foolish  lives.  My  friends  the  Parkers  home. 

are  only  two  hours' train-ride  from  Lon-  One   morning,   at   breakfast,    Mrs. 

don;  they've  never  been  there  since  the  Parker  said  something  about  a  Ted 

Armistice.  That's  not  easy  to  believe,  Grove,  who'd  be  dropping  in  that  after- 

is  it?  noon. 

What  is  it  that  makes  their  days  so  "Really?"  said  Colonel  Parker.  "I'm 

peaceful  and  so  happy?  Well,  I  think  glad  of  that.  Nice  chap,  Grove,"  he  said, 

that  it's  a  sense  of  beauty.  The  Parkers,  to  me.  "You'll  find  him  interesting." 

for  instance,  collect  a  sort  of  dull,  green-  Now  I've  known  the  Colonel  for  a 

ish-blue  glass,  Waterford  glass,  I  think  long  time,  and  the  worst  way  to  get  a 

it  is;  they  buy  landscapes,  or  new  bits  of  story  out  of  him  is  to  ask  him  questions, 

old  furniture;  they  restore  a  panel  in  So  I  nodded.  After  lunch,  I  had  a  letter 

the  wainscot.  And  all  their  friends  are  to  write,  and  when  I  rejoined  my  hosts 

just  like  them.  They'll  call  upon  each  upon  the  lawn,  there  was  a  fine  hearty 


LOUISA,  LADY  WHITNEY 


-9 


old  gentleman  talking  to  them.  His 
gay,  youthful  eyes  and  his  fresh  color 
mocked  the  snowy  whiteness  of  his  hair. 
It's  often  so,  with  elderly  Englishmen; 
youth  never  seems  quite  to  leave  them. 
I  thought  him  about  sixty,  and  was  as 
tonished  later  to  learn  that  he  was  close 
to  seventy-five.  "Sir  Edward  Grove,  our 
neighbor,"  Mrs.  Parker  said,  and  we 
shook  hands,  and  then  the  conversation 
I  had  interrupted  was  resumed.  It 
seemed  they'd  been  discussing  the 
method  of  cutting  boxwood  hedge  dur 
ing  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Mrs.  Parker  belongs  to  a  species 
which  in  England  is  numerous  and  ex 
uberant.  She  is  a  gardener.  She  knows 
the  Latin  names  of  flowers,  and  their 
ways,  and  how  much  sun  is  good  for 
them.  No  one  is  more  skilful  in  plan 
ning  borders  of  bright  blossoms,  so  that 
from  spring  to  autumn  a  path  may  have 
the  colors  of  a  Chinese  rug,  vivid,  and 
fading,  and  yet  of  a  pattern  always. 
When  she  walks  in  a  garden,  she  looks 
about  with  the  shrewd  eyes  of  a  doctor 
entering  a  sick-room,  or  a  captain  mak 
ing  a  barracks-inspection,  and  alert  for 
errors.  Throughout  Wiltshire,  she's  the 
acknowledged  authority  on  roses.  Peo 
ple  write  to  her  anxiously,  and  she  re 
plies,  and  she  spends  many  a  morning 
in  such  correspondence.  An  open  seed- 
catalogue  is  beside  her,  and  she  flutters 
its  pages  and  wrinkles  her  brows  seek 
ing  to  judge  what  sort  of  design,  what 
flowery  cluster  will  at  once  express  the 
personality  of  her  friends  and  at  the 
same  time  suit  them  best. 

Having  finished  with  boxwood,  they 
continued  with  peonies,  and  then  with 
tulips,  and  were  about  to  go  into  the 
matter  of  flower-borders.  Meanwhile,  I 
was  doing  my  best  to  show  an  intelligent 
interest  in  these  horticultural  matters. 
Sir  Edward  Grove,  doubtless  satisfied 


at  least  of  my  good  intentions,  said  to^ 
Mrs.  Parker.  "Do  you  think  he'd  care 
to  see  Lady  Whitney's  garden?" 

"I'm  sure  he  should,"  she  said. 

"Good!  You'll  be  over  a  little  later, 
then.  Look  here — if  you'll  excuse  me, 
suppose  I  run  along,  then,  and  let  her 
know  you're  coming.  You  see,  of  course 
— none  of  us  are  as  young  as  we  were — 
the  least  little  surprise  puts  her  off,  a 
little." 

"Of  course,"  said  Mrs.  Parker,  and 
smiled  at  him. 

We  accompanied  him  across  the  fields 
to  a  little  gate  which  opened  on  a  golf 
course.  "Cheerio!"  he  said.  "Twenty 
minutes  or  thereabouts?  Cheerio! "  And 
we  watched  him  swing  away  with  fine 
long  strides,  his  white  head  bare  to  the 
sun. 

"We'll  give  him  a  few  minutes,  shall 
we?"  said  Mrs.  Parker.  We  went  back 
through  the  fields  to  a  bench  on  the 
lawn.  "I  think  perhaps  I'd  better  ex 
plain — Lady  Whitney — to  you,"  she 
said,  and  looked  at  her  husband. 

"That's  a  long  story,"  said  the  Colo 
nel.  "Hardly  have  time." 

"Well,  you'll  help  me— Lady 
Whitney  is  ninety  years  old.  .  .  ." 

I  murmured  something.  It  doesn't 
matter  much  what  one  murmurs,  in 
such  circumstances,  if  the  lady  has  de 
cided  she's  going  to  tell  you  some 
thing. 

This  is  what  she  told  me,  as  we  sat 
there  on  the  lawn. 

ii 

"Can  you  imagine,  a  woman  who 
was  born  the  year  of  the  coronation  of 
Queen  Victoria — Louisa  Cooper,  she 
was,  good  County  family,  and  all  that. 
There  were  three  girls,  all  quite  beau 
tiful,  but  Louisa  was  the  loveliest.  Her 
mother's  mother  was  born  in  Scotland, 


ijo  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

but  her  own  mother  was  County,  too.  sight,  even  when  he  was  hunting  or 

Well.  Some  said  that  Louisa's  elder  sis-  fishing.  In  the  shooting-boxes  of  Scot- 

ter,  Diana,  had  the  more  classic  fea-  land,  he  expected  her  to  come  to  din- 

tures.  Diana  was  afterwards  Duchess  ner  in  jewels  and  an  evening-gown, 

of  Surrey.  It's  true  that  Louisa's  nose  Oh,  in  some  ways  he  was  good  enough 

is  a  little  aquiline,  but  her  eyes  are  so  to  her.  He  showered  her  with  gifts. 

big  and  blue,  and  it's  easy  to  see  that  She  had  a  taste  for  paintings  and  she'd 

she  must  have  had  a  perfect  figure,  only  to  admire  a  picture  and  he'd  get  in 

And  when  women  agree  that  a  woman  touch  at  once  with  all  the  art-dealers 

is  beautiful,  well,  then,  so  she  is.  And  in  the  world.  There  are  some  splendid 

among  all  the  women  of  her  genera-  Italian  primitives  hanging  in  Whitney 

tion,  her  reputation  as  a  beauty  still  sur-  House.  Oh,  yes,  he  gave  her  every- 

vives.  From  the  moment  when  she  was  thing — everything  except  freedom,  and 

presented,  she  was  the  toast  of  the  romance,  and  the  society  of  nice  young 

town.  men. 

"London  was   surprised,   and  per-         "The  thing  that's  so  astonishing  is 

haps  a  little  sorry  when  at  nineteen  she  that  she  didn't  seem  unhappy  because 

married  Lord  Whitney.   He  was  at  of  his  jealousy,  or  his  exactions,  or  his 

least  fifty,  and  a  widower.  The  mar-  — well,  stodginess  is  not  too  strong  a 

riage  was  arranged  by  her  father,  who  word.  I've  said  that  she  was  partly 

was — well,  like  quite  a  lot  of  County  Scotch.  Perhaps  that  gave  her  certain 

fathers.  Doubtless  he  considered  it  a  religious  scruples,  or  a  sort  of  militant 

brilliant  match.  The  Whitneys  were  Protestantism.  She  lived,  according  to 

the  very  best  people  in  the  County,  and  her  husband's  wishes,  in  the  very  cen- 

they  were  tremendously  wealthy,  too.  tre  of  the  smartest  setj  she  never  be- 

Many  of  Louisa's  friends  (my  mother  longed  to  it. 

was  one  of  them)  had  some  idea  that  "You've  heard  of  Dr.  Cummings? 
she  would  find  interests  other  than  her  He  was  a  clergyman,  and  rather  fa- 
husband,  before  long.  They  were  mous  in  his  day.  He  was  preaching  in 
wrong,  though  no  woman  had  more  London  concerning  the  prophecies  of 
chances.  She  was  awfully  attractive  to  the  Apocalypse,  which  he  professed  to 
men,  always.  At  the  Court,  Lady  Whit-  be  able  to  interpret.  For  example,  he 
ney  had  a  place  that  was  all  her  own.  announced  that  the  New  Jerusalem 
Queen  Victoria  was  as  fond  of  her  as  if  would  come  in  1867.  Lady  Whitney 
she'd  been  her  daughter  5  the  Queen  followed  his  sermons  faithfully.  They 
had  so  much  maternal  affection — she  tell  that  just  as  other  women  invite 
displayed  it  even  toward  her  parents,  their  friends  to  meet  them  in  their 
And  the  German  Emperor  invited  boxes  at  the  opera,  she'd  ask  her  friends 
Louisa  to  Compiegne  every  year,  and  to  share  her  pew  in  the  little  church  at 
they  used  to  call  her  'Die  hubsche  Eng-  Crown  Court.  You'll  remember  a  pas- 
landerirf — the  nice  Englishwoman.  In  sage  in  the  Apocalypse,  about  a  woman. 
Vienna,  which  used  to  be  full  of  raving  'All  shining  with  the  light  of  God.' 
beauties,  they'd  turn  around  in  the  When  Dr.  Cummings  came  to  that 
street  to  look  at  her.  verse,  many  a  man  in  his  congregation 

"Lord   Whitney   was   a   possessive  must  have  turned  to  look  at  her. 
husband.  He  didn't  want  her  out  of  his         "When  she  was  thirty-five,  her  hus- 


LOUISA,  LADY  WHITNEY 


band  had  a  stroke  of  apoplexy.  It  left 
him  a  helpless  invalid.  It's  easy  to  be 
lieve  that  such  a  woman,  having  a  little 
more  freedom,  should  be  courted  by 
some  of  the  brilliant  men  of  her  time. 
She'd  smile  at  them,  and  shake  her 
head,  and  tell  them  that  her  husband's 
condition  imposed  still  greater  obliga 
tions  upon  her,  and  that  she  meant  to 
devote  herself  to  her  children.  There 
were  four,  and  three  of  them  were 
boys. 

"At  her  home,  she'd  receive  a  few 
friends  only,  and  these  the  dearest 
ones.  Among  them  was  Mr.  Disraeli, 
who'd  call  upon  her  almost  every  day 
on  leaving  Parliament.  He  wrote  to 
her,  as  he  did  to  Lady  Bradford,  let 
ters  that  were  intimate,  and  fantastic, 
and  full  of  melancholy. 

"When  Lord  Whitney  died,  of 
course  every  one  thought  she'd  lose  no 
time  in  getting  married  again.  But 
that's  just  what  didn't  happen.  Was 
she  considering  that  her  children  might 
be  less  happy  if  she  gave  them  a  step 
father?  Was  she  encouraged  to  accept 
her  widowed  state  by  the  example  or 
the  advice  of  the  Queen?  Such  things 
we  can't  know.  The  fact  is  that  she  re 
jected  some  of  the  most  eligible  men  in 
England. 

"When  Lady  Whitney  wasn't  far 
from  forty,  her  friends  began  to  notice 
that  she  was  receiving  marked  atten 
tions  from  a  young  lieutenant  whose 
name  was  Grove,  Edward  Grove.  He 
was  a  fine  sportsman,  a  crack  shot  and 
a  wonderful  rider,  and  everybody 
seemed  to  like  him.  He  was  fifteen 
years  younger  than  Louisa,  and  in 
those  Victorian  days,  almost  any  other 
woman  would  have  been  inviting  seri 
ous  criticism.  But  Lady  Whitney  was 
above  reproach.  One  might  think,  and 
perhaps  many  did,  that  her  interest  in 


him  was  almost  maternal.  The  truth 
was  that  they  were  mad  about  each 
other. 

"Sir  Edward  has  often  told  me  that, 
when  he  received  the  offer  of  a  post  in 
the  Soudan,  Lady  Whitney  implored 
him  to  accept  it.  'You  mustn't  stay 
here,'  she  said.  CI  can't  marry  you,  ever. 
It  wouldn't  do  for  my  sons  to  have  a 
step-father  scarcely  older  than  them 
selves.  You  yourself  would  be  awfully 
sorry,  in  a  few  years — I'm  quite  sure  I 
love  you;  you're  sure,  too.  It's  just  be 
cause  I  do  that  I  mustn't  hold  you. 
This  post  in  the  Soudan  is  one  of  the 
most  important  that  could  possibly  be 
offered  to  an  officer  of  your  rank,  and 
your  years.  I'll  never  forgive  you,  if 
you  decline  it.  When  you  come  back 
again,  you'll  see.  It's  just  Indian  Sum 
mer,  with  me,  dear — and  it's  been  so 
nice.  But  wait  until  you  see  what  hard 
ships  and  responsibilities  do  to  your  il 
lusions.  A  few  years  from  now,  we'll 
be  able  to  look  at  each  other  sensibly 
and  calmly,  yes,  and  with  affection  too. 
But  now,  it's  best  for  you  to  go.' " 

Colonel  Parker  looked  at  his  watch, 
and  smiled. 

"And  it's  best  for  us  to  go,  too,"  he 
said.  "We  were  to  give  Grove  a  quar 
ter  of  an  hourj  it's  twenty  minutes 
since  he  left,  and  it  will  take  us  that 
long  again.  You  can  tell  the  rest  of  it 
as  we  go  along." 

We  walked  through  the  fields  and 
out  the  little  gate  across  the  golf  course. 
It  was  a  week-day,  and  there  wasn't  a 
soul  to  be  seen.  In  the  distance,  Whit 
ney  House  nestled  among  the  huge 
trees  like  a  palace  in  a  fairy  tale.  The 
sun  was  hot  above  our  heads,  and  we 
went  slowly. 

And  Mrs.  Parker  told  me  a  little 
more,  about  Louisa,  Lady  Whitney. 


132  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Grove's  position  was  bound  to  be — well 

111  — ambiguous.    His    instructions    were 

"Jack  could  tell  you  better  than  I  verbal,  you  see,  and  given  privately  to 

can   about    the    military    situation    in  him  by  the  Minister  in  question.  And 

Egypt     before     Kitchener's     victory,  it's  quite  possible  that  Lady  Whitney 

However,  the  details  don't  matter  such  knew  all  about  it,  beforehand,  because 

a  lot,  and  I'll  get  all  mixed  up,  if  I'm  of  her  intimacy  with  the  Queen,  and 

not  careful.  because  of  her  friendship  with  many  of 

"The  important  thing  is  this,  and  the  influential  men  in  both  Houses, 
no  doubt  you  yourself  know  all  about  "All  this  may  seem  a  little  involved 
it:  the  country  west  of  the  Nile  and  but  really  it  isn't.  Grove  was  being  sent 
beyond  Khartoum  was  very  dangerous,  to  do  definite  things  in  the  Soudan,  un 
it  wasn't  well-mapped,  and  it  was  full  der  definite  orders.  But  he  had  nothing 
of  fanatics  and  trouble-makers.  And,  in  writing,  and  if  he  failed,  his  orders 
of  course,  it  was  a  time  when  all  the  might  be  repudiated, 
great  European  powers  were  squab-  "Of  course,  our  method  during  the 
bling  over  the  division  of  Africa  like  a  Nineteenth  Century  was  frequently 
lot  of  greedy  children.  The  territory  just  that.  It's  cruel,  yes,  in  a  way;  it's 
of  which  I'm  speaking  was  coveted  by  hard  on  the  individual.  The  Govern- 
your  country,  by  our  own,  and  even  by  ment  would  send  men  into  danger  for 
Belgium,  to  whom,  if  I'm  not  mis-  the  sake  of  new  provinces  or  new  do- 
taken,  we  had.  ceded  a  province  that  minions.  If  they  succeeded,  very  well; 
never  really  belonged  to  us.  they'd  be  rewarded  for  their  daring 

"Grove,  with   a  mere  handful   of  and    the    territory    they    had    seized 

men,  had  orders  to  occupy  a  region  that  would  be   formally  annexed.   But  if 

was  scarcely  smaller  than  Scotland.  His  they'd  fail,  or  if  the  Continental  pow- 

task  was  all  the  more  difficult  because  ers  made  too  much  fuss,  then  they'd 

it  was  only  semi-official.  Mr.  Gladstone  be  disclaimed,  discredited,  abandoned, 

governed    England,    then,    and    Mr.  It's  to  our  honor  that  we've  always  had 

Gladstone  was  bitterly  opposed  to  im-  men  ready  to  play  a  game  as  rough  as 

perialism.  But  a  Cabinet  isn't  necessa-  this. 

rily  all  of  the  same  mind,  by  any  means.  "So  young  Captain  Grove  was  doing 

There  were  some  of  the  Ministers  who  what  Francis  Drake  had  done,  and 

considered  it  highly  important  to  an-  what  Chinese  Gordon  was  to  die  doing, 

ticipate    a    possible    French    advance  later  on.  You  see? 

which  would  cut  off  communication  be-  "A  year  went  by,  and  two  years, 

tween  Egypt  and  southern  Africa  (and  "At  first,  Lady  Whitney  would  hear 

you'll  remember  that  Marchand  busi-  from  Grove  week  by  week.  Then,  as  he 

ness,  and  it  proves  how  right  they  was  advancing  into  the  wilder  regions, 

were) .  his  letters  became  less  frequent.  .  .  . 

"It  was  one  of  these  imperialistic  "One  day,  the  Times  published  a 

Ministers  who  had  taken  young  Grove  little  article  some  ten  lines  long,  stat- 

aside,  when  he  was  starting  for  the  ing  that  the  company  commanded  by 

Soudan,  and  told  him  just  what  he  was  Captain  Grove  had  fallen  into  an  am- 

expected  to  do.  It  was  the  sort  of  duty  bush  near  Tawaihna,  that  Lieutenant 

which  was  certain  to  be  delicate,  and  Winkler  and  four  men  had  been  killed, 


LOUISA,  LADY  WHITNEY 


133 


and  that  the  survivors  had  taken  ref 
uge  in  the  little  village  of  Fogo.  They 
had  fortified  this  place  as  best  they 
could,  and  were  withstanding  siege  by 
a  rebel  native  tribe,  the  Zobeir.  This 
intelligence  was  brought  in  to  Khar 
toum  by  a  soldier  disguised  as  a  native, 
and  Grove's  dispatch  was  to  the  effect 
that  there  was  food  and  ammunition 
to  last  two  months.  But  the  dispatch 
was  already  three  weeks  old.  The  situ 
ation  of  Grove  and  his  men  seemed  to 
be  critical  indeed. 

"Now,  you'll  remember  what  I  was 
saying  before  about  the  Cabinet.  Mr. 
Gladstone  hated  the  idea  of  foreign 
conquest,  and  he  spoke  of  these  fanati 
cal  Soudanese  as  if  they  were  some  of 
his  pram-pushing  constituents.  How 
ever,  there  were  also  Ministers  who 
were  more  imperialistic  than  Beacons- 
field  had  ever  been. 

"One  of  them  had  given  Grove  his 
instructions.  I  won't  name  him;  sup 
pose  we  call  him  Wilkinson.  To  him, 
young  Grove  was  only  another  pawn 
to  be  pushed  forward  more  or  less 
cynically  across  the  African  chess 
board.  If  things  didn't  go  as  well  as 
they  might,  well,  there'd  be  other 
young  men  to  send.  Still,  Wilkinson 
did  speak  before  the  Cabinet  of  the 
urgency  of  Grove's  case,  and  asked 
them  to  send  a  relief  expedition.  But 
Mr.  Gladstone  slapped  the  table  with 
the  big  hand  that  cut  down  trees  at 
Hawarden,  and  declared  flatly  that  he 
wouldn't  send  even  a  corporal's  guard 
against  the  honest  citizens  of  the  Sou 
dan  who  had  done  nothing  but  defend 
themselves.  So  Wilkinson  knew  that 
the  game  was  up  for  Grove  and  his 
aides. 

"But  the  unfortunate  thing  for  Min 
ister  Wilkinson  was  that  a  woman  had 
read  that  little  article  in  the  Times,  a 


woman  well-informed  concerning  the 
affairs  of  state,  and  one  who  knew  what 
fate  was  theirs  who  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Dervishes. 

"I  don't  know  if  you  can  quite  un 
derstand  how  hard  it  was,  how  danger 
ous  for  her  reputation,  in  those  Vic 
torian  days,  for  Lady  Whitney  to  take 
a  hand  in  this.  This  young  man's  name 
had  already  been  whispered  in  connec 
tion  with  .hers.  She  knew  that. 

"With  you  French,  it's  so  different. 
It's  rare,  in  France,  that  a  mere  senti 
mental  adventure  can  ruin  a  political 
career.  With  us,  even  today,  in  the 
post- War  time  when  one  dares  to  write 
anything,  to  say  anything,  and  to  do  a 
little  more  than  one  will  write  or  say, 
I  doubt  whether  a  public  man  could 
survive  a  scandal.  Imagine  what  it  was 
like  in  Queen  Victoria's  time.  Think  of 
Dilke,  think  of  Parnell.  As  for  the 
woman  in  the  case,  it  was  still  worse  for 
her.  I  don't  believe  that  the  Victorians 
were  any  better  than  we  are.  But  they 
were  careful  of  appearances,  and  if 
they  were  caught,  woe  betide  them! 

"You  see  what  it  was  Lady  Whitney 
was  risking — the  favor  of  the  Queen, 
of  the  Court,  of  her  children.  She 
shrugged,  and  made  her  decision. 

"Wilkinson  was  delighted  to  give 
her  an  audience. 

"No  one  knows  exactly  what  took 
place  at  that  interview.  Imagine  the 
scene — the  Minister  cold,  polite,  a  sea 
soned  diplomat  j  Lady  Whitney,  out 
wardly  sedate  and  calm,  and  only  the 
flash  of  her  big  blue  eyes  to  show  that 
she  was  fighting  for  her  lover. 

"I'm  not  quite  sure  that  Grove  him 
self  knows  exactly  what  was  said.  There 
they  were,  Wilkinson  and  this  beauti 
ful  woman  measuring  swords,  keeping 
their  veil  of  politeness,  of  good  man 
ners.  She  knew  a  great  many  state  se- 


134 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


crets,  that  is  sure,  and  one  of  the  most 
influential  editors  in  London  was  her 
friend.  Perhaps  she  threatened  Wil 
kinson — but  no:  a  great  lady  never 
threatens.  What  she  may  have  said  to 
him  is:  Mr.  Wilkinson,  I  know  this,  I 
know  that  j  there  was  this  conversation, 
at  Whitney  House  j  there  was  this  let 
ter,  this  memorandum,  which  was 
shown  to  me.  .  .  . 

"Then  doubtless  Wilkinson,  who 
was  an  orator,  painted  a  picture  of  pub 
lic  scandal  and  its  consequences,  as  she 
listened,  grave  and  detached  and  un- 
trembling.  Her  decision  was  made; 
nothing  he  could  say  would  change  it. 
Either  Wilkinson  would  move  heaven 
and  earth  to  save  Grove's  life — or  else 
— or  else  many  a  reputation  would 
topple  in  the  dust.  .  .  ." 


IV 


"It  ought  to  be  said,"  interrupted 
Colonel  Parker,  "that  this— uh— this 
Wilkinson  wasn't  really  opposed  to  her 
idea.  Grove  was  his  man,  you  know, 
and  he'd  already  done  what  he  could 
for  him.  No  doubt,  while  he  was  talk 
ing  to  Lady  Whitney,  he  was  wonder 
ing  whether  the  fact  that  she  was  inter 
ested  in  Grove  wasn't  enough  to  make 
him  reopen  the  matter.  She  was  a  very 
powerful  woman,  you  know.  And  it's 
like  a  woman  to  imagine  a  lot  of  melo 
drama,  and  all  that.  Of  course,  it's  true 
that  she  did  go  to  Wilkinson." 

"She  went  to  him,  and  that  night 
Wilkinson  went  to  Gladstone.  That's 
so,  isn't  it,  Jack?  He  went,  and  threat 
ened  him  with  a  noisy  resignation  and 
a  statement  to  the  newspapers,  if  orders 
weren't  sent  to  Cairo  immediately  to 
send  an  expedition  after  Grove.  It  was 
a  time  when  the  parties  were  nicely 
balanced,  and  a  resignation  might 
make  a  whole  new  election  necessary. 


...  I  shouldn't  insinuate  all  this,  per 
haps.  .  .  .  However,  a  few  days  later, 
a  number  of  little  gun-boats  left  Khar 
toum.  There  were  various  consequences 
of  this,  but  one  of  them  was  the  rescue 
of  Grove's  company. 

"He  returned  to  London  a  hero. 
Wilkinson  was  a  good  sportsman  j  he 
saw  to  it  that  Grove  got  the  D.S.O. — a 
decoration  that's  rare  enough  for  a 
Captain  of  thirty.  Society  speculated  as 
to  which  of  that  year's  debutantes 
would  catch  the  dashing  young  officer. 
The  young  girls  made  quite  a  lion  of 
him.  The  War  Office  and  the  Viceroy 
wrangled  over  him — he  became — but 
there  he  is,  look,  opening  the  little  gate 
by  the  orchard.  .  .  ." 

"Can't  you  tell  me  what  happened? 
Did  he  marry?  Or  was  he  faithful  to 
Lady  Whitney?" 

"He's  been  faithful  to  her  for  forty- 
five  years,  although  she's  never  con 
sented  to  marry  him." 

I'd  have  liked  to  ask  another  ques 
tion,  but  Sir  Edward  Grove  might 
have  overheard. 

"Well!"  he  said.  "I  suppose  it  was 
Parker  who  delayed  you  ....  Lady 
Whitney's  waiting  for  you,  in  the  park. 
He  turned  to  me.  "Wait  till  you  see 
how  lovely  she  is,"  he  said. 

The  young  enthusiasm  in  his  voice 
was  touching  j  he  had  the  proud  and 
bashful  air  of  one  who  presents  his 
fiancee  to  his  friends.  Mrs.  Parker 
looked  at  me  and  smiled. 

We  went  in  at  the  little  gate  and 
walked  slowly  up  a  path  fringed  with 
linden-trees.  There  we  met  a  lady,  tall 
and  slim  and  straight  and  gracious, 
who  was  wearing  one  of  those  big  straw 
hats  one  sees  in  Winterhalter's  pic 
tures,  and  leaning  on  a  cane  so  tall  it 
might  have  been  a  shepherd's  crook. 
Her  black  dress  was  relieved  by  a  little 


LOUISA,  LADY  WHITNEY  135 

pattern  of  white  flowers.  She  walked  "Here's  the  tree  I  was  telling  you 
slowly,  and  with  dignity  and  grace.  No  about,"  said  General  Grove.  The  Park- 
one  could  ever  fail  to  notice  her,  or  to  ers  went  forward  a  pace  or  two  with 
admire  her.  Her  voice  was  clear  and  him. 

sweet,  and  had  no  feebleness.  Learn-  "You've  been  talking  to  Ted?"  said 

ing  that  I  was  French,  she  began  to  Lady  Whitney.  "Isn't  he  clever?  Ah! 

speak  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III,  There  aren't  any  men  like  him,  nowa- 

and  of  Gallifet,  whom  she  knew  well,  days." 

and  then  of  William  II.  In    her   turn,   she'd   spoken   these 

"He  was  an  awfully  bad  little  boy,"  words  with  an  enthusiasm  quite  fresh 

she  said.  "How  he  used  to  annoy  poor  and  youthful.  Beneath  the  fringe  of 

dear  King  Edward."  her  white  hair,  her  beauty  still  was 

"You    knew    King    Edward,    Ma-  blazing,  and  her  blue  eyes  were  bright, 

dame?"  I  said.  though    they    seemed    to    me   brave 

"Well,  I  taught  him  to  dance,"  she  rather  than  kind. 

said.   "He  was  quite  diligent.   He'd  "Lady  Whitney,"  said  Mrs.  Parker, 

count  out  loud:  one,  two,  three,  one,  "I   do   think  your  linden-trees  need 

two,  three."  pruning." 


The  Silver  Cart  Before  the  Horse 

BY  H.  P.  LOSELY 

Congress  in  its  last  bit  of  legislating  on  money  overlooked  some 
exceedingly  vital  aspects  of  the  silver  situation 

IN  THE  battle  of  gold  against  silver  Certainly,  the  Silver  Purchase  Act 
for  money,  I  am  a  neutral,  as  neu-  of  1934  provides  neither  a  lump-sum 
tral  as  the  Irishman  in  1914 — I  lolly-pop,  nor  a  final  judgment  of  the 
don't  care  who  licks  the  depression,  merits  of  silver  for  currency.  It  seems 
For  the  insignia  on  my  arm  is  neither  rather  an  astutely  devised  measure  for 
golden  cross  nor  silver  crescent,  but  testing  the  market  and,  so  far  at  least, 
the  cogged  wheel  of  interlocking  in-  the  market  itself  reflects  the  opinion 
dustry.  And  industry  is  worn  to  exas-  that  its  powers  will  be  used  with  elab- 
peration  with  the  swashbuckling  tac-  orate  caution.  So  much  so  that  we  are 
tics  of  the  two  petty  barons  under  their  likely  to  hear  silver-tongued  orations 
gold  and  silver  banners,  who  between  for  months  to  come.  Like  a  dethroned 
them  produce  for  each  family  in  the  monarch,  the  white  metal  has  its  ad- 
world  less  than  a  paltry  ten  cents'  herents  who  conspire  to  restore  it  to  its 
worth  of  metal  a  month,  yet  arrogantly  "rightful  place"  and  gain  by  the  resto- 
dictate  our  financial  destinies.  ration. 

The  political  silver  parade  has  un-  Yet  in  spite  of  all  the  false  claims 
fortunately  enlisted  under  its  standard  made,  it  would  be  of  immense  benefit 
much  narrowly  selfish  support.  One  to  the  world,  and  especially  to  the  rela- 
sees  the  pennants  of  insatiable  mining  tions  between  East  and  West,  if  the 
communities,  of  greedy  speculators,  of  long-debated  position  of  silver  could 
dishonest  inflationists  and  even  of  mis-  be  convincingly  settled.  As  any  arbitra- 
guided  farmers.  The  propaganda  be-  tor  knows,  no  dispute  is  ever  peaceably 
came  so  clamorous  that  Neil  Carothers  and  permanently  settled  without  con- 
sarcastically  suggested,  as  a  measure  of  sidering  the  merits  of  any  and  all 
national  economy,  that  all  the  silver  claims,  even  when  the  claimants  ad- 
lobbyists  be  gathered  in  a  corner  and  vance  meretricious  arguments  along 
bought  off  with  a  lump  sum;  the  words  with  meritorious  ones.  We  might  make 
"and  then  drowned"  were  missing,  but  more  progress  by  adopting  that  atti- 
the  venom  was  there.  Unfortunately,  tude,  and  in  searching  for  a  reasonable 
any  such  recognition  of  the  nuisance  and  acceptable  solution  of  the  silver 
value  of  noise  would  be  a  premium  on  question  might  find  some  important  fac- 
recurrent  pandemonium.  tors  hitherto  overlooked. 


THE  SILVER  CART  BEFORE  THE  HORSE  137 

American  shipping  cost  is  only  one- 
fourth  cent  per  dollar  for  gold,  but 

It  will  presently  be  evident  that  my  three-fourths  cent  for  silver  j  storage 
conclusions  are  in  favor  of  placing  and  trucking  costs  are  even  more  fa- 
some  of  the  monetary  load  on  silver  vorable  to  gold.  That  may  seem  a  small 
— making  silver  do  something  for  us,  margin,  but  it  is  just  by  such  small 
rather  than  "doing  something  for  sil-  competitive  advantages  that  commer- 
ver."  But  lest  I  be  suspected  of  hereti-  cial  supremacy  is  gained  or  lost.  It  is 
cal  doctrine,  let  me  at  once  restate,  because  of  that  one-half  per  cent  econ- 
in  a  way  that  can  be  easily  grasped,  the  omy  in  moving  balances  that  gold  dis- 
simple  facts  which  make  gold  the  su-  placed  silver  in  international  business, 
perior  medium  of  international  ex-  and  for  the  undisturbed  transaction  of 
change.  that  business  there  is  no  better  avail- 
Gold  attained  its  place  by  intrinsic  able  mechanism  than  a  money  unit  of 
merit.  Its  high  value  was  achieved  by  fixed  gold  content, 
virtue  of  an  insistent  demand  for  it  for  Now  it  has  been  widely  asserted  that 
a  wide-spread  use  in  the  arts,  by  book-  we  can  not  have  a  dollar  of  fixed  gold 
binder  and  dentist,  by  pen-maker  and  content  and  also  of  constant  purchasing 
jeweler.  That  exceedingly  clever  pro-  power.  That  is  an  error  perpetuated  by 
tagonist  of  British  interests,  John  May-  repetition  ad  nauseam.  People  looking 
nard  Keynes,  only  two  years  ago  was  for  a  scapegoat  were  all  too  easily  con- 
calling  gold  a  worthless  rascal  and  bar-  vinced  that  a  shortage  of  gold  was  at 
barous  relic ;  somehow  one  felt  re-  the  root  of  our  troubles.  The  fact  is  that 
minded  of  the  old  fable  of  MaTtre  we  can  have  a  gold  dollar  of  fixed 
Reynard  who  wanted  grapes  but  dis-  weight  and  constant  value,  providing 
coursed  on  the  dangers  of  stomach-  we  are  willing  to  take  the  necessary 
ache.  Yet  no  intricacies  of  calculus  are  measures  to  balance  supply  and  de- 
needed  for  the  plain  demonstration  mand  for  the  metal  at  a  given  cost 
that  in  1931,  long  before  we  went  off  level.  And  since  the  whole  magnitude 
our  old  standard,  monetary  demand  of  the  gold  mining  business  is  in  the 
for  gold  had  added  only  about  twenty  order  of  twenty-five  cents  a  year  per 
per  cent  to  the  value  of  the  metal.  The  caput,  or  about  one  part  in  three  thou- 
normal  demand  for  gold  as  a  commod-  sand  of  our  national  productivity,  we 
ity  can  only  be  satisfied  by  working  could  well  afford  to  concede  some 
some  of  the  high-cost  mines.  "new  deal"  method  of  dealing  with  it, 
It  was  the  high  real  value  of  gold,  so  as  to  stabilize  the  value  of  gold, 
together  with  its  availability  in  reason-  About  two  years  ago,  I  suggested  in  the 
ably  sufficient  quantity,  its  quality  of  REVIEW  graduated  excise  taxes  on  gold 
permanence  and  its  adaptability  to  coin-  used  in  the  arts  as  one  necessary  step 
age,  that  made  it  the  most  suitable  in  the  management  of  the  demand  for 
tangible  medium  for  settling  payments  the  metal. 

— and  it  still  retains  that  position.  However,  it  is  not  incompatible  with 

Gold  has  a  decided  margin  of  su-  adherence  to  the  ideal  of  a  fixed  gold 

periority  over  silver  in  that  respect,  standard  to  admit  that  monetary  de- 

That  is  evidenced  by  the  comparative  mand  for  the  metal  may  at  times  be- 

shipping  charges  j  for  example,  Anglo-  come  devastating,   and  that  a  relief 


138  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

valve  might  help  to  keep  the  pressure  alloys.  The  bridge  was  so  saved  and  its 
below  the  danger  point.  Some  four  useful  life  has  been  extended  for  at 
years  ago  the  late  Harrington  Emer-  least  another  decade, 
son  pointed  out  that,  with  the  exception  If  we  can  similarly  recognize  that 
of  our  money-standard  metal,  every  the  load  on  the  golden  bridge  which 
commercial  commodity  has  one  or  carries  our  commerce  and  finance  is 
more  alternates.  If  there  is  a  short  getting  beyond  the  safety  point,  we 
wheat  crop,  we  can  make  bread  out  of  may  well  follow  advanced  engineering 
rye,  or  even  potatoes.  Every  coal  practice  and  see  if  some  bold  thinking 
dealer  now  knows  that  oil  is  also  a  fuel,  will  save  it.  I  do  not  concede  the  need 
Wool  is  preeminent  for  warm  cloth-  for  us  to  await  any  international  agree 
ing,  but  we  have  not  quite  abandoned  ment  on  bimetallism  j  indeed,  with  the 
furs  and  skins,  and  have  even  added  present  temper  of  intense  nationalism 
artificial  leather.  and  disregard  for  international  obliga- 
It  is  only  in  our  management  of  tions,  one  could  place  little  reliance  on 
money  standards  that  we  have  granted  such  a  system.  What  has  not  been  no- 
a  monopoly  to  a  single  commodity,  and  ticed  is  that  our  own  metallic  position 
so  placed  our  price  system  at  the  mercy  in  the  United  States  offers  a  special  and 
of  geological  accident,  as  well  as  financ-  peculiar  opportunity  for  a  limited  do 
ing  accidents.  In  the  final  analysis,  the  mestic  bimetallism, 
real  case  for  silver  as  an  auxiliary  Apart  from  our  ample  stock  of  gold, 
medium  rests  on  a  statistically  demon-  we  rank  high  enough  in  our  per  caput 
strable  basis — as  a  help  to  manage  the  production  j  even  though  we  only  pro- 
demand  for  gold  and  keep  that  de-  duce  one-tenth  of  the  world's  new  gold, 
mand  within  the  available  area  of  sup-  we  have  only  one-fifteenth  of  the 
ply  at  a  stable  cost.  Even  under  normal  world  population  and  are  accustomed 
conditions,  it  is  likely  in  the  proximate  to  a  wide  use  of  paper  accounting.  Our 
future  that  the  secular  growth  of  de-  silver  resources  are,  however,  much 
mand  for  gold,  left  to  itself,  would  greater  than  those  of  gold,  and  could 
drive  the  cost  into  a  new  range  of  high  be  made  more  valuable  to  the  nation  as 
prices.  a  whole. 

As  the  essential  advantage  of  gold 
over  silver  depends  on  the  low  ship- 
There  was  recently  an  important  ping  cost  of  the  metal,  it  is  evident  that 
bridge  in  Mr.  Mellon's  bailiwick  which  its  superiority  is  of  little  importance  for 
needed  repairs  and  adaptation  to  heav-  domestic  transactions  which,  under  a 
ier  loads  5  it  was  at  first  thought  that  secure  government,  can  be  liquidated 
the  bridge  would  have  to  come  down  by  paper  accounting,  without  actual 
and  be  replaced  by  a  new  structure,  movement  of  metal.  What  we  do  need 
Had  traditional  methods  been  used,  is  full  value  behind  the  paper.  We  have 
that  is  what  would  have  happened.  But  at  present  more  gold  than  we  really 
in  the  home  of  aluminum,  some  one  need  and  would  do  well  to  release  some 
had  the  bright  idea  of  reducing  the  of  it  in  a  trade  with  others  who  are  in 
dead-load  by  taking  out  some  of  the  greater  need  of  it.  Certainly,  if  some 
heavy  steel  members  which  carried  the  of  our  money  base  can  be  equally  well 
roadbed  and  replacing  them  with  light  provided  by  silver  as  by  gold,  then  our 


THE  SILVER  CART  BEFORE  THE  HORSE  139 

impounding  of  an  excessive  part  of  the  of  influencing  public  demand,  has  a  far 

world's  monetary  supply  for  domestic  sounder  concept  of  economic  law  than 

use  is  not  merely  selfish,  it  is  not  even  some  of  our  professional  but  stiltedly 

intelligently  selfish.  conventional   economists.   Demand   is 

Of  course,  if  we  had  a  Utopia,  where  no  more  a  fixed  quantity  than  is  the 

every  one  understood  money  and  ad-  size  of  a  penny  balloon  5   it  can  be 

hered  to  principles  of  strict  financial  puffed  up  or  deflated, 

integrity,  we  could  manage  all  our  do-  The  silver-for-money  advocates  in 

mestic  transactions  with  paper  money  Washington  have  lacked  understand- 

correlated  to  bona-fide  commercial  op-  ing  and  put  their  cart  before  the  horse, 

erations.  The  Federal  Reserve  note,  They  want  to  use  silver  for  money  to 

issued  only  against  full  value  of  com-  take  it  off  the  market,  and  so  make  it 

modities  in  transit  and  retired  on  com-  ostensibly  more  valuable.  That  is  a 

pletion   of  the  transfer,  is  perfectly  strategic  mistake.  We  had  confidence  in 

honest  money;  the  additional  legal  re-  gold  because  we  knew  it  could  be  fed 

serve  of  gold  is  a  safety  factor  against  out  to  the  arts  and  used  up.  But  under 

the  occasional  failure  of  the  transaction  our  recent  management  of  silver,  we 

to  go  through  as  expected.  But  a  silver  have  piled  up  an  unmanageable  sur- 

certificate  for  one  dollar  issued  with  no  plus;  the  lack  of  confidence  as  to  its 

more    backing    than    forty-five    cents'  future  value  is  the  logical  and  natural 

worth  of  silver  at  the  market  is  dishon-  result.  The  very  first  essential  to  en- 

est  money.  We  should  insist  at  all  costs  gender  confidence  in  silver  as  the  basis 

on  full  value  behind  paper  in  circu-  of  money  is  a  manipulation  of  demand 

lation.  to  demonstrate  that  the  silver  on  hand 

can  actually  be  used  up.  That  demon 
stration  need  not  go  to  the  extent  of 

Suppose  that  we  do  wish  to  use  silver  consuming  all  the  supplies,  but  it  must 
to  a  wider  extent  for  backing  currency,  go  to  the  extent  of  showing  that  all 
without  questioning  the  dominance  of  new  silver  can  be  turned  into  consump- 
gold  in  the  international  field  as  the  ul-  tion  channels.  That  is  simply  the  ele- 
timate  standard.  What  is  to  prevent  mental  common  sense  of  the  pawn- 
our  doing  so?  There  is  really  only  one  broker  who  declines  to  lend  on  unsal- 
valid  reason:  the  instability  of  its  mar-  able  merchandise, 
ket  value,  relative  to  the  standard  What  have  we  to  dispose  of  in  our 
metal.  Can  that  be  remedied,  at  least  territory?  Our  conditions  for  disposal 
within  our  own  boundaries?  of  silver  as  a  commodity  are  exception- 
Popular  opinion,  judging  by  general  ally  favorable  if  properly  handled.  In- 
rules  rather  than  particular  circum-  asmuch  as  three-fourths  of  our  new 
stances,  assumes  that  the  price  of  silver  silver  is  the  by-product  of  lead,  zinc 
is  simply  the  result  of  the  much-misun-  and  copper  mining,  our  maximum  out- 
derstood  law  of  supply  and  demand,  so  put  comes  just  at  the  period  when  the 
that  there  is  nothing  much  one  can  do  capital-goods  industries  are  flourishing, 
about  it  except  let  nature  take  its  course  that  is,  when  general  purchasing  power 
— the  one  thing  civilization  never  does,  is  at  its  highest.  Under  such  peak  condi- 
because  it  never  can  afford  to.  Mr.  tions,  we  may  extract  as  much  as  60,- 
E.  L.  Bernays,  past  master  in  the  art  000,000  ounces  a  year,  while  under 


i4o  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

depression  conditions,  the  output  may  course  make  a  profit  on  the  transaction, 

recede  below  20,000,000  ounces.  It  could  then  issue  silver  certificates  in 

In  the  prosperous  times,  when  we  dollar  denominations,  redeemable  at 
mine  60,000,000  ounces,  it  has  been  the  market  price  for  silver ;  fully  cov- 
estimated  that  as  much  as  20,000,000  ered  by  silver  bullion,  they  would  con- 
ounces  go  to  Rochester  to  be  dissolved  stitute  perfectly  honest  money, 
in  nitric  acid.  Eastman's  "you  push  the  Of  course,  the  Treasury  would  have 
button,  we  do  the  rest"  popularized  to  protect  its  position  by  placing  a  tariff 
photography,  then  Edison  added  his  on  silver,  incidentally  getting  a  revenue 
cinematograph,  so  that  an  outlet  for  from  silver  purchased  abroad  for  con- 
silver  unknown  a  century  ago  now  may  sumption.  Unless  a  silver  shortage  de- 
take  a  third  of  our  domestic  silver  out-  veloped,  it  should  maintain  an  excise 
put.  There  are  other  industrial  uses  tax  on  plated  silverware,  and  further 
pending,  but  we  do  not  need  to  wait  to  strengthen  its  position,  it  should  be 
for  these  to  provide  our  outlet.  Our  empowered  and  instructed  to  levy  a 
congressional  silverites  need  only  exer-  mining  royalty  on  all  silver  mined,  in 
cise  a  little  commercial  judgment,  in-  proportion  to  the  price  of  silver— de- 
stead  of  chasing  rainbows.  Not  long  signed  to  provide  a  brake  on  excessive 
ago  there  was  an  excise  tax  placed  on  production  and  to  return  to  the  nation 
sterling-ware,  but  no  tax  levied  on  a  share  of  the  value  created  by  protec- 
plated-ware.  The  silver  States  might  tive  legislation;  such  royalty  could  of 
well  inquire  whether  their  representa-  course  be  paid  in  silver  to  add  to  the 
tives  were  asleep  at  the  switch!  A  re-  bullion  reserve, 
versal  of  that  arrangement  would  make 

it  possible  to  sell  well  over  one  ounce  v 
per  family  annually  in  the  form  of  Given  such  a  threefold  method  of 
sterling  table-ware,  and  so  dispose  of  control — tariff  to  prevent  unwanted  in 
most  of  the  rest  of  our  domestic  out-  flux  of  the  metal,  precious  metal  excise 
put.  The  present  consumption  of  brass  taxes  to  promote  silver  consumption 
for  flat-ware  is  many  times  that  and  conserve  gold,  mining  royalties  to 
amount;  with  a  well-planned,  tax-free  control  volume  of  direct  silver  extrac- 
marketing  of  sturdy  sterling-ware,  tion — the  Treasury  would  have  the 
Mrs.  Consumer  would  get  much  more  means  at  hand  to  hold  the  market 
satisfaction  and  better  real  value  for  value  of  silver  at  any  reasonable  ratio 
her  money  than  is  possible  with  plated-  to  gold — and  allow  the  market  to  dem- 
ware.  In  addition,  there  is  a  growing  onstrate  what  is  reasonably  feasible, 
consumption  of  silver  for  jewelry,  What  that  ratio  finally  should  be  in- 
which  might  eventually  be  further  volves  factors  far  too  lengthy  to  dis- 
stimulated  by  excise  taxes  on  gold  cuss  here,  but  it  should  probably  be 
jewelry.  nearer  thirty  to  one  than  the  present 

Under  such  a  management  of  silver,  ratio  of  about  seventy-five  to  one.  But 
we  would  have  nothing  left  of  our  own  if  conducted  on  the  basis  of  demon- 
current  production  to  use  for  money,  stration,  instead  of  attempting  a  fiat 
The  Treasury  would,  however,  find  it  and  fictitious  declaration  of  unproved 
very  easy  to  exchange  some  of  its  huge  value,  the  change  would  be  a  gradual 
hoard  of  gold  for  silver  and  in  due  one. 


THE  SILVER  CART  BEFORE  THE  HORSE  141 

One  can  not,  however,  leave  this  cost  of  the  marginal  producer.  In  the 

question  of  ratio,  without  touching  on  a  case  of  gold,  the  problem  is  relatively 

fallacy  which  has  been  revived.  Pro-  simple  j  but  in  the  case  of  silver  the 

fessor   Warren,   in   his   discussion   of  problem  of  price  is  immensely  compli- 

prices,  has  frequently  stated  that  "the  cated  because  nearly  all  the  white  metal 

price  of  wheat  is  the  ratio  of  the  supply  is  produced  willy-nilly  as  a  by-product, 

of  wheat  and  the  demand  for  it  to  the  Instead,  therefore,  of  being  able  to 

supply  of  gold  and  the  demand  for  it."  attack  the  problem  by  examining  pro- 

That  piece  of  perfect  mumbo-jumbo  is  duction  costs,  it  must  be  attacked  by 

mentioned,   because   it   leads   directly  determining  marginal  utility  in  con- 

into  the  old  sixteen-to-one  argument  of  sumption,  and  that  is  spread  over  many 

the  silverites.  As  far  as  actual  supply  different  items. 

and  demand  go,  they  are  necessarily  Since  the  very  nature  of  that  prob- 
equal — what  supply  and  demand  con-  lem  will  require  a  long  time  to  demon- 
ditions  do  is  to  determine  the  price  at  strate  what  the  relative  value  of  silver 
which  they  balance.  But  if  the  two  are  really  is,  we  can  not  hope  to  establish  a 
equal,  then  Professor  Warren's  for-  permanent  ratio  in  a  hurry.  That  does 
mula  would  lead  to  the  statement  that  not,  however,  preclude  an  early  im- 
prices  are  proportionate  to  relative  vol-  provement  in  the  price  of  silver,  suffi- 
ume.  That  was  the  plea  of  Bryan's  cient  to  justify  a  moderate  use  of  the 
days,  that  since  world  production  of  Treasury's  authority  to  purchase  sil- 
silver,  in  the  long  run,  is  sixteen  times  ver;  more  than  that  should  not  be  ex- 
that  of  gold,  equity  demanded  a  six-  pected.  There  may  be  a  quarter  billion 
teen-to-one  ratio  of  gold  to  silver.  The  ounces  of  purchasable  bullion  in  exist- 
farmer,  who  knows  more  about  soil  encej  there  would  be  no  sense  in  rashly 
mining  than  metal  mining  may  be  de-  bidding  up  the  price  to  a  level  far  above 
ceived  by  that  statement,  but  he  would  its  real  value.  If  we  want  to  use  about 
hardly  concede  that  the  price  of  wheat  two  billions  of  silver  in  our  monetary 
should  be  so  determined.  World  pro-  reserve,  that  will  have  to  be  very 
duction  of  wheat  is  about  4,300,000,-  slowly  accumulated ;  the  world's  gold 
ooo  bushels  j  with  a  gold  production  of  reserves  have  taken  centuries  to  build 
20,000,000  ounces,  that  would  make  an  up  and  now  amount  to  about  fifty  years' 
ounce  of  gold  worth  some  200  bushels,  consumption  in  the  arts, 
or  a  price  today  of  about  seventeen  James  P.  Warburg  pointed  out  last 
cents  a  bushel !  The  cotton  farmer  November,  that  to  invent  a  new  mone- 
would  be  equally  pleased  with  the  re-  tary  system,  better  than  any  the  world 
suit  of  balancing  25,000,000  bales,  or  has  ever  known,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
say  12,500,000,000  pounds  of  fiber  weeks  is  practically  impossible.  To 
against  some  $800,000,000  gold —  build  up  silver  reserves  equal  to  some 
about  six  cents  a  pound  for  cotton  un-  thirty  years  of  our  own  consumption  is 
der  our  new  standard!  equally  impossible  in  less  than  a  gen- 
Relative  volumes  have  nothing  to  eration,  without  destroying  the  very 
do  with  price.  The  going  price  of  a  consumption  which  gives  silver  its 
product  is  usually  determined  by  the  value. 


The  Permanently  Unemployed 

BY  HENRY  CARTER 

What  is  to  be  done  with  the  millions  of  workers  for  whom  there 

is  no  chance  of  employment  even  if  we  return  to 

1929  prosperity? 

KR  the  past  several  weeks — or  sion.  To  reverse  this  spiral  and  to  in- 
lonths — signs  have  not  been  crease  and  spread  purchasing  power  was 
icking  to  assure  us  that  economic  the  task  imposed  upon  the  Roosevelt 
recovery  is  definitely  in  progress  in  the  Administration,  and  to  that  end  its  en- 
United  States.  Perhaps  most  revelatory  ergies  have  been  devoted  with  no  small 
of  the  fact  of  recovery  is  the  growing  degree  of  success.  Prices  have  risen, 
chorus  from  the  business  community  production  has  increased,  three  million 
that  governmental  restraints  be  with-  people  have  gone  back  to  work,  profits 
drawn  in  order  that  business  may  be  are  once  more  coming  in  sight,  there  is 
free  to  complete  the  restoration  of  ground  for  optimism  and  encourage- 
prosperity  according  to  its  own  lights  ment. 

and  in  its  own  manner.  One  has  only  Nevertheless,  the  depression  has  in 
to  contrast  this  attitude  with  the  help-  flicted  on  our  social  and  economic  struc- 
lessness  of  business  a  twelvemonth  ago  ture  injuries  and  changes  no  less  far- 
to  conclude  that  a  major  change  in  con-  reaching  than  those  of  a  prolonged 
ditions  has  taken  place,  one  which  may  war,  and  it  is  to  a  different  world  and  to 
be  described  as  constituting  a  fair  fundamentally  altered  conditions  that 
measure  of  recovery.  recovery  is  returning.  During  the  lean 
It  is  generally  agreed  that  the  eco-  years  we  have  had  to  draw  heavily  on 
nomic  collapse  and  depression  of  the  our  savings  and  on  our  credit,  indi- 
past  four  years  were  fundamentally  vidual  and  national;  the  foreign  trade 
due  to  the  dislocation  and  curtailment  upon  which  our  agriculture  was  so 
of  the  purchasing  power  of  great  sec-  largely  dependent  must  be  rebuilt 
tions  of  our  population.  Their  inability  from  the  bottom  up,  a  work  of  years 
to  buy  the  products  of  our  farms  and  with  little  prospect  of  its  regaining 
factories  led  to  the  destruction  of  the  anything  approaching  the  peaks  of  the 
price  level  and  the  disappearance  of  War  and  post- War  decades.  More 
profits,  which  in  turn  threw  unprece-  ominous  yet  is  the  existence  in  the 
dented  millions  into  unemployment,  United  States  of  an  army  of  unem- 
thus  further  reducing  their  purchasing  ployed  variously  estimated  at  eight 
power,  in  the  vicious  spiral  of  depres-  and  a  half  to  eleven  millions,  nearly  a 


THE  PERMANENTLY  UNEMPLOYED 


fifth  of  our  working  population,  and 
the  further  prospect  that  of  these  mil 
lions  less  than  half  can  hope  to  be  re- 
absorbed   into   private   industry   even 
after  recovery,  thus  leaving  an  alarm 
ingly  large  number  who  will  be  per 
manently  and  directly  dependent  on 
governmental  action  for  their  support. 
Indeed  a  distinguished  British  journal 
ist  recently  commented  with  more  than 
a  little  truth  that  the  most  significant 
effect  of  the  depression  upon  the  United 
States  is  that  it  has  saddled  the  country 
with  permanent  unemployment  as  a 
political  problem  of  prime  and  para 
mount    importance.    One    might    go 
further  to  say  that  the  test  of  recovery 
will  be  the  extent  to  which  it  reaches 
these  masses  and  furnishes  them  with 
purchasing  power,  for  without  a  gen 
eral  and  wide-spread  buying  power  to 
sustain  it  recovery — and  profits — will 
be  limited,  onerous  taxes  will  continue 
or  increase,  and  a  dangerous  body  of 
discontent  and  suffering  will  remain 
with  its  inevitable  threat  to  the  social 
and  political  structure  of  the  United 
States.  Unemployment,  while  a  symp 
tom  and  a  result  rather  than  a  basic 
cause  of  depression,  affords  the  tangible 
measuring  rod  by  which  the  level  of 
fundamental  factors  may  be  read.  On 
it  will  be  marked  the  success  or  failure 
of  our  economic  and  political  institu 
tions  in  providing  purchasing  power 
for  the  whole  nation,  namely  recovery 
for  all  as  contrasted  with  a  treacherous 
and  unsubstantial  prosperity  for  the 
few. 

ii 

Curiously  enough,  no  one  knows 
just  how  many  unemployed  there  are 
or  how  many  there  have  been  during 
the  depression  years.  The  Department 
of  Labor  does  not  know,  nor  does  the 


newly  established  United  States  Em 
ployment  Service,  nor  the  Federal 
Emergency  Relief  Administration. 
Statistics  are  in  course  of  preparation 
but  the  data  on  which  they  are  based 
are  fragmentary,  incomplete,  chaotic, 
often  misleading,  and  are  derived 
rather  from  comparative  figures  of 
employment  than  from  any  systematic 
census  or  registration  of  the  unem 
ployed.  Unofficial  estimates  of  consid 
erable  value  have  been  compiled  by  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  the  Na 
tional  Industrial  Conference  Board, 
and  individuals  such  as  Colonel  Ayres 
of  the  Cleveland  Trust  Company  and 
Dr.  Kreps  of  Leland  Stanford  Uni 
versity.  While  different  methods  have 
been  used  in  computing  these,  they  all 
agree  that  unemployment  at  its  peak  in 
March,  1933,  was  between  thirteen  and 
fourteen  millions,  the  National  Indus 
trial  Conference  Board  report  showing 
13,200,000  as  compared  with  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor's  figure 
of  13,689,000.  It  seems  certain  that  it 
was  not  less  than  this  level  and  in  the 
opinion  of  some  observers  it  actually 
ran  as  high  as  1 6,000,000. 

The  passage  of  the  National  Indus 
trial  Recovery  Act  provided  the  im 
petus  for  the  reemployment  in  indus 
try  of  approximately  three  million 
during  1933,  principally  through  the 
device  of  limiting  the  hours  of  labor 
and  compelling  the  spreading  of  work 
at  what  was  hoped  would  be  purchasing 
wages,  although  the  subsequent  rise  of 
prices  and  in  the  cost  of  living  has 
tended  to  reduce  the  purchasing  power 
thus  produced.  Apparently  on  the  the 
ory  that  the  reemployment  of  one 
man  in  productive  industry  involves 
the  reemployment  of  another  man  in 
the  so-called  service  industries  such  as 
transportation  and  retailing,  the  Na- 


i44  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

tional  Industrial  Conference  Board  has  workers  and  other  unemployables  who 
recently  estimated  the  unemployed  in  could  no  longer  find  jobs  to  which  they 
February,  1934,  at  8,610,000,  with  were  adapted.  Since  1929  the  improve- 
which  Colonel  Ayres's  figures,  com-  ment  of  technological  devices  and 
puted  on  a  similar  basis,  appear  to  be  methods  in  industry  has  increased  the 
in  accord.  The  American  Federation  of  potential  of  productive  industry  by 
Labor,  on  the  other  hand,  does  not  be-  possibly  ten  to  fifteen  per  cent;  the 
lieve  this  formula  to  be  reliable,  par-  physical  and  psychological  effects  of 
ticularly  at  a  time  when  production  and  the  depression  and  of  the  long  lay-offs 
distribution  are  still  under  normal,  and  have  added  to  the  number  of  per- 
estimates  the  unemployed  in  February,  manently  unemployable ;  and  it  would 
1934,  at  11,374,000,  a  figure  which  not  be  far  wrong  to  estimate  the  total 
would  appear  to  be  corroborated  by  the  of  persons  who  would  in  normal  times 
Secretary  of  Labor's  report  of  Febru-  be  permanently  or  temporarily  unem- 
ary  12,  1934,  which  shows  a  gain  in  ployed  for  these  reasons  at  4,000,000. 
employment  of  less  than  three  million  This  would  still  leave  7,000,000  em- 
over  last  year's  low.  While  it  is  difficult  ployable  persons  to  be  reabsorbed  into 
to  be  dogmatic,  factors  such  as  the  permanent  employment.  The  question 
growth  of  total  population  and  the  in-  is,  can  it  be  done?  On  the  answer  de 
creasing  number  of  those  whose  sav-  pends  the  ultimate  fate  of  this  Admin- 
ings  have  become  exhausted  and  who  istration  and  its  successors, 
must  now  depend  upon  being  em-  In  spite  of  the  three  million  or  so  re- 
ployed  for  a  living,  would  appear  to  employed  since  March,  1933,  private 
give  credence  to  the  estimates  of  the  industry,  to  reach  the  1929  levels  of 
American  Federation  of  Labor  in  pref-  employment,  would,  according  to  the 
erence  to  those  of  the  National  Indus-  employment  figures  of  the  Department 
trial  Conference  Board:  for  practical  of  Labor,  have  to  furnish  yet  another 
purposes  it  would  seem  reasonable  to  four  and  a  half  million  jobs.  The  enor- 
assume  that  the  actual  number  of  un-  mousness,  if  not  the  impossibility,  of 
employed  at  the  present  moment  is  such  a  task  need  only  be  stated  to  be 
close  to  1 1 ,000,000.  apparent.  To  accomplish  it  would  re- 
It  must  be  said  at  once  that  a  certain  quire  an  increase  of  a  million  in  the 
number  of  these  would  presumably  be  durable  goods  industries,  and  half  that 
unemployed  even  in  the  best  of  times,  number  in  consumption  goods  indus- 
In  the  so-called  normal  years  of  1925  tries,  plus  another  million  in  the  build- 
and  1926  there  were  one  and  a  half  to  ing  trades,  and  perhaps  two  million  in 
two  million  unemployed,  and  in  the  the  field  of  service  industries.  Assuming 
boom  year  of  1929  this  figure  rose  as  that  such  a  programme  is  eventually 
high  as  three  million  according  to  gen-  possible,  there  would  still  be  a  residue 
erally  accepted  estimates.  Of  this  of  2,500,000  employable  persons,  in  ad- 
number  seasonal  and  technological  de-  dition  to  the  4,000,000  unemployable 
velopments  in  industry  accounted  for  or  temporarily  unemployed,  even 
perhaps  1,500,000,  which  would  ap-  when  recovery  to  1929  levels  is  at- 
pear  to  constitute  a  normal  number  of  tained.  Actually  private  industry  will 
temporarily  unemployed  persons,  the  have  done  well  if  it  can  reabsorb  a  mil- 
other  half  representing  superannuated  lion  workers  in  the  course  of  the  next 


THE  PERMANENTLY  UNEMPLOYED  145 

six  months  j  thereafter  its  ability  to  re-  picture  j  yet  it  is  the  one  which  will 

employ  becomes  too  problematical  for  dominate  the  social  and  political  scene 

useful  speculation.  On  this  showing,  the  for  years  to  come, 
number   of   unemployed   six   months 
from  now  is  substantially  certain  to  be 

not  less  than  6,500,000  and  is  much  For  unemployment  and  its  attend- 
more  likely  to  amount  to  nine  to  ten  ant  problems  there  is,  seemingly,  no 
millions.  For  these  adequate  provision  panacea.  Neither  Great  Britain  nor 
and  purchasing  power  must  be  found  Germany,  which  have  suffered  greatly 
if  fresh  economic  depression  and  pos-  in  this  respect,  have  found  one,  nor 
sible  political  disaster  are  not  to  ensue,  has  the  United  States,  as  it  enters  upon 
With  the  resources  of  private  charity  the  problem  which  has  challenged  the 
for  relief  practically  exhausted,  and  older  industrial  nations  for  the  past  fif- 
those  of  local  and  State  governments  teen  years.  Even  though  private  in- 
nearly  so,  it  is  clear  that  the  brunt  of  dustry  in  its  recovery  returns  to  1929 
this  burden  will  fall  inevitably  upon  employment  levels,  it  will  still  fail  to 
the  Federal  Government,  nor  can  the  provide  occupation  and  purchasing 
Government  refuse  it  without  imperil-  power  for  6,500,000,  for  whom,  never- 
ing  its  existence.  theless,  provision  must  somehow  or 
At  present  the  President's  emer-  other  be  made.  Emphatically  the  tradi- 
gency  programme  is  providing  for  tion  and  sentiment  of  the  country  is 
about  half  of  the  11,000,000  now  un-  against  a  dole  system  with  its  ugly  po- 
employed.  Three  hundred  thousand  litical  and  social  implications,  even  as- 
men  are  being  employed  in  American  suming  that  we  could  stand  the  financial 
forests  by  the  Civilian  Conservation  burden.  Yet  permanently  reduced  pur- 
Corps,  and  the  Public  Works  Admin-  chasing  power  for  any  such  number  as 
istration  is  affording  work  for  a  similar  this  can  only  sap  the  foundations  of  re 
number,  which  will  be  approximately  covery  and  produce  a  load  of  taxation 
tripled  during  the  coming  year.  The  for  doles  and  relief  which  would  eventu- 
work  projects  initiated  and  supported  ally  crush  private  enterprise.  Clearly, 
by  the  Civil  Works  Administration  are  broad  measures  and  bold  steps  are  the 
still  employing  some  two  million  on  order  of  the  day  if  unemployment  and 
part-time  work.  In  these  categories  the  threat  of  depression  and  collapse  are 
about  three  million  people  are  being  to  be  kept  within  bounds, 
provided  for  temporarily.  Besides  The  attack  will  have  to  be  made  on 
these,  2,700,000  families  are  reported  not  one  but  many  fronts.  Unemploy- 
as  on  direct  relief,  and  the  indications  ment  insurance  for  those  temporarily 
are  that  this  number  is  increasing  out  of  work  as  a  result  of  seasonal  and 
rather  than  diminishing  in  measure  as  technological  changes  in  industry  is  at 
savings  become  exhausted  and  hope  of  present  much  discussed  and  may  become 
jobs  in  private  industry  fades.  Over  the  subject  of  general  legislation  within 
and  above  these  remain  more  than  five  the  near  future.  Its  utility  and  social 
million  unemployed  for  whom  no  justification  seem  unquestionable,  but  its 
present  provision  is  being  made,  either  effects  would  not  reach  more  than  the 
by  government  or  by  recovery  in  pri-  one  and  a  half  to  two  million  employ- 
vate  industry.  It  is  not  a  reassuring  ables  who  may  reasonably  be  expected 


146  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

to  be  temporarily  jobless  in  the  course  the  Public  Works  Administration,  and 
of  the  normal  operation  of  our  economic  is  implicit  in  schemes  such  as  the  Ten- 
system.  However  it  affords  a  much  nessee  Valley  and  Columbia  River  de- 
needed  means  of  relieving  the  usual  and  velopments.  It  has  already  engaged  the 
inevitable  stresses  in  industrial  employ-  interest  and  support  of  industrialists 
ment,  and  by  maintaining  purchasing  such  as  Henry  Ford,  who  may  indeed 
power  on  a  broad  scale  would  directly  be  regarded  as  a  pioneer  in  this  field  of 
benefit  productive  enterprise.  As  such  social  planning,  and  it  may  in  time  at- 
we  should  not  hesitate  over  its  adop-  tain  impressive  proportions.  Of  neces- 
tion.  sity  it  must  be  a  slow  and  gradual  proc- 

Old  age  pensions  would  likewise  ess,  the  results  of  which  will  become 
serve  a  useful  purpose  by  reducing  the  tangible  only  over  a  period  of  years,  and 
number  of  those  seeking  gainful  em-  estimates  as  to  its  possible  extent  are 
ployment.  While  their  general  adoption  meaningless.  Its  immediate  effects  upon 
might  well  be  urged  on  humanitarian  present  unemployment  are  in  the  nature 
grounds,  their  economic  advantages  are  of  things  negligible,  but  its  potential 
no  less  compelling.  Industry  would  be  bearing  seems  unmistakably  desirable, 
cleared  of  superannuated  workers  and  The  measures  thus  far  cited,  however 
its  efficiency  increased  to  that  extent,  helpful  in  themselves,  would  neverthe- 
while  the  continued  purchasing  power  less  still  leave  two  to  three  millions  of 
afforded  by  pensions  would  materially  employables  for  whom  neither  industry 
assist  in  maintaining  the  necessary  mar-  nor  agriculture  can,  even  in  prosperity, 
ket  for  agricultural  and  industrial  prod-  offer  a  livelihood,  yet  for  whom  pro- 
ucts.  Estimates  suggest  that  through  vision  and  purchasing  power  must  be 
this  means  a  million  and  a  half  or  more  found  if  we  are  to  have  a  healthy  and 
workers  could  be  retired  from  the  ranks  sound  economic  and  social  structure.  It 
of  those  dependent  on  employment,  seems  fair  to  say  that  these  want  jobs, 
Old  age  pensions  have  been  used  to  not  doles.  Unquestionably  the  most 
advantage  in  Great  Britain  and  else-  popular  and  successful  measure  of  relief 
where,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  hope  thus  far  has  been  the  Civil  Works  Ad- 
that  as  their  economic  benefits  are  ministration,  which  offered  jobs,  tempo- 
grasped  the  necessary  legislation  will  be  rary  though  they  were,  at  a  living  wage, 
forthcoming.  The  Civil  Works  Administration  was 

Another  method  of  restoring  purchas-  an  emergency  project  on  a  temporary 
ing  power  to  those  now  unemployed  basis  and  as  such  has  been  discontinued, 
consists  in  getting  families  back  to  the  but  the  need  for  the  activities  it  fostered, 
land.  Our  overproduced  commercial  ag-  and  for  the  occupation  and  purchasing 
riculture  offers  no  openings  for  the  un-  power  it  extended,  has  if  anything  in- 
employed,  but  the  policy  of  reviving  creased  since  it  began  cutting  its  pay- 
subsistence  farming,  accompanied  by  the  rolls.  Because  private  industry,  depend- 
decentralization  of  industry  from  over-  ent  on  profits  for  existence,  can  not  hope, 
grown  manufacturing  centres  and  the  even  in  the  best  of  times,  to  take  up  this 
establishment  of  local  part-time  indus-  section  of  the  unemployed,  does  it  fol- 
tries,  is  being  actively  pursued  by  the  low  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  Govern- 
Federal  Emergency  Relief  Administra-  ment  to  find  socially  useful  and  econom- 
tion,  the  subsistence  farming  projects  of  ically  valuable  work  for  these  two  or 


THE  PERMANENTLY  UNEMPLOYED  147 

three  millions?  A  glance  at  the  con 
temporary  scene  shows  that  it  is  not.  IV 
Already  the  Government  has  at  work  Unemployment  insurance,  old  age 
300,000  CCC  workers,  whose  activities  pensions,  public  works,  assistance  to  sub- 
over  a  period  of  years  will  replace  sistence  farmers,  public  services,  all 
the  depleted  but  immensely  valuable  these  would  cost  money,  a  lot  of  it. 
forest  and  timber  resources  of  the  na-  Estimates  as  to  the  total  probable  cost 
tion.  Then  too,  there  are  270,000  work-  must  necessarily  be  of  the  roughest 
ers  in  Public  Works  Administration  sort.  During  the  present  emergency  we 
projects,  and  there  will  be  more.  Be-  are  spending  $3,300,000,000  on  public 
sides  these  the  Government  was  recently  works  j  in  the  past  year  the  Federal 
employing  over  four  million  CWA  Emergency  Relief  Administration,  in- 
workers  on  a  temporary  basis,  and  is  eluding  its  CWA  activities,  has  ex- 
still,  directly  or  indirectly,  employing  pended  $1,600,000,000,  providing  for 
two  million  of  them.  These  are  engaged  an  average  of  about  3,000,000  families 
in  a  variety  of  projects  and  services  of  either  through  work  or  direct  relief, 
definite  and  permanent  social  utility  and  it  is  preparing  to  spend  another 
which  constitute  demonstrable  additions  $  i  ,200,000,000  in  the  course  of  the  next 
to  the  economic  wealth  and  well-being  eight  months,  with  the  possibility  of 
of  the  country:  measures  of  flood  con-  spending  considerably  more  if  neces- 
trol  and  prevention  of  soil  erosion,  pub-  sary  j  the  Civilian  Conservation  Corps  is 
lie  health  activities  such  as  malaria  con-  spending  at  the  rate  of  $350,000,000  a 
trol,  eradication  of  agricultural  pests,  year  and  giving  work  to  300,000  men. 
maintenance  and  improvement  of  pub-  The  total  of  expenditure  for  the  next 
lie  property,  educational  and  cultural  twelve  months  for  these  purposes  will 
projects.  Such  a  list  of  desirable  public  come  to  not  less  than  five  billions  and 
undertakings  and  services  is  capable  of  may  be  nearer  six  billions.  This  figure, 
indefinite  expansion  and  offers  a  new  however,  is  not  as  alarming  as  it  sounds, 
and  permanent  field  for  almost  unlim-  In  normal  times  our  national  bill  for 
ited  employment.  Supplemented  by  a  public  works,  Federal,  State  and  munici- 
suitable  programme  of  public  works  pal,  amounts  to  about  two  billions  a  year, 
construction,  road  building,  erection  of  and  in  1929  nearly  a  billion  was  spent  in 
low-priced  housing,  and  the  like,  the  various  forms  of  private,  local,  State 
realm  of  public  services  affords  the  op-  and  Federal  relief  as  a  matter  of  course, 
portunity  of  dealing  with  unemploy-  With  the  depression  these  expenditures 
ment  and  low  purchasing  power  in  have  devolved  almost  entirely  upon  the 
quarters  which  the  recovery  of  private  Federal  Government,  a  fact  which  tends 
industry  can  never  hope  to  reach,  and  to  exaggerate  their  apparent  position  in 
through  its  expansion  in  slack  times  can  our  national  economy.  With  the  corn- 
forestall  or  cushion  the  otherwise  inevi-  pletion  of  the  PWA  programme  the  an- 
table  effects  of  depression.  We  already  nual  bill  for  relief  would  drop  to  less 
have  these  public  services  as  a  tempo-  than  three  billions  at  the  present  rate  of 
rary  measure:  the  desirability  and  the  expenditure. 

outright  need  for  making  them  perma-  Approaching  it  from  another  angle,  it 

nent  would,  in  the  light  of  the  total  would  seem  reasonable  to  estimate  the 

problem,  seem  apparent.  annual  cost  of  supporting  an  unem- 


148  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

ployed  individual,  whether  by  unem-  that   the   money   thus   raised   would, 

ployment  insurance,  old  age  pension,  through  the  expenditures  of  its  bene- 

work  or  direct  relief,  at  about  $500.  On  ficiaries,  be  poured  immediately  into 

the  basis  of  six  to  seven  millions  perma-  the  channels  of  trade,  thus  creating  and 

nently  unemployable  in  private  indus-  stimulating  an  increase  of  business  activ- 

try  that  expenditure  would  work  out  at  ities  and  business  profits.  Three  billion 

three  to  three  and  a  half  billions  a  year,  a  year,  while  a  large  sum  in  itself,  repre- 

It  would  accordingly  not  be  far  amiss  to  sents  a  very  small  percentage  of  our 

set  the  probable  cost  of  such  social  legis-  normal  national  income,  and  in  the  long 

lation  at  three  billions  annually.  How  view  would  not  appear  an  excessive  price 

this  would  be  raised  and  administered  to  pay  for  assurance  against  a  repetition 

raises  questions  beyond  the  scope  of  the  of  the  depression  years  and  against  the 

present  article.  Senator  Wagner  believes  political  dangers  of  prolonged  and  wide- 

that  his  proposed  five  per  cent  Federal  spread  unemployment, 
tax  on  payrolls  would  bring  in  two  bil-         In  spite  of  recovery  the  problem  of 

lions  or  more  a  year  in  reasonably  good  unemployment  will  still  confront  us. 

times  j  other  authorities  are  less  optimis-  We  have  a  people  who  want  not  charity 

tic  and  estimate  the  probable  yield  at  or  relief  but  jobs,  useful  jobs  at  purchas- 

about  half  that  amount,  and  it  might  ing  wages.  If  industry  can  not  furnish 

be  necessary  to  levy  a  moderate  profits  enough  of  these — and  it  can  not — the 

tax  to  supplement  this  sum.  Business,  of  unemployed  will  look  to  the  Govern- 

course,  would  groan  at  the  prospect  of  ment.  There  are  ten  million  of  them 

such  taxation,  but  it  should  remember  and  they  can  vote. 


A  Southern  View  of  Northern 
/      Reformers 

BY  ARTHUR  STYRON 

Northerners  who  feel  indignantly  superior  over  such  things  as 

the  Scottsboro  trials  should  know  what  the  South  thinks 

about  their  attitude 


and  reared  in  a  small  South-  political  regime  then  culling  rich  profits 

ern  town,  I  gained  my  first  im-  in  the  South.  Altogether  these  reform- 

pression  of  the  North  from  a  ers  and  politicians  constituted,  with  the 

small   group    of   determined    Yankee  younger  Negro  element,  the  standard- 

reformers  and  agitators  who  had  de-  bearers  of  the  flag  and  the  staunch 

scended  upon  us  to  improve  our  com-  defenders  of  the  Union:  a  little  Re- 

munity.  They  were  regarded  with  not  publican  oasis  in  the  unreconstructed 

a  little  awe  by  the  puzzled  townspeople,  Democratic    South.    With    the    local 

who  spoke  of  them  as  "Yankee  ladies"  whites  they  held  no  intercourse,  not 

or  "gentlemen,"  or  simply  as  "Puri-  merely  because  Southerners  were  loath 

tans";  and  I  remember  how  we  used  to  associate  with  whites  who  mingled 

to  watch  them  (behind  closed  shutters,  intimately  with  Negroes,  but  because 

since  politeness  was  an  essential)  as  they  the  reformers  themselves  welcomed  os- 

passed  along  the  street,  probably  look-  tracism  as  enhancing  their  martyrdom. 

ing,  like  the  Red  Queen,  for  something  Not  altogether  wrongly  perhaps  for 

of  which  to  disapprove.  There  were  five  that  day,  the  South  associated  the  doc- 

or  six  ladies  who  taught  in  the  Negro  trines  of  these  reformers  with  the  gen- 

schools  j  one  or  two  Protestant  minis-  eral  sentiment  in  the  North.  When  fifty 

ters    who    preached    in    the    Negro  women  and  children  were  murdered  in 

churches  5  a  few  minor  "intellectuals"  cold  blood  in  the  Nat  Turner  Rebellion 

who  were  interested  in  a  Negro  news-  in  Virginia,  had  not  the  Northern  press 

paper;  and  of  course  a  number  of  Re-  generally  applauded?   Was  not  John 

publican  politicians  who,  as  practical  Brown  eulogized  there  for  murdering 

and  acquisitive  men,  had  little  use  for  some  white  boys  in  Kansas  and  for  at- 

their  more  idealistic  colleagues  except  tempting  to  incite  a  revolt  in  Virginia 

in  so  far  as  the  latter's  single-minded  that  must  have  resulted  in  the  massacre 

idealism  served  to  give  a  good  reputa-  of  hundreds  of  white  men,  women  and 

tion  and  a  "progressive"  flavor  to  the  children?    Did   not  Virginia  have  to 


150  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

threaten  to  send  troops  into  Ohio  lem  to  which  reformers  with  character- 
should  the  latter  State's  citizens  at-  istic  single-mindedness  assume  they 
tempt  a  rescue  of  the  murderer?  Had  have  the  exact  answer,  the  South  has 
not  a  delighted  Northern  public  hailed  always  been  a  ripe  plum  for  the  preach- 
Emerson's  religious  caricature  that  the  ers  of  discordant  "equality"  and  "free- 
fanatic  had  made  the  Gallows  as  glori-  dom" — surely  great  principles  when 
ous  as  the  Cross? — and  Daniel  Web-  practised  with  reason  and  harmony, 
ster's  son  led  his  Massachusetts  com-  but  which,  when  distorted  by  instinctive 
pany  to  the  "martyr's"  grave  to  sing  reaction,  dwindle  to  mere  sympathy  for 
His  Soul  Goes  Marching  On?  Had  not  the  under-dog  that  has  no  more  preci- 
President  Lincoln  and  the  entire  sion  than  attachment  to  personal  opin- 
House  received  and  honored  the  vicious  ion.  In  the  case  of  the  Negro,  the 
English  reformer  Thompson?  Had  not  reformers  typified  the  permanent 
the  North  generally  approved  of  the  Northern  attitude  towards  him  as  a 
Republican  party's  barbarous  "Recon-  white  man  with  a  blackened  face,  an 
struction  policies"?  Now,  still  living  attitude  necessarily  derived  from  the 
fearfully  in  the  retreating  sinister  melodrama,  since  the  average  North- 
shadow  of  that  nightmare,  Southerners  erner  could  not  possibly  know  the 
very  naturally  asked  one  another  if  the  Negro  in  reality;  but  the  sad  truth  is 
North  would  not  again  applaud  if  their  that  when  men  concentrate  upon  a 
reformers  and  agitators  should  succeed  cause  rather  than  upon  love  they  re 
in  arousing  the  blacks  against  the  whites  verse  the  fortitude  of  understanding 
in  a  bloody  race-war  in  the  South.  And,  and  allow  what  they  do  not  know  to 
as  subsequent  events  proved,  they  were  disturb  what  they  do  know, 
entirely  right  about  the  reformers  and  The  reformers,  therefore,  completely 
half-right  about  the  North.  failed  to  take  into  consideration  the 

fact  that   segregation    (for   example) 
might  be  as  pleasant  for  the  Negro  as 

Now,  the  North — probably  because  for  the  white  man;  that  the  colored 

of  a  more  ingrained  Puritanism — has  people  might  prefer  actual  security  to 

always  been  a  fertile  soil  for  breeding  fictitious  liberty;  and  that  they  might 

reformers,  some  three  or  four  hundred  even  resent  being  depicted  as  "children 

reforming    societies    having   been    or-  of  nature,"  "glorious  savages,"  or  "fu- 

ganized  there   (chiefly  in  New  Eng-  tile  Russians,"  as  the  Romantic  poets 

land)    in    the    Nineteenth    Century;  and  the  current  theatre  would  have  it. 

whereas  the  South,  for  the  same  reason  Probably  it  was  discouraging  that  the 

that  she  was  anti-Puritan  in  pre-Colonial  older  and  better-class  Negroes  should 

days,  has  always  been  strongly  anti-  have  remained  cold  to  the  reformers' 

reformer,  and  so  far  as  I  know  has  never  zealous  efforts  in  their  behalf;  but  the 

organized  a  single  improving  society  to  fact  was  that  the  Negroes,  knowing  in- 

interfere,  with   what  she   regards   as  stinctively  that  these  agitators  were  less 

atrociously  bad  manners,  in  the  local  concerned  with  loving  them  than  with 

affairs  of  other  people  and  other  com-  hating    the    Southerners    desperately 

munities.  In  the  sense,  however,  of  not  struggling  to  preserve  the  remnants  of 

being    "progressive"    by    repudiating  what  was  perhaps  the  most  honorable 

anachronisms,  and  in  providing  a  prob-  society  America  had  yet  produced,  gen- 


A  SOUTHERN  VIEW  OF  NORTHERN  REFORMERS       151 

erally  spoke  of  them  as  "poor  Bochra"  many  as  possible)   were  Negroes,  as 

behind  their  backs  and  continued  to  give  were  the  barbers,  professional  nurses, 

their  affection  to  the  Southerners.  and  so  on.  Blacks  had  the  best  fish  and 

So  much  nonsense  has  been  written  vegetable  and  meat  stalls  in  the  market, 

about    the    traditional    love    between  The  tradesmen — carpenters,  brick-lay- 

Southern  Negroes  and  whites  that  it  ers,  plumbers — were  mostly  colored, 

has  become  a  caricature  difficult  to  dis-  No  Southerner  dreamt  of  trespassing 

place.  Actually,  it  was  not  based  upon  upon  their  province,  and  indeed  such  a 

sentimentality,     cant,     demagogy     or  trespasser  would  have  been  boycotted 

paternalism,  but  upon  the  experience  by  the  white  public.  (It  was  the  later 

of  living  together  for  nearly  two  cen-  influx  of  Northerners  who,  unused  to 

turies  in  more  or  less  harmony  and  tol-  Negroes,  began  the  demand  for  white 

erance  of  each  other's  standards  and  servants  and  artisans.)  Negroes  were 

ethics.  There  was  no  attempt  to  ob-  admitted  to  the  professions,  legal  and 

scure  the  fact  that  these  standards  were  medical,  before  they  were  in   many 

distinct  j  but  at  least  in  such  a  democ-  Northern  States.  Slaves  who  had  had 

racy  there  was  no  hypocritical  equality,  the  aptitude  had  been  well  educated, 

and  in  such  liberty  as  each  enjoyed  no  particularly  in  music  and  such  arts  as 

savage  "freedom."  This  was  unabused  their  race  excels  in,  and  many  of  them 

understanding,  and  from  such  under-  were  singers,  musicians  and  writers  of 

standing  love  not  infrequently  grows  note  who  compare  more  than  favor- 

— the  sort  of  love,  for  example,  that  the  ably  with  the  modern  Negro  "intellec- 

parent  feels  for  his  dependent  children,  tuals"  from  other  sections  of  the  nation. 

In  short,  the  Negro  was  a  part  of  the  The  ante-bellum  disfranchisement  had 

white  family.  His  position  might  be  applied  only  to  slaves,  free  Negroes 

that  of  a  perpetual  minor,  but  at  any  having  been  permitted  to  vote  without 

rate  he  belonged.  question  until  Northern  agitation  made 

The  particular  virtues  of  the  Negro  it  dangerous  j  and  even  after  the  Civil 

—loyalty,   generosity   and   courtesy—  War,    when    the    franchise   was    uni- 

were  recognized  by  the  whites  and  re-  versally  granted  in  the  South,  a  few 

paid  in  kind.  Any  white  man  who  re-  Northern  States  withheld  it  for  a  long 

pudiated  his  responsibility  to  care  for  time, 
his  sick  or  infirm  servants  would  have 

been  completely  ostracized  by  his  com-  In 
munity.  White  children  were  never  At  the  time  of  which  I  write  the  Re- 
allowed  to  address  a  grown  Negro  with-  publicans  were,  of  course,  in  complete 
out  a  handle  to  his  name:  it  was  always  control  by  virtue  of  the  Negro  vote  and 
"Aunt"  or  "Uncle"  or  "Mammy."  the  general  impotence  of  the  South. 
Southern  men  returned  the  salute  of  The  Mayor,  all  the  members  of  the 
any  colored  man  who  removed  his  hat;  town-council,  the  policemen,  and  so  on, 
Southern  boys  tipped  their  caps  first  were  Republicans — white  and  black, 
to  Negro  ministers  and  the  aged.  Eco-  Southerners  avoided  the  law  whenever 
nomically,  the  status  of  the  Negro  was  they  could  and  retreated  to  the  church 
infinitely  better  than  it  is  now.  All  the  for  moral  sanction  of  their  social  insti- 
servants  (and  Southern  families,  how-  tutions.  Homes  were  secretly  guarded 
ever  poor,  felt  obligated  to  keep  as  night  and  day.  Women  and  girls  went 


152  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

out  at  night  only  when  adequately  pro-  children  in  it.  Perhaps  that  was  a  scare, 

tected.  but  I  do  recall  being  taken  out  of  the 

Such  a  condition  could  not,  of  course,  school  and  sent  home  in  charge  of  an 
long  continue,  and  it  was  my  own  age  old  Negro  policeman.  On  our  piazza 
that  saw  the  end  of  it.  The  revolt  was  sat  two  grim  guards  armed  with  shot- 
minor  but  it  was  none  the  less  decisive  guns:  they  remained  there  night  and 
— the  match,  so  to  speak,  that  the  na-  day  for  several  months, 
tional  Government  wisely  allowed  to  It  was  customary  for  Southern  stores 
burn  out  ere  it  lit  a  conflagration.  The  to  close  at  noon  for  two  or  three  hours. 
North  at  the  time  was  beginning  to  re-  That  afternoon  none  opened.  At  three 
act  against  the  barbarism  of  the  Recon-  o'clock  groups  of  Southern  men  began 
structionj  in  Washington  the  Demo-  to  appear  suddenly  at  every  street  cor- 
cratic  Cleveland  Administration  was  ner.  All  Negroes  and  white  Republi- 
having  a  liberalizing  effect ;  in  the  cans  were  searched  for  arms  and,  if 
South,  the  white  Democratic  leaders  none  were  discovered,  sent  home.  Pla- 
wanted  no  more  than  to  regain  their  cards  were  posted  simply  stating  that 
supremacy.  the  white  Southerners  meant  to  take 

Probably  annoyed  by  the  dwindling  over  their  government,  and  ordering 
of  their  Cause,  and  perhaps  overcon-  Republicans  to  resign  their  offices  peace- 
fident  because  of  Southern  indiffer-  ably.  Negroes  were  warned  to  remain 
ence,  the  Republican  reformers  be-  at  home  and  they  would  not  be  harmed, 
came  bolder  in  their  efforts  to  stir  up  Southern  families  without  men-folk,  or 
their  Negro  followers  to  insolence  and  too  poor  to  provide  guards  for  their 
revolt — against  what,  it  would  be  dif-  homes,  were  advised  to  seek  safety  in 
ficult  to  say,  since  they  already  had  the  Episcopal  Church,  a  magnificent 
things  very  much  their  own  way.  Eighteenth  Century  edifice  as  large 
Whereas  before  their  attacks  on  South-  and  strong  as  a  fortress, 
erners  had  been  more  or  less  verbal  and  The  white  Republicans  (reformers 
political,  now  they  began  to  import  and  politicians)  promptly  resigned 
arms  secretly  to  insure  their  continued  their  offices  and  fled,  the  Northerners 
power,  and  to  attack  individual  South-  going  North,  the  very  few  Southern- 
erners  by  scurrilous  personalities.  The  ers  taking  to  tents  in  the  woods.  The 
Negro  editor  of  the  Republican  news-  Negroes  were  braver.  A  considerable 
paper  one  day  broke  into  print  with  a  band  collected  in  a  Negro  hospital  or 
defamatory  item  about  a  prominent  school-house  (I  forget  which)  and  de- 
White  woman  .  .  .  and  by  night  his  fied  the  authorities,  whereupon  the 
printing-office  had  been  burned  and  the  building  was  fired  and  in  the  resulting 
editor  was  on  his  way  to  New  York,  battle  one  white  man  and  twenty  Ne- 

Even  then,  however,  nothing  more  groes  were  killed. 

might  have  come  of  the  incident  had  How  many  were  actually  killed  in 

not  the  Republicans  begun  collecting  the  two  days'  fighting  has  never  been 

their  Negro  following  in  bands,  distrib-  definitely  determined,  the  whites  main- 

uted  arms  to  them,  and  urged  them  to  taining  that  the  twenty-one  victims  of 

plunder  and  kill  their  "proud  tyrants."  the  school-house  battle  were  the  only 

It  was  rumored  that  they  meant  to  ones,  the  Negroes  claiming  that  sev- 

burn  the  white  school-house  with  the  eral  hundred  of  their  race  were  shot 


A  SOUTHERN  VIEW  OF  NORTHERN  REFORMERS       153 

for  resistance  or  concealment  of  arms  children,  the  South  organized  no  anti- 
and  their  bodies  hastily  disposed  of  in  factory  crusades  to  subvert  their  eco- 
the  river.  Our  home  adjoined  the  City  nomic  structure.  .  .  .  When  Boston 
Hall  and  was  therefore  in  the  centre  of  authorities  electrocuted  two  miserable 
the  town,  so  that  I  believe  I  should  fanatics  for  a  crime  many  thoughtful 
have  witnessed  any  riot  so  dimensional  people  believed  they  did  not  commit, 
as  the  Negroes  claimed  ;  but  all  I  recall  no  Southern  poet  rose  for  the  occasion 
is  seeing  the  mayor  of  the  town  walk-  to  say  that  the  Chair  had  been  made  as 
ing  alone  down  the  middle  of  the  road,  glorious  as  the  Cross,  and  compose  a 
his  head  bent,  a  small  group  of  silent  rhyme  to  be  sung  at  the  martyrs' 
men  behind  him,  on  his  way  to  the  rail-  graves.  When  Long  Island  police  beat 
road  station  where  a  ticket  to  New  a  prisoner  to  death  in  a  third-degree 
York  awaited  him;  seeing  a  Negro  examination,  no  Southern  columnist- 
woman  being  taken,  screaming,  to  preacher  demanded  that  the  Federal 
jail,  a  razor  having  been  found  in  Government  land  marines  there, 
her  oyster-bucket;  and  my  mother  hid-  When  a  California  mob  brutally 
ing  a  Negro  boy  of  sixteen,  chased  by  lynched  and  mutilated  a  brace  of  kid- 
some  white  youths,  in  our  china-closet  nappers,  no  Southern  State  officially 
and  sending  the  young  rowdies  away,  protested.  When  Northern  murderers 

have  escaped  into  the  South,  no  South- 

IV  ern  judge  has  prevented  their  extra- 
A  glance  at  the  Northern  press,  pe-  dition  for  no  other  ground  than  that 
riodicals,  drama  and  other  channels  of  he  personally  disapproved  of  North- 
social  intelligence,  will  reveal  the  fact  ern  justice.  No  Southern  societies  have 
that  the  North  is  still  a  fertile  soil  for  sent  objectionable  lawyers  into  the 
the  production  of  reformers,  and  that  North  to  obstruct  and  circumvent 
their  chief  object  of  improvement  is  Northern  justice.  No  group  of  South- 
still  the  long-suffering  South.  Can  it  be  ern  "intellectuals"  has  gone  forth  into 
that  the  dispute  between  the  two  sec-  Northern  industrial  centres  to  tell  the 
tions  has  lost  its  historical  perspective  people  how  to  manage  their  affairs.  In 
and  become  mere  destructive  criticism,  other  words,  the  South  today  is  as 
which,  being  the  will  to  destroy,  is  opposed  as  it  ever  was  to  officious  med- 
thinly  disguised  hatred?  dling  with  other  people's  affairs,  con- 
While  the  South  always  has  and  still  sidering  (and  rightly)  that  it  has 
dislikes  Northern  political  and  social  enough  to  do  to  reform  its  own  life, 
standards,  such  an  attitude  can  not  be  and  that  another  section,  whatever  its 
construed  as  hatred  for  the  reason  that  shortcomings,  has  a  group  of  enlight- 
it  has  never  been  organized  to  destroy  ened  people  who  will  see  to  the  same 
what  it  opposes.  When  the  North  chose  thing  in  their  own  community. 
industry,  the  South  made  no  effort  to  This  difference  is  generally  ex- 
impose  slavery  upon  her.  When  the  plained  by  the  reformers  by  the  "back- 
North  chose  industrial  nationalism,  the  wardness"  of  the  South;  but  another 
South  only  asked  for  separation  to  pre-  explanation  is  that  in  the  North  a  more 
serve  her  own  Colonial  ideals  of  de-  extensive  system  of  mass-education 
mocracy.  When  Northern  factories  en-  gives  a  higher  rating  of  importance  to 
slaved  millions  of  men,  women  and  the  lower-class  (from  which  reformers 


154  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

usually  spring)  which  at  the  same  time  were  necessarily  excluded  from  the 
provides  a  larger  audience  for  its  "in-  trial  because  of  the  first-degree  indict- 
tellectuals"  whose  intellectuality  con-  ment — the  tactics  of  Northern  radical 
sists  principally  in  an  ability  to  articu-  criminal  lawyers  and  the  sudden  and 
late  the  sentiments  of  their  class  and  suggestive  recanting  of  one  of  the  prin- 
make  its  restless  desire  for  change  ap-  cipal  witnesses,  followed  by  the  gen- 
pear  to  be  "progressive."  Agitators  eral  assumption  by  the  Northern  press 
thrive  best,  therefore,  on  fomentations  that  the  respectable  citizens  of  an  intel- 
that  bring  the  dregs  to  the  topj  and  ligent  and  prosperous  little  Southern 
since  effective  fomentations  are  re-  town  would  conspire  against  a  number 
ligious  and  political,  it  might  be  ex-  of  Negro  boys  for  the  sheer  delight  of 
pected  that  the  agitation  would  be  seeing  them  electrocuted,  all  indicate 
concentrated  mainly  upon  the  race-  the  sentiment  of  a  community  desirous 
persecution  technique  which  involves  of  believing  only  the  worst  that  can  be 
both  the  religious  and  the  political  said  about  another, 
implications.  To  a  Southerner  enough  of  a  realist 
Thus  a  young  New  York  Jew  who  not  to  get  excited  about  the  ceaseless 
spent  several  nights  in  Southern  jails  rise  and  fall  of  ideas  and  opinions,  it  is 
(providing  kindly  shelter  to  an  in-  a  source  of  puzzlement,  and  frequently 
digent)  proceeds  to  write  a  drama  of  humor,  to  pick  up  a  New  York  news- 
based  upon  an  isolated  criminal  case  in  paper  and  read  that  a  Negro  has  been 
a  Southern  State  which  he  modestly  as-  atrociously  lynched  in  the  South  for 
serts  is  meant  to  interpret  "the  whole  rape  and  murder,  that  five  or  six  gang 
South";  nor  can  the  incident  be  dis-  murders  have  occurred  in  Chicago  or 
missed  as  the  individualistic  venture  of  New  York  or  Boston,  that  a  cabinet 
an  alien  and  uninformed  temperament  member  or  two  have  been  indicted  for 
when  a  high-class  New  York  theatrical  theft  or  bribery,  that  a  revolt  in  a  great 
organization  produces  the  play  and  the  Northern  prison  has  resulted  in  a  score 
local  press  hails  it  as  high-grade  real-  of  inmates  escaping  and  several  guards 
ism.  In  New  York  the  press  would  being  killed,  that  the  local  police  have 
naturally  reflect  the  vulgarian  stand-  maltreated  prisoners  or  beaten  up  job- 
ards  of  a  great  city  5  but  the  question  less  and  hungry  protestants  against  cap- 
arises  as  to  why  any  Northern  com-  italism,  that  new  frauds  have  been 
munity,  which  would  doubtless  be  fair  uncovered  in  the  city  or  Federal  gov- 
toward  a  similar  criminal  case  nearer  ernments,  and  so  on — and  find  the  one 
home,  so  readily  falls  in  line  with  any  editorial  devoted  to  abuse  of  the  South 
alien,  radijcal,  fanatical,  and  even  vi-  for  the  lynching  outrage!  Or,  if  the 
cious  fanaticism  solely  because  it  is  di-  Negro  has  been  convicted  legally,  then 
rected  against  the  South.  The  question  Southern  justice  and  laws  are  im- 
of  capital  punishment  might  be  de-  pugned. 

bated  abstractly;   but  in  view  of  the  Violence,  whether  by  direct  action  or 

apparent  guilt  of  the  defendants — the  by  a  species  of  pioneer  justice,  is  a  sign 

testimony   of   their   victims,   of   their  of  barbarism  subject  to  civilizing  influ- 

white  companions  and  of  other  wit-  ence;  but  it  is  an  open  question  whether 

nesses,  not  to  mention  the  confessions  violence  is  as  deplorably  hopeless  as 

of   the    prisoners    themselves,    which  the  break-down  of  justice  in  a  complex- 


A  SOUTHERN  VIEW  OF  NORTHERN  REFORMERS       155 

ity  and  partiality  of  laws  and  the  ac-  screen  to  hide  the  sordid  fact  that  the 
tivities  of  pettifoggers  in  law  who,  tribunal,  though  the  symbol  of  the 
accustomed  to  pleading  for  fee-paying  highest  ideals  of  civilized  justice,  may 
clients  without  discrimination  of  what  become  through  domination  by  power- 
is  right  and  wrong,  have  lost  their  ful  factors  a  mere  criminal  tribunal, 
moral  sensibility  of  those  distinctions.  It  and  that  it  may  even  come  to  serve  the 
may  at  first  sound  far-fetched  to  ob-  interests  of  organized  crime  itself, 
serve  that  the  reformers'  eternal  em-  Lynching,  barbarous  as  it  is,  becomes 
phasis  on  humanitarianism,  or  the  in  comparison  with  such  a  perversion 
theory  of  making  everything  good  by  of  law  an  expression  of  an  outraged  de- 
law,  indirectly  serves  the  ends  of  mate-  sire  for  justice.  Man's  inhumanity  to 
rialism;  but  reflection  and  history  will  man  is,  after  all,  not  written  in  terms  of 
show  that  if  the  masses  can  be  con-  violence  but  in  terms  of  law.  The  vio- 
vinced  that  good  is  served  by  statutes,  lence  of  the  French  Revolution  was  in- 
they  can  be  made  to  believe  that  what  significant  as  compared  to  the  excesses 
is  legal  is  good:  greed,  if  satisfied  of  the  legal  Terror  instituted  by  the 
legally,  is  morally  good.  Only  the  Tribunal  j  and  the  lesson  to  be  derived 
most  ingenuous  person  would  believe  therefrom  is  that  when  the  law  be- 
that  laws  which  provide  loop-holes  for  comes  independent  of  justice,  it  ceases 
the  rich  and  powerful  to  break  through  to  be  the  "bread  of  the  nation,"  and 
were  stupidly  written:  they  are  deliber-  .  .  .  men  will  not  always  go  hungry 
ately  made  that  way  by  unscrupulous  without  protest, 
lawyers  in  collusion  with  corrupt  gov 
ernment  officials.  Naturally,  this  tend-  v 
ency  of  Big  Business  to  commit  its  In  the  South's  conception  of  justice, 
crimes  "legally"  and  buy  up  the  best  therefore — that  is,  justice  to  society 
minds  in  the  legal  profession  would  rather  than  to  the  offender — the  re- 
not  stop  short  of  its  ultimate  goal,  the  formers  are  quick  to  discover  another 
dominance  of  the  tribunal  itself;  and  "anachronism"  in  that  it  demands  that 
that  was  why  Jefferson  went  so  far  as  the  criminal  shall  be  deprived  of  the 
to  maintain  that  lawyers  and  judges  privileges  of  society  j  that  the  torturer 
should  never  be  allowed  to  make  nor  of  innocent  victims  shall  be  similarly 
interpret  the  law  for  the  reason  that,  flogged  5  and  that  punishment  shall 
being  of  the  specialized  type  of  mind  consist  of  hard  labor  which  the  criminal 
inclined  to  put  prestige  first  in  their  most  dreads,  crime  being  the  result  in 
profession,  they  would  make  the  world  most  cases  of  a  desire  to  live  without 
revolve  around  a  statute,  and,  being  laboring.  The  question  of  ;nstice  must 
men  as  frail  as  human  nature,  would  inevitably  collide  with  that  of  cruelty 
generally  serve  their  self-interests  for  the  reason  that  it  involves  punish- 
rather  than  principle.  The  current  hue  ment.  What  is  justice  to  the  myriads 
and  cry  about  the  law — of  the  indus-  may  be  injustice  to  the  individual  j  but 
trialists  about  the  sanctity  of  courts  and  that  is  a  human  limitation,  a  limitation 
especially  the  Supreme  Court,  and  of  that  is  not  lessened  but  magnified  by 
the  reformers  about  a  new  set  of  star-  dispensing  justice  to  the  individual  and 
utes  to  regulate  social  and  economic  injustice  to  the  myriads.  Not  only  in 
life — has  all  the  marks  of  a  smoke-  the  South  but  in  other  civilized  coun- 


156  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

tHes — notably  France  and  England —  theory  that  reform  is  the  sole  function 
does  this  conception  hold  swayj  and  it  of  justice,  and  at  the  same  time  unnec- 
is  probably  demonstrable  that  in  these  essarily  sacrificing  the  lives  of  loyal 
countries  there  are  fewer  criminals,  prison  guards  and  officials, 
fewer  prisons,  less  organized  racketeer-  Another  favorite  theme  for  North 
ing  and  fewer  gifted  legal  "mouth-  ern  reformers  which  demonstrates  ad- 
pieces"  than  in  the  North.  Nor  can  this  mirably  the  truth  that  they  derive  their 
condition  be  readily  dismissed  as  the  energy  from  the  nearest  materialistic 
result  of  a  higher  degree  of  industrial-  source  is  child-labor  in  the  South,  agi- 
ization  in  the  great  urban  centres  in  the  tation  against  which  served  the  ends  of 
North,  for  that  would  merely  transfer  industrialism  as  did  their  anti-slavery 
the  stigma  to  industrialization  itself.  crusades  in  the  past  century.  In  ante- 
The  prevalent  Northern  conception  bellum  days  child-labor  was  unknown 
of  justice  as  being  concerned  primarily  in  the  South,  only  two  out  of  several 
with  what  is  good  for  the  criminal  has  hundred  factories  being  located  in  that 
its  roots  in  the  Puritan  conception  of  section,  and  Southerners  generally  re- 
hell  which  "divine  man"  was  too  good  garded  conditions  in  Northern  mills  as 
for  and  which  he  could  readily  avoid  deplorable  though  they  made  no  or- 
by  the  doctrine  of  election.  In  North-  ganized  effort  to  "improve"  them, 
ern  prisons  the  criminal  is  physically  Even  in  my  own  childhood  when,  the 
separated  from  the  society  he  has  out-  old  economic  life  having  been  de- 
raged  and  deprived  of  the  liberty  he  stroyed,  factories  began  to  appear  in 
has  abused 5  but  at  the  same  time  he  is  the  South  (usually  financed  and  op- 
provided  with  all  sorts  of  substitutes —  erated  by  Northern  capital),  the  use  of 
commissaries  to  sell  him  ice  cream  and  child-labor  evoked  local  indignation, 
dainties  j  athletic  games,  movies,  lee-  especially  on  the  part  of  Southern 
tures,  radios,  to  amuse  himj  "trusty"  women.  True,  most  of  this  child-labor 
privileges  that  inevitably  are  bought  was  black,  but  that  did  not  alter  the 
as  well  as  earned  j  etc.  The  degree  of  principle.  In  time  white  children  were 
confinement  that  remains  in  these  coun-  employed  as  it  was  found  they  had  su- 
try-club  prisons  is  not  much  worse  than  perior  adaptability  to  the  Negroes. 
many  strict  schools ;  the  fare  as  good  or  Later,  when  manufacturing  grew  into 
better  than  the  average  army  messj  a  Southern  institution,  and  New  Eng- 
the  separation  from  his  family  only  land's  textile  supremacy  was  threat- 
nominal  to  the  robber  and  murderer  ened,  the  reformers  began  to  wax 
and  rapist  whose  irresponsibility  has  moral  about  child  (or  cheap)  labor,  the 
already  made  him  take  those  ties  too  abolition  of  which  would,  of  course, 
lightly.  The  net  result  of  such  senti-  have  increased  production-costs  and 
mentality  is  that  the  criminal,  sub-  diminished  competition.  Now  that  the 
jected  to  irritation  rather  than  punish-  South  has  voluntarily  abolished  child- 
ment,  has  a  contempt  for  but  little  fear  labor  and  a  constitutional  amendment 
of  such  prisons  j  crime  is  not  greatly  is  proposed  to  outlaw  it  universally, 
checked,  and  (most  serious  of  all)  the  who  are  now  the  opponents  of  the 
law  is  cheated  and  justice  mocked,  amendment  but  those  formerly  protest- 
Moreover,  such  a  system  encourages  ing  against  child  textile  labor? 
mutinies  and  escapes,  thus  refuting  the  There  are  enough  other  things  the 


A  SOUTHERN  VIEW  OF  NORTHERN  REFORMERS       157 

reformers  would  like  to  improve  in  the  of  even  that  material  would  rank  very 
South  to  fill  a  volume  5  but  Southern-  promisingly  with  the  slum-products  of 
ers  generally  meet  such  violent  criti-  Northern  cities.  However,  it  is  this 
cisms  with  silence,  secure  in  the  belief  class  on  which  the  Northern  reform- 
that  they  are  both  civilized  and  distinc-  ers  fasten,  both  from  an  instinct  to 
tively  American.  There  is,  of  course,  a  sympathize  only  with  what  is  sordidly 
new  and  growing  plutocracy  in  the  unsuccessful  and  from  the  necessity  of 
South  j  but  that  this  class  has  never  finding  Southerners  to  whom  they  may 
been  accepted  as  the  aristocracy,  and  appear  superior,  as  representative  of 
that  their  standards  have  never  been  social  conditions  in  the  South.  This  ex- 
canonized  or  aped  by  the  Southern  plains  the  popularity  in  the  North  of 
masses  who  remain  democratic  and  lib-  the  Faulkner  and  Caldwell  brand  of 
eral  without  smugness  or  demagogy,  is  literature:  it  represents  what  the  mass 
the  best  evidence  that  the  old  ideology  of  Northerners  want  to  believe  about 
is  not  yet  dead.  That  there  is  a  consider-  the  South.  And  while  knowledge  may 
able  lower-class  that  is  extremely  poor,  sometimes  be  successfully  used  to  com- 
anti-social,  and  sometimes  even  vicious,  bat  ignorance,  against  prejudice  and 
is  likewise  true  5  but  the  potentialities  feeling  it  is,  alas,  of  little  avail. 


It  I 


Tariff  Bargains 

BY  WILLIAM  P.  BLACK 

The  conception  of  ''Yankee  trading  "  which  underlies  the  new 

tariff  bill  does  not  augur  well  for  an  increase  of 

foreign  trade 

PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT'S  skill  in  the  have  carried  the  implication  that  the 
selection  of  similes  has  been  of  Administration  can  be  counted  on  to 
value  more  than  once  in  swing-  get  somewhat  the  better  of  any  bar 
ing  public  opinion  to  his  side.  In  the  gains  it  may  make  with  foreigners, 
campaign  for  authority  to  negotiate  Many  enthusiasts  for  the  Roosevelt 
reciprocal  tariff  agreements,  there  is  no  regime  appear  to  be  looking  forward 
question  but  that  his  references  to  to  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  their  idol 
"Yankee  trading"  were  very  useful,  outwit  the  crafty  European  or  Latin- 
By  bringing  in  the  image  of  our  shrewd  American  negotiator. 
New  England  forebears,  the  President  Others,  of  course,  see  in  reciprocal 
caught  the  public's  fancy  and  helped  agreements  the  single  means  of  salvag- 
build  a  favorable  attitude  toward  ing  America's  dwindling  export  trade, 
tariff-bargaining.  Thousands  engaged  in  the  production 
At  the  same  time,  by  word  of  mouth  of  cotton,  wheat,  tobacco  and  hogs  rea- 
and  by  press  comment  from  Washing-  lize  that  their  only  hope  for  lasting 
ton,  President  Roosevelt's  capabilities  prosperity  resides  in  restored  export 
as  a  good,  old-fashioned  horse  trader  markets.  To  the  more  thoughtful  of 
were  thoroughly  publicized.  As  a  re-  these,  it  has  become  apparent  that  for- 
sult,  in  spite  of  the  fuming  of  protec-  eign  buying  can  not  reach  its  former 
tionists  and  the  dire  predictions  of  scale  until  our  own  purchases  of  for- 
industrial  ruin,  issuing  from  boosters  eign  merchandise  increase, 
for  the  "America  Self-Contained"  But  by  far  the  larger  proportion  of 
ideal,  tariff  authority  was  granted  industrialists  and  agriculturalists  give 
with  surprisingly  feeble  congressional  as  yet  no  clear  indication  that  they  have 
opposition.  recognized  the  fact  that  sales  abroad 
There  now  comes  the  problem  of  are  dependent  on  purchases  abroad, 
living  up  to  the  expectations  raised  in  What  these  people  want  are  agree- 
the  minds  of  the  President's  admirers,  ments  which  will  open  up  foreign  mar- 
Intentionally  or  not,  use  of  the  phrase  kets  without  return  concessions  to  im- 
"Yankee  trading"  and  stress  on  the  prove  the  foreigner's  opportunity  of 
President's  excellence  as  a  horse  trader  selling  his  goods  in  the  United  States. 


TARIFF  BARGAINS  159 

It  is  this  large,  unenlightened  group  American  cane  sugar  states  and  Euro- 
that  represents  the  chief  obstacle  for  pean  beet  sugar  states, 
the  Administration  in  the  negotiation  In  agreements  with  Brazil,  Salva- 
of  tariff  agreements.  To  ignore  the  dor,  Guatemala,  Honduras,  the  Do- 
will  of  these  voters  is  to  commit  politi-  minican  Republic,  Nicaragua,  Ger- 
cal  suicide.  To  yield  to  it  is  to  confine  many,  Austria-Hungary,  with  Spain 
tariff  negotiations  to  the  old  type  of  for  Cuba  and  Puerto  Rico  and  with 
hard  bargain  which  dominated  the  re-  Great  Britain  for  certain  West  Indies 
ciprocal  tariff  agreements  of  1892-  colonies,  the  United  States  obtained 
1895  and  1900-1910.  important  tariff  adjustments  in  favor 

of  its  products.  During  the  four-year 

11  period,  1892-1895,  when  the  bulk  of 

Unfortunately,  the  popular  concep-  these    agreements    were    in    force,    a 

tion  of  "Yankee  trading"  appears  to  be  world-wide   economic  depression  was 

an  exchange  wherein  the  Yankee  gets  taking   place.    There   were,    in    addi- 

all  the  best  of  the  bargain.  Observance  tion,  revolutionary  disturbances  in  sev- 

of  the  principle  of  trading  small  favors  eral  Latin-American  countries, 

for  large,  which  guided  our  past  ex-  For    these    reasons,     statistics     on 

periments  in  reciprocal  tariff-bargain-  American    foreign    trade    are    not    a 

ing,  is  likely  to  be  insisted  upon  again,  wholly  accurate  measure  of  the  effects 

The  public  expectation  is  that  the  Pres-  of  the  agreements.  Nevertheless,  ex- 

ident  will  see  to  it  that  our  export  trade  ports,  particularly  to  reciprocal  coun- 

is  expanded  while  no  great  increase  in  tries,  rose  substantially  while  imports 

competitive  imports  will  be  permitted  were  lower  at  the  end  of  the  period 

to  upset  our  domestic  economy.  than  at  the  beginning. 

In  1890,  when  the  McKinley  Tariff  The  Yankee  trader,  on  paper,  at 
Act  was  passed  with  provisions  for  least,  had  triumphed  over  his  Latin- 
our  first  large-scale  experiment  in  reci-  American  and  European  adversary, 
procity,  the  United  States  was  a  debtor  He  had  swapped  small  favors  for  large 
nation.  In  those  days,  it  perhaps  paid  and  had  thereby  increased  the  favor- 
to  drive  a  hard  bargain  along  the  lines  able  trade  balance  of  the  United  States, 
of  the  popular  notion  of  "Yankee  The  loss,  if  any,  was  in  the  good  will  of 
trading."  A  favorable  trade  balance  the  other  parties  in  the  deals, 
was  then  a  necessity,  for  interest  and  This  loss  was  given  recognition  by 
dividends  had  to  be  paid  on  foreigners'  the  Democratic  House  Ways  and 
investments  here.  Means  Committee  in  1894  in  report- 
Under  this  tariff,  coffee,  tea,  hides,  ing  favorably  a  new  tariff  bill  which 
sugar  and  molasses  were  to  be  on  the  eliminated  the  reciprocity  provisions 
free  list  for  nations  not  discriminating  of  the  McKinley  Act.  The  committee, 
against  American  products.  Penalty  in  fact,  refused  to  admit  that  McKinley 
duties  were  provided  for  use  against  reciprocity  amounted  to  anything  more 
nations  having  rates  judged  "unfair  than  retaliation  against  nations  that 
and  unreasonable"  by  the  President,  refused  to  yield.  "Ill  feeling"  against 
With  sugar  a  drug  on  the  market,  the  the  United  States  in  the  three  penal- 
threat  of  penalty  duties  was  useful  in  ized  countries,  Colombia,  Venezuela 
forcing  tariff  concessions  from  Latin-  and  Haiti,  was  pointed  to  as  the  un- 


i6o 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


happy  result  of  Republican  foolishness 
in  tariff  matters. 

But  the  Republicans  were  not  easily 
discouraged.  When  they  returned  to 
power  in  1897,  they  immediately  set 
about  to  reincorporate  the  reciprocity 
principle  in  the  tariff.  Under  the 
Dingley  Tariff  Act,  reciprocal  agree 
ments  of  far  wider  scope  than  those 
possible  under  the  McKinley  Act  were 
provided  for.  The  Dingley  Act,  like 
wise,  included  the  always  popular  pen 
alty  provisions. 

The  principal  bargaining  sections 
were:  (i)  a  special  list  of  import  prod 
ucts,  consisting  of  argols,  distilled 
spirits,  wines  and  works  of  art,  eligible 
for  reductions  in  duties  if  exporting 
states  granted  equivalent  concessions 
on  products  of  the  United  States j  (2) 
penalty  duties  for  tea,  coffee,  tonka 
and  vanilla  beans  in  case  of  discrimina 
tion  against  the  United  States j  (3)  au 
thority  for  the  President  to  negotiate 
general  reciprocity  treaties — subject  to 
ratification  by  both  House  and  Senate 
— wherein  duties  could  be  lowered  as 
much  as  twenty  per  cent  in  return  for 
equivalent  concessions  by  other  coun 
tries. 

Two  series  of  what  were  popularly 
known  as  "argol  agreements"  were 
made  as  provided  under  Section  i .  The 
first  was  completed  under  the  Mc 
Kinley  Administration  and  consisted  of 
treaties  with  France,  Portugal,  Ger 
many  and  Italy.  Later  agreements 
were  made  under  the  Theodore  Roose 
velt  Administration  with  Spain,  Switz 
erland,  Bulgaria,  Great  Britain  and 
the  Netherlands. 

In  these  agreements,  as  in  the  reci 
procity  deals  of  1892-1895,  the 
United  States  drove  hard  bargains. 
The  concessions  granted  were  of  ex 
tremely  limited  importance  compared 


with  the  benefits  obtained.  France 
alone  appears  to  have  been  given  an 
even  break  or  better.  The  United 
States  obtained  the  minimum  tariff 
rates  of  Germany,  Spain,  Portugal  and 
Bulgaria  5  special  remissions  or  reduc 
tions  of  duty  from  Italy,  Great  Britain 
and  the  Netherlands  and  a  substantial 
modification  of  France's  tariff  discrimi 
nation. 

In  return,  the  United  States  granted 
a  seventy  per  cent  cut  in  argol  duties,  a 
twenty-two  per  cent  cut  on  distilled 
spirits,  a  twenty-five  per  cent  cut  on 
sparkling  wines,  a  twenty-two  per  cent 
cut  on  still  wines  and  a  twenty-five  per 
cent  cut  on  works  of  art.  None  of  these 
items  bulked  large  in  the  export  trade 
of  nations  other  than  France.  Even 
with  the  reductions,  the  duties  on 
argols  and  works  of  art  were  above  the 
1894  tariff  rates,  the  duty  on  distilled 
spirits  was  approximately  the  same  and 
the  duties  on  wines  were  alone  appre 
ciably  lower. 

Statistics  on  American  foreign  trade 
during  the  life  of  the  "argol  agree 
ments"  again  form  a  somewhat  unre 
liable  base  for  estimating  the  effects  of 
the  agreements.  There  is,  however, 
every  evidence  that  the  United  States 
got  all  the  better  of  the  deals.  The  per 
centage  of  American  exports,  going 
into  the  reciprocity  countries,  showed  a 
steady  increase,  whereas  not  until  the 
final  year  of  the  treaty  period  did  im 
ports  of  reciprocity  articles  show  an 
appreciable  increase  and  this,  in  dollars 
and  cents,  was  minute  compared  to  the 
increase  in  exports. 

Meanwhile,  attempts  to  put  into 
effect  real  "give-and-take"  reciprocal 
agreements,  as  authorized  under  Sec 
tion  3  of  the  Dingley  Act,  came  to 
nothing.  Comprehensive  treaties  of 
this  nature  were  negotiated  with 


TARIFF  BARGAINS  161 

France  and  a  number  of  Latin-Ameri-  from  Spanish  rule.   In  this  arrange- 

can  states  by  George  A.  Kasson,  the  ment,   the   moral   obligations   of   the 

President's  special  tariff  commissioner.  United  States  have  usually  received 

In  spite  of  the  efforts  of  Kasson  and  the  more  stress  than  the  economic  desira- 

pleas  of  McKinley,  himself,  the  treat-  bility  of  mutual  concessions.  Neverthe- 

ies  were  never  reported  out  of  the  Sen-  less,   from   the   standpoint   of   actual 

ate  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations,  trade  figures,  the  United  States  has  had 

Foreign  nations  were  apparently  given  by  far  the  best  of  the  bargain, 

too  nearly  an  even  break.  With  Brazil,  from  1904  to  1923,  a 

Credit  for  the  defeat  of  the  treaties  so-called  reciprocal  agreement  was  in 

was  given  by  the  New  York  Tribune  to  effect.  Actually,  it  amounted  to  nothing 

the  faint  praise  with  which  the  so-called  more  than  preferential  treatment  by 

"manufacturers'     reciprocity     conven-  Brazil  of  certain  United  States  prod- 

tion  of  1901"  damned  the  reciprocity  ucts  as  insurance  against  the  invoking 

idea.  The  gathering  declared  itself  fav-  of  a  three  cents  duty  on  coffee,  author- 

orable  to  reciprocity  "only  where  it  can  ized  by  the  Dingley  Act.  Hence,  the 

be  accomplished  without  injury  to  any  agreement  boiled  down  to  preferen- 

of  the  domestic  interests  of  manufac-  tial  treatment  obtained  by  means  of  an 

turing,  commerce  or  farming."  implied   threat   rather   than   through 

As    the    New    York    Tribune   was  mutual  concessions, 
quick  to  point  out  in  its  comments  on 
the    meeting,    any    such    qualification 

would    preclude    the    ratification    of  Thus,  the  whole  history  of  American 

treaties  built  on  real  reciprocity.  As  a  tariff-making  shows  an  insistence  on 

consequence  of  the  convention's  reso-  getting  the  best  of  the  bargain.  The 

lution  and  of  other  opposition  of  a  same  thought  seems  to  inspire  a  large 

more  forthright  character,  the  treaties  proportion   of  the  present-day  advo- 

remained  in  a  committee  pigeonhole,  cates    of    reciprocal    bargaining.    The 

Even    the    one-sided    "argol    agree-  sand-bagging  qualification,  tied  by  the 

ments"  soon  declined  in  popularity.  "manufacturers'  reciprocity  convention 

Their  end  came  when  the  whole  of  1901"  to  its  approval  of  reciprocity, 

theory  of  reciprocity  was  abandoned  in  was,  in  fact,  repeated  almost  verbatim 

the  Payne-Aldrich  Tariff  Act  of  1909.  in  a  resolution  by  the  Middle  West 

The  new  act  reverted  frankly  to  the  Foreign  Trade  and  Merchant  Marine 

retaliatory  or  penalty  motif.   It  pro-  Conference    in     Detroit    in     March, 

vided  two  sets  of  rates,  one  twenty-five  1934. 

per  cent  higher  than  the  other,  with  the  Now,  there  is  admittedly  danger  in 

high  rate  to  apply  against  nations  giv-  depending  too  much  on  historical  prec- 

ing  unsatisfactory  treatment  to  United  edent.    There   is   the   outside   chance 

States  products.  that  President  Roosevelt's  popularity 

With  two  nations  only  has  the  would  permit  him  to  defy  this  tradi- 
United  States  experimented  with  reci-  tional  American  attitude  against  tariff 
procity  since  the  wind-up  of  the  "argol  concessions  that  injure  domestic  inter- 
agreements."  The  first  is  Cuba,  with  ests,  no  matter  how  unimportant.  From 
which  an  arrangement  for  preferen-  indications  now  visible,  however,  there 
tial  tariffs  has  existed  since  its  freedom  will  be  tremendous  resistance  to  deals 


162 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


which  permit  the  entry  of  competitive 
foreign  merchandise. 

One  has  only  to  recall  the  outburst 
which  greeted  publication  of  the 
quickly  disowned  "tentative  draft"  of 
the  President's  Commercial  Policy 
Committee's  report  last  January  to 
realize  that  public  opinion  is  not  yet 
generally  reconciled  to  the  sacrifice  of 
"parasitic"  industries  in  the  interests  of 
an  improved  export  trade.  President 
Roosevelt,  Secretary  Hull  and  Secre 
tary  Wallace  each  showed  a  recogni 
tion  of  this  when  they  promised  a  cau 
tious  approach  to  tariff-bargaining  if 
authority  to  negotiate  were  granted  by 
Congress.  Each  appears  to  realize  that 
a  great  deal  of  public  education  must 
precede  the  adoption  of  a  programme 
such  as  was  outlined  in  the  Commer 
cial  Policy  Committee's  "tentative 
draft." 

There  is,  however,  the  pressing  ne 
cessity  for  doing  something  to  hold  our 
markets  for  such  vital  exports  as  cot 
ton  and  hog  products.  Manufactured 
goods  are  almost  certain  to  be  given 
secondary  consideration  in  the  deals 
which  the  President  will  supervise. 
Forced  by  the  ever-present  surpluses 
of  agricultural  produce,  the  President 
eventually  may  be  willing  to  run  the 
political  risks  inherent  in  permitting  in 
creased  imports  of  competitive  foreign 
merchandise. 

For  the  time  being,  however,  any 
wholesale  influx,  such  as  that  foreseen 
by  the  more  vocal  opponents  of  tariff- 
bargaining,  is  unlikely.  The  odds  are 
that  the  President,  in  the  interests  of 
political  expediency,  will  first  attempt 
the  type  of  retaliatory  tariff  deal  which 
marked  the  so-called  reciprocity  agree 
ments  of  the  McKinley  tariff. 

If  reports  as  to  the  contents  of  the 
completed  treaty  with  Colombia  can 


be  relied  upon,  the  Administration  is 
already  embarked  on  this  course.  For 
this  treaty,  as  described  in  press  dis 
patches,  would  oblige  Colombia  to 
grant  preferential  treatment  to  speci 
fied  United  States  products  in  return 
for  our  simple  promise  to  retain  Colom 
bia's  chief  export  products,  coffee  and 
bananas,  on  our  free  list. 

Reports  from  Washington  quote 
the  State  Department  and  the  Presi 
dent's  trade  advisers  as  saying  that 
concessions  by  the  United  States  in 
pending  agreements  will  be  limited  to 
non-competitive  goods.  High  grade 
woolens,  laces,  embroidery  and  special 
wines  and  liquors  have  been  mentioned 
as  likely  bargaining  items. 

Now,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  concessions 
on  a  list  such  as  this  would  mean  lit 
tle  to  foreign  countries.  They  would 
hardly  constitute  the  bait  necessary  to 
induce  nations  such  as  France,  Ger 
many  and  Italy  to  scrap  their  subsi 
dized  agricultural  production  and 
revert  to  the  pre-War  importation  of 
the  bulk  of  their  wheat  and  lard  re 
quirements.  There  is,  likewise,  nothing 
of  particular  interest  to  the  Latin- 
American  nation  in  this  list. 

Of  necessity,  the  Administration,  if 
it  really  intends  to  limit  concessions  to 
non-competitive  products,  must  try  to 
obtain  preferential  tariff  treatment  by 
means  of  threats.  Since  the  negotiation 
of  the  Colombia  treaty,  however,  the 
reciprocal  tariff  act  has  been  passed  with 
the  definite  stipulation  that  articles  may 
not  be  transferred  from  the  free  to  the 
dutiable  list.  The  President's  power  to 
invoke  penalty  duties  is  limited  under 
the  act  to  rate  advances  of  fifty  per  cent 
on  articles  already  dutiable. 

Under  the  circumstances,  concessions 
obtained  through  penalty  threats  are 
not  likely  to  be  very  productive.  The 


TARIFF  BARGAINS  163 

bargaining    position    of    the    United  On  the  other  hand,  according  to  this 

States,     furthermore,     is    no     longer  reasoning,  if  the  power  is  used  on  a 

strong.  Only  a  handful  of  nations  now  scale  sufficient  to  bring  real  benefits  to 

sell  in  America  more  than  they  buy.  agriculture,  so  many  industries  will  be 

The  few  important  states  having  active  injured  and  so  many  workers  will  be 

balances  in  their  trade  with  the  United  displaced  by  imports  of  competitive  for- 

States  are  Brazil,  Colombia,  Cuba,  the  eign  goods,  that  the  resulting  howl  will 

Dutch  East  and  West  Indies  and  Brit-  cause  the  overthrow  of  the  Democratic 

ish  Malaya.  Administration.  The  safer  procedure 

Only  with  these  states  and  with  some  will,  of  course,  be  the  cautious  one,  for 

of  the  minor  Central  and  South  Ameri-  the  principle  that  the  man  who  is  hurt 

can  nations  could  the  United  States  use  makes  more  noise  than  the  man  who  is 

the  penalty  method  without  running  benefited  still  holds.  It  is  this  fact  that 

the  risk  of  losing  more  than  it  gained,  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  tariff-bar- 

Meanwhile,    as    a    creditor    nation    it  gaining  under  the  first  Administration 

would  lose  in  the  permanent  default  of  Mr.  Roosevelt,  at  least,  will  do  little 

of  debts  owed  it  just  about  what  it  more  than  check  the  decrease  in  the 

would  gain  through  increased  exports  volume  of  America's  foreign  trade, 

forced  by  threat  of  penalty  duties.  Until  the  American  public  has  had 

There  is,  thus,  no  longer  any  oppor-  its  fill  of  illusory  schemes  for  selling 
tunity  for  "Yankee  trading"  of  the  type  abroad  without  buying  in  return,  it  is 
wherein  the  Yankee  gave  little  and  re-  improbable  that  it  will  give  the  Ad- 
ceived  much.  The  Administration,  if  it  ministration  its  support  in  real  give- 
would  bring  real  relief  to  American  and-take  "Yankee  trading."  Until  it 
agriculture  by  tariff  deals,  must  be  pre-  recognizes  the  fallacy  of  sales  abroad 
pared  to  injure  some  domestic  indus-  by  private  lending,  by  government 
tries.  Concessions,  warranted  to  reopen  credit  or  by  the  acceptance  of  silver  at 
the  export  markets  for  American  cot-  an  arbitrary  and  artificial  price,  it  will 
ton,  wheat,  tobacco  and  lard,  can  be  probably  cling  to  the  belief  that  in- 
obtained  only  by  return  concessions  of  creased  exports  are  not  directly  de- 
real  value  to  European  and  Latin-  pendent  on  increased  imports. 
American  export  industries.  Thus,  the  United  States,  for  some 

The  dilemma  into  which  reciprocal  time  to  come,  will  probably  continue  to 
tariff-bargaining  is  apt  to  lead  the  Ad-  dodge  the  issues  outlined  in  Secretary 
ministration  is  already  foreseen  by  Re-  Wallace's  much  quoted  America  Must 
publican  leaders.  They  are  said  to  have  Choose.  How  many  years  must  pass  be- 
secretly  hoped  that  tariff  authority  fore  it  is  willing  to  take  a  realistic  atti- 
would  be  given  the  President  while  tude  towards  international  trade  would 
they  openly  voted  against  the  measure,  seem  to  depend  on  the  ingenuity  of  its 
;  Their  idea  is  that,  should  the  President  elected  leaders  in  thinking  up  schemes 
use  his  bargaining  power  in  a  limited  which  appear  to  avoid  the  necessity  of 
manner,  the  promised  assistance  to  agri-  choosing  between  a  permanently  sub 
culture  will  not  be  forthcoming  and  sidized  agriculture  and  mutual  tariff 
discontent  will  increase  in  the  cotton,  concessions  on  a  scale  sufficient  to  re- 
wheat  and  corn  belts.  open  export  markets. 


Rehousing  America 

BY  OLIVER  WHITWELL  WILSON 

The  Roosevelt  Administration  is  struggling  with  a  housing 

problem   more  acute   and  of  graver   implications 

than  most  Americans  realize 

MR.  ROBERT  D.  KOHN,  a  former  2,000  families  were  found  in  derelict 
President  of  the  American  lumber  camps  where  the  conditions 
.  Institute  of  Architects  and  were  at  least  as  bad  as  the  worst  of 
designer  of  noble  buildings,  for  many  slums  in  the  cities, 
years  had  journeyed  over  the  United  Broken-down  buildings  were  in- 
States  and  surveyed  the  panorama  of  fested  with  squalor  and  dirt.  There  was 
prosperity.  Everywhere  he  was  in-  a  lack  of  decent  sanitation  causing  dis- 
vited  to  look  at  the  finest  and  latest  ease  and  especially  tuberculosis.  The 
triumphs  of  architectural  dignity — the  environment  led  to  social  and  juvenile 
stately  civic  centres,  the  spacious  Union  delinquency,  crime,  high  rates  for  ma- 
Stations,  the  local  skyscrapers,  often  ternal  and  infantile  mortality,  and 
solitary  in  their  eminence.  But  as  Hous-  avoidable  street  accidents  to  children, 
ing  Director  of  the  New  Deal  in  Wash-  Nor  was  this  the  whole  story.  These 
ington  it  was  a  different  United  States  were  areas  that  failed  to  support  the 
that  he  envisaged — no  longer  the  out-  financial  credit  of  the  community.  On 
side  of  the  municipal  cup,  but  the  inside  the  one  hand  they  involved  the  city  in 
of  that  gorgeous  chalice — down  to  the  heavy  social  expenditure.  On  the  other 
very  dregs.  It  was  for  slum  clearance  hand  they  presented  a  high  percentage 
and  decent  homes  for  the  people  as  a  of  tax  arrears  and  a  lowering  of  tax 
whole  that  Federal  money  had  been  income  actually  collected, 
made  available.  City  balance  sheets  showed  again 
Mr.  Kohn  traveled  over  the  country  and  again  that  as  much  as  three  times 
covering  more  than  8,000  miles  and,  the  local  revenue  yielded  by  these  areas 
seeing  realities  with  his  own  eyes,  his  had  to  be  spent  within  them.  New  York 
astonishment  was  apocalyptic.  In  this  City's  lower  East  Side  actually  costs  the 
richest  of  commonwealths,  it  could  community  four  times  the  income  re- 
hardly  be  said  that  multitudes  of  ceived  from  it.  Much  of  this  money 
homes,  especially  of  the  very  poor,  are  was  needed  for  prevention  of  crime, 
homes  at  all.  At  least  one-half  of  them  Also  there  was  the  high  cost  of  social 
are  inadequate,  and  this  includes  farms,  work  to  offset  the  lowered  physical 
In  Wisconsin,  to  give  one  instance,  standard — expenditures  that  under 


REHOUSING  AMERICA  165 

proper  living  conditions  would  have  ilization.  In  the  United  States  that  in- 
been  unnecessary.  crease  was  accelerated  by  unrestricted 

In  many  matters,  the  United  States  immigration  which,  over  a  long  period, 

has  led  the  world.  But  sometimes  we  resulted  in  a  forced  growth  of  cities  and 

have  been  so  busy  making  money  that  population  not  yet  homogeneous.  As 

we  have  not  worried  over  any  holes  in  long  as  immigration  continued  there 

the  purse  through  which  we  were  los-  was  no  difficulty  in  filling — indeed  in 

ing  money.  Such  a  leakage  has  been  overcrowding — any  kind  of  dwellings, 

permitted  in  real  estate.  The  private  in-  Two  things  have  now  happened.  Immi- 

vestor  and  speculator  has  been  inter-  gration,  restricted  by  law,  is,  in  fact,  at 

ested  as  a  rule  only  in  a  quick  turnover  a  standstill.  This  means  that  cities  de- 

of  his  capital.  He  has  hoped  for  a  rapid  pend  on  the  natural  increase  of  popu- 

rise  in  capital  land  value.  He  has  aimed  lation  and  on  migration  from  the  rural 

at  an  eight  to  twelve  per  cent  profit,  to  the  urban  areas.  Secondly,  there  is 

and  of  improper  financing,  based  on  universal    education,    not    forgetting 

false  values,  we  are  now  seeing  the  re-  those    movies   which    familiarize   the 

suits.  There  are  mortgages  that  never  people  with  what  is  meant  by  a  higher 

represented   100  cents  to  the  dollar,  standard  of  living, 

and  taxable  values  which  were  out  of  People  so  educated  and  so  stimulated 

all  proportion  to  an  honest  valuation,  in  their  desires  return  to  tenements 

An    inevitable    result    has    been    the  and  apartments  with  small  inadequate 

break-down  of  finance,  whether  bank-  rooms  and  a  kitchen  that  looks  onto  a 

ing  or  governmental,  in  many  com-  slit  of  a  court  where,  inevitably,  there 

munities.  is  created  an  odor  that  is  impossible  to 

We  dreamed  of  marble  halls,  both  remove.  The  resultant  dissatisfaction 
for  business  and  for  living.  On  these  with  this  hopelessly  inadequate  provi- 
dreams  we  lavished  our  money  and  sion  for  a  decent  home  life  breeds  crim- 
they  seemed  to  be  a  sure  thing  on  inals  faster  than  prisons  can  be  built  to 
paper.  We  made  no  allowance  for  pos-  house  them,  and  the  average  age  of 
sible  overproduction  of  floor  space.  It  prisoners  in  our  jails  drops  lower  and 
did  not  occur  to  us  that  the  demand  for  lower  each  year.  The  mental  stability 
floor  space  is,  after  all,  limited.  In  one  of  the  nation  is  affected  and  a  dispro- 
city,  as  an  illustration,  the  first  sky-  portionate  expenditure  has  to  be  de- 
scraper  was,  on  completion,  filled  to  voted  to  the  care  and  treatment  of 
capacity.  The  second  could  not  be  filled  the  mentally  deranged  whose  numbers 
for  the  first  absorbed  the  market,  increase  each  year. 
When  the  crash  came  the  loss  on  that  Statisticians  produce  figures  to  prove 
building  was  one  of  the  reasons  why  that  there  has  been  a  higher  standard 
the  bank  it  housed  failed  to  open  after  of  living  in  the  United  States  than  else- 
the  moratorium.  The  little  credit  and  where.  On  the  average  it  may  have 
buying  power  left  in  a  community  been  so.  But  this  high  average  is  the 
twenty-five  per  cent  in  distress  disap-  direct  result  of  an  exceptionally  high 
peared  overnight.  standard  in  the  upper  strata  of  society. 

During    the    Nineteenth    Century,  On  the  one  hand,  we  have  homes  where 

there  was  a  rapid  increase  in  urban  one  bath  for  the  family  is  held  to  be 

population  all  over  our  Western  civ-  indecent.  There  must  be  two,  or  three 


1 66 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


or  four.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
communities  which,  according  to  the 
reports,  have  only  one  bath,  if  that, 
for  the  entire  population;  and  there 
are  many  counties  in  which  there  is  not 
a  single  bath  for  the  entire  farming 
population!  There  are  thousands  of 
tenements  and  farms  and  houses  in 
America  today  which  have  cruder  sani 
tation  than  that  found  in  Knossos,  one 
of  the  leading  communities  of  the  pre- 
Classic  Minoan  civilization.  To  mil 
lions  of  Americans,  the  old-time  slogan 
of  a  higher  standard  of  life  is  thus 
meaningless.  In  the  essentials  and  com 
forts  of  life  they  are  desperately 
poor. 

ii 

Let  us  try  to  see  the  problem  in  its 
historic  perspective.  What  chiefly  im 
presses  us  in  the  six  thousand  years  of 
recorded  history  is  that  many  highly 
developed  civilizations  have  passed 
away.  Around  the  eastern  Mediter 
ranean  there  were,  in  the  days  of  Abra 
ham,  many  cities,  large  and  small.  Yet 
of  those  mentioned  familiarly  in  the 
Book  of  Genesis,  there  does  not  appear 
to  be  one,  save  Damascus,  that  can  be 
said  to  have  maintained  a  continuous 
activity. 

It  is  true  that  some  ancient  cities, 
such  as  Jerusalem,  Athens  and  Rome, 
serve  a  modern  people  for  habitation. 
But  this  means  that  a  new  and  different 
city  has  been  built  upon  an  old  site. 
The  Acropolis  at  Athens  is  but  a  mu 
seum  of  ruins  and  modern  Rome  has 
a  long  way  to  go  before  she  fills  the 
perimeter  of  the  ancient  walls. 

Cities,  new  and  old,  grow  with  the 
life  within  them.  They  do  not  die  until 
that  life  has  left  them  and  they  die,  as 
the  oak  dies,  of  disease.  So  it  was  with 
old  Delhi,  a  city  of  ghosts  adjoining 


a  city  of  men  and  women.  So  it  has 
been  with  the  dream  city  of  Angkor 
and  with  Chichen-Itza  in  Yucatan. 
What  failed  in  all  these  cities  was  not 
marble  and  bricks  and  mortar  j  it  was 
human  life.  Memphis,  Thebes  and 
Bubastis  once  accommodated  a  teem 
ing  population.  Where  are  those  peo 
ple  today?  What  descendants  have 
they  left? 

Cities  make  themselves  impossible 
and  have  to  move  on  to  a  new  situation. 
Cairo  lies  fifteen  miles  away  from  the 
earlier  Memphis,  that  has  been  empty 
for  hundreds  of  years.  Thebes,  filled 
with  ruined  temples,  is  reduced  to  a  few 
scattered  villages  and  a  tourist  hotel. 

What  is  the  lesson  to  be  learned 
from  archeological  research?  Surely  it 
is  this:  the  essential  need  of  man  is  not 
the  big  and  monumental  edifice  j  it  is 
shelter  from  the  elements ;  it  is  housing 
for  the  people. 

Outside  modern  Cairo,  we  find  the 
great  necropolis  which  served  ancient 
Memphis.  Above  the  other  tombs 
which  cover  the  desert's  fringe,  elab 
orately  constructed  with  underground 
chambers,  statues,  wall  reliefs  and  in 
scriptions,  there  rise  the  three  great 
pyramids  of  Gizeh.  Then,  as  now, 
death  was  a  continuous  visitor,  and  the 
mausoleums  required  a  resident  army 
of  artisans,  sculptors,  painters  and 
priests.  Also,  there  had  to  be  a  body  of 
laborers  to  construct  the  tombs,  to 
drag  the  heavy  blocks  of  stone  into 
place,  and  transport  the  ponderous 
sarcophagi  from  the  barges  on  the 
Nile.  These  workers  and  their  families 
were  a  large  community  and  we  thus 
find  a  regularly  laid  out  City  of  the 
Dead,  and  adjacent  to  it  a  planned 
workmen's  town.  It  is  the  earliest  ex 
ample  of  town-planning  that  has  been 
discovered  by  archeologists. 


REHOUSING  AMERICA  167 

The   pity   is   that   this   community  further  examples.  Cardinal  Richelieu, 

should  have  been  no  more  than  an  ex-  a  man  of  many  activities,  was  a  town 

ception  which  proves  the  rule.  Most  planner  who  built  a  little  self-contained 

ancient  cities,  like  most  modern  cities,  community  named  for  himself.  Here, 

were  allowed  to  expand,  higgledy-pig-  in  a  sleepy  district  drenched  with  mem- 

gledy,  and  with  disastrous  results.  It  ories  of  the  past,  can  be  found  the  germ 

is  true  that,  in  the  Roman  Empire,  we  of  the  idea  which  later  developed  into 

find  town-planning,  as  at  Timgad  in  the  modern  garden  city. 

Algeria ;  many  a  medieval  city  in  Eu-  The  idea   lay   dormant   for   many 

rope  is  built,  even  today,  on  the  origi-  years.  Only  in  one  or  two  places,  Bath 

nal  Roman  plan.  But  there  were  also  in  England  and  Nancy  in  France,  was 

slums.  The  Imperial  Rome  of  the  first  planning  undertaken.  It  was  a  choco- 

Caesars  was  a  mushroom  city,  and  even  late   manufacturer   who   realized   the 

in   those   days   the  jerry-builder   was  need   for  decent  homes   for  working 

among  the  enemies  of  the  people.  His-  men  and  women  j  and  George  Cadbury 

tory  has  proven  over  and  over  again  in   1879  started  Bournville  near  Bir- 

that  the  contrast  between  wealth  and  mingham  in   England,  a  city   whose 

poverty — reflected  in  environment — is  slums  had  been  and  are  still  notorious, 

potentially      dangerous.      Both      the  Port  Sunlight  near  Liverpool  was  built 

French  and  the  Russian  revolutions  for  workers  in  a  soap  factory, 

were  a  sweeping  away,  not  merely  of  These  were  individual  endeavors  to 

political  inequalities  but  of  unnatural  satisfy  a  special  need.  It  was  Sir  Eben- 

differences  in  living  conditions.  Even  ezer  Howard  in  his  book,  Tomorrow, 

in  the  United  States,  there  may  come  a  who  conceived  the  garden  city  lying 

day  of  reckoning  when  it  will  be  real-  outside  the  boundaries  of  a  metropolis 

ized  that  firetraps  are  not  homes,  and  and  complete  in  itself  j  as  a  result  of  this 

that  the  symbol  of  American  cleanli-  work,  Welwyn  and  Letchworth  were 

ness,  the  bath,  if  it  is  a  luxury  of  the  created.  As  self-contained  communities 

millionaire,  is  also  the  right  of  the  they  are  notable.  But,  of  course,  they 

millions.  do  not  offer  a  direct  solution  of  the  im 
mediate  problems  arising  out  of  slums 
in  large  cities. 

In  the  provision  of  homes  for  the  Dame  Henrietta  O.  Barnett  worked 
people,  the  United  States  has  much  to  for  years  in  the  East  End  of  London  in 
learn  from  other  countries.  In  Eng-  an  attempt  to  bring  the  poor  east  and 
land,  Germany,  Austria  and  the  Soviet  the  rich  west  together  in  a  mutual  un- 
Republic,  there  has  been  a  movement  derstanding.  Out  of  her  labors  grew 
away  from  the  haphazard  policy  of  the  neighborhood  community  idea 
leaving  cities  to  grow,  like  Topsy,  with-  where  men  and  women  of  all  ranks  of 
out  any  plan.  In  alleviating  bad  condi-  life,  of  all  ages,  can  live  together  in  a 
tions  there  has  been  real  progress,  and  common  community,  with  an  abun- 
again  we  may  glance  down  the  historic  dance  of  the  glories  of  nature  and  out- 
vista,  door  life  surrounding  their  homes.  In 

After  the  early  Egyptian  and  the  this  she  was  ably  assisted  by  Sir  Ray- 
Roman  examples  of  town  planning,  it  mond  Unwin.  In  developing  the  gen- 
is  not  until  the  Renaissance  that  we  find  eral  plan  of  the  Hampstead  Garden 


1 68  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Suburb,  Sir  Raymond  provided  that  architecture  of  which  she  has  reason  to 

each  resident,  however  rich,  however  be  proud.  It  is,  however,  significant  and 

poor,  should  have  his  own  garden.  regrettable  that,  as  a  course  of  study, 

For  a  time,  the  War  stopped  the  planning  on  a  larger  scale  has  been  left 

housing  movement  in  Britain.  But  out  in  the  background  and  relegated  to  the 

of  the  horrors  of  that  upheaval  de-  domain  of  landscape  architecture.  Of 

veloped  a  stronger  consciousness  of  the  the  many  thousands  of  future  archi- 

need  for  improved  living  conditions,  tects   graduated    from   these   schools, 

The  pre-War  jerry-builders  who  had  very  few  received  their  diplomas  with 

supplied   poor  imitations   of   planned  any  idea  that  town  planning  might  be 

communities,  were  replaced  by  housing  their  career.  These  schools  have  now  to 

authorities,  now  well  over  seventeen  revise  these  programmes,  and,  as  the 

hundred  in  number,  which  are  building  new  Dean  of  the  School  of  Architecture 

homes   for  the  poorest   families  and  at    Columbia,    Joseph    R.    Hudnut, 

which  yield  a  three  and  one-half  per  points  out,  the  architect  of  the  future 

cent  income  on  invested  capital.  must  be  also  a  sociologist  and  an  econ- 

Despite  a  general  lack  of  progressive  omist.  He  must  study  architecture  as  a 

planning  in  the  United  States,  there  service  for  mankind, 
were  interested  groups  who  studied  de 
velopments    abroad    and    there    were 

honest  endeavors  to  develop  the  ideal  In  furtherance  of  the  New  Deal  bet- 
community.  Forest  Hills  was  one  of  the  ter  housing  schemes  were  submitted  to 
first  but  it  failed  in  its  original  purpose  Washington  by  many  architects  and 
of  providing  homes  for  the  poorer  peo-  agencies  which,  on  examination  by  the 
pie.  The  idea  was  unique  j  it  became  small  band  of  real  experts,  could  not 
popular  -y  and  soon  it  changed  into  a  be  approved.  It  was  not  enough  to  take 
rich  man's  town.  Nor  must  we  forget  a  small  specified  area  and  make  plans 
Pullman  City  and  Gary,  towns  which  for  rebuilding  that  area.  Consideration 
were  built  for  the  same  purposes  had  to  be  given  to  the  effect  on  sur 
as  Bournville  and  Port  Sunlight  in  rounding  properties.  A  community 
England.  The  War  also  produced  sev-  should  make  a  complete  civic  survey 
eral  mushroom  communities  which  for  analysis  before  proceeding  to  de- 
were  ably  planned  for  the  increased  velop  a  programme, 
workers  at  many  factories.  The  Armis-  Take  the  case  of  Cleveland.  There 
tice,  in  many  cases,  prevented  their  was  an  attractive  plan  to  rehabilitate  a 
completion,  and  they  remain  mere  sparsely  populated  and  blighted  slum 
fragments,  often  devoid  of  tenants.  district.  The  new  developments  were 

Since  the  War,  a  group  of  men  and  to  occupy  one-fifth  the  total  area.  But 
women  under  the  leadership  of  hous-  on  that  fifth  it  was  proposed  to  house 
ing  architects  have  created  Sunnyside  the  entire -po-pulation  of  the  whole  area. 
in  Queens,  Radburn  in  New  Jersey  and  It  would  have  meant  a  complete  exodus 
Chatham  Village  near  Pittsburg.  These  of  people  from  the  other  four-fifths  of 
suggest  varirus  stages  in  the  develop-  the  land  for  which  there  would  be  no 
ment  of  the  self-contained  neighbor-  obvious  use  either  residential  or  corn- 
hood,  mercial.  The  land  was  valued  at  some 

The  United  States  has  schools  of  eighty  to  ninety  cents  a  square  foot.  But 


REHOUSING  AMERICA 


169 


this  value  was  found  to  be  five  times 
too  high  and  such  overvaluation  is  now 
the  chief  obstacle  to  proper  housing 
for  the  poorer  population.  There  is 
thus  a  need  of  local  legislation  creating 
municipal  housing  authorities  with 
powers  to  take  over  a  blighted  area  at 
a  reasonable  value.  Failing  such  pow 
ers,  slums — for  instance,  parts  of  New 
York's  East  Side — can  never  be  re 
placed. 

We  have  to  face  a  plain  issue.  A  man 
may  own  a  piece  of  property,  but  has  he 
or  has  he  not  the  right  to  erect  thereon 
a  structure  which  is  going  to  harm  his 
neighbors?  A  poorly  designed,  inade 
quate  building  is  just  as  much  a  public 
nuisance  as  a  vicious  dog.  If  such  a 
structure  destroys  a  whole  section,  does 
there  not  seem  to  be  a  reasonable 
community  right  that  there  should  be 
restrictive  regulation  preventing  the 
erection  of  unsuitable  buildings?  This 
issue  dominates  the  policy  of  planning 
and  replanning  communities.  It  is  im 
plied  in  the  original  draft  of  the  pro 
posed  National  Housing  Act. 

It  has  been  our  habit  to  assume  that 
slum  clearance  could  be  left  to  take 
care  of  itself.  It  would  follow — so  we 
believed — as  a  matter  of  course  from 
the  increase  in  the  size  of  the  com 
munity.  The  outer  ring  of  residences 
would  spread  over  a  wider  and  wider 
periphery.  The  inner  commercial  cen 
tre  would  gradually  absorb  the  prop 
erty  that  had  depreciated  upon  the 
inner  circumference  of  the  residential 
area.  No  special  control  by  the  state  was 
necessary.  To  a  certain  extent  this 
laissez-faire,  especially  in  a  new  com 
munity,  met  the  needs  of  the  situation. 
But  when  the  skyscraper  came,  it  de 
stroyed  the  scheme  of  things.  By  con 
centrating  business  upon  a  small  site, 
the  skyscraper  stopped  its  spread.  The 


blighted  zone  was  bereft  of  commer 
cial  absorption  and  it  became  chronic. 

An  automobile,  when  it  deteriorates, 
can  be  sent  to  the  junk  heap.  It  does  not 
depreciate  the  roads.  But  a  building, 
whether  it  be  residential  or  commercial, 
is  fixed  to  its  site.  If  it  crumbles,  its  lo 
cation  suffers,  and  this  is  what  town 
planners  describe  as  "blight." 

Often  the  "individual  initiative" 
which  created  the  original  building  al 
lows  the  same  building  to  decay.  In 
cities  such  as  Philadelphia  and  Cleve 
land,  the  older  areas,  which  also  had 
become  the  poorer  areas,  became  dere 
lict.  Within  these  areas  rents  fell  to  a 
vanishing  point  and  lack  of  revenue 
eliminated  any  possibility  of  repairing 
or  rebuilding  by  private  initiative. 

During  the  era  of  prosperity,  the 
nation,  following  a  policy  of  "let 
George  do  it"  did  little  to  ameliorate 
the  situation.  While  spending  billions 
for  overexpansion  of  factories  and  busi 
ness,  it  invested  scarcely  a  cent  in  de 
cent  and  well-planned  homes  for  the 
poorer  people.  In  Philadelphia,  noth 
ing  was  built  for  the  fifty  per  cent  of 
the  lowest  income  groups  of  the  popu 
lation.  The  bulk  of  new  construction 
went  into  homes  that  could  be  afforded 
by  only  fifteen  per  cent  of  the  popula 
tion.  It  meant  overbuilding  for  the 
well-to-do,  with  much  loss  of  capital 
and  expensive  selling  overhead  for  a 
glutted  market.  It  meant  that  the 
poorer  people  had  either  to  spend  far 
too  great  a  proportion  of  their  earnings 
for  rent,  or  else  live  in  hovels. 

During  the  depression,  the  plight 
of  the  slum  and  blighted  areas  has  been 
intensified.  Extreme  poverty,  for  in 
1932  sixty  per  cent  of  wa£e  earners  re 
ceived  less  than  $1,000,  has  meant 
doubling  and  tripling  of  families  in 
apartments  and  tenements,  while  other 


lie  Lf 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


property  has  been  completely  vacated. 
Both  conditions  are  bad. 

New  York  City  has  recently  com 
pleted  a  slum  clearance  survey.  Out  of 
the  findings  produced  by  the  commit 
tee  in  charge  of  the  work,  a  sad  picture 
is  presented  of  this,  the  largest  com 
munity  in  the  world.  It  is  estimated 
that  two  million  persons  live  in  old- 
law  tenements  whose  design  was  con 
demned  at  the  beginning  of  the  cen 
tury.  To  rehouse  this  population  will 
take  over  $1,000,000,000,  and  this 
will  only  remove  the  worst  conditions. 
To  rehouse  New  York  City  properly 
will  require  two  and  a  half  billions  of 
dollars! 


What  we  have  now  to  work  out  is  a 
practical  policy,  and  sometimes  we 
might  almost  be  inclined  to  hand  over 
the  whole  business  to  a  benevolent — 
or  even  a  malevolent — autocrat !  It  was 
the  smell  of  the  slums  under  the  Pala 
tine  Hill  and  their  obstruction  to  busi 
ness  that  appear  to  have  been  factors 
in  the  pyromania  of  the  Emperor 
Nero.  Many  a  city  has  been  purged  by 
fire.  In  Paris  a  hay  barge  caught  alight 
and  was  allowed  to  drift  down  the 
Seine  until  it  jammed  under  a  bridge 
and  thus  started  a  general  conflagra 
tion.  London's  plague-swept  houses  dis 
appeared  in  the  famous  fire  of  1666. 
In  the  United  States  the  construction 
of  buildings  of  deplorably  flimsy  ma 
terials  which  rapidly  deteriorate  has  led 
to  much  the  same  experience.  In  her 
early  history,  New  York  suffered  from 
a  serious  conflagration.  Boston,  Salem, 
Baltimore,  Chicago  have  all  been  swept 
by  the  devouring  flames.  San  Francisco 
was  utterly  destroyed  first  by  earth 
quake  and  then  by  fire.  In  every  case 
•acres  of  slum  areas  were  eliminated. 


First  among  the  possibilities  of  a 
practical  policy  is  reclamation — which 
means  a  better  use  of  the  homes  already 
in  existence.  Many  buildings  can  be 
kept  in  repair,  modern  improvements 
can  be  installed,  and  the  original  life 
of  the  structure  considerably  extended. 
The  fact  that  there  are  buildings  in 
Europe,  here  and  there,  that  were  old 
five  hundred  years  ago  and  are  still  in 
use  today,  is  proof  of  this.  Such  a  policy 
of  conservation  has  been  pursued  in  a 
few  centres  in  the  United  States,  such 
as  Salem,  Massachusetts,  and  it  shows 
that  deterioration,  if  properly  dealt 
with,  is  not  always  an  insurmountable 
evil.  In  the  proposed  National  Housing 
Act,  reclamation  is  among  the  major 
proposals.  Small  sums  of  money  wisely 
expended  on  structural  restoration  will, 
it  is  hoped,  raise  many  homes  to  a 
higher  level  of  decency  and  comfort. 
Sometimes,  the  need  is  merely  for  a 
coat  of  protective  paint.  An  all  too  high 
percentage  require  adequate  sanitation. 

Secondly,  there  is  the  surgical  opera 
tion  known  as  slum  clearance.  It  means 
simply  what  the  phrase  implies — the 
removal  of  all  structures  from  a  con 
demned  area,  which  thus  becomes  a 
new  site,  ready  for  properly  planned 
and  constructed  homes.  During  the 
clearance  of  an  area,  there  should  be 
a  reasonable  arrangement  for  the  im 
mediate  rehousing  of  the  families 
affected  within  the  district  where  they 
have  been  living  and,  in  many  cases, 
will  still  want  to  live. 

Thirdly,  we  have  the  planning  of 
new  housing  which  will  be  worthy  of 
modern  civilization.  The  redevelop 
ment  of  a  city  block  as  a  unit  is  not  suffi 
cient.  It  is  agreed  by  experts  that  the 
unit  should  be  the  area  served  by  the 
grade  school. 

A  planned  area  includes  more  than 


REHOUSING  AMERICA  171 

homes.  Provision  must  be  made  for  nent.  We  must  not  forget  that  the  six 

stores,  for  recreation,  for  religious  ob-  and  one-half  per  cent  of  families  who 

servance,  for  education,  for  streets  and  have  "doubled  up"  because  of  unem- 

transportation.    The    rentals    of    the  ployment     will     demand     individual 

homes  must  be  suited,  not  merely  to  homes  as  prosperity  returns, 

families  of  a  hypothetical  means.  We  The  National  Housing  Act  means 

must  consider  what  are  the  incomes  that  the  problem  must  be  solved,  not 

actually  paid.  as  private  speculation,  but  as  social  co- 

The  opportunity  for  city  planning  is  operation.    New    questions    must    be 

today  obvious.  It  has  ceased  to  be  an  asked.  Is  there  sufficient  outdoor  recre- 

ideal,  and  is  now  an  urgent  necessity,  ation  available  for  young  and  old  for 

It  is  for  the  profession  of  architecture  each  home?  In  what  location  has  the 

to  make  up  its  mind  as  to  what  it  means  school  been  placed?  Is  it  to  be  neces- 

by  planned  housing.  There  has  been  a  sary  in  future  for  children — often  mere 

good  deal  of  academic  theorizing.  The  infants — to    cross    busy    highways    on 

time  has  now  come  for  applying  theo-  their  way  to  and  from  school  and  play? 

ries  to  actual  conditions.  Should  mothers  be  under  the  necessity 

The  broad  fact  is  that,  in  normal  of  crossing  traffic-crowded  streets  when, 

times,  the  United  States  requires  400,-  accompanied  by  the  baby  carriage,  they 

ooo   new   houses   every   year.    These  undertake  their  daily  marketing? 

houses    are    needed    first    to    replace  It  is  with  such  thoughts  in  mind  that 

dwellings  that  have  depreciated  below  experts  in  community  housing  have  de- 

the  standard  of  health  and  decency  j  voted  their  lives  to  a  crusade  for  essen- 

secondly,  they  are  required  for  the  in-  tial  national  upbuilding.  If  the  United 

crease  in  population.  Yet  since  the  de-  States  follows  their  leadership  she  may 

pression,  the  construction  of  houses  has  yet  realize  the  dreams  of  those  who, 

fallen  to  ten  per  cent  of  normal,  and  a  full  of  hope,  crossed  the  ocean  to  these 

shortage  of  accommodation  is  immi-  shores  in  search  of  a  better  way  of  life. 


Plebiscite  Puzzle  in  the  Saar 

BY  GERHARD  HIRSCHFELD 

The  Saar  landers  are  torn  between  racial  loyalty  and  economic 

advantage,  and  their  choice  is  another  factor  in  the 

troubled  peace  of  Europe 

THE  Saar  is  not  a  problem  to  the  point  of  view,  the  Saar  could  exist  with- 
Nazis.  They  follow  a  simple  out  Germany,  but  not  without  France, 
line  of  reasoning  which  runs  This  may  be  exaggerating  the  issue, 
about  like  this:  the  Saar  is  German  but  it  at  least  seems  clear  that,  while 
(which  is  correct)  j  Germany  is  Nazi  the  racial  and  political  issues  favor  the 
(which  is  also  correct)  ;  hence  the  Saar  German  side,  when  it  comes  to  the  eco- 
is  Nazi — and  this  is  distinctly  wrong,  nomic  aspects  there  are  certain  French 
The  Saar  has  problems  all  of  its  own,  interests  which  demand  consideration, 
and  if  the  present  masters  of  Germany  It  is  this  "partnership"  of  the  two  pow- 
fail  to  recognize  them,  they  may  be  ers  in  the  tiny  Saar  district  which  may 
faced  with  a  jait  accompli  of  serious  provide  the  fireworks  sometime  in 
political  consequences.  The  problem  in-  the  future.  It  is  the  fact  that  almost- 
volved  in  the  Saar  plebiscite,  fixed  by  forgotten  issues  of  the  past,  of  the  War 
the  League  of  Nations  for  January  13,  and  of  the  Armistice  are  dragged  out 
1935,  is  much  graver  than  would  ordi-  again  into  the  merciless  light  of  politi- 
narily  be  implied  by  a  simple  electoral  cal  reality  which  makes  this  more  than 
process.  The  balance  of  power  in  "just  a  plebiscite." 
Europe,  now  hanging  by  a  very  fine  The  Saar  is  and  always  has  been 
and  very  delicate  thread,  may  easily  be  German.  But  when  twenty  years  ago 
affected,  not  by  the  outcome  of  the  the  German  armies  invaded  northern 
plebiscite,  which,  everybody  admits,  France,  they  thought  it  advisable  to  ad- 
will  see  the  Saar's  return  to  the  Father-  here  to  the  ancient  war  custom  of  de- 
land,  but  by  the  difficulty  of  adjusting  stroying  the  enemy's  resources  within 
the  Saar's  economy  to  that  of  the  their  reach.  This  they  did  by  putting 
Reich.  the  French  coal  mines  out  of  commis- 
For  while  it  is  true  that  the  Saar  is  sion.  In  doing  so  they  did  not  figure  on 
German  through  and  through,  it  is  also  losing  the  war,  of  course.  So  when  the 
true  that  the  Saarlander  does  not  make  time  came  to  add  up  the  losses,  the 
his  living  from  Germany  alone,  but  Germans  were  forced  to  return  Alsace- 
also  from  France  j  some  even  go  so  far  Lorraine,  to  France,  which  was  also 
as  to  assert  that,  from  an  economic  given  the  exclusive  rights  of  exploita- 


PLEBISCITE  PUZZLE  IN  THE  SAAR 


tion  of  the  coal  mines  in  the  Saar  Basin, 
in  compensation  for  the  previously  de 
stroyed  French  mines.  France  became 
the  owner  of  the  mining  fields  and 
concessions,  the  value  of  which  was 
credited  to  Germany  on  the  repara 
tions  account. 

Now  it  happens  that  the  prosperity 
of  the  Saar  is  derived  from  coal  and 
iron.  The  chief  market  for  her  coal  is 
Germany,  and  the  chief  source  of  sup 
ply  for  her  iron  industries  is  Alsace- 
Lorraine.  As  long  as  these  two  prov 
inces  were  part  of  Germany,  the  Saar 
fitted  in  nicely  enough.  She  obtained 
her  supplies  from  one  part  of  Ger 
many,  and  sold  her  products  to  a  con 
siderable  extent  in  another  part  of 
Germany.  This  well-balanced  economic 
situation  was  changed  when  Alsace- 
Lorraine  with  her  iron  ore  mines  fell 
to  France  in  1919,  and  when  an  im 
poverished  Germany  could  not  give 
the  Saar  industries  quite  the  same  mar 
ket  they  had  enjoyed  in  pre-War  days. 
In  addition,  France  went  out  of  her 
way  to  help  the  Saar  reorientate  her 
economy  more  in  line  with  French  am 
bitions.  Trade  and  tariff  obstacles  were 
removed,  French  capital  poured  into 
the  Saar  Basin,  French  industries 
placed  large  orders  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  supplied  large  quantities  of  ores, 
all  of  which  contributed  to  making  the 
Saar  reasonably  prosperous. 

To  what  extent  the  economic  char 
acter  of  the  Saar  has  turned  from  Ger 
man  to  French  may  be  seen  from  the 
fact  that  Germany  absorbed  back  in 
1913  about  4,718,000  tons  of  Saar  coal, 
and  France  2,670,600  tons.  Twenty 
years  later,  the  German  figure  had 
dropped  to  948,000  tons,  while  the 
French  figure  had  risen  to  3,980,000 
tons.  The  sale  of  steel  mill  products 
to  Germany  amounted  in  1913  to 


seventy  per  cent  of  total  sales  j  in  1933 
it  had  dropped  to  thirty-five  per  cent, 
or  exactly  half.  In  contrast,  sales  of 
these  products  to  France  rose  within 
the  same  period  from  fourteen  to 
thirty-one  per  cent  of  total  sales. 

In  other  countries,  steel  and  coal 
may  be  important  items  in  the  national 
economy,  but  in  the  Saar  they  are  more 
than  just  that.  They  furnish  everything 
— food,  clothing  and  shelter — for  vir 
tually  the  entire  population  of  828,000. 
Almost  one-half  of  this  number  are  en 
gaged  in  the  mining  or  manufacturing 
end  of  iron  and  coal.  It  is,  therefore, 
essential  for  the  Saarlanders  to  know 
just  how  the  plebiscite  is  going  to  affect 
the  sales  possibilities  for  their  coal  and 
the  supply  of  iron  ore  needed  for  the 
manufacture  of  steel  products.  The 
iron  ore  they  obtained  from  Lorraine 
when  it  was  German;  now  they  obtain 
it  also  from  Lorraine  even  though  it 
is  French.  And  in  the  future  they  want 
it  from  the  same  Lorraine  regardless 
of  whether  it  is  German  or  French  or 
anything  else. 

Not  so  with  the  two  rivals.  The 
French  say:  "If  you  vote  for  Germany, 
we  shall  stop  ore  shipments  from  Lor 
raine."  It  is  an  open  question,  however, 
whether  France  will  not  think  twice 
before  losing  a  customer  who  takes 
three  million  tons  of  ore  every  year, 
or  nearly  ten  per  cent  of  the  Lorraine 
output.  The  Germans,  again,  say: 
"Why  bother  about  the  French  ore? 
Don't  you  have  stocks  right  here  in 
the  Saar?  And  if  they  are  exhausted, 
you  can  buy  Swedish  and  Canadian 
ores,  which,  because  of  currency  de 
valuation,  are  cheaper  by  fifty  per  cent 
today  than  they  were  in  1929.  Finally, 
our  German  ores  can  be  treated  for 
your  purposes  in  such  a  way  that  they 
can  take  the  place  of  French  ores." 


174  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

this  article  to  discuss  in  detail  just  how 
Germany  would  do  all  this.  After  all, 

And  so  the  arguments  go,  back  and  she  is  beset  by  difficulties  of  her  own. 

forth,  emphasizing  or  discounting,  as  Employment  is  created,  true  enough  j 

the  case  may  be,  the  advantages  of  but  in  many  cases  it  does  not  seem  to 

staying  with  France  or  of  returning  to  pay  much  more  than  the  minimum  of 

Germany.  One  fact,  however,  seems  to  unemployment    insurance  j     in    many 

stand  out:  if  the  Saar  goes  back  to  the  cases,  it  is  a  sort  of  "  militarized"  work, 

Reich,  it  will  be  the  first  time  since  the  in  labor  camps,  on  roads  and  in  the 

Franco-Prussian  War  that  it  finds  it-  fields.  The  financial  difficulties  of  the 

self  outside  of  the  territorial  area  of  Reichsbank  at  the  time  I  am  writing 

Alsace-Lorraine,  which  has  given  it  its  are  well  enough  known  to  throw  doubt 

importance.  There  will  be  a  tariff  line  on  the  efficacy  of  large-scale  financing 

between  the  Saar  and  France  j  there  in  the  Saar.  Finally,  the  coal  and  steel 

will  be  all  sorts  of  obstacles  in  the  way  producers  along  the  Rhine  and  Ruhr 

of  placing  Saar  coal  on  the  French  will  not  be  so  enthusiastic  about  the  in- 

market,  of  getting  iron  ore  across  the  corporation  of  the  Saar  industries  in  the 

border,   of  selling   mill   products,   of  Reich,  for  they  are  competing  with  each 

finding   customers   for   a   number   of  other.  Besides,  the  Ruhr  coal  is  better 

other  products  made  in  the  Saar,  for  in  quality  than  the  Saar  coal  and  has, 

instance,  machines,  technical  apparatus,  furthermore,  the  advantage  of  cheaper 

vehicles,  glass,  brick,  cement  and  many  freight.  The  Saar  has  been  promised 

others.  a  nice,  brand-new  canal  to  the  Rhine, 

Where  would  the  people  of  the  Saar  but  the  same  promise  was  made  at  the 

find  a  substitute  for  the  French  trade  beginning  of  the  century.  It  was  never 

lost  by  import  restrictions,  tariffs,  quota  carried  out  because  the  coal  producers 

systems  and  the  like?  Germany  has  an-  along   the   Ruhr   objected.   Will   the 

nounced  through  von  Papen,  Goebbels  Nazis  be  able  to  overrule  that  objec- 

and  Hitler  himself  that  ample  care  tion? 

would  be  taken  of  any  losses  which  the  Then,  there  are  many  smaller  in- 
Saar  may  suffer  in  consequence  of  a  dustries  such  as  the  breweries,  the  boot 
pro-German  plebiscite.  Railroad  rates  and  shoe  industry,  the  furniture  indus- 
would  be  reduced  so  as  to  facilitate  the  try  and  a  number  of  others  which  have 
exchange  of  goods.  Unemployment  grown  up  during  the  last  fifteen  years 
(amounting  to  about  40,000  in  the  behind  French  tariff  walls.  They  sup- 
Saar  Valley)  would  be  eliminated  j  the  ply  the  specifically  German  needs  of 
splendid  results  of  the  German  cam-  the  Saar  population  which  can  not  be 
paign  against  unemployment  are  of-  supplied  by  France.  But  once  the  tariff 
fered  as  proof  of  this  contention.  Or-  walls  are  eliminated,  will  they  be 
ders  would  be  placed  by  the  German  strong  enough  to  compete  with  power- 
heavy  industries.  French  capital  would  ful  German  large-scale  production? 
be  replaced  by  German  funds.  Coal  and  While  the  Nazis  profess  particular 
steel  production  would  be  stepped  up,  sympathies  for  the  small  trader,  they 
and  full  and  unspoiled  prosperity  have  not  shown  so  far  any  leanings 
would  be  but  a  matter  of  months.  toward  the  small  producers  at  the  ex- 
It  does  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  pense  of  the  large  interests  in  their  own 


PLEBISCITE  PUZZLE  IN  THE  SAAR 


175 


country.  If  they  can  do  no  better  in 
the  Saar,  the  chances  are  that  most  of 
these  small  industries  will  be  forced 
to  close  down. 


From  this  picture  of  economic  con- 
ditions  one  may  easily  judge  the 
thoughts  and  sentiment  of  the  people 
in  the  Saar  Valley.  They  are  German, 
they  feel  German,  they  speak  German, 
But  so  many  things  have  happened 
since  the  Versailles  Treaty.  While  in 
years  past  they  have  been  looking 
toward  the  east  with  anxiety  and  hope- 
fulness  for  their  reunion  with  the 
Fatherland,  the  daily  worries  of  mak- 
ing  a  living  have  not  blinded  their  eyes 
to  existing  realities.  They  have  looked 
toward  the  east,  but  they  have  taken 
advantage  of  business  opportunities  in 
the  west.  They  have  clamored  for  Ger- 
man  possession  of  the  Saar,  but  mean- 
while  they  have  built  their  future  to  a 
good  extent  upon  French  cooperation, 

Now  they  are  forced  with  this  di- 
lemma.  Should  they  vote  for  France, 
f  or  Germany  or  for  the  status  quo  under 
the  patronage  of  the  League  of  Na- 
tions?  They  probably  do  not  know 
themselves.  Before  the  advent  of  Hit- 
ler,  it  was  reasonably  certain  that  at 
least  ninety  per  cent  of  the  Saar  popula- 
tion  would  vote  for  reunion  with  Ger- 
many.  Now  estimates  vary.  The  Nazis 
claim  ninety-nine  per  cent,  no  more  and 
no  less.  The  Social  Democrats  do  not 
concede  more  than  forty  per  cent.  The 
truth  lies  probably  somewhere  be- 
tween.  If  left  entirely  alone,  the  people 
might  vote  for  the  continuation  of  the 
present  status.  But  the  Nazis  have  de- 
voted  time  and  money,  have  called  out 
the  storm  troops  and  have  shipped  the 
silver  tongues  of  their  persuasive  lead- 
ers  to  the  cities  and  towns  of  the  Saar 


to  see  that  the  plebiscite  effects  the  re- 
turn  to  the  mother  country. 

They  have  worked  in  their  approved 
style.  Persecution  and  propaganda 
have  played  their  part.  In  recent 
speeches,  Herr  von  Papen  went  out  of 
his  way  to  point  out  that,  if  the  plebi- 
scite  brought  a  "disappointing  result," 
the  result  would  be  the  Saar's  complete 
economic  collapse.  He  called  attention 
to  the  annual  pension  payments,  social 
insurance  funds,  subsidies  for  housing, 
education  and  other  cultural  purposes 
sent  in  to  the  territory  by  the  German 
Government,  funds  that  in  the  aggre- 
gate  exceeded  the  total  tax  income  of 
the  local  government.  He  did  not  fail 
to  remind  his  audience  that  only  Ger- 
many's  willingness  to  punch  her  tariff 
walls  full  of  holes  for  the  benefit  of 
Saar  industries  kept  them  above  water. 
He  and  his  colleagues  conveniently  re 
called  the  fact  that  about  forty  per  cent 
of  the  production  of  Saar  coal  mines 
must  be  sold  outside  the  French  area, 
and  chiefly  in  Germany.  That  the 
other  sixty  per  cent  are  no  less  impor- 
rant,  he  did  not  say. 

All  of  which  tends  only  to  aggravate 
the  plight  of  the  Saar  landers.  If  they 
turn  from  Germany,  they  lose  one-half 
of  their  markets.  If  they  turn  the  other 
way,  they  may  lose  the  other  half,  or 
a  valuable  portion  of  it.  If  they  turn 
nowhere,  they  challenge  the  ire  of  the 
Nazis.  And  this  is  not  all.  As  was  said 
above,  before  Herr  Hitler  grew  from 
the  "drummer  of  the  revolution"  the 
leading  German  statesman,  it  was  clear 
that  the  people  of  the  Saar  would  go 
back  where  they  feel  they  belong.  But 
Hitler  arrived,  and  freedom  went.  The 
persecution  of  the  Catholic  part  of  the 
German  population  must  have  made  a 
deep  impression  on  the  people  of  the 
Saar,  of  whom  more  than  two-thirds 


i76 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


belong  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
It  must  have  left  a  deep  scar  on  the 
patriotism  of  the  working  population 
when  they  read  about  the  dissolution 
of  German  labor  unions,  about  the 
regimentation  of  the  working  class, 
about  the  leader  principle  in  every  eco 
nomic  branch:  in  short,  about  the  loss 
of  labor's  freedom  and  its  subordina 
tion  to  the  interests  of  the  State,  accord 
ing  to  the  tenets  of  National  Socialism. 
And  it  is  doubtful  whether  this  reaction 
upon  the  Catholic  and  the  labor  fac 
tions  of  the  Saar  would  not  have  been 
enough  to  swing  the  tide  of  voting 
either  in  favor  of  France  or  of  the 
League  protectorate  in  normal  times. 

Here  the  story  should  end,  and  it 
would  if  only  the  Saar  were  concerned. 
However,  the  dynamite  in  the  situa 
tion  and  the  friction  involved  in  it,  will 
only  then  come  to  the  surface.  It  is  the 
issue  between  Germany  and  France. 

IV 

For  one  thing,  there  are  the  stipula 
tions  of  the  plebiscite.  The  preliminary 
canvassing  and  the  actual  taking  of  the 
vote  must  be  carried  out  free  from  Nazi 
pressure  and  terrorism.  Up  to  now,  the 
atmosphere  has  been  loaded  to  the  ex 
tent  of  open  conflagration  with  both  of 
them.  Secondly,  those  who  have  the 
courage  to  vote  against  the  reincorpora- 
tion  of  the  Saar  into  the  Reich  must 
enjoy  a  genuine  condonation  after  the 
plebiscite.  In  the  past,  the  Nazis  have 
intimated  that  any  Saarlanders  will 
thus  have  branded  themselves  as 
traitors  to  their  country.  Unless  the 
Hitlerites  change  their  procedure  in 
the  Saar  completely,  it  will  be  easy  for 
the  French  to  prove  German  violation 
of  the  rules  of  the  plebiscite  and  to  ques 
tion  its  validity. 

More  important  in  the  case  of  a 


German  victory  is  the  disruption  of  a 
territory  which  is  economically  inter 
dependent  but  would  then  be  politi 
cally  separated  and  cut  into  different 
trade  and  tariff  zones.  The  triangle  of 
Alsace,  Lorraine  and  the  Saar,  as  was 
indicated  above,  is  one  large  industrial 
and  mining  unit.  They  have  enjoyed 
prosperity  because  they  were  free  to 
trade  and  barter  within  one  customs 
union.  Now  they  are  to  be  parted. 

All  past  wars  between  Prussia  and 
France  have  had  their  cause  largely  in 
the  possession  of  the  Rhineland  as  well 
as  of  the  Rhine  River.  Later  wars  be 
tween  the  Reich  and  France  revolved 
around  the  possession  of  Alsace-Lor 
raine.  Now  that  Germany  seems  to 
have  resigned  herself  to  the  loss  of 
these  two  provinces,  another  devil  pops 
up  in  the  Saar  Basin,  an  excellent  ex 
cuse  for  a  war. 

The  tension  between  the  two  coun 
tries  is  such  that  any  additional  friction 
should  be  carefully  avoided.  Unfortu 
nately,  the  plebiscite  comes  at  a  time 
when  the  reincorporation  of  the  Saar 
into  the  Reich  will  not  make  the  French 
more  sympathetic  toward  German  re 
armament  and  toward  the  challenge  of 
National  Socialism.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  will  add  to  the  Reich's  difficulties, 
although  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
territorial  addition  will  recompense  the 
Hitler  Government  for  many  setbacks 
at  home.  But  it  will  add  to  the  church 
conflict  y  it  will  aggravate  the  labor 
problem;  it  will  add  to  the  problems 
of  heavy  industry  j  and  it  will  be  par 
ticularly  trying  for  the  Nazi  patience 
in  dealing  with  the  French  and  non- 
Nazi  inhabitants  of  the  Saar  Valley. 

The  plebiscite,  instead  of  solving  a 
delicate  problem,  will  create  one  that 
may  long  be  remembered  as  a  worthy 
remnant  of  the  Treaty  of  Versailles. 


Idealism's  Bank  Holiday  - 

BY  LOUISE  MANNSELL  FIELD 

Who  is  confident  that  the  War-inspired  cynicism  of  the  'Twen 
ties   is   disappearing   in  a  resurgence  of  typically 
American  idealism 

ITS  ideals  have  always  been  at  once  that  of  the  equality  of  all  men  before 

the  wealth  and  the  ultimate  des-  the  law,  had  been  upheld  in  Egypt  as 

tiny  of  a  nation.   By  them  and  early  as  the  second  millennium  B.C., 

through  them  it  makes  its  mark  upon  and  reaffirmed  centuries  later  in  Magna 

the  world,  by  them  and  through  them  Charta.  But  never  before  had  such  a 

it  is  remembered  long  after  its  rulers,  combination  been  made  at  once  the  very 

its  buildings  and  even  its  monuments  cornerstone  of  a  country,  and  its  na- 

have  become  merely  so  much  wind-  tional  creed. 

blown    dust.    The    Greek    ideals    of  We  who  are  living  in  this  present 

beauty,   the   Persian   ideal    of   truth-  period  of  change,  turmoil  and  instabil- 

speaking,  the  Roman  ideals  of  forti-  ity  are  being  besieged  and  often  deaf- 

tude   and   patriotism   still   endure   in  ened  with  talk  of  the  bankruptcy  of 

men's  memories,  an  inseparable  and  American  along  with  all  other  ideal- 

the  most  important  part  of  what  we  isms,  implicit  and  explicit.  As  far  as  the 

mean  when  we  speak  of  Greece  or  United  States'  own  special  types  are 

Persia  or  Rome.  And  of  all  the  nations  concerned,  we  are  told  that  the  corner- 

of  the  world,  past  or  present,  there  is  stone  is  not  and  never  was  more  than 

none  in  whose  building  ideals  have  pretense,  mere  papier-mache  and  the 

played  so  conspicuous  a  part  as  they  creed  one  in  which  only  the  sheep-like 

have  done  in  these  United  States.  herd  of  the  stupid  ever  really  believed 

Founded  on  ideals  of  freedom,  of  at  all.  During  the  past  decade  and  a 

the  equality  of  all  men,  rich  and  poor,  half  or  so  it  has  been  the  fashion  to 

before  the  law,  of  religious  tolerance  declare  one's  self  hard-boiled,  and  to 

and  a  chance  for  every  one  of  its  citi-  be  ashamed  not  of  one's  evil  but  rather 

zens  to  pursue  his  own  ideas  of  hap-  of  one's  good  behavior.  The  new  and 

piness  so  long  as  the  pursuit  did  not  generally  prevalent  form  of  hypocrisy 

interfere  with  the  rights  of  others,  it  be-  has  been  an  homage  paid,  not  by  vice 

gan  by  proclaiming  all  these  to  the  four  to  virtue,  but  by  virtue  to  vice, 

quarters  of  the  globe.  There  was  of  For  only  by  professing  a  complete 

course  nothing  new  about  any  one  of  disbelief  in  the  very  existence  of  mo- 

them.  The  most  difficult  to  achieve,  rality  or  any  sort  of  moral  code  could 


1 78  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

one  prove  one's  self  sophisticated.  Hus-  Stone  Age.  The  stage,  as  might  be  ex- 
bands  and  wives  who  seemed  faithful  pected,  followed  the  lead  of  the  novel 
to  and  even  fond  of  each  other  must  be  as  far  as  its  greater  limitations  would 
spoken  of  as  either  skilful  in  deception  permit,  while  biography  consisted  prin- 
or  the  unfortunate  victims  of  regret-  cipally  in  ferreting  out  and  setting 
table  inhibitions.  Loyalty  to  anything  down  the  worst  that  had  been,  could 
or  any  one  must  be  ridiculed  as  folly  or  and  might  by  any  possibility  be  said  of 
pretense,  unless  of  course  that  some-  its  subject, 
thing  or  some  one  had  the  power  to 
further  one's  material  interests.  Ro 
mantic  love  was  laughed  at  as  moon-  All  this  in  the  period  of  our  sup- 
shine,  and  belief  in  the  possibility  of  its  posed  material  prosperity  j  when  the 
endurance  seriously  deplored  as  so  crash  came,  with  its  attendant  train  of 
much  self-delusion,  likely  to  have  dis-  bank  failures,  business  suspensions  and 
astrous  consequences,  while  affection  besmirched  if  not  totally  destroyed 
for  one's  parents  was  only  a  lamentable  reputations,  matters  of  course  grew 
exhibition  of  infantilism.  As  for  those  even  worse.  When  men  who  had  been 
absurd  men  and  women  who  mani-  honored  as  models  of  probity  as  well 
fested  an  altruistic  desire  to  leave  their  as  of  successful  enterprise  proved  ethi- 
corner  of  the  world  just  a  little  bit  bet-  cally  lower  than  the  worst  of  the  pro- 
ter  than  they  found  it,  they  must  be  fessional  crooks,  gangsters  and  racke- 
treated  as  possibly  fools  and  probably  teers,  since  these  at  least  ran  risks  from 
Pecksniffs,  while  the  poet's  declaration  which  the  financial  potentates  believed 
that  "a  man's  reach  should  exceed  his  themselves  immune,  such  belief  as  was 
grasp,"  was  regarded  as  applicable,  so  left  in  human  uprightness  received  a 
far  as  any  sensible  person  was  con-  terrific,  in  many  instances  an  over- 
cerned,  only  to  the  reaching  out  for  whelming,  shock.  To  many  it  seemed 
money  and  yet  more  money.  as  if  the  men  at  the  head  of  most  of  the 
Literature  was  swept  along  by  the  larger  business  and  financial  enter- 
current.  The  leading  characters  of  our  prises  of  the  United  States  had  been 
fiction  not  only  ceased  to  be  estimable,  proved  totally  devoid,  not  only  of 
but  even  to  have  sufficient  decency  to  honor,  but  of  what  we  had  been  accus- 
make  them  fit  subjects  for  ordinary  so-  tomed  to  call  common  honesty.  Those 
cial  intercourse.  For  all  our  supposedly  who  had  not  been  so  proved  were,  it 
hard-boiled  attitude  we  would,  most  of  was  felt,  probably  no  better  than  the 
us,  have  refused  to  admit  into  our  others;  they  had  only  so  far  escaped 
homes  men  and  women  like  those  we  being  found  out.  Then  when  the  Gov- 
professed  to  admire  when  we  encoun-  ernment  of  the  United  States  repudi- 
tered  them  in  fiction.  As  for  the  back-  ated  its  obligations  by  refusing  to  carry 
ground  against  which  these  wastrels  out  its  pledge  to  pay  its  debts  in  gold, 
played  their  parts,  it  was  composed  by  it  seemed  as  if  the  pessimists  must  in- 
a  careful  selection  of  the  worst  aspects  deed  be  right,  and  the  United  States 
and  incidents  of  our  civilization,  and  bankrupt  in  idealism,  not  only  of  the 
an  equally  careful  ignoring  of  any  that  special  type  it  had  once  professed  but 
might  appear  to  be  an  improvement  of  every  other, 
upon  the  customs  and  methods  of  the  Yet  less  than  twenty  years  have 


IDEALISM'S  BANK  HOLIDAY  179 

passed  since  this  country  was  stirred  to  Never  perhaps  did  American  ideal- 
its  very  core  by  questions  of  loyalty  and  ism  reach  a  higher  pitch  than  during 
honor  and  the  sacred  duty  of  keeping  the  World  War,  both  before  and  after 
a  given  promise.  It  is  easy  now  to  talk  the  United  States  entered  the  conflict, 
about  the  financiers  and  the  munitions-  And  it  is  in  the  very  height  and  ardor 
makers,  easy  to  talk  about  propa-  of  the  self-sacrifice,  of  the  hope  for  and 
ganda  and  hysteria  as  the  reasons  why  the  belief  in  the  coming  of  that  new  and 
the  United  States  first  sympathized  better  world,  "fit  for  heroes  to  live  in," 
with,  and  eventually  entered  the  which  many  confidently  expected  would 
World  War  on  the  side  of,  the  Allies  -y  result  from  the  war  to  end  war,  that 
but  the  underlying  truth  is  that  from  we  should  look  for  the  fundamental 
the  hour  Belgium  was  invaded  the  cause  of  the  half  cynical,  half  despair- 
idealism  of  the  country  was  roused,  ing  attitude  which  has  dominated  the 
The  glaring  fact  that  of  all  the  great  succeeding  years.  During  the  four  years 
powers  Germany  alone  was  ready  for  the  World  War  lasted,  the  best  of  the 
war  to  the  last  man  and  the  last  button  American  people  made  tremendous 
had  an  influence  far  stronger  than  that  drafts,  not  only  on  their  material 
of  any  so-called  propaganda.  There  wealth,  but  also  on  their  store  of  gen- 
was  alloy  mingled,  no  doubt,  with  the  erosity,  of  willingness  to  put  self-inter- 
pure  gold  of  that  chivalrous  impulse  est  aside,  of  hope  and  faith  in  and  for 
which  saw  the  World  War  as  a  new  the  future,  tremendous  drafts  on  all 
and  greater  Crusade.  Alloy  always  is  that  we  sum  up  in  the  word,  idealism, 
so  mingled,  and  in  abundance.  But  it  They  were  not  alone,  of  course,  in  so 
was  not  self-interest  which  impelled  doing 5  far  from  it.  But  it  is  only  of 
the  greater  number  of  those  obscure  America  that  I  am  writing.  Through- 
American  women  who  from  the  begin-  out  those  four  years  a  great  many,  both 
ning  sewed  and  knit  and  made  band-  men  and  women,  strained  every  nerve 
ages  for  the  Allies,  giving  up,  in  many  in  efforts  primarily  if  not  purely  altru- 
instances,  leisure  that  was  precious,  istic.  The  slogan,  "Give  till  it  hurts," 
strength  and  money  they  could  ill  af-  was  no  mere  empty  phrase  to  them  but 
ford.  Nor  was  it  self-interest  which  im-  an  expression  of  fact.  They  gave  not 
pelled  the  greater  number  of  the  only  their  money,  but  themselves, 
American  men,  important  and  unim-  working  with  all  the  ardor  and  energy 
portant  alike,  who  worked  long  hours  they  possessed  for  the  sake  of  ideals  of 
to  help  those  whose  countries  had  been  honor  and  justice  they  hoped  to  see  em- 
made  desolate,  or  went  over-seas  to  bodied  in  a  new  and  cleaner  world, 
serve  in  ambulance  corps  or  to  fight  for  wherein  those  who  had  fought  side  by 
humanity  and  righteousness.  It  is  easy  side  would  be  united  in  bonds  of  good 
to  sneer  today  at  what  they  did  and  will  and  good  fellowship  never  to  be 
their  reasons  for  doing  itj  to  a  certain  dissolved.  That  through  selfishness  or 
type  of  mind,  sneering  is  always  both  negligence,  indifference  or  any  mate- 
pleasant  and  easy.  But  behind  the  rest-  rial  considerations  whatsoever,  faith 
lessness,  and  desire  for  change  and  for  should  be  broken  with  those  who  lay 
adventure  which  doubtless  motivated  among  the  poppies  of  Flanders  field 
some  of  them,  lurked  something  at  seemed  an  idea  impossible  to  entertain 
least  of  the  chivalric  impulse.  even  for  a  single  moment. 


i8o 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


Not  all  by  any  means  of  the  men 
and  women  in  these  United  States 
were,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add,  in 
fluenced  by  such  hopes  and  faiths,  such 
beliefs  and  ideas  and  ideals.  But  very 
many  were;  and  these  drew  tremen 
dously  on  their  reserve  as  well  as  on 
their  current  accounts  in  idealism's 
bank.  Drew  until  it  hurt. 

For  it  was  their  subsequent  weari 
ness  and  disappointment  which  did 
more  than  anything  else  to  bring 
about  the  still  extant  bank  holiday  in 
idealism. 

Enthusiastic  as  they  were,  they  had 
set  not  merely  their  hopes,  but  also 
their  expectations  too  high.  They  had 
forgotten  that  war  drains  not  only  the 
best  blood  but  also  the  mental  and  mor 
al  strength  of  a  nation;  forgotten  too 
that  human  nature  acts  very  like  a 
pendulum,  swinging  from  one  extreme 
to  the  other.  Only  a  very  few  can 
breathe  the  rarefied  air  of  the  spiritual 
heights  in  comfort  for  any  length  of 
time;  the  majority  soon  find  a  return 
to  ordinary  ground  desirable. 


in 


We  all  know  the  sorry  story  of  the 
post- War  Jazz  Period,  when  the  very 
intensity  of  relief  from  a  strain  become 
unendurable,  the  very  cessation,  or 
apparent  cessation,  of  the  need  for  self- 
abnegation  set  the  nation  to  dancing 
and  drinking,  while  what  seemed  to  be 
the  easiest  kind  of  easy  money  encour 
aged  a  veritable  orgy  of  spending  and 
speculation.  Meanwhile  a  new  genera 
tion  was  growing  up,  a  generation  sur 
rounded,  taught  and  influenced  by 
those  who  had  had  a  great  faith  and 
seen  it  blighted,  who  had  had  high 
hopes  and  seen  them  destroyed,  who 
had  had  magnificent  ideals  and  seen 
them  degraded  into  laughing-stocks. 


No  wonder  those  who  grew  up  during 
the  post- War  period,  in  an  atmosphere 
of  disappointment  and  disillusion 
ment,  materialism,  cynicism,  pessi 
mism,  should  have  adopted,  "Eat,  drink 
and  be  merry,  for  tomorrow  we  die," 
as  their  motto  and  code  of  conduct. 
Where  they  made  their  mistake  was  in 
fancying  that  they  were  the  first  to  do 
so,  the  first  to  ridicule  and  despise  the 
ideas  and  ideals  of  their  immediate 
predecessors. 

They  were  sufferers  from  an  inevi 
table  reaction,  sufferers  from  the  pov 
erty  resulting  from  an  overdraft  on 
American  idealism.  They  came  to  ma 
turity  at  a  time  when  the  once  abun 
dant  reserve  was  depleted  so  far  that 
there  was  not  enough  left  even  for  the 
requirements  of  every-day  living.  The 
very  words  which  had  expressed  its 
point  of  view  had  become  shorn  of  their 
beauty  and  authority,  had  degenerated 
into  terms  of  implicit  ridicule,  which  no 
intelligent  person  could  speak  or  write 
save  with  tongue  in  cheek. 

And  not  only  was  the  general  capi 
tal  depleted,  but  paradoxically  enough, 
yet  necessarily  too,  the  very  men  and 
women  who  had  once  had  the  largest 
share  of  such  wealth  were  often  the 
ones  who  now  had  the  least.  For  it  was 
of  course  those  who  had  had  the  high 
est  hopes  and  held  them  the  most 
firmly  who  suffered  the  greatest  dis 
appointment.  Idealism's  one-time  mil 
lionaires  too  frequently  became  its 
paupers.  Their  impoverishment  af 
fected  the  entire  country.  The  callous 
indifference  with  which  the  nation  at 
large  treated  such  scandals  as  those  of 
the  Harding  Administration  and  the 
Seabury  investigation,  to  mention  only 
a  few,  an  indifference  which  seemed  the 
very  negation,  not  only  of  idealism, 
but  of  any  shadow  of  moral  courage  or 


IDEALISM'S  BANK  HOLIDAY  181 

moral  sense,  was  in  great  part  due  to  many  only  another  name   for  long- 

this  very  impoverishment  of  those  who  range  guns,  submarines,  high  explo- 

should  have  been  the  first  to  come  for-  sives  and  poison  gas,  while  its  ideal  of 

ward,  who  should  have  quickened  and  truth-seeking  had  small  chance  of  mak- 

led  the  sorely  needed  popular  indigna-  ing  any  strong  appeal  to  a  generation 

tion  through  their  own  example  and  re-  trained  to  shrug  its  shoulders  indiffer- 

sponsej   for  idealism  of  some  sort  is  ently  and  demand,  "What  is  Truth?" 

the  very  first  requisite  of  a  genuine  Literature,  far  from  even  endeavoring 

leader.  to  prospect  for  fresh  gold  with  which 

Then  as  if  to  annihilate  any  chance  to  replace  the  diminished,  all  but  van- 
whatsoever  of  a  spiritual  recovery  ished  reserves,  gave  its  powerful  assist- 
which  might  little  by  little  have  re-  ance  principally  to  those  who  insisted 
stocked  the  depleted  treasury  and  made  that  the  supposed  gold  had  never  been 
good  the  overdrafts,  came  the  business  a  really  precious  metal  at  all,  but  only 
and  financial  smash-up,  euphemistical-  worthless  tinsel,  or  at  best,  fairy  gold, 
ly  called  the  depression,  with  its  subse-  bound  to  disappear  overnight.  Biog- 
quent  revelations  of  theft  and  chican-  raphy  and  fiction  alike  proclaimed,  not 
ery  in  high  places,  of  financial  immoral-  the  long-established  truism  that,  "All 
ity,  of  trust  violated  and  confidence  that  glitters  is  not  gold,"  but  a  new 
betrayed  as  a  matter  of  routine,  of  men  dogma,  asserting  that  whatever  hap- 
who  had  been  relied  upon,  respected  pens  to  shine  most  brightly  will  most 
and  admired  threatened  by  jail,  or  surely  and  unquestionably  prove  but 
saved  therefrom  either  by  their  adroit-  worthless  brass, 
ness  in  so  utilizing  legal  loopholes  that 
they  kept  themselves  and  their  doings 

safe  within  the  letter  of  the  law,  or  by  Is  the  United  States,  then,  perma- 
the  fact  that  their  malfeasance  had  nently  bankrupt  in  idealism?  Or  has  it 
been  on  a  scale  so  gigantic  that  any  at-  merely  shut  up  shop  for  a  while,  de- 
tempt  to  punish  them  would  result  claring  a  kind  of  bank  holiday?  Will 
only  in  producing  new  sufferers,  as  well  the  temporarily  exhausted  stock  of  that 
as  in  further  injuring  those  already  vie-  most  precious  possession  eventually  be 
timized.  Great  corporations  whose  very  replenished,  and  solvency  be  attained 
names  were  as  so  many  synonyms  for  once  more? 

security    proved    honeycombed    with  I  for  one  say  yes.  A  period  of  sus- 

fraud.     Confidence     vanished.     Who  pension  we  have,  most  unfortunately,  a 

could    be    trusted,    since    these    were  wearisome  period  out  of  which  we  have 

proved  untrustworthy?  not  yet  emerged,  though  already  there 

Where,  amid  such  a  debacle,  was  are  indications,  a  very  few  of  them, 

any  foothold  for  idealism  to  be  found?  that  the  end  may  at  last  be  coming  in 

Religion,  as  represented  by  the  or-  sight.  For  one  thing,  our  popular  fic- 
ganized  churches,  proved  totally  inef-  tion  and  biography  are  changing  their 
fective  in  its  efforts,  usually  feeble,  to  tone;  once  more  writers  are  occasion- 
cope  with  the  situation  j  partly  because  ally  permitting  themselves  the  long- 
its  influence  had  long  since  sunk  so  low  abandoned  luxury  of  depicting  charac- 
it  did  not  count  for  a  very  great  deal,  ters,  real  or  imaginary,  towards  whom 
Science  had  become  in  the  minds  of  they  can  feel  some  degree  of  liking  at 


182 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


least,  and  sometimes  even  of  enthusi 
asm.  These  admired  characters  belong, 
it  is  true,  more  often  to  the  past  than  to 
the  present,  but  at  least  the  willingness 
to  admire,  the  ability  to  be  enthusias 
tic,  are  manifesting  themselves  once 
more,  as  well  as  gaining  strength  by 
force  of  repetition  and  example.  On 
the  stage,  one  of  the  longest-running, 
most  successful  productions  of  the  sea 
son  was  a  drama  of  triumphant  ideal 
ism  and  of  consecration  to  an  ideal, 
Sidney  Kingsley's  Men  In  White, 
which  despite  certain  obvious  flaws  not 
only  won  but  deserved  the  Pulitzer 
Prize. 

Perhaps  the  first  definite  symptoms 
of  revival  showed  themselves  in  that 
political  field  regarding  which  expecta 
tions  are  seldom  very  high,  and  ap 
peared  on  that  memorable  fourth  of 
March  when  a  new  President  took  the 
oath  of  office.  Mr.  Roosevelt's  acces 
sion  was  unquestionably  greeted  by 
many  with  the  feeling  that  things  were 
already  so  bad  they  couldn't  be  very 
much  worse  and  might  quite  possibly 
be  improved,  since  almost  any  change 
would  have  an  excellent  chance  of  be 
ing  a  change  for  the  better ;  but  there 
was  also  a  genuine  response  to  the  chal 
lenge  of  his  inaugural  address.  To  how 
great  an  extent  that  response  has  since 
died  away,  opinions  differ;  but  that  it 
did  exist,  there  can  be  no  smallest 
doubt. 

Taken  all  together,  these  indications 
of  a  possible,  eventual  release  of  our 
frozen  assets  of  idealism,  a  possible  res 
toration  of  our  depleted  stock,  are  as 
yet  very  few;  and  some  even  of  those 
few  may  prove  fallacious.  Fortunately, 
the  reason  which  justifies  expectation 
that  the  overdrawn  account  will  one 
day  be  fully  restored  rests,  not  on  any 
of  these,  but  on  the  broadest  and 


strongest  of  foundations;  the  spirit  of 
the  American  people  itself. 

As  a  nation  we  are,  and  always  have 
been,  essentially  and  instinctively  cour 
ageous.  And  with  national  courage  we 
combine  that  especial  type  of  discon 
tent  which  always  believes,  not  only  in 
the  possibility  of  making  things  better 
than  they  are,  but  also  in  its  own  ability 
to  make  them  better.  These  character 
istics  of  ours  may  lie  dormant,  even  ap 
parently  moribund  for  a  time,  but  they 
are  bound  to  revive  again,  and  that 
without  any  very  great  delay,  or  espe 
cially  powerful  extraneous  influence 
exerted  in  their  behalf. 

But  for  their  inherent  courage,  their 
craving  for  betterment,  the  first  small 
companies  of  would-be  settlers  would 
never  have  ventured  to  cross  the  ocean ; 
but  for  their  inherent  courage,  their 
restlessness  under  conditions  they  be 
lieved  unjust,  and  confidence  in  their 
own  power  to  right  them,  the  little 
group  of  Colonies  never  would  have 
ventured  to  declare  their  independ 
ence,  nor  the  pioneers  gone  forth  to 
establish  new  homes  in  the  wilderness, 
homes  they  were  resolved  should  be 
an  improvement  on  those  they  left. 
From  its  inception,  our  history  is  a 
story  of  courage  confronting  difficul 
ties,  often  without  any  compulsion  save 
that  arising  from  its  own  beliefs  and 
aspirations.  Whatever  else  the  immi 
grants  who  have  come  to  us  from  other 
countries  may  have  brought  or  have 
failed  to  bring  with  them,  at  least  they 
invariably  came  possessed  of  their  own 
abundant  stock  of  courage.  They  had, 
too,  not  only  a  desire  for,  but  a  great 
confidence  in  the  possibility  of,  better 
ing  themselves  and  their  children  here 
in  this  new  world,  often  materially, 
sometimes  mentally  and  spiritually. 
But  whether  their  aims  were  high  or 


IDEALISM'S  BANK  HOLIDAY  183 

low,  without  courage  and  a  restless  way  they  should  go,  or  rather  that  we 
longing  for  improvement,  they  never  think  they  should  go,  with  of  course 
would  have  attempted  to  carry  them  unpleasant  results,  nations,  like  indi- 
into  effect.  Thus  they  tended  to  viduals,  having  an  intense  objection  to 
strengthen  characteristics  already  dom-  being  lectured.  But  far  more  often  they 
inant,  so  that  whatever  faults  we  as  a  have  stood  us  not  merely  in  good  but 
nation  may  have,  cowardice  is  not  one  in  magnificent  stead,  enabling  us  to 
of  them,  nor  is  any  supine  yielding  to  conquer  enormous  difficulties,  leading 
circumstances.  us  to  dare  greatly  in  our  refusal  to  sub- 
Yet  these  qualities  of  ours  unques-  mit  to  what  others  might  quite  reason- 
tionably  have  their  drawbacks,  some  of  ably  consider  the  insuperable  or  the 
them  serious  ones.  Often  they  blind  us  inevitable.  And  in  this  courage,  this 
to  facts,  as  in  the  foolish  waste  of  our  fine  type  of  a  restless  discontent,  whose 
public  school  system,  with  its  enor-  very  keynote  is  a  gallant  denial  of  any 
mously  expensive  and  largely  futile  at-  passive  or  easy  acceptance  of  things  as 
tempts  to  educate  the  uneducatable,  they  are,  lies  the  root  of  our  national 
and  in  our  perhaps  even  more  foolish  idealism,  which  will  surely  flower 
confidence  in  the  excellence  of  so-called  from  it  once  more, 
universal  suffrage.  Not  infrequently,  The  long,  hard  winter  of  disappoint- 
moreover,  they  induce  us  to  regard  ment  and  discouragement  and  loss  of 
whatever  is  new  or  different  as  neces-  confidence  through  which  we  have 
sarily  an  improvement  on  whatever  is  passed  and  are  still  passing,  has  frozen 
old  or  familiar,  especially  if  the  new  the  blossoms  and  nipped  the  buds,  but 
have  any  tinge  of  the  adventurous  or  though  so  much  of  the  visible  part  of 
even  of  the  showy,  like  our  once  much-  the  plant  has  blackened  and  withered, 
vaunted  "tallest  buildings."  On  occa-  its  root  remains.  From  that  root  it  must 
sion  they  have  even  betrayed  us  into  an  and  will  some  day  arise  again,  finer, 
attempt  to  instruct  other  nations  in  the  stronger  and  more  splendid  than  of  old. 


THE  ITTERARY  [ANDSCAPE 


A-\ 


by 


HERSCHEL   BRICKELL 


A      DISTINGUISHED 

meteorologist 

took  a  look  at 
his  record  of  sun-spot 
cycles  sometime  last 
spring  and  made  the 
bold  prophecy  that 
this  would  be  a  year 
without  a  summer. 
Publishers,  trusting 
souls  that  they  are, 
arranged  their  affairs 
accordingly  and  in 
stead  of  getting  to 
gether  lists  of  light  fiction,  as  is  their 
custom,  decided  to  bring  out  instead 
some  of  the  best  of  the  year's  novels, 
and  also  some  of  the  most  difficult. 

The  Landscaper  is  by  no  means  sure 
that  this  theory  will  hold  water  j  it  is 
merely  his  way  of  explaining  an  unusual 
phenomenon,  the  appearance  of  several 
very  fine  books  that  are  about  as  far 
away  from  the  silly  season  as  could  be 
imagined.  So  here  we  are  with  hot 
weather — in  Haddonfield,  New  Jersey, 
where  this  is  being  written  the  sun  gives 
no  evidence  of  illness,  and  the  birds  and 
the  flowers  are  doing  their  best  to  con 
fute  gloomy  prophecies  of  the  approach 
of  another  Ice  Age. 

Actually  there  has  never  been  any 
very  good  reason  why  people  who  like 
good  books  should  not  have  them  in 
the  summer  as  well  as  any  other  time. 
The  Landscaper  remembers  very  well 
reading  Santayana  on  the  sand  dunes  of 
Bermuda's  Elbow  Beach,  with  a  fine 
hot  sun  doing  its  best  to  bake  the  land 


scape,  and  feeling  that 
he  came  nearer  to 
grasping  the  thought 
of  this  great  philoso 
pher  and  great  master 
of  prose  than  at  any 
other  time  during  a 
long  acquaintance.  So 
it  can  be  done,  al 
though  the  novels 
that  are  about  to  be 
spoken  of  do  not  have 
to  be  read  now;  for 
those  who  like  to  do 
their  thinking  in  cool  weather,  these  are 
books  that  will  still  be  worth  reading 
later.  In  fact,  no  matter  what  the  com 
ing  autumn  season  brings  forth  these 
are  books  that  will  not  be  surpassed. 

of  'Poem  of  ^Mankind 

One  of  the  most  difficult,  most  mind- 
stretching  of  the  lot,  is  Thomas  Mann's 
Joseph  and  His  Brothers  (Knopf, 
$2.50),  the  first  volume  of  a  trilogy 
that  has  for  its  magnificent  theme  the 
symbolical  history  of  the  human  race. 
It  is  the  belief  of  the  German  novelist 
that  there  is  a  central  unity  in  the  affairs 
of  men,  that  the  patterns  of  history  and 
of  individuals  tend  to  repeat  them 
selves.  The  outline  of  his  poem,  for 
poem  it  is,  he  draws  in  a  prelude  in  this 
first  volume  -,  he  takes  his  reader  by  the 
hand  and  shows  him  his  conception  of 
the  dark  backward  and  abysm  of  time. 
The  style  is  complicated,  some  of  the 
sentences  a  page  or  more  long,  and 
there  are  overtones  of  philosophical 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  t?  185 

thinking  that  make  slow  and  repeated  earlier  books,  turn  out  to  be  the  finest 

readings  obligatory.  thing  he  has  ever  done.  So  here  is  some- 

The  plan  out  of  the  way,  we  are  in-  thing  for  a  vacation  if  you  feel  like  in 
troduced  to  the  young  Joseph,  seated  in  tellectual  exercise, 
the  moonlight  at  a  well  paying  his  trib-  It  should  go  into  the  record  that  the 
ute  to  the  moon-goddess.  His  father  author  was  in  New  York  for  the  pub- 
Jacob  comes  along  and  is  somewhat  sur-  lication  of  his  book,  and  that  his  very 
prised  at  this  pagan  business.  There  fol-  brief  stay  of  ten  days  won  him  the  af- 
lows  a  long  discussion  of  the  demi-gods  fection  of  many  people  who  had  long 
of  the  ancient  world,  which  is  a  his-  admired  and  respected  him  through  his 
tory  of  early  religions  j  Joseph  himself  books.  He  is  a  voluntary  exile  from 
is  identified  with  the  sun-god.  Osiris,  Hitler's  Germany,  which  is,  the  Land- 
Adonai,  Apollo  and  even  the  sun-god  of  scaper  thinks,  one  of  the  most  severe 
the  Mayas,  slip  into  and  out  of  each  condemnations  of  the  Nazis  on  record, 
other,  and  the  conception  becomes  He  is  a  man  of  profound  simplicity  and 
larger,  and  to  ,  put  it  quite  frankly,  dignity,  and  at  the  same  time  of  a  great 
harder  to  grasp.  deal  of  warmth  and  kindliness  j  in  other 

But  this  is  followed  by  a  re-telling  of  words,  one  of  those  rare  authors  who 

the  story  of  Jacob  from  Genesis,  which  lives  up  to  his  books.  For  those  who 

is  beautifully  done,  and  at  the  same  time  do  not  yet  know  him,  his  book  of  short 

full  of  significance.  It  is  the  easiest  part  stories,  Death  in  Venice,  is  a  splendid 

of  the  book  because  of  the  emphasis  on  introduction,  simpler  and  easier  to  read 

the  story-element  and  because  we  are  on  than  his  novels,  but  so  clearly  marked 

familiar  ground.  Jacob,  Isaac  and  Abra-  with  genius  that  it  will  almost  certainly 

ham  are  identified  5  there  is  a  constant  make  any  one  wish  to  know  more  of 

similarity  of  personality  among  these  him  and  his  writings, 
patriarchs  which  is  a  key  to  the  book, 

for  they  are  not  only  like  each  other,  T.  her  els  3^0  Answer 
but  like  all  men.  The  symbolism  is  sim-         Evelyn  Scott's  Breathe  Upon  These 

pier  and  more  obvious,  and  when  the  Slain  (Smith  and  Haas,  $2.50)  is  an- 

book  is  finished  much  that  was  dark  other  of  the  recent  novels  that  is  defi- 

while  it  was  being  read  is  suddenly  illu-  nitely  intellectual,  which  has,  in  other 

minated,  and  one  lays  the  book  aside  words,  something  to  say,  and  which 

with  the  mental  muscles  fatigued,  but  lives  in  the  memory  not  only  as  a  fine 

with  the  greatest  eagerness  to  continue  piece  of  fiction,  but  a  valuable  effort  to 

the  journey.  think  about  our  times,  and  to  help  to 

<T>  TT-    n  orient  us  with  the  world  we  live  in  and 

Perhaps  Hts  greatest  with  the  universe.  Mrs.  Scott's  long  list 

Admirers  of  Thomas  Mann's  other  of  novels  includes  none  more  pleasant 

books,  including  his  two  great  novels,  to  read  than  the  present  work,  which, 

Buddenbrooks  and  The  Magic  Moun-  for  all  the  thought  that  has  gone  into  it, 

tain,  will  find  the  present  work  much  is  done  gracefully  and  skilfully,  and 

harder  to  read,  but  the  chances  are  that  which  has  some  characters,  particularly, 

it  will  easily  take  rank  with  what  has  that  are  both  individual  and  typical ; 

gone  before,  and  may  indeed,  although  portraits  executed  with  the  hand  of  a 

it  can  not  have  the  popularity  of  the  master. 


i86 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


For  her  device,  Mrs.  Scott  has  chosen 
to  bring  to  life  a  Victorian  family 
whose  pictures  she  sees  on  the  walls 
of  an  English  cottage.  She  writes  the 
story  in  the  first  person,  and  takes  the 
reader  into  the  laboratory  of  a  novelist's 
mind,  speculating  aloud  as  to  whether 
she  is  right  about  her  people,  but  never 
theless  getting  on  with  their  story, 
which  is  also  a  story  of  an  epoch.  It  runs 
down  to  our  own  time ;  on  the  one  hand 
the  hard  outlines  of  Victorian  thought, 
on  the  other,  the  equally  hard  outlines 
of  the  Marxian  conception  of  every 
thing.  Mrs.  Scott  does  not  believe  there 
are  final  answers  to  human  problems  j 
she  offers  no  ready  solutions  and  escapes 
into  no  formulas.  But  there  is  a  human 
ity  in  her  book  that  is  better  than  the 
Complete  Answer,  an  intellectual  hon 
esty  that  is  refreshing  in  a  world  full 
of  people  who  do  not  know  enough  of 
history  to  realize  that  the  race  and  its 
problems  can  not  and  will  not  be  neatly 
pigeonholed. 

Some  reviewers  have  written  of  this 
book  that  it  belongs  to  Mrs.  Scott's 
minor  work,  but  the  Landscaper  sus 
pects  that  they  were  deceived  by  its 
grace  j  it  is  a  novel  of  enduring  value, 
much  less  difficult  to  read  than  such 
books  as  The  Wave  or  The  Calendar  of 
Sin.  There  can  be  no  doubt  any  longer 
that  this  novelist  belongs  to  the  small 
group  of  first-rate  people  in  America 
who  are  serious  artists  and  who  have 
sufficient  spiritual  resources  to  make 
them  the  proper  company  for  thought 
ful  people. 

Rome  Redivivus 

The  third  novel  of  this  group  is  a 
brilliant  tour  de  force  by  Robert  Graves, 
an  Englishman  of  talent  who  has  sur 
passed  himself  in  the  present  work.  The 
title  is  Iy  Claudius  (Smith  and  Haas, 


$3),  and  the  book  is  a  fictional  auto 
biography  of  the  member  of  the  Julio- 
Claudine  dynasty  who  married  Messa- 
lina  and  succeeded  Caligula,  becoming 
one  of  the  greatest  of  the  Roman  Em 
perors.  Mr.  Graves  has  imagined  Clau 
dius,  who  suffered  from  physical  defects 
that  made  him  a  sort  of  clown  at  court, 
as  writing  his  history  of  himself  and  his 
times  in  Greek,  and  has  imitated  what 
might  have  been  his  simple,  homely 
and  roundabout  style.  This,  together 
with  the  difficulty  of  keeping  dynastic 
matters  straight,  unless,  of  course,  one 
has  just  boned  up  on  Tacitus  and  Seu- 
tonius,  does  not  make  for  the  easiest 
reading  in  the  world,  but  the  effort  is 
made  worth  while  by  the  vitality  of  the 
study  of  Claudius,  and  the  contempo 
rary's  eye-view  of  one  of  the  most  color 
ful  periods  in  all  Roman  history. 

Of  Claudius's  own  characters,  Livia, 
his  grandmother,  whom  he  makes  out 
a  poisoner  of  the  first  order,  a  thor 
oughly  unscrupulous  but  very  intelli 
gent  woman  who  lets  nothing  stand  in 
the  way  of  her  ambitions  for  her  family, 
emerges  as  the  most  interesting  and 
most  thoroughly  drawn  of  the  lot.  The 
story  ends  as  Claudius  is  made  Em 
peror  j  his  thoughts  at  the  moment  are 
not  of  the  glory  of  Rome,  but  of  the 
fact  that  in  future  people  will  have  to 
read  his  books.  This  is  a  most  impres 
sive  example  of  the  historical  novel  at 
its  best,  and  Mr.  Graves  has  promised 
to  carry  on  the  story  in  a  sequel,  which 
a  lot  of  us  will  await  with  eagerness. 

The  Strlblmg  Trilogy 

Among  other  recent  books  that  have 
attracted  attention  is  the  conclusion  of 
T.  S.  Stribling's  trilogy,  of  which  The 
Store  and  The  Forge  were  the  earlier 
volumes.  The  new  book  is  called  Un 
finished  Cathedral  (Doubleday,Doran, 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  187 

$2.50),  and  deals  with  the  contempo- 

rary  South  in  the  satirical  manner  of  Other  V*°*  Ko™ls 

the  earlier  novels.  It  is  a  definitely  in-  Other  recent  novels  that  are  worthy 

ferior  book  to  the  others,  and  not  a  very  of  attention  include  such  books  as  Nine 

good  novel  on  any  count,  melodramatic  Warner  Hooke's  Striplings  (Dutton),  a 

to  a  degree,  almost  wholly  journalistic  remarkable  first  novel  about  two  per- 

in  its  incidents,  and  badly  written  even  fectly  natural  children  who  are  disgust- 

for  Mr.  Stribling,  which  is  saying  a  ing  brats  and  fascinating  young  human 

good  deal,  because  whatever  other  qual-  beings  at  the  same  time  j  Lift  Up  to 

ities  he  may  have,  mastery  of  the  Ian-  Glory,  by  the  anonymous  author  of 

guage  is  not  among  his  possessions.  He  This  Bright  Summer   ( Covici-Friede, 

is,  to  be  brutal,  both  tone-deaf  and  with-  $2.50) ,  a  realistic  and  honest  book  about 

out  taste,  and  there  is  no  chance  for  a  Vermont  hill  people,  done  with  suffi- 

good  style  in  such  circumstances.  cient  skill  to  make  one  wonder  why  the 

As  for  the  validity  of  the  trilogy,  the  novelist  does  not  emerge  from  cover  j 
Landscape's  objection  to  it  is  that  Mr.  Beatrix  Lehmann's  Rumour  of  Heaven 
Stribling  has  either  made  no  effort  to  (Morrow,  $2.50),  a  fantastic  and  ad- 
understand  the  South  or  is  incapable  of  mirably  done  first  novel  by  the  sister 
seeing  it  from  any  other  angle  except  of  Rosamond  Lehmann,  which  is  con- 
his  own.  A  measure  of  his  unfairness  cerned  with  the  odd  family  of  a  crazy 
may  be  seen  in  his  transfer  of  the  Scotts-  Russian  dancer — it  does  not  resemble 
boro  case  to  Florence,  Alabama,  which  the  work  of  the  author's  talented  sister, 
he  also  makes  a  boom-town,  and  a  place  but  is  both  original  and  very  promising  j 
of  echoes  of  the  Dayton,  Tennessee  and  Ilya  Ehrenbourg's  Out  of  Chaos 
affair.  (Holt,  $2.50),  a  novel  of  contemporary 

One  reviewer  said  he  had  crowded  Russia  by  one  of  the  exiles  who  lives  in 

the  melodrama  of  the  last  ten  years  into  Paris  and  is  therefore  able  to  present 

one  novel  j  he  has  also  distorted  the  pic-  both  sides  of  the  picture  of  life  under 

ture  by  making  one  town  the  scene  of  the  Soviets.  It  is  a  cinematic  study  of 

a  number  of  scattered  and  unpleasant  the  building  of  a  great  steel  mill,  with 

incidents.  This  is  neither  art  nor  life,  a  running  contrast  of  the  New  and  the 

A  good  deal  of  nonsense  has  been  writ-  Old,  in  which  the  lesson  seems  to  be 

ten  about  the  trilogy  merely  because  it  that  the  rootless  ones  who  never  knew 

is  a  trilogy,  as  if  the  choice  of  a  broad  the  culture  of  Old  Russia  are  better  off 

canvas  were  of  equal  importance  with  than  the  intellectuals,  that  is  to  say,  the 

what  was  finally  painted  upon  it,  and  people  who  believe  in  a  New  Heaven 

how  well  painted.  Perhaps  this  nonsense  and  a  New  Earth  are  better  off  than  the 

has  made  the  Landscaper  unduly  severe  cynical,  and  certainly  much  happier  dur- 

on  Mr.  Stribling,  who  is  not  responsible,  ing  the  period  of  construction, 

of  course,  for  what  reviewers  may  say  Knut  Hamsun's  The  Road  Leads  On 

of  his  work,  but  it  is  very  hard  not  to  (Coward-McCann,  $3),  carries  on  the 

become  annoyed  over  the  glorification  familiar  story  of  Segelfoss,  and  draws 

of  the  second-rate.  And  this  author  has  together  all  the  Nordland  novels  that 

the  consolation  of  Pulitzer  Prizes  and  have  given  so  many  readers  pleasure.  It 

Book  Club  choices  to  soothe  any  stings  has  the  good  qualities  of  Hamsun's  pre- 

from  critical  barbs.  .  .  .  vious  works — at  seventy-four  his  hand 


i88 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


has  lost  none  of  its  cunning — and  its 
more  than  five  hundred  pages  ought  to 
provide  a  summer's  reading  for  people 
who  are  not  in  a  hurry. 

of  Shovel  of  Action 

Readers  in  search  of  a  story,  an  old- 
style  novel  crammed  with  incident,  and 
with  a  charming,  virginal  and  just- 
wanton-enough  heroine,  a  hero  who 
could  lick  any  man  in  a  fair  or  foul 
fight,  and  a  black  villain,  will  find  just 
what  they  want  in  Neil  Swanson's  The 
Phantom  Emperor  (Putnam,  $2.50),  a 
book  based  upon  an  historical  incident 
of  the  'Thirties,  when  a  certain  man 
planned  to  set  up  an  empire  in  the 
American  Southwest,  make  himself 
head  of  the  Indians,  and  build  up  a 
nation  within  a  nation.  Mr.  Swanson 
has  made  a  careful  study  of  all  the  doc 
umentary  material  available,  and  has 
gone  over  the  route  followed  by  the  ex 
pedition  which  actually  set  out  from 
Buffalo  on  its  way  to  Santa  Fe.  He  has 
taken  liberties  with  the  people  involved, 
but  there  is  some  of  the  charm  of  actu 
ality  about  his  picture  of  the  times,  and 
excitement  aplenty  in  every  chapter.  In 
other  words,  a  good  romantic  novel,  up 
to  the  high  standard  of  his  earlier  book, 
The  Judas  Tree.  This  one  ought  to  be 
prime  summer  reading,  as  the  people  in 
it  very  nearly  freeze  to  death  through 
one  bitter  winter. 

Also  recommended:  Grace  Flan- 
drau's  Indeed  This  Flesh  (Smith  and 
Haas,  $2.50),  a  fine  study  of  a  man's 
life  against  the  background  of  boom- 
time  St.  Paul,  in  which  Mrs.  Flandrau 
shows  an  amazing  knowledge  of  mascu 
line  psychology,  as  well  as  of  the  Vic 
torian  period. 

The  worst  novel  of  the  past  few 
weeks,  mentioned  here  only  because  its 
author  can  and  should  do  better  work, 


is  John  Erskine's  Bachelor — of  Arts 
(Bobbs-Merrill,  $2),  which  is  a  story  of 
Columbia  University  student-life  that 
reflects  no  credit  on  either  Morningside 
Heights  or  the  man  who  wrote  it.  It  is, 
in  other  words,  trash,  and  not  even  very 
high-grade  trash. 

'The  (Communist  Utopia 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  im 
portant  books  of  non-fiction  of  recent 
weeks  is  Tatiana  Tchernavin's  Escape 
jrom  the  Soviets  (Dutton,  $2.50),  a 
first-hand  account  of  what  has  happened 
in  Russia  to  certain  intellectuals  under 
the  "liquidation"  policy  of  the  Soviets, 
which  is  a  remarkable  revelation  of  the 
stupidity  and  brutality  of  the  OGPU, 
or  secret  police.  Madame  Tchernavin 
and  her  husband  were  trapped  in  the 
Revolution,  but  felt  because  of  their 
willingness  to  work  with  the  new  gov 
ernment  that  nothing  would  happen  to 
them.  They  were  both  imprisoned  on 
no  definite  charges,  snatched  away  from 
their  small  son,  and  subjected  to  all 
kinds  of  cruelty  in  addition  to  their  men 
tal  anguish.  At  last  the  husband,  who 
had  been  a  teacher — his  wife  worked  in 
various  museums  under  the  Soviet  re 
gime  after  the  Revolution — found  him 
self  in  a  prison  camp  near  enough  to  the 
Finnish  border  to  make  escape  seem  pos 
sible,  and  the  little  family  set  out  to  get 
away  from  the  Communist  paradise. 

The  story  of  their  flight  is  moving 
almost  beyond  endurance,  and  the  child 
emerges  as  one  of  the  bravest  and  most 
attractive  youngsters  ever  to  find  him 
self  between  the  covers  of  a  book.  They 
did  escape,  after  incredible  hardships, 
and  are  now  living  in  Paris.  As  a  human 
document  this  book  stands  alone  j  it  has 
the  validity  of  something  absolutely 
first-hand,  obviously  unexaggerated, 
and  good  both  as  literature  and  as  a 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  189 

revealing     commentary     upon     some  of  sustenance  to  a  curious  group  of  peo- 

phases  of  life  in  the  "country  of  the  pie  from  many  parts  of  the  world.  It 

future"  about  which  we  who  live  in  still  is  the  home  of  such  curious  crea- 

downtrodden  capitalist  countries  hear  tures  as  the  guanaco,  a  cousin  of  the 

so  much.  At  this  writing,  it  is  a  best-  llama  and  the  camel,  and  of  the  arma- 

seller,  which  it  richly  deserves  to  be  5  dillo.  The  whole  round  of  life  is  in  the 

there  have  been  few  books  this  year  book,  which  is  an  example  of  what  a 

more  deserving  of  attention.  travel  book  should  be.  Dr.  Simpson 

went  out  for  the  American  Museum  of 

Far-away  T  laces  Natural  History  and  brought  back  many 

Two  fine  records  of  life  in  distant  fine  specimens ;  he  also  had  a  good  time 

parts  of  the  world  are  Melville  and  in  spite  of  the  physical  difficulties. 
Frances    Herskovits's    Rebel    Destiny 

( Whittlesey  House,  $3  ) ,  a  study  of  Ne-  ^  ^V^  ™chard  III 

groes  in  Dutch  Guiana  who  escaped  The  biography  list  is  short  but  of  a 

from  slavery  and  fled  into  the  bush,  high  quality.  Its  most  interesting  item 

there  to  set  up  their  own  civilization,  is  a  life  of  Richard  III  from  an  entirely 

and  George  Gaylord  Simpson's  Attend-  new  angle,  called  Richard  III:   The 

ing  Marvels:   A   Patagonian  Journal  Tragic  King  (McBride,  $3).  The  au- 

(Macmillan,  $3),  the  account  of  a  pale-  thor  is  Philip  Lindsay,  who  is  a  son  of 

ontologist's  stay  in  that  odd  country  Norman  Lindsay,  the  Australian  novel- 

that  lies  at  the  tip-end  of  South  Amer-  ist,  and  himself  a  writer  of  promising 

ica.  The  Herskovitses  found  invaluable  fiction.  It  is  his  notion  that  Richard  III 

material  in  the  jungle,  much  fascinating  was  anything  else  but  the  villain  of  the 

folk-lore,  many  Negro  stories  that  have  Shakespearean  and  the  popular  concep- 

crept  into  our  culture  by  way  of  Uncle  tion,  and  that  Henry  VII  was  the  villain 

Remus,  and  many  forms  of  artistic  ex-  of  the  piece.  His  main  purpose  is  to 

pression  of  which  their  good  photo-  show  that  Richard  did  not  order  the 

graphs  make  a  permanent  record.  They  murder  of  the  little  Princes,  that  they 

are  anthropologists  who  evidently  un-  were  put  to  death  at  the  behest  of 

derstand  how  to  win  the  confidence  of  Henry,  and  that  Henry,  through  his 

primitive  people  and  they  have,  in  this  control  of  the  chroniclers  of  the  period, 

book,  made  an  important  contribution  succeeded  in  blackening  the  character  of 

to  knowledge  about  the  black  folk.  his  predecessor  and  hereditary  enemy. 

Dr.  Simpson  went  to  Patagonia  to  He  also  insists  that  Richard  was  not  a 
study  the  prehistoric  remains  of  the  hunchback  at  all,  and  that  aside  from 
strange  animals  that  inhabited  the  re-  his  rather  short  stature,  he  was  a  fine 
gion  while  South  America  was  still  an  looking  man,  not  so  strikingly  hand- 
island  j  he  found  much  of  interest,  but  some  as  his  brother  Edward,  but  a  long 
he  did  not  confine  himself  to  digging  way  from  being  the  monster  he  is  usu- 
for  bones.  He  also  observed  the  life  ally  depicted. 

about  him,  and  he  has  written  about  it  The  book  has  all  the  story-value  of  a 

with  humor  and  understanding.  It  is  a  well-constructed  detective  story,  and  in 

most  uncomfortable  country,  where  the  addition  to  its  careful  study  of  the  his- 

wind  blows  all  the  time,  a  hard,  rocky,  torical  evidence  available,  it  takes  up  in 

barren  land,  which  furnishes  some  kind  detail  the  findings  of  the  commission 


1 9o 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


which  only  last  year  examined  the  al 
leged  bones  of  the  Princes.  Mr.  Lindsay 
contends  that  these  bones  were  prob 
ably  those  of  human  sacrifices,  killed  at 
the  time  of  the  building  of  the  Tower 
of  London.  He  does  not  seem  to  the 
Landscaper  completely  convincing  in 
his  effort  to  change  Richard  from  a  vil 
lain  to  a  hero,  but  the  job  is  a  good  one, 
and  in  addition  the  book  is  a  most  lively 
and  engaging  history  of  the  Wars  of  the 
Roses,  full  of  battles  and  intrigues,  and 
altogether  one  of  the  most  readable 
books  about  the  period  that  is  to  be 
found  anywhere. 

'Portrait  of  a  Humanist 

Another  distinguished  biography  is 
Goldsuoorthy  Lowes  Dickinson  by  E.  M. 
Forster  (Harcourt,  Brace,  $3),  which  is 
a  study  of  an  English  philosopher  and 
humanitarian  who  spent  the  greater 
part  of  his  life  teaching  in  King's  Col 
lege,  Cambridge.  He  was  a  close  friend 
of  Mr.  Forster  during  part  of  his  life, 
and  the  book  is  filled  with  sympathy  and 
understanding,  in  addition  to  being  an 
admirable  piece  of  writing,  as  one  would 
expect  from  the  pen  of  the  author  of 
A  Passage  to  India,  one  of  the  best 
novels  of  this  generation.  Dickinson  is 
best-known,  perhaps,  for  his  book  The 
Greek  Way  of  Life;  an  admirer  of 
Socrates  as  a  child,  he  remained  Greek 
to  the  end  of  his  days,  although  there 
were  Chinese  influences  at  work,  also,  as 
he  found  through  his  love  for  Confucius 
a  deep  sympathy  with  the  Chinese.  He 
visited  India,  too,  during  his  travel 
years,  but  did  not  like  it  because  he 
found  it  a  country  devoted  to  religion 
that  seemed  to  him  not  to  touch  the  life 
or  the  art  of  the  people,  which  is  in  it 
self  a  key  to  his  character. 

He  also  spent  some  time  in  the 
United  States,  and  was  not  very  happy 


here,  as  he  saw  what  he  called  "the 
Chicago  spirit"  dominating  not  only 
this  country,  but  spreading  its  evil  influ 
ence  abroad  as  well.  Mr.  Forster  will 
ingly  admits  that  he  set  himself  a  hard 
task  in  writing  a  book  about  a  superior 
human  being  who  was  not  great  in  the 
usual  sense  of  the  word;  he  has  suc 
ceeded  in  a  fine  portrait,  which  has  in 
it  much  of  the  best  of  English  character. 
The  Landscaper  is  one  who  regrets  that 
Mr.  Forster  has  not  gone  on  with  his 
fiction,  but  anything  he  writes  bears  the 
unmistakable  mark  of  a  highly  distin 
guished  mind,  and  the  present  volume 
is  very  much  worth  while. 

d^  Victorian  Qhild 

Of  autobiographies,  Lord  Berners's 
First  Childhood  (Farrar  and  Rinehart, 
$2),  is  the  best  available,  and  one  of  the 
most  entertaining  of  the  season's  books 
besides.  Lord  Berners  was  a  "sport,"  an 
intelligent  and  original  child  born  into 
a  Victorian  household,  with  all  its  stuffy 
notions  about  life,  which  he  did  not  ap 
prove  of  at  all  and  which  he  did  every 
thing  possible  to  upset.  He  writes  with 
charm  and  humor,  and  the  first  part  of 
the  book  particularly  dealing  with  his 
earlier  years  is  delicious.  He  eventually 
went  off  to  one  of  those  abominable 
English  schools,  into  whose  hard  and 
fast  pattern  he  did  not  fit;  the  head 
master  was  a  sadist,  and  the  boys  a  mis 
erable  lot,  except  the  athletes.  This  is 
not  fresh  material,  and  therefore  hardly 
so  interesting  as  the  first  chapters,  but 
the  whole  book  is  good  reading.  The 
author  is  now  a  distinguished  composer 
and  a  highly  original  person;  he  will 
continue  his  autobiography,  and  it  is  a 
safe  guess  that  the  rest  of  it  will  be 
worth  keeping  an  eye  out  for. 

A  valuable  addition  to  the  many 
books  about  our  own  West  in  its  wild 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  191 

days  is  Frontier  Fighter:  The  Autobi-  it  is  something  to  have  lived  to  see  the 

ography  ofGeorgeW.  Coe  (Houghton  exiles  come  home,  and  to  know  that 

Mifflin,  $2.50),  the  life  story  of  a  man  there  are  sidewalk  cafes  in  New  York 

who  rode  with  Billy  the  Kid.  where  they  can  sit  and  have  their  bocks 

Malcolm  Cowley's  Exile's  Return:  and  aperitifs  and  settle  the  affairs  of 
A  Narrative  of  Ideas  (Norton,  $2.50),  the  world.  In  the  end,  they  will  prob- 
is  the  story  of  the  so-called  "Lost  Gen-  ably  have  as  little  real  effect  upon  the 
eration,"  a  tag  furnished  by  Gertrude  economic  situation  as  they  had  on  the 
Stein,  and  used,  as  many  will  recall,  in  artistic  situation  in  the  days  of  Dada, 
Ernest  Hemingway's  The  Sun  Also  but  they  seem  to  be  able  to  enjoy  them- 
Rises.  It  is  Mr.  Cowley's  theory  that  a  selves,  which  is  something, 
whole  group  of  younger  writers  who  Speaking  of  Karl  Marx,  a  valuable 
came  along  about  the  time  of  the  World  book  for  those  who  wish  to  understand 
War  were  uprooted  by  the  conflict  the  present  status  of  communism  in  the 
either  actually  or  literarily,  and  that  world  at  large  is  Dr.  Albert  Rosenberg's 
many  of  them  have  found  themselves  A  Brief  History  of  Bolshevism  (Ox- 
since  their  return  to  the  America  of  ford,  $3.75),  an  excellent  small  book, 
which  they  were  once  so  scornful  by  the  gist  of  which  is  that  the  Third  In- 
espousing  the  cause  of  the  workers.  It  ternational  has  lost  its  influence,  and 
is  a  generalization  that  is  hardly  war-  that  Russia,  from  being  the  world- 
ranted  and  one  can  not  escape  the  feel-  centre  of  communism,  has  settled  down 
ing  that  there  is  too  much  ego  in  Mr.  to  making  a  socialistic  state  without  re- 
Cowley's  cosmos,  but  the  book  is  well  gard  to  what  other  countries  do.  The 
written,  and  in  spite  of  its  faults,  a  worth  triumph  of  Stalin  and  the  defeat  of  the 
while  record  of  a  literary  and  artistic  internationalist  Trotsky  marked  the 
movement  that  once  existed,  and  which  turning  point,  and  hereafter  we  shall 
has  now  passed  into  another  phase.  have  to  manufacture  our  own  Red 

movements,   although   there   are   still 

The  Shadow  of  ^VLarx  plenty  of  young  intellectuals  who  think 

Like  most  of  the  followers  of  Karl  of  America  in  terms  of  Moscow,  which 
Marx,  Mr.  Cowley  sees  everything  in  is  one  of  the  stupidest  possible  points  of 
terms  of  the  collapse  of  capitalism,  even  view.  At  any  rate,  Dr.  Rosenberg  writes 
to  the  suicide  of  a  young  wastrel  like  clearly  and  thoughtfully,  and  his  book 
Harry  Crosby,  the  American  poet  who  is  informative  and  intelligent, 
tried  everything  and  found  life  so  un 
satisfactory  that  he  killed  a  woman  and  Sarth  an(l  Universe 
himself.  In  short,  a  book  that  has  al-  Two  books  of  recent  appearance,  one 
ready  kicked  up  a  fine  controversy,  and  of  which  may  have  been  mentioned  here 
which  is  definitely  provocative.  The  before,  but  which  is  good  enough  to  be 
Landscaper's  respect  for  the  Lost  Gen-  called  attention  to  again,  deal  with  what 
eration  would  be  greater  if  he  himself  is  going  on  in  the  world  of  science,  espe- 
had  not  watched  it  in  its  wanderings  daily  in  relation  to  the  effort  to  discover 
from  the  Cafe  du  Dome  to  the  Cafe  the  place  of  the  earth  in  the  universe. 
Rotonde,  and  so  on;  it  looked  lost  The  newer  volume  is  Harlan  T.  Stet- 
enough,  but  whether  its  lostness  mat-  son's  Earth,  Radio  and  Stars  (Whittle- 
tered  is  something  else  again.  Anyway,  sey  House,  $3),  in  which  Dr.  Stetson 


192  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

discusses  a  new  science  which  he  calls  prospect  of  a  problem  in  arithmetic, 
cosmecology,  meaning  the  relation  of         That's  all  for  this  month,  except  that 

the  earth  to  the  universe  in  all  its  phases,  the  Landscaper  wishes  to  call  attention 

The  other  book  is  Exploring  the  Upper  to  one  of  the  best  books  of  the  year 

Atmosphere,  by  Dorothy  Fisk  (Oxford,  which  has  gone  neglected,  and  which  is 

$1.75),  a  short  and  simply  written  study  Salah  and  His  American,  by  Leland 

of  the  stratosphere,  and  of  cosmic  rays.  Hall  (Knopf),  a  highly  civilized  piece 

Dr.  Stetson  promises  a  synthesis  of  the  of  writing  and  thinking,  the  true  story 

findings   of   cosmecologists   in   a   few  of  an  American  who  went  to  North 

years,  which  ought  to  be  worth  living  Africa  and  was  adopted  by  an  ex-slave 

forj  maybe  we'll  find  out  what  we  are  named  Salah  and  who  did  not  know 

doing  here,  the  favorite  subject  of  spec-  just  what  to  do  with  him.  There  is  both 

ulation  of  the  human  race  for  centuries,  humor  and  pathos  in  the  tale,  and  pro- 

Dr.  Stetson's  book  is  not  too  easy,  be-  found  truth  about  people  and  human 

cause  of  its  tendency  to  run  off  into  relationships.   About   twelve   hundred 

mathematical  formulae,  which  puzzle  copies  have  been  sold,  which  is  a  sad 

the  Landscaper  beyond  words,  but  he  thought.  There  has  not  been  a  better 

has  a  lot  to  say  even  to  minds,  such  as  "neglected  book"  this  year,  nor  for  a 

the  Landscaper's,  which  collapse  at  the  good  many  years. 


I'ros  "fyriusque  miki  nullo  discrimine  agetur 

rfh  American 

VOLUME  238  SEPTEMBER,  1934  NUMBER  3 

- — ir\r^t> — - 

Aperitif 

.  German,  though  he  is  sometimes  irked 

Hetl,  Censorship  by  a  difficulty  in  preventing  objection- 

A  NEWSPAPER  clipping  dated  June  25  able  radio  broadcasts  from  Munich. 
/\  describes  the  suppression  in  Ger-  Down  in  South  America  there  has 
many  of  the  motion  picture  Tarzan  on  been  less  progress  perhaps,  but  our  own 
the  ground  that  it  was  "brutalizing."  State  Department  has  stepped  in  and 
This  was  five  days  before  that  delicately  censored  the  shipment  of  arms  to  bellig- 
sesthetic  performance  of  June  30  in  erents  in  the  Chaco  war,  thus  giving  a 
which  Captain  Roehm  and  some  of  his  modern  touch  to  the  proceedings.  How- 
colleagues  were  chided  for  wrong  ever,  it  soon  appeared  that  the  modern 
thinking.  It  was  lucky  for  the  Germans  touch  was  not  sufficiently  moral  in  tone, 
that  the  film  was  caught  in  time,  other-  so  the  State  Department  allowed  arms 
wise  Herr  Hitler's  delicately  aesthetic  to  be  shipped  to  one  of  the  bellig- 
performance  might  have  degenerated  erents  and  now  every  one  is  whole- 
into  something  ugly  like  a  fist  fight,  and  somely  happy  except  the  other  bel- 
the  German  censor  does  not  approve  of  ligerent. 

fist  fights:  he  suppressed  Eddie  Cantor's  On  the  other  side  of  the  world  cen- 

The  Kid  because  it  contained  several  of  sors  are  also  busy  and  such  excellent 

them    and    was    therefore    extremely  morality  has  resulted  that  The  China 

"brutalizing."  Weekly  Review y  in  its  issue  of  July  7, 

In   Austria,   too,   there    have   been  can  report  that  policing  of  the  Hongkew 

quilting  bees  and  other  such  good  clean  section  of  the  International  Settlement 

fun  that  radio  stations  and  theatres  and  at  Shanghai  has  been  virtually  given  up 

cafes  and  like  sources  of  unwholesome  by  the  British.  According  to  The  China 

pleasuring  were  quite  closed  down.  It  is  Weekly  Review,  all  that  is  now  neces- 

true  that  a  number  of  unfortunate  per-  sary  to  control  the  situation  is  the  moral 

sons  were  overcome  by  the  seemly  en-  suasion  of  the  Japanese  military  authori- 

tertainment,  but  that  is  less  than  inci-  ties,  "assisted  by  their  ronin  and  thugs." 

dental  in  the  light  of  a  true  spirit  of  The  derogatory  quality  of  this  quoted 

racial  consciousness.  And  the  Austrian  phrase  can  doubtless  be  laid  to  an  under- 

censor  is  hardly  less  efficient  than  the  developed  national  consciousness  on  the 

Copyright,  1934,  by  North  American  Review  Corporation.  All  rights  reserved. 


i94  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

part  of  the  Chinese,  with  a  consequent  tect  the  morals  of  the  nation  from  con- 
inability  to  judge  true  values,  tamination  by  evil  movies,  with  the 

The  Russians,  on  the  other  hand,  are  idea  of  possibly  extending  their  good 
reported  by  Mr.  Walter  Duranty  to  be  influence  later  to  books  and  magazines 
relaxing  their  formerly  superb  censor-  and  plays.  Their  feeling  is  that  the 
ship  a  little,  and  good  modernists  are  movies  have  been  too  lenient  in  their 
probably  worried.  Mr.  Duranty  says  treatment  of  public  enemies  like  gang- 
that  hereafter  Americans  in  Soviet  Rus-  sters  and  sex,  inciting  young  and  impres- 
sia  are  to  be  allowed  to  see  things  previ-  sionable  minds  to  an  admiration  of 
ously  barred  from  their  snoopings.  either  or  both.  This  is  no  doubt  true  and 
There  are  to  be  less  of  the  staged  per-  all  modernists  will  laud  the  success  of 
formances  intended  to  impress  foreign-  their  boycott  in  bringing  Hollywood 
ers  with  Russian  progress  and  more  film  magnates  to  heel.  In  no  time  at  all 
reliance  on  the  effect  of  actual  accom-  now  we  may  expect  a  United  States  in 
plishments.  Also,  literature  does  not  which  payrolls  will  be  safe,  Chicago 
have  any  more  to  display  so  strictly  World  Fairs  will  not  permit  nudist 
proletarian  a  value.  But  it  is  notorious  weddings  and  cosmetic  manufacturers 
that  Stalin  has  grown  conservative,  and  will  have  to  find  some  other  advertising 
there  are  murmurings  against  him.  appeal  than  Allure. 

In  our  own  glorious  Union  conserva-  Perhaps  the  most  encouraging  thing 
tive  Republicans  have  for  many  months  about  all  this  censorship  is  that  it  has 
complained  of  Democratic  censorship  of  brought  the  world  past  the  twentieth 
the  radio  and  wide-spread  Democratic  anniversary  of  the  Great  War  with 
control  of  the  press.  There  is  some  ar-  hardly  more  than  eight  or  ten  nations 
gument  over  the  truth  of  this  assertion,  mobilized  and  ready  for  another  one. 
and  perhaps  we  are  too  backward  to  do  Along  with  the  development  of  the  air- 
the  thing  thoroughly,  as  it  is  done  in  plane,  it  has  extended  the  British  fron- 
Germany  and  Italy.  At  any  rate,  one  of  tier  to  the  Rhine  and  so  made  the  Con- 
the  usual  tests  of  the  efficiency  of  a  cen-  tinent  at  least  temporarily  safe  for 
sorship  is  whether  there  exist  harmoni-  French  hegemony.  It  has  succeeded  in 
ous  and  virtuous  relations  between  making  a  great  nation  of  Poland,  non 
capital  and  labor,  and  by  this  test  the  existent  before  the  War,  and  thus  added 
Republicans  are  surely  quite  justified  in  a  fascinatingly  disturbing  factor  to  Eu- 
their  accusation:  not  a  peep  is  heard  out  ropean  diplomacy.  It  has  kept  masses  of 
of  labor  anywhere  in  the  country,  and  people  ignorant  of  both  national  and 
no  more  than  an  occasional  grunt  of  international  affairs  so  that  their  dicta- 
satisfaction  from  capital.  If  our  authori-  torial  rulers  could  prevent  emotions 
ties  have  a  shortcoming  in  this  respect  it  from  rising  to  the  pitch  of  war  at  incon 
is  that  they  have  confined  themselves  to  venient  times. 

the  political  field  in  their  censorship,         All  in  all,  it  seems  a  wonder  that  any 

and  such  aberrations  and  disharmonies  nation  in  the  world  ever  got  along  with- 

as  may  still  exist  are  undoubtedly  due  to  out  benefit  of  censorship,  if  any  ever  did. 

this  incompleteness.  So  long  ago  as  the  First  Century  A.D., 

However,  many  public-spirited  indi-  according  to  Robert  Graves,  the  Roman 

viduals  have  noted  the  omission  and  Emperor,  Tiberius  Claudius,  felt  the 

formed  a  religious  organization  to  pro-  need  of  softening  his  own  writings  and 


APERITIF  195 

hiding  some  from  his  contemporaries,  strains  have  rather  decreased  potential 

But,  of  course,  we  should  not  think  of  production  than  otherwise.  So  that  the 

comparing  the  murders,  intrigues,  in-  general  picture  is  of  a  possible  prosper- 

decencies,   warring  and  decadence   of  ity  not  much  greater  than  that  of  1929 

that  heathen  period  with  our  own  spot-  except  that  its  benefits  might  be  spread 

less  record  of  high  aspiration.  out  somewhat  more  among  the  less  for- 

.  .         m       j  tunate  classes,  who,  as  we  have  been 

Revtsmg  a  Paradox  told  often  enoughj  were  excessively 

While  New  York  newspapers  were  poor  during  the  boom, 
gaily  describing  the  auction  of  Howard  As  antither  damper  on  our  pride  in 
Scott's  effects  in  a  New  Jersey  town  to  the  efficiency  of  American  industry  and 
satisfy  a  judgment  for  rent,  Edwin  G.  agriculture  comes  an  article,  published 
Nourse  and  his  associates  published  a  in  the  New  Outlook,  by  Robert  R. 
book  called  America's  Capacity  to  Pro-  Doane.  After  five  months'  study  with 
duce,  which  treated  some  of  Scott's  the  National  Survey  of  Potential  Prod- 
Technocracy  concepts  in  an  equally  un-  ucts  Capacity,  he  makes  the  statement 
sympathetic  manner.  that  there  was  a  shortage  of  100,000,- 

Messrs.  Nourse  and  associates  gave  it  000,000  pounds  of  foodstuffs  in  this 

as  their  considered  opinion  that  produc-  country  during  the  peak  year  of  1929. 

tion  in  1929  in  America  could  have  been  This  is  on  the  basis  of  comparison  with 

stepped  up  by  only  a  matter  of  nineteen  a  liberal  diet  schedule  drawn  up  by  the 

per  cent,  which  meant  adding  no  more  Department  of  Agriculture  and  tends  to 

than  $545  to  the  annual  income  of  every  confirm  estimates  made  in  this  maga- 

family  of  two  or  more  persons  in  the  zine  some  while  ago  by  Mr.  E.  L.  Mc- 

country.  This  would  not  come  within  Dowell.    In    other    words,    Secretary 

sixteen  or  seventeen  thousand  dollars  of  Wallace  and  his  brethren  of  the  crop 

the  real  income  which  Scott  said  was  reduction  plans  have  been  disastrously 

possible,    and    consequently    optimists  mistaken:  we  need  busier  and  better 

may  be  discouraged,  for  Messrs.  Nourse  farmers  rather  than  country  gentlemen 

and  associates  are  very   hard-headed  paid  for  their  leisure, 

gentlemen  connected  with  the  Brook-  Moreover,  says  Mr.  Doane,  there  is 

ings  Institution  and  it  is  highly  unlikely  an  appalling  shortage  of  housing  and 

that  their  estimate  would  be  farther  even  in  1929  "the  male  population  of 

from  the  truth  than  Mr.  Scott's.  the  United  States  were  supplied,  on  a 

Of  course,  a  level  of  production  nine-  per  capita  basis,  with  a  bare  one-third  of 

teen  per  cent  higher  than  the   1929  a  garment  of  new  outerwear."  So  that 

would  assume  much  larger  proportions  we  had  not  enough  to  eat  or  to  wear  or 

today:  in  fact,  would  amount  approxi-  for  shelter. 

mately  to  a  doubling  of  present  produc-  If  the  arguments  of  Messrs.  Doane 

tion.  But  those  persons  who  believe  that  and  Nourse  presage  a  wide  shift  in  atti- 

industrial  efficiency  has  been  vastly  in-  tude  it  will  be  interesting  to  watch  the 

creased  during  the  depression  will  find  result.  Such  views,  generally  accepted, 

no    agreement    with    their    thesis    in  ought  to  assure  the  collapse  of  the  farm 

America's  Capacity  to  Produce.  The  ar-  programme,  of  the  NRA  (most  of  it,  at 

gument  there  tends  in  the  other  direc-  least)  and  of  any  other  restraints  on 

tion,  that  the  depression's  stresses  and  production.  Doubtless,  the  concept  of 


196  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

planning  would  suffer  a  black  eye  that  and  shelter  which  were  so  scarce  even  in 

would  take  many  a  lusty  leech  to  bleach  1929.   Between  him  and  the  money 

again,  and  the  Administration  itself  stand  business  men  and  bankers  and 

would  have  difficulty  in  surviving,  un-  they  are  universally  troubled  by  lack  of 

less  it  did  a  hurried  about-face.  "confidence."  If  and  when  this  is  re- 

Unfortunately,  proving  that  there  stored  to  them  and  they  set  the  wheels 

has  been  no  "paradox  of  poverty  amid  of  industry  to  turning  at  a  faster  rate, 

plenty"    because   there    has   been   no  presumably  a  reasonable   amount   of 

plenty  does  not  solve  the  problem  of  those  excess  reserves  will  trickle  down 

providing  plenty,  or  even  of  setting  us  to  the  consumer  and  then  he  will  be  able 

back  on  the  road  to  the  comparative  to  do  more  than  laugh  sardonically  at 

hardship  of  1929.  The  fact  that  a  lot  of  the  idea  of  buying  a  dwelling,  or  a  suit 

people  were  hungry  in  that  hectic  year  of  clothes,  or  a  good  juicy  steak,  though 

seems  to  have  little  if  any  effect  on  the  he  may  still  have  to  go  into  debt  up  to 

level  of  wheat  or  milk  prices,  and  at  his  neck  to  do  it. 

present  prices  farmers  can  hardly  afford         For  four  years  this  delicate  flame  of 

to  raise  the  trivial  amounts  of  farm  confidence  has  smoked  and  smoldered 

products  that  they  are  now  sending  to  and  gone  out,  smoked  and  smoldered 

market.  Likewise,  even  if  the  country  is  and  gone  out,  until  it  began  to  seem  that 

in  desperate  need  of  six  million  new  it  never  again  would  burn  clear  and 

homes,  as  Mr.  Doane  states,  most  of  us  strong.  But  one  of  the  dampening  in- 

can  only  laugh  sardonically  at  the  idea  fluences  which  kept  it  down  was  the 

of  buying  one.  wide  acceptance  that  we  had  had  too 

Not  that  there  is  any  lack  of  money,  much  production  for  our  needs,  that 
mind  you.  Dr.  Nourse  is  careful  to  point  there  was  too  much  plant  capacity,  that 
out  that  there  was  never  the  slightest  the  main  work  of  Americans  was  done, 
strain  on  our  credit  and  currency  system  If  that  opinion  is  now  discarded  and  it 
during  even  the  wildest  part  of  the  is  widely  believed  that  there  remains  a 
late  boom.  And  the  Kemmerers  and  tremendous  task  before  industry  and 
Spragues  and  a  thousand  others  will  agriculture  to  supply  the  necessaries  of 
staunchly  declare  that  reserves  are  not  our  own  country,  business  courage  is  as 
now  lacking  for  any  amount  of  enter-  likely  as  not  to  revive, 
prise.  A  day  hardly  passes  that  some  big         That  is  the  logic — or  illogic — of  the 
banker  does  not  cry  out  for  "sound"  matter  anyhow.  Once  industry  and  agri- 
credit  risks:  banks  are  groaning,  appar-  culture  got  to  thinking  themselves  effi- 
ently,  with  money  begging  to  be  lent,  cient  they  failed.  Now  when  they  dis- 
and  because  it  can  not  be,  bankers  are  cover  that  they  were  nothing  of  the  kind 
going  without  profit  along  with  the  rest  they  may  very  well  succeed.  It  will  do 
of  us  downtrodden  ones.  Maybe  the  no  harm  to  hope  so,  at  any  rate, 
only  thing  to  do  is  change  the  slogan 
to  "paradox  of  poverty  amid  plenty  of  ^Public  Service 
money"  and  let  it  go  at  that.  Judging  from  isolated  incidents,  the 

But  obviously  the  Kemmerers  and  "public  servant"  conception  of  public 

Spragues  do  not  mean  that  plenty  of  officials  is  seeping  into  the  minds  of  a 

money  is  available  to  the  ordinary  con-  few  lowly  citizens.  Within  recent  weeks 

sumer  who  buys  the  food  and  clothing  a  New  York  newspaper  carried  the  story 


APfiRITIF  197 

of  Joseph  Schalabetter,  chef,  who  found  legislature,   then   legislative   employ- 

himself  standing  at  a  street  intersection  ment  over  the  age  of  forty  was  of 

in  Brooklyn  with  nothing  better  to  do  equally  small  moment  to  the  citizenry, 

than  set  off  a  fire  alarm.  When  the  fire-  They  refused  to  vote  for  any  candidate 

men  arrived  and  questioned  him  he  who  had  passed  his  thirties, 
calmly  admitted  setting  off  the  alarm.         These  are,  of  course,  no  more  than 

They  asked  why  and  he  rep  lied:  "Oh,  I  straws  in  the  wind,  if  that.  And  it  is 

was  all  alone  and  I  wanted  to  see  you."  probably  Utopian  to  hope  that  they 

The  judge  before  whom  Mr.  Schala-  really  indicate  the  direction  of  a  wind, 
better  was  haled,  being  a  public  official,  Suppose  a  majority  of  Americans  sud- 
did  not  see  the  virtue  of  his  reasoning  denly  demanded  the  efficiency  and  cour- 
and  sentenced  him  to  thirty  days  of  tesy  of  their  public  servants  that  they 
further  loneliness.  Maybe  the  judge  do  of  their  private  servants  and  em- 
was  right.  It  does  cost  taxpayers  money  ployes.  Police  all  over  the  nation  would 
to  bring  out  the  fire  trucks  and  it  would  be  reduced  from  the  status  of  Supreme 
not  do  to  encourage  every  Tom,  Dick  Court  Justices  to  ordinary  information 
and  Harry  with  nothing  better  to  do  clerks  and  night  watchmen.  Magistrates 
than  to  turn  in  alarms.  However,  there  who  used  their  courtrooms  as  forums  for 
are  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  their  own  predilections  in  the  way  of 
average  citizens,  like  Mr.  Schalabetter,  morals  and  conduct  would  be  required 
who  pay  taxes  year  in  and  year  out,  di-  to  administer  the  law  as  it  is  written — if 
rectly  or  indirectly,  without  ever  realiz-  they  were  able  to  read  it.  Mayors  and 
ing  any  tangible  return  from  the  ex-  commissioners  and  aldermen  and  like 
pense.  And  if  in  a  moment  of  quixotic  small  fry  would  be  reduced  from  arbi- 
abandon  a  few  of  them  decide  to  order  ters  of  elegance  and  business  and  any- 
their  tax-paid  employes  around,  even  thing  else  that  occurs  to  them  down  to 
without  legally  impeccable  excuse,  it  is  their  own  proper  and  insignificant 
at  least  understandable.  duties. 

There  was  another  case  in  recent         It  may  be  that  a  hurricane  wind  of 

months  in  which  certain  legislators,  pub-  this  dimension  would  destroy  the  tradi- 

lic-officially  procrastinating,   failed  to  tional  Republic — even  as  prophets  of 

pass  a  law,  the  lack  of  which  endangered  peril  are  now  for  another  reason  pre- 

the  employment  of  persons  in  that  lo-  dieting.  But  at  least  it  would  give  the 

cality  over  forty  years  of  age.  Voters  of  little   man,   the   small   capitalist,   the 

the  locality,  to  the  astonishment  of  its  sturdy,    unpretentious,   virtuous   indi- 

legislators,  took  the  view  that  if  individ-  vidualist,  one  last  run  for  his  money  be- 

ual  employment  over  the  age  of  forty  fore  the  proletarian  or  fascist  debacle, 
was  not  worth  the  consideration  of  the  w.  A.  D. 


Japan  and  World  Peace  - 

BY  HIROSI  SAITO 

The  Japanese  Ambassador  replies  to  the  article  last  month  by 

Dr.  Sze,  Chinese  Minister,  on  the  promulgation  of 

an  Asiatic  Monroe  Doctrine 


TOWARD  the  end  of  1 9 1  o  President 
Taft  wrote  to  Colonel  Roose 
velt,  his  immediate  predecessor 
in  the  White  House,  seeking  his  counsel 
in  regard  to  Manchuria  on  the  various 
problems  concerning  which  America, 
with  Mr.  Philander  C.  Knox  as  Secre 
tary  of  State,  could  not  see  eye  to  eye 
with  Japan.  In  reply  Mr.  Roosevelt,  un 
der  date  of  December  22,  1910,  wrote 
as  follows: 

Our  vital  interest  is  to  keep  the  Japanese 
out  of  our  country  and  at  the  same  time  to  pre 
serve  the  good  will  of  Japan.  The  vital  interest 
of  the  Japanese,  on  the  other  hand,  is  in  Man 
churia  and  Korea.  It  is  therefore  peculiarly  our 
interest  not  to  take  any  steps  as  regards  Man 
churia  which  will  give  the  Japanese  cause  to 
feel,  with  or  without  reason,  that  we  are  hostile 
to  them,  or  a  menace — in  however  slight  a  de 
gree — to  their  interests.  ...  I  utterly  disbe 
lieve  in  the  policy  of  bluff,  in  national  or  in 
ternational  no  less  than  in  private  affairs,  or  in 
any  violation  of  the  old  frontier  maxim, 
"Never  draw  unless  you  mean  to  shoot."  I  do 
not  believe  in  our  taking  any  position  anywhere 
unless  we  can  make  good ;  and  as  regards  Man 
churia,  if  the  Japanese  choose  to  follow  a 
course  of  conduct  to  which  we  are  adverse,  we 
cannot  stop  it  unless  we  are  prepared  to  go  to 
war,  and  a  successful  war  about  Manchuria 
would  require  a  fleet  as  good  as  that  of 
England  plus  an  army  as  good  as  that  of 
Germany. 


In  these  words  Colonel  Roosevelt 
gave  expression  to  the  thought  which, 
I  believe,  animates  many  American 
minds,  articulate  or  inarticulate.  A 
staunch  believer  in  sturdy  American 
ism,  the  late  President  stood  for  fair 
play  and  a  square  deal  in  international 
relations.  Although  he  was  obliged  to 
erect  a  barrier  against  Japanese  immi 
gration  for  reasons  of  domestic  welfare, 
though  he  no  doubt  sympathized  with 
the  similar  policy  taken  by  other  Occi 
dental  nations,  he  thought  it  only  fair  to 
concede  to  the  Japanese  a  place  in  the 
sun  in  some  other  parts  of  the  world. 
He  saw  in  Japan  a  country  not  larger 
than  Montana  in  area,  yet  supporting 
60,000,000  inhabitants  as  compared 
with  Montana's  half  million — a  coun 
try,  too,  upon  which  nature  has  been  ex 
tremely  niggardly  in  bestowing  the 
necessary  materials  of  subsistence.  It 
was  but  natural  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  was 
willing  to  concede  to  Japan  something 
of  a  free  hand  in  her  part  of  the  world, 
particularly  in  the  direction  of  Man 
churia. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  knew,  of  course,  that 
Japan  did  not  go  into  Manchuria  like  a 
swashbuckler,  as  some  other  nations, 
when  similarly  situated,  had  done  in 


JAPAN  AND  WORLD  PEACE  199 

other  sections  of  the  world.  On  the  con-  Mr.  Bryan,  then  Secretary  of  State, 

trary  she  had  treaties  and  agreements  after  a  careful  study  of  the  whole  mat- 

with  China  defining  her  rights  and  in-  ter,  informed  the  Japanese  Govern- 

terests  in  Manchuria.  Those  rights  and  ment  that  no  objection  would  be  raised 

interests  were  a  result  of  a  Herculean  to  sixteen  of  the  twenty-one  demands  j 

struggle  which  was  forced  upon  Japan  that  is  to  say,  Washington  had  no  objec- 

by  the  combined  intrigue  of  Tsarist  Rus-  tion  to  any  of  the  demands  relative  to 

sia  and  Imperial  China  at  the  turn  of  the  Japanese  interests  in  Manchuria  and 

century.  In  the  closing  years  of  the  even  in  Shantung.  The  only  demands  to 

Nineteenth  Century  China  entered  into  which   America  took   exception   were 

a  secret  alliance  with  Russia  by  which  those  known  as  "Group  V"  which  were 

the  two  nations  were  to  make  common  presented  to  China  not  as  "demands" 

cause  against  Japan.  The  inevitable  up-  but  as  "wishes."  In  the  course  of  ne- 

shot  was  the  Russo-Japanese  War  of  gotiations  between  Japan  and  China 

1904-5,  upon  the  issue  of  which  Japan  these  "wishes"  were  withdrawn.  As  a 

had  to  stake  her  very  existence.  We  won  consequence  the  agreements  resulting 

the  war,  but  at  a  sacrifice  of  one  hun-  from  the  twenty-one  demands  included 

dred  thousand  lives  and  untold  treas-  nothing  to  which  America  objected, 

ure.  Had  we  known  the  existence  of  the  Nor  is  it  factually  correct  to  say  that 

secret  alliance  between  Russia  and  China  the  1915  agreements  between  China  and 

at  that  time,  we  should  have  been  justi-  Japan  were  signed  under  duress.  The 

fied  in  demanding  the  outright  cession  records  of  the  parley  conclusively  show 

of  the  whole  of  South  Manchuria.  But  that    on    February     12,     1915 — only 

we  did  not  do  this.  We  only  obtained  a  twenty-four  days  after  the  presentation 

few  hundred  miles  of  railway  and  a  of  the  original  Japanese  demands,  and 

small  leased  territory,  and  these  we  got,  eighty-five  days  before  the  presentation 

not  from  China,  but  from  Russia,  for  of  the  Japanese  ultimatum  which  has 

they  had  belonged,  not  to  China,  but  to  often  been  construed  as  duress — China 

Russia.  brought  forth  a  counter-proposal  reject 
ing  some  of  the  Japanese  demands  but 
agreeing  to  extend  to  ninety-nine  years 

Much  has  been  written  on  the  so-  the  lease  of  Port  Arthur  and  Dairen  (or 

called  "Twenty-One  Demands"  which  more  accurately  the  Kwantung  leased 

were  presented  to  China  by  Japan  in  territory)  and  of  the  South  Manchuria 

1915.  Yet  the  public  seems  to  have  only  Railway.  (China  also  agreed  to  recog- 

a  vague  or  even  a  grossly  erroneous  idea  nize  Japan's  acquisition  of  the  former 

of  those  demands  and  the  resultant  German  rights  in  Shantung,  but  this  is 

agreements.  The  sole  object  of  the  Japa-  no  longer  important  as  Japan,  at  the 

nese  proposal  was  to  consolidate  and  Washington    Conference    of    1921-2, 

preserve  the  vital  interests  obtained  by  definitely  relinquished  those  rights  in 

Japan  in  Manchuria  as  a  result  of  the  China's  favor.)   All  this  was  clearly 

war  with  Russia.  Let  us  note  the  Ameri-  stated  in  the  Chinese  proposal  handed 

can  Government's  attitude  towards  the  to  the  Japanese  delegate  on  February 

Japanese  demands.  According  to  the  12,  1915.  By  April  17  all  of  the  other 

American  official  "Papers  Relating  to  essential  points  had  been  agreed  upon, 

Foreign  Relations"  for  the  year  1915,  Japan  having  withdrawn  Group  V  and 


2OO 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


having  made  more  concessions  in  other 
respects.  And  yet  China  would  not  sign 
the  agreement,  hoping,  perhaps,  that 
the  powers  might  yet  intervene  and 
pick  her  chestnut  out  of  the  fire.  An 
other  explanation  for  the  Chinese  pro 
crastination  is  given  in  the  biography  of 
Count  Takaakira  Kato,  the  Foreign 
Minister  who  formulated  the  Japanese 
demands.  The  book  has  a  passage  which 
says  that  Yuan  Shih-k'ai,  then  President 
of  China,  through  one  of  the  Chinese 
delegates,  privately  told  the  Japanese 
delegate  that  an  ultimatum  was  wel 
come  and  would  expedite  the  conclusion 
of  the  agreement.  This  extraordinary 
overture  had,  perhaps,  a  twofold  objec 
tive.  First,  President  Yuan  hoped  that 
a  Japanese  ultimatum,  if  presented, 
would  give  him  the  excuse  of  bowing  to 
the  inevitable.  Secondly,  an  ultimatum 
would,  he  thought,  make  China  an  ob 
ject  of  sympathy  before  the  world.  In 
the  light  of  the  actual  fact  and  of  inter 
national  law,  the  duress  theory,  as  ap 
plied  to  the  Sino- Japanese  negotiations 
of  1915,  is  entirely  groundless. 

in 

This  brings  us  to  a  consideration  of 
China's  traditional  attitude  towards  her 
neighbors.  Every  Chinese  politician, 
every  Chinese  student,  knows  that  for 
more  than  two  thousand  years  that  atti 
tude  has  been  characterized  in  his  own 
vernacular  as  I 1  Chih  I,  or  "exploiting 
barbarians  to  check  barbarians."  That 
attitude  is  a  product  of  China's  peculiar 
history  and  geography.  For  almost 
three  thousand  years  China  was  often 
invaded  and  harassed  by  the  barbarian 
tribes— so  often  that  by  B.  C.  214  the 
Chinese  Emperor,  named  Shih  Huang- 
ti,  had  completed  the  Great  Wall  1,500 
miles  long  to  keep  the  barbarians  out. 
The  Chinese,  incapable  of  controlling 


these  tribes  by  their  own  power  and 
strength,  resorted  to  the  questionable 
expedient  of  playing  off  one  tribe 
against  another,  hoping  thus  to  stave  off 
barbarian  encroachments  upon  their 
own  soil.  This  expedient,  practised  for 
so  many  centuries,  could  not  but  produce 
a  most  profound  and  far-reaching  effect 
upon  the  Chinese  mind,  as  Mr.  Owen 
Lattimore,  unquestionably  one  of  the 
greatest  American  scholars  on  the  sub 
ject,  aptly  says: 

Since  even  the1  best  organization  and  military 
training  could  give  China  only  the  negative 
advantage  of  a  successful  defensive  position 
along  the  Great  Wall,  there  grew  up  inevi 
tably  a  canon  of  statecraft  and  foreign  policy 
based  on  the  assumption  that  fighting  the  bar 
barians  was  less  efficacious  than  promoting  con 
fusion  among  them — by  intrigue,  by  bribery, 
by  alliance,  by  hiring  some  of  them  as  mer 
cenaries  against  the  others,  by  any  possible 
means — in  such  a  manner  that,  being  involved 
against  each  other,  none  of  them  would  be 
free  to  attack  China.  This  is  the  celebrated 
canon  of  /  /  Chih  /,  "using  barbarians  to  con 
trol  the  barbarians,"  which  is  the  fundamental 
in  Chinese  history. 

What  has  not  been  generally  enough  appre 
ciated  by  Western  students  of  Chinese  history, 
however,  is  the  reverse  application  of  this  rule: 
that  good  government  at  home  is  less  vital  to 
the  nation  than  successful  intrigue  abroad. 
The  foreign  and  domestic  policies  of  any  na 
tion  are  external  and  internal  facets  of  a  single 
phenomenon.  If  foreign  policy  is  based  on  the 
assumption  that  courage  and  direct  action  are 
useless,  then  courage  and  initiative  cannot  be 
the  guiding  characteristics  of  internal  policy. 

Originally  and  for  centuries  aimed  at 
the  "land  barbarians"  of  the  North,  the 
traditional  Chinese  policy  was  readily 
applied  to  the  "sea  barbarians,"  who  al 
most  two  centuries  ago  began  to  knock 
at  China's  door  from  the  seacoast — 
Europeans  and  Americans.  "The  cycle 
of  barbarian  invasion  and  Chinese  re 
covery  had,"  to  quote  Mr.  Lattimore 
again,  "become  so  permanent,  so  nor 
mal  an  element  in  Chinese  life  by  the 


JAPAN  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


201 


time  that  the  appearance  of  the  Western 
nations  interrupted  it,  that  the  Chinese 
inevitably  and  spontaneously  trans 
ferred  to  their  relations  with  the  'bar 
barians  of  the  sea'  the  complete  stock  of 
ideas,  feelings,  policies,  and  methods 
which  had  been  developed  by  centuries 
of  opposition  to  the  Great  Wall  bar 
barians.  The  maladjustment  between 
China  and  Western  civilization  during 
the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  centuries 
turns  largely  on  the  fact  that  both 
Chinese  and  foreigners  were  attempting 
to  apply  preconceived  'stock'  ideas  to  a 
situation  that  was  radically  new."  In  the 
Chinese  eye  Japan  has  been  a  species  of 
"barbarian"  to  be  dealt  with  much  as 
China  has  dealt  with  the  "land  bar 
barians"  beyond  the  Great  Wall  and  the 
"sea  barbarians"  from  Europe  and 
America.  Naturally  China's  technique 
in  her  dealings  with  Japan  has  been  to 
set  one  power  or  another,  often  a  num 
ber  of  powers,  against  the  island  nation. 
The  pity  of  it  is  that  this  technique  has 
seldom,  if  ever,  worked  to  China's  bene 
fit,  but  has  almost  invariably  ended  in 
her  disaster. 

IV 

No  unbiased,  far-seeing,  clear-sighted 
observer,  who  has  China's  own  welfare 
at  heart,  could  fail  to  see  the  deplorable 
effect  of  the  traditional  Chinese  diplo 
macy.  During  the  Sino-Japanese  War  of 
1894-5,  Mr.  Charles  Denby,  American 
Minister  to  Peking,  was  quick  to  recog 
nize  the  futility  of  that  diplomacy,  and 
repeatedly  told  Li  Hung-chang,  that 
celebrated  Chinese  "Prime  Minister," 
that  "he  should  turn  his  back  on  Euro 
pean  powers  and  turn  his  face  to  Japan" 
and  "that  policy  dictated  a  complete 
abandonment  of  the  idea  of  trying  to 
secure  [foreign]  intervention."  Un 
der  date  of  February  26,  1895,  Mr. 


Denby  sent  to  the  State  Department  a 
lengthy  report  on  the  Sino-Japanese 
War  situation,  which  had  been  drawing 
to  a  close.  So  remarkable  is  that  report 
for  the  vision  and  the  accuracy  of  diag 
nosis  it  bespeaks  that  I  feel  justified  in 
quoting  from  it  at  some  length : 

For  the  last  few  days  Li  Hung-chang  has 
been  engaged  in  interviewing  the  heads  of 
Legations  here.  He  still  seems  to  cling  to  the 
impracticable  idea  that  the  European  powers 
will  not  permit  Japan  to  seize  any  of  the  ter 
ritory  of  China.  He  puts  to  each  Minister  the 
question:  Will  your  Government  intervene  if 
China  refuses  to  grant  a  cession  of  terri 
tory?  .  .  . 

In  conversation  with  my  colleagues  [Euro 
pean  Ministers]  I  have  always  asked  them  to 
quit,  for  the  time  at  least,  all  talk  about  in 
tervention,  and  on  the  contrary  to  say  posi 
tively  that  in  no  conceivable  event  will  their 
Governments  intervene — just  as  I  have  always 
said  with  my  own  Government.  I  have  told 
them  again  and  again  that  had  it  not  been  for 
this  phantom  of  assistance  to  China,  I  would 
have  made  peace  two  months  ago.  As  long  as 
China  thinks  that  at  a  crucial  moment  English 
or  Russian  guns  will  be  turned  against  Japanese 
ships,  she  will  delay  direct  action.  .  .  . 

In  private  conversations  with  the  members 
of  the  Yamen  [Chinese  Government],  I  have 
tried  to  turn  their  views  from  the  spectre  of 
intervention  to  what  I  conceive  to  be  China's 
true  policy,  and  that  is  a  sincere,  friendly 
rapprochement  with  Japan.  Japan  would  not, 
it  is  likely,  remain  deaf  to  representations  that 
the  two  great  Oriental  nations  ought  to  have 
the  same  interests  in  the  long  run. 

Of  the  two  Oriental  nations  which  were 
opened  to  Western  civilization  by  foreign 
guns,  one  accepted  the  results,  the  other  re 
jected  them.  Japan  is  now  doing  for  China 
what  the  United  States  did  for  Japan.  She 
has  learnt  Western  civilization  and  she  is  forc 
ing  it  on  her  unwieldy  neighbor.  The  only 
hope  in  the  world  for  China  is  to  take  the 
lesson,  rude  as  it  is,  to  heart. 

History  repeats  itself.  Indeed  history 
has  repeated  itself  again  and  again  in 
China's  relations  with  Japan  since  Mr. 
Denby  penned  that  memorable  report. 


202  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

The  tragedy  of  China  is  the  tragedy  of  der  international  law.  The  Japanese 
a  nation  which  closes  its  eyes  to  the  ob-  military  measures  taken  in  Manchuria 
vious  fact  that  wisdom  lies  in  a  policy  in  September,  1931,  were  measures  of 
of  hearty  cooperation  with  its  progres-  self-defense.  Had  the  League,  at  that 
sive  neighbor  instead  of  in  a  policy  of  early  stage,  taken  the  statesmanlike 
intrigue  and  obstruction  aimed  at  set-  course  of  advising  China  to  come  to 
ting  the  powers  against  that  neighbor,  terms  with  Japan  through  direct  nego- 
Li  Hung-chang,  despite  Mr.  Denby's  tiations  the  trouble  could  have  been  set- 
advice,  succeeded  in  bringing  about  tied  without  such  a  great  delay  that  the 
a  Russo-German-French  intervention  natives  in  Manchuria,  in  the  meantime, 
against  Japan  at  the  end  of  the  war,  but  were  carried  away  by  the  independence 
with  disastrous  effect.  The  intervention  movement.  What  the  League  should 
forced  Japan  out  of  Manchuria,  and  have  remembered  was  the  advice  given 
gave  Russia  the  spoils  of  victory,  which  China  by  Mr.  Denby  thirty-five  years 
belonged  to  Japan.  That  eventually  pre-  before, 
cipitated  the  Russo-Japanese  war  with 

all  its  ultimate  consequences  upon  v 
China.  The  late  President  Roosevelt's  and 
The  culmination  of  China's  unfor-  Mr.  Denby's  views,  urging  upon  the 
tunate  policy  vis-a-vis  Japan  was  her  American  Government  the  wisdom  of 
appeal  to  the  League  of  Nations  on  the  non-interference  in  the  regional  affairs 
Manchurian  incident  of  September,  of  the  Far  East,  are,  in  effect,  an  applica- 
1931.  Even  as  Li  Hung-chang  worked  tion  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  For  the 
to  bring  about  the  tripartite  intervention  Monroe  Doctrine  is  a  doctrine  of  mutual 
in  1895,  so  China  had  for  years  assidu-  forbearance — an  application  of  the 
ously  worked  to  create  a  situation  which  golden  rule  to  international  relations, 
would  enable  her  to  throw  the  whole  Obviously,  a  nation  which  excludes  for- 
question  of  Sino-Japanese  relations  into  eign  interference  in  its  part  of  the  world 
the  cauldron  of  the  League.  Had  must,  by  the  same  token,  refrain  from 
Geneva — and  America — unequivocally  interfering  in  the  affairs  of  another  na- 
told  China,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  tion  in  its  part  of  the  world.  I  believe 
incident,  to  give  up  the  idea  of  relying  in  the  homely  old  saying  that  sauce  for 
upon  their  intervention  and  to  enter  into  the  goose  is  sauce  for  the  gander.  "All 
direct  negotiations  with  Japan,  the  things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men 
Manchurian  situation  would  have  been  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them" 
different  from  what  it  is  today  as  a  should  be  the  guiding  principle  of  inter- 
consequence  of  the  League's  interven-  national  relations.  Every  American 
tion.  Japan  had  vital  interests  to  protect  knows  that  his  Government  would  not 
in  Manchuria — interests  which  had  been  permit  the  Japanese  to  launch  mining 
steadily  encroached  upon  by  China  in  or  railway  enterprises  in  Mexico,  or 
violation  of  treaties.  True,  Japan  had  even  to  immigrate  into  the  same  coun- 
been  a  member  of  the  League  and  had  try  in  any  considerable  numbers.  He 
signed  the  Nine-Power  Washington  knows  also  that  the  American  barrier 
Treaty  and  the  Kellogg  Pact  of  Peace,  against  such  alien  enterprises  extends 
but  that  did  not  mean  that  she  had  sur-  farther  south.  Whether  this  exclusive 
rendered  the  right  of  self-defense  un-  attitude,  as  taken  not  only  within  his 


JAPAN  AND  WORLD  PEACE  203 

own  country  but  in  the  countries  south  In  the  fierce  political  strife  which 

of  the  Rio  Grande,  runs  counter  to  the  raged  in  America  following  the  conclu- 

principle  of  the  Open  Door  is  a  question  sion  of  the  Versailles  Peace  Treaty  Mr. 

which  never  troubles  his  serene  mind.  Wilson's  foreign  policy  was  the  object 

In  a  well  ordered  world,  where  justice  of  a  hostile  crusade,  and  the  Ishii-Lans- 

and  equity  prevail,  such  policies  as  rep-  ing  agreement  was  cast  to  the  winds  of 

resented  or  implied  by  the  Monroe  Doc-  that   strife.    The   abrogation    of   that 

trine  or  the  Open  Door  Doctrine  should  agreement   had   a   far-reaching   effect 

be  reciprocal  and  not  one-sided,  mutual,  which  has  not  been  fully  grasped  by 

not  arbitrary.  That  is  why  such  Ameri-  Western  observers.  It  is  an  undeniable 

can  leaders  as  the  late  President  Roose-  fact   that   the   abrogation   encouraged 

velt  vigorously  took  to  task  the  "dollar"  China  to  believe  that  she  had  America 

diplomacy  which  was,  in  a  certain  period  in  her  pocket  and  that  henceforth  she 

in  America's  recent  history,  practised  in  could    trample    with    impunity    upon 

Manchuria  and  China  under  the  segis  Japanese  susceptibilities  and  Japanese 

and  in  the  name  of  the  Open  Door  Doc-  rights.   That  was  one  of  the  causes 

trine.  So  deeply  did  Mr.  Roosevelt  de-  which    ultimately    led    to    the    Man- 

plore  that  diplomacy  that  he  wrote  to  churian    conflagration    of    September, 

Senator  Lodge  a  letter  saying,  "Unf or-  1931. 

tunately,  after  I  left  office,  a  most  mis-  Replying  to  an  interpellation  from  a 

taken  and  ill-advised  policy  was  pursued  member  of  the  "Lower  House"  as  to 

towards  Japan,  combining  irritation  and  whether  the  Japanese  Government  in- 

inefficiency."  tended  to  declare  a  Monroe  Doctrine 

Whether  or  not  President  Wilson  f  or  the  Far  East,  Mr.  Koki  Hirota,  For- 

was  aware  of  the  "most  mistaken  and  eign  Minister,  said:  "Japan  never  had  a 

ill-advised  policy"  of  the  preceding  Ad-  man  named  Monroe."  The  statement 

ministration,  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  may  sound  facetious,  but  it  was  made  in 

in  1917  he  caused  Secretary  Lansing  to  earnest  and  had  a  serious   meaning, 

exchange   notes   with   Viscount    Ishii,  Writers  and  speakers,  both  Japanese 

Japan's  special  envoy  to  America,  with  and  foreign,  apply  the  term  "Monroe 

the  object  of  recognizing  that  "Japan  Doctrine"  to  the  policy  of  self-protec- 

has  special  interests  in  China,  particu-  tion  which  Japan,  evidently,  is  desirous 

larly  in  the  part  to  which  her  possessions  of  enunciating,  but  that  is  only  for  the 

are  contiguous."  The  notes  exchanged  sake    of    convenience.    The    analogy 

were  at  least  a  step  toward  America's  should  not  be  carried  too  far,  because 

acknowledgment  of  the  principle  that  the  traditions,  circumstances  and  sur- 

her  right,  under  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  roundings  of  one  nation  are  seldom  the 

to  exclude  alien  political  influence,  di-  same  as  those  of  another.  Only  in  broad 

rect  or  indirect,  from  her  part  of  the  outline  is  there  a  similarity  between  the 

globe,  implies  a  corollary  duty  on  her  Monroe    Doctrine    and    its    Eastern 

part  not  to  extend  a  similar  influence  to  "counterpart."  For  one  thing,  the  geo- 

other  parts  of  the  world  but  to  concede  graphical  scope  of  the  desired  Japanese 

to  other  leading  nations  in  their  own  re-  policy  is  much  more  restricted  than  the 

spective  spheres  a  position  similar  to  American  doctrine.  Primarily  and  es- 

that  which  America  has  allocated  to  her-  sentially  it  is  motivated  by  a  desire  to 

self  under  the  said  doctrine.  establish  a  normal,  peaceful  relation- 


204 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


ship  with  Japan's  immediate  neighbor, 
China,  unobstructed  by  the  influence  or 
interference  of  a  third  party  or  parties, 
well-meaning  or  ill-intentioned.  She  is 
convinced  that  once  China  frees  herself 
from  what  Mr.  Lattimore  picturesquely 
but  fitly  calls  the  Great  Wall  tradition 
of  diplomacy— the  diplomacy  of  playing 
off  one  "barbarian"  nation  against  an 
other — the  two  nations  will  have  no  dif 
ficulty  in  ushering  in  a  new  age  of  har 
mony  between  them.  I  am  fully  aware 
that  the  American  Government,  under 
the  enlightened  leadership  of  President 
Roosevelt,  has  of  late  modified  its  Car 
ibbean  policy  and  has  renounced  its 
right  of  armed  intervention,  except,  of 
course,  under  the  general  principle  of 
international  law.  We  hail  this  as  an 
expression  of  the  New  Deal.  Japan  does 
not  believe  in  wanton  intervention.  She 
has  made  honest  efforts  to  avoid  inter 
vention,  though  grave  situations  have  at 
times  obliged  her  to  act  against  her  own 
desire.  She  hopes  and  believes  that  once 
the  powers  recognize  her  position  in  the 
Far  East,  similar  to  that  which  they 
have  conceded  to  the  United  States  in 
the  Western  hemisphere,  her  relations 
with  China  can  be  made  so  satisfactory 
that  there  will  be  no  need  of  interven 
tion. 

Many  a  Western  critic  labors  to  con 
jure  up  the  Japanese  bogie  regarding 
the  Philippines — a  thankless  task,  for 
Japan  has  never  harbored  sinister  am 
bitions  in  that  direction.  Nor  is  the  so- 
called  Japanese  Monroe  Doctrine  con 
templated  with  a  view  to  the  American 
position  in  those  islands,  or,  for  that 
matter,  the  positions  of  European  na 
tions  to  the  south  and  west  of  the  Philip 
pines.  In  this  connection  the  following 
quotation  from  one  of  the  late  President 
Roosevelt's  confidential  papers  may  be 
read  with  profit: 


In  speaking  of  some  pro-Russians  in  Amer 
ica  who  would  have  the  public  believe  that  the 
victory  of  Japan  would  be  a  certain  prelude  to 
her  aggression  in  the  direction  of  the  Philip 
pine  Islands  .  .  .  [the  American]  observed 
that  Japan's  only  interest  in  the  Philippines 
would  be,  in  his  opinion,  to  have  those  Islands 
governed  by  a  strong  and  friendly  nation  like 
the  United  States,  and  not  to  have  them  placed 
either  under  the  misrule  of  the  natives,  yet 
unfit  for  self-government,  or  in  the  hands  of 
some  unfriendly  European  Power.  Count  Kat- 
sura  confirmed  in  the  strongest  terms  the  cor 
rectness  of  his  views  on  the  point  and  positively 
stated  that  Japan  does  not  harbor  any  aggres 
sive  designs  whatever  on  the  Philippines;  add 
ing  that  all  the  insinuations  of  the  Yellow  Peril 
type  are  nothing  more  or  less  than  malicious 
and  clumsy  slanders  calculated  to  do  mischief 
to  Japan. 

This  conversation  between  Count 
Katsura,  then  Japan's  Prime  Minister, 
and  Mr.  Taft,  then  en  route  to  the 
Philippines  as  Governor-General,  took 
place  in  Tokyo  in  July,  1905,  and  was 
contained  in  the  confidential  memoran 
dum  submitted  to  President  Roosevelt 
by  Mr.  Taft.  Today  Japan's  attitude  to 
ward  the  Philippines  as  emphatically 
expressed  by  Count  Katsura  in  1 905  still 
holds  good.  In  the  now  certain  event  of 
Philippine  independence  and  of  Ameri 
can  withdrawal  from  the  Islands,  Japan, 
I  am  sure,  would  readily  enter  into  any 
effective  arrangement  calculated  to  safe 
guard  their  independence  and  integrity. 

VI 

I  have  alluded  to  the  Open  Door 
Doctrine.  The  allusion  calls  for  elucida 
tion,  for  the  Open  Door  as  applied  to 
China  has  become  a  fetish,  an  object  of 
blind  worship,  to  which  some,  unthink 
ingly,  are  willing  to  sacrifice  even  the 
blood  of  their  nation.  What  is  this 
strange  god? 

Thirty-five  years  ago  Lord  Charles 
Beresford  made  a  tour  of  inspection  in 
the  Far  East  in  the  interest  of  British 


JAPAN  AND  WORLD  PEACE  205 

chambers   of  commerce.   Speaking  in  century  and  a  half,  did  with  that  popu- 

Shanghai  he  said  that  the  Open  Door  lous  country  even  in  the  peak  year  of 

was  of  no  use  "unless  the  room  inside  1929  a  total  business  of  only  $291,000,- 

is  in  order."  The  implication  was  that  ooo.   "That,"   continues   Mr.   Butler, 

there  was  little  use  in  opening  the  doors  "works  out  to  about  sixty-five  cents  per 

of  China  unless  and  until  China  had  put  capita  of  450,000,000  Chinese.  After 

her  house  in  order,  so  that  foreigners  having  traded  with  Japan  for  about 

could  live  there  without  molestation,  three-quarters  of  a  century,  we  did  with 

and  that  foreign  trade  and  foreign  eco-  that  far  less  populous  country  in  the 

nomic  enterprise  could  be  promoted  same  year  a  business  worth  $690,000,- 

with  safety.  In  Tokyo  Lord  Beresford  ooo.  That  was  equivalent  to  more  than 

went  so  far  as  to  ask:  "Why  should  not  ten  dollars  per  capita  of  65,000,000 

the  Japanese  officers  try  to  put  the  Chi-  Japanese.  Take  our  exports  alone.  The 

nese  army  in  order,  on  the  understand-  Japanese  bought  American  goods  in 

ing  that   China  will  keep   the  door  1929  to  the  value  of  four  dollars  for 

open? "  He  thought  that  to  open  China's  every  mother's  son  of  them.  If  the  Chi- 

door  in  her  existing  state  at  that  time  nese  had  done  as  much,  we  should  have 

was  to  open  Pandora's  box.  Yet,  thirty-  sold  them  products  of  American  labor 

five  years  ago,  China  was  united — it  had  to  the  total  value  of  $1,800,000,000. 

an  undisputed  central  government,  the  Actually  we  sold  them  $  1 24,000,000 

Manchu  Dynasty,  whose  authority  still  worth."  Then  Mr.  Butler  pays  Japan 

extended  to  all  the  provinces.  If,  even  this  tribute  so  glowing  that  it  makes  the 

then,    Lord    Beresford   believed    the  Japanese  blush : 

Open  Door  to  be  of  little  practical  value,  The  difference  between  our  trade  with 

what  shall  we  say  about  the  Open  Door  Japan  and  that  with  China  is  the  difference 

today    when     everybody     knows    that  between  dealing  with  an  energetic,  alert  and 

China's  internal  condition  is  immeasura-  orderly  nation  and  with  a  nation  whose  devel- 

bly  worse?  There  is  no  need  of  painting  °P™ent  is  ,retarde^  anc|  .^ose  buying  power 

.  .            f  ~,,  .      ,           i  .       ,.     r             °  is  dissipated  by  self-seeking  and  unscrupulous 

a  picture  of  China's  multitudinous  woes  politica^  expl(/ters. 

—her  internecine  internal  strife,  her  or-  Americans  and  Chinese  would  both  profit 

ganized   brigandage,   the   rebellion   of  by  our  recognizing  what  is  patently  true,  that 

her  Communists,  her  recurrent  anti-  JaPan  is  doinS  more  to  °Pen  China's  door  to 

foreign  agitation,  etc.  The  sad  picture  is  \more  £*?*™n  'in*TCOU™  with  *he  ref  °f 

i               r  •  i     r       «i«  the  world  than  all  or  our  diplomacy  from    onn 

by  now  fairly  familiar.  Hay  down  has  succeeded  £  doing7.  A  rat^onal 

Wu  Ting-fang,  that  delightful  pun-  view  of  the  Chino-Japanese  situation  is  this: 

dit,  long  Minister  to  Washington,  said  if  we  want  China  to  become  united  and  strong, 

some  forty  years  ago  that  an  inch  added  as  we  Sa7  we  do>  JaPan's  aggressive  action  will 

to  every  Chinese  shirt  tail  would  keep  brinS that  about' if  an7thing  can* 

the  whole  world's  cotton  mills  busy.  Much  has  been  made  of  American  in- 

China's   internal   condition   has   since  vestments,    actual    and    potential,    in 

driven  her  masses  to  poverty  so  severe  China.  Yet,  according  to  Mr.  Frederick 

that  many  have  but  rags  to  cover  their  Field,  who  has  made  a  thorough-going 

backs.  As  Mr.  Hamilton  Butler,  for  study  of  the  subject,  the  loans  to  China 

years  American  Consul  in  China,  has  held  by  Americans  in  1930  amounted  to 

said  in  this  magazine,  America,  after  a  little  over  forty  million  dollars,  of 

having  traded  with  China  for  almost  a  which  the  old  Consortium  group  had 


206 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


been  responsible  for  about  one-fifth. 
The  bulk  of  the  rather  meagre  Ameri 
can  investments  in  China  is  not  in  loans 
but  in  business  investments,  in  the 
form  of  automobile  agencies,  shipping 
companies,  public  utilities,  banking, 
real  estate,  and  most  important  of  all, 
import  and  export  enterprise."  Mr. 
Field  gives  a  real  picture  of  American 
investments  in  and  American  trade 
with  China  in  these  words: 

For  individual  interests,  such  as  the  Stand 
ard  Oil  Company  or  the  British-American 
Tobacco  Company,  the  balance  sheet  prob 
ably  shows  a  profit,  but  it  does  not  follow  that 
the  general  balance  sheet  for  American  enter 
prise  in  China  does  likewise.  On  the  credit 
side  put  a  yield  on  a  $200,000,000  investment 
at  from  6  to  7  per  cent  a  year — and  you  would 
be  generous  in  doing  so — and  add  to  this  what 
ever  profits  accrued  to  those  engaged  in  trade ; 
in  the  debit  column  allocate  a  fair  portion  of 
naval  expenses,  the  cost  of  maintaining  ma 
rines  in  China,  the  cost  of  consular  and  diplo 
matic  offices,  chambers  of  commerce,  a 
goodly  portion  of  the  Far  Eastern  Division  of 
the  State  Department,  certain  shipping  sub 
sidies,  the  cost  of  administering  America's  end 
of  the  Consortium — add  the  two  columns,  and 
what  have  you? 

What  have  you  indeed?  Nothing 
but  a  deficit.  No  profitable  business  can 
be  built  up  in  a  society  where  every 
foreign  merchant  relies  for  his  safety 
upon  so  many  marines  or  soldiers  from 
his  own  country. 

Between  1907  and  1917  American 
capital  was  smitten  with  a  desire  to 
launch  railway  and  other  construction 
enterprises  in  China.  Mr.  Willard 
Straight  wanted  to  build  a  7OO-mile 
line  in  Manchuria,  and  to  improve  the 
old  "Grand  Canal"  through  Shantung. 
Certain  other  interests  launched  rail 
way  projects  in  other  parts  of  China. 
The  Americans  might  well  congratu 
late  themselves  upon  the  fact  that  all 
such  projects  were  for  various  reasons 


foredoomed.  Study  the  long  list  of 
foreign-financed,  foreign-built  rail 
ways  in  China  and  see  if  you  can  find 
any  one  of  the  important  lines  which 
has  not  gone  into  default,  because  of 
their  arbitrary  seizure  by  warring 
Chinese  militarists.  The  only  excep 
tion  is  the  Japanese-financed  railways 
in  Manchuria,  because  Japan,  by 
reason  of  her  geographical  proximity, 
is  in  a  position  effectively  to  protect 
them. 

Let  us  note  a  few  of  the  unhappy  ex 
amples  of  American  business  ventures 
in  the  Chinese  field.  The  Siems-Carey 
Company,  of  New  York,  in  1917  or 
thereabouts,  got  a  railway  concession 
in  China  and  spent  something  like 
$2,500,000  on  one  thing  or  another  in 
connection  with  it,  only  to  find  that  the 
concession  contract  was  of  little  value. 
The  Continental  &  Commercial  Bank 
of  Chicago  contracted  for  a  loan  of 
$30,000,000  to  the  Chinese  Govern 
ment,  and  actually  handed  over  to  it 
$5,000,000  only  to  discover  that  the 
security  given  by  China  had  already 
been  earmarked  for  the  service  of  a 
French  loan.  The  Pacific  Development 
Company  signed  a  similar  loan  agree 
ment  with  the  Chinese  Government 
and  handed  over  to  it  $5,000,000. 
Needless  to  say,  these  loans  went  into 
default  almost  as  soon  as  they  were 
made,  though  the  creditors  are  still 
hoping  that  some  day,  somehow,  they 
may  get  the  money  back.  The  Ameri 
can  International  Corporation  got  a 
silver  mining  concession  in  Yunnan 
province,  and  invested  $2,500,000  of 
American  gold  in  it.  The  result?  Be 
tween  never-ceasing  squeezes  of  the  lo 
cal  Chinese  officials  and  the  visits  of 
bandits,  all  too  frequent  to  be  agree 
able  to  the  concessionaire,  the  Company 
threw  up  the  sponge  and  got  out.  Not  a 


JAPAN  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


207 


cent  of  that  handsome  investment  has 
been  recovered. 

VII 

Surprising  as  all  this  may  appear  it 
really  is  not  surprising  when  so  neutral 
an  observer  as  Mr.  Silas  H.  Strawn 
describes  China's  condition  in  this  dis 
couraging  language: 

There  are  7,000  miles  of  railroad  in  China, 
compared  with  265,000  miles  in  the  United 
States.  On  account  of  cheap  labor,  the  operat 
ing  ratio  of  the  Chinese  railroads  to  their  earn 
ings  is  less  than  in  any  other  country.  The 
tonnage  available  for  transportation  is  very 
large.  While  in  other  countries  the  earnings  of 
the  railroads  go  first  to  the  payment  of  em 
ployes  and  operating  expenses  and  then  the  net 
to  the  owners,  in  China  all  of  the  earnings  of 
the  railroads  are  taken  by  the  war  lords.  The 
official  report  of  the  Chinese  minister  of  com 
munications  to  the  chief  executive  in  Septem 
ber,  1925,  states  that  more  than  180  million 
dollars  or,  with  interest,  more  than  250  mil 
lions  of  the  earnings  of  the  Chinese  railroads 
have  been  taken  by  the  militarists  since  the 
foundation  of  the  Republic — thirteen  years. 
All  of  the  railroads  in  China  are  now  absolutely 
controlled  by  the  military.  When  the  equip 
ment  is  not  being  used  for  the  movement  or 
billeting  of  troops  its  use  is  sold  by  the  war 
lords  to  the  unfortunate  shippers  at  outrageous 
rates.  The  usual  "squeeze"  for  the  use  of 
freight  cars  is  $5  per  ton,  in  addition  to  the 
freight  rate.  Thus,  to  obtain  the  use  of  a  40- 
ton  car  from  Tientsin  to  Peking,  a  distance  of 
about  90  miles,  the  shipper  is  held  up  for 
$200,  plus  the  regular  freight. 

The  American  Legation  at  Peking  last 
summer  arranged  to  buy  its  winter  supply  of 
coal  from  a  mine  about  twenty  miles  from 
Peking.  The  railroad  was  under  the  control 
of  Wu  Pei-fu,  the  then  dominant  war  lord. 
His  underlings  demanded  a  "squeeze"  of  $2 
per  ton  for  the  use  of  cars  to  move  the  coal. 
In  addition,  the  Legation  must  pay  Wu  $25 
per  car,  and  the  village  where  this  general  was 
quartered  demanded  $1.80  per  car  additional 
"squeeze."  This  episode  was  more  aggravating 
when  it  is  known  that  the  cars  and  locomo 
tives  to  move  the  coal  had  been  furnished  to 
the  Chinese  Government  by  American  build 
ers  and  have  not  yet  been  paid  for,  the  debt 


being  several  years  in  default.  The  unfortu 
nate  vendors  have  no  lien  on  the  equipment 
and  by  reason  of  military  domination  could  not 
enforce  it  if  they  had.  .  .  . 

No  attention  is  paid  to  maintenance  of  way, 
or  equipment.  All  of  the  equipment  owned  by 
the  Chinese  Government  railways  is  rapidly 
becoming  useless  because  of  lack  of  repairs. 
Loans  upon  the  several  railroads  are  defaulting 
as  rapidly  as  they  mature.  The  result,  there 
fore,  seems  inevitable — unless  conditions  soon 
change  it  will  not  be  long  before  the  railroads 
of  China  must  cease  operation  and  the  unfor 
tunate  people  will  be  compelled  to  go  back  to 
the  barrow  or  pack  their  freight  upon  their 
backs.  Most  of  the  camels,  donkeys,  and  cat 
tle  of  the  patient,  industrious  farmers  have 
already  been  taken  by  the  soldiers. 

These  words  were  spoken  in  Octo 
ber,  1926,  that  is,  almost  five  years 
after  the  Washington  Conference, 
where  China  pledged  herself  to  im 
prove  her  internal  condition,  to  give 
foreign  nations  the  fullest  opportunity 
for  legitimate  trade  and  enterprise,  and 
to  observe  all  foreign  obligations.  The 
Chinese  delegates,  at  that  conference, 
recorded  their  Government's  "inten 
tion  and  capacity  to  protect  the  lives  and 
property  of  foreigners  in  China"  and 
its  "earnest  desire  to  bring  her  judicial 
system  into  accord  with  that  of  West 
ern  nations."  The  powers,  on  their 
part,  filled  with  zeal  for  "adventures 
in  liberalism,"  readily  conceded  to 
China  "the  fullest  and  most  unembar 
rassed  opportunity"  for  self-develop 
ment.  In  other  words,  the  Washington 
agreements  constituted  a  compact  of 
mutual  forbearance  and  mutual  self- 
denial  between  China  and  the  powers. 
On  the  one  hand,  they  put  China  on 
probation,  and  on  the  other,  they  en 
joined  the  powers  to  remain  sympa 
thetic  to  China,  while  China  was  put 
ting  her  house  in  order.  Perhaps  the 
Conference,  as  J.  O.  P.  Bland,  that 
well-known  British  authority  on  China, 
says,  "overlooked  the  notorious  fact 


208  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

that  the  widespread  and  increasing  voluminous  book.  A  few  instances, 
rapacity  of  the  new  mandarinate  consti-  however,  may  be  instructive.  Take  the 
tutes  in  itself  an  insuperable  obstacle  to  Shantung  Railway  for  one.  At  the 
the  production  of  that  effective  govern-  Washington  Conference  China  pro- 
ment"  which  the  conference  piously  posed  to  buy  that  property  outright, 
hoped  would  appear  in  China.  Mr.  Dr.  Wellington  Koo,  one  of  the  Chi- 
Bland  goes  so  far  as  to  assert  that  the  nese  delegates,  solemnly  declared  that 
powers  at  the  Washington  Conference,  the  Chinese  people,  out  of  patriotic  mo- 
ignoring  China's  actual  condition,  so-  tives,  would  raise  the  necessary  fund  to 
cial,  political  and  economic,  sowed  the  pay  cash  for  the  whole  amount  re 
wind  and  have  reaped  the  whirlwind,  quired.  Whereupon  Japan  transferred 
How  fiercely  it  has  since  blown  the  railway  to  China,  who,  in  turn, 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  agreed  to  reimburse  to  Japan  the  actual 
China,  "only  those  know,"  he  says,  value  of  the  property,  40,000,000  yen, 
"who  have  seen  with  their  own  eyes  the  in  Chinese  Government  notes  running 
abomination  of  desolation  that  has  for  a  period  of  fifteen  years,  but  re- 
been  wrought"  in  the  years  following  deemable  at  China's  option  at  the  end 
the  historic  Conference.  It  is  not  for  me  of  five  years  from  the  date  of  the  de- 
to  say  whether  or  not  Mr.  Bland  over-  livery  of  the  said  notes.  The  five-year 
did  his  picture,  but  it  is  a  picture  which  period  closed  at  the  end  of  1927,  yet 
no  honest  student  of  the  China  of  today  Japan  has  never  seen  a  Chinese  penny 
can  overlook.  for  the  redemption  of  the  notes,  despite 

Dr.  Koo's  positive  declaration  at  the 

vn  Washington  Conference.  Not  only  this, 

Japan  signed  the  Washington  agree-  but  China  failed  to  pay  even  interest  on 
ment  with  mingled  hope  and  apprehen-  the  notes,  except  in  the  first  three  years, 
sion.  She  hoped  that  China  would  live  In  the  chronic  civil  war,  which  swooped 
up  to  her  end  of  the  bargain,  but  was  down  upon  Shantung  soon  after  Japa- 
apprehensive  that  such  might  never  nese  withdrawal,  most  of  the  rolling 
happen.  It  took  her  only  a  few  years  to  stock  was  commandeered  by  the  war 
be  disillusioned.  She  had  made  all  lords.  In  October,  1925,  and  again  in 
possible  concessions  at  the  Washington  March,  1928,  freight  cars  of  the  Shan- 
Conference,  and  she  lost  no  time  in  tung  Railway  were  diverted  from  or- 
fulfilling  all  the  obligations  she  had  in-  dinary  traffic  to  military  purposes, 
curred.  She  withdrew  her  troops  from  completely  paralyzing  the  trade  of  the 
Hankow.  She  gave  up  to  China  the  Province. 

former  German  rights  in  Shantung  to  Even  more  serious  were  treaty  viola- 

which  she  had  fallen  heir  as  a  result  of  tions  in  Manchuria.  In  Manchuria  the 

the  World  War.  She  relinquished  cer-  Chinese  authorities  prohibited,  in  vio- 

tain  railway  and  other  privileges  even  lation  of  the  1915  treaty,  the  lease  of 

in  Manchuria.  land  to  the  Japanese  for  commercial 

Meanwhile,  what  of  China?  I  am  re-  and  agricultural  purposes.  The  local 

luctant  to  tell  the  story  of  her  treaty  war  lord,  encouraged  by  the  Nanking 

violations  and  of  her  encroachments  Government,  built  parallel  lines  to  the 

upon  Japan's  legitimate  rights  and  in-  Japanese-owned     South     Manchurian 

terests — a   story   which   would   fill   a  Railway,  which  was  a  plain  violation 


JAPAN  AND  WORLD  PEACE  209 

of  a  protocol  to  the  1 905  Peking  treaty,  duct  their  foreign  relations  in  conf orm- 
The  more  important  of  other  treaty  ity  to  the  generally  accepted  standards 
violations  may  be  enumerated  thus:  of  civilization.  When  this  assumption 
( i )  a  refusal  to  carry  out  the  agreement  fails  such  a  world  order  is  bound  to  suf- 
for  the  construction  of  a  railway  from  fer.  Hence  the  tragedy  of  Geneva  fol- 
Kirin  to  the  Korean  border;  (2)  dis-  lowing  upon  the  Manchurian  incident, 
crimination,  in  violation  of  the  Wash-  When  a  country,  so  great  in  area  and 
ington  Nine-Power  Treaty,  against  population  as  China,  acts  towards  its 
Japanese  goods  on  the  Chinese  rail-  immediate  neighbor  in  the  spirit  of  the 
ways  in  Manchuria;  (3)  refusal,  in  dis-  naughty  boy  who  imposes  upon  the  in- 
regard  of  a  1 909  agreement,  to  negoti-  dulgence  of  his  parents,  it  is  difficult  to 
ate  for  the  adoption  of  regulations  see  how  such  a  world  scheme  can  be 
concerning  Sino- Japanese  joint  mining  successfully  maintained.  Obviously  no 
enterprise  along  the  South  Manchurian  power  can  be  expected  to  be  forever 
Railway;  (4)  issuance,  in  violation  of  lenient  toward  a  neighbor,  who,  think- 
the  1915  treaty,  of  a  secret  administra-  ing  that  the  League  Covenant  and  the 
tive  order  making  it  impossible  for  the  Peace  Pact  put  a  ban  upon  forcible 
Japanese  to  reside  and  travel  outside  measures  as  a  means  of  enforcing  treaty 
the  South  Manchurian  Railway  Zone;  stipulations,  wilfully  ignores  foreign 
(5)  officially  encouraged  persecution  obligations,  deliberately  violates  trea- 
of  the  Koreans  in  violation  of  the  1 909  ties,  perpetuates  civil  war  merely  to  ad- 
agreement;  (6)  depriving  the  Japa-  vance  selfish  purposes  of  the  militarists 
nese  traffic  managers  and  accountants  and  politicians,  commits  foreign  life 
on  Japanese-financed  railways  in  Man-  and  property  to  the  tender  mercy  of 
churia  of  the  authority  of  supervision  organized  banditry,  fosters  anti-foreign- 
provided  in  the  loan  agreements;  (7)  ism  through  official  encouragement, 
official  misappropriation  of  the  receipts  and  makes  itself  generally  obnoxious, 
of  the  Japanese-financed  railways,  re-  In  the  community  of  individuals  a  man 
suiting  in  non-payment  on  the  service  who  acts  in  the  spirit  and  manner  of 
of  the  Japanese  loans.  And  so  on  ad  this  misbehaved  nation  may  be  clapped 
mfimtum.  In  short,  between  the  Wash-  into  jail.  Fortunately  or  unfortunately, 
ington  Conference  and  the  Manchu-  there  is  no  jail  for  wayward  nations,  and 
rian  incident  of  September,  1931,  in  the  best  we  can  do  is  to  make  them  real- 
China,  and  especially  in  Manchuria,  ize,  somehow,  that  good  behavior  and 
treaty  violation  was  the  rule  and  treaty  faithful  fulfilment  of  obligations  are  the 
observance  the  exception.  most  effective  guaranty  of  their  own  in- 

Any    world    order    founded    upon  terests. 

such  advanced  systems  as  the  League  The  temple  of  peace,  if  it  is  not  to 

of  Nations  and  upon  such  ideals  as  that  be  only  a  mirage,  must  be  built,  not 

of   the    Peace    Pact    presupposes    the  upon  the  shifting  sands  of  illusion  and 

capacity,  the  ability  and  the  willingness  make-believe,  but  upon  the  enduring 

of  all  nations,  great  and  small,  to  ob-  foundations  of  reality  and  demonstrated 

serve  foreign  obligations  and  to  con-  facts. 


The  New  Meaning  of  Revolution 

BY  LUDWIG  LEWISOHN 

Human  wretchedness  in  Nazi  Germany >  Soviet  Russia  and 

Fascist   Italy   has    still  to    teach  young    idealists 

that    modern    revolution    has    lost    the 

romantic  flavor 

THEY  talk  of  revolution,  many  of  Arctic  settlements  or  in  unwholesome 
the  young  men  and  women  of  islands  or  are  beaten  to  death  with  rub- 
our  timej  they  talk  of  it  and  ber  truncheons  in  concentration  camps, 
dream  of  it  out  of  their  restlessness  or  Some  day,  perhaps,  the  history  of  all 
idleness  or  metaphysical  hopelessness,  revolutions  will  be  rewritten  in  the  light 
and  about  the  sound  and  associations  of  contemporary  experience  and  the 
of  the  word  revolution,  especially  in  glory  of  even  the  best  of  them  will 
the  English-speaking  countries  and  in  be  tarnished.  But  civilized  and  humane 
France,  there  lingers  something  brave  people  who  talk  of  revolution  today  or 
and  adventurous,  something  almost  of  play  into  the  hands  of  revolutionary 
devoutness  and  of  the  love  of  mankind,  agitators  of  any  kind  are  taking  upon 
There  were  the  pikemen  of  Cromwell  themselves  the  most  fearful  of  conceiv- 
and  the  dancers  who  danced  when  the  able  responsibilities  and  are  confused  ro- 
Bastille  fell  and  the  "embattled  farm-  mantics  who  will  not  face  the  iron  music 
ers"  who  "fired  the  shot  heard  round  of  contemporary  facts.  They  have  never 
the  world."  And  I  shrewdly  suspect  that  — assuming  them  to  have  any  rags  of 
many  of  the  young  men  and  women,  civilization  or  ordinary  humanity  left — 
especially  in  America,  who  talk  so  glibly  imaginatively  studied  or  envisaged  the 
about  revolution  have  these  idyllic  no-  unvarying  pattern  and  practical  results 
tions  and  associations  in  their  bones  even  of  Twentieth  Century  revolution.  For 
when  they  repeat  the  modern  phrase-  had  they  done  so  they  would  at  least, 
ology  about  the  twilight  of  individual-  granting  them  the  sincerity  of  their  con- 
ism,  the  public  ownership  of  the  means  viction  that  for  America  too  revolution- 
of  production,  even,  unhappily,  when  ary  changes  are  inevitable,  have  sought 
they  utter  the  word  dictatorship  and  to  dissociate  both  their  ideology  and 
feel  subconsciously,  at  least,  that  they  their  tactics  from  the  appalling  collapse 
will  be  among  the  minority  in  power  of  civilization  that  has  taken  place  in 
and  not  among  those  who  starve  with-  Russia  and  in  Germany, 
out  food-cards  or  wear  out  their  lives  in  Human  character  is  still  the  decisive 


THE  NEW  MEANING  OF  REVOLUTION  211 

element  in  life  and  can  mitigate  the  shouts  and  run  after  another  flag.  It  is 
worst  of  horrors.  Therefore,  no  sane  the  free  man  who  must  die.  It  is  the 
man  will  insult  Stalin  and  his  colleagues  creative  forces  in  human  civilization 
or  Mussolini  and  his  by  comparing  them  that  are  doomed, 
to  the  murderers  and  perverts  who  are  It  is  possible  today  to  disregard  corn- 
making  the  German  name  a  stench  in  pletely  the  merits  of  any  case  or  of  any 
the  nostrils  of  mankind.  Nevertheless  it  ideology.  In  Communist  utopianism 
must  be  understood  with  the  utmost  there  is  on  ^a^er  much  that  appeals  to 
clarity  that  the  patterns  of  the  Russian,  any  generous  heart  j  amid  their  bloody 
the  Italian  Fascist  and  the  German  Nazi  myths  and  screaming  falsehoods  the  so- 
revolutions  are  one  hundred  per  cent  called  thinkers  of  National  Socialism 
identical.  The  representatives  of  a  mi-  will  be  found  to  have  emphasized  some 
nority  seize  power  by  force.  (The  elec-  neglected  aspects  of  reality.  But  what- 
tion,  so  to  speak,  of  Hitler  and  his  gang  ever  element  of  truth  or  good  there  is 
was  in  part  fraudulent  and  in  part  due  in  any  revolutionary  ideology  of  today 
to  strictly  socialistic  promises  promptly  has  been  invalidated  and  defiled  and 
repudiated.)  This  minority  is  fanati-  rendered  intolerable  by  the  assumption 
cally  given  over  to  an  ideology,  a  set  of  an  absoluteness  that  is  enforced  by 
of  principles,  pseudo-scientific  in  Russia,  starvation  and  exile  and  murder  in  tor- 
a  farrago  of  savage  myths  in  Germany,  ture-chambers.  It  is  the  psychical  pat- 
This  ideology  is  identified  with  absolute  tern  and  the  resultant  tactics  of  con- 
truth  and  with  the  power  of  the  state,  temporary  revolution  that  make  it  the 
A  prolonged  and  ruthless  terror  sets  in.  unspeakable  menace  that  it  has  become. 
Proscription  is  the  order  of  the  day.  It  is  no  longer  the  content  of  the  revolu- 
Opposition  is  stamped  out  with  an  iron  tionary  ideologies  that  is  worth  debat- 
heel.  Atrocities  are  perpetrated  which  ing-  It  is  this  type  and  kind  of  revolu- 
both  for  number  and  horror  make  the  tion  that  must  be  resisted  if  we  are  not 
cruelties  of  the  Inquisition  pale  into  in-  all  to  become  quite  literally  filthy  sav- 
significance.  But  they  are  committed  on  ages  in  the  howling  wilderness  of  a 
exactly  the  same  principle  as  were  those  desolate  earth. 

of  the  Inquisition,  namely,  that  the  rev-  What  now  has  made  this  type  and 
olutionaries  are  in  possession  of  absolute  kind  of  revolution  possible  is  again,  let 
truth  and  hence  have  the  right  to  mur-  us  n°t  forget,  the  machine.  When  a 
der  the  dissident  or  heretic.  I  am  not  tyrant  had  in  his  pay  men  with  pikes, 
talking  about  a  resistance,  however  the  people's  smiths  could  make  pikes 
harsh,  to  actual  sabotage  of  any  de  facto  f°r  them  and  the  tyrant  could  be  re- 
regime,  but  of  the  fact  that  both  the  sisted  and  perhaps  overthrown.  But  any 
Russian  and  the  German  revolutionaries  minority  which  in  this  age  has  posses- 
sought  and  are  seeking  to  exterminate  si°n  °f  the  heavy  industries  of  a  coun- 
whole  classes  of  their  fellow  men,  as  try,  and  hence  a  monopoly  of  bombing 
householders  exterminate  noxious  ver-  planes,  machine  guns  and  poison  gases, 
min.  Inevitably,  too,  the  best  and  brav-  can  subdue  a  free  citizenry  to  abject 
est  and  wisest,  the  free  and  luminous  slavery  for  an  indefinite  period.  The 
spirits  are  bound  to  be — especially  in  hope  of  counter-revolution  is  almost  ex- 
Germany — among  the  exterminated,  tinct.  Hence  any  one  who  lives  under  a 
The  dull  crowd  will  shout  the  new  government  like  that  of  the  United 


212  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

States,  which  has  not  yet  gone  mad  he  gets  food-cards  and  the  intellectual 

with  authoritarianism,  and  who  never-  does  not,  it  is  thanks  to  a  policy  on 

theless  foments  revolution  in  the  con-  which  he  has  no  shadow  of  influence, 

temporary  sense,  helps  to  destroy  civi-  It  is  notorious  that  every  effort  is  made 

lization   and   sells    his   children   into  in  Russia  to  restrict  party  membership 

slavery.  Among  us  workers  can  still  and  that  Communist  tacticians  attribute 

strike.  Can  they  strike  in  Russia  or  Ger-  the-  triumph  of  Hitler  to  the  unwieldy 

many  or  Italy?  The  NRA  acknowledges  size  of  the  German  Communist  party, 

the  right  of  collective  bargaining.  The  In  brief,  the  Communist  and  the  Fascist 

rights  of  free  speech  and  free  assembly,  ideal,  the  contemporary  revolutionary 

though    often   impinged   upon,    have  ideal  is  one:  the  dictatorship  neither  of 

never  been  abolished  among  us.  They  the  proletariat  nor  of  the  ethnic  folk, 

do  not  exist  in  the  revolutionary  coun-  but  of  a  limited,  all-powerful  oligarchy 

tries  over  which  broods  the  stealthy  ready  to  stamp  out  any  resistance  in  dirt 

hush  of  terror  and  enslavement.  It  is  and  blood, 
forever  right  that  the  young  and  the 
generous  should  seek  to  enlarge  the 

boundaries  of  freedom  and  of  justice.  The  looseness  of  thought  and  failure 
But  they  can  do  so  only  on  the  basis  of  in  imagination  displayed  in  the  use  of 
our  own  traditions.  So  soon  as  they  revolutionary  terminology  may  be 
speak  in  the  name  of  any  contemporary  more  strikingly  illustrated  by  a  far 
revolution  they  sell  out  and  defeat  their  milder  example.  People  not  so  very  far 
own  ends.  I  am  surprised  that  the  inter-  to  the  Left  will  calmly  propose  the 
ference  of  Communist  defense  commit-  "public  ownership  of  the  means  of  pro- 
tees  was  not  even  more  disastrous  than  duction."  Now  "public"  is  a  fine  word 
it  proved  to  be  in  the  Scottsboro  case,  with  libertarian  associations.  But  in  the 
For  in  the  Soviet  Republics  whole  context  it  happens  to  be  dangerously 
classes  of  society  are  far  more  cruelly  treacherous.  For  who  would  actually 
declassed  and  hopelessly  outlawed  than  possess  and  control  the  means  of  pro- 
any  race  or  class  in  America.  duction?  The  state.  And  when  people 
It  is  all  so  largely  a  matter  of  the  say  "the  state,"  they  are  once  more 
treachery  of  words.  "The  dictatorship  mythologizing  and  not  thinking.  For 
of  the  proletariat,"  say  the  young  and  the  state,  that  most  menacing  of  ab- 
romantic  or  the  old  and  sentimental  stractions,  is  actually  Mr.  X.  and 
and  each  one  converts  those  words  into  Mr.  Y.  and  Mr.  Z. — fallible  human 
his  private  Utopia.  They  do  not  stop  beings  with  inhibitions,  compensatory 
to  think  that,  since  the  proletariat  is  mechanisms  and  stomach-aches  and 
only  a  part  of  the  citizenry,  its  dictator-  blind  prejudices,  all  of  which  they  take 
ship  would  be  an  intolerable  injustice,  seriously  under  the  vertigo  of  author- 
But  that  is  not  all.  It  can  never  in  fact  ity  and  which  they  will  be  ready  to  ram 
be  the  proletariat  that  assumes  the  die-  down  your  innocent  throat  and  mine, 
tatorship,  but  a  group  of  energetic  and  These  gentlemen,  whether  called  Mr. 
ruthless  authoritarians  who  do  so  in  its  or  Comrade,  will  control  the  means  of 
name.  So  soon  as  that  group  has  seized  production;  hence  they  will  also  con- 
power  the  proletarian  is  as  stripped  of  trol  distribution.  To  whom  will  they 
all  human  rights  as  the  bourgeois.  If  distribute  what?  To  whom  are  food- 


THE  NEW  MEANING  OF  REVOLUTION  213 

cards  given  in  Russia?  Who  is  permit-  ships,  for  the  humane  means  freedom, 
ted  to  work  and  not  starve  in  Ger-  flexibility,  progress  by  trial  and  error, 
many?  The  henchmen,  the  yes-say ers,  room  for  the  expansive  energies  of  the 
the  unscrupulous  opportunists  and  the  soul  of  man.  Of  all  these  there  is  an 
brutal  mob.  In  brief,  we  should  all  be  ample  and  a  not  decreasing  measure, 
dependent  for  our  very  lives  upon  except  in  time  of  war,  in  America.  Let 
our  slavish  obedience  to  a  group  of  men  us  by  all  means  increase  that  measure  5 
whose  minds  and  characters,  whose  no-  let  us  guard,  if  the  world  will  permit  us 
tions  and  policies  might  be  utterly  re-  — no  impossibility,  since  we  are  not 
pulsive  to  us.  Their  iron  heel  would  be  likely  to  be  directly  attacked — against 
on  our  bodies  j  it  would  also  be  on  our  a  recurrence  of  the  conscription  of  life, 
souls.  For  the  means  of  production  in-  Let  us  strive  for  a  more  scrupulous 
elude  printing-presses  which  print  treatment  of  the  racial  and  cultural  mi- 
books  and  school-books  and  news-  norities — the  Jews,  the  Negroes — who 
papers.  Luckily  we  rieed  not  speculate  are  integral  parts  of  the  American  peo- 
on  what  would  happen.  We  know.  pie.  But  let  us  do  so  in  the  name  of  the 
There  are  no  newspapers  in  our  sense  American  past  and  of  the  libertarian 
in  either  Russia  or  Germany  j  there  are  tradition  of  America,  not  in  the  name 
sheets  that  repeat  what  the  oligarchs  of  those  sinister  absolutisms  that  cloak 
tell  them  to  repeat ;  the  school-books  their  tyranny  under  the  name  of  rev- 
i.i  both  countries  make  no  pretense  to  olution. 

objectivity  of  knowledge.  They  are  the  It  has  frequently  been  suggested  in 
catechisms  of  authoritarian  mytholo-  recent  months,  especially  in  Europe, 
gies.  Thus  stupefaction  of  the  mind  is  that  the  present  Administration's  meth- 
added  to  enslavement  of  the  body  and  ods  toward  national  economic  recovery 
"universal  darkness  covers  all."  are  Fascist  in  character  and  that  hence 
Hot  young  Communists  will  reply  America  is  swinging  toward  a  revolu- 
that  these  evils  exist  under  capitalism  tion  of  the  right.  But  this  observation, 
in  America.  The  very  fact  that  they  are  when  it  is  not  downright  malicious  and 
able  so  emphatically  to  make  their  dec-  proceeds  from  either  Fascist  or  Com- 
larations  disproves  their  point.  No  one  munist  quarters,  is  plainly  stupid.  For 
criticizes  the  existing  regime  in  Russia;  the  curse  of  both  fascism  and  commu- 
it  is  far  too  dangerous  j  people  whisper  nism  is  in  the  ideologies  of  the  move- 
behind  closed  doors  in  Germany,  for  ments,  in  the  assumption  that  these 
any  criticism  of  the  regime  means  death  ideologies  are  absolute  truth  in  the 
by  slow  torture.  No  New  Re-public  name  of  which  men  can  be  first  silenced 
exists  in  either  Russia  or  Germany  5  no  and  then  slaughtered.  Were  fascism 
New  School  of  Social  Research,  nor  and  communism  merely  the  names  of 
Rand  School,  nor  universities  freely  two  economic  techniques  imposed  in 
administered  by  sociological  and  re-  time  of  unemployment  and  crisis,  it  is 
ligious  groups  widely  divided  in  phi-  evident  that  their  interference  with  the 
losophy  and  purpose  j  there  is  no  profounder  processes  of  human  life 
freedom  of  study  or  teaching  or  re-  would  be  limited  to  the  jailing  of  a  few 
search  or  thought.  Not  any.  There  is  recalcitrants  or  rogues.  There  would  be 
nothing  that  is  humane  left  under  the  no  colony  of  exiles  nor  concentration 
contemporary  revolutionary  dictator-  camps  nor  torture  chambers.  These 


2i4  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

things  exist  because  evil  men  have  taken  as  non-party  members  on  paper  rubles  in 

it  into  their  heads  to  be  gods  and  have  Moscow  or  with  Nazi  Storm  Troopers 

therefore — it  never  fails — succeeded  in  in  Berlin.  They  would  soon  discover 

being  devils.  This  is  both  sound  psy-  that  a  margin  of  liberty  and  the  possi- 

chology  and  sound  theology.  The  ab-  bility  of  self-respect  were  better  than 

surdity   of   stigmatizing   the   present  complete    enslavement    and    hopeless 

Administration  as  Fascist  can  be  well  degradation. 

illustrated  by  the  amusing  supposition  This  hankering  for  the  uniform  and 
that  some  one  were  to  propose  to  Mr.  for  uniformity,  for  obedience  and  self- 
Roosevelt  either  that  Mr.  Ford  and  his  obliteration  which  today  goes  by  the 
family  should  be  transported  to  a  labor  name  of  revolution  but  which  is  in  re- 
camp  in  Alaska  and  slowly  starved  into  ality  a  negation  of  the  civilizing  proc- 
submission  or  that  Mr.  Norman  ess  has  once  or  twice  before  played  its 
Thomas  and  his  associates  should  be  strange  role  in  history.  There  was,  as 
taken  to  West  Point  and  there  beaten  every  schoolboy  used  to  know,  a  Greek 
to  death  by  the  cadets  with  steel  whips  state  named  Sparta.  After  a  few  suc- 
and  rubber  cudgels.  The  mixture  of  cesses  it  failed  even  in  war,  in  the  ex- 
hilarity  and  horror  with  which  Mr.  ercise  of  the  one  thing  toward  which 
Roosevelt  would  receive  such  a  sugges-  all  the  energies  of  that  state  had  been 
tion  toward  the  carrying  out  of  his  directed.  Culturally  it  was  sterile 
economic  policy  illustrates  at  once  how  throughout  its  history.  It  is  amusing  as 
infinitely  far  we  are  from  the  Commu-  well  as  highly  significant  to  note  how  in 
nist-Fascist  complex  of  brutal  imposi-  the  theoretical  structure  of  that  Spar- 
tion  of  this  devil  worship  or  that.  The  tan  state  there  were  blended  the  no- 
American  tradition  of  liberty,  of  flexi-  tions  that  Communist  and  Fascist  offer 
bility,  of  the  dangers  of  the  undue  con-  us  as  new  and  revolutionary.  Lycurgus, 
centration  of  authority  and  the  neces-  the  author  of  those  famous  Spartan 
sary  checks  upon  it  is  not  dead;  the  laws,  also  seized  power  by  striking 
repeal  of  the  Eighteenth  Amendment  "terror  into  the  opposite  party."  In 
is  likely  to  strengthen  it  j  other  signs  of  good  Communist  fashion  he  first  at- 
its  survival,  despite  isolated  concrete  in-  tacked  the  existing  inequalities  of  for- 
stances  of  the  use  of  blind  force,  are  not  tune,  forcing  the  well-to-do  to  renounce 
absent.  In  view  of  the  lapse  into  bar-  their  properties,  dividing  the  land,  forc- 
barism  of  one  European  nation  after  ing  all  men  to  live  together  on  an  equal 
another  and  the  portentous  human  suf-  footing.  He  invented  the  famous  iron 
fering  involved,  it  is  the  manifest  duty  money  which  was  impossible  to  hoard 
of  every  American  to  clarify  his  tradi-  and  also  rendered  foreign  trade  impos- 
tion  and  to  re-ally  himself  with  it — the  sible.  Thus  he  isolated  Sparta  from  the 
tradition  which  in  its  moral  conscious-  other  Greek  states  both  economically 
ness,  whatever  were  the  economic  co-  and  culturally,  which  exactly  parallels 
determinants,  did  fight  four  years  to  the  Nazi  ideal  of  German  simplicity 
abolish  slavery  and  did  invite  to  our  uncorrupted  by  foreign  influences,  and 
shores  the  oppressed  and  disinherited  of  reduced  the  state  to  an  autonomous 
the  earth.  It  would  be  not  unwholesome  barbarism.  Next  came  the  ideal  of  the 
if  those  who  clamored  for  revolution  in  Communist  kitchen  and  the  Fascist 
America  today  would  be  forced  to  live  camp  and  barrack.  The  Spartans  were 


THE  NEW  MEANING  OF  REVOLUTION  215 

forced  to  feed  together  in  public  eat-  against  whom,  on  their  assumption  of 

ing  places  and  this  universal  enforcing  office,   the   chief   Spartan  bureaucrats 

of  the  "black  broth"  led  to  a  first  revolt,  "used  to  declare  war,"  because  it  had 

Hence,  of  course,  the  reflexes  of  the  ris-  been  determined  "that  they  might  be 

ing  generation  were  to  be  conditioned,  massacred  without  a  breach  of  reli- 

as  in  Russia,  Italy  and  Germany,  to  en-  gion." 

dure  state-slavery  without  a  murmur.  Does  no  one  read  Plutarch  any 
Thus  the  Spartans,  like  the  Germans,  more?  Are  our  young  and  older  shout- 
went  in  for  eugenics  in  order  that  only  ers  for  revolution  totally  ignorant  of 
stupid  state-slaves  should  be  con-  the  history  of  the  race?  The  pagans 
ceived  and  born  and  Lycurgus  in  good  made  gods  of  their  tyrants  and  free 
Communist-Fascist  fashion  declared  men  and  Jews  were  slaughtered  then  as 
that  children  were  not  so  much  prop-  now  because  they  would  not  worship 
erty  of  their  parents  as  of  the  whole  the  deified  emperors.  The  Christian 
commonwealth  and  so  at  the  age  of  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  kings 
seven  the  children,  whose  begetting  was  an  enormous  advance  over  the  dei- 
and  birth  had  been  arranged,  were  fied  tyrant  j  it  acknowledged  the  fact 
given  the  famous  Spartan  training,  of  that  no  man  is  good  enough  to  rule  his 
which  the  chief  care  was  "to  make  them  fellows  and  therefore  persuaded  men 
good  subjects  and  to  teach  them  to  en-  that  the  king's  mandate  was  from  God. 
dure  pain  and  conquer  in  battle."  But  Now  we  are  to  be  thrown  back  to  pre- 
that  was  not  all.  "Their  discipline,"  Christian  slavery  and  the  tyrant,  deified 
Plutarch  tells  us,  "continued  still  after  as  the  state,  is  to  tread  us  under  once 
they  were  full-grown  men.  No  one  was  more.  And  that  is  called  revolution, 
allowed  to  live  after  his  own  fancy  j  but 
the  city  was  a  sort  of  camp"  and  the 

citizens  "were  to  make  themselves  one  The  notion  of  the  state  as  absolute 

with  the  public  good"  j  they  were  to  master  and  of  the  citizen  as  mere  slave 

cluster  "like  bees  around  their  com-  was  deeply  rooted  in  even  the  noblest 

mander"  and  "carried  all  but  out  of  minds  of  paganism.  When  Crito  came 

themselves,  be  devoted  wholly  to  their  at  dawn  into  the  prison  of  Socrates  and 

country."  That  is  a  luminous  picture  begged  him  to  save  his  life  by  flight, 

of  the  Fascist-Communist  ideology  of  Socrates  laid  down  the  eternally  true 

the  subjection  of  the  individual  and  so  premise  that  "neither  injury  nor  retalia- 

we  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that,  as  tion  nor  warding  off  evil  by  evil  is  ever 

in  contemporary  Russia  and,  since  the  right."  But  he  elaborated  sophistically 

imposition  of  the  thousand-mark  visa-  and  dangerously  to  the  effect  that  since 

fee  in  Germany,  the  Spartans  were  not  the  citizen  was  the  state's  "child  and 

permitted  to  travel  beyond  their  bound-  slave"  any  resistance  to  the  state,  any 

aries  and  that  strangers  were  banished  attempt  to  improve  it  and  force  it  to 

lest    they     introduce     "novelties     of  be  just,  was  "evil."  He  went  so  far  as  to 

thought."   The   picture   is  completed  use  the  crudest  arguments  of  the  hun- 

when  we  remember  the  Helots,  the  de-  dred-per-center  such  as  this,  that  if  you 

classed  classes,  analogous  to  bourgeois  did  not  like  the  laws  of  the  state  under 

and  intellectuals  in  Russia,  to  Repub-  which  you  lived,  you  should  go  else- 

licans,  Socialists  and  Jews  in  Germany,  where,  an  argument  which  shuts  the 


216  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

door  on  all  hope,  all  amelioration  and  every  self-styled  American  revolution- 
can  be  used  to  justify  the  crudest  and  ary  of  today  should  take  to  heart:  "And 
darkest  tyranny.  ye  shall  cry  out  in  that  day  because  of 

That  absolute  authority  is  evil  and  your  king  whom  ye  shall  have  chosen  j 

that  no  man  is  good  enough  to  rule  his  and  Yaveh  will  not  answer  you  on  that 

fellows — this   central   idea   of   funda-  day."  No,  if  a  dictatorship  of  the  Right 

mental  Christianity,  of  genuine  democ-  or  of  the  Left  were  to  swing  its  whip 

racy  and  of  the  highest  documents  of  over  us,  having  destroyed  the  human 

the  English-speaking  races  from  Mil-  rights  of  owner  and  worker,  of  learned 

ton's  Areo-pagitica  to  Thoreau's  An  Es-  and  simple  alike,  and  spies  were  to 

say  on  Civil  Disobedience — this  idea  cover  the  land  and  each  man  to  tremble 

meets  us  first  in  all  the  annals  of  the  before  his  neighbor  and  every  heretic 

human  race  in  the  record  of  the  half-  even  to  be  in  labor  or  concentration 

barbarous  age  of  the  ancient  Hebrews,  camps,  it  would  be  useless  to  call  on 

Because    Gideon    had    defeated    the  man  or  God  on  that  day. 
Midianites  at  Ain  Charod  the  men  of         In  the  age  of  the  prophets  this  great 

Israel  said  to  him:  "Rule  thou  over  us,  and  fundamental  idea  of  the  necessary 

both  thou  and  thy  son  and  thy  son's  freedom  of  Western  man  had  attained 

son."  But  Gideon  answered:  "I  will  not  its     perfect     and     permanent     form, 

rule  over  you,  neither  shall  my  son  rule  namely  that  human  authority  derives 

over  you:  Yaveh  shall  rule  over  you."  its   mandate   from   its   moral   quality 

The  great  idea  was  enunciated.  The  alone  and  that  the  test  of  that  moral 

majority  was  not  ripe  for  it  but  played  quality  and  hence  of  that  authority  it- 

the  harlot  to  idols  and  to  kings.  But  a  self  is  in  the  people  whom  it  presumes 

great  idea  does  not  die  and  it  was  to  rule.  Zedekiah,  the  king  himself, 

Jotham,  the  youngest  son  of  Gideon  sent  messengers  to  Jeremiah  begging 

who  on  Mount  Gerizim  spoke  that  im-  him   to   reverse   his   defeatist   views, 

mortal   parable  concerning  the   trees  Jeremiah  refused.  The  moral  baseness 

who  desired  to  elect  a  king  to  rule  over  of  the  regime  had,  according  to  him, 

them.  And  the  olive-tree  refused  and  destroyed  its  authority.  The  king  im- 

the  fig-tree  refused  and  the  vine  re-  prisoned  him  in  the  court  of  the  guard 

fused,  for  each  had  something  to  do  at  Jerusalem.  Jeremiah  continued  to 

more  pleasing  to  God  and  man  than  to  denounce  and  to  negate  the  authority 

wave  over  the  other  trees.  It  was  the  of  the  state.  The  exact  proportion  of 

barren  thorn  that  consented  to  be  king  historic  fact  in  these  Biblical  narratives 

over  the  trees.  does  not  touch  the  argument  at  all,  pre- 

The  great  idea  marched  on.  The  eld-  cisely  as  it  is  not  touched  by  the  con- 
ers  of  Israel  came  to  Samuel  at  Ramah  sideration  whether  a  man  named  Crito 
and  asked  him  to  give  them  a  king  such  did  in  these  terms  urge  the  historic 
as  the  other  nations  had.  And  Samuel  Socrates  to  flee  or  whether  the  Plu- 
warned  them  by  means  of  an  extremely  tarchian  account  of  the  laws  of  Sparta 
realistic  description  of  what  a  king  squares  with  those  immemorial  reali- 
would  do  to  them,  of  what  the  authori-  ties.  The  peoples — and  this  is  the 
tarian  state  in  its  unchecked  arrogance  point — imagine  their  myths  and  their 
has  always  done  and  will  always  do  and  histories  in  accordance  with  their  char- 
ended  his  warning  with  words  that  acters.  Men's  ideals  and  beliefs  speak 


THE  NEW  MEANING  OF  REVOLUTION  217 

for  what  they  are  and  for  what  they  uncorruptedness."  Well,  that  is  what 
desire.  The  deification  of  the  state  and  the  dictators  of  both  the  Right  and  the 
the  reduction  of  the  individual  to  un-  Left  do :  they  assume  to  themselves  the 
resisting  subservience  is  a  pagan  notion  grace  of  infallibility,  even  as  Nero  did 
and  a  pagan  principle  and  those  who  and  Caligula  and  Torquemada.  With 
return  to  it  seek  to  destroy  that  Judaso-  that  one  sentence  Milton  destroys  once 
Christian  ethic  which  is  the  mother  of  and  for  all  the  fallacy  and  downright 
freedom  and  of  the  concept  of  human  brutishness  that  is  hidden  in  such  hoi- 
personality.  Of  all  the  nations  who  low  contemporary  words  as  the  author- 
peopled  the  Roman  Empire  the  Jews  itarian  or  totalitarian  state.  They  had 
alone  refused  to  set  up  statues  of  the  that  state  in  Egypt  and  Babylon  and 
emperors  in  their  places  of  worship  j  of  later  on  in  Sparta.  Shall  the  prophets  of 
all  the  Eastern  sectaries  who  arose  in  Israel  and  the  founders  of  Christianity 
that  empire  the  Christians  alone  pre-  have  saved  us  from  it  in  vain? 
ferred  death  to  pouring  out  libations  Things  have  come  to  such  a  pass  that 
to  those  statues.  No  wonder  that  the  a  rational  man  might  well  sympathize 
Soviets  frown  on  the  cultivation  of  He-  today  with  those  simple  Americans 
brew  and  on  the  practice  of  both  Jew-  who  have  an  instinctive  aversion  from 
ish  and  Christian  liberties  j  no  wonder  both  communism  and  fascism  as  be- 
that  the  Nazis  yearn  for  Thor  and  ing  "foreign."  The  instinct  is  a  sound 
Wotan  and  persecute  the  people  of  one.  They  are  foreign  to  both  of  the 
Jeremiah  and  of  Jesus.  Revolution  to-  closely  allied  religions  of  the  West, 
day  means  state-slavery  and  the  re-  Judaism  and  Christianity  j  they  are  for- 
turn  to  a  paganism  that  has  no  roses  eign  to  the  spirit  of  the  libertarian  tra- 
on  its  brow  but  an  iron  lash  in  its  ditions  of  the  English-speaking  peo- 
hand.  pies.  "How  many  other  things  might 
The  sense  of  kinship  which  the  men  be  tolerated  in  peace,  and  left  to  con- 
of  the  greatest  political  age  of  the  Eng-  science,  had  we  but  charity,  and  were 
lish  people  felt  with  the  judges  of  Is-  it  not  the  chief  stronghold  of  our  hyp oc- 
rael  and  the  prophets  was  no  accidental  risy  to  be  ever  judging  one  another?  I 
one.  Nor  was  it  an  accident  that  Milton  fear  this  iron  yoke  of  outward  con- 
identified  the  liberties  and  rebellions  formity  hath  left  a  slavish  print  upon 
of  the  Old  Testament  with  that  "Chris-  our  necks."  These  words  of  Milton  are 
tian  liberty"  of  which  Paul  spoke,  not  only  sound  religion  and  sound  poli- 
From  these  sources  and  the  reflections  tics.  They  are  more  than  that.  They 
to  which  they  give  rise  Milton  drew  strike  deep  at  the  nature  of  things, 
those  principles  of  political  thinking  Even  old  Herbert  Spencer  knew 
which  are  eternal  because  they  are  enough  to  know  that  evolution,  that  all 
rooted  in  the  nature  of  man.  "How  true  progress,  proceeds  from  uniform- 
shall  the  licensors  themselves  be  con-  ity  to  multiformity  or,  as  he  put  it, 
fided  in" — and  for  licensors  of  books  from  homogeneity  to  heterogeneity, 
substitute  any  who  assume  unchecked  It  is  so  in  the  world  of  organic  life;  it 
rule  over  their  fellow  men — "unless  is  so  in  the  world  of  social  organization ; 
we  can  confer  upon  them,  or  they  as-  it  is  so  in  the  entire  world  of  the  human 
sume  to  themselves  above  all  others  in  spirit.  The  ultimate  reflections  of  sci- 
the  land,  the  grace  of  infallibility  and  ence  .and  the  honest  observation  of  un- 


218  THE  NORTH -AMERICAN  REVIEW 

learned  men  are  at  one  on  that  point,  that  attempt,  whether  the  slogans  and 

That  society  is  a  civilized  one  in  which  quarter-truths  be  those  of  the  Left  or 

all  kinds  and  varieties  of  human  per-  of  the  Right  and  turn  the  Western 

sonality   and   character    can    function  world   into    a   universal    Sparta   and 

freely  and  in  peace.  Let  it  not  be  ob-  Csesarean  Rome,  they  are  but  laying 

jected  that  I  omit  the  economic  prob-  up  the  blood  and  tears  of  truer  revolu- 

lem.   No  sane  man   objects  to   state  tions  for  their  posterity.  It  is  our  chil- 

measures  that  remain  strictly  within  dren  or  our  children's  children  who 

the  realm  of  economics.  But  the  so-  will  have  to  destroy  the  monsters  of 

called  revolutionaries  are  bent  on  mak-  authoritarianism     and     rebuild     both 

ing  robots  of  us  all.  If  they  succeed  in  Athens  and  Jerusalem. 


Poem 

BY  ELIZABETH  JANE  ASTLEY 

TONIGHT  the  iris  blossoms  shall  be  witness  to  the  moon  for 
the  first  time 
For  they  were  born  out  under  the  dawn  when  the  sun  was  a 

hidden  geranium  on  red  sky, 
Dripping  pink  leaves  on  the  green  of  a  deep  hill  basket 

where  my  feet  went 
Naked  against  the  earth,  remembering  dusk,  remembering  dark, 

remembering  stars. 
Tonight  the  iris  blossoms  shall  be  witness  to  the  moon  for 

the  first  time. 
How  candidly  then  shall  their  orchid  and  silver  bodies  be 

transmitting 
Sun  to  dew  globules,  day  to  intimate  twilight  stipulating 

loveliness. 
How  unsuspectingly  then  shall  their  little  cradles  of  warmth 

be  all  won  over 

To  the  cool  ethereal  transparency  of  the  moon. 
I  have  come  a  long  way  out  of  the  morning,  out  of  the  noon, 

out  of  the  sunset, 
To  watch  the  little  iris  cups  the  while  the  moon  pours  balm 

of  unearthliness  into  them, 
To  watch  the  little  translucent  cups  of  the  iris 
Ache  in  the  moonlight. 


Uncle  Sam,  the  Junkman- 

BY  WILLIAM  P.  BLACK 

Secretary  Wallace  said  that  America  must  choose  between  lower 
ing  her  tariffs  and  relinquishing  her  export  trade,  but 
a  sillier  course  has  been  found 

FROM  a  dignified  gentleman  with  silver-buying  by  the  United  States 
striped  trousers,  a  star-spangled  Treasury.  Senators  from  Montana,  Ne- 
vest  and  a  high  hat,  our  Uncle  vada,  Utah  and  the  other  producing 
Sam  is  in  grave  danger  of  degenerating  States  have  used  ingenious  if  frequently 
into  something  more  nearly  resembling  contradictory  arguments.  Some  have 
a  junkman.  There  was  a  time  when  his  said  that  a  higher  silver  price  was  neces- 
interest  in  metals  went  no  further  than  sary  in  order  to  bring  about  a  more 
a  desire  to  hold  a  fair  working  supply  abundant  life  for  the  Chinese.  Others 
of  gold,  the  accepted  medium  for  set-  have  rejected  the  pretense  of  altruism 
tling  international  accounts.  In  recent  and  have  held  that  high  silver  prices 
years,  however,  he  has  become  the  would  remove  the  menace  of  cheap  Ori- 
hoarder  of  an  entirely  disproportionate  ental  exports  in  the  world  markets, 
share  of  the  world's  gold  stocks.  Now  The  real  urge  behind  the  long  cam- 
he  is  buying  up  silver  as  well.  And  al-  paign  of  the  Senators  of  the  silver- 
ready  there  are  indications  that  before  producing  States  has  probably  been  the 
long  he  will  be  adding  copper,  lead,  simple  desire  of  these  gentlemen  to 
zinc,  tin,  nickel  and  manganese  to  the  hold  their  jobs.  Unless  they  had  fought 
piles  of  gold  and  silver  in  his  junk  yard,  a  good  fight  for  silver,  their  chances  of 
At  first  glance,  it  might  appear  some-  reelection  by  their  silver-minded  con- 
what  far  fetched  to  liken  a  collector  of  stituencies  would  be  fairly  thin.  There 
such  allegedly  precious  metals  as  gold  is,  thus,  little  difficulty  in  accounting 
and  silver  to  a  junkman.  Junk,  in  the  for  the  drive  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
colloquial  sense,  at  least,  is  something  Senators. 

of  little  value.  Gold  and  silver,  on  the  Less  obvious  are  the  reasons  why 

other    hand,    have    generally    been  Senators  from  South  Carolina,  Okla- 

thought  of  as  highly  valuable.  Both  homa  and  other  non-silver-producing 

metals,  however,  have  this  in  common  States  should  have  joined  in  the  battle 

with  junk:  their  value  depends  largely  for  government  silver-buying.   If  all 

on  what  they  can  be  exchanged  for.  they  had  wanted  were  inflation,  quicker 

Now,  there  have  been  a  great  many  results  could  have  been  obtained  by  or- 

reasons  advanced  to  justify  large-scale  dering  the  retirement  of  government 


220  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

bonds  by  paper  currency,  a  greater  un-  scrap  glass  from  the  market  he  can  run 

balancing  of  the  Federal  budget  or  a  its  price  up  as  he  did  the  price  of  steel 

further  devaluation  of  the  dollar.  In-  scrap  and  thereby  make  himself  richer 

stead,  they  have  talked  about  the  short-  than  ever. 

age  of  gold  and  the  need  for  a  broader  In  much  the  same  manner,  Uncle 

currency  base.  Sam,  having  boosted  the  value  of  gold 

It  was  this  outside  support  that  through  his  hoarding,  has  now  reached 
brought  about  the  enactment  of  the  Sil-  the  first  crisis  of  the  super-junkman, 
ver  Purchase  Bill.  Without  it,  Senators  To  continue  his  purchases  might  ruin 
of  the  silver  States  could  never  have  the  gold  business,  i.e.,  the  use  of  gold 
achieved  their  victory.  Their  demands  for  settling  international  accounts.  To 
for  something  for  silver  would  have  dump  his  supplies  on  the  world  mar- 
been  laughed  at  as  they  were  through  kets  would  break  gold  values  and,  inci- 
the  long  years  between  the  depression  dentally,  call  for  such  a  sudden  intake 
of  the  'Nineties  and  the  economic  col-  of  other  nations'  goods  that  a  bad  case 
lapse  of  1929.  It  is,  therefore,  impor-  of  indigestion  would  probably  result, 
tant  to  understand  why  a  silver  purchase  In  this  emergency,  Uncle  Sam  turns 
programme  should  have  carried  a  wider  to  silver  as  the  super-junkman  turned 
appeal  in  1934  than  during  the  rela-  to  broken  bottles.  As  the  junkman  re- 
tively  prosperous  years  between  1897  fused  to  spend  his  income  on  the  good 
and  1929.  things  of  life  and  continued  to  dun  his 

hard-pressed  neighbors  for  interest  on 
money  loaned  them,  so  does  Uncle  Sam 

To  get  the  picture  clearly,  a  simile  decline  to  spend  his  international  in- 
may  be  helpful.  Let  us  imagine  a  tight-  come  on  usable  imported  articles  and 
fisted  super-junkman  of  large  income  continues  his  pressure  for  collection  of 
and  the  creditor  of  most  of  his  neigh-  his  foreign  loans.  Each  prefers  hoard- 
bors.  Assume  that  he  was  able  to  with-  ing  to  spending  but  each  possesses  an 
draw  from  the  market  the  greater  part  income  so  large  that  the  problem  soon 
of  the  floating  supply  of  steel  scrap.  As  becomes  one  of  deciding  what  to  hoard, 
he  carried  on  his  purchasing,  the  market  At  this  point,  it  should  be  useful  to 
price  of  scrap  would,  of  course,  advance,  observe  the  progress  Uncle  Sam  has 
It  would  ultimately  reach  a  point  so  made  with  his  hoarding  and  to  deter- 
high  that  the  steel  business,  which  re-  mine  how  far  along  the  path  of  the 
quires  a  constant  supply  of  scrap,  would  hypothetical  super-junkman  he  has  ad- 
be  threatened  with  ruin,  vanced.  At  the  end  of  1913,  when  he 

To  continue  buying  would  jeopardize  was  still  only  moderately  interested  in 
the  business  on  which  the  value  of  our  gold,  Uncle  Sam's  holdings  were  val- 
super-junkman's  hoard  depends.  To  sell  ued  at  $1,290,420,000,  with  gold  at 
would  lower  the  market  price  and  with  $20.67  an  ounce,  or  26.6  per  cent  of 
it  the  apparent  value  of  the  accumu-  the  world's  monetary  gold  reserves, 
lated  hoard.  In  this  crisis,  the  junkman  Later  figures,  as  reported  by  the  Fed- 
has  a  bright  idea.  He  decides  to  hold  eral  Reserve  Board,  show  United  States 
his  steel  scrap  and  apply  his  income  to  monetary  gold  stocks  at  the  end  of 
the  purchase  of  broken  bottles,  figuring  1919:  $2,5 1 7,722,000  or  37  per  cent  of 
that  by  withdrawing  a  huge  quantity  of  the  world  total  j  at  the  end  of  1925: 


UNCLE  SAM,  THE  JUNKMAN  221 

$3,985,399,000  or  44.4  per  cent  of  the  rebel  at  a  large-scale  exchange  of  gold 
world  total;  and  at  the  end  of  1931:  for  silver  and  would  not  permit  the 
$4,051,473,000  or  35.9  per  cent  of  the  gold  exports  necessary  for  a  rapid 
world  total  (all  figures  based  .on  the  completion  of  the  silver  purchase  pro- 
old  gold  price) .  gramme. 

As  of  May  i,  1934,  Uncle  Sam's  A  continuation  of  the  buying  of 
gold  had  increased  to  $7,756,000,000  newly  mined  domestic  silver — the  bulk 
($4,574,500,000  on  the  basis  of  $20.67  °f  which  was  formerly  sold  abroad — is 
per  ounce  gold)  or  a  percentage  of  the  assured  by  the  President's  decree  of  last 
world's  monetary  reserves  again  ap-  December.  Purchase  of  domestic  specu- 
proaching  forty.  Not  long  afterwards,  lative  stocks,  estimated  at  250,000,000 
the  decision  to  turn  to  silver  was  ounces  at  the  time  of  the  silver  bill's 
adopted  at  a  conference  between  Presi-  passage,  presumably  will  soon  be  coin- 
dent  Roosevelt  and  the  silver  leaders,  pleted.  The  international  significance  of 
Actually,  a  net  importation  of  silver  such  a  purchase  would  be  the  absorp- 
into  this  country  had  commenced  three  tion  by  the  Treasury  of  the  approxi- 
years  ago,  presumably  by  speculators  mately  150,000,000  ounces  added  to 
who  had  anticipated  the  official  decision,  the  domestic  supply  by  net  importations 
Between  July  i,  1931,  and  June  i,  during  the  last  three  years.  Its  effect 
1934,  the  excess  of  silver  imports  over  would  be  to  date  the  beginning  of  Uncle 
exports  totaled  $58,515,000,  according  Sam's  buying  of  the  world's  silver  back 
to  Department  of  Commerce  figures.  to  the  second  six  months  of  1931,  when 

Since  the  passage  of  the  Silver  Pur-  the  United  States'  silver  imports  began 

chase  Bill  and  the  embargo  on  silver  to  exceed  exports, 
exports,  net  imports  have  increased  at  a         How  fast  silver  can  be  purchased  in 

considerably  faster  rate.  Predictions  that  the  world  markets  without  causing  gold 

the  purchase  act  would  not  amount  to  exports  is  a  matter  of  guesswork.  Past 

much,  on  account  of  its  "permissive"  balances  of  international  payments  of 

character,  are  not  being  borne  out.  The  the  United  States  are  the  best  guide. 

United  States  Treasury,  while  it  may  During  the  last  four  years,  these  bal- 

not  be  buying  silver  quite  as  "enthusi-  ances  have  shown  a  net  credit  in  the 

astically"  as  some  of  the  silver  Senators  current    account    of    $629,000,000    in 

might  wish,  is,  nevertheless,  showing  a  1930,  $160,000,000  in  1931,  $131,000,- 

serious  disposition  to  treat  the  purchase  OOO  in  1932  and  $186,000,000  in  1933, 

act  as  an  order  and  not  merely  as  a  piece  according  to  Department  of  Commerce 

of  advice.  reports. 

Each  of  these  years  has  yielded  sub 
stantial  credits  for  such  current  items  as 

The  rate  of  buying,  of  course,  can  not  net  merchandise  exports  and  net  re- 
be  predicted  with  any  exactitude.  The  ceipts  of  interest  and  dividends,  with  a 
only  limitation  likely  to  prevail  is  that  consistently  declining  credit  item  la- 
purchases  will  be  held  below  the  point  beled  "War  Debt  Receipts."  Partially 
at  which  gold,  in  any  considerable  quan-  offsetting  debit  items  in  the  current 
tity,  would  have  to  be  paid  out  in  ex-  account  have  been  net  tourist  expendi- 
change.  Such  a  prophecy  is  based  on  the  tures,  shipping  and  freight,  immigrants' 
assumption  that  public  opinion  would  remittances,  charitable  contributions  and 


222  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

government   transactions.    Fluctuating  been  balanced  with  the  needed  debit  in 

from  the  debit  to  the  credit  side  of  the  the  capital  account.  If  this  is  true,  the 

balance  sheet  have  been  "Miscellaneous  immediate  buying  of  large  amounts  of 

Current  Items."  The  sums  of  all  these  silver  abroad  would  cause  an  export 

plus  and  minus  current  items  have  been  of  gold.  On  the  other  hand,  the  return 

the  net  credit  balances  listed  in  the  pre-  of  American  short-term  capital  to  this 

ceding  paragraph.  country  and  the  rebuilding  of  foreign- 

To  permit  such  credit  balances  in  the  ers'  short-term  balances  here  are  cre- 

current  account  it  has  been  necessary  ating  an  unusually  active  demand  for 

that  the  capital  account  should  yield  a  dollars.  It  may  be  that  fairly  heavy 

yearly  debit  balance.  In  1930,  as  in  the  silver-buying  will  have  to  supplement 

preceding  ten  years,  long-ferm  loans  to  the  1934  gold  imports  in  order  to  sat- 

foreigners  supplied  the  offsetting  deb-  isfy  this  demand, 

its.  In  1931  and  1932,  a  net  reduction  After  the  temporary  flow  of  short- 

of  $1,080,000,000  in  foreigners'  short-  term  capital — both  American  and  for- 

term  balances  here  was  the  offset.  In  eign — to  the  United  States  has  been 

1933,  a  continuation  of  this  withdrawal  completed,  it  will  be  possible  to  buy 

plus  the  flight  of  American  short-term  considerable  quantities  of  silver  abroad 

capital  abroad  took  care  of  the  net  credit  without  fear  of  losing  gold.  The  meas- 

in  the  current  account.  During  the  first  uring  rod  for  safe  amounts  to  buy  will 

half  of  1934,  the  huge  importation  of  be  the  expected  yearly  credit  balances  in 

gold  was  the  principal  means  of  pro-  the  current  account  until  a  shortage  in 

ducing  the  necessary  debits.  And  now  floating  supplies  has  been  created, 

silver  is  being  called  upon  to  take  the  That  this  account  will  continue  to 

burden  off  gold.  show  credit  balances  for  some  time  to 

It  should  be  noted  that  silver  has  come  is  virtually  assured  by  the  Ameri- 

been  treated  as  a  commodity  in  past  can  determination  to  maintain  an  active 

balances  of  international  payments  pre-  merchandise  trade  balance  in  spite  of 

pared  by  the  Department  of  Commerce,  the  nation's  position  as  a  creditor.  It  is 

Its  movements  have  been  entered  under  this  determination  that  is  the  basic  rea- 

"Miscellaneous  Current  Items."  Since  son  for  the  success  of  the  silverites. 

the  middle  of  1931,  therefore,  it  has  Without  it,  there  would  not  be  the  ex- 

already  played  a  minor  role  in  offset-  cessive  gold  accumulation  by  the  United 

ting  current  credit  items.  Under  its  new  States  that  has  caused  the  high  value  of 

status  silver  rightfully  belongs  in  the  gold  in  terms  of  world  commodities  and 

capital  account  along  with  gold  and  the  seeming  shortage  in  the  world's 

currency.  Future  balances  of  interna-  monetary  gold  stocks, 

tional  payments  will  undoubtedly  place  As  yet  there  is  no  indication  that  the 

it  there.  The  part  of  silver  as  a  medium  American  public  will  soon  be  willing  to 

for  collecting  current  credit  balances  sacrifice  either  its  favorable  merchan- 

will,  therefore,  become  more  clearly  disc  balance  or  the  collection  of  interest 

visible.  on  foreign  loans.  In  fact,  for  the  first 

In  view  of  the  large  imports  of  gold  four  months  of  1934  the  country's  ex- 

during  the  first  half  of  1934,  it  is  pos-  cess  of  exports  over  imports  was  nearly 

sible  that  the  prospective  net  credit  in  twice  the  figure  for  the  corresponding 

this  year's  current  account  has  already  period  of  1933,  and  there  is  still  a  pre- 


UNCLE  SAM,  THE  JUNKMAN  223 

ponderance  of  sentiment  for  collection  United  States  Government  should  have 

of  the  War  debts  and  a  similar  feeling  on  hand  for  an  emergency, 

that  interest  on  private  foreign  loans  can  In  fact,  a  beginning  has  already  been 

and  should  be  paid  in  full.  made  along  these  lines.  Senator  Ashurst 

of  Arizona,  early  in  the  recent  session 

IV  of  Congress,  proposed  that  the  govern- 
As  long  as  the  people  of  the  United  ment  buy  up  surplus  copper  stocks.  Late 
States  continue  to  demand  large  exports  in  May,  the  Senate  Committee  on 
and  small  imports  along  with  the  pay-  Mines  and  Mining  favorably  reported 
ment  of  foreign  loans,  there  will  be  an  enlargement  of  this  proposal.  The 
backing  for  schemes  that  oblige  Uncle  measure  calls  for  an  appropriation  of 
Sam  to  enlarge  his  activities  as  a  junk-  $20O,ooo,oqp  for  the  buying  up  of 
man.  With  the  gold  business,  as  has  been  surplus  copper,  lead  and  zinc  as  a  re- 
pointed  out,  already  threatened  by  rea-  serve  for  war  and  public  works  require- 
son  of  Uncle  Sam's  hoarding,  it  re-  ments. 

mains  to  be  seen  what  will  happen  to  Offhand,  there  may  appear  to  be  no 

the  silver  business  when  the  buying  pro-  similarity  between  such  buying  and  the 

gramme  begins  to  function.  According  purchase  of  silver.  There  is  a  definite 

to  Sir  Arthur  Salter,  British  economist,  connection,  however.  Copper,  once  a 

China  would  be  forced  off  the  silver  leading  export  item,  can  no  longer  be 

standard  by  any  appreciable  advance  in  sold  abroad  in  any  great  quantity  be- 

the  price  of  the  metal.  In  other  words,  cause  of  the  lowered  foreign  purchasing 

with  China  as  the  sole  important  nation  power  for  American  goods  caused  by 

using  silver  as  a  currency  base,  there  is  debt  collection  along  with  the  main- 

a  strong  likelihood  that  the  silver  busi-  tenance  of  an  active  merchandise  trade 

ness  would  be  threatened  with  ruin  long  balance.     Government    copper-buying 

before  Uncle  Sam  completed  his  allot-  would  remove  the  necessity  of  purchas- 

ted  purchase  of  1,300,000,000  ounces  in  ing  foreign  merchandise  to  make  possi- 

the  world  markets.  ble  the  sale  of  copper  abroad. 

It  is  this  which  makes  it  probable  that  In  still  another  respect,  government 
still  other  metals  will  eventually  be  buying  of  copper,  lead  and  zinc  is  a  nat- 
added  to  Uncle  Sam's  stocks  of  gold  ural  corollary  to  the  purchase  of  silver, 
and  silver.  The  excuse  for  pushing  the  It  so  happens  that  about  three-quarters 
government  into  the  purchase  of  cop-  of  the  silver  produced  in  the  United 
per,  lead,  zinc,  tin,  nickel  or  manganese  States  is  so-called  "by-product"  silver, 
would,  of  course,  have  to  be  a  different  i.e.,  it  comes  to  light  in  the  mining  of 
one  from  the  conflicting  arguments  used  copper,  lead  and  zinc.  In  order  to  cash 
to  promote  the  silver  cause.  Neither  the  in  very  heavily  on  the  silver  victory, 
idea  of  increasing  the  purchasing  power  domestic  producers  must  turn  out  an 
of  Orientals  nor  of  blocking  their  in-  embarrassingly  large  quantity  of  cop- 
roads  on  our  export  trade  could  possibly  per,  lead  and  zinc.  If  these  metals  can 
be  stretched  to  fit  a  campaign  for  the  not  be  sold  abroad,  the  easy  way  to  dis- 
buying  of  these  other  metals.  There  is,  pose  of  them  is  to  turn  them  over  to 
however,  a  ready-made  base  from  which  the  government,  particularly  since  the 
to  launch  the  attack — namely,  that  these  first  two,  at  least,  are  commonly  re- 
are  essential  war  materials  which  the  garded  as  war  materials. 


224  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Meanwhile,  other  advocates  of  gov-  nation's  chosen  leaders.  These  interpret- 
ernment  metal-buying  have  stepped  ers  of  the  public  mind  realize  that  both 
forward.  Representative  Caldwell  of  foreign  debt  write-offs  and  unfavorable 
Florida  has  attracted  the  attention  of  trade  balances  are  highly  unpopular 
Secretary  Hull  to  his  proposal  that  the  remedies  for  the  situation  into  which 
government  accept  tin  in  payment  of  the  country  has  worked  itself.  Their  so- 
War  debts.  Others  have  suggested  that  lution  of  the  problem  is  to  dodge  the 
the  government  buy  large  quantities  of  issue  through  government  metal-buy- 
manganese  from  Russia  to  provide  a  ing.  In  this  way,  the  nation's  favorable 
method  for  selling  American  goods  to  merchandise  trade  balance  can  be  main- 
the  Soviets.  There  is  also  talk  of  govern-  tained  and  the  write-off  of  foreign  debts 
ment  buying  of  Canadian  nickel  to  aid  can  at  least  be  delayed, 
our  export  trade  with  the  Dominion.  In  Furthermore,  as  the  super-junkman 
each  case,  the  argument  has  been  made  imagined  himself  wealthier  and  wealth- 
that  the  government  should  have  a  sup-  ier  as  the  apparent  value  of  his  piles  of 
ply  of  these  metals  in  case  of  war.  scrap  rose  by  reason  of  scarcity  prices, 
Tin,  nickel  and  manganese  are,  in  so  will  Uncle  Sam  seem  to  grow  richer 
fact,  a  direct  answer  to  the  problem  of  as  the  apparent  value  of  his  silver  hoard 
how  to  accept  payments  from  abroad  mounts  with  the  higher  prices  caused 
without  admitting  competitive  goods,  by  his  buying.  Only  when  and  if  he 
Since  they  are  already  entering  the  may  decide  to  dispose  of  his  silver,  will 
country  in  amounts  sufficient  to  satisfy  Uncle  Sam  realize  that  its  supposed 
the  requirements  of  private  industry,  value  is  not  actual.  Meanwhile,  the 
any  increase  in  our  takings  must  come  higher  the  price  paid,  the  less  buying 
through  government  buying  for  alleged  needed  to  create  the  debit  in  our  bal- 
war  needs.  In  view  of  the  growing  ten-  ance  of  international  payments  required 
sion  in  our  relations  with  Japan,  it  does  to  permit  a  continued  credit  in  the  cur- 
not  appear  that  the  buying  campaign  rent  account. 

should  be  overly  difficult  to  put  across.  And  so,  the  choice  between  a  corn- 
Thus,  if  we  return  to  our  super-junk-  plete  write-off  of  our  War  and  private 
man,  we  may  picture  him  as  desisting  foreign  loans  and  the  elimination  of  our 
from  his  broken-bottle-buying  as  the  favorable  merchandise  trade  balance 
scarcity  of  scrap  glass  sends  its  price  so  can  be  put  off  for  a  few  more  years, 
high  that  the  prosperity  of  the  glass  The  anomaly  of  the  world's  largest 
business  is  threatened.  He  then  searches  creditor  nation  exporting  more  goods 
for  other  scrap  items  suitable  for  hoard-  than  it  imports  can  be  made  to  last  a 
ing,  just  as  Uncle  Sam  is  apparently  little  longer.  Foreign  bondholders  can 
destined  to  turn  from  silver  to  other  continue  to  collect  on  some  of  their 
metals  as  soon  as  the  higher  silver  loans  while  American  exports  are 
prices,  caused  by  his  buying,  threaten  to  pushed  and  imports  restricted.  In  the 
force  China  from  the  silver  standard.  junk  yard  of  Uncle  Sam,  however, 
This  picture  may  be  useful  for  under-  there  will  grow  larger  and  larger  piles 
standing  what  is  happening  to  Uncle  of  gold,  silver  and  the  other  metals  that 
Sam  as  the  result  of  the  ingenuity  of  the  may  be  chosen. 


I  Legitimate  People  _ 

BY  PAUL  JONES 
A  Story 

G;T  me  right.  Pm  not  one  of  these  with  real  jack  are  now  trading  in  these 

racketeers.  I  don't  carry  a  gun,  cash-and-carries  where  they  used  to  run 

and  I  don't  stick  people  up,  and  bills  with  a  fancy  grocery.  These  dames 

I  make  it  a  rule  to  lay  off  anybody  that  come  in  with  their  chauffeurs  and,  from 

can't  spare  what  Pm  after.  Pm  just  a  what  he  told  me,  some  of  them  flash 

thief.  considerable  rolls. 

Maybe  you  got  an  idea  a  thief's  a  guy         All  right.  It's  petty  stuff,  but  there 

that's  too  lazy  to  work.  That's  a  lot  of  was  a  depression  on,  and  it  hit  me  just 

bunk.  Take  it  from  me,  if  I'd  put  the  like  it  hit  everybody  else.  So  I  go  and 

same  amount  of  struggle  into  some  look  the  joint  over.  I  noticed  right  away 

other  line  of  business,  I'd  be  on  Easy  that  some  of  these  women  leave  their 

Street.  Thieving  is  the  most  underpaid  handbags  on  the  grocery  counter  while 

profession  there  is.  they  stroll  over  to  the  other  side  of  the 

I  guess  it's  born  in  you,  because  my  store  to  take  a  slant  at  the  vegetables, 
old  man  was  a  thief,  and  a  damn  good         It  looked  like  a  cinch.  In  I  went,  and 

one,  too,  and  his  father,  from  what  I  I  wasn't  in  the  store  two  minutes  when  I 

hear,  was  one  of  the  biggest  thieves  in  spotted   this   expensive-looking   purse 

the  old  country.  It  runs  in  the  family.  lying  right  on  the  counter.  Nobody  was 

I  got  nothing  against  legitimate  peo-  near  it,  and  nobody  was  looking  at  me, 

pie,  understand,  but  I  don't  get  along  so  I  put  it  under  my  coat  and  went  out. 
with  them.  They  kind  of  give  mi  the         Half  a  block  up  the  street,  I  ducked 

jitters.  I  don't  get  their  angle,  that's  all.  into  an  alley,  and  opened  the  handbag. 

Here's  what  I  mean.  The  system  is,  you  take  the  money,  and 

There's  a  guy  that's  manager  of  one  toss  the  leather  away  as  soon  as  you  can. 
of  these  chain  groceries,  a  hard-working  I  like  to  drop  dead.  There  wasn't  any- 
fellow,  but  he  don't  get  much  dough,  thing  in  it  but  a  powder  puff,  a  handker- 
and  I  guess  he  can't  figure  out  any  way  chief,  four  pennies  and  a  slip  of  paper, 
to  beat  the  cash  register,  which  I  under-  all  folded  up.  I  looked  at  the  paper,  and 
stand  is  legitimate,  if  you  can  get  away  I  want  to  tell  you,  I  felt  cheap.  Because 
with  it.  Anyhow,  for  a  price,  he  tipped  what  it  was  was  a  food  order,  good  for 
me  off  to  a  situation  where  it  looked  like  five  bucks'  worth  of  groceries,  like  they 
I  could  make  myself  a  little  money.  give  out  down  at  the  Poor  Board,  if 

It  seems  that  a  lot  of  classy  people  you're  on  the  rocks. 


226 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


I  mean,  I  was  mortified.  Here,  I  said 
to  myself,  you  got  to  get  this  back  some 
way,  even  if  you  have  to  drop  it  on  the 
sidewalk,  like  she  might  have  lost  it  on 
her  way  in. 

Furthermore,  I  got  to  feeling  sorry 
for  the  dame,  so  I  took  a  twenty  out  of 
my  own  kick  and  tucked  it  in  her  pocket- 
book.  What  the  hell,  you  might  be  down 
yourself  sometime. 

So  I'm  all  set  to  leave  the  purse  some 
place  where  she'll  find  it,  and  I  turn  to 
go  out  of  the  alley,  and  I  run  smack  into 
a  copper,  coming  in,  and  he  saw  the 
handbag  before  I  could  hide  it. 

"I  just  found  this  purse,  officer,"  I 
said.  "Maybe  you  can  give  it  back  to  the 
party  that  owns  it." 

All  I  got  for  that  was  a  tough  look. 
He  grabbed  the  pocketbook,  and  block 
ing  the  way  out  of  the  alley,  he  put  his 
stick  under  his  arm,  and  opened  the 
purse. 

First  he  read  the  food  order.  It  was 
made  out  to  a  Mrs.  Grimsby.  Then  he 
took  the  twenty  and  the  four  pennies, 
and  put  them  In  his  pocket.  With  that, 
he  lost  all  interest  in  the  leather  and 
tossed  it  into  an  ash  can. 

I  don't  mind  doing  business  with  a 
copper.  Sometimes  you  got  to.  But  this 
guy  made  me  sore,  declaring  himself  in 
for  one  hundred  per  cent  of  what  he 
thought  I'd  pinched. 

"You  can't  do  that,"  I  said. 

"Why  not?"  he  asked  me.  "You're 


lucky  I  don't  give  you  a  going  over 
with  this  night  stick.  Beat  it." 

Well,  he  had  me,  because  one  of  the 
disadvantages  of  my  line  of  work  is  you 
got  no  rights.  So  I  said:  "Wait  a  min 
ute!  What  about  this  poor  woman?" 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

"What's  she  going  to  do  without  her 
food  order?"  I  asked  him.  I  didn't  tell 
him  that  I'd  put  the  twenty  in  her  purse, 
because  he  wouldn't  have  believed  me, 
anyhow,  and  if  he  had,  it  wouldn't  have 
made  no  difference,  because  he  was  one 
businesslike  policeman,  what  I  mean. 
"You  want  to  have  some  consideration 
for  this  Mrs.  Grimsby,"  I  told  him. 

"Don't  kid  me,"  he  said.  "Grimsby's 
the  division  leader,  and  he's  got  a  good 
job  with  the  city.  They  don't  need  food 
orders  any  more  than  fly  in  the  air." 

"I  don't  get  it,"  I  said. 

"Listen,"  this  copper  told  me,  "why 
should  he  pay  for  his  own  groceries 
when  he's  got  a  pal  on  the  Poor  Board? 
He'd  be  a  sap." 

Thinking  about  the  twenty  and  all, 
I  got  mad.  "He's  a  cheap  grifter,"  I 
said. 

"Say,"  the  flatfoot  growled,  "where 
do  you  get  off,  talking  that  way?  Go  on, 
beat  it,  before  I  run  you  in ! " 

So  I  beat  it. 

Like  I  told  you,  I  got  nothing  against 
legitimate  people,  but  I  can't  get  along 
with  them.  They  kind  of  give  me  the 
jitters.  I  don't  get  their  angle. 


Big  Salaries  and  Bonuses  - 

BY  J.  GEORGE  FREDERICK 

What  is  fair  pay  for  our  big  business  leaders? 

ONE  of  the  tell-tales  by  which  we  made  up  of  owners  who  built  unique 
can  note  the  change  in  Ameri-  and  successful  enterprises.  For  this  rea- 
can  public  temper  is  the  subject  son,  up  to  1898  or  thereabout,  salaries 
pushed  into  the  limelight  by  the  last  were  nowhere  very  large,  with  the  ex- 
Congress,  large  executive  salaries  and  ception  of  a  few  railways  and  "trusts." 
bonuses.  The  owners,  or  those  who  closely  con- 
Superficially  the  intent  has  been  to  trolled  ownership,  got  their  rewards  not 
criticize  large  salaries  and  bonuses  dur-  so  much  through  salary  as  through 
ing  depression  times  j  but  at  bottom  the  profits,  dividends.  "Close  corporations" 
whole  point  of  view  regarding  top  men  were  largely  the  rule;  with  principal 
in  business  is  seen  to  be  in  process  of  positions  filled  by  an  owner  from  among 
change.  It  is  another  one  of  the  ear-  his  family  or  intimates,  or  by  what  were 
marks  of  our  basic  shift  from  pioneer  virtually  low-salaried  assistants  who 
American  days  to  the  era  of  a  more  were  given  little  honor,  place  or  author- 
stable  and  socially  responsible  economy,  ity.  It  was  not  at  all  uncommon,  then, 
Once  America  thrilled  with  interest,  for  executives  of  quite  large  responsibil- 
even  pride,  when  told  of  the  huge  sal-  ity  but  little  place,  title  or  authority  to 
ary  paid  to  a  top  executive  in  business,  receive  only  $2,400  a  year.  The  line  and 
It  was  the  genuine  accolade  of  success,  staff  idea  of  organization,  the  develop- 
"Money  talks,"  it  was  said  then;  and  ment  of  functional  professional  stand- 
what  a  corporation  was  willing  to  pay  ards  had  not  yet  really  started,  and  the 
for  a  man's  brain  was  the  proof  posi-  "merit  system"  was  not  widely  used, 
tive,  the  certificate  of  demonstration,  of  All  functions  were  jumbled — the  big 
a  man's  greatness.  America's  develop-  boss  insisted  on  deciding  nearly  every- 
ment  of  the  large-scale  industrial  era  thing.  This  "genius"  type  of  business 
after  the  Civil  War  was  a  kind  of  pio-  manj  the  man  who  built  the  business 
neer  era,  duplicating  in  principle  the  up,  the  owner,  arrogated  to  himself 
previous  pioneer  eras  in  American  life ;  nearly  all  authority,  and  tolerated  few 
continuing  to  regard  it  as  only  just  and  really  first-class  men  under  him.  Some 
right  that  what  a  man  could  seize  and  of  these  still  linger  today  j  they  can  not 
command  was  his.  stomach  any  other  form  of  business,  and 
At  first  there  was  no  question  of  high-  the  men  who  work  for  them  are  what 
salaried  «*0oti&w;  business  was  largely  we  have  come  to  call  "yes  men." 


228  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Rockefeller  and  Carnegie  were  too  dramatized  what  seemed  to  be  the 
big  for  this  tight  and  vainglorious  sys-  American  spirit  of  opportunity  and  de- 
tem  of  little  industrial  Napoleons,  and  mocracy.  For  several  generations  the 
early  saw  its  doom.  They  introduced  theme  song  of  the  success  era  was  this 
(about  1885)  the  system  of  highly  paid  merit  system  j  this  open  road  to  wealth 
menj  the  relinquishment  of  authority  and  acclaim  for  even  a  poor  boy,  via  the 
and  responsibility  to  subordinates  of  high-salaried  corporation  executive,  se- 
high  ability.  Carnegie's  twelve  partners  lected  solely  on  demonstrated  ability, 
were  famous  for  their  high  salaries  What  a  great  land  of  open  opportunity 
and  share  in  profits  j  for  their  freedom  America  is,  ran  this  sagaj  no  class  spirit, 
from  Napoleonic  dictation  from  above,  no  nepotism,  no  snobbery!  If  the  water- 
Rockefeller  relinquished  his  personal  boy  in  the  steel  mill  becomes  the 
direction  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company  $100,000  president,  there  is  your  proof 
many  years  before  he  was  believed  to  that  America  is  the  land  of  the  free, 
have  done  so.  He  did  not,  however,  with  no  closed  doors.  There  is  no  ques- 
dramatize  his  delegation  of  power  to  tion  that  millions  of  American  boys 
his  famous  associates  as  did  Carnegie,  tightened  their  belts  and  set  their  faces 
and  the  public  persisted  in  believing  toward  the  executive  swivel-chairs  of 
that  he  was  active  long  after  he  had  high  salary,  as  depicted  in  countless 
placed  his  affairs  in  other  hands.  Rocke-  "success  tales"  such  as  were  enormously 
feller  and  Carnegie  started  upon  its  ca-  popular  for  about  thirty-five  years  (be- 
reer  for  good  or  evil  the  American  high  tween  1 888-1923) .  True,  the  sneers  at 
salary  merit  system,  priding  themselves  such  success  stories  came  even  before  the 
upon  their  perspicacity  in  selecting  men  War  j  the  disillusionment  of  the  more 
and  "leaving  them  alone."  hypercritical  was  just  then  flowering  in 

Early  in  the  century  a  definite  change  small  esoteric  circles.  Although  Ida  Tar- 
arrived.  As  the  founders  of  these  large  bell  had  written  early  in  the  century 
businesses  grew  older  (and  as  sons  and  about  the  Standard  Oil,  and  Lawson's 
relations  were  often  demonstrated  to  Frenzied  Finance  had  appeared  long 
be  weak  reeds  for  the  business  to  lean  before  the  War,  the  criticisms  were 
upon),  or  as  it  seemed  wise  to  incor-  vented  largely  upon  monopoly  and 
porate  into  a  stock  company  for  the  stock-jobbing,  which  were,  after  all, 
purposes  of  estate  division,  the  era  of  depredations  of  a  kind  centuries  old. 
mergers  and  consolidations  took  a  spurt. 

It  had  begun  in  the  'Eighties  and  'Nine-  n 
ties  in  a  few  instances — but  now  it  be-  The  American  faith  and  belief  in  the 
came  wide-spread.  This  set  firmly  upon  high-salaried  executive  was  not  easily 
its  feet  the  high  salary  and  bonus  plan  shattered  because  it  was  bound  up  with 
or  merit  system  in  American  industry,  the  idea  of  individual  opportunity  for 
The  merger  definitely  could  not  use  the  the  ordinary  man  in  a  corporate  era. 
old  owners  as  executive  heads  j  they  en-  The  average  man's  experience  as  a  sal- 
gendered  jealousies.  So  younger  men  of  aried  man  in  corporate  employ  indi- 
high  ability  at  high  salaries  and  a  bonus  cated  that  the  merit  system  was  more 
contract  were  chosen.  It  gave  a  great  or  less  genuinely  in  operation,  especially 
lift  to  the  American  people,  and  in-  in  large  corporations.  Corporations  in 
augurated  the  "success"  era,  because  it  competition  must  have  efficiency,  and  on 


BIG  SALARIES  AND  BONUSES                         229 

the  whole  corporations  gave  the  best  Not  to  enter  too  long  analysis  of  this 

man  preference.  point,  it  dawned  on  the  small  stock- 

The    real    disillusionment    of    the  holder  that  in  a  corporation  whose  stock 

American  man  with  regard  to  top  ex-  is  widely  held,  the  men  in  power  may 

ecutives  in  corporations  has  been  of  be  a  handful  of  executives  who  own 

comparatively    recent    growth:    since  only  one  or  two  per  cent  of  stock,  or 

about  15,000,000  Americans  have  be-  indeed  none  at  all,  while  they  diddle 

come   corporation   stockholders.    This  the  real  owners,  the  stockholders,  in  a 

event  (since  the  War)  placed  the  Amer-  wide  variety  of  ways,  chief  of  which  are : 

ican  citizen  in  the  third  segment  of  his  ( i )  the  use  of  inside  information  for 

three-fold  role  in  modern  industrial  civ-  speculation  in  the  company's  stock  j  (2) 

ilization:  (i)  employe,  (2)  consumer,  the  payment  of  large  salaries  and  bo- 

(3)  share-owner.  For  the  first  time  he  nuses  to  themselves  even  at  a  time  when 

was  sitting  at  a  vantage-point  different  they  stop  dividends j  (3)  operate  pools 

from  his  time-honored  place  "below  the  and  milk  the  company  by  means  of 

salt."  He  was  now  a  capitalist  himself,  holding   companies}    (4)    juggle   the 

and  could  at  last  stop  looking  worship-  company's    accounts    to    hide    various 

fully  up  at  the  mount  of  his  desires,  and  forms  of  use  of  their  position  for  their 

instead  see  how  things  looked  from  the  personal  advantage j  (5)  practise  nepo- 

vantage-point  of  financial  ownership.  tism  and  favoritism,  and  stop  (at  the 

Very  soon  he  became  conscious  of  the  top)  the  strict  application  of  the  merit 

rather  absurd  and  anomalous  position  in  system. 

which  this  business  of  being  a  small  During  the  depression  quite  natu- 
share-owner  placed  him.  He  received  at  rally  this  situation  has  come  to  a  sharp 
certain  times  of  the  year  a  proxy  to  sign  focus.  American  stockholders  have  been 
— giving  the  management  complete  very  lax  and  lenient  with  corporations 
freedom  to  vote  as  they  should  choose,  so  long  as  their  stock  rose  in  value  and 
in  the  name  of  his  tiny  holdings.  True,  paid  fair  dividends.  Under  the  impact 
he  could  go  to  the  stockholders'  meet-  of  the  depression  and  the  estoppage  of 
ing,  but  up  to  1930-1931  this  was  felt  so  many  dividends,  the  small  stock- 
to  be  a  bit  stupid.  The  few  cranks  who  holder  got  blood  in  his  eye.  He  began 
did  so  were  either  tolerated  amusedly  in  much  larger  number,  and  with  much 
by  the  officers  in  charge  or  given  very  bolder  manner,  to  attend  stockholders' 
short  shrift.  Even  at  best  the  small  meetings,  to  speak  up,  to  put  the  man- 
stockholder  was  in  the  position  of  some  agement  under  fire, 
one  kept  in  the  ante-room  and  not  al-  And  one  of  the  things  he  discovered 
lowed  to  enter.  He  was  given  only  such  was  that  despite  the  fall  in  stock  values, 
reports  of  operations  as  pleased  the  the  cessation  of  dividends,  the  shrink- 
management,  and  these  were  often  en-  age  of  surpluses,  an  astonishing  number 
tirely  or  partly  refused.  A  great  many  of  executive  salaries  were  actually  in 
corporations  whose  stock  is  listed  on  the  creased  instead  of  decreased,  and  bo- 
New  York  Stock  Exchange  report  net  nuses  continued.  The  actual  facts  on  this 
earnings  only,  and  only  once  a  year,  and  point  have  now  been  assembled  by  the 
while  they  must  supply  balance  sheets,  Federal  Trade  Commission.  While  it 
the  operating  statements  are  very  may  be  true  that  the  figures  were  mar- 
sketchy—not  to  say  manipulated.  shalled  so  as  to  make  them  look  their 


230  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

worst,  and  in  some  instances  misrepre-  true  only  to  a  limited  extent.  During 
sent  the  facts,  nevertheless,  they  are  the  depression  some  very  able  men  were 
revealing  indeed.  Out  of  138  of  the  to  be  had;  yet  as  we  have  seen,  a  great 
largest  corporations  in  the  United  many  companies  boosted  the  salaries  of 
States  paying  $50,000  or  more  per  year  their  executives;  or  to  be  more  exact,  a 
'to  any  executive,  sixty-nine,  or  exactly  great  many  executives  in  full  control  of 
fifty  per  cent,  actually  either  maintained  the  corporation's  affairs,  boosted  their 
or  increased  the  salaries  in  the  depres-  own  salaries.  One  instance  has  come  to 
sion  years  to  officers  over  and  above  the  my  attention  where  the  one  man  in  corn- 
amount  paid  in  1929.  Some  did  not  con-  plete  control  asked  all  lesser  executives 
tinue  to  increase  them  in  all  the  depres-  to  accept  severe  cuts  in  salary.  This  they 
sion  years,  and  some  decreased  them  for  did,  and  when  the  salary  and  bonus  fig- 
the  first  time  in  1932  or  1933;  but  one-  ures  came  out  in  the  newspapers,  they 
half  of  these  largest  corporations  in  found  that  the  executive  had  preserved 
America  ignored  the  depression  so  far  intact  his  own  high  salary  and  bonus 
as  executive  salaries  were  concerned,  or  by  means  of  the  cut  the  others  took. 
acted  as  if  it  were  an  occasion  to  raise  A  storm  arose,  but  the  top  executive 
salaries,  even  if  earnings  dropped.  A  merely  disappeared  for  a  month  in 
number  of  large  corporations  refused  to  Florida.  Such  things  are  surely  not  in 
give  any  information.  line  with  the  theory  of  competition,  for 

Out  of  forty  of  the  larger  cor-  when  sales  are  falling  and  the  market 
porations  studied,  twelve  increased  for  talent  is  full  of  available  men,  one 
their  salary  or  bonus  payments  despite  would  expect  changes  to  be  made;  exec- 
decreased  earnings;  twenty-one  did  utives  dropped  and  others  put  in  their 
not  materially  decrease  them,  and  place;  or  at  least  cuts  in  salary  horizon- 
seven  refused  to  disclose  earnings  tally  applied, 
figures.  Quite  obviously,  the  cold  truth  is 

As  to  the  average  salary  paid  in  these  that  many  managements  composed  of 
138  corporation  instances,  the  variations  cliques  of  top  executives  entrenched 
by  years  and  other  things  make  it  im-  themselves  still  more  favorably  in  their 
possible  to  arrive  at  a  wholly  exact  positions  during  the  depression,  and 
average,  but  it  is  somewhere  in  the  there  were  no  masters  to  drive  them 
neighborhood  of  $76,000.  Bills  have  out.  In  cases  where  bankers  were  power- 
been  introduced  in  Congress  to  take  ful,  the  bankers  were  often  co-conspira- 
eighty  per  cent  of  all  salaries  over  tors  for  high  salaries  for  the  top  men 
$75,000  in  taxation,  or  to  prevent  cor-  they  had  selected.  The  directors  often 
porations  from  calculating  salaries  over  being  the  mere  creatures  of  the  ruling 
a  certain  amount  as  such  in  their  corpo-  group  of  executives,  and  the  stockhold- 
ration  tax  reports.  ers  being  powerless,  there  was  no  one 

to  stop  the  management.  True,  some  of 

111  them  had  contracts,  and  the  high  sala- 

How  much  justification,  in  terms  of  ries  for  this  reason  ran  on  into  dep res- 
business  reality,  is  there  in  high  execu-  sion  years;  but  the  depression  has  been 
tive  salaries?  The  argument  is  of  course  an  era  when  even  landlords  relaxed 
that  competition  for  high  grade  ability  leases,  and  when  voluntary  adjustments 
sets  the  rate  of  salary.  This  is  probably  have  been  the  rule.  Certainly  the 


BIG  SALARIES  AND  BONUSES                         231 

stock-  and    bondholders    have    often  cure  it,  the  situation  is  quite  different, 

enough  been  asked  to  give  up  their  Often  the  salary  roll  of  top  executives 

equities.  is  distinctly  padded.  It  is  also  often  true 

It  is  evident  that  a  new  type  of  think-  that  the  high  salary  standard  set  in  a 
ing  about  executives'  salaries  and  bo-  corporation's  period  of  greatest  devel- 
nuses  is  unescapable.  It  began  in  1933  opment  need  becomes,  by  habit  and  tra- 
when  the  railway  executive  salaries  dition,  the  standard  for  the  job  after 
were  adjusted  downward,  after  the  such  great  ability  is  no  longer  necessary. 
RFC  began  to  pump  public  capital  into  Thus  a  new,  weaker  and  less  able  man 
the  railways  to  save  them.  The  old  "rug-  inherits  the  high  salary  jobj  often  a 
ged  individualistic"  picture  of  the  rail-  relative  or  favorite, 
way  president  as  a  masterful  captain  of  We  should  not  destroy  the  incentive 
industry,  a  rare  genius,  worth  a  fabulous  to  genuine  merit  which  good  salaries  for 
salary,  was  just  naturally  obsolete  at  genuine  performance  offer  to  ambitious 
such  a  juncture.  It  is  worthy  of  note  in  men.  We  live  in  a  corporate  age,  and 
passing  that  the  railway  presidents  have  aspiration  to  ownership  is  not  in  many 
always  been  held  up  as  examples  of  men  fields  a  feasible  thing.  Aspiration  to  fine 
who  were  intrinsically  worth  very  large  service — a  three-told  service  (to  stock- 
salaries.  Men  rising  from  the  ranks  were  holders,  employes  and  customers)  is 
held  up  for  publicity  purposes  as  sagas  something  it  would  be  foolish  to  under- 
of  success — when  the  realistic  truth  has  mine  by  quibbling  over  a  high  salary 
been  in  many  instances  that  railway  standard.  I  do  not  think  the  present 
presidents  have  been  the  quite  ordinary  criticism  of  salaries  is  meant  to  do  such 
pawns  of  large  bankers,  with  not  nearly  undermining.  The  nepotism,  favoritism 
the  ruggedly  individual  scope  of  initi-  and  self-perpetuation,  salary  roll  pad- 
ative  and  power  and  rare  ability  that  ding,  bonus  graft,  the  attempt  to  divert 
was  popularly  credited  to  them.  The  surplus  earnings  into  the  pockets  of  in- 
Jim  Hill  and  Harriman  days  passed  a  siders  instead  of  to  the  ordinary  stock- 
long  time  ago.  holders,  who  are  really  the  victims  of 

One  might  come  fairly  near  the  truth  the  modern  corporation  racket — these 

as  to  top  executives  and  their  salaries  by  are   the   objects   of  attack,  and   they 

saying  that  when  an  outstanding  man  of  needed  attack  a  decade  or  two  ago.  We 

demonstrated  merit  and  ability  is  en-  want  a  higher  breed  of  executives,  with 

gaged  at  a  high  salary,  to  do  an  admit-  a  most  meticulous  sense  of  fiduciary  re- 

tedly  difficult  job,  with  a  bonus  for  sponsibility,  and  a  real  sense  of  being 

genuine   performance,   there   is   some  public  servants  to  consumers,  employes 

logic  in  the  matter,  provided  the  salary  and  investors.  In  other  words  a  new  and 

is  not  above  $7 5,000,  and  the  stockhold-  more  honored  profession  of  technical 

ers'  interests  are  being  genuinely  served  managers,  whose  loyalty  is  high  to  the 

(as  they  sometimes  are  when  the  com-  ethics  of  that  profession,  and  who  want 

pany  is  in  a  difficult  position  and  is  fall-  good  but  not  fabulous  salaries.  One  of 

ing  behind  and  thus  needs  an  unusually  the  effects,  already  observed,  of  the 

resourceful  man).  But  when,  as  so  often  publication  of  the  salaries  of  top  execu- 

is  the  case,  there  is  no  excuse  for  the  tives,  is  a  determination  on  the  part  of 

large  salary  except  that  the  company  is  minor  executives  that  there  shall  not 

large  and  the  officers  can  manage  to  se-  be  so  great  a  disparity  between  them. 


232  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Minor  executives'  salaries  in  many  in-  possibility.  There  is  definitely  higher 
stances  have  hung  around  the  $7,500  to  pay  and  larger  material  reward  to  ex- 
$20,000  levels  while  top  executive  sal-  ecutive  classes  in  Russia,  with  the  added 
aries  were  five  to  ten  times  these  sums,  proviso  that  they  subordinate  their  po- 
This  is  obviously  on  its  face  a  discrimi-  litical  opinions  and  free  speech,  or  be 
natory  abuse  of  the  power  of  such  top  ousted.  Nowhere  in  the  world  is  oper- 
executives  for  self-profit,  and  not  a  ated  the  pure  principle  of  "from  each 
true  measure  of  difference.  Many  minor  according  to  his  ability,  to  each  accord- 
executives  bear  the  real  load  of  re-  ing  to  his  need."  The  realistic  facts 
sponsibility.  concerning  the  human  race  forbid  it.  At 

The  percentage  of  the  average  busi-  the  same  time  the  payment  of  salary 

ness  investment  which  salaries  represent  roughly  more  than  thirty-five  times  the 

is  not  great,  of  course.  The  Federal  level  of  a  common  decent  American 

Trade  Commission  found  for  instance  standard  of  living  is  probably  not  very 

in  the  stove  manufacturing  field  that  defensible,  except  in  very  unusual  cases, 

officers'  salaries  represented  2.5  per  cent  There  exist  in  human  minds  certain  ele- 

in  19215  furniture  manufacturers'  4.7  mental  scales  of  justice,  and  a  ratio  of 

per  cent.  The  percentage  of  total  sala-  from  two  to  thirty-five  times  the  ordi- 

ries  to  investment  is  generally  below  six  nary  decent  American  standard  of  liv- 

per  cent  in  most  industries.  ing  sticks  in  the  fairest  American  minds 

As  regards  the  dreams  of  radical  re-  as  the  top  limits  of  a  sound  ratio,  leaving 
formers,  of  a  society  in  which  the  only  plenty  of  room  for  reward  for  both  am- 
reward  will  be  public  appreciation  and  bition  and  scarcity  of  ability.  Beyond 
a  sense  of  social  duty  well  done,  and  in  that  it  now  takes  on  a  swinish  aspect, 
which  will  rule  the  principle  of  "from  and  incites  suspicion  of  sinecure  or  ex- 
each  according  to  his  ability,  and  to  each  tortion  or  stranglehold  on  what  is  no 
according  to  his  need" — this  is  already  longer  regarded  as  entirely  private 
known  in  Russia  to  be  an  Utopian  im-  enterprise. 


The  League's  "Black  Baby"  * 

BY  IGNATIUS  PHAYRE 

Liberia  has  exhausted  the  patience  of  her  fellow  members  in  the 

League  of  Nations^  and  there  is  thought  of  depositing 

her  as  yet  another  responsibility  on  President 

Roosevelt's  doorstep 

FOR  ten  years  the  august  Council  in  murderous  robbers  j  his  armies  (both 

Geneva  has  had  a  peck  of  trouble  native  and  hired)  a  merciless  Attila- 

with  those  carefree  "Americoes"  horde — burning  and  looting,  raping  the 

of  freedom's  own  republic.  They  are  tribal  women  and  driving  these  "in- 

so  far  off — between  Sierra  Leone  and  ferior"  pagan  blacks  into  the  African 

the  French  Ivory  Coast.  Their  realm  waste,  there  to  starve  or  fall  a  prey  to 

has  no  port — luckily,  seeing  that  yellow  prowling  beasts. 

fever  is  rife  and  all  ships  liable  to  con-  The  powers  were  staggered  at  this 
tagion.  The  powers  have  been  haunted  indictment  of  Liberia.  One  of  their  own 
by  this  Liberia.  After  all,  it  is  a  "sover-  League  members,  too !  Even  an  "Ally" 
eign  state."  It  has  a  four-year  Presi-  who  had  "declared  war"  upon  Germany 
dent ;  a  Senate,  too,  and  a  Lower  House,  and  suffered  a  salvo  or  two  in  conse- 
as  well  as  a  Supreme  Court  and  an  army,  quence  from  the  five-inch  gun  of  a  sub- 
America  has  from  the  first  served  as  marine — until  its  amazed  commander 
model  and  pattern  for  the  "Americoes."  realized  he  was  shooting  at  a  tropical 
Anyhow,  here  is  all  the  panoply  of  a  zero  and  withdrew  for  very  shame.  Yet 
"nation."  It  was  launched  (from  the  a  "Christian"  country  was  his  target, 
United  States)  over  a  century  ago,  ap-  one  settled  in  the  long  ago  by  dusky 
parently  with  the  blessing  of  James  Puritan  exiles  who  set  up  a  proud  Lone 
Monroe — whose  historic  name  an  un-  Star  banner  that  bore  this  device:  "Love 
imaginable  capital  bears  unto  this  day.  of  liberty  has  brought  us  here!" 
And  yet  dreadful  whispers  have  long  So  the  League  of  Nations  scouted  as 
floated  overseas  from  harried  and  slander  all  the  evil  tales  that  came 
hunted  savages  of  Liberia's  hinterland,  from  heathens  of  the  bush  frontiers.  In 
How  they  ever  heard  of  the  League  is  Geneva's  Council  Chamber,  State  Sec- 
a  mystery.  But  their  long  wails  boil  retary  Grimes  and  Mr.  Sottile  gave  the 
down  to  this:  that  President  King  was  "facts"  a  different  tinge.  Liberia  (her 
a  "blackbirder"  and  slave-raider  j  that  delegates  vowed)  had  nothing  to  hide 
his  "Administration"  was  a  gang  of  but  her  own  lack  of  loans.  There  was  a 


234  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

growing  shyness  on  the  part  of  Ameri-  men  like  Sir  John  Simon  and  Viscount 

cans  to  help  the  "Americoes" — those  Cecil,  with  Barthou  of  France  and  Aloisi 

husky  offspring  of  their  own  exuberant  of  Italy,  debating  gravely  about  Liberia 

loins.  as  though   that  tragi-comic  pest-hole 

Moreover,  if  white  snoopers  were  to  were  a  civilized,  or  even  a  semi-civilized 

be  sent  out  there  to  inquire,  they  must  land.  When  the  truth  flamed  out  later 

respect  the  President's  office,  and  also  on  in  the  Christy  Commission's  report, 

"the  political,  intellectual  and  economic  even  State  Secretary  Stimson  found  it  a 

independence  of  Liberia."  All  such  in-  "shocking  indictment." 
vestigators  should  be  under  the  Chief 
Executive.   If  a  white  adviser  were 

named  by  the  League,  he  must  take  his  New  facts  came  rolling  year  after 
advice  from  the  "Palace";  from  Mon-  year.  Gradually  Liberia  was  seen  as  a 
rovia's  learned  Congress,  or  from  courts  sort  of  jungle  patch  as  big  as  England 
of  justice  of  spotless  Periclean  purity,  or  New  York  State.  Here  some  15,000 
Furthermore,  any  experts  in  accounts  black  "Americoes"  lorded  it  over  hea- 
and  finance  which  the  powers  might  then  and  Moslem  tribes,  about  two  mil- 
send  must  pass  Liberian  examinations  lions  in  all.  The  main  industry  seemed 
on  landing  to  make  sure  they  were  up  to  be  collecting  taxes  from  those  primi- 
to  West  African  standards  in  their  tive  folk.  And  the  process  used  was 
several  jobs.  Foreign  Minister  Grimes  simple.  A  ragged  (but  well-armed) 
made  quite  a  hit  as  he  laid  down  the  Frontier  Force  swooped  down  upon 
republic's  law  to  these  foreigners  in  tribal  villages  under  a  black  general 
Geneva.  who  was  all  medals  and  gold  braid. 

But  who  was  to  pay  the  expenses  of  Some  of  the  victims  were  meek,  and 
investigation?  Why,  the  League  itself,  paid  up  in  foodstuffs,  ivory  and  cattle. 
Mr.  Grimes  said  with  surprise.  It  was  Other  clans  were  meeker  still,  and 
a  League  idea.  And  the  League  was  parted  twice  over  under  threats  of  burn- 
rich,  whereas  Liberia  .  .  .  !  But  in  fact,  ing  their  huts  and  wholesale  shooting 
all  the  republic  needed  was  "adjust-  of  the  "rebels." 

ing";  then  she  could  "go"  at  any  mile-  But  some  of  the  Kru-coast  men  could 

age  to  the  gallon.  fight;    and   often   Liberia's   prowling 

The  Secretary-General  demurred  at  Foch  had  his  black  hands  full  in  a  hor- 
this.  The  League  could  not  advance  net's  nest  of  desperate  resistance, 
funds  for  a  Commission  without  "an  as-  Then  that  general  would  hire  Mendi 
surance  of  reimbursement."  At  last  Mr.  mercenaries  to  help  him:  warrior-loot- 
Grimes  agreed  to  cable  Monrovia  on  ers  from  the  Sierra  Leone  border.  The 
this  delicate  matter — "But  I  haf  no  havoc  of  a  typical  tax-collection  was  con- 
much  hope  of  success."  At  his  black  el-  veyed  to  the  League  of  Nations  by  Dr. 
bow  sat  Mr.  Sottile,  who  now  hopped  M.  D.  Mackenzie,  of  its  own  Health 
up  with  fluent  pidgin  English.  Section.  He  found  fierce  battues  going 

"No  use  a  promise.  If  we  gave,  we  on  in  the  Sasstown  area.  Forty-four 

may  not  keep."  Even  their  state  officials  native  villages  had  been  set  ablaze  by 

had  not  had  a  dollar  of  pay  for  the  past  President  King's  brigand  army.  Over 

eight  months.  a   hundred   natives   had  been  killed, 

To  me,  it  was  highly  humorous  to  see  and  1 2,000  unwilling  taxpayers — men, 


THE  LEAGUE'S  "BLACK  BABY"          235 

women  and  children — of  the  Borroh,  bishop  of  'Canterbury.  To  His  Grace, 

Dio  and  Wissepo  clans  had  been  chased  the  Lone  Star  Republic  was  "one  of  the 

out  of  their  flaming  huts  into  tropic  and  most  lamentable  tragedies  of  history." 

waterless  wilds  beyond,  there  to  die  of  Neither  "could  we  rest  while  this  blot 

hunger  and  thirst  in  an  unmapped  re-  on  civilization  remained." 

gion  of  gorillas  and  pigmy  elephants.  Both  Viscount  Cecil  and  Earl  Buxton 

After  these  raids,  the  army  of  free-  were  for  pitching  Liberia  out  of  the 
dom's  state  marched  home  to  hand  over  League  forthwith.  And  as  Sir  John 
its  booty  to  the  Chief  Executive,  his  Simon's  spokesman  in  the  Lords,  Earl 
Senate,  Congress  and  Treasury.  Besides  Stanhope  wound  up  the  sitting  with  a 
payments  in  kind,  our  golden  general  call  for  "drastic  action."  Misery  and 
rounded  up  every  hefty  male  he  could  misrule  had  long  been  Liberia's  lot  j  and 
get  chains  upon.  For  "blackbirding"  and  in  the  past  two  years  "things  had  gone 
tax-gathering  went  together  as  part  of  from  bad  to  worse."  The  republic  was 
Liberia's  national  defense.  Money  the  riddled  with  plague:  "Not  only  was 
state  must  have — not  for  any  public  she  thus  a  danger  to  herself  and  the  rest 
works,  but  mainly  for  executive  and  of  West  Africa,  but  also  to  the  whole 
ministerial  pockets.  It  was  there  the  world."  Yet  this  monstrosity,  Lord 
various  American  loans  had  melted.  Stanhope  grieved  to  say,  was  "a  Foun- 
And  the  sale  of  slaves  at  $300  each  dation  Member  of  the  League,"  to- 
formed  a  tidy  presidential  perquisite  gether  with  Great  Britain,  France  and 
besides.  After  all,  what  were  these  Italy!  Truly,  the  irony  of  Voltaire  is 
outlying  pagans  for  if  not  to  provide  justified  on  the  crazy  governance  of 
revenue  for  the  superior  "Americo-  human  affairs. 

Liberian"  Administration  which,  all  the  How  does  the  Monrovian  Govern- 

world  knew,  was  molded  on  George  ment  take  this  torrent  of  scathing?  With 

Washington's  own  ideal  polity?  injured  pride,  blocking  every  measure 

So  these  hapless  savages  were  period-  of  reform  and  only  asking  for  more  and 
ically  rounded  up,  just  as  the  native  yet  more  "loans."  Dr.  Cuthbert  Chris- 
Princes  of  India  corral  their  jungle  ele-  ty's  report  spoke  of  "tragic"  finances, 
phants  for  labor  in  the  teak  forests  of  Britain's  Lord  Privy  Seal  could  assure 
Burmah.  President  King  had  an  ever-  the  League  Council  that  this  shabby 
ready  market  for  his  army's  catch.  He  wreck  of  a  state  "had  no  budget,  no 
took  bids  for  his  slaves,  body  and  soul,  accounts,  no  money."  And  not  only  did 
from  the  cocoa-planters  of  the  Portu-  Liberia  take  no  steps  to  control  yellow 
guese  Isles  of  Sao  Thome  and  Principe,  fever  and  plague — she  couldn't  be  both- 
At  one  time  this  arrogant  Negro  was  ered  even  to  notice  them,  and  so  contin- 
selling  three  hundred  captives  a  month  ued  to  wallow  in  vileness,  more  than 
at  the  figure  I  have  named  above.  pleased  with  her  own  estate.  Did  not 

Well  might  the  League  ask  what  this  abysmal  "republic"  break  off  rela- 
was  to  be  done  about  Liberia?  Britain's  tions  with  the  United  States  over  a  de- 
House  of  Lords  gave  a  full-dress  debate  fault  on  a  loan?  And  to  the  French 
to  the  future  of  a  "Black  Baby"  that  no-  Charge  d'Affaires  President  Barclay 
body  cared  to  nurse.  I  was  in  the  gallery  complained  of  "insult"  to  his  high  office 
of  that  Scarlet  Chamber,  and  caught  ex-  and  person  on  the  part  of  a  very  rude 
clamations  of  horror  from  the  Arch-  American  Minister! 


236  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

r 

knocked  out  and  he  lay  lifeless  for 

111  twenty  minutes.  The  white  man  was  at 

But  what  is  the  metropolis  of  Monro-  once  arrested  for  murder!  Court  hear- 
via  like?  It  is  a  nightmare:  a  foul  yet  ings  were  a  screaming  farce j  the  black 
funny  purgatory  of  sickening  smells  and  judge  above  all,  with  his  pompous 
obscenity.  Yet  what  a  book  that  dread-  "English"  and  shrill  wrangles  with 
ful  warren  would  make;  a  true  best-  his  "prisonaire."  The  latter  was  given 
seller,  if  done  by  a  master  hand.  Why  twenty  years  in  jail  for  his  heavy  upper- 
has  no  great  newspaper  put  a  corre-  cut,  plus  a  fine  of  $20,000.  The  "con- 
spondent  there,  to  tell  droller  and  mad-  demned  man"  strolled  home  laughing 
der  tales  than  were  ever  flashed  in  the  with  his  consul,  and  the  case  at  least  was 
most  extravagant  movies.  An  army  mu-  dead  and  buried, 
tiny,  for  instance,  raging  outside  the  Then  an  Englishman  was  haled  up 
tumble-down  Treasury  to  get  a  few  dol-  for  exceeding  the  speed  limit  in  his  car 
lars  in  exchange  for  soiled  and  tattered  on  Liberia's  one  and  only  public  road. 
I.O.U.'s.  A  battered  door  opens  pres-  When  he  proved  he  was  doing  only  ten 
ently,  and  the  Minister  steps  out  in  a  miles  an  hour,  the  magistrate  nearly 
well-cut  suit  and  high  hat.  choked. 

"Soldiers  of  the  Republic! "  he  bawls  "HaP  silence,  sah;  I  mastah  hee-yer ! 

at  the  swaying  mob— "HaP  courage  Nevah  yo'  unnahstan'  Republic's  law. 

once!  Practiss-ss  the  patience  yett-t-t ! "  HaP  you  NO  culta?  Hed  yo'  no  fat'er, 

Those  hungry  troops  shamble  off  to  no  mo'ter  to  gif  yo'  culta?  Max'mum 

"practiss"  it — for  machine-gun  barrels  speed  hee-yer  is  fifteen  miles,  sah !  An' 

are  now  poked  out  of  the  broken  win-  yo'  espec'  me  let  yo'  off  by  confessin' 

dows.  .  .  .  Weeks  drag  on  into  months,  ten?  No,  sah.  Twenty  dollahs  fine.  .  .  . 

Another  siege  threatens.  The  "Palace"  Soldiers  of  the  Republic!"  At  this  stern 

itself  is  in  peril  (a  shove  would  over-  call,  four  scarecrows  moved  upon  the 

turn  that  ugly  barn).  This  time  two  glib  victim— who    promptly    moved    out, 

Americoes  hustle  round  among  the  des-  leaving  fifty  cents  as  a  douceur  for  his 

perate  men.  prospective  jailers. 

"We  buy  yo'  vouchers !  Five  per  cent  Seen  from  the  sea,  this  awful  town 

of  face  value!"  shows  nothing  but  a  flimsy  customs 

The  offer  is  meaningless  to  these  shed,  flying  the  Lone  Star  flag  which 
Negro  dupes.  But  when  it  is  made  clear  not  one  in  a  million  could  identify, 
that  real  money  is  meant,  there  is  a  wild  Your  ship  lies  afar  off,  safe  from  all 
stampede  to  sell  scraps  of  paper  for  contact  with  a  poisonous  coast.  The  new- 
silver  dollars.  Those  same  vouchers  a  comer  is  aghast  at  Monrovia's  "Broad- 
grafting  Chancellor  promptly  redeems  way."  Broad  it  is;  a  wide  swathe  cut  in 
at  par,  in  the  true  Liberian  "system."  a  jungly  place,  with  a  narrow  strip  in 

And  then  the  law  court  scenes  and  the  centre,  trampled  flat  by  slouching, 

cases.  One  day  a  giant  Americo  had  half-naked  Americoes. 

"words"  with  a  real  American — who  The  sides  form  thickets  of  rank  weeds 

was  a  noted  boxer.  The  native  pressed  and  noisome  gutters,  bridged  here  and 

for  a  bare-fist  fight:  it  was  very  brief,  there  with  broken  gin-cases.  Even  big 

and  brought  trouble  in  its  wake.  In  the  rocks  crop  out  on  Monrovia's  "Main 

first   round,   the   huge   Liberian   was  Street,"   as   when   the   world   began. 


THE  LEAGUE'S  "BLACK  BABY"         237 

Abject  huts  of  rubble  or  unhewn  stone,  not  "Americoes,"  but  men  and  women 

crumbling  to  bits  and  with  yawning  of  self-respect  and  poise, 
thatch,  form  teeming  lanes  full  of  black 

humanity  and  fearsome  smells.  Before  ^ 
the  doors  lie  open  drains  and  dung-  Truly  this  Liberia  is  a  haunting  mem- 
heaps,  on  which  horrible  dogs  nose  for  ory$  it  is  also  proof  positive — if  any 
food  and  fight  all  day.  were  needed — that  the  Negro  "nation" 

Here  and  there  a  bloated  carcass  or  is  a  contradiction  in  terms.  Look  at 

a  heap  of  filth  clogs  up  the  sewage,  Haiti's  incredible  record  since  Napole- 

and  putrid  pools  overflow  to  invade  on's  legions  sickened  and  died  there 

wretched  hovels  in  which  one  could  not  long  ago.  I  was  in  Port-au-Prince  in 

house  swine.  Larger  dwellings  lean  this  1915  when  raging  citizens  dragged  their 

way  and  that,  as  though  about  to  col-  President  limb  from  limb,  and  then 

lapse  in  the  reeking  lanes.  Through  paraded  past  the  legations,  waving  bits 

these  shuffle  Liberian  citizens,  more  and  scraps  of  their  late  Chief  Executive, 

indecent  than  any  nudist,  and  partly  who  had  fled  for  refuge  to  the  Minister 

covered  with  dirty  rags  of  evil  sug-  of  France!  Yet  how  beautiful  a  land  is 

gestion.  Haiti  j  a  tropic  Switzerland,  where  cof- 

Upon  holed  and  rotting  porches  loll  fee  and  cotton  grow  wild.  But  if  that 

other  Liberians,  hailing  the  stranger  Carib  paradise  is  "hopeless,"  what  shall 

boldly  in  a  lingo  which  is  hard  to  make  I  say  of  freedom's  own  realm,  which 

out  at  first.  There  are  no  railroads  herej  calls  itself  Liberia? 

no  lights,  no  sanitation  or  decent  water  As  a  political  problem,  this  lurching 

supply.  Beside  this  capital  of  a  League  republic  persists.  The  League  wants  to 

of  Nations  member,  a  village  of  Hot-  wash  it  out  of  Geneva,  once  and  for  all. 

tentots  or  Zulus  is  a  model  settlement.  But  where?  All  signs  point  to  the  cus- 

As  for  the  "White  House"  of  this  tody  of  the  United  States.  But  surely 

black  inferno  and  the  Congress,  Treas-  Washington  will  have  a  say  to  that, 

ury  and  public  offices,  these  depressed  The  League  Council  has  withdrawn  "as- 

me  even  more  than  the  bestial  squalor  sistance"  from  the  Black  Baby  whose 

of  the  streets.  How  consular  and  other  tantrums  have  disturbed  its  harmony 

foreign  officers,  as  well  as  American  and  these  many  years — just  as  they  jarred 

European  traders  can  live  here  and  keep  on  Theodore  Roosevelt  in  1909  over 

their  reason  is  an  eloquent  tribute  to  the  the  endless  "debt  adjustment." 

soul-strength  of  civilized  man.  Great  Britain — after  a  recital  of  mis- 

The  mission  schools  form  a  bright  deeds  for  which  her  Lord  Privy  Seal 

spot  in  this  darkling  hell.  Where  is  the  finds  it  "hard  to  apply  terms  sufficiently 

white  visitor  to  stay?  What  shall  he  eat,  strong" — seeks  to  dump  this  foundling 

how  escape  these  frightful  odors,  from  into  somebody  else's  arms.  "It  is  the 

which  our  house-dogs  would  flee?  The  view  of  His  Majesty's  Government," 

consular  corps  are  very  kind  to  callers,  Mr.   Eden  told  the  full  Council  in 

and  so  are  the  missionaries.  And  always  Geneva,  "and  I  state  it  with  the  utmost 

there  is  the  nearby  jungle,  where  at  earnestness — that  Liberia  has  so  grossly 

least  one  can  breathe  without  retching,  failed  in  her  obligations  as  a  member  of 

One  may  even  encounter  wild  beasts  the  League  of  Nations,  that  the  League 

that  are  clean,  and  stark  savages  who  are  is  quite  entitled  to  consider  her  expul- 


238  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

sion  under  Paragraph  4  of  Article  16."  did  Baron  Aloisi  on  Italy's  behalf.  The 
Very  well.  But  the  Black  Orphan —  League  Rapporteur  said  ditto,  and  the 
like  the  dead  cat  in  the  cistern — is  still  entire  Council  concurred.  So  Europe 
there!  Who  is  going  to  care  for  it?  The  was  through  with  this  clinging  curse. 
British  Minister  goes  on  to  tell  us.  "On  To  America  these  "Americoes"  prop- 
humanitarian  grounds"  it  was  proposed  erly  belonged.  Over  there  was  their 
"to  approach  the  United  States  Govern-  "Open  Door."  State  Secretary  Grimes 
ment,"  since  that  power  "appeared  to  be  and  Mr.  Sottile  put  in  a  strong  Monro- 
the  most  closely  associated,  both  histori-  vian  protest  at  this  slur  upon  their  "sov- 
cally  and  economically,  with  Liberia."  ereignty."  Nobody  heard  them.  Neither 
There  you  have  it.  A  back  door  is  to  has  anybody  heard  from  President 
be  found  in  the  White  House  for  a  black  Roosevelt  about  a  new  "code"  of  con- 
waif  that  nobody  wants.  The  French  duct  for  the  foundling  which  the  League 
Foreign  Minister  agreed  to  this.  So  would  push  into  his  all-embracing  arms! 


Man  Alone 

BY  FRANCES  FROST 


ENEATH  the  blowing  summer  sun 

the  burst  leaves  shaken  in  the  gust 
will  soon  be  crumbling  webs  of  dust 
against  the  sunken  rocks.  The  run 

of  clear  and  downhill  streams  will  shrink 
gulped  by  heat,  where  now  the  shy 
muzzles  of  drifting  creatures  drink 
under  a  soft  and  kindly  sky. 

Star-flowers  bloom  in  ripening  land 
where  copper  mushrooms  soon  will  raise 
their  curved  roofs  into  rain.  Where  stand 
young  grasses,  maple-slopes  will  praise 

the  summer's  end  with  fiery  leaves. 

But  striding  the  bare  and  wingless  wood, 

man  alone  will  regret  the  good 

in  the  gentian's  death,  in  the  gathered  sheaves. 


Is  There  Any  Solution  for  the 
P  Labor  Problem? 

BY  FREMONT  RIDER 

Who  believes  that  there  is  at  least  a  method  of  finding  the 

solution,  if  we  are  willing  to  try  it? 

"TT-  ONGSHOREMEN  Strike  in  San  tion  7-A"  into  his  courageous  recovery 
;  Francisco" — "Labor  Riots  in  programme  I  strongly  suspect  that  he 
A  *4  Cleveland"— "Steel  Workers  had  very  little  idea  of  the  immediate 
Threaten  Strike" — "Typewriter  Em-  and  continually  growing  trouble  that 
ployes  Demand  Union  Recognition"  this  section  was  bound  to  create,  for,  if 
— "Truck  Drivers  Mob  Police" —  the  whole  programme  should  finally 
"Body  Makers  Walk  Out"— "Two  come  to  grief,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
Men  Killed  in  Attack  on  Factory" —  future  historians  will  record  that  it  was 
such  headlines  as  these  are  repeated  primarily  Section  7-A  which  wrecked 
week  after  week,  month  after  month,  it.  But,  if  Section  7-A,  abruptly  and 
year  after  year,  increasing  in  times  of  quite  unnecessarily,  made  the  labor 
general  prosperity,  decreasing  in  times  problem  more  acute,  that  was  all  that 
of  depression — when  jobs  become  more  it  did:  it  did  not  create  it}  the  "prob- 
desirable.  Headlines  to  which  the  aver-  lem"  is  one  that  has  always  been  a 
age  citizen's  reaction  has  become  a  mix-  thorn  in  the  side  of  civilization.  The 
ture  of  impatience,  bewilderment  and  men  and  women  who  work  have  as  a 
apprehension.  The  "labor  problem":  is  whole  never  been  satisfied  with  either 
there,  he  asks,  no  solution  to  it?  Are  the  terms  or  the  rewards  of  their  labor, 
men  and  women  never  to  find  a  way  to  As  a  whole  they  had  little  reason  to  be. 
work  together,  employer  and  em-  And  it  is  quite  beside  the  point  to  say 
ployed,  director  and  directed,  leader  that  men  and  women  will  never  be  sat- 
and  led — whatever  you  may  term  their  isfied  with  anything,  that  "divine  dis- 
relationship — happily  and  efficiently?  content"  is  our  common  heritage.  The 
Must  we,  always  and  forever,  have  this  problem  is  not  so  much  to  make  the 
stupid  record  of  strikes,  lockouts,  riots,  workman  entirely  satisfied  with  what 
sabotage  and  bloodshed — continual  he  has,  as  to  make  him  feel  that  he  is 
headlines  of  struggle,  waste  and  dis-  working  under  a  system  which,  con- 
content?  tinually  and  automatically,  is  giving 
When  the  President  inserted  "Sec-  him  all  that  he  is  at  the  moment  fairly 


240 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


entitled  to  have,  and  that  also  is  so 
functioning  as  to  be  likely  continually 
and  automatically  to  give  him  more. 

In  one  of  his  most  searching  essays 
Walter  Lippmann  pointed  out  the 
will-o'-the-wisp  quality  of  all  social 
"final  settlements,"  the  inherently 
evanescent  character  of  all  economic 
"solutions."  Because  we  live  in  a  world 
of  live  men  and  women  we  live  in  a 
constantly  changing  world,  a  world 
where  nothing  is  stable  or  static,  least 
of  all  human  needs  and  hopes.  The 
poorest  workman  in  the  United  States 
is  probably  better  provided  with  the 
"satisfactions"  of  life  than  the  richest 
one  was  a  few  centuries  ago.  No  work 
ers  today  in  any  other  country  in  the 
world  enjoy  a  tithe  of  the  material 
things  which  our  workers  here  take  for 
granted.  But  is  this  any  reason  for  con 
demning  them  because  they  want  still 
more?  Of  course  not.  Neither  for  want 
ing  it,  nor  for  trying  to  get  it. 

What  I  am  driving  at  is  this:  that, 
because  there  is  practically  no  limit  to 
what  men  may  want,  so  any  attempt 
to  formulate  a  "solution"  to  the  labor 
problem  must  formulate  a  means,  not 
an  end,  must  outline  a  method  for  at 
tainment,  not  a  result  to  be  attained. 

In  attempting  such  a  solution,  if  we 
are  to  do  justice,  we  must  be  extremely 
careful  that,  in  endeavoring  to  help  one 
class  of  workers,  we  do  not  injure  some 
other  class.  We  must  be  careful,  for 
instance,  that,  in  endeavoring  to  help 
the  urban  industrial  worker,  we  do  not 
do  injustice  to  the  rural  agricultural 
worker  5  that,  in  seeking  to  help  the 
manual  laborer,  we  do  not  harm  the 
brain  worker  or  the  white-collar  man; 
that,  in  attempting  to  aid  present  work 
ers,  we  do  not  injure  the  young,  the  old, 
the  dependent — that  is,  those  who  have 
passed,  or  who  have  not  yet  reached, 


their  working  years.  It  is  necessary  to 
mention  this  because  it  is  unfortunately 
the  fact  that  altogether  too  much  of  our 
so-called  recovery  legislation  has  failed 
of  its  object,  just  because,  however  well- 
intentioned,  it  apparently  failed  to  look 
beyond  the  needs  of  the  one  particular 
class  for  whose  benefit  it  was  devised. 
The  result  was  that,  although  that  class 
was  benefited — temporarily  or  super 
ficially — the  lot  of  other  large  classes 
of  the  population  was  definitely  made 
worse  than  ever. 

So,  for  example,  the  farmer  and  the 
agricultural  laborer  were  helped,  tem 
porarily  and  superficially,  by  some  of 
the  Administration's  AAA  measures, 
but  much  of  this  benefit  was  nullified, 
on  the  one  hand  by  continually  increas 
ing  taxes,  and  on  the  other  hand  by 
the  rapidly  mounting  costs  of  almost 
everything  of  urban  origin  which  they 
bought.  Throughout  the  whole  recov 
ery  programme  there  has  seemed  to  be 
this  grave  lack  of  thinking  through  and 
coordinating  the  various  policies  put 
into  effect,  with  the  result  that,  again 
and  again,  the  desirable  result  of  one 
was  squarely  nullified  by  the  ill  result 
of  another.  That  is  why,  in  any  labor 
proposal,  it  is  particularly  important  to 
examine  all  sides  of  it,  to  follow  out — 
with  all  the  counsel  available — all  of  its 
ramifications  and  consequences,  to  visu 
alize  it,  not  in  theory  but  in  practice — 
in  order  to  be  as  sure  as  may  be  that, 
in  attempting  to  right  great  present 
wrongs,  we  do  not  do  even  greater  new 


ones. 


ii 


Two  years  ago  I  spent  a  night  with 
an  old  college  friend  who  was  running 
a  canning  factory  in  Maryland,  down 
in  that  great  garden  belt,  the  Delmarva 
Peninsula. 


IS  THERE  ANY  SOLUTION  FOR  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM?  241 

"Business?"  I  asked  him.  Only  to         "And  the  farmer — at  twenty  cents  a 

learn,  as  I  had  expected,  that  business  basket — what  does  he  get  for  his  toma- 

was  "terrible."  I  prodded  him  with  a  toes?" 
few  questions.  "He — he  just  gets  left,"  said  my 

"Look  here,"  he  said  abruptly,  pick-  friend.  "They  don't  pay  him,  after  taxes 

ing  a  can  of  tomatoes  out  of  a  full  case  and  fertilizer,  even  five  dollars  a  week." 

ready  for  shipment,  "what  do  you  pay  He   paused   contemplatively.    "Some- 

your  grocer  in  New  York  for  these?"  thing's  damn  wrong,"  he  concluded. 

"About  four  for  a  quarter  at  the         He  was  right.  Something  was  wrong. 

A.  &  P.,"  I  said.  Something,   for  that   matter,   is   still 

"Yeah,"  he  replied.  "We  sell  'em  to  wrong;  for  the  disparity  between  agri- 

the  chains  at  under  three  cents  a  can —  cultural  and  industrial  labor,  between 

and  they  have  to  pay  all  transportation  the  seventy-dollar-a-week  lithographer 

costs,  remember.  We  pay  the  farmers  and  the  five-dollar-a-week  farmer  (and 

hereabouts  less  than  twenty  cents  a  bas-  the  latter,  incidentally,  working  half 

ket  for  the  tomatoes  that  go  into  that  again   as   many   hours,   and   twice  as 

can — less  than  a  cent  a  can.  The  can  and  hard ! )  hasn't  been  ameliorated  appreci- 

the  solder  and  the  cases  cost  me  another  ably  in  the  two  years  that  have  elapsed 

half  cent.  We  get  out  of  it  for  ourselves,  since  this  conversation.  When  you  look 

for  all  our  manufacturing  costs  and  for  the  "cause  of  the  depression"  it 

profit — only  there  isn't  any  profit  these  might  be  worth  your  while,  it  seems  to 

days — three-quarters  of  a  cent  j  while —  me,  to  remember  that  tomato  can  label! 

now  get  this — for  this  label  I  pay  al-  It  is  still  the  city  worker,  the  industrial 

most  another  half  cent.  You're  in  the  worker,  whose  labor  troubles  get  all  the 

printing  business:  how  come?  Less  than  newspaper  headlines.  The  farmer,  and 

a  cent  a  can  to  the  farmer  for  the  stuff  his  helpers,  having  learned  patience 

in  the  can  that  the  public  buys  and  eats:  from  Mother  Nature,  have  suffered, 

as  much,  or  almost  as  much,  for  the  and    for   many   years,    relatively    far 

label  wrapped  around  it?"  greater  wrong  in  silence. 

"Why  don't  you  leave  the  label  off?"         But  why  is  it  that  farm  incomes  are 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders.  I  looked  so  far  out  of  line  with  industrial  in- 
at  his  label.  It  was  a  particularly  gaudy  comes?  Primarily — and  I  should  like  to 
example  of  four-color-and-embossed-  emphasize  this  putting  of  the  horse  be- 
imitation-gold  tomato  still  life.  "That's  f°re  the  cart! — because  farm  wages  are 
easy,"  I  replied.  "The  engravers  who  so  ^ar  out  of  line  with  industrial  wages, 
made  the  plates  for  that  label,  and  There  is  a  cause  and  effect  j  but  cause 
the  lithographers  who  printed  it,  are  and  effect,  as  they  have  been  custom- 
strongly  unionized,  and  are  among  the  ar^7  analyzed,  should  be  exactly  re- 
highest  paid  workmen  in  the  United  versed.  Why  are  they  so  out  of  line? 
States.  They  get  at  present  nearly  sev-  Primarily  because  government  has,  for 
enty  dollars  a  week.  What  do  your  folks  many  years,  done  just  what  it  has  con- 
here  get? "  tinued  to  do  in  its  recent  recovery  meas- 

"Seventy  dollars?"  He  whistled  in-  ures — followed  the  policy  of  favoring 

credulously.  "I  pay  my  cannery  girls  the  industrial  worker  over  the  agricul- 

$5.50  a  week,"  he  said,  "and  that's  tural  worker,  both  by  direct  legislative 

higher  than  the  average."  enactment  and  by  the  uneven  enforce- 


242  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

ment  of  existing  law.  Why,  for  instance,  keep  our  thinking  straight  in  this  mat- 
has  the  present  Government  specifically  ter — temporary  local  gluts,  due  in  some 
refused  to  admit  agricultural  labor  to  cases  to  lack  of  effective  distributing  ma- 
the  benefits  of  its  minimum  wage  and  chinery,  but  mainly  due  to  lack  of  suffi- 
maximum  work  week  provisions?  Partly  cient  effective  purchasing  power.  And 
because,  although  it  admitted  the  in-  the  curious  thing  is  that  all  these  gluts, 
justice  of  such  a  discrimination,  it  felt  or  practically  all  of  them,  will  be  found, 
it  was  "impracticable"  to  do  otherwise,  on  careful  analysis,  to  arise  from  gov- 
Partly  because,  knowing  that  the  farmer,  ernmental  interference,  in  some  form  or 
as  owner  and  employer,  was  in  desperate  other,  with  the  world's  business  and  eco- 
straits  himself,  it  thought  that  it  would  nomic  machinery, 
help  him  if  it  tried  to  keep  agricultural  Too  much  cotton,  when  millions  in 
wages  low.  A  curiously  persistent  fallacy  the  world  lack  adequate  covering?  Too 
this,  a  fallacy  disproved  again  and  again,  much  meat,  when  millions  in  the  world 
but  still  recurring,  that  wages  that  are  are  starving?  Too  many  plumbing  fix- 
far  below  the  level  permitting  of  proper  tures,  when,  according  to  a  recent  sur- 
subsistence  at  accepted  national  stand-  vey,  only  fifteen  per  cent  of  the  farm- 
ards  are  in  the  long  run  profitable  to  houses  of  North  Carolina  have  so  much 
the  employer  paying  them.  Sweatshop  as  running  water,  and  when  it  is  esti- 
incomes  for  farm  labor  are  no  more  mated  that  less  than  one  per  cent  of  the 
profitable  for  the  farmer  than  similar  world's  population  have  bath  tubs?  Too 
incomes  are,  in  the  long  run,  profitable  much  furniture,  when  there  are  several 
for  the  industrialist — and  for  exactly  the  million  homes  in  this  country  alone  with 
same  reasons.  no  furniture  whatever  of  any  kind  save 
This  fallacy  is  like  that  other  one,  the  crudest  of  home-made  beds  and 
which  is  just  now  so  popular  in  certain  chairs?  Too  many  automobiles,  when 
recovery  circles,  and  to  which  Mr.  ninety-seven  per  cent  of  the  world's 
Ogden  Mills  tersely  and  grimly  an-  population  are  without  them?  Why,  we 
swers:  "The  paradox  of  poverty  in  the  haven't  as  yet  so  much  as  scratched  the 
midst  of  plenty  can  never  be  solved  by  surface  of  even  our  own  country's  rea- 
doing  away  with  the  plenty."  No,  our  sonable  consumptive  needs,  to  say  noth- 
f  arm  problem  can  never  be  permanently  ing  of  the  needs  of  the  rest  of  the  world, 
solved  by  governmental  price-fixing,  or  Overproduction?  We  are  not  yet  within 
by  plowing  under  cotton  or  burning  a  million  miles  of  producing  enough  of 
wheat  to  make  an  artificial  scarcity,  or  anything. 

by  any  sort  of  "farming  under  dictator-  Yet,  altogether  too  many  of  those 
ship."  This  fallacy  of  "overproduction"  who  these  days  are  doing  our  writing 
seems  to  have  deceived  a  great  many  and  our  "planning,"  blinded  by  the  lav- 
usually  intelligent  people.  It  lies  in  ish  surfeit  which  they  see  immediately 
thinking  that  there  actually  exists  in  the  around  themselves,  talk  glibly  about 
world  at  present  a  real  surplus  of  any  "overproduction"  j  and,  assuming  the 
good  thing  produced  by  human  effort,  validity  of  this  false  premise,  proceed  to 
Such  a  thing  may  occur  some  time  in  the  lay  out  an  economic  "regimentation"  of 
indefinite  future  of  the  human  race;  it  our  national  life  along  socialistic  lines, 
certainly  has  never  occurred  yet.  There  They  aim  to  increase  the  prices  of  prod- 
have  been — and  let's  try  very  hard  to  ucts  by  artificially  restricting  the  pro- 


IS  THERE  ANY  SOLUTION  FOR  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM?  243 

duction  of  them.  If  they  do  succeed  in  so  far  made  to  "solve  the  labor  prob- 

this  it  will  simply  mean  that  they  have  lem"  have  utterly  failed  has  been  that 

succeeded  in  putting  so  many  of  the  all  our  attempts  have  been  palliative 

good  things  of  life  still  further  beyond  and  evasive.  We  have  been,  on  the 

the  reach  of  those  enormous  groups  of  whole,  time-servers,  trying  to  salve  over 

the  population  who  have  never  yet  been  crises  by  ignoring  fundamental  issues, 

able  to  buy  them;  and  in  preventing  We  have  followed,  not  justice,  but  tem- 

their  further  purchase  by  those  who  porary  expediency.  We  have  sought  to 

had  just  begun  to  be  able  to  buy  them,  find  the  pap  or  bribe  that  would  quickly 

And  this,  this  progressive  deprivation  of  quiet  an  ugly  situation  rather  than  de- 

huge  masses  of  the  population,  is  what  velop  a  remedy  that  might  be  immedi- 

the  "regimenters"  call  "adapting  pro-  ately  harder  to  apply  but  which  would 

duction  to  demand."  nevertheless  have  the  merit  of  tending 

No!  One  of  the  most  important  steps  to  prevent  the  ugly  situation  recurring, 

we  must  take,  if  we  are  to  have  any  so-  By  and  large  we  have  bought  labor 

lution  of  the  labor  problem,  is  to  sweep  peace:  and,  like  all  payers  of  tribute,  we 

away  any  and  every  endeavor  to  boost  are  finding  that  the  impost  grows  ever 

product  prices  by  artificially  throttling  heavier  upon  us. 

output.  The  real  solution,  the  American  Sometimes  "capital,"  so-called,  has 

solution,  lies  in  exactly  the  opposite  di-  dominated  the  specific  situation  and  has 

rection.  First  we  must  increase  purchas-  dictated  the  settlement  of  it:  sometimes 

ing  power — beginning  always  with  those  — and  increasingly  so  of  recent  years, 

most  poorly  paid,  or  now  out  of  work  as  it  has  gained  political  and  financial 

and  so  not  being  paid  at  all — so  that  power — organized  labor  has  held  the 

more  and  more  people  may  have  the  whip  hand  and  has  done  the  dictating, 

means  to  buy  more  and  more  things.  It  pleases  our  vanity  to  be  told,  as  we 

Second,  we  must  remove  the  govern-  have  been  told  repeatedly,  that  it  is 

mental  interferences  with  business  and  "public  opinion"  that  is  the  deciding 

industry  so  that  they  may  be  free  to  voice  in  labor  controversies;  and  this  is 

continue,  as  they  have  in  the  past,  to  quite  true  in  those  cases,  comparatively 

develop  ways  to  cut  their  costs  of  pro-  few  in  number,  where  public  opinion  is 

duction,  and  so  may  be  able  to  supply  roused.  But  of  most  labor  controversies 

the  enormous  new  consuming  markets  the  general  public  never  hears  anything, 

which  lie  now  untouched  because  people  They  are  decided  in  camera,  and  the 

have  not  at  present  the  means  to  buy.  most  important  of  all  the  parties  in 

American  business  never  became  great  interest,  the  public  at  large,  has  noth- 

by  "adapting  production  to  demand";  ing     whatever     to     say     about     the 

it  became  great  by  stimulating  common  decision  reached.  And  even  more  sel- 

people  to  want  more  and  more  of  the  dom,  in  any  labor  dispute,  has  the  great 

good  things  of  life— and  then  by  cutting  inarticulate  mass  of  unorganized  labor 

costs  to  bring  those  things  within  their  had  any  champion  to  protect  its  in- 

reach.  terests. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  it  is  ex 
tremely  hard  to  base  a  labor  decision 

The  outstanding  reason,  it  seems  to  upon  moral  issues  rather  than  expedi- 

me,  why  all  the  attempts  that  we  have  ency,  extremely  hard  to  do  even-handed 


244  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

justice  to  all  the  parties  in  interest,  ex-  and  one-sided  that  almost  any  interpre- 
tremely  easy  to  let  prejudice  and  bias  tation  is  defensible, 
and  pre-judgment  creep  into  pronounce-  Indeed,  not  until  this  phraseology 
ments  in  which  fairness  would  seem  was  somewhat  clarified  by  the  interpre- 
both  essential  and  easy  to  secure.  There  tation  which  settled  the  automobile  con- 
is  no  better  example  of  this  danger  than  troversy  of  the  early  spring — "settled" 
Section  7-A  itself.  The  intent  of  Con-  it  temporarily  of  course— -did  the  Ad- 
gress  in  framing  this  clause  is  clear  ministration  itself  seem  to  be  at  all  clear 
enough:  what  it  meant  to  say  in  Sec-  as  to  what  Section  7-A  really  meant.  It 
tion  y-A  was  unquestionably  this:  "Em-  had  officially  ruled,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
ployees  shall  have  the  right,  but  shall  that  it  was,  by  implication  and  to  some 
not  be  obliged)  to  organize  and  bargain  degree,  mandatory.  It  had  also  ruled 
collectively  through  representatives  of  that,  in  any  collective  bargaining,  only 
their  own  choosing.  In  choosing  reyre-  one  group  of  workers  was  to  be  entitled 
tentative*  they  shall  be  free  from  inter-  to  representation,  namely  the  largest 
ference,  restraint  or  coercion  of  employ-  single  group-,  by  this  ruling  definitely 
ers  of  labor,  or  their  agents,  and  from  seeking  to  disfranchise  all  minority  in- 
mter]erencey  restraint  or  coercion  of  terests,  whether  union  or  non-union, 
labor  organizations)  and  their  agents,  even  though  these  various  minorities 
...  No  employee,  and  no  one  seeking  might,  collectively,  constitute  a  large 
employment,  shall  be  required  as  a  con-  majority  of  the  entire  body  of  workers ! 
dition  of  employment  to  join,  or  to  re-  This  latter  ruling,  however,  whether 
frain  from  joining)  any  company  union,  applied  against  either  a  union  or  a  non- 
or  to  join)  or  to  refrain  from  joining  union  body,  was  so  clearly  unjust,  and 
...  a  labor  organization."  so  clearly  contrary  to  the  intent  of  the 
But,  if  the  strictly  even-handed  law,  however  one-sidedly  or  obscurely 
phraseology  of  the  preceding  para-  the  latter  may  be  phrased,  that  it  is  not 
graph,  one  that  carefully  swerves  nei-  surprising  that  it  was  not  permitted  to 
ther  to  the  right  hand  nor  the  left,  was  stand. 

what  Congress  intended  to  say — and  the         The   fundamental   equities   of  this 

contrary  would  be  almost  unthinkable  question  of  the  rights  of  minority  labor 

— the  fact  remains  that  this  was  not  at  interests,  and  of  collective  bargaining 

all  what  Congress  actually  did  say,  for,  rights  in  general,  are  perfectly  clear, 

in  Section  7-A,  as  it  was  enacted,  all  the  Just  as  the  right  to  bargain  collectively 

matter  italicized  in  the  above  version  should  be  inherent  and  unquestioned,  so 

fails  to  appear.  I  do  not  myself  believe  tne  right  to  bargain  individually  should 

that  Congress,  when  it  passed  Section  De  equally  inherent  and  unquestioned. 

7-A,  had  any  intention  of  being  so  bi-  The  right  of  any  workman  to  join  any 

ased  or  of  making  union  membership  labor  organization  he  pleases  should  be 

mandatory    upon    all    workmen,    any  inviolate  and  unabridged.  So  should  be 

more  than  it  had  any  intention  of  mak-  his  right,  at  his  pleasure,  to  refrain  from 

ing  the  NRA  itself  mandatory.  But,  as  joining  any  labor  organization.  And  the 

it  is  worded,  organized  labor  is  hardly  Government,  obviously,  not  merely  in 

to  be  blamed  for  reading  such  a  forced  theory  but  in  fact,  should  protect  him 

interpretation  into  itj  the  phraseology  in  one  set  of  rights  just  as  much  as  in 

used  is  so  obscure  and  indeterminate  the  other. 


IS  THERE  ANY  SOLUTION  FOR  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM?  245 

greater  power  it  would  wield,  and  the 

IV  tremendously  greater  profits  it  would 

About  a  dozen  years  ago  I  happened  consequently  be  able  to  make,  if  it  could 

to  overhear  a  conversation  which  re-  only  secure  for  itself  an  absolute  mo- 

vealed  to  me  one  side  of  labor  union-  nopoly  of  the  sale  of  that  product.  In 

ism  of  which,  if  we  may  judge  from  seeking,  as  it  does,  to  secure  such  a  com- 

their  writings,  many  students  of  the  plete  national  monopoly  of  the  sale  of 

theoretical  phases  of  labor  economics  all  labor,  the  Federation  is  doing  noth- 

are  ignorant.  Of  itself  unimportant,  this  ing   more   than    follow   the   accepted 

chance  bit  of  conversation  was,  never-  example  of  one  school  of  business  econ- 

theless,  profoundly  informative,  and  it  omists.  There  is  here  no  intention  what- 

is  quoted  here  to  try  to  give  a  clearer  ever  of  questioning  its  right  to  make 

realization  of  some  of  the  hurdles  that  just  as  large  incomes  for  its  members  as 

any  real  solution  of  the  labor  problem  it  lawfully  may,  or  of  questioning  its 

will  have  to  take.  right  to  seek,  by  every  proper  and  legiti- 

Few  except  those  who  have  been  in  mate  means,  to  increase  its  membership 
intimate  contact  with  what  is  termed  and  its  powers.  What  one  may  properly 
"organized  labor"  in  this  country,  that  question,  however,  is  the  wisdom,  from 
is  with  those  specific  labor  unions  which  even  its  own  viewpoint,  of  some  of  its 
are  affiliated  with  the  American  Feder-  fundamental  policies,  and  the  validity 
ation  of  Labor  (and  a  few  others) ,  have  of  some  of  the  economic  theses  on  which 
any  knowledge  of  its  practical  ideology  it  founds  those  policies, 
and  actual  workings.  Most  of  us  fail  to  The  conversation  to  which  I  am  re- 
realize,  for  example,  that  the  American  f erring  will,  I  think,  make  all  these 
Federation  of  Labor  is,  essentially,  a  points  clear.  It  occurred  in  the  office  of 
great  business  organization,  organized,  the  head  of  an  industrial  concern  which 
like  every  other  great  modern  business  was  noted  for  its  liberality  in  its  labor 
corporation,  to  secure  as  great  profits  relations.  It  ran  a  completely  unionized 
as  possible  for  its  members ;  that,  like  plant.  In  an  industry  in  which  the  prac- 
every  other  great  modern  business,  it  tice  was  unknown  it  gave  vacations  with 
has  an  enormous  force  of  salesmen,  pay  to  all  its  employes.  It  supplied  life 
whom  it  calls  "organizers,"  whose  com-  insurance  to  them,  and  paid  the  entire 
pensation  depends  upon  their  go-get-  cost  of  it.  It  paid  union  wages — and 
ting  ability  in  selling  the  memberships  those  wages  happened  to  be  about  the 
whose  dues  constitute  the  income  of  the  highest  paid  any  members  of  any  union 
business  j  that  its  executives,  like  the  in  the  country.  It  tried  faithfully  to  ob- 
executives  of  any  other  business,  hold  serve  all  union  rules.  Surely,  you  would 
their  jobs  only  for  so  long  as  they  run  have  said,  here  was  a  concern  that  was, 
the  corporation  profitably  for  their  from  a  union  standpoint,  a  model  em- 
members,  ployer  of  labor. 

And  finally,  like  every  other  large  Yet  for  years,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 

corporation  dependent  for  its  income  this  concern  had  found  itself  subjected 

upon  the  sale  of  a  product,  and  selling  to  a  constant  barrage  of  union  trouble, 

a  product  the  supply  of  which  is  limited,  Finally,  one  day,  goaded  beyond  endur- 

the  American  Federation  of  Labor  is  ance,  the  proprietor  of  this  business 

astute  enough  to  realize  the  enormously  turned  on  the  union  delegate  who  had 


246  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

come  to  his  office  and  asked  him  why  it  would  be  immediately  and  enormously 
was  that  he,  doing  his  best  to  make  his  increased.  Its  leaders  would  find  them- 
employes  contented  and  happy,  should  selves  in  positions  personally  far  more 
be  singled  out  to  be  the  object  of  spe-  lucrative,  incredibly  more  influential, 
cial  union  annoyance.  Because  I  hap-  greatly  more  satisfactory  in  every  other 
pened  to  hear  that  union  delegate's  wayj  just  as,  by  the  same  move,  its  en- 
answer,  and  because  it  made  a  great  im-  tire  rank  and  file  would  find  themselves, 
pression  on  me  at  the  time,  I  can  almost  financially  and  in  every  other  way,  im- 
quoteit.  mensely  benefited  by  such  a  sweeping 

"You  think  you  run  a  model  union  change  of  policy.  But  the  contrary  spirit 

plant  here,"  he  said,  "because  you  try  to  is  so  deeply  ingrained  in  unionism  that 

keep  your  men  happy.  You're  all  wrong,  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  con- 

That's  not  what  we  want.  Where  would  ceive  of  the  present  organization  of 

our  union  be  if  all  you  bosses  did  that?  labor  ever  making  such  a  profound  tacti- 

Pll  tell  you.  There  wouldn't  be  any  cal  revolution. 

union,  and  I  wouldn't  have  any  job.  Yet,  for  all  that,  I  have  sometimes 

Hell,  no!  What  we  want,  what  every  ventured  to  hope  that  such  a  change 

union  wants,  is  trouble.  Not  too  much  of  policy  was  not  quite  an  impossibil- 

trouble,   I   don't   mean.   Not   strikes,  ity.  For  there  are  in  the  organized 

They're  too  expensive.  But  a  little  trou-  labor  movement — I  am  happy  to  be  ac- 

ble — all  the  time.  Grumbling.  Discon-  quainted  with  some  of  them — leaders  of 

tent.  Continual  bad  feeling  between  the  the  deepest  sincerity  of  purpose  and  of 

men  and  the  bosses.  And,  if  these  things  the  highest  idealism.  There  are  labor 

aren't  there  already,  then  it's  our  job  leaders  who  have  as  broad  an  economic 

to  put  'em  there.  Happy?  Secure?  Not  vision,  as  sound  business  judgment,  as 

much!  What  we  want  is  to  have  every  deep  a  patriotism,  and  as  keen  a  sense  of 

man  in  your  shop  bitter,  discontented,  the  extremely  unsatisfactory  nature  of 

always  afraid  he's  about  to  lose  his  job.  the  present  employer-employe  relation- 

That  makes  him  keep  up  his  union  dues,  ship  as  any  employer  has.  What  I  have 

and  holds  our  organization  together,  hoped  for  for  years  has  been  that,  from 

The  more  hard-boiled  an  employer  acts,  this  labor  group,  there  would  arise  men, 

the  more  we  love  him.  He  saves  us  do-  or  a  man,  big  enough  in  personality,  and 

ing  a  lot  of  missionary  work."  far-seeing  enough,  to  realize  the  possi- 

Now  it  is,  of  course,  unnecessary  to  bilities,  for  him  and  his  fellow  leaders 

point  out  that  the  viewpoint  of  this  and  for  the  great  mass  of  American 

labor  leader  is  the  viewpoint  of  utter  working  men  and  women,  that  would 

economic  ignorance.  There  is  not  the  ^e  in  such  a  brand  new  spirit  and  form 

slightest  doubt  that,  if  organized  labor  of  labor  unionism,  one  based  on  such  an 

were  right  now  to  make  a  complete  honest  working  together  of  employer 

about-face  in  its  attitude  towards  its  and  employed  rather  than  in  continual 

employers,  if  it  should  tomorrow  seek,  warfare  between  them.  I  am  not  sure 

instead  of  continuing  to  fight  them,  sin-  that  such  a  man  will  not  yet  arise.  I  can 

cerely  and  whole-heartedly  to  cooperate  only  assure  him  that,  when  he  does,  he 

with  them  in  the  common  good,  it  will  be  amazed  at  the  number  of  men 

would  find  that  its  moral  prestige  and  on  the  employer  side  who  will  meet  him 

its  social,  political  and  financial  powers  more  than  half-way. 


IS  THERE  ANY  SOLUTION  FOR  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM?  247 

Of  course  with  labor  leaders  of  the  posal  is  advanced,  no  deal  results,  and 
other  sort,  leaders  of  the  type  of  the  the  two  parties  go  their  ways.  Each 
man  I  quoted  above,  nothing  can  be  party  has  full  power  to  propose,  each 
done.  Just  as  nothing  can  be  done  with  full  power  to  refuse  to  accept.  But,  in 
the  men  of  exactly  the  same  sort  of  labor  "bargaining,"  when  the  two  par- 
mentality — and  there  are  plenty  of  ties  reach  the  "no  deal"  stage,  they  have 
them! — on  the  employer  side.  So  long  reached  only  the  beginning  of  their  dif- 
as  there  are  labor  leaders  who  see  no  ficulties,  for,  with  the  "no  deal,"  they 
jobs  for  themselves  except  as  generals  have  ordinarily  come  to  what  we  call  a 
in  an  intermittent  but  perpetual  battle,  strike  or  a  lockout — not  the  end  of  the 
so  long  as  there  are  employers  who  fail  problem  but  simply  the  posing  of  its 
to  appreciate  that  the  profits  of  peace  terms.  Is  this  all  that  the  labor  union 
can  be  far  greater  than  those  of  war,  leaders  who  got  Section  7-A  inserted  in 
just  so  long  will  these  men  at  the  top,  the  National  Industrial  Recovery  Act 
like  our  friends  the  munitions-makers,  meant  by  the  term  "collective  bargain- 
see  to  it  that  labor  warfare  is  made  ing"?  Obviously  not. 
to  continue,  regardless  of  the  terrible  As  a  matter  of  fact  this  phrase  "col- 
losses  suffered  by  the  combatants  on  lecti.ve  bargaining,"  when  it  is  used  in 
both  sides.  connection  with  any  labor  dispute,  is 

a  wholly  evasive  one.  Somewhere,  in 

v  every  sort  of  negotiation,  there  comes  a 

I  am  going  back  to  fateful  Section  time  when  each  side  has  to  make  a  de- 

7-A  again,  because,  among  other  things,  cision,  yes  or  no,  upon  the  point  or 

it  is  also  an  example  of  that  unwilling-  points  at  issue.  And  the  real  question 

ness  or  inability  to  think  a  problem  that    lies    behind    this    fair-sounding 

through  that  I  have  already  remarked  phrase  of  the  NRA  is  this:  shall  labor 

upon.  It  says  that  employes  shall  have  have,  or  have  not,  the  dominant  voice 

the  right  to  "bargain  collectively."  Bar-  in  labor  controversies  when  the  deciding 

gain  collectively  about  what?  About  all  stage  has  been  reached?  The  trouble 

the  "conditions  of  their  employment."  with  Section  7-A  is  that,  at  just  this  crit- 

But  "conditions  of  employment"  is  so  ical  point,  it  calmly  walks  out  on  the 

all-inclusive  a  phrase  as  to  be  almost  turmoil  it  has  stirred  up.  It  doesn't  sug- 

meaningless.  It  may  mean — and  labor  gest,  even  by  implication,  what  govern- 

would  naturally  interpret  it  to  mean —  ment  is  going  to  do  when  the  "collective 

every  possible  detail  or  phase  of  busi-  bargainers"  shall  have  failed  to  agree, 

ness  in  which  labor  is,  either  directly  What  then?  Strikes?  Riots?  Bloodshed? 

or  indirectly,  involved.  And  that,  when  And,  if  not  these,  what?  That  is  why 

you  come  to  think  about  it,  means  prac-  Section  7-A  is  so  disappointing  to  those 

tically  every  detail  of  business.  of  us  who  are  looking  for  a  real  solu- 

But  consider  further.  The  right  to  tion  of  the  labor  problem.  It  foments 

"bargain  collectively"  of  itself  means  trouble  which  it  makes  no  effort  what- 

little,  or  nothing.  In  business,  when  two  ever  to  resolve. 

parties  "bargain,"  one  or  the  other  And  it  is  just  as  evasive  for  organized 
makes  a  proposal,  which  the  other  party  labor  to  claim  that  all  it  wants  is  "equal- 
accepts  or  rejects.  If,  after  all  the  "bar-  ity  of  bargaining  power."  Just  as  what 
gaining,"  no  mutually  desirable  pro-  it  wants  is  not  bargaining  power,  but 


248  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

deciding  power,  so  also  what  it  really  governmental  authority.)  It  is  not — 
wants  is  not  equality  of  deciding  power,  and  keep  this  clearly  in  mind — because 
but  dominance.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  by  labor  unions  are  always  seeking  for  their 
virtue  of  the  peculiar  position  in  which  own  members  higher  and  higher  wages, 
it  stands,  labor  could  not  stop  at  equal-  regardless  of  the  cumulative  effect  of 
ity  of  either  bargaining  or  deciding  such  increases  upon  their  less  fortunate 
power,  even  if  it  would.  It  is,  and  must  fellow  citizens ;  for,  so  far  as  employ- 
be,  by  the  inevitable  logic  of  the  situ-  ers  are  concerned,  there  are  thousands 
ation,  either  subordinate  or  dominant,  of  them  who  thoroughly  approve  of 
The  only  question  is  whether  it  shall  be  shorter  hours,  of  higher  wages  and  of 
subordinate  to  the  employer  or  to  the  better  working  conditions,  and  who  yet 
general  public  interest.  are  implacably  opposed  to  the  control  of 

That  is  the  real  reason  why  every  their  businesses  by  organized  labor, 
employer  who  has  had  any  experience  .  No,  the  reason  why  the  vast  majority 
with  organized  labor,  as  it  has  been  con-  of  business  men  distrust  unionism  is  be- 
ducted  in  the  past,  is  either  openly  or  cause  they  realize  that  its  dominance 
quietly  opposed  to  it.  I  know  of  no  — so  long  as  it  retains  its  present  form — 
other  economic  matter  on  which  busi-  would  eventually  mean  the  destruction 
ness  men  as  a  whole  are  more  nearly  of  their  businesses.  In  recent  years  they 
unanimous.  And  this  opposition  is  not  have  come  to  see  more  and  more  clearly 
based  on  the  feeling  that  labor  leaders  that  organized  labor,  as  it  is  at  present 
are  simply  grafters  and  racketeers,  conducted,  involves  no  mere  questions 
Some  of  them  are,  of  course ;  but  busi-  of  wages  and  hours  and  working  condi- 
ness  can  not  show  a  perfectly  clear  slate,  tions.  All  these  things  are  relatively 
It  is  not  because  even  the  most  conserva-  trivial  and  subordinate.  To  the  business 
tive  unions,  if  they  are  unable  to  gain  man  labor  union  control  of  his  business 
their  ends  by  reason  and  persuasion,  re-  has  become  an  actual  matter  of  life  and 
sort  to,  or  wink  at,  "direct  action" — and  death,  and  fighting  off  that  control  has 
this  sometimes  means  violence  of  the  become  for  him  nothing  less  than  a  mat- 
ugliest  sort.  It  is  not  because  even  the  ter  of  self-preservation.  And,  if  that  is 
best  led  unions,  being  legally  irrespon-  the  case,  you  can  hardly  blame  him  for 
sible,  find  it  only  too  often  convenient  fighting! 

to  break  their  most  solemn  pledged  In  much  the  same  way  the  increasing 
agreements.  Business  men  too,  when  distrust  which  the  average  neutral  citi- 
they  found  it  legally  possible,  have  been  zen,  connected  with  neither  the  em- 
known  to  do  the  same.  It  is  not  because  ployer  nor  the  employe  side,  has  come 
labor  unionism  has  sometimes  officially  in  recent  years  to  have  of  organized 
sought  to  maintain  that  it  is  a  "state  labor  has  been  due  to  the  fact  that  he 
within  a  state,"  and  that  its  own  laws  has  come  to  sense  more  and  more 
are  superior  in  provenance  even  to  those  clearly  that  altogether  too  much  of  its 
of  the  United  States  itself!  (As  recently  basic  thought  is  alien  to  our  American 
as  May  of  this  year,  for  example,  the  spirit  and  tradition.  For  the  American 
International  Typographical  Union  spe-  spirit,  the  American  tradition,  is  pre- 
cifically  insisted  that  its  "union  laws"  eminently  one  of  personal  liberty,  of 
were  not  subject  to  amendment  or  free  initiative,  of  individualism.  Labor 
veto  either  by  the  NRA  or  by  any  other  unionism,  on  the  other  hand,  not  as  it 


IS  THERE  ANY  SOLUTION  FOR  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM?  249 

need  be,  of  course,  but  as  it  js  at  present  ers  were  conjoined  with  correlative  re- 
conducted,  demands  the  complete  merg-  sponsibilities.  I  would  see  to  it  that  it 
ing  of  the  individual  will  in  the  will  of  made  itself,  not  a  blurred  mirror  of 
the  mass,  the  complete  denial  of  indi--  European  class  distinctions  and  class 
vidual  liberty  in  labor  matters.  And  this  hatreds,  but  a  vital,  constructive  part  of 
denial  has  gone  so  far  that  it  is  not  too  the  American  economic  system  and  the 
much  to  say  that,  either  openly  or  tac-  American  social  order.  This  is  not  chi- 
itly,  organized  labor  tends  at  present,  in  mericalj  it  can  be  done  j  I  see  no  good 
its  sympathies,  its  vocabulary  and  its  tac-  reason  why  it  should  not  be  done, 
tics,  in  the  direction  of  socialism  or  com-  Of  course  this  accusation  of  socialistic 
munism  rather  than  in  the  direction  of  bias  will  be  promptly  denied  by  many 
those  things  for  which  the  American  Re-  of  the  leaders  of  the  organized  labor 
public  stands.  Although  it  has  had  a  movement.  They  will  point  out  that  less 
most  amazing  development  in  the  new  than  one-third  of  the  organized  unions 
world,  labor  unionism  has  apparently  are,  as  unions,  avowedly  communistic, 
never  been  able  to  rid  itself  of  a  sort  and  that  these  "radical"  unions  are  the 
of  economic  inferiority  complex,  has  ones  in  which  foreign  membership  and 
never  succeeded  in  sloughing  off  the  so-  influence  is  overwhelmingly  strong, 
cial  biases  of  its  origins  and  readapting  They  will  point  out  that,  although  many 
itself  spiritually  to  its  American  envi-  of  the  members  of  the  non-communistic 
ronment.  Paul  Einzig,  in  his  recent  Eco-  unions  may  be,  individually,  Socialists 
nomic  Foundations  of  Fascism  puts  it:  or  Communists,  their  unions  as  bodies 
"Politicians  and  [Socialist]  authors  sue-  are  continually  fighting  what  they  term 
ceeded  in  convincing  the  working  classes  the  "left  wing  menace."  And  they  will 
that  there  was  an  irreconcilable  feud  be-  tell  the  truth,  for  it  is  a  fact  that  this 
tween  employers  and  employees."  internal  fight  between  the  communistic 
Our  labor  unions,  it  has  seemed  to  and  non-communistic  elements  in  labor 
me,  have,  only  too  much  and  too  often,  unionism  constitutes  today  one  of  its 
acted  more  like  wolves,  slinking  fur-  greatest  disruptive  forces, 
tively  on  the  outskirts  of  our  social  or-  But  this  does  not  negative  my  first 
der,  holding  themselves  outside  all  law,  statement.  All  the  laws,  rules  and  strat- 
awaiting  opportunity  to  dart  in  and  cut  egy  of  labor  unionism  are  based,  not  on 
down  some  one  of  the  industrial  herd,  the  assumption  that  the  employer  is  a 
temporarily  weakened  by  economic  cir-  partner  with  the  employe  in  a  common 
cumstance  or  otherwise  vulnerable.  That  business  enterprise,  in  the  prosperity  of 
picture  is  not  one  which  conforms  with  which  both  will  share,  but  on  the  as- 
my  idea  of  the  innate  dignity  of  labor,  sumption  that  he  is  an  enemy  to  be 
Labor  unionism  would  seem  to  me  to  beaten,  and  that  the  more  thoroughly 
have  in  it  too  much  of  good  intent,  to  ne  is  beaten  the  better  off  the  employe 
have  done — with  all  its  obvious  faults —  will  be.  The  unionist  continually  repeats 
too  valuable  a  work  in  the  past  and  to  tnat  all  workmen  are  engaged  in  a 
hold  within  itself  too  great  possibilities  "class  struggle,"  in  a  "fight"  against  the 
for  social  service  in  the  future,  so  to  de-  "bosses."  And  all  labor  leaders  realize 
mean  itself.  I  would  give  it  more  pow-  perfectly  well,  if  they  are  wise,  and  ad- 
ers,  not  less,  and  a  new  social  dignity,  mit  openly,  if  they  are  sincere,  that  the 
because  I  would  see  to  it  that  those  pow-  complete  final  success  of  labor  unionism 


250  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

in  its  present  form  would,  and  could,  of  basic  viewpoint,  is  disqualified   from 

necessity  logically  mean  but  one  thing,  making  the  sole  or  controlling  decision 

the  complete  and  final  destruction  of  the  in  the  labor  matters  with  which  it  is 

present  business  system,  the  end  of  the  concerned,  so  also,  one  must  be  pre- 

private   ownership    of   all   productive  pared  to  admit,  is  the  employer  almost 

property,  and  the  end  of  the  American  equally  disqualified.  For  in  the  past  he, 

Republic,  and  of  the  American  social  perhaps  quite  naturally,  but  neverthe- 

order.  In  very  few  cases  as  yet  have  we  less  short-sightedly,  has  also  sought  sim- 

been  able  to  see  the  complete  dominance  ply  to  try  to  get  all  he  could  for  himself, 

of  any  one  industry  by  a  union  j  but,  in  There  is  no  use  denying  that,  by  and 

those  few  cases  where  such  dominance  large,  neither  side  has  ever  had  any 

has  become  measurably  complete — as,  tender  regard,  or  in  fact  any  regard  at 

for  instance,  in  the  legitimate  theatre,  in  all,  for  the  rights  of  their  consumers,  or 

the  periodical  printing  industry  in  New  for  the  rights  of  the  general  public  who 

York  City,  with  the  railroads — we  have  were  not  their  consumers.  Neither  has 

been  able  to  witness  the  slow  but  inevi-  had  any  broad  economic  vision.  Neither, 

table  choking  to  death  of  what  had  pre-  generally  speaking,  has  taken  into  ac- 

viously  been  flourishing  industries.  count,  or  has  sought  to  take  into  account, 

And,  because  all  those  who  have  the  social  implications  of  the  labor  de- 
really  studied  the  facts  realize  perfectly  cisions  which  they  have  reached, 
well  the  inevitability  of  this  destructive  But  the  only  important  third  factor  in 
impetus,  I  see  nothing  to  be  gained  by  labor  controversies  is  that  party  in  in- 
glossing  it  over  or  seeking  to  deny  its  terest  which  is,  after  all,  the  most  im- 
existence.  Professor  Slichter  of  Har-  portant  one  of  all,  the  general  public, 
vard,  in  his  Modern  Economic  Society y  Should  it  have  the  controlling  decision? 
writes:  "It  is  often  said  that  unionism  Despite  many  obvious  and  grave  ob- 
of  the  type  prevalent  in  the  United  jections,  I  yet  see  no  logical,  or  indeed 
States  does  not  seek  to  overturn  the  ex-  possible,  alternative.  First,  because, 
isting  economic  order.  .  .  .  But  exami-  whatever  the  decision  reached,  it  must 
nation  of  the  changes  they  are  making  in  "pay  the  bill"  ;  second,  because,  if  its  de- 
industry  indicates  that  they  are  revolu-  cisions  ask  of  the  employer  the  unrea- 
tionary,  and,  in  fact,  are  nibbling  at  the  sonable  or  the  economically  impossible, 
very  foundations  of  the  economic  order,  it  alone  is  in  a  position  to  indemnify  him 
For  the  very  essence  of  private  property  for  the  loss  which  it  has  occasioned  him  j 
is  the  right  to  make  decisions,  and  when  third,  because,  being  neutral,  it  is  at 
unions  limit  that  right  they  are  making  least  more  likely  than  either  other  party 
a  fundamental  change  in  private  prop-  to  render  unbiased  judgment  between 
erty.  ...  It  is  a  delusion  to  pretend  them. 

that  this  is  not  revolutionary."  And  he  On  the  other  hand  reference  to  the 

adds:  "But  most  revolutions  are  ac-  general  public  means  reference  to  "arbi- 

complished  by  men  who  know  not  what  tration,"  and  the  record  of  arbitration  in 

they  do."  labor  disputes  has  been  an  undeniably 

ghastly  one.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 

VI  difficult  to  see  how  the  record  could 

But,  if  union  labor,  so  long  as  it  has  have  been  other  than  disappointing, 

its  present  ideals,  policies,  methods  and  when  one  analyzes  the  conventional 


IS  THERE  ANY  SOLUTION  FOR  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM?  251 

set-up  and  procedure  of  a  typical  board  men — and  with  two  of  the  three  impen- 

of  arbitration.  You  know  the  time-worn  etrably  biased — to  adjudicate  a  labor  dis- 

formula.  The  employer  selects  a  "repre-  pute  involving  hundreds  of  millions  of 

sentative"  j  the  union  selects  one  j  these  dollars  of  property  values,  and  affecting 

two  representatives,  after  interminable  intimately,  for  good  or  ill,  the  lives  of 

squabbling,  dead-locking  and  wire-pull-  hundreds   of  thousands  of  men  and 

ing,  select  a  supposedly  neutral  third  women. 

member.  And  it  has  sometimes  seemed  There  must  be,  before  we  can  hope 
to  me,  as  I  have  read  some  of  his  deci-  effectively  or  wisely  to  settle  any  specific 
sions,  that  the  chief  qualification  of  this  labor  dispute,  it  seems  to  me,  two 
third  member  must  have  been  his  pro-  things:  (i)  soundly  conceived,  broad- 
found  ignorance  of  the  matters  in  dis-  visioned,  national  labor  policy y  a  policy 
pute  and  of  all  economic  theory  and  resting  on  common  justice  and  the  gen- 
business  practice.  When  it  finally  comes  eral  weal,  rather  than  on  physical  vio- 
to  handing  down  the  board's  decision,  lence  or  political  expediency  or  financial 
the  two  first  representatives  of  course  advantage  or  the  extreme  personal  pres- 
always  cancel  each  other  out,  leaving  sure  of  any  one  economic  group,  a  policy 
Profound  Ignorance  to  "settle"  the  en-  codified  in  sufficiently  definite  form  to 
tire  dispute  alone.  And,  since  of  course  constitute  an  established — however  ten- 
Profound  Ignorance  never  by  any  tatively  established  and  however  grow- 
chance  dares  to  invoke,  or  to  attempt  to  ing  and  flexible — and  clear  background 
establish,  anything  in  the  nature  of  fun-  of  precedent;  (2)  a  jury,  appointed  in 
damental  principles,  since  his  job,  as  he  each  specific  dispute,  to  apply  that  codi- 
conceives  it,  is  simply  to  "get  the  men  fied  policy,  as  justly  and  wisely  as  may 
back  to  work,"  his  decision  in  practically  be,  to  the  issues  of  that  dispute,  a  jury 
every  case  is  a  "compromise."  Whatever  large  enough  to  be  fairly  representative, 
the  issue  is,  he  "splits  the  difference."  a  jury,  so  far  as  may  be,  neutral  and  un- 
That  means  that  the  public  pays  more  biased  in  its  viewpoints,  a  jury — Heaven 
for  the  product  made  or  the  service  helping! — informed  and  incorruptible, 
given  j  but  that  otherwise  the  "deci-  "Representatives"  of  either  employer 
sion"  gets  nowhere  j  that  nobody  is  or  employe  have  of  course  no  place 
really  satisfied  and  that  nothing  is  on  such  a  jury:  they  are  litigants,  not 
really  "settled."  judges.  Nor  should  the  jury  be  made 
Of  course  this  whole  conventional  up,  on  the  other  hand,  of  men  who  have 
set-up  is  wrong.  What  would  we  think  been  either  mere  political  hacks  or  of 
if  two  litigants  in  a  suit  at  law  were  in-  men  who,  however  well-intentioned, 
vited  to  appoint  "representatives,"  the  have  been  remote  from  the  actualities  of 
two  to  name  a  third,  and  the  three  to  life.  Some  of  the  jury,  perhaps  a  ma- 
settle  the  suit?  And  what  would  we  fur-  jority  of  its  members,  should  represent 
ther  think  if  the  three,  in  formulating  that  special  portion  of  the  general  pub- 
their  decision,  ignored  all  such  consider-  lie  which  is  most  interested  in  the  dis- 
ations  as  law,  justice,  precedent,  or  the  pute,  namely  the  consumers  of  the 
public  good.  Think  of  it.  We  deem  it  product  or  the  service  involved,  for  the 
socially  necessary  to  select  twelve  neu-  reason  that,  though  neutral  as  between 
tral  men  to  adjudicate  a  hundred-dol-  the  two  disputing  parties,  they  are  likely 
lar  legal  claim.  Yet  we  permit  three  to  have  some  reasonable  knowledge 


252 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


of  the  issues  involved  in  the  dispute. 
And,  it  is  needless  to  add,  when  such 
a  jury  as  this  renders  a  decision,  that 
decision  should  be  as  binding  upon  both 
parties  as  any  other  judicial  determina 
tion. 

VII 

Have  we,  by  these  progressive  steps, 
advanced  at  all  toward  a  possible  "solu 
tion"  of  the  labor  problem?  May  we 
recapitulate  them?  Basic  justice  rather 
than  temporary  expediency  j  recogni 
tion  of  the  rights  to  consideration  of  all 
the  parties  in  interest  j  willingness  to 
attempt  to  "think  through"  the  labor 
problem  in  all  its  aspects  5  unwillingness 


on  the  part  of  society  at  large  to  sur 
render  decision,  or  dominance  in  deci 
sion,  to  either  of  the  two  original  dis 
putants  j  reference  of  all  labor  disputes 
to  informed  and  neutral  boards  of  ar 
bitration,  governmentally  appointed — 
with  full  powers ;  the  necessity  of  at 
tempting,  soberly  and  clear-eyed,  the 
formulation  of  a  national  labor  policy. 
None  of  these  steps  may  sound  ex 
citing.  None  of  them  is  revolutionary. 
But,  as  basic  principles,  as  guides  toward 
a  solution,  can  just  issue  be  taken  with 
any  one  of  them  by  any  American  citi 
zen  of  good  intent?  Do  they  not  at  least 
point  out  the  road  along  which  we 
might  well  travel? 


rrp; 


Come,  Jenny       -^— 

BY  EVAN  COOMBES 
A  Story 

HE  oldish  man  crept  in  between  grew  younger  j  lines  that  had  taken  a 
the  sheets  like  one  who  has  found  lifetime  to  engrave  were  erased  in  a  few 
JL  the  day  too  long.  The  day  had  hours.  After  midnight  he  lay  beside  his 
been  only  sixty  years  long  but  he  was  wife  like  her  young  lover,  sleeping  now 
ready  for  bed.  He  was  so  nearly  that  passion  was  over,  not  only  of  a 
through  living  that  he  slept  hour  after  single  night  but  of  all  life.  Misled  by 
hour,  his  arms  straight  down  his  sides,  the  bodily  presence  of  her  husband,  she 
as  though  he  sought  to  accustom  him-  tried  to  speak  to  him,  leaning  close  and 
self  to  death,  to  harden  himself  to  the  putting  her  small  plump  hand  over  his 
rigors  of  the  long  cold  sleep  that  cold  one.  Edward,  she  urged  him,  Ed- 
awaited  him.  ward,  do  not  go  without  a  word.  But  the 
His  wife  established  herself  at  the  years  he  had  lost  seemed  to  come  be- 
bedside  and  there  she  rocked  and  tween  them;  her  voice  could  not  reach 
stayed.  Others  in  the  house  came  and  across  that  space  of  time.  Frightened  by 
went,  moving  soft-footed  as  the  cat  about  this  double  recession  into  youth  and 

'  the  darkened  room:  the  servants,  the  death,  she  went  to  the  door  intending  to 

nurse  and  physician,  the  man's  sister  and  call  the  nurse,  when  she  heard  a  faint 

!  his  man  friend.  The  only  one  in  the  stir  behind  her. 

house  who  did  not  come  was  his  mother,  Edward  had  raised  himself  in  bed. 

poor  daft  soul,  bedridden  and  without  His  eyes  were  open  but  he  was  not  look- 

|  wits  enough  to  know  she  had  a  son.  But  ing  anywhere  in  the  room.  The  walls 

i  the  wife  stayed  on  in  the  low  rocker ;  had  moved  away  that  he  might  leave. 

I  the  hours  turned  again  to  night  and  still  "Come,"   he  said  quietly.   "Come, 

she  would  not  leave.  She  must  be  there,  Jenny." 

;  she  said,  if  Edward  should  speak,  to  He  said  this  name  with  such  tender- 
hear  his  slightest  word.  It  might  be  of  ness  that  his  wife,  Sara,  could  not  go  to 
all  words  the  most  significant,  the  last.  him.  The  name  had  stricken  her.  She 
Thus  Edward  and  his  wife  spent  their  stood  motionless  while  Edward  went  on 
final  night  together.  She  sat  watching  his  way  without  her. 
him  by  the  dimmed  light  of  the  lamp, 
while  he  lay  immobile;  nothing  of  him 

appeared  to  move  and  yet  he  changed.  During  the  hours  that  followed,  Sara 

Subtly,  as  the  night  advanced,  his  face  heard  the  name  ringing  in  her  ears  like 


254  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

a  discordant  bell.  The  name  itself  was  words,  but  the  sad  part  of  it  is,  that's  all 

not  untuneful,  but  the  sound  of  it  con-  I  know.  He  spoke  softly  and  I  was  on 

fused  her  grief.  If  she  wept  for  the  Ed-  my  way  out  of  the  room." 

ward  she  had  known,  her  husband  al-  "But  the  inflection  of  his  voice?  Did 

ways  gentle,  she  could  not  weep  for  the  he  seem  to  be  calling  a  name  or  saying 

Edward  who  had  proved  faithless  with  farewell?" 

his  last  word.  He  had  gone  from  her,  "Perhaps  it  was  a  name  but  not  in 
not  only  with  death,  but  with  another  farewell.  It  was  more  as  though  he 
woman.  Death,  she  recognized:  she  had  called  some  one  to  him." 
met  him  at  other  beds;  but  who  was  "And  you  have  no  idea  who  it  was?" 
Jenny?  When  she  named  over  all  the  "I  have  no  idea  who  it  was,"  she  re- 
women  she  had  ever  known  or  ever  plied,  sighing  heavily,  for  the  truth  was 
heard  Edward  speak  of,  Jenny  was  not  solid  under  her  words, 
among  them.  This  love  had  been  his  Ada  put  down  the  coffee-cup  and 
secret,  one  that  he  had  carried  hidden  arose. 

deep  in  his  heart  for  many  years,  and  "Really,  Sara,  I  don't  see  how  you 

finally  bestowed  upon  his  wife.  It  had  could  have  helped  hearing  something." 

been  his  last  bequest  to  her,  like  a  codicil  Her  voice  was  rough  with  tears  and  dis- 

to  his  will,  but  that  the  secret  thus  be-  satisfaction.  "It  seems  very  queer,  not  a 

came  her  own,  one  that  she  too  must  syllable." 

carry  hidden,  she  did  not  realize  until  She  began  to  pace  the  floor,  suddenly 

she  talked  with  his  maiden  sister,  Ada.  halting  at  the  foot  of  the  bed  as  though 

For  as  soon  as  morning  came,  Sara,  struck  by  the  sight  of  her  ancient  parent 

unable  to  be  alone  or  still,  wrapped  her  lying  there,  so  tenacious  of  life,  liv- 

purple  robe  tightly  about  her  small  ing  on  while  younger  hearts  failed, 

stout  figure,  tied  the  cord  as  about  a  pur-  The  mahogany  four-poster,  the  aged 

pie  bundle,  and  sought  Ada  where  Ada  woman,  the  patch-work  quilt  of  motley 

was  always  to  be  found,  in  the  bedroom  silks,  these  three  composed  a  trinity,  har- 

of  the  ancient  mother.  That  daft  old  monious  and  inseparable.  She  seemed  to 

lady  was  sleeping  peacefully,  unaware  have  become  part  of  the  bed,  caught  and 

of  her  bereavement,  while  Ada  sat  by,  rooted  there,  deriving  her  strength  from 

an  empty  coffee-cup   in   her  angular  the  wood  like  a  mythical  figure  impris- 

hands.  Looking  up  as  Sara  entered,  she  oned  in  a  treej  only  her  head  was  visi- 

asked  with  her  usual  abruptness:  ble,  dried  and  withered  from  long  ex- 

"Did  Edward  speak  at  the  end?  You  posure  to  time. 

did  not  tell  us  last  night.  Had  he  no  "Whatever  name  he  called,"  said 

word  of  love  for  any  one?"  Ada  with  extreme  bitterness,  "it  wasn't 

It  was  then  that  Sara  realized  that  Mother." 

she  must  not  tell  the  dreadful  truth.  "Men  often  do,  when  they  are  dy- 

No  one  must  know  that  Edward's  word  ing." 

of  love  had  been  illicit.  She  sank  down  "We  may  be  sure  that  Edward  did 

in  a  chair  and  covered  her  face  with  her  not.  She  was  always  hard,  enforcing  her 

hands  and  she  did  not  emerge  until  she  will  on  him  from  the  very  beginning, 

had  determined  upon  the  best  thing  to  She  seemed  to  resent  his  true  nature 

say.  and  was  everlastingly  after  him,  driving 

"Yes,  Ada,  he  said  two  or  three  him,  trying  to  make  him  different.  I 


COME,  JENNY 


255 


don't  believe  he  ever  did  anything  he 
wished  to  do." 

"That's  a  terrible  thing  to  say,  Ada." 
Sara  could  not  resist  argument  with  her 
sister-in-law  even  at  a  time  like  this. 
"I'm  sure  I  never  knew  what  Edward 
wished,  he  said  so  little.  Besides,  he 
needed  a  strong  influence,  some  one  like 
his  mother  to  direct  him  and  make  him 
succeed." 

"Succeed!  Let  him  not  succeed  but 
let  him  live  his  own  life  in  his  own  way. 
Why  did  she  make  him  take  up  the  law? 
Not  because  he  was  suited  to  it  but  be 
cause  she  wanted  him  to  carry  on  the 
family  tradition.  And  he  yielded  be 
cause  he  was  not  combative  or  self- 
willed  enough  to  fight  it  out.  That  he 
succeeded  at  all,  as  you  call  it,  was 
thanks  to  his  secretary ;  Miss  Quinlan 
was  a  better  lawyer  than  Edward,  and 
Mother  was  too,  for  that  matter." 

The  old  head  on  the  pillow  suddenly 
took  on  life.  One  eye  opened  and  vital 
ity  sprang  there  as  she  cannily  peered 
up  at  her  daughter. 

"Mother,  Mother?"  she  repeated 
sharply.  Her  tone  was  worn  thin  and 
brittle  by  years  of  use.  "I  knew  Mother, 
knew  her  well.  She  baked  cookies.  She 
made  green  tomato  pickles  in  a  crock." 

"There's  love  for  you,"  said  Ada, 
standing  tall  and  denunciatory  at  the 
i  foot  of  the  bed,  "remembering  her 
mother  by  her  pickles.  She  never  loved 
any  one  but  herself.  Edward  knew  what 
she  was,  hard,  domineering,  selfish.  He 
did  not  call  her  name  at  the  end.  What 
love  could  he  have  had  for  her?" 

"Love?"  queried  the  old  mother. 
"What's  love?" 

Her  old  daughter  laughed.  "Yes, 
Mother,  what's  love?  You  tell  us." 

"Love,  bosh,"  she  muttered.  "Girls 
love  dolls,  boys  love  dogs,  I  love  cats. 
Where's  my  puss?" 


The  gray  cat  curled  in  a  basket 
twitched  one  ear. 

in 

In  this  way  Sara  kept  Edward's  secret 
to  herself,  telling  every  one  who  asked 
the  same  thing  she  had  told  Ada.  And 
yet,  as  the  days  passed,  the  possession  of 
this  secret  caused  her  increasing  distress. 
It  was  not  that  she  wished  to  share  it 
with  any  one,  since  to  betray  Edward 
would  be  to  betray  herself  j  what  would 
her  pride  not  suffer  to  admit  his  greater 
love  for  another  woman?  No,  it  was  the 
thought  of  the  other  woman,  the  mys 
tery  surrounding  her  that  Sara  could  not 
endure.  Was  she  fair  or  dark?  Where 
had  he  met  her?  Was  she  young?  These 
things  and  many  more  Sara  longed  to 
know,  and  she  turned  the  woman's 
name  over  and  over  like  a  little  locket 
with  a  hidden  spring.  Jenny,  Jenny. 
The  name  evoked  a  small  person,  de 
mure  and  wren-like,  a  widow  perhaps, 
who  had  come  to  consult  him  about  an 
estate  j  a  widow  dressed  in  black  with 
that  coy  touch  of  white  that  is  so  becom 
ing,  so  alluring,  like  a  bridal  hope,  a 
promise  of  spring  in  the  midst  of  win 
ter.  It  seemed  fairly  certain  that  Jenny 
was  a  client,  and  therefore,  when  the 
faithful  secretary  called  one  afternoon 
with  condolence  and  a  brief-case,  Sara 
resolved  on  an  adroit  line  of  question 
ing.  For  no  matter  how  discreet  Ed 
ward  might  have  been,  he  could  not 
have  deceived  the  keen  eyes  of  the 
efficient,  the  redoubtable  Miss  Quinlan. 

"You  must  have  known  my  husband 
very  well  indeed,"  said  Sara,  "you  were 
associated  with  him  so  many  years." 

"I  knew  him  as  well  as  a  secretary  can 
know  her  employer  through  a  purely 
professional  relationship." 

Literal  and  decisive  was  the  speech  of 
Miss  Quinlan,  qualities  evident  in  her 


256  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

entire  person,  in  the  poise  of  her  up-  " What  do  y ou  mean,  you  can  not? " 

right  figure,  in  the  cut  of  her  tweed  suit  "Precisely  what  I  say,  Mrs.  Morris. 

and  her  smartly  cut  hair.  The  softly  In  private  life,  I  never  equivocate." 

rounded  Sara  however,  with  her  black  "You  might  mean  that  you  knew  but 

silk  contours,  faced  this  worthy  opposite  could  not  tell  me." 

without  alarm.  There  had  never  been  "True.  But  I  mean  that  I  do  not 

anything  between  the  two  women  but  know  and  therefore  can  not  tell  you." 

courtesy  and  contempt.  "But  it  may  not  be  a  recent  case. 

"You  were  invaluable.  I  don't  know  Think  back.  Years  ago  perhaps,  don't 

what  he  would  have  done  without  you,"  you  remember  a  widow  named  Jane? 

Sara  continued  graciously.  Or  perhaps  a  ward,  a  young  girl  he  was 

"He  would  have  found  another  sec-  fond  of,  called  Jenny?" 
retary,"  was  the  accurate  reply.  "He  There  was  a  leaning  forward  in 
only  needed  some  one  who  could  have  Sara's  tone  and  attitude  that  exceeded 
carried  on  his  practice  much  better  with-  her  caution,  and  the  keen  eye  of  the  sec- 
out  him.  Don't  misunderstand  me.  My  retary  became  keener  and  lit  with  a 
regard  for  your  husband  was  not  les-  peculiar  gleam. 

sened  by  my  opinion  of  him  as  a  lawyer.  "No,  I  am  truly  sorry,  I  can  not  re- 

But  Edward  Morris  was  not  made  for  member  widow  or  ward  named  Jane 

the  law,  and  he  exhausted  himself  by  his  or  Jenny  or  even  Genevieve.  Have  you 

constant  efforts  to  reconcile  its  opera-  asked  your  husband's  friend,  Matthew 

tions  with  those  of  justice.  You  see,  he  Parr?  He  will  surely  know  some  Jenny, 

would  allow  his  emotions,  his  senti-  and  possibly  the  one  referred  to."  Ris- 

ments,  to  become  engaged."  ing  to  go,  she  added:  "I  can  assure  you 

"Ah  yes,"  said  Sara,  "his  sentiments  that  Mr.  Morris's  relations  with  his  cli- 

became  engaged."  ents  and  every  one  in  the  office  were 

"And  I  believe,  Mrs.  Morris,  that  always  most  formal.  If  you  must  know 

his  untimely  end  was  brought  about  by  who  the  lady  is,  I  advise  you  to  seek  her 

a  distress  of  the  heart,  not  only  physical  outside  the  law." 

but  spiritual.  He  loved  peace  and  was  "I  may  have  been  mistaken  in  the 

always  amid  contention.  He  was  an  name,"  said  Sara,  as  serenely  as  she  was 

idealist,  and  yet  was  forced  to  come  into  able, 
daily  contact,  as  the  lawyer  must,  with 

man  in  his  worst  and  most  evil  aspect."  IV 

"Not  to  mention  woman,"  said  Sara.  When  the  door  closed  upon  Miss 

She  saw  an  opening  and  deftly  inter-  Quinlan's  departure,  Sara  could  not  get 

posed  her  question.  "In  fact,  there  is  a  to  the  telephone  quickly  enough,  and 

woman  I  want  to  ask  you  about,  some  an  hour  later  Matthew  Parr  responded 

one  whose  case  apparently  worried  my  by  entering  the  room  where  she  sat 

husband.  I  could  not  understand  what  awaiting  him,  tapping  the  floor  with  a 

he  wanted  me  to  do  about  it,  because  he  plump  impatient  foot, 

spoke  indistinctly  and  all  I  heard  was  "You   look   quite   pink,    Sara,"   he 

the  first  name.  No  doubt  you  can  tell  me  said.    "Was   Miss   Q.   too   much   for 

about  a  woman  named  Jenny?"  you?" 

"No,"     Miss     Quinlan     answered  Her  cheeks  were  indeed  pink  and  as 

promptly,  "I  can  not."  she  rocked  back  and  forth  her  black  silk 


COME,  JENNY                                      157 

appeared  unduly  ruffled  like  the  plum-  Sara  sat  forward,  her  cheeks  pinker 

age  of  an  angry  bird.  than  ever. 

"Sit  down,  Matthew.  I  want  to  talk  "Tell  me  all  about  her.  What  is  she 

to  you."  like?" 

"For  the  first  time,  I  believe.  It  must  "I  don't  know  what  she  is  like  now. 

be  very  important."  It  may  disappoint  you  to  learn  that  this 

"It  is.  You  are  the  only  one  who  happened  before  you  were  married, 

knew  Edward  well  enough  and  long  After   marriage,   of 

enough  to  tell  me  what  I  want  to  ceased  for  Edward." 

know."  "I  am  not  disappointed,  whatever 

"My  only  qualification  of  any  value  you  mean  by  that,  but  I  am  surprised 

whatever,"    said    Matthew.    But    he  that  it  happened  so  long  ago.  Was  he 

seemed  to  be  undisturbed  by  his  balance  very  much  in  love  with  her?" 

of  worthlessness.  He  sat  down,  crossing  "He  was  deeply  in  love  with  her.  She 

his  long  arms,  crossing  his  long  legs,  was    a    beautiful    creature,    perfectly 

and  viewing  Sara  with  some  curiosity.  formed,  body  and  soul,  for  the  allure- 

"I  can  not  tell  you  why  I  ask  this,"  ment  of  men.  He  worshipped  her,  and 
she  said,  "but  do  you  know  of  any  other  being  a  confounded  idiot,  did  not  real- 
woman  in  Edward's  life? "  ize  that  a  woman  with  a  genius  for  love 

"You  astound  me! "  must  exercise  it,  and  no  one  man  is  suf- 

"Don't   put    me    off.    Answer    me  ficient.  The  night  he  found  this  out,  he 

plainly."  came  directly  to  me.  I  remember  how 

"Upon  my  word,  you  sound  like  Miss  white  and  shaken  he  was,  and  how  he 

Q."  He  smiled  and  dug  in  his  pocket,  traveled  up  and  down  the  room.  cl  shall 

bringing  forth  a  pipe  which  he  held  as  never   love   woman   again,'    he   said, 

tightly  as  though  he  expected  it  to  be  'never  love  woman  again.'  " 

snatched  from  him.  "I  know  this  is  Sara  was  silent  a  moment,  looking 

against  the  rules,  but  unless  you  allow  down,  turning  the  rings  on  her  fingers. 

me  to  smoke,  I  can  not  undertake  to  an-  "He  never  changed  his  mind,  Mat- 

swer  your  question."  thew." 

"Smoke  your  pipe,  Matthew,  if  it  "Oh,  well,  his  love  for  you  was  dif- 

will  help  you  to  tell  the  truth.  The  win-  ferent,  not  desperate  or  passionate  like 

dows  can  be  opened  after  you  are  gone."  this  affair.  I'm  sure  he  was  a  good  hus- 

Leisurely,  he  filled  the  pipe  from  band  to  you,  living  your  kind  of  life, 
an  old  pouch,  pressed  down  the  to-  and  trying  to  make  you  happy." 
bacco,  sought  innumerable  pockets  for  "It  made  him  happier  too."  She  was 
matches,  and  finally  produced  a  light,  mildly  defiant.  "If  I  took  him  into  so- 
sucking  his  gaunt  cheeks  more  and  more  cial  life,  it  was  for  his  own  good." 
hollow.  "For  his  own  good !  Don't  you  know 

"Now,"  he  said,  smoking  comfort-  that  detestable  phrase  is  an  acknowl- 

ably ,  "what  was  your  question  ? "  edgement  of  guilt  ? " 

"How  you  enjoy  tormenting  me.  "No,  but  I  suppose  you  would  have 

You  know  perfectly  well  what  I  asked."  had  him  as  vagabond  as  yourself,  drift- 

"Yes,  and  there's  no  need  of  evad-  ing  from  one  thing  to  another,  reading 
ing  you.  I  do  know  of  another  woman  poetry,  going  fishing,  and  accomplish- 
in  Edward's  life."  ing  nothing." 


258 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


"You  have  outlined  the  ideal  exist 
ence  and  I  used  to  think  he  agreed  with 
me.  But  alas,  you  ladies,  all  trying  to  do 
him  good.  God  bless  the  ladies,  I  say,  in 
Edward's  life." 

"And  what  about  you,  Matthew, 
since  we  are  speaking  so  plainly? 
Weren't  you  a  disappointment  to  him? 
Why  did  you  see  so  little  of  each  other 
in  later  years?" 

"To  my  eternal  shame,"  said  Mat 
thew  gravely,  "I  deserted  my  friend.  I 
ceased  to  understand  him,  thinking  he 
had  gone  over  to  the  enemy,  and  he 
on  his  side,  must  have  thought  me 
renegade  indeed.  And  now  that  we 
have  had  our  say,  I  shall  apologize 
and  depart." 

"Just  a  moment."  She  looked  up  at 
him  hesitatingly  as  he  arose.  "Would  it 
surprise  you  to  know  that  Edward  never 
forgot  her,  his  first  love,  and  the  last 
word  he  spoke  was  Jenny?" 

"Jenny!"  He  sat  down  again 
abruptly.  "But  that  wasn't  her  name!" 

"Not  Jenny?"  she  finally  enunciated. 

"No,  it  was  Delia.  I  know  nothing 
about  a  Jenny."  He  sucked  his  pipe  and 
stared.  "But  look  here,  how  do  we  know 
Delia  was  his  first  love?  Perhaps  there 
was  a  young  girl  when  they  lived  out  in 
the  country.  Doesn't  Ada  remember?" 

But  Sara  did  not  appear  to  be  lis 
tening. 

"Delia,"  she  said,  with  the  utmost 
contempt.  "Who  cares  about  a  Delia!" 


Up  the  stairs  Sara  hurried,  straight 
for  the  bedroom  of  the  ancient  Morris, 
where  she  knew  Ada  was  to  be  found. 
The  old  mother  blinked  dozily  on  her 
pillows  j  the  old  daughter  sat  knitting 
by  the  window,  spinster  in  the  late  after 
noon  sun  that  gave  no  warmth,  but  cast 
a  ruby  glow  throughout  the  room. 


"I  smelled  Matthew's  pipe,"  said 
Ada. 

"You  did  indeed.  I  sent  for  him." 
Out  of  breath,  she  sat  down  heavily  in 
the  first  chair  she  came  to,  lifting  the  cat 
that  was  sleeping  in  it  to  her  lap. 

"Whatever  did  you  want  to  see  him 
for?" 

"About  Edward."  Betrayals  no 
longer  concerned  her  or  her  own  pride. 
Desperately,  she  plunged:  "I  did  not 
tell  you  the  truth,  Ada.  I  heard  the 
name  Edward  called  when  he  died." 

"I  thought  it  very  queer."  The  knit 
ting  needles  went  faster.  "Why  didn't 
you  tell  me?" 

"Because  it  was  the  name  of  a  woman 
and  it  wasn't  mine  and  I  don't  know 
who  she  was.  Matthew  thought 
you  .  .  ." 

"What  was  it?" 

"Jenny,"  she  cried,  "that's  the  name 
your  brother  called,  Jenny! " 

"Never  heard  of  her,"  said  Ada  em 
phatically. 

Sara  burst  into  tears. 

With  the  sound  of  her  weeping  came 
a  soft  chuckling  from  the  bed.  Crying  or 
laughing  were  one  to  the  old  mother, 
who  seemed  to  find  this  an  occasion  for 
mirth. 

"Oh,  Jenny,"  she  repeated  in  a 
high-pitched  voice,  "Jenny,  Jenny, 
Jenny  .  .  ." 

"Quiet,  Mother,"  said  the  daughter 
sternly. 

But  Sara  held  her  tears,  suddenly 
struck. 

"Ada,  I  believe  she  knows." 

"What  could  she  know  about  Ed 
ward  that  I  do  not?" 

"You  might  have  forgotten.  Mat 
thew  thought  Jenny  was  a  girl,  some 
one  Edward  knew  when  you  lived  out 
in  the  country,  perhaps  a  little  girl  he 
played  with." 


COME,  JENNY                                         259 

"H'm,  I  doubt  it.  But  of  course,  his  Ada.  "Try  to  forget  about  it.  Whoever 

childhood  was  not  mine.  When  he  was  Jenny  was,  it's  all  over  and  done  with." 

twelve,  I  was  only  three.  If  Jenny  was  a  Sara  held  the  cat  closely  in  her  arms 

little  girl,  I  wouldn't  remember."  for  comfort,  while  its  coat  twitched  un- 

" Jenny,  Jenny,  Jenny,"  the  call  came  der  her  teardrops, 

softly  from  the  bed.  "But  he  must  have  loved  her  dearly. 

Sara  arose,  and  holding  the  cat  in  her  I  can  see  him  now  as  he  sat  up  in  bed,  a 

arms,  its  body  limp  with  sleep,  she  went  kind  of  joy  in  his  face.  He  seemed  to  be 

to  stand  beside  the  bed.  young  again,  and  he  did  not  look  at  me 

"Mother,  you  remember  the  little  or  anywhere  in  the  room.  And  he  said 

girl  named  Jenny,  don't  you?"  so   quietly,    'Come,'    he   said,    'come, 

She  looked  up  slyly  from  her  pillow,  Jenny,'  as  though  she  was  the  only  one 

only  her  head  visible,  severed  by  the  he  wanted  to  go  with  him." 

edge    of   the   quilt,   a   silken    guillo-  "Edward  going  somewhere?"  asked 

tine.  The  merry  face  might  have  been  his  mother,  tugging  at  the  edge  of  the 

a   jester's    head    on   a   stick,    decked  quilt. 

as  it  was  by  the  motley  patches  of  "He's    gone,    Mother.     Edward's 

bright  silk,   feather-stitched  between,  gone." 

crazy  quilt  fit  for  a  daft  old  lady,  "Off  by  himself,  I  reckon.  Boy  al- 

feather-brained.  ways  going  off  by  himself.  Tramping 

"Little  girl?"  she  queried.  "Used  to  the  woods  and  hills.  Bread  and  apple  in 

be  little  girls  long  ago.  Aprons  with  his  pocket.  No  one  with  him  but  that  old 

pockets.  Sprigged  muslin  and  pigtails."  setter  he  loved.  I  heard  him  calling  her 

"No  good  asking  her  anything,"  said  awhile  back." 


The  Country  Press  Reawakens 

BY  CHARLES  MORROW  WILSON 

As  buying  power  goes  out  again  into  the  farming  communities, 

the  country  newspaper  shows  its  tenacious  hold  on 

American  life 

MILAM,  who  edits  and  publishes  loafing  place  of  the  village.  There  the 
a  country  newspaper,  without  casual  sitter-down,  or  the  bringer  of 
0  use  of  linotype,  power  press,  local  tidings, -is  not  distracted  by  the 
electricity  or  telegraph,  had  asked  me  vibrating  roar  of  power  presses,  or  by 
down  for  a  squirrel  Mulligan.  He  had  linotypes  that  never-endingly  click  and 
made  the  point  clear  that  he  is  not  a  putter  like  sleet  falling  on  dead  grass, 
hunter  of  squirrel,  or  otherwise  5  that  he  There  is  no  railroad  in  the  county,  and 
is  opposed  to  killing  anything,  includ-  no  telegraph  office.  The  telephone  ex- 
ing  time.  change  is  home-owned  and  home-oper- 

But  a  subscription  had  lately  been  ated.  Sometimes  it  works  and  sometimes 

renewed  in  squirrel  meat,  and  since  not.  Mail  reaches  the  town  but  once  a 

young  squirrel  makes  excellent  stew,  day,  and  to  a  great  part  of  the  surround- 

the  editor-publisher  felt  that  something  ing  countryside  it  gets  out  but  twice  a 

should  be  done  about  it.  The  situation  week.    But    the   Informer,   which    J. 

touched  me  so  deeply  that  I  hurried  to  Milam  issues  weekly  and  by  hand,  with 

the  spot;  my  decrepit  coupe  moaning  hand-set  type  lifted  from  a  rack  that 

along  through  forest  lands  golden  and  has  been  producing  an  uninterrupted 

scarlet  in  the  heyday  of  early  autumn,  flow  of  Informers  for  the  past  thirty- 

until  finally  it  came  to  a  coughing  halt  three  years,  goes  tranquilly  on. 

before  a  low  rock  courthouse  lined  with  Strolling  into  the  office,  I  heard  a 

hitching  posts.  subdued  gurgle  of  cookery,  and  a  deft 

This  particular  country  courthouse  is  clicking  of  type  letters  being  slipped 

first  anchorage  for  the  county  seat  town  into  a  metal  "stick."  A  customer  waited 

of  Jasper,  Arkansas,  a  square  of  small  at  the  editor's  desk,  a  sunburnt  and 

shops  which  offer  their  goods  in  disci-  grinning  youth  in  faded  blue  overalls, 

plined  resignation  to  bringers  of  de-  a  young  man  of  the  land  who  had 

pendable    trade — time-tested    country-  brought  in  a  basket  of  late  squashes  to 

men  and  hillside  farmers.  settle  up  a  year's  subscription  j  also  tri- 

Second  only  to  the  courthouse,  the  umphant  news.  Overnight  he  had  be- 

Informery  wedged  between  the  drug  come  father  of  a  nine-pound  boy. 

store  and  produce  station,  is  the  best  J.  Milam  left  his  type  case  to  deliver 


THE  COUNTRY  PRESS  REAWAKENS 


261 


congratulations  and  to  accept  the  basket 
of  squashes.  I  studied  the  publisher  and 
editor,  firmly  tall  and  sunbrowned; 
sleeves  rolled,  hands  and  wrists  black 
ened  in  miry  contrast  to  his  immaculate 
linen  breeches  and  unsullied  white 
shirt.  He  addressed  the  elated  news- 
bringer: 

"That's  mighty  fine.  Doc  Stewart 
came  by  for  a  cup  of  coffee  last  night 
just  before  he  left  for  your  place.  So  I 
held  the  space  for  you.  What's  the 
young  man's  name?" 

"Edward  Junior." 

The  Informer  removed  his  horn 
rimmed  spectacles  with  something  of  a 
start. 

"But  your  name  is  Dave." 

The  customer  smiled  reassurance. 

"Sure  it  is,  but  me  and  my  wife  de 
cided  to  name  the  boy  Edward  after 
her  Pa  and  Junior  after  me.  We  reckon 
on  callin'  him  E.J. — anyway  till  after 
he's  growed  up  for  startin'  to  school. 
Then  he'll  be  Edward,  or  maybe  just 
Ed." 


ii 


J.  Milam  smiled,  made  record  of 
the  renewed  subscription,  stored  the 
squashes  in  a  handy  corner,  and  stirred 
the  stewing  squirrel  meat  before  he 
went  back  to  type-setting.  Copy  was 
being  born.  I  lit  a  cigarette,  pondering 
upon  the  ease  of  its  birth,  and  the  sim 
plicity  of  equipment  for  its  obstetrics — 
a  paper-cutter,  a  shelf  for  type  cases,  a 
rack  with  drawers  of  loose  type;  a  flat 
press  no  bigger  than  a  dressing  table;  a 
rolltop  desk  equipped  with  a  diction 
ary,  almanac,  Agriculture  Yearbooky  a 
loose-leaf  calendar,  a  Bible  and  a  mound 
of  loose  paper— all  in  all,  the  elemental 
ingredients  of  publishing  centred  in  no 
more  than  a  ton  of  metal  and  in  a  very 
few  cubic  feet  of  space. 


It  is  said,  perhaps  with  as  much  truth 
as  smartness,  that  whereas  the  American 
business  man  opens  his  conversations  by 
talking  first  about  business  and  then 
about  himself,  the  gentleman  of  the 
press  speaks  first  about  himself  and  then 
about  business.  But  J.  Milam  began  by 
talking  about  his  business.  He  believes 
that  the  country  newspaper  is  basically 
sound  first  of  all  because  it  is,  or  cer 
tainly  should  be,  part  of  the  life  blood 
of  American  agriculture,  which  remains 
not  only  the  mightiest  of  American 
trades  from  a  numerical  standpoint,  but 
also  a  rather  definitely  molded  way  of 
living.  He  believes  that  the  place  of  the 
country  newspaper  is  proven  and  secure 
so  long  as  it  can  uphold  reader  loyalty, 
the  one  priceless  ingredient,  the  lamp- 
rubbing  Aladdin  of  all  journalistic 
longevity. 

He  believes  that  reader  loyalty  rests 
upon  sympathy  and  service  on  the  part 
of  the  paper  j  sympathy  with  the  sea 
sonal  and  enduring  problems  and  view 
points  ;  service,  first  in  honest  reflection 
of  countryside  news,  and  editorials  that 
are  pertinent  and  sympathetic;  second 
with  impartial  summaries  of  the  more 
outstanding  State  and  national  news — 
for  the  benefit  of  the  one-paper  reader; 
and  finally,  where  it  is  possible,  by  intel 
ligently  linking  local  news  with  news 
trends  that  are  more  far-reaching. 

The  first  mission  is  the  most  impor 
tant  of  all.  For  the  life  of  the  country 
press  lies  in  the  local  and  the  intimate, 
in  the  casual  interests  and  the  more 
than  casual  hopes  of  rural  America. 

Textbooks  of  college  journalism  de 
fine  news  as  "anything  timely  that  in 
terests  a  number  of  readers,  and  the 
best  news  is  that  with  the  greatest  inter 
est  for  the  greatest  number,"  which 
makes  a  nice  line  to  recite,  at  least 
in  college  journalism  classes.  But 


262  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

J.  Milam,  as  one  who  earns  his  living  "Boyd  Robinson  fell  off  a  stave  truck 
from  written  copy,  rarely  ever  bothers  last  week  and  was  bruised  up  consider- 
with  verbal  recitations.  Moreover,  since  ably.  His  injuries  are  not  serious,  how- 
it  is  a  newspaper's  job  to  speak  for  itself,  ever,  and  he  is  getting  along  nicely 
the  Informer's  editor  expressed  its  prac-  now." 

tices  of  country  news  presentation  by  As  one  reader  to  another,  I  believe 

handing  me  a  galley  of  type,  from  the  column  to  be  packed  with  news  ;  sol- 

which  I  quote  verbatim  and  right  gayly :  vent  and  sincere  news,  perhaps  lacking 

"Chinquapins  are  ripening,  squirrels  in  "big  significance,"  but  profoundly 
are   fattening,   sorghum-making   time  worth  while  in  that  it  reflects  and  inter- 
is   here  and  local   hunters   are  again  prets  a  great  section  of  American  life, 
looking  over  their  hounds  with  careful 
eye.  "' 

"Capt.  George  Clark,  deputy  sheriff  The  issue  was  flowering  into  publi- 

and  collector,  returned  Monday  from  a  cation.  J.  Milam  stood  over  his  rack, 

vacation  trip   to  various  and  sundry  lifting  out  type  letters  with  his  fingers, 

places.  He  has  taken  off  his  necktie  and  slinging  them  into  column  forms  with 

is  again  wielding  a  calculating  and  fig-  the  carefree  certainty  that  comes  of  a 

uring  pencil.  generation's  practice  as  a  hand  composi- 

"A  very  effective  and  soothing  treat-  tor.  On  the  bench  before  him  were 

ment  for  sore  throats  is  to  gargle  every  scraps  of  paper,  scrawled  with  notes  and 

hour  or  two  with  warm  salt  water.  figures,  but  as  a  working  technique 

"Methodist  Episcopal  Church  Notes:  he  writes  directly  with  type,  rarely 

"Thanks  to  the  men  who  have  been  bothering  with  manuscript  copy  other 

helping  so  splendidly,  we  will  soon  than  that  contributed  by  local  corre- 

have  a  new  roof  on  the  church.  It  is  spondents. 

going  to  look  fine.  Be  a  booster  and  help  I  read  over  a  handful  of  the  latter, 

the  church.  Most  of  it  was  scribbled  in  pencil; 

"Although  autumn  does  not  begin  much  of  it  semi-literate;  most  of  it  writ- 

officially  until  September  21,  the  fall  ten  by  farm  wives  whose  lives  have 

series  of  dominoes  has  begun,  and  daily  been  spent  in  the  communities  about 

games  are  being  played  by  Dr.  O.  A.  which  they  write;  modest  scribes  who 

Moore,  H.  L.  Raney,  and  Ned  Brooks,  record  the  every-day  happenings  and 

"When  the  rest  get  through  telling  views  of  their  own  small  worlds,  receiv- 

their    rattlesnake    killing    stories    Art  ing  for  the  service  no  pay  except  in  sub- 

Hoyer  will  tell  one  about  a  54-inch  <big  scriptions.  Few  of  them  sign  their  work, 

boy'  that  he  killed  recently.  Wonder  if  Yet  they  write  on,  through  flood  and 

he  has  the  record?  Anyway,  Art  is  still  famine,  drought  and  pestilence — minia- 

chuckling  because  his  rattlesnake  was  ture    historians    who    expect    neither 

longer  than  Doyle  Spencer's.  money  nor  fame. 

"The  next  Newton  county  singing  Their  writings  are  frequently  inci- 

convention  will  be  held  in  Limestone  sive  and  quaint,  sometimes  brilliant.  I 

beginning  next  Saturday  at  2  o'clock  picked  at  random  an  obituary,  scribbled 

p.m.  We  hope  to  have  all  classes  in  the  on  brown  wrapping  paper  with  a  very 

county  represented,  so  come  and  let's  dull  pencil: 

have  a  good  convention.  "Uncle  John  Spencer,   89-year-old 


THE  COUNTRY  PRESS  REAWAKENS  263 

postmaster  at  Plumlee,  died  Saturday,  cism.  He  believes  that  country  people 
September  10,  and  was  buried  on  Mt.  by  and  large,  like  townspeople,  are  get- 
Sherman  Monday,  beside  his  wife,  with  ting  to  be  better  readers  all  the  time, 
most  of  the  mountain  in  attendance.  Schools  are  helping  in  this.  So  also  is 
Beautiful  flowers  and  an  ideal  Septem-  the  magnificent  current  flow  of  national 
ber  day  helped  make  Uncle  John's  final  and  world  news.  So  also  is  the  "newer 
farewell  gathering  a  time  of  inspiration  spirit  of  social  justice."  The  forgotten 
and  happiness  for  all.  Inspiration  be-  man  is  gradually  becoming  remem- 
cause  of  the  fine  life  that  had  been  lived  bered,  and  he  is  anxious  to  do  his  part 
among  us,  and  happiness  because  Uncle  of  the  remembering,  and  to  take  ad- 
John's  earthly  troubles  are  over  and  he  vantage  of  his  privileges  and  obliga- 
has  gone  to  a  greater  service  in  realms  tions  as  a  contemporary  American, 
beyond  the  limits  of  time.  ...  In  this  connection,  J.  Milam  is  not  a 

"Uncle  John  used  to  hunt  a  lot  when  "sectionalism"  He  believes  that  country 

young.  In  those  days  there  was  plenty  people  are  country  people  and  towns- 

of  deer  and  wild  turkies  everywhere  on  men  are  townsmen  pretty  much  the 

Mt.  Sherman  and  of  course  a  great  world  over,  and  that  the  two  classes  have 

many  squirrel  and  other  small  game,  a  great  deal  in  common.  He  believes 

Even  while  sick,  Uncle  John  said  laugh-  that  "local  color"  belongs  to  every  com- 

ingly  Til  probably  be  tearing  out  to  munity  and  section,  and  for  that  matter 

Harve  Raney's  cove  when  I  feel  better,  to  every  one  of  God's  acres — just  as  do 

if  the  deer  are  still  running.'  air  and  sunlight,  death  and  birth,  and 

"As  postmaster  of  Plumlee,  six  miles  changing  seasons.  He  regards  local 
west  of  Jasper,  for  the  past  fifteen  years,  color,  as  fodder  for  feature  writers  or 
Uncle  John  insisted  that  the  account  novelists  who  would  picture  one  particu- 
books  balance  to  the  penny  every  day.  lar  section  of  the  nation  as  a  quaint  and 
.  .  .  And  the  Post  Office  Inspector  said  folkish  exception  to  all  others,  as  a 
that  Uncle  John  was  keeping  the  office  rather  watery  and  unconvincing  mixture 
better  than  most  of  the  young  P.M.'s.  CI  of  duck  soup.  But  he  believes  that  the 
like  my  work  and  I  think  my  patrons  are  country  man,  usually  a  little  less  con 
fine  people' Uncle  John  often  said.  .  .  .  fused  by  the  uproar  and  hubbub  of  mod- 

"Last  year,  at  88,  Uncle  John  said  ern  living  than  the  townsman,  is  likely 

he'd  like  to  make  the  hundred  mark,  to  ponder  a  little  more  deliberately  upon 

But  old  age  complications  weakened  the  ways  and  vagaries  of  life,  and  gov- 

him  gradually,  until  finally  he  passed  ernment,  and  destinies, 

into  deep  sleep  to  wake  up  in  eternity."  In  spite  of  isolation  and  distances,  he 

J.  Milam  believed  this  one  of  the  best  finds  that  countryside  news  is  rather 
bits  of  writing  that  he  has  ever  thrown  easy  to  gather.  Being  the  real  life  pat- 
into  type.  It  is  longer  than  most  of  his  tern  of  his  people,  it  is  also  their  con- 
items.  As  a  rule  he  prefers  to  condense  versation.  J.  Milam's  personal  formula 
each  story  into  a  maximum  of  a  hun-  for  news-gathering  is  simple:  "Keep  lis- 
dred  words.  He  has  found  that  rural  tening,  and  never  do  more  than  half 
interest  can  be  held  best  by  short,  per-  the  talking." 

tinent  items,  shaped  to  the  spirit  of  the  Naturally  the  country  editor  must 

prevailing  language  and  interest.  He  live  close  to  his  people.  J.  Milam,  like 

points  this  out  as  a  fact  and  not  as  a  criti-  legions    of    journalistic    confederates, 


264  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

names  such  a  course  as  both  a  deliberate  But  now  that  new  dawn  is  showing 

choice  and  a  personal  privilege.  at  the  far  end  of  the  agrarian  valley; 

now  that  the  market  worth  of  farm 

IV  crops  has  risen  about  a  billion  and  a 

All  this  belongs  in  the  general  cata-  quarter  dollars  within  eighteen  months; 

logue  of  the  country  press,  which  as  an  now  that  the  Agricultural  Adjustment 

American  institution  is  as  old  as  the  Administration  has  showered  farming 

farming  frontiers  and  even  more  endur-  realms  with  some  four  hundred  million 

ing,  in  the  sense  that  it  lives  on,  even  dollars  in  cash  bounties  for  acreage  lim- 

after  frontiers  have  tumbled  into  the  itation  and  proposes  to  circulate  an  addi- 

Pacific.  There  must  be  both  economic  tional  seven  hundred  millions  into  farm 

and  contemporary  reasons  for  this  sur-  pockets  during  the  remainder  of  1934; 

vival.  now  that  the  nation  by  and  large  turns 

The  outstanding  current  news  of  the  again  to  the  old  and  sure  refuge  of 
country  press  is  simply  that  the  country  earth  for  defense  against  forces  which 
press  is  today  meeting  a  reawakening  threaten  its  very  life  5  now  that  we  are 
and  a  renaissance  of  power  and  of  restoring  the  earlier  adage  to  the  effect 
health.  Financially  and  tangibly  speak-  that  it  is  really  the  farm  dollar  that 
ing,  the  life  of  the  country  newspaper  turns  the  wheels  of  American  corn- 
rises  and  ebbs  with  the  income  level  of  merce;  now  that  farmers  can  and  are 
the  farming  profession.  buying  again,  the  destinies  of  the  coun- 

Therefore  recent  black  years  which  try  newspaper  seem  definitely  upon  the 

have  left  rural  America  altogether  too  up-grade. 

much  in  the  red  have  presented  the  Recently  the  General  Extension  Serv- 
country  newspaper  with  an  acid  test  of  ice  of  the  United  States  Department  of 
survival.  Over  the  nation  as  a  whole,  Agriculture  completed  a  "rural  buying- 
between  1929  and  1933,  country  news-  power  survey"  of  about  2,800  of  the 
paper  advertising  appears  to  have  fallen  3,ioo  counties  and  parishes  of  the 
about  thirty  per  cent;  its  gross  circula-  United  States.  Study  of  this  survey 
tion  about  fifteen  per  cent,  and  its  copy  shows  that  the  new  thrust  of  farm  buy- 
lineage  about  twenty  per  cent.  During  ing  is  centred  primarily  upon  staple  ne- 
those  darkish  years  the  nation's  total  cessities  and  materials  for  farm  repairs 
of  country  newspapers  fell  from  about  and  maintenance;  that  the  farmer  is 
2,800  to  about  2,600,  which  in  compar-  buying  cautiously;  that  moneyless  years 
ison  with  rural  banks  and  mercantile  have  given  him  abundant  time  to 
establishments  was  surely  not  a  distress-  differentiate  between  dispensables  and  j 
ing  casualty  rate.  Moreover,  even  dur-  non-dispensables;  that  current  farm 
ing  these  years  when  crop  prices  lagged  buying  power  is  markedly  penalized  by 
below  one-half  of  their  pre-War  levels  the  need  of  paying  back-taxes  and  de- 
and  sagged  perilously  near  a  century's  linquent  debt, 
low,  the  number  of  weekly  newspapers  But  the  survey  also  indicates  that  the 
with  preponderantly  rural  circulation  American  farmer,  by  and  large,  regards 
actually  increased  in  a  few  sections  of  his  local  nev/spaper  as  a  necessity,  rather 
the  South  and  West.  It  is  hard  to  say  than  as  a  luxury;  that  his  increasing 
why  or  how.  But  the  statement  is  sup-  consumption  of  the  city  daily  newspaper 
ported  by  reliable  records.  is  not  damping  his  demand  for  the  local 


THE  COUNTRY  PRESS  REAWAKENS  265 

or  county  weekly  or  semi-weekly.  The  alty  of  a  calibre  to  induce  the  subscriber 
survey  indicates  in  a  general  way  that  to  pay  his  subscription  in  produce  and 
country  newspaper  circulation  is  gradu-  provender  when  cash  is  relentlessly 
ally  increasing  throughout  the  farming  lacking  j  that  he  relishes  squirrel  meat 
areas  of  the  South,  Southwest,  Mid-  and  sundry  other  payment  in  barter — 
West  and  Far  West,  along  with  more  with  the  single  exception  of  a  very 
restricted  areas  of  the  Piedmont,  Tide-  much  alive  goat  named  Perry  who  re- 
water  and  of  New  England.  It  tells  cently  appeared  as  payment  for  a  five- 
specifically  that  country  newspaper  ad-  year  subscription,  and  proved  itself  such 
vertising  is  scoring  a  nation-wide  in-  a  pestiferous  nuisance  that  the  editor 
crease  of  from  five  to  ten  per  cent  over  pleaded  to  extend  the  subscription  an- 
the  average  volume  for  the  past  three  other  year  if  the  subscriber  would  only 
years  j  that  the  increase  of  advertising  agree  to  take  the  outrageous  beast  back 
volume  seems  to  be  greatest  in  the  home  again.  Perhaps  all  of  this  is 
Southwest  and  the  Corn  Belt,  where  merely  a  roundabout  way  of  saying  that 
numerous  counties  report  thirty  to  forty  rural  America  is  becoming  a  happier 
per  cent  increases  in  country  advertis-  realm  now  that  the  yeoman  again  be 
ing,  one  of  the  best-proven  yardsticks  comes  able  to  trade  in  clean  money 
for  local  buying  power.  Still  another  rather  than  in  cumbersome  barter, 
evidence  of  the  reawakening  of  our  So  much  for  the  immediate  news  of 
country  press  is  forwarded  by  the  Ayers  country  newspapering.  Our  attentions 
estimate  that  about  1 1 7  new  weekly  were  momentarily  turning  to  the  squir- 
newspapers  have  been  foaled  within  the  rel  stew.  The  county  judge,  beaming 
past  eighteen  months.  and  coatless,  strolled  in  ostensibly  for  a 

casual  chat  and  a  turn  at  non-construc- 

y  tive  whittling.  The  squirrel  Mulligan 

J.  Milam,  for  one,  lists  all  of  these  was  becoming  right.  A  storekeeper  and 
as  promising  symptoms.  He  believes  a  village  barber  appeared  from  the  sky- 
that  the  country  editor  is  again  entitled  blocked  alleyway  as  if  by  intuitive 
to  puff  a  mellow  pipe  now  and  then,  magic.  J.  Milam  took  recess  from  pro- 
or  even  to  absorb  an  occasional  bottle  fessional  duties,  set  the  wrapping  table 
of  beer — out  of  sheer  satisfaction.  Farm  with  plates  and  cutlery,  served  up  the 
buying  power  is  coming  back,  which  stew  and  set  the  feast.  The  squirrel 
means  that  the  country  newspaper  again  Mulligan  was  an  eminent  success, 
has  a  fair  chance  to  regain  its  pull,  pro-  Like  most  of  his  brethren  of  the 
vided,  of  course  that  it  can  muster  suf-  fourth  estate,  J.  Milam  would  almost 
ficient  heft  to  perform  the  pulling.  It  rather  talk  shop  than  to  eat.  When  the 
means  that  more  subscriptions  are  being  opportunity  comes  for  combining  the 
paid  in  cash,  rather  than  in  firewood,  two  then  all  is  doubly  well.  So  we  ate, 
pumpkins,  stewing  apples,  home-raised  and  talked  shop, 
fruit  or  meats.  In  common  with  more  famed  and 

But  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  squir-  better    publicized    helmsmen    of    the 

rel  Mulligan  was  still  yielding  delec-  press,  J.   Milam  defines  the  country 

table  aromas  and  great  culinary  promise,  newspaper  as  a  working  laboratory  and 

J.  Milam  hurried  to  put  me  clear  on  an  experimental  source  of  national  jour- 

the  point  that  he  cherishes  reader  loy-  nalism;  as  the  varyingly  clear  spring 


266  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

that  gives  forth  the  first  headwaters  of  for  "hot  copy."  It  can  sprinkle  the  new 

the  vast  and  torrential  river  of  publica-  and  untried  news  with  the  older  and 

tions.  better  proven ;  factual  occurrence  with 

Personally  I  take  issue  with  his  defi-  pastoral  reflection  and  bucolic  drollery 
nition  in  but  one  respect — the  substitu-  and  clothesline  talk.  And  these  stay  the 
tion  of  literature  lor, journalism.  And  I  truest  literature  as  well  as  the  most  con- 
would  not  trump  or  trick  in  matters  of  vincing  living  ways  of  American  life, 
definition,  for  I  would  abide  by  the  These  credos  lead  directly  to  Editor 
staid  dictum  of  the  Oxford  Dictionary  Milam's  conviction  that  the  country 
in  calling  literature  "the  use  of  letters  weekly  is  not  being  harmed  by  the  in- 
for  promulgation  of  thought  or  knowl-  creasing  rural  permeation  of  the  city 
edge;  the  communication  of  facts, ideas,  daily.  He  knows  that  rising  rural  liter- 
or  emotions  by  means  of  publication."  acy  and  accompanying  interest  in  na- 

The  country  newspaper's  interests  tional  and  international  news  chronicles 
hold  backgrounds  of  significant  endur-  of  the  day  are  very  surely  increasing  the 
ance;  of  repetitions  endowed  with  per-  rural  demand  for  the  daily  newspaper, 
sonal  variety  and  freshness.  For  its  Study  a  newspaper  trade  journal,  and 
purposes  every  homestead  has  a  story,  you  will  notice  that  from  various  and 
or  more  likely  several  stories,  even  if  sundry  inland  cities  and  towns — At- 
the  item  be  nothing  more  than  mention  lanta,  Raleigh,  Des  Moines,  Kansas 
of  a  particularly  promising  bed  of  sun-  City,  Louisville,  St.  Louis,  Columbus, 
flowers,  or  a  new  quilt  lately  patterned  Dallas  and  dozens  of  others — come  opti- 
by  the  farm  wife,  a  successful  straw-  mistic  increases  of  the  "territories"  of 
berry  harvest,  a  home-made  dining  the  local  daily  paper,  while  the  office  of 
table,  a  new  barn  roof,  or  an  extraordi-  the  Postmaster  General  marks  a  notable 
narily  big  hog.  For  it  is  with  these  increase  in  the  volume  of  city  news- 
workaday  items  that  the  true  weave  of  papers  delivered  over  rural  routes  in 
rural  America  is  fashioned.  farm  communities  which  comprise  trade 

The  country  newspaper  can  still  af-  areas  and  hinterlands  of  those  cities, 
ford  to  be  conversational  and  casual,  J.  Milam,  who  has  spent  his  lifetime 
and  reasonably  spontaneous  in  text  and  at  publishing  a  country  newspaper, 
in  substance.  It  need  cater  to  no  cliques  looks  upon  this  development  as  an  asset, 
of  "intellectuals."  It  can  be  free  of  the  rather  than  a  liability  of  his  bucolic  pro- 
dogmatic  shackles  of  both  corporation  fession. 

creeds  and  academy  formulae.  It  need  "From  a  standpoint  of  countryside 
not  beguile,  or  seek  to  lure,  or  flirt  with  demand,  I  look  upon  the  country 
the  tired-eyed  sophisticate  whose  en-  weekly  and  the  city  daily  as  colleagues, 
thusiasms  and  convictions  have  long  rather  than  competitors." 
since  been  dissipated  and  put  to  rout.  Perhaps  the  best  support  for  this 
A  given  institution  of  a  given  country-  viewpoint  rises  from  the  fact  that  cur- 
side,  it  need  not  combat  competition  rent  statistics  prove  that  the  country 
with  devious  and  tricky  snares.  circulation  of  both  now  seems  to  be  in- 

What  is  still  more  important  in  a  lit-  creasing  at  a  closely  uniform  rate  in 

erary  role,  editing  a  country  newspaper  very  much  the  same  areas  of  the  vast 

presupposes  no  unreasonable  mania  for  American  farm  realm.  J.  Milam  dwells 

"spot"  news;  no  blood-houndish  fervor  upon  the  fact  that  both  the  country 


THE  COUNTRY  PRESS  REAWAKENS  267 

weekly  and  the  city  daily  remain  dis-  mands.  It  must  be  of  outstanding  local 
tinctive  entities  in  themselves  j  the  interest  to  the  given  locale  and  it  must 
former  keeping  with  its  time-tested  role  also  be  of  dependable  general  interest 
of  presenting  the  local  and  the  intimate  j  to  the  casual  reader, 
the  latter  a  more  pretentious  but  per-  In  practice,  this  adage  proves  a  stern 
haps  a  less  effective  clearing  house  for  yardstick  and  an  enduring  barrier  to  du- 
the  world  panorama  of  hourly  and  com-  plication  of  content  of  the  city  and  the 
municable  occurrence.  Just  as  the  coun-  country  press.  But  J.  Milam  is  but 
try  newspaper  is  likely  to  have  neither  vaguely  interested  in  formulated  tech- 
staff  nor  space  for  offering  full  cover-  niques  for  newspapering.  He  says  that 
age  of  State,  national  and  international  good  writing  is  good  writing  and  bad 
news,  so  the  city  daily,  in  the  vast  ma-  writing  is  bad,  whether  it  be  in  his  New- 
jority  of  instances,  is  too  rushed  for  ton  County,  Arkansas,  ln]ormer,  the 
operating  time  and  too  crowded  with  Ginger  Blue,  Missouri,  Beacon,  The  St. 
competitive  news  releases  to  allow  reg-  Louis  Post-Dispatch y  the  New  York 
ular  coverage  of  the  workaday  life  of  Times,  the  Odyssey  of  Homer,  or  the 
the  unheralded  farming  community.  Holy  Bible.  He  believes  that  the  best 
True,  it  may  carry  a  given  quota  of  newspaper  is  the  best  written  newspaper 
rural  "features"  and  farming  news,  just  and  that  the  one  real  test  of  good  writ- 
as  the  country  newspaper  is  nowadays  ing  lies  in  its  potentialities  for  utility 
obliged  to  give  over  a  conservative  per-  and  entertainment  to  good  readers.  And 
centage  of  its  columns  to  summary  of  he  believes  that  the  country  newspaper 
State  and  national  news,  or  to  linking  reader  is  very  probably  the  best  of  all 
and  interpreting  local  news  in  terms  of  newspaper  readers  because  he  is  likely 
general.  But  by  and  large  the  city  daily  to  be  the  most  thorough  reader  and  the 
must  continue  to  abide  that  proverbial  most  securely  bound  to  the  vital  inter- 
State-desk  adage  which  tells  that,  to  ests  of  his  environment, 
justify  city  space,  countryside  or  area  Therefore  the  country  press  survives, 
correspondence  must  answer  two  de-  And  therefore  it  reawakens. 


Poland  Plays  a  Dangerous  Game 

BY  G.  E.  W.  JOHNSON 

In  the  maneuvering  for  position  of  European  countries  antici 
pating  a  new  war,  Poland  snatches  at  an  opportunity 
to  break  into  the  circle  of  great  powers 

TWENTY  years  ago  Poland  was  no  forty  million  apiece,  why  should  not 
more  than  a  geographical  ex-  Poland  break  into  the  select  group 
pression  denoting  a  vaguely  de-  when  she  has  a  population  of  over 
fined  territory  divided  among  Ger-  thirty  million?  To  be  so  near  the 
many,  Russia  and  Austria.  Fifteen  charmed  circle  and  yet  so  far  is  most 
years  ago  it  was  a  young  republic,  in-  tantalizing,  and  the  Poles  are  doing 
dependent  indeed,  but  just  learning  to  their  best  to  worm  their  way  in. 
toddle  j  it  was  sandwiched  between  a  They  are  not  altogether  without  the 
hostile  Russia  and  a  resentful  Ger-  resources  to  sustain  the  rank  of  a  great 
many,  and  only  too  glad  to  snuggle  power.  Poland  has  in  large  measure 
under  France's  protecting  wing  as  one  consolidated  her  internal  unity.  This  in 
of  her  obedient  allies  and  satellites.  To-  itself  is  an  achievement  of  no  mean 
day  all  is  changed.  Poland  is  one  of  the  order.  In  the  Eighteenth  Century  Po- 
pivotal  states  of  Europe,  eagerly  wooed  land  had  been  partitioned  among  Rus- 
by  Russia,  Germany  and  France  alike,  sia,  Austria  and  Prussia,  and  for  about 
It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  it  is  a  century  and  a  half — save  for  a  brief 
one  of  the  powers  in  whose  hands  rests  interlude  under  Napoleon — the  three 
the  fate  of  Europe.  Will  there  be  an-  fragments  of  the  old  Polish  kingdom 
other  war?  Who  will  be  involved?  were  subjected  to  three  quite  different 
Who  will  win?  It  is  by  no  means  as  far-  administrative  and  educational  systems, 
fetched  as  it  may  seem  at  first  blush  to  Austrian  Poland  (Galicia)  alone  en- 
suggest  that  the  answer  to  these  ques-  joyed  a  certain  measure  of  autonomy, 
tions  may  well  be  determined  by  the  and  was  allowed  to  cultivate  the  Polish 
action  of  the  Polish  Government.  language  and  literature ;  those  regions 
This  situation  arises  from  the  fact  that  which  were  under  German  or  Russian 
Poland  occupies  a  geographical  position  rule  were  the  victims  of  harsh  experi- 
of  the  utmost  strategical  importance,  ments  in  Germanization  and  Russian- 
and  at  the  same  time  has  developed  ization  which  succeeded  in  destroying 
great  inherent  strength.  If  Great  Brit-  much  of  the  Polish  cultural  life  with- 
ain,  France  and  Italy  can  play  the  role  out  uprooting  the  stubborn  Polish  na- 
of  great  powers  with  a  population  of  tional  sentiment.  The  German  yoke, 


POLAND  PLAYS  A  DANGEROUS  GAME 


269 


though  heavy  and  galling,  was  at  least 
efficient  and  free  from  graft  j  the  Rus 
sian  Government  inflicted  upon  the 
Poles  not  only  tyranny  and  oppression, 
but  corruption  and  slovenliness  as  well. 
Each  of  these  three  different  meth 
ods  of  government  could  not  but  leave 
its  separate  and  peculiar  impress  upon 
the  people,  even  to  the  extent  of  influ 
encing  their  outward  demeanor.  Gen 
eral  Niessel,  one  of  the  French  mem 
bers  of  the  Interallied  Mission  which 
visited  Poland  in  1919  to  assist  in  set 
ting  the  young  republic  on  its  feet,  re 
marked  a  difference  in  the  manner  in 
which  the  inhabitants  of  the  former 
Russian  and  German  regions  mani 
fested  their  welcome  to  the  Mission. 
The  Poles  of  Warsaw,  who  had  been 
habituated  to  the  slipshod  methods  of 
Russian  rule,  swarmed  out  into  the 
street  and  even  on  to  the  running 
boards  of  the  cars;  the  Poles  of  Posen 
(Poznan),  on  the  other  hand,  who  had 
been  formed  in  the  mold  of  the  tradi 
tional  Prussian  discipline,  did  not  over 
step  the  limits  of  the  sidewalks.  When 
the  three  fragments  of  Poland  were 
once  more  reunited  after  the  War,  they 
found  each  other  a  little  strange  in  their 
ways,  and  it  required  many  years  to 
infuse  into  them  a  common  national 
outlook.  There  are  still  sizable  minori 
ties,  numbering  altogether  about 
thirty  per  cent  of  the  population — 
Ukrainians,  White  Russians,  Ruthe- 
nians,  Lithuanians,  Germans,  Jews — 
who  are  not  unanimous  in  their  praise 
of  Polish  rule;  in  some  cases  their  dis 
affection  has  been  repressed  with  the 
utmost  harshness,  despite  the  fact  that 
by  the  minority  clauses  of  the  peace 
treaties  Poland  is  obligated  to  treat 
them  with  consideration.  However,  so 
far  as  the  Poles  themselves  are  con 
cerned,  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  they 


have  been  consolidated  into  a  strongly 
knit  whole.  They  have  a  highly  de 
veloped  consciousness  of  their  past 
greatness,  and  are  eager  once  more  to 
make  the  name  of  Poland  ring  in  the 
world  as  it  rang  in  the  days  of  Casimir 
the  Great,  the  kings  of  the  Jagiello 
dynasty,  and  John  Sobieski. 

More  than  any  other  man,  Marshal 
Jozef  Pilsudski  has  been  responsible 
for  whipping  Poland  into  shape.  A 
stubborn  fighter  for  independence  in 
the  old  days,  he  has  seen  the  inside  of 
both  Russian  and  German  prisons. 
Since  Poland  became  a  sovereign  state 
in  1918,  he  has  been  almost  continu 
ously  at  the  helm  of  Poland's  destiny, 
first  as  President  of  the  republic,  then 
as  Prime  Minister,  and  now  as  Minister 
of  War.  As  in  the  case  of  Stalin,  a  rela 
tively  minor  official  post  is  the  velvet 
glove  that  conceals  the  iron  hand  of  the 
dictator.  A  new  constitution,  which  he 
caused  the  Polish  Parliament  to  enact 
in  December,  1933,  vests  autocratic 
powers  in  the  President,  and  is  be 
lieved  to  presage  Pilsudski's  intention 
once  more  to  assume  that  office. 
Pilsudski,  however,  is  sixty-seven  years 
old,  and  he  delegates  all  the  more 
arduous  activities  connected  with  the 
management  of  Poland's  foreign 
policy  to  his  right-hand  man  and 
former  private  secretary,  Colonel 
Jozef  Beck,  who,  at  forty  years  of  age, 
is  one  of  Europe's  youngest  foreign 
ministers. 

ii 

Marshal  Pilsudski  and  Colonel  Beck 
are  anxious  to  bridge  the  narrow  gap 
separating  Poland  from  the  status  of 
a  great  power.  In  their  pursuit  of  this 
goal  they  have  a  valuable  asset  which 
serves  to  bolster  up  Poland's  aspira 
tions.  Poland  occupies  a  key  position  on 


2yo  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

the  map,  of  such  a  nature  that  she  can-  business,  and  Poland,  who  has  not  had 

not  be  ignored  in  any  diplomatic  align-  much  experience  in  this  field,  is  apply- 

ment  that  may  be  arrived  at.  ing  herself  to  the  task  with  furrowed 

Poland's    geographical    position    is  brows  and  all  the  industriousness  of  a 

highly  important  for  two  reasons.  First,  young  co-ed  who  is  cramming  for  a  stiff 

she  is  situated  between  Germany  and  examination. 

Russia.  There  can  be  no  war  between  Aside  from  the  consolidation  of 
her  two  great  neighbors  without  Poland's  internal  unity,  the  one  factor 
Poland's  being  in  some  way  involved,  that  has  contributed  more  than  any- 
as  the  ally  of  one  belligerent  and  the  thing  else  to  Poland's  new  importance 
enemy  of  the  other.  With  the  mutual  is  the  National  Socialist  revolution  in 
aversion  of  Germany  and  Russia  now  Germany.  The  emergence  of  Hitler 
surpassing  their  dislike  of  Poland,  each  inspired  profound  anxiety  in  both 
power  has  become  eager  to  safeguard  France  and  Russia.  To  France,  it  sig- 
itself  against  future  contingencies  by  nified  that  the  hour  was  drawing  rap- 
having  Poland  as  its  ally.  Secondly,  idly  nearer  when  Germany  would  seek 
Germany  lies  between  France  and  revenge  for  her  defeat  and  try  to 
Poland — which  is  another  way  of  say-  recover  Alsace-Lorraine.  France  had 
ing  that  Poland  forms  the  eastern  sec-  signed  a  military  alliance  with  Poland 
tion  of  the  iron  ring  that  France  forged  in  1921  j  the  rise  of  Hitler  made  her 
around  Germany  at  the  end  of  the  War  feel  the  necessity  of  the  Polish  alliance 
and  is  still  anxious  to  maintain.  more  than  ever  before  in  order  that 

Poland  is  now  the  recipient  of  tempt-  the  iron  ring  might  be  kept  firmly 

ing  offers  from  all  three  powers,  and,  clamped  around  Germany's  neck, 
in  accordance  with  the  classical  tradi-         To  Russia,  the  change  in  the  Ger- 

tion  of  diplomacy  that  is  still  honored  man  situation  brought  a  sense  of  acute 

more  in  the  observance  than  in  the  alarm,  for  Hitler  had  long  pointed  to 

breach,  is  in  the  enviable  position  of  Russia  as  a  country  in  which  Germany 

being  able  to  auction  off  her  support  to  could  find  all  the  land  she  needs  for 

the  highest  bidder.  The  Poles  relish  colonization   by   her   surplus   popula- 

their  new  situation.  They  like  being  tion.  The  profitable  commercial  rela- 

made  a  fuss  of  and  being  free  to  pick  tions  which  had  for  many  years  sub- 

and  choose  at  their  leisure  among  the  sisted  between  the  two  countries  were 

three  suitors,  instead  of  being  confined  disrupted.  The  Russians,  already  up- 

to   playing   the   role   of   a   pawn   to  set  by  the  imminent  prospect  of  war  in 

France's  queen.  It  makes  them  feel  the  Far  East,  decided  to  insure  them- 

that  they  are  indeed  one  of  the  great  selves  against  trouble  in  the  West  by 

powers — that  select  group  of  nations  effecting   a   rapprochement  with   Po- 

who  decide  when  and  where  the  next  land,  with  whom  their  relations  had 

war  is  going  to  begin,  and,  if  they  have  not  been  of  the  best  since  the  Russo- 

been  wise  enough  to  pick  the  winning  Polish  War  of  1920. 
side,  have  the  fun  of  playing  at  that         When  the  Nazi  tide  engulfed  Ger- 

most  fascinating  of  all  jig-saw  puzzles,  many  in  the  early  part  of  1933,  it  was 

the  apportionment  of  slices  of  territory  widely  felt  that  there  would  develop 

among  the  victors.  This  job  of  picking  a  dangerous  tension  with  Poland.  So 

the  winning  side  in  advance  is  a  ticklish  indeed  for  a  time  there  did.  The  ex- 


POLAND  PLAYS  A  DANGEROUS  GAME                 271 

istence  of  the  so-called  Polish  Corridor,  the  edict  went  forth  among  the  Nazis 
severing  East  Prussia  from  the  rest  of  to  put  the  soft  pedal  on  all  references 
the  Reich,  had  long  been  the  sorest  of  to  annexing  Danzig  or  taking  the  Cor- 
all  German  grievances  against  the  ter-  ridor  away  from  Poland.  Had  any  of 
ritorial  clauses  of  the  Treaty  of  Ver-  the  previous  German  regimes  adopted 
sailles.  It  was  a  grievance  felt  by  Ger-  such  a  course,  they  would  have  been 
mans  of  all  parties,  and  the  Nazis  had  flayed  alive  by  the  fanatical  Hitlerite 
been  the  most  strident  of  all  in  their  agitators ;  but  they  were  now  in  office, 
denunciation  of  the  treaty.  It  was  be-  and  there  were  none  more  extreme  than 
lieved  that  Germany  would  strike  the  themselves  to  denounce  them  for  be- 
first  blow  for  territorial  revision  by  an  traying  Germany's  claims, 
attempt  to  annex  Danzig  and  abolish  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  the  Nazi 
the  Corridor.  The  Poles  were  ex-  dreams  of  conquest  are  conceived  on  so 
tremely  nervous.  Their  utterances  ex-  vast  a  scale  that  their  ambitions  in  the 
pressed  the  fear  of  imminent  attack.  Corridor  seem  by  comparison  a  mere 
M.  Miedzinski,  intimate  friend  and  bagatelle.  Up  to  the  present,  the  Nazis 
spokesman  of  Marshal  Pilsudski  and  have  been  absorbed  in  the  task  of  ex- 
editor  of  the  official  newspaper  Gazeta  tending  their  influence  into  Austria.  If 
Polska,  voiced  their  determination  to  they  should  eventually  prove  success- 
resist  German  aggression  in  these  ful — and  they  have  recently  had  to 
words:  "Our  reply  to  all  German  disavow  their  designs  in  that  direction 
claims  is  our  guns!"  in  order  to  conciliate  Mussolini — they 

During  this  period  of  German-Polish  would  be  able  to  use  Austria  as  a  propa- 

antagonism,  Russia  and  Poland  drew  ganda  base  for  penetrating  into  Swit- 

rapidly  together.  The  three-year  non-  zerland  and  Czechoslovakia.  But  the 

aggression  pact  which  had  been  signed  rounding  out  of  Germany's  southern 

by  the  two  countries  on  July  25,  1932,  frontier  by  absorbing  Austria  and  the 

was  strengthened  on  July  3,  1933,  by  a  lion's  share  of  Switzerland  and  Czech o- 

supplementary  convention  defining  the  Slovakia  would  be  a  mere  appetizer  for 

concept  of  aggression  in  elaborate  de-  the  cherished  project  of  founding  a  ti- 

tail.  Most  of  the  other  border  states  tanic  German  Empire  in  eastern  Eu- 

also  subscribed  to  this  treaty,  but  Lithu-  rope.  Russia,  whose  area  in  Europe 

ania  made  herself  a  conspicuous  excep-  alone,  to  say  nothing  of  Siberia,  is  ten 

tion  for  reasons  that  will  be  explained  times  that  of  Germany,  is  the  only 

later.  country  in  Europe  that  can  furnish  the 

land  necessary  for  colonization  on  the 
grand  scale  visioned  by  Nazi  prophets. 

Since  Poland  was  also  an  ally  of  In  embarking  upon  a  crusade  against 

France,  her  rapprochement  with  Rus-  Russia,  it  would  make  all  the  difference 

sia  was  a  source  of  no  little  anxiety  in  in  the  world  if  Poland  were  Germany's 

Berlin.  Fears  were  wide-spread  in  the  ally  instead  of  her  foe.  If,  by  forego- 

Nazi  high  command  that  these  hostile  ing   the    Polish    Corridor,    it    should 

countries,  all  of  which  labored  under  be  possible  to  obtain  Polish  help  in 

the  dread  of  a  revivified  Germany,  conquering  vast  territories  in  Russia 

might  unite  to  crush  her  before  she  — as  extensive  perhaps  as  the  entire 

could  rearm.  To  avert  such  a  disaster,  present    area    of    Germany — it    were 


272  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

short-sighted  to  let  any  petty  quar-  in  this  manner  gain  her  access  to  the 

rel    over   Danzig   and   the    Corridor  sea  and  be  relieved  of  the  menace  of 

block  the  consummation   of  such  an  German  resentment.  Such  a  plan,  prob- 

alliance.  ably  with  some  additional  compensa- 

Besides,  after  a  war  of  conquest,  it  tion  at  Russia's  expense,  ought  to  satisfy 

might  be  possible  to  offer  Poland  com-  the  Poles,  so  some  Germans  feel.  The 

pensation  elsewhere  that  would  make  Poles  have  so  far  given  no  public  indi- 

her  willing  to  surrender  the  Corridor,  cation  that  such  a  plan  would  be  ac- 

Such  a  war  would  in  all  likelihood,  as  ceptable  to  them;  even  if  it  sounded 

one  of  its  incidental  features,  involve  tempting,   they   are   unlikely  to   em- 

the  mopping-up  of  the  Baltic  states,  brace  it  until  they  are  sure  that  Ger- 

One  of  these  states,  Lithuania,  might  many  is  strong  enough  to  carry  out 

furnish  Poland  with  an  attractive  al-  her  part  of  the  bargain  by  defeating 

ternative  to  the  Corridor.  Neither  Po-  Russia. 

land  nor  Germany  is  on  good  terms  There  is,  however,  another  con- 
with  Lithuania.  Poland  seized  Vilna,  tingency  that  must  not  be  lost  sight  of. 
the  historic  capital  of  Lithuania,  in  There  has  recently  been  public  though 
1920.  Lithuania  has  consistently  re-  unofficial  discussion  in  both  Poland  and 
fused  to  recognize  the  validity  of  this  Lithuania  on  the  possibility  of  effect- 
act  or  to  resume  normal  diplomatic  re-  ing  a  political  union  between  the  two 
lations  with  Poland.  It  was  for  this  rea-  countries.  Now  that  they  are  faced  by 
son  that  Lithuania's  signature  was  the  prospect  of  a  partition  between  Po- 
conspicuously  absent  from  the  Russo-  land  and  Germany  and  by  the  with- 
Polish  non-aggression  pact  of  July  3,  drawal  of  Russian  diplomatic  support 
1933.  She  preferred  to  negotiate  a  sep-  for  Lithuania's  claims  to  Vilna  (due  to 
arate  pact  with  Russia  to  which  Poland  the  Soviet  rapprochement  with  Po- 
was  not  a  party.  Germany  bears  a  land),  it  is  believed  that  the  idea  of  a 
grudge  against  Lithuania  because  the  voluntary  union  with  Poland,  accompa- 
city  of  Memel  was  taken  from  Prussia  nied  by  a  guarantee  of  the  maintenance 
and  given  to  Lithuania  by  the  peace  set-  of  Lithuania's  territorial  integrity,  is 
tlement.  It  can  therefore  readily  be  beginning  to  appeal  to  her  political 
seen  that  neither  Germany  nor  Poland  leaders  as  the  lesser  of  two  evils.  If 
would  be  stricken  with  grief  at  seeing  such  a  Polish-Lithuanian  union — which 
Lithuania  wiped  off  the  map.  A  plan  would,  after  all,  merely  restore  a  re- 
for  the  partition  of  Lithuania  has  been  lationship  that  obtained  prior  to  the 
accordingly  advanced  unofficially  in  partition  of  Poland — should  be  consum- 
certain  German  circles  under  the  in-  mated,  Germany  would  be  deprived  of 
spiration,  it  is  believed,  of  Dr.  Alfred  one  of  the  choicest  morsels  of  bait  she 
Rosenberg,  head  of  the  foreign  affairs  is  now  dangling  before  Poland's  eyes — 
department  of  the  National  Socialist  in  fact,  Poland's  possession  of  Memel 
Party,  who  was  himself  born  in  the  would  then  become  a  source  of  discord 
former  Baltic  Provinces  of  the  Russian  between  them. 

Empire.    Under   this   proposal,    Ger-         In  the  meantime,   however,  there 

many  would  take  Memel  and  offer  the  have  been  very  distinct  signs  of  a  rcvp- 

rest   of   Lithuania   to   Poland   in   ex-  -prochement    between    Germany    and 

change  for  the  Corridor.  Poland  would  Poland.  The  fruits  of  the  shrewd  Nazi 


POLAND  PLAYS  A  DANGEROUS  GAME                 273 

stratagem  in  disavowing  any  intention 

of  attacking  Poland  were  soon  made  IV 
evident.  The  German-Polish  tension  The  German-Polish  rapprochement 
suddenly  subsided  and  to  the  surprise  was  regarded  with  deep  suspicion  in 
of  the  world,  and  the  uneasiness  of  Moscow.  In  his  speech  to  the  Seven- 
France  and  Russia,  was  replaced  by  a  teenth  Congress  of  the  Communist 
joint  declaration  of  mutual  non-aggres-  Party,  delivered  on  the  very  day  the 
sion  on  November  15,  1933.  Of  course,  German-Polish  treaty  was  signed, 
the  Poles  did  not  involve  themselves  in  Stalin  gave  evidence  of  his  uneasiness 
a  military  alliance.  They  were  already  by  the  nature  of  his  remarks  on  Po- 
committed  to  France,  and  they  wanted  land.  "Our  relations  with  Poland  in 
to  see  what  she  and  Russia  had  to  offer  the  past  were  not  very  good,"  said 
first.  Stalin.  "And  now  these  undesirable  re- 
The  anxiety  of  France  and  Russia  lations  are  gradually  beginning  to  dis- 
was  deepened  when  the  joint  declara-  appear.  They  are  being  replaced  by 
tion  was  supplemented  by  a  formal  other  relations  which  can  not  be  de- 
treaty,  signed  at  Berlin  on  January  26,  scribed  as  other  than  relations  of  rap- 
1934,  whereby  Germany  and  Poland  prochement.  .  .  .  This  does  not  mean, 
definitely  engaged  themselves  not  to  of  course,  that  the  incipient  process  of 
resort  to  war  to  settle  any  disputes  that  rapprochement  may  be  considered  as 
might  arise  between  them  for  a  period  sufficiently  durable  to  guarantee  the 
of  ten  years.  "The  attempt  to  settle  the  final  success  of  the  matter.  Surprises  and 
differences  between  our  two  countries  by  zigzags  in  policy  can  not  by  any  means 
war,"  asserted  Hitler,  commenting  on  be  considered  as  out  of  the  question  in 
this  pact  in  his  speech  to  the  Reichstag  Poland,  where  anti-Soviet  moods  are 
on  January  30,  "would  in  its  calamitous  still  strong."  The  suspicion  soon  be- 
consequences  be  out  of  all  proportion  came  wide-spread  in  Russia  that  the 
to  any  possible  gain."  The  Poles  feel  German-Polish  treaty  contained  some 
that  for  ten  years  at  least  they  are  re-  kind  of  a  secret  clause  aimed  at  Russia, 
lieved  from  the  danger  of  any  German  To  allay  the  Soviet  Government's 
attack — always  assuming  that  Chancel-  anxiety — as  well  as  that  of  France — on 
lor  Hitler  does  not  emulate  the  ex-  this  score,  Colonel  Beck  in  his  review 
ample  set  by  Chancellor  von  Bethmann  of  Polish  foreign  policy  on  February  5 
Hollweg  in  1914  of  regarding  a  treaty  assured  the  world  that  "Poland's  ac- 
as  a  scrap  of  paper.  The  Poles  are  there-  tion  is  not  directed  against  any  power." 
fore  resolved  to  take  full  advantage  of  Further  to  mollify  the  Kremlin's  pique, 
this  period  of  anticipated  security  by  Colonel  Beck  betook  himself  in  the 
freeing  themselves  from  French  tute-  middle  of  February  to  Moscow  in  an 
lage  and  seeing  what  they  can  get  while  effort  to  set  Foreign  Commissar  Lit- 
paddling  their  own  canoe.  Their  policy  vinov's  mind  at  rest.  It  was  the  first 
is  to  maintain  friendly  relations  with  occasion  on  which  a  European  foreign 
all  until  they  have  definitely  decided  minister  had  visited  the  Russian  capi- 
which  of  the  three  suitors  makes  the  tal  since  the  Bolshevik  revolution,  and 
best  offer  with  a  reasonable  cer-  the  Soviet  Government  dined  and 
tainty  of  being  able  to  deliver  the  wined  Colonel  Beck  on  a  sumptuous 
goods.  scale.  As  a  mark  of  their  mutual  esteem, 


274  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

the  two  Governments  agreed  that  their  the  peoples  of  the  two  countries.  To 
respective  ministers  to  Moscow  and  give  practical  application  to  the  new 
Warsaw  would  be  raised  to  the  rank  of  spirit  animating  their  relations,  the  two 
ambassadors — a  gesture  by  Russia  to-  Governments  signed  a  protocol  at  War- 
ward  gratifying  the  Polish  yearning  to  saw  on  March  7  terminating  the  tariff 
be  regarded  as  a  great  power.  The  offi-  war  that  had  raged  between  them  since 
cial  communique  announced  that  "the  1925. 
exchange  of  opinion  between  MM. 

Litvinov  and  Beck  has  revealed  ...  v 
the  firm  resolve  of  the  governments  All  these  maneuverings  on  the  East- 
they  represent  to  continue  their  efforts  ern  Front,  and  in  particular  Poland's 
in  the  direction  of  ...  a  rapfroche-  rapprochement  with  Germany,  caused 
ment  of  the  peoples  of  these  countries  many  sleepless  nights  in  French  gov- 
in  all  fields  on  the  basis  of  the  non-  ernmental  circles.  France  at  last  began 
aggression  pact  and  the  convention  de-  to  realize  that  the  Poles  were  chafing  at 
fining  aggression."  their  humiliating  subordination  to  their 
Having  tantalized  the  Germans  by  ally.  Beneath  all  the  flowery  talk  of  a 
his  visit  to  Moscow,  Colonel  Beck  now  sacred  bond  between  the  two  sister  re 
made  another  gesture  in  their  direc-  publics,  the  Poles  were  convinced  that 
tion.  The  heads  of  the  Foreign  Office  France  was  prepared  to  maintain  the  al- 
press  bureaus  of  both  countries  met  at  liance  guaranteeing  Poland's  integrity 
Berlin  and  entered  into  an  agreement  only  so  long  as  she  considered  Poland's 
of  a  sort  that  would  only  be  possible  existence  necessary  to  her  own  safety, 
between  governments  that  exercised  If  there  were  any  other  less  entangling 
the  most  sweeping  powers  of  censor-  way  of  obtaining  a  guarantee  of  French 
ship  over  all  means  of  influencing  pub-  security,  the  French  statesmen  would 
lie  opinion.  A  communique  issued  on  drop  Poland  like  a  hot  potato.  Every 
February  27  summarized  the  agree-  agreement  with  Germany  into  which 
ment  in  these  terms:  "In  order  to  de-  France  had  entered  whose  provisions 
velop  the  consequences  of  the  German-  did  not  extend  to  Poland  was  regarded 
Polish  accord,  the  representatives  of  the  with  suspicion.  Such  fears  were  first 
two  parties  have  decided  to  collaborate  aroused  by  the  Locarno  Pact  of  1925, 
constantly  in  all  questions  relating  to  whereby  Great  Britain  and  Italy  bound 
the  formation  of  public  opinion  in  the  themselves  to  come  to  the  assistance  of 
two  countries,  with  a  view  to  awakening  France  or  Germany  if  either  power 
a  mutual  understanding  and  to  creat-  should  be  attacked  by  the  other.  This 
ing  a  friendly  atmosphere.  A  complete  pact  afforded  no  protection  to  Poland; 
agreement  has  been  reached  on  the  sub-  she  seemed  to  be  left  out  in  the  cold, 
ject  of  the  measures  to  be  taken  in  the  Again  in  1933,  when  France  subscribed 
different  fields:  press,  literature,  stage,  to  Mussolini's  Four-Power  Pact,  the 
cinema,  radio."  This  accord,  which  of  Poles  took  it  in  ill  humor,  and  it  was  one 
course  means  that  any  criticism  or  ridi-  of  the  factors  that  influenced  them  to 
cule  of  either  country  by  the  citizens  of  begin  their  rapprochement  with  Ger- 
the  other  is  to  be  discouraged,  beto-  many. 

kened  a  determined  effort  to  allay  the  The  announcement  of  the  signing  of 

ill-feeling  that  had  long  existed  between  the  German-Polish  pact  convinced  the 


POLAND  PLAYS  A  DANGEROUS  GAME                 275 

French  that  they  could  no  longer  afford  a  "monstrous"  attitude  in  their  efforts 
to  treat  Poland  cavalierly,  as  if  she  were  to  "Czechize"  the  Polish  minority  of 
still  a  minor  power.  M.  Paul-Boncour,  30,000  in  Teschen.  The  Czech  press  ac- 
the  French  Foreign  Minister,  made  the  cused  Poland  of  entering  into  a  secret 
best  of  a  bad  situation  by  telling  the  agreement  with  Germany  for  the  parti- 
press  that  he  "rejoiced"  to  hear  of  Po-  tion  of  Czechoslovakia.  The  Polish 
land's  friendly  relations  with  Germany,  press  retaliated  that  the  Czechs  were 
but  the  French  were  not  slow  in  resolv-  jealous  of  Poland's  good  relations  with 
ing  upon  diplomatic  counter-measures.  Russia  and  Germany  and  feared  a  loss 
Unfortunately,  however,  the  political  of  trade  thereby.  The  Czechs,  they  loft- 
crisis  that  afflicted  France  in  February  ily  intimated,  apparently  could  not  rec- 
prevented  her  from  taking  any  immedi-  oncile  themselves  to  the  fact  that  Po- 
ate  action.  land  had  become  a  great  power  and  was 
In  the  meantime,  another  complica-  no  longer  in  their  class.  "The  legend  of 
tion  arose  that  added  to  France's  trou-  a  weak  Poland,"  asserted  the  official 
bles.  This  was  a  recrudescence  of  Gaze  fa  Polska,  "was  comforting  and 
ill-feeling  between  Poland  and  Czecho-  calculated  to  flatter  certain  Czechoslo- 
slovakia.  As  Czechoslovakia  is  one  of  vak  circles.  They  founded  thereon  great 
France's  allies  and  forms  a  vital  section  hopes,  so  tempting  that  today,  when  the 
of  the  iron  ring  around  Germany,  the  situation  has  radically  changed  to  our 
dissension  between  the  two  countries  advantage,  they  do  not  have  enough 
could  not  but  cause  France  concern.  Like  plain  courage  to  face  the  truth  and  dis- 
so  many  other  tensions  in  Europe,  this  close  it  to  their  citizens." 
dispute  is  a  heritage  of  the  peace  settle-  It  was  because  of  Poland's  apparent 
ment.  When  the  former  Austrian  do-  drift  away  from  France  and  her  tart  at- 
minions  were  being  apportioned  be-  titude  toward  Czechoslovakia  that  the 
tween  Poland  and  Czechoslovakia,  French  Foreign  Office  went  into  action, 
there  was  some  difference  of  opinion  as  It  resolved  to  make  an  unusual  gesture 
to  where  the  dividing  line  should  be  to  Poland.  Never  before  had  the  Polish 
drawn.  The  Poles  were  deeply  ag-  Republic  been  considered  of  sufficient 
grieved  when  the  Teschen  district  was  importance  to  warrant  a  personal  visit 
assigned  to  Czechoslovakia.  However,  f rom  the  French  Foreign  Minister  j  but 
their  war  with  Russia  and  their  fear  of  now  it  was  announced  that  M.  Louis 
Germany  made  the  Poles  swallow  their  Barthou,  who  had  succeeded  M.  Paul- 
ire,  and  for  many  years  nothing  was  Boncour  in  that  position,  would  visit 
heard  of  their  dissatisfaction.  But  in  Warsaw.  The  decision  to  have  M.  Bar- 
March  and  April,  1934,  there  was  a  thou  undertake  this  journey  was  also 
marked  worsening  of  Polish-Czech  re-  governed  by  certain  sentimental  consid- 
lations.  The  Czechoslovak  Government  erations,  for  it  had  been  he  who,  as  Min- 
arrested  three  Polish  citizens  travel-  ister  of  War,  had  been  instrumental  in 
ing  through  Teschen  on  a  charge  of  negotiating  the  Franco-Polish  military 
engaging  in  subversive  agitation.  The  pact  of  1921. 

Polish  Government  in  reprisal  expelled  Naturally,  when  the  French  were 

twenty-one  Czech  business  men  from  paying  Poland  so  marked  a  compli- 

Poland.    The    Polish    press    hurled  ment,  they  expected  the  Poles  to  evince 

charges  that  the  Czechs  were  adopting  deep  gratitude  j  and  they  were  there- 


276  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

fore  somewhat  cast  down  when  Colonel  sured  M.  Barthou  that  they  would 
Beck  failed  to  meet  M.  Barthou  at  the  not  enter  into  any  new  engagements 
station  upon  his  arrival  in  Warsaw  on  with  other  countries  without  first  con- 
April  22.  It  is  true,  of  course,  that  M.  suiting  France,  and  he  made  a  recipro- 
Beck  had  not  been  met  at  the  station  by  cal  pledge  to  Poland  in  recognition  of 
the  French  Foreign  Minister  when  he  Poland's  equality.  M.  Barthou  also  did 
visited  Paris  in  September,  1933,  and  his  best  to  patch  up  the  Polish-Czecho- 
he  was  simply  adopting  a  polite  though  slovak  quarrel,  and  seemed  to  have  suc- 
pointed  way  of  intimating  that  he  ceeded  in  allaying  the  tension.  On  the 
thought  he  was  just  as  good  as  his  whole,  however,  the  French  were  not 
French  colleague.  Poland  was  now  one  overjoyed  by  the  results  of  M.  Bar- 
of  the  great  powers ;  she  had  arrived.  thou's  visit.  One  French  correspondent 

However,  having  thereby  given  no-  summed  up  his  impressions  by  telling 
tice  that  Poland  must  be  treated  as  an  his  newspaper  that  "Poland's  policy  will 
equal,  M.  Beck,  in  accordance  with  his  yet  cause  us  to  experience  not  a  few  de- 
policy  of  burning  no  bridges  behind  ceits  and  a  great  many  vexations." 
him,  assured  M.  Barthou  of  Poland's 

friendship.  "I  am  profoundly  con-  VI 
vinced  of  the  unbreakable  solidity  of  our  It  was  now  Russia's  turn  to  receive  a 
alliance,  of  its  value  and  of  its  favorable  gesture.  On  May  5  Poland  and  Russia 
effects  not  only  for  our  two  countries  but  signed  a  protocol  extending  the  Russo- 
for  international  relations  as  a  whole."  Polish  non-aggression  pact,  which  was 
The  French  Foreign  Minister  replied  due  to  expire  in  1935,  for  another  ten 
in  one  of  those  flowery  orations  that  so  years.  The  protocol  contained  a  signifi- 
well  accord  with  the  genius  of  the  cant  clause  affirming  that  neither  party 
French  language,  but  that  often  seem  to  was  under  any  obligations  that  would 
smack  of  an  operatic  libretto  when  lead  to  a  violation  of  the  Treaty  of 
translated  into  English.  "Those  who  Riga.  In  that  treaty,  which  had  been 
judge  from  superficial  appearances,"  signed  in  1921  and  provided  for  the 
said  M.  Barthou,  "and  those  especially  delimitation  of  the  frontier  between 
who  are  trying  to  exploit  inevitable  dif-  Poland  and  Russia,  both  nations  had 
ficulties  in  the  life  of  nations  do  not  renounced  further  territorial  claims 
know  what  is  possible  to  two  wills  born  against  each  other.  The  reaffirmation  of 
of  the  same  ideal  and  firmly  dedicated  the  Treaty  of  Riga  was  intended  to  be  a 
to  the  same  end.  .  .  .  Between  France  solemn  assurance  by  Poland  that  her  re- 
and  Poland,  this  friendship  has  become  lations  with  Germany  had  not  led  her 
an  alliance.  .  .  .  I  come  today  to  affirm  into  any  secret  agreement  contemplat- 
the  necessity  and  the  perpetuation  of  the  ing  war  with  Russia, 
treaty  that  links  us.  Your  national  resur-  Meanwhile,  the  wooing  of  Poland  by 
rection,  to  which  your  illustrious  Mar-  her  suitors  goes  on.  On  June  2  a  con- 
shal,  whose  name  is  already  a  legend,  ducted  party  of  800  Polish  tourists  ar- 
has  given  a  watchword  and  an  example,  rived  in  Berlin  under  the  leadership  of 
has  made  of  Poland  a  great  country,  General  Augustin,  head  of  the  Polish 
heard  and  respected.  France  rejoices  to  Legion,  and  they  were  subjected  to  suit- 
see  it."  able  attentions  from  the  German  Min- 

The    Poles,    it    is    understood,    as-  istry  of  Propaganda.  On  June  13,  Dr. 


POLAND  PLAYS  A  DANGEROUS  GAME                 277 

Paul  Joseph  Gobbels,  Reich  Minister  Poland  is  conducting  a  Polish  policy 
of  Propaganda,  arrived  in  Warsaw  in  re-  and  does  not  wish  to  pull  chestnuts  out 
sponse  to  an  invitation  from  the  Polish  of  the  fire  for  anybody.  Nevertheless, 
Union  of  Intellectuals  and  delivered  this  does  not  mean  that,  in  pursuing  the 
a  lecture  on  "National  Socialist  Ger-  path  of  good  understanding  with  her 
many  as  a  Factor  of  European  Peace."  German  neighbor,  Poland  is  ...  aban- 
The  audience  included  Leon  Koslowski,  doning  for  a  single  instant  her  duty  of 
the  Prime  Minister,  Colonel  Beck,  the  maintaining  the  utmost  vigilance." 
Foreign  Minister,  and  other  high  Po-  Dr.  Gobbels's  visit  was  followed  at 
lish  officials.  It  was  the  first  occasion  that  the  end  of  June  by  the  arrival  of  Gen- 
Dr.  Gobbels  had  had  an  opportunity  eral  Debeney,  former  Chief  of  Staff  of 
to  try  out  his  propaganda  before  a  for-  the  French  Army,  who  came  to  Warsaw 
eign  audience.  He  completed  the  retreat  to  discuss  certain  provisions  of  the  mili- 
from  the  extremist  position  once  so  dear  tary  alliance  of  1921.  It  is  very  likely 
to  the  Nazi  heart  by  assuring  his  listen-  that  journeyings  to  and  fro  between 
ers  that  German  National  Socialism  was  Warsaw  and  Paris,  Berlin  and  Moscow 
guided  by  the  same  principle  Mussolini  will  be  the  order  of  the  day  for  some 
had  once  laid  down  for  fascism:  it  was  time  to  come, 
not  an  article  of  export.  It  had  "no  in 
ternational  mission  in  the  aggressive  vn 
sense  to  fulfil."  Dr.  Gobbels  had  a  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
conversation  with  Marshal  Pilsudski  next  important  move  by  Poland  will  be 
and  returned  home.  Rumor  had  it  that  made  at  the  September  session  of  the 
he  was  paving  the  way  for  a  personal  League  of  Nations.  France  is  anxious 
interview  between  Hitler  and  Pilsudski  to  have  Russia  invited  to  join  the 
on  the  lines  of  the  Hitler-Mussolini  League  with  a  befitting  display  of  una- 
meeting  which  was  taking  place  at  about  nimity  on  the  part  of  the  existing  mem- 
the  same  time.  bers.  Poland  knows  this,  and  as  the  price 
Upon  Dr.  Gobbels's  departure  from  of  her  acquiescence  it  is  fairly  certain 
Poland,  the  official  Iskra  news  agency  that  she  will  demand,  in  recognition  of 
published  an  inspired  article  which  is  her  attaining  the  status  of  a  great 
the  nearest  thing  to  an  authoritative  power,  two  concessions:  first,  a  perma- 
interpretation  of  Polish  foreign  policy  nent  seat  on  the  Council  of  the  League  5 
that  the  Government  has  seen  fit  to  and  secondly,  release  from  those  clauses 
make  public.  "A  sincere  and  profound  of  the  Peace  Treaty  which  give  the 
friendship  links  us  to  democratic  League  the  right  to  supervise  Poland's 
France,"  said  the  article ;  "likewise  the  treatment  of  the  minority  groups  in  her 
'dictatorship  of  the  proletariat'  has  not  population.  This  will  be  the  fourth  oc- 
prevented  us  from  arriving  at  an  accord  casion  on  which  an  important  power  has 
with  the  Soviets.  If  the  German  Gov-  sought  to  tamper  with  the  machinery 
ernment  wishes  to  maintain  good  and  of  the  League  for  its  own  ends — the 
correct  relations  with  Poland,  we  are  three  previous  occasions  having  been 
glad  to  accept  her  advances  and  we  shall  those  on  which  Japan,  Germany  and 
allow  ourselves  to  be  deflected  by  the  Italy  played  the  stellar  roles.  Japan  and 
discontent  neither  of  political  parties  Germany  resigned  when  their  policies 
nor  of  those  who  are  irritated  because  were  thwarted  j  Italy  remained  a  mem- 


278  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

her  but  has  been  noticeably  cool.  In  the  most  far-reaching  consequences.  With- 
present  instance  it  seems  likely  that  a  out  Poland,  such  a  bloc  would  be  ineffec- 
surrender  to  Poland's  demands  will  be  tivej  with  Poland,  it  would  represent  a 
regarded  as  a  lesser  evil  than  her  with-  solid  agglomeration  of  five  states  with 
drawal  from  the  League.  a  total  population  of  over  1 50,000,000. 
It  will  not  have  escaped  remark  that  It  would  be  a  much  stronger  grouping 
Poland  and  Italy  are  the  only  Euro-  than  was  formed  by  Germany  and  Aus- 
pean  powers  that  have  shown  any  tend-  tria-Hungary  during  the  last  War — and 
ency  toward  intimate  relations  with  everybody  knows  that  it  took  the  whole 
Nazi  Germany.  To  encourage  this  tend-  world  four  years  of  bloody  struggle  to 
ency,  the  Nazi  tiger  which  once  roared  beat  that  combination  to  its  knees.  Like 
its  ravenous  hunger  to  the  heavens  has  the  Central  Powers  in  the  War,  it 
begun  to  purr  softly.  To  conciliate  Mus-  would  enjoy  the  advantage  of  interior 
solini,  Hitler  has  disavowed  his  ambi-  lines  of  communication,  blanketing  Cen- 
tionsin  Austria  j  to  conciliate  Pilsudski,  tral  Europe  from  the  Baltic  and  the 
he  has  renounced  his  designs  upon  the  North  Sea  to  the  Mediterranean  and 
Polish  Corridor.  Both  Mussolini  and  cutting  off  France  in  the  west  from  Rus- 
Pilsudski  have  been  rather  wary  in  their  sia  and  the  Little  Entente  in  the  east, 
approaches  to  the  apparently  tame  tiger,  The  Little  Entente  itself  would  be  dis- 
for  such  beasts  have  been  known  to  re-  rupted.  Czechoslovakia  would  be  corn- 
sort  to  their  claws  rather  unexpectedly  j  pletely  surrounded,  save  for  the  narrow 
none  the  less,  the  approaches  have  been  corridor,  running  between  Poland  and 
made.  What  Hitler's  ultimate  ambition  Hungary,  that  connects  her  with  Ru- 
is,  he  has  made  quite  clear:  he  wants  to  mania— a  passage  that  could  be  easily 
expand  German  territory  at  Russia's  ex-  closed.  It  is  not  inconceivable  that  Ru- 
pense.  In  deferring  this  hope,  he  has  mania,  which  has  a  strong  "Iron  Guard" 
bowed  to  the  exigencies  of  the  moment  5  movement  sympathetic  with  the  Nazis 
but  if  he  could  succeed  in  building  up  and  a  long-standing  fear  that  Russia 
a  Central  European  bloc  consisting  of  may  some  day  seek  to  get  back  Bessa- 
Germany,  Poland  and  Italy— and  in-  rabia,  might  decide  to  throw  in  her  lot 
eluding  Italy's  two  satellites,  Austria  with  such  a  bloc.  The  whole  European 
and  Hungary — he  would  have  gone  a  Continent  would  once  more  go  into  the 
long  way  toward  the  attainment  of  his  melting  pot,  and  no  one  can  tell  what  it 
objective.  It  is  far  too  early  to  say  that  would  look  like  when  it  came  out  again, 
such  a  bloc  has  been  formed,  or  even  If  Poland  chooses  to  align  herself 
that  it  is  in  process  of  formation  j  but  it  with  France  and  Russia,  she  has  a  rea- 
is  foreshadowed  as  a  distinct  possibility  sonable  assurance  of  security  and  main- 
that  can  not  be  omitted  from  any  ap-  tenance  of  the  status  quo.  If  she  throws 
praisal  of  the  existing  international  situ-  in  her  lot  with  Hitler,  she  will  be  em- 
ation.  The  events  of  the  next  few  years  barking  upon  an  adventure  whose  re- 
— even  of  the  next  few  -months — may  suits  can  not  be  predicted,  save  that  it 
be  decisive  in  clarifying  what  is  still  un-  means  war:  an  adventure  that  holds 
certain  in  the  present  diplomatic  align-  forth  a  prospect  of  vast  conquests  in  the 
ment.  It  can  not  be  overemphasized  event  of  victory,  of  calamitous  conse- 
that  Poland's  decision  will  have  the  quences  in  the  event  of  defeat. 


~][HE  ITTERARY  JANDSCAPE 


h 


WHAT  the  sit 
uation  will 
be  in  a  Ger 
many  gone  mad,  with 
her  destinies  in  the 
hands  of  three  imita 
tion  Napoleons,  every 
one  of  whom  is  un 
questionably  psycho 
pathic — one  of  them, 
Goring,  has  spent 
months  in  hospitals 
for  the  insane  and 
symptoms  of  paranoia 
in  Hitler's  actions  are  undeniable,  just 
as  it  is  obvious  that  while  Thyssen  may 
be  less  insane  than  his  two  partners,  he 
is  a  long  way  from  being  a  balanced 
human  being — by  the  time  this  Land 
scape  appears,  is  far  too  much  a  matter 
of  speculation  for  a  cautious  Landscaper 
to  venture  upon. 

But  several  books  have  been  pub 
lished  recently  that  will  still  be  worth 
reading  no  matter  what  the  turn  of 
events,  because  they  give  the  necessary 
background  for  the  understanding  of 
the  strange  course  taken  by  the  Teu 
tonic  people  since  the  rise  of  Hitler,  a 
course  that  has  brought  them  into  an 
other  encirclement  which  promises  in 
time  to  rival,  if  not  to  exceed,  that  of 
the  years  preceding  the  outbreak  of  the 
World  War. 

In  other  words,  Hitler  has  helped 
the  German  nation  out  of  a  tight  fix 
into  a  tighter  one,  and  the  only  path 
of  escape  at  this  moment  seems  to  be 
another  war. 


HERSCHEL  BRICKELL 


The 

Qerman  Smperor 

One  of  the  best  of 
the  books  referred 
to  is  Ernst  Henri's 
Hitler  Over  Europe 
(Simon  and  Schuster, 
$1.90),  which  is  a 
Belgian  journalist's 
version  of  the  situa 
tion.  It  has  one  fun 
damental  defect,  or  so 
it  appears  to  the  non- 
Marxist  Landscaper,  which  is  that  the 
author  has  followed  too  closely  the 
Marxian  theory  of  history.  One  strik 
ing  example  of  the  apparent  errors  into 
which  this  riding  of  a  thesis  leads  him 
is  his  suggestion  of  the  possibility  of  a 
Fascist  empire,  led  by  Germany,  and 
consisting  of  Norway,  Sweden,  Den 
mark,  Esthonia  and  Latvia,  the  Ukraine, 
and  Holland  and  Belgium. 

It  is  his  belief  that  fascism  will  have 
to  come  in  all  these  countries  because 
Marx  said  it  was  the  phase  of  capitalism 
immediately  preceding  dissolution  and 
the  dawn  of  the  Communist  Utopia. 
Then,  if  a  Germany  under  three  Napo 
leons,  and  cordially  detested  by  civi 
lized  peoples  the  world  over,  can  hold 
itself  together,  there  will  be  nothing 
much  to  it  except  a  debacle  for  the  rest 
of  Europe  and  perhaps  the  rest  of  the 
world.  This  is  indeed  a  hazardous  bit  of 
prophecy,  as  may  readily  be  discerned. 
But  when  M.  Henri  turns  his  atten 
tion  to  a  study  of  the  forces  behind 


280  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Hitler,  and  to  the  struggle  between  of  Europe  were  as  carefully  laid  in  the 

these  forces  and  the  hopeful,  but  mis-  World  War,  and  eventually  came  to 

guided  and  betrayed  Brown  Shirts,  the  nothing.  Also  that  if  such  an  attack  as 

leaders   of  whom   were   executed   re-  seems  to  be  in  the  mind  of  Goring 

cently,  he  has  something  to  say  that  is  were  ever  launched,  Germany  would 

worth  listening  to.  His  book  will  help  have  to  conquer  or  die,  as  she  would,  in 

to  illuminate,  for  example,  such  matters  the  event  of  defeat,  be  forever  an  out- 

of  public  interest  as  the  recent  revela-  cast  among  the  nations, 
tions  that  the  German  dye  industry  has         There  is  also  interesting  material  in 

been  paying  the  world's  most  expensive  the  volume  on  the  possibility  of  an  alli- 

and  successful  press  agent,  Ivy  Lee,  ance  between  Japan  and  Germany,  with 

$25,000  a  year  to  run  its  propaganda  its  bearing  upon  the  fate  of  Soviet  Rus- 

service  in  this  country.  sia,  both  in  the  East  and  in  Europe. 

Hitler's  real  power,  however,  de-         M.  Henri's  suggested  remedy  is  that 

rives,  says  M.  Henri,  from  Thyssen,  the  rest  of  the  world  lend  its  support  to 

the  German  steel  baron,  who  is  today  the  working  classes  within  Germany 

the  real  emperor  of  the  nation,  and  against  Hitler.  This  is  in  line  with  his 

whose  nefarious  plans  include  reducing  general  admiration  of  Marx,  however, 

the  German  working  man  to  a  state  of  and  since  such  support  would  lead  to 

serfdom.  communism,  it  is  obvious  that  bourgeois 

In  fact,  the  whole  industrial  and  eco-  republics  like  France — and   England, 

nomic  background  of  the  German  situ-  too,  since  England  is  essentially  a  bour- 

ation  is  better  explained  in  M.  Henri's  geois  republic  in  spite  of  the  monarchi- 

book  than  anywhere  else,  and  it  should  cal  form  of  government — are  but  little 

be  read  for  an  intelligent,  clear-headed  likely  to  respond  to  the  appeal, 
analysis  of  events  that  are  almost  certain 

to  have  an  important  bearing  upon  the  Hindenburg's  Shame 
future  course  of  European  civilization.         Another  recent  book  that  is  worth 

n ..   •  ,  ,  7     TT/  reading  for  the  sake  of  the  light  it 

Qormgand  the  War  throws  upon  the  situation  is  called  The 

M.   Henri   is   of  the   opinion   that  Berlin  Diaries  (Morrow,  $2.50),  which 

Thyssen   and   Hitler  will   finally   be  is  a  purported  record  of  recent  events 

forced  to  fight  for  the  sake  of  their  coming  mainly  from  the  pen  of  a  Ger- 

teudalistic  empire,  and  his  opinion  of  the  man  General,  called  here  "General  X." 

chances  of  victory  rests  upon  the  pos-  There  is  much  to  be  learned  from  this 

sibility  that  Goring,  who  is,  of  course,  sensational  volume  about  the  personali- 

an  ex-aviator,  and  who  therefore  pins  ties  of  such  men  as  Von  Papen,  and  a 

his  faith  upon  this  arm  of  warfare,  if  great  deal  in  it  about  Von  Schleicher,  now 

permitted  to  go  ahead  with  his  plans  for  dead.  Also  there  is  a  complete  revela- 

an  air  fleet  of  something  like  20,000  tion  of  how  Hindenburg  was  bribed  to 

planes,  in  a  surprise  attack  including  the  back  Hitler  by  the  gift  of  an  estate  in 

use  of  gas  and  bacteria,  might  give  the  East  Prussia.  Those  who  have  hitherto 

Germans  a  victory.  At  this  point,  his  considered  the  old  Field  Marshal  as  the 

book  takes  on  the  aspect  of  a  dreadful  hope  of  Germany  will,  if  they  accept  the 

nightmare.  But  it  must  be  remembered  statements  of  "General  X,"  suffer  a 

that  the  German  plans  for  the  conquest  great  disillusionment.  It  is  very  hard  to 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  281 

know  whether  everything  set  down  in  but  hardly  convincing  to  any  one  will- 

this  book  is  the  exact  truth  or  not,  but  ing  to  try  to  make  up  his  own  mind.  It 

reading  it  with  open  eyes  is  bound  to  re-  is  a  simple  fact  that  the  artist  can  work 

suit  in  considerable  enlightenment.  The  only  in  a  reasonably  free  atmosphere; 

parts  dealing  with  Germany's  prepara-  Mussolini's  plea  in  1926  for  a  great 

tions  for  the  coming  war  are  of  great  Fascist  literature,  for  example,  has  been 

interest,  and  as  shocking  as  M.  Henri's  totally  without  results,  and  the  "rotten 

prophecies.  corpse  of  liberty"  has  continued  to  pro- 

Also  there  is  Hamilton  Fish  Arm-  duce  far  finer  flowers  than  any  totali- 

strong's  excellent  small  book,  Europe  tarian  state. 

Between  Wars  (Macmillan),  which  is  a  In  Richard  Rowan's  Spes  and  the 
consideration  of  the  entire  continental  Next  War  (McBride,  $2.50),  there  is 
situation,  based  upon  the  prophetic  abundant  evidence  to  sustain  Mr.  Arm- 
words  of  General  Bliss,  who  said  early  strong's  well  reasoned  belief  that  peace 
in  the  World  War  that  the  struggle  treaties  may  bring  conflicts  into  differ- 
would  continue  in  one  form  or  another  ent  phases,  but  that  they  do  not  actually 
for  thirty  or  forty  years,  or  until  there  end  hostilities.  Mr.  Rowan,  who  is  a 
was  a  decisive  victory  for  one  side  or  the  civilian  student  of  the  work  of  secret 
other.  In  other  words,  Mr.  Armstrong  service  agents,  maintains  that  there  are 
believes  that  Versailles  did  not  end  the  more  spies  at  work  today  than  there 
conflict  that  began  in  the  summer  of  were  at  the  height  of  the  World  War, 
1914,  and  that  warfare  is  merely  one  of  and  that  the  most  avowedly  pacific  na- 
its  many  phases.  His  book  is  one  of  first-  tions  employ  just  as  many  of  these  dar- 
hand  observation  and  solid  thought,  and  ing  workers  as  such  openly  militaristic 
contains  in  its  relatively  few  pages  what  countries  as  Japan.  In  addition  to  these 
thoughtful  men  ought  to  know  about  revelations,  there  are  some  good  chap- 
world  affairs  at  the  moment.  ters  on  the  work  of  spies  in  the  last 

war,  including  tales  of  people  by  the 

*Art  and  ^Dictatorship  side  of  whom  Mata  Hari  fades  into 

There  is  some  interesting  comment,  complete  insignificance — she  was  never 

too,  upon  the  state  of  art  under  dictator-  very  much,  anyway.  There  are  also 

ships  of  whatever  kind.  Mr.  Armstrong,  some  exciting  drawings  of  forts,  and  so 

being  a  liberal,  does  not  believe  that  on,  and  a  number  of  codes.  The  next 

first-rate  art  can  flourish  under  rigid  war  has  already  begun,  says  Mr.  Rowan, 

state  control,  a  point  of  view  that  seems  who  also  maintains  that  when  actual 

to  the  Landscaper  to  have  everything  to  fighting  begins  the  saboteur  will  play  a 

be  said  for  it.  larger  part  than  ever  before,  a  state- 

A  statement  of  this  kind  published  ment  he  backs  with  an  abundance  of 

elsewhere  drew  the  immediate  fire  of  reasons, 
an  ardent  Communist,  who  said  that 

fascism  might  interfere  with  art,  but  Shovels  of  the  S^azis 
that  the  U.S.S.R.  had  proved  that  art-  There  have  been  a  number  of  novels 
ists  could  live  and  work  under  its  dicta-  published  this  year  dealing  with  Nazi 
torship,  which  is  very  difficult  of  proof.  Germany,  including  such  distinguished 
Communist  propaganda  in  this  direc-  works  as  Lion  Feuchtwanger's  The  Op 
tion  has  been  copious  and  extravagant,  -permanns  (Viking,  $2.50),  but  none 


282  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

more  poignant  nor  more  comprehensive  many  ( Macmillan,  $1.50),  a  series  of 

than  I.  A.  R.  Wy lie's   To  the   Van-  lectures  on  the  religious  situation  by  the 

quished   (Doubleday,  Doran,  $2.50),  Archbishop  of  Munich,  which  explains 

which  is  a  fair  book  in  that  it  tries  to  what  has  been  done  to  the  churches  by 

give  the  reasons  for  the  almost  incredi-  the  evil  forces  of  the  Hitler-Thyssen 

ble  conditions  that  exist  today.  The  plot  combination, 
of  the  book  is  a  love  affair  between  a 

pathetic  young  tramp  who  becomes  a  Qood  for  Hot  Weather 

Storm  Troop  leader,  and  the  daughter  If  some  antidote  is  needed  for  this 

of  a  liberal  physician.  There  are  the  largish  dose  of  horror  the  Landscaper 

usual  pages  about  the  brutality  of  the  has  prescribed,  there  are,  as  usual,  many 

Brown  Shirts,  with  no  apparent  exag-  books  that  are  doors  to  distant  worlds 

gerations,  and  the  best  the  two  young  wherein  it  is  possible  to   forget  the 

people  can  work  out  is  an  escape  from  fevers  and  the  frets  of  this  one.  Fevers, 

the  country,  with  the  hope  that  they  certainly,  may  be  cured  by  a  reading  of 

may  make  new  lives  somewhere  else  in  Sven  Hedin's  The  Conquest  of  Tibet 

the  world.  Some  of  the  scenes  are  tre-  (Button,  $5),  which  has  more  than  two 

.mendously  dramatic,  especially  the  one  hundred  drawings  by  the  author,  and 

in  which  the  doctor,  already  cruelly  which  recounts  his  amazing  adventures 

used,  tries  to  save  one  of  his  tormentors  in  the  Hidden  Land  of  Asia  during  the 

stricken  with  typhus.  The  book  is  writ-  early  years  of  the  present  century.  Most 

ten  with  economy  and  sincerity  j  it  is  of  the   time   he   was   up   somewhere 

definitely  a  work  of  art,  and  at  the  same  around  eighteen  thousand  feet  above 

time  an  illuminating  document.  sea-level,  and  it  was  so  cold  that  sitting 

Balder  Olden's  Blood  and  Tears  here  under  a  pear-tree  in  Connecticut  on 
(Appleton-Century,  $2)  is  another  a  hot  afternoon,  almost  a  nudist,  the 
novel  on  the  same  subject,  and  very  well  Landscaper  can  not  imagine  the  degrees 
done  indeed,  one  of  the  best  books  in  of  frigidity  endured  by  Dr.  Hedin  and 
its  category.  There  are  similarities  of  his  faithful  natives, 
detail  in  all  these  novels,  inevitably,  and  The  result  of  his  many  journeyings 
it  is  anything  else  but  pleasant  to  read  was  the  exploration  of  vast  stretches  of 
them,  but  they  contain  a  great  deal  of  terra  incognita,  the  discovery  of  a  great 
the  truth  which  people  ought  to  know,  mountain  range,  the  visiting  of  the 
How  much  good  it  will  do  anybody  to  sources  of  several  rivers,  such  as  the 
know  this  truth,  the  Landscaper  hesi-  Indus,  and  the  collection  of  a  large 
tates  to  say,  unless,  perhaps,  George  amount  of  most  entertaining  material 
Bernard  Shaw's  most  recent  remarks  about  people  and  animals.  Dr.  Hedin 
are  taken  seriously,  and  sanctuaries  for  did  not  see  the  wonders  that  the  mystics 
human  beings  established  along  the  line  always  associate  with  Tibet,  for  he  is  a 
of  the  great  work  the  world  is  doing  in  scientist,  but  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  a 
preserving  its  wild  life.  This  is,  how-  mystic  to  appreciate  the  nerve  and  cour- 
ever,  a  bit  too  reasonable  a  plan  to  give  age  of  the  man,  and  his  superhuman  en- 
one  any  hope  that  it  will  be  followed.  durance  of  all  kinds  of  hardships  and 

Also  to  be  read  in  connection  with  the  perils.  A  grand  adventure  story,  which 

German  situation  is  Cardinal  Faulha-  is  of  high  value,  also,  in  its  additions  to 

ber's  Judaism,  Christianity  and  Ger-  the  sum  total  of  human  knowledge. 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  283 

Another  good  book  about  the  East  is  ing  opium,  is  another  good  novel  of 

Walter  B.  Harris's  East  A  gain:  A  Nar-  China,  and  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 

rative  of  a  Journey  in  the  Near,  Middle  first  volume  of  a  tetralogy  of  which 

and  Far  East  (Button,  $4),  which  is  Mrs.  Hobart's  very  popular  Oil  for  the 

done  with  a  great  deal  of  charm,  and  Lamp  of  China  is  the  second.  Hers  is 

which  contains  also  its  full  share  of  use-  a  simplified  China  that  anybody  can  un- 

ful  information  about  a  number  of  coun-  derstand,  and  perhaps  oversimplified, 

tries  destined  to  play  a  large  part  once  although  the  general  public  certainly 

more  in  the  history  of  the  world.  has  approved  of  her  method  in  the  book 

just  mentioned. 

"Books  tAbout  China  River  Supreme  deals  with  an  Ameri- 

And  specifically  about  China,  there  is  can  descendant  of  hardy  sea-faring  stock 

Sergei  Tretiakov's  The  Autobiography  who  settled  in  China  and  determined  to 

of    Tuan-shi    (Simon    and    Schuster,  conquer  the  Yangtse  for  commerce.  He 

$3.50),   an  extraordinary  story  of  a  did,  and  left  behind  him  a  son  who 

young  Chinese  lad  who  told  his  Russian  after  one  unfortunate  marriage  with  an 

teacher  the  whole  story  of  his  life,  who  American  girl  who  would  not,  or  could 

turned  Communist  and  visited  Moscow,  not,  adjust  herself  to  the  life  of  the 

and  who  then  disappeared.  Where  he  is  country,  found  happiness  with  a  youth- 

now  nobody  knows,  but  he  left  behind  ful  playmate  who  was  also  born  in  the 

him  a  tale  of  great  interest  and  charm,  country  and  had  enough  of  its  blood  to 

which  the  Russian  has  made  into  some-  understand  it  and  to  feel  at  home  in  it. 

thing  unusually  fine.  The  background  is  sketched  in,  but 

Andre  Malraux's  MWj F0te  (Smith  attractively  done;  the  principal  defect 

and  Haas,  $2.50),  winner  of  the  last  of  the  book  is  in  its  characterization, 

Prix  Goncourt,  also  deals  with  China,  which  is  weak.  Also  Mrs.  Hobart  does 

and  has  for  its  background  the  Shanghai  not  write  with  any  distinction.  But  her 

of  the  first  revolution,  in  which  the  ABC  pictures  of  the  awakening  China 

Communists  played  so  large  a  part.  It  and  of  Americans  in  the  country  have 

centres  about  the  life  of  a  Chinese  ter-  their  value,  and  it  will  be  highly  inter- 

rorist,  who  is  about  to  kill  a  man  as  the  esting  to  see  what  she  will  do  with  her 

book  opens.  It  is  a  vivid,  bloody  pic-  ambitious  project.  Oil  for  the  Lamp  of 

ture  of  a  town  in  torment  j  whether  one  China  was,  it  should  be  said,  consider- 

chooses  to  regard  it  as  Communist  prop-  ably  better  than  River  Supreme. 
aganda  or  not,  it  is  an  excellent  novel, 

the  result  of  both  open-eyed  observation  For  a  World  Bruise 
and  careful  workmanship.  As  in  the  case  One  may,  with  the  fiction  that  re- 
of  the  German  novels  mentioned,  fie-  mains  to  be  considered,  range  the  wide 
tion  of  this  kind  has  its  very  definite  world  over,  from  the  plains  of  the  river 
value  in  its  ability  to  make  history  hu-  Don  to  villages  in  the  heart  of  Anda 
man  and  personal ;  of  ten  it  is  nearer  the  lusia,  and  from  American  suburbs  to 
truth  than  the  so-called  facts  in  the  case.  Fifteenth  Century  London. 

Alice  Tisdale   Hobart's   River  Su-  Four  of  the  best  of  recent  novels  are 

-preme  (Bobbs-Merrill,  $2.50),  a  novel  summarized  as  to  background  in  the 

that  was  issued  sometime  last  year  un-  foregoing  paragraph.  They  are  Mikhail 

der  the  title  of  "Pidgin  Cargo,"  mean-  Sholokhov's  And  Quiet  Flows  the  Don 


284  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

(Knopf,  $3),  a  long  novel — 238,000  learned  as  much  about  Spain  and  the 

words — dealing  with  the  life  of  the  Cos-  Spaniards  as  she  did  in  her  relatively 

sacks   from  a  short  time  before  the  short  stay  there  can  only  be  explained 

World  War  down  through  the  earlier  by  her  very  genuine  talent  for  fiction, 

phases  of  the  Russian  Revolution,  a  gi-  She  is,  praise  be,  no  mere  painter  of  sur- 

gantic  panorama  in  which  this  noted  faces,  but  something  much  more  im- 

young  Soviet  writer  proves  himself  a  portant. 

master  of  a  certain  kind  of  pictorial  fie-  This  is  one  of  the  best  novels  of  the 
tion,  although  there  is  little  belief  to  be  present  year,  and  the  feeling  the  Land- 
placed  in  Maxim  Gorky's  statement  that  scaper  has  about  it  does  not  arise  from 
the  book  may  be  compared  with  Tol-  his  own  great  affection  for  the  country 
stoy's  War  and  Peace,  nor  is  Sholokhov  about  which  Miss  Steen  writes.  She  is, 
another  Gogol  as  has  been  said.  He  as  it  happens,  a  good  novelist,  one  of 
lacks  Tolstoy's  great  humanism  and  the  most  expert  writing  today,  as  she 
Gogol's  delicious  sense  of  humor,  as  has  proved  more  than  once, 
well  as  his  ability  to  create  unforget-  The  excursion  to  medieval  England 
table  characters.  Sholokhov's  people  are  is  conducted  by  Philip  Lindsay,  son  of 
static,  and  are  types  rather  than  strongly  Norman  Lindsay,  the  Australian  novel- 
marked  individuals.  But  the  book  reads  ist,  and  his  book  is  called  London  Bridge 
well,  and  gives  a  fine,  clear  impression  Is  Falling  (Little,  Brown,  $2.50).  It  is 
of  the  wild  and  patriarchal  life  of  the  a  story  of  the  bridge  just  before  and 
Cossacks  before  they  fell  under  the  rule  during  the  time  of  Jack  Cade's  Rebel- 
of  the  Soviets.  One  may  suppose  that  lion,  and  the  climax  is  the  battle  on  the 
they  are  a  different  people  now  under  bridge  between  Cade's  followers  and 
the  blessings  of  communism,  and  prob-  the  Loyalist  troops,  ending  in  the  de- 
ably  a  good  deal  less  colorful  and  inter-  struction  of  the  picturesque  shops  and 
esting.  The  translation  of  And  Quiet  houses  that  lined  the  famous  structure 
Flows  the  Don  is  not  a  very  good  one,  at  this  period.  There  is  a  love  story,  too, 
as  there  are  mistakes  in  English  in  or  several,  and  a  hero  whose  fortunes 
plenty,  and  also  the  literal  rendering  of  may  be  keenly  followed,  but  the  chief 
many  of  the  Cossack  idioms  is  confusing,  interest  of  the  book  is  in  the  infinite  de 
tail  of  the  every-day  life  of  the  times. 

Spain  to  the  Life  Mr.  Lindsay,  who  is  still  a  young  man, 
Marguerite  Steen's  Matador  (  Little,  has  made  himself  an  authority  on  Tudor 
Brown,  $2.50)  is  a  remarkable  novel  of  and  Elizabethan  England 5  his  research 
Spain,  centring  about  a  retired  torero  is  careful  and  thorough,  and  his  books 
and  his  family.  The  Landscaper  can  are  emotional  enough,  too.  His  Richard 
testify  that  it  shows  great  insight  into  IH>  one  of  the  best  of  this  year's  biogra- 
the  customs  of  the  country  and  the  pe-  phies,  was  commented  upon  here  re- 
culiar  character  of  its  people,  and  in  cently,  and  he  has  done  other  successful 
addition,  it  is  a  real  novel,  with  a  good  books,  but  none  that  the  Landscaper  has 
story  and  fully  realized  individuals.  The  read  with  keener  interest  than  this  new 
writing  is  not  of  the  highest  quality  j  novel,  hereby  recommended  as  a  choice 
otherwise  here  is  a  novel  in  the  old  offering,  which  will  bear  frequent  re- 
sense,  long  and  rich,  with  plenty  of  both  readings  by  those  with  a  taste  for  the 
humor  and  tragedy.  How  Miss  Steen  historical. 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  285 

story  of  Miss  Bentley's  industrial  York- 

Our  Own  Times  shire,  which  she  knows  so  thoroughly} 
One  skips  back  from  this  far  journey  Ronald  Fangen's  Duel  (Viking,  $2.50) , 
to  our  own  times  in  Josephine  Law-  a  Norwegian  psychological  novel  of  the 
rence's  Years  Are  So  Long  (Stokes,  lives  of  two  men,  one  of  whom  is  ruined 
$2.50),  an  American  novel  which  deals  by  the  success  of  the  other,  the  author 
with  the  problem  of  the  dependent  old,  being  a  distinguished  critic  and  quite 
and  does  it  poignantly.  It  is  the  story  of  well  known  in  his  native  land}  Eliza- 
an  elderly  couple  with  several  children  beth  Eastman's  Sun  on  Their  Shoulders 
who  have  failed  to  save  anything  for  (Morrow,  $2.50),  a  novel  of  the  Finns 
their  declining  years  and  who  therefore  around  Cape  Cod,  and  interesting  as 
find  themselves  at  the  mercy  of  young  an  excellent  picture  of  another  small 
people  struggling  to  meet  the  demands  section  of  America}  Henrietta  Buck- 
of  modern  society.  There  is  no  place  master's  Tomorrow  Is  Another  Day 
for  them  either  physically  or  mentally}  (Henkle),  a  first  novel  about  a  group 
they  have  to  be  separated  and  to  live  of  decent  and  ambitious  young  people, 
apart,  seeing  each  other  but  seldom,  mostly  writers,  and  how  they  work  out 
They  have  no  luck  fitting  into  the  lives  their  problems,  a  good  first  novel  with 
of  their  children,  and  everybody  is  distinct  promise  for  the  future}  and 
made  unhappy  by  their  plight,  which  Lady  Mary  Cameron's  Duchess  by  A$- 
ends  in  the  death  of  the  man  and  the  ^ointment  (King,  $2.50),  an  amusing 
removal  of  the  woman  to  a  Home,  a  bit  of  social  satire  by  the  author  of 
fate  she  has  dreaded  more  almost  than  Merrily  We  Go  to  Hell.  For  enter- 
death,  tainment,  too,  there  is  Virginia  Faulk- 
Miss  Lawrence  has  taken  an  extreme  ner's  exceedingly  clever  story,  Romans 
case,  and  in  some  other  respects  her  and  Countrymen  (Simon  and  Schuster, 
novel  does  not  meet  the  highest  stand-  $2.50),  which  is  only  for  the  sophisti- 
ards  of  either  social  propaganda  or  fie-  cated,  but  which  is  brilliant  and  filled 
tion,  but  it  is  a  very  human  book,  and  with  quotable  epigrams.  The  author  is 
fair  to  both  sides,  dealing  with  a  prob-  only  twenty-one,  and  you  may  make  a 
lem  that  is  the  direct  outgrowth  of  note  of  her  name,  if  you  fancy  this  kind 

I  present-day  conditions.  It  has  a  power-  of  writing,  for  she  is  certainly  going 

ful  lesson  for  those  who  wish  to  heed  it,  somewhere, 

although  there  is  no  mention  of  the  fact  Concha  Espinax's  The  Woman  and 

|  that  this  old  couple  might  have  saved  the  Sea  (Henkle,  $2.50)  is  another  of 

every  penny  after  their  children  left  the  recent  novels,  a  translation  of  this 

home,  and  then  lost  it  all  through  the  author's  Agua  de  mevey  which  appeared 

crookedness  or  stupidity  of  some  banker,  first  in  1911,  and  which  is  not  one  of 

or  perhaps  merely  through  the  ups-and-  her  more  important  novels,  not  a  very 

downs  of  our  less  than  charming  eco-  good  book  at  all,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  in 

nomic  system.  spite  of  its  glowing  introduction  by  Er 
nest  Boyd,  and  the  encomia  of  the  critics 

Other  Recent  Ravels  scattered  over  its  jacket.  Dona  Concha 

Other  recent  novels  include  a  reissue  is  Spain's  only  woman  novelist  of  the 

of  Phyllis  Bentley's  The  Spnner  of  the  moment,  and  has,  therefore,  a  some- 

Years    (Macmillan,    $2.50),    another  what  exaggerated  reputation,  although 


286        ,  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

she  has  done  two  or  three  good  books,  even  the  Landscaper  had  no  difficulty  in 

one  of  which,  Altar  mayor,  has  not  yet  following  him. 

been  translated  into  English.  It  would  He  believes  a  central  bank  which 

have  been  a  better  choice  than  Agua  de  would  have  the  authority  to  issue  cur- 

nieve.  rency  as  a  means  of  raising  or  lowering, 

or  stabilizing  the  price  level,  is  needed, 

Qood  Short  Stories  and  he  is  firmly  convinced  that  some 

Langston  Hughes's  The  Ways  of  kind  of  commodity  dollar  is  a  necessity 
W hue  Folks  (Knopf,  $2.50),  a  volume  if  we  are  to  avoid  alternating  periods 
of  short  stories  of  Negroes  and  whites,  of  depression  and  prosperity.  It  is,  of 
contains  some  of  the  best  stories  that  course,  impossible  to  do  more  than  sum- 
have  appeared  in  this  country  in  years,  marize  the  thesis  of  the  book  here  in  the 
and  strengthens  the  Landscaper's  long-  fewest  words,  but  of  all  the  dozens  of 
held  opinion  that  the  author  is  far  and  volumes  on  economics  and  on  monetary 
away  the  most  talented  member  of  his  matters  that  have  appeared  this  year, 
race  who  has  ever  written  in  this  coun-  the  Landscaper  has  seen  none  that 
try.  They  are  bitter  stories  for  the  most  seemed  to  cover  the  situation  so  fully  as 
part,  often  savagely  ironical,  but  done  this  one. 
with  admirable  art.  Panteleimon  Roma- 

noff's  On  the  Volga  (Scribner,  $2.50)  is  The  THehard  Landscaper 

another  collection  of  excellent  short  sto-  A  "sound  money"  diehard,  such  as 

ries  by  one  of  the  best  of  the  present-  the  present  writer,  can  not,  to  be  sure, 

day  Russian  writers.  admit  conviction  by  Mr.  Lombard's  in- 

By  a  long  road,  we  arrive  once  more  genious  and  intelligent  arguments,  but 
at  the  miscellaneous  division,  and  one  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  has  done  a 
of  the  most  important  and  timely  books  good  job  for  his  side  of  the  case.  He 
to  be  considered  under  the  heading  is  believes  the  public  should  be  educated 
Norman  Lombard's  Monetary  States-  in  monetary  matters,  and  that  bankers 
manshi-p  (Harper,  $4),  which  is  a  com-  should  be  better  trained  for  their  busi- 
prehensive  consideration  of  the  whole  ness.  The  Landscaper  has  a  minimum 
problem  of  money,  banking,  and  public  of  faith  in  these  remedies,  and  less  in 
fiscal  policy,  written  by  the  ex-vice-  more  laws,  also  suggested  by  Mr.  Lorn- 
president  of  the  Stable  Money  Associ-  bard;  he  still  hasn't  explained  how  we 
ation.  Mr.  Lombard  has  added  greatly  are  to  make  people  want  to  do  right 
to  the  permanent  value  of  his  book  by  when  they  can  make  more,  temporarily 
quotations  from  hundreds  of  authori-  at  least,  out  of  doing  wrong,  and  we 
ties,  which  run  down  the  sides  of  the  know  that  education  isn't  worth  the  snap 
pages  opposite  his  own  consideration  of  a  finger  in  this  direction.  However, 
of  the  various  questions  he  discusses.  It  let's  not  quibble;  the  Landscaper  is  no 
is  his  belief  that  a  stable  price  level  economist,  anyway,  and  has  only  re- 
reached  and  maintained  by  intelligent  cently  learned  to  add  comfortably,  after 
manipulation  of  the  currency  is  the  years  of  effort,  and  even  now,  the  re- 
"way  out,"  and  he  attempts  to  answer  suits  are  not  always  entirely  satisfactory, 
every  objection  that  has  been  raised  to  A  most  curious  and  fascinating  book, 
the  scheme,  arguing  calmly  and  intelli-  whose  author  seems  to  have  ranged  the 
gently,  and  in  such  clear  English  that  world  and  many  libraries  over  for  his 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  287 

material,  is  Tracing  Our  Ancestors,  by  worshiping  the  sun  and  the  generative 

Frederick  Haberman  (The  Kingdom  organs  wherever  he  had  any  religion 

Press,  St.  Petersburg,  Florida,  cloth,  at  all. 

$1.755  paper,  $i).  Mr.  Haberman  be-  These  comments  do  not  mean,  how- 
lieves  the  Anglo-Saxons  are  the  direct  ever,  that  the  book  itself  is  not  excellent 
descendants  of  the  Adamic  race — noth-  reading  for  any  one  who  has  an  interest 
ing  to  do  with  Louis  Adamic,  of  course  in  the  story  of  mankind,  and  more  par- 
— who  were  a  special  creation  of  the  ticularly  in  comparative  religion,  and 
Most  High,  and  who  moved  from  India  in  the  history  of  words.  The  range  of 
down  into  Phoenicia,  and  from  there  scholarship  is  astonishing  and  the  con- 
throughout  the  world,  certain  tribes  of  elusions,  whether  one  agrees  with  them 
the  Hebrews  having  an  active  part  in  or  not,  are  food  for  a  great  deal  of  specu- 
these  migrations  and  scattering  their  lation.  The  author  insists,  among  other 
blood  far  and  wide  over  the  early  world,  things,  that  the  Scotch-Irish  are  the 
The  Jews,  he  maintains,  were  only  a  finest  people  that  have  ever  lived  in  the 
fragment  of  the  Hebrew  peoples,  and  world,  and  since  it  has  long  been  one  of 
of  a  different  type.  the  Landscaper's  favorite  theories  that 

this  breed  has  furnished  a  sort  of  back- 

Standing  by  the  "Bible  bone  of  American  civilization,  it  was  a 

The  basis  of  his  argument  is  the  pleasure  to  come  across  such  a  high 

Bible,  and  he  contends  that  in  its  proph-  recommendation, 

ecies  everything  that  has  ever  happened  There  are  many  strange  things  in  the 

was  foretold,  that  the  Higher  Criticism  world,  and  a  large  number  of  them  are 

has  been  losing  ground  steadily  the  past  to  be  found  in  this  book,  which  is  hereby 

few  years  as  archeologists  verified  the  strongly  recommended  for  people  with 

Biblical  story,  and  that  with  the  proper  an  interest  in  such  matters, 

key,  the  Biblical  narrative  may  be  read  Other  books  of  recent  publication 

as  truth,  also  as  a  forecast  of  what  may  that  belong  on  even  the  choicest  reading 

come.  He  has  faith  in  the  New  Deal,  lists  include  Carl  Carmer's  Stars  Fell  on 

\  and  is  sure  the  Anglo-Saxon  blood  of  Alabama  (Farrar  and  Rinehart,  $3),  a 

this  country  and  of  England  can  save  picture  of  a  Southern  State  which  for  its 

i  the  world,  if  it  will.  completeness  has  hardly  been  equalled. 

He  has  a  swastika  on  the  jacket  of  his  Mr.  Carmer  lived  in  Alabama  six  years 

book,  and  says  that  the  German  choice  and  found  it  a  land  full  of  interest.  He 

•  of  this  ancient  emblem  has  great  sig-  traveled  widely  and  saw  the  lives  of 

nificance,  although  just  what  this  signif-  many  different  kinds  of  people,  and  he 

icance  may  be  is  not  explained  as  fully  has  written  a  book  that  is  most  engaging 

as  it  might  be.  He  discusses  the  Cross  reading.  It  is,  at  the  same  time,  full  of 

,  as  a  symbol  at  great  length,  speaking  of  accurate  information  and  observation, 
its  wide-spread  prevalence  almost  from  altogether  a  singularly  fine  piece  of 
the  dawn  of  history,  and  tracing  its  in-  work, 
fluence  on  human  affairs,  although  with 
out  mentioning  the  possibility  that  it  ^  Gfood  "Biography 
was  from  the  beginning  phallic,  which  One  of  the  best  of  recent  biographies 
accounts  for  its  wide-spread  use  in  reli-  is    Mariano   Tomas's    The   Life   and 
gion,  since  man  very  evidently  began  by  Misadventures  of  Miguel  de  Cervantes 


288 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


(Houghton  Mifflin,  $3),  an  authentic 
and  interestingly  written  life  of  a  great 
man,  done  with  careful,  but  unobtru 
sive  scholarship,  and  taking  full  ad 
vantage  of  recent  research  in  a  neglected 
field. 

And  for  those  who  like  prejudiced 
and  angry  books  which  are  at  the  same 
time  intelligent,  there  is  Ivor  Brown's 
I  Commit  to  the  Flames  (Harper, 
$2.50),  in  which  Mr.  Brown,  an  Eng 


lish  critic  of  standing,  sails  into  the  Law 
rence  cult,  and  a  number  of  others  of 
the  follies  of  our  times.  He  asks  a  return 
to  the  rule  of  reason,  and  we  shall  have 
to  grant  his  wish  in  time  because  of  one 
obvious  fact,  which  is  no  more  than 
this:  mankind  may  not  find  salvation 
through  the  use  of  its  intelligence,  but 
it  will  certainly  not  find  it  by  turning 
its  back  on  brains  and  glorifying  the 
emotions. 


* 


VOLUME  238 


(  Public  Library  | 

Tyriusque  mibi  nullo  discrimine  agetur 

^>*ȣM  'ZZSZZZ&^ 

2  ^American 


OCTOBER,  1934 


NUMBER  4 


Aperitif 


Qoldfish  TSowls 

MR.  IVY  LEE  has  just  mailed  us  a 
printed  copy  of  an  address  he 
made  in  July  on  "The  Problem  of  In 
ternational  Propaganda."  Coming  after 
the  recent  Senate  investigation  of  alien 
propaganda  in  this  country,  this  roused 
a  rather  lurid  curiosity,  but  the  pam 
phlet's  contents  are  not  particularly  in 
flammatory,  though  they  are  interest 
ing.  Mr.  Lee  merely  faces  the  question 
squarely  and  advocates  more,  not  less, 
of  international  propaganda. 

His  argument  is  that  gunfire  is  ap 
parently  still  the  only  language  univer 
sally  understood  among  nations,  and 
that  the  reason  for  this  is  mistrust — mis 
trust  inspired  by  lack  of  knowledge  and 
understanding.  Thus  the  purpose  of  his 
international  propaganda  is  to  attain 
peace  and  the  outlawing  of  war  through 
universal  education  in  the  aims  and  de 
sires  of  the  various  peoples.  Unfortu 
nately,  the  efforts  made  by  most  modern 
governments  to  inspire  understanding 
of  their  policies  in  other  lands  have 
taken  the  form  of  "press  departments" 
to  give  hand-outs  to  foreign  correspond 
ents,  who  are  naturally  skeptical  of 
these,  and  become  more  so  when  their 


efforts  to  check  the  facts  are  hindered. 
By  way  of  showing  the  futility  of  such 
attempts  to  hoodwink  other  nations, 
Mr.  Lee  quotes  Will  Irwin:  "Nature 
has  endowed  the  human  mind  with  a 
curious  sixth  sense  for  truth.  It  is  slow, 
this  instinct  j  it  burns  dimly,  but  persist 
ently."  And  Mr.  Lee,  for  this  reason, 
advises  governments  to  assist  journalists 
"to  obtain  quickly,  accurately  and 
authoritatively  the  information  their 
newspapers  seek  to  publish  for  their 
readers."  The  newspapers,  we  are  to  be 
lieve,  of  course,  seek  nothing  but  the  un 
alloyed  truth. 

Mr.  Lee  also  quotes  Ortega  y  Gasset 
in  his  contention  that  the  governing 
classes  of  the  past  no  longer  rule,  that 
the  ordinary  man  (even  under  modern 
dictatorships)  "has  resolved  to  govern 
this  world  himself."  American  govern 
ments,  as  an  example,  for  the  past  twelve 
years  have  been  unable  to  gain  our  en 
trance  into  the  World  Court,  opposed 
by  the  mass  of  our  people.  This  stub 
born  determination  of  the  common  man 
to  rule,  in  matters  which  seem  vital  to 
him,  is  the  thing  which  makes  essential 
greater  understanding  among  the  peo 
ples  of  all  nations. 

One  obstacle  to  such  understanding 


Copyright,  1934,  by  North  American  Review  Corporation.  All  rights  reserved. 


290  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

is  the  technique  of  official  communica-  the  other  wants,  and  yet  the  drums  are 

tions  between  countries,  which  grew  up  beating.  Foreign  Office  communiques 

when  most  governments  could  act  de-  certainly  are  not  models  of  clarity  and 

cisively  in  foreign  affairs  with  confi-  might  well  be  improved  upon.  Cen- 

dence  that  they  would  be  supported  by  sorships    are    inexcusable.     Likewise, 

their  own  citizens.  Today  the  people  in-  newspapers,    radio    and    the    movies 

sist  upon  being  consulted,  and  the  high-  could  bear  up  under  some  additional 

flown  language  and  delicate  subtleties  revenue. 

of  diplomatic  communication  are  only  What  seems  doubtful  in  Mr.  Lee's 

an  impediment  to  the  understanding  analysis  is  the  effect  all  this  added  prop- 

which  must  precede  assent  by  the  voters,  aganda  would  have  on  governments, 

We  need  to  get  rid  of  this  "wig  and  which  are,  after  all,  composed  of  men. 

gown  spirit."  The  two  Governments  which  have  in  re- 

What  Mr.  Lee  advocates  is  the  direct  cent  time  taken  most  advantage  of  these 

appeal,  through  press,  radio  and  movies,  modern  means  of  communication  are 

frank  and  openly  acknowledged.  He  those  of  Hitler  and  Roosevelt.  Each 

would  have  its  technique  based  upon  the  came  into  power  on  a  wave  of  popular 

most  advanced  studies  of  mass  psychol-  enthusiasm  almost  hysterical.  And  each 

ogy,  which,  he  says,  show  that  the  "de-  within  less  than  two  years  has  lost  a 

vices  and  incantations  of  professional  large  measure  of  that  popularity:  in 

propagandists  cease  to  have  effect  after  his  latest  "plebiscite"  two  or  three  mil- 

a  while"  and  it  becomes  necessary  to  ap-  lion  votes  more  were  cast  against  Hitler 

peal  to  reason.  But  the  appeal  to  reason  than  in  his  first  election,  despite  the  full 

must  be  dramatized,  since  the  mass  of  pressure  of  Nazi  coercion  j  and  Roose- 

men  are  too  busy  with  their  own  affairs  velt's  party  expects  to  lose  from  fifty  to 

or  too  lazy  to  follow  complicated  argu-  seventy-five  House  seats  in  the  fall  elec- 

ments.  He  advocates  purchase  of  adver-  tions. 

tising    space   in    newspapers    for    the  It  can,  of  course,  be  objected  that  eco- 

printed  statement  of  any  case,  since  it  nomic  hardship  is  the  better  reason  to 

would  compel   most  attention.   Simi-  account  for  their  loss  of  popularity, 

larly,  he  would  have  governments  buy  Neither  country  has  regained  enough 

time    on    the   air    for    aural    presen-  prosperity  to  satisfy  the  demands  of 

tation.  Movies  could  further  drama-  voters,  and  large  minorities  in  both  have 

tize  the  issues,  and  in  this  medium  he  been  alienated  by  certain  of  the  policies 

is  willing  that  schools,  churches  and  followed  by  their  Governments.  Never- 

homes  should  aid  in  distribution  of  the  theless,  the  New  Dealers,  by  insistent 

films.  and  multitudinous  public  appearances, 

have  gained  themselves  distinct  per 
sonal  unpopularity.  Their  attempt  to 

With  the  main  points  of  Mr.  Lee's  explain  everything  they  have  done  to 

argument  few  can  disagree.  More  un-  the  populace  has  resulted  in  unnum- 

derstanding  among  the  nations  would  bered  contradictions  and  a  vast  confu- 

undoubtedly  be  a  good  thing,  though  it  sion  in  the  public  mind.  Even  members 

may  seem  stretching  it  to  say  that  this  of  the  President's  family  have  come  in 

would  prevent  wars — France  and  Ger-  for  wide-spread,  if  quiet,  criticism  for 

many  are  pretty  well  aware  each  of  what  being  so  constantly  on  the  radio,  in  the 


APfiRITIF  291 

movies  and  in  the  press,  not  to  mention  they  could  in  any  reason  hope  for  would 
magazines.  The  details  of  the  parallel  be  our  hearty  dislike, 
in  Germany  are  not  available,  but  at  These  highly  developed  means  of 
least  it  is  known  that  all  the  modern  communication  spread  their  wares  at  a 
methods  of  ballyhoo  have  been  used  by  speed  and  in  quantities  unparalleled  in 
the  Nazis  and  that  even  so  Hitler  felt  the  history  of  the  world.  Popular  enter- 
it  necessary  to  shoot  a  number  of  his  col-  tainers — singers,  joke-makers,  colum- 
leagues  on  June  30 — perhaps  as  scape-  nists,  actors,  novelists — obtain  an  audi- 
goats.  ence  wider  than  that  of  any  other  age. 
One  of  the  basic  dogmas  of  advertis-  But  one  of  the  results  is  that  the  quality 
ing  is  that  you  can,  by  sufficient  reitera-  of  their  entertainment  thins  out:  too 
tion,  get  a  great  many  people  to  believe  much  is  demanded  of  them,  they  are 
anything.  Advertisers  attempt  to  influ-  humanly  unable  to  supply  it,  and  soon 
ence  the  subconscious  workings  of  con-  their  audiences  become  bored  or  an- 
sumers'  minds,  so  that  they  will  react  noyed.  The  turn-over  of  talent  is  prodi- 
automatically — and  favorably — toward  gious.  Movie  stars  almost  never  last 
a  product,  and  it  must  be  said  that  the  as  long  as  stage  stars  j  novelists  are  worn 
attempts  are  very  often  successful  and  out  in  a  few  years  -,  columnists  commit 
profitable.  But  this  is  hardly  the  appeal  suicide,  or  should.  And  there  is  no  rea- 
to  reason.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  a  rea-  son  to  believe  that  politicians  and  states- 
sonable  solution  of  the  War  debt  prob-  men  are  better  able  to  stand  the  strain, 
lem  could  evolve  through  the  medium  Upton  Sinclair  promises  that  if  he  is 
of  double-page  spreads  in  a  thousand  elected  Governor  of  California  he  will 
newspapers  representing  in  equally  conduct  the  office  "in  a  goldfish  bowl." 
glowing  terms  the  diametrically  op-  Certain  of  the  New  Dealers  have  been 
posed  views  of  the  United  States  and  acting  in  a  similar  manner.  Now  Mr. 
any  European  debtor.  And  if  we  had  Lee  would  have  nations  do  the  same 
the  German  and  French  Foreign  Minis-  thing.  What  we  need,  more  likely,  is  a 
ters  outlining  their  opinions  on  the  little  decent  reticence, 
matter  nightly  over  our  radios,  the  best  w.  A.  D. 


Social  Insurance  for  America 

BY  P.  W.  WILSON 

At  the  next  session  of  Congress  this  will,  in  all  probability,  be 

a  paramount  issue.  It  is  time  that  Americans  began 

seriously  to  think  about  it 

NATIONS,  it  is  said,  acquire  em-  recognized  achievement.  They  inaugu- 

pires  and  develop  institutions  rated  great  and  enduring  schemes  of 

in  a  fit  of  absence  of  mind,  social  insurance  for  unemployment,  old 

They  are  unconscious  of  what  is  de-  age,   invalidity,   widowhood,   sickness, 

veloping  within  and  around  them.  maternity  and  emergencies  associated 

Fifty  years  ago  the  world  had  formed  therewith.  In  their  stormy  careers  that 

a  definite  mental  picture  of  Bismarck,  has  been  what  really  mattered. 

He  was  seen  with  clenched  fist — "the  It  is  now  the  turn  of  President  Roose- 

man  of  blood  and  iron."  Within  Ger-  velt.  Of  him  also  there  is  a  definite 

many   and   beyond   her   borders,    his  mental  picture.  He  is  the  unwearied 

dreaded  name  was  associated  with  a  Titan  who   fights   depression    on    all 

diplomacy  punctuated  by  three  brief  fronts,  using  any  weapon  that  may  be 

and  triumphant  wars.  available  without  too  careful  a  con- 

Twenty-five  years  ago,  mankind  had  sideration  of  the  cost.  The  White  House 

formed  a  mental  picture,  no  less  definite,  has  resounded  with  discussions  of  wages 

of  David  Lloyd  George.  He  was  a  paci-  and  prices,  of  prevention  of  abuses  on 

fist  and  a  pro-Boer,  who  opposed  the  Wall  Street,  provision  of  guaranteed 

war  in  South  Africa.  He  was  a  radical  capital  to  depressed  industry,  control 

who  wished  to  disestablish  the  Church  of  harvests  and  recognition  of  trade 

in  Wales  and  set  up  a  parliament  in  unions.  But  is  that  all?  Can  it  be  that 

Ireland.  fifty  years  hence  the  name  of  President 

The  student  of  sociology  is  beginning  Roosevelt,  like  the  names  of  Bismarck 

to  realize  that  the  victories  of  Bismarck  and  Lloyd  George,  will  be  significant 

and  the  radicalism  of  Lloyd  George  for  a  much  further-reaching  initiative? 

were  far  from  being  their  real  contribu-  Is  he  also  to  be  among  the  pioneers  of 

tion  to  the  permanent  structure  of  their  social  insurance? 

respective  countries.  Just  as  Napoleon's  There  is  no  mistaking  the  trend  of  his 

code  of  law  has  endured  where  his  con-  mind.  He  has  appealed  repeatedly  for 

quests  collapsed,  so  are  Bismarck  and  the  Forgotten  Man,  and  insurance  may 

Lloyd  George  important  chiefly  to  the  be  defined  as  the  economic  remembrance 

social  historian  for  one  inadequately  of  the  hard  cases  which  otherwise  would 


SOCIAL  INSURANCE  FOR  AMERICA  293 

be  forgotten.  During  the  summer,  Presi-  scheme  of  national  responsibility  for 

dent    Roosevelt    declared   in    definite  which  there  had  been  no  audible  public 

terms  for  "social  insurance,"  and  it  is  demand — of  which  the  nation  had  had 

an  open  secret  that,  at  Washington,  the  in  effect  no  previous  knowledge, 

content  of  that  comprehensive  phrase  is  The  people  then  understood,  not  by 

under  examination  by  what  is  left  of  the  reason  but  by  instinct,  that  something 

Brain  Trust.  Such  fact-finding  usually  of  vast  and  incalculable  significance  was 

precedes  what  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  fond  of  about  to  change  the  constitution  of  the 

calling  "action."  body  politic.  For  many  months,  there 

In  the  Great  Britain  of  the  pre-War  was  a  tornado  of  sound  and  fury,  and 
period,  the  free  and  independent  elec-  the  popular  press  played  the  game  for 
tor,  generally  liberal  in  politics,  be-  all  it  was  worth.  If  liberty-loving  house- 
lieved  that  he  knew  all  about  what  was  maids  were  to  be  humiliated  once  a 
going  on  at  Westminster.  He  read  of  week  by  the  obligation  to  lick  stamps 
debates  on  urgent  matters — as  they  and  affix  them  to  insurance  cards,  what 
were  regarded — education,  the  size  of  was  the  use  of  Magna  Charta  and  the 
the  navy,  the  powers  of  the  House  of  Bill  of  Rights?  Had  King  Charles  I 
Lords  and  so  on.  It  was  taken  for  been  executed  in  vain?  It  was  propa- 
granted  that  the  people  would  be  con-  ganda  designed  for  the  unintelligent 
suited  over  any  new  departure  in  public  and  was  denounced  as  today  we  de- 
policy,  nounce  poison  gas.  But  whatever  may 

But,  for  some  reason,  social  insurance,  be  thought  of  the  ammunition,  the  fight 

as  a  slogan,  failed  to  stir  the  blood.  Peo-  was  over  a  real  issue, 

pie  regarded  the  idea  as  a  fad  remote  In  the  United  States,  history  is  re- 

from  the  traditions  of  Great  Britain.  It  peating  itself.   Not  one  person  in  a 

was  true  that  Mr.  Lloyd  George  spent  hundred  has  given  five  minutes  of  seri- 

a  holiday  in  Germany  where  he  was  ous  thought  to  what  President  Roose- 

understood  to  be  studying  the  subject;  velt  means  when  he  broadcasts  allusions 

and  he  also  had  his  Brain  Trust  around  to  social  insurance.  The  nation  treats 

him  as  a  bodyguard.  But  the  affair  was  him  in  this  matter  as  Germany  treated 

not  taken  seriously.  Was  not  Asquith  in  Bismarck  and  as  Britain  treated  Lloyd 

the  saddle  as  Prime  Minister?  The  pace  George, 

would  continue  to  be  leisurely.  It  happens  that  I  was  closely  asso- 

It  was  with  a  shock  of  surprise  that  ciated  with  David  Lloyd  George  dur- 

people  woke  up  and  discovered  that  a  ing  those  years  before  the  War  when  he 

new  situation  had  been  created  behind  was  working  out  this  policy.  I  believed 

the  scenes.  Outlandish  proposals,  as  they  then  and  I  believe  now  in  social  insur- 

seemed  to  be,  of  which  not  a  hint  had  ance.  I  go  so  far  as  to  think  that  if  social 

entered  the  head  of  the  average  man,  insurance  is  adequate,  no  country  need 

had  been  worked  out  and  were  suddenly  fear  acute  depression — still  less,  revolu- 

laid  before  Parliament.  On  the  validity  tion.  Even  the  inadequate  insurance  in 

of  those  proposals  a  powerful  govern-  Germany  has  kept  the  Bolshevists  at 

ment,    supported    by    a    predominant  bay.  I  can  not  but  be  deeply  impressed, 

party,  staked  its  existence.  The  country  however,  by  the  problems,  administra- 

was   committed   and,   as   events   have  tive  and  financial,  which  would  have  to 

shown,  committed  irrevocably  to  a  vast  be  faced  in  the  United  States  if  social 


294 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


insurance  were  to  be  adopted.  If  ever 
there  were  a  sphere  of  policy  on  which 
public  opinion  should  be  informed  and 
educated  it  is  this. 

ii 

First,  let  us  clearly  understand  that, 
up  to  the  present,  there  has  been  noth 
ing  of  the  kind  in  this  country.  All  the 
pension  schemes,  whether  of  States  or 
corporations,  if  put  together,  would  not 
begin  to  be  even  a  nucleus  of  what  is 
meant  in  Britain,  Germany  or  other 
countries  by  social  insurance.  In  this 
broader  survey,  they  may  be  dismissed, 
one  and  all,  as  unimportant. 

The  question  is  whether,  by  compul 
sion  or  custom,  which  in  practice  may 
amount  to  the  same  thing,  fifty  to  sixty 
million  people  in  the  United  States  shall 
be  enrolled  in  a  scheme  of  insurance 
which  shall  be  aided  and  guaranteed  by 
the  community  as  a  whole.  Is  the  an 
swer  to  that  question  to  be  yes,  or  is  it 
to  be  no? 

To  the  fundamental  issue,  details  do 
not  matter.  Experience  in  many  coun 
tries  has  shown  that  social  insurance, 
once  adopted  and  put  into  force,  tends 
to  be  permanent  and,  indeed,  to  be 
broadened  in  its  scope.  In  this  country, 
it  is  not  usual  to  do  things  by  halves,  and 
if  social  insurance  be  once  started,  the 
chances  are  that,  in  due  course,  it  will  be 
universal. 

The  British  scheme,  taken  as  a  whole, 
costs  $1,250,000,000  in  a  year.  The 
population  of  the  United  States  is  three 
times  the  population  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  proportional  cost  in  this  coun 
try,  therefore,  would  be  $3,750,000,000 
or,  in  round  numbers,  four  billions  in  a 
year.  It  works  out  at  thirty  dollars  per 
annum  for  every  person  in  the  country. 

The  comparison  may  prove  to  be  an 
understatement  of  the  position.  Take 


the  British  old  age  pension  as  an  ex 
ample  of  a  typical  benefit.  It  is,  approxi 
mately,  $2.50  a  week.  Occasional  pen 
sions  granted  in  this  country  are  more 
nearly  five  dollars  a  week  and  we  hear 
talk  of  a  ten-dollar  pension.  If  the  scale 
of  benefits  all  round  is  to  be  double  the 
British  scale,  the  cost  will  work  out  at 
eight  billions  a  year,  and  is  it  certain  that 
the  benefits  will  be  limited  to  double 
the  British  scale?  An  immense  sum  of 
money  is  thus  involved. 

The  first  idea  of  what  may  be  called 
the  "prosperity  American"  will  be  that 
a  beggarly  dollar  or  two  a  week  is  no 
safeguard  against  poverty.  What  is  the 
use  of  handing  out  seventy-five  cents  a 
week  as  in  England  for  the  support  of  a 
dependent  child?  The  answer  is  that 
even  a  modest  insurance  may  prevent 
poverty  from  becoming  destitution,  and, 
actually,  the  benefits  work  out  on  a  more 
generous  scale  than  appears  on  paper. 
Old  folks  usually  live  in  a  family.  The 
wife  as  well  as  the  husband  has  the  pen 
sion  and  five  dollars  a  week  in  England 
is  a  help  to  the  domestic  budget.  The 
allowance  for  children  is  in  addition  to 
the  allowance  for  parents,  and  the  vari 
ous  benefits,  including  provision  for 
sickness  and  so  on,  have  to  be  considered 
not  piecemeal  but  as  a  whole.  They 
mean  that  even  the  humblest  home  has 
something  at  its  back.  Also,  social  in 
surance  means  that  all  other  forms  of 
saving  on  a  modest  scale  are  made  worth 
while.  The  battle  is  no  longer  hopeless. 
It  can  be  won. 

The  prospect  of  this  large  expendi 
ture  in  the  United  States  should  be 
realized  in  advance  and  surveyed,  first 
of  all  as  a  whole.  How  is  it  to  be  re 
garded  in  terms  of  economics?  On  gen 
eral  grounds,  so  I  submit,  the  argument 
for  social  insurance  is  unanswerable.  Let 
us  suppose  that  the  national  income  runs 


SOCIAL  INSURANCE  FOR  AMERICA  295 

around  fifty  billion  dollars  and  that  it  time  in  industry  shall  not  be  accom- 
ought  to  be  much  higher.  A  scheme  panied  by  a  diminished  demand  for 
which  puts  into  continuous  circulation  goods  and  services.  Fewer  people  may 
ten  billion  dollars  is,  manifestly,  of  ap-  be  needed  to  do  the  work  that  has  to  be 
preciable  advantage  as  a  corrective  of  done  but  there  is  as  much  work  to  be 
underconsumption.  All  of  us  are  agreed  done  as  before.  In  such  a  situation,  the 
that  there  must  be  a  balance  between  first  thing  to  do  is  to  eliminate  from 
consumption  and  production.  Social  in-  active  industry  those  whose  age  and  in 
surance  provides  for  a  measure  of  such  firmities  entitle  them  to  leisure  or  odd 
adjustment,  and  in  the  simplest  man-  jobs.  Old  age  pensioners  are  not  loafers 
ner.  There  is  no  inflation  or  deflation  of  on  the  sidewalk.  They  are  the  veterans 
the  currency.  There  is  no  interference  of  industry.  They  have  earned  the  right 
with  the  methods  of  manufacture  or  to  leisure  and  such  leisure  will  do  no 
distribution  of  commodities.  There  are  harm  to  their  character  as  citizens.  To 
no  codes.  But  the  ability  of  the  people  liberate  the  old  from  work  is  the  best 
to  consume  is  maintained.  The  demand  way  of  finding  work  for  the  young,  and 
for  commodities  is  maintained.  Despite  so  with  the  physically  disabled  and  the 
all  that  has  been  alleged  against  the  dole  widows,  who  ought  to  be  looking  after 
in  Great  Britain,  as  insurance  has  been  their  children  instead  of  trying  to  earn 
most  inaccurately  described,  the  system  money  to  support  them, 
has  proved  to  be,  during  these  perilous  Social  insurance  mitigates  a  real 
years,  the  steadying  factor  in  national  grievance.  It  removes  a  genuine  dread, 
finance.  It  is  a  commonplace  that  it  has  It  relieves  the  kind  of  acute  discontent 
saved  the  country  from  revolution,  which  is  always  an  embarrassment  and 
Also,  it  has  prevented  a  collapse  of  sometimes  a  peril  to  civilization.  It  was 
credit  and  of  industry.  social  insurance  that  in  Great  Britain 

The  money  distributed  by  insurance  defeated  the  general  strike:  the  people 
is  not  thrown  into  the  sea.  It  is  not  refused  to  destroy  the  old  folks'  pen- 
squandered  on  luxuries.  Every  cent  of  sions. 
it  passes  into  circulation,  contributing  to 
rent,  the  security  of  mortgages,  the 

turnover  in  the  stores  and,  in  a  word,  to  What  is  roughly  described  as  life  in- 

the  demand  for  necessities  of  life.  Not  surance   has   been   rapidly   developed 

only  does  this  money  create  employ-  throughout  the  United  States,  and  the 

ment.  It  creates  the  right  kind  of  em-  experience  of  Great  Britain  has  shown 

ployment,  not  forgetting  an  income  for  that  life  insurance  does  not  suffer  as  a 

farms  where  food  is  produced.  result  of  social  insurance  under  the  state. 

It  is  social  insurance  that  relieves  the  But  life  insurance,  though  entirely 
labor  market.  As  machinery  is  perfected,  beneficial,  is  not  enough.  The  vast  ma- 
labor  is  displaced  and  has  to  be  other-  jority  of  policies  are  quite  small  and  we 
wise  absorbed.  From  time  to  time  and  in  have  to  face  the  fact  that,  in  the  United 
certain  areas,  there  is  not  enough  work  States  as  in  other  countries,  the  people 
for  a  period  to  go  around  and,  of  course,  as  a  whole  are  without  resources  usually 
we  have  also  the  calamitous  interruption  described  as  private  means, 
of  foreign  trade.  A  question,  obviously  of  great  im- 

Social  insurance  secures  that  short  portance,  is  whether  the  existing  ma- 


296  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

chinery  of  insurance  in  this  country  old  age  pensions,  there  is  no  difficulty, 
shall  be  used  by  the  state  as  an  agency  These  risks  are  scientifically  insurable 
for  running  social  insurance.  In  Ger-  according  to  foreseen  averages, 
many,  numerous  approved  organiza-  By  its  very  nature,  social  insurance 
tions  are  so  employed,  and  in  Great  covers  a  period  of  time.  The  British 
Britain,  friendly  societies,  trade  unions  scheme  has  been  calculated  beyond  the 
and  insurance  companies  like  the  Pru-  year  2000  A.D.  This  is  not  a  sphere  of 
dential  are  included  in  the  official  and  administration  in  which  Congress  can 
semi-official  machinery.  A  country  so  pull  the  machine  to  bits  and  put  it  to- 
vast  as  the  United  States  may  find  that  gether  again  every  year  or  two.  Amend- 
existing  organizations  are  useful  and  ments  may  improve  or  extend  a  scheme, 
even  indispensable  as  constructive  allies.  But  there  must  be  continuity. 
There  seems  to  be  no  reason  in  principle  Unemployment  is  a  risk  that  stands 
why  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Salvation  by  itself.  It  is  determined  not  by  the 
Army,  the  Knights  of  Columbus,  the  circumstances  of  the  individual  alone  or 
Jewish  organizations,  and,  indeed,  any  mainly,  but  by  his  environment.  In  nine 
responsible  society  of  suitable  character  cases  out  of  ten,  the  individual  can  not 
should  not  assist  in  operating  this  help  his  loss  of  work, 
plan.  In  a  world  at  peace  with  itself,  eco- 

But  there  must  be  fair  play.  The  in-  nomic  and  military,  there  is  little  doubt 

surance  companies  must  not  regard  their  that    unemployment,    averaging    say 

function  as  merely  an  opportunity  for  seven  per  cent  of  the  workers,  would 

hard-boiled  business,  to  be  treated  as  be  soundly  insurable.  Broadly,  it  would 

lawyers  treat  workmen's  compensation,  be    a    form    of    payment    for    short 

A  great   human  problem   has  to  be  time.  It  is  only  or  mainly  the  War 

solved  by  means  of  human  relations,  that,  in  Britain,  has  made  the  position 

And  fair  play  means  a  definite  absten-  difficult. 

tion  from  graft  by  all  concerned.  That  Out  of  the  hurly-burly  over  unem- 

evil  tradition  must  be  brought  to  an  ployment  insurance  three  results  now 

end.  emerge  into  the  obvious.  First,  it  is  pos- 

In  considering  the  stability  of  social  sible  to  insure  against  occasional  unem- 

insurance,  there  is  one  factor  that  should  ployment   running  up,   say,   to   three 

be  kept  always  in  mind:  what  upsets  all  months  in  the  year.  The  precise  periods 

possible  calculations  is  war  and  the  eco-  can  not  be  explained  here  in  detail, 

nomic  nationalism  that  has  followed  the  Secondly,  a  certain  number  of  workers 

last  War.  A  destructive  explosion  within  will  drift  out  of  benefit  and  must  be 

civilized  society  is  a  shock  to  insurance  maintained  by  direct  grants  from  the 

and  all  other  stability.  If  we  are  to  solve  state.  This  surplus  unemployment,  as 

any   problem   affecting   mankind,   we  it  may  be  called,  is  not  insurable  under 

must  take  it  that  the  race  itself  retains  present  conditions.  Thirdly,  unemploy- 

some  measure  of  its  sanity.  ment  benefit,  though  it  be  a  palliative,  is 

Assuming  that  currency  is  allowed  to  no  real  solution  of  the  human  problem 

be  stable  within  reasonable  fluctuations,  involved.  There  ought  not  to  be  unem- 

the  actuarial  results  of  social  insurance  ployment  on  such  a  scale.  It  is  disastrous 

are    now    ascertained.    Over    sickness,  to  character  and  a  denial  of  elemental 

maternity,  widowhood,  invalidity  and  human  rights. 


SOCIAL  INSURANCE  FOR  AMERICA  297 

In  the  United  States,  a  scheme  of  lations  is  that  they  bring  the  individual 

social  insurance  must  be  three  times  as  under  control  of  a  bureaucracy  and  un- 

big  as  in  Britain  and  four  times  as  big  dermine  his  independence.  For  instance, 

as  in  Germany.  Such  a  scheme,  to  be  in  Germany  there  is  a  subdivision  of  the 

what  it  ought  to  be,  should  extend  from  scheme  according  to  classes  of  workers, 

coast  to  coast  and,  obviously,  its  success  and  corresponding  scales  of  contribu- 

will  depend  on  effective  administration,  tions  and  benefits  according  to  wages. 

This  country  has  the  finest  material  in  Also,  maternity  benefit  is  awarded  in 

the  world  for  a  civil  service  adequate  to  particularized  items.  Britain  treats  em- 

the  purpose.  The  universities  and  col-  ployment  as  employment  whatever  the 

leges  are  turning  out  just  the  recruits  wages,  and  gives  to  the  mother  a  lump 

that  are  needed.  Many  of  these  recruits  sum.    Officials  in  Whitehall  consider 

are,  at  this  moment,  hard  put  to  it  to  that  a  mother  knows  better  than  any- 

find  a  job.  The  time  has  come  when  the  body  else  where  the  money  will  be  spent 

progress  of  the  country  can  not  be  what  most  usefully. 

the  occasion  demands  unless  the  Civil  Thirdly,  simplicity  implies  a  general 

Service  is  organized,  once  for  all,  on  the  measure  of  uniformity.  It  is  all  very 

strict  principles  of  appointment  and  pro-  well  to  talk  about  State  rights.  But  if 

motion  which  were  adopted  in  Great  each  State  runs  its  own  scheme,  it  means 

Britain  among  other  reforms  of  the  that  all  kinds  of  questions  of  domicile 

Victorian  Era.  arise.  As  a  means  of  knitting  together  a 

great  continental  republic  and  f  orestall- 

IV  ing  any  possible  disintegration,  social  in- 

There  are  multitudinous  details  which  surance  might  be  as  valuable  as  rail- 
accompany  any  and  every  such  scheme  roads,  highways  and  the  radio, 
of  insurance.  In  the  United  States,  we  Fourthly,  any  idea  of  organizing  so- 
find  a  kind  of  instinctive  assumption  cial  insurance,  as  understood  abroad,  by 
that  this  country  has  to  think  up  some-  individual  industries  is  unconvincing, 
thing  different  and  try  experiments.  It  Labor  is  less  of  the  craft  than  before  and 
so  happens  that  other  nations  offer  ex-  is  more  mobile.  Also,  it  is  of  the  essence 
perience  which  is  of  greater  value  than  of  insurance  that  it  spreads  risks  from 
any  experiments.  That  experience  is  at  one  area  of  uncertainty  to  another.  The 
the  disposal  of  this  country.  strong  and  stable  enterprises  ought  to 

Certain  considerations  may  be  indi-  share  the  burden  that  falls  on  the  more 

cated.   First,  a  scheme   need   not   be  speculative  industries, 

comprehensive  at  the  outset.  For  in-  The  nations  which  have  adopted  so- 

stance,  it  might  include  sickness  but  cial  insurance  appear  to  be  predomi- 

not  maternity.  When  the  structure  is  nantly  in  favor  of  contributory  schemes, 

erected,  new  features  can  be  added  to  usually  based  upon  payments  into  a 

the  content.  fund  by  the  employer,  the  employed 

Secondly,  the  aim  should  be  sim-  and  the  state.  All  the  contributions  are, 

plicity.   Every  avoidable  complication  strictly  speaking,  taxation.  But  it  is  only 

should    be     avoided.     The     German  the  state  subsidy  that  has  to  be  provided 

schemes  are  more  elaborate  than  the  out  of  the  budget. 

British  and,  to  that  extent,  less  effective.  The  adoption  of  social  insurance  by 

One  danger  of  needless  rules  and  regu-  a  nation  and  especially  a  nation  like  the 


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THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


United  States,  can  not  but  be  an  event 
that  marks  an  epoch.  It  establishes  a 
new  contact  between  the  citizen  and  the 
commonwealth,  more  intimate  by  far 
than  the  vote  or  obedience  to  the  law, 
as  usually  understood.  It  represents  an 
acceptance  by  the  state  of  new  and  for 
midable  responsibilities  for  domestic 
affairs  in  millions  of  homes.  It  is  this 
change  not  only  in  economics  but  in  the 
atmosphere  of  politics  that  is  involved 
in  the  inquiries  proceeding  at  Wash 
ington. 

The  policy  of  social  insurance  throws 
open  the  door  to  a  vast  extension  of 
usefulness  for  the  medical  profession. 
The  doctor  may  have  to  work  hard. 
But  he  is  assured  of  his  pay.  It  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  that  the  authority 
over  him  should  be  carefully  separated 
from  the  administration  of  the  scheme 
as  a  whole.  In  Great  Britain,  there  is  no 
possibility  of  bringing  pressure  to  bear 
on  doctors  which  they  ought  to  resist. 
It  must  be  made  clear  that  a  state  medi 
cal  service,  however  valuable  it  may  be, 
in  which  doctors  and  nurses  are  civil 
servants,  is  no  substitute  for  sickness  in 
surance  which  provides  for  the  needs  of 
the  home  when  the  breadwinner  is  hors 
de  combat.  It  is  an  important  question 
whether  medical  benefit  should  consist 
chiefly  of  treatment  as  in  Germany  or 
of  relief  as  in  Great  Britain. 


Social  insurance  is  an  organization  of 
the  whole  community  for  the  well- 
being  of  the  overwhelming  majority 
within  the  community.  It  is  thus  na 
tional,  not  sectional,  and  may  well  prove 
to  be  effective  answer  to  the  lobbyists 
who  demand  special  favors  like  the 
bonus  for  special  groups.  It  can  hardly 
fail  to  emancipate  the  more  dependent 


citizens  from  the  thralldom  of  political 
machines  like  Tammany  Hall,  and, 
properly  administered,  its  effect  may  be 
to  clean  up  politics  in  the  municipal 
sphere.  Also  its  central  administration 
is  by  an  authority  other  than  trade 
unions.  These  are  among  the  vital  rea 
sons  why,  in  Great  Britain,  social  in 
surance  is  supported  by  the  Conserva 
tive  party.  It  may  be  costly.  But  it  is  a 
bulwark.  If  the  conservative  forces  in 
this  country  know  their  business,  they 
will  refrain  from  talking  of  social  in 
surance  as  if  it  were  to  be  denounced 
as  socialism.  It  is  the  sound  method  of 
forestalling  socialism  without  interfer 
ing  with  the  conduct  of  business,  and,  in 
other  countries,  it  has  been  put  over  by 
capitalist  parties  as  a  means  of  working 
the  capitalist  system. 

The  United  States  is  a  country  that 
can  achieve  supreme  results  if  it  wishes. 
Its  failures  are  never  due  to  lack  of 
ability — only  to  a  lapse  in  purpose. 
There  is  today  a  noble  opportunity  of 
carrying  out  an  insistent  claim  on  the 
community  as  it  ought  to  be  carried  out. 
The  entire  atmosphere  of  society  from 
coast  to  coast  would  be  changed  if  every 
adult  working  citizen,  man  or  woman, 
had  his  card  or  cards,  paid  to  date,  and 
guaranteeing  a  reasonable  mitigation  of 
unforeseeable  calamities,  physical  and 
economic.  Every  producer  of  goods 
would  be  more  assured  of  a  market  for 
his  output.  Every  distributor  of  goods 
would  be  similarly  fortified  against 
fluctuations  of  business.  Labor  ex 
changes  throughout  the  country  would 
diminish  unemployment  to  a  minimum. 

Such  a  network  of  just  dealing  with 
unavoidable  emergencies  would  asso 
ciate  the  entire  citizenship  of  the  United 
States  in  a  deeper  commonwealth  of 
economic  mutuality. 


The  Raid 


BY  JOHN  STEINBECK 
A  Story 


IT  WAS  dark  in  the  little  California 
town  when  the  two  men  stepped 
from  the  lunch  car  and  strode  ar 
rogantly  through  the  back  streets.  The 
air  was  full  of  the  sweet  smell  of  fer 
menting  fruit  from  the  packing  plants. 
High  over  the  corners,  blue  arc  lights 
swung  in  the  wind  and  put  moving 
shadows  of  telephone  wires  on  the 
ground.  The  old  wooden  buildings  were 
silent  and  resting.  The  dirty  windows 
dismally  reflected  the  street  lights. 

The  two  men  were  about  the  same 
size,  but  one  was  much  older  than  the 
other.  Their  hair  was  cropped,  they 
wore  blue  jeans.  The  older  man  had  on 
a  peajacket,  while  the  younger  wore  a 
blue  turtle-neck  sweater.  As  they  swung 
down  the  dark  street,  footsteps  echoed 
back  loudly  from  the  wooden  buildings. 
The  younger  man  began  to  whistle 
Come  to  Me  My  Melancholy  Baby.  He 
stopped  abruptly.  "I  wish  that  damn 
tune  would  get  out  of  my  head.  It's 
been  going  all  day.  It's  an  old  tune, 
too." 

His  companion  turned  toward  him. 
"You're  scared,  Root.  Tell  the  truth. 
You're  scared  as  hell." 

They  were  passing  under  one  of  the 
blue  street  lights.  Root's  face  put  on  its 
toughest  look,  the  eyes  squinted,  the 
mouth  went  crooked  and  bitter.  "No,  I 


ain't  scared."  They  were  out  of  the 
light.  His  face  relaxed  again.  "I  wish  I 
knew  the  ropes  better.  You  been  out  be 
fore,  Dick.  You  know  what  to  expect. 
But  I  ain't  ever  been  out." 

"The  way  to  learn  is  to  do,"  Dick 
quoted  sententiously.  "You  never  really 
learn  nothing  from  books." 

They  crossed  a  railroad  track.  A  block 
tower  up  the  line  a  little  was  starred 
with  green  lights.  "It's  awful  dark," 
said  Root.  "I  wonder  if  the  moon  will 
come  up  later.  Usually  does  when  it's 
so  dark.  You  going  to  make  the  first 
speech,  Dick?" 

"No,  you  make  it.  I  had  more  experi 
ence  than  you.  I'll  watch  them  while 
you  talk  and  then  I  can  smack  them 
where  I  know  they  bite.  Know  what 
you're  going  to  say?" 

"Sure  I  do.  I  got  it  all  in  my  head, 
every  word.  I  wrote  it  out  and  learned 
it.  I  heard  guys  tell  how  they  got  up 
and  couldn't  think  of  a  thing  to  say,  and 
then  all  of  a  sudden  they  just  started 
in  like  it  was  somebody  else,  and  the 
words  came  out  like  water  out  of  a  hy 
drant.  Big  Mike  Sheane  said  it  was  like 
that  with  him.  But  I  wasn't  taking  no 
chances,  so  I  wrote  it  out." 

A  train  hooted  mournfully,  and  in  a 
moment  it  rounded  a  bend  and  pushed 
its  terrible  light  down  the  track.  The 


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lighted  coaches  rattled  past.  Dick  turned 
to  watch  it  go  by.  "Not  many  people  on 
that  one,"  he  said  with  satisfaction. 
"Didn't  you  say  your  old  man  worked 
on  the  railroad?" 

Root  tried  to  keep  the  bitterness  out 
of  his  voice.  "Sure,  he  works  on  the  road. 
He's  a  brakeman.  He  kicked  me  out 
when  he  found  out  what  I  was  doing. 
He  was  scared  he'd  lose  his  job.  He 
couldn't  see.  I  talked  to  him,  but  he  just 
couldn't  see.  He  kicked  me  right  out." 
Root's  voice  was  lonely.  Suddenly  he 
realized  how  he  had  weakened  and  how 
he  sounded  homesick.  "That's  the 
trouble  with  them,"  he  went  on  harshly. 
"They  can't  see  beyond  their  jobs.  They 
can't  see  what's  happening  to  them. 
They  hang  on  to  their  chains." 

"Save  it,"  said  Dick.  "That's  good 
stuff.  Is  that  part  of  your  speech?" 

"No,  but  I  guess  I'll  put  it  in  if  you 
say  it's  good." 

The  street  lights  were  fewer  now.  A 
line  of  locust  trees  grew  along  the  road, 
for  the  town  was  beginning  to  thin  and 
the  country  took  control.  Along  the  un- 
paved  road  there  were  a  few  little 
houses  with  ill-kept  gardens. 

"Jesus!  It's  dark,"  Root  said  again. 
"I  wonder  if  there'll  be  any  trouble. 
It's  a  good  night  to  get  away  if  any 
thing  happens." 

Dick  snorted  into  the  collar  of  his  pea- 
jacket.  They  walked  along  in  silence  for 
a  while. 

"Do  you  think  you'd  try  to  get  away, 
Dick?  "Root  asked. 

"No,  by  God!  It's  against  orders.  If 
anything  happens  we  got  to  stick. 
You're  just  a  kid.  I  guess  you'd  run  if  I 
let  you!" 

Root  blustered:  "You  think  you're 
hell  on  wheels  just  because  you  been  out 
a  few  times.  You'd  think  you  was  a  hun 
dred  to  hear  you  talk." 


"I'm  dry  behind  the  ears,  anyway," 
said  Dick. 

Root  walked  with  his  head  down.  He 
said  softly,  "Dick,  are  you  sure  you 
wouldn't  run?  Are  you  sure  you  could 
just  stand  there  and  take  it?" 

"Of  course  I'm  sure.  I've  done  it  be 
fore.  It's  the  orders,  ain't  it?  Why,  it's 
good  publicity."  He  peered  through  the 
darkness  at  Root.  "What  makes  you 
ask,  kid?  You  scared  you'll  run?  If 
you're  scared  you  got  no  business  here." 

Root  shivered.  "Listen,  Dick,  you're 
a  good  guy.  You  won't  tell  nobody  what 
I  say,  will  you?  I  never  been  tried.  How 
do  I  know  what  I'll  do  if  somebody 
smacks  me  in  the  face  with  a  club?  How 
can  anybody  tell  what  he'd  do?  I  don't 
think  I'd  run.  I'd  try  not  to  run." 

"All  right,  kid.  Let  it  go  at  that.  But 
you  try  running,  and  I'll  turn  your 
name  in.  We  got  no  place  for  yellow 
bastards.  You  remember  that,  kid." 

"Oh,  lay  off  that  kid  stuff.  You're 
running  that  in  the  ground." 

The  locust  trees  grew  closer  together 
as  they  went.  The  wind  rustled  gently 
in  the  leaves.  A  dog  growled  in  one  of 
the  yards  as  the  men  went  by.  A  light 
fog  began  to  drift  down  through  the  air, 
and  the  stars  were  swallowed  in  it.  "You 
sure  you  got  everything  ready?"  Dick 
asked.  "Got  the  lamps?  Got  the  lit'a- 
ture?  I  left  all  that  to  you." 

"I  did  it  all  this  afternoon,"  said 
Root.  "I  didn't  put  the  posters  up  yet, 
but  I  got  them  in  a  box  out  there." 

"Got  oil  in  the  lamps?" 

"They  had  plenty  in.  Say,  Dick,  I 
guess  some  bastard  has  squealed,  don't 
you?" 

"Sure.  Somebody  always  squeals." 

"Well  you  didn't  hear  nothing  about 
no  raid,  did  you?" 

"How  the  hell  would  I  hear.  You 
think  they'd  come  and  tell  me  they  was 


THE  RAID                                           301 

going  to  knock  my  can  off?  Get  hold  of  Dick  looked  at  his  watch.  "Quarter  to 

yourself,  Root.  You  got  the  pants  scared  eight.  Some  of  the  guys  ought  to  be  here 

off  you.  You're  going  to  make  me  nerv-  pretty  soon  now."  He  put  his  hands  in 

ous  if  you  don't  cut  it  out."  the  breast  pockets  of  his  peajacket  and 

stood  loosely  by  the  box  of  pamphlets. 
There  was  nothing  to  sit  on.  The  black 

They  approached  a  low,  square  build-  and  red  portrait  stared  harshly  out  at 

ing,  black  and  heavy  in  the  darkness,  the  room.  Root  leaned  against  the  wall. 

Their  feet  pounded  on  a  wooden  side-  The  light  from  one  of  the  lamps  yel- 

walk.  "Nobody  here,  yet,"  said  Dick,  lowed,  and  the  flame  sank  slowly  down. 

"Let's  open  her  up  and  get  some  light."  Dick  stepped  over  to  it.  "I  thought  you 

They  had  come  to  a  deserted  store.  The  said  there  was  plenty  of  oil.  This  one's 

old  show  windows  were  obscure  with  dry." 

dirt.  A  Lucky  Strike  poster  was  stuck  to  "I  thought  there  was  plenty.  Look! 

the  glass  on  one  side  while  a  big  card-  The  other  one's  nearly  full.  We  can 

board  Coca-Cola  lady  stood  like  a  ghost  pour  some  of  that  oil  in  this  lamp." 

in  the  other.  Dick  threw  open  the  double  "How  we  going  to  do  that?  We  got 

doors  and  walked  in.  He  struck  a  match  to  put  them  both  out  to  pour  the  oil. 

and  lighted  a  kerosene  lamp,  got  the  You  got  any  matches?" 

chimney  back  in  place,  and  set  the  lamp  Root  felt  through  his  pockets.  "Only 

on  an  up-ended  apple  box.  "Come  on,  two." 

Root,  we  got  to  get  things  ready."  "Now,  you  see?  We  got  to  hold  this 

The  walls  of  the  building  were  sea-  meeting  with  only  one  lamp.  I  should  of 

brous  with  streaked  whitewash.  A  pile  looked  things  over  this  afternoon.  I  was 

of  dusty  newspapers  had  been  kicked  busy  in  town,  though.  I  thought  I  could 

into  a  corner.  The  two  back  windows  leave  it  to  you." 

were  laced  with  cobwebs.  Except  for  "Maybe  we  could  quick  pour  some  of 

three  apple  boxes,  there  was  nothing  at  this  oil  in  a  can  and  then  pour  it  into 

all  in  the  store.  the  other  lamp." 

Root  walked  to  one  of  the  boxes  and  "Yeah,  and  then  set  the  joint  on  fire, 

took  out  a  large  poster  bearing  a  por-  You're  a  hell  of  a  helper." 

trait  of  a  man  done  in  harsh  reds  and  Root  leaned  back  against  the  wall 

blacks.  He  tacked  the  portrait  to  the  again.  "I  wish  they'd  come.  What  time 

whitewashed   wall   behind  the   lamp,  is  it,  Dick?" 

Then  he  tacked  another  poster  beside  "Five  after  eight." 

it,  a  large  red  symbol  on  a  white  back-  "Well,  what's  keeping  them?  What 

ground.  Last  he  up-ended  another  apple  are  they  waiting  for?  Did  you  tell  them 

box  and  piled  leaflets  and  little  paper-  eight  o'clock?" 

bound  books  on  it.  His  footsteps  were  "Oh!  Shut  up,  kid.  You'll  get  my 

loud  on  the  bare  wooden  floor.  "Light  goat  pretty  soon.  I  don't  know  what's 

the  other  lamp,  Dick!  It's  too  damned  keeping  them.  Maybe  they  got  cold 

dark  in  here."  feet.  Now  shut  up  for  a  little  while." 

"Scared  of  the  dark,  too,  kid? "  He  dug  his  hands  into  the  pockets  of  his 

"No.  The  men  will  be  here  pretty  jacket  again.  "Got  a  cigarette,  Root?" 

soon.  We  want  to  have  more  light  when  "No." 

they  come.  What  time  is  it? "  It  was  very  still.  Nearer  the  centre  of 


3o2  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

the  town,  automobiles  were  moving ;  the  menacing  in  the  dim  light.  It  floated  out 

mutter  of  their  engines  and  an  occa-  at  the  bottom  again.  Dick  looked  around 

sional  horn  sounded.  A  dog  barked  un-  at  it.  "Listen,  kid,"  he  said  quietly, 

excitedly  at  one  of  the  houses  nearby.  "I  know  you're  scared.  When  you're 

The  wind  ruffled  the  locust  trees  in  scared,  just  take  a  look  at  him."  He 

whishing  gusts.  indicated  the  picture  with  his  thumb. 

"Listen,  Dick!  Do  you  hear  voices?  "He   wasn't   scared.    Just   remember 

I  think  they're  coming."  They  turned  about  what  he  did." 

their  heads  and  strained  to  listen.  The    boy   considered    the   portrait. 

"I   don't   hear   nothing.   You   just  "You  suppose  he  wasn't  ever  scared?" 

thought  you  heard  it."  Dick  reprimanded  him  sharply.  "If 

Root  walked  to  one  of  the  dirty  win-  he  was,  nobody  ever  found  out  about  it. 

dows  and  looked  out.  Coming  back,  he  You  take  that  for  a  lesson  and  don't  go 

paused  at  the  pile  of  pamphlets  and  opening  up  for  everybody  to  show  them 

straightened  them  neatly.  "What  time  how  you  feel." 

is  it  now,  Dick?"  "You're  a  good  guy,  Dick.  I  don't 

"Keep  still,  will  you?  You'll  drive  know  what  I'll  do  when  I  get  sent  out 

me  nuts.  You  got  to  have  guts  for  this  alone." 

job.  For  God's  sake  show  some  guts."  "You'll  be  all  right,  kid.  You  got 

"Well,   I   never  been   out  before,  stuff  in  you.  I  can  tell  that.  You  just 

Dick."  never  been  under  fire." 

"Do  you  think  anybody  couldn't  tell  Root  glanced  quickly  at  the  door, 

that?  You  sure  make  it  plain  enough."  "Listen!  You  hear  somebody  coming?" 

The  wind  gusted  sharply  in  the  locust  "Lay  off  that  stuff!  When  they  get 
trees.  The  front  doors  clicked  and  one  of  here,  they'll  get  here." 
them  opened  slowly,  squeaking  a  little  "Well — let's  close  the  door.  It's  kind 
at  the  hinges.  The  breeze  came  in,  ruf-  of  cold  in  here.  Listen!  There  is  some- 
fled  the  pile  of  dusty  newspapers  in  the  body  coming." 

corner  and  sailed  the  posters  out  from  Quick  footsteps  sounded  on  the  road, 

the  wall  like  curtains.  broke  into  a  run  and  crossed  the  wooden 

"Shut  that  door,  Root !  — No,  leave  it  sidewalk.   A  man  in   overalls  and  a 

open.  Then  we  can  hear  them  coming  painter's  cap  ran  into  the  room.  He  was 

better."  He  looked  at  his  watch.  "It's  panting  and  winded.  "You  guys  better 

nearly  half-past  eight."  scram,"   he  said.   "There's  a  raiding 

"Do  you  think  they'll  come?  How  party  coming.  None  of  the  guys  is  corn- 
long  we  going  to  wait,  if  they  don't  ing  to  the  meeting.  They  was  going  to 
show  up?"  let  you  take  it,  but  I  wouldn't  do  that. 

The  older  man  stared  at  the  open  Come  on!  Get  your  stuff  together  and 

door.  "We  ain't  going  to  leave  here  be-  get  out.  That  party's  on  the  way." 

fore  nine-thirty  at  the  earliest.  We  got  Root's  face  was  pale  and  tight.  He 

orders  to  hold  this  meeting."  looked  nervously  at  Dick.  The  older 

The   night   sounds   came   in   more  man  shivered.  He  thrust  his  hands  into 

clearly  through   the   open   door — the  his   breast   pockets   and   slumped   his 

dance  of  dry  locust  leaves  on  the  road,  shoulders.  "Thanks,"  he  said.  "Thanks 

the  slow  steady  barking  of  the  dog.  On  for  telling  us.  You  run  along.  We'll  be 

the  wall  the  red  and  black  portrait  was  all  right." 


THE  RAID 


303 


"The  others  was  just  going  to  leave 
you  take  it,"  the  man  said. 

Dick  nodded.  "Sure,  they  can't  see 
the  future.  They  can't  see  beyond  their 
nose.  Run  along  now  before  you  get 
caught." 

"Well,  ain't  you  guys  coming?  I'll 
help  carry  some  of  your  stuff." 

"We're  going  to  stay,"  Dick  said 
woodenly.  "We  got  orders  to  stay.  We 
got  to  take  it." 

The  man  was  moving  toward  the 
door.  He  turned  back.  "Want  me  to 
stay  with  you?" 

"No,  you're  a  good  guy.  No  need  for 
you  to  stay.  We  could  maybe  use  you 
some  other  time." 

"Well,  I  did  what  I  could." 

in 

Dick  and  Root  heard  him  cross  the 
wooden  sidewalk  and  trot  off  into  the 
darkness.  The  night  resumed  its  sounds. 
The  dead  leaves  scraped  along  the 
ground.  The  motors  hummed  from  the 
centre  of  the  town. 

Root  looked  at  Dick.  He  could  see 
that  the  man's  fists  were  doubled  up  in 
his  breast  pockets.  The  face  muscles 
were  stiff,  but  he  smiled  at  the  boy.  The 
posters  drifted  out  from  the  wall  and 
settled  back  again. 

"Scared,  kid?" 

Root  bristled  to  deny  it,  and  then 
gave  it  up.  "Yes,  I'm  scared.  Maybe  I 
won't  be  no  good  at  this." 

"Take  hold,  kid!"  Dick  said  fiercely. 
"You  take  hold!" 

"Well,  tell  me  why  we  got  to  take  it, 
Dick.  I  know,  but  I  want  to  hear  again. 
I  want  to  hear  you  say  it." 

Dick  quoted  to  him,  "  'The  men  of 
little  spirit  must  have  an  example  of 
stead —  steadfastness.  The  people  at 
large  must  have  an  example  of  injus 
tice.'  There  it  is,  Root.  That's  orders." 


He  relapsed  to  silence.  The  barking  dog 
increased  his  tempo. 

"I  guess  that's  them,"  said  Root. 
"Will  they  kill  us,  do  you  think?" 

"No,  they  don't  very  often  kill  any 
body." 

"But  they'll  hit  us  and  kick  us,  won't 
they?  They'll  hit  us  in  the  face  with 
sticks  and  break  our  nose.  Big  Mike, 
they  broke  his  jaw  in  three  places." 

"Take  hold,  kid!  You  take  hold!  And 
listen  to  me;  if  some  one  busts  you,  it 
isn't  him  that's  doing  it,  it's  the  System. 
And  it  isn't  you  he's  busting.  He's  taking 
a  crack  at  the  Principle.  Can  you  remem 
ber  that?" 

"I  don't  want  to  run,  Dick.  Honest  to 
God  I  don't.  If  I  start  to  run,  you  hold 
me,  will  you?" 

Dick  walked  near  and  touched  him  on 
the  shoulder.  "You'll  be  all  right.  I  can 
tell  a  guy  that  will  stick." 

"Well,  hadn't  we  better  hide  the 
lit'ature  so  it  won't  all  get  burned?" 

"No — somebody  might  put  a  book  in 
his  pocket  and  read  it  later.  Then  it 
would  be  doing  some  good.  Leave  the 
books  there.  And  shut  up  now!  Talking 
only  makes  it  worse." 

The  dog  had  gone  back  to  his  slow, 
spiritless  barking.  A  rush  of  wind 
brought  a  scurry  of  dead  leaves  in  the 
open  door.  The  portrait  poster  blew  out 
and  came  loose  at  one  corner.  Root 
walked  over  and  pinned  it  back.  Some 
where  in  the  town,  an  automobile 
squealed  its  brakes. 

"Hear  anything,  Dick?  Hear  them 
coming  yet?" 

"No." 

"Listen,  Dick.  Big  Mike  lay  two  days 
with  his  jaw  broke  before  anybody 'd 
help  him." 

The  older  man  turned  angrily  on 
him.  One  doubled  fist  came  out  of  his 
peajacket  pocket.  His  eyes  narrowed  as 


3o4  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

he  looked  at  the  boy.  He  walked  close  "I  think  so.  Like  they're  talking  low." 
and  put  an  arm  about  his  shoulders.  The  dog  barked  again,  fiercely  this 
"Listen  to  me  close,  kid,"  he  said.  "I  time.  A  little  quiet  murmur  of  voices 
don't  know  much,  but  I  been  through  could  be  heard.  "Look,  Dick!  I  thought 
this  mill  before.  I  can  tell  you  this  for  I  saw  somebody  out  the  back  window." 
sure.  When  it  comes — it  won't  hurt.  I  The  older  man  chuckled  uneasily, 
don't  know  why,  but  it  won't.  Even  if  "That's  so  we  can't  get  away.  They  got 
they  kill  you  it  won't  hurt."  He  dropped  the  place  surrounded.  Take  hold,  kid ! 
his  arm  and  moved  toward  the  front  They're  coming  now.  Remember  about 
door.  He  looked  out  and  listened  in  two  it's  not  them,  it's  the  System." 
directions  before  he  came  back  into  the  There  came  a  rushing  clatter  of  foot- 
room,  steps.  The  doors  burst  open.  A  crowd  of 

"Hear  anything?"  men  thronged  in,  roughly  dressed  men, 

"No.  Not  a  thing."  wearing  black  hats.  They  carried  clubs 

"What — do   you   think   is   keeping  and  sticks  in  their  hands.  Dick  and  Root 

them?"  stood  erect,  their  chins  out,  their  eyes 

"How  do  you  suppose  I'd  know? "  drooped  and  nearly  closed. 

Root    swallowed    thickly.    "Maybe  Once  inside,  the  raiders  were  uneasy, 

they  won't  come.  Maybe  it  was  all  a  lie  They  stood  in  a  half-circle  about  the  two 

that  fella  told  us,  just  a  joke."  men,  scowling,  waiting  for  some  one  to 

"Maybe."  move. 

"Well,  are — we  going  to  wait  all  Young  Root  glanced  sidewise  at  Dick 

night  to  get  our  cans  knocked  off?"  and  saw  that  the  older  man  was  looking 

Dick  mimicked  him.  "Yes,  we're  go-  at  him  coldly,  critically,  as  though  he 

ing  to  wait  all  night  to  get  our  cans  judged  his  deportment.  Root  shoved 

knocked  off."  his  trembling  hands  in  his  pockets.  He 

The  wind  sounded  in  one  big  fierce  forced  himself  forward.  His  voice  was 
gust  and  then  dropped  away  completely,  shrill  with  fright.  "Comrades,"  he 
The  dog  stopped  barking.  A  train  shouted.  "You're  just  men  like  we  are. 
screamed  for  the  crossing  and  went  We're  all  brothers — "  A  piece  of  two- 
crashing  by,  leaving  the  night  more  si-  by-four  lashed  out  and  struck  him  on  the 
lent  than  before.  In  a  house  nearby,  an  side  of  the  head  with  a  fleshy  thump, 
alarm  clock  went  off.  Dick  said,  "Some-  Root  went  down  to  his  knees  and  stead- 
body  goes  to  work  early.  Night  watch-  ied  himself  with  his  hands, 
man,  maybe."  His  voice  was  too  loud  in  The  men  stood  still,  glaring, 
the  stillness.  The  front  door  squeaked  Root  climbed  slowly  to  his  feet.  His 
slowly  shut.  split  ear  spilled  a  red  stream  down  his 

"What  time  is  it  now,  Dick?"  neck.  The  side  of  his  face  was  mushy 

"Quarter  past  nine."  and  purple.  He  got  himself  erect  again. 

"Jesus!  Only  that?  I  thought  it  was  His    breath    burst    passionately.    His 

about  morning. — Don't  you  wish  they'd  hands  were  steady  now,  his  voice  sure 

come  and  get  it  over,  Dick?   Listen,  and  strong.  His  eyes  were  hot  with  an 

Dick!— I  thought  I  heard  voices."  ecstasy.  "Can't  you  see?"  he  shouted. 

They  stood  stiffly,  listening.  Their  "It's  all  for  you.  We're  doing  it  for  you. 

heads  were  bent  forward.  "You  hear  All  of  it.  You  don't  know  what  you're 

voices,  Dick?"  doing." 


THE  RAID                                            305 

"Kill  the  red  rats ! "  gasp  when  it  hurt  him.  "Inciting  to  riot. 

Some  one  giggled  hysterically.  And  We'll  get  six  months  I  guess.  The  cops 

then  the  wave  came.  got  the  lit'ature." 

As  he  went  down,  Root  caught  a  mo-  "You  won't  tell  them  I'm  under  age, 

ment's  glimpse  of  Dick's  face  smiling  a  will  you,  Dick?" 

tight,  hard  smile.  "No.  I  won't.  You  better  shut  up. 

Your  voice  don't  sound  so  hot.  Take  it 

IV  easy." 

He  came  near  the  surface  several  Root  lay  silent,  muffled  in  a  coat  of 

times,  but  didn't  quite  make  it  into  con-  dull  pain.  But  in  a  moment  he  spoke 

sciousness.  At  last  he  opened  his  eyes  again.  "It  didn't  hurt,  Dick.  It  was 

and  knew  things.  His  face  and  head  funny.  I  felt  all  full  up — and  good." 

were  heavy  with  bandages.  He  could  "You  done  fine,  kid.  You  done  as 

only  see  a  line  of  light  between  his  good  as  anybody  I  ever  seen.  I'll  give 

puffed  eyelids.  For  a  time  he  lay,  try-  you  a  blow  to  the  committee.  You  just 

ing  to  think  his  way  out.  Then  he  heard  done  fine." 

Dick's  voice  near  to  him.  Root   struggled   to   get   something 

"You  awake,  kid?"  straight  in  his  head.  "When  they  was 

Root  tried  his  voice  and  found  that  it  busting  me  I  wanted  to  tell  them  I 

croaked  pretty  badly.  "I  guess  so."  didn't  care." 

"They  sure  worked  out  on  your  head.  "Sure,  kid.  That's  what  I  told  you.  It 

I  thought  you  was  gone.  You  was  right  wasn't  them.  It  was  the  System.  You 

about  your  nose.  It  ain't  going  to  be  very  don't  want  to  hate  them.  They  don't 

pretty."  know  no  better." 

"What'dthey  do  to  you,  Dick?"  Root  spoke  drowsily.  The  pain  was 

"Oh,  they  bust  my  arm  and  a  couple  muffling  him  under.  "You  remember  in 

of  ribs.  You  got  to  learn  to  turn  your  the  Bible,  Dick,  how  it  says  something 

face  down  to  the  ground.  That  saves  like  'Forgive  them  because  they  don't 

your  eyes."  He  paused  and  drew  a  know  what  they're  doing'?" 

careful  breath.  "Hurts  some  to  breathe  Dick's  reply  was  stern.  "You  lay  off 

when  you  got  a  rib  bust.  We  was  lucky,  that  religion  stuff,  kid."  He  quoted, 

The  cops  picked  us  up  and  took  us  in."  "  'Religion  is  the  opium  of  the  people.' " 

"Are  we  in  jail,  Dick? "  "Sure,  I  know,"  said  Root.  "But  there 

"Yeah!  Hospital  cell."  wasn't  no  religion  to  it.  It  was  just — I 

"What  they  got  on  the  book?"  felt  like  saying  that.  It  was  just  kind  of 

He  heard  Dick  try  to  chuckle,  and  the  way  I  felt." 


Wages  and  Ethics 

BY  H.  P.  LOSELY 
How  little  can  we  afford  to  pay  our  workers? 

THE  scientist  and  technician,  the  Quesnayys"laissezfaire  .  .  .  lemonde 
inventor  and  machine-builder  are  va  de  lui-meme" — an  auto  da  jey  with 
of  late  frequently  accused  of  official  recantation  of  the  morality  of 
amorality — of  being  afflicted  with  a  buying  cheap  and  selling  dear,  and  the 
passion  for  mensuration,  discovery  of  formulation  of  a  new  doctrine  of  eco- 
natural  laws  and  application  of  new  nomics  which  will  not  shrink  under  the 
technique,  with  a  sublime  indifference  searchlight  of  ethics. 
to  the  consequences  which  follow.  The  As  part  of  that,  we  will  again  have 
flood  of  innovations  has  undermined  to  establish  beyond  question  the  funda- 
so  many  old-established  structures  that  mental  morality  of  economy  of  effort 
from  all  sides  we  hear  cries  for  a  scien-  — plain  thrift.  The  growing  reaction 
tific  holiday.  against  public  extravagance,  the  realiza- 
The  case  for  continued  scientific  work  tion  that  even  modest  savings  are  being 
has  already  ample  counsel.  So  I  do  not  confiscated  to  provide  relief  and  votes, 
here  intend  to  undertake  defense,  unless  the  exposure  that  the  vaunted  abun- 
it  is  the  style  favored  by  Marshal  Foch  dance  is  beyond  reach  of  all  but  a  twen- 
— attack,  attack  and  more  attack.  Instead  tieth  of  our  people,  all  make  it  now 
of  less  science  and  mensuration,  we  need  unnecessary  to  extend  the  topic.  It  is 
more  of  it,  and  I  propose  to  demonstrate  daily  more  apparent  that  there  is  so 
that  in  one  particular  field,  that  of  much  work  to  be  done  that  neglect  of 
wages.  That  field  needs  to  be  much  more  economy  in  doing  it  is  indefensible, 
widely  explored  by  scientific  method  j  There  never  has  been,  and  never  will 
indeed,  it  is  only  by  more  searching  be  in  our  lifetime,  any  real  shortage 
measurement  that  we  can  achieve  more  of  work.  Our  present  difficulties,  the 
ethical  practice.  appalling  losses  of  under-employment, 
We  are  suffering,  not  from  a  surfeit  estimatecfto  have  been  $25,000,000,000 
of  scientific  development,  but  from  an  a  year,  are  not  due  to  lack  of  worth- 
unchecked  growth  of  mercantilism,  while  undertakings.  What  is  missing  is 
which  unscientifically  measures  only  im-  agreement  as  to  terms  on  which  the 
mediate  profits,  but  fails  to  measure  work  will  be  done,  and  one  of  the  chief 
the  losses  it  causes.  Many  of  us  hope-  reasons  why  is  that  we  have  had  no  ac- 
fully  await  a  final  and  complete  rejec-  cepted  yardstick  to  measure  what  each 
tion  of  the  dismal  economics  based  on  share  of  the  work  is  worth. 


WAGES  AND  ETHICS  307 

If  the  devoted  endeavors  of  industry  a  code  of  conduct.  What  needs  watch- 
to  achieve  economy  of  labor  have  fallen  ing  is  that  these  new  codes  be  drawn  so 
below  expectations  in  providing  a  more  they  can  be  followed.  One  can  not  put 
abundant  life,  the  partial  failure  is  not  a  whole  industry  in  jail,  or  even  in  re- 
due  to  any  flaw  in  the  morality  of  thrift,  ceivership.  Hence  it  is  far  more  promis- 
but  because  its  gains  were  neither  ac-  ing  for  success  that  we  have  taken  the 
curately  measured  nor  equitably  appor-  course  initiated  by  the  Recovery  Act — 
tioned.  the  removal  of  codification  from  politi- 

So  scientific  management  will  have  cal  bodies,  delegation  of  code  formula 
te  develop  a  socially  just  management,  tion  to  those  with  craft  knowledge,  yet 
reaching  beyond  the  borders  of  the  wisely  reserving  to  public  authority  the 
single  shop.  We  will  indeed  have  to  de-  right  of  review.  This  basis  of  procedure 
velop  a  national  labor  policy.  As  Fre-  is  similar  to  that  used  in  Great  Britain 
mont  Rider  suggested  in  last  month's  for  some  twenty  years  under  the  Trade 
REVIEW,  that  policy  will  have  to  be  fash-  Board  Acts. 

ioned  to  achieve  basic  justice  and  avoid  What  is  now  most  urgently  needed 

continual  surrender  to  expediency.  It  is  some  set  of  guiding  principles  in  the 

may  not  be  an  exciting  task;  it  surely  light  of  which  a  review  of  many  in- 

will  be  a  long  one;  yet  by  it  we  may  adequate    codes    can    be    intelligently 

replace  despair  and  strife  by  hope  and  made,  and  which  will  constitute  a  moral 

cooperation.  authority  to  invoke  in  restraining  the 

profiteer  and  parasite.  More  than  any 
thing  else  we  need,  not  alms  and  relief, 

A  stern  morality  of  thrift  condemns  but  that  most  difficult  thing  to  achieve 

waste,  but  does  not  condone  buying  — even-handed  justice  in  the  matter  of 

cheap  at  the  expense  of  another.  Even  money  wages  paid  for  work  done, 

the  commercial  mind  now  perceives  that  That  is  precisely  because,  under  our 

cheapness  based  on  inadequate  wages  is  system,  the  wages  paid  for  labor  and 

a  false  economy,  debasing  the  national  for  use  of  capital  are  one  of  the  chief 

standards  of  life.  We  have  de  facto  con-  terms  which  determine  whether  work 

ceded  that  Thorold  Rogers  was  right —  will  and  can  be  done.  The  nearer  we 

fifty  years  ago — in  contending  that  the  can  get  to  that  medieval  ideal  of  the 

state  must  intervene  when  compensation  fair  wage  and  the  just  price,  the  freer 

to  labor  becomes  so  low  as  to  imperil  the  will  be  the  flow  of  commerce,  because 

existence  of  the  state  itself.  If  we  have  prices  will  then  measure  fairly  the  effort 

enacted  legislation  in  support  of  eco-  expended  in  producing  different  goods, 

nomic  morality,  it  is  because  public  mor-  serve  to  make  the  most  efficient  meth- 

als  can  not  be  maintained  without  an  ods  also  the  commercially  cheapest,  and 

acknowledged  code.  distribute  the  proceeds  equitably. 

Also,  it  is  becoming  clear  that  we  can  This  by  no  means  implies  any  doctrine 
only  establish  a  modus  vivendi  in  indus-  of  value  based  on  labor  alone,  without 
try  on  a  basis  of  special  laws  adapted  to  profit,  rent  or  interest.  Truth  in  account- 
industrial  needs.  Our  modern  world  is  ing  requires  that  something  be  allowed 
much  smaller  and  more  crowded  than  for  these  items.  We  would  have  to  pre- 
that  open  to  Elizabeth's  buccaneers,  and  vent  all  losses  before  we  could  disallow 
in  a  crowded  place,  the  amenities  require  profits,  stop  all  wear  and  tear  before 


3o8  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

stopping  rent,  and  be  blind  to  growth  with  an  important  issue  at  stake,  no  de- 

and  risk  before  disallowing  interest  j  the  cent  man  can  stand  out  for  his  price — but 

dynamics  of  nature  make  all  three  con-  what  he  has  a  right  to  demand  and  what 

ditions  impossible.  concerns  his  fellow  men  to  see  that  he 

But  the  old  maxim  that  "cost  of  pro-  gets  is  enough  to  enable  him  to  perform 

duction  has  nothing  to  do  with  selling  his  work. 

price — you  sell  a  thing  for  what  you  can  With  some  qualifications,  that  expres- 

get"  is  not  a  safe  guide.  Some  codes  rec-  sion  of  morality  can  provide  us  with 

ognize  special  circumstances  when  sell-  ideals  of  measurement  of  the  fair  wage, 

for-what-you-can-get  is  proper,  but  for  It  is  really  the  complement  to  the  ideal 

the  commerce  in  every-day  merchandise,  of  the  just  price.  For,  exactly  as  the  just 

we  are  coming  to  the  ethical  principle  price  provides  adequate  wages  to  labor, 

that  going  prices  should  reflect  the  true  those  in  turn  must  be  based  on  the  just 

cost  of  efficient  production  at  an  ade-  price  of  rearing  the  worker  and  equip- 

quate  wage,  plus  an  appropriate  margin  ping  him  physically,  emotionally  and 

to  allow  for  human  frailty,  and  the  total,  mentally  to  perform  the  task.  So  obvi- 

as  closely  as  may  be  determined,  is  the  ously,  the  wage  must  vary  according  to 

just  price — no  more,  no  less.  the  skill,  risks  and  effort  required  to  ac- 

Needless  to  say,  our  past  industrial  complish  different  grades  of  work.  Any 

philosophy  ( ? )  took  little  account  of  any  method  of  wage  regulation  which  ig- 

such  principle.  With  bargaining  based  nores  degrees  of  skill  and  intelligence 

on  expediency  without  regard  for  the  will  run  contrary  to  nature  and  produce 

chain  of  consequences,  break-down  was  harmful  results. 

inevitable.  The  blame  does  not  rest  on  Is  there  to  be  a  limit  to  "what  a  man 

any  one  group  alone.  Many  in  the  owner  is  worth"?  The  ship's  captain  is  worth 

class,  in  spite  of  a  sound  concept  of  eth-  more  than  the  A.B.  seaman,  but  in  a  dis- 

ics,  found  their  hands  tied  by  prevailing  aster,  he  is  the  last  to  leave  the  ship, 

unfair  wages,  even  before  1929.  Un-  That  tradition  of  the  sea  is  simple  fidel- 

enlightened  policies  of  the  wage-earners  ity  to  duty.  If  Mr.  Pecora  found  little 

themselves  must  share  the  blame  j  there  evidence  of  any  such  tradition  in  our  cor- 

was  not  only  greed  of  an  organized  mi-  poration  management,  perhaps  that  was 

nority,  but  supine  acquiescence  to  unfair  because  he  was  examining  flagrant  cases 

wages  by  a  great  majority.  It  is  quite  as  of  piracy,  where  the  crew  was  made  to 

much  one's  duty  to  ask  for  enough,  as  it  walk  the  plank,  while  the  captain  kept 

is  to  refrain  from  asking  too  much.  The  the  loot.  It  is  a  high  tribute  to  the  public 

only  excuse  is  that  we  had  neither  means  sense  of  fairness  that,  in  spite  of  these 

of  measurement  nor  means  of  discipline,  betrayals  of  trust,  we  still  recognize  that 

high  salaries  may  be  fairly  earned,  and 
that  without  able  direction,  wages  would 

If  we  are  to  establish  a  basis  for  deter-  be  and  are  very  much  lower, 

mining  fair  wages,  we  must  first  have  an  Able  administrative  talent  is  not  de- 

adequate  concept  of  what  wages  are  paid  veloped  in  one  jump  from  the  ranks.  To 

for.  There  is  a  point  of  view  forcibly  secure  an  adequate  supply,  the  line  of 

expressed  by  R.  H.  Tawney  in  his  The  promotion  must  be  maintained.  Again 

Acquisitive  Society:  that  no  one  has  any  we  find  the  need  of  reward  for  devel- 

right  to  demand  what  he  is  worth — that  oped  ability  j  we  must  have  a  hierarchi- 


WAGES  AND  ETHICS  309 

cal  arrangement,  with  those  who  un-  cies  or  even  from  customers.  When  busi- 
dergo  discipline  and  training  to  fit  them  ness  encourages  a  breed  of  that  kind  at 
for  more  responsible  work  receiving  the  bottom,  is  it  surprising  that  some  of 
added  compensation  at  each  step  up.  To  the  type  work  their  way  to  the  top? 
be  sure,  there  are  other  motives  than  Colonel  M.  C.  Rorty,  a  leading  prac- 
cash  reward — but  they  are  usually  baser  tical  exponent  of  the  orderly  structure 
ones  and  more  detrimental  in  their  so-  of  wages  has  shown,  not  only  what  the 
cial  effect.  Briefly,  desire  for  power  over  usual  variations  of  individual  earning 
others,  for  snobbish  prestige,  or  for  power  are  within  a  group,  but  what  the 
secret  influence  are  all  inimical  to  hon-  added  compensation  should  be  at  each 
esty  in  business.  I  hold  tenaciously  to  step  up,  right  up  to  the  highest  grades, 
the  concept  that  the  just  price,  paid  On  such  a  basis,  the  feasible  limits  to 
in  full,  is  in  the  long  run  the  best  for  corporate  size  set  salary  limits  not  much 
society.  The  prophylaxis  for  racket-  above  the  ratio  of  thirty-five  times  a 
eering  and  crime  is  just  an  honest  re-  common  decent  standard  of  living  cited 
ward  for  honest  effort — no  more  than  by  J.  George  Frederick  in  last  month's 
that.  REVIEW.  Many  of  the  criticized  exorbi- 
Our  past  American  practice  has  not  tant  salaries  come  from  our  operation  on 
offered  sufficient  encouragement  to  a  poker-game  basis  of  winner-take-all, 
develop  the  intermediate  managerial  Instead  of  recompense  to  balance  fairly 
grades.  That  not  only  made  a  shortage  the  put-in  and  take-out  year  by  year,  we 
of  good  foremen  and  department  man-  have  underpaid  minor  executives  and 
agers,  but  a  further  scarcity  of  top-  dangled  the  carrots  of  eventual  high  re- 
grade  executives  with  the  judgment  that  ward  before  their  noses ;  it  is  then  rather 
experience  alone  can  give.  When  the  natural  for  the  lone  survivor  to  take  out 
capable  workman  can  command  about  all  he  can  while  he  precariously  stays  on 
as  much  by  doing  his  job  well  as  he  can  top — and  perpetuates  the  system. 
get  by  training  tyros,  taking  the  grief  of 

running  a  shop  and  risking  his  reputa-  IV 

tion,  he  simply  declines  to  undertake  the  What  should  the  norm  be  in  the 

further  education  of  learning  how  to  ranks?  If  our  concern  is  that  each  worker 

manage  with  skill.  The  science  of  man-  shall  get  enough  to  do  his  work,  that 

agement  recognizes  that  its  successful  means  in  a  society  of  free  men  more 

application  depends  on  a  body  of  com-  than  subsistence  cost,  more  even  than 

petent  foremen,  yet  in  actual  practice  enough  to  reproduce  his  kind.  There 

business  (with  notable  exceptions)  has  must  be  some  added  margin  for  self-im- 

not  been  willing  to  pay  the  real  price  of  provement  and  for  risks  of  change  -y  in 

securing  them;  it  has  too  frequently  as-  modern  language,  enough  to  take  care 

sumed  that  foremen  are  born,  not  made,  of  the  overhead. 

So  it  frequently  got,  instead  of  foremen  Even  the  humblest  worker  has  these 

with  a  talent  for  teaching  and  bringing  overhead    expenses,    though    unfortu- 

out  the  best  in  their  men,  petty  bosses  nately  many  do  not  realize  them.  No 

who  added  to  their  salaries  by  grafting  industrialist  figures  his  costs  without  in- 

exactions,  kick-back  rackets,  donations  in  eluding  depreciation  of  machinery,  and 

return  for  favors,  secret  commissions  his  code  may  even  prescribe  the  amount, 

from  suppliers  and  employment  agen-  Yet  many  of  them  expect  as  a  matter  of 


3io  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

course  to  hire  workers  at  a  wage  which  able  to  get  workers  to  evaluate  the  fac- 

barely  covers  subsistence.  tors  for  themselves,  not  only  confirming 

To  be  specific,  many  of  the  codes  pro-  management  decisions,  but  convincing 

vide  minimum  wages  of  about  thirty  themselves  of  their  fairness.  Only  some 

cents  an  hour.  It  is  at  least  to  the  credit  three  years  ago,  the  American  Rolling 

of  the  NIRA  that  many  disgraceful  Mills  carried  out  a  scientific  adjustment 

rates  of  ten  cents  an  hour  have  been  of  wage  rates  of  some  7,000  men,  doing 

abolished.  But  we  can  not  stop  with  that.  3,000  different  jobs,  in  four  towns,  plac- 

When  the  worker  adopts  the  same  ethi-  ing  them  on  an  equitable  basis.  Manage- 

cal  theory  of  charging  for  his  time  as  ment  knows  only  too  well  that  jealousy, 

his  employer  uses  for  his  machine,  no  bred  by  unfair  pay,  is  a  serious  handicap 

competent  worker,  even  in  the  "un-  to  good  work.  Given  a  chance  to  apply 

skilled"  class,  will  accept  less  than  sixty  fair  rates  of  pay,  our  technicians  will  do 

cents  an  hour.  The  immorality  of  taking  the  measuring  job  quickly  enough, 
less  is  that  it  will  eventually  make  the 
worker  a  recipient  of  charity,  however 

politically  disguised,  and  it  meanwhile  Last  but  not  least,  consideration  must 
undermines  the  position  of  others.  That  be  given  to  the  part  played  by  the  divi- 
may  sound  like  the  harangue  of  a  labor  sion  of  labor  and  mechanization  in  mod- 
agitator,  but  it  is  sound  ethics  and  must  ern  industry.  We  simply  could  not  get 
inevitably  lead  to  limitations  on  individ-  our  work  done  by  the  jack-of-all-trades. 
ual  bargaining.  Much  of  the  skill  needed  has  been  trans- 
While  a  minimum  wage  of  $1,000  to  f erred  to  the  machine.  To  achieve  opti- 
$1,200  a  year  (depending  on  time  mum  economy,  industry  has  found  by 
worked),  with  gradations  upward  from  the  method  of  trial  and  error  that  the 
that,  would  be  more  than  we  have  hith-  worker  must  be  provided  with  tools 
erto  accomplished,  it  is  a  modest  goal,  which  cost  as  much  as  his  wages  for 
It  demands  neither  machinery  nor  exec-  three  years  for  their  purchase,  and  about 
utives  not  in  existence,  but  will  require  three-tenths  of  his  current  wages  for  up- 
elimination  of  some  obsolete  machinery  keep  and  renewal.  With  three  times  the 
and  management.  Biblical  tithe  going  to  the  maintenance 
When  we  come  to  the  problem  of  of  the  capital  account,  it  is  hardly  sur- 
equity  between  various  base  rates  for  all  prising  that  the  industrialist  is  con- 
grades  of  workers,  from  untutored  por-  cerned  more  with  economic  theories  of 
ter  to  highly-skilled  tool-maker,  we  find  obsolescence  and  depreciation  than  with 
one  of  the  perennial  sore-spots  in  indus-  ecclesiastical  theories  of  obsequies  and 
try.  All  too  often,  the  pay  bears  no  re-  damnation!  With  the  continuous  change 
lationship  to  skill,  intelligence,  risk  or  in  both  product  and  equipment,  the  new 
effort  required  for  the  job.  But  the  sci-  machines  offered  him  make  an  almost 
ence  of  management  has  a  technique  daily  dilemma:  to  buy  or  not  to  buy. 
ready  to  deal  with  the  problem — if  So,  in  considering  the  fair  wage,  one 
asked  to  do  so.  Some  years  ago  M.  S.  must  place  question  marks  against  the 
Lott  devised  an  ingenious  method  of  prevalent  talk  of  returning  to  the  worker 
dissecting  jobs  into  some  fifteen  differ-  the  value  of  what  he  produces.  He  does 
ent  factors  to  consider  j  what  was  equally  not  produce  alone  j  he  uses  a  technique 
valuable  in  practice  was  that  he  was  built  up  in  the  past,  and  only  produces 


WAGES  AND  ETHICS  311 

abundantly  by  virtue  of  an  investment  the  yield  of  enterprise  will  not  be  high 

in  tools  to  which  he  has  no  moral  claim,  enough  to  pay  adequate  wages.  The  mar- 

and  by  grace  of  skilled  guidance  often  gin  of  human  frailty  has  been  too  high 

far  beyond  his  ultimate  comprehension,  under  rampant  individualism. 

It  is  on  that  ground,  and  the  hard  fact 

that  it  is  always  the  thrifty  who  carry  VI 

the  principal  burden,  that  the  objection  The  'pretium  jus  turn  of  the  Middle 

to  dominance  by  labor  may  rest  its  case.  Ages  was  not  a  price  derived  by  exact 

Yet  we  must  recognize  that  the  pro-  statistical  measurement,  but  one  arrived 

cedure  of  division  of  labor  has  limiting  at  by  consultation  between  masters  of 

effects  on  the  opportunity  of  the  indi-  the  guild — the  code  authorities  of  their 

vidual  to  exercise  his  skill.  As  a  matter  day.  Our  far  more  complicated  structure 

of  equity,  we  must  compensate  the  man  is  still  more  in  need  of  standards  of  jus- 

for  separating  him  from  his  tools  by  in-  tice  and  equity.  The  moral  justification 

creasing  the  reward  for  his  skill  in  pro-  of  cost  accounting  is  that  it  should  deter- 

portion  to  the  net  increase  of  output.  To  mine  which  method  is  the  most  econom- 

be  specific,  while  the  average  worker  in  ical  in  the  long  run  j  if  the  accounting  is 

1929  was  turning  out  thirty-five  per  cent  to  render  a  true  report,  itwnust  be  based 

more  than  in  1921,  his  wage  was  only  on  just  figures.  From  the  social  point 

increased  from  $1,180  to  $1,3255   it  of  view,  factory  accounting  which  puts 

should  have  been  raised  to  $  i  ,600.  down  wages  at  the  market  price,  when 

This  is  not  to  say  that  each  worker's  the  latter  is  not  a  just  recompense,  must 

wage  should  have  been  $1,600  a  year,  necessarily  lead  to  decisions  which  are 

nor  even  that  each  class  should  have  socially  undesirable, 

been  increased  thirty-five  per  cent  in  the  And  in  conclusion,  let  me  emphasize 

period.  Our  national  policy  must  be  di-  the  morality  of  a  just  monetary  incen- 

rected  to  press  chiefly  for  a  lifting  of  tive.  Even  the  Bolsheviks  found  that  the 

those  wages  still  far  below  the  level  of  cheapest  method  of  getting  work  done 

equity  and  thus  raise  the  average.  I  am  was  to  pay  more  for  results.  The  basic 

convinced  that  had  we  followed  such  a  principle  of  the  monetary  incentive  in 

course,  we  would  not  have  had  to  un-  modern  industry  is  that  it  costs  too  much 

dergo  the  castigation  of  this  depression,  in  every  way  to  employ  taskmasters  to 

Yet  when  we  come  to  the  practical  goad  men  to  work.  It  is  thriftier  by 
stage  of  imposing  adequate  wage  stand-  far  to  establish  equitable  standards  and 
ards  on  many  industries  not  yet  organ-  pay  men  by  measured  results.  Proper 
ized  to  pay  them,  I  fail  to  see  how  it  can  standards  of  performance  not  only 
be  done  without  some  corollary  steps,  measure  the  accomplishment  of  the  rou- 
Higher  wage  rates  will  call  for  the  tine  worker  and  assure  him  of  fair  re 
building  of  more  labor-saving  devices  if  ward,  but  what  is  far  more  important  is 
costs  are  to  be  kept  within  marketable  that  they  also  measure  the  accomplish- 
price  limits.  The  greater  investment  will  ment  of  the  management  from  top  to 
only  pay  if  it  is  intensively  used,  and  bottom,  and  produce  a  high  level  of 
that  precludes  anarchistic  competition,  managerial  talent.  For  if  we  are  to  at- 
The  logic  seems  irresistible  j  we  may  and  tain  our  goal  of  economical  use  of  labor, 
should  have  competition,  but  it  will  have  employed  in  good  works,  capable,  hon- 
to  be  within  planned  limits.  Otherwise  est  management  is  the  prime  requisite. 


Something  New  in  Peace 
Machinery 

BY  G.  E.  W.  JOHNSON 

The  proposed  Eastern  Locarno  Pact  marks  a  significant  change 
in  European  methods  of  staving  off  war 

*HO  is  the  most  important  man  as  the  indispensable  occupant  of  the  For- 
in  the  French  Government?  eign  Ministry  in  cabinets  of  all  political 
There  is  a  good  case  for  shades.  After  the  death  of  Briand  in 
arguing  that  he  is  neither  the  President  1932,  the  post  of  Foreign  Minister 
nor  the  Prime  Minister.  The  President  passed  into  the  hands  of  lesser  men  5  but 
is  a  ceremonial  head  of  state,  not  the  there  is  every  indication  that  when  on 
executive  head  of  the  government  j  the  February  9  of  this  year  Senator  Louis 
Prime  Minister,  under  the  system  of  Barthou  succeeded  to  Briand's  mantle 
coalition  ministries  which  the  multiplic-  as  a  member  of  the  Doumergue  Cabinet 
ity  of  parties  imposes  upon  the  country,  of  National  Union,  the  Foreign  Minis- 
is  little  more  than  a  chairman  of  cabinet  try  once  more  came  into  the  custody  of 
meetings.  It  is  rather  in  the  Quai  d'Or-  a  man  whose  name  is  destined  to  be- 
say  that  one  must  look  to  find  the  key  come  memorable  in  the  history  of 
man  of  the  Government.  The  primacy  France  and  of  Europe.  M.  Barthou  is 
of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  is  a  former  Prime  Minister  and  a  member 
enjoined  on  France  by  the  nature  of  of  the  French  Academy.  He  shares  Hit- 
the  question  that  vexes  her  most:  what  ler's  admiration  for  Wagner,  but  has 
is  the  best  means  of  guarding  against  little  else  in  common  with  the  German 
another  German  attack?  Such  is  the  dictator,  whose  best-laid  schemes  he  de- 
problem  that  obsesses  the  French  men-  lights  to  make  "gang  aft  a-gley."  Al- 
tality  almost  to  the  exclusion  of  any  though  he  is  seventy-two  and  has  held 
other,  and  it  is  therefore  inevitable  that  his  present  appointment  little  more  than 
the  minister  who  is  charged  with  the  six  months,  M.  Barthou Js  official  travels 
task  of  solving  it  should  hold  the  centre  have  taken  him  farther  afield  than  any 
of  the  stage.  other  French  Foreign  Minister  of  re- 
Probably  the  best  known  French  cent  times.  While  Briand  was  content 
statesman  of  the  last  decade  was  the  late  to  commute  between  Paris  and  Geneva, 
Aristide  Briand.  Prime  Ministers  came  M.  Barthou  has  already  visited  Brussels, 
and  went,  but  Briand  went  on  forever  Warsaw,  Prague,  Bucharest,  Belgrade 


SOMETHING  NEW  IN  PEACE  MACHINERY             313 

and  London.  A  trip  to  Rome  is  sched-  trance  into  the  League  of  Nations  in 

uled  for  the  early  autumn.  This  feverish  1926,  the  successive  reductions  of  repa- 

activity  on  the  part  of  M.  Barthou  as  rations  by  the  Dawes  and  Young  Plans, 

compared  with  the  placidity  of  Briand  the   evacuation   of  the   Rhineland  in 

is  suggestive  of  the  troublous  atmos-  1930,  the  end  of  reparations  in  1932 

phere  that  has  enwrapped  Europe  since  — every  change  was  a  change  for  the 

Hitler  began  to  lower  on  the  horizon,  better. 

Briand  was  the  Foreign  Minister  of  a  Then  came  Hitler.  It  was  not  long 

post- War  eraj  his  mission  was  one  of  before  relations  between  France  and 

conciliation  and  peace.  M.  Barthou  is  Germany  began  to  deteriorate.  If  any 

the  Foreign  Minister  of  what  is  increas-  one  date  must  be  chosen  to  mark  the 

ingly  feared  to  be  a  pre-war  era;  his  point  when  the  change  for  the  worse 

task  is  to  see  to  it  that  France  has  as  definitely  took  place,  we  may  name 

many  allies  as  possible  if  the  approach-  October    14,    1933,  when  Hitler  an- 

ing  thunderheads  should  unloose  their  nounced  Germany's  simultaneous  with- 

fury.  drawal  from  the  Disarmament  Confer- 

M.  Barthou's  appointment  marked  ence  and  the  League  of  Nations.  He 

the  beginning  of  a  new  stage  in  France's  refused  to  return  until  Germany  should 

post-War  foreign  policy.  Prior  to  M.  be  granted  full  equality  in  matters  of 

Barthou's  time,  this  foreign  policy  had  armament  with  other  powers,  with  the 

passed  through  two  marked  phases.  The  implication  that  he  intended  to  gain  his 

first  phase  lasted  from  1919  to  19255  it  ends  by  unilateral  action  irrespective  of 

was  symbolized  by  the  names  Clemen-  treaty  restrictions.  It  was  just  the  tactics 

ceau  and  Versailles.  It  was  the  period  of  needed  to  transform  the  latent  suspicion 

revanche.  France  felt  that  she  had  been  with  which  France  had  always  regarded 

grievously  wronged  and  she  demanded  Germany  into  an  acute  fear.  France  had 

vengeance.  She  handled  Germany  with-  made  concession  after  concession  to  the 

out  gloves.  When  the  German  govern-  Germans  j  they  had  reciprocated  by  in- 

ment  balked  at  paying  reparations  in  stalling  Hitler  in  power.  There  would 

1923,  French  troops  promptly  occupied  be  no  more  concessions.  France  refused 

the  Ruhr.  to  discuss  equality  of  rights  until  Ger- 

The  second  phase  lasted  from  1925  to  many  returned  to  Geneva  j  Germany 

1933.  Here  the  symbolic  names  were  declined  to  return  until  she  was  granted 

Briand  and  Locarno.  It  was  a  period,  if  equality.  The  deadlock  was  unbreakable, 
not  exactly  of  reconciliation,  at  any  rate 
of  an  assuagement  of  passion.  By  the 

Locarno  Treaty  of  1925  Germany  and  To  understand  the  French  refusal  to 

France  pledged  themselves  to  eternal  grant  Germany  equality  rights,  it  is  only 

peace.  Gradually  Frenchmen  seemed  to  necessary  to  recall  that  the  quest  for 

be  coming  to  an  acceptance  of  the  view  security  has  been  the  keynote  of  French 

that  a  German  attempt  at  revanche  was  foreign  policy  ever  since  the  end  of  the 

not  something  to  be  looked  forward  War.  As  the  French  see  the  situation, 

to  as  a  matter  of  course.  Slowly,  reluc-  if  Germany  can  attack  her  again  with  a 

tantly,  but  none  the  less  surely,  France  fair  prospect  of  success,  she  will  do  so. 

consented  to  one  relaxation  of  the  peace  Germany  has  a  much  larger  population 

treaty   after   another.    Germany's   en-  than  France;  as  Clemenceau  crudely 


3i4  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

expressed  it,  there  are  twenty  million  Since  Hitler  began  to  display  his  in- 

Germans  too  many  in  the  world.  To  transigence,  however,  the  French,  who 

equalize  the  disparity  in  man-power,  have  never  been  quite  convinced  of  the 

France  holds  that  she  must  maintain  her  adequacy  of  the  Locarno  Pact,  have 

predominance  in  armaments  and  trained  come  to  regard  the  value  of  its  guaran- 

reserves,  and  must  be  free  to  seek  out  tees  with  increasing  skepticism.  British 

potential  allies.  The  French  are  willing  and  Italian  help  was  made  contingent 

to  concede  Germany  equality  on  only  upon  proof  of  German  aggression  j  there 

one  condition:  that  they  are  given,  in  a  might  be  a  joker  in  that.  Mussolini  had 

form  satisfactory  to  themselves,  an  un-  shown  signs  of  flirting  with   Hitler, 

qualified  guarantee  of  security  by  other  Great  Britain's  far-flung  Empire  im- 

powers  in  the  event  of  German  aggres-  poses  commitments  upon  her  in  many 

sion.  other  parts  of  the  world  j  she  might 

France  does  not  regard  the  League  happen  to  be  involved  elsewhere  at  the 

of  Nations  in  its  present  form  as  a  satis-  time  when  the  crisis  broke,  and  be  un- 

factory  answer  to  the  problem  of  secu-  able  or  unwilling  to  lend  effectual  as- 

rity.  The  very  fact  that  the  League  has  sistance.    Germany   might   succeed   in 

so  many  members  makes  it  unwieldy  in  finding  allies  in   Eastern  or  Central 

any  crisis  where  quick  and  decisive  action  Europe  and,  as  in  the  late  War,  make 

is  called  for.  When  an  act  of  aggression  the  issue  doubtful  even  if  France  were 

occurs  anywhere,  the  nations  far  re-  supported  by  Great  Britain  and  Italy, 

moved  from  the  scene  of  conflict  are  Therefore  the  French,  under  the  guid- 

chiefly  animated  by  a  desire  to  keep  out  ance  of  M.  Barthou,  have  begun  to  cast 

of  the  trouble  at  all  costs.  The  recent  about  for  a  new  system  which  could  be 

Japanese-Chinese  imbroglio  made  that  used  to  buttress  the  guarantees  of  secu- 

patent  to  all.  As  it  requires  a  unanimous  rity  now  afforded  by  the  League  and  the 

vote  of  the  Council  of  the  League  before  Locarno  Pact, 
the  provisions  of  Article  X  guaranteeing 
members  against   external   aggression 

can  be  put  into  operation,  this  article  has  Before  considering  the  methods  that 

in  practice  become  a  dead  letter.  M.  Barthou  has  embarked  upon  in  his 

The  Locarno  Pact  represents  the  ex-  efforts  to  find  additional  safeguards  of 
treme  limit  to  which  the  French  have  French  security,  we  must  first  recall  the 
been  able  to  persuade  the  British  Gov-  enormously  complicated  diplomatic 
ernment  to  go  in  the  direction  of  guar-  situation  with  which  he  has  had  to  deal, 
anteeing  them  against  German  aggres-  In  his  search  for  allies  to  build  up  the 
sion.  By  this  pact,  Germany  and  France  cordon  sanitaire  around  Germany,  M. 
forswore  their  thousand-year-old  ven-  Barthou  is  trying  to  harness  together  a 
detta  and  definitely  recognized  the  team  that  is  large,  boisterous  and  un- 
boundary  established  between  them  at  wieldy,  with  many  discordant  and  un- 
Versailles  as  permanent  and  unalterable,  ruly  elements  among  its  various  mem- 
Great  Britain  and  Italy  signed  the  pact  bers.  Russia,  Poland,  Great  Britain, 
as  guarantors,  promising  in  the  event  of  Italy,  the  Little  Entente — all  these  are 
violation  of  the  pact  to  come  to  the  as-  among  the  powers  that  he  has  been 
sistance  of  whichever  power  was  at-  trying  to  piece  together  to  form,  with 
tacked  by  the  other.  France,  a  mighty  dike  to  wall  in  the 


SOMETHING  NEW  IN  PEACE  MACHINERY  315 

Hitler  flood.  It  is  obviously  no  easy  task,  intervention  on  the  side  of  the  latter? 
The  only  discoverable  bond  of  unity  Whatever  might  be  the  legal  position,  it 
among  them  is  of  a  negative  rather  is  safe  to  say  that  Britain  would  be  loath 
than  a  positive  character — a  fear  of  Hit-  to  find  herself  aligned  with  Germany 
ler.  But  they  do  not  all  experience  this  under  such  circumstances  j  in  fact,  if 
fear  in  the  same  degree.  It  ranges  in  such  a  war  turned  against  France  and 
intensity  from  the  unconcealed  appre-  she  were  invaded  by  German  troops,  the 
hension  of  Russia  to  the  mild  disquiet  British  might  feel  called  upon  to  inter- 
of  Jugoslavia,  with  Italy's  intermittent  vene  on  the  French  side.  The  British 
suspicion  somewhere  between  the  two  distinctly  do  not  like  these  almost  il- 
extremes.  Some  of  the  countries  fear  limitable  complications.  It  is  for  this 
their  proposed  partners  in  the  new  secu-  reason  that  they  have  been  noticeably 
rity  system  more  than  they  fear  Ger-  cool  toward  France's  rapprochement 
many — witness  Jugoslavia's  attitude  with  the  Soviet  Government.  The 
toward  Italy.  knowledge  that  the  British  Foreign 
Their  common  dread  of  Germany  Office  was  a  drag  upon  closer  Franco- 
tends  to  bring  France  and  Russia  to-  Russian  relations  gave  rise  to  deep  re- 
getherj  France  wants  Russian  aid  if  sentment  in  Moscow,  and  the  Soviet 
Germany  attacks  her,  and  she  is  willing  press  until  recently  evidenced  its  pique 
to  pay  the  price  by  reciprocating  if  Ger-  by  persistently  depicting  Great  Britain 
many  attacks  Russia.  But  what  if  Japan  as  a  potential  ally  of  Germany  and  Ja- 
attacks  Russia?  France  has  not  the  pan  in  a  war  against  Russia — a  charge 
slightest  inclination  to  become  involved  for  which  there  is  scant  basis  in  a  realistic 
in  any  such  struggle.  She  has  no  desire  appraisal  of  the  situation.  If  Great  Brit- 
to  give  the  Japanese  an  excuse  to  seize  ain  were  prepared  to  give  her  neighbor 
French  Indo-China.  But  just  as  France  across  the  Channel  an  unconditional 
seeks  to  keep  out  of  any  Russo-Japanese  pledge  of  assistance  in  the  event  of  ag- 
war,  so  Great  Britain  wants  to  steer  clear  gression,  France,  on  the  principle  that 
of  a  Russo-German  war.  But  if  Britain  a  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth  two  in  the 
is  linked  to  France  and  France  is  tied  to  bush,  would  not  be  so  insistent  upon 
Russia,  how  is  Britain  to  keep  out?  It  cementing  her  ties  with  Russia  in  the 
looks  like  1914  all  over  again.  There  is,  face  of  British  displeasure,  but  as  long 
moreover,  another  ticklish  complica-  as  Britain — in  which  there  are  powerful 
tion.  When,  under  the  Locarno  Pact,  forces  urging  a  return  to  the  old  policy 
Great  Britain  gave  a  guarantee  of  assist-  of  "splendid  isolation" — refuses  to  go 
ance  to  both  France  and  Germany,  the  any  further  than  the  ambiguous  Locarno 
British  made  the  commitment  on  the  as-  pledge,  France  feels  that  two  birds  in 
sumption  that  France  would  never  at-  the  bush  are  better  than  just  one.  The 
tack  Germany.  But  suppose  the  French  French,  in  short,  find  themselves  on  the 
form  an  alliance  with  Russia  and  then  horns  of  a  dilemma:  how  far  can  they 
have  to  come  to  her  assistance  if  she  is  go  in  the  direction  of  an  alliance  with 
the  victim  of  German  attack  j  how  will  Russia  without  alienating  Great  Britain 
the  terms  of  the  Locarno  Treaty  apply  and  without  antagonizing  Japan? 
under  such  circumstances?  Would  it  Downing  Street  has  been  at  one  with 
constitute  an  act  of  aggression  by  France  the  Quai  d'Orsay  in  recognizing  that 
against  Germany — calling  for  British  Germany  is  the  danger  spot.  But  the 


316  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

British  have  differed  from  the  French  Italy  to  become  her  ally.  But  in  conduct- 
in  their  proposals  for  dealing  with  the  ing  such  a  strategy,  M.  Barthou  has  to 
situation.  The  British  Government  has  balance  himself  delicately  on  a  diplo- 
taken  the  position  that  German  rearma-  matic  tightrope,  for  in  conciliating  Italy 
ment  in  contravention  of  the  Treaty  of  he  must  avoid  offending  the  suscepti- 
Versailles  is  an  established  fact.  It  can  bilities  of  the  Little  Entente  powers, 
not  be  stopped  without  Germany's  con-  who  fear  that  Mussolini  is  planning  a 
sent  by  anything  short  of  a  preventive  Habsburg  restoration  in  Austria-Hun- 
war — a  remedy  the  public  opinion  of  the  gary  that  may  prove  a  greater  menace 
world  would  not  tolerate.  Therefore,  to  their  independence  than  Austro-Ger- 
realism  dictates  that  the  legality  of  Ger-  man  Anschluss. 
man  rearmament  be  recognized  and 

that  this  concession  be  used  to  persuade  IV 
Germany  to  return  to  the  Disarmament  Such  is  the  almost  infinite  complex- 
Conference  and  voluntarily  sign  a  con-  ity  of  the  diplomatic  situation — all  of 
vention  limiting  the  extent  of  her  re-  whose  ramifications  have  by  no  means 
armament.  In  this  way,  the  British  have  been  exhausted  by  the  foregoing  analy- 
maintained,  Germany  would  acquire  sis — that  has  confronted  M.  Barthou  in 
her  equality  of  rights  and  France  would  his  effort  to  establish  a  new  security  sys- 
be  assured  of  security.  tern.  To  attempt  to  bring  together  into 

It  is  very  easy,  reply  the  French,  to  one  alliance  so  many  discordant  states, 
give  Germany  equality  of  rights  j  but  each  one  chiefly  preoccupied  with  its  own 
it  is  a  much  more  difficult  problem  to  interests,  is  a  task  of  well-nigh  insuper- 
guarantee  French  security.  Suppose  able  difficulty.  What  machinery  could 
Germany,  having  been  allowed  to  re-  be  devised  that  would  persuade  all  these 
arm,  does  not  observe  the  legal  limits ;  countries  to  offer  the  maximum  of  co- 
what  machinery  are  the  British  prepared  operation  with  the  minimum  of  friction  ? 
to  set  up  to  enforce  German  compliance?  As  a  solution  of  the  dilemma,  the  in- 
The  British  have  displayed  conspicuous  genuity  of  M.  Barthou,  assisted  by  some 
reluctance  to  commit  themselves  on  this  helpful  hints  from  M.  Litvinov,  the 
point.  As  long  as  they  are  unwilling  to  Soviet  Commissar  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
give  France  definite  assurances,  she  con-  has  hit  upon  the  notion  of  a  series  of 
tends  that  their  proposals  only  change  regional  pacts  on  the  model  of  the 
the  situation  for  the  worse :  they  merely  Treaty  of  Locarno,  but  modified  to  meet 
raise  the  level  to  which  Germany  can  the  special  conditions  obtaining  in  other 
rearm  before  she  starts  breaking  treaties,  parts  of  Europe.  The  core  of  each  agree- 
Why,  therefore,  free  her  from  the  ment  will  be  a  guarantee  of  mutual  as- 
stigma  of  violating  the  Treaty  of  Ver-  sistance  by  all  the  signatories  to  any  one 
sailles?  of  their  number  that  is  attacked  by  an- 

The  Italian  point  of  view  has  closely  other  signatory.  The  scope  of  a  given 

paralleled  the  British,  though  Musso-  pact  will  be  circumscribed  by  the  geo- 

lini  has  on  occasion  evinced  somewhat  graphical  limits  of  the  region  compris- 

more  warmth  for  the  German  conten-  ing  the  signatory  powers  3  they  will  not 

tions.  Naturally,  it  is  a  part  of  France's  be  made  to  feel  that  they  are  entangling 

strategy  to  offer  no  wanton  affront  to  themselves  in  an  obligation  to  partici- 

Italian  sentiment  that  would  indispose  pate  in  remote  wars  that  do  not  concern 


SOMETHING  NEW  IN  PEACE  MACHINERY  317 

them.  Where  feasible,  however,  each  course  essential  that  such  regional  pacts 

pact  will  be  guaranteed  by  one  or  more  be  signed  by  the  powers  between  whom 

great  powers  outside  of  the  region  con-  war  is  likely  to  arise.  If  a  pact  includes 

cerned,  but  having  an  interest  in  the  simply  a  group  of  nations  united  for 

maintenance  of  the  status  quo.  common  action  against  some  non-signa- 

It  will  be  seen  that  what  is  contem-  tory  state,  it  will  cease  to  have  the  char- 
plated  is  in  effect  the  creation  on  a  small  acter  of  a  league  and  become  something 
scale  of  a  series  of  leagues  of  nations  in  indistinguishable  from  an  old-fashioned 
which  the  responsibilities  of  the  mem-  alliance.  The  excluded  power,  consider- 
ber  states  will  be  restricted  to  a  defined  ing  itself  menaced  by  encirclement,  will 
area  in  each  case.  These  regional  leagues  then  lie  under  the  temptation  to  build 
will  be  linked  together  by  interlocking  up  a  rival  alliance,  and  we  shall  soon 
agreements  within  the  framework  of  the  have  two  hostile  blocs  confronting  each 
big  League,  but  they  will  have  the  au-  other  from  behind  loaded  rifles.  The 
thority  to  deal  independently  with  any  Balkan  Pact  suffers  in  this  respect 
crisis  that  may  arise  in  their  respective  through  the  failure  of  Italy's  two  satel- 
regions.  They  will  presumably  be  able  lites,  Bulgaria  and  Albania,  to  adhere 
to  act  quickly  and  effectually — to  crys-  to  the  agreement,  though  there  have 
tallize  the  issues  at  stake,  so  to  speak —  been  recent  indications  that  one  or  both 
where  the  big  League,  because  of  its  of  these  countries  may  break  loose  from 
amorphous  character  inherent  in  a  mul-  Mussolini's  apron-strings  and  sign  the 
tiplicity  of  members  scattered  all  over  pact  in  disregard  of  the  Italian  veto, 
the  world,  might  falter  or  procrastinate. 

Besides  the  Locarno  Pact,  another  v 

treaty,  although  of  less  importance,  has         France's  failure  to  obtain  from  Great 

recently    been    negotiated    creating    a  Britain  and  Italy  a  guarantee  of  definite 

similar  relationship  between  the  signa-  action  to  be  taken  in  the  event  that  the 

tory  powers.  On  February  9,  1934,  a  German  Government  should  violate  the 

Balkan  Pact  was  signed  at  Athens  by  proposed  arms  limitation  agreement, 

Rumania,     Turkey,     Jugoslavia    and  and  her  own  unwillingness  to  wait  until 

Greece,  guaranteeing  their  respective  a  German  attack  should  entitle  her  to 

frontiers  against  aggression  by  any  Bal-  call  upon  Anglo-Italian  assistance  under 

kan  state.  the  Locarno  Pact,  have  led  France  to 

The  two  additional  pacts  now  being  turn  to  Soviet  Russia,  which  shares  her 
contemplated  to  take  place  beside  the  fear  of  Hitlerism  and  is  therefore  fav- 
Locarno  and  Balkan  Pacts  are  one  com-  orably  disposed  to  the  notion  of  com 
prising  the  powers  of  eastern — or  mon  defensive  measures.  The  Quai 
rather  northeastern — Europe,  with  a  d'Orsay  and  the  Kremlin  had  been  en- 
view  to  allaying  the  tension  between  gaged  in  an  active  exchange  of  views 
Germany  and  Russia,  and  another  em-  since  the  latter  part  of  1933.  The  Soviet 
bracing  the  powers  of  the  eastern  Medi-  Government,  it  is  said,  urged  that  they 
terranean.  The  latter  pact  would  in  form  an  out-and-out  military  alliance, 
effect  be  an  extension  of  the  Balkan  Pact  but  France  demurred  for  fear  of  es- 
to  include  Italy,  and  would  be  primarily  tranging  Britain.  However,  after  pro- 
intended  to  curb  Italo-Jugoslav  rivalry,  tracted  negotiations,  a  common  policy 

To  preserve  the  League  spirit  it  is  of  was  finally  agreed  upon.  The  result  of 


3i 8  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

these  pourparlers,  which  seem  destined  citrant  on  this  point,  although  promising 

to  have  momentous  consequences,  was  to  reconsider  the  matter  later  in  the 

revealed  at  Geneva  on  May  29,  when  year. 

M.  Litvinov  delivered  a  speech  before  On  July  8  M.  Barthou  went  to  Lon- 
the  Disarmament  Conference  that  ere-  don  to  disabuse  the  British  of  their  fears 
ated  a  tremendous  sensation.  The  Soviet  regarding  the  new  project.  He  had  been 
Commissar  for  Foreign  Affairs  an-  invited  to  visit  England  after  an  inter- 
nounced  Russia's  approval  of  the  idea  change  of  cutting  sarcasms  between  him- 
of  establishing  regional  pacts  of  mutual  self  and  Sir  John  Simon,  the  British 
assistance.  Recalling  that  the  Soviet  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  had 
government  had  always  advocated  com-  thrown  a  wet  blanket  over  the  proceed- 
plete  disarmament  as  the  best  means  of  ings  at  Geneva  at  the  end  of  May. 
insuring  security,  he  now  made  known  While  in  London  he  had  discussions 
his  conversion  to  the  French  thesis  in  with  both  Sir  John  Simon  and  Mr.  Stan- 
these  significant  words:  "In  order  to  ley  Baldwin,  acting  Prime  Minister  in 
realize  the  reduction  of  armaments  to  the  absence  of  Mr.  MacDonald  on  his 
any  extent  whatsoever,  the  absolute  Canadian  vacation.  Although  M.  Bar- 
agreement  of  nearly  all  states  is  neces-  thou  did  not  succeed  in  persuading  the 
sary.  .  .  .  For  the  realization  of  other  British  statesmen  to  subscribe  to  the  pro- 
measures  of  security,  unanimity  is  not  jected  Eastern  Locarno,  he  prevailed 
necessary.  .  .  .  Even  if  there  should  be  upon  them  to  give  it  their  blessing  and 
dissident  states,  that  ought  not  in  any  to  use  their  good  offices  in  urging  Ger- 
way  to  prevent  the  others  from  organ-  many  to  adhere  to  it.  He  won  the  British 
izing  themselves  still  more  closely  in  over  to  this  point  of  view  by  making  it 
order  to  realize  the  measures  capable  of  clear  that  France  was  willing  not  only 
increasing  their  own  security.  .  .  .  The  to  guarantee  Russia  against  German 
more  or  less  universal  [Kellogg-Briand  aggression,  but  to  guarantee  Germany 
peace]  pact  can  be  supplemented  by  re-  against  Russian  aggression.  Thus  the 
gional  pacts  of  mutual  assistance.  .  .  .  appearance  of  building  up  a  bloc  hostile 
It  is  not  a  question  of  military  accords,  to  Germany  would  be  avoided, 
of  groupings  of  states  in  mutually  hos-  Sir  John  Simon,  speaking  in  the 
tile  camps,  still  less  of  the  encirclement  House  of  Commons  on  July  13,  gave 
of  any  one  whatsoever.  We  must  not  the  first  official  outline  of  what  was  con- 
create  universal  pacts  in  which  any  who  templated  in  the  proposed  Eastern  Pact. 
desire  to  do  so  can  not  participate,  nor  It  was  to  be  a  pact  of  mutual  assistance 
regional  pacts  in  which  any  who  are  in-  between  the  Baltic  States  (Estonia,  Lat- 
terested  in  security  in  a  given  region  can  via  and  Lithuania),  Soviet  Russia,  Po- 
not  participate."  land,  Czechoslovakia  and  Germany. 
In  discussions  with  the  Foreign  Min-  France  would  sign  as  a  guarantor  of  the 
isters  of  the  Little  Entente  powers  at  existing  boundaries  of  Germany  and 
Geneva,  M.  Barthou  succeeded  in  per-  Russia  in  Eastern  Europe.  Russia  would 
suading  Czechoslovakia  and  Rumania  reciprocate  by  becoming  a  party  to  the 
to  resume  normal  diplomatic  relations  original  Locarno  Pact,  thus  guarantee- 
with  Russia.  Thus  another  gap  in  the  ing  (along  with  Great  Britain  and  Italy) 
French  security  system  was  closed  up.  the  existing  boundaries  between  France 
Jugoslavia,  however,  remained  recal-  and  Germany.  All  suggestion  that  the 


SOMETHING  NEW  IN  PEACE  MACHINERY  319 

Eastern  Pact  was  intended  to  build  up  a  might  be  no  further  mistake,  an  in- 

bloc  with  an  aggressive  intent  against  spired  editorial  in  Le  Temys  gave  an  au- 

Germany    was     to     be     scrupulously  thoritative  interpretation  of  the  French 

avoided.  "This  Government  could  not,  position:  "The  spokesman  of  the  Gov- 

I  think  no  government  of  this  country  ernment  of  the  Republic  categorically 

could,  lend  countenance,  encouragement  refuses  to  envisage  that  disarmament 

or  moral  support  to  new  arrangements  negotiations  should  be  undertaken  as 

between  the  states  of  Europe  which  a   condition   of   signing   the   regional 

would  be  definitely  selective  in  character  pacts  j  but  he  concedes  that  such  ne- 

in  the  sense  that  they  were  building  up  gotiations  may  be  initiated  after  the 

one  combination  against  another,"  said  regional    pacts    have    been    definitely 

Sir  John.  "I  made  this  entirely  clear  concluded." 

and  it  is  due  M.  Barthou  to  say  that  he  Italy's  reaction  to  the  idea  of  an  East- 
accepted  the  proposition  and  confirmed  ern  Locarno  had  at  first  been  one  of  op- 
it  without  qualification."  The  British  position.  In  fact,  it  was  understood  that 
Government  would  in  no  way  be  a  party  one  of  the  points  agreed  upon  by  Hitler 
to  the  Eastern  Pact.  "Whatever  interest  and  Mussolini  at  their  meeting  in  the 
and  encouragement  this  country  may  be  middle  of  June  was  a  decision  to  oppose 
prepared  to  offer  this  new  pact,  we  are  regional  pacts,  on  the  ground  that  they 
not  undertaking  any  new  obligation."  would  tend  to  build  up  rival  blocs — 
In  order  that  the  contemplated  pact  rather  a  brassy  attitude  for  Mussolini 
might  be  kept  within  the  framework  of  to  take  when  the  ink  was  scarcely  dry 
the  League  of  Nations,  it  was  "abso-  on  the  treaties  establishing  the  Italo- 
lutely  essential"  that  Russia  join  the  Austro-Hungarian  bloc.  However,  after 
League  (and,  though  Sir  John  did  not  learning  that  England  had  discontinued 
specifically  say  so,  it  would  seem  equally  her  opposition  to  the  Eastern  Pact,  Mus- 
essential  that  Germany  return  to  the  solini,  who  makes  it  a  point  to  keep  on 
League).  "It  would  appear  to  the  Brit-  the  right  side  of  the  British  (because 
ish  Government  extremely  necessary  to  their  navy  controls  the  Mediterranean), 
realize  the  conclusion  of  such  a  pact,  suddenly  shifted  his  position  and  an- 
Germany's  participation  in  a  system  of  nounced  that  he  too  would  encourage 
reciprocal  guarantees  would  afford  the  other  powers  to  join  the  pact,  although 
best  ground  for  the  resumption  of  nego-  Italy,  like  Britain,  would  not  become  a 
tiations  and  the  conclusion  of  a  conven-  party  to  the  agreement, 
tion  providing  a  reasonable  application  There  are  still  some  questions  unan- 
to  Germany  of  equality  rights  under  a  swered — notably,  how  Britain's  obliga- 
regime  of  security  for  all  nations."  tions  under  the  Western  Locarno  can  be 
Sir  John  Simon's  reference  to  grant-  squared  with  her  hands-off  policy  in  re- 
ing  Germany  equality  rights  was  at  lation  to  the  Eastern  Locarno  when  the 
first  widely  construed  to  mean  that  two  pacts  are  to  be  tightly  interlocked  5 
M.  Barthou  had  been  persuaded  to  yield  but  this  is  a  point  that  will  presumably 
to  Germany's  rearmament  demands  as  be  clarified  in  later  negotiations, 
the  price  of  securing  her  adhesion  to  the 

pact.  M.  Barthou  corrected  this  mis-  VI 

apprehension  in  a  speech  delivered  at         But  what  is  the  stand  of  the  powers 

Bayonne  on  July  15.  And  that  there  that,  under  the  proposed  plan,  would 


320  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

become  members  of  the  regional  league  nounced  their  willingness  to  adhere  to 

to  be  established  by  the  Eastern  Pact?  the  pact. 

Russia  and  Czechoslovakia,  who  both  As  for  the  German  objections  to  an 
feel  themselves  menaced  by  German  Eastern  Locarno,  they  may  be  summar- 
ambitions  of  territorial  expansion,  are  ized  as  follows:  first,  it  is  nothing  but  a 
enthusiastically  in  favor  of  the  project,  fraudulent  device  to  mask  a  revival  of 
Germany  and  Poland,  however,  have  the  Franco-Russian  alliance  of  pre-War 
taken  a  position  on  the  opposite  side  of  days;  secondly,  the  guarantees  of  secu- 
the  fence.  Germany's  reaction  is  quite  rity  sought  in  the  pact  can  be  better  at- 
frankly  one  of  hostility;  Poland's  atti-  tained  by  a  series  of  bilateral  treaties 
tude  is  described  in  diplomatic  termi-  between  Germany  and  each  of  the  coun- 
nology  as  one  of  "reserve."  tries  upon  her  borders.  In  the  west, 
It  is  needless  to  repeat  here  what  I  France  is  protected  by  the  Locarno  Pact 
wrote  in  last  month's  REVIEW  on  the  of  1925;  in  the  east,  Poland  is  safe- 
considerations  that  govern  Polish  for-  guarded  by  the  Polish-German  non- 
eign  policy.  It  is  sufficient  to  recall  aggression  pact  of  1934.  What  need  is 
that  Poland's  strategical  position  be-  there  for  still  another  guarantee?  Above 
tween  Germany  and  Russia  makes  her  all,  why  ask  Germany  to  sign  such  an 
adhesion  to  the  pact  a  question  of  vital  agreement  with  Russia,  when  the  fron- 
importance.  Under  the  terms  of  the  tiers  of  the  two  countries  are  nowhere  in 
Franco-Russian  guarantee  of  mutual  as-  contact?  Russia's  participation  is  wholly 
sistance  by  which  the  Eastern  and  West-  unnecessary  and  is  proof  that  the  pact  is 
ern  Locarno  Pacts  are  to  be  interlocked,  aimed  at  Germany.  To  ask  Germany  to 
Russia  will  come  to  France's  aid  if  the  enter  such  an  arrangement  is  like  asking 
latter  power  is  attacked  by  Germany.  Daniel  to  enter  the  lions' den. 
But,  in  default  of  an  adequate  navy,  The  Germans  are  fully  aware  that  a 
Russia  can  only  fulfil  her  obligations  if  flat  refusal  to  sign  will  simply  raise  an- 
her  army  is  given  right  of  way  through  other  crop  of  difficulties  for  them.  The 
Poland.  To  the  Poles,  this  sounds  very  Berliner  Tageblatt  has  thus  expressed 
much  like  turning  their  country  into  a  the  German  dilemma:  "If  the  pact  is 
corridor  for  Russian  troops.  They  dis-  concluded  without  Germany,  no  euphe- 
tinctly  do  not  like  the  idea  of  opening  mism  will  be  able  to  hide  the  fact  that 
their  gates  to  a  horde  of  dangerous  Bol-  we  are  encircled.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
sheviks,  who  might  be  reluctant  to  leave  we  adhere  to  it,  hope  of  seeing  the  arma- 
once  they  were  let  in.  Hence  their  atti-  ments  problem  settled  practically  dis- 
tude  of  reserve.  Whether  it  represents  appears.  The  situation  in  which  we  find 
a  fundamental  objection  to  the  plan,  ourselves  is  most  serious.  We  shall  only 
or  merely  a  tactical  position  assumed  be  able  to  improve  it  if  we  do  not  mort- 
for  bargaining  purposes,  will  soon  be  gage  the  future  in  the  hope  of  momen- 
revealed.  In  the  latter  part  of  July,  tary  relief." 

Colonel  Beck,  the  Polish  Foreign  Min-  As  the  matter  stands  at  present,  Ger- 

ister,  visited  both  Estonia  and  Latvia  in  many  and  Poland  both  dislike  the  pact, 

an  effort  to  line  them  up  against  the  but  each  is  anxious  to  sidestep  the  heavy 

pact ;  but  British  pressure  in  the  opposite  onus  of  censure  that  the  public  opinion 

direction  carried  the  day,  and  both  these  of  the  world  is  likely  to  mete  out  to  the 

countries,  as  well  as  Lithuania,  have  an-  government  responsible  for  wrecking 


SOMETHING  NEW  IN  PEACE  MACHINERY            321 

the  scheme.  Consequently,  each  is  main-  ance  would  mark  a  turn  for  the  better, 

taining  an  attitude  of  official  reticence  as  and  a  turn  for  the  better  is  always  better 

long  as  possible  in  the  hope  that  a  re-  than  a  turn  for  the  worse, 

jection  by  the  other  will  relieve  it  of  With  the  Eastern  Pact  successfully 

the  responsibility  of  making  the  final  consummated,  the  way  would  be  cleared 

decision.  for  the  Mediterranean  Pact,  the  plans 

for  which  are  still  in  the  embryonic 
stage.  Eventually,  all  the  danger  zones 

As  the  German  decision  will  probably  in  Europe — among  which  the  Danubian 

be  known  by  the  time  this  appears  in  area  would  be  the  most  important  still 

print,  it  is  idle  to  speculate  on  what  it  to  be  dealt  with — might  be  covered  by 

will  be.  But  one  may  venture  to  fore-  regional  leagues  specifically  organized 

cast  the  respective  consequences  of  Ger-  to  cope  with  the  stresses  peculiar  to  their 

many's  acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  respective  localities.  Such  a  security  sys- 

pact.  tern  would  furnish  a  most  instructive  ex- 

If  Germany  becomes  a  party  to  the  periment  in  the  world- wide  struggle  for 

pact — an  action  that  would  have  to  be  co-  the  preservation  of  peace, 

ordinated  with  her  return  to  the  League  But  what  would  be  the  consequences 

and  the  Disarmament  Conference — it  of  Germany's  refusal  to  participate  in 

will  undoubtedly  reduce  the  tension  at  the  Eastern  Pact?  It  will  convince  the 

present  existing  in  Europe  to  a  most  world  that  Germany  is  resolved  sooner 

welcome  degree.  It  will  mark  an  aban-  or  later  to  embark  on  a  great  military 

donment  of  the  intransigent  methods  adventure.  The  inevitable  alternative  to 

heretofore  pursued  by  Hitler.  It  will  be  the  Eastern  Pact  will  be  a  Franco-Rus- 

a  notification  to  the  world  that  the  Ger-  sian  military  alliance.  That  an  alliance 

man  Fiihrer  has  turned  over  a  new  leaf ,  would  be  formed  if  the  Eastern  Pact 

even  if  for  no  other  reason  than  that  he  should  fall  through  was  unmistakably 

recognizes  the  obstacles  in  the  path  of  intimated  by  Litvinov  in  the  speech  al- 

his  ambitions  of  conquest  to  be  insu-  ready  quoted.  Such  an  agreement  might 

perable.  And  despite  the  German  fears,  indeed  preserve  the  embalmed  outlines 

whether  real  or  pretended,  that  they  of  an  Eastern  Locarno,  but  the  absence 

will  be  bilked  in  their  demands  for  of  Germany  would  tyso  facto  transform 

treaty  revision,  Hitler  will  none  the  less  it  into  an  alliance  that  will  almost  ex- 

once  more  give  Germany  the  moral  actly  reproduce  the  diplomatic  situation 

grounds  on  which  alone  in  the  eyes  of  that  existed  in  the  years  just  before  the 

the  world  she  will  be  justified  in  press-  outbreak  of  the  War.  In  this  connection 

ing  her  claim  to  equality  with  France  Le  Tem^s,  which  in  such  matters  inva- 

in  the  matter  of  armaments.  Of  course,  riably  serves  as  the  mouthpiece  of  the 

even  if  Germany  accepts  the  pact,  we  French  Foreign  Office,  published  on 

must  not  too  readily  assume  that  every-  July  1 2  an  editorial  containing  a  highly 

body  will  live  happily  ever  after.  Many  significant  passage  that  deserves  to  be 

another  elaborate  peace  structure  in  the  carefully  studied.  It  was  couched  in  the 

past  has  proved  to  be  built  on  sand,  and  tortuous,  guarded  and  obscure  style  af- 

only  experience  can  show  whether  the  fected  in  diplomatic  circles,  so  that  its 

new  scheme  is  capable  of  standing  the  meaning  is  almost  lost  upon  the  casual 

test  of  time.  But  it  is  clear  that  its  accept-  reader  until  the  last  sentence  illumines 


322  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

the  whole  like  a  flash  of  lightning,  and  has  for  its  objective  precisely  the  pre- 
leads  to  a  rereading  of  the  passage  with  vention  of  such  an  eventuality,  which,  if 
a  fresh  realization  of  its  fateful  import,  it  came  to  pass,  would  mark  the  definite 
The  passage  is  as  follows :  "It  was  never  end  of  the  League  of  Nations." 
the  intention  of  France  to  substitute  a  Far  more  than  the  facile  and  vivid 
system  of  military  alliances  for  the  sys-  conjectures  of  newspaper  correspond- 
tem  of  cooperation  within  the  frame-  ents  and  casual  observers,  it  is  such  ab- 
work  of  the  League  of  Nations,  to  strusely  phrased  emanations  as  these 
oppose  one  bloc  of  powers  to  another  that  afford  us  our  surest  clues  to  future 
bloc  of  powers.  The  constant  policy  of  developments,  for  they  reflect  the  con- 
all  cabinets  that  have  succeeded  one  an-  sidered  judgment  of  what  is  undoubt- 
other  in  Paris  has  been  to  facilitate  the  edly  the  shrewdest,  best  informed  and 
organization  of  peace  in  the  spirit  of  most  realistic  Foreign  Office  in  Europe. 
Geneva,  on  the  basis  of  security  guaran-  Its  officials  have  their  fingers  on  the 
teed  to  all  nations  alike,  which  excludes  pulse  of  the  Continent  more  intimately 
the  idea  of  the  isolation  or  encircle-  than  any  other  chancellery  can  ever 
ment  of  any  one  power.  It  is  only  in  hope  to  do,  and  they  know  more  about 
the  event  that  the  bad  humor  of  some  what  is  going  on  behind  the  scenes  of 
[Germany?]  and  the  overinterested  re-  European  diplomacy  than  any  other 
sistance  of  others  [Poland?  ]  should  ren-  group  of  men  in  the  world.  Therefore, 
der  impossible  such  a  system  of  security  when  they  hint  that,  if  Germany  fails  to 
that  the  countries  most  exposed  to  ag-  subscribe  to  the  Eastern  Pact,  the  League 
gression  and  having  common  interests  of  Nations  will  close  its  doors,  it  is  a 
to  defend  [France  and  Russia?]  might  warning  that  can  not  be  taken  lightly, 
eventually  be  constrained  to  come  to  an  It  means  that  if  Germany  adheres  to  the 
understanding  with  a  view  to  defensive  pact,  peace  is  regarded  as  reasonably  as- 
action,  and  that  the  idea  of  military  alii-  suredj  if  Germany  turns  the  pact  down, 
ances  might  impose  itself  upon  them  as  war  is  regarded  as  merely  a  matter  of 
an  imperious  necessity.  French  policy  time. 


They Ve  Got  to  Show  Me 

BY  A  MISSOURI  FARMER 

Some  very  bad  luck  has  attended  the  Brain  Trusters*  efforts 

with  the  farm  problem,  but  the  farmers'  complaint 

goes  deeper  than  that 

I'M  A  Missouri  farmer.  I  own  204  There's  never  been  as  much  reason 

acres  of  good  land,  and  I  farm  as  for  government  going  into  farming  as 

much  of  it  as  I  can  afford  to.  Right  there  is  today.  In  this  country  we've 

now  that's  about  half.  gone  through  the  worst  drought  any 

I've  been  on  the  land  all  my  life —  living  man  ever  knew, 

sixty-seven  years.  I've  managed  to  buy  My  State  is  normally  one  of  the 

my  farm,  make  a  living  of  it,  to  raise  greatest  farming  States  in  the  country, 

up  and  start  out  four  children.  7  means  This  year  the  county's  corn  crop  is 

myself  and  my  wife.  estimated  at  one  bushel  to  the  acre. 

Nowadays  we  hear  a  great  deal  That  means  it  would  take  a  fifty-acre 
about  the  new  place  of  government  in  field  to  feed  two  pigs  through  the  win- 
farm  life.  It's  time  the  government  was  ter.  Most  of  the  State  has  already  been 
taking  a  new  place  in  farming  or  else  classified  for  "primary  relief."  The 
getting  out  altogether.  Its  old  place  Government  says  nobody's  going  to 
hasn't  been  very  helpful.  starve  or  to  suffer  this  winter.  That's 

When  a  widow  woman  couldn't  pay  good  talking.  If  the  Government  can 

her  taxes,  the  government  used  to  come  keep  our  poor  folks  from  hungering, 

and  auction  off  her  cow  and  home,  that  will  be  good  business  and  kind 

When  a  poor  man  borrowed  govern-  business. 

ment  money  to  plant  a  crop  with,  and  Just  as  one  man  to  another,  I've  lost 
then  failed  to  make  the  crop  or  to  sell  more  than  I've  gained  in  my  own  deal- 
it  well,  the  government  swooped  down  ings  with  the  government.  In  the  first 
and  collected  both  his  crop  and  his  land,  deal,  I  lost  my  oldest  boy. 
During  the  War,  when  wheat  prices  I  guess  Tom  was  about  average.  But 
finally  got  to  a  place  where  a  good  to  his  mother  and  me  he  was  a  lot  more 
farmer  could  make  say  one  per  cent  as  than  that.  And  Tom  was  a  natural-born 
much  money  as  a  bad  clothing  manufac-  farmer.  He  took  to  the  plow  and  hoe 
turer  could,  the  government  rammed  because  he  liked  them.  He  didn't  like 
down  the  price  of  wheat  and  paid  manu-  school.  When  he  got  through  the 
facturers  an  extra  ten  per  cent  for  sol-  grades,  we  let  him  quit  and  farm.  He 
diers'  uniforms.  took  over  forty  acres  and  made  a  won- 


324  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

derful  job  of  farming  it,   for  three  boys  away  from  the  land,  and  mighty 

years.  few,  even  of  those  who  came  through 

Tom  was  nineteen  when  the  War  unhurt,  ever  got  back, 
broke  out.  He  wanted  to  go.  We  fig-         Farming's  never  going  to  be  at  par 

ured  it  was  a  rightful  cause  and  told  until  we  get  a  lot  more  young  men  and 

him  to  use  his  own  judgment.  It  was  young  women  back  on  the  land.  Gov- 

the  first  time  in  his  life  he  had  been  ernments  make  war  and  war  robs  the 

away  from  home  more  than  overnight,  land  of  its  youth. 

We  didn't  hear  much  from  him  after 
that.  He  said  for  us  not  to  worry,  and 

frankly  we  didn't  have  much  time  to.         But  water  keeps  running  under  the 

Those  were  great  days  for  farming,  bridges  and  the  big  parade  goes  on, 

We  were  making  more  money  than  we  getting  bigger  all  the  time.  During  the 

ever  had  before,  and  behind  that  was  past  couple  of  years  it  appears  that  the 

the  notion  of  patriotic  duty.  Government  has  grown  a  lot,  certainly 

One  night  Allan  Flowers,  who  was  along  farming  lines.  Folks  say  that  the 

head  of  the  county  draft  board,  came  Government  is  bringing  us  new  light 

out  to  tell  us  he'd  read  in  the  news-  and  a  New  Deal.  I'm  a  doubter,  but 

paper  that  Tom  had  been  wounded  in  I'm  not  a  wrench-thrower.  There  are 

action.  We  couldn't  find  out  any  more  two  or  three  reasons  why  I  doubt, 
about  it  until  about  seven  months  later,         For  one  thing,   I've  been  reading 

when    they    brought    him    home — or  about  recovery  in  Canada  as  against  re- 

rather  to  a  government  hospital  out  in  covery  in  the  United  States.  Canada 

Denver.  About  that  time  we  got  a  no-  interests  me  because  my  brother-in-law 

tice  from  the  War  Department  that  took  a  farm  near  London,  Ontario, 

Tom  had  been  hurt.  about  forty-five  years  ago,  and  from  a 

So  my  wife  and  I  went  to  Denver,  standpoint  of  earning,  he's  been  run- 

and  there  we  found  him  cramped  up  ning  circles  around  me  since, 
on  a  little  hard  bed,  looking  like  a  corn-         Canada  hasn't  gone  in  for  any  New 

stalk  that  was  twisted  and  parched  by  Deal,  not  yet  anyhow.  They  don't  have 

a  summer  drought — lungs  ruined  with  any  AAA  or  NRA  or  FERA  or  any  of 

gas.  I  came  back  home.  Ma  stayed  on  that.  They  let  farms  and  factories  and 

till  Tom  died.  stores  go  ahead  and  shuffle  for  them- 

That  was  in  the  rush  of  crops.  We  selves.  During  the  past  year  Canadian 
all  knuckled  down  and  worked  harder  business  improved  nineteen  per  cent 
than  we'd  ever  worked  before,  saying  while  American  business  was  improv- 
nothing,  trying  to  forget.  Tom  had  an  ing  sixteen,  even  though  Canada  is 
old  horse  named  Jim.  About  four  years  mainly  rural  and  doesn't  have  one- 
later,  when  Jim  died,  my  wife  and  me  tenth  as  many  market  cities  as  we  do. 
both  sank  under  and  cried  like  babies.  I  don't  know  how  much  sense  there 
That's  a  farmer  for  you.  is  in  saying  that  times  are  getting 

What  I  want  to  say  is  that  the  gov-  such-and-such  a  per  cent  better.   I'm 

ernment's  War,  to  make  the  world  safe  only  quoting  a  newspaper.  I  still  be- 

for  democracy  and  such  as  that,  did  lieve  considerable  of  what  I  read  in 

more  harm  to  the  farm  plant  than  any  them, 
one  man  can  tell.  It  took  millions  of         I  doubt  the  Government's  new  farm 


THEY'VE  GOT  TO  SHOW  ME                           325 

programme,  too,  because  I  don't  think  trying  to  rub  out  the  great  background 

it's  farm-minded.  of    farm    viewpoint — that    has    been 

I'm  a  farmer,  and  my  farm  is  my  pretty  well  molded  and  set  since  the 
world.  I  don't  pretend  to  know  every-  dawn  of  history, 
thing  about  farming,  but  I've  done  As  I  see  it,  there's  wrongness  in  pay- 
considerable  thinking  and  looking  and  ing  out  public  money  to  private  citizens 
a  mighty  lot  of  hard  work,  and  I've  al-  to  bribe  them  not  to  grow  crops  when 
ways  loved  the  land.  it's  their  real  job  to  grow  crops.  I  say 

My   first   sizable   trip    away    from  this  is  bad  thinking  and  bad  business.  I 

home  was  to  the  St.  Louis  World's  say  it's  the  guidance  of  men  who  don't 

Fair  in  1905.  After  getting  into  the  know  farming.  I  believe  better  plans 

city,  I  strolled  off  down  to  the  stock-  can  be   made  and   that   better  plans 

yards,  and  I  really  enjoyed  looking  at  will  have  to  be  made  before  land  can 

the  cattle  and  hogs  more  than  I  did  the  ever  play  square  with  men. 

fair.  I've  never  been  to  Washington,  and 

One  little  instance  I  recollect  well.  I  don't  know  any  of  the  main  Brain 

My  wife  and  her  youngest  brother  and  Trusters.  But  I  do  know  some  of  the 

I  were  looking  at  a  marine  exhibit,  local  New  Dealers.  If  any  of  them  are 

Among  other  things  there  was  a  plat-  farmers,  then  I'm  a  flying  squirrel, 

form  of  seashells,  some  of  them  half  There's  our  county  agent,  for  exam- 

as  big  as  a  wash  tub.  Without  thinking,  pie.  I've  known  that  young  chap  since 

I  remarked  to  my  brother-in-law:  he  was  knee-high.  He  used  to  go  swim- 

"Bill,    wouldn't    those    make    the  ming  with  my  boys.  But  he  never  liked 

blamedest    best    hog-feeding    troughs  farm  work — never  Seemed  to  care  a 

ever?"  great  deal  for  any  kind  of  work.  His 

Folks  around  us  laughed,  and  my  folks  put  him  through  college  and  then 

wife,  who  was  young  then,  felt  right  bought  him  a  farm.  He  made  about 

bad   about  it.   But   all   my  life   I've  the  sorriest  go  at  farming  that's  ever 

thought  like  a  farmer,  and  never  re-  been  made  in  this  county.  So  he  sold 

gretted  it.  out  and  got  to  be  county  agricultural 

They  say  good  farmers  make  a  good  agent.  He's  a  better  agricultural  agent 

nation.   I've  always  believed  that.   I  than  he  was  a  farmer.  He  couldn't  help 

know  it's  true  in  my  own  countryside,  being. 

Hereabouts   when    farming   is   good,  Then  there's  Jack  Tolliver's  boy, 

towns  thrive  and  the  people  are  happy.  Doc,  who's  got  to  be  what  they  call  an 

When  farming  is  bad,  the  stores  turn  Emergency   Agricultural   Administra- 

musty  and  sleepy,  and  there's  worry  tor.  The  AAA  has  swarms  of  them 

and  sadness.  out,  selling  us  dirt  farmers  on  the  idea 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  remedy  must  of  acreage  reduction  and  "cooperative 

be  foundationed  by  plain  farm  think-  contracts,"  which  mean  getting  pay  for 

ing.  A  farmer  may  get  to  be  tractor-  not  growing  crops, 

minded,  or  wrapper-minded,  or  auto-  Little  Doc  came  around  here  twice, 

minded.  But  underneath  all  these,  if  The  last  time  I  began  asking  him  ques- 

he's  worth  his  salt,  he's  farm-minded,  tions.  He  had  to  go  home  and  read  the 

And  the  New  Deal  for  farms  isn't,  rules  book  so  he  could  come  back  next 

Within  a  month's  or  a  year's  time  it's  week  and  answer  them. 


326  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

These  Tollivers  were  what  you  When  a  span  of  fence  falls  down,  we 
might  call  "town  farmers."  All  they  rebuild  it.  We  aren't  producing  any- 
had  in  the  world  was  a  farm,  and  God  thing.  We're  just  keeping  the  cattle  out 
how  they  hated  it!  They  spent  most  of  the  corn  field.  A  farmer  must  just 
of  the  year  with  town  relatives  think-  follow  along  with  the  seasons,  like  he's 
ing  up  reasons  for  not  planting  a  crop,  been  doing  since  the  beginning  of 
and  not  working  it  in  case  they  had  to  farms. 

plant  it.  They  finally  managed  to  sell  The  AAA  people  keep  talking  about 

their  farm  and  end  their  worries.  They  "emergency,"  "temporary,"  "immedi- 

sent  this  boy,  Doc,  through  business  ate."  They  tell  us  the  Government 

college  and  now  he's  an  Emergency  is    "helping"    the    farmer    this    year 

Administrator.  and  next.   It's  only  natural  that  we 

Then    there's    Mrs.    Ramsey,    the  wonder  whether  the  help  will  go  on 

school-teacher's  wife,  who's  accustomed  after  that. 

to  running  whatever  comes  her  way.  They  tell  us  what  next  year's  yields 

And  there's  Ed  Hamilton,  who  blinks  will  be,  and  what  they  ought  to  be.  I 

and  snivels  when  he  talks.  They  run  wonder  just  how  they  know.  I  wonder 

the  Rural  Relief  Office.  how  anybody  can  predict  rainfall  and 

And  there's  Bill  Yancy,  who  was  chinch  bugs  and  foreign  wars  in  1936, 

president  of  our  county  seat  bank  that  here  in  1934.  I  wonder,  too,  just  how 

went  on  the  rocks  three  years  ago.  Go-  they  know  how  much  of  a  certain  crop 

ing  on  the  rocks  is  putting  it  mild.  Not  the  public  will  feel  like  eating  and  be 

long  ago  the  receivers  called  in  all  financially  able  to  eat — say  in  three 

stockholders  and  made  them  pay  over  a  years  from  now. 

hundred  cents  on  every  dollar  of  stock.  When  they  tell  us  that  the  times  are 

Bill  ran  his  own  bank  on  the  rocks  getting  better,  they  appear  to  forget 
and  now  he's  the  Government's  Home-  that  when  times  are  good  people  can 
Owner's  Loan  director  for  this  district,  use  the  growth  from  more  acres  than 
Bill's  not  a  real  bank  man  and  never  they  can  when  times  are  bad.  For  ex- 
was.  But  he  is  an  emergency  office-  ample,  a  family  that's  willing  to  live  on 
holder,  with  plenty  of  experience  with  salt  pork  and  cornbread  can  live  off 
emergencies.  three  or  four  acres.  But  when  they  want 

The  other  day  Bill  asked  me  how  I  better  food— more  fruits,  and  garden 

was  coming  along  with  the  new  plan-  truck,  and  butter  and  eggs  and  fancy 

ning.  I  said  there  isn't  anything  very  things — then  they  will  be  using  more 

new  about  my  planning.  He  sort  of  land.  It  takes  at  least  twenty  times  as 

puckered  his  lips  and  said:  much  ground  to  make  a  pound  of  but- 

"Well  John,  if  you  don't  plan  now-  ter  as  it  does  to  make  a  pound  of 

adays,  you  aren't  a  business  man."  wheat,  and  the  butter  is  apt  to  be 

Maybe   not.   And   maybe    farming  worth  at  least  twenty  times  as  much  to 

isn't  a  business  after  all.  A  farmer  can't  the  farmer, 
chisel  out  competitors.  He  can't  get 
rich  by  going  into  bankruptcy.  He's  got 

to  play  his  cards  as  they  are  dealt.  So  it  seems  to  me  that  what  they  call 

Farming    still    depends    on    weather,  "domestic    allotment"    is    a    mighty 

bugs,  God  and  luck.  sloppy  and  far-fetched  way  of  helping 


THEY'VE  GOT  TO  SHOW  ME 


327 


the  farmer.  Fm  from  Missouri  and 
they  haven't  shown  me. 

Here's  the  regular  story  that  the 
county  agents  and  AAA  folks  tell 
you: 

"During  the  years  between  1929 
and  1932,  the  United  States  used  an 
average  of  600  million  bushels  of 
wheat  a  year,  and  raised  800  million. 
We  use  at  home  about  three  out  of 
every  four  bushels  of  wheat  raised. 
Then  if  Farmer  Jones  signs  up  to  re 
duce  his  wheat  acreage  fifteen  or 
twenty,  or  whatever  per  cent  the  wise 
men  say,  and  leaves  this  land  fallow  or 
in  pasture,  then  on  three-fourths  of  the 
crop  that  he  makes,  he  gets  a  benefit 
payment  of  twenty-nine  cents  a  bushel, 
collectible  from  the  flour  mill  and  paid 
for  by  the  old  man  Public." 

If  that  sounds  mixed  up,  you  should 
try  reading  one  of  the  contracts.  I  take 
a  dizzy  spell  every  time  I  do.  But  they 
say  that  about  seventy-seven  per  cent 
of  the  wheat  land  of  the  United  States 
is  under  contract.  I  don't  know  whether 
this  means  popularity,  hard  times,  or 
downright  destitution.  One  thing  I  do 
know.  I  signed  up  for  forty  acres  of 
wheat.  Last  year  I  cleared  $92  more 
from  it  than  I  did  in  1932,  about 
twenty  per  cent  more.  Most  of  the 
goods  I  have  to  buy  have  risen  around 
twenty  per  cent,  and  I'm  not  at  all  sure 
wheat  prices  wouldn't  have  been  up 
twenty  per  cent  even  if  we'd  never 
heard  of  the  AAA. 

But  this  year's  crop,  because  of  the 
drought,  was  the  poorest  I  ever  made 
and  brought  the  least  money. 

See  that  big  grove  of  tall  weeds  yon 
der? 

That's  the  wheat  land  I  agreed  not 
to  plant.  Weeds  are  doing  it  more  dam 
age  than  a  crop  would. 

More  than  that,  my  wife  and  I  bought 


that  land  with  our  own  hard  labor  and 
close  savings. 

We  started  with  about  a  hundred 
acres — plastered  down  with  mortgages. 
We  paid  it  out,  and  bit  by  bit  doubled 
the  size  of  our  farm.  That's  the  way 
with  hundreds  and  thousands  of  farms 
close  around.  Mary  and  I  worked  ours 
out  like  a  fair-pulling  team.  We  be 
lieved  in  using  land  and  in  using  our 
selves.  Mary  gave  me  our  children  and 
tended  our  home.  And  now  when  I 
look  at  that  patch  of  ragweeds,  I  don't 
believe  I'm  quite  playing  fair  with  her, 
or  that  I'm  doing  what  she  and  I  both 
know  is  a  farmer's  job. 

Then  there's  cotton.  I  don't  grow  it. 
I  only  read  about  it  in  the  newspapers. 
They  say  this  year  sees  the  smallest  cot 
ton  acreage  since  1905,  down  from 
forty-one  million  acres  to  twenty-eight. 
The  AAA  wants  it  to  stay  at  twenty- 
four  million.  But  I've  heard  good  cot 
ton  men  say  that  whenever  the  price  of 
cotton  gets  above  ten  cents  a  pound,  the 
acreage  is  going  to  spread.  Now  the 
market  worth  is  around  fifteen  cents, 
which  means  money  to  the  landowners, 
a  chance  to  pull  out  of  the  red.  I'm  bet 
ting  they  pull. 

Last  summer,  when  growing  cotton 
was  being  plowed  under,  I  felt  a 
mighty  lot  of  sympathy  for  the  mules. 
All  their  lives  mules  had  been  taught 
to  plow  between  cotton  rows.  When 
they  tried  to  make  'em  plow  on  the 
rows,  the  mules  shied  off.  There's  a 
moral  to  that  story.  It's  linked  to  the 
very  heart  of  farming. 

I've  stayed  out  of  the  corn-hog  con 
tracts.  They're  more  than  I  can  stom 
ach.  With  this  year's  corn  crop  averag 
ing  one  bushel  to  the  acre  hereabouts, 
I  haven't  lost  much  by  staying  out.  It's 
a  moral  victory  at  a  reasonable  price,  as 
our  Congressman  used  to  say. 


328  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Corn  has  always  been  my  key  crop,  have  a  sick  baby,  I'd  attend  the  animal 

It's  the  greatest  crop  in  America,  usu-  first. 

ally  worth  more  than  wheat  and  cotton  So  I'm  keeping  what  little  corn  I 
together,  and  as  much  as  all  truck  have  to  feed  what  livestock  Pm  able  to. 
crops,  or  all  fruit  crops  thrown  into  It  may  not  be  business.  But  it's  farming, 
one.  It  controls  hogs  and  cattle  yields,  and  I'm  a  farmer. 
Hereabouts  if  a  farmer  fails  to  make  a  They  say  that  a  million  square  miles 
corn  crop,  and  can't  afford  to  buy,  he's  of  corn-growing  country  is  parched  and 
got  to  sell  or  give  away  his  livestock,  seared  by  drought.  This  means,  of 
That's  what  most  of  us  are  doing  now.  course,  that  any  handout  the  corn  grow- 
But  I'd  rather  sell  hogs  as  hogs,  and  ers  can  get  from  the  Government  will 
cattle  as  cattle,  than  to  see  baby  pigs  be  badly  needed.  But  the  bounties  can't 
and  calves  slaughtered  by  the  Govern-  be  enough  to  make  any  farmer  rich,  or 
ment  and  dumped  into  the  river,  like  even  secure  for  the  winter.  And  I  don't 
they've  been  doing  the  past  year.  think  the  giving  will  add  to  anybody's 

Right  now  good   hogs   are   worth  self-respect, 
around  four  dollars  a  hundred.  They 

can't  be  raised  for  that.   With  corn  IV 

climbing  from  thirty  cents  a  bushel  to         Getting  rid  of  surpluses  is  a  mighty 

around  a  dollar  because  of  drought,  important  item,  as  any  farmer  knows, 

they  can't  be  raised  for  twice  that.  If  They  tell  us  that  farm  surpluses  are 

you  "cooperate"  with  the  Government  pretty  well  taken  care  of  now.  Papers 

and  send  part  of  your  pigs  into  market  say  that  the  corn  surplus  for  the  whole 

before  they're  big  enough  to  do  any-  country,  added  to   this  year's  yield, 

body  any  good,  then  on  part  of  what  won't  make  ten  per  cent  of  a  normal 

you  keep  you  get  a  bounty  of  two  dol-  corn  crop.  They  say  the  wheat  surplus, 

lars  the  hundred  pounds,  bringing  the  plus  the  new  crop,  will  be  about  enough 

price  to  around  six  dollars — which  is  to  carry  the  country  through  the  winter, 

still  a  losing  price.  There's  still  plenty  of  surplus  cotton, 

A  good  farmer  takes  care  of  his  live-  but    the   small   grains    will    soon    be 

stock.  I've  had  that  rule  drilled  into  scooped  clean,  and  most  vegetable  and 

me  since  I  was  a  boy.  It's  one  of  the  few  fruit  crops  are  mighty  short — if  any- 

rules  I've  never  changed,  either  in  prac-  thing.  The  big  cattle  surplus  is  going 

tice  or  in  thinking.  However  poor  I  down  like  a  chunk  of  ice  in  August  sun. 

get,  I  don't  intend  to  slaughter  baby  Hogs  are  already  scarce, 
creatures  or  to  waste  valid  property.  But  in  connection  with  melting  sur- 

Pm  not  accepting  bribes  to  dump  pluses,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  AAA  is 

young  pigs  in  the  river.  I've  always  taking  a  mighty  lot  of  credit  for  what's 

figured  that  raising  livestock  and  crops  really  been  done  by  the  worst  drought 

for  feeding  mankind  is  a  useful  and  of   our   time.    Last   year — even   then 

honorable  business.  If  it's  not,  then  I've  crops  were  below  average — reduction 

made  a  tremendous  mistake  in  being  a  bounties  failed  to  cut  down  yields.  This 

farmer.  year,  when  about  everything  in  the 

I've  always  said  that  if  I  had  a  sick  Midwest  and  Southwest  is  burnt  to  a 

horse  or  cow  or  shoat  and  a  sick  baby,  crisp,    will    likely    make    next   year's 

I'd  attend  the  baby  first.  But  if  I  didn't  planting  a  big  one.  We're  facing  a  lean 

'    <  " 


THEY'VE  GOT  TO  SHOW  ME 


329 


winter,  likely  some  corn-bread-and- 
branch-water  hard  times.  And  it's  go 
ing  to  take  more  than  a  lot  of  big  words 
and  Brain  Trusters  with  their  pictures 
in  the  newspapers  to  make  us  leave  our 
selves  open  to  the  same  risk  another 
season.  There's  a  chance  that  next  year 
may  be  dry,  too,  and  when  crops  are 
poor,  acreage  counts. 

That's  why  I  say  that  acreage  reduc 
tion  is  a  first  step  in  the  wrong  direc 
tion.  It'll  bring  on  an  unnatural  after 
math.  I've  been  noticing  for  a  good 
many  years  that  bad  seasons  nearly  al 
ways  start  up  a  new  "cycle  of  surpluses" 
as  the  wise  boys  say. 

But  I  do  give  the  AAA  a  hand  on 
one  thing.  That's  farm  credit.  It's  given 
the  farmer  a  fair  chance  at  some  reason 
able  loans,  and  in  the  long  run  I  be 
lieve  a  good  loan  helps  a  man  more 
than  a  free  gift.  The  corn  loans  (up  to 
forty-five  cents  a  bushel  on  good  stored 
corn)  helped  us  a  lot  last  year.  And  the 
emergency  loans,  up  to  $250  on  a 
farm,  are  valuable  too.  They're  saving 
farm  families  and  farm  livestock  from 
hunger  in  many  a  section  where  the 
banks  are  still  too  broke  to  lend  money. 

Yet  good  farming  needs  more  than 
good  credit.  It  must  produce  and  en 
dure.  Other  trades  may  shift  and 
change  like  the  face  of  a  river,  but  to 
live  from  the  land  a  man  must  keep 
with  his  furrow. 

I  don't  say  he  doesn't  need  some  sort 
of  gauge  or  guide.  It  takes  those — even 
to  do  a  good  job  of  plowing.  But  the 
real  gauge  for  farming  isn't  one  of  let 
ting  good  land  grow  to  weeds  and 
brush. 

I  believe  it  should  be  a  system  of 
stabilizing  farm  yields  j  holding  over 
reserves  for  lean  years;  protecting  the 
price  of  crops  when  yields  are  heavy  j 
building  up  a  far-spread  storage  treas 


ury  to  protect  consumers  when  yields 
are  light.  I  stand  in  favor  of  an  ever- 
normal  granary. 

When  people  talk  about  farm  plan 
ning,  I  always  think  of  old  Bill  Van 
Erden,  over  on  Vine  Creek.  Bill  was 
the  most  successful  farmer  we  ever  had 
in  these  parts.  He  raised  a  lot  of  corn, 
planted  it  early  and  plowed  late,  and 
with  his  own  labor  made  an  average  of 
about  1,000  good  bushels  a  year.  He 
had  two  good  cribs,  each  one  of  them 
holding  about  a  year's  crop,  and  he  kept 
both  of  them  full  most  of  the  time. 

Bill  decided  that  corn  is  worth  fifty 
cents  a  bushel.  Fifty  cents  gives  a  man 
a  fair  return  for  his  land  and  labor. 

But  corn  prices  hereabouts  do  a 
mighty  lot  of  shifting — from  fifteen  to 
thirty  cents  a  bushel  in  good  crop  years  j 
from  fifty  cents  to  a  dollar  after  bad 
years. 

But  Bill's  corn  was  always  worth 
fifty  cents  a  bushel,  and  that's  what  he 
got  for  it.  If  prices  were  lower  he  stored 
his  crop  and  waited.  When  prices  were 
only  a  little  ways  under  fifty  cents, 
livestock  raisers  would  pay  Bill  his 
price  because  they  knew  his  was  better 
than  average  corn.  After  dry  years, 
when  corn  prices  would  begin  to  climb, 
Bill  would  sell  out  to  the  last  bushel, 
always  at  fifty  cents.  Next  year  corn 
was  usually  cheap  again,  and  Bill  would 
store  his  crop. 

Bill  died  a  rich  man — rich  off  fifty 
cent  corn.  He  wasn't  what  you  could  call 
an  economist.  He  was  a  farmer.  But  he 
counted  on  lean  years  mixed  in  with 
the  fat  ones — which  is  the  rule  today, 
just  as  it  was  back  in  Bible  days  when 
Joseph  translated  the  Pharaoh's  dream 
of  fat  cattle  followed  by  lean  cattle. 

If  a  person  wants  to  know  about 
farming,  either  as  a  way  of  living  or  of 
making  a  living,  I  believe  he  can  learn 


330 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


a  lot  from  the  Bible.  Do  you  recollect 
about  Joseph,  and  his  grain  storage  for 
Egypt? 

It  seems  that  the  Egyptians  were 
having  droughts  the  same  as  we  are. 
We've  had  four  lean  years  out  of  the 
past  five.  They  had  seven  in  a  row. 

But  Joseph  got  the  Pharaoh  to  take 
up  surplus  grain  in  good  years  when 
grain  was  cheap.  Then  a  dry  year  came, 
and  farm  folks  ran  short  of  grain.  So 
Joseph  took  over  their  herds  and  fed 
them,  and  next  year  advanced  them 
seed  from  the  government  granary. 
Finally  he  told  them  that  since  they 
had  no  cattle  and  no  grain,  they  could 
cultivate  their  land  and  pay  the  govern 
ment  a  tithe  on  all  they  raised. 

I  still  don't  believe  in  government's 
taking  over  land,  and  it  strikes  me  that 
Joseph  was  more  thrifty  than  a  gov 
ernment  man  has  any  right  to  be.  But 
Joseph  was  on  the  right  trail.  Grain  is 
the  true  heart  of  farming,  and  in  my 
notion,  a  treasury  of  grain  would  be  the 
best  treasury  in  the  world. 

Understand,  I'm  not  urging  a  new 
hatching  of  Mr.  Hoover's  Farm  Board. 
That  gave  the  Government  ownership 
of  grain  without  any  worldly  way  of 
getting  rid  of  it  except  by  giving  it 
away.  It  was  aimed  to  help  the  wheat 


broker  and  dealer  before  helping  the 
farmer. 

But  the  New  Dealers  have  already 
made  a  step  in  the  direction  of  govern 
ment  granaries  through  the  corn  loans. 
And  I  believe  that  government  grana 
ries  built  out  in  the  great  grain-produc 
ing  counties,  buying  and  selling  at  fair 
prices,  could  yield  both  farmers  and 
town-folks  real  good  without  cost  to  the 
government. 

A  granary,  operated  by  the  govern 
ment,  could  store  and  hold  for  future 
emergency,  a  year's,  maybe  two  years', 
supply  of  wheat  and  corn  and  small 
grain.  That  would  ward  off  market- 
clogging  surpluses.  Surplus  grains 
could  be  bought  up  during  good  years 
at  fair  and  staple  prices  based  on  proven 
averages  rather  than  future  estimates, 
then  sold  out  as  demand  required,  al 
lowing  the  government  only  a  reason 
able  handling  charge. 

I  believe  the  notion  would  protect 
both  growers  and  consumers  of  crops. 
It  would  give  new  surety  to  farm 
credit.  It  would  keep  livestock  hold 
ings  steady  and  dependable  and  whittle 
down  the  need  of  farm  indebtedness. 

I  may  be  wrong.  But  I  believe 
real  farm  history  stands  behind  the 
idea. 


Habsburgs  on  the  Horizon 

BY  VIRGINIA  CREED 
Who  predicts  restoration  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  monarchy 

IT  is  exactly  thirteen  years  since  a  throne  were  based  not  only  upon  dynas- 

guard  of  British  officers  escorted  the  tic  self-preservation,  but  also  upon  an 

last  reigning  Habsburg  onto  a  river  honest  conviction  that  the  Danube  peo- 

steamer  and  hurried  him  down  the  Dan-  pies  could  be  better  governed  by  a 

ube  to  his  premature  death  at  Madeira,  constitutional  monarchy  than  under  the 

After  the  failure  of  the  two  Hunga-  provisions  of  the  brutal  treaties  then  in 

rian  attempts  at  restoration  the  world  the  making. 

thought  it  had  seen  the  last  of  the  line  After  over  two  decades  of  costly  ex- 
that  had  dominated  Middle  Europe  periment  in  foisting  other  forms  of  gov- 
since  the  dim  days  after  the  first  Rudolf  ernment  upon  Central  Europe,  many 
came  riding  out  of  Switzerland.  Karl  I,  are  now  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
last  Emperor  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  last  Habsburg  understood  his  erstwhile 
Empire,  was  a  well-intentioned  young  subjects  somewhat  better  than  any  of 
man  of  progressive  tendencies,  but  time  the  agencies  which  have  subsequently  at- 
had  defeated  him.  If  it  is  true  that  his  tempted  to  manage  their  affairs.  It  now 
predecessor,  Franz  Joseph,  came  into  begins  to  appear  that  for  Austria  and 
power  too  soon,  it  is  equally  true  that  Hungary  at  least  there  exists  no  blood- 
Karl  succeeded  to  the  throne  too  late,  less  alternative  to  hailing  Karl's  young 
Franz  Joseph,  while  yet  a  stripling,  had  son,  Otto,  from  his  studies  at  Louvain 
been  committed  to  reactionary  errors  of  and  reinstating  him,  today  or  tomorrow, 
government  from  which,  for  him  at  upon  the  throne  of  his  ancestors, 
least,  there  was  no  retreat.  His  senility  The  substitution  of  dictatorship  for 
helped  to  precipitate  the  World  War.  democracy,  the  Socialist  holocaust  of 
Karl,  therefore,  inherited  a  chaos  built  February,  the  badly  coordinated  coup  of 
upon  sixty-eight  years  of  blunders  re-  the  Nazis,  the  tragic  assassination  of  the 
suiting  from  the  limitations  of  his  uncle  Chancellor  are  all  chapters  in  a  saga  of 
and  his  uncle's  ministers.  The  dissolu-  failure.  As  late  as  1929  no  less  an  au- 
tion  of  the  Empire  had  reached  such  a  thority  than  Professor  Joseph  Redlich 
stage  that  the  new  Emperor's  attempts  made  the  remark  that  "democracy  has 
to  conclude  a  peace  and  salvage  a  few  never  succeeded  in  continental  Europe." 
states  were  alike  foreordained  to  fail-  From  the  vantage  point  of  a  country 
ure.  Peculiarly  enough,  however,  Karl's  where  comparative  freedom  is  still  an 
two  abortive  attempts  to  return  to  the  accepted  concept  of  life,  we  are  apt  to 


332  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

overlook  the  fact  that  in  very  few  cases  out  a  consideration  of  the  advantages 

have  the  countries  of  Central  Europe  accruing  both  to  European  peace  and  to 

had  any  real  liberty  upon  which  to  rear  the  condition  of  the  Austrian  people  by 

democratic  forms  of  government.  To  the  its  execution  j  an  understanding  of  the 

successful  operation  of  a  democracy  in  obstacles  thereto  and  their  tendency  to 

its  early  stages  three  conditions  are  in-  disappear  under  the  pressure  of  recent 

dispensable:  a  people  who  have  freely  events  j  a  glimpse  at  the  character  of  the 

selected  their  government,  virile  leaders  pretender,  Otto  von  Habsburgj  a  sur- 

and  adequate  economic  resources.  Aus-  mise  as  to  time  and  probable  manner  of 

tria  boasted  none  of  these.  Democracy  effecting  a  reinstatement  of  the  Habs- 

was  forced  by  ill-advised  Allied  commis-  burgs  j  and  a  realization  of  the  wisdom 

sions  upon  a  people  emerging  from  the  of  setting  up  a  monarchy  in  Europe  as 

restraints  of  one  of  the  most  reactionary  it  is  today. 

governments  in  Europe.  They  were  The  advantages  of  restoration  include 
totally  lacking  in  parliamentary  experi-  the  non-partisan  nature  of  monarchical 
ence.  The  best  citizens  were  so  demor-  government  in  a  region  wracked  by 
alized  by  defeat  that,  with  the  possible  factional  strife,  the  non-militaristic  lean- 
exception  of  Seipel,  no  decisive  leaders  ings  of  the  Habsburg  family  operating 
appeared.  Of  her  economic  condition  in  an  era  dominated  by  the  fear  of  gen- 
nothing  need  be  said  here.  It  was  and  eral  European  war,  a  guarantee  of  Aus- 
still  is  hopeless.  trian  independence  by  virtue  of  dynastic 
Socialism  had  no  lasting  hold  except  considerations,  and  an  implied  union 
upon  Vienna  where  it  quickly  became  a  between  Austria  and  Hungary,  with  a 
class  domination.  Its  collapse  has  been  consequent  lessening  of  some  of  the  eco- 
complete  and  was  inevitable.  nomic  pressure  under  which  both  coun- 

Out  of  the  Austrian-Nazi-Fascist-  tries  are  now  laboring. 
Heimwehr  struggle  two  indisputable  No  coalition  government  is  now  pos- 
facts  have  long  emerged.  The  tremen-  sible  in  Austria,  for  the  Nazi-Fascist 
dous  spread  of  Nazism  in  Austria  is  in  conflict  is  not  concerned  with  domestic 
itself  sufficient  evidence  that  the  Aus-  issues  but  with  the  foreign  question  as  to 
trian  people  will  never  tolerate  an  Ital-  whether  Italy  or  Germany  will  have  the 
ian  domination,  a  circumstance  which  has  ascendency  in  Vienna.  It  is  obvious  that 
hitherto  hindered  the  prospects  of  res-  both  factions  can  not  win,  and  that  com- 
toration,  since  Zita,  Otto's  mother,  was  promise  is  impossible.  Coalition  govern- 
an  Italian  princess.  The  European  pow-  ment,  however,  is  not  impossible  for  a 
ers,  however,  will  not  permit  Austria  to  monarch,  who,  holding  his  powers  for 
join  her  blood  brother,  Germany.  This  life  and  on  a  hereditary  basis,  is  at  lib- 
impasse  plus  a  gradual  weakening  in  the  erty  to  conciliate  several  warring  par- 
Succession  States  of  opposition  to  res-  ties.  Even  so  conservative  a  monarch  as 
toration  is  steadily  and  surely  setting  Franz  Joseph  did  so  frequently,  admit- 
both  Austria  and  Hungary  upon  a  path  ting  to  his  later  cabinets  men  who  had 
that  leads  directly  to  a  throne.  engaged  in  life-long  party  and  racial 

feuds.  It  is  worthy  of  note  here  also 
that,  whereas  a  dictator  with  a  large  ma- 
No  understanding  of  the  implications  jority  pitted  against  him  can  not  permit 
involved  in  a  restoration  is  possible  with-  free  franchise,  a  monarch  for  whom  the 


HABSBURGS  ON  THE  HORIZON  333 

defeat  of  any  measure  does  not  mean  ences,  though  heated  as  such  quarrels 

his  fall  from  power  can  afford  greater  invariably  are,  were  in  the  nature  of 

magnanimity.  family  feuds.  In  1848,  Haynau,  a  neu- 

Internationally  the  existence  of  a  rotic  general  in  the  employ  of  Franz 

Habsburg  in  Vienna  is  a  guarantee  to  Joseph,  avenged  the  Hungarian  thrust 

France,  Italy  and  the  Little  Entente  for  liberty  with  a  baptism  of  blood 

that  Anschluss  with  Germany  will  not  known  as  "The  Bloody  Assize  of  Arad." 

occur.  On  the  other  hand,  while  dynastic  Hundreds  of  Hungarian  officers,  nobles 

considerations  preclude  both  Anschluss  and  patriots  perished,  an  outrage  that 

and  a  controlling  interest  by  any  for-  Hungary  never  forgot  and  which  Franz 

eign  power,  they  do  not  prohibit  favor-  Joseph  never  succeeded  in  living  down, 

able  economic  treaties  with  two  or  more  Although  his  later  reign  was  marked, 

powers.  because  of  his  wife's  affection  for  the 

Austrian  independence  means  at  least  Magyars,  by  concessions  to  the  Magyar 
a  longer  period  of  peace  for  Europe.  De-  nobility  and  people,  nevertheless  Hun- 
spite  a  popular  fallacy  existing  abroad,  gary  shouted  longest  and  loudest  with 
the  later  Habsburgs  were  never  bla-  joy  when  the  Habsburg  yoke  was  re- 
tantly  militaristic.  The  maj  ority  of  their  moved  in  1918.  Stripped  of  her  lumber 
more  important  crown  domains  were  and  her  mines,  however,  Hungary  has 
acquired  not  by  conquest  but  by  adroit  been  bankrupt  since  the  War.  For  long 
diplomatic  maneuverings  and  by  judi-  she  has  been  toying  with  the  idea  of 
cious  royal  matches.  When  the  young  recalling  her  old  masters.  The  question 
Archduke  Franzi  became  Emperor  in  of  scrapping  democracy  does  not  affect 
the  midst  of  the  revolutions  of  1848,  Hungary  in  the  least.  Democracy  has 
he  profoundly  shocked  both  the  Vienna  never  scratched  the  surface  of  feudal 
court  and  the  peoples  of  the  empire  by  Hungary.  Communism  was  violently 
taking  an  active  interest  in  military  af-  extirpated  from  Magyar  soil  immedi- 
fairs.  The  Austrian  tendency  to  prefer  ately  after  the  War.  Magyar  nobles 
the  more  delicate  arts  of  living  to  mar-  have  supported  Karl's  family  in  exile  j 
tial  pursuits  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  the  Budapest  Diet  has  very  carefully 
the  entire  generation  of  army  officers  avoided  altering  the  constitution  that 
who  were  men  of  advanced  years  when  calls  for  a  king  and  has  nervously  shied 
Franz  Ferdinand  was  shot  at  Sarajevo  away  from  all  attempts  to  create  a 
had  seen  practically  no  active  service.  Magyar  king ;  great  care  has  been  exer- 
Military  careers  for  them  had  meant  cised  to  preserve  intact  the  sanctity  of 
drilling  border  recruits,  strengthening  St.  Stephen's  crown  j  the  Prime  Minis- 
border  defenses  and  constructing  bridges  ter  veered  from  his  royalist  tendencies 
and  railway  lines.  It  is  felt  in  Europe  at  only  when  the  international  situation 
the  moment  that  there  could  be  worse  made  a  shifting  of  colors  essential,  and 
things  than  having  a  member  of  a  fam-  it  is  believed  that  Horthy  expelled 
ily  with  such  non-aggressive  leanings  Karl  only  because  the  method  of  the  at- 
controlling  a  strategic  position  in  its  tempted  coup  offended  the  fierce  Mag- 
centre,  yar  pride  and  threatened  foreign  war. 

The  union  of  Austria  and  Hungary  is  Today  Horthy  speaks  against  monarchy 

nearer  today  than  it  has  been  since  the  without  conviction.  There  are  many  who 

War  separated  the  two.  Their  differ-  see  advantages  in  a  Viennese  market  for 


334  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Hungarian  agricultural  products  and  even  more  formidable.  The  Little  En- 

who  desire  the  right  to  import  Austrian  tente  would  listen  to  all  French  advice 

manufactured  products  freely  into  Hun-  until  the  dread  word  "Habsburg"  was 

gary.  The  substitution  of  these  articles  broached.    Czechoslovakia,   Jugoslavia 

has  disrupted  both  the  economic  and  so-  and  Rumania  recoiled  hysterically  from 

cial  structure  of  the  Magyar  state.  In  it.  Incidentally,  guilty  conscience  rather 

any  case  the  problem  in  Hungary  has  than  any  memory  of  ancient  wrongs  cre- 

never  been  one  of  whether  or  not  to  re-  ated  this  nervousness.  Poland,  once  very 

call  the  Habsburgs,  but  rather  of  when  unjustly  made  part  of  the  Austro-Hun- 

to  recall  them  and  how.  It  was  thought  garian  Empire,  evinced  no  concern  over 

that  Otto  would  return  first  as  King  the  matter,  for  the  very  good  reason 

of  Hungary,  becoming  afterwards  Em-  that  Poland  is  very  nearly  a  racially 

peror  of  Austria.  He  may  still  do  so,  al-  homogeneous  country.  The  plain  fact 

though  the  Magyars  are  not  as  insistent  regarding  the  countries  of  the  Little 

upon  this  point  as  of  yore.  In  Budapest  Entente  is  that  they  fall  far  short  in 

today  the  word  is  going  about  that  the  every   case   of   being   monuments   of 

time  has  arrived.  true  self-determination.  Czechoslovakia 

possesses  indispensable  Austro-German 
minorities  j  Rumania  includes  the  Ger- 

The  more  tangible  obstacles  that  man-Magyar  peoples  of  Transylvania  5 
have  impeded  monarchist  machinations  Jugoslavia's  Croatian  population  has 
to  date  were  many.  Large  factions  within  been  in  the  course  of  centuries  so  thor- 
Austria  were  afraid  of  the  "clique"  (the  oughly  Austrianized  that  it  constitutes  a 
old  aristocratic  group),  or  were  unwill-  thorn  in  Serbian  flesh.  These  suppressed 
ing  to  support  large  parasitic  groups  of  minorities,  it  was  rightly  feared  in 
Habsburg  cousins,  second  cousins,  aunts,  Prague,  Bucharest  and  Belgrade,  would 
uncles  and  in-laws.  (Franz  Joseph  was  flock  clamorously  to  the  Habsburg  col- 
notoriously  thrifty  but  some  of  the  ors.  If  the  countries  in  question  were 
members  of  his  family  were  more  prod-  racially  homogeneous  no  king  in  Buda- 
igal  at  public  expense.)  They  abhorred  pest  nor  emperor  in  Vienna  could  in 
clericalism,  which  the  Habsburgs  since  the  least  affect  them.  An  amusing  side- 
Joseph  the  second  have  fostered.  The  light  of  the  recent  tendencies  toward 
Nazis  wanted  nothing  less  than  outright  Anschluss  or  restoration  is  seen  in 
union  with  Germany.  The  Fascist  Heim-  Czechoslovakia  where  the  Bohemians 
wehr  and  the  large  bulk  of  the  mon-  have  suddenly  discovered  a  great  inter- 
archist  party  were  wary  of  premature  est  in  their  forgotten  man — theeconom- 
restoration.  The  ex-Empress  Zita  would  ically  indispensable  German, 
accept  for  her  son  nothing  short  of  abso-  The  Austrian  and  Hungarian  mon- 
lutism,  which  it  was  felt  in  yester-  archists  in  the  face  of  the  above  obstacles 
day's  Europe  was  obsolete.  Otto  and  agitated  when  and  where  they  could, 
his  adviser,  Count  Degenfeld,  were  They  were  benignly  regarded  as  senti- 
afraid  of  prejudicing  the  Prince's  mentalists,  since  it  was  felt  their  cause 
chances  of  dominating  a  Danube  hege-  did  not  partake  of  the  nature  of  reality, 
mony  by  returning  him  as  King  of  little  Doggedly  they  waited.  And  recent  his- 
Austria.  tory  is  now  engaged  in  frantically  play- 
Outside  of  Austria  the  objections  were  ing  into  their  hands,  as  a  glimpse  at  the 


HABSBURGS  ON  THE  HORIZON                       335 

manner  in  which  objections  have  been  subjected  to  arbitrary  imprisonments 

fading  away  like  mirages  in  the  past  and  arbitrary  searches  without  warrant, 

months  illustrates.  Let  us  consider  the  threatened  with  the  confiscation  of  their 

effect  of  this  process  upon  the  Austrian  homes  if  they  belonged  even  passively 

population  with  its  various  factions  and  to  any  but  the  reigning  party,  feel  as 

upon  the  great  powers  and  the  Little  though  they  are  oppressed  by  tyrants  far 

Entente.  more  uncompromising  than  any  Habs- 

burg  ever  dared  to  be.  In  the  old  days, 

IV  about  which  most  Austrians  are  unre- 

For  the  Austrian  people  an  era  that  sentfully  nostalgic,  the  emperors  were 

opened  with  starvation  and  is  drawing  accessible  to  the  most  humble  peasant, 

to  a  close  in  bloodshed  has  made  the  Such  details  do  not  affect  the  current  of 

faults  of  the  pre-War  government  pale  political  thought,  but  they  are  remem- 

to  insignificance  while  it  has  magnified  bered  long;  so  the  thousands  of  inci- 

the  virtues  of  that  older  and  happier  dents  illustrating  the  benevolence  of 

day.  True,  the  Habsburgs  spent  a  great  Karl,  Franz  Joseph  and  their  predeces- 

amount  of  public  money  upon  private  sors  are  being  passed  from  lip  to  ear  with 

pleasures,  but,  the  people  recall,  they  great  effect. 

also  expended  vast  sums  upon  schools,  As  for  the  defeated  and  discouraged 

museums,  parks  and  other  public  facili-  Austrian  Nazis,  'it  is  thought  that  they 

ties  that  were  accessible  to  every  one.  now  see  more  clearly  than  hitherto  that 

The   Socialist   Government   that   sue-  Der  Fiihrer  is  not  and  may  not  f  or  some 

ceeded  them,  however,  not  only  spent  a  time  be  in  a  position  to  come  to  their 

large  fortune  garnered  from  the  taxes  assistance.  It  is  perhaps  natural  that  they 

of  the  impoverished  bourgeoisie  upon  should  prefer  political  recognition  and 

costly  if  admirable  housing  projects,  but  some  participation  in  the  government  to 

excluded  the  same  bourgeoisie  from  the  the  annihilation  that  awaits  them  if 

enjoyment  thereof.  Every  error  of  in-  Italian  domination  of  Austria  continues, 

efficiency  possible  to  inexperienced  gov-  One  can  not  annihilate  the  majority  of  a 

ernments  has  been  perpetrated  by  one  or  people,  but  one  can  by  force  of  superior 

another  of  the  parties  that  have  striven  arms  police  them  into  sullen  quietude, 

against  overwhelming  odds  to  manage  That  quietude  will,  it  is  true,  frequently 

Austrian  affairs  since  St.  Germain  and  be  shattered  by  bloodshed  of  a  futile 

Versailles.  The  people  are  paupers,  Vi-  nature.  A  Habsburg  would  eventually 

enna  has  lost  much  of  her  gaiety,  no-  recognize  a  pro-German  party,  for  the 

body  is  in  any  sense  of  the  word  free.  Habsburgs  down  to  the  last  days  of  their 

Whatever  the  faults  of  the  monarchy,  power  designated  themselves  as  "Ger- 

its  administrative  bureaucracy  was  dili-  man  princes."  Furthermore, such  princes 

gent,  efficient  and  honest,  and  it  did  are  in  a  far  more  advantageous  position 

not  meddle  with  the  private  lives  of  the  to  effect  treaties  with  a  more  settled  Ger- 

citizenry.  many  than  is  a  government  resolutely 

Without  censuring  any  party  for  a  bent  upon  pretending  that  Austrians  and 

situation  that  has  proven  well-nigh  un-  Germans  have  nothing  in  common.  It 

avoidable,  it  is  nevertheless  a  fact  that  might  even  be  done  without  alienating 

the  rank  and  file  of  the  Austrian  peo-  Italy.  At  any  rate  Munich  is  astir  with 

pie,  confronted  with  a  censored  press,  suggestions  that  perhaps  it  is  the  only 


336  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

solution.  The  Austrian  Legion  is  not  as  received  at  least  overtly  from  Engelbert 

stiffly  set  against  Otto  as  it  was  before  Dollfuss.  Italy,  however,  can  not  carry 

the  failure  of  the  recent  coup  and  the  indefinitely  Austria's  financial  burden, 

suppression  of  the  radical  element  in  the  Funds  are  no  longer  plentiful  south  of 

German  Nazi  group  that  was  the  main-  the  Brenner.  Nor  can  Italy  expect  as- 

stay  of  the  Austrian  agitation  and  propa-  sistance  or  even  approval  in  event  of 

ganda  campaigns.  actual  military  intervention  in  Austria's 

International  forces  are  likewise  lis-  internal  affairs.  Jugoslavia  has  served 
tening  more  receptively  to  the  monarch-  what  is  a  virtual  ultimatum  upon  Italy  j 
ists'  plans  j  France  has  always  favored  Jugoslavia  has  at  the  moment  the  choice 
restoration ;  Britain  is  not  averse  to  it.  It  of  either  French  or  German  support  for 
has  always,  however,  been  in  Paris  that  any  cause  she  desires  to  sponsor.  War 
the  ex-Empress  Zita  found  the  most  at-  would  prove  just  as  disastrous  to  Italy 
tentive  ears  when  she  made  her  periodic  at  present  as  to  any  of  the  other  coun- 
trips  around  Europe  on  behalf  of  her  tries  now  busy  averting  it.  Thus  it  is  that 
son's  then  hopeless  cause.  France  has  Mussolini,  firmly  entrenched  upon  the 
hesitated  out  of  respect  for  her  satellite  Tyrolean  and  Jugoslav  borders,  can  not 
states  on  the  Danube.  They,  however,  afford  to  move  an  inch  over  either.  Italy 
are  weakening  since  a  more  formidable  will  never  hold  Austria  for  long  with- 
danger  now  menaces  them.  Czechoslo-  out  actual  military  occupation.  Losing 
vakia  does  not  desire  the  return  of  the  means  that  Germany  will  get  it.  //  Duce 
Habsburgs,  but  she  prefers  that  return  may  presently  come  to  consider  the 
to  a  German  Austria  which  would  en-  Habsburgs  as  a  convenient  alternative 
circle  her  German  populations,  fore-  to  either  move.  His  hesitation  is  doubt- 
shadowing  their  ultimate  defection  and  less  partly  based  upon  the  decisive  and 
her  dissolution.  In  Jugoslavia  the  same  entirely  too  liberal  character  of  the  pre- 
situation  obtains,  only  there  Italy  is  the  tender  to  the  Austrian  throne — too  lib- 
menace.  At  the  present  writing  it  will  eral,  that  is,  from  a  dictator's  point  of 
probably  take  only  one  or  two  more  ap-  view, 
pearances  of  the  Italian  fleet  in  the  Adri 
atic,  further  massing  of  troops  along  the  v 
various  borders  and  some  persuasion  by  In  this  crucial  moment  for  European 
French  agents  to  win  the  consent  of  the  stability  and  Austrian  security  almost 
Little  Entente  to  Otto's  reinstatement,  everything  depends  upon  the  personal- 

Hiler's  precarious  diplomatic  position  ity  of  the  young  would-be  king.  Otto 

is  now  such  that  he  will  doubtless  agree  von  Habsburg  was  six  years  of  age  when 

to  any  move  advocated  by  the  Powers  revolution  and  military  defeat  drove  his 

which  is  destined  to  improve  his  status,  family  into  exile.  He  saw  his  father's 

He  can  not  have  Austria  without  war;  hair  turn  white  in  those  three  last  days 

consequently  he  has  nothing  to  lose  and  at  Schonbrunn.  The  exile  in  Switzerland 

probably  something  to  gain  by  having  in  and  upon  miasmic  Madeira  was  marked 

Vienna  "a  German  prince"  with  whom  by  privation  and  sorrow.  Karl  died  at 

he  may  at  some  future  date  come  to  Madeira  for  much  the  same  reasons  that 

terms.  Mussolini,  on  the  other  hand,  is  Napoleon  perished  at  St.  Helena  j  the 

wary.  He  could  hardly  expect  the  docil-  climate  plus  the  treatment  he  received 

ity  from  Otto  von  Habsburg  which  he  were  not  conducive  to  longevity.  The 


HABSBURGS  ON  THE  HORIZON 


337 


subsequent  vicissitudes  of  his  large  fam 
ily,  of  which  Otto,  who  was  twelve 
when  his  father  died,  is  the  eldest,  were 
such  as  to  bring  the  heir  to  the  preten 
sions  of  empire  into  close  touch  with 
the  starker  realities  of  life.  Stripped  of 
their  private  property,  forbidden  to  en 
ter  their  native  land,  the  family  were  in 
dire  straits  until  first  their  cousin  King 
Alphonso  and  later  the  Magyar  and 
Austrian  aristocracy  came  to  their  rescue. 
Physically  and  mentally  well-en 
dowed,  Otto  received  a  type  of  liberal 
education  which  would  have  been  to 
tally  impossible  for  his  predecessors. 
Louvain  is  a  university  noted  for  the 
impartiality  of  its  teachings.  There  Otto 
has  studied  languages,  for  which  his 
family  has  always  had  an  aptitude,  and 
political  science.  For  the  study  of  the 
latter  topic  he  has  had  a  changing  and 
troubled  Europe  as  his  observation  labo 
ratory.  Furthermore,  he  has  had  ample 
time  in  which  to  study  the  advantages 
and  disadvantages  of  the  hoary  tradition 
he  inherited.  Judging  from  the  results, 
he  has  managed  with  insight  beyond  his 
years  to  condemn  the  policies  of  his  an 
cestors  wherever  they  erred  upon  the 
side  of  reaction.  Certain  letters  now  in 
existence  in  the  hands  of  the  aristocrats 
to  which  they  were  sent  mark  Otto  as  a 
liberal  progressive  prince  unequivocably 
committed  to  constitutional-democratic 
monarchy.  Aristocrats  who  do  not  ap 
prove  of  any  monarchy  less  than  abso 
lutism  discount  his  views  on  the  grounds 
that  he  is  only  a  boy.  The  Archduke 
Franzi  was  likewise  only  a  boy  until  he 
ascended  the  throne  as  Emperor  Franz 
Joseph,  whereupon  he  immediately  be 
came  Emperor  in  fact  and  managed  to 
impress  his  unfortunately  reactionary 
views  upon  liberal  ministries  to  their 
sorrow.  It  would  be  ironical  indeed  to 
find  his  nephew  reversing  the  process. 


From  sad  experience  the  Austrian 
people  live  in  mortal  terror  of  an  em 
peror  who  is  in  danger  of  maternal  dom 
ination.  For  a  long  time  it  was  feared 
that  if  Otto  returned,  his  mother  the  ex- 
Empress  Zita  would  be  the  Emperor  in 
fact.  The  stern  rule  of  the  Archduchess 
Sophia  through  the  medium  of  her 
son  Franzi  still  rankles  in  the  Austrian 
memory.  Many  are  yet  alive  who  felt 
her  iron  hand.  In  fact  even  today  in 
Austria  a  nagging,  overbearing  woman 
is  dubbed  "boese  Sofherl"  which  trans 
lated  freely  means  "evil  Sophy."  With 
Otto  the  danger  is  becoming  remote. 
Those  in  close  contact  with  his  house 
hold  hint  that  he  has  already  cut  the 
maternal  apron-strings  decisively. 

His  extreme  youth  has  proven  a  hand 
icap  to  Otto,  inasmuch  as  it  presupposes 
great  importance  in  the  roles  played  by 
his  advisers.  Since  they  abhor  publicity, 
little  is  known  of  any  of  them  save  Count 
Degenfeld,  whose  well-balanced  sanity 
is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  he  has  stood 
solidly  against  Otto's  return  to  a  country 
either  unwilling  or  unready  to  receive 
him,  and  has  done  so  even  in  the  face  of 
repeated  fanatical  pressure.  Degenfeld 
will  not  of  course  commit  himself  at  the 
moment,  but  he  is  busier  than  he  has 
been  for  years.  One  circumstance  about 
him  is  undeniable.  He  is  a  patriot  de 
voted  body  and  soul  to  the  Habsburg 
cause.  Thus  far  he  has  proven  above  fac 
tional  considerations.  It  is  rumored  that 
his  detachment  from  sentimentality  has 
more  than  once  tempered  Zita's  natu 
rally  heated  zeal. 

VI 

In  speculations  of  this  nature  it  is  im 
possible  to  be  definite  regarding  the  time 
element.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  the 
handwriting  is  on  the  wall.  Last  year 
Austria  openly  began  her  preparations 


338  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

for  restoration.  The  opponents  within  decisively  and  consistently  monarchist 
Austria  have  long  been  warning  their  through  all  the  post- War  shiftings. 
followers  that  "restoration  is  not  about  There  are  two  alternatives  of  method 
to  take  place,  it  is  slowly,  surely,  insidi-  possible  for  the  execution  of  actual  open 
ously  taking  place  while  we  quarrel  restoration.  One  is  a  military  coup  ef- 
about  other  issues."  Hungary,  of  course,  f  ected  by  combined  Austro-Hungarian 
needed  no  encouragement  other  than  an  forces.  The  Heimwehr,  led  by  Star- 
auspicious  turn  of  European  affairs  to  hemberg,  financed  by  monarchists  and 
convince  the  Magyar  nobles  that  open  intensely  Catholic,  has  been  ready  for 
action  would  be  safe.  They  apparently  years.  The  Hungarian  forces  are  like- 
now  feel  that  conditions  favor  their  wise  at  the  pretender's  disposal.  The 
cause.  Within  Austria  the  proposal  to  unofficial  Catholic  army  in  Austria 
restore  the  private  family  property  to  would  doubtless  spring  at  once  to  the 
the  Habsburgs  was  followed  at  once  by  support  of  a  Catholic  ruler.  Its  strength 
notices  served  upon  the  tenants  occupy-  is  unknown  at  present,  but  in  a  coun- 
ing  the  apartments  constructed  from  the  try  ninety  per  cent  Catholic  it  may  be 
suites  of  the  Vienna  palace,  the  Hof-  considerable.  Practically  every  one  in- 
burg.  Their  leases  will  not  be  renewed,  volved,  however,  including  Otto  him- 
The  formal  restoration  of  his  private  self,  is  opposed  to  bloodshed  or  the  use 
property  and  an  invitation  to  return  to  of  armed  force.  Vienna  has  seen  far  too 
his  native  land  as  a  private  citizen  may  much  civil  war  already, 
reach  Otto  at  any  time.  He,  of  course,  Military  action  is  scarcely  necessary, 
may  refuse,  pending  developments,  The  constitution  promulgated  last 
since  the  Magyars  are  opposed  to  his  spring,  although  from  an  American 
returning  except  as  Emperor.  The  Aus-  point  of  view  it  may  seem  to  be  no  con- 
trian  army  uniforms  have  been  changed  stitution  at  all,  was  certainly  devised  to 
to  the  old  imperial  style  j  the  imperial  make  a  peaceful  monarchical  coup  sim- 
names  of  regiments  have  been  restored,  pie.  Aside  from  the  comparatively  mod- 
Titles,  although  not  formally  permit-  ern  feature  of  a  corporate  state  system, 
ted,  are  once  more  being  generally  used,  this  document  reads,  with  a  few  trivial 
Archduke  Eugene,  idol  of  Tyrol  whose  changes,  exactly  like  the  one  drafted 
front  he  held  during  the  War,  has  been  by  Prince  Schwarzenberg  and  promul- 
welcomed  back.  Some  felt  upon  that  oc-  gated  by  the  young  Franz  Joseph  after 
casion  that  Miklas,  retiring,  would  pass  the  revolutions  of  1848.  Schwarzen- 
over  the  reins  of  government  to  Eugene,  berg's  constitution,  which  was  inciden- 
the  Hindenburg  of  Austria,  but  that  is  tally  conceived  in  a  spirit  other  than  that 
dubious  for  the  family  feels  that  it  which  marked  it  when  it  reached  pub- 
would  be  an  error  to  invest  any  but  the  lication,  was  probably  the  most  flagrant 
rightful  heir,  upon  whose  lineal  claims  piece  of  hypocrisy  ever  foisted  upon  an 
no  reflections  can  be  cast,  with  office,  unsuspecting  people.  Austria's  position 
The  gradual  incursion  of  monarchists  today  makes  pretense  quite  unnecessary, 
into  government  posts  has  been  going  With  the  removal  of  the  word  "repub- 
on  for  a  long  time,  but  it  reached  its  lie"  from  the  country's  title  and  the  cre- 
climax  with  the  appointment  of  Schu-  ation  of  provisional  powers  concentrated 
schnigg  to  the  chancellorship.  He,  of  in  the  hands  of  the  head  of  the  state, 
all  men  in  Austria,  has  been  the  most  even  sham  democracy  disappeared  from 


HABSBURGS  ON  THE  HORIZON                        339 

Austria.  The  head  of  the  Austrian  gov-  long,  and  was  intended  more  as  a  modus 

ernment,  theoretically  the  president  and  operandi  than  as  a  concept  of  govern- 

the  chancellor  combined,  but  actually,  ment  to  be  used  henceforth  for  the  ad- 

except  in  emergencies,  the  chancellor,  is  ministration  of  the  people's  affairs.  Its 

to  use  the  present  constitution  only  as  clauses  granting  the  power  of  revisions 

(long  as  he  pleases.  He  can  alter  it  at  plus  power  of  ministerial  selection  and 

will.  Franz  Joseph  was  given  precisely  legislative  control  mark  it  simply  as  a 

the  same  prerogative  which  he  used  means  of  bloodless  reversion  to  the  old 

freely  thereafter.  Popular  vote  is  to  be  regime. 

permitted  only  when  the  government  Since  considerable  political  maneuver- 
feels  a  necessity  for  testing  public  opin-  ing  in  the  lower  Danube,  in  France, 
ion.  The  four  legislative  groups  are  in  Czechoslovakia  and  Italy  is  the  neces- 
no  case  elected  by  direct  franchise,  are  in  sary  preliminary  of  this  reversion,  and 
effect  under  the  chancellor's  control,  since  at  the  present  writing  it  is  hard  to 
and  may  not  initiate  legislation.  The  judge  how  far  this  diplomatic  maneu- 
president  and  chancellor  alone  select  the  vering  has  progressed  it  can  only  be  said 
cabinets  who  are  responsible  only  to  the  that  restoration  is  probably  not  a  matter 
president  and  chancellor.  Since  Miklas  that  will  require  years.  There  are  still 
has  proven  important  only  when  there  one  or  two  concrete  obstacles  in  Otto's 
was  no  chancellor,  since  the  Chancellor  is  way.  Italy,  for  instance,  must  be  as- 
now  a  monarchist,  the  course  of  events  is  sured  of  a  neutral  tone  in  the  Habsburg 
fairly  obvious.  The  Chancellor  or  Pres-  Government.  Nevertheless  with  the 
ident  has  only  to  turn  over  the  reins  of  approaching  retirement  of  Miklas  an 
the  government,  which  he  is  constitu-  excellent  opportunity  for  a  coup  will 
tionally  empowered  to  do,  to  Otto,  who  present  itself.  Whether  Otto  and  his  ad- 
will  then  have  concentrated  in  his  hands,  visers  will  care  to  risk  much  upon  im- 
without  any  constitutional  alterations  mediate  action  is  a  matter  yet  in  the 
whatsoever,  a  degree  of  absolutism  balance.  Barring  a  European  upheaval, 
which  would  satisfy  even  the  most  rabid  or  a  radical  shift  in  the  present  line-up 
legitimist,  would  delight  his  mother  and  of  powers,  the  attempt  will  probably  be 
doubtless  even  satisfy  his  uncle,  Franz  made.  The  omens  are  very  favorable 
Joseph.  The  monarchists  beyond  any  for  its  success. 

doubt  had  a  hand  in  drafting  that  con-  As  to  the  immediate  benefits  to  the 
stitution.  It  is  to  be  doubted  if  it  can  be  Austrian  populace,  little  need  be  said, 
considered  original  writing  since  some  They  want  peace  without  conquest,  and 
of  the  sentences  sound  suspiciously  as  monarchy  promises  them  that.  Judging 
though  they  were  lifted  bodily  from  the  progress  in  a  broader  way,  the  return  of 
Schwarzenberg-Stadion  document  of  the  Habsburgs  can  not  but  be  viewed 
'Forty-eight.  The  divine  right  of  kings  from  this  safe  side  of  the  Atlantic  as  a 
is  even  dragged  forth  at  long  last  in  the  reversion.  Monarchy,  however,  is  a  con- 
clause  which  states  that  the  right  to  rule  dition  tremendously  to  be  preferred  to 
emanates  from  God,  implying  that  it  anarchy,  and  a  reversion  to  a  benevolent 
does  not  emanate  from  the  people.  despotism  is  a  much  happier  matter  than 
Such  a  constitution  would  not  satisfy  a  reversion  to  despotisms  not  so  benevo- 
Otto,  but  that  is  of  no  account,  since  lent,  such  as  seem  to  be  prevalent  in 
neither  would  it  satisfy  the  citizenry  for  Europe  today. 


Professors  Put  to  the  Test 

BY|OLIVERrMcKEE,  JR. 

The  national  examining  board  in  November  is  likely  to  be  dis 
satisfied  with  the  Brain  Trust 's  work  so  far,  but  the 
professors  may  not  deserve  dismissal 

WHEN  Herbert  Hoover  turned  rounded  himself  with  the  best  brains  in 

over  to  Franklin  Roosevelt  the  country,  experts  in  all  its  economic 

the  keys  of  the  White  House  problems,  physicians  who  knew  just 

on  March  4,  1933,  his  Brain  Trust,  al-  what  to  prescribe  for  each  of  its  various 

ready  famous,  shared  spotlight  honors  ailments? 

with  the  incoming  Chief  Executive.  Its  The  Brain  Trust,  prodigiously  publi- 
nucleus  was  the  small  group  whom  Mr.  cized,  has  had  no  rivals  on  the  Wash- 
Roosevelt  as  Democratic  candidate  had  ington  stage  but  the  President  himself, 
called  to  his  elbow  during  the  cam-  And  except  for  some  practical  politi- 
paign  to  assist  him  in  preparing  his  cians,  a  few  realists,  and  the  Tories — to 
speeches,  and  framing  his  policies.  After  all  of  whom  the  gold  at  the  other  end 
his  inauguration  the  group  was  greatly  of  the  rainbow  was  nothing  but  a  mirage 
enlarged  as  bright  young  men  from  — the  Brain  Trust,  during  the  first  year 
university  and  college  faculties  came  to  of  the  Roosevelt  Administration,  rode 
Washington,  by  invitation,  as  co-archi-  high  on  the  wave  of  popular  confidence, 
tects  of  the  New  Deal,  a  social  revolu-  To  the  man  on  the  street  "Brain  Trust" 
tion  of  which  there  was  little  hint  in  connoted  rain-makers,  and  miracle- 
the  1 93 2  Democratic  platform.  A  nation  workers.  The  "college  boys,"  he  was 
which  applauded  the  Chief  Executive  sure,  had  prosperity  in  their  vest 
for  his  vigor  of  action  and  the  boldness  pockets. 

of  his  attack  on  the  disintegrating  forces  Now  the  New  Deal  faces  its  initial 
of  the  depression,  also  commended  him  test  at  the  polls.  Public  psychology,  as 
for  drafting  scholars  both  as  advisers  changeable  as  April  weather,  has  seldom 
of  the  new  Administration,  and  as  di-  shown  a  sharper  reversal  than  in  its  atti- 
rectors  of  the  gigantic  effort,  through  tude  toward  the  Brain  Trust.  Gone  is 
Federal  leadership,  to  rebuild  the  foun-  the  popular  belief  in  the  infallibility  of 
dations  of  American  society.  Here,  peo-  its  prescriptions.  Not  only  has  faith  been 
pie  said,  was  convincing  evidence  that  shattered  in  the  omniscience  of  the  pro- 
Mr.  Roosevelt  proposed  to  run  the  gov-  fessors,  but  during  the  past  few  months, 
ernment  far  more  intelligently  than  any  particularly  since  the  adjournment  of 
of  his  predecessors.  For  had  he  not  sur-  Congress,  the  Brain  Trust,  or  more  ac- 


PROFESSORS  PUT  TO  THE  TEST  341 

curately  that  radical  segment  chiefly  re-  Federal  or  other  relief  that  may  con- 

sponsible  for  the  so  called  "reforms"  tinue  through  the  winter  and  into  the 

of  the  New  Deal,  is  becoming  a  polit-  next  harvest  season.  As  the  Corn  Belt 

ical  liability  rather  than  a  gilt-edged  surveyed  the  ruins  and  the  blasting  of 

asset  for  the  national  Administration,  its   hopes   for   the    1934   harvest,   its 

The  Republican   opposition — and  the  thoughts  went  back  to  the  slaughtered 

G.   O.  P.  strategists  keep  their  ears  pigs,  and  the  crops  taken  out  of  cultiva- 

pretty  close  to  the  ground — will  use  tion  by  the  AAA.  Was  not  this  Nature's 

"Brain  Trust  Government"  as  a  target  answer  to  the  theories  of  the  Washing- 

for  some  of  their  heaviest  artillery.  Nor  ton  professors? 

is  the  attack  exclusively  partisan  in  its  Two  fundamental  traits  of  the  Amer- 

composition.  It  was  not  the  G.  O.  P.,  but  ican  farmer  are  his  individuality  and  his 

four  Democratic  Senators  who  contrib-  piety.  The  AAA  collided  head  on  with 

uted  the  major  assaults  on  the  nomina-  both.  From  the  days  of  the  frontier, 

tion  of  Rexford  Tugwell,  number  one  when  his  ax  carved  a  home  for  himself 

Brain  Truster,  as  Undersecretary  of  Ag-  and  his  family  out  of  the  virgin  wilder- 

riculture.  The  four  Democratic  horse-  ness,  down  to  the  present,  the  typical 

men  were  Smith  of  South  Carolina,  American  farmer  wants  to  run  his  own 

Byrd  of  Virginia,  Bailey  of  North  Caro-  show.  He  brooks  easily  neither  interfer- 

lina  and  Gore  of  Oklahoma.  ence  nor  dictation,  and  the  AAA  does 

both.  And  whereas  city  folk,  under  the 
lure  of  the  bright  lights  of  the  motion 

Yet  Nature,  not  the  hostile  politicians,  pictures  and  the  hundred  and  one  dis- 
turned  the  scales.  Perhaps  the  most  tractions  of  our  large  centres  of  popu- 
"radical"  part  of  the  New  Deal  pro-  lation,  give  but  meagre  support  to  the 
gramme  was  the  plan  conceived  by  church,  out  in  the  open  country  religion 
M.  L.  Wilson,  Rexford  Tugwell  and  is  still  a  potent  force,  and  the  faith  of 
Secretary  Wallace,  and  others,  to  solve  the  fathers  strong.  A  cardinal  tenet  in 
the  problem  of  agricultural  overpro-  the  faith  handed  down  by  the  fathers  is 
duction  through  the  ingenious  device  of  the  belief  that  those  who  violate  its  laws 
paying  a  bounty  to  farmers  for  curtail-  bring  upon  themselves  the  wrath  of  Na- 
ing  production,  and  destroying  the  ex-  ture.  And  the  arguments  of  Brain  Trust- 
cess  of  pigs,  cotton  and  grains.  As  this  ers  like  Dr.  Tugwell  to  the  contrary, 
programme  was  in  full  swing,  and  the  thousands  of  good  Americans  in  the 
cooperation  of  the  farmers  secured  Corn  Belt  see  the  drought  as  a  visitation 
through  a  huge  advertising  and  bally-  of  Nature  because,  by  ploughing  up 
hoo  campaign,  Nature  laid  low  the  Corn  their  lands,  destroying  crops,  and  send- 
Belt  by  the  most  devastating  drought  ing  pigs  to  slaughter,  they  violated  the 
from  which  the  area  has  ever  suffered,  injunction  learned  on  their  mothers' 
The  scorching  sun  and  long  rainless  knees  that  "wilful  waste  makes  woeful 
weeks  made  the  mid-continent  area  a  want." 

veritable  inferno.  The  drought  killed  This  is  but  part  of  the  story.  For  the 

cattle  by  the  tens  of  thousands,  burned  drought  has  not  only  raised  doubts  as  to 

up  crops  that  would  have  fed  an  empire,  the  soundness  of  the  Brain  Trust's  ex- 

and  reduced  an  untold  number  of  farm-  periments,  but  it  raises  other  questions, 

ers  to  destitution  and  a  dependence  on  equally  important  for  their  bearing  on 


342  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

contemporary  politics.  The  drought  dustrial  enterprise  depends  not  only  on 
may  hit  the  city  man  in  his  most  suscep-  the  hope  and  possibility  of  profits,  but 
tible  spot — his  stomach.  Already  Secre-  also  on  the  assurance  that  if  profits  come 
tary  Wallace,  whose  genuine  sincerity  to  a  business  concern  the  government 
and  idealism  no  one  questions,  has  ad-  will  not  take  them  all  away  from  those 
mitted  that  it  has  virtually  wiped  out  who  have  invested  their  money,  their 
the  surplus  which  for  so  many  years  has  brains  and  their  time  therein.  Run 
hung  over  American  agriculture  like  a  through  the  statements  of  leading  ex- 
sword  of  Damocles,  and  tells  us,  quite  ponents  of  New  Deal  philosophy  from 
frankly,  that  the  country  may  expect  President  Roosevelt  down  and  you  will 
higher  prices  for  food  this  winter.  Agri-  find  a  general  tendency  to  minimize  the 
cultural  production  will  be  the  smallest  profit  motive,  and  to  paint  the  old  order 
in  thirty  years,  and  there  are  50,000,000  as  one  of  unredeemed  vice.  In  his  speech 
more  mouths  to  feed  than  there  were  at  at  Green  River,  Wisconsin,  in  August 
the  turn  of  the  century.  If  prices  become  President  Roosevelt  spoke  of  the  pre- 
too  high  this  winter,  if  trie  scourge  of  New  Deal  era  as  one  in  which  the  "old 
profiteering  smites  us,  the  many  mil-  law  of  the  tooth  and  the  claw"  had 
lions  of  Americans  who  today  are  hard-  reigned — as  though  the  country  had 
pressed  to  find  the  wherewithal  to  feed  gained  no  benefits  from  the  enterprise 
their  families  may  before  many  months  of  the  industrialists  who  had  developed 
feel  the  pinch  of  actual  want.  And  other  its  resources,  endowed  its  universities, 
millions,  a  little  better  off  financially,  hospitals,  scientific  institutions  and  art 
will  not  take  with  a  cheer  a  sharp  rise  in  galleries,  and  whose  efforts,  largely  mo- 
the  price  of  household  necessities,  par-  tivated  by  the  hope  of  profits,  built  a 
ticularly  when  they  remember  the  huge  civilization  that  gave  to  the  average 
destructions  of  foodstuffs  during  the  American  a  higher  standard  of  living 
past  year,  and  the  vast  curtailment  in  than  that  enjoyed  by  citizens  of  any 
agricultural  acreage.  Conceived  by  the  other  large  country.  The  Brain  Trust's 
Brain  Trust,  and  sold  by  them  to  the  attitude  toward  profits,  its  prejudices 
President  and  Congress,  the  AAA  ex-  against  the  old  order — note  Dr.  Tug- 
periment,  as  the  autumn  leaves  begin  to  well's  phrase  about  "economic  cannibal- 
turn,  stands  out,  thanks  to  the  vagaries  ism" — seem  a  little  strange  when  we 
of  Nature,  as  one  of  the  biggest  on  the  bear  in  mind  that  most  Brain  Trusters 
New  Deal's  increasing  list  of  political  were  recruited  from  universities  which 
liabilities.  provided  them  with  opportunities  for 

scholarly  endeavor  largely  as  a  result  of 
endowments  by  men  who  had  made  for- 

The  attempt  to  circumvent  Nature  by  tunes  in  American  business.  Note  also 
controlling  production  is  not  the  only  the  bitterness  against  business  and  its  in- 
major  blunder  of  the  Brain  Trusters  vitation  to  class  warfare,  which  we  find 
who  have  been  so  largely  responsible  in  one  of  Dr.  Tugwell's  recent  speeches, 
for  the  New  Deal  "reforms."  A  blunder  "If  you  weigh  the  low-paid,  disciplined, 
which  promises  to  have  results  quite  as  and  devoted  officials  who  are  helping  to 
far-reaching  is  the  failure  to  set  proper  administer  this  New  Deal  against  the 
store  on  the  profit  motive  as  one  of  the  hordes  of  high-salaried  vice-presidents, 
dynamos  of  American  prosperity.  In-  bond  salesmen,  stock  brokers,  invest- 


PROFESSORS  PUT  TO  THE  TEST  343 

ment  bankers  and  their  numerous  em-  proper  recognition  of  the  profit  motive 
ployes,  you  will  conclude  that  the  New  would  have  speeded  recovery  by  encour- 
Deal  would  have  to  cost  society  a  aging  honest  enterprise,  and  removing 
great  deal  more  than  it  will  ever  do  uncertainty,  and  more  than  this,  would 
before  it  becomes  as  great  a  burden  on  have  saved  the  Administration  from  los- 
the  community  as  was  the  army  and  ing  the  support  of  so  many  business  men 
camp  followers  of  those  whom  Presi-  and  others  who  now  wonder  whether, 
dent  Roosevelt  has  called  the  money  under  the  philosophy  of  the  Washing- 
changers."  ton  planners,  they  will  at  any  time  in 
Coming  down  to  cases,  the  classic  ex-  the  near  future  be  permitted  profits, 
ample  of  Brain  Trust  disregard  of  the  The  support  of  both  business  men  and  the 
place  of  profit  motive  in  American  soci-  financial  community  is  essential  to  the 
ety,  and  the  essential  part  that  enter-  success  of  the  new  housing  plan,  and  to 
prise  plays  in  creating  employment  and  the  Treasury's  borrowing  programme, 
maintaining  a  high  standard  of  Ameri-  And  unless  business  can  begin  to  make 
can  living  was  the  so-called  Securities  money  again,  it  will  not  provide  the 
Act.  No  one  will  deny  that  flagrant  Government  with  the  taxes  which  are 
abuses  had  existed  in  the  world  of  pri-  counted  on  to  finance  the  Roosevelt  re- 
vate  finance.  Abuses  will  be  found  in  the  covery  projects.  Disregard  of  the  profit 
New  Deal  also — CWA  graft,  the  spoils  motive,  therefore,  and  the  Brain  Trust's 
system  and  so  on.  In  order  to  effect  the  flippant  notions  about  business  and  its 
necessary  reform,  certain  members  of  place  in  American  prosperity  have  had 
the  Brain  Trust  drafted  a  securities  repercussions  which  tend  to  defeat  many 
bill  so  punitive  in  its  provisions  that,  of  the  declared  objectives  of  the  New 
if  placed  on  the  statute  books,  it  would  Deal, 
have  paralyzed  the  capital  market,  dried 
up  the  sources  of  private  credit  and 

imposed  hazards  and  risks  on  honest  op-  Ignorance  of  American  psychology 

erators  too  great  to  warrant  their  con-  explains  in  part  why  the  Brain  Trusters, 

tinuing  in  business.  The  Brain  Trust  so  on  several  occasions,  have  steered  the 

obviously  had  overreached  itself  in  the  Administration  into  shoal  waters.  The 

enthusiasm  for  reform  that  Congress,  academic  life  has  many  virtues,  but  the 

though  still  under  its  spell,  insisted  on  environment  is  not  one  that  enables  the 

some  important  modifications  before  it  average  college  professor  to  know  at 

sent  the  measure  to  the  President.  The  first  hand  the  realities  of  practical  poli- 

stock   market   control   bill   developed  tics.  A  barrier,  not  easily  climbed,  sep- 

somewhat  the  same  situation,  and  here  arates  the  university  and  the  market 

again  drastic  revisions  were  necessary  be-  place.  Few  professors  have  spent  even  a 

fore  the  measure  became  law.  Even  in  year  in  non-academic  work.  Granted  the 

their  modified  forms,  both  the  securities  idealism  of  the  academician,  his  intellec- 

and  stock  market  control  bills  have  oper-  tual  honesty,  and  his  zeal  to  follow  the 

ated  as  brakes  on  recovery,  and  as  such  light  as  he  sees  it,  to  administer  the  af- 

tend  to  neutralize  some  of  the  un-  fairs  of  a  nation  so  sectionalized,  and 

doubted  economic  gains  to  the  country  with  a  population  so  diversified,  requires 

which  have  accrued  from  certain  ele-  a  Realyolitik  not  often  found  in  a  col- 

ments  of  the  President's  programme.  A  lege  professor.   It  was  Borah,   hard- 


344 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


headed  politician,  and  not  the  occupant 
of  a  university  chair,  who  caught  the 
ear  of  the  country  on  the  insidious 
perils  of  government  bureaucracy,  and 
it  is  Borah,  not  the  AAA  theorists, 
who  strikes  the  popular  bell  when  in 
referring  to  crop  reduction,  he  says, 
"This  destruction  of  things  for  which 
millions  stand  in  need  is  economically 
unsound  and  comes  close  to  being  im 
moral." 

Then,  too,  apart  from  the  failure  to 
make  its  programme  square  with  popu 
lar  psychology,  the  Brain  Trust,  in  the 
utterances  of  some  of  its  top  members, 
has  caused  real  apprehensions  in  many 
minds.  The  "plain  people,"  in  sub 
stantial  numbers,  parlor  reds  notwith 
standing,  still  entertain  a  wholesome 
reverence  for  the  Constitution,  and  the 
American  institutions  of  government. 
A  planned  and  regimented  society, 
either  on  the  Russian  or  any  other 
model,  creates  small  interest,  and  even 
less  enthusiasm.  It  is  not  so  much  a  fear 
of  anything  that  has  yet  been  done  as 
an  apprehension  that  the  Brain  Trust 
has  its  biggest  surprises  still  up  its  sleeve. 
What  are  the  termini  of  the  New  Deal 
programme,  in  brief,  and  what  is  its 
ultimate  objective  in  terms  of  the  Amer 
ica  we  know?  Opera  bouffe  performance 
though  it  was,  the  investigation  of  Dr. 
William  A.  Wirt,  Gary  educator,  had 
more  than  an  ephemeral  significance. 
For  back  of  the  inquiry  were  the  doubts 
of  many  people  as  to  the  goal  of  the 
Washington  planners.  The  investiga 
tion  gave  no  answer  to  the  question  at 
issue,  namely  the  real  objective  of  the 
Brain  Trusters.  Meanwhile,  popular 
apprehension  still  persists. 

Like  any  other  group  in  power,  the 
Brain  Trust  grows  increasingly  intol 
erant  of  criticism.  This  also  weakens  it 
in  public  estimation.  In  a  moment  of 


intellectual  Hitlerism,  Dr.  Tugwell 
intimates  that  those  opposed  to  the  New 
Deal  theories  must  for  that  very  reason 
be  regarded  as  unpatriotic.  The  Brain 
Trust  apparently  sees  no  room  for  an 
honest  difference  of  opinion,  both  as  to 
the  wisdom  of  the 'policies  of  the  na 
tional  Administration,  and  the  essential 
soundness  of  the  New  Deal  itself.  In 
fact,  for  its  super-salesmen,  the  New 
Deal  has  become  a  religion.  To  illus 
trate  this  intolerance,  we  have  only  to 
recall  the  fate  of  Professor  Oliver  M. 
W.  Sprague  of  Harvard,  rated  as  one  of 
the  world's  foremost  monetary  experts. 
Brought  into  the  Treasury  by  the  Presi 
dent  as  technical  adviser  to  the  Secre 
tary,  Sprague,  who  saw  with  mounting 
disquietude  and  alarm  the  unfolding  of 
the  monetary  policies  of  the  Adminis 
tration,  found  himself  out  of  the  pic 
ture,  his  counsel  spurned,  denied  the  ear 
of  the  President.  So  he  finally  resigned, 
giving  through  the  press  his  critique  of 
New  Deal  policies.  Nor  was  Sprague 
an  isolated  case.  Even  in  public  life  it  is 
easy  to  find  competent  scholars  who  will 
rank  among  the  strongest  critics  of  the 
Frankfurter  radicals,  men  such  as 
Charles  M.  Bakewell,  formerly  pro 
fessor  of  philosophy  at  Yale,  and  A. 
Piatt  Andrew  of  Massachusetts,  a  for 
mer  Harvard  economist  and  assistant 
secretary  of  the  Treasury,  now  a  mem 
ber  of  the  House  from  Massachusetts. 
Other  academicians  could  be  cited  of 
equal  professional  standing  to  any 
brought  to  Washington  by  President 
Roosevelt  who  believe  that  many  of  the 
Washington  experiments,  the  lavish  ex 
penditures,  the  disregard  for  sound 
budgetary  principles  and  the  huge  Fed 
eral  bureaucracy  now  establishing  itself 
in  Washington  will  inevitably  bring  the 
country  to  a  day  of  reckoning,  if  not  of 
grief. 


PROFESSORS  PUT  TO  THE  TEST  345 

commanders  leading  troops  in  the  field 
apply  the  principles  of  strategy  and  corn- 
Notwithstanding  certain  Brain  Trust  mand  that  they  learned  at  Leaven  worth 
blunders,  President  Roosevelt  deserves  or  the  Ecole  de  Guerre,  lawyers,  archi- 
credit  for  recognizing  the  need  for  ex-  tects  and  engineers  apply  in  earning 
perts,  and  thanks  to  him,  the  theory  and  their  daily  bread  the  lessons  they 
practice  of  politics  should  henceforth  be  learned  in  professional  schools.  Only  in 
brought  closer  together.  This  is  all  to  politics  does  the  student  leave  its  prac- 
the  good.  In  their  fierce  hunt  of  material  tice  to  those  who  have  never  studied  the 
prosperity,  the  American  people  have  textbooks,  the  professionals  who  have 
been  quite  content  to  leave  their  public  graduated  from  the  school  of  war  and 
business  in  the  hands  of  the  professional  saloon  politics,  and  who  after  long  and 
politicians  and  the  plunderers  who  have  arduous  apprenticeship  have  become 
so  often  been  their  allies.  Yet  govern-  bosses  in  their  own  right,  and  the  mas- 
ment  has  been  one  of  the  favorite  sub-  ters  of  city,  State  and  national  parties, 
jects  in  the  college  curriculums.  In  a  Yet  the  university  has  a  real  contribu- 
thousand  American  universities  learned  tion  to  make  to  government, 
professors  conduct  their  students  The  prof essor  must  nevertheless  look 
through  classes  in  political  science,  from  to  the  Garners,  the  Snells,  the  Robin- 
Aristotle  and  Plato  to  Rousseau,  sons  and  the  Coolidges  for  guidance  in 
Hobbes,  Mills  and  the  many  theorists  the  technique  of  Real-politik.  His  pre- 
of  our  day.  scriptions  must  be  checked  not  only  by 
Although  few  courses  of  study  are  those  familiar  with  the  political  psy- 
more  popular  than  those  in  government  chology  of  the  American  people,  but 
and  comparative  politics,  they  provide  also  by  intelligent  business  men  who 
the  schooling  for  precious  few  politi-  understand  our  complicated  economic 
cians.  Diploma  in  hand,  the  young  grad-  mechanism  by  daily  contact  and  not 
uate  who  has  majored  in  politics,  and  merely  through  textbook  knowledge, 
perhaps  won  honors  therein,  joins  the  Otherwise  the  academician,  in  his  pas- 
bond-selling  brigade,  or  enters  his  fa-  sion  for  experimentation  and  his  flair 
ther's  factory — perhaps,  if  he  has  plenty  for  reform,  will  overreach  himself, 
of  money,  begins  to  play  polo.  Political  Here  is  where  Brain  Trust  government 
science  may  remain  as  a  pleasant  mem-  has  fallen  down  during  the  past  eight- 
ory,  but  one  that  has  no  bearing  on  the  een  months.  Congress  has  been  a  rubber 
main  business  of  life.  Learned  in  the  stamp,  approving  Brain  Trust  projects 
sayings  of  the  classical  political  philoso-  without  careful  analysis  and  check,  and 
phers,  and  well  documented  in  the  fine  New  Dealers  up  to  date  have  shown 
points  of  every  theory,  the  professors  little  disposition  to  enlist  the  counsel  of 
themselves,  except  for  an  occasional  practical  business  men.  But  the  theorist 
slumming  party,  steer  clear  of  the  may  give  dangerous  advice,  as  well  as 
haunts  of  the  practical  politicians.  Better  the  counsel  of  perfection.  If  President 
the  delights  of  Montesquieu  and  Plato,  Roosevelt  erred,  it  was  not  in  calling 
by  the  sequestrated  ease  of  the  study  scholars  to  Washington,  but  in  per- 
fire,  than  the  rough  company  of  the  pro-  mitting  the  Brain  Trust  to  make  too 
fessional  "pols"  as  they  pick  the  candi-  bold  and  revolutionary  an  experimenta- 
dates  and  write  the  platforms.  Army  tion  in  times  of  depression. 


Strong  Arm  Economics 

BY  SAMUEL  LUBELL 

A  comparison  of  the  economic  techniques  of  Stalin,  Hitler 

and  Mussolini 


D 


ESPITE  the  talk  of  "cannibalism,"  is  embraced  in  this  bureaucracy,  which 

laissez-faire  is  a  mild  sort  of  eco-  has  been  given  the  fancier  name  of  the 

nomics.  In  sharp  contrast,  the  Corporate   State.    Almost   all   of   the 

economics  of  the  new  era  that  is  capti-  bureaucrats  are  members  of  the  Fascist 

vating  the  world  bears  unmistakable  party  and  have  dedicated  their  careers 

traces  of  the  strong  arm.  Let  us  leave  to  the  ideals  of  a  totalitarian  state — to 

the  New  Deal  out  of  this — it  lacks  the  passing  //  Duce*s  word  down  the  line, 

punch — and   devote   our   attention   to  In  principle  property  rights  and  eco- 

Italy,    Germany    and    Soviet    Russia  nomic  gain  are  respected  as  the  most 

where  when  the  big  chief  says,  "Let  him  efficient  incentives  known  to  man,  but 

have  it,  boys,"  he  gets  it.  In  ideals  and  the  state  reserves  the  wartime  right  of 

in  ruling  personalities  these  three  die-  intervention  or  expropriation  wherever 

tatorships  could  hardly  present  greater  individual  enterprise  conflicts  with  the 

contrasts — and  that  is  what  makes  the  national  interest.  The  national  interest 

similarities  in  their  economic  methods  is  defined  by  Mussolini, 
all  the  more  significant.  Mussolini's  system  of  parallel  syn- 

In  Italy  roughly  this  is  the  system:  dicalism  balanced  by  state  corporations 

Workers  and  employers  are  ranged  fac-  was  built  up  carefully  through  a  period 

ing  one  another  in  their  respective  syn-  of  nine  years.  In  about  one-fifth  that 

dicates.  Industrial  relations  are  settled  time  Hitler  achieved  a  degree  of  eco- 

by  labor  contracts,  arrived  at  through  nomic  regimentation  of  which  //  Duce 

collective  bargaining  and  binding  as  law.  had  never  dreamed.  But  the  Nazis  have 

Labor  is  not  allowed  to  strike  j  capital  is  done  a  sloppy  job.  Step  number  one  was 

not  supposed  to.  Both  must  forget  class  the    mystic   policy    of    "coordination" 

differences  and  work  together  for  the  which,  in  effect,  meant  wartime  conscrip- 

national  interest.  This  "balanced"  co-  tion  of  Germany's  economic  resources, 

operation  is  enforced  by  the  state,  which  Fiihrers  for  the  various  divisions  of 

claims  to  be  superior  to  the  class  strug-  economic  life  were  appointed  and  the 

gle,  through  a  disciplining  bureaucracy  principle  of  "leadership"  proclaimed, 

composed  of  graded  syndicates.  The  en-  In  every  factory  Nazi  "cells"  replaced 

tire  economic  life  of  the  nation,  broken  the  Social  Democrat  work  councils,  and 

down  into  various  productive  divisions,  linked  the  entire  industrial  system  to 


STRONG  ARM  ECONOMICS  347 

the  National  Socialist  party.  Good  use  cals  and  reactionaries  for  dominance  of 
was  made  of  this  link  in  dispensing  jobs  the  Labor  Front  could  not  be  prevented 
to  party  adherents.  Trade  unions  had  — for  an  instrument  of  tremendous 
been  broken  up  abruptly,  and  a  few  power  had  been  forged.  For  the  indus- 
months  later  the  parallel  Employers  trialists  to  gain  control  would  mean  to 
Federation  also  passed  out  of  the  pic-  place  in  their  hands  a  disciplining  force 
ture — peacefully.  A  new  regimented  that  could  enslave  the  workers  to  their 
conglomeration,  the  German  Labor  mercy.  If  the  workers  took  over  the 
Front,  was  formed  of  all  workers  and  Labor  Front  the  leveling  power  they 
employers  j  the  Nazis  hailing  this  would  win  would  permit  them  to  en- 
achievement  as  meaning  that  "class  and  croach  steadily  upon  capital's  preserves, 
social  distinctions  have  been  abolished."  As  the  situation  now  stands,  however, 
To  this  day  the  German  Labor  Front  with  both  elements  battling  for  control, 
has  remained  shrouded  in  deep  mys-  the  weird  potentialities  of  the  Labor 
tery.  All  the  contradictions  and  possibili-  Front  only  add  to  the  confusion, 
ties  of  the  entire  Hitler  movement  seem  All  of  Soviet  Russia's  resources  have 
to  be  contained  in  its  bureaucratic  set-up,  been  nationalized  and  are  being  held  in 
And  no  one  knows  what  it  is ;  no  one  trust  for  future  generations  by  the  Corn- 
knows  what  it  is  supposed  to  be.  munist  party.  Not  a  belief  in  Marxism, 
One  of  the  Labor  Front's  tasks  was  but  rigid  orthodoxy  to  the  party  "line" 
to  wipe  out  Marxian  class  consciousness  as  laid  down  by  the  Kremlin  clique  is 
in  a  flood  of  National  Socialist  propa-  the  first  duty  of  every  Russian  Commu- 
ganda.  For  that  its  staff,  most  of  whom  nist.  A  Communist  nucleus  in  every  fac- 
had  never  done  a  day's  work  in  their  tory — note  the  similarity  of  the  Nazi 
lives,  were  eminently  fitted.  A  second  cell — links  up  the  industrial  system 
duty  was  to  discipline  capital  and  labor,  with  the  party.  The  vast  network  of 
Now  a  peculiar  thing  happened.  The  trade  unions  that  embraces  the  major 
dispute  between  the  worker  and  his  portion  of  the  workers  is  generally  sub- 
employer  was  taken  out  of  the  produc-  servient  to  these  nuclei,  and  conse- 
tive  system  proper.  Of  course  it  wasn't  quently  trade  unionism  in  Russia,  as  in 
settled.  But  to  one  side  stood  the  actual  Italy  and  Germany,  has  degenerated 
mechanism  of  production,  the  technical  into  a  bureaucratic  disciplining  of  the 
capital  equipment.  On  the  other  side  workers.  Every  individual,  each  eco- 
capitalists  and  laborers  were  hodge-  nomic  unit  in  the  country,  must  take 
podged  in  the  Labor  Front.  Their  rela-  part  in  the  "Plan"  j  every  one,  every- 
tion  to  the  productive  mechanism,  the  thing  has  its  quota  and  the  trick  is  to 
question  of  profits  and  wages,  was  still  work  like  blazes  to  beat  it.  Material  re- 
unsettled,  but  that  uncertainty  was  not  wards,  class  patriotism  and  terror  pro- 
interfering  with  production!  In  fact  un-  vide  the  incentives.  But  in  the  last  year 
der  Nazi  pressure  industrial  output  was  the  emphasis  on  blood  and  thunder  has 
being  stepped  up.  The  old  order  had  lessened, 
suffered  a  distinct  relapse.  Workers  and 
employers  had  been  shown  that  it  was 

possible    to    operate    that    productive  Whatever  the  differences  in  organi- 

mechanism  without  each  other's  free  zation  and  principle,  all  three  systems 

assistance.  The  struggle  between  radi-  are   distinctly  army   formations.   Not 


348  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

alone  in  the  fact  that  they  are  controlled  terests  were  to  be  sunk  in  a  common 
by  military  dictatorships.  There  is  the  front,  that  the  struggle  among  nations 
wartime  elevation  of  the  interest  of  the  had  grown  more  intense  than  the  class 
state  above  that  of  the  individual  or  struggle  between  workers  and  employ- 
group,  and,  even  in  Germany  and  Italy,  ers,  that  men  must  cease  disputing 
a  sort  of  nationalization — in  use,  if  not  over  wages  and  profits  when  interna- 
in  legal  right.  In  any  of  these  countries  tional  competition  had  become  so  bit- 
a  strike  would  be  considered  as  a  mutiny  ter.  The  worst  of  it  all  is  that  their 
or  desertion,  and  would  be  punished  as  demagogic  preachings  seem  to  have 
such,  and  each  of  the  systems  has  im-  come  true. 

posed  tremendous  sacrifices  upon  the  For  Mussolini  the  ideal  Italian  state 

people.  would  be  a  self-contained  nation,  in- 

The  formations  differ.  In  Italy  the  sulated  against  the  shocks  of  world  corn- 
tread  of  marching  feet  is  relaxed  as  petition  and  international  fluctuations, 
suits  the  soft  Italian  temperament.  Mus-  "a  country  of  diversified  economy,  with 
solini  dramatically  strides  along  on  foot,  a  strong  agriculture,  the  foundation  of 
a  mere  Corporal  of  the  Guard,  one  arm  all."  This  ideal  condition  is  to  be 
linked  with  capital,  the  other  with  labor,  achieved  through  the  Corporate  State, 
impelling  them  forward  by  the  magic  through  its  disciplining  of  all  produc- 
of  his  personality  and  the  power  of  his  tive  enterprises,  through  its  guaranteed 
grip.  In  the  Third  Reich  workers  and  control  of  the  domestic  market  for 
bosses  have  been  mobilized  suddenly,  Italian  products,  through  its  ability  to 
thrust  rudely  into  field  gray  uniforms,  adjust  cost  of  production  and  to  under- 
and  are  being  goose-stepped  along,  Der  sell  more  individualistic  nations,  and 
Fiihrer  strutting  far  out  in  front.  In  through  the  substitution  of  a  single 
Russia  the  mass  of  peasants  and  work-  planned  head  for  hundreds  of  conflict- 
ers,  intellectuals  and  kulaks  have  been  ing  business  men. 
swarmed  together  and  Communists  A  similar  dream  of  a  self-contained 
with  pistols  and  dog  whips  drive  them  economically  invulnerable  Germany 
on.  If  the  military  annals  of  each  coun-  haunts  Hitler.  Through  the  Nazi 
try  were  consulted,  much  the  same  sort  Standestat  Germany  was  to  put  her  own 
of  army  formations  would  come  to  light,  house  into  order.  Prices,  wages,  produc- 
In  their  conception  of  discipline  Mus-  tion  and  consumption  were  to  be  bal- 
solini,  Hitler  and  Stalin  have  much  in  anced  with  one  another  and  protected 
common  with  Garibaldi,  the  Kaiser  and  against  the  disruptive  influences  of  in- 
theTsar.  ternational  competition  by  rigid  trade 

But  what's  all  the  fighting  about?  barriers.  With  the  home  market  stabi- 

Much  of  it,  of  course,  is  mere  showman-  lized,  domestic  production  would  be 

ship.  Domestic  troubles  are  borne  more  supplemented  wherever  needed  with 

easily  if  the  masses  can  be  excited  to  foreign  trade.  Thus  foreign  trade  would 

fear  of  other  countries.  National  inter-  serve  as  a  stimulant,  and  not  be  the  life 

ests  are  defined  much  more  simply  in  blood  of  the  system.  In  case  of  economic 

times  of  war.  Since  the  major  difficul-  emergency,  in  event  of  war,  both  im- 

ties  of  each  of  these  dictatorships  were  ports  and  exports  could  be  cut  off  and 

economic  how  natural  to  preach  the  doc-  the  life  of  the  nation  would  go  on. 

trine  of  economic  war,  that  selfish  in-  Under  privations  of  course,  but  never 


STRONG  ARM  ECONOMICS 


349 


again  would  a  foreign  blockade  bring 
the  proud  Reich  to  her  knees. 

If  this  desire  for  economic  invulnera 
bility  has  been  the  dream  of  both  Hitler 
and  Mussolini  it  has  been  a  positive 
nightmare  for  the  Bolsheviks.  The  ever- 
lessening  possibility  of  World  Revolu 
tion  confronted  the  Soviets  with  the 
horrifying  spectacle  of  dependence  upon 
a  capitalist  world.  In  1928,  with  the 
fear  of  war  in  the  Far  East,  they  could 
wait  no  longer.  Economic  self-sufficiency 
had  to  be  achieved  or  they  might  as  well 
pack  away  their  red  banners  in  moth 
balls.  The  laying  of  an  industrial  base 
that  would  guarantee  socialist  construc 
tion  in  the  future,  even  in  case  of  war, 
economic  blockade  or  another  interven 
tion,  was  the  goal  of  the  Five  Year  Plan. 
Once  that  was  attained  production  could 
be  tuned  to  the  needs  of  the  masses,  im 
ports  and  exports  balancing  one  another, 
and  with  the  advantage  of  being  di 
rected  by  a  Plan,  they  would  soon  out 
strip  capitalist  countries. 

If  planned  national  economies  could 
be  waved  into  existence  with  a  magi 
cian's  "presto,"  no  one  would  object. 
On  paper  any  of  these  three  systems 
reads  much  more  attractively  than  a 
description  of  the  present  order  of 
things.  But  when  it  comes  to  the  actual 
boiling-down  stage  that  inspiring  paper 
outline  does  very  little  good.  Achieving 
self-sufficiency  tends  to  become  a  crude 
Procrustean  process,  a  lopping  off  here, 
a  bit  of  a  stretch  there,  in  the  effort  to 
achieve  a  balanced  economy.  More 
specifically,  only  one  policy  presents 
itself  to  self-sufficers  and  that  is  to  stimu 
late  home  development,  to  restrict  im 
ports  and,  if  only  to  provide  a  comfort 
able  margin  to  pay  off  international 
commitments  and  to  account  for  mis 
takes,  to  stimulate  exports — in  other 
words  to  buy  as  little  and  to  sell  as  much 


as  is  possible.  But  import  restrictions 
provoke  reprisals,  and  the  political 
pressure  of  the  internal  dislocations 
caused  by  government  intervention 
must  force  those  in  power  to  stimulate 
exports  even  more  feverishly — for  a 
wider  margin  of  safety  becomes  indis 
pensable.  Before  long  a  policy  aiming  at 
securing  a  defensive  self-sufficiency  is 
converted,  under  the  pressure  of  con 
flicting  politics,  into  a  regimented  eco 
nomic  offensive. 

in 

Does  this  analysis  fit  the  facts?  The 
short  wheat  crops  in  Italy  of  1923  and 
1924  necessitated  extraordinarily  large 
imports  and  was  one  of  the  factors  that 
made  for  the  financial  crisis  that  fol 
lowed.  With  the  stabilization  of  the  lira 
Mussolini  began  his  Battle  of  Wheat,  in 
an  effort  to  secure  a  guaranteed  food 
source  for  the  nation.  Under  this  policy 
of  stimulating  food  production,  the 
major  portion  of  Italy's  liquid  capital — 
never  very  plentiful — was  invested  in 
agriculture,  land  reclamation  and  public 
works.  The  stabilization  of  the  lira  had 
had  a  deflationary  effect  upon  most 
Italian  industries,  whose  capital  struc 
tures  had  been  inflated  under  wartime 
pressure.  Unable  to  secure  the  neces 
sary  funds  to  tide  them  over,  many 
enterprises  were  forced  to  shut  down 
completely,  and  the  number  of  busi 
nesses  which  the  Government  had  to 
take  over  increased  steadily.  By  1931 
the  state  had  become  the  largest  indus 
trial  shareholder  in  Italy. 

Intervention  in  one  sphere  produced 
dislocations  elsewhere,  and  the  steady 
decline  in  world  trade  as  a  result  of 
mounting  trade  barriers  forced  an  ever 
increasing  state  interference.  For  the 
first  few  years  of  the  depression,  largely 
through  its  ability  to  adjust  production 


350  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

costs,  Italy  enjoyed  an  advantage  in  strain  of  these  increased  imports  could 
world  competition.  But  as  unemploy-  be  balanced  only  by  a  substantial  export 
ment  forced  wage  levels  down  in  other  surplus.  But  instead  the  exact  reverse 
countries  that  slight  edge  gradually  had  taken  place.  For  political  reasons 
disappeared,  and  when  England,  Amer-  (the  Jewish  boycott  and  the  diversion 
ica  and  other  nations  left  the  gold  stand-  of  trade  by  Russia,  Central  Europe  and 
ard  Italy  found  herself  at  a  decided  France)  and  for  economic  reasons  (the 
disadvantage.  But  exports  had  to  be  competition  of  devalued  currencies) 
pressed  to  correct  an  adverse  trade  bal-  Germany's  foreign  trade  had  been  cut 
ance,  and  to  save  the  lira.  In  May  of  this  to  the  vanishing  point, 
year  Italian  wages  were  reduced,  Mus-  Internally  the  Reich  had  done  some 
solini  appealing  to  the  nation  to  accept  peculiar  things,  particularly  with  its 
the  cut  as  indispensable  if  Italy  were  to  farmers.  Agriculture  had  been  corn- 
continue  in  the  struggle  for  world  pletely  regimented  and  food  prices 
markets.  raised  considerably.  Although  unem- 

When  the  Five  Year  Plan  was  ployment  had  been  reduced,  most  of  the 
launched  no  Bolshevik  thought  that  relief  had  been  accomplished  through 
within  three  years  every  capitalist  na-  spreading  the  work  and  the  purchasing 
tion  in  the  world  would  be  howling  power  of  individuals  tended  to  decline, 
against  "dumping"  and  "forced  labor."  Rising  food  prices  and  declining  pur- 
Tremendous  imports  of  machinery  in  chasing  power  do  not  make  for  a  bal- 
the  first  years  of  the  Plan  soon  saddled  anced  economy,  particularly  when  there 
Russia  with  a  sizable  foreign  debt.  Pay-  is  a  drought  to  force  prices  still  higher, 
ment  of  those  debts  was  made  increas-  and  a  raw  material  shortage  and  for- 
ingly  difficult  by  the  deepening  of  the  eign  trade  difficulties  to  force  wages 
depression.  Markets  were  not  obtained  lower.  To  stave  off  collapse  Germany 
so  easily.  The  fall  in  the  price  of  raw  had  to  force  exports  at  all  costs.  That 
materials  had  been  greater  than  the  process  is  going  on  now.  As  I  write  this 
drop  in  finished  products  and  Russia  article,  the  morning's  paper  contains  the 
was  exporting  primary  materials  and  statement  of  Dr.  Schacht  that  "every 
importing  machinery  and  similar  equip-  preference  will  be  given  to  exports  over 
ment.  To  meet  those  payments  Russia  domestic  trade." 

had  to  sell — and  she  did,  her  export  This  gearing  of  production  to  inter- 
monopoly  earning  the  distinction  of  national  competition,  and  the  internal 
being  called  the  "red  trade  menace."  dislocations  which  efforts  for  self-suffi- 

In  Germany  the  transition  from  a  ciency  have  brought  with  them,  have 

self-sufficiency  aimed  at  defending  the  done  fearful  things  to  the  standards  of 

home  market  to  an  offensive  national-  living  in  each  of  the  countries  j  and  also 

ism  directed  at  storming  the  ports  of  to  the  capital  structure.  Economic  na- 

the  world  has  come  about  much  more  tionalism  tends  to  limit  the  amount  of 

rapidly.  And  so  the  process  is  clearer,  available  capital  in  a  country  by  cutting 

With  Hitler's  accession  to  power  an  off  international  lending,  by  restricting 

internal  boom  was  launched,  necessi-  the  total  volume  of  trade,  by  imposing 

tating  large  imports  of  raw  materials,  a  check  upon  the  profit  instinct  and  by 

Germany's  international  debt  commit-  directing    investment    along    political 

ments  were  already  enormous,  and  the  lines.  Under  a  system  of  strong  arm 


STRONG  ARM  ECONOMICS  351 

economics    investment    policy    is    not  reasons.  No  capital  structure,  however 

guided  by  profit  instincts  but  by  "politi-  expansive,  can  stand  such  a  strain  of  un- 

cal  necessity."  Thus  the  cost  of  the  Bat-  economic  financing  for  long,  and  the 

tie  of  Wheat  was  far  greater  than  if  drain  on  capital  funds  must  be  offset  by 

Italy  had  gone  into  the  world  market  forcing  people  to  work  harder  for  less, 

and  bought  an  equivalent  number  of  That,  of  course,  is  precisely  what  has 

bushels.  happened  in  Italy  under  Fascism.  And 

Italy  has  gone  so  deeply  into  the  sink 

IV  that   Mussolini   has  already  sounded 

This  non-capitalistic  tendency — I  use  this  warning: 

the  term  capitalistic  not  in  a  labor  sense  "People  must  put  aside  the  idea  of 

but  simply  as  the  investing  of  capital  returning  to  the  old  days  of  prosperity 

on  a  profit  basis — has  not  helped  the  — prosperity  which  became  the  ideal  of 

worker,  not  in  Italy  under  Fascism,  not  men  as  men  had  nothing  else  to  do  in 

in  Germany  under  National  Socialism,  life  than  to  accumulate  money.  We  are 

nor  in  Soviet  Russia  under  Commu-  bound  perhaps  towards  a  period  of  hu- 

nism.  In  each  of  these  three  countries  manity  leveled  to  a  lower  standard  of 

the  standard  of  living  has  been  de-  living." 

pressed   terrifically,   and   if   one   con-  Russia  offers  a  slightly  different  pic- 

siders  the  waste  involved  in  their  system  ture,  although  much  the  same  thing  has 

of  economics  the  reasons  become  ap-  befallen  her  capital  structure.  All  the 

parent.  factories  and  power  dams  that  were 

In  Italy  every  cent  of  available  capi-  erected  during  the  Five  Year  Plan,  like 
tal,  savings  bank  deposits,  commercial  Mussolini's  public  works  and  land  rec- 
balances,  insurance  and  trust  funds,  has  lamation  projects,  offered  no  immedi- 
been  mobilized  and  invested  at  the  ate  economic  return.  Payment  was  made 
state's  guidance.  The  turnover  of  money  by  forcing  exports,  by  sweating  them 
has  been  quickened,  not  in  the  form  of  out  of  the  hides  of  the  people.  Inflation 
trade  through  the  hands  of  the  people,  of  currency  provided  the  Bolsheviks 
but  as  investments  through  the  banks,  with  a  novel  way  of  balancing  their 
Italian  capital  has  been  invested  chiefly  budgets.  After  imports  had  been  met, 
in  long-time  projects  like  land  reclama-  the  rest  of  the  goods  were  turned  over 
tion  and  public  works.  A  reasonable  to  the  people.  Wages  were  paid  simply 
number  of  these  projects  eventually  will  by  printing  ever  increasing  quantities  of 
pay  for  themselves  j  others  have  been  rubles,  and  prices  were  adjusted  to  the 
undertaken  to  "make  work"  and  are  quantities  of  commodities  on  sale, 
sheer  waste  of  capital  j  but  practically  However,  there  is  one  important 
none  of  them  provides  any  sort  of  eco-  difference  between  Russia  and  Italy, 
nomic  return  at  present.  This  abnormal  Mussolini  stimulated  agriculture,  Stalin 
investment  in  long-term  improvements  industry.  Mussolini,  so  far,  has  forced 
is  a  distinct  strain  upon  the  capital  struc-  his  people  to  pay  only  in  part  for  those 
ture.  Demands  for  exports  increase  that  projects 5  the  Russians  have  almost  corn- 
burden.  Debts  have  to  be  paid,  and  they  pletely  paid  for  their  Five  Year  Plan, 
are  being  paid  in  larger  quantities  of  Italy  followed  a  deflationary  policy, 
goods — a  good  share  of  those  goods  is  restricting  economic  expansion,  Russia 
being  produced  at  a  loss  for  political  inflated  and  industrialized  a  backward 


352  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

agricultural  land.  A  larger  portion  of  it  will  mean  a  lower  standard  of  living, 
the  Italian  sacrifice  was  wasted  in  the  Laissez-faire  economists  have  always 
bureaucracy  of  the  Corporate  State,  in  admitted  that  a  certain  amount  of  de- 
financing  uneconomic  projects.  The  Rus-  struction  was  inherent  in  their  system 
sians  paid  more,  but  they  have  more  to  of  economics.  But  they  argued  that  in  a 
show  for  their  sacrifice.  While  Italy  constantly  expanding  universe,  with 
seems  destined  to  be  chained  to  a  low  booming  industrialization  sweeping  the 
standard  of  living  for  a  generation,  the  world,  the  creation  of  new  capital,  the 
Bolsheviks  can  confidently  proclaim  steady  increase  in  economic  wealth, 
that  henceforth  their  standard  of  life  would  more  than  offset  the  waste  of 
will  rise.  competition  and  blunders.  As  long  as  the 
It  is  impossible  to  predict  what  the  world  had  faith  in  itself  things  did 
results  of  National  Socialism  will  be  in  work  out  in  pretty  much  that  way.  But 
Germany,  but  that  the  capital  structure  a  new  era  is  dawning.  And  the  introduc- 
of  the  country  will  be  subjected  to  the  tion  of  planned  national  economies  is  to 
same  drain  as  in  Italy  and  Russia  is  al-  do  away  with  all  that  waste  which  the 
ready  clear.  Largely  as  a  result  of  the  liberal  economists  tolerated  with  such 
tremendous  work  creation  programme,  smugness.  Our  new  school  of  strong 
and  various  other  unemployment  re-  arm  economists  probably  recognize  that 
lief  subsidies — programmes  essentially  a  certain  amount  of  uneconomic  con- 
uneconomic — the  banks  have  been  struction  must  be  undertaken,  but — in 
loaded  down  with  the  Government's  theory — that  is  to  be  paid  for  by  elimi- 
I.O.U's.  As  long  as  there  is  not  too  great  nating  the  exorbitant  capitalist  profits 
a  demand  for  money  the  banks  are  safe,  of  the  old  order.  That  sounds  fine.  In  a 
But  should  there  be  a  run  on  the  banks  world  made  up  of  nationally  self-suifi- 
these  drafts  would  be  thrown  back  upon  cient  units  it  might  work.  But  in  a  world 
the  Reichsbank,  which  would  have  to  like  ours,  which  is  bound  together  by  a 
issue  currency  to  meet  them.  Whether  terrific  debt  structure  and  by  the  in- 
inflation  takes  place  in  this  manner,  or  stinct  of  progress,  isn't  it  possible  that 
through  a  ruinous  subsidy  of  exports,  or  the  waste  of  economic  nationalism,  the 
through  devaluation,  Germany  seems  loss  in  curbing  economic  expansion  and 
destined  to  have  another  currency  deba-  in  adjusting  dislocations  will  prove 
cle.  The  little  capital  that  survived  the  greater  than  that  of  the  old  system? 
last  inflation  will  be  dissipated — is  being  The  experiments  with  strong  arm  eco- 
dissipated  now  in  uneconomic  projects —  nomics  in  Italy,  Russia  and  Germany 
and  it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  Ger-  have  proven  that  the  waste  under  such 
many  will  have  a  fairly  perpetual  infla-  a  system  can  be  greater  than  the  waste 
tion  in  the  Russian  manner.  Of  course  of  laissez-faire. 


Has  the  Supreme  Court 
-     Abdicated? 

BY  ALPHEUS  THOMAS  MASON 

The  decisions  upholding  New  Deal  legislation  have  led  some 

people  to  believe  that  the  Court  may  relinquish  its 

powerful  hold  on  our  government 

N  OBSCURE  and  insolvent  mort-  Those  who  favor  the  New  Deal  as 
gagee  in  Minnesota  by  the  well  as  those  who  oppose  it  find  corn- 
name  of  Blaisdell,  and  a  New  fort  in  the  majority  opinions.  The  op- 
York  grocer  who  gave  away  a  loaf  of  timists  look  fondly  on  those  paragraphs 
bread  with  two  bottles  of  nine-cent  in  which  Chief  Justice  Hughes  points 
milk,  played,  during  the  last  session  of  to  the  Court's  growing  appreciation  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  a  significant  role  in  public  needs  and  of  the  necessity  of 
the  legal  development  of  our  country,  finding  ground  for  a  rational  compro- 
The  New  Deal  legislation  is  under  the  mise  between  individual  rights  and 
microscope  of  the  judiciary  and  dissent-  public  welfare.  They  approve  his  recog- 
ing  Supreme  Court  justices  record  nition  of  "an  increased  use  of  the  or- 
minority  opinions  with  a  note  of  con-  ganization  of  society  in  order  to  protect 
firmed  desperation.  "If  the  provisions  the  very  bases  of  individual  opportu- 
of  the  Constitution  can  not  be  upheld,"  nity."  Opponents  of  the  Roosevelt 
Mr.  Justice  Sutherland  complains  in  legislative  programme  are  encouraged 
the  Minnesota  Moratorium  Case,  by  the  stress  which  the  Chief  Justice 
"when  they  pinch  as  well  as  when  they  places  upon  the  emergency  character  of 
comfort,  they  may  as  well  be  aban-  the  Minnesota  legislation,  but  this  em- 
doned."  In  a  similar  vein,  Mr.  Justice  phasis  is  noticeably  absent  from  the 
McReynolds  predicts,  in  the  New  York  more  recent  decision  in  the  New  York 
Milk  Case,  that,  "the  adoption  of  any  Milk  Case.  The  explanation  may  be 
concept  of  jurisprudence  which  permits  that  it  was  in  the  interval  between  these 
facile  disregard  of  the  Constitution  as  two  decisions  that  the  President  an- 
long  interpreted  and  respected,  will  in-  nounced  the  permanence  of  NRA.  At 
evitably  lead  to  its  destruction."  Both  any  rate,  if  these  cases  do  not  support 
minority  and  majority  judges  agree  advocates  of  revolutionary  change, 
that  few  cases  of  greater  moment  have  neither  do  they  support  conservatives 
been  submitted  during  this  generation,  who  contend  that  no  such  legislative  in- 


354 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


novations  can  be  valid  save  in  an  emer 
gency. 

But  the  deeper  and  more  funda 
mental  issue  is  not  whether  the  New 
Deal  will  stand  or  fall.  To  the  minority 
mind,  the  disturbing  aspect  of  these  de 
cisions  is  their  threat  to  the  existence  of 
the  Constitution  itself,  and  to  our 
unique  and  venerable  principle  of  judi 
cial  review.  Our  Tory  judges  doubt 
whether  these  institutions  will  survive 
such  strain  as  the  economics  of  recovery 
and  reconstruction  are  bound  to  place 
upon  them.  Of  real  significance,  too,  is 
the  fact  that  Supreme  Court  justices 
now  recognize  so  openly  that  the 
Constitution  is  not  a  self-declaring 
document,  and  that  in  constitutional 
interpretation  judges  may  mold, 
change  or  even  destroy  the  Constitution 

This  is  a  far  cry  from  the  original 
and  official  theory  of  judicial  review, 
which  was  unostentatiously  originated 
by  John  Marshall  in  1 803  to  realize  an 
ideal  closest  to  the  hearts  and  minds  of 
the  founding  fathers — "a  government 
of  laws  and  not  of  men."  To  permit 
Congress  to  determine  the  limits  of  its 
own  powers,  Marshall  argued,  "would 
be  giving  to  the  legislature  a  real  and 
practical  omnipotence."  But  should  the 
Supreme  Court  review  congressional 
legislation,  administrative  acts,  and 
State  court  decisions  involving  the 
Constitution,  the  Court  would  not 
be  placed  in  any  perilous  suprem 
acy  because,  the  great  Chief  Justice 
observed,  "it  is  emphatically  the 
province  and  duty  of  the  judicial 
department  to  say  what  the  law 
is." 

That  is  the  official  and  plausible 
theory  of  judicial  review.  No  problem 
of  construing  an  oracular  Constitu 
tion  is  involved  j  constitutional  inter 


pretation  consists  in  finding  meanings 
which  can  be  clear  only  to  judges.  To 
judges  the  meaning  of  the  Constitu 
tion  is  obvious,  but  to  others,  even 
legislators,  its  meaning  is  hidden  and 
obscure.  These  outsiders  have  not 
this  transcendental  wisdom.  The  only 
final  and  authoritative  mouthpiece  of 
the  Constitution  is  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  its  every  version,  gleaned  from  a 
sort  of  "brooding  omnipresence  in  the 
sky,"  has  the  special  virtue  of  never 
mangling,  distorting  or  changing  the 
original  instrument. 

Presidential  nominations  to  the  Su 
preme  Court  have  frequently  cast 
doubt  on  the  admirable  simplicity  of 
this  analysis.  In  conference  Chief 
Justice  Taft  himself  confessed  to  the 
Court:  "I  have  been  appointed  to  re 
verse  a  few  decisions,"  and,  chuckling, 
"I  looked  right  at  old  man  Holmes 
when  I  said  it."  "The  Constitution 
today,"  Senator  Wagner  remarked  in 
the  debates  on  the  nomination  of 
Judge  John  J.  Parker  in  1930,  "is  what 
the  judges  of  the  past  have  made  it 
and  the  Constitution  of  the  future 
will  be  what  the  judges  appointed  in 
our  day  will  make  it."  Felix  Frank 
furter,  Harvard  Law  School  and 
Brain  Trust,  put  the  same  idea  more 
tersely:  "The  Supreme  Court  is  the 
Constitution."  Perhaps  judges  them 
selves  now  see  that  the  Constitution 
has  been,  and  is,  essentially  a  contriv 
ance  of  their  own  making.  Its  pro 
visions  mean  in  actual  cases  what  the 
judges  say  they  mean}  and  what  the 
judges  say  will  be  determined  by 
various  forces,  by  whatever  social, 
political  and  constitutional  theories 
the  members  of  the  bench  may  then 
entertain.  The  jelly  has  to  take  the 
shape  of  the  mold  in  which  it  is  set 
to  cool. 


HAS  THE  SUPREME  COURT  ABDICATED? 


355 


ii 


During  our  earlier  constitutional 
development  the  relation  of  the  States 
to  the  national  government  was 
shaped  by  Chief  Justice  Marshall's 
zeal  for  national  power  and  suprem 
acy.  A  soldier  who  followed  Wash 
ington  would  not  see  the  Federal 
System  weakened.  The  early  land 
mark  cases,  McCulloch  v.  Maryland, 
Gibbons  v.  Ogden,  Cohens  v.  Vir 
ginia,  the  Dartmouth  College  Case, 
the  Charles  River  Bridge  Case,  etc., 
were  primarily  political  and  theoreti 
cal — not  legal.  The  future  develop 
ment  of  our  country  hung  on  whether 
the  Constitution  was  regarded  as  a 
compact  between  States  or,  as  Mar 
shall  insisted,  an  ordinance  of  the  peo 
ple  of  the  United  States.  The  doctrine 
of  "implied  powers,"  together  with 
Marshall's  broad  construction  of  the 
commerce  clause,  enabled  Congress  to 
adapt  the  strength  of  government  to 
swiftly  changing  economic  and  social 
conditions.  Without  some  such  broad 
theory  of  legislative  eminence,  the  his 
tory  of  our  country  must  have  been 
sadly  altered.  Certainly  congressional 
authority  necessary  to  deal  with  the 
present  emergency  would  be  wanting. 
Upholding  national  supremacy,  Mar 
shall  argued  that  States  are  powerless  to 
tax  Federal  instrumentalities  and  agen 
cies,  but  this  would  not,  in  his  opinion, 
deny  the  right  of  the  national  govern 
ment  to  tax  State  governmental  agen 
cies.  "The  difference,"  Marshall  ex- 
;  plained,  "is  that  which  always  exists, 
and  always  must  exist,  between  the  ac 
tion  of  the  whole — between  the  laws  of 
I  a  government  declared  to  be  supreme, 
;  and  those  of  a  government  which,  when 
|  in  opposition  to  those  laws,  is  not  su 
preme."  After  Marshall's  death  in 


1835,  a  Court  headed  by  Chief  Justice 
Taney  substituted  the  doctrine  of  dual 
sovereignty  for  that  of  national  suprem 
acy.  No  express  provision  in  the  Con 
stitution  prohibited  Congress  from 
taxing  the  means  and  instrumentalities 
of  the  States,  nor  was  there  any  prohib 
iting  the  States  from  taxing  means  and 
instrumentalities  of  the  national  govern 
ment.  In  both  cases  the  exemption 
rested  upon  a  necessary  implication. 
And  in  respect  to  its  reserved  powers, 
Taney  insisted  that  "the  State  is  as  sov 
ereign  and  independent  as  the  general 
government."  Times  and  judges  had 
changed. 

On  rights  of  property  and  contract 
the  judges'  divergence  of  theoretical 
approach  to  problems  of  constitutional 
law  is  again  controlling.  Marshall  be 
lieved  so  strongly  in  the  sanctity  of  pri 
vate  contracts  that  in  the  face  of 
precedents  against  invoking  applicable 
constitutional  provisions,  he  conjured 
up  natural  law — "general  principles 
which  are  common  to  our  free  institu 
tions" — and  expanded  the  obligation  of 
contract  clause  to  unheard-of  dimen 
sions,  all  to  protect  vested  rights  from 
State  legislative  interference.  He  thus 
placed  charitable  and  educational  in 
stitutions  out  of  the  reach  and  control 
of  arbitrary  and  tyrannical  legislative 
majorities,  but  he  put  equally  strong 
constitutional  safeguards  around  the 
modern  business  corporation.  And  quite 
incidentally  he  annexed  to  the  Constitu 
tion  the  vague  and  vast  domains  of 
natural  law. 

In  modern  industrial  society  no  such 
doctrine  could  stand  unchallenged.  The 
first  qualification  was  made  in  the  fa 
mous  Charles  River  Bridge  Case  where 
it  was  held  that  rights  of  contract  must 
be  strictly  construed  and  that  the  public 
can  grant  away  no  rights  or  privileges  by 


356  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

mere  implication.  The  interests  of  so-  tive  matter  free  from  judicial  control, 
ciety  and  the  power  of  the  State  to  pro-  On  whether  facts  warranted  the  legis- 
tect  health,  morals,  safety  and  general  lature  in  regulating  grain  elevator 
welfare  must  prevail  over  any  private  charges,  the  Court  took  the  position  that 
rights  whatsoever.  This  established  the  "if  a  state  of  facts  could  exist  that  would 
doctrine  of  police  power,  which  Mr.  justify  such  legislation,  it  actually  did 
Justice  Holmes  defines  as  extending  to  exist  when  the  statute  under  consid- 
all  great  public  needs.  The  result  is  eration  was  passed."  And  if  the  State 
seen  today  in  the  Minnesota  Mora-  should  fix  unreasonable  rates,  the  Court 
torium  Case  where  police  power  was  ruled  that  "the  people  must  resort  to 
used  as  the  basis  for  upholding  legisla-  the  polls,  not  to  the  Courts." 
tion  regulating  existing  contractual  "Due  process"  in  legislation  was  held 
agreements,  "not  for  the  mere  advan-  to  require  merely  due  legislative  pro- 
tage  of  particular  individuals  but  for  cedure,  but  this  view  was  abandoned  by 
the  protection  of  a  basic  interest  of  1890  and  the  Court  began  to  interpret 
society."  "due  process"  not  only  as  requiring  a 
A  new  phase  of  the  Court's  history  particular  form  of  procedure  but  also  as 
began  in  1866  with  the  Fourteenth  fixing  substantive  limitations  upon  the 
Amendment  which  was  forced  upon  State's  legislative  power.  The  Court  be- 
the  country  by  a  radical  Republican  gan  "to  look  at  the  substance  of  things" 
Congress,  who  believed  that  despite  and  to  inquire  "whether  the  legislature 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation  and  the  has  transcended  the  limits  of  its  author- 
Thirteenth  Amendment  the  South  ity."  These  are  ominous  words, 
would  keep  the  black  man  in  serfdom  No  one  can  overestimate  the  in- 
and  out  of  Republican  politics.  To  place  creased  power  and  responsibility  thus 
the  civil  rights  of  the  Negro  under  con-  acquired  by  the  Court.  Declining  the 
gressional  protection,  the  "privileges  role  of  censor  under  the  "privileges  and 
and  immunities"  clause  was  put  in  the  immunities"  clause,  it  subsequently 
amendment  and  Congress  given  author-  made  itself,  under  the  "due  process" 
ity  to  make  it  effective.  If  this  purpose  clause,  the  final  judge  of  the  State's  eco- 
had  been  shared  by  the  Court  the  Fed-  nomic  and  social  policy.  Refusing  a 
eral  basis  of  our  government  would  lesser  area  of  power  the  Court  thus  an- 
have  been  overthrown,  with  Congress  nexed  regions  of  indefinite  extent.  With 
controlling  strictly  internal  affairs  in  few  scientifically  certain  criteria  of  legis- 
Southern  and  other  States.  The  Court  lation  it  was  difficult  to  mark  any  line 
believed  the  Federal  system  should  be  where  State  police  power  was  not  lim- 
preserved.  It  refused  "to  fetter  and  de-  ited  by  the  Constitution.  In  a  new  case 
grade  the  State  governments  by  sub-  the  judge  was  free  to  decide  much  as  he 
jecting  them  to  the  control  of  Con-  pleased  and  his  choice  usually  turned  on 
gress,"  and  declined  to  be  "a  perpetual  whether  a  certain  political,  economic  or 
censor  upon  all  legislation  of  the  social  policy  did  or  did  not  find  favor  in 
States."  This  view  was  religiously  fol-  his  eyes, 
lowed  in  the  early  Granger  Cases  where  The  crying  need  for  some  means  of 
the  Court  stood  for  non-interference  in  preventing  the  judges  in  due  process 
legislative  rate-making,  claiming  that  cases  from  reading  into  the  Constitution 
fixing  public  utility  rates  was  a  legisla-  a  nolumus  mutare  as  against  the  law- 


HAS  THE  SUPREME  COURT  ABDICATED?              357 

making  power  led  Mr.  Louis  D.  Bran-  fact  that  it  has  long  been  obvious  to 
deis  in  1908  to  introduce  a  new  many  intelligent  persons,  including  Su- 
brief-making  technique.  For  once  the  preme  Court  Justices,  that  lawyers  and 
Supreme  Court  was  presented  with  ar-  judges  are  not  any  better  equipped  to 
gument  devoted  not  to  legal  dialectic  decide  the  advisability  of  such  legisla- 
and  judicial  precedents  but  to  worldly  tion  than  are  the  legislators  themselves, 
facts  and  statistics  showing  the  need  for  The  due  process  clause  is  not  the  only 
the  legislation  urged.  At  first  the  Court  siren  voice  which  has  led  justices  abroad 
commended  the  Brandeis  brief;  in-  in  pursuit  of  their  ideas  of  economic  and 
creased  liberalism  and  a  period  of  judi-  social  Utopia.  In  the  Sugar  Trust  Case 
cial  self-abnegation  were  heralded.  But  of  1895  congressional  power  under  the 
often  such  material  actually  gave  the  commerce  clause  was  so  narrowly  con- 
Court  but  one  more  weapon  with  which  strued  as  practically  to  render  the  Sher- 
to  strike  down  offensive  legislation.  Be-  man  Anti-Trust  Act  useless.  If  a  combi- 
sides  those  granite  concepts  of  "liberty,"  nation  of  manufacturers  admitted  to 
and  "property,"  on  which  pioneer  social  control  ninety-eight  per  cent  of  the 
legislation  such  as  minimum-wage,  sugar  output  in  the  United  States  did 
hours-of-labor  and  price-fixing  laws  was  not  come  under  the  Sherman  Law,  it  is 
wrecked,  the  Court  fortified  decisions  hard  to  see  how  any  combination  could, 
with  its  own  statistics.  Obviously  the  A  number  of  Supreme  Court  opinions 
remedy  lies  not  in  judicial  study  of  facts  plus  acts  of  Congress  have  been  re- 
and  statistics  but  rather  in  return  to  the  quired  to  undo  this  single  judicial  blind- 
rule  of  judicial  toleration  followed  in  ness  to  the  facts  of  a  changing  social 
the  Granger  Cases.  A  reversion  to  this  order.  In  the  Income  Tax  Cases  the 
doctrine  is  clearly  indicated  in  recent  same  court  undertook  to  correct  a  "cen- 
cases.  tury  of  error,"  and  placed  incomes  as 
The  Court  solemnly  disclaims,  in  the  such  beyond  the  reach  of  national  taxa- 
New  York  Milk  Case,  any  purpose  to  tion  until  the  Sixteenth  Amendment 
continue  the  policy  of  translating  its  over  twenty  years  later,  and  even  then 
personal  opinions  into  constitutional  this  amendment  was  not  permitted  to 
principles.  "With  the  wisdom  of  the  mean  what  its  words  say.  Though  Con- 
policy  adopted,"  Justice  Roberts  ob-  gress  was  authorized  to  tax  incomes 
serves,  "with  the  adequacy  or  practica-  "from  whatever  source  derived,"  the 
bility  of  the  law  enacted  to  forward  it,  court  has  ruled  that  incomes  from  State 
the  Courts  are  both  incompetent  and  un-  and  municipal  bonds  "and  the  salaries  of 
authorized  to  deal."  One  likes  to  have  Federal  court  judges  are  still  exempt, 
the  Court  speak  thus  after  severe  criti-  In  the  1 8  90*8  it  also  came  to  pass  that 
cism  of  its  having  proceeded  on  exactly  if  property  was  threatened  by  labor 
the  opposite  principle  for  over  forty  activities,  every  resource  of  national 
years ;  after  sturdy  individualists,  such  executive  and  judicial  power  was  avail- 
as  Brewer,  Field,  Peckham  and  Suther-  able  for  its  safeguard.  Business  men  in 
land,  have  delayed  and  sometimes  pre-  creasingly  sought  protection  in  the 
vented  our  legislatures  from  dealing  equity  courts  whenever  property  or 
with  pressing  problems  along  lines  set  property  rights  were  thus  endangered, 
by  the  proved  experience  of  other  in-  Labor  struggled  to  rid  itself  of  this  cos- 
dustrial  nations.  And  this  despite  the  mic  injunction  incubus  and  seemingly 


358  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

important  congressional  legislation  was  judicial  review  is  the  need  in  a  federated 

secured  in  the  Clayton  Act  of  1914,  but  system,  especially  one  so  vast  and  va- 

the    Supreme    Court's    interpretation  ried,  for  an  authority  to  settle  conflicts 

turned  it  into  a  gold  brick.  Not  until  the  between  State  and  Federal  government. 

Norris-LaGuardia  and  National  Recov-  Mr.  Justice  Holmes  said  in  1913,  "I  do 

ery  Acts  (1932-33)  has  Congress  tried  not  think  the  United  States  would  come 

seriously  to  withdraw  judicial  power  to  an  end  if  we  lost  our  power  to  declare 

from  the  industrial  struggle,  and  thus  an  Act  of  Congress  void.  I  do  think  the 

"to  establish  the  equality  of  position  be-  Union  would  be  imperiled  if  we  could 

tween  the  parties  in  which,"  as  Justice  not  make  the  declaration  as  to  the  laws 

Holmes  said,  "liberty  of  contract  be-  of  the  several  States."  Judicial  review 

gins."  enables  the  court  to  insist  that  law  ex 
press  something  more  than  the  will  of 
this  or  that  section  of  the  country,  this 

All    this    has    attracted    attention  or  that  economic  interest.  The  Court 

enough.  Apologists  and  eulogists  have  can  require  that  law  embody  the  moral 

rallied  to  the  Court's  support  urging  conviction  of  our  entire  society,  that 

that  judicial  review,  unlike  British  par-  legal  right  and  moral  right  ultimately 

liamentarism,  furnishes  protection  for  coincide. 

private  rights  against  even  legislative  When  one  considers  important  cases 

majorities.  One  may  doubt  this  conten-  in  which  the  Supreme  Court  seems  now 

tion.  The  Fifth  and  Fourteenth  Amend-  to  have  been  mistaken,  it  is  indeed  re- 

ments  gave  property  interests  formi-  markable  that  its  powers  and  prestige 

dable  constitutional  safeguards  against  have    been    maintained    unimpaired, 

social    legislation,    but    the    so-called  Chisholm  v.  Georgia  was  corrected  by 

fundamentals  of  free  assembly,  speech  the  Eleventh  Amendment  barring  suits 

and  expression  have  been  no  more  se-  by  an  individual  against  a  State  except 

cure  in  the  United  States  than  else-  with  the  latter's  consent,  but  it  took  the 

where,  especially  in  times  of  crisis.  Wit-  Civil  War  to  overrule  the  obiter  dicta 

ness  the  tyrannies  of  Ku  Klux  Klan,  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision.  The  ruling 

Espionage  Acts  and  of  such  Supreme  in  the  Pollock  Case  was  recalled  by  the 

Court  decisions  as  the  Schwimmer  and  Sixteenth  Amendment,  though  not  al- 

Mclntosh  cases.  European  minorities  together  effectively.  The  Sugar  Trust 

have  usually  fared  better,  or  did  until  decision  has  long  since  been  abandoned 

the  rise  of  Fascism  and  Sovietism.  Nor  by  the  Court  itself,  and  if  the  National 

has  property  always  been  paid  the  ex-  Recovery  Act  is  allowed  to  stand,  prece- 

pected  deference.  Property  rights  in  dents    established    in    the    Minimum 

slaves  and  in  liquor  were  annihilated  Wage  Case  and  in  Hammer  v.  Dagen- 

without  being  paid  for,  although  Great  hart,  where  the  first  Child  Labor  Act 

Britain  compensated  such  losses.  With  was  disallowed,  must  be  abolished  root 

us  the  erstwhile  property-owner  enjoys  and  branch.  If  one  applies  the  pragmatic 

only  such  consolation  as  he  may  gain  test  whether  Congress  or  the  Court  has 

from  living  in  a  community  which  thus  proved  itself  the  better  judge  of  law  as 

rises  to  higher  moral  standards  at  his  to  some  most  important  issues  wherein 

expense.  they  have  differed,  the  odds  are  cer- 

Perhaps  the  strongest  argument  for  tainly  with  Congress. 


HAS  THE  SUPREME  COURT  ABDICATED?              359 

To  the  credit  of  judicial  review  must  is  as  good  as  it  is  inevitable.  It  is  impor- 
be  placed  accomplishments  the  impor-  tant  only  that  that  choice  be  made  in 
tance  of  which  it  is  difficult  to  overesti-  clear  awareness  of  historical  events,  of 
mate.  Before  the  Civil  War  judicial  social  and  economic  conditions  and  of 
review  not  only  preserved  the  national  human  life,  as  well  as  of  legal  prece- 
government's  existence  against  jealous  dents.  In  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Justice 
States'  localism  but  also  laid  founda-  Stone,  "intimate  acquaintance  with 
tions  for  government  power,  national  every  aspect  of  the  conditions  which  give 
and  State,  without  which  the  problems  rise  to  the  regulatory  problems  are  in- 
of  our  industrial  society  could  not  be  finitely  more  important  to  the  Court 
handled  at  all.  After  the  Civil  War  the  than  are  the  citations  of  authorities  or 
Court  saved  the  States  themselves  from  the  recital  of  basic  formulas."  The  dan- 
destruction  at  the  hands  of  an  arbitrary,  ger  is  that  dogmas  and  doctrines  may 
partisan  and  senseless  Congress.  These  control  the  judges'  thought  and  bar  es- 
are  achievements  of  positive  and  perma-  sential  facts  from  entrance  into  his  mind, 
nent  worth.  Judicial  review  has  erected  the  Court 

The  entire  history  of  the  Court  stands  into  a  third  legislative  chamber.  The 

therefore  as  a  denial  of  the  basic  theory  justices  have  dealt  decisively  with  the 

on  which  judicial  review  rests.  Judicial  wisdom  and  unwisdom  of  political,  so- 

review  requires  more  than  the  discovery  cial  and  economic  policies.  In  unguarded 

of  meanings  obvious  only  to  judges ;  it  moments  certain  judges  have,  on  these 

presents  rather  a  problem  of  constitu-  very  grounds,  expressly  condemned 

tional  construction,  and  that  of  a  docu-  legislation  before  them.  Justice  Brewer 

ment  which  is  anything  but  clear.  Un-  once  said  that  "the  paternal  theory  of 

derlying  any  theory  of  construction  and  government"  was  "odious"  to  him.  Jus- 

strongly  motivating  judicial  decisions  tice  Field  described  the  Income  Tax  law 

(especially  in  due  process  cases)  is  some  of  1893  as  "an  assault  upon  capital"; 

sort  of  a  fundamental  social  or  political  Justice  Peckham  denounced  the  New 

philosophy.  One  judge  may  hold  that  York  Bake-Shop  law  as  "mere  meddle- 

men  by  taking  thought  can  remedy  or  some  interferences  with  the  rights  of  the 

at  least  alleviate  the  misfortunes  and  individual."  These  judges  purported  to 

sufferings  of  mankind ;  that  the  state  be  declaring  the  law  and  applying  the 

should  protect  the  weak  against  the  Constitution,  contending  that  they  were 

strong.  Another  may  answer  that  there  powerless  to  do  more.  But  in  Nebbia  v. 

are  certain  natural  laws  at  work.  Al-  New  York  a  dissenting  Supreme  Court 

though  pitiless  and  severe  in  achieving  judge  insisted  openly  that  the  Court 

perfection,  these  must  operate  without  should  consider  legislation  not  only  in 

state  interference,  the  assumption  being  terms  of  power,  but  also  in  terms  of 

that  "unfettered  individual  initiative"  policy.  "But  plainly,"  Mr.  Justice  Mc- 

yields  a  maximum  of  universal  good.  Reynolds  declares,  "I  think  this  Court 

It  becomes  increasingly  evident  that  must  have  regard  to  the  wisdom  of  the 

judicial  interpretation  can  not  eliminate  enactment."  The  fact  is  that  the  Court 

the  personal  bias  of  the  interpreter  be-  has  never  entirely  closed  its  eyes  to  the 

cause  that  interpretation  is  based  upon  wisdom  or  foolishness  of  legislative  pol- 

that  bias.  Emotions  great  or  small  com-  icy.  The  Court's  discretionary  veto  over 

pel  the  judge  to  choose  his  side,  and  this  legislation  may  be  exercised  mildly  or 


360  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

rigidly,  depending  not  upon  constitu-  truly  when  he  wrote  Spencer  Roane: 

tional  provisions  nor  upon  any  statable  "The  Constitution  is  a  thing  of  wax  in 

rule,  but  rather  upon  the  social-political  the  hands  of  the  judiciary  which  they 

philosophy  then  held  by  a  majority  of  may  twist  and  shape  into  any  form  they 

the  justices.  please."   If  the  Roosevelt  legislative 

programme    be    declared    unconstitu- 

IV  tional  the  decision  will  not  be  necessi- 

In  this  lies  the  key  to  the  whole  mat-  tated  by  the  Constitution  but  deter- 
ter.  It  was  not  the  provisions  of  the  Con-  mined  by  the  philosophy  of  five  or  more 
stitution,  not  the  foundations  of  the  justices  who  disbelieve  in  the  Adminis- 
fathers,  that  were  being  overthrown  in  tration's  policy.  It  is  almost  unthinkable 
the  recent  Nebbia  and  Blaisdell  cases  that  a  majority  of  the  Court  will  set 
but  only  the  then  dissenting  view  of  aside  any  substantial  legislative  effort  to 
what  constitutes  sound  economic  and  deal  with  an  emergency  which  Justice 
social  policy.  Nor  does  the  theory  that  Brandeis  characterized  as  "more  serious 
triumphs  now  over  minority  protests  than  war."  During  less  trying  times, 
enjoy  any  sure  permanence.  The  Court  Chief  Justice  White  admitted  that  the 
long  ago  sustained  equally  radical  meas-  Court  "relaxed  constitutional  guaran- 
ures,  workmen's  compensation  legisla-  tees  from  fear  of  revolution."  Judicial 
tion,  State  wage  laws,  emergency  rent  interposition  now  would  mock  our  gov- 
laws  prohibiting  a  landlord  from  evict-  ernmental  system  and  elevate  the  Su 
ing  a  tenant  even  after  the  expiration  of  preme  Court  to  a  dictatorship  unparal- 
the  lease,  and  an  act  of  Congress  arbi-  leled  even  in  this  day  of  dictators.  The 
trarily  fixing  the  hours  and  wages  of  the  American  people  are  little  likely  to 
employes  of  interstate  carriers,  a  power  tolerate  that.  They  are  more  likely  to 
which  might  conceivably  be  extended  to  dethrone  the  Court, 
every  interstate  industry.  But  these  The  sum  of  it  is  that  judicial  review 
precedents  did  not  embarrass  the  Court  today  represents  an  effort  exercised  in- 
later  on  in  setting  aside  minimum  wage  termittently  since  Aristotle  to  secure 
laws  for  women,  a  law  fixing  the  resale  the  rule  of  law  as  opposed  to  the  rule 
price  of  theatre  tickets  by  ticket  scalpers,  of  men.  Where  other  constitutional  gov- 
laws  preventing  exploitation  of  the  un-  ernments  achieve  legislative  responsi- 
employed  by  employment  agencies,  and  bility  by  using  an  executive  power  to 
other  similar  measures.  dissolve  parliament,  we  employ  judicial 

As  Justice  Roberts's  opinion  indicates,  review.  Holding  to  the  ancient  theory 

the  Court  may  relinquish  for  a  time  its  that  law  is  discovered,  not  made,  judi- 

self-made  role  as  arbiter  of  State  and  cial  review  stands,  President  Coolidge 

national  legislative  policies,  and  this  declared,  "as  the  aptest  instrument  for 

will  be  all  to  the  good.  But  why  think,  the  discovery  of  law,"  discovered  of 

as  certain  commentators  do,  that  these  course  by  lawyers  and  judges.  But  we 

1934  decisions  will  make  it  difficult  for  have  not  secured  thereby  a  government 

the  Court  to  recover  the  ground  it  has  of  laws,  but  only  a  system  wherein  all 

relinquished,   or  that  judicial   review  law  must  conform  to  certain  standards 

will    fall   into    innocuous    desuetude?  of  constitutional  morality  determined 

Thomas  Jefferson  in  1819  spoke  more  in  the  Supreme  Court  by  nine  men. 


1  Last  Testament 

BY  GRENVILLE  VERNON 
A  Story 

y  w  S^HE  pain  in  her  heart  had  almost  "Happy  is  he  who  can  keep  the  end  of 

disappeared  and  her  throat  no  his  life  a  piece  with  its  beginning."  Yes. 

JtL   longer  seemed  stopped  with  cot-  She  had  succeeded  in  this.  Everything 

ton-wool.  That  was  a  relief  at  least  and  she  had  done,  experienced,  had  grown 

relief  was  all  she  could  hope  for  now.  spontaneously  from  what  had  gone  be- 

She  rose  from  the  couch  and,  moving  fore,  and  in  turn  had  given  birth  to  what 

slowly  across  the  room,  seated  herself  had  followed.  There  had  been  no  loose 

at  her  dressing-table,  then  gazed  quietly  ends,  no  tags  of  unresolved  regrets.  Her 

into  the  depths  of  the  mirror,  a  gaze  no  triumphs  and  failures  alike  had  had 

longer  inquiring  but  ironical.  How  fresh  meaning,  had  at  once  been  the  justifica- 

her  skin  was — scarcely  a  line  in  her  tion  of  her  past  and  the  seeds  of  her 

throat  or  under  her  eyes — yet  she  never  future — the  parts  she  had  sung,  the  men 

used  make-up  nor  had  the  lines  been  who  had  loved  her,  the  men  whom  she 

obliterated  by  the  surgeon's  knife.  Even  had  loved. 

the  beautiful  softness  of  her  hair  seemed  The  men  whom  she  had  loved — out- 

to  give  the  lie  to  the  whiteness  of  its  side  the  window  the  oleander  seemed  to 

color,  to  the  fact  that  within  a  year  she  be  bending  toward  her,  and  beyond  and 

would  be  sixty.  At  the  thought  the  irony  far  below  the  waters  of  the  bay  were 

in  her  gaze  deepened  and  she  whispered  darkening  from  blue  to  purple  as  the 

to  herself  correctingly:  "Would  have  sun  slid  behind  the  olive-crested  hills, 

been."  She  knew  now  that  she  would  No  longer  was  she  gazing  into  the  mir- 

never  reach  it.  Just  an  hour  ago  Dr.  ror.  She  had  cupped  her  chin  in  her 

Gautier  had  left,  and  with  him  the  hands,  and  her  eyes  were  far  away,  fol- 

specialist  from  Paris.  They  had  told  her  lowing  the  thoughts  which  began  to  rise 

the  truth — and  yet  somehow  she  had  from  her  brain,  one  after  another,  jos- 

known  it  all  along — ever  since  the  pain  tling  each  other  gently,  floating  across 

had  begun  six  months  ago.  She  asked  her  dressing-table,  out  the  open  window, 

herself  why  she  had  for  once  turned  to  From  her  brain — it  was  odd  that  they 

outside  confirmation  to  prove  to  herself  came  from  there,  yet  not  odd,  for  her 

what  she  had  known.  It  seemed  so  silly  brain  had  been  only  the  sanctuary  where 

after  all  these  years — and  the  fulness  of  her  memory  had  stored  them — their 

her  life.  The  fulness  of  her  life — she  birthplace  had  been  her  heart.  Her  poor 

thought    of    the    words    of    Goethe:  exhausted  heart,  which  was  to  end  her 


362  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

because  it  had  lived  too  much !  And  now  It  had  been  a  colder  sea,  and  there  had 

she  smiled.  There  was  comfort  in  that  been  no  olives  on  the  hills,  but  pines, 

at  least.  She  had  lived  and  loved  and  and  in  the  air  the  breath  of  the  Arctic 

suffered,  and  that  she  must  pay  could  was  never  far  away.  Richard — he  had 

bring  no  regret.  The  men  whom  she  had  been  that  to  her,  and  she  alone  had 

loved —  called  him  by  his  full  name,  for  to  his 

family  and  friends  he  was  Dick.  That 
summer  she  had  been  thirty-nine,  and 

Only  the  week  before  she  had  read  of  he  twenty-two.  In  after  years  she  always 
the  death  of  Jean,  the  Romeo  to  her  remembered  him  in  his  little  yacht, 
Juliet,  the  Faust  to  her  Marguerite,  bronzed  and  laughing-eyed,  grasping 
The  Paris  Opera,  Covent  Garden,  the  the  tiller  while  she  attended  to  the  main- 
Metropolitan — how  the  memories  had  sheet,  or,  when  there  was  no  wind,  re- 
thronged  to  her  when  she  had  laid  clining  on  a  cushion  at  the  bottom  of  the 
down  the  newspaper.  He  had  lived  boat,  her  head  against  his  knees.  Attend- 
fully  but  never  wastefully.  He  had  been  ing  to  the  main-sheet,  how  that  had 
honest  and  that  in  the  theatre  was  rare  amused  her;  it  had  been  so  utterly 
indeed.  But  then  he  had  never  been  different  from  anything  she  had  ever 
really  of  the  theatre  j  great  artist  that  known  before — or  since.  Richard's  six 
he  was,  he  had  been  a  great  gentleman  feet,  and  his  litheness,  and  his  strong 
first,  a  great  gentleman  by  birth,  but  arms  were  meant  for  action,  and  a 
also  in  the  things  of  the  spirit.  He  had  proper  mate  should  love  action  too. 
been  a  devout  Catholic.  It  had  been  that  That  summer  she  had  been  such  a  mate, 
which  had  separated  them  in  the  end.  sailing  or  walking  over  the  hills, 
He  had  a  wife,  an  invalid  who  never  through  the  woods  of  pine  and  fir.  The 
left  her  chair,  but  the  Church  permitted  artist  in  her  had  meant  nothing  to  him  j 
no  divorce.  Yet  it  hadn't  been  only  that,  the  only  songs  he  cared  for  were  the 
for  the  weak  and  helpless  had  for  him  music-hall  ditties  of  the  time,  and  one 
a  sacredness.  It  had  not  been  for  nothing  or  two  mid-century  sentimental  ballads, 
that  his  Polish  ancestors  had  followed  And  she  had  been  happy  that  this  was 
Saint  Louis  to  the  Crusades.  Had  he  so,  for  she  knew  that  he  loved  her  for 
been  able  he  would  have  married  her,  herself  alone. 

and  she  would  have  been  happy  as  his  Of  course  he  had  asked  her  to  marry 

wife.  But  he  had  gone  back  to  the  him — a  dozen  times — youth  always  does 

Church     irrevocably.     It     had     been  — and  of  course  she  had  refused.  And 

strangely  appropriate  that  the  greatest  yet  he  had  meant  much  to  her — youth, 

Tristan  of  his  age  had  ended  by  singing  which  was  hers  no  longer,  innocent  and 

Parsifal.  Yes.  Jean  had  loved  her.  Had  gay  and  brave.  For  the  first  weeks  he 

she  loved  him — really — as  he  deserved?  had  been  alone  at  the  hotel,  and  their 

The  room  was  darkening  now.  Far  happiness  had  been  unalloyed.  Later 

out  in  the  bay  a  fishing  boat  was  making  his  parents  had  joined  him — his  father, 

for  port,  the  white  of  its  sail  already  successful,  pompous  and  a  little  vulgar  j 

dulled  against  the  sombre  water.  Some-  his  mother,  obese,  vain  and  affected, 

how  her  thoughts  had  joined  the  boat,  Surely  there  was  nothing  of  either  of 

tacking  homeward  in  the  evening  light  them  in  their  son.  His  mother  had  at 

— and  suddenly  she  remembered  why.  once  disliked  her,  but  his  father  had 


LAST  TESTAMENT  363 

been  pleased  to  be  seen  with  a  famous  he  had  said  brutally,  and  she  hadn't 
prima  donna,  and  had  tried  to  make  been  angry.  No  true  artist  could  be 
love  to  her.  When  she  repulsed  him  he  angry  with  him  for  an  artistic  judgment, 
had  pouted  pompously.  For  all  his  mil-  for  he  knew  and  never  lied.  In  art  ut- 
lions  he  was  a  fool,  and  he  had  no  idea  terly  ruthless,  in  life  perhaps  an  egoist, 
that  his  son  was  her  lover.  He  had  in-  he  yet  could  be  as  tender  as  women  are 
sisted  on  going  to  the  railroad  station  supposed  to  be,  and  as  men  sometimes 
to  see  her  off,  and  when  she  had  kissed  are.  There  had  never  been  any  question 
Richard  good-bye,  the  father's  face  had  of  marriage  between  them,  though  his 
been  a  study.  It  looked  as  if  its  owner  wife  was  dead  and  his  children  married, 
had  just  received  notice  of  bankruptcy  yet  while  their  affair  had  lasted  she  had 
proceedings.  Richard  had  written  her  looked  at  no  other  man.  The  summer 
many  letters,  but  she  had  never  an-  she  met  Richard  she  had  intended  to 
swered  them.  She  had  seen  him  only  sail  for  Europe  in  August  to  meet  San- 
once  afterwards,  years  later,  and  then  dor  in  Budapest,  but  Richard  had 
she  realized  that  he  had  become  his  stopped  it.  Now,  her  chin  cupped  in 
father's  son.  He  was  stout,  divorced  her  hands,  she  asked  herself  why.  Why, 
and  had  just  made  a  killing  in  the  mar-  too,  she  had  told  Sandor  about  Richard 
ket.  There  was  a  wistful  look  in  his  eyes  in  a  letter,  a  letter  written  after  she  had 
when  he  saw  her,  but  it  was  all  that  re-  left  Richard,  and  had  decided  never  to 
called  the  boy  she  had  loved.  She  often  see  him  again.  Had  it  been  that  she  her- 
wondered  afterward  if  she  could  have  self  was  a  complete  egoist,  that  she  had 
saved  him.  received  from  Sandor  all  that  her  art 
It  was  odd  that  a  boy  like  Richard  required?  But  Sandor  himself  hadn't 
should  have  caused  her  break  with  San-  accused  her  of  this.  He  had  simply  writ- 
dor,  Sandor  who  was  everything  that  ten  back:  "The  Norns  spin  the  skein  of 
Richard  wasn't;  a  man  of  fifty,  an  artist,  all  our  fates."  For  half  a  dozen  years 
the  greatest  she  had  ever  known.  What  afterwards  she  had  sung  under  his  ba- 
was  deepest  in  her  art  she  had  owed  to  ton,  and  never  had  she  read  in  his  eyes 
Sandor,  the  man  whose  soul  of  fire  was  rebuke,  or  regret,  or  even  irony, 
controlled  by  a  will  of  iron  and  a  brain 
of  ice.  She  had  never  known  another 

mind  of  such  clarity  and  of  such  insight  The  shadows  now  were  thick  about 
into  the  meaning  of  a  work  of  art.  her,  but  she  didn't  switch  on  the  electric 
Fragile-looking  as  he  was,  his  powers  light.  On  her  writing  desk  were  two 
of  endurance  were  tremendous.  Black-  candlesticks,  and,  rising,  she  lighted  the 
browed,  near-sighted,  his  features  posi-  candles  in  them,  then  seated  herself  in 
tively  ugly,  he  reigned  in  the  conduc-  an  arm-chair.  The  shadows  and  can 
tor's  stand  unique  and  alone,  scorning  die-light — that  had  been  Michael,  who 
the  aid  of  a  score,  with  each  note  and  believed  in  the  Little  People,  and  who 
effect  imprinted  in  his  brain.  He  had  had  seen  them  and  talked  with  them, 
taught  her  the  Desdemona  of  Verdi,  A  great  poet,  the  greatest  in  Ireland, 
Eva,  Elizabeth,  Melisande,  but  when  many  said  the  greatest  in  the  world.  He 
she  had  wished  to  sing  Isolde  he  had  had  been  the  second  man  in  her  life, 
forbidden  her,  and  she  had  obeyed.  She  had  met  him  just  after  her  debut 
"Your  voice  is  not  of  the  heroic  mold,"  in  Brussels ;  he  had  entered  her  dress- 


364  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

ing-room  without  introduction.  He  was  since  they  had  parted,  on  the  anniver- 
tall  and  gaunt  and  his  long  locks  fell  sary  of  the  day  when  he  had  walked 
over  his  forehead,  and  at  that  time  he  into  her  dressing-room  unannounced, 
was  practically  unknown.  His  courtship  she  received  from  him  a  sprig  of  laurel, 
had  been  the  weirdest  she  had  ever  Only  three  weeks  before  the  last  one 
known ;  he  turned  up  always  at  the  most  had  come.  She  wondered  if  his  black 
unexpected  times,  and  often  said  the  hair  now  was  gray?  He  had  been  only  a 
most  uncomplimentary  things,  yet  at  year  older  than  she  when  they  had  met, 
the  end  of  her  engagement  at  the  Opera  but  even  then  his  age  seemed  timeless, 
he  had  carried  her  away  to  Ireland.  His  She  stirred  a  little  in  her  chair.  Raoul 
love  for  her  had  been  only  half  of  this  — it  was  the  very  contrast  which  made 
earth.  He  would  sit  for  hours  in  utter  her  think  of  him — Raoul,  the  realist,  the 
silence  facing  her  across  the  huge  room  joyous  cynic,  the  Frenchman  'par  ex- 
of  the  tumble-down  castle  he  had  cellence — Raoul,  the  dare-devil  pilot  of 
bought,  and  then  suddenly  would  begin  Verdun  and  the  Somme.  She  had  been 
to  talk  to  her  as  if  she  existed  only  partly  in  her  middle  forties  when  she  had  met 
in  the  flesh.  He  told  her  he  had  loved  him,  and  Raoul  had  been  twenty-five  j 
her  as  soon  as  he  had  seen  her  on  the  but  like  Michael  he  too  was  ageless, 
stage  because  he  recognized  that  she  was  though  in  a  different  way.  The  French- 
half  fey.  And  when  she  protested  that  man  is  born  without  illusions,  those  il- 
her  feet  were  very  much  on  the  earth,  lusions  which  give  charm  to  the  Anglo- 
he  shook  his  black  locks,  and,  with  a  Saxon  youth,  and  Raoul  was  not  only 
smile  which  seemed  utterly  divorced  French  but  a  Parisian  as  well.  Laughter 
from  life  as  it  is  lived  by  sensuous  be-  — that  had  been  his  keynote,  but  it  was 
ings,  he  had  said  that  those  who  were  a  laughter  of  the  brain  and  the  senses, 
only  half  fey  never  knew  it  until  their  not  of  the  soul.  He  had  never  expected 
hour  of  death.  Yet  with  it  all  he  had  to  come  out  of  the  War  alive,  but  the 
been  the  most  complete  lover  she  had  realization  seemed  to  amuse,  even  to 
ever  known,  for  his  mysticism  only  exhilarate  him.  She  was  sure  that  he 
heightened  his  sensuality.  There  was  a  always  fought  smiling,  that  when  he  at 
keen  irony  in  the  thought  that  it  was  last  crashed  above  Peronne,  the  smile 
because  of  him  that  she  would  be  re-  was  with  him  till  he  struck  the.  earth, 
membered  finally.  Her  triumphs  in  the  The  first  time  she  had  bade  him  good- 
opera  would  be  forgotten  when  the  last  bye  she  had  wept,  but  each  time  after 
person  who  had  heard  her  had  died,  but  she  too  had  smiled  j  and  the  last  time — 
one  sonnet  Michael  had  written  her  was  it  was  at  the  front  where  she  had  been 
already  in  the  anthologies,  and  would  singing  in  the  camps — she  had  waved  to 
be  read  and  loved  as  long  as  the  Ian-  him  as  he  soared  away.  The  imminence 
guage  existed.  They  had  broken  because  of  death  had  put  no  tragic  mark  upon 
he  had  finally  wanted  her  to  give  up  the  his  brow,  and  when  he  flew  toward  his 
stage  and  live  with  him  in  his  castle,  end  she  was  glad  that  her  final  salute 
But  she  knew  that  banshees  and  other  had  been,  like  his,  gay. 
Little  People  would  be  their  chief  com 
panions,  as  Michael  detested  visitors  IV 
when  he  was  in  the  creative  mood,  and  It  was  dark  now  outside.  No  longer 
that  was  not  at  all  to  her  liking.  But  ever  could  she  see  the  oleander  beyond  her 


LAST  TESTAMENT  365 

window,  but  the  lighthouse  on  the  cape  honest  is  unique.  Yes.  Life  hadn't  been 
showed  its  flashing  golden  beam.  Raoul,  kind  to  him,  and  now  that  she  had  so 
who  had  left  her  to  die  had  been  the  short  a  time  to  live  she  must  atone,  must 
last.  It  had  been  fitting  so.  It  was  odd  make  him  happy  once  again,  must  tell 
that  not  until  now  had  she  thought  of  him  that  it  was  he  and  he  alone  whom 
Peter,  Peter,  who  had  been  the  first,  she  had  really  loved.  The  paper  and  the 
She  had  met  him  when  she  was  studying  ink  were  before  her.  She  stretched  out 
singing  in  New  York,  and  Peter  lived  her  hand  and  took  the  pen. 
in  the  same  house,  and  was  trying  to 
write.  There  had  been  nothing  unusual  PETER  DEAREST: 
in  Peter  except  his  sympathy  and  his  Do  you  remember  me,  or  am  I  just  a 
belief  in  her.  Yet  he  had  been  the  rock  wraith  which  once  existed  and  is  no 
that  had  sustained  her  during  those  more?  The  doctors  tell  me  I  have  only  a 
hard-fought,  sometimes  hopeless  days,  few  weeks  to  live — perhaps  less  than 
She  had  given  herself  to  him,  fully  that — and  so  I  am  writing  to  you  to  tell 
realizing  what  she  was  doing,  because  you  that  through  all  these  years  it  has 
she  needed  him.  It  was  he  who  had  been  your  love  that  has  lain  deepest  in 
tried  to  resist,  and  to  give  him  courage  my  heart,  the  thing  which  counted  more 
she  had  laughed  at  him.  How  well  she  than  anything  else,  more  than  my  fail- 
remembered  his  room,  so  bare  and  ures,  far  more  than  my  triumphs.  I  love 
famished-looking,  with  the  shoes,  which  you  now.  I  have  always  loved  you.  I  say 
he  tried  to  polish  himself,  but  which  this,  I  swear  it  to  you  as  my  life  is  flow- 
always  seemed  to  be  resting  with  muddy  ing  from  me,  and  the  ghostly  shadows 
soles  under  the  bed  or  in  dusty  corners,  reach  out  their  fingers  toward  me.  I  love 
She  had  tried  continually  to  straighten  you — 
the  room  out  for  him,  but  when  she  re 
turned  to  it  disorder  had  always  again  The  only  sound  under  the  flickering 
taken  its  sway.  He  had  no  sense  of  form  candle-light  was  the  scratching  of  her 
at  all.  It  had  been  the  fault  with  his  pen.  Only  at  last  when  she  had  ended  a 
writing,  and  he  never  succeeded  in  sell-  sigh  escaped  her  as  she  signed  the  one 
ing  anything.  But  she  had  loved  him.  word — "Elaine." 
Yes.  She  was  sure  of  that.  They  had  She  sat  very  still,  the  tears  in  her  eyes 
eaten  together  scanty  meals,  and  had  blurring  the  words  as  she  reread  them, 
gone  to  concerts  in  the  gallery,  and  had  Then  slowly  her  hand  went  out  again 
been  standees  at  the  Metropolitan.  and  touched  the  pen. 

As  she  thought  of  Peter  tears  for  the 

first  time  came  into  her  eyes.  He  had  v 

never  succeeded.  She  had  heard  that  he  The  morning  breeze  coming  through 

was  the  editor  of  a  country  newspaper  the  open  window  stirred  the  papers  on 

somewhere  in  New  York  State,  and  the  desk,  and  as  the  maid  entered  the 

somewhere  in  an  old  note-book  was  his  draught  blew  two  of  the  sheets  to  the 

address.  And  suddenly  she  knew  that  floor.  But  the  figure  seated  at  the  desk 

she  must  write  to  him,  to  him,  the  first  didn't  stir.  The  maid  crossed  the  room, 

man  she  had  ever  loved.  And  for  all  his  then,    returning,   stopped   beside   her 

failure  was  it  not  he  whom  she  had  loved  mistress, 

the  best?  After  all  first  love  when  it  is  "Madame,"  she  said.  And  then  again 


366 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


when  there  was  no  response — "Ma 
dame." 

Still  there  was  no  movement,  and 
this  time  the  maid  glanced  curiously 
at  her.  She  was  still — so  utterly  still 
— as  if  she  never  would  move  again. 
And  suddenly  the  maid  gave  a  little 
cry — as  if? 

"Madame !  Madame ! "  she  cried,  this 
time  in  panic.  And  then  she  knew. 

She  had  been  with  her  many  years, 
and  very  gently  now  she  touched 
her  forehead.  The  pen  was  still  in 
her  hand,  and  under  it  was  a  sheet  of 


paper,  a  letter.  And  the  maid  read: 

MICHAEL  DEAREST: 

Do  you  remember  me,  or  am  I  just 
a  wraith  which  once  existed  and  is  no 
more?  The  doctors  tell  me — 

And  over  the  desk  were  strewn  three 
other  letters,  and  each,  except  for  the 
name  which  began  it,  was  exactly  like 
the  others.  The  names  were  Raoul  and 
Peter  and  Sandor.  And  when  the  maid 
picked  up  the  sheets  the  wind  had  blown 
on  to  the  floor,  the  names  on  them  were 
Jean  and  Richard. 


Holiday  on  Parnassus 

BY  H.  W.  WHICKER 

Some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  American  young  men  and  women 

are  matriculating  now  in  college;  here  is  advice  on 

how  they  should  face  the  four  years  ahead 


WHEN,  in  the  fall  of  1915,  I 
passed  through  the  ordeal 
of  university  matriculation, 
there  was  a  fairly  stable  social  order  in 
America,  or  at  least  it  appeared  so  on 
the  surface;  and  though  the  big  guns 
were  booming  in  far-away  Europe, 
there  seemed  to  be  some  likelihood  that 
this  social  order  would  continue  stable 
to  the  end  of  time.  Psychology  was  sel 
dom  heard  outside  the  tent  of  the  pat 
ent-medicine  "colonel"  y  no  one  knew 
anything  about  the  technique  of  indus 
trialized  education,  for  there  was  no 
such  thing.  College  professors  were 
quite  often  learned  gentlemen  who  had 
gone  deeply  into  abstractions  relating 
more  to  the  spirit  of  life  and  living  than 
to  what  contributes  to  the  profit  and 
glory  in  what  man  does;  but  that,  of 
course,  was  in  a  comparatively  primitive 
day  when  professors  were  teachers  in 
stead  of  mill  workers  pulling  a  lot  of 
pulpwood  and  a  little  oak  off  the  in 
stitutional  green-chain  to  grade  it  alike 
for  the  market — a  market  which,  by 
the  way,  is  now  cursed  with  all  the 
afflictions  production  with  little  or  no 
thought  of  distribution  has  brought 
upon  all  other  markets. 

Generally  speaking,  the  universities 


of  that  era  gained  their  prestige  for  rea 
sons  other  than  football  winnings,  en 
rolment  increase  and  imposing  archi 
tectural  concrete.  There  were  not  so 
many  of  us  on  the  campus  then.  Those 
with  intellectual  yearnings  made  the 
pilgrimage  to  Parnassus  for  considera 
tion  of  elements  and  principles  involved 
in  living;  those  whose  yearnings  were 
otherwise  went  elsewhere  and  were 
none  the  worse  for  it — some  of  the  lat 
ter,  in  fact,  are  both  rich  and  famous 
now.  Matriculation  over,  we  were 
turned  loose  to  browse  according  to  our 
inclination  in  the  meadowlands  of  learn 
ing.  Our  Alma  Mater  had  the  wisdom 
to  assume  that  we  were  men  and  women 
in  the  making,  and  that  a  natural  un 
folding  from  within  would  ultimately 
determine  what  we  were  to  be,  if  she 
provided  an  atmosphere  favorable  to 
our  growth  and  sympathetic  of  our 
efforts  to  find  ourselves.  Later  we  might 
enter  any  one  of  the  professions,  busi 
ness,  industry,  the  law,  medicine,  bank 
ing,  the  arts,  letters,  or,  in  case  we  could 
hold  our  place  in  nothing  else,  teaching. 
White  collar  jobs  were  plentiful  and 
college-educated  men  few.  We  had 
nothing  to  worry  about  on  that  score, 
or  so  we  thought  at  the  time.  We  were 


368  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

given  to  understand,  wherever  we  him  forth.  We  have  heard  no  end  of 
turned,  that  there  was  a  great  deal  of  nonsense  spoken  about  the  virtues  and 
beauty  and  goodness  in  life  if  we  could  vices  of  youth  and  listened  to  spirited 
only  discover  it  through  the  calm  and  attacks  and  spirited  defenses  without 
repose  of  intellectual  living.  The  prof es-  getting  anywhere  in  the  problem, 
sions  were  secondary,  something  to  Youth,  his  critics  of  the  older  genera- 
which,  in  due  time,  we  would  gracefully  tion  lament,  is  a  rounder  in  sex,  an 
adjust  ourselves,  and  which,  in  turn,  inebriate  in  drinking,  a  liar  and  a  thief, 
would  yield  us  the  material  substance  a  conscienceless  cheat  in  examinations 
and  economic  security  necessary  for  the  and  a  transgressor  along  any  forbidden 
making  of  homes  and  the  rearing  of  path;  but  the  older  generation,  I  pro- 
children.  It  was  all  very  simple.  None  test,  is  also  reluctant  to  follow  the  rocky 
of  the  gentle  old  gray-beards  of  my  stu-  road  of  righteousness.  The  older  gen- 
dent  days  could  have  predicted  our  en-  eration  is  not  wholly  clean  sexually,  as 
trance  into  the  World  War,  the  moral  current  scandals  show  in  the  divorce 
confusion  and  social  disintegration  of  courts.  Reputable  business  men  did  most 
the  boom  days  of  the  Harding-Coolidge  of  the  drinking  during  the  Prohibition 
epoch,  and  the  great  collapse  of  the  era,  and  they  are  not  infrequently  drunk 
Hoover  Administration,  one  that  left  at  the  wheels  of  stream-lined  cars  now. 
civilization  as  near  chaos  as  she  has  ever  Any  advertisement  or  radio  announce- 
been.  ment  is  apt  to  be  blatant  with  the  false- 
For  more  than  four  years  an  eff erves-  hood  and  misrepresentation  of  our  more 
cence  has  been  going  on  in  the  vat  of  mature  citizenry  in  the  distribution  of 
human  conduct.  It  is  probable  that  every  their  commodities  to  the  consumer, 
social  ingredient  of  the  ages  will  soon  While  youth  may  crib  for  academic 
be  lost  somewhere  in  the  fermentation,  credit,  the  older  generation  looks  to 
What  we  shall  lift  to  our  lips  in  the  cup  politics  for  graft,  resorts  to  bribery  and 
of  living  five  years  hence  no  one  can  say.  collusion  for  air  mail  contracts,  counte- 
The  past  has  no  lamp  with  light  strong  nances  fraud  on  the  stock  market  and 
enough  to  guide  us  through  the  uncer-  justifies  any  means  by  the  end  of  profit, 
tainties  of  the  near  future.  There  is  a  though  the  homes  of  others  are  sacri- 
hopeless  babel  of  experts  and  authori-  ficed  and  thousands  plunged  into  pov- 
ties  amid  the  wreckage,  and  the  best  erty  and  squalor.  Not  one  charge  can  be 
they  can  do  is  disagree.  Little  wonder  brought  against  youth  that  may  not  with 
that  matriculation  should  leave  the  greater  propriety  be  laid  at  the  doors 
youth  of  today  utterly  bewildered!  His  of  age.  Youth,  however,  is  far  more  im- 
mind  is  as  chaotic  as  the  period  that  pressionable  than  age,  whose  senses  are 
made  him.  dulled  by  time  and  blunted  by  the  blows 

of  circumstance;  and  that  being  the  case, 
it  is  only  fair  to  regard  the  youth  of  any 

Now  if  we  are  to  understand  the  period,  notably  the  present,  as  a  corn- 
matriculant  of  today  at  all,  and  appre-  posite  of  the  social  trends  and  tendencies 
ciate  his  problems,  and  bear  with  him,  of  its  day. 

as  indeed  he  is  forced  to  bear  with  us,  Predominant  notes  and  obsessions  in 

we  must  look  critically  at  the  social  or-  national  life  from  the  close  of  the  World 

der  and  educational  system  that  brought  War  to  the  great  collapse,  the  period 


HOLIDAY  ON  PARNASSUS                              369 

responsible  for  the  present  generation,  no  instruction  at  all.  Countless  form 

were  mass  production,  ruthless  competi-  blanks  had  to  be  filled  out  with  statistics 

tion,  spectacular  exhibitionism,  political  of  production.  Workers  in  the  system 

corruption  and  organized  crime,  blind  had  no  time  for  the  subjects  upon  which 

optimism    and    hostility    to    criticism,  the  system  was  originally  founded.  Per- 

These  were  the  quicksands  into  which  sonal  contact  was  lost  in  the  volume 

most  of  our  essential  institutions  were  flow  of  the  human  raw  material,  the 

miring  long  before  the  stock  crash  of  whole  of  which  had  to  be  machined  out 

October,  1929,  and  the  subsequent  panic  in  standardized  patterns,  veneered  in 

revealed  the  full  extent  of  our  disaster,  keeping  with  popular  concepts  of  an  age 

The  American  home  was  the  first  in-  on  the  verge  of  madness,  and  labeled 
stitution  to  feel  the  full  force  of  the  according  to  pre-determined  percent- 
hurricane  that  swept  down  upon  us  from  ages  of  value  foisted  upon  the  system 
the  World  War.  It  became  a  lunch  by  the  educational  psychologist  who 
counter  and  sleeping  accommodation  for  was  in  reality  its  efficiency  expert.  The 
parents  whose  time  and  vital  energy  worker's  personal  attention,  if  any,  went 
went  into  any  activity  but  the  rearing  not  into  the  worthy  and  deserving  raw 
of  children.  Parents  washed  their  hands  material  before  him  but  into  misfits  and 
of  the  young  they  had  borne  and  shifted  psychiatric  problem  cases  having  no 
the  responsibility  for  their  upbringing  more  legitimate  claim  upon  him  than 
upon  the  public  schools.  Simultaneously  has  chaff  upon  the  thresherman  who  dis- 
mass  production  wrapped  its  tentacles  cards  it.  This  drove  the  educational 
around  the  educational  system  just  as  it  laborer  into  reform  activity  j  it  added 
had  around  industry.  The  educator  was  the  blight  of  corrective  supervision  to 
not  the  author  of  the  system  in  which  the  interfusion  of  factory  and  nursery 
he  labored,  he  was  its  first  victim  j  it  was  and  gave  the  plant  the  atmosphere  of  a 
necessary  for  him  somehow  to  care  for  reformatory. 

ever  increasing  student  hordes  j  he  had  Most  colleges  and  universities  sup- 
to  push  them  through  in  order  to  clear  ported  by  public  funds  were  subject  to 
his  boards  for  others  j  mass  production  the  same  pressure  j  and  that  they  are 
methods  were  his  only  possible  solution,  now  adopting  similar  methods  of  ad- 
Circumstances  permitted  him  no  selec-  justment  to  the  situation  is  indicated  by 
tivityj  democracy,  whose  shadow  is  a  general  lowering  of  educational  stand- 
absolutism,  tolerated  no  distinctions  be-  ards  to  admit  the  totality  of  the  second- 
tween  human  wheat  and  human  chaff  ary  school  output.  Thus  at  a  time  when 
and  refused,  on  the  theory  of  human  a  young  man  is  in  the  fulness  of  his 
equality,  to  recognize  any.  These  de-  physical  and  spiritual  vigor,  moved  by 
velopments  soon  changed  the  secondary  generous  warmths  and  loyalties,  over- 
school  system  from  an  institution  of  serious  to  a  fault,  and  animated  by  ideals 
preparatory  learning  into  a  combination  so  lofty  that  they  are  at  times  ridiculous 
of  public  nursery  and  factory.  in  their  impracticality,  he  has  the  caste 

For  the  sake  of  convenience  in  check-  of  a  commodity  on  a  glutted  market, 

ing  volume  and  recording  output  the  His  instinctive  curiosity,  his  capacity  for 

mimeograph   replaced  the   heart   and  honest  reasoning  and  his  normal  love  of 

mind  of  the  teacher.  There  was  no  end  the  truth  have  more  often  than  not  been 

of  grading  and  testing  and  practically  seriously  dwarfed  or  killed  by  the  proc- 


370  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

esses  to  which  he  has  been  subjected,  stancy.  The  man  he  is  to  be  at  thirty,  or 

Naturally,  then,  as  he  matriculates  this  at  forty,  or  at  fifty  can't  be  bound  by 

autumn,  we  are  deeply  concerned  with  the  graph  of  a  lifetime  made  at  eight- 

what  is  ultimately  to  become  of  him  and  een.  Madness  alone  would  insist  that 

with  what  we  are  to  do  with  him  now.  an  immature  mind  of  that  age  dictate 

the  attitudes  and  actions  of  the  hard 
ened  veteran  of  decades  hence  in  his 

For  my  part,  if  I  were  matriculating  clash  with  circumstances,  when  every 

today  with  the  background  of  what  I  aspect  of  life  itself  must  marvelously 

have  seen  and  known  of  life  since  that  change  in  the  meantime  even  as  he 

autumn  of  1915,  when  I  was  turned  must  change.  I  like  the  bold  view  that 

loose  to  browse  in  the  meadowlands  of  all  progress  is  a  departure  from  estab- 

learning  under  the  guidance  of  dear  and  lished  precedent.  So  far  as  I  can  deter- 

wise  shepherds  who  knew  the  blessings  mine  from  my  dabblings  in  the  con- 

of  what  they  had  to  offer,  I  would  hold  fused  history  of  our  race  not  one  of  the 

fast  to  certain  elements  and  principles  great  men  who  contributed  to  our  wel- 

that  subsequent  events  have  tested  and  fare,  and  whose  memories  we  rever- 

proven,  I  would  trace  their  influence  ence  in  statecraft,  in  war,  in  exploration 

upon  me  through  the  turmoil  of  the  and  discovery,  in  science  and  invention, 

years,  I  would  judge  them  by  their  con-  in  literature  and  art,  or  in  any  other 

tribution  to  my  happiness  rather  than  field  of  human  endeavor,  ever  had 

to  my  purse,  at  any  cost  I  would  seek  any  sort  of  a  plan  for  his  career.  Abra- 

their  fulfilment  in  the  institution  of  my  ham  Lincoln  was  a  failure  in  business 

allegiance,  and  regardless  of  all  else  I  and  the  law  and  in  most  other  things 

would  make  those  four  years  ahead  on  he  attempted  until  the  strange  inexor- 

Parnassus  the  holiday  from  the  world  able  destiny  that  underlies  popular 

they  were  intended  to  be  for  youth.  movements  tossed  him  into  the  Presi- 

I  am  aware  that  the  frank,  perplexed  dent's  chair  of  the  Republic  j  and  his 

youth  of  today  has  no  such  background  case,  from  Plato  to  Thomas  Alva  Edi- 

for  his  decisions  j  but  if  from  the  sand  son  or  Albert  Einstein,  is  only  typical, 

of  my  own  experience  I  pan  him  a  few  Their  achievements  must  be  credited  in 

nuggets  of  truth,  he  may  be  able  to  ac-  part  to  the  fact  that  in  the  flux  of  things 

cept  the  version  of  a  none  too  prosper-  they  broke  away  from  the  beaten  path 

ous  prospector  as  something  more  than  and  followed  their  own  restless  inclina- 

meaningless  advice.  tions  whither  they  led  in  the  adventure 

First  of  all,  I  don't  think  I'd  plan  my  of  finding  themselves.  Theirs  is  an  ex- 
career.  The  youth  of  eighteen  is  not  the  ample  worth  the  attention  of  the  youth 
lad  he  was  at  eleven,  and  certainly  not  of  today,  whose  ears  are  dinned  full  of 
the  man  he  will  be  at  thirty,  or  at  forty,  the  planning  craze  by  laborers  who  push 
or  at  fifty.  Life  for  all  of  us  is  a  succes-  academic  buttons  and  run  curricular 
sion  of  advancing  stages.  For  a  youth  of  adding  machines.  I  think  it  was  Robert 
eighteen  to  determine  upon  a  career  and  Burns  who  pointed  out  certain  fallacies 
obstinately  stick  by  his  plan  would  be  in  the  best  laid  plans  of  mice  and  men  j 
senseless  folly,  and  to  cast  it  aside  later  and  the  modern  matriculant  is  admir- 
would  show  his  planning  up  for  pur-  ably  poised  between  these  two  extremes 
poselessness  under  the  brand  of  incon-  of  those  who  plan.  For  him  to  decide 


HOLIDAY  ON  PARNASSUS  371 

upon  what  he's  going  to  do  now  is  sheer  of  these  atoms.  It  is  hardly  probable 

asininityj  he  doesn't  know  and  can't  that  the  campaigns  of  Alexander  had 

know.  It  seems  to  me  far  better  for  him  any  impact  upon  the  infinity  through 

to  caper  about  in  the  meadowlands  with  which  the  heavenly  bodies  turn  and 

faith  in  himself  that  nature  has  im-  harmonize  with  each  other  j  it  is  hardly 

planted  that  within  him  which,  before  probable  that  the  dialogues  of  Plato,  the 

he  is  done,  will  have  the  final  say  in  plays  of  Shakespeare,  or  the  economic 

both  his  being  and  doing.  treatises  of  Mr.  Roosevelt  and  the  New 

I  was  taught  by  one  lovable  heretic  Dealers  have  had  or  will  have  any  in- 

that  truth  is  a  mistress  worth  wooing  for  fluence  on  the  body  proper  of  the  all- 

herself  and  to  be  taken  for  what  she  is.  embracing  Cosmos.  A  star  gazer  on 

I  recommend  the  idea.  It  leaves  one  Mars  would  find  the  surface  of  our  lit- 

critical  of  misconceptions  and  draws  the  tie,  spinning  world  no  different  for  the 

line  through  a  host  of  obnoxious  plati-  Panama  Canal  or  the  Empire  State 

tudes  before  one  succumbs  to  them.  Building.  What  man  does  is  as  rela- 

There  are  a  great  many  catch-phrases  tively  insignificant  to  total  time  and 

current  for  keeping  the  race  of  man  in  total  being  as  himself.  In  a  state  so 

error  and  moving  it  toward  tragedy  j  futile,  where  individual  life  leads  in- 

and  by  far  the  most  universally  ac-  evitably  to  individual  death  with  no 

cepted  throughout  Western  civilization  substantial  indication  of  what  is  beyond, 

is  the  monstrous  theory  that  time  is  we  have  but  one  hope,  the  hope  of  hap- 

valuable.  Considered  from  the  stand-  piness. 

point  of  our  absolute  and  final  standard  Some   at   least   of  the  kindly   old 

of  judging  value,  the  law  of  supply  and  professors  who  led  me  through  the 

demand,  I  know  of  nothing  less  valu-  meadowland  of  my  youth  no  doubt 

able.  Time  was  here  always.  Time  will  realized  this;  for  they  were  ever  in- 

be  here  always.  Time  is  the  one  element  sistent  upon  the  point  and  dwelt  at 

in  existence  of  unlimited  and  infinite  great  and  often  tiresome  lengths  upon 

abundance.  Hoarding  neither  increases  the  importance  of  living  rather  than 

nor  diminishes  it.  The  longest  life  on  doing.  I  was  a  Middle-West  farmer  boy 

earth  is  at  best  but  the  flicker  of  an  eye-  who,  to  escape  the  plow-handles,  had 

lash  against  the  eternity  of  time  past  and  set  my  cap  on  being  a  cartoonist,  a  field 

time  future.  that,  before  the  coming  of  the  syndi- 

The  theory  that  time  is  valuable  cate,  offered  extraordinary  possibilities 
leads  to  another  and  a  worse  fallacy,  the  of  fame  and  fortune.  My  fine  arts  dean 
one,  I  suspect,  upon  which  the  first  is  scoffed  this  out  of  my  system  as  juvenile 
based — namely,  the  miserable  dictum  delirium,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
that  we  should  always  be  doing  some-  he  had  previously  hatched  out  Fontaine 
thing,  and  that  our  success  or  failure  in  Fox.  He  could  be  serious  only  about 
living  depends  entirely  upon  our  ac-  abstract  beauty  that  can  neither  be 
complishments.  I  most  fervently  doubt  bought  nor  sold.  He  saw  to  it  that  I  had 
it!  The  planetary  atoms  of  the  Cosmos  rigorous  courses  in  composition  and  de- 
are  as  numerous  as  all  the  grains  of  sand  sign,  that  I  had  my  fill  of  sketching, 
on  all  the  sea  beaches  of  earth ;  and  in  and  that  I  did  no  end  of  splashing  about 
perspective  we  are  nothing  more  than  in  oil  and  water-color.  He  taught  me  to 
a  pediculous  growth  on  one  of  the  least  look  for  the  contrasting  values  in  light 


372  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

and  shade  and  the  soft,  luminous  glow  caused  you  I  humply  apologize.  I  do 
that  permeates  the  latter  j  he  took  it  nodt  see  v'y,  midt  your  inderests  undt 
upon  himself  personally  to  show  me  inclinations,  you  shouldt  effer  haf  peen 
why  clouds  are  beautiful,  why  flowers  compelled  to  take  idt,  or  vodt  goodt 
are  beautiful,  why  human  faces  and  fig-  you  can  possiply  gedt  oudt  of  idt.  I 
ures  are  beautiful  and  why  there  is  speak  in  all  seriousness."  He  was  right, 
beauty  in  all  life  for  those  with  open  To  this  day,  when  I  mimic  his  words, 
eyesj  he  convinced  me  before  he  was  there  is  a  "God  bless  you,  Professor 
through  that  Nature  never  draws  a  Dantzig!"inmy  voice,  for  I  have  never 
false  line  nor  permits  a  clash  of  tone  in  had  an  occasion  to  use  trigonometry, 
a  color  harmony  in  anything  from  a  and  I  doubt  if  I  ever  shall, 
blade  of  grass  to  a  mountain  skyline.  And  so  I  continued  to  browse  around 
Those  professors  of  mine,  back  in  the  in  association  with  understanding 
period  following  my  university  matric-  minds.  It  was  under  the  microscope  of  a 
ulation,  cared  not  a  rap  for  the  credit  I  wizened  little  professor  of  science  that 
accumulated  5  th'ey  were  interested  in  I  first  saw  the  marvelous  kit  of  tools  on 
my  unfolding,  and  they  looked  after  me  the  knees  of  the  genderless  worker  bee. 
very  much  in  the  spirit  of  a  gardener  That  set  me  to  wondering.  It  awakened 
looking  after  blossoms  not  intended  for  me  to  the  imponderable  but  neverthe- 
the  market.  They  were  often  loose  and  less  real  in  the  mystery  of  life.  From 
shiftless  in  the  matter  of  credit,  the  cur-  that  day  forth,  wherever  I  went,  I  was 
rency  of  their  realm.  I  could,  for  exam-  never  to  know  a  dull  moment.  One 
pie,  do  nothing  with  mathematics,  morning  I  marched  off  to  war  to  do  my 
particularly  trigonometry,  a  required  bit  in  a  horrible  butchery  brought  upon 
subject.  I  spent  one  entire  semester  in  the  world  by  the  lust  and  stupidity  of 
the  class  of  a  learned  Russian  Jew  who  the  older  generation  j  and  one  day  I 
was  as  sympathetic  as  he  was  tempera-  came  limping  back.  I  rode  the  blinds, 
mental.  Of  all  things  in  that  course  his  I  entered  the  prize-ring.  I  coached  and 
nose  appealed  most  to  my  under-gradu-  taught  in  college.  I  tried  the  newspaper 
ate  interest  and  sense  of  humor  j  so  a  racket.  I  tried  a  hundred  things.  I  have 
little  bored,  one  morning,  I  caricatured,  never  been  able  to  keep  my  chin  up  be- 
in  a  most  outrageous  manner,  his  nasal  fore  a  banker  or  snap  my  fingers  under 
protuberance  on  the  fly-leaf  of  the  text  the  nose  of  a  bill  collector  j  but  I  have 
of  a  fellow  student,  who  had  the  audac-  been  happy  as  a  consequence  of  my  holi- 
ity  to  show  it  to  his  mathematical  high-  day  on  Parnassus,  as  happy  as  ever  I 
ness.  This  led  to  a  friendship.  He  used  could  have  been  had  those  venerable 
to  tramp  over  to  my  room  and  smoke  gentlemen  of  the  classroom  placed  the 
and  carry  off  sketches  pleasing  to  his  reserves  of  the  United  States  Mint  at 
eye.  I  failed  dismally  in  his  final  exam  j  my  disposal,  instead  of  the  more  limit- 
but  a  couple  of  days  later  he  called  me  less  reserves  of  the  Mint  of  Life, 
into  his  office  j  and  there,  to  my  surprise, 

was  my  blue-book  with  a  jolly  big  "B"  IV 

scrawled  all  over  its  face.  I  grinned.         If  I  had  it  all  to  do  over  again — and 

Said  he:  "My  poy,  dodt's  a  condribu-  I  can't  say,  even  at  the  risk  of  smug- 

tion  to  your  ardt  vork,  in  v'ich  you  pe-  ness,  that  I  wish  I  had — I'm  inclined 

long.  For  de  agony  my  course  has  to  think  I  might  make  a  different  selec- 


HOLIDAY  ON  PARNASSUS  373 

tion  of  subjects,  not  that  there  was  and  its  keeper  must  either  go  jobless  or 
anything  wrong  with  those  I  carried,  spend  the  rest  of  his  days  at  common 
but  rather  because  the  life  of  now  is  so  labor.  There  is  a  great  pick  and  shovel 
vastly  and  so  thrillingly  different  from  brigade  passing  by  any  day,  and  not  a 
the  life  of  then.  And  I  would  make  the  few  of  its  involuntary  recruits  have  de 
selection,  or  most  militantly  thumb  my  grees  from  reputable  technical  institu- 
nose  at  the  whole  present  educational  tions  of  the  past  two  decades, 
system  while  I  chased  about  the  nation  When  a  man  stands  on  the  first  fringe 
looking  for  an  institution  tolerant  of  the  of  the  great  frontier  of  the  future,  he 
individual  urge  for  selection.  can  only  view  his  situation  in  terms  of 
My  academic  course  had  its  roots  in  broad  generalities  and  proven  princi- 
the  classical  j  its  contribution  to  my  un-  pies.  He  must  make  a  sociological  ad- 
folding  was  accordingly  classical.  But  justment  sometime  somewhere.  If  soci- 
the  classics  and  what  was  classical  in  ety  is  formative  rather  than  established, 
life  are  a  long  way  behind  us.  If  I  were  he  can  understand  it  and  take  his  place 
a  youthful  resident  of  an  Esquimau  in  it  only  by  watching  it  grow  and  by 
community  far  up  in  the  Arctic  Circle,  participating  in  its  growth.  An  individ- 
it  would  only  be  the  part  of  good  com-  ual  opinion  is  like  a  drop  of  water,  in- 
mon  sense  for  me  to  seek  instruction  in  significant  in  itself.  Collectively,  drops 
the  art  of  spear-throwing,  the  use  of  the  of  water  are  the  sea  in  all  its  vastness. 
kaiak,  the  principles  of  igloo  building,  So  many  drops  are  a  trickle,  so  many 
and  other  branches  of  knowledge  neces-  trickles  a  stream,  and  so  many  streams 
sary  for  my  adaptation  to  that  environ-  an  irresistible  tide  or  current  sweeping 
mentj  a  knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek,  humanity  along  like  so  much  drift, 
or  of  the  Romance  languages  and  lit-  at  first   imperceptibly,  later  through 
erature,  or  of  the  conquests  of  Alex-  rapids,  often  through  a  series  of  rapids, 
ander,  Caesar,  and  Napoleon,  or  of  Now  and  then,  by  some  phenomenon 
those  arts  which  make  for  social  grace,  of  accident,  a  personality,  lifted  out  of 
would   profit   me   nothing  j    and   the  the  masses,  sums  up  the  main  trends 
chances  are  good  that  my  belly  might  be  and  tendencies,  good  or  bad,  of  these 
empty  and  my  body  shelterless  in  the  confluences  of  opinion  into  attitude,  and 
meantime.  Why  then  should  I,  as  a  he  has  power — leadership.  He  may  be 
matriculant  of  today,  fit  myself  for  an  Alexander,  Caesar,  Napoleon,  Adolph 
environment  which,  however  good  it  Hitler  or  Franklin  D.  Roosevelt  j  but 
might  have  been  back  in  some  ancient  actually,  he  is  only  the  dramatic  figure- 
or  medieval  century,  is  now  as  remote  head,  not  the  real  author  of  the  act, 
from  my  actual  contact  with  today  and  good  or  bad,  for  which  he  is  given 
tomorrow  as  is  the  world  past  and  pres-  credit  5  and  his  name  merely  labels  an 
ent  of  the  Esquimau?  This  is  no  argu-  era  or  an  epoch  of  such  acts,  much  as 
ment  for  specialization,  either!  I  know  Mr.  Ford's  name  labels  cars  he  no 
a  man,  for  example,  who  specialized  in  longer  builds  with  his  own  hands.  In 
certain  branches  of  engineering  which  effect  the  total  force  resultant  from  the 
have  to  do  with  the  care  and  mainte-  mass  confluence  of  opinion  into  attitude 
nance  of  a  particular  type  of  machine,  is  working  through  him.  A  change,  an 
That  particular  type  of  machine  is  now  eddy  in  the  current,  and  the  change 
obsolete  and  will  always  be  obsolete,  makes  him;  another  whim  of  the  cur- 


374  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

rent,  and  he  is  lost.  Why  does  he  sue-  science  basic  requirements  in  my  course 
ceed  at  one  time  and  fail  at  another,  of  today,  for  they  deal  in  what  must  di- 
when  in  either  case  he  is  precisely  the  rect  obligatory  individual  adjustment  to 
same  personality?  Why  does  he  have  the  social  order  and  social  activity  of 
power  at  one  time,  and  no  power  at  an-  tomorrow ;  but  there  is  another  adjust- 
other?  Because  the  emotions  of  human-  ment — the  adjustment  of  the  individual 
ity,  as  they  flow  into  social  trends  and  to  himself  and  the  life  more  infinite  that 
tendencies,  are  less  of  a  constant  value  stage  by  stage  of  his  growth  and  devel- 
than  himself.  This  explains  why  Wood-  opment  he  discovers  within  himself, 
row  Wilson  is  in  the  President's  chair  at  That  belongs  to  philosophy,  a  tree  that 
one  time,  and  Calvin  Coolidge  at  an-  is  always  green  and  never  old  or  young j 
other.  it  belongs  also  to  art  and  literature,  and 

What  we  have  long  swallowed  as  to  those  abstractions  in  which  the  spirit 
history  is  for  the  most  part  only  yellow-  lives.  I  think  it  a  serious  indictment  of 
back  dramatizations  of  the  forays  of  American  university  life  that  it  is  pos- 
such  super-racketeers  as  Alexander,  sible  for  a  student  to  go  from  his  matri- 
Caesar  and  Napoleon.  History's  true  culation  to  his  commencement  and 
concerns  are  not  with  the  dramatic  feats  never  turn  a  page  of  philosophy.  I  say 
of  the  men  called  great,  but  with  the  this  because  an  iron-jointed,  steel- 
influences  which  at  their  headwaters  not  ribbed,  soulless  master  of  civilized  des- 
only  make  the  dramatic  feats  possible  tiny  is  roaring  at  us  in  a  clangorous 
but  inevitable  j  and  it  is  in  these  influ-  voice:  "Here  is  leisure  j  take  it  and 
ences  that  the  individual  finds  his  place,  live! "  Our  most  baffling  perplexities  of 
socially  or  anti-socially.  Sociology  is  tomorrow  will  be  those  of  making  the 
now  giving  us  some  much  needed  in-  most  of  our  leisure.  Aside  from  the 
struction  relative  to  these  influences  and  relaxations  and  diversions  necessary 
the  part  the  individual  plays  in  their  for  bodily  health,  there  is  no  better 
rise.  This  instruction  should  be  part  of  way  of  exploiting  leisure  than  in  re- 
the  background  with  which  the  under-  flection  and  in  amicable  conversational 
graduate  of  today  faces  the  world  of  to-  jousts  with  those  who  are  capable  of 
morrow.  That  is  why,  were  I  in  his  reflection. 

place,  I  would  lay  my  emphasis  upon         And  that,  finally,  is  the  point  of  all 

sociology  rather  than  Greek  or  other  this.  Here  is  leisure;  take  it  and  live! 

branches  of  the  classics.  The  matriculant's  task  of  today  is  the 

Furthermore,  since  this  is  a  scientific  joyful  one  of  learning  to  live;  it  was 

age,  and  since  any  positive  adjustment  mine  nearly  twenty  years  ago.  I  flatter 

to  it  calls  for  scientific  habits  of  mind,  I  myself  that  certain  of  my  professors 

doubt  if  the  matriculant  of  today  can  see  taught  me  the  rudiments  of  that  art 

too  much  of  the  laboratories  of  general  during  my  holiday  on  Parnassus,  for  I 

science.  Where  in  sociology  he  may  have    been    happy    through    all    the 

learn  to  observe  and  evaluate  humanity  changes  since  I  sat  at  their  feet,  and  I 

and  what  humanity  does,  he  may  in  am  happy  today.  I  look  into  the  mys- 

science  learn  to  observe  and  evaluate  terious  face  of  life,  and  I  see  ugliness, 

what  humanity  and  all  other  life  is  but  the  mind's  eye  they  opened  for  me 

made  of.  shows  me  beauty.  I  look  into  the  mys- 

And  so  I  would  call  sociology  and  terious  face  of  life,  and  I  know  there  is 


HOLIDAY  ON  PARNASSUS 


375 


evil  there,  but  the  heart's  faculties  for 
feeling  they  fostered  in  me  reveal  a 
goodness  that  is  neither  greater  nor  less 
for  time.  They  gave  me  the  gift  of  won 
derment.  Not  long  ago  I  saw  an  ant 
dragging  a  caterpillar  along  at  a  great 
rate,  and  that  worm  was  at  least  a  hun 
dred  times  bigger  than  the  ant.  Fancy 
a  man  trotting  home  with  a  ten-ton  ele 
phant  on  his  back,  and  one  may  appreci 
ate  the  spectacle.  Where  did  the  ant  get 
such  strength?  Could  life  be  dull  or 
commonplace  with  such  a  show  going 
on  at  my  feet?  Why,  upon  that  lawn 
were  miracles  innumerable!  And  a  bird 


in  the  boughs  above  was  singing  a  name 
less  melody  he  had  composed.  And  a 
violet  turned  up  to  me  a  face  perfect 
in  line,  perfect  in  form  and  color. 
Where  did  the  bird  get  his  melody? 
Where  did  the  violet  get  its  beauty? 
That  evening  I  saw  a  myriad  host  of 
stars  set  mathematically  in  the  heavens, 
and  I  wondered  who  the  Mathemati 
cian  was  that  had  placed  them  there.  A 
few  moments  back,  I  laughed  with  my 
wife  over  some  triviality,  and  I  knew 
that  I  was  on  my  way  to  winning  the 
battle  those  old  gray-beards  most 
wished  me  to  win. 


THE  ITTERARY  [ANDSCAPE 


by 


HERSCHEL  BRICKELL 


COMPLETING  a 
tour  of  the 
eastern  part  of 
these  United  States, 
the  Landscaper  took 
two  recent  weeks  off 
to  see  New  England, 
and  before  plunging 
into  literary  matters, 
would  like  to  go  on 
record  as  giving  his 
complete  approval  to 
the  part  of  the 
country  where  THE 
NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW  was  born, 
and  where  it  is  still  printed. 

Much  has  been  written  by  people  bet 
ter  qualified  for  the  task  than  the 
present  writer  about  the  beauties  of 
Vermont,  New  Hampshire — nothing 
better  about  the  latter  than  Cornelius 
Weygandt's  The  White  Hills  (Holt), 
which  appeared  two  or  three  months 
ago — Maine,  Massachusetts  and  Con 
necticut,  so  we'll  leave  landscapes  alone, 
although  the  Landscaper  has  seen  in  the 
course  of  several  years  of  travel  no  more 
beautiful  country. 

It  is  as  an  endlessly  fascinating  part 
of  this  nation,  which  retains  to  an  amaz 
ing  degree  its  original  characteristics, 
and  which  remains  so  downright  Eng 
lish — in  the  most  pleasant  sense  of  the 
word — that  it  is  hard  to  believe  one  is 
in  present-day  America  at  all.  For  those 
who  like  the  open  road  and  prefer  to 
sleep  where  nightfall  finds  them,  it  is 
ideal;  the  houses  as  clean  as  a  new  pin, 
and  the  people,  with  their  pleasant 


voices  and  fine  dig 
nity,  as  courteous  and 
as  friendly  as  anybody 
who  loves  the  warmth 
of  human  contact 
could  ask. 

The  Landscaper's 
travels  took  him  all 
the  way  from  Wood 
stock,  New  York, 
high  up  in  the  Cats- 
kills,  as  far  into  Ver 
mont  as  Manchester, 
where  the  road  ran 
across  a  freshet-swept  and  slippery 
mountain  into  New  Hampshire, 
through  New  Hampshire,  with  plenty 
of  time  to  see  Mr.  Weygandt's  White 
Hills,  and  Mr.  Weygandt  himself  in 
his  delightful  old  house  near  North 
Sandwich,  and  from  Brunswick,  Maine, 
to  Salem  and  Concord,  Massachusetts, 
and  home  by  way  of  the  Boston  Post 
Road. 

<*A  Thoreau  Pilgrimage 

The  journey  began  as  a  pilgrimage 
to  Concord,  Massachusetts,  to  pay  a 
tribute  to  Thoreau,  and  to  see  the  place 
where  a  miracle  once  took  place,  for  the 
Concord  Group  was  a  miracle,  nothing 
short  of  it,  one  of  the  most  striking  of 
the  many  striking  things  that  have  hap 
pened  in  the  history  of  this  quaint  and 
curious  country.  To  this  very  day  Con 
cord  itself  has  not  fully  made  up  its 
mind  to  be  proud  of  its  collection  of 
free-thinkers  j  there  are  those  who  con 
sider  it  somewhat  of  a  disgrace  that 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  377 

pagans  such  as  Hawthorne  and  Thoreau  and  read  his  books.  He  quoted  George 

— and  even  Emerson — are  the  town's  Bernard  Shaw's  remark  during  Shaw's 

best-known  citizens.  visit  to  Concord,  that  not  a  one  of  the 

One  old  lady  has  forgiven  them  all  men  who  lived  and  wrote  there  would 
except  Thoreau,  who  was,  she  says,  no  be  remembered  a  hundred  years  hence, 
better  than  an  anarchist,  so  when  she  Of  course,  this  was  a  typical  Shavian 
makes  her  daily  pilgrimage  to  the  other  statement,  but  if  G.B.S.  himself  is  re- 
graves  on  Authors'  Hill,  where  so  many  membered  a  hundred  years  from  now 
people  sleep  whose  lives  were  intimately  and  Emerson  and  Thoreau  forgotten  it 
bound  up  with  the  history  of  this  maga-  will  be  a  most  disgraceful  exhibition  of 
zine,  she  puts  flowers  on  all  the  rest  ex-  a  lack  of  intelligence  on  the  part  of  the 
cept  Thoreau's.  The  Thoreau  lot  is  human  race. 

covered  by  lilies  of  the  valley,  however,  It  would  be  very  easy  to  go  on  for 

and  Henry  is  probably  just  as  happy  pages  with  gossip  of  the  journey,  which 

without  the  cut  flowers.  included  visits  to  Robert  Frost  and  Dor- 

The  Landscaper  went  to  Walden,  othy  Canfield  Fisher  in  Vermont,  to 

too,  although  a  friend  had  warned  him  Mr.  Weygandt  in  New  Hampshire,  to 

that  it  would  be  a  disillusioning  experi-  Robert  P.  Tristram  Coffin  and  Profes- 

ence  because  of  the  bathing  beaches,  hot  sor  G.  Roy  Elliott  of  Amherst  in  Bruns- 

dog  stands,  and  so  on.  There  is  a  good  wick,  Maine,  to  mention  only  a  few  of 

deal  of  that  sort  of  thing,  but  it  was  late  the  delightful  people  who  are  either 

afternoon,  and  not  too  many  people  native  New  Englanders,  or  who  appre- 

were  around  to  spoil  altogether  the  ciate  its  summer-time  charms  enough  to 

loveliness  of  the  cove  where  Thoreau  settle  in  it. 

lived  and  worked  for  two  years.  n  ,              ,  TT        , 

Salem  and  Hawthorne 

^  ^eglected  Shrine  It  would?  in  fact?  be  easy  to  take  up 

It  is  true  that  as  the  Landscaper  the  entire  article  with  an  attempt  to  ex- 
walked  up  the  boulder  that  carries  its  press  the  Landscaper's  delight  with 
bronze  tablet,  a  tall  girl  in  an  absolute  Salem,  with  its  dozens  of  Mclntyre 
minimum  of  bathing  suit,  placed  a  long  doorways,  its  innumerable  fine  old 
white  leg  on  top  of  the  boulder  so  that  houses,  and  its  Seven  Gable  Settlement, 
the  inscription  could  not  be  read,  but  where  the  best  food  and  lodging  is  pro- 
backed  away  in  a  moment,  while  her  vided  for  minimum  prices,  and  the  lodg- 
male  companion  was  saying:  "I  won-  ing  is  in  Seventeenth  Century  houses, 
der  why  they  piled  so  many  stones  It  was  pleasant  to  have  the  House  of 
around  here.  Must  be  to  keep  him  Seven  Gables  itself  so  near;  an  inter- 
down."  (There  is  a  large  pile  of  stones  esting  enough  place  by  day,  especially 
back  of  the  boulder  on  the  site  of  the  attic,  which  reveals  the  method  of 
Thoreau's  cabin.)  construction,  but  far  more  interesting  at 

Not  many  people  even  see  the  me-  night  when  through  the  lighted  win- 

morial  j  a  young  Harvard  student  who  dows  it  had  a  look  of  being  lived  in,  and 

is  specializing  in  the  Concord  Group  no  museum  aspect  at  all. 

was  both  amazed  and  delighted,  when  The  copy  of  the  portrait  of  Haw- 

we  fell  into  conversation,  that  some-  thorne  as  a  young  man,  the  original  of 

body  else  had  actually  heard  of  Thoreau  which  is  in  the  Essex  Museum,  and  not 


378  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

too  well  hung  either,  is  particularly  fine  a  complete  dissertation  on  New  Eng- 
at  night,  although  at  any  time  it  is  one  land  or  on  the  Landscaper's  philosophy 
of  the  handsomest  heads  the  Landscaper  of  life.  It  merely  belongs  on  the  record 
has  ever  seen.  The  Landscaper  won-  that  there  has  never  been  a  more  de- 
dered  throughout  his  wanderings  in  lightful  vacation  in  this  writer's  life 
Hawthorne  houses  in  Salem,  of  which  than  his  two  weeks  in  New  England, 
there  are  several,  of  course,  where  it  was  and  that  he  believes,  no  matter  what 
Melville  came  to  see  Hawthorne  and  anybody  says,  in  the  profound  and 
they  had  such  an  odd  and  difficult  visit,  highly  useful  wisdom  of  the  men  of 
It  was  in  the  Alcott  House  in  Concord,  the  Golden  Day,  which  we  ought  not 
which  Bronson  Alcott  called  Hillside  to  be  so  stupid  as  to  forget  or  neglect, 
and  Hawthorne  later  christened  Way-  We  have  bred  few  sages,  and  New 
side;  the  bedroom  where  Melville  England  has  had  its  full  quota, 
spent  the  night  and  the  fireplace  in  Some  of  the  Landscaper's  own  an- 
front  of  which  the  two  men  sat  and  cestors  tried  very  hard  to  be  New  Eng- 
found  so  little  to  talk  about  are  both  landers,  but  they  also  insisted  upon  be- 
still  to  be  seen.  ...  ing  Quakers,  and  so  had  to  flee  to  the 
CT'J  IT/  i  j  /r  9  more  hospitable  Carolinas.  They  were 
I  he  World  tAstray  ?  Scotch-Irish  Quakers,  which  made  them 

It  probably  sounds  somewhat  strange  peculiarly  difficult  for  the  Puritans  to 

that  anybody  living  in  this  regimented  deal  with,  a  stubborn  breed, 

age  should  be  traipsing  off  to  New  Eng-  _,        _ 

land  for  love  of  so  sturdy  an  Individ-  The  Old  South  R^wved 

ualist  as  Thoreau,  but  in  this,  as  in  many  Speaking  of  American  origins,  the 

things,  the  Landscaper  has  the  firm  be-  best  novel  the  Landscaper  has  read  for 

lief  that  the  world  has  merely  tempo-  some  time,  and  indeed,  one  of  the  most 

rarily  lost  its  way  and  that  it  must  get  distinguished  works  of  fiction  of  recent 

back  on  the  path  of  the  Concord  Group  months,  is  concerned  with  a  civilization 

sooner  or  later  for  the  very  simple  rea-  that  was  based  largely  upon  the  very 

son  that  no  system  can  save  mankind,  intelligent  action  on  the  part  of  New 

In  the  last  analysis,  the  whole  problem  Englanders  of  making  money  out  of 

returns  to  the  individual,  his  intelli-  slavery  and  letting  the  South  hold  the 

gence,  his  self-discipline,  his  character,  bag  with  the  slaves  in  it.  This  is  Stark 

his  "intestinal  fortitude."  Young's  So  Red  the  Rose  (Scribner, 

The  other  way  is  far  easier,  otherwise  $2.50)  which  as  these  words  are  put  on 

a  tired  Germany  would  not  be  follow-  paper,  appears  to  be  on  its  way  to  a 

ing  at  the  heels  of  a  lunatic  today,  mak-  large  sale,  probably  because  people  are 

ing  a  pitiful  spectacle  of  herself.  The  a  bit  fed  up  with  novels  of  the  prole- 

Landscaper  has  been  reading  the  last  tariat,  with  hard-boiled  novels,  and  with 

volume  of  David  Alec  Wilson's  long  novels,  in  general,  about  unattractive 

life  of  Carlyle  lately,  and  wondering  people. 

what  on  earth  Carlyle  would  think  of  Mr.  Young  has  tried,  with  real  suc- 

the  present-day  antics  of  a  nation  he  cess,  to  recapture  both  the  outside  and 

once  respected  so  highly  and  with  rea-  the  inside  of  the  culture  of  the  Old 

son.  South,  taking  for  his  scene  the  country 

However,  there  is  not  space  here  for  in  and  around  Natchez,  Mississippi,  and 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  379 

for  his  time  a  few  months  before  Fort 

Sumpter,  the  four  years  of  the  Civil  Other  <J°od  Novels 

War,  and  a  brief  time  afterward,  long  The  full  tide  of  autumn  publishing 

enough  for  a  picture  of  the  terrors  of  will  have  set  in  by  the  time  the  next 

Reconstruction.    He    has   not   written  Landscape  is  written,  but  while  we  are 

merely  another  costume  novel,  leaning  waiting  there  are  a  good  many  other 

heavily  upon  the  settings  for  his  effects  5  novels  besides  Mr.  Young's  that  are 

the  especial  merit  of  the  book  is  that  worth  reading.  There  is,  for  example, 

while  none  of  the  details  of  a  distinctly  Samuel  Rogers's  Dusk  at  the  Grove  (  At- 

romantic  and  picturesque  life  are  miss-  lantic  Monthly  Press  —  Little,  Brown, 

ing,  it  also  has  the  philosophy  of  a  way  $2.50),  the  winner  of  the  $10,000  At- 

of  life.  It  was  a  philosophy  rooted  in  the  lantic    Monthly     Prize     which     was 

classics,  in  Eighteenth  Century  ration-  awarded  in  other  years  to  Mazo  de  la 

alism,  in  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  a  warm  Roche's  Jalna  and  to  Ann   Bridge's 

climate  with  plenty  of  servants.  Peking  Picnic,  both  books  of  a  high 


tA  genuinely  Romantic  Teriod  M    Rogers's  sound  work  deals  with 

These    suggestions    are   the    Land-  the  lives  of  the  members  of  a  modern 

scaper's  own  j  Mr.  Young's  more  skilful  American  family,  father,  mother  and 

hand  shows  them  at  work  in  the  lives  of  child,  with  the  principal  setting  a  holi- 

interesting  human  beings.  There  are  day  ground  on  the  Rhode  Island  coast, 

those  who  insist  that  all  Southerners  are  and  the  time  covered  being  from  1909 

sentimental  and  romantic  about   this  to  1929.  It  is  a  novel  of  high  merit  and 

period,  and  that  its  charms  have  been  should  be  widely  popular. 

grossly  exaggerated  by  time  and  also  Other  recent  American  novels  range 

by  the  defeat  sustained  in  the  Civil  War,  all  the  way  from  A  II  the  Skeletons  in  A  II 

but  Mr.  Young  is  neither  sentimental  the  Closets  y  by  Keith   Fowler   (Ma 

nor  romantic,  merely  truthful.  He  has  caulay,  $2.50),  an  authentic  story  of 

written    from    profound    feeling   and  the  operations  of  a  society  scandal  sheet 

with  an  evidently  powerful  artistic  con-  in  New  York,  to  Evelyn  Harris's  The 

science.  The  results  are  good,  and  the  Barter     Lady     (Doubleday,     Doran, 

book  is  also  delightful  to  read,  full  of  $2.50),  the  story  of  how  a  woman  in 

grace  and  humor,  of  drama  and  love  Maryland,  left  with  300,000  pear  trees 

and  tears.  on  her  hands  when  her  husband  died, 

Of  course,  the  real  difficulty  in  trying  met  her  trying  problems.  The  best  re- 

to  deal  realistically  —  or,  as  in  the  case  view  of  the  book  the  Landscaper  read 

of  T.  S.  Stribling,  satirically  —  with  this  at  the  time  it  appeared  said:  "This  is  a 

period  is  that  it  was  'per  se  a  romantic  1934  Walden,Walden  with  a  mortgage 

and   therefore   somewhat   sentimental  on  it."  It  is  authentic  farm  stuff,  well 

period.  Apply  a  method  which  is  in  con-  told,  and  a  remarkable  record  of  courage 

trast  with  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  and  intelligence  pitted  against  almost 

the  result  is  not  far  from  worthless.  So  insuperable  odds. 

Red  the  Rose  isa^ne  piece  ot  work,  and,  Mr.    Fowler's   book   is   rough   and 

incidentally,  far  ahead  of  anything  Mr.  ready,  slangy,  wisecracking,  and  very 

Young  has  ever  done  before  in  the  way  frank  j  most  of  the  people  in  it  are  either 

of  fiction.  snakes  or  lice,  but  it  is  a  talented  novel, 


380  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

and  it  is  authentic.   Another  of  the  is  good  for  short  stories,  and  not  very 
"tough"  novels  of  recent  weeks  is  Ben-  good  for  novels, 
jamin    Appel's    Brain    Guy    (Knopf,  . 
$2.50),  the  story  of  the  education  of  a  ^  Rousmg,  Rowdy  Satire 
gangster,  a  hard-boiled  yarn  that  does  For  amusement,  you  will  find  noth- 
not  quite  come  off,  although  it,  too,  ing   funnier   on   the   lists   than   Don 
shows  a  good  deal  of  skill  in  the  writing.  Skene's  hilarious  and  rowdy  satire  on 
Still  another  novel  that  your  maiden  the     heavyweight     prizefight     racket 
aunt  in  Kankakee  might  not  wish  for  called  The  Red  Tiger  (Appleton-Cen- 
at  present,  although  she  would  prob-  tury,  $1.50),  which  is  not  only  a  most 
ably  finish  it  if  she  started  it,  is  John  entertaining  book,  but  also  full  of  one 
O'Hara's    Anointment    in    Samarra  take-off  after  another  on  every  phase  of 
(Harcourt,  Brace,  $2.50),  a  first  book  this  ridiculous  business,  including  the 
by  one  of  the  brilliant  young  contribu-  applesauce  written  by  the  sports  report- 
tors  to  The  New  Yorker  and  other  ers,  Mr.  Skene  being  an  unusually  good 
magazines.  one  himself.  The  Tiger  was  a  large  and 
/%/•/•  impressive  looking  marshmallow  when 
Country  Cl^b  Life  Doc  Carey  spied  him  and  decided  he 
This  last  is  a  country  club  story  of  could  be  managed  into  the  champion- 
Gibbsville,  Pennsylvania,  and  is  con-  ship ;  it  is  this  saga  that  makes  the  plot, 
cerned  with  the  breaking  up  of  a  young  Along  the  way  a  tough  wench  known  on 
man  whose  only  real  virtue,  if  it  is  a  the  stage  as  La  Panatella  fell  in  love 
virtue,  is  his  ability  to  please  the  ladies,  with  the  Tiger,  the  hair  on  whose  very 
Otherwise  he  is  a  rotter.  He  is  married  chest  was  false,  and  so  we  have  romance, 
to  a  charming  wife,  who  loves  him,  but  too.  This  is  grand  stuff, 
things  begin  to  happen,  and  when  the  Also  there  is  K.  T.  Knoblock's  A  Win- 
pinch  comes  as  a  result  of  his  own  silly  ter  in  Mallorca  (Harper,  $2),  the  title 
acts,  he  can  think  of  nothing  better  to  borrowed  from  George  Sand,  and  the 
do  than  kill  himself  with  carbon  monox-  story  itself  a  record  of  a  winter  on  the 
ide  fumes  from  his  car.  There  aren't  island  during  which  all  sorts  of  crack- 
many  nice  people  in  the  book,  and  the  pots  wander  in  and  out  of  the  pages.  It 
Landscaper  is  not  even  sure  there  are  is  lightly  and  brightly  written,  will  tell 
many  human  beings  in  it,  but  Mr.  you  practically  nothing  about  Mallorca, 
O'Hara  writes  with  shrewdness  and  except  that  the  cathedral  in  Palma  is 
hardness,  and  his  surfaces  are  bright  "brutal,"  which  it  isn't,  but  it  is  worth 
and  shining.  Also  he  knows  his  country  reading  just  the  same  if  you  are  looking 
clubs.  The  town  racketeer  is  about  the  for  entertainment,  which  is  hard  to  find 
most   attractive  person   in   the   book,  among  current  novels.   Oh,  yes,  the 
which  is  a  tip-off ;  Mr.  O'Hara  is,  like  Knoblock  novel  is  compared  on  the 
Hemingway  and  a  lot  of  others,  a  jacket    with    South    Wind;    all    gay 
romanticist  in  reverse.  novels    about    islands    are    compared 
Important  novels  can  not  be  written  with  South  Wind,  unfortunately  for 
about  wholly  trivial  people,  but  Mr.  them,    because    the    world    isn't    en- 
O'Hara  has  his  merits  in  spite  of  the  titled  to  more  than  one  South  Wind 
handicap  of  his  material  and  The  New  a  century,  and  this  is  a  generous  al- 
Yorker  manner,  which,  oddly  enough,  lowance. 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  381 

.  visit  to  this  country  a  year  or  so  ago. 

From  England  Mn  Priestley's  pictures  of  industrial 

Recent  English  novels  include  A.  P.  England,  of  the  "Black  Country,"  and 

Herbert's  Holy  Deadlock  (Doubleday,  of  the  ruin  wrought  by  the  depression 

Doran,   $2.50)  j    Alex  Waugh's   The  are,  however,  of  the  sort  that  must  be 

Ealliols  (Farrar  and  Rinehart,  $2.50) ;  praised.  They  are  terrible  almost  be- 

Edward     Shanks's     Tom     Tiddlers  yond  endurance,  but  they  have  the  per- 

Ground  and  Eden  Phillpotts's  simple  feet  appearance  of  truth,  and  they  are 

and  old-fashioned  and  also  very  pleas-  done  with  deep  understanding  and  sym- 

ant  rural  yarn,  The  Oldest  Inhabitant  pathy.  It  is  true,  as  the  author  himself 

(Macmillan,  $2.50).  says,  that  he  has  written  a  book  for  our 

Mr.  Herbert's  book  is  a  satire  on  the  own  times,  although  the  English  work- 
English  divorce  system,  somewhat  over-  ing  classes  have  never  been  anything 
loaded  with  legal  details  to  be  as  good  for  the  country  to  boast  of — not  that  it 
a  novel  as  it  might,  and  not,  let  it  be  is  their  fault  at  all — and  they  are  par- 
said,  another  Water  Gypsies;  Mr.  ticularly  disheartening  to  look  upon 
Waugh's  novel  is  of  the  chronicle  after  the  disastrous  last  few  years, 
species,  in  which  the  lives  of  a  family  Only  last  summer  two  friends  of  the 
are  followed  against  the  slowly  moving  Landscaper  arrived  in  Spain  after  a  stay 
scenery  of  the  various  periods  in  which  of  several  weeks  in  England,  and  the 
they  live — the  method  is  familiar  and  first  comment  they  made  was  upon  the 
while  well  enough  handled  results  in  difference  in  the  appearance  of  the 
neither  a  very  good  nor  a  very  bad  working  people,  the  Spaniards  having 
novel  j  while  Mr.  Shanks's  long  story  all  the  advantage  in  physique,  looking 
is  concerned  with  a  man  brought  up  in  well-fed  and  strong,  and  what  is  more 
humble  circumstances  who  eventually  important,  completely  self-respecting, 
succeeds  financially,  but  who  has  a  fatal  It  is  no  credit  to  England  that  this  corn- 
flaw  in  his  character.  The  scene  shifts  parison  could  be  made  and  that  it  was 
from  England  to  Germany  and  back  true;  the  caste  system  breeds  a  few 
again ;  there  is  a  good  deal  of  action  and  fine  specimens,  and  below  the  first  cut 
humor,  and  the  writing  is  good  and  is  one  of  the  worst  middle  classes  on 
solid,  without  being  especially  dis-  earth,  and  below  that,  the  underfed,  un- 
tinguished.  dersized,  and  very  underdoggish  look 
ing  working  people.  Spain  may  be 
gtfr.  Tnestley's  Island  backward  in  every  other  respect,  but 

The    non-fiction    of    recent    books  she  is  not  backward  in  human  beings, 

ranges  over  wide  fields,  and  does  not  Mr.  Priestley  talks  of  thousands  of 

fall   readily   into   classifications.    One  things  in  his  book,  and  has  many  of  the 

of  the  outstanding  books  was  J.  B.  charming  descriptions  which  the  Eng- 

Priestley's  English  Journey  (Harper,  lish  countryside  deserves  j  he  has  writ- 

$3),  a  remarkable  record  of  travels  of  ten  a  very  fine  book  indeed,  and  one  that 

a  novelist  up  and  down  his  native  Eng-  will  richly  repay  reading, 

land.  The  Landscaper's  enthusiasm  for  _ 

the  merits  of  the  book  had  to  fight  ^  $reat  Lawyers  Career 

against  his  intense  dislike  of  Mr.  Priest-  Another  English  book  worth  looking 

ley's  ill-mannered  behavior  during  a  for  is  Lord  Reading  and  His  Cases:  The 


382 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


Study  of  a  Great  Career,  by  Derek  Wal 
ter-Smith  (Macmillan,  $3.50),  the 
record  of  the  lifetime  of  work  of  a  noted 
lawyer  and  statesman,  which  will  prove 
worth  while  to  any  one  who  is  inter 
ested  in  human  beings,  and  which 
should  also  be  of  value  to  members  of 
the  legal  profession.  Here  are  full  ac 
counts  of  such  famous  trials  as  the 
Liverpool  Bank  Case,  the  Titanic  Dis 
aster,  with  its  tremendously  dramatic 
testimony  -y  the  Marconi  "Scandal," 
the  Defense  of  Sir  Edward  Russell, 
and  many  others,  a  grand  book  alto 
gether. 

One  of  the  finest  biographies  of  the 
year  is  Howard  Swiggett's  The  Rebel 
Raider:  A  Life  of  John  Hunt  Morgan 
(Bobbs-Merrill,  $3.50),  a  realistic  life 
history  of  a  romantic  Confederate  cav 
alry  leader,  which  is  also  an  excellent 
story  of  what  went  on  in  the  Border 
States  among  Confederate  sympathiz 
ers,  and  of  the  irregular  warfare  fought 
in  these  regions.  Mr.  Swiggett  has 
written  the  truth  as  he  found  it  by  care 
ful  research,  and  while  he  removes  some 
of  the  glamor  from  Morgan's  record, 
he  takes  away  none  of  the  excitement. 
He  has  made  a  distinct  contribution  to 
the  history  of  the  Civil  War,  and  at  the 
same  time  has  added  a  first-rate  biogra 
phy  to  the  growing  list  of  biographies 
that  have  been  written  in  the  past 
decade  about  the  leaders  in  this  strug 
gle. 

Communism  in  China 

A  highly  important  book,  since  it  is 
deeply  concerned  with  the  fate  of 
China's  millions,  which  may  easily 
mean  the  fate  of  the  world  in  the  not- 
far-future,  is  Victor  A.  Yakhontoff's 
The  Chinese  Soviets  (Coward-McCann, 
$2.75),  an  account  from  first-hand  ob 
servation  of  the  workings  of  commu 


nism  among  the  some  80,000,000 
Chinese  who  have  embraced  it  in  Cen 
tral  China.  Their  relations  with  the 
Soviets,  their  handling  of  their  prob 
lems  of  government,  their  difficulties 
with  the  other  provinces,  and  their  pos 
sible  future  are  all  discussed  at  length 
and  with  fine  intelligence  in  a  way  that 
will,  one  feels  certain,  be  a  revelation 
even  to  well-informed  people. 

Other  books  on  topical  subjects  in 
clude  Hamilton  Fish  Armstrong's 
small,  but  very  useful,  volume,  Europe 
Between  Wars  (Macmillan,  $2),  a  dis 
cussion  of  the  present  situation  on  the 
Continent  j  and  Douglas  Reed's  The 
Burning  of  the  Reichstag  (Covici- 
Friede,  $3),  an  English  journalist's  ac 
count  of  the  fire  and  of  the  trial,  which 
makes  it  certain  that  the  men  accused 
were  not  the  incendiaries.  It  is  a  well- 
written  and  readable  book  that  will 
prove  convincing,  although  Mr.  Reed 
does  not  go  far  enough  to  try  to  fix  the 
blame  on  Hitler  and  his  followers, 
where  it  unquestionably  belongs. 

Also  Louis  Adamic's  Dynamite 
(Viking,  $2.50),  a  reissue  of  one  of 
Mr.  Adamic's  earlier  books  in  which  the 
author  of  A  Native's  Return  advocates 
the  use  of  violence  in  labor  troubles,  and 
suggests  that  working  men  can  never 
win  their  rights  without  being  willing, 
at  least,  to  meet  force  with  force.  Of 
course,  this  isn't  very  pleasant  propa 
ganda,  but  there  is  a  certain  amount  of 
common  sense  in  it,  since  capital  and 
labor  are  each  after  what  they  can  get, 
and  since  capital  has  never  hesitated  to 
use  force  to  the  limit  to  hold  on  to  what 
it  considered  its  rightful  share. 

The  S^ew  Religion 

A  most  interesting  if  not  altogether 
convincing  attempt  to  furnish  a  religion 
for  the  common  man  out  of  the  discov- 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE 


383 


cries  of  modern  science  is  to  be  found 
in  a  book  called  Science  for  a  New 
World  (Harper,  $3.75),  which  was  a 
project  of  the  great  Scottish  biologist 
and  popularizer,  Sir  J.  Arthur  Thom 
son,  but  which  he  did  not  live  to  finish. 
It  was  turned  over  to  J.  G.  Crowther, 
who  edited  The  Outline  of  Science.  It 
consists  of  a  large  number  of  essays  on 
various  subjects,  and  is  tied  together  by 
the  statement  that,  on  the  whole,  man 
has  sought  good  since  his  history  began, 
that  he  is,  in  other  words,  on  his  way  up 
ward.  The  essays  for  the  most  part  pre 
serve  the  open-minded  and  reasonable 
attitude  of  mind  that  is  characteristic  of 
men  of  science,  and  they  are  valuable 
as  aids  to  orientation,  but  this  is  not  a 
new  Bible  for  the  masses. 

What  the  run  of  men  want,  if  they 
feel  the  need  of  religion  at  all,  is  some 
thing  much  more  certain  than  this, 
something,  for  example,  like  one  of  our 
popular  American  cults  which  works 
like  a  most  generous  slot  machine.  You 
put  in  your  faith,  and  you  get  out  health, 
wealth  and  happiness. 

The  Crowther  book  is  worth  reading 
for  Dr.  Hoggben's  essay  on  the  subject 
of  heredity  and  environment  and  Dr. 
Leathes's  remarkable  article  on  "The 
Human  Machine."  There  are  others, 
too,  almost  as  impressive  and  as  mind- 
stretching. 

Seeing  ^America  First 

An  account  of  a  long  trip  through 
Western  America  made  last  year  by 
Lewis  Gannett  of  the  New  York  Herald 
Tribune  and  his  family  is  a  deservedly 
popular  book  of  the  moment.  It  is  called 
Sweet  Land  (Doubleday,  Doran,  $2), 
and  it  tells  a  lot  about  automobile  camps, 
about  good  small  restaurants,  about 
Americans  at  home  and  what  they 
think  j  it  has  many  exciting  descriptions 


of  strange  places  and  odd  people.  It  is, 
in  other  words,  just  the  kind  of  book  to 
make  anybody  with  a  trace  of  wander 
lust  feel  like  taking  just  such  a  journey 
at  once.  The  Landscaper  has  made  two 
of  these  Seeing  America  tours,  one  of 
seven  thousand  miles,  and  one  of  two 
thousand,  and  there  is  nothing  like 
them;  they  are  inexpensive,  comforta 
ble  and  delightful.  Mr.  Gannett  sets 
down  his  figures  and  they  are  very  low. 
The  modern  automobile — especially 
the  new  touring  models  with  built-in 
trunks  and  space  for  luggage  behind  the 
back  seat — and  good  roads  together 
have  given  us  a  most  alluring  way  to 
spend  our  leisure,  and  Mr.  Gannett  ob 
viously  had  his  full  share  of  enjoyment 
out  of  the  trip. 

Women's  sense  of  humor  has  long 
been  a  subject  of  argument,  and  Web 
ster  uses  it  to  excellent  advantage  in  his 
series  of  cartoons  "And  Nothing  Can 
Be  Done  About  It,"  which  every  mar 
ried  man  admires  extravagantly.  An  im 
portant  contribution  to  the  subject  is 
Laughing  Their  Way:  Woman's 
Humor  in  America,  edited  by  Martha 
Bensley  Bruere  and  Mary  Ritter  Beard 
(Macmillan,  $3),  an  anthology  whose 
selections  range  all  the  way  from  "Mary 
Had  a  Little  Lamb,"  which  was  written 
by  Sarah  Josepha  Hale,  the  editor  of 
Godey's  Ladyys  Book,  to  caricatures  by 
Helen  Hokinson  from  The  New 
Yorker.  Also  there  are  such  quotations 
from  Emily  Dickinson  as  this  famous 
quatrain: 

How  dreary  to  be  somebody! 

How  public,  like  a  frog 

To  tell  your  name  the  livelong  day 

To  an  admiring  bog. 

The  selection  is  an  admirable  one, 
and  if  anybody  ever  took  seriously  the 
charge  that  women  have  no  sense  of 
humor,  this  book  ought  to  cure  the  very 
silly  notion. 


384  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Lagerlof,  Helen  Keller,   Etsu  Sugi- 

Some  Ommbus  Volumes  moto>   Walt   Whitmari   and   otherS) 

Two  large  books  with  a  tremendous  enough  reading  for  several  years  of 
lot  of  reading  matter  in  both  remain  to  long  winter  evenings, 
be  recommended.  They  are  Somerset  Also  there  is  Carl  Van  Doren's  an- 
Maugham's  East  Is  West,  a  collection  thology,  Modern  American  Prose, 
of  thirty  of  Mr.  Maugham's  own  short  with  almost  a  thousand  pages  in  it  for 
stories,  with  an  introduction  (Double-  $2.75,  an  excellent  selection,  with  a 
day,  Doran,  $2.50)  j  and  A  Book  of  good  essay  by  Mr.  Van  Doren,  except 
Great  Autobiography,  published  by  the  that  it  omits  Ellen  Glasgow,  which  is  in- 
same  firm  at  $3,  and  containing  the  life  explicable,  since  nobody  in  England  or 
histories  of  W.  N.  P.  Barbellion,  Chris-  America  today  writes  better  prose  than 
topher  Morley,  Joseph  Conrad,  Selma  the  Virginia  novelist. 


VOLUME  238 


fros  efyriusqug  mibi  nullo  diseriminc  ageiur 

h  American 

NOVEMBER,  1934 


NUMBER  5' 


Apdritif 


-s,  .  .  . 

Third  Alternatives 


was  a  day,  presumably,  when 
only  two  alternatives  existed.  At 
least  that  was  what  we  were  taught  in 
school.  And  in  a  few  cases  the  knowl- 
edge  has  stuck.  Voices  can  still  be  heard 
crying  in  the  wilderness  that  there  are 
no  more  than  two  alternatives.  But  they 
sound  remote  and  other-worldly,  like 
Al  Smith  and  Mr.  Hoover,  for  we  can 
nearly  always  find  a  third  alternative 
—  sometimes  a  fourth  and  a  fifth  and 
any  further  number  that  seem  necessary 
or  convenient.  The  Romans  with  their 
precise  grammar  are  long  dead,  Mus- 
solini  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding, 
Morality  and  immorality,  for  in- 
stance,  were  once  a  highly  exclusive  pair 
of  alternatives.  You  had  a  freedom  of 
choice,  of  course,  but  kissing  your  wife 
on  Sunday  could  blacken  your  character 
as  thoroughly  as  being  included  today 
in  the  favored  list  of  an  investment 
banking  house.  Gambling  was  consid- 
ered  a  vice  and  so  frowned  upon  that  it 
became  not  only  illegal  to  bet  on  the 
outcome  of  an  election  but  also  grounds 
f  or  disqualification  from  further  voting, 
(  It  remains  so  to  this  day  in  those  liberal 
and  progressive  commonwealths,  New 


York  and  Wisconsin,  not  to  mention 
Florida.)  The  things  that  should  be. 
done  by  a  moral  man  were  rigidly  cir- 
cumscribedj  hence  it  was  assumed  that 
the  immoral  category  was  almost  in- 
finitely  flexible.  Whatever  new  came 
along  had  to  bear  the  burden  of  proof 
that  it  was  moral. 

But  as  new  things  came  along  with 
greater  and  greater  rapidity,  and  each 
one  was  first  labeled  immoral,  the  im- 
moral  category  became  altogether  too 
attractive  for  the  competition  of  the 
moral.  Moreover,  many  of  the  origi- 
nally  poor  Puritans  had  become  rich 
and  found  a  way  to  clothe  their  wealth 
with  such  respectability  that  poverty 
seemed  almost  immoral.  Naturally, 
with  the  wealth  to  enjoy  new  things, 
but  the  aura  of  the  old  rigid  moral 
classifications  about  them,  they  had  to 
move  cautiously.  What  resulted  was  a 
third  alternative:  a  classification  of 
things  neither  moral  nor  immoral,  but 
more  fittingly  used  by  the  wealthy,  who 
were  respectable.  Dancing,  card-play- 
ing,  ostentatious  dress  and  a  number  of 
other  minor  vices  which  were  horrifica- 
tions  to  their  ancestors  fell  into  this 
grouping. 

The  crystallization  of  our  politics 


Copyright,  1934,  by  North  American  Review  Corporation.  All  rights  reserved. 


386  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

into  the  two-party  system  was  a  natural  down  as  a  plea  for  liberty  to  starve.  The 

outcome  of  our  forefathers'  excellent  Republicans  strive  to  make  it  a  duel  be- 

Latinity.  However  various  and  conflict-  tween  capitalism  and  Communism,  with 

ing  the  issues  might  be  it  seemed  best  themselves  on  the  side  of  the  angels, 

to  tackle  them  as  a  Democrat  or  a  Re-  naturally.  This  is  instinctive,  the  heri- 

publican  and  damn  the  other  party  tage  of  their  forefathers'  training  in 

black.  Politics  being  the  most  conserva-  Latinate  derivatives,  but  the  Democrats 

tive  of  our  arts,  its  alternatives  have  are  more  in  line  with  modern  trends, 

been  exceedingly  hard  to  multiply.  It  is  They  maintain  that  the  New.  Deal  is 

possible  even  in  this  day  to  find  a  Carter  not  Communism,  or  Fascism,  toward 

Glass  and  a  Rexf  ord  Guy  Tugwell  un-  either  of  which  they  claim  the  Republi- 

der  the  same  enveloping  party  banner,  cans  were  dangerously  leading  us  in 

But  third  parties  have  risen,  and  fallen  their  long  term  of  power,  but  a  third 

of  course,  and  in  the  case  of  one  Roose-  alternative — controlled    capitalism,    a 

velt,  at  least,  made  a  national  impres-  planned  economy:  they  have  not  yet 

sion.  The  latest  Roosevelt,  too,  is  re-  agreed  upon  a  name,  possibly  because  it 

ported  to  have  a  worried  eye  on  the  is  so  hard  to  determine  what  they  are 

West  where  Farmer-Laborites  and  Pro-  naming. 

gressives  toil  mightily  to  give  the  citizen         And  out  of  this  resounding  contro- 

a  third  choice  of  importance  on  his  1936  versy  comes  an  issue  probably  much 

ballot.  more  important,  another  classical  dual- 

And  whereas  once  to  be  a  Republican  ism:  nationalism  as  opposed  to  interna- 

was  to  subscribe  heartily  to  the  prin-  tionalism.  If  we  are  to  have  a  planned 

ciples  of  Hamilton,  or  a  Democrat  to  economy,  can  it  include  foreign  trade? 

those  of  Jefferson,  it  is  now  possible  to  Do  we  want  it  to  include  foreign  trade? 

find  a  hodge-podge  of  either  or  neither  If  we  want  it  to  include  foreign  trade, 

or  both  in  each  of  the  parties'  policies,  if  does  that  mean  two-way  trade  or  merely 

not  so  apparently  in  their  platforms,  hopeless  loans  to  pay  for  exports?  Are 

Democracy  and   Republicanism   were  we  willing  to  admit  foreign  competi- 

once  issues.  The  Democrats  fought  cen-  tion?  Can  our  industries  withstand  it? 

tralization  and  their  opponents  won.  Is  there  a  possibility  of  choice  in  the 

Now  the  Democrats  have  captured  that  matter  with  the  rest  of  the  world  so  well 

centralization  at  its  zenith  and  the  Re-  regimented  already?  These  are  only  a 

publicans  are  helpless,  robbed  of  a  phi-  few  of  the  questions  raised.  Secretary 

losophy  and  jobless  to  boot.  The  Demo-  Wallace  said  that  America  must  choose 

crats  rub  salt  into  their  wounds  by  de-  between  nationalism  and  admitting  for- 

claring  that  this  vastly  more  powerful  eign  competition,  but  there  was  a  third 

central  government  than  any  Hamilton  alternative,  inevitably.  This  must  be  the 

dreamed  of  is  really  a  means  of  re-  course  we  are  following.  It  has  no  ascer- 

storing  democracy  to  the  people,  and  in  tainable  name, 
the  economic  sphere  where  they  need 
it  most.  The  Republicans  answer  with 

a  wail  of  "regimentation"  and  a  plea         Then  there  is  the  question  of  money, 

for  return  to  the  "American  principles"  Since  economists  first  put  their  mighty 

of   individual    liberty    and    initiative,  minds  to  work  it  has  been  assumed  that 

which  the  Democrats  in  their  turn  set  there  were  only  two  true  classifications 


APERITIF  387 

for   money:   sound   money   and   fiat  they  do,  apparently  for  other  reasons, 

money.  Over  the  centuries  currency  was  such   as   manipulation    of   supply   or 

gradually  diluted  as  money-lenders  dis-  weather  conditions.  There  is  a  growing 

covered  the  safety  and  advantage  of  body  of  thought  that  metal  backing  for 

increasing  the  circulation  of  paper  prom-  money  is  impractical  because  the  metal 

ises  to  pay  beyond  the  total  of  gold  and  itself  changes  in  value  too  widely  for 

silver  which  was  supposed  to  be  back  of  stability.  The  sound  money  advocates 

them.  Yet  economists  went  on  insisting  tend  defensively  to  argue  that,  despite 

that  only  money  which  was  backed  by  the  instability  of  metal  values,  it  is  nec- 

( diminishing  percentages  of)  metal  was  essary  to  have  a  symbol  because  the 

sound,  and  all  other  fiat.  Fiat  money,  of  masses  are  not  sufficiently  intelligent  to 

course,  was  presumed  to  be  bad  indeed,  understand  and  accept  a  "commodity 

and  to  have  the  necromantic  power  of  dollar"  or  "ticket  money."  The  Social 

forcing  sound  money  out  of  circulation,  Creditors    petulantly    insist    that    the 

but  just  where  the  dividing  line  between  total  physical  and  mental  assets  of  a  na- 

the  two  should  be  was  almost  impossi-  tion  are  its  best  currency  backing,  and 

ble  to  say.  A  legal  forty  per  cent  cover  down  with  the  gold-minded  bankers, 

might  be  more  than  ample  at  one  time  Reflationists  believe  in  metal  but  also 

and  lead  to  a  national  bank  holiday  at  believe  in  manipulating  its  value  con- 

another.  sciously  for  social  purposes.  And  there 

At  any  rate,  despite  a  certain  amount  are  a  thousand  other  alternatives  among 

of  obscurity  about  the  exact  nature  of  which  to  choose,  if  the  confusion  does 

these  alternatives  it  was  at  least  assumed  not  send  you  to  a  desert  isle  where 

that  there  were  no  others,  and  this  led  money  is  as  useless  as  it  is  incomprehen- 

to  a  comfortable  feeling  among  the  sible  and  hence  no  fit  subject  for  human 

populace,  who  in  the  direst  hard  times  contemplation. 

could  be  made  proud  by  assurance  from  Perhaps  the  most  humorous  case  of 
on  high  that  the  country's  money  was  a  third  alternative  is  that  of  birth  con- 
still  sound.  But,  as  in  other  spheres,  trol.  In  recent  decades  the  controversy 
rebellious  spirits  set  about  thinking  up  over  this  delicate  subject  has  been  as 
new  alternatives.  At  the  present  time  loud,  bitter,  prolonged  and  apparently 
such  efforts  have  succeeded  so  well  that  insoluble  as  any  the  world  has  known, 
very  few  countries  in  the  whole  world  Churches,  governments  and  many  other 
permit  the  use  of  metal  for  currency  in  self-constituted  guardians  of  the  public 
any  but  international  transactions.  In  morality  have  railed,  commanded, 
this  country  gold  and  silver  have  be-  pleaded,  scolded,  argued  and  even  rea- 
come  "nationalized"  and  so  far  as  the  soned  with  a  stubborn  populace  which 
citizen  is  concerned  he  may  never  be  quietly  absorbed  all  the  information  it 
allowed  to  touch  the  metal  which  is  could  get  and  put  it  into  practice  de- 
presumed  to  give  value  to  his  currency,  spite  everything  its  well-meaning  Cas- 
The  Government,  by  promulgation,  or  sandras  could  do — in  many  cases,  no 
fiat,  sets  whatever  valuation  upon  it  that  doubt,  because  of  what  the  Cassandras 
strikes  its  fancy  j  and  the  curious  fact  had  done,  since  the  noise  of  their  warn- 
is  that  the  valuation  is  accepted  pretty  ings  was  certain  to  attract  attention  that 
generally  in  other  countries,  but  prices  might  otherwise  have  strayed, 
within  our  own  borders  change,  when  The  governments  of  militaristic  na- 


388  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

tions  have  seen  the  production  of  their  sisted  mainly  in  human  decisions.  The 
prospective  cannon  fodder  steadily  be-  point  was  well  taken  and  apparently 
ing  reduced,  despite  every  reward  they  the  world  has  come  to  the  story-teller's 
could  offer  for  increases  and  despite  aid  by  providing  a  host  of  new  possi- 
every  attempt  they  made  to  check  the  bilities  for  deciding.  Alternatives  bios- 
spread  of  information  and  devices.  The  som  like  wild  flowers,  covering  the 
churches,  particularly  the  Roman  Cath-  waste  places  of  the  earth.  Indeed,  it  is 
olic,  seeing  the  course  of  events  as  both  only  in  long-settled  areas  such  as  rock- 
a  blow  at  their  future  enrolments  and  ribbed  Vermont  or  the  silk-stocking 
a  blow  at  their  ethical  and  religious  district  of  New  York  that  they  are 
structures,  have  fought  even  more  limited  to  a  traditional  dualism.  There 
desperately,  but  with  no  greater  success  you  can  have  inflation  or  stability,  but 
— less  if  anything.  There  were  just  two  no  reflation  j  individualism  or  Commu- 
alternatives:  you  could  attempt  to  prac-  nism,  but  no  New  Deal  5  good  things 
tise  birth  control  or  you  could  have  and  bad  things,  but  nothing  indetermi- 
none  of  it,  citing  chapter  and  verse  of  a  nate.  Elsewhere,  and  particularly  in 
thousand  high-minded  authorities  for  places  where  poverty  is  the  rule,  alter- 
either  course.  natives  are  multiplying  at  a  tremendous 

With  the  prestige  of  churches  slowly  rate. 

declining  everywhere  for  many  reasons,  The  only  generalized  objection  to 
this  question  prominent  among  them,  this  trend  available  is  that  too  many 
some  way  out  of  the  dilemma  has  been  alternatives  might  have  the  same  effect 
anxiously  sought  for  years.  And  with  as  too  many  cooks:  namely,  spoiling  the 
the  characteristic  strangeness  of  our  soup.  Hard  as  it  always  has  been  for 
times  it  suddenly  seems  to  have  popped  people  to  make  a  decision  involving 
up,  quite  without  help  from  ecclesiastics  only  two  choices,  what  can  we  expect  if 
or  government  officials.  A  Japanese  and  the  choices  are  increased  to  three,  four 
an  Austrian  doctor  announced  in  1930  a  or  some  higher  number?  We  can,  ob- 
"natural"  birth  control  method  which  viously,  expect  just  what  we  are  now 
has  since  been  widely  publicized  and  experiencing:  a  great  deal  of  confusion, 
apparently  tested  with  success.  Lately  But  pointing  out  the  fact  does  nothing 
the  churches  have  taken  to  endorsing  to  alter  it,  and  it  seems  more  than  likely 
the  method.  It  is  a  third  alternative  that  we  shall  continue  to  flounder  in  a 
meeting  most  purely  religious  objec-  sea  of  third  alternatives  for  a  long  time 
tions  and  yet  not  preventing  modern  to  come, 
families  from  limiting  their  progeny. 
Of  course  Mussolini  and  Hitler  can  not 
be  satisfied,  but  perhaps  soon  a  fourth  p  ^ 
alternative  will  be  found  enabling  can 
non  fodder  to  be  produced  without  the  Considering  the  popularity  a  year  or 
bother  and  expense  of  child-bearing.  two  ago  of  the  movie  made  from  Mrs. 

Several  years  ago   Struthers   Burt  Shelley's  celebrated  novel,  one  might 

commented  in  this  magazine  on  the  have    predicted    that    metaphor-users 

state  of  the  fiction-writer's  trade,  ob-  would  finally  be  able  to  straighten  out 

serving  that  what  was  left  for  the  serious  in  their  minds  the  identities  of  its  chief 

novelist  in  the  way  of  plot  material  con-  characters,  without  the  painful  nece*- 


APERITIF  389 

aity  of  reading.  But  it  would  have  been  trust  kws  were  interfering  disastrously 

a  vain  prediction.  with  business  and  sought  a  way  to  evade 

The  Frankenstein  figure  of  speech  them.  Cut-throat  competition  and  its 

has  been  a  particular  favorite  with  the  attendant  evils,  low  wages,  child  labor 

numerous  and  increasing  opponents  of  and  sweat  shops,  were  to  be  ended  and 

the  NRA.  A  letter  to  the  Times  dated  thereupon  business  would  go  forward 

October  2,  for  instance,  has  this  passage :  in  leaps  and  bounds.  So  the  business  men 

"In  the  herculean  effort  to  keep  it  [the  wrote  their  codes,  with  a  certain  amount 

NRA]  alive  it  has  become  a  ponderous,  of  strongly  resented  interference  from 

confused  Frankenstein  that  has  throt-  the  Government.  But  business  refused 

tied  the  very  purpose  for  which  it  was  to  go  forward  in  leaps  and  bounds.  In 

created."  While  the  scientific  skill  fact  it  edged  backward.  Frankenstein 

which  Mrs.  Shelley  bestowed  on  her  failed  to  fashion  a  proper  brain  or  soul 

hero  might  have  enabled  him  somehow  for  his  monster  and  it  got  out  of  hand, 

to  throttle  a  purpose,  difficult  feat  It  seems  barely  possible  that  the  numer- 

though  that  would  be,  it  is  inconceivable  ous  business  Frankensteins  who  put  to- 

that  he  could  have  changed  himself  gether  the  tissues  and  muscles  and 

into  the  monster  he  created.  nervous  system  of  the  NRA  made  a 

Still,  there  were  times  when  Franken-  similar  omission.  Now  they  are  engaged 

stein  hated  the  monster  he  had  created  in  calling  it  names  and  frantically  try- 

and  it  is  something  like  that  which  has  ing  to  destroy  it  before  it  destroys  them, 

happened  in  the  case  of  the  NRA.  If  But  if  the  Administration  propaganda 

John  T.  Flynn  and  others  are  to  be  be-  department  wanted  to  make  a  little  sly 

lieved,  the  NRA  was  set  up  in  large  capital  out  of  their  discomfiture  it  could 

part  to  satisfy  demands  of  certain  busi-  point  out  what  names  they  are  calling  it. 

ness  men,  who  believed  that  the  anti-  w.  A.  D. 


Is  Fascism  a  Capitalist  Product? 

BY  BERNARD  LANDE  COHEN 

Who  denies  the  frequent  statement  that  capitalism  is  essentially 
responsible  for  the  contemporary  growth  of  dictatorships 

To  THE  many  complaints  against  nated  with  his  life  or  that  of  his  im- 

capitalism  has  been  added  the  mediate  successor.  The  career  of  one  of 

further  charge  of  instigating  the  these  ancient  dictators,  Dionysius  of 

Fascist  movement.  The  belief  that  Fas-  Syracuse,  bears  a  marked  resemblance 

cism  is  a  new  philosophy  arid  a  new  to  that  of  Hitler, 
theory  of  government   is  largely  to         A  person  of  humble  origin,  Dionysius 

blame  for  this  confusion  of  thought,  came  to  the  fore  when  Syracuse  had 

Despite  the  novelty  of  its  name,  Fas-  sunk  to  a  low  degree  in  consequence  of 

cism  is.  really  an  ancient  system  come  to  a  long  series  of  wars  with  its  neighbors, 

life  in  somewhat  altered  form.  There  is  Endowed  with  a  gift  of  violent  elo- 

in  human  history,  as  in  the  natural  uni-  quence,  he  drew  attention  to  himself  by 

verse,  a  certain  regularity  of  events,  for  denouncing  the  leading  citizens,  charg- 

not  only  does  history  repeat  itself  but  ing  them  with  being  the  authors  of  the 

its  unpleasant  features  have  a  special  people's  misfortunes  and  of  betraying 

tendency  for  doing  so.  Except  for  its  the  city  to  its  enemies.  His  calumnies, 

oddities  and  affectations,  Fascism  re-  though  received  with  great  repugnance 

sembles  the  usual  forms  of  autocracy  by  the  more  intelligent,  found  favor 

both  historical  and  contemporary,  and  with  the  bulk  of  the  people,  who  in  their 

in  essence  there  is  nothing  to  choose  be-  despair  lent  a  willing  ear  to  the  pro- 

tween  the  despotism  of  a  chancellor  in  posals  of  the  new  demagogue.  Through 

Europe  and  the  despotism  of  a  presi-  various  maneuvers  he  obtained  from  the 

dent  in  Latin  America.  assembly  a  vote,  passed  under  constitu- 

The  name  "Fascism"  is  derived  from  tional    forms,   vesting   in    him   alone 

a  root  meaning  "an  axe"  which  in  an-  powers  beyond  the  law.  It  was  intended 

cient  Rome  was  a  symbol  of  the  lictors'  to  create  only  a  temporary  dictatorship 

authority.  Antiquity  presents  a  number  under  the  pressing  danger  of  the  mo- 

of  parallels  to  the  Fascist  movement  of  ment,  but  Dionysius  lost  no  time  in  mak- 

our  own  time.  In  most  of  the  Greek  city  ing  his  rule  permanent.  He  had  a  num- 

states  the  government  was  normally  ber  of  energetic  adherents  who  were 

democratic,  but  occasionally  there  was  a  ready  to  go  to  all  lengths  in  his  support, 

seizure  of  power  by  one  individual,  and  was  aided  especially  by  a  bodyguard 

whose  ephemeral  government  termi-  of  criminals  selected  because  of  their 


IS  FASCISM  A  CAPITALIST  PRODUCT?  391 

desperate  position  as  well  as  for  their  and  today  there  is  hardly  a  country  with- 

bravery.  All  the  acts  of  the  usurper  were  out  its  would-be  Hitler  or  Mussolini, 

approved  by  the  assembly  which  he  These  men  wait  for  an  accentuation  of 

called  together  on  certain  occasions  and  the  economic  crisis  to  dissolve  the  pres- 

which  now  included  none  but  his  own  ent  standards  and  thereby  clear  the  way 

partisans.  for  their  own  aggrandizement.   The 

Having  made  himself  master  of  the  method  of  these  rugged  charlatans  is  to 

lives  and  fortunes  of  his  own  country-  stir  the  crowd  by  sophistry,  by  rhetoric, 

men,    the    Tyrant    of    Syracuse    now  by  calumny,  by  stimulants  applied  to 

dreamt  of  foreign  conquests,  and  he  be-  the  national  pride, 

gan  to  spend  vast  sums  on  military  It  is  a  sad  commentary  on  the  spirit 

preparations.  Those  who  complained  of  of  our  age  that  a  medley  of  irrational 

his  ruinous  measures  were  either  put  to  nonsense  and  brazen  misstatement,  if 

death  or  consigned  to  a  prison  newly  -couched  in  language  sufficiently  ornate, 

constructed  out  of  a  quarry.  The  whole  should  be  so  dignified  as  to  be  referred 

Grecian  world  became  filled  with  refu-  to  as  a  philosophy.  It  is  no  longer  neces- 

gees  from  this  dangerous  city  and  the  sary  to  draw  from  the  Germanic  sages 

name  of  its  ruler  became  everywhere  a  for  actual  examples  of  this  "philoso- 

byword  of  loathing  and  contempt.  In  phy,"  for  the  English-speaking  world 

his  later  years  the  Tyrant  came  to  sus-  now  has  its  own  school.  One  of  its  rep- 

pect  every  one  of  plotting  against  him,  resentatives  is  a  certain  Mr.  W.  E.  D. 

and,  seized  with  a  homicidal  mania,  or-  Allen,  the  author  of  the  first  book  on 

dered  the  death  of  many  of  his  oldest  English  Fascism.  He  asserts  in  an  ar- 

friends  and  adherents.  tide  in  the  Quarterly  Review  that  Fas- 

In  the  foregoing  narrative  are  to  be  cism  "sweeps  away  the  inhibitions  of 
found  all  the  elements  that  enter  into  democracy,"  and  one  need  but  turn  to 
modern  Fascism.  Fascism  and  anarchy  the  barbarous  statecraft  of  a  Hitler  in 
are  closely  akin  to  each  other,  and,  with  order  to  realize  the  entire  justice  of  this 
the  lowering  of  social  values,  govern-  claim.  A  further  example  of  his  peculiar 
ments  soon  fall  into  the  hands  of  ruth-  dialectic  is  the  following:  "The  em- 
less  and  egotistical  men.  The  leaders  in  phasis  of  Fascism  on  the  conception  of 
the  present  movement  against  popular  the  nation  does  not  preclude  that  Uni- 
government  are  of  the  kind  that  versalism  which  is  the  antithesis  of  In- 
throughout  the  ages  have  risen  to  power  ternationalism."  Only  the  gargantuan 
in  times  of  despair.  Fascism  may  be  mind  of  a  Dr.  Gobbels  would  be  capable 
summed  up  as  the  project  of  a  dema-  of  explaining  the  exact  nature  of  such 
gogue,  seconded  by  a  number  of  ambi-  an  antithesis.  He  asserts  also  that  news- 
tious  men  who  expect  to  share  in  his  papers  should  be  curbed  because  they 
success.  The  mainspring  of  Italian  Fas-  are  the  property  of  millionaires, 
cism  was  the  personal  ambition  of  a  In  the  economic  sphere  likewise  Fas- 
Mussolini,  who  aspired  to  rule  over  his  cism  confines  itself  to  pompous  phrase- 
distracted  countrymen.  Similarly,  the  ology.  Its  solution  of  the  economic  evils 
German  variety  revolves  around  a  sin-  of  the  world  is  the  corporative  state,  a 
gle  personage,  National  Socialism  being  conception  drawn  from  the  quaint  ide- 
synonymous  with  Hitlerism.  The  sue-  ology  of  Christian  Socialism.  In  princi- 
cess  of  Herr  Hitler  encouraged  others,  pie,  the  corporative  state  is  an  attempt 


391  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

to  recast  the  guild  system  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  In  reality  it  is  a  scheme  to  insure 

a  few  large  manufacturers  against  "The  whole  purpose  of  Fascism," 
losses,  through  wage  reductions,  cus-  writes  John  Strachey  in  The  Coining 
toms  barriers,  tax  exemptions  and  pre-  Struggle  for  Power,  "is  to  preserve  the 
miums  on  exports.  A  French  student  of  rule  of  the  capitalist  class."  A  profound 
Italian  Fascism,  M.  L.  Rosenstock-  error  lurks  in  this  conclusion.  Nothing 
Franck,  in  a  recent  article  in  UAnnee  can  be  said  about  Fascisni  except  that  it 
Politique  Frangaise  et  Etrangere  an-  is  a  one-man  movement  and  a  one-man 
alyzes  the  corporative  state  and  con-  government,  and  that  every  act  is  in 
cludes  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  tended  for  the  personal  aggrandize- 
Fascist  economic  theory.  He  says :  "The  ment  of  a  self-appointed  "leader."  An 
Fascists  have  no  planned  economy.  An  opportunist  seeks  aid  where  he  can  find 
unbridgeable  gulf  divides  the  laws  and  it  and  will  promise  anything  to  those 
regulations  of  the  authorities  from  the  who  give  him  the  funds  for  his  cam- 
actual  realities  of  every-day  affairs,  paign.  Nevertheless,  it  could  happen 
Every  professor  and  commentator  fol-  that  once  in  power  he  would  be  wise 
lows  his  own  particular  chimera  without  enough  to  prefer  the  support  of  the 
attempting  at  any  time  the  indispensable  masses  to  that  of  the  plutocrats,  as  will 
rapprochement  of  life  and  doctrine.  The  be  seen  from  the  following  report  taken 
banalities  of  every-day  opportunism  from  the  New  Republic  of  July  n, 
and  exalted  ideologies  pursue  each  their  1934:  "A  correspondent  in  Bulgaria 
own  course,  and  never  do  their  respec-  sends  us  some  news  of  the  new  dictator- 
tive  ways  cross  each  other."  ship  there,  which  indicates  that  Prime 
Fascism's  so-called  philosophy  is  Minister  Kimon  Georgieff  is  a  skilled 
mere  verbosity  whose  real  purpose  is  to  politician  as  well  as  the  ruthless  engi- 
entangle  hostile  critics  in  a  web  of  ab-  neer  of  a  coup  d'etat.  One  of  his  acts 
straction  in  order  thereby  to  hide  its  was  to  intervene  in  a  strike  of  3,OOO 
actual  primitiveness.  In  only  one  re-  workers  at  Plevna,  who  were  asking 
spect  does  Fascism  differ  from  similar  that  their  wages  be  increased  from  40 
movements  of  earlier  times.  For  the  to  45  cents  in  the  case  of  men  and  from 
politics  of  a  mercenary  age  eloquence  is  25  to  30  cents  in  the  case  of  women, 
no  longer  sufficient.  The  creation  of  a  Georgieff  ordered  the  industrialists  to 
new  movement  is  a  costly  enterprise,  accede  in  full  to  the  demands  of  the 
Expensive  halls  need  to  be  hired,  workers." 

"troopers"  must  be  transported  and  Only  of  Italy  could  it  be  claimed  that 

provided    with    money    when    unem-  there   is   a   close   connection   between 

ployed  and  above  all  they  must  be  Fascism  and  capitalism.  The  triumph  of 

outfitted   in   special    haberdashery   of  Mussolini  was  made  possible  by  the  large 

an    appropriate   color.    It    is    evident  factory  owners  who  were  threatened  with 

that  the  laborious  task  of  saving  one's  Communism.  In  1921  the  Communists 

country  can  not  be  undertaken  with-  were  nearly  in  control  and  were  gradu- 

out  the  assistance  of  the  more  affluent  ally  taking  over  the  factories.  They 

patriots,  and  this  has  led  to  the  belief  even  sent  a  delegate  to  Moscow  to  ar- 

that  Fascism  is  an  instrument  of  cap-  range  for  the  inclusion  of  Italy  within 

italism.  the  Soviet  system.  The  manufacturer! 


IS  FASCISM  A  CAPITALIST  PRODUCT?  393 

in  despair  rallied  around  Mussolini  and  Except  to  those  who  supported  his 

financed  his  march  on  Rome.  movement,  Hitler  offered  nothing  to 

In  Germany,  however,  the  causes  of  the  German  capitalists.  It  is  understand- 
dictatorship  were  not  the  same.  In  the  able  that  business  men  of  diverse  aim 
opinion  of  all  competent  observers  there  and  character  would  anywhere  unite  to 
was  then  no  possibility  of  the  Commu-  forestall  Communism,  but  why  they 
nists'  seizing  power,  and,  accordingly,  would  seek  the  abolition  of  parliaments, 
there  was  hardly  any  need  for  such  ex-  elections  and  freedom  of  the  press  is  not 
traordinary  measures  as  in  Italy.  Only  so  apparent.  Nor  was  industry  in  any 
a  minority  of  the  German  capitalists  danger  from  the  trade  unions,  whose 
supported  Hitler.  The  bankers  with  suppression  was  not  so  much  an  act  of 
only  a  few  exceptions  were  against  him ;  capitalism  as  an  act  of  despotism.  They 
while  other  capitalists,  large  and  small,  were  the  strongholds  of  "Marxism"  and 
were  divided  in  their  party  allegiance  as  democracy,  and  this  fact  alone,  to  say 
in  other  countries.  Many  supported  the  nothing  of  their  large  reserves,  is 
Centre  party  and  the  smaller  moderate  enough  to  account  for  their  destruction, 
parties,  some  even  the  Socialists,  while  No  doubt  they  were  a  burden  to  the 
the  head  of  the  powerful  Dye  Trust  was  steel  magnates  who  were  nearly  ruined 
a  staunch  supporter  of  Dr.  Briining.  by  the  depression,  but  even  the  worst 
Hitler's  chief  contributors,  the  coal  and  employers  could  foresee  no  gain  to  in- 
iron  magnates,  represented  in  1932  less  dustry  generally  through  lowering  the 
than  nine  per  cent  of  the  total  value  of  wages  of  all  the  workers.  But  not  only 
German  industry.  because  they  saw  in  him  the  champion 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  causes  of  of  capitalism  did  Krupp  and  Thyssen 

German  Fascism  were  historical  as  well  take  Hitler  unto  themselves,  for  it  may 

as  economic.  German  history  before  the  be  assumed  that  men  of  this  school  do 

Nineteenth  Century  is  a  long  record  of  not  give  away  millions  merely  for  the 

internal    warfare    and    semi-anarchy,  sake  of  an  idea.  They  invested  their 

Since  the  Germans  were  always  fighting  money  for  business  reasons  only  and  be- 

among  themselves,  and  life  was  forever  cause  they  expected  a  rich  harvest  at  the 

.insecure,  the  law  of  natural  selection  expense  of  all — capitalists  and  workers 

favored  the  survival  of  the  ablest  fight-  indiscriminately.   There  is  reason   to 

ers.  Hence,  the  persistence  of  the  mili-  suppose  that  the  fate  of  other  indus- 

tary  character  in  so  many  of  her  people  trialists  outside  their  circle  concerned 

is  a  natural  outcome  of  Germany's  tur-  them  no  more  than  the  fate  of  the 

bulent  past.  The  Nazi  party,  with  its  workers. 

veneration  of  brute  force  and  cult  of  the  Elsewhere  it  is  yet  to  be  found  that 

irrational,  provided  a  haven  for  the  any  large  number  of  business  men  has 

born  soldiers.  To  be  sure,  business  men  abandoned  the  old  parties,  for  the  sake 

were  also  attracted  to  the  movement,  of  the  Fascists.  Recently  the  Fascist 

particularly  those  who  were  ready  to  chieftain  in  Montreal  was  taken  into 

supply  the  new  demand  for  war  mate-  custody  because  of  a  worthless  cheque 

rial.  Nevertheless,  the  very  extrava-  given  on  behalf  of  his  party.  It  was 

gance  of  the  German  brand  of  Fascism  found  that  this  "praetorian  guard  of 

was  enough  to  repel  the  ordinary  mer-  capitalism"  had  sixty-five  cents  to  its 

chants  and  manufacturers.  credit  at  the  bank.  Also  the  Silver  Shirts 


394  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

— an  all-American  Nazi  party — went  accurate  statement  can  be  made  about 

into    bankruptcy   apparently   through  them  at  all.  One  could  generalize  about 

lack  of  appreciation  by  the  capitalists,  the  cotton  manufacturers  or  about  the 

John  Strachey  in  his  book  admits  that  bankers  j  but  of  the  "bosses"  no-  judg- 
the   "Fascist   technique   will   only  be  -  ment  can  be  true  without  the  opposite 

adopted  when  the  directing  capitalist  being  true   also.   Some  are   wealthy, 

groups  consider  that  the  regular  state  others  are  short  of  money.  Some  oppress 

forces  at  their  disposal  are  inadequate  the  workers,  others  win  their  loyalty, 

or  unsuitable  for  suppressing  the  work-  There  are  few  political  questions  about 

.  ers."  It  might  be  observed  that  in  Po-  which  employers  are  not  divided,  while 

land,  Rumania  and  Hungary  the  capi-  many  avoid  politics  altogether.  Their 

talists  have  no  reason  to  consider  the  attitude  in  all  matters  which  do  not  im- 

present  state  forces  inadequate  for  sup-  mediately  concern  them  is  determined 

pressing  the  workers.  One  can  only  sup-  more  by  education  and  temperament 

pose,  therefore,  that  the  strong  Fascist  than  by  class  consciousness.  The  clash 

trend  in  these  countries  has  been  due  to  between   the   manufacturers   and   the 

factors  other  than  capitalism.  workers  in  any  given  industry  is  rarely 

continuous  and  years  may  go  by  during 
which  there  is  hardly  any  trouble  be- 

The  doctrine  that  Fascism  is  a  by-  tween  them.  Moreover,  there  are  phases 
product  of  capitalism  is  unsound  for  the  of  the  economic  struggle  in  which  the 
further  reason  that  the  concept  of  capi-  lines  between  classes  are  drawn  on 
talism  is  vague  and  unsubstantial.  The  other  planes.  A  quiet  struggle  may  go 
term  is  invariably  used  in  a  controver-  on  between  different  classes  of  produc- 
sial  sense,  and  never  apart  from  the  idea  ers,  between  buyers  and  sellers,  lenders 
of  the  class  struggle.  No  clear  definition  and  borrowers,  which  may  be  less  spec- 
has  ever  been  given  of  capitalism,  nor  tacular,  but  not  lacking  in  bitterness  and 
has  any  one  shown  the  limits  and  bound-  fury.  The  line  of  distinction  between 
aries  of  this  supposed  system.  Neither  is  employers  and  workers  is  only  one  of 
it  possible  to  identify  the  capitalist  class  several  cleavages  within  the  social  unit; 
with  the  precision  necessary  for  the  sci-  and  under  other  aspects  of  the  economic 
entific  discussion  of  public  questions,  struggle  employers  and  their  men 
The  term  is  commonly  used  to  designate  could  be  considered  as  belonging  to  the 
those  men  who  are  at  the  same  time  the  same  class. 

employers    of    labor,    the    people    of  Political  Power.  The  further  concep- 

wealth  and  the  real  masters  within  the  tion  of  the  capitalists  as  a  ruling  caste 

state.  It  is  my  intention  by  analyzing  does  not  accord  with  the  actual  condi- 

each  of  these  qualities  in  turn,  to  prove  tions  in  an  advanced  civilization.  In  a 

that  there  is  no  capitalist  class  for  the  democratic  country  it  is  possible  for  laws 

following  main  reasons:  (i)  the  three  to  be  passed  despite  the  resistance  of 

elements  that  are  supposed  to  distin-  vested  interests ;  and  it  is  an  undeniable 

guish  the  capitalist  class  do  not  coincide  fact  that  most  of  the  legislation  is  in- 

in  the  same  body  of  men;  (2)  no  dis-  tended  to  benefit  the  people  at  large, 

tinctive  class  could  possibly  exist  on  the  Democracy  means  not  only  the  freedom 

basis  of  any  one  of  them.  of  election,  but  also  the  right  to  organize 

Employers.  As  for  the  employers,  no  into  groups  for  various  purposes.  Such 


IS  FASCISM  A  CAPITALIST  PRODUCT?  395 

groups  are  infinite  in  number  and  va-  country.  The  Brahmins  of  India  are 
riety  and  among  them  is  distributed —  at  the  top  of  the  social  scale  while  the 
very  unevenly — the  political  influence  merchants  are  rather  low  down,  and  in 
which  elsewhere  is  concentrated  in  the  any  region  primitive  enough  to  allow 
hands  of  a  few.  That  many  secure  ad-  the  rule  of  a  single  class  it  is  not  usually 
vantages  at  the  expense  of  the  public  the  despised  merchants  and  money- 
goes  without  saying,  especially  if  the  lenders  who  are  the  rulers, 
voters  are  not  too  intelligent.  A  harm-  Wealth.  Finally,  not  even  wealth  can 
ful  tariff  may  result  from  the  pressure  be  regarded  as  a  criterion  of  the  capital- 
of  the  shoe  manufacturers — abetted  by  ist  class.  In  the  more  prosperous  regions 
their  employes — or  a  tariff  on  tobacco  of  the  world  there  are  innumerable  de- 
through  the  persistence  of  certain  farm-  grees  of  wealth  j  and  property  of  some 
ers.  Organized  veterans  may  frighten  kind  is  so  widely  distributed  and  its  ebb 
Congress  into  voting  them  a  large  sub-  and  flow  is  so  considerable  that  it  is  im- 
sidyj  a  certain  religious  body  may  pre-  possible  to  distinguish  between  classes 
vent  the  legalization  of  birth  control,  on  this  basis  alone.  Men  of  substance 
These  and  many  other  partisan  influ-  together  with  their  families,  relations, 
ences  are  a  real  enough  problem  within  friends,  advisers  and  staffs  form  a  high 
the  democratic  framework,  though  it  is  percentage  of  the  total  population, 
important  to  note  that  they  do  not  pro-  Moreover,  there  are  many  others  with- 
ceed  from  a  single  class,  but  from  va-  out  property  who  earn  a  secure  liveli- 
rious  and  unrelated  sections  of  the  com-  hood,  and  can,  in  many  respects,  be. 
munity.  Even  the  intolerance  which  reckoned  with  the  well-to-do.  It  can  not 
sometimes  manifests  itself  in  a  demo-  be  said  that  the  people  in  these  several 
cratic  country  can  not  be  laid  at  the  door  stages  of  luxury,  comfort  and  content- 
pf  an  oligarchy.  The  tyranny  of  the  ment  form  a  single  class.  They  are  a 
authorities  in  such  places  as  California  heterogeneous  mass  and  their  sense 
is  directed  against  a  minority,  and  seems  of  unity  is  no  different  from  that  of 
to  have  the  support  of  a  large  percent-  the  larger  community  in  which  they 
age,  if  not  the  majority  of  the  popula-  live. 

tion.  It  is  possible,  nay  even  essential,  to 

Neither  are  the  capitalists  of  non-  classify  human  beings  according  to  their 

democratic  countries  always  the  ruling  economic  status,  but  all  classification 

class.  If  anything,  their  relative  power  can  be  only  provisional,  and  the  growth 

is  even  less.  There  are  other  classes  of  civilization  makes  its  revision  con- 

which  are  older  and  more  important —  stantly  necessary.  Since  the  time  of  Karl 

the  clergy,  the  soldiers,  the  landed  no-  Marx  the  old  boundary  lines  have  been 

bility.  In  Germany  the  East  Prussian  all  but  obliterated  by  the  development 

Junkers  seem  to  enjoy  more  power  than  of  the  commercial  corporation.  The  em- 

the  bankers,  and  possibly  the  Ruhr  in-  ployer,  in  many  instances,  is  no  longer 

dustrialists.  All  are  agreed  that  without  an  individual  but  an  impersonal  body 

their  support  Hitler  would  never  have  made  up  of  hundreds  or  thousands  of 

become  Chancellor.  The  failure  of  Japa-  shareholders.  The  class  struggle,  which 

nese  business  men  to  check  the  extrava-  was  never  a  simple  thing  to  analyze, 

gance  of  the  militarists  would  contra-  has  become  even  more  complicated  by 

diet  the  view  that  they  alone  run  that  the  struggle  which  now  goes  on  between 


396  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

corporations.  It  was  possible  in  a  simpler 
age  to  divide  society  into  upper,  lower 

and  middle  classes,  but  this  classification  To  cope  effectively  with  the  Fascist 
has  become  obsolete.  At  the  present  time  menace,  it  is  necessary  to  abandon  the 
it  is  no  more  correct  to  dogmatize  about  emphasis  upon  class,  and  to  concentrate 
the  capitalist  class  than  about  the  aris-  rather  upon  those  individuals  who  are 
tocracy  or  nobility.  Today  there  is  really  behind  the  movement.  Primarily 
neither  capitalist  class,  middle  class,  nor  it  is  necessary  to  deal  with  a  handful  of 
proletariat,  and  at  most  there  are  faint  adventurers  who  form  the  nucleus  of 
and  irregular  distinctions  upon  which  the  Fascist  movement,  together  with  a 
no  sound  generalizations  can  be  formed,  certain  number  of  magnates  who  join 
Nevertheless,  the  rejection  of  inexact  in  their  conspiracy.  It  is  possible  in  every 
and  outworn  categories  does  not  imply  country  to  single  out  a  few  reactionary 
that  we  must  shut  our  eyes  to  the  many  financiers  and  industrialists  who  act 
abuses  which  flourish  on  every  side.  It  against  the  public  interest,  and  who  are 
means  only  that  social  and  economic  ready  to  sponsor  any  movement  leading 
evils  can  not  be  collected  under  the  to  the  overthrow  of  liberal  institutions, 
heading  of  a  nebulous  system,  or  attrib-  In  Germany,  Alfred  Hugenberg  was  al- 
uted  to  the  dominance  of  a  single  lowed  to  own  two-thirds  of  the  country's 
class.  newspapers  and  to  engross  a  large  share 
The  doctrine  that  Fascism  is  a  result  of  its  industries.  Had  something  been 
of  capitalism  is  not  only  wrong  as  a  done  to  render  this  sinister  man  harm- 
theory,  but  leads  to  practical  conclusions  less  Germany  would  never  have  been 
which  are  both  wrong  and  dangerous,  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  Nazis. 
If  capitalism  is  really  the  cause  of  Fas-  How  are  such  drastic  measures  le- 
cism  it  follows  that  the  world  could  be  gaily  possible?  In  the  Seventeenth  Cen- 
saved  only  by  destroying  the  capitalist  tury  the  English  Parliament  in  its  con- 
class.  However,  there  is  reason  to  be-  test  with  the  Stuart  Kings  had  frequent 
lieve  that  the  opposite  would  be  the  re-  recourse  to  the  Bill  of  Attainder.  A  Bill 
suit,  that  an  uprising  which  sought  the  of  Attainder  was  a  special  act  of  the  leg- 
ruin  of  any  important  element  of  the  islature  inflicting  punishment  upon  a 
population  would  be  the  surest  prelude  single  individual  for  his  past  acts — usu- 
to  a  Fascist  government.  In  the  first  ally  for  an  offense  which  the  courts  were 
place,  under  no  circumstances  is  it  possi-  powerless  to  deal  with.  By  this  means 
ble  to  destroy  a  whole  class.  Its  wealth-  the  Commons  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I 
ier  members  could  at  the  first  sign  of  were  able  to  destroy  anti-democratic 
danger  transfer  their  bank  deposits  to  ministers  like  Wentworth  who  were 
safer  countries.  Not  a  few  of  the  Russian  more  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  Eng- 
nobility  and  industrialists  succeeded  in  land  than  even  the  King.  Similar  power 
saving  part  of  their  fortunes  by  various  exercised  by  the  parliaments  of  today 
means.  In  the  second  place,  with  the  ex-  would  make  the  overthrow  of  demo- 
ception  of  the  Russian,  every  attempt  to  cratic  institutions  impossible.  Parliament 
destroy  capitalism  has  lead  to  Fascism  could  easily  end  Fascism  in  England  by 
or  other  forms  of  reaction — Italy,  Hun-  compelling  Mosley  and  his  principal 
gary,  China  and  Bavaria  being  the  best  aides  to  leave  the  country.  A  certain 
examples.  Lady  Houston  has  already  squandered 


IS  FASCISM  A  CAPITALIST  PRODUCT?  397 

a  fortune  on  these  undeserving  men  and  who  believe  that  such  evils  can  only  be 
it  could  be  decreed  that  this  woman's  corrected  by  revolution.  A  revolution  in 
superfluous  money,  and  that  of  others  a  highly  civilized  country  is  like  trying 
like  her,  should  be  paid  instead  into  the  to  disinfect  a  building  by  setting  it  on 
Exchequer.  fire.  There  is  no  need  for  a  revolution. 
The  Bill  of  Attainder  if  employed  If  Congress,  aside  from  appointing  corn- 
wisely  and  carefully  could  also  be  valu-  mittees  to  investigate,  had  also  the  right 
able  in  other  ways.  In  the  United  States  to  imprison  highly  placed  offenders, 
it  has  been  proved  that  a  number  of  and  to  order  the  confiscation  of  their 
leading  financiers  have  enriched  them-  fortunes,  the  present  contempt  for  the 
selves  at  the  public  expense.  There  is  no  representatives  of  the  people  would 
law  to  punish  them,  and  if  there  were,  change  swiftly  into  one  of  great  respect, 
it  is  doubtful  whether  the  punishment  and  there  would  then  be  no  occasion 
would  fit  the  crime.  There  are  many  either  for  revolution  or  Fascism. 


Pacifists  in  the  Next  War 

BY  ERNEST  L.  MEYER 

Present  war  objectors  believe  that  they  are  strong  enough  to 

have  influence  in  any  future  crisis,  but  the  facts 

bear  another  interpretation 

E  opinion  grows  among,  con-  mitted  against  imperialistic  wars,  add 
temporary  war  objectors  that  in  more  thousands  to  the  roster  of  the  le- 
JL  the  "next  war,"  just  around  the  gion  which,  thus  runs  the  argument, 
corner,  the  machinery  of  Mars  will  be  can  be  counted  upon  in  the  next  mili- 
seriously  obstructed  by  the  jnonkey  tary  excursion  to  fold  their  arms  and 
wrench  of  aroused  and  numerically  stand,  a  solid  phalanx,  to  confound  the 
strong  pacifists.  The  view  is  bolstered  war-makers  and  seriously  hamper  their 
by  the  apparent  growth  in  America  of  bloody  enterprise, 
the  anti-war  movement.  Older  organi-  The  fault  of  the  anti-sanguinary 
zations,  including  the  War  Resisters'  camp  is  that  it  is  too  sanguine.  And 
League  and  the  Fellowship  of  Recon-  that  its  memory  is  too  short.  It  assumes 
ciliation,  have  been  buttressed  by  new  that  "militant  pacifism"  is  a  contempo- 
groups,  such  as  the  Green  Shirt  Inter-  rary  phenomenon.  It  believes  that  the 
national  and  the  National  Students'  disillusionment  engendered  by  Ver- 
League.  In  a  recent  poll  of  20,000  sailles  and  the  lean  and  hungry  years 
American  clergymen,  conducted  by  following  peace  has  created  in  the 
representatives  of  twelve  religious  United  States  a  powerful  anti-war  mi- 
bodies,  14,000  ministers  went  on  record  nority  unique  in  our  history, 
as  refusing  to  sanction  or  support  any  The  assumption  is  fallacious.  Before 
war  on  foreign  soil.  Anti-war  and  anti-  and  immediately  after  America's  en- 
R.O.T.C.  demonstrations  have  been  trance  into  the  World  War  there  was  a 
staged  on  the  campuses  of  a  dozen  large  and  articulate  pacifist  minority,  in- 
American  universities.  Of  22,627  stu-  eluding  religionists,  Socialists,  liberals 
dents  polied  in  sixty-five  colleges,  8,938  and  humanitarians.  Although  the  phi- 
registered  entire  refusal  to  take  part  in  losophy  of  non-resistance,  of  course, 
war,  and  7,342  voted  to  fight  only  in  reaches  back  through  the  centuries,  in 
defense  of  American  soil.  The  religious  the  World  War,  more  than  in  any  pre 
war  objectors — Quakers,  Mennonites,  ceding  war,  pacifists  had  definite  organi- 
etc. — still  count  among  their  member-  zations,  definite  and  immediate  aims, 
ship  hundreds  of  thousands  of  pacifists. '  and  intellectual  leaders  using  politics 
The  Socialists  and  Communists,  com-  and  propaganda  as  weapons  to  com- 


PACIFISTS  IN  THE  NEXT  WAR  399 

bat  similar  weapons  of  the  militarises,  of  100,000  adherents.  Sixty  thousand, 
With  the  exception  of  religious  sects  probably,  would  be  nearer  the  total  of 
and  the  Socialists,  the  organized  Ameri-  active  members — 60,000  pacifists  carry- 
can  pacifists  of  the  World  War  era  had  ing  on  three  months  after  the  United 
their  genesis  in  the  Emergency  Peace  States  had  entered  the  War,  still  uncon- 
Federation,  formed  in  October,  1914,  vinced  by  Wilson's  hypnotic  formulas 
under  the  leadership  of  Mme.  Rosika  and  still  uncowed  by  patriots  and  police. 
Schwimmer,  Jane  Addams  and  Louis  -  There  was,  moreover,  the  Socialist 
P.  Lochner.  This  organization,  later  party  of  America.  In  1917  the  party 
rebaptized  as  the  National  Peace  Fed-  numbered  83,000  members.  At  the 
eration,  launched  the  famous  Ford  emergency  national  convention  in  St. 
"peace  ship,"  which  sailed  December  4,  Louis  in  April,  1917,  shortly  after  we 
1915,  to  visit  European  ports  and  agi-  had  entered  the  war,  the  delegates 
tate  for  a  quick  and  democratic  termina-  voted  an  uncompromising  pacifist  pro- 
tion  of  the  World  War.  Although  the  gramme.  "We  brand  the  declaration  of 
delegates  did  hold  a  Conference  of  war  by  our  government  as  a  crime 
Neutral  Internationalists  and  Pacifists  against  the  people  of  the  United  States 
from  March  to  July,  1917,  the  mission  and  against  the  nations  of  the  world," 
was  hardly  a  success.  The  ark  of  peace  it  read.  "In  all  modern  history  there 
had  unleashed  a  few  doves,  but  they  has  been  no  war  more  unjustifiable  than 
found  no  Mount  of  Olives.  the  war  in  which  we  are  about  to  en- 
Out  of  the  Federation,  however,  de-  gage.  We  recommend  to  the  workers 
veloped  new  anti-war  enterprises,  in-  and  pledge  ourselves  to  continuous,  ac- 
cluding  the  American  Conference  for  tive  and  public  opposition  to  the  war 
Democracy  and  Terms  of  Peace,  called  through  demonstrations,  mass  petitions 
in  May,  1917,  and  embracing  delega-  and  all  other  means  within  our  power 
tions  from  such  anti-military  groups  as  ...  and  to  unyielding  opposition  to  all 
the  American  Defense  League,  Fellow-  proposed  legislation  for  military  or  in- 
ship  of  Reconciliation,  American  Union  dustrial  conscription."  Here,  then,  was 
Against  Militarism  and  the  Free  Speech  a  party  of  83,000  which  might  be 
League  of  America.  This  conference  counted  upon  seriously  to  hamper  the 
grew  into  a  quite  powerful  organiza-  White  House  Galahad  in  his  quest  for 
tion,  the  People's  Council  of  America,  the  grail  of  democracy, 
formed  in  June,  1917,  and  officered  by  Besides  these  groups  there  were  a 
prominent  pacifists  led  by  Professor  number  of  smaller  organizations,  such 
Emily  Green  Balch,  Professor  H.  W.  as  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the 
L.  Dana,  Eugene  V.  Debs,  Max  East-  World,  not  definitely  committed  to  war 
man,  Morris  Hillquit,  Bishop  Paul  opposition,  but  most  of  whose  members 
Jones,  Rabbi  Judah  Magnes,  Scott  individually  were  recognized  as  oppos- 
Nearing,  Louis  Lochner  and  David  ing  imperialistic  military  excursions  and 
Starr  Jordan.  conscription.  These  may  have  totaled 
The  People's  Council  organized  50,000.  Moreover,  there  were  twenty- 
chapters  in  hundreds  of  cities  and  odd  religious  sects,  some  on  record 
towns.  Accurate  membership  lists  are  against  combatant  war  service,  and 
unavailable,  but  the  council  at  the  some  on  record  against  any  service  in 
height  of  its  activity  claimed  in  excess  the  military  machine.  Statistics  on  the 


400  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

anti-war  religious  sects,  based  on  the  ligious  pacifists  of  whom,  at  a  low  es- 

1917  yearbook,  place  their  membership  timate,  60,000  were  eligible  to  military 

well  beyond  400,000.  conscription,  because  the  church  totals 

Added   to   the   organized   anti-war  include  no  children  below  thirteen,  and 

groups  was  a  considerable  number  of  the    non-church    totals    include    only 

sentimental  pacifists  of  the  William  adults. 

Jennings  Bryan  school.  These  will  not  Sixty  thousand  potential  "conscien- 
be  included  in  the  total  of  effective  anti-  tious  objectors"  in  the  army  camps, 
militarists  because  their  gesture  was  backed  by  half  a  million  pacifists  in  ci- 
rhetorical.  As  Leon  Trotzky  put  it  vilian  life!  A  formidable  army  of  the 
{Class  Struggle  y  November,  1917),  in  unarmed — on  paper, 
an  article  written  in  June,  1917:  "There  But  what  happened?  Official  records 
have  never  been  so  many  pacifists  as  at  of  the  War  Department  disclose  that  of 
this  moment  when  people  are  slaying  2,810,296  men  inducted  into  the 
each  other  on  all  the  great  highways  of  United  States  army  cantonments  duc» 
our  planet.  .  .  .  The  advanced  nations  ing  the  World  War,  only  3,989  made 
cut  each  other's  throats  under  the  ban-  any  claim  for  exemption  from  military 
ner  of  pacifism.  Wilson  plunged  the  service  on  the  grounds  of  conscientious 
United  States  into  war  in  the  name  of  a  objection.  This  does  not  include  the 
league  of  nations  and  a  durable  peace,  handful  of  men  who  refused  to  register 
Kerensky  and  Tseretelli  shout  for  an  and  were  sentenced  by  civil  courts  un- 
offensive  in  the  name  of  'an  early  con-  der  the  draft  law.  Nor  does  it  include 
elusion  of  peace.'  It  is  the  irony  of  his-  religious  objectors  whose  claims  for 
tory  that  the  'official  pacifism'  of  Wil-  non-combatant  service  were  recognized 
son,  as  well  as  the  'oppositional  by  local  draft  boards,  and  who  were 
pacifism'  of  Bryan  should  be  the  chief  ineffective  in  hampering  the  War,  be- 
instruments  for  the  accomplishment  of  cause  by  accepting  hospital  or  quarter- 
this  task:  the  education  of  the  masses  master  duty  they  released  an  identical 
to  military  ideals.  'If  war  should  come,'  number  of  men  for  service  at  the  front. 
Bryan  telegraphed  in  Chicago  last  Feb-  Of  the  3,989  men  inducted  into  mili- 
ruary,  'we  will  all  support  the  govern-  tary  camps  and  refusing  active  service, 
ment,  of  course,  yet  at  this  moment  it  1,300  accepted  non-combatant  service, 
is  our  sacred  duty  to  do  all  in  our  power  1,200  were  furloughed  to  farms  (there 
to  preserve  the  nation  from  the  horrors  by  releasing  farmers'  sons  for  war 
of  war.'  Official  pacifism  could  have  de-  duty),  99  were  assigned  to  the  Friends' 
sired  nothing  better.  After  Bryan's  own  Reconstruction  Unit  (organized  to  as- 
declaration  only  one  thing  was  neces-  sist  war  refugees  and  rebuild  devastated 
sary-to  dispose  of  his  noisy  opposition  areas)  and  450  were  classified  as  "ab- 
to  war,  and  that  was,  simply,  to  declare  solutists,"  who  refused  any  participa- 
war.  And  so  Wilson  did,  and  Bryan  tion  in  the  war  machine,  either  corn- 
rolled  right  over  into  the  government  batant  or  non-combatant,  and  who  were 
camp."  court-martialed  and  sentenced  to 

Omitting  Bryan  and  his  camp  of  prison. 

nebulous  pacifists,  we  have,  then,  after  The  last  classification  is  the  only  one 

America's  entry  into  the  War,  a  total  that  matters  in  the  sense  of  effective 

of  over  590,000  religious  and  non-re-  opposition  to  the  conduct  of  a  war.  Out 


PACIFISTS  IN  THE  NEXT  WAR  401 

of  an  inducted  American  army  of  nearly  at  the  St.  Louis  convention,  pledged  it- 

3,000,000  men,  only  450  refused  to  self  to  "continuous,  active  and  public 

share  in  any  way  in  the  martial  expedi-  opposition"  to  the  war  already  in  prog- 

tion.  And  not  more  than  500  were  sen-  ress.  But  so  heavy,  so  convincing  was 

tenced  by  civil  courts  for  refusing  to  the  flood  of  propaganda,  that  Socialist 

register  for  the  draft.  Only  950  men  of  leaders,  one  by  one,  were  lured  by  the 

a  possible  60,000  of  draft  age  who  had,  tune  of  the  Pied  Piper.  J.  G.  Phelps 

on  paper,  or  in  public  in  noisy  demon-  Stokes     fell.     Allen     Benson,     John 

strations,  thumbed  their  noses  at  Mars.  Spargo,  William  English  Walling  and 

Upton  Sinclair  fell,  and  the  last  named 
was  the  only  one,  after  the  War,  pub- 
Lost,  strayed,  or  broken — 59,000  con-  licly  to  brand  himself  an  ass  led  astray 
scientious  objectors.  Partly  broken,  but  by  the  carrot  of  Wilsonianism.  Eugene 
mostly  strayed.  Police  curbed  some,  but  Debs  was  clapped  into  prison.  The  So- 
propaganda  converted  more.  The  or-  cialist  press  was  smashed.  Although  the 
ganized  anti-war  minority  were  scat-  Espionage  Act  was  passed  without  the 
tered  to  the  gale.  When,  on  August  27,  censorship  clause  demanded  by  Wilson, 
1917,  the  People's  Council  attempted  to  postal  authorities  silenced  the  Michigan 
hold  a  convention  in  Minnesota,  Cover-  Socialist,  the  Socialist  News  of  Cleve- 
nor  Burnquist  prohibited  the  gathering  land,  the  Rebel  of  Texas,  the  Internet 
on  the  ground  that  it  "might  incite  tionalist  Socialist  Review,  St.  Louis 
riots."  The  delegates  then  hastily  called  Labor,  the  Masses,  the  People's  Press 
their  "constitutional  convention"  in  Chi-  of  Philadelphia,  the  Affleal  to  Reason, 
cago.  The  Illinois  Governor  summoned  and  the  American  Socialist,  official 
troops  to  prevent  the  gathering.  Mayor  paper  of  the  party.  Practically  leader- 
William  Hale  Thompson  of  Chicago,  less  and  voiceless,  the  Socialists,  save 
defying  the  Governor,  allowed  the  con-  for  the  few  who  refused  to  register  and 
vention  to  be  held.  The  Council  actually  were  sentenced  in  the  civil  courts,  and 
succeeded  in  meeting  and  passing  a  mild  the  few  who  were  drafted  and  court- 
programme  for  "a  concrete  statement  martialed  for  refusal  to  bear  arms,  be- 
of  war  aims,  no  forcible  annexations,  came  willy-nilly  allies  of  the  lord  of 
no  punitive  indemnities,  taxation  of  battle.  A  few,  indeed,  became  the  lord's 
wealth  to  pay  for  war,  and  repeal  of  right-hand  men  and  minor  prophets, 
the  conscription  act."  Then  the  troops  The  religious  sects  were  more  im- 
marched  upon  the  convention  hall,  and  mune  from  the  military  fist.  Mostly  be- 
the  Council  dispersed.  For  all  practical  cause  they  were  collectively  harmless, 
intents,  for  good.  Though  it  existed  offi-  indulged  in  no  propaganda,  and  kept 
cially  until  1920,  its  membership  rigidly  unto  themselves.  Although  no 
dwindled,  its  meetings  were  held  sub  one  can  overstate  the  courage  of  indi- 
rosa,  and  its  effective  power  was  nil.  vidual  religious  objectors,  who  endured 
More  amazing  was  the  collapse  of  torture  and  even  death  in  cantonments 
the  American  Socialist  party.  It  had  and  prison,  as  a  group  they  did  not  and 
condemned  the  action  of  the  French,  never  will  constitute  a  serious  menace 
German  and  Belgian  Socialists  in  rally-  to  the  progress  of  a  war.  Their  stand, 
ing  to  imperialistic  war  when  the  ink  on  save  for  the  Quakers,  had  no  social  or 
the  declaration  was  hardly  dry.  It  had,  political  implications.  Biblical  literalists, 


402  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

they  sought  salvation  by  turning  the  high  road  to  social  ostracism  and  lunacy, 
other  cheek,  endured  what  punishment  It  is  one  thing. to  hold  a  minority 
was  meted  out  and  then  returned  to  the  opinion  when  one  is  privately  con- 
pious  obscurity  whence  they  had  come,  vinced  the  majority  opinion  was  formu- 

The  United  States,  then,  witnessed  lated  or  is  entertained  by  knaves  and 

this  miracle  in  1917.  Less  than  half  a  poltroons.  It  is  another  thing  to  nurse 

year  after  war  was  declared,  and  less  a  dissenting  idea  when  that  idea  is 

•  than  a  year  after  a  majority  of  the  total  branded  as  erroneous  and  craven  by  the 

population  had  cast  a  presidential  ballot  wise  and  the  pious,  by  friends  and  kins- 

for  peace,  the  nation  had  been  ham-  men,  by  poets  and  professors,  by  all  the 

mered  into  a  fighting  machine  which  multitude  which  one  has  regarded  for 

rolled  over  the  "pacifist"  millions  and  years  with  veneration.  Then,  indeed, 

left  them  impotent  in  the  dust.  the  dissenter  looks  into  himself,  and 

says:  "Who  am  I,  miserable  entity,  to 
set  myself  up  against  these  good  men 

This  rather  detailed  analysis  of  paci-  and  true?  What  madness  has  come  upon 

fism  in  the  last  war  is  deemed  necessary  me  that  I  should  call  them  mad?" 

because  upon  it  we  can  base  some  pre-  Ostracized,  isolated,  he  saves  himself 

dictions  of  the  fate  of  pacifism  in  the  from  extinction  by  finding  in  some  new 

next.  episode,  or  some  new  mass  of  propa- 

The  present  army  of  war  objectors,  ganda,  the  nugget  which  he  pounces 

which  considers  itself  so  unique,  so  ar-  upon  as  golden  truth,  and  which  magi- 

ticulate,  so  powerful — will  it  survive?  cally  leads  him  to  "see  the  light."  Over- 

The  14,000  ministers  on  record  against  joyed,   he   finds    himself   once    more 

war — will  they  defy  the  powers  from  aligned  with  the  majority,  a  sane  man. 

their  pulpits?  The  answer,  arrived  at  He- has  been  washed  by  the  tidal  wave 

with  as  much  reluctance  as  reason,  is  from  the  coral  island  where  slowly  he 

no.  was  going  mad. 

There  is  no  inference  here  that  they  This  is  what  happened  to  the  vast 

will  forswear  their  pledges  for  cow-  majority  of  pacifists  in  the  last  war.  And 

ardly  or  self-seeking  reasons.  On  the  it  will  happen  again  in  the  next.  "Ah," 

contrary,  so  subtle  is  the  art  of  propa-  the  contemporary  war  resisters  will  ex- 

ganda,  they  will  find  themselves  drawn  claim,  "but  you  forget  we  have  learned 

to  the  service  of  Mars,  and  in  his  livery  from  study  and  experience.  We  will  not 

endure  as  great  or  far  greater  hardships  again  be  led  by  lies  and  propaganda, 

than  they  would  have  endured  in  the  The  memory  of  the  last  war  and  the 

service  of  Christ  or  Marx  or  whatever  disillusionment  that  followed  is  strong 

prophet  they  now  invoke.  They  will  in  us,  and  the. next  war  will  find  us 

read,  hear,  eat,  drink  propaganda.  They  aware  of  the  deceptions  that  precipi- 

will  actually  become  as  dependent  upon  tated  and  prolonged  the  last." 

it  for  existence  as  the  fish  is  dependent  The  objection  is  naive.  Perhaps  never 

upon  the  ocean  in  which  it  breathes  and  before  in  modern  history  has  the  world 

feeds.  For,  once  let  them  question  the  been  so  ripe  for  new  and  convincing 

Tightness  of  the  prevailing  passionate  war  propaganda  as  at  the  present  time, 

martial  credo,  or  the  justness  of  the  Consider,  for  example,  a  George  Creel 

current  war,  and  they  will  be  on  the  let  loose  with  the  vast  and  fertile  field 


PACIFISTS  IN  THE  NEXT  WAR  403 

of  the  Yellow  Peril  to  exploit  for  mill-  built  for  toiling  and  stooping,  his  move- 

taristic  ends.  The  possibilities  are  limit-  ments  are  slow  and  deliberate.  To  this 

less.  The  fables  broadcast  about  the  bourgeois  or  phjlistine,  the  warrior  is 

Japanese  Emperor  and  his  armies  of  the  sworn  foe,  the  deadly  enemy  who 

saffron  devils  would  make  the  fables  exists  only  to  destroy  his  miserable 

about  the  Beast  of  Berlin  and  his  Bel-  rest."  Banse's  fulminations  have  been 

gian  baby-butchering  legions  look  like  disclaimed  by  the  Nazis,  though  he  still 

chapters  from  a  Sunday  school  text,  holds  his  college  post.  Disclaimed  or 

The    simple    words    "Yellow    Peril"  not,  his  rabid  utterances — should  there 

alone    and    without    elaboration    are  be  war  with  Germany — will  be  added  to 

enough  to  make  any  sensitive  citizen,  the  thousand  inflammatory  remarks  of 

in  time  of  war  with  Tokyo,  pull  the  Hitler  and  his  aides  to  build  up  a  mass 

blankets  over  his  head  after  finding  of   propaganda    that   will    make   the 

night  hideous  with  the  diabolic  grin  of  "white  books"  of  the  last  war  seem  the 

Fu  Manchu.  feeble  output  of  a  novice. 

Or  consider  the  German  situation.  It  Propaganda,  then,  will  be  the  scythe 

would  take  no  great  pressure  to  con-  mowing  down  the  palm-leaves  of  peace, 

vince  what  was  once  the  bulwark  of  and  reduce  the  army  of  war-resisters  to 

American  pacifism — the  Socialist  party  a  pitiful   handful,   impotent,   labeled 

— that  a  war  with  Germany,  or  even  "egocentric"  by  military  psychiatrists, 

with  Austria,  is  not  only  unavoidable  and    sometimes    questioning   its    own 

but  sanctioned  by  the  ghost  of  Marx,  sanity. 
Herr  Hitler  has  laid  the  groundwork 

for  an  entirely  new,  entirely  convincing  ^ 

war  propaganda,  not  only  on  account  of  What  will  happen  to  that  handful? 

his  suppression  of  the  Jews,  Socialists,  What  happened  to  them  in  the  last  war? 

trade  unionists  and  pacifists,  but  on  ac-  On  the  whole,  and  compared  with  their 

count  of  the  modern  Treitschkes  and  treatment  in  other  nations,  they  were 

Nietzsches  with  whom  the  Chancellor  dealt  with  generously  in  America.  The 

is  surrounded.  bulk  of  them  accepted  uniforms  and 

Chief  among  these  is  Ewald  Banse,  non-combatant  service,  merged  with 
professor  of  military  science  at  Bruns-  the  army  and  were  unmolested,  save 
wick  Technical  College.  He  believes  for  occasional  brutalities  in  the  barracks 
that  "infection  of  drinking  water  with  before  their  segregation  and  assign- 
typhoid  bacillus  and  dissemination  of  ment.  The  "absolutists,"  however,  un- 
plague  through  artifically  infested  rats  derwent  tortures  in  barracks  and  prison, 
are  justifiable  instruments  of  war."  A  Some  were  manacled  in  the  black  "hole" 
new  Schrecklichkeit,  warmed  over  and  of  Leavenworth,  one  dying  of  pneu- 
ready-made  for  Allied  propaganda,  monia  as  a  result.  Some  were  clapped 
Banse,  lauding  the  warrior-type,  says  into  specially  designed  "coffins"  in 
in  his  Germany  Prepares  for  War:  Alcatraz.  Some  underwent  water-tor- 
"How  utterly  different  ...  is  the  ture,  had  their  hair  plucked  out  from 
peace-loving  man,  the  pacifist.  He  will  head  and  leg,  were  strung  up  on  a  noose 
endure  any  humiliation  to  avoid  war.  till  their  toes  touched  the  ground.  One 
His  dim,  lustreless  eye  betokens  ser-  resister,  Ernest  Gellert,  committed 
vility,  his  clumsy  body  is  obviously  suicide  in  camp  to  call  official  attention 


404  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

to  the  brutalities  visited  upon  him  and  definitely  a  "big  navy"  and  prepared- 

his  fellow  pacifists.  ness-for-defense  apologist.  He  is  defi- 

The  record  is  dark  with  these  bar-  nitely  a  nationalist.  These  leanings,  in 
barities,  but  all  were  committed  with-  times  of  crisis  when  our  "national 
out  the  knowledge  or  sanction  of  Wash-  honor"  is  invaded,  will  sway  him 
ington.  On  the  contrary,  when  detected  toward  the  school  of  the  saber  auto- 
they  were  halted  and  the  perpetrators  matically,  and,  once  committed,  make 
reprimanded  or  punished.  The  War  him  launch  into  a  war  with  the  same 
Secretary,  Newton  Baker,  harking  to  robust  ruthlessness  and  smiling  bravado 
the  demands  of  the  still-existing  peace  with  which  he  launched  a  New  Deal. 
organizations,  made  liberal  provision  The  President  will  find,  as  compared 
for  conscientious  objectors  in  the  selec-  with  the  regime  of  a  Wilson,  Hoover 
tive  service  act.  He  appointed  a  board  or  Coolidge,  a  nation  far  more  regi- 
of  three  to  travel  from  cantonment  to  mented,  far  more  willing  to  burn  the 
cantonment  and  give  a  hearing  to  all  sacrificial  goat  of  rugged  individualism 
draftees  who  claimed  exemption  on  on  the  high  altar  of  national  necessity, 
conscientious  grounds.  These  hearings,  The  alphabetic  bureaus  of  industrialism 
though  at  times  farcical,  did  deal  leni-  he  has  invented  will  be  supplanted  by 
ently  with  those — especially  religionists  sinister  agencies  of  the  war  lord,  bris- 
— who  were  found  "sincere."  Those  tling  with  "administrators,"  "authori- 
found  "insincere,"  by  some  vague  and  ties"  and  "coordinators."  An  acqui- 
supernatural  yardstick,  were  turned  escent  Congress  may  not  find  in  its 
over  to  the  military  for  court-martial.  Senate  even  a  wilful  twelve,  and  tri- 
These  tribunals  acted  with  conventional  umphantly  democratic  State  legisla- 
ferocity.  Sentences  of  from  five  to  forty  tures  will  raise  no  barricades  against 
years  were  commonplace  j  some  re-  the  march  of  Mars.  An  obeisant  press, 
sisters  were  sentenced  for  life,  and  with  the  jingoistic  Hearsts  and  Patter- 
some  were  sentenced  to  be  shot  by  sons  falling  into  line,  will  form  the 
musketry  until  dead.  On  reviewal  by  basis  of  a  newspaper-radio-movie  propa- 
Washington,  however,  the  harsh  sen-  ganda  unequalled  in  our  history,  while 
tences  were  reduced.  No  resister  was  one  command,  or  one  pious  slogan,  will 
shot,  and  in  1920,  two  years  after  peace  convert  the  pulpit  overnight, 
was  declared,  the  last  war  objector  was  And  how  the  President  and  his  aides 
released  from  Leavenworth.  will  "crack  down"  on  recalcitrants!  If 

There  is  nothing  on  the  horizon  to  unanimity  of  opinion  can  be  invoked 
indicate  that  pacifists  in  the  next  war  and  partially  enforced  during  an  eco- 
will  receive  treatment  more  generous,  nomic  crisis  in  which  critics  of  the  New 
There  are  signs  that  they  will  be  dealt  Deal  can  howl  their  objections  without 
with  more  severely.  If  war  should  come  being  guilty  of  actual  treason,  how 
during  the  present  Administration,  much  more  effectively  can  it  be  en- 
there  will  be  in  the  White  House  a  forced  when  any  whispered  attack  on 
President  who,  while  committed  like  the  New  War  is  not  only  a  sin  against 
Wilson  in  his  first  term  to  a  broad  pro-  the  current  father  of  his  country  but  also 
gramme  of  peace,  is,  by  background  against  the  holy  ghost  of  historic  soli- 
and  conviction,  a  man  far  more  militar-  darity  in  time  of  war.  And  in  the 
istic  than  the  late  Princeton  doge.  He  is  "cracking  down"  process,  the  pacifists 


STRANGE  SLUMBERING  405 

will  be  the  first  to  feel  the  fist  of  the  tions  to  the  demands  of  solidarity  im- 

New  War's  General  Johnson.  posed  by  the  New  War,  as  they  have 

This,  then,  is  on  the  calendar:  thou-  adjusted  themselves  to  the  slogan  of 

sands  of  pacifists  in  the  New  War  will  unity  invoked  by  the  New  Deal.  And 

be  converted  by  a  bigger  and  better  the  remaining  handful,  a  tattered  army 

propaganda.    Thousands    will,    after  without  banners,  will  be  collectively 

wrestling  with  their  conscience,  adjust  powerless,  saving  out  of  chaos  only  the 

themselves  despite  their  own  predilec-  integrity  of  their  own  souls. 

Strange  Slumbering 

BY  FRANCES  TAYLOR  PATTERSON 

STRANGE  slumbering 
Without  a  dream, 
And  neither  light 
Nor  dark 
Nor  numbering 
Of  weeks.  No  lark 
To  make  a  dawn. 
No  star 
To  set 

Its  candle  at  the  bier  of  day. 
Neither  are 
There  seasons  here ; 
For  time  is  emptied  out. 
The  heart  is  still. 
The  mind  has  gone  a  journey. 
The  thirst  of  love, 
Its  hunger, 
Are  put  away. 
Distress  is  like  a  moon 
That  has  no  tide  to  move. 
And  fear 
Can  find  no  food 
To  batten  on. 
This  is  no  kin 
To  common  sleep 
Which  grows 

Transparent  with  bright  dreams 
And  rubs  its  fabric  thin 
Along  the  edge  of  night. 
The  old  free  will 
To  wake  or  nod 
Is  gone. 

And  memory  lies 
With  pennies  on  its  eyes. 
This  sleep  is  odd ; 
Induced  by  milky  juice 
Of  poppies  from  the  fields  of  God; 
A  white,  unmeasured  sleep; 
A  slumber  that  is  strange  and  deep. 


Pink  Soap 

BY  KARLTON  KELM 
A  Story 

I  KNOW,  Bird,  I'll  be  rentin'  rooms  in  Well,  Bird,  I  wasn't  standin'  for  any 

the  woodshed  next  to  raise  a  little  uppitiness,  the  little  I'd  be  getting  out 

extra,  but  I  had  to  make  up  what  I  of  it  all  told,  so  I  decides  to  have  it  out 

was  losin'  with  reducin'  the  other  rents,  with  her.  "See  here,  Mis'  Barlay,"  I 

didn't  I?  Besides,  it  ain't  just  an  ordi-  says,  "when  I  first  seen  you,  I  says  to 

nary  attic,  Bird  5  it's  really  a  third  floor,  myself  this  place  wouldn't  be  good 

only  it  never  got  finished  off.  enough  for  you,  it  appearin'  you've  seen 

That  tea  too  hot?  Pour  it  in  your  better — "  and  I  hesitates  right  there, 

saucer  if  you  like  5  ain't  no  fanciness  Bird,  thinkin' she  might  open  up  on  her 

hereabouts.  Lordy,  Bird,  if  you  could  of  past  life.  But  not  a  word.  She  just  looks 

see  her  the  day  she  come.  Dressed  to  out  the  window  and  waits  for  me  to 

kill.  Not  loud  but  rich-like.  One  of  them  finish,  so  I  goes  on,  " — but  you  was  so 

long  fox  furs  near  chokin'  her  and  dan-  sure  it  would  do — "  She  stops  me  then, 

glin'  clear  down.  And  she  went  up  them  raisin'  a  white  kid  glove,  and  it  ain't  like 

steps  like  it  was  a  penthouse  she  was  the  same  woman  at  all  when  she  smiles 

goin'to.  and  says  to  me  sort  of  intimate-like, 

Glory  be,  Bird,  the  first  thing  we  gets  "Mrs.  Kretchie,  it  will  do."  Then  she 

up  there  she  asks,  "The  view?"  her  dives  into  her  purse  to  pay  me  right  off, 

voice  real  low  but  goin'  way  up  like  that,  but  I  says,  "Hold  on,  ma'm,  so  far  you 

I  near  die.  But  I  puts  up  the  blinds  and  don't  know  about  anything  but  the 

says  to  her,  "Well,  ma'm,  it's  all  in  how  view." 

you  look  at  it.  Now  close  up  there's  all  For  fair,  Bird,  she  hadn't  even  set  on 

them  store  backs,  but  if  you  look  away  the  bed. 

off  there  between  the  Federal  Building  "Now  about  the  bathroom,"  I  says, 

and  the  Catholic  Church  steeple,  you'll  "there  ain't  a  tub  up  here,  just  toilet  and 

find  as  nice  a  bit  of  river  as  anywhere,  washbowl,  and  I  know  my  second  floor 

Providin'  you're  f arsighted,"  I  says.  people  won't  stand  for  you  comin'  down 

Land,  Bird,  I  didn't  mean  to  make  there  all  time,  all  three  of  you,  since 

you  choke  on  that  crumb  cake.  Got  your  you  appear  to  me  to  be  the  kind  to  do  a 

breath?  O  what  did  she  say?  Well,  she  lot  of  bathin'."  I  says,  "You  see,  Mis' 

just  switched  that  fur  around  a  bit  and  Barlay,  what  I  really  had  in  mind  was 

says,  "How  interesting!"  just  like  she  a  couple  of  college  boys  who  could  do 

was  in  a  movie  or  something.  their  bathin'  at  the  Y." 


PINK  SOAP                                           407 

Sure,  Bird,  I  must  of  told  you  she  has  it,  so  at  least  Missus  will  have  some- 
two  kids.  Didn't  I  ?  Well,  I  know,  I  thing  comfortable  to  set  on.  Just  a  plain 
always  said  I'd  never  take  in  kids,  but  old  every-day  oak  chair,  Bird,  that's  been 
it's  only  one  kid  really.  The  girl's  a  real  in  the  family  for  years.  But  when  the 
young  lady,  and  the  little  feller — well,  girl,  Stella's  her  name,  seen  me  comin', 
after  I  seen  him,  Bird,  I  was  so  sure  she  throws  down  her  book  and  starts 
he'd  give  no  trouble,  such  a  delicate  po-  jumpin'  all  over  the  place.  "O  Mothaw, 
lite  little  chap,  that  I  even  looks  for-  it's  perfectly  divine!"  she  yells,  "O 
ward  to  havin'  a  young  one  around  Mothaw,  those  legs,  those  dear  precious 
again,  with  my  own  all  grown  up  and  legs!" 
off.  Well,  puffin'  like  I  was  from  those 

Well,  I  could  see  she  was  kind  of  two  flights  of  stairs,  I  near  die  at  that, 

jarred  at  what  I  told  her  but  she  man-  Bird,  and  I  has  to  set  right  down  on  that 

ages  to  cover  it  up  pretty  well  with  that  chair  myself  or  drop.  But  they  don't 

uppity  voice  she  first  give  me,  and  says  notice  me  a-tall,  not  even  the  little  fel- 

it  will  be  perfectly  O.K.  with  her,  she  ler,  they  all  three  just  keep  circling 

has  relatives  where  she  can  bathe,  she  around  that  chair  with  me  in  it  sprawled 

and  the  children — in  fact  they  wanted  out  like  the  queen  of  Asia  Minor,  ravin' 

her  to  live  with  them,  but  you  know —  about  them  legs  and  I  don't  know  what 

and  she  kind  of  smiles  instead  of  saying  all.  Glory  be,  Bird,  I  concludes  then 

the  rest,  and  for  fair,  Bird,  she  takes  the  and  there  they  couldn't  of  been  used  to 

whole  thing  so  for  granted  and  settled  nothing  after  all  or  they'd  never  carry 

that  I  finds  myself  taking  the  money  on  like  that  over  an  old  oak  chair  with 

from  her  with  never  a  boo.  the  stuffing  loose  and  everything,  now 

Yes  sir,  that's  how  they  got  in  here,  would  they,  Bird?  Of  course  not.  Do 

Bird,  total  strangers  and  all,  and  for  all  you  know  what  Miss  Van  Duseman 

I  found  out  about  them  that  first  day,  said,  Bird?  She  said  like  as  not  them 

they  might've  been  just  anybody,  or  silk  pajamas  and  furs  was  stole — you 

nobody,  if  you  know  what  I  mean — and  know,  shopliftin'.  But  then  again  the 

me  that's  tried  to  be  so  careful.  I  guess  next  day  I  figures  Miss  Van  Duseman 

I  just  fell  for  that  high  talk,  and  the  fox  was   talking   like   a   sausage,   because 

fur  and  all ;  but  it  never  seemed  right  to  down  comes  Mis'  Bar  lay  with  the  chair, 

me,  Bird,  their  being  here.  Movin'  up  sayin'  how  she  appreciated  the  thought 

there  with  them  furs  and  a  lot  of  books  and  all,  but  she  just  couldn't  accept 

and  no  bathtub.  It  didn't  seem  right  to  something  not  figured  in  our  original 

see  them  sittin'  around  book-readin'  in  bargain. 

fancy  silk  pajamas  and  no  plaster  on  the  Well,  Bird,  you  could  of  knocked 

walls,  just  a  lot  of  rough  wood  with  big  me  over  with  her  bein'  that  proud,  and 

round  knots  in  it,  all  smellin'  kind  of  before  I  rearlized  what  I  was  doin'  I 

damp  and  at  the  same  time  awful  dry  was  tellin'  her  I'd  figured  the  chair  in 

and  dusty.  I  tell  you,  I  never  felt  like  from  the  start  but  just  hadn't  got  to 

that  about  a  boarder  of  mine  before,  fetchin'  it  up  there.  So  that  kind  of  fixed 

Bird;   kind  of  ashamed  of  my  own  it  up  in  her  head,  I  guess,  because  she 

things.  drug  it  back  upstairs  then.  But  you 

So  one  day  shortly  after  they  come,  could  of  knocked  me  over,  Bird,  you 

I  lugs  up  an  old  chair  with  a  cushion  in  could've  for  fair! 


4o8  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

brains,"  he  says,  blinkin'  his  small  weak 
eyes  and  shovelin'  his  big  knotty  hands 

That  was  in  the  spring  when  they  around.  "It's  got  so  I  can't  even  pray  no 

come,  Bird,  and  right  off  my  boarders  more,"  he  says. 

take  a  terrible  dislike  to  them.  Why?  "  I  guess  I  told  you  once,  Bird,  how  the 
Well,  for  no  reason  a-tall,  lest  it  was  old  gent's  kind  of  nutty  on  religion,  and 
that  the  Barlays  stuck  to  themselves  and  says  how  the  world's  endin'  next  year, 
didn't  stop  to  chew  the  rag  after  meals  No  matter  what  year  you  ask  him  it's 
but  went  right  on  up  to  their  "apart-  always  next  year,  so's  you  can  never 
ment."  That  sure  got  'em,  Bird,  the  quite  prove  he's  wrong,  he's  that  cute. 
Barlays  callin'  my  attic  their  apartment.  Well,  I  goes  in  his  room  and  he  tells 
Mis'  Bolder  near  die,  and  it  got  Miss  me  how  he's  never  been  one  to  corn- 
Van  Duseman  so  mad  she  kept  tellin'  plain,  but  now  he'd  have  to  find  an- 
over  and  over  how  she  was  brung  up  -other  place — and  all  the  time  me  not 
with  two  maids  and  a  cow,  and  now  the  able  to  hear  a  thing.  But  Mis'  Bolder 
likes  of  them  Barlays  should  lord  it  and  Van  Duseman  says  they  hear  it 
over  her.  good,  Mis'  Bolder  deaf  as  she  is,  so  I 

You  know  Miss  Van  Duseman,  Bird,  listens  hard  and  hears  it,  a  kind  of  pat- 
snappy  as  a  turtle  but  O.K.  if  you  pay  tering  around  in  the  ceiling.  "Well,  it's 
her  a  little  attention.  It  was  sure  funny  sure  the  quietest  noise  I  ever  hear,"  I 
to  hear  her  go  on  about  them  Barlays.  says,  but  Miss  Van  Duseman  comes 
"Silk  dresses  in  the  morning!"  she  right  back,  "It  ain't  so  quiet,  Mis' Kret- 
snaps.  "But  I'd  like  to  know  what  she's  chie,  when  you  got  to  hear  it  the  live- 
got  underneath."  That's  how  she  goes  long  day  like  poor  Mr.  O'Donnell.  It 
on,  Bird.  "And  that  girl,"  she  says,  fairly  roars  after  a  bit."  And  Mis' 
"Dropping  her  r's  like  that  when  like  Bolder  says,  "It  sure  does!"  and  that 
as  not  she  was  born  in  the  slums  without  was  the  most  I  hear  her  say  in  a  coon's 
a — "  She  caught  herself  then,  but  in  a  age,  though  she's  always  been  able  to 
minute  she  goes  right  on  sayin',  "Well,  make  enough  trouble  without  talkin'. 
where  is  he?  Why  ain't  they  livin'  with  Some  talks,  and  some  looks,  and  she's 
him?  Why  don't  she  mention  him  one  of  them  lookers,  and  she  sure  has  a 
ever  ? "  lot  of  face  to  look  with. 

Well,  she  gets  me  kind  of  thinkin'  at  So  I  has  to  go  up  to  the  attic  to  in- 

that,  Bird,  but  what  can  I  do  about  it?  vestigate,  and  Van  Duseman  parks  on 

You  can't  kick  people   out  just   for  the  lowest  step  all  set  to  listen.  "I  think 

mindin'  their  own  business,  can  you?  it's  that  girl  dancin',"   she   whispers 

But  it  wasn't  long  I  was  wantin'  for  loud  after  me.  "She's  out  for  bein'  a 

a  complaint,  Bird.  One  morning  that  common  chorus  girl,  if  the  truth  is 

quiet  Mr.  O'Donnell  of  all  people  hoi-  known,"  she  says, 

lers  down  that  he  can't  stand  the  noise  Well,  I  don't  answer,  but  I  figures 

any  longer.  Well,  I  can't  hear  nothin'  if  Van  Duseman's  right  for  once,  I'll 

so  I  hurries  up  to  the  old  feller  thinkin'  make  a  big  thing  of  the  noise,  and 

he  must've  gone  off  at  last,  like  I  always  Missus  bein'  proud  like  she  is  will  up 

thought  he  would,  but  no,  he  seems  and  leave,  because  I  didn't  want  no 

same  as  ever  when  I  gets  up  there  and  chorus  girls  in  the  house ;  I  had  two 

he  says,  "It's  just  like  rats  eatin'  out  my  chorus  boys  once  whose  lips  looked  too 


PINK  SOAP                                          409 

red  to  be  true,  and  glory  be,  before  I  But  the  next  day  I  catches  Mis'  Bar- 
could  get  rid  of  them  they  just  about  lay  in  the  hall  and  edges  around  her  and 
ruined  the  name  of  my  house  for  good,  says  real  low  that  if  Arnold  does  his 

Well,  Bird,  when  I  pokes  my  head  dancin'  long  towards  five  when  Mr. 
in  the  Barlay's  door  that  morning,  it  O'Donnell  goes  for  his  constitutional, 
ain't  the  girl  who's  dancin'  at  all,  but  the  why  no  one  will  be  the  wiser.  Because, 
little  feller,  dancin'  all  by  himself  nice  Lordy,  Bird,  I  did  feel  bad  about  that 
as  you  please.  Not  foxtrottin',  Bird,  but  young  one  bein'  deprived  of  the  only 
all  kinds  of  fancy  goin's-on,  with  some  exercise  he  did  have,  me  able  to  offer 
kind  of  crazy  shawl  draped  over  him  him  no  backyard  or  nothin'. 
and  my  old  brass  flower-pot  holder  on  Well,  Bird,  you  know  that  didn't 
his  head  j  but  for  all  that,  Bird,  he  was  just  set  with  her  either.  She  give  me  the 
just  as  light  as  a  feather.  For  fair,  I  funniest  look,  like  I  was  a  sneak  in  my 
never  see  the  beat  of  that  young  one.  I  own  house,  but  she  doesn't  say  anything 
was  so  taken  up  with  him  that  I  clean  this  time  like  the  other  time  about  the 
forgets  to  scold  about  the  noise  but  asks  chair,  though  I  could  see  it  was  killin' 
his  ma  does  he  take  lessons,  and  she  says  her  pride — him  dancin'  on  them 
no,  but  that,  oh  I  forget  who,  some  for-  grounds,  I  mean.  No,  she  doesn't  say 
eigner  by  the  sound  of  it,  said  that  a  word  this  time  about  our  original  bar- 
Arnold,  that's  the  kid's  name,  had  a  gain,  part  of  it  bein'  that  Arnold  would 
great  future  in  the  ballet,  which  is  some-  give  no  disturbance,  but  as  I  say,  she 
thin' like  musical  comedy,  I  guess,  Bird,  looked  plenty! 

only  higher  tone.  Then  I  asks  what  was  Did  it  work  out  that  way  you  want 

the  name  of  the  dance  he  was  just  doin'  to  know?  It  did  not.  Seems  Mr.  O'Don- 

and  she  laughs  and  says  Arnold  was  im-  nell  didn't  do  much  walkin'  after  that, 

pro  vising,  which  I  always  thought  was  just  like  he  smelt  a  rat,  and  when  he 

somethin'  you  done  on  a  piano.  did  go,  he'd  come  back  long  'fore  his 

Well,  I  finally  gets  around  to  what  I  time  and  catch  Arnold  at  it  and  start 

come  for,  but  I  puts  it  as  easy  as  I  can,  prayin'  at  the  top  of  his  voice.  But  he 

not  makin'  much  of  it  a-tall.  Just  the  didn't  say  any  more  he  was  leavin',  and 

same  Mis'  Barlay  gets  kind  of  white  I  do  believe  he  actually  enjoy edcatchin' 

and  the  little  feller  he  gets  off  his  duds  the  kid  like  that  because  he  told  Mis' 

in  a  hurry  and  sits  quiet  in  a  corner  too  Bolder  he'd  come  to  accept  the  noise 

scared  to   move.   Then   Mis'   Barlay  as  a  penance  by  which  he'd  gain  indul- 

tightens  up  in  that  high-tone  way  of  gence  to  remove  temporal  punishment 

hers  and  says,  "We've  tried  to  be  so  due  to  sin,  which  is  all  Greek  to  me,  my 

careful,  but  Arnold's  so  light  we  didn't  family  never  bein'  much  for  church.  So 

think — "  but  she  doesn't  go  on,  Bird,  the  danger  of  losin'  him  was  over  for 

and  all   of  a  sudden   I    feels  awful  the  present,  but  now  it  sprung  up  with 

ashamed  and  says,  "Well,  it  ain't  so  Miss  Van  Duseman.  She  hadn't  spoke 

much  the  noise  as  the  idea,  I  guess,  Mis'  to  me  since  I  bit  off  her  head  that  morn- 

Barlay,"  and  I  leaves  her  on  that,  and  ing,  but  I  heard  her  telling  Mis'  Bolder 

when  Van  Duseman  asks  me  what  they  that  while  the  boy's  dancin'  didn't  reach 

had  to  say  (I'd  shut  the  door  so  she  her  loud  enough  to  necessitate  her  leav- 

couldn't  hear),  I  nearly  bites  her  head  ing,  Mr.   O'Donnell's  hollerin'  sure 

off.  did,  and  while  she  didn't  blame  Mr. 


4io 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


O'Donnell  one  iota  (she  used  nice 
words  like  that,  Miss  Van  Duseman 
did),  she  couldn't  stand  by  and  see  the 
poor  man  aggravated  any  longer,  and 
so  it  was  up  to  me  to  choose  between 
her  and  the  Barlays. 

in 

Well,  I  couldn't  quite  follow  how 
she  figured  but  one  afternoon  I  goes 
around  to  her  and  promises  her  the  Bar- 
lays  will  be  pullin'  out  soon  as  the  hot 
weather  hits  us,  because,  land,  once  I 
come  to  think  on  it,  Bird,  I  knows  they 
wouldn't  be  able  to  stand  it  up  there  un 
der  that  tin  roof,  delicate  like  they  are, 
and  with  them  dinky  windows  that 
doesn't  open  enough  so's  you  can  notice 
it,  and  most  of  all,  no  bathtub  to  cool 
off  in. 

It  wasn't  that  I  preferred  the  Barlays 
to  go  to  Van  Duseman,  but  already  they 
had  fell  behind  in  their  rent,  and  if 
they'd  be  pullin'  out  anyway  there'd 
be  no  reason  why  Van  Duseman  should 
too. 

You  take  another  cup  of  tea,  Bird, 
and  I'll  tell  you  all  about  it  that  sum 
mer.  It  was  one  of  the  hottest  summers 
I  ever  put  in.  I  near  die,  and  Mis' 
Bolder,  so  fleshy  and  all,  she  near  die 
too,  but  do  you  know,  them  Barlays 
read  right  through  it  all.  And  never 
said  a  word  about  leaving.  And  they  al 
ways  looked  so  neat  and  everything 
you'd  of  thought  they  just  come  out  of 
a  cold  tub.  But  I  figured  it  was  just  that 
high-tone  people  with  refined  com 
plexions  don't  show  the  heat  like 
others,  until  that  bar  of  soap  give  things 
away. 

Yes,  Bird,  she  went  and  done  it.  That 
proud  woman  went  and  broke  her  bar 
gain  with  me.  I  couldn't  believe  it  at 
first,  but  then  like  I  told  Mis'  Bolder, 
you  can't  tempt  people  in  such  weather 


and  not  expect  them  to  fallj  now  ain't 
it  the  truth?  Yes  sir,  all  three  of  them 
was  usin'  the  tub  the  whole  hot  spell, 
just  as  cute,  without  one  of  us  catchin' 
on.  How?  Well,  they  takes  turns  at 
missin'  their  meals  and  while  we  was  all 
down  here  eatin',  one  of  'em  was  up 
there  splashin'  around  nice  as  you 
please. 

Yes,  Bird;  a  bar  of  soap  give  'em 
away.  A  pink  bar.  None  of  the  ladies 
used  pink  soap,  and  Mr.  O'Donnell 
don't  use  none,  so  there  you  are.  Miss 
Van  Duseman  says  she  figured  all  along 
it  wasn't  just  the  heat  that  was  always 
keepin'  one  of  'em  away  from  meals 
with  the  headache,  but  then  she  always 
talks  like  a  sausage. 

Yes,  that's  what  I  said,  Bird.  Im 
agine  them  kids  wanting  a  bath  bad 
enough  to  go  hungry  for  it.  Of  course 
Miss  Van  Duseman  went  right  up  in 
the  air,  and  there  was  a  big  fight.  Yes, 
between  she  and  Mis'  Barlay,  though 
Mis'  Barlay  ain't  a  woman  you  would 
ever  think  could  fight! 

It  was  like  this,  Bird.  After  Van  Duse 
man  found  the  soap  she  marches  right 
up  to  the  Barlays  with  it,  gloating  all 
over.  "I  presume  this  is  yours,"  she  says 
to  Mis'  Barlay.  I  was  listening  at  the 
foot  of  the  stairs  and  I  could  almost  hear 
Mis'  Barlay  blush,  but  when  she  spoke 
her  voice  was  real  still  and  uppity. 
"Thank  you,"  she  says  and  waits  for  Van 
Duseman  to  go.  But  the  old  girl's 
lovin'  every  second  of  it  and  won't 
budge.  "You  realize  of  course  you're 
forbidden  to  use  our  bath?"  says  Van 
Duseman.  "I  have  nothing  to  say  to 
you,"  says  Mis'  Barlay.  "My  bargain  is 
with  Mis'  Kretchie."  "Now  ain't  that 
nice,"  says  Van  Duseman,  then  flarin' 
up.  "Well,  don't  think  I  care  if  you  talk 
to  me  or  not.  It's  mutual,  I'm  sure  j  but 
I  want  you  to  know  my  family  record 


PINK  SOAP 


411 


is  an  open  book  and  no  dark  mystery  like 
yours,  and  while  I  mayn't  dress  like  the 
queen  of  Sheba,  I  pay  my  rent  right  on 
the  dot,  and  that's  more  than  some  folks 
does!" 

Now  how  do  you  suppose  she  found 
that  out,  Bird?  Fm  almost  sure  I 
wouldn't  repeat  it  to  a  living  soul  about 
the  Barlays  bein'  back  in  the  rent.  But 
not  to  hold  up  the  fight  any,  let  me  tell 
you  that  Van  Duseman  got  no  more  said 
than  that.  Mis'  Barlay's  face  must  of 
got  pretty  terrible  because  all  at  once 
Van  Duseman  starts  whining  around, 
"Now  don't  you  strike  me,"  she  whines, 
"don't  you  dare  strike  me,"  and  I  hears 
her  backing  away  with  Mis'  Barlay  right 
after  her  yellin'  bloody  murder.  "Get 
out  of  here ! "  she  yells.  "Get  out  of  here, 
you  ugly  old  creature,  and  don't  ever 
come  up  here  again.  I  despise  you," 
she  yells.  "I  despise  you  and  everything 
you  stand  for — all  the  meanness  and 
poverty  of  your  small  life.  You  want  to 
make  me  and  my  children  ugly  and 
small  like  you,"  she  says.  "You  want  us 
to  haggle  and  fight  with  you  and  forget 
all  the  big  things,  and  because  you  can't, 
you're  trying  to  drive  us  out  of  herej 
but  you  won't  do  it!  We're  here  to  stay 
and  no  matter  what  you  do  to  us,  you'll 
never  touch  us  really ,  do  you  under 
stand?" 

Land,  Bird,  Miss  Van  Duseman 
comes  down  them  steps  faster  'n  she 
went  up,  and  I  thinks  to  myself:  there 
goes  one  fine  boarder,  been  with  me 
eleven  years.  But  do  you  know,  Bird, 
once  she  gets  her  breath,  she  says  to  me, 
"So  she  thinks  she  can  drive  me  out  of 
here,  does  she?  Well,  I'll  show  her!  I 
was  here  long  before  her  and  I'll  be 
here  long  after!"  And  you  know,  Bird, 
I  really  thinks  she  was  satisfied  now 
she'd  got  Mis'  Barlay  to  fight  with 
her, 


rv 

Now  you  got  to  eat  another  piece  of 
that  crumb  cake,  Bird,  and  I'll  tell  you 
how  it  all  come  out.  The  day  after  the 
fight  Mis'  Barlay  sends  down  for  me 
and  I  goes  up,  kind  of  shaky  for  fear 
she's  goin'  to  let  in  to  me  too  like  she 
done  to  Van  Duseman.  But  no,  she's 
just  as  quiet  and  ladylike  as  the  day  she 
come.  We're  all  alone  up  there  and  she 
draws  up  a  chair  close  to  mine  and  says, 
"Mis'  Kretchie,  I've  been  a  very  foolish 
woman.  Here  I  sit  worrying  how  I  am 
going  to  pay  you  your  rent,  how  I  am 
going  to  give  my  children  even  the 
barest  necessities  in  the  future,  when 
there  has  been  no  need  of  it  from  the 
start." 

Well,  I  blinks  at  that  a  while,  Bird, 
then  I  says,  "Oh  you  mean  you'll  sell 
some  of  your  books  and  furs'  and 
things?" 

She  laughs  soft-like  at  that.  "The  fox 
fur  wouldn't  go  very  far,  I'm  afraid," 
she  says,  "but  it  will  take  care  of  the 
rent  I  owe  you,"  and  she  goes  to  the 
closet  for  it,  Bird,  and  hands  it  over  to 
me.  "As  for  the  books,"  she  goes  on, 
"they've  been  paying  for  us  ever  since 
we  came  here,  but  now  I  want  the  chil 
dren  to  keep  what's  left  of  them.  They 
were  my  father's,"  she  says.  "He  was 
a  very  plain  humble  man  and  his  only 
wealth  was  these  fine  old  volumes  he 
collected.  No,  Mis'  Kretchie,"  she  says, 
"what  I  meant  was  we're  going  to  live 
with  our  relatives.  They've  money, 
plenty  of  it,  and  we  can  go  on  keeping 
up  appearances  that  way."  She  smiling 
all  the  time,  Bird,  but  somehow  her 
voice  sounds  kind  of  bitter  on  that.  "I 
suppose  that's  more  important  than  in 
dependence,  after  all,"  she  says. 

"Are  these  the  relatives  where  you 
was  to  take  the  baths?"  I  asks  then. 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


She  colors  up  at  that  and  I  was  sorry 
I  rubbed  it  in  that  way.  "I  was  desper 
ate  that  day  I  came  to  you,"  she  says. 
"I  had  to  find  the  cheapest  place  possi 
ble  and  yet  it  had  to  be  respectable  and 
decent.  The  boarding  houses  didn't 
want  children,  and  the  books  wouldn't 
keep  us  in  an  apartment  in  a  respectable 
neighborhood  very  long,  with  our  meals 
extra  and  everything,  so  I  had  to  say 
the  right  things  to  induce  you  to  take  us 
in.  But  we  never  went  there,  not  once," 
she  says.  "You  see,  these  relatives, 
they're  not  my  people,  they're  his!" 

Well,  Bird,  I  knew  she  meant  her 
husband,  and  I  also  knew  she  hated  him 
by  the  way  she  looked.  Then  as  if  to 
kind  of  go  with  her  givin'  up  the  fox 
fur  she  comes  out  of  her  shell  and  tells 
me  everything. 

It  seems  her  hubby's  folks  was  death 
against  him  marryin'  her  because  she 
was  an  actress,  and  they  had  a  girl  whose 
folks  way  back  come  over  on  the  May 
flower  picked  out  for  him.  Well,  it 
seems  this  son  wasn't  much  good  with 
out  his  father's  money  and  he  kept 
leavin'  her  to  go  back  home  and  fix 
things  up,  but  in  the  long  run  he  always 
came  back  to  his  wife  again.  Then  he  has 
some  luck  on  the  stock  market  with  the 
last  haul  from  his  pa,  and  he  stays  with 
his  wife  and  kids  longer  than  usual. 
Well,  the  old  man's  pretty  sore  by  now 
because  this  Mayflower  girl  is  still  wait 
ing  for  the  son  to  get  a  divorce  like  he 
promised  to,  so  the  old  man  says  never 
again.  Then  the  stock  crash  comes,  and 
the  son  gets  caught  and  the  old  man 
sticks  to  his  word  and  refuses  to  do  a 
thing  about  it.  So  the  son  bein'  no  good 
without  money  ups  and  flees  the  country 
leavin'  Mis'  Barlay  and  the  kids  with 
nothin'  but  a  flock  of  clothes  and  some 
books  they  manage  to  rescue  out  of  the 
debts. 


"He  was  always  a  coward,"  Mis'  Bar- 
lay  tells  me,  "but  I  loved  him  until  he 
left  for  good  like  that."  She  told  me  the 
old  folks  come  around  after  that  and 
offered  to  take  the  children  off  her 
hands,  so  she  could  return  to  the  stage, 
but  she  wasn't  falling  for  that  line  any 
and  she  told  them  that  she  and  the  kids 
were  sticking  together  and  asking  no 
favors  of  them  old  bluebloods. 

Of  course  she  didn't  say  it  in  those 
words,  Bird,  she  said  it  like  a  blueblood 
herself,  and  I  guess  on  the  stage  she 
could  be  more  like  a  blueblood  than  a 
blueblood  hisself  j  but  I  myself  could 
never  get  the  hang  of  talkin'  that  way. 

Well,  the  old  folks  tries  to  work  the 
kids  away  from  her,  but  it  can't  be  done 
so  they  consents  to  take  in  Mis'  Barlay 
too,  but  by  that  time  Mis'  Barlay's  up 
on  her  high  horse  and  what  she  and  the 
kids  don't  tell  them  bluebloods  ain't 
worth  tellin'.  So  the  old  folks  washes 
their  hands  of  'em  and  don't  send  'em 
a  cent  after  that. 

"I  thought  of  going  back  to  the 
stage,"  Mis'  Barlay  says  to  me,  "but  I 
knew  I  didn't  have  it  in  me  any  more. 
I'd  tried  to  live  up  to  my  husband's 
name  for  so  long,"  she  says,  "that  I  got 
just  as  stiff  and  colorless  as  all  it  stood 
for." 

But  it  seems  she'd  got  some  promises 
for  the  girl  Stella  in  a  juvenile  part  so 
they  was  livin'  in  hopes  of  that.  Then 
the  boy  could  take  the  dancin'  lessons 
he  needed  for  this  ballet  business,  and 
she'd  be  free  to  figure  out  somethin' 
for  herself  too.  So  the  girl  practised  her 
diction — that's  what  she  called  it,  Bird 
— and  even  done  it  at  the  table  to  get  the 
habit  of  it,  and  the  ladies  all  thought  it 
was  just  put  on.  "The  main  thing,"  Mis' 
Barlay  tells  me,  "was  for  us  to  keep 
our  identity  till  something  happened. 
But  it  hasn't  and  it  won't,"  she  says, 


PINK  SOAP                                          4x3 

"that's  why  I'm  not  holding  out  any  Well,  Bird,  that  was  all  pretty  high- 
longer."  tone  talk  for  me,  and  you  know  I  didn't 

"But  will  they  take  you  in  now?"  I  quite  get  the  hang  of  it  all  till  that  night 

asks  her.  I  see  her  and  the  kids  comin'  down  the 

"They're  sending  the  car  for  us  to-  steps  bag  and  baggage,  the  girl  and  the 
night,"  she  says  j  "they've  been  rather  boy  runnin'  ahead  all  excited  and  jump- 
decent.  You  see,  they've  just  got  word  in'  in  that  swell  limousine  that  was  sent 
that  their  son's  dead.  Death  softens  old  for  them,  and  Missus  smiling  back  sort 
people,"  she  says.  of  bewildered-like,  as  if  she  wasn't  sure 

I  near  die  then,  Bird,  her  callin'  her  she  had  everything  with  her,  and  me 

husband  just  their  son  and  saying  all  of  too  wonderin'  what  was  missin'  from 

a  sudden  he  was  dead.  her,  and  then  I  sees  what  it  is :  the  fox 

I  looked  at  her  close.  But  she'd  bright-  fur  she  give  me.  Yes,  Bird,  I  sees  her 

ened  up  again  and  didn't  show  anything,  goin'  without  that  fox  fur  danglin'  from 

"You'd  rather  not  go,  wouldn't  you?"  her  and  it  seems  to  me  like  that  fox  fur 

I  says,  "and  I  ain't  said  you  couldn't  is  her  pride  and  she's  goin'  away  with- 

stay,  have  I?"  out  it.  And  then  it  seems  to  me,  Bird, 

She  took  my  hand  then.  "You're  very  that  pride  ain't  somethin'  you  can  keep 

kind,"  she  says,  "but  don't  you  see,  the  in  spite  of  anything  like  I  was  taught 

children  want  to  now.  They're  too  loyal  it  was,  but  somethin'  that  goes  pretty 

to  go  without  me  but  they'd  never  for-  easy  from  the  proudest  of  us  without 

give  me  for  depriving  them  of  the  ad-  our  bein'  able  to  do  much  about  it. 

vantages  that  are  rightfully  theirs,"  she  And  you  know,  Bird,  I  couldn't  bring 

says.  "Yes,  I'm  sure  it's  best  we  go."  myself  to  sell  that  fur.  I  kept  thinkin' 

"But  what  about  Stella's  acting  and  that  maybe  some  day  she'd  want  it  back, 

the  boy's  dancing — will  the  old  folks  I  would  have  sent  it  to  her  the  very  next 

stand  for  that?"  I  asks.  day,  the  way  I  felt  about  her  goin'  to 

She  smiled  queer-like.  "The  children  them  old  grouches,  and  the  girl  maybe 

don't  talk  of  those  things  any  more,"  never  gettin'  on  the  stage  but  becomin' 

she  says.  "They  only  talk  of  the  fine  a  snob,  and  the  boy  perhaps  growin'  up 

rooms  they'll  have,  the  soft  beds,  the  to  sell  insurance,  but  late  that  very  night 

shower  baths  every  morning — and  they  she  left  I  wakes  up  with  a  terrible  crash 

won't  have  to  miss  a  meal  to  sneak  them,  and  Mr.  O'Donnell  yells  out  that  the 

Don't  you  see,"  she  says,  "it's  too  hard  world  is  comin'  to  an  end.  Well,  I  runs 

to  think  of  the  big  things  when  the  little  up  to  the  old  fool's  room  and  there  all 

things  count  so  much."  the  plastering  is  fell,  and  him  dancin' 

She  seemed  to  be  through  with  me  around  like  a  loon,  sayin'  the  hour  of 

then  so  I  stands  up  and  shuffles  towards  judgment  is  at  hand.  Well,  after  that  I 

the  door.  "Tell  the  ladies,"  she  says,  figures  I'll  hang  onto  that  fur  after  all, 

"that  I  didn't  mean  to  be  unfriendly.  It  and  in  case  Mis'  Barlay  never  does 

was  simply  that  I  was  so  afraid  of  losing  come  for  it  I'll  turn  it  in  and  it'll 

my — myself,"  she  says,  stumbling  like  pay  for  redecorating  Mr.  O'Donnell's 

that.  "But  maybe  I  lost  it  anyway,"  she  room  for  one  thing,  because  like  as  not 

says.  "Sneaking  baths,  the  fighting  like  it  was  the  boy's  dancin'  that  weakened 

a  street  woman — maybe  that's  why  I'm  that  ceiling  so  it  fell,  don't  you  think 

leaving."  so,  Bird? 


The  Garden  of  Sweden 

BY  RODGER  L.  SIMONS 

Although  enthusiasts  who  placed  the  original  Garden  of  Eden  . 
in  Swedish  territory  may  have  been  wrong,  Swedes 
have  been  singularly  blessed  in  recent  years 

ID  you  know  that  Adam  and  Eve  scorn  foreign  loans,  when  other  nations 

were  Swedes?  Of  course  it  may  borrow  heavily  to  balance  budgets.  They 

not  be  wholly  true.  But  at  least  hew  military  expenditures  to  a  wisp, 

some  enthusiastic  historians  have  en-  when  other  nations  prattle  of  increased 

deavored  to  prove  a  contention  to  this  armaments  and  the  "necessity"  of  na- 

effect.  It  started  when  Olof  Rudbeck,  tional  defense.  They  hold  unemploy- 

a  zealous  -Swedish  scientist,  historian,  ment  at  an  amazingly  low  figure,  when 

anatomist  and  archeologist  about  1675  other  nations  writhe  in  the  agony  of 

wrote  a  curious  book  called  Atland,  in  impoverished  millions.  They  maintain 

which  he  proposed  and  defended  the  their  big  corporations  on  an  intact  or 

thesis  that  immediately  after  the  Deluge  only  slightly  reduced  dividend  basis, 

Sweden  was  settled  and  colonized  by  when  other  nations  consider  themselves 

Japheth,  Noah's  third  son,  and  that  in  lucky  even  to  keep  business  in  scant  and 

that  country  may  be  found  evidences  of  skeleton  operation.  They  give  liberal 

man's  earliest  tenancy  of  the  planet,  patronage  to  art,  drama,  shops,  restau- 

Saturating  himself  in  classical  Greek  rants,  when  other  nations  admit  the  vir- 

lore,  Rudbeck  could  not  escape  the  con-  tual  elimination  of  "luxury  buying." 

elusion  that  the  fabled  Atlantis  was  none  They  plow  through  an  international  eco- 

other  than  his  own  Sweden.  This  fan-  nomic  collapse  with  their  major  politi- 
tastic  claim  was  twisted  by  his  follow-  •  cal,  social  and  economic  institutions  in 

ers  into  the  even  more  'weird  belief  full  swing,  when  other  nations  turn  to 

that  Sweden  was  the  original  Biblical  "subsistence  farming"  and  declare  every 

paradise.  sort  of  moratorium.  They  emerge  from 

That  is  enough  to  tax  the  credulity  the  worst  national  scandal  of  their  his- 

of  even  the  most  confirmed  Sveaphile.  tory,  yet  face  the  future  in  confidence, 

(Sveaphile:  coined  word  meaning  a  lover  chins  up,  spirits  high,  when  other  na- 

of  Sweden.)  But  evidence  is  £t  hand  in  tions  hold  their  heads  in  horror  and 

substantiation  of  the  premise  that  Twen-  moan,  in  the  scriptural  phrase,  "How 

tieth  Century  Swedes  have  in  many  long,  oh  Lord,  how  long?" 

ways  approached  rather  close  to  a  para-  When  I  recently  went  to  Sweden  to 

disc  by  current,  earthly  standards.  They  do  some  newspaper  work  it  was  under 


THE  GARDEN  OF  SWEDEN  415 

rather  inauspicious  circumstances  from  as  a  tower  of  financial  strength  and  acu- 
the  standpoint  of  personal  background,  ity  but  he  had  advanced  the  growth  of 
Having  lived  most  of  my  years  in  Min-  prosperity  in  his  own  country,  directly 
nesota,  I  was  habituated  to  hearing  the  and  indirectly  stimulated  Swedish  life 
phrase  "big  Swede"  used  as  a  term  of  in  many  worthy  channels,  made  his  na- 
opprobrium,  if  not  an  outright  epithet,  tion's  capital  a  centre  of  international 
But  a  sojourn  in  that  land  of  magically  importance,  cultivated  Sweden's  good 
clear  air,  delightfully  cool  sunshine  will  among  foreign  nations  and  in  sev- 
and  quietly  gracious  people  has  shown  eral  respects  practically  built  modern 
me  what  a  compliment  it  is  to  be  called  Stockholm,  for  much  of  which  record 
a  Swede.  And  similarly  I  found  in  the  his  countrymen  can  still  be  grateful  to 
underlying  stability,  the  fine  racial  san-  Ivar  Kreuger.  And  then  for  the  Swedish 
ity,  of  the  Swedish  people  a  thing  to  in-  people  to  see  their  great  national  idol 
cite  the  admiration  and  envy  of  larger  turn  sour  was  a  blow  of  such  magnitude 
but  less  harmonious  countries.  and  gravity  that  it  could  be  fully  ap 
preciated  only  by  one  who  lived  among 
them  through  those  trying  weeks.  Re- 
Arriving  in  Stockholm  a  couple  of  grettable  as  was  the  financial  ruin  which 
months  before  the  Kreuger  blow-up,  I  engulfed  many  people,  the  loss  of  per- 
had  a  chance  to  observe  the  Swedish  sonal  and  national  prestige  was  an  even 
people  before,  during  and  after  this  greater  tragedy  to  the  Swedes,  a  very 
grievous  national  calamity.  Findings  sensitively  attuned  race  even  under  nor- 
subsequent  to  the  disclosure  of  the  mal  conditions.  The  courage  and  hardi- 
Match  King's  perfidy  indicate  that  his  hood  which  they  displayed  in  climbing 
importance  to  Sweden  had  been  rather  out  of  so  severe  a  holocaust  deserve 
generally  overestimated  during  the  from  other  peoples  a  degree  of  admira- 
years  of  his  ascendancy.  Only  6,000  tion  as  intense  as  was  the  resentment 
workers  or  hardly  more  than  one  per  felt  on  the  world's  money  markets  over 
cent  of  Sweden's  industrial  population  Kreuger's  collapse, 
were  employed  in  the  Kreuger  match  That  the  general  economic  situation 
factories.  Such  concerns  as  the  Skandina-  was  bad  is  attributable  less  to  the  Kreu- 
viska  Kreditaktiebolaget  and  the  L.  M.  ger  manipulations  than  to  the  world 
Ericsson  Telephone  Company  have  crisis  at  large,  for,  having  a  large  export 
wrenched  their  way  out  of  a  disastrously  trade,  Sweden  was  hard  hit  by  the  de- 
close  affiliation  with  the  late  financier's  pression.  But,  having  stayed  out  of  the 
antics  and  even  the  Swedish  Match  European  conflict  of  1914  to  1918,  she 
Company  has  effected  an  apparently  had  no  War  debts  to  wiggle  out  of,  no 
firm  reorganization.  But  none  of  this  reconstruction  problems  to  drain  her  re- 
was  anticipated  or  hoped  for  when  there  sources  and  no  army  of  cripples,  invalids 
burst  the  ghastly  news  of  Kreuger's  and  mendicants  to  support.  And  the  sec- 
treachery,  ond  quarter  of  1933  brought  appreci- 
For  considerably  more  than  a  decade  able  signs  and  feeling  of  improvement. 
Sweden  had  cherished  and  admired  the  An  increased  confidence  abroad,  bounti- 
Match  Monarch  as  her  foremost  private  ful  harvests  at  home,  a  brisk  activity  in 
citizen.  Not  only  had  he  been  esteemed  Sweden's  industrial  life,  a  rise  in  em- 
by  Scandinavians  and  the  world  at  large  ployment,  an  increased  liveliness  in  both 


4i 6  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

export  and  home  market  industries  and  At  about  the  peak  of  American  un- 
an  improvement  in  the  foreign  trade  employment,  along  about  November, 
situation  have  militated  in  favor  of  a  193 2,  when  there  were  some  twelve  mil- 
steadiness  for  the  present,  a  hope  for  lion  out  of  work  in  the  United  States, 
the  future  and  a  belief  that  the  worst  the  figure  for  Sweden  was  147,000.  In 
of  the  depression  is  past.  proportion  to  the  two  populations  this 
To  this  sanguine  feeling  much  has  means  that  unemployment  in  Sweden 
also  been  contributed  by  the  policies  of  was  about  one-seventh  of  what  it  stood 
the  Social-Democratic  Administration,  at  in  the  States,  and  part  of  that  was  a 
which  went  into  power  at  the  elections  normal  seasonal  unemployment  due  to 
two  years  ago  this  fall  with  Per  Albin  the  usual  laying  up  of  ships  during  the 
Hansson  as  Premier.  They  have  already  winter  season  and  the  consequent  tern- 
sliced  four  million  dollars  off  the  na-  porary  discharge  of  seamen.  The  two 
tional  defense  budget  by  lessening  the  years  since  then  have  shown  a  steady 
number  of  conscripts  serving  terms  in  improvement  in  this  situation  and  latest 
what  may  laughingly  be  called  the  official  records  are  that  more  than  one 
army,  at  the  same  time  setting  about  to  hundred  parishes  in  Sweden  no  longer 
create  jobs  that  would  absorb  the  unem-  report  to  the  unemployment  commis- 
ployment  thus  set  up.  A  few  million  sion  in  Stockholm,  which  means  that 
more  lopped  off  here  and  another  chunk  they  have  no  idle.  Since  the  building 
whacked  off  there  have  wrought  further  trades  strike  was  settled  last  spring  there 
savings  to  the  national  pocket  book,  has  been  a  boom  in  that  line,  while  at 
They  have  even  turned  down  the  pro-  the  big  Sandviken  Steel  Mills  north  of 
posal  of  adding  a  hundred  thousand  Stockholm  there  is  an  actual  shortage 
crowns  to  the  yearly  annuity  of  Prince  of  labor. 

Gustav  Adolph,  eldest  son  of  the  Crown  While  in  both  volume  and  proportion 

Prince,  for  the  support  of  his  bride,  the  Sweden's  unemployment  seems  trivial 

young  couple  being  expected  to  scrape  by  contrast  with  our  own  condition,  it 

along   on   his   bachelor   allowance   of  has  been  a  source  of  considerable  worry 

ninety  thousand  crowns  a  year — about  to  the  Swedes.  And  they  have  set  about 

$20,000.  Though  the  party  in  power  has  correcting  it  in  a  typically  sane  Swedish 

been  forced  to  expand  the  budget  some-  way,  without  recourse  to  such  passive 

what  during  the  past  two  years,  this  dif-  methods  as  the  British  dole  or  such 

ference  has  been  met  by  a  twenty  per  uneconomic  measures  as  the  wholesale 

cent  advance  in  the  income  tax  rate  and  and  indiscriminate  manufacture  of  jobs, 

a  substantial  boost  in  estate  duties  and  in  Thus  they  have  recently  spent  $30,000,- 

the  tax  on  liquor  and  tobacco.  (Though  OOO  on  new  motor  roads  and  plans  are 

the  Conservatives  eagerly  predict  the  under  way  for  the  expenditure  of  an- 

fall  of  the  Social-Democratic  Adminis-  other  twenty-five  million  on  this  work, 

tration,  that  party  is  firmly  in  power  (In  addition  the  current  year's  motor 

and  there  seems  little  likelihood  of  its  vehicle  tax  of  $16,000,000  will  largely 

being  displaced  until  the  national  elec-  be  used  on  roads.)  The  electrification 

tions  of  1936,  and  .perhaps  not  then,  of  railways  represents  another  outlet  for 

There  are  local  elections  this  fall,  but,  Swedish  relief  funds.  Extensive  stretches 

as  in  this  country,  they  will  only  serve  as  of  line  have  already  been  wired  and  the 

feelers  for  the  1936  contest.)  next  step  will  be  to  carry  the  electrify- 


THE  GARDEN  OF  SWEDEN  417 

ing  north  and  west  of  Stockholm,  a  job  ideas  in  these  fields.  Thus  one  of  Swe- 
costing  $10,000,000.  Still  another  out-  den's  outstanding  achievements  in  recent 
let  for  federal  money  is  in  the  erec-  months  has  been  the  evolution  and  pres- 
tion  of  modern  government  buildings,  ervation  of  a  stable  monetary  policy 
Among  these  have  been  a  new  central  through  the  working  out  of  that  dream 
customs  house  and  a  state  archives  build-  long-cherished  in  political  economy,  a 
ing,  both  in  Stockholm.  Additional  ways  system  of  "managed  money."  When  in 
in  which  the  government  has  tangibly  September,  1931,  Sweden  relinquished 
advanced  the  country's  welfare  by  pro-  the  gold  standard  a  week  after  Great 
viding  work  for  idle  hands  in  more  than  Britain  had  done  so,  it  became  the  imme- 
190  different  localities  include  canals,  diate  concern  of  her  bankers  and  econ- 
improved  forest  culture,  new  automatic  omists  to  evolve  a  programme  which 
telephone  stations,  water  power  plants,  would  guarantee  a  fixed  and  steady  in- 
landing  fields  for  cross-country  aviation,  ternal  purchasing  power  to  the  Swedish 
and  the  extensive  drainage  of  swamps,  crown  or  krona.  This  was  accomplished 
through  which  vast  tracts  of  land  have  by  basing  its  value  on  the  domestic  price 
been  converted  from  worthless  marshes  level  and  the  demands  of  the  nation's 
into  productive  timber  tracts.  own  economic  life  and  not,  as  has  some- 
Trie  wages  at  which  this  relief  work  times  been  alleged  and  misrepresented, 
is  done  vary  according  to  local  condi-  by  pegging  the  crown  either  to  gold  or 
tions  and  range  from  eight  to  twenty-  to  the  pound  sterling.  Ten  months  later, 
three  per  cent  below  the  stipend  re-  as  a  result  of  these  efforts,  exchange  fluc- 
ceived  by  regular  workmen  in  the  same  tuations  had  been  minimized,  wholesale 
districts.  This  has  avoided  the  unappe-  prices  had  been  brought  to  a  firm  level 
tizing  spectacle  so  common  in  the  United  and  Swedish  currency,  within  the  realm, 
States  of  seeing  workers  on  relief  paid  stood  at  exactly  the  same  value  as  when 
more  than  their  fellows  in  the  commu-  she  left  the  gold  standard, 
nity.  The  policy  of  the  present  Social-  Equally  interesting  has  been  Swe- 
Democratic  Administration  in  Sweden  is  den's  success  in  the  fields  of  collective 
to  favor  an  elimination  of  relief  work  labor  bargaining  and  cooperative  mer- 
and  they  insist  sternly  on  the  rule  that  chandising.  In  Sweden  as  elsewhere  the 
to  be  eligible  for  relief  funds  the  bene-  trade  union  movement  spread  first 
ficiary  must  be  willing  to  go  wherever  among  the  workers  and  was  later  and 
he  is  sent  and  work  at  any  task  assigned  somewhat  defensively  adopted  by  the 
him,  a  discouragement  to  malingerers,  employers.  The  General  Federation  of 
The  normal  Swedish  wage  scale  is  high  Swedish  Trades  Unions,  established  in 
and  the  standard  of  living  is  above  that  1898,  is  made  up  of  more  than  forty 
in  Great  Britain.  trade  and  industrial  unions  with  a  total 

membership  of  600,000,  a  goodly  num- 

111  ber  in  a  country  where  more  than  half 

Sweden  is  a  land  where  the  older  of  the  six  million  citizens  are  dependent 

economists  have  always  been  taken  seri-  upon  agriculture  for  immediate  liveli- 

ously  and  heed  paid  to  their  counsels.  It  hood.  The  general  strike  of  1902  gave 

is  a  country  to  which  political  and  so-  rise  to  numerous  employer  groups,  of 

cial  thinkers  and  theorists  are  wont  to  which  the  Swedish  Employers'  Union 

point  as  exemplifying  various  advanced  has  emerged  as  foremost.  Agreements 


4i8  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

between  workmen  and  employers  are  3,900  stores.  Visitors  to  Sweden  will  re- 
usually  made  for  a  term  of  two  years,  call  the  ubiquity  of  those  neat  little 
with  provisions  for  negotiation  in  set-  chromium-trimmed  shops  bearing  the 
tlement  of  disputes  arising  during  the  one  word  "konsum"  in  lower  case  let- 
contract  period.  Breach  of  agreement  is  ters  on  sign  or  window, 
punishable  through  the  imposition  of  These  cooperative  purchasing  socie- 
fines  by  a  Labor  Court,  whether  the  of-  ties  draw  their  capital  from  the  dues  of 
fending  party  be  employer,  trade  union  members — one  hundred  crowns  or  about 
or  workman.  This  machinery  for  adjust-  twenty  dollars  apiece  for  life,  paid  in  a 
ment  has  been  the  product  of  a  slow,  lump  or  accumulated  at  three  per  cent 
evolutionary  process,  with  practically  no  on  purchases  at  the  society's  stores.  Full- 
federal  intervention  or  the  forcing  of  an  paid  members  draw  rebates  of  three  per 
issue  by  the  state,  as  frequently  seen  in  cent  on  goods  bought.  These  bonuses 
the  administration  of  the  NRA  in  this  may  be  taken  out  as  a  dividend,  may  be 
country.  These  organizations,  both  em-  turned  over  for  credit  to  the  member's 
ployers'  and  employes',  have  not  en-  name  in  a  savings  account  with  the  soci- 
tirely  erased  such  occurrences  as  strikes,  ety  or  may  apply  as  a  premium  on  one 
lockouts  and  blockades  in  Sweden,  as  of  the  insurance  plans  which  are  offered 
evidenced  by  the  flare-up  in  the  pulp  to  members.  Merchandise  is  sometimes 
mills  in  1932  and  the  more  recent  strike  sold  to  non-members,  but  the  practice  is 
in  the  building  trades.  Nor  does  the  not  encouraged  except  in  the  case  of  such 
trade  union  idea  meet  with  acclaim  from  of  its  manufactured  goods  as  the  society 
the  great  bulk  of  middle  class  Swedes,  is  trying  to  turn  out  under  the  econo- 
who  see  in  the  movement  a  conferring  mies  of  large  scale  production.  The  die- 
on  labor  of  an  ease  and  security  which  hards  in  these  consumer  societies  abhor 
is  denied  the  office  worker  and  the  small  all  such  intercourse  with  outsiders  and 
professional  man.  (The  conservative  regard  it  as  defiling  the  temple  when 
press  is  rife  with  charges  of  "class  legis-  the  stores  deal  with  the  general  public 
lation.")  But  the  unions  on  both  sides  or  employ  private  capital, 
have  fostered  an  increasing  degree  of  These  stores  are  to  some  extent  but 
labor  bargaining  and  collective  agree-  not  exclusively  stocked  from  the  Soci- 
ment,  which  is  considerably  more  than  ety's  own  manufacturing  plants — flour 
could  have  been  observed  in  recent  labor  mills,  bakeries,  shoe  and  tire  factories, 
upheavals  in  our  United  States.  electric  lamp  works,  and  others,  all  of 
Even  greater  success  has  attended  them  laid  out  on  the  drafting  boards  of 
Sweden's  experience  with  cooperative  the  central  architectural  offices.  Control 
marketing,  manufacturing  and  building  of  their  own  factories  has  thus  enabled 
societies.  Outstanding  among  these  is  the  cooperatives  to  equate  production 
the  Cooperative  Union,  which  has  been  to  demand  in  a  manner  which  other 
growing  and  evolving  for  thirty-five  nations  can  only  envy, 
years  until  now  one  family  out  of  three  Consumer  cooperation  in  Sweden 
in  Sweden  belongs  to  one  of  its  member  manifests  itself  in  sundry  other  ways, 
societies.  Last  year  this  group  recorded  such  as  the  electric  power  societies,  in 
a  turnover  of  nearly  a  hundred  million  which  the  participants  make  and  use 
dollars'  worth  of  clothing,  provisions  their  own  "juice,"  and  the  cooperative 
and  household  necessities  through  its  building  societies,  in  which  families  oc- 


THE  GARDEN  OF  SWEDEN  419 

cupying  a  residential  block  will  band  is  the  f  orbiddance  of  the  wearing  of  the 
together,  buy  the  block  and  form  a  Nazi  uniform  in  Sweden  and  the  closing 
cooperative  society.  Spreading  to  the  ag-  by  official  edict  of  the  Nazi  headquarters 
ricultural  sphere,  there  are  cooperative  in  a  Stockholm  hotel.) 
dairies,  bacon  factories,  seed-breeders' as-  Facts  and  figures  from  many  sources 
sociations,  fruit-growers'  societies,  farm-  show  the  surprising  extent  to  which 
•ers'  purchasing  groups,  egg-marketing  Sweden  has  climbed  out  of  the  slough 
combines  and,  very  literally,  "other  ar-  of  economic  despond.  The  value  of 
tides  too  humorous  to  mention."  It  all  securities  on  the  Stockholm  Stock  Ex- 
savors  of  the  old  gag  about  taking  in  change  has  been  rising  for  some  time, 
each  other's  washing,  but  like  so  many  the  returns  of  many  big  corporations  be- 
other  things,  it  seems  to  work  pretty  ing  extremely  high.  The  importation  of 
well  in  Sweden.  gasoline  in  June  increased  from  thirty- 
eight  to  fifty  million  liters  and  the  value 
IV  of  motor  cars  from  sixteen  to  forty-five 
•  Ultra-conservatives  in  America  who  million  dollars.  The  ore  export  in  June 
are  prone  to  shudder  and  shriek  "Social-  was  662,000  tons,  as  against  211,000 
ism"  at  any  deviations  from  the  norm  tons  a  year  ago,  an  increase  of  consid- 
find  in  Sweden's  cooperative  spirit  a  fit  erably  over  a  million  dollars.  Employ- 
subject  over  which  to  shake  frowned  ment  figures  published  by  the  Board  of 
heads.  And  our  radical  element  hails  Social  Welfare  show  a  steady  rise  dur- 
that  country  as  the  modern  land  of  milk  ing  all  of  last  year  and  this.  In  both  the 
and  honey.  Of  course  neither  attitude  is  north  and  south  of  Sweden  the  cutting 
accurate.  Individual  initiative  and  pri-  of  timber  has  increased  in  keeping  with 
vate  enterprise  are  anything  but  dead  in  the  boom  in  building  and  pulp  mill 
Sweden,  as  evidenced  in  a  wide  variety  requirements.  Shipping  and  rail  traffic 
of  business  from  the  small  one-man  op-  have  been  much  larger  this  year  than 
erator  to  the  gigantic  industrial  organi-  last,  and  so  too  have  bank  cheque  clear- 
zations  that  build  electric  generators  for  ings.  The  big  Gotaverken  shipyards  at 
Australia  and  launch  great  ships  to  take  Gothenburg,  largest  in  the  north  coun- 
them  there.  And  on  the  consumer  end,  try,  have  been  running  full  blast,  with 
there  are  plenty  of  stand-patters  in  all  nine  building  berths  occupied.  In  sev- 
Sweden  who  can  not  quite  reconcile  eral  branches  of  the  staple  industries  the 
themselves  to  the  basic  principle  of  volume  of  production  has  approached  or 
the  cooperatives  and  who  willingly  pay  exceeded  the  level  of  boom  years.  The 
a  little  more  at  private  stores  "for  same  has  been  true  in  the  luxury  fields, 
the  principle  of  the  thing."  As  for  the  Thus  the  spring  motor  boat  show  in 
"danger"  of  Communism  (or  Nazism  or  Stockholm  netted  a  volume  of  orders 
Fascism)  the  frequent  demonstrations  far  in  excess  of  anticipation.  (Though 
against  such  doctrines  and"  the  general  to  include  motor  boats  among  "luxury" 
feeling  of  press  and  public  reveal  very  buying  in  Sweden  may  be  slightly  inept, 
clearly  that  the  threat  is  of  no  moment,  so  many  are  her  waterways  and  so  neces- 
(A  proposal  last  April  to  advance  $25,-  sary  are  water  craft.) 
000,000  worth  of  Swedish  goods  to  the  With  an  area  a  little  greater  than 
Soviets  on  credit  was  refused  by  the  California's  and  a  population  less  than 
Swedish  Government.  Of  similar  import  that  of  Greater  New  York,  how  has  it 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


been  possible  for  Sweden,  so  small  a  na 
tion,  to  accomplish  as  much  as  she  has? 
The  answer  is  found  both  in  the  natural 
wealth  of  the  country,  her  timber  re 
sources,  water  power,  mineral  deposits 
and  farming  lands,  and  in  the  rugged 
and  fundamental  attributes  inherent  in 
the  Swedish  mind  and  temperament. 
Not  only  is  there  no  illiteracy  in  Swe 
den,  school  attendance  having  been  com 
pulsory  since  1 842,  but  the  Swedes  are 
an  advanced  and  highly  cultured  race, 
especially  gifted  as  technicians,  engi 
neers  and  organizers.  With  farmers' 
sons  attending  college  and  there  frat 


ernizing  with  the  scions  of  wealth  and 
royalty,  a  resultant  feeling  of  democ 
racy  pervades  all  classes.  The  peasants, 
far  from  becoming  downtrodden  serfs 
as  in  other  lands,  aspire  and  rise  to  po 
sitions  of  honor  in  the  Government. 
(Thus  of  the  230  members  who  sit  in 
the  new  Swedish  Chamber,  ninety-three 
are  farmers.) 

In  brief,  the  Swedes  have  come  close 
to    a    realization    and    attainment    of 


what  their  Premier  calls  a  "samjor- 
stand"  —  a  Utopian  dream  of  mutual  un 
derstanding.  It  is  a  misfortune  that 
other  nations  can  not  do  as  much. 


The  World  Propaganda  War 

BY  WILLIAM  E.  BERCHTOLD 

There  is  hardly  a  nation  in  the  world  whose  government  is  not 

busier  tampering  with  public  opinion  than  seeking 

solutions  for  grave  and  universal  problems 


has  played  a  part  in  been  brought  into  play  to  effect  the  same 

—government  since  before  the  birth  ends.  The  governmental  propagandist 

•li-      of  Christ,  but  never  were  the  in-  has  found  censorship  an  invaluable  aid 

struments    of    mass    impression  —  the  in   filtering   out   "foreign"   influences 

press,  radio,  screen,  platform,  schools  —  which  interfere  with  the  effectiveness  of 

so  extensive  or  so  effectively  harnessed  strictly  national  propaganda.  How  long 

by  dictators  and  monarchs  and  presi-  the  United  States,  Great  Britain,  Hoi- 

dents  as  they  are  today.  Governments  land  and  the  Scandinavian  countries 

around  the  world  consider  it  more  im-  (which  stand  almost  alone  in  a  world 

portant  to  concoct  effective  propaganda  ringed  by  open  or  secret  censorships) 

on  the  political,  social  and  economic  can  keep  from  following  the  lead  of 

problems  confronting  their  nationals  Germany,  Italy,  Soviet  Russia,  Japan, 

than  it  is  to  solve  those  problems.  The  China  and  most  of  the  other  nations  of 

propaganda  technique  varies  from  na-  the  world  in  the  employment  of  censors 

tion  to  nation,  but  the  object  is  the  same,  depends  largely  on  the  continued  effec- 

Berlin  and  Rome  and  Moscow  and  tiveness  of  other  controls. 
Tokio   and   Nanking   and   Paris   and         The  terms  "propaganda"  and  "cen- 

Washington  all  have  their  propaganda  sorship"  have  long  been  considered  an- 

machines  in  action  with  outputs  for  both  athema  to  Americans.  Not  even  during 

national  and  international  consumption,  the  World  War,  when  our  machinery 

The  propaganda  bombardment  be-  for  censorship  and  propaganda  was  as 

tween  nations  has  reached  such  a  fever-  elaborate  and  as  nefarious  as  that  of 

ish  pitch  that  every  government  is  using  any  other  nation,  did  we  permit  these 

some  device  to  shield  its  nationals  from  terms  to  come  into  open  and  frank 

such  outside  influences  as  it  may  con-  usage.  It  is  not  likely,  therefore,  that 

sider  antipathetic  to  its  own  propaganda  we  shall  follow  the  noisy,  bungling 

objectives.  The  walls  of  censorship  have  leadership  of  Dr.  Joseph  Paul  Gobbels 

been  thrown  up  around  the  borders  of  despite  his  prediction  that  "within  five 

three-fourths    of   the   nations    of   the  years  the  whole  world  will  imitate  our 

world,  and  where  frank  censorship  does  most  modern  journalistic  statutes."  Our 

not  exist  other  media  of  control  have  technique,  the  evidences  of  which  are 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

already  visible  to  those  who  care  to  look,  omy."  The  Government  licenses  jour- 
will  be  far  more  subtle.  It  will  permit  nalists  who  may  practise,  requiring  all 
the  majority  of  our  editors  and  publish-  applicants  to  be  at  least  twenty-one  years 
ers  to  maintain  their  traditional  compo-  old,  Aryans  and  German  citizens  who 
sure  toward  the  imperviousness  of  have  the  "consecration  requisite  for  the 
America's  press  to  propaganda.  task  of  influencing  the  public."  Another 

Despite  the  loud  and  somewhat  farci-  statute  provides  prison  terms  and  capi- 
cal  attempt  of  some  newspaper  publish-  tal  punishment  for  persons  who  distrib- 
ers  to  insert  "freedom  of  the  press"  ute  anti-Nazi  propaganda  printed 
issues  into  their  fight  against  NRA  codi-  abroad  and  smuggled  into  Germany, 
fication  early  this  year,  there  has  been  Dr.  Gobbels  has  left  no  rgom  for  doubt 
no  danger  of  formal  censorship  of  the  in  the  minds  of  the  German  people  but 
press  in  the  United  States.  There  has  that  as  Minister  of  Propaganda  and 
been  no  need  for  censorship  in  either  the  Popular  Enlightenment  he  dictates 
United  States  or  Great  Britain,  the  only  what  they  shall  read,  see  and  hear  with- 
two  major  nations  unquestionably  out-  out  competition  from  outside  influences, 
side  its  ban  today.  Both  countries  have  The  German  state  of  mind  following 
preferred  to  leave"  their  nationals  com-  Hitler's  ascendancy  to  power  is  reflected 
pletely  exposed  to  the  daily  bombard-  in  the  fact  that  vast  audiences  cheered 
ment  of  governmental  propagandists  wildly  when  Gobbels  told  and  retold 
of  all  nations.  The  result  has  been  be-  them  of  his  policies  for  banishing  free- 
wildering  to  the  individual,  unequipped  dom  of  speech  and  of  the  press.  Free- 
to  give  true  values  to  the  thousandfold  dom  in  the  abstract  means  little  to  men 
impressions  which  assault  the  eye  and  who  are  hungry!  But  not  even  propa- 
ear  through  the  press,  radio  and  screen,  ganda  is  a  substitute  for  bread,  as  Gob- 
but  it  has  been  salutary  to  the  objectives  bels  himself  should  be  learning  in  the 
of  the  propagandists  at  home.  Both  the  recent  economic  collapse  of  the  New 
National  Government  in  England  and  Germany. 

the  Roosevelt  Administration  in  the  Propaganda,  nevertheless,  furnished 

United  States  have  capitalized  on  this  the  very  life-blood  for  Hitler's  Third 

bewildered  confusion  of  the  individual.  Rei'ch.  It  whipped  the  nation  into  a 

How  long  that  state  will  continue  to  frenzy  of  nationalistic  ecstasy.  Germans 

prove  most  effective  remains  to  be  seen,  soon  found  themselves  attending  mam- 

.  moth  mass  meetings  to  hear  Nazi  spell 
binders,  reading  newspapers,  magazines 

Dr.  Gobbels,  whose  blustering  frank-  and  books  crowded  with  Nazi  philoso- 

ness  frequently  exceeds  his  good  judg-  phy,  seeing  motion  pictures,  dramas  and 

ment,  says,  "The  press  must  be  the  key-  operas  glorifying  the  spirit  of  the  New 

board  on  which  the  government  can  Germany,  wearing  pins,  neckties  and 

play."  The  German  law  which  he  calls  watch  charms  adorned  with  the  Haken- 

"the  most  modern  journalistic  statute  kreuz,  smoking  Kameradshaf  tor  Sturm 

in  the  world"  forbids  the  publication  of  cigarettes  with  pictures  of  Nazi  heroes 

"matter  calculated  to  weaken  the  power  stuffed  into  each  pack,  listening  to  end- 

of  the  Reich  at  home  or  abroad,  the  com-  less  political  speeches  blaring  from  ra- 

munity  will  of  the  German  people,  its  dios,  walking  along  streets  lined  with 

military  spirit  or  its  culture  and  econ-  flags,  posters  and  pictures  of  Nazi  lead- 


THE  WORLD  PROPAGANDA  WAR  423 

ers — during  every  waking  hour  of  the  side  the  Third  Reich.  Delegations  of 
day  the  spirit  and  the  power  of  the  New  junketing  journalists  from  Yugoslavia, 
Germany  has  been  impressed  upon  the  Finland,  Estonia  and  other  neighbor- 
individual.  Nothing  has  been  over-  ing  countries  have  been  entertained  lav- 
looked.  Hanussen's  Berliner  Wochen-  ishly.  As  our  own  congressional  com- 
schau,  whose  circulation  increased  tre-  mittee  investigating  "un-American" 
mendously  as  despair  turned  the  lower  practices  revealed,  correspondents  from 
middle  classes  to  astrology,  even  estab-  the  United  States  were  to  have  been 
lished  the  wildest  dreams  of  the  Nazis  feted  in  Germany  also, 
as  coming  true  through  revelations  in 
the  horoscopes  of  von  Hindenburg, 

Hitler,  von  Papen  and  others.  Familiar  The  story  of  national  propaganda  in 

Christmas  carols  sung  by  Germans  for  Italy,  which  made  its  impress  upon  the 

centuries  have  appeared  in  revised  edi-  Italian  people  for  ten  eventful  years 

tions  substituting  the  name  of  Hitler  for  before  the  rise  of  Hitler's  Third  Reich, 

that  of  Christ !  That  the  German  people  is  similar  to  that  which  Dr.  Gobbels  has 

have  been  able  to  withstand  these  heavy  been  feeding  to  the  New  Germany  in 

doses  of  national  propaganda,  all  di-  such  large  doses  during  the  last  year  and 

rected  from  the  office  of  Herr  Gobbels,  a  half.  Mussolini  has  said  repeatedly 

is  a  tribute  only  to  their  long  suffering  that  the  Italian  press  is  free  "because  it 

endurance.  serves  only  one  cause  and  one  regime." 

But  Nazi  propaganda  has  been  manu-  The  press,  radio,  screen  and  other  in- 
factured  for  export  as  well  as  home  con-  struments  of  mass  impression  are  all 
sumption.  Communiques  loaded  with  embraced  by  the  Fascist  totalitarian 
misinformation,  but  designed  to  create  dogma:  "Everything  for  the  state j 
a  favorable  attitude  toward  Germany  nothing  outside  the  state."  The  younger 
outside  her  borders,  were  fed  to  the  generation  has  grown  up  without  being 
regular  correspondents  of  all  nations  subjected  to  political,  economic  or  social 
resident  in  Berlin.  Carried  as  "news,"  influences  outside  the  government-ap- 
because  they  bore  the  stamp  of  govern-  proved  propaganda.  Just  as  news  of 
ment  authority,  they  quickly  spread  world  affairs  now  reaches  the  German 
such  stories  as  Communism's  threat  in  press  through  the  government-con- 
Germany  and  portrayed  Hitler  as  the  trolled  Wolff  agency,  so  the  lOO-per 
savior  of  the  entire  capitalistic  world,  cent  government-controlled  Stefani 
The  General  League  of  German  Anti-  agency  supplies  the  Italian  press.  Edi- 
Communist  Associations  spread  pam-  tors  are  given  daily  instructions  by 
phlets  in  the  United  States,  Great  Count  Ciano,  Mussolini's  son-in-law  and 
Britain,  France,  Switzerland  and  the  press  dictator,  on  what  to  play  up,  what 
Balkans  picturing  the  Reichstag  fire  as  to  eliminate  and  how  to  comment  on 
the  pre-arranged  signal  for  "Red"  re-  important  events  of  the  day.  The  result, 
volt  in  Germany.  Dr.  Gobbels  recog-  like  that  in  Germany,  is  a  dull  unif orm- 
nizes  that  the  "Red  Spook"  is  still  the  ity  of  the  nation's  press  with  all  news- 
most  effective  of  bogies  in  capitalistic  papers  from  Naples  to  Venice  and  from 
nations!  Brindisi  to  Genoa  closely  resembling 

Money   has   flowed   freely   in   the  Mussolini's  own  organ  II  Popolod' Italia 

achieving  of  Nazi  propaganda  aims  out-  of  Milan.  The  stage  is  always  set  for  its 


4a4  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

maximum  propaganda  effect.  Even  of  the  race.  Japanese  and  German  prop- 
when  the  squadron  of  Italian  seaplanes  agandists  have  found  considerable  com- 
spanned  the  South  Atlantic,  all  Italy  mon  ground  in  the  spread  of  anti-Com- 
was  given  twenty-four  hours  to  celebrate  munistic  propaganda  throughout  the 
the  news  so  gratifying  to  national  pride  world,  particularly  in  the  United  States 
before  the  people  were  told  that  five  and  Latin  America.  Their  coincidence  of 
fliers  were  killed,  three  planes  lost  and  interests  has  been  sufficient  to  warrant 
one  disabled.  Propaganda  has  been  a  the  Nazi  Race  Investigation  Bureau  of 
major  force  in  sustaining  the  Fascist  Berlin  to  find  that  "Japanese  blood  con- 
dictatorship  for  more  than  a  decade,  but  tains  so  large  an  admixture  of  Caucasian 
an  economic  crisis  has  been  brewing  in  as  to  make  it  suitable  for  alliance  with 
Italy  which  even  propaganda  may  have  that  of  the  purest  Nordic."  The  Japa- 
difficulty  in  counteracting,  although  nese,  consequently,  have  been  recog- 
Italian  propaganda  manufactured  for  nized  as  good  Aryans  and  do  not  come 
export  has  made  a  strong  attempt  under  the  ban  prohibiting  the  marriage 
toward  such  an  achievement.  Italy  of  Germans  to  non-Aryans, 
would  profit,  for  instance,  by  an  inter-  Japan's  jingoistic  national  propa- 
national  boycott  against  Japanese  goods  ganda  has  so  convinced  the  Japanese  of 
and  Italian  propaganda  vividly  pictures  the  inevitability  of  war  with  the  United 
the  dangers  of  the  Japanese  "cheap  la-  States  that  it  is  proving  a  boomerang  to 
bor  menace."  Italy's  entire  silk  output  Japan's  own  war  plans,  which  explains 
for  the  year  is  being  held  in  warehouses  the  stream  of  honeyed  Japanese  inter- 
pending  some  indication  of  the  effec-  views  which  have  found  their  way  into 
tiveness  of  this  propaganda  against  Ja-  the  American  press  in  recent  months 
pan.  to  temper  the  American  fear  of  war  in 
Japan's  own  propaganda,  while  not  the  Pacific  and  slow  down  the  American 
as  obvious  as  that  of  Germany  or  Italy,  plans  for  larger  naval  and  air  forces, 
has  been  quite  as  extensive  both  inside  The  Japanese  press  gave  unusual  prom- 
and  outside  her  own  national  borders,  inence  to  the  failure  of  the  United 
The  white  heat  of  patriotism  dominates  States  Army  Air  Corps  to  fly  the  air 
her  national  programme.  As  in  Ger-  mail,  intimating  that  the  American  air 
many  and  Italy,  the  press  is  not  only  forces  are  disorganized,  untrained  and 
censored  but  Japanese  editors  are  del-  poorly  equipped.  Such  stories  aid  in  tem- 
uged  with  so  many  commands  on  what  pering  the  jingoistic  flood  of  Japanese 
to  print  as  well  as  what  not  to  print  that  national  propaganda,  which  contrib- 
life  is  far  from  easy  for  those  who  seek  uted  in  no  small  way  to  the  hurried  re- 
to  keep  out  of  the  hands  of  the  police,  establishment  of  relations  between  the 
News  of  world  affairs  is  filtered  into  United  States  and  the  U.S.S.R.  at  the 
Japan  through  the  government-con-  opening  of  the  Roosevelt  Administra- 
trolled  Rengo  agency,  insuring  the  elim-  tion.  Japan  is  fast  extending  its  sphere  of 
ination  of  influences  foreign  to  the  trade  influence  in  South  America,  and 
militant  nationalistic  propaganda  which  with  its  trade  goes  political  propaganda, 
seeks  to  cut  away  modern  culture,  root  chiefly  against  the  United  States,  to  off- 
and  branch,  in  the  same  way  that  Nazi  set  the  favorable  effects  of  the  Ameri- 
propaganda  supports  caste  pride  by  can-inspired  Pan-American  propaganda, 
glorifying  the  primitive  and  tribal  past  which  appears  to  be  hitting  its  mark  bet- 


THE  WORLD  PROPAGANDA  WAR  425 

ter  than  in  the  days  of  more  obvious  warring  nations  are  to  be  given  cre- 

Yanqui  imperialism.  dence,  the  total  casualties  have  already 

surpassed  the  total  population,  male  and 
female,  of  both  countries!  Strict  censor- 

Every  Latin  American  country  with  ship,  coupled  with  active  propaganda 
the  exception,  at  the  present  time,  of  of  the  most  nefarious  kind,  insures  a 
Mexico  is  walled  by  an  open  or  secret  wholly  partisan  view  of  the  war  to  the 
censorship  on  both  ingoing  and  out-  nationals  of  each  side.  The  radio  has  pro- 
going  communications.  Mexico  has  fre-  vided  no  end  of  headaches  for  govern- 
quently  employed  censorships  during  ment  officials  of  the  several  South  Amer- 
the  past  decade  in  times  of  internal  ican  countries  which  have  been  involved 
emergencies,  but  there  is  none  in  force  in  revolutions  or  wars  during  the  last 
now.  Peru  and  Venezuela  are  ringed  by  half  dozen  years.  It  is  easy  enough  to 
the  tightest  of  censorships.  Peru,  with  a  control  national  radio  stations  within 
government  which  has  been  tottering  for  the  borders  of  each  country,  but  there 
some  time,  suppresses  news  of  political  is  no  way  to  shut  out  the  partisan  blasts 
disturbances  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  of  high-powered  stations  in  neighboring 
Peruvians  at  this"  writing  have  not  yet  countries.  In  the  first  battle  of  the  Leti- 
heard  of  the  San  Francisco  strike,  Hit-  cia,  for  instance,  the  strict  censorship  in 
ler's  "purging"  outrage,  or  the  thou-  Peru  kept  Peruvians  from  learning  of 
sand-and-one  uprisings,  strikes,  or  revo-  the  battle  until  Colombian  radio  sta- 
lutions  which  fill  dispatches  from  all  tions  went  on  the  air  with  reports  col- 
parts  of  the  world.  Sport  fans  in  Peru  ored  from  their  own  particular  nation- 
must  think  it  a  bit  queer  that  the  results  alistic  viewpoint.  The  only  way  to 
of  the  Wimbledon  tennis  matches  in  counteract  such  demoralizing  radio 
July  have  not  yet  appeared  in  their  broadcasts  by  neighboring  countries  is 
newspapers,  if  they  have  any  curiosity  to  use  government-controlled  stations  at 
in  that  direction.  Through  one  of  the  home  to  furnish  nationals  with  reassur- 
quirks  of  bureaucratic  censorship,  the  ing  announcements  of  the  "truth." 
news  stories  containing  the  scores  by  France,  Germany,  Austria  and  Italy 
games  and  sets  were  suppressed  by  the  have  similarly  used  the  radio  in  a  round 
wary  censor,  apparently  because  the  of  intensive  attacks  and  counter-attacks 
succession  of  figures  gave  the  impression  upon  the  League  of  Nations,  Fascism 
of  furnishing  some  sinister  code  words  and  Nazism  for  the  benefit  of  neigh- 
which  might  have  a  political  signifi-  bors  in  the  Saar,  Switzerland,  Czecho- 
cance.  „  Slovakia,  Danzig,  Poland  and  the 

The  war  in  the  Chaco  has  been  the  Balkans. 

subject  for  an  intense  propaganda  bom-  In  Europe,  censorship  coupled  with 

bardment  by  both  sides,  resembling  on  active  propaganda  machines  dominate 

a  smaller  scale  the  war  lies  which  the  not    only    Germany    and    Italy,    but 

Allied  and  Central  Powers  spread  from  France,  Portugal,  Spain,  Switzerland, 

1914  to  1918.  Atrocities,  casualties  and  Czechoslovakia,  Austria,  Hungary,  Ru- 

victories  are  purely  a  matter  for  manu-  mania,   Greece,   Turkey,   Yugoslavia, 

facture  on  the  typewriters  of  the  war  Bulgaria,  Lithuania,  Latvia,  Estonia  and 

propagandists  of  both  sides  behind  the  Soviet  Russia.  France  achieves  her  ends 

lines.  If  the  official  communiques  of  the  by  employing  the  sly  subterfuge  of  los- 


426  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

ing,  delaying  or  garbling  dispatches  ment  communiques  and  omitting  any- 
which  are  unfavorable  to  the  Foreign  thing  which  might  prove  displeasing. 
Office's  viewpoint.  Her  propaganda  is  Because  Balkan  editors  are  constantly 
carried  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  par-  in  danger  of  printing  something  which 
ticularly  to  her  colonies  and  to  countries  may  incur  the  wrath  of  their  govern- 
sympathetic  to  her  viewpoint,  through  ments,  most  publications  employ  a  ge- 
the  heavily  subsidized  news  agency,  rant  resfonsable,  a  responsible  editor, 
Havas.  Perhaps  her  strongest  bulwark  who  takes  the  rap  on  everything  that  is 
has  been  built  in  the  courting  of  punishable  by  the  unwritten  law  of  the 
Francophiles  with  ribbons  and  honors,  country  and  gets  paid  for  spending  most 
Greece  uses  not  only  honors  but  money  of  his  time  in  jail.  Even  little  Andorra, 
to  bribe  journalists  who  happen  to  be  whose  5,000  inhabitants  have  never  had 
swayed  easily  through  such  influences,  a  newspaper  or  even  a  printing  press  in 
Switzerland,  a  hotbed  for  international  their  own  country,  has  followed  the 
propagandists  who  cluster  around  Gen-  fashion  in  censorships  this  year.  The  ban 
eva,  promulgated  a  law  this  year  which  is  directed  against  Andorran  news  pub- 
authorizes  the  Federal  Government  to  lished  in  Spanish  newspapers  which  may 
take  action  against  Swiss  newspapers  be  critical  of  the  existing  powers  in  the 
"which  threaten  to  disturb  the  good  re-  little  Pyrenean  country j  the  punish- 
lations  between  Switzerland  and  other  ment  for  those  who  import  banned  pub- 
countries  "5  the  Press  Commission  of  lications  involves  a  term  in  chains  in 
reactionary  editors  and  publishers  ap-  the  dungeon  of  Andorra's  jail, 
pointed  to  act  as  prosecuting  attorney, 

jury  and  judge  against  possible  violators  v 

closed  up  Le  Moment,  Geneva's  Social-        The  only  nation  in  the  world  which 

ist  daily,  as  its  first  act.  Czechoslovakia,  frankly  and  openly  censors  news  dis- 

the  last  Central  European  country  to  patches  going   outside  its  borders   is 

keep  up  even  the  appearance  of  demo-  Soviet  Russia.  Foreign  correspondents 

cratic  government,  has  frequently  but  take  their  dispatches  directly  to  the  cen- 

quietly  censored,  fined,  confiscated  and  sor,  who  reads  them  in  their  presence, 

suppressed    publications    (particularly  If  there  is  anything  in  the  dispatch 

Slovak  periodicals)  which  do  not  reflect  which  is  prohibited,  the  correspondent 

the  "right"  view  of  the  Czech-dominated  is  frankly  so  advised  and  is  given  the 

republic.  Spain  has  suffered  a  relapse  reason  why  the  Government  feels  that 

from  its  first  attempts  at  complete  free-  the  material  should  not  be  sent.  The 

dom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  chiefly  correspondent  is  even  afforded  an  op- 

because  of  the  flood  of  foreign  propa-  portunity  to  debate  the  matter  with  the 

ganda  and  the  uncertainty  of  the  effec-  censor,  and  frequently  obtains  permis- 

tiveness    of   its    national   propaganda  sion  to  send  dispatches  which  might  be 

against  such  odds.  Portugal,  Hungary,  prohibited  under  a  strict  interpretation 

Rumania,  Turkey,  Bulgaria  and  Yugo-  of  the  rules  in  force.  The  Soviet  censor- 

slavia  are  without  open  censorships,  but  ship,  once  so  rigid  that  it  afforded  propa- 

the  governments' reign  of  terror  against  gandists  in  Riga,  Helsingfors,  Tokio 

those  who  oppose  the  powers-that-be  and  Bucharest  an  opportunity  to  obtain 

has  convinced  editors  and  publishers  of  wide  credence  for  fantastic  stories  about 

the  desirability  of  printing  the  govern-  Russian  life  and  conditions,  is  now  far 


THE  WORLD  PROPAGANDA  WAR  427 

less  rigid  than  that  in  Berlin  or  Rome,  dropped  the  circulation  of  those  that 
As  Karl  Bickel,  president  of  the  United  remain  from  twenty-five  to  forty  per 
Press,  said  upon  his  return  from  a  trip  cent.  The  Soviet  newspapers,  dependent 
to  Moscow  last  spring :  "  The  Russian  upon  neither  advertising  nor  circulation 
censorship,  from  an  American  news-  for  their  existence,  have  proved  the 
paperman's  viewpoint,  is  probably  the  backbone  of  the  vast  programme  of 
most  intelligent  and  sanely  conducted  propaganda  necessary  to  change  corn- 
operation  of  its  kind."  The  chief  diffi-  pletely  the  ideology  of  a  nation.  Motion 
culty  experienced  by  American  corre-  pictures,  museums,  plays,  radio  and 
spondents  in  the  Soviet  Union  is  not  with  every  other  modern  device  have  been 
the  censors,  but  rather  in  the  magnitude  utilized  to  the  fullest  extreme  to  ac- 
of  the  task  of  covering  the  activities  of  complish  the  ends  of  proletarian  leader- 
1 50,000,000  people  spread  over  one-  ship  in  the  shortest  time  possible.  Since 
sixth  of  the  earth's  surface  and  engaged  Communism  is  an  international  and  not 
in  a  gigantic  social  and  economic  project,  strictly  a  national  movement,  its  phil- 
The  whole  of  the  Russian  scene,  so  far  osophy  has  been  actively  spread  to  all 
as  American  newspaper  readers  are  con-  parts  of  the  world  through  propaganda, 
cerned,  must  be  viewed  through  the  That  the  chief  results  of  Communist 
eyes  of  not  more  than  two  dozen  cor-  propaganda  in  the  United  States  until 
respondents  for  American  newspapers  recent  years  have  been  negative,  few 
and  press  associations.  will  deny;  but  there  are  unmistakable 
The  news  of  the  world  moves  into  signs  of  unrest  now  which  give  new 
Soviet  Russia  through  the  news  agency  potency  to  persistent  campaigning. 
Tass.  Its  dispatches  might  be  said  to 

display  a  "communistic  viewpoint"  of  VI 

world  affairs  to  the  same  degree  that  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States, 

dispatches  of  the  Associated  Press  or  the  targets  for  a  major  share  of  the 

United  Press  reflect  a  "  capitalistic  view-  propaganda  of  all  nations  because  both 

point."  There  is  no  need  for  the  daily  are  without  censorships,  must  rely  upon 

dictation  of  policy  from  some  central  other  controls  to  make  their  own  gov- 

point,  such  as  that  in  vogue  in  Germany  ernmental  propaganda  effective.  That 

and   Italy,  because  the  Soviet  news-  the  National  Government  in  England 

papers  are  manned  by  party  leaders  and  is  having  an  increasingly  difficult  task 

owned  by  the  state.  While  the  number  in  that  direction  is  no  secret.  Although 

and  circulation  of  newspapers  in  Ger-  the  Government  has  an  overwhelming 

many  and  Italy  have  declined  rapidly  majority  in  Parliament,  its  weakness  in 

under  the  thumb  of  dictatorship,  Rus-  the  constituencies  presents  a  •  paradox 

sian  newspapers  have  increased  from  which  is  giving  concern  to  exponents  of 

less  than  500  to  more  than  4,000  within  the  National  Government,  who  foresee 

a  decade  and  circulations  have  soared  to  the  probability  of  a  Socialistic  victory  in 

the  limit  of  production  facilities.  Izves-  the  next  election.  The  immense  support 

tia  and  Pravda  have  a  combined  circula-  which  the  Government  enjoyed  from 

tion  of  nearly  3,000,000,  a  point  at  which  popular  journalism  in  the  general  elec- 

it  is  arbitrarily  held.  One  year  of  Hitler-  tion  of  1 93 1  is  waning.  The  Daily  Her- 

ism  in  Germany  swept  600  newspapers  aid  and  the  News  Chronicle  together 

and  periodicals  out  of  existence  and  give  the  Socialist  opposition  the  power 


428  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

of  their  vast  circulations.  For  different  greeted  as  heretical  in  England  a  decade 
reasons,  the  Daily  Mail  and  Daily  Ex-  ago,  but  today  it  is  only  a  mild  approach 
press  batter  the  National  Government  to  the  modern  propaganda  technique 
from  the  other  side.  It  is  from  one  of  being  employed  all  over  the  world, 
the  earliest  champions  of  National  Gov-  Each  government  looks  upon  its  own 
ernment  then  that  we  hear  pleas  for  maintenance  of  power  as  absolutely 
"more  effective  propaganda"  to  offset  necessary  to  avert  national  catastrophe, 
this  mounting  disadvantage.  J.  L.  Gar-  if  not  the  end  of  civilization  itself.  There 
vin  in  the  London  Observer  is  openly  is  no  need  in  the  United  States,  how- 
advocating  a  Ministry  of  Propaganda  ever,  for  either  a  Minister  of  Propa- 
for  Great  Britain:  ganda  (we  would  probably  call  him 
"It  is  almost  impossible  in  a  Parlia-  "Secretary  of  Public  Relations")  or  for 
mentary  country  like  .ours  to  devise  censorship.  The  very  suggestion  of 
press  laws  which  would  enable  any  either  one  would  set  the  self-appointed 
Government  of  the  day  to  secure  in  guardians  of  our  free  press  quaking  like 
every  newspaper: — without  interference  aspens  in  a  stiff  breeze.  President  Roose- 
otherwise — the  command  of  a  certain  velt  is  far  too  cagey  for  that! 
amount  of  space  for  the  direct  statement  The  Roosevelt  Administration  is 
of  its  policy  and  proceedings  to  the  leaning  more  heavily  upon  propaganda 
whole  people.  Yet  National  Govern-  to  bolster  up  the  New  Deal  than  any 
ment  ought  to  be  capable  of  exceptional  peacetime  administration  in  our  history, 
authority.  .  .  .  There  ought  to  be  a  The  skeleton  organization  for  a  very 
Minister  of  Propaganda  in  every  Cab-  formidable  Department  of  Propaganda 
inet.  Amidst  the  universal  democracy  has  been  set  up  and  operating  in  Wash- 
of  today — with  a  larger  proportion  ington  since  March  4,  1933,  but  out  of 
than  ever  before  of  electors  totally  ig-  deference  to  the  traditional  American 
norant  with  regard  to  every  difficult  aversion  to  the  term  "propaganda"  it 
public  question — the  work  of  continual  is  known  by  no  such  name  nor  has  it 
explanation  and  enlightenment  is  ab-  been  dignified  with  the  title  of  a  Depart- 
solutely  vital.  It  never  can  be  done  ex-  ment.  The  New  Deal  is  employing  the 
cept  by  a  Minister  who  can  give  his  largest  and  most  experienced  staff  of 
whole  time  to  it  and  he  ought  to  be  a  publicity  experts  ever  to  grace  the  gov- 
vivacious  man  of  first  ability.  The  Gov-  ernment's  payroll.  It  includes  more 
ernment  cannot  begin  to  compensate  for  than  100  writers  and  twice  that  number 
its  unique  disabilities  in  the  popular  of  minor  employes, 
press  unless  it  make  a  bolder  and  more  No  President  has  ever  paid  such  close 
vivid  use  of  loudspeakers,  color  and  attention  to  the  planning  of  his  public 
symbolism  than  has  ever  before  been  acts  to -capitalize  on  their  propaganda 
heard  or  seen  in  British  politics.  It  is  value  both  at  home  and  abroad.  Many 
futile  to  rebel  against  the  popular  condi-  a  minister  of  propaganda  could  afford 
tions.  Either  you  ought  not  to  have  in-  to  take  a  few  pages  out  of  the  Roosevelt 
stituted  democracy  unlimited  or  you  notebook  as  well  as  a  few  cues  from  the 
ought  to  realize  once  for  all  that  it  can  newspaper-trained  trio  who  make  up  the 
only  be  attracted  and  stirred  by  pri-  White  House  Secretariat:  Louis  Mc- 
mary  means."  Henry  Howe,  Stephen  Early  and  Mar- 
Such  a  suggestion  would  have  been  vin  Mclntyre.  The  President  is  a  mas- 


THE  WORLD  PROPAGANDA  WAR  429 

ter  of  American  publicity  tactics.  He  has  newspapers,  magazines,  radio,  motion 

an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  techni-  pictures  and  every  modern  means  of 

cal  intricacies  of  news  dissemination,  ballyhoo. 

motion  picture  production,  news  photog-  The  New  Deal  propaganda  proved 
raphy  and  radio  broadcasting.  He  ap-  so  effective  during  the  first  year  of  the 
pears  to  get  as  much  pleasure  out  of  a  Roosevelt  Administration  that  the  pa- 
well-turned  publicity  coup  as  he  might  triotic  appeal  of  the  Blue  Eagle  boycott 
from  some  great  stroke  of  statesman-  blanketed  the  press  more  effectually 
ship.  When  the  press  bungles  one  of  his  than  any  revealed  censorship  could  have 
well  laid  propaganda  plans,  he  shows  accomplished.  Since  the  grip  of  the  Blue 
his  only  lapse  from  his  usual  smiling  Eagle  has  been  broken  in  more  recent 
composure.  His  Message  to  the  Heads  months,  the  Administration  is  appar- 
of  Nations  is  a  case  in  point.  It  was  cal-  ently  casting  about  for  other  methods 
culated  to  have  a  salutary  effect  on  of  marshalling  public  support  to  stifle 
American  foreign  relations,  but  turned  criticism.  With  few  exceptions,  those 
out  to  be  a  dud  because  the  New  York  newspapers  which  have  consistently 
Times  had  speculated  on  the  probability  criticized  the  Roosevelt  Administration 
of  debt  cancelations  being  included  in  unfavorably  have  experienced  declining 
the  message.  Its  honeyed  words,  with  no  circulation  and  advertising  revenues  be- 
mention  of  debt  cancelation,  fell  flat  in  cause  the  general  public  has  considered 
the  Foreign  Offices  abroad,  which  had  it  "unpatriotic"  to  criticize  the  Presi- 
been  keyed  up  by  the  Times  to  expect  dent  in  time  of  "  emergency." 
a  momentous  event.  The  Times  corre-  The  flood  of  foreign  propaganda 
spondent  received  the  most  serious  re-  which  has  washed  our  shores  has  added 
buke  meted  out  by  the  President  since  to  the  confusion  of  impressions  made 
he  started  his  twice  weekly  conference  upon  the  mind  of  the  average  individ- 
with  the  press  at  the  White  House  last  ual,  with  the  result  that  most  citizens 
year.  are  content  to  "  let  Mr.  Roosevelt  worry 
No  President  has  ever  won  over  the  about  it  for  me."  The  confusion  has 
White  House  press  corps  more  thor-  made  it  possible  for  the  Administration 
oughly  than  Mr.  Roosevelt.  He  makes  to  pursue  policies  which  would  not  have 
a  conscious  practice  of  calling  reporters  been  tolerated  under  conditions  which 
by  their  first  names,  jokes  with  them,  might  encourage  full  freedom  for  criti- 
consults  them,  invites  them  to  Sunday  cism.  As  long  as  the  Administration  can 
night  suppers  and  movies,  and  brings  keep  up  the  fiction  of  experimentation 
them  into  his  confidence  so  intimately  without  fixing  upon  any  plan,  its  propa- 
that  few  have  failed  to  succumb  to  the  ganda  will  continue  partially  or  wholly 
seductiveness  of  the  New  Deal.  The  to  satisfy  most  sections  of  the  electorate. 
Roosevelt  Administration  has  manu-  The  strong  appeal  to  patriotism  is 
f actured  a  surfeit  of  "  news  "  in  Wash-  still  sufficient  to  balance  any  "  foreign  " 
ington.  The  propaganda  staffs  of  the  ideology  which  seeks  to  capture  Amer- 
NRA  and  AAA  have  organized  their  ican  minds.  Congress,  through  its  power 
activities  on  a  wartime  scale,  so  that  to  appoint  committees  to  investigate  "un- 
1 20,000,000  Americans  have  been  bom-  American  "  practices,  can  provide  an  im- 
barded  with  information  on  every  portant  force  to  harass  all  propagan- 
phase  of  the  New  Deal — through  the  dists  who  oppose  the  Administration. 


430  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Through  the  unrepealed  provisions  of  supply  Americans  with  world  news  free 
the  Wartime  Trading  with  the  Enemy  from  propaganda.  The  naivete  with 
Act,  it  is  possible  to  expose  and  deport  which  some  American 'editors  consider 
any  foreigner  representing  a  foreign  American  newspapers  impervious  to 
government  without  registering  with  the  nefarious  devices  of  governmental 
the  State  Department.  Through  the  im-  propaganda  does  not  aid  in  defining  the 
migration  acts,  administered  by  the  De-  task.  Frank  Parker  Stockbridge,  editor 
partment  of  Labor,  power  is  available  of  .the  American  Press,  in  speaking  be- 
to  bar  all  aliens  who  become  involved  fore  the  American  Society  of  News- 
in  serious  criticism  of  the  Administra-  paper  Editors  last  spring  said:  "A  re- 
tion.  Because  the  term  "propaganda"  porter  who  would  permit  himself  to  be 
has  gained  such  a  sinister  connotation  fooled  by  propaganda  is  futile."  Futility 
in  America,  the  Administration  need  do  is  easily  achieved  at  the  hands  of  the 
little  more  than  brand  its  critics —  1934  brand  of  governmental  propa- 
whether  they  be  Republicans  or  Com-  gandist. 

munists — as  simple  "propagandists."  As  the  public  learns  more  about  the 

methods  and  motives  behind  the  propa- 

VI1  ganda  which  it  sometimes  receives  as 

There  are  no  indications  to  encourage  news,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  result 
a  hope  that  this  propaganda  war  be-  will  be  a  complete  break-down  of  public 
tween  nations  will  cease;  there  is  every  confidence  in  the  newspapers,  radio  and 
reason  to  believe  that  it  will  become  other  sources  for  daily  information, 
more  intense.  It  is  a  vicious  game  at  The  tremendous  decline  in  the  circula- 
which  nations  can  play  only  by  poison-  tion  of  German  newspapers  since  Hitler 
ing  the  minds  of  each  other's  nationals,  came  into  power  is  an  unmistakable  sign 
The  world  propaganda  war  might  logi-  of  such  a  break-down  of  confidence  in 
cally  lead  to  real  war  between  nations,  the  New  Germany.  The  rise  in  subscrip- 
Propaganda,  with  the  aid  of  open  or  tions  to  confidential  news  letters  in 
secret  censorships,  would  determine  the  Washington  (numbered  in  tens  of  thou- 
final  drawing  of  the  battle  lines  and  the  sands  for  some  of  the  principal  Wash- 
formation  of  alliances  which  would  pit  ington  news-letter  producers)  is  a 
one  group  of  .nations  against  another,  milder  indication  of  such  a  break-down 
The  only  deterrent  to  such  a  natural  in  confidence,  particularly  among  busi- 
course  involving  the  United  States  lies  ness  men,  in  America  since  Mr.  Roose- 
in  the  degree  to  which  Americans  and,  velt  took  office.  If  the  trend  continues 
particularly,  those  who  control  the  and  the  controllers  of  the  mass  impres- 
media  of  mass  impression — the  press,  si  on  media  in  America  are  not  able  to 
.radio,  screen,  platform  and  schools —  meet  fully  the  challenge  provided  by 
exercise  vigilance  in  sifting  truths  from  propagandists  all  over  the  world  to  the 
propaganda  lies.  It  is  no  easy  task.  satisfaction  of  the  American  public,  the 

The  propaganda  technique  of  govern-  recurrent  phrase  "that's  only  a  news- 

ments  all  over  the  world  is  often  so  paper  story"  or  "that's  only  a  radio 

subtle,  and  shifts  so  fast,  that  it  provides  report"  may  prove  to  be  the  death 

a  serious  challenge  to  such  agencies  as  knell  of  public  confidence  in  the  media 

the  Associated  Press  and  the  United  which  have  commanded  their  faith  in 

Press,  which  conscientiously  attempt  to  the  past. 


Purifying  the  Human  Race 

BY  D.  M.  LEBOURDAIS 

Legislators  have  a  tendency  to  set  up  sterilization  as  a  panacea 

for  crime,  disease  and  poverty,  but,  like  other  panaceas, 

it  will  not  accomplish  all  its  advocates  expect 

FROM  points  as  far  apart  as  Ger-  less,  by  means  of  observation  and  the 
many  and  Oklahoma  come  proj-  study  of  family  records,  it  was  learned 
ects  for  purifying  the  human  race  that  certain  characteristics,  such  as  eye- 
by  means  of  the  surgeon's  knife.  Hit-  color,  skin  pigmentation  and  hair-color 
ler's  scheme  is  described  as  "an  act  of  and  type,  and  certain  disabilities,  such 
neighborly  love  and  of  provision  for  as  hemophilia  and  St.  Vitus  dance,  were 
coming  generations"  j  while  the  an-  undoubtedly  inherited  in  accordance 
nounced  objective  in  Oklahoma  is  to  re-  with  Mendel's  laws.  If  these,  were 
duce,  if  not  do  away  with,  vice,  disease  transmitted  in  such  a  definite  manner, 
and  poverty.  why,  it  was  asked,  might  not"  insanity, 
The  desire  to  apply  stock-breeding  feeblemindedness,  epilepsy,  criminality 
procedures  to  human  beings  is  not  new.  and  other  similar  defects?  Like  begets 
The  re-discovery  in  1900  of  the  laws  like  throughout  the  organic  world:  why 
worked  out  thirty-five  years  before  by  should  the  rule  fail  with  man? 
the  Austrian  monk,  Gregor  Mendel,  So,  since  it  was  not  possible  to  breed 
gave  a  great  fillip  to  such  ideas.  Mendel  human  beings  experimentally,  the  next 
experimented  with  peas,  but  it  was  not  best  thing  was  to  study  human  genealo- 
long  before  similar  studies  were  con-  gies.  Following  a  hot  trail,  the  re- 
ducted  upon  mice,  rats,  flies  and  a  great  searchers  scanned  such  records  as  were 
variety  of  other  small  animals  and  in-  available,  but  perhaps  naturally  they 
sects.  Mendel's  findings  were  in  the  fastened  on  those  more  likely  to  sup- 
main  confirmed.  port  their  theses.  Typical  of  these  is  the 
What,  then,  more  natural  than  that  story  of  the  "Kallikaks,"  which  has 
the  same  principles  should  apply  to  since  become  a  classic.  Published  in 
man?  Surely,  man  could  not  be  the  one  1912,  it  was  the  result  of  researches 
great  exception?  But  biological  experi-  conducted  by  Dr.  H.  H.  Goddard  and 
ments  with  humans  are  more  difficult  associates  into  the  family  history  of  an 
than  with  flies  and  mice.  For  one  thing,  inmate  of  the  Vineland  (New  Jersey) 
human  beings  are  not  so  easily  con-  Training  School  (for  feebleminded  per- 
trolled;  and,  further,  the  time  element  sons).  The  record  was  traced  back  to  a 
adds  greatly  to  the  problem.  Neverthe-  certain  "Martin  Kallikak,"  who,  during 


43* 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


the  Revolutionary  War,  begot  an  il 
legitimate  son  by  a  girl  presumed  to 
have  been  feebleminded.  This  son  was 
the  ancestor  of  480  descendants,  of 
whom,  according  to  Dr.  Goddard,  143 
were  undoubtedly  feebleminded  and 
only  46  regarded  as  normal.  Included 
in  the  roll  were  36  illegitimate,  33  sex 
ually  immoral,  24  confirmed  alcoholics, 
8  keepers  of  houses  of  ill-fame,  3  epilep 
tics  and  3  criminals,  in  addition  to  82 
who  died  in  infancy. 

But  Martin  Kallikak,  after  the  affair 
with  the  feebleminded  girl,  made  a  re 
spectable  marriage.  Of  the  496  direct 
descendants  of  this  union,  all  were  said 
to  have  been  normal  persons,  although 
two  were  recorded  as  having  been  al 
coholic  and  another  sexually  immoral. 

As  demonstrating,  on  the  other  side, 
the  value  of  good  heredity,  the  geneal 
ogy  of  the  Edwards  family  of  New 
England  was  produced.  Richard  Ed 
wards,  grandfather  of  the  famous 
preacher,  Jonathan  Edwards,  married 
Elizabeth  Tuthill.  From  this  pair  there 
were  said  to  have  descended  13  college 
presidents,  295  college  graduates,  65 
college  professors,  100  clergymen,  100 
lawyers,  80  public  officials,  75  army 
officers,  60  prominent  authors,  60  physi 
cians,  30  judges,  several  governors  and 
members  of  Congress,  3  United  States 
senators  and  one  vice-president  of  the 
United  States. 

That  these  worthies  were  the  product 
more  particularly  of  germ  plasm  con 
tributed  by  Elizabeth  Tuthill  was  de 
duced  from  the  fact  that  Richard  later 
married  Mary  Talcott,  and  that  from 
this  marriage  only  ordinary  people — no 
college  president,  few,  if  any,  clergy 
men,  and  undoubtedly  no  vice-presi 
dent  of  the  United  States — were  found 
to  have  been  descended. 

The  genealogists  vied  with  one  an 


other  to  produce  evidence,  on  the  one 
hand,  of  the  baneful  consequences  of 
the  propagation  of  degenerate  strains  j 
and,  on  the  other,  of  the  beneficent  re 
sults  of  breeding  from  better  stock. 
Magazines  lent  their  aid  to  the  cru 
sade  5  editors  viewed  with  alarm ; 
sermons — somewhat  cautiously — were 
preached;  and  legislators  began  to  take 
notice.  What  to  do  about  it? 

ii 

The  stock-breeder's  method  of  con 
trolling  propagation  is  castration,  a  pro 
cedure  not  unknown  in  human  history. 
But  there  were  various  objections  to 
this.  It  had  been  discovered,  however, 
that  the  desired  results  could  be  at 
tained  much  less  objectionably  by 
means  of  a  somewhat  different  opera 
tion.  It  was  known  that  if  the  male 
seminal  duct  were  severed  and  the  ends 
properly  secured,  procreation  could  be 
prevented  without  interfering  with  the 
future  performance  or  enjoyment  of 
the  sexual  act.  With  females  the  same 
results  could  be  attained  by  excising  a 
section  of  the  Fallopian  tubes,  not  so 
simple  an  operation  as  with  males,  but 
still  not  a  difficult  or  dangerous  one 
for  modern  surgery.  This  procedure 
came  to  be  known  as  sterilization. 

The  danger  having  been  graphically 
demonstrated,  and  the  remedy  appar 
ently  at  hand,  the  legislators  got  busy. 
In  1905,  a  sterilization  act  was  passed 
by  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  but 
was  vetoed.  Two  years  later,  a  law  was 
adopted  in  Indiana  which  provided  for 
the  sterilization  of  rapists  and  inmates 
of  institutions  for  confirmed  criminals, 
idiots  and  imbeciles.  The  act  remained 
practically  a  dead  letter  till  1020,  when 
it  was  declared  unconstitutional.  In 
1909,  an  act  was  passed  by  the  legisla 
ture  of  Washington  authorizing,  as  ad- 


PURIFYING  THE  HUMAN  RACE  43j 

ditional  punishment  by  the  courts,  the  California  act,  as  it  now  stands,  provides 

sterilization  of  persons  having  carnal  for  the  sterilization  before  discharge, 

knowledge  of  girls  under  ten  years  of  with  or  without  consent,  of  any  person 

age,  rapists  and  habitual  criminals.  This  lawfully  committed  to  State  hospitals 

law  was  upheld  by  the  courts.  But  laws  for  the  insane  or  the  feebleminded,  who 

passed  in  New  Jersey  (1911)  and  New  in  the  opinion  of  a  board  appointed  for 

York  (1912)  providing  for  sterilization  the  purpose  is  likely  to  transmit  his  or 

of    inmates    of    State    reformatories,  her  disability.  While  not  required  by 

charitable  and  penal  institutions,  and  of  law,  as  a  matter  of  practice,  consent  of 

feebleminded  persons,  epileptics,  rap-  the  patient  or  his  responsible  guardians 

ists  and  confirmed  criminals,  were  both  is  always  secured.  Very  little  difficulty  is 

held  unconstitutional.  An  act  ( 1 9 1 3  )  of  experienced  in  this  regard, 
the  Iowa  legislature  authorizing  the 
sterilization  of  persons  twice  convicted 

of  felony  or  sexual  offenses  other  than         About  the  year  1910,  Dr.  H.  H. 

white  slavery,  and  once  convicted  of  the  Goddard    discovered    the    "moron." 

latter,  was  also  declared  unconstitu-  With  the  aid  of  intelligence  tests,  in- 

tional.  troduced  into  the  United  States  shortly 

Space  limitation  forbids  a  recital  of  before,  it  was  found  that  a  vast  number 

the  vicissitudes  of  sterilization  legisla-  of  persons  not  obviously  feebleminded, 

tion  in  the  various  other  States.  The  like  the  familiar  idiots  and  imbeciles, 

now  famous  decision  of  the  United  had  much  less  than  what  was  considered 

States  Supreme  Court  (1927)  in  Buck  normal  intelligence.  These  were  the 

vs.  Bell,  upholding  an  act  of  the  Vir-  morons,  so  named  by  Dr.  Goddard. 

ginia  legislature,  has  doubtless  settled  Public  alarm  excited  by  this  unexpected 

the  issue,  for  the  present,  at  least.  In  discovery  was  further  heightened  a  few 

presenting     judgment,     Mr.     Justice  years  later  by  the  results  of  group  psy- 

Holmes  declared,  "The  principle  that  chological  examinations  of  recruits  for 

sustains  compulsory  vaccination  is  broad  the  United  States  army  during  the 

enough  to  cover  cutting  the  Fallopian  Great  War.  As  interpreted,  the  figures 

tubes";  and  in  reference  to  the  partial-  indicated  that  more  than  forty-seven 

lar  case,  "Three  generations  of  imbe-  per  cent  of  white  drafted  men  had  men- 

ciles  are  enough."  ta^  ages  under  thirteen  years — or,  in 

In  spite  of  legal  uncertainty,  half  the  other   words,   were   morons.    Visions 

States  had  passed  sterilization  acts  of  were  conjured  up  of  a  society  in  which 

some  sort  before  the  question  was  de-  one-half   of   the   population  was   en- 

cided  by  the  Virginia  case,  and  since  g*£ed  in  supervising  the  other  half. 
then  several  others  have  done  so.  In         But  meanwhile  scientific  research  had 

many  of  the  States  very  little  use  has  been    active.    Additional    experience 

been  made  of  the  legislation  so  enacted ;  with  intelligence  tests  showed  that  the 

but  in  California,  where  the  first  steri-  line  of  intellectual  normality  had  pre- 

lization  law  was  passed  in  1909,  up-  viously  been  placed  entirely  too  high, 

wards  of   10,000  persons  have  been  The  case-histories  of  the  Kallikaks  and 

sterilized— more  than  in  all  other  States  other  similar  family  strains  were  more 

combined— and  a  great  deal  of  perti-  carefully   examined.    Doubt   was   ex- 

nent  data  have  been  accumulated.  The  pressed  as  to  whether,  after  such  a  lapse 


434  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

of  time,  it  was  possible  definitely  to  increased  knowledge  of  human  inherit- 

state  that  the  girl  with  whom  Martin  ance  many  undesirable  characteristics 

Kallikak  had  had  his  illicit  affair  was  may  in  time  be  stamped  out.  But  the 

really  feebleminded;  and  the  correct-  majority  of  social  scientists  no  longer 

ness  was  questioned  of  the  diagnoses  believe  that  insanity,  feeblemindedness, 

made  upon  many  of  her  descendants.  criminality,  or  any  other  such  manifes- 

Further  information  was  produced,  tation  of  human  behavior  is  inherited 
too,  concerning  Elizabeth  Tuthill.  It  in  the  same  sense,  for  instance,  as  eye- 
was  found  that  previous  researchers  had  color.  These  are  not  Mendelian  char- 
ignored  these  important  facts:  that  she  acters.  They  are  the  results  of  an  in- 
had  been  divorced  by  Richard  Edwards  finity  of  causes,  having  much  more  to 
"on  the  ground  of  adultery  and  other  do,  in  most  cases,  with  environment 
immoralities"  j  that  one  of  her  sisters  than  with  heredity, 
had  murdered  her  own  son,  and  a  Investigations  conducted  by  Dr.  Clif- 
brother  murdered  a  sister;  that  she  was  ford  Shaw  of  the  University  of  Chi- 
extraordinarily  deficient  "in  moral  cago  show  a  direct  relationship  between 
sense";  but  that,  notwithstanding  this,  environment  and  the  incidence  of  juve- 
she  and  not  the  more  conventional  and  nile  delinquency.  Child  welfare  agen- 
moral  Mary  Talcott  was  the  ancestor  cies  report  significant  results  from  fol- 
of  that  great  line  of  personages.  lowrUp  studies  of  brothers  or  sisters 

All  of  which  merely  emphasizes  the  placed  separately  in  widely  differing 

fact  that  the  question  of  human-  hered-  types  of  foster-homes.  Similar  studies 

ity  is  a  complex  and  difficult  one  ;  and  are  now  being  conducted  with  identical 

that  where  matters  affecting  behavior  twins.  Recent  trends  in  pediatrics  indi- 

are  involved  it  is  impossible  to  dissoci-  cate   something   of   the   potentialities 

ate  the  effects  of  heredity  from  those  inherent  in  special  feeding  and  care, 

due    to    environment.    Undoubtedly,  While   perhaps   the   most   intriguing 

families  can  be  found,  such  as  the  one  prospect  is  suggested  by  the  study  of 

which  gave  rise  to  the  celebrated  Vir-  endocrines  and  hormones.  In  this  field 

ginia  case,  in  which  certain  defects  or  are  possibilities  of  mutations  and  varia- 

disabilities  recur  with  such  persistence  tions  entirely  beyond  anything  previ- 

as  strongly  to  suggest  hereditary  influ-  ously  anticipated, 
ence;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  compara 
tive  studies  of  the  family-histories  of  IV 
institution  inmates  and  of  persons  taken         Is  there,  then,  no  place  in  a  social 

at  random  from  the  general  public  programme  for  sterilization?  Assuredly 

tend  to  show  no  appreciably  greater  there  is.  Much  of  the  opposition  to  it 

percentage  of  maladjustment  in  the  one  is  due  to  ignorance.  Oklahoma  proposes 

group  than  in  the  other.  to  sterilize  persons  thrice  convicted  of 

It  is  admitted,  of  course,  that  a  per-  crime,  and,  so  it  is  reported,  habitual 

son  with  a  bad  family  history  as  re-  criminals  flee  the  State  in  terror.  Ob- 

gards  certain  diseases  should  not  marry,  viously,  the  power  to  procreate  is  not  so 

or  else  marry  into  a  family  with  no  sim-  highly  prized — which  leads  to  the  con- 

ilar  strain — so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  elusion  that  sterilization  is  being  mis- 

The  need  for  eugenics  is  not  denied;  taken    for    emasculation.    Oklahoma 

indeed,  there  is  no  doubt  that  through  criminals  are  not  the  only  persons  so 


PURIFYING  THE  HUMAN  RACE  435 

confused,  otherwise  legislatures  would  cally  every  State,  are  primarily  train- 
not  prescribe  sterilization  as  a  punitive  ing  schools.  Most  of  the  higher-grade 
measure.  (Many  habitual  law-breakers  inmates  can  be  taught  to  become,  with 
are  undoubtedly  feebleminded,  in  a  certain  amount  of  supervision,  self- 
which  case  they  should  be  treated  as  supporting  in  the  community.  But  ob- 
such,  not  as  criminals.)  Some  oppose  viously,  even  with  the  most  careful 
sterilization  as  being  contrary  to  "God's  supervision  that  is  practicable,  it  must 
law."  Views  of  this  kind  admit  of  no  be  only  a  matter  of  time  till  these  nor- 
argumentj  it  is  reassuring,  neverthe-  mally  sexed,  but  intellectually  limited, 
less,  that  in  such  matters  the  vast  ma-  persons — especially  the  girls — become 
jority  are  in  agreement  with  the  dictum  parents.  And,  although  it  is  by  no 
of  Mr.  Justice  Holmes*.  means  inevitable  that  the  offspring 
Opposition,  however,  has  in  the  past  should  be  of  equally  low  mentality,  the 
not  been  confined  entirely  to  these:  un-  parents  could  not,  in  the  circumstances, 
til  recently  a  considerable  percentage  be  expected  to  provide  the  children 
of  those  actively  engaged  in  the  treat-  with  proper  home  surroundings.  Con- 
ment  and  care  of  the  feebleminded  were  sequently,  a  very  real  danger  exists  that 
also  opposed,  or  at  least  lukewarm  in  such  children  would  develop,  in  their 
support.  Distrustful  of  panaceas,  and  turn,  into  public  charges  of  one  sort 
realizing  the  extravagance  of  claims  or  another.  This  the  community  has  a 
made  in  its  behalf,  they  were  fearful  right  to  prevent.  If,  however,  the  in- 
lest  their  support  be  misinterpreted  5  mate  is  sterilized  before  release  that 
and  they  also  feared  that  if  legislators  danger,  at  least,  is  avoided  j  marriage 
continued  in  the  delusion  that  steriliza-  is  possible  5  and  the  chances  of  success- 
tion  would  shortly  end  or  greatly  re-  ful  adjustment  in  the  community  are 
duce  the  incidence  of  feeblemindedness,  greatly  enhanced.  Here,  then,  is  where 
support  of  existing  institutions  or  funds  sterilization  comes  in.  It  is  a  very  neces- 
for  urgently  needed  new  ones  might  sary  and  useful  measure  of  social  con- 
not  be  forthcoming.  On  the  other  hand,  trol  in  so  far  as  feebleminded  persons 
all  were  confronted  with  the  necessity  are  concerned.  But  it  can  not  take  the 
of  freeing  the  institutions  of  the  large  place  of  segregation  and  training  j  it  is 
numbers  of  inmates  ready  for  parole —  an  essential  complementary  measure, 
except  for  the  danger  of  sex  difficulties.  The  value  of  sterilization  in  this  re 
in  1930,  a  questionnaire  was  circu-  gard  is  well  exemplified  by  experience 
lated  among  the  members  of  the  Amer-  in  California.  At  the  Sonoma  State 
ican  Association  for  the  Study  of  the  Home  (for  feebleminded  persons) 
Feebleminded,  asking  whether  they  about  1,600  persons  of  both  sexes  have 
were  in  favor  or  not  of  a  measure  of  been  sterilized  in  the  past  twenty-five 
selective  sterilization  as  part  of  a  broad  years.  Studies  made  by  Dr.  Paul  Pope- 
programme  of  supervision  and  parole  noe,  of  the  Human  Betterment  Foun- 
to  be  applied  to  institution  inmates  who,  dation,  Pasadena,  based  on  paroles 
after  suitable  training,  were  considered  from  this  institution,  show  that  most  of 
eligible  for  parole.  Ninety-four  per  cent  the  common  objections  are  not  borne 
of  the  replies  were  in  the  affirmative.  out  by  actual  experience. 

Institutions  for  the  feebleminded,  of         One  of  the  stock  arguments  is  that 

which  there  is  one  or  more  in  practi-  sterilized  women,  once  the  inhibiting 


436  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

fear  of  pregnancy  is  removed,  will  be-  tion  was  merely  a  routine  matter  with- 

come  more  promiscuous,  and  thus  con-  out  which  the  period  of  institutional 

tribute    to    the    spread    of    venereal  residence  was  not  complete.  I  am  quite 

disease.  Dr.  Popenoe  finds  that  steri-  sure  that  it  never  occurred  to  her  to 

lized  girls  are,  in  fact,  not  more  promis-  think  that  she  would,  in  consequence, 

cuous  than  unsterilized  persons  of  the  be  a  marked  person  in  the  community, 

same  degree  of  intelligence.  This  would  And  it  is  more  than  likely  that  the  full 

seem  to  be  an  obvious  inference,  since  implications  of  the  matter  were  largely 

the  amount  of  intelligence  required  to  beyond  her  capacity  to  understand, 

take  advantage  of  such  a  situation  is  Nevertheless,  when  properly  trained, 

more  than  that  which  such  persons  persons  with  even  such  limited  intel- 

possess.  lectual  capacity  do  very  well  at  routine 

Another  objection  is  that  those  steri-  household  duties,  or  in  manufacturing 

lized,  in  resentment  against  the  depriva-  establishments  where  manual  dexter- 

tion  of  their  power  to  procreate,  will  ity,  rather  than  intelligence,  is  required, 

tend  to  become  anti-social  and  indulge  Well  trained  feebleminded  persons  of 

in  criminal  or  other  delinquent  behav-  this  type  are  often  more  reliable  than 

ior.  This,  too,  presupposes  a  degree  of  persons  of  greater  intelligence,  because 

insight   which    the    feebleminded    do  they  are  satisfied  to  stick  to  the  things 

not  possess,  and  is  also  not  in  accord-  they  have  been  trained  to  do,  and  are 

ance  with  experience.  Furthermore,  Dr.  not  tempted  to  move  from  one  job  to 

Popenoe  has  found  that  the  percent-  another, 
age  of  successful  marriages  contracted 

by  sterilized  paroles  compares  favor-  v 

ably   with   that   among   the   general  How  about  the  insane?  In  California 

population.  the  majority  of  those  sterilized  to  date 

Far  from  resenting  sterilization,  the  are  persons  released  from  mental  hos- 
inmates  of  the  Sonoma  State  Home  pitals,  and  most  mental  hospital  officers 
look  forward  to  it.  It  is,  in  a  sense,  a  are  strongly  in  favor  of  sterilization, 
badge  of  distinction:  it  indicates  those  Quite  aside  from  any  question  of  he- 
who  are  capable  of  being  paroled  into  redity,  freedom  from  worry  concerning 
the  community.  On  a  visit  to  the  in-  possible  pregnancy  is  bound  to  have  a 
stitution,  I  was  being  shown  round  by  beneficial  effect  upon  many  women  pa- 
the  superintendent,  Dr.  Butler.  As  we  tients.  Indeed,  the  illness  of  some  is  un 
crossed  the  yard,  we  were  approached  doubtedly  precipitated  by  such  worry — 
by  a  good-looking  young  girl  of  about  which  would  suggest  that  sterilization 
fourteen  or  fifteen  years  of  age.  (pending  more  adequate  birth  control 

"Doctor,  when  will  I  have  my  oper-  information  and  greater  availability  of 

ation?"  she  inquired.  contraceptive  appliances)  might  also  be 

"What  operation?"  the  doctor  coun-  a  boon  to  many  women  who  are  not 

tered,  pretending  not  to  understand.  mental  patients. 

"Oh,  my  sterilization  operation,"  she  It  must  be  remembered  that  many 

replied.  women  (or  men)  released  from  a  men- 

"Your  turn  will  come  pretty  soon,"  tal  hospital  are  quite  as  capable  of  con- 
he  assured  her,  as  we  passed  on.  trolling  propagation  as  any  one  else, 

As  far  as  she  was  concerned,  steriliza-  given  proper  instruction  and  facilities. 


PURIFYING  THE  HUMAN  RACE                      437 

Others,  of  course,  in  whom  the  disa-  ment,  depending  upon  the  cause  of  the 

bility  has  perhaps  a  more  sexual  basis  particular  fever  in  question, 

might  be  the  better  for  sterilization.  With  respect  to  crime,  we  are  yet 

The  question  here  is  merely  one  of  con-  very  much  in  the  position  of  medicine 

venience.  For  there  is  no  reason  why  a  before  fever  was  differentiated  into  its 

woman  should  not  have  her  Fallopian  various  forms.  Although  we  recognize 

tubes  severed  if  she  so  desires — no  more  that  stealing  is  different  from  man- 

than  there  is  against  having  her  tonsils  slaughter,  we  nevertheless  have  but  one 

or  appendix  removed.  remedy  for  both.  Some  day,  however, 

When  it  comes  to  reducing  crime  by  we  may  learn  that  crime  is  quite  as 

the  surgeon's  knife  the  prospect  is  en-  complicated  as  fever,  and  that- its  cure 

tirely  futile.  Crime  may  be  reduced,  but  requires  even  greater  knowledge  and 

not  by  means  of  anything  so  simple,  skill.  For,  in  dealing  with  crime,  one 

If  preventing  criminals  from  procreat-  must  have  not  only  a  knowledge  and 

ing  were  at  all  effective  in  that  re-  understanding  of  the  individual,  but 

gard,    crime    should   long   ago    have  also  of  society  as  a  whole.  And  just  as 

ceased  to  trouble  us.  For  until  compara-  fever  was  found  to  be  but  a  symptom 

tively  recently  criminals  were  subjected  of  deeper  underlying  causes,  so  will 

to  treatment  much  more  drastic  than  crime  some  day  be  more  generally  rec- 

sterilization.  Up  till  the  Eighteenth  ognized  as  a  symptom  of  a  deep-seated 

Century,  there  were,  in  England,  as  social  disorder. 

many  as  240  crimes  and  misdemeanors  To  sum  up,  then,  it  may  be  said  that 
for  which  the  penalty  was  death.  Dur-  sterilization  has  a  definite  field  of  use- 
ing  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII  more  than  fulness  as  a  measure  of  social  control  as 
72,000  persons  were  executed.  Con-  regards  the  feebleminded.  And  that  it 
sidering  the  difference  in  population,  has  a  more  limited  utility  with  respect 
Henry's  acts  "of  neighborly  love"  were  to  the  insane  and  certain  women  of  neu- 
a  much  more  thorough  purging  than  rotic  disposition  who  might  feel  more 
even  Hitler  contemplates  today.  Yet  secure  if  the  fear  of  pregnancy  were  en- 
crime  continued  in  spite  of  the  hangings  tirely  removed.  But  as  regards  others, 
and  torturings.  such  as  criminals  and  paupers  (who  do 

In  the  early  days  of  medicine,  all  not  come  in  the  above  categories ),noth- 
diseases  characterized  by  heightened  ing  in  our  present  state  of  knowledge 
temperature  were  included  in  the  gen-  would  indicate  that  it  is  at  all  appli- 
eral  term  "fever,"  and  treated  alike,  cable.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  more 
But  with  greater  knowledge  of  disease,  than  likely  that  any  attempt  to  con- 
many  different  forms  of  fever  were  rec-  sider  it  a  cure-all  must  end  in  disappoint- 
ognized,  each  requiring  a  special  treat-  ment. 


Hitler  and  the  Catholic  Church 

BY  G.  E.  W.  JOHNSON 

*^ 

The  totalitarian  tendencies  of  Rome  and  Hitlerism  clash  and 

promise  to  clash  more  violently  still  when  the  Saar 

plebiscite  is  over 


there  is  only  one  organi-  the  world,  with  the  exception  of  Vatican 

zation    in    Germany    that    has  City,  that  fulfils  the  papal  ideal  of  the 

JL    succeeded  in  maintaining  inter-  theocratic  State.  The  Church,  however, 

national    affiliations    and    has    so    far  has  wisely  though  tacitly  adapted  her- 

esc^ped  being  swallowed  up  into  the  self  to  circumstances  over  which  she  has 

devouring  maw  of  the  National  Social-  no  control.  Though  never  in  so  many 

ist  political  machine.  This  is  the  Roman  words  renouncing  her  claims  to  suprem- 

Catholic  Church.  The  world's  oldest  acy  in  a  doctrinal  sense,  she  has  yielded 

authoritarian  system,  with  nearly  two  politically  to  jorce  majeure^  and  has 

millennia  of  continuous  existence  behind  suffered  her  more  presumptuous  claims 

it,  still  stands  despite  the  assaults  of  a  to  lapse  into  innocuous  desuetude. 
rival  system  which,  after  less  than  two         In  many  democratic  countries,  among 

years  of  office,  has  wreaked  havoc  upon  which  the  United  States  holds  a  con- 

all  who  .sought  to  block  its  march  to  spicuous    place,    the    position    of    the 

the  seat  of  power.  Church  has  been  made  relatively  easy 

Both  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  by  limitations  which  the  State  has  im- 

and  the  National  Socialist  Party  make  posed  upon  its  own  prerogative.  Out- 

totalitarian  claims  upon  the  whole  popu-  side  of  the  comparatively  narrow  de 

lation,  and,  as  such,  can  not  in  theory  main   reserved   by  the   State   for  its 

recognize  any  line  of  demarcation  be-  exclusive  use,  the  Church  has  been  free 

tween  the  respective  jurisdictions  of  to  exercise  her  jurisdiction  over  her  ad- 

Church  and  State.  The  Church  of  Rome  herents  —  at  any  rate  to  the  extent  to 

still  formally  clings  to  the  medieval  which  she  could  persuade  them  volun- 

notion  that  the  State  is  the  servant  of  tarily  to  accept  that  jurisdiction.  But 

Holy  Mother  Church  3  the  National  when  the  Catholic  Church  is  confronted 

Socialists  clamorously  insist  that  the  by  another  totalitarian  system  that  sets 

Church  shall  be  the  instrument  of  the  no  limits,  other  than  those  dictated  by 

State.  Since  the  Protestant  Reformation  purely  opportunistic  considerations,  to 

the  Catholic  Church  has  found  it  in-  its   jurisdiction,   then   the   Church   is 

creasingly  difficult  to  sustain  her  claims,  bound  to   find  herself  in   distressful 

and  today  there  is  no  political  entity  in  straits.  Such  a  situation  exists  today  in 


HITLER  AND  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH               439 

Germany.  The  Church  has  on  occasion  fundamental  dogmas  and  renouncing 
waived  many  of  her  theoretical  claims  her  allegiance  to  the  Pope, 
rather  than  jeopardize  her  material  in 
terests  j  but  there  is  a  point  beyond  n 
which  she  can  not  yield  without  ceasing  In  maintaining  her  position,  the 
to  exist  as  a  Catholic  Church.  To  take  Catholic  Church  has  been  greatly  as- 
an  extreme  instance,  such  a  point  would  sisted  by  the  authoritarian  structure  of 
indubitably  be  reached  if  an  attempt  her  hierarchy.  The  Evangelical  Church, 
were  made  to  detach  the  Catholic  in  contrast,  had  a  democratic  constitu- 
Church  in  any  country  from  her  alle-  tion.  All  its  members,  even  those  whose 
giance  to  the  see  of  Rome.  The  Nazi  connection  with  the  Church  was  of  the 
Government  has  not  yet  formally  an-  flimsiest,  were  entitled  to  participate  in 
nounced  that  such  is  its  intention,  but  it  elections  for  the  choice  of  the  various 
is  well  known  that  many  of  the  brasher  governing  bodies  of  the  Church.  The 
spirits  among  the  Nazis,  such  as  Gen-  Nazi  party  machine  promptly  injected 
eral  Hermann  Goring,  Prime  Minister  itself  into  these  elections,  applied  the 
of  Prussia  and  Hitler's  right-hand  man,  same  steam-roller  tactics  that  have  pro- 
would  greet  such  a  move  with  gusto,  duced  such  enormous  majorities  for 
In  their  eyes,  the 'Christian  Churches,  Hitler  in  the  political  sphere,  and  ob- 
Protestant  and  Catholic  alike,  have  no  tained  results  that  were  almost  equally 
function  other  than  to  serve  as  instru-  gratifying.  Thus  it  came  about  that, 
ments  for  carrying  out  the  will  of  the  though  a  majority  of  the  Evangelical 
National  Socialist  regime.  If  the  clergy  were  opposed  to  the  Nazifying 
Churches  could  be  persuaded  to  drop  tendencies,  they  saw  the  ground  swept 
their  fussy  doctrinal  squabbles  and  from  beneath  their  feet  and  the  govern- 
unite  to  form  a  single  Reichskirche  that  ment  of  the  Church  fall  into  the  hands 
would  embrace  all  the  religious  forces  of  those  clerics  who  were  prepared  to 
of  Germany,  recognize  Hitler  as  its  su-  subserve  the  racial  beliefs  of  the  Nazis 
preme  head,  and  wheel  about  in  disci-  in  violation  of  the  Christian  principle 
plined  formation  whenever  der  Fuhrer  of  the  universality  of  human  brother- 
gave  the  word,  it  would  be  a  reinforce-  hood. 

ment  of  inestimable  value  to  the  propa-  Such  tactics  obviously  could  not  be 
ganda  machinery  of  the  Nazi  Govern-  effectually  used  against  the  hierarchy 
ment.  The  Evangelical  Church— itself  of  the  Catholic  Church,  over  which  the 
comprising  a  union  of  the  Lutheran  laity  exercise  no  control.  Thus  the 
and  Reformed  Churches — has  already  Church  has  managed  at  least  to  keep 
been  arbitrarily  incorporated  into  the  her  head  above  the  flood  that  has  en- 
Reichskirche  and  placed  under  the  di-  gulfed  everything  else  on  the  German 
rection  of  Hitler's  henchman,  Reichs-  landscape.  Hitler  no  doubt  has  a  vivid 
Bishop  Ludwig  Miiller,  who  is  doing  recollection  of  the  humiliation  suffered 
his  best  to  imbue  about  seven  thousand  by  Bismarck  through  the  failure  of  his 
recalcitrant  pastors  with  a  proper  ad-  Kulturkamyf,  and  he  has  no  desire  to* 
miration  for  Nazi  doctrines.  The  Cath-  find  himself  in  the  same  predicament, 
olic  Church,  needless  to  say,  has  held  It  was  in  1872  that  Bismarck  em- 
aloof  from  the  Reichskirche,  which  she  barked  upon  the  Kulturkampf,  the 
could  not  join  without  repudiating  her  "clash  of  civilizations,"  by  having  the 


440  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Reichstag  pass   a  law   expelling  the  Republic  was  administered  by  a  coali- 
Jesuits.  In  the  following  year  came  the  tion  of  the  Social  Democratic  and  Cen- 
enactment  of  the  so-called  May  laws  tre  parties.  In  1932  the  Catholic  Chan- 
by.  the  Prussian  Diet,  the  purpose  of  cellor  Briining  was  administering  the 
which  was  to  make  the  Church  little  Reich  government  with  Socialist  sup- 
more  than  a  government  bureau.  The  port,  while  the  Socialist  Prime  Minister 
Catholic   bishops    refused   to   comply  Braun  was  administering  the  Prussian 
with  the  laws.  Within  a  short  time  a  government    with    Centrist    support, 
number  of  them  had  been  consigned  to  This  long  association  of  the  two  parties 
jail,  and  1,300  parishes  were  deprived  was  one  of  the  causes  of  the  Nazi  ire 
of  their  incumbents.  It  soon  became  at  the  Catholics.  General  Goring  has 
evident  that  Bismarck  had  committed  freauently  bracketed  the  "black  moles" 
a  grave  error  of  judgment  in  thus  of  Clericalism  with  the  "red  rats"  of 
gratuitously   presenting   the   Catholic  Marxism  as  noxious  vermin  that  he  in- 
Church  with  the  martyrs  that  are  al-  tends  to  extirpate  without  mercy, 
ways  a  boon  to  any  cause.  The  Centre         The  downfall  of  the  ruling  Centrist- 
party  that  had  recently  been  formed  Socialist   coalition  took  place  in  the 
in  the  Reichstag  to  represent  Catholic  middle  of  1932,  when  President  von 
interests  rapidly  increased  in  numbers  Hindenburg  dismissed  Chancellor  Brti- 
and  soon  became  the  largest  single  ning  and  replaced  him  with  Colonel 
party.    Bismarck   reluctantly   realized  Franz  von  Papen,  who  in  turn  ousted 
that  he  would  have  to  go  to  Canossa  if  the  Socialist  regime  in  Prussia.  There 
he  was  to  avoid  a  possible  Waterloo,  ensued  for  a  period  of  over  half  a  year 
The  May  laws  were  first  allowed  to  go  a  series  of  political  intrigues  in  which 
unenforced   and   were  ultimately   re-  Papen,  himself  a  renegade  member  of 
pealed  in  the  latter  part  of  the  'Eighties,  the  Centre,  played  a  prominent  part  as 
Bismarck's  mortifying  experience  has  an  intermediary  between  Hindenburg 
served  as  a  warning  to  all  subsequent  and    Hitler.    The    upshot    of    these 
German  statesmen  to  move  cautiously  machinations  was  the  appointment  of 
in  dealing  with  religious  matters,  and  Hitler  as  Chancellor  on  January  30, 
the  Nazis  are  anxious  to  avoid  being  1933. 
maneuvered  into  an  equally  untenable 
position.  m 

At  about  the  same  time  that  Bismarck        The  triumph  of  the  Nazis  immedi- 

was  waging  the  Kulturkam^f^  he  was  ately  confronted  the  Roman  Catholic 

also  harassing  the  Social  Democrats.  Church    with    an    ominous    situation. 

Little  sympathy  though  there  might  be  What  course  should  she  pursue?  If  the 

between  the  free-thinking  Marxists  and  Church  could  have  counted  upon  the 

the  Ultramontane  Catholics,  they  found  unqualified  support  of  all  her  children, 

themselves  companions  in  distress.  A  she  might  have  ventured  a  trial  of 

certain  element  of  fellow-feeling  which  strength.  But  the  disintegrating  tenden- 

they  could  have  experienced  in  no  other  cies  of  modern  times,  though  they  have 

way  was  thereby  infused  into  them,  probably  affected  the  Catholic  Church 
Thus  were  sowed  the  seeds  of  good  un-  less  than  the  Protestant,  have  none  the 
derstanding  that  bore  fruit  in  the  post-  less  made  their  inroads  upon  the  ranks 
War  years  when  the  government  of  the  of  the  faithful.  Several  men  of  Cath- 


HITLER  AND  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  441 

olic  background  can  be  found  occupying  joining  the  National  Socialist  party, 

prominent  places  in  the  Nazi  party,  and  While  these  events  were  taking  place, 

either  inspiring  or  sanctioning  the  at-  thousands    of    Catholic    functionaries 

tacks  on  the  Church.  Adolf  Hitler  him-  were  being  ousted  from  public  office 

self  must  be  accounted  a  Catholic  ;  he  all   over  Germany  and  replaced  by 

was  baptized  within  the  fold  of  the  Nazis.    The   debacle   was   completed 

Church  and  has  never  formally  left  it,  shortly  afterwards  when  the  Centre 

although  of  course  he  is  not  what  is  and   Bavarian   People's   parties   were 

known  as  a  practising  Catholic.  The  dissolved  in  common  with  all  other  po- 

same  can  be  said  of  his  Propaganda  litical  parties  outside  the  National  So- 

Minister,  Dr.  Joseph  Gobbels.  cialist  ranks. 

The  best  index  of  the  extent  to  which  As  the  struggle  now  began  to  shift 
German  Catholics  are  prepared  to  back  from  the  temporal  to  the  spiritual 
up  their  Church  by  political  action  may  front,  the  political  leaders  of  Catholi- 
be  inferred  from  the  strength  attained  cism  like  Dr.  Bruning  vanished  into 
by  the  Catholic  political  parties  prior  to  oblivion  and  the  prelates  of  the  Church 
their  disbandment.  There  are  about  replaced  them  on  the  battle  line.  Of  the 
twenty  million  Catholics  in  Germany,  latter,  the  one  who  has  made  himself 
About  three-fifths  of  the  total  German  the  most  conspicuous  and  fearless  ex- 
population  participates  in  elections,  ponent  of  the  Catholic  point  of  view  is 
Therefore,  if  all  Catholics  had  been  Michael  Cardinal  Faulhaber,  Arch- 
unreservedly  loyal  to  their  political  bishop  of  Munich  and  Freising  and 
parties,  we  should  have  expected  to  find  head  of  the  Bavarian  episcopate, 
a  Catholic  vote  of  about  twelve  million.  Cardinal  Faulhaber  has  always  been 
Actually,  the  Centre  and  its  ally  the  inclined  to  take  an  aggressive  stand 
Bavarian  People's  party  together  polled  against  the  Nazis.  While  Chancellor 
about  five  and  a  half  million  votes.  In  Bruning  was  still  in  office,  he  continu- 
other  words,  more  than  half  of  the  ally  besought  him  to  take  stern  meas- 
Catholic  community  was  casting  its  vote  ures  to  stem  the  rising  tide  of  Hitlerism. 
for  other  parties.  A  goodly  number  of  But  when  it  came  to  the  pinch,  the  po- 
these  dissidents  could  have  been  found  litical  leaders  yielded  without  a  strug- 
in  the  ranks  of  the  Nazis.  gle.  After  the  triumph  of  Hitler, 

With  Hitler  installed  in  power,  po-  Faulhaber's  urge  to  come  to  grips  with 

litical   Catholicism  was   overcome  by  the  Nazis  was  restrained  by  Eugenic 

panic  and  retired  in  confusion.  When  Cardinal  Pacelli,  the  Papal  Secretary 

the  Reichstag  passed  the  Enabling  Act  of  State,  who  was  responsible  for  con- 

of   March    23,   conferring   dictatorial  ducting  the  Vatican's  negotiations  with 

powers  upon  the  Hitler  cabinet,  it  was  the  Reich.  The  Church  had  but  recently 

the  Centre  that  tamely  furnished  the  gone  through  religious  wars  in  Mexico 

votes  necessary  to  make  up  the  two-  and  Spain,  where  she  had  held  strongly 

thirds  total  required  by  the  German  entrenched    positions,    and    had    not 

Constitution.  A   few  days  later,  the  emerged  unscathed  j  she  was  not  eager 

Catholic  bishops  assembled  in  confer-  to  join  battle  with  the  secular  power  in 

ence  and  rescinded  the  measures  that  Germany,  where  her  position  was  rela- 

some  of  them  had  previously  taken  in  tively  much  weaker.  Moreover,  Cardi- 

the  way  of  prohibiting  Catholics  from  nal  Pacelli  plumed  himself  upon  hit 


442  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

knowledge  of  the  German  political  and  heroic  Teutonic  pagandom,  and 
background.  During  the  post- War  to  look  askance  at  the  Pope  himself 
period  he  had  seen  many  years'  service  as  being  a  non-Nordic.  The  head- 
in  Germany  as  Apostolic  Nuncio,  first  quarters  of  the  Church  is  at  Rome, 
in  Munich  and  later  in  Berlin.  But  he  Her  supreme  head  is  invariably  an 
had  been  recalled  to  Rome  before  the  Italian.  These  considerations  tend  to 
Nazi  tide  had  attained  menacing  pro-  moderate  the  clash  of  Catholic  in- 
portions,  and,  despite  the  warnings  of  ternationalism  with  Italian  national- 
Cardinal  Faulhaber,  he  did  not  seem  ism,  and,  by  the  same  token,  to 
to  grasp  the  real  significance  of  the  Na-  exacerbate  the  clash  with  German  na 
tional  Socialist  challenge.  He  appar-  tionalism. 
ently  imagined  that  German  National 

Socialism  was  simply  a  duplication  of  IV 
Italian  Fascism,  and  that  its  wrath  could  Cardinal  Pacelli  nevertheless  clung 
be  appeased  by  concessions  similar  to  to  his  hope  that  by  negotiating  a  con- 
those  which  had  been  made  to  Musso-  cordat  with  Berlin  he  could  spare  the 
lini.  Church  the  ordeal  of  enduring  a  frontal 
There  are,  however,  a  number  of  im-  attack  by;  the  massed  fury  of  Hitlerism. 
portant  differences  between  Fascism  On  July  20,  1933,  largely  as  a  result 
and  National  Socialism  which  make  of  renewed  wire-pulling  by  the  ubiqui- 
the  task  of  the  Church  in  arriving  at  a  tous  Colonel  von  Papen,  the  Reich 
satisfactory  modus  vivendi  with  the  lat-  Government  and  the  Holy  See  signed 
ter  much  more  difficult,  if  not  impossi-  a  Concordat.  The  most  significant  pro- 
ble.  Although  Fascism  boasts  a  totali-  vision  of  this  treaty  was  perhaps  Article 
tarian  philosophy,  it  has  not  developed  32,  whereby  the  Vatican  undertook  to 
the  mystical  side  of  its  ideology  to  a  restrain  all  German  ecclesiastics  from 
degree  comparable  with  National  So-  joining  or  supporting  any  Catholic  po- 
cialism.  Fascism's  doctrines  are  almost  litical  party.  There  were  a  number  of 
exclusively  political  and  economic,  and  other  provisions  that  were  primarily  in- 
it  therefore  does  not  press  so  hard  upon  tended  to  safeguard  the  Church's  au- 
the  heels  of  the  Church.  Since  the  Pope  thority  in  such  matters  as  ecclesiastical 
in  1929  renounced  his  claims  to  tern-  discipline  and  religious  education.  Some 
poral  sovereignty  "in  Italy  outside  the  of  them,  however,  were  phrased  in  such 
bounds  of  Vatican  City,  friction  be-  vague  terms  that  they  could  readily 
tween  the  Church  of  Rome  and  the  become  a  fertile  source  of  future  dis- 
Kingdom  of  Italy  has  practically  disap-  cord.  In  particular,  no  attempt  was 
peared.  Fascism  has  cultivated  no  such  made  to  answer  the  crucial  question: 
fanatical  theory  of  racial  superiority  as  where  does  the  political  sphere  end  and 
has  impelled  National  Socialism  to  de-  the  religious  sphere  begin?  The  im- 
nounce  the  Old  Testament  as  obscene  pression  left  by  the  Concordat  was  that 
and  brutalizing  Jewish  propaganda,  to  it  was  a  stop-gap  agreement  regarded  as 
ridicule  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul — and  definitive  by  neither  party,  but  tem- 
sometimes  even  Christ  himself — as  porarily  accepted  by  both  because  it 
Jewish  rabbis,  to  deplore  the  intrusion  afforded  a  breathing-spell  in  which  they 
of  alien  Christianity  with  its  "slave  could  maneuver  for  position,  each  feel- 
morality"  into  the  paradise  of  ancient  ing  for  the  most  vulnerable  spot  in  its 


HITLER  AND  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH                443 

opponent's  armor  and  searching  for  rate,  toward  the  end  of  1933  he  de- 
some  issue  that  would  crystallize  public  livered  a  series  of  sermons  on  successive 
opinion  in  its  favor.  Sundays  during  the  Advent  season  in 

In  pursuing  these  tactics,  each  side  which  he  centred  his  criticism  upon  the 
has  sought  to  avert  a  head-on  collision  Nazi  doctrine  of  racial  supremacy, 
with  its  opponent.  The  Nazi  strategy  "Not  blood  but  faith  is  the  foundation 
is  to  avoid  arresting  any  conspicuous  of  religion,"  declared  the  Cardinal.  He 
Catholic  dignitary  under  circumstances  reiterated  that  the  Jews  had  been  the 
that  could  not  be  readily  concealed  by  chosen  people  prior  to  the  coming  of 
the  censorship.  They  do  not  wish  to  re-  Christ  and  that  the  Old  Testament  was 
peat  Bismarck's  mistake  of  making  indeed  a  divine  revelation.  He  enraged 
martyrs.  They  prefer  to  muzzle  the  the  Nazis  by  charging  that  the  idealized 
bishops  by  intimidation,  and,  where  this  ancient  Teutons  had  been  addicted  to 
proves  unavailing,  to  prevent  the  publi-  indolence  and  drunkenness  until  they 
cation  of  their  strictures  upon  the  Nazi  had  been  elevated  by  conversion  to 
regime.  It  is  the  priests  and  subordinate  Christianity.  His  sermons  were  later 
clergy  who  are  made  to  suffer  if  they  published  in  book  form  under  the  title 
repeat  the  sentiments  of  their  superiors  Judaism,  Christianity  and  Germanism. 
— about  two  hundred  priests  were  ar-  Although  the  book  was  not  officially 
rested  during  the  first  year  of  Hitler's  banned,  local  Nazi  organizations  re- 
rule.  At  the  same  time  the  Nazis  carry  sorted  to  the  intimidating  methods  in 
on  an  active  propaganda  among  the  which  they  are  so  expert  to  discourage 
Catholic  masses  with  the  twofold  pur-  booksellers  from  stocking  it.  In  Janu- 
pose  of  assuring  them  that  nowhere  ary,  when  'Professor  Karl  Adam  of 
else  in  the  world  does  the  Church  enjoy  Tubingen  University,  one  of  the  most 
such  freedom  as  in  Germany  and  of  distinguished  of  German  Catholic  theo- 
subtly  indoctrinating  them  with  the  logians,  delivered  before  •  a  Catholic 
Nazi  point  of  view.  gathering  an  address  that  was  in  sub- 

The  clergy  adopt  parallel  tactics  in  stance  a  repetition  of  the  ideas  voiced 
protesting  the  Nazi  attacks.  They  avoid  by  Cardinal  Faulhaber,  Nazi  students 
all  direct  criticism  of  Hitler.  Indeed,  staged  a  demonstration  of  protest  and 
they  profess  to  accept  at  its  face  value  the  Wiirttemberg  Minister  of  Educa- 
Hitler's  assurance  that  he -intends  to  tion  promptly  suspended  Professor 
preserve  Christianity  as  the  religious  Adam  from  his  chair  until  the  political 
foundation  of  the  State.  But  the  local  police  had  completed  an  investigation 
Nazi  leaders  are  then  sorrowfully  or  into  his  activities.  "The  only  thing  that 
indignantly  reproached  for  "opposing"  they  [the  Nazis]  could  not  endure," 
Hitler's  policies  by  harassing  the  declared  Hans  Schemm,  Bavarian  Min- 
Church  and  failing  to  observe  the  ister  of  Education,  "was  to  hear  the  re- 
Concordat,  ligion  of  their  fathers  denounced  as 

It  is  possible  that  the  stubborn  stand  pernicious    paganism.    This    is    only 

taken  by  the  embattled  pastors  of  the  another    way    of    flinging    mud    at 

Evangelical  Church  and  the  caution  the   German    race   and   the   German 

displayed  by  the  Nazis  in  disciplining  people.  ...  I  will  not  rest  until  these 

them  may  have  emboldened  Cardinal  malcontents  are  destroyed,  root  and 

Faulhaber  to  speak  his  mind.  At  any  branch." 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


In  the  opening  months  of  1934,  the 
tension  between  the  Catholics  and  the 
Nazis  markedly  increased.  Though  re 
fraining  from  official  acts  of  violence 
against  them,  the  Nazi  Government 
encouraged  mob  demonstrations  against 
Catholic  prelates.  On  January  27  two 
shots  were  fired  into  the  windows  of 
Cardinal  Faulhaber's  palace  in  Munich. 
On  April  7  a  crowd  of  a  thousand 
Nazis,  hundreds  of  whom  were  in  uni 
form,  besieged  Bishop  Ehrenfried  of 
Wurzburg  in  his  palace  and  shouted 
out  threats  to  lynch  him.  The  police 
accordingly  placed  the  Bishop  under 
"protective  arrest"  in  order  to  rescue 
him  from  the  mob.  On  April  20  another 
crowd  gathered  and  burst  open  the  pal 
ace  doors  with  a  wooden  beam.  Fortu 
nately  the  BishoD  was  absent  from 
home  on  this  occasion. 

The  drive  against  the  Catholic  press 
and  Catholic  vouth  and  labor  organiza 
tions  was  intensified.  Catholic  news 
papers  are  rigorouslv  censored  and 
suspended  at  the  slightest  provocation. 
Thev  are  frequently  comDelled  to  nub- 
lish  Nazi  propaganda  without  modifica 
tion  or  comment.  The  prevailing  Nazi 
attitude  toward  them  mav  be  gauged 
from  a  court  decision  rendered  on  April 
3.  A  Catholic  newspaner  had  brought 
suit  against  the  Essen  National  Zeitung, 
which  is  owned  by  General  Goring,  on 
the  ground  that  canvassers  for  the  lat 
ter  publication  were  employing  intimi 
dating  methods  in  obtaining  new  sub 
scribers.  The  Duisburg  court  threw  out 
the  petition  and  severely  censured  the 
Catholic  organ.  "This  action  of  the 
petitioner  arising  from  purely  selfish 
motives,"  said  the  court,  "is  all  the  more 
reprehensible  because  it  tends  to  de 
stroy  the  unity  of  all  German  nationals 


and  gravely  endangers  denominational 
peace,  wholly  aside  from  the  fact  that 
the  so-called  Catholic  press  today  is  a 
superfluous  element." 

Even  more  bitter  has  been  the  quarrel 
over  the  control  of  Catholic  youth  asso 
ciations.  The  Nazis  have  created  an  or 
ganization  known  as  the  Hitler  Youth, 
which  is  intended  to  enjoy  a  monopoly 
over  all  organized  sporting  activities. 
The  leader  of  the  Hitler  Youth,  Baldur 
von  Schirach,  is  a  bellicose  young  man 
who  initiated  a  vigorous  campaign  to 
bring  the  Catholic  vouth  groups  under 
his  control.  The  Concordat  leaves  the 
status  of  these  Catholic  associations  in 
an  ambiguous  position.  Article  31  pro 
vides  that  all  Catholic  organizations 
that  serve  social  or  professional  pur 
poses,  or  other  than  purely  religious, 
cultural  or  charitable  purposes,  shall 
continue  in  existence  "without  preiudice 
to  their  possible  incorporation  in  State 
organizations."  Naturally  the  Church 
is  prepared  to  fight  tooth  and  nail  be 
fore  she  will  permit  these  organizations, 
which  are  an  invaluable  means  of  re 
taining  the  lovalty  of  the  younger 
generation,  to  slip  out  of  her  orbit.  She 
refused  to  yield  on  this  point.  The  Nazis 
retaliated  by  harassing  these  organiza 
tions  in  various  ingenious  ways.  A  letter 
from  a  member  of  a  Catholic  youth  as 
sociation  to  an  English  friend  was  pub 
lished  in  the  London  Times  in  April, 
and  the  following  striking  statements 
are  quoted  from  this  source:  "The  Gov 
ernment  .  .  .  officially  regrets  all  the 
maltreatment  that  we  have  to  suflFer, 
and  dissociates  itself  from  all  attacks  on 
us.  But  it  does  nothing  for  our  protec 
tion.  .  .  .  Whoever  is  not  a  member 
of  the  Hitler  Youth  finds  it  almost  im 
possible  to  obtain  a  position  through 
the  State  employment  exchanges,  or  in 
deed  any  position,  since  in  big  busi- 


HITLER  AND  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  445 

nesses,  for  example,  which  rely  in  any  half  of  his  Church.  Papen  had  hitherto 
way  on  State  or  public  contracts,  they  invariably  counseled  the  Church  to 
make  membership  of  the  Hitler  Youth  take  the  easy  course  and  yield  to  the  op- 
a  condition  of  employment  with  all  pressor,  but  at  last  he  screwed  up  his 
their  apprentices.  .  .  .  Unpunished,  courage  to  utter  a  protest.  In  collabora- 
the  Hitler  Youth  in  Cologne  wrote  on  tion  with  Edgar  Jung,  a  Catholic 
the  plaster  of  the  church  walls:  'Christ  scholar  of  Munich,  Papen  prepared  a 
is  kicking  the  bucket  [the  German  word  speech  criticizing  the  extremist  policies 
is  kreyiere,  a  verb  ordinarily  applied  of  the  Nazis  that  aroused  world-wide 
onlv  to  the  death  of  animals],  but  the  interest  when  he  delivered  it  at  Mar- 
Hitler  Youth  is  marching  on,'  and  then  burg  University  on  June  1 7.  "Voices 
molested  young  Catholics  coming:  out  demanding  that  I  take  a  clear  position 
from  a  service.  Whoever  tells  of  these  toward  contemporary  events  in  Ger- 
and  similar  things  risks  going  into  pro-  many  ...  are  multiplying  and  be- 
tective  custody  for  an  indefinite  time  coming  more  urgent,"  asserted  Papen. 
on  account  of  atrocity  propaganda.  .  .  .  "It  is  claimed  that,  through  the  fact 
No  paper  could  ever  print  what  is  daily  that  I  took  so  decisive  a  part  in  the  de- 
happening  to  us.  .  .  .  Many  places  are  velopments  in  Germany  through  the 
absolutely  lawless,  and  thus  there  hap-  abolition  of  the  Weimar  and  Prussian 
pen  to  members  of  our  Scout  troops  regimes  and  the  consolidation  of  the 
things  so  bad  that  they  revolt  against  national  movement,  there  results  an 
all  the  customs  of  civilized  peoples."  obligation  that  I  must  observe  develop- 

Such  persecution  as  this  provoked  ments  more  acutely  than  most  Ger 
many  Catholic  prelates  to  resort  to  un-  mans.  ...  It  would  be  a  mortal  sin 
wontedly  vigorous  language  in  express-  not  to  say  what  in  this  decisive  period 
ing  their  indignation.  An  Eastertide  of  the  German  revolution  must  be  said, 
pastoral  issued  by  Count  Galen,  Bishop  .  .  .  There  is  ahead  a  struggle  to  de- 
of  Miinster,  was  particularly  outspoken,  cide  whether  the  new  Reich  will  be 
Referring  to  the  Concordat,  he  asked:  Christian  or  lose  itself  in  sectarianism 
"What  is  any  agreement  worth  when  it  and  pseudo-religious  materialism.  The 
lacks  a  guarantee  in  conscience?  And  decision  will  be  simple  if  the  govern- 
how  can  one  seriously  speak  of  such  mental  power  will  abstain  from  any 
guarantees  when  true  belief  in  God  and  attempt  to  influence  it  in  the  direction  of 
the  moral  law*  has  been  lost?  .  .  .  The  forcible  reformation.  .  .  .  Let  nobody 
assault  on  Christianity  that  we  witness  close  his  eyes  to  the  fact  that  if  religious 
in  contemporary  Germany  exceeds  in  trouble  were  brought  on  by  force  it 
pernicious  violence  anything  known  would  loose  energies  on  which  even  the 
from  the  past."  force  itself  would  founder.  Those  cir 
cles  that  hope  for  a  new  'racial-religious 
VI  union'  would  better  ask  themselves 

The  rising  tide  of  persecution  to  how  they  can  conceive  of  the  fulfil- 

which  the  Church  was  being  subjected  ment  of  Germany's  task  in  Europe  if. 

impelled  high  dignitaries  to  besiege  she  is  voluntarily  to  exclude  herself 

Vice-Chancellor  von  Papen,  the  only  from  the  community  of  Christian  na- 

practising  Catholic  holding  high  office,  tions." 

with  pleas  that  he  exert  himself  on  be-  Papen's   speech*  was   ordered   «up- 


446  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

pressed  by  Dr.  Gobbels,  the  Minister  was  saved  only  by  the  direct  interven- 

of  Propaganda.  A  few  days  later,  how-  tion   of   President   von   Hindenburg. 

ever,  a  conference  between  a  delegation  Late  in  July,  when  Hindenburg  was  on 

of  German  bishops  and  representatives  his  death-bed,  Papen  was  eased  out  of 

of  the  Nazi  Government  got  under  way  the  cabinet  by  being  appointed  Minister 

with  a  view  to  ironing  out  the  dispute  to  Austria,  but  it  is  the  general  impres- 

relating  to  the  interpretation  of  Article  sion  that  he  will  not  hold  this  office  for 

31  of  the  Concordat.  On  June  30  it  was  long, 
announced  that  an  agreement  had  been 

reached.  But  the  ambiguous  lines  that  VXI 
it  followed  again  conveyed  the  unmis-  The  death  of  President  von  Hinden- 
takable  intimation  that  the  vital  issues  burg  has  removed  the  outstanding  pro- 
were  being  dodged.  The  Reich  Govern-  tector  of  those  Protestant  pastors  who 
ment  agreed  to  suspend  for  the  time  have  been  resisting  the  Nazi  attempts 
being  its  attempt  to  coordinate  the  to  coordinate  the  Evangelical  Church  j 
Catholic  associations  j  the  Church  the  ousting  of  Vice-Chancellor  von 
agreed  to  reorganize  them  on  a  diocesan  Papen  has  eliminated  the  only  highly 
basis  and  thereby  eliminate  the  central-  placed  figure  capable  of  exercising  a 
ized  administration  which  the  Nazis  moderating  influence  on  the  Nazi  offen- 
regarded  as  obnoxious.  sive  against  the  Catholic  Church.  As 
On  the  same  day  there  took  place  had  long  been  anticipated,  Hinden- 
Hitler's  famous  "purge"  of  the  Nazi  burg's  death  has  been  followed  by  a  re- 
ranks,  in  the  course  of  which  the  Nazi  newal  of  the  drive  against  the  Evangeli- 
high  command  not  only  disposed  of  al-  cal  clergy;  but  the  last  few  months, 
leged  conspirators  and  others  who  they  curiously  enough,  have  seen  a  distinct 
thought  might  become  conspirators  at  lull  in  the  campaign  against  the  Cath- 
some  future  date,  but  also  paid  off  a  olic  Church.  This  cessation  of  pressure, 
few  old  scores  against  persons  who  had  however,  is  clearly  a  temporary  retreat 
obstructed  their  path  while  they  were  dictated  by  opportunistic  considerations, 
climbing  to  power.  Among  those  who  The  Nazis  have  their  eyes  fixed  on  the 
perished  were  the  leaders  of  the  two  Saar.  There  will  soon  take  place  a 
most  important  Catholic  associations —  plebiscite  in  the  Saar  to  determine 
Dr.  Erich  Klausener,  president  of  the  whether  that  territory  will  continue 
Catholic  Action  society,  and  Adalbert  under  the  administration  of  the  League 
Probst,  leader  of  the  German  Youthful  of  Nations  or  return  to  Germany.  As 
Strength  organization.  These  were  the  population  of  the  Saar  is  over- 
among  the  associations  that  were  to  be  whelmingly  Catholic,  any  rupture  with 
decentralized,  and  apparently  the  Nazis  the  Church  in  Germany  is  likely  to  be 
thought  they  might  as  well  do  a  good  reflected  by  a  drop  in  the  vote  for  re- 
job  of  it  by  eliminating  the  leaders  al-  union  with  the  Fatherland.  If  the  Saar 
together.  Also  among  the  victims  of  should  vote  against  Germany,  it  would 
Hitler's  gunmen  were  many  other  be  a  black  eye  for  Hitler  that  might 
prominent  Catholic  laymen,  including  lead  the  docile  German  electorate  to 
Edgar  Jung,  Papen's  collaborator,  ask  embarassing  questions ;  even  a 
Papen  himself  was  confined  to  his  home  sizable  minority  vote  against  the  Nazis 
under  arrest,  and  it  is  said*that  his  life  would  provoke  unfavorable  compari- 


HITLER  AND  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH               447 

sons  with  the  nine-to-one  majorities  will  see  the  Christian  Church  exposed 
Hitler  extracts  from  the  German  peo-  to  the  most  withering  blast  she  has  had 
pie.  It  is  therefore  natural  that  Hitler  to  endure  since  Russia  went  Bolshevist, 
should  suspend  any  measures  that  In  Russia  the  Orthodox  Church  col- 
would  serve  to  alienate  the  Saar  voters,  lapsed  like  a  worm-eaten  tree.  Are  the 
It  is  the  familiar  maneuver  of  reculer  Protestant  and  Catholic  Churches  in 
mieux  sauter.  Germany  made  of  sterner  stuff?  Have 
The  Saar  plebiscite  is  scheduled  to  they  been  more  successful  in  resisting 
take  place  on  January  13,  1935.  Once  the  disintegrating  influences  of  modern 
that  is  out  of  the  way,  the  Nazis  will  be  times?  Are  their  elaborate  temples  of 
relieved  of  all  restraining  influences  worship  hollow  shells,  or  do  they  still 
and  will  be  free  to  press  their  drive  enshrine  an  unquenchable  faith  capable 
against  both  the  Evangelical  and  Cath-  of  producing  martyrs  as  of  old?  The 
olic  Churches  with  a  vigor  and  ruthless-  answers  to  these  questions  will  interest 
ness  surpassing  anything  yet  displayed,  the  Christian  Churches  not  only  in  Ger- 
Unless  all  signs  deceive,  the  year  1 93  5  many,  but  everywhere  else  in  the  world. 


Russia's  Rising  Proletarian 

BY  SAMUEL  LUBELL 

The  Communists  find  substitutes  for  Mayflower  ancestry  and 
"keeping  up  with  the  Joneses" 

IN  THE  Museum  of  the  Revolution  in  are  still  topped  with  golden  bears,  but 
Odessa  hangs  the  picture  of  a  human  they  serve  as  trophies  for  the  victorious 
pyramid.  At  the  peak  is  the  Tsar  and  and  not  as  signs  of  hope  for  the  de- 
his  family.  Descending  in  successive  lev-  feated.  The  fierce  determination  with 
els  are  the  gay  nobility,  wild-eyed,  crafty  which  the  Bolsheviks  have  uprooted  all 
priests,  cruel  stupid-looking  soldiers,  that  was  traditional  in  Russian  life  re- 
fat-faced  landowners  and  bloated  capi-  fleets  the  fanaticism  that  has  animated 
talists,  scheming  merchants  and  weak-  them.  Throughout  history  there  had 
looking  intellectuals,  and  finally,  at  the  been  revolutions,  but  they  had  served 
very  bottom,  the  great  mass  of  the  merely  to  pull  down  one  flag  and  to 
proletariat,  the  workers  and  peasants,  run  up  another.  One  set  of  rulers  had 
Their  bent  shoulders  and  hunched  been  yanked  from  their  perch  and  a 
backs  are  all  that  is  supporting  the  new  class  climbed  to  dominance.  But 
upper  levels  and  their  strained,  hating  the  Bolshevik  upheaval  was  to  be  the 
faces  present  an  ominous  contrast  to  revolution.  No  Phoenix  of  a  new 
those  above.  The  point  of  the  picture  is  graded  society  would  rise  out  of  the 
obvious  j  and  there  is  scarcely  any  need  ashes  of  the  old.  The  traditional  top- 
for  the  captioned  question,  "What  down  system  of  politics  and  economics 
would  happen  if  the  workers  got  out  had  been  turned  topsy-turvy  and  the 
from  under?"  In  a  sense  the  picture  Bolsheviks  swore  to  keep  it  so. 
does  not  portray  the  Tsarist  order  j  the  Marx  and  Engels  had  pointed  the 
hierarchy  of  classes  tapers  off  too  way.  All  property,  the  entire  means  of 
smoothly,  and  save  for  the  facial  ex-  production  was  to  be  vested  in  the  state, 
pressions  there  is  no  indication  of  the  collectively  owned  by  the  workers.  No 
terrific  chasm  that  separated  the  upper  individual  could  possess  independent 
class  from  the  great  mass  of  the  popu-  means  of  production — means  of  exploit- 
lation.  But  what  is  more  important  is  ing  and  enslaving  his  fellow  man.  Eco- 
that  the  workers  did  get  out  from  un-  nomic  activity  was  no  longer  to  be 
der.  And  what  has  happened?  geared  to  satisfy  the  whims  of  the  rul- 
Of  course  the  pyramid  crashed  \  no  ing  classes,  the  workers  to  glean  the 
ruling  order  ever  collapsed  so  com-  chaff  that  fell  from  the  luxury-laden 
pletely.  A  few  flagpoles  and  churches  carts.  Large-scale  production  and  inten- 


RUSSIA'S  RISING  PROLETARIAN  449 


sive  industrialization  had  made  possible  advantages  are  to  be  had  if  one  comes 

the  tuning  of  production  and  consump-  from  good  old  working  stock.  Better 

tion  to  the  needs  of  the  masses.  That  jobs,   quicker  advancement,   technical 

was  the  Soviet  challenge  to  the  capital-  training,  party  membership,  political 

ist  world,  that  top-down  politics  and  trust — opportunities     of     every     sort 

economics  which  had  prevailed  in  all  beckon  to  those  Russians  who  have  been 

previous  civilizations  could  be  done  wise  in  their  choice  of  parents.  A  father 

away  with,  that  a  leveled,  classless  soci-  who  has  been  exiled  to  Siberia  by  the 

ety  could  exist  and  that  the  result  would  Tsar  is  worth  a  Blue  Book  rating  and 

be  a  workers'  paradise !  a  Mayflower  voyage  combined.  While 

After  fourteen  years  in  power  how  every  "bourgeois"  a  priori  is  a  subject 

close  are  the  Communists  to  the  realiza-  of  suspicion  and  distrust,  the  proleta- 

tion  of  that  ideal?  A  backward,  agricul-  rian  is  one  of  the  chosen  few  who  can 

tural  country  has  been  industrialized  regard  the  OGPU  as  a  friend  and  pro- 

and  publicized  by  the  successful  com-  tector.  That  alone  would  make  a  pro- 

pletion  of  some  of  the  world's  great-  letarian  appearance  as  helpful  in  Mos- 

est  construction  projects.  Millions  of  cow  as  that  "Harvard  look"  in  New 

illiterates  have  been  taught  to  read  England. 

and  to  write  and  to  lump  all  political,  Much  of  the  harshness  with  which 

social  and  economic  evils  under  the  la-  the  "bourgeois"  elements  were  set  off 

bels  of  "kulak,"  "bourgeois"  and  "Fas-  originally   has   disappeared   with   the 

cist."  The  spirit  of  anarchy  has  been  comparative  peace  on  the  class  war 

starved  out  of  the  peasant  and  his  re-  front.  Stringent  regulations  forbidding 

sistance  to  collectivization  has  been  bro-  their  children  from  playing  with  those 

ken.  That  a  socialized  state  can  exist  of  the  proletarians  or  peasants  have 

has  been  demonstrated.   That  living  been  relaxed.  University  training  has 

conditions  in  the  Soviet  Union  will  im-  been  made  more  accessible ;  also  oppor- 

prove  steadily  can  hardly  be  doubted,  tunities  for  industrial  employment  and 

But  as  for  that  society  free  of  social  and  advancement.  But  the  stigma  has  not 

economic  distinction  .  .  .  worn  off.  Large  numbers  of  completely 

disfranchised  live  on  the  scraps  that 
they  can  beg  or  steal,  or  eke  out  of  a 

"Are  you  a  proletarian?  What  does  perilous  trade.  Service  in  the  army, 

your  father  do?   Is  he  a  worker?" —  membership  in  the  Party  and  innumer- 

those  questions  have  been  shot  at  me  re-  able  other  choice  fields  are  practically 

peatedly  by  curious  Russians,  usually  closed.  And  always  there  is  the  feeling 

young  boys  and  girls  in  their  early  of  being  discriminated  against,  of  suf- 

twenties.  And  after  I  had  satisfied  them  fering  a  peculiar  status  in  the  eyes  of 

that  every  one  in  my  family  had  to  the  law.  An  act  that  might  be  dismissed 

work  for  a  living,  they  would  exclaim,  as  "carelessness"  on  the  part  of  the  pro- 

"We're  proletarians  too.  We  own  this  letarian  is  "sabotage"  for  the  declassed, 

country."  Then  there  is  the  dread  in  knowing 

Strange  this  pride  in  social  origin  in  that  if  anything  goes  wrong — which 
a  country  that  knows  no  Who's  Who.  •  isn't    unusual    in    Russia — they    will 

Nor  is  it  merely  a  question  of  class  be  the  first  to  suffer.  Scapegoats  who 

consciousness.  Solid  social  and  economic  pay  for  the  Kremlin's  mistakes  are  al- 


450  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

ways  drawn  from  the  ranks  of  the  "class  they  live  merely  at  the  sufferance  of 

enemy."  If  there  are  scarcities  of  goods  their  boss,  the  state.  Intellectuals  are 

the  stores  at  which  they  buy  will  be  the  careful  not  to  excite  the  suspicions  of 

first  to  raise  prices,  the  last  to  receive  the  police  and  to  keep  their  own  place, 

supplies.  If  Moscow  is  to  be  relieved  In    Moscow    I    asked   a    hotel   clerk 

of  surplus  population  the  kulaks  and  whether  it  was  fair  that  she  should 

their  children  will  head  the  list  of  those  receive  so  little  while  factory  workers 

to  be  handed  walking  papers,  and  the  were   rewarded   so   highly    for   their 

newspapers   in   justification   will   hint  daily  toil. 

darkly,  "Once  a  Kulak,  always  a  Kulak,  "But  why  not  ? "  she  replied.  "They're 

and  their  children  after  them."  workers.  I'm  not." 

Custom,  class  education  and  uneven 
progress  have  strengthened  these  dis 
tinctions  of  birth  and  breeding.  Almost  Nor  are  there  any  cynics  to  expose 
every  Russian  city  is  composed  of  two  the  "bourgeois"  manner  in  which  pho- 
sections,  an  old  and  a  new.  In  the  new  tographs  of  shock  workers  are  splat- 
quarter  are  the  recently  constructed  tered  over  the  factory  walls.  The 
tenements,  wider  and  cleaner  streets,  Kremlin  has  spoken  in  high  praise  of 
trees  and  playgrounds.  Here  live  the  the  shock  brigade  movement,  and  the 
favorites  of  the  Revolution.  Members  bookstores  are  stocked  with  pamphlets 
of  a  trade  union  occupy  one  house  5  explaining  why  socialist  competition 
all  the  workers  in  a  particular  factory  spurred  by  popular  acclaim  and  piece- 
another;  and  a  third  building  is  coop-  work  is  different  from  competition  and 
eratively  owned  and  managed.  Consid-  piecework  under  capitalist  banners, 
ering  the  extreme  housing  shortage  Groups  of  workers  who  agree  to  fulfil 
throughout  the  Soviet  Union  it  was  to  or  better  their  planned  quotas  form 
be  expected  that  the  Bolsheviks  would  shock  brigades.  Competition  takes  place 
care  for  their  own  first  5  but  in  the  within  the  brigade,  between  rival  bri- 
meantime  a  visit  to  any  of  these  "old  gades  in  the  same  factory  and  finally 
cities"  will  reveal  all  the  elements  of  a  between  different  plants.  Winners  are 
future  slum,  swarms  of  dirty  children  awarded  the  Order  of  Lenin,  or  the 
playing  around  in  streets  and  yards,  Order  of  the  Red  Labor  Banner.  Their 
crowded  promiscuous  living  conditions,  pictures  are  posted  up  in  public,  re- 
subsistence  diets  and — in  cities  like  printed  in  the  newspapers,  and  quite 
Baku,  Tiflis  and  Batum — the  thousands  often  they  break  into  movie  shorts! 
of  inherited  peculiarities  of  a  different  Substantial  preferences  are  granted 
race  and  tongue.  these  "udarniks"  for  it  is  they  who  set 

Despite  all  the  preachings  of  a  class-  the  pace  for  industrial  production  and 

less  society  Russians  see  nothing  contra-  inspire  the  slower  workers  to  speed  up. 

dictory  in  styling  themselves  as  "prole-  In  addition  to  their  salaries,  among 

tarians,"  other  workers  and  peasants  as  the  highest  in  the  Union,  they  receive 

the  "toiling  masses"  and  still  others  far  better  rations,  superior  living  quarters, 

down  the  scale  as  "bourgeois-kulaks."  technical    training,    more    competent 

Nor  are  these  labels  resented  as  unnat-  medical  care,  larger  pensions  and  fre- 

ural  by  those  to  whom  they  are  applied,  quent  bonuses  in  the  form  of  scarcity 

The  disfranchised  have  learned  that  goods,  excursions,  vacations  at  sanatoria 


RUSSIA'S  RISING  PROLETARIAN  451 

and  cure-resorts,   and  theatre  tickets  bly  he  will  have  the  use  of  a  private 

which  they  are  not  supposed  to  sell  but  automobile  and  special  chauffeur.  Should 

which  they  often  do.  In  the  workers'  he  desire  to  make  a  trip  around  the  coun- 

restaurants  special  rooms  and  reserved  try,  usually  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in 

tables  are  set  aside  for  them,  and  they  arranging  for  him  to  inspect  a  shoestring 

also  have  a  wider  choice  of  dishes.  Al-  factory  in  the  Ukraine — and  of  course 

most  a  million  udarniks  in  the  Ural  re-  he  travels  "soft." 

gions  have  been  granted  free  use  of  By  no  means  all  Communists  use 

family  vegetable  plots  j   the  first  six  their  Party  standing  for  petty  personal 

thousand  rubles  of  their  annual  income  gain.  In  fact  the  percentage  of  Commu- 

is  tax-exempt,  and  all  are  assured  that  nists  who  are  honest  and  faithful  to 

their  sons  and  daughters  will  be  given  their  ideals  probably  is  greater  than  a 

every  advantage  and  opportunity.  En-  similar  lot  in  any  ruling  class.  That  is 

trance  to  the  Communist  Party  is  facili-  partly  due  to  the  sincere  asceticism  of 

tated,  and  even  though  its  membership  inspired  revolutionaries,  but  also  to  the 

ranges  around  three  million,  the  Party  backwardness  of  the  country  which  lim- 

is  still  a  highly  select  order.  its  economic  gain,  and  to  the  terrific 

Communist  Party  members  are  not  struggle  for  power,  the  Bolshevik  sub- 
the  "richest"  persons  in  the  Soviet  stitute  for  money-making.  With  gigan- 
Union.  Many  shock  workers  and  most  tic  projects  involving  hundreds  of  men 
theatre  stars,  playwrights  and  authors  being  inaugurated  monthly,  no  country 
earn  more.  But  no  Party  member  need  can  show  similar  opportunities  for  exer- 
envy  his  neighbor,  for  in  Soviet  Russia  cising  power.  And  a  Party  membership 
not  money  but  "pull"  is  the  primary  is  open  sesame  for  all  doors.  How  great 
consideration.  All  the  preferences  that  is  this  prestige  is  reflected  in  the  respect 
are  granted  the  shock  worker  are  ac-  and  admiration  of  those  who  aspire  to 
corded  the  Party  man  in  his  own  right,  the  purple.  On  a  Black  Sea  steamer  I 
Once  a  year  he  receives  a  six-week  ex-  ran  into  one  Russian  who  proudly 
pense-paid  vacation  at  a  Black  Sea  re-  confided  to  me  that  his  brother  was 
sort.  In  the  theatres  the  velvet-draped  a  member  of  the  Communist  party  in 
balcony  centre  formerly  known  as  the  New  York.  How  terribly  disappointed 
Royal  Box  is  now  reserved  for  Party  he  was  when  I  told  him  that  being  a 
leaders  and  more  than  once  I  have  seen  "Red"  in  America  was  not  a  sign  of  so- 
vacant  seats  there  while  the  rear  aisles  cial  distinction! 
were  crowded  with  those  standing. 

Privileges  of  a  Party  man  are  largely  IV 

intangible,  and  in  many  cases  unmen-  Economic  differences  that  set  off  the 

tionable — like  being  a  friend  of  the  various  Soviet  classes  are  not  easily  ap- 

local  political  boss.  All  sorts  of  little  preciated  by  foreigners.  Even  the  most 

favors  fall  his  way.  No  matter  how  in-  envied  Bolshevik  has  less  in  material 

capable  a  Communist  proves,  as  long  as  comforts  than  the  average  middle-class 

he  remains  orthodox  he  will  be  taken  American.  But  for  Russians  the  gap  be- 

care  of.  If  he  fails  in  one  line  of  en-  tween  the  three-room  apartment  that  a 

deavor  he  will  be  given  a  softer  job,  Communist  family  may  have  and  the 

more  suited  to  his  talents.  If  he  is  in  one-room  that  is  the  common  lot  is 

the  employ  of  the  government  proba-  terribly  wide.  A  world  of  distinction  is 


452  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

expressed  in  the  one  pound  of  bread  systematic — workers  receiving  the  low- 
difference  in  the  daily  rations  of  the  est  salaries  are  generally  the  ones  who 
manual  worker  and  intellectual.  do  most  of  their  shopping  in  the  open 

Stalin  himself  put  the  skeleton  of  market.  Social  origin  is  an  indirect  fac- 
wage  equalitarianism  into  the  family  tor  in  determining  in  which  stores  you 
closet  in  1931  in  his  famous  speech  buy,  in  that  your  father's  background 
on  "new  conditions  and  new  tasks."  may  decide  the  sort  of  job  you  receive. 
Increased  mechanization  of  industrial  Privileged  retail  outlets  are  customa- 
processes  necessitated  the  training  of  a  rily  linked  up  with  factories  and  large 
class  of  highly  skilled  technicians.  La-  employment  centres.  Heavy  industry 
bor  turnovers  of  200  per  cent  in  six  plants  are  favored  by  the  State  Corn- 
months  could  no  longer  be  tolerated  j  missary  over  light  industry  mills ;  while 
nor  that  "a  locomotive  driver  should  the  stores  catering  to  clerks  and  office 
earn  only  as  much  as  a  copying  clerk."  workers  have  a  still  lower  rating.  Fac- 
Instead,  a  system  of  piecework  and  tories  that  have  fulfilled  their  plan 
varying  wage  scales  had  to  be  adopted,  are  rewarded  with  greater  wages  and 
A  few  diehards  who  attempted  to  keep  cheaper  priced  and  more  varied  stocks 
the  span  between  the  skilled  and  un-  of  goods.  Enterprises  that  have  fallen 
skilled  as  narrow  as  possible,  were  stig-  down  in  production  are  penalized  by 
matized  as  "petits  bourgeois."  There  lower  wage  incomes  and  poorer  selec- 
was  to  be  no  holding  back.  Every  in-  tions  of  merchandise,  priced  consider- 
centive  was  to  be  provided  for  more  ably  higher.  Probably  most  Russians 
efficient  production.  In  many  cases  the  have  never  heard  the  maxim,  "the 
difference  between  the  lowest  and  high-  rich  get  richer"  5  but  many  would  ap- 
est  rates  is  nine  times.  Bonuses  and  preciate  it. 

shock  worker  preferences  have  pushed  Under  the  Tsar  the  peasant  paid  for 

them  still  further  apart.  almost  everything;  under  the  Bolshe- 

Far  more  important  than  the  actual  viks  his  status  continues  unchanged, 

number  of  rubles  one  earns  is  where  The  ravages  of  class  war  have  been  felt 

they  are  spent.  Under  the  Soviet  system  most  keenly  in  the  villages.  Probably 

of  closed  and  open  stores,  prices  for  the  five  million  peasants  paid  with  their 

same  products  vary  as  do  the  stocks  of  lives  for  collectivization.  Their  sorry 

commodities  in  the  different  shops.  Cer-  economic    plight    is    reflected    in    the 

tain  scarcity  goods  are  limited  only  to  steady  drift  of  peasants  to  the  cities. 

a  few  privileged  stores,  and  for  the  un-  Many  arrive  penniless  and  take  to  beg- 

privileged  all  the  rubles  in  Russia  will  ging.  Moscow,  as  the  most  favored  city 

not  procure  that  merchandise — unless  of  the  Soviets,  enjoying  superior  ra- 

some  one  with  "pull"  serves  as  middle-  tions  and  higher  wage  levels,  attracts 

man.   A  Russian  who  could   fill   his  the  largest  number  of  drifters.  Oil  pro- 

every  need  in  a  Soviet  shop  would  be  •  duction,  most  successful  under  the  Five 

highly  fortunate,  for  prices  there  are  Year  Plan,  explains  Baku's  prosperity, 

only  about  one-sixth  what  they  are  in  with  rations  almost  as  good  as  those  of 

the  open  market.  Those  who  have  no  Moscow.  Other  key  industrial  centres, 

access  to  closed  stores  are  doomed  to  particularly  in  Siberia  and  west  of  the 

subsistence  living.  Urals,  have  also  been  blessed  with  large 

To  make  matters  worse — or  more  stocks  of  cheaply  priced  goods  and 


RUSSIA'S  RISING  PROLETARIAN 


453 


higher  wages  at  the  expense  of  the  less 
fortunate  regions.  Light  industry  towns 
like  Tiflis  receive  "second  zone"  ra 
tions.  Batum,  relying  chiefly  upon  man 
darins  and  tea  leaves,  has  a  "third 
zone"  rating.  Agricultural  communi 
ties  are  in  the  "fourth  zone,"  and  re 
ceive  no  fixed  allowances  of  food  j  they 
suffer  most  from  the  caprices  of  nature 
and  the  Bolsheviks. 

Wage  levels  in  the  four  zones  are 
graded  accordingly  and  as  a  result  the 
relative  prosperity  of  the  different  re 
gions  is  clearly  reflected  in  the  life  of 
its  cities.  In  Rostov  the  streets  are 
thronged  with  men  and  women  hurry 
ing  by  with  loaves  of  sour,  black  bread 
under  their  arms.  In  Baku  bread  loaves 
are  rarely  seen  but  fish,  meat  and  vege 
tables  are  borne  aloft.  Tiflis  is  overrun 
with  bazaars,  because  so  large  a  part  of 
the  population  is  forced  to  buy  in 
the  open  market.  Tropical  heat  and 
tattered  beggars  only  emphasize  the 
foul,  pestilential  odors  that  rise  out 
of  the  side-streets  and  courtyards  of 
Batum. 

Peculiarly  enough,  the  worse  off  the 
region  the  more  infested  it  is  with 
"kulaks"  and  "bourgeois."  Communists 
have  a  simple  explanation  for  the  co 
incidence  j  it  is  because  they  are  kulaks 
;  that  they  live  so  poorly.  But  wasn't 
[  it  Marx  who  argued  that  institutions 
make  men  what  they  are?  If  a  Bolshe 
vik  visited  a  poor  white  region  in  the 
South,  would  he  be  satisfied  with  the 
explanation  that  the  reason  they  live 
so  wretchedly  is  because  they  are  poor 
white?  Which  is  cause  and  which  ef 
fect  is  difficult  to  say,  but  this  much 
can  hardly  be  disputed,  that  the  whole 
system  of  Soviet  distribution  as  it  now 
operates  tends  to  emphasize,  perpetuate 
and  widen  the  differences  between  the 
various  classes. 


Keeping  up  with  the  Joneses  has  not 
yet  become  ingrained  into  the  Soviet 
consciousness.  But  the  era  of  militant 
communism  when  the  old  proverb  that 
"cleanliness  is  next  to  godliness"  was 
taken  so  literally,  when  it  was  felt  that 
decent  clothes  of  any  sort  betrayed  a 
"bourgeois  mentality,"  will  never  re 
turn.  Some  traces  of  asceticism  still  lin 
ger,  even  as  the  influence  of  the  early 
Christian  monks  was  felt  long  after 
they  were  gone.  Veteran  writers  still 
use  clothes  to  symbolize  the  class  strug 
gle  that  is  searing  the  souls  of  their  he 
roes.  But  far  more  typical  of  the  current 
attitude  toward  clothes  was  the  combine 
specialist  I  met  on  the  train  to  Kharkov 
who  lifted  his  soiled  rubashka  shirt 
complaining  bitterly  that  foreign  engi 
neers  did  not  wear  "clothes  as  dirty  as 
this."  Or  the  many  Communists,  both 
men  and  women,  who  assured  me  that 
the  reason  Soviet  women  dressed  so 
badlv  was  not  a  lack  of  taste  but  an 
inability  to  get  anything  better. 

Style  has  already  become  an  impor 
tant  feature  in  the  life  of  the  Russian 
woman.  No  Park  Avenue  debutante 
could  take  more  pride  in  her  Parisian 
frock  than  does  a  Soviet  woman  in  a 
dress  of  foreign  cut.  Their  full-hipped 
figures  are  not  made  for  slim-lined 
dresses,  but  since  when  has  a  little  dis 
comfort  deterred  the  march  of  fashion? 
More  than  one  Soviet  woman  has  be 
come  the  "wife"  of  a  foreigner  just  to 
be  able  to  shop  in  Torgsin. 

Moscow  has  no  exclusive  shops  and 
offers  little  choice  in  the  way  of  clothes. 
But  this  spring  saw  its  first  fash;on 
magazine,  and  considering  its  popular 
ity,  there  will  be  others  coming:  along. 
Most  men  have  only  one  "off  day"  suit 
and  the  women  only  one  "good"  dress,* 


454 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


but  they  manage  to  present  a  brave 
spectacle  when  they  go  out  in  their 
cheap  but  "stylish"  clothes.  Cosmetics 
are  used  in  amazing  quantities.  In  Mos 
cow's  five-story  department  store  there 
are  perfume  counters  on  two  floors.  In 
the  wee  hours  of  the  morn  on  May  Day 
long  queues  of  girls  are  invariably  seen 
outside  the  beauty  parlors. 

True,  these  "bourgeois"  characteris 
tics  are  still  only  in  the  symptom  stage, 
and  the  lines  marking  off  the  Soviet 
classes  are  still  shadowy.  But  the  level 
ing  days  of  Bolshevism  are  over  5  the 
fierce  barbarians  are  being  corrupted  by 
success.  Socialism,  inheritance  taxes  and 


the  idealistic  doctrines  of  Bolshevism 
will  nurse  a  peculiar  class  structure,  in 
much  the  same  way  that  our  Declara 
tion  of  Independence  and  frontier 
shaped  American  society  on  lines  very 
different  from  those  of  Europe.  Per 
haps  the  Soviets  will  achieve  an  even 
greater  measure  of  economic  democracy 
than  America.  Socialistic  restrictions 
on  individual  gain  and  a  little  more 
than  lip  service  to  Communist  ideals 
may  provide  a  base  for  distribution 
broader  than  any  mankind  has  ever 
known — providing  the  problem  of  effi 
ciency  is  met.  But  that  remains  to  be 
solved. 


Answer  to  the  Economists'  Prayer 

BY  F.  B.  NICHOLS 

The  drought  may  make  farming  the  "prosperous  industry  " 

prayed  for  as  a  bellwether  for  the  nation's  climb  out 

of  depression 

MOTOR  truck  filled  with  fat  cattle  As  the  signal  light  changed  to  green 
came  to  a  stop  with  a  distinct  he  threw  in  the  clutch,  and  the  vehicle 
jar  one  morning  recently  at  a  resumed  its  journey  to  the  yards, 
street  intersection  in  the  wholesale  dis-  "Maybe  that  drought  of  last  summer 
trict  of  Kansas  City  near  the  stockyards,  was  a  good  thing  for  country  people," 
It  awakened  the  owner  of  these  ani-  the  driver  continued.  "Anyhow  these 
mals,  who  was  dozing  lightly  in  the  city  folks  are  beginning  to  pay  some- 
seat  beside  the  driver.  The  stockman  thing  like  a  fair  price  for  what  they  eat. 
yawned  and  then  glanced  up  the  avenue  I  think  farmers  are  at  last  on  their  way 
on  a  vista  of  more  commercial  activity  to  make  a  little  money." 
than  he  had  observed  in  this  area  for  Bill's  brief  analysis  of  the  improved 
several  years,  during  his  occasional  trips  financial  outlook  for  agriculture  is  in 
to  market.  line  with  more  elaborate  presentations 

The  scene  failed  to  mirror  the  liveli-  of    highly    trained    farm    economists, 

ness  common  in  the  Golden  Age  of  the  Preliminary  studies  by  the  Bureau  of 

Coolidge  Era.  But  it  did  supply  a  color-  Agricultural  Economics  of  the  United 

ful  contrast  to  the  desolation  evident  at  States  Department  of  Agriculture  indi- 

the  bottom  of  the  business  depression,  cate  that  countrymen  will  receive  far 

The  doors  and  windows  of  the  great  more  money  in  1934  for  much  less  food 

buildings  were  actually  open.   Many  than  the  output  they  produced  in  1933. 

employes  were  in  sight.  A  switch  engine  And  according  to  the  Standard  Statis- 

was  puffing  importantly  nearby  at  a  long  tics  Company  the  rural  income  of  the 

string  of  loaded  freight  cars.  Street  United  States  this  year  will  be  $8,250,- 

buses  were  discharging  numerous  pas-  000,000,  an  advance  of  29.3  per  cent 

sengers.  over  the  $6,383,000,000  which  farmers 

"What's   going   on   here,   anyway,  received  last  season.  Federal  benefit 

Bill?"  the  cattleman  asked  the  driver,  payments  are  included  in  the  calcula- 

who  travels  through  this  section  several  tions  for  both  periods, 

times  a  week.  A  background  on  this  larger  flow  of 

"I  think,"  Bill  replied,  "that  the  cash  to  rural  America  is  mirrored  by 

farmers  finally  are  buying  something."  records  from  central  commodity  mar- 


456  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

kets.  Substantial  gains  have  been  re-  Economics,  now  rests  at  eighty-seven 
corded  during  the  last  few  months  in  the  per  cent  of  normal.  Average  values  are 
quotations  for  most  agricultural  prod-  much  higher  in  some  commodity  divi- 
ucts.  Wheat,  for  instance,  is  selling  for  sionsj  they  have  reached  107  per  cent, 
seventeen  cents  a  bushel  more  than  at  as  an  illustration,  for  both  grains  and 
this  time  last  year.  The  price  of  corn  has  cottonseed.  Further  advances  during 
advanced  thirty-eight  cents  a  bushel  in  the  next  few  months  are  expected  by 
the  same  time.  Barley  is  forty-nine  cents  practically  all  buyers  of  rural  products, 
a  bushel  higher  and  rye  thirty-five  cents,  as  well  as  by  farmers.  Meat  prices,  es- 
Cattle  are  bringing  $3.50  a  hundred-  pecially,  are  likely  to  be  abnormally 
weight  more  for  the  better  grades  than  high  by  midwinter. 
at  this  time  in  1933 ;  the  quotations  on  These  climbing  quotations  mainly  re- 
sheep  are  about  the  same.  Hogs  are  fleet  the  influences  of  crops  and  livestock 
selling  for  $3.60  a  hundredweight  limitation  projects  of  the  AAA,  a  terrific 
above  the  prices  of  last  year — at  almost  drought  and  the  decline  in  agricultural 
twice  their  value  in  1933 — and  in  addi-  stocks.  That  huge  financial  dragon,  "the 
tion  the  packers  are  paying  a  processing  surplus,"  which  has  plagued  farmers 
tax  of  $2.25  a  hundredweight.  Pork  is  for  many  years,  and  especially  during 
costing  the  killers  more  than  ten  cents  a  the  last  half  decade,  is  almost  vanishing, 
pound  live  weight.  Eggs  are  selling  for  There  will  be  sufficient  food  for  the 
seven  cents  a  dozen  more  than  a  year  nation  during  the  coming  winter,  but 
ago,  and  butterfat  at  an  advance  of  five  its  shelves  will  be  nearly  bare  when 
cents  a  pound.  The  price  of  cotton  is  five  spring  comes, 
cents  a  pound  higher  than  a  year  ago. 
Practically  all  other  farm  products,  and 

especially  fruits  and  vegetables,  also  High  prices  for  farm  products  are 

have  registered  substantial  market  ad-  certain  to  prevail  during   1935.  The 

vances  in  the  last  twelve  months.  prayer  of  economists  for  a  "prosperous 

Officials  of  the  Agricultural  Adjust-  industry"  to  serve  as  a  bellwether  for 

ment  Administration  already  are  begin-  the  nation  in  its  climb  up  the  trail  out 

ning  to  point  with  pride  to  their  ob-  of  the  valley  of  depression  may  be  an- 

jective  and  the  degree  of  success  in  swered.    Will    agriculture    repeat    its 

attaining  it.  Their  aim,  as  outlined  in  •  spectacular  performance  for  a  previous 

the  act  creating  the  AAA,  is  to  ".  .  .  re-  generation,  in  pulling  the  nation  out  of 

establish  prices  to  farmers  at  a  level  that  the  hard  times  of  the   iSyo's?  That 

.  will  give  agricultural  commodities  a  period  of  trial,'  like  this  one,  also  was  a 

purchasing  power  with  respect  to  ar-  secondary  post-war  depression,  follow- 

ticles  that  farmers  buy  equivalent  to  the  ing  the  Civil  War. 

purchasing  power  of  agricultural  com-  Farmers  took  prompt  advantage  of 

modities  in  the  base  period."  The  base  an  extraordinary  commercial  situation 

period   for  all   farm  products  except  which  prevailed  during  the  last  three 

tobacco  is  from  August,  1909,  to  July,  years  of  the  depression  of  the 'Seventies. 

1914;  for  tobacco  it  is  from  August,  A  tragic  series  of  crop  failures  occurred 

1 9 1 9,  to  July,  1929.  in  what  was  then  a  relatively  prosperous 

The  general  index  of  farm  prices,  Europe.  It  was  accompanied,  strange  to 

according  to  the  Bureau  of  Agricultural  say,  by  better-than-average  yields  in  the 


ANSWER  TO  THE  ECONOMISTS'  PRAYER  457 

United  States.  Huge  gains  naturally  operations  were  successful  this  year  will 

followed  in  the  agricultural  exports  of  be  buying  fabricated  articles  extensively 

America.  A  vast  flow  of  new  money  between  now  and  spring.  And  if  agricul- 

into  this  country  finally  broke  the  log  ture  is  definitely  on  the  road  to  average 

jam    of   depression,    and    commercial  profits  a  huge  amount  of  money  pres- 

forces  presently  resumed  their  normal  ently  will  be  available  to  American 

trends.  farmers  for  the  purchase  of  manufac- 

The  current  rural  financial  outlook  is  tured  goods.  The  normal  income  of 
similar  to  the  one  which  prevailed  dur-  countrymen  is  about  six  billion  dollars 
ing  the  late  1 870*8  in  that  commodity  larger  than  their  gross  receipts  in  1933. 
prices  are  increasing  rapidly.  This  larger  Presumably  most  of  the  cash  they  re- 
income,  however,  is  being  distributed  ceive  (except  that  share  of  it  which  is 
unequally.  Some  farmers,  in  areas  required  for  taxes  and  debt  charges) 
which  suffered  most  from  the  drought  will  flow  back  promptly  into  urban 
during  1934,  will  have  little  or  no  buy-  commercial  channels.  In  all  events  that 
ing  power  during  the  next  six  months  was  the  case  in  the  more  prosperous 
except  for  bare  necessaries.  But  other  periods  of  the  past.  Rural  people  corn- 
countrymen,  who  raised  fairly  good  monly  are  liberal  spenders,  "when  they 
yields  of  at  least  some  crops,  are  in  the-  have  it." 

best  financial  condition  they  have  en-         Business  organizations  serving  the 

joyed  since  1929.  country  field  always  have  tried  to  antic- 

These  more  fortunate  farmers  are  ipate   the   buying   habits   of   farmers, 

numerous.  I  am  included  in  the  group.  Especially  did  they  give  much  thought 

On  my  ranch  near  Buffalo,  Kansas,  most  to  that  type  of  planning  in  the  days  be- 

of  the  farm  projects  for  1934  worked  fore  the  Year  of  the  Big  Storm.  Huge 

out  quite  well.  Our  wheat,  for  instance,  fortunes  were  made  by  men  skilled  in 

yielded  twenty-nine  bushels  an  acre,  or  this    fascinating   kind   of    forecasting, 

more  than  twice  the  national  long-time  who  were  numerous  in  the  personnel  of 

average.  We  grew  good  crops  of  other  mail  order  houses  and  agricultural  im- 

spring  grains  and  a  huge  tonnage  of  plement  companies.  Memories  of  those 

prairie   hay.    Plenty   of   good   spring  happy  days  still  survive  among  business 

water  and  an  abundance  of  grass  were  executives.  These  leaders  yet  have  the 

available  all  summer  in  the  pastures  for  ability  to  smell  green  pastures  from 

the  cattle  and  other  livestock.  There  is  afar.  They  can  start  as  quickly  toward 

ample  feed  on  the  place  to  carry  the  commercially    attractive    lands    as    a 

animals  through  the  winter.  trained  horse  on  a  race  track.  And  the 

The  main  loss  we  experienced  from  trail  blazers  already  are  in  action.  Many 

drought  was  extensive  damage  to  the  a  "big  shot"  in  the  industrial  world 

corn  crop ;   it  produced  the  smallest  has  been  polishing  up  his  contacts  with 

yield  of  that  cereal  ever  grown  on  this  rural  dealers  and  leading  countrymen 

place.  Dry  weather  also  cut  the  tonnage  during  the  last  few  weeks  in  an  effort 

of    the    ordinarily    drought-resistant  to  obtain  an  accurate  current  vista  on 

sorghums.  And  it  delayed  the  prepara-  "  the  farmer's  state  of  mind." 
tion  of  land  for  winter  wheat,  which  is         These  preliminary  data  on  the  po- 

likely  to  reduce  the  returns  in  1935.  tential  demand  for  fabricated  products 

Practically  all  rural  people  whose  over  the  countryside  which  they  have 

•  '•'• 


4S8  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

obtained  are  being  received  with  feel-  living  from  a  grade-school  background, 
ings  of  unrepressed  joy  by-  numerous  Their  souls  are  filled  with  that  divine 
manufacturers.  They  are  delighted  to  discontent  which  is  a  requisite  of  all 
find  that  "the  farmers  are  at  last  get-  progress.  To  a  considerable  extent  they 
ting  some  sense!  "  Various  boards  of  share  the  impatience  common  among 
directors  are  even  now  making  plans  most  urban  dwellers  over  the  back- 
for  gradually  stepping  up  production  wardness  of  agriculture.  This  metro- 
schedules  in  their  plants,  after  reading  politan  viewpoint  is  an  open  book  to 
reports  on  interviews  with  country  resi-  them.  They  were  subjected  to  the  in 
dents.  These  investigations  mirror  a  fluences  of  the  cities  for  many  years 
national  trend  in  rural  thinking  which  while  doing  their  advanced  school  work. 
I  have  observed  for  some  time  in  the  A  majority  have  been  employed  for  a 
farm  community  where  I  live.  time  in  the  towns.  Most  of  the  girls 

have  had  excellent  training  in  home 
economics  laboratories.  Modern  homes 

They  show,  in  brief,  that  countrymen  are  no  novelty  to  them, 
will  spend  much  of  the  larger  income  The  young  farm  people  are  demand- 
that  agriculture  is  certain  to  secure  in  ing  more  from  life  than  it  brought  to 
the  more  prosperous  tomorrow  on  pur-  their  fathers  and  mothers  of  the  older 
chases  that  will  contribute  to  real  satis-  generation,  and  they  are  planning  to 
faction  in  living.  There  is  a  general  ac-  achieve  these  ambitions  in  the  country- 
ceptance  now  among  rural  people  of  side.  They  highly  value  the  freedom 
the  belief  that  "farming  is  a  way  of  and  independence  of  rural  living,  along 
life,"  and  they  propose  to  make  the  way  with  the  beauty  of  the  open  fields  and 
more  agreeable.  The  old-time  desire  to  wooded  hills  of  their  home  communi- 
"make  more  money  to  buy  more  land  ties.  Little  fascination  is  exerted  on 
to  raise  more  corn  to  feed  more  hogs  them  by  the  lure  of  the  city;  the  dis- 
to  make  more  money  to  buy  more  graceful  economic  performance  of  ur- 
land"  has  vanished.  It  has  gone  down  ban  industry  during  the  last  three  years 
the  fade-out  trail  followed  by  ox  teams,  has  shattered  most  of  their  illusions, 
covered  wagons,  one-horse  plows  and  But  this  coming  generation  of  farm- 
the  feeling  of  confidence  in  the  infalli-  ers,  which  presently  will  be  setting  the 
bility  of  the  Republican  Party.  buying  pace  for  agriculture,  is  demand- 
Various  potent  influences  have  con-  ing  a  more  attractive  home  environ- 
tributed  to  this  changing  viewpoint  on  ment.  It  is  weary  of  taking  baths  in  a 
the  design  for  living  over  the  country-  tin  washtub.  And  the  light  from  a 
side.  The  most  important  of  these  mo-  kerosene  lamp  no  longer  is  satisfactory, 
tivating  forces  is  the  general  spread  of  There  also  is  a  keen  desire  through  the 
advanced  educational  training  among  country  for  better  furniture  and  more 
the  younger  men  and  women  on  the  efficient  household  appliances.  The  sales 
farms.  In  our  neighborhood,  for  illus-  messages  of  manufacturers  are  falling 
tration,  practically  all  the  members  of  on  fertile  ground, 
this  group  are  either  college  or  high  These  rural  ambitions  for  better 
school  graduates.  The  more  aggressive  homes  could  be  realized  readily  by 
segment  of  the  farm  population  no  about  half  the  farmers,  who  are  almost 
longer  looks  at  the  problems  of  country  or  entirely  free  of  debt,  if  their  earn- 


ANSWER  TO  THE  ECONOMISTS'  PRAYER  459 

ings  were  on  normal  levels.  For  mass  ably  with  those  available  to  most  urban 

production  has  greatly  reduced  the  cost  residents. 

of  modern  household  equipment  and  This  realistic  viewpoint  on  rural  life 

furnishings  in  recent  years.  has  been  clear  for  many  years  to  some 

A  clear  understanding  of  the  dis-  of  the  deeper  students  of  the  agricul- 
tinction  between  debt-free  farmers  and  tural  set-up.  And  they  usually  have 
other  countrymen  who  are  deeply  in-  tried  aggressively  to  improve  living 
volved  financially  is  necessary  for  any  conditions  in  the  countryside.  The  de- 
one  who  is  attempting  to  obtain  an  ac-  sire  for  more  pleasing  rural  homes  has 
curate  perspective  on  the  commercial  been  aided  and  abetted  for  a  long  time 
possibilities  of  rural  trade  during  the  by  farm  leaders  of  the  non-political  type, 
next  few  years.  The  income  secured  in  such  as  F.  D.  Farrell,  of  Manhattan, 
the  near  future  by  upwards  of  half  of  Kansas,  president  of  the  Kansas  State 
the  country  people  who  are  burdened  College.  Most  of  these  men  have  done 
with  heavy  obligations  will  be  used  far  more  than  merely  talk  about  the 
mainly,  of  course,  in  reducing  this  load  need  for  more  attractive  living  stand- 
of  debt.  The  rest  of  the  folks,  however,  ards  in  the  country,  although  they  also 
who  generally  make  up  the  more  sub-  have  injected  a  great  deal  of  effective 
stantial  land-owning  class,  naturally  can  propaganda  into  the  movement, 
employ  their  additional  earnings  in  the  At  the  Kansas  State  College,  as  an 
purchase  of  manufactured  goods,  or  in  illustration  of  the  better  farm  homes 
any  other  way  they  see  fit.  background  which  has  been  fabricated 

There  is  little  probability  that  much  in  most  States,  a  powerful  department 

of  the  income  of  either  class  will  be  used  of  rural  architecture  has  been  created, 

during  the  next  decade  for  promoting  Its  members,  such  as  Walter  G.  Ward, 

another  land  boom,  or  in  investments  the  professor  in  charge,  have  secured  a 

away  from  the  farms.  The  business  de-  comprehensive  training  in  both  agri- 

pression  staged  a  splendid  demonstra-  culture  and  architecture.  They  have 

tion  of  the  evils  inherent  in  reckless  taught  their  students  how  to  design 

financial  expansion  by  rural  people.  It  buildings  that  are  practicable  and  which 

will  take  a  long  time  for  them  to  forget  merge  into  the  rural  landscape.  And  the 

the  lesson.  department  also  has  provided  a  build- 

And  there  also  is  at  last  a  general  ing  service,  and  many  standard  plans, 

appreciation  among  countrymen  that  which  are  available  to  all  farmers  in  the 

farming  is  not  an  industry  in  which  State. 

great  wealth  can  be  accumulated.  But  Elaborate  research  work  has  been 

most  of  them  realize  that  it  does  have  carried  on  by  these  specialists,  usually 

other  substantial  advantages.  They  gen-  in  cooperation  with  manufacturers,  on 

erally  believe  that  the  growing  of  crops  the  application  of  household  mechanics 

and  animals  offers  an  interesting  and  to  country  needs.  The  information  se- 

worth  while  career  to  those  who  place  cured  from  such  studies  has  been  ap- 

a  high  value  on  the  opportunity  for  plied  in  the  homes  of  many  leading 

healthful  living  in  the  great  outdoors.  Kansas  farmers.  And  through  the  teach- 

And  when  combined  with  an  attractive  ers  of  vocational  agriculture,  who  may 

home  environment  agriculture  provides  be  found  in  all  the  larger  high  schools, 

material  rewards  that  compare  favor-  and  otherwise,  the  department  has  car- 


460  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

ried  its  campaign   for  better  homes  required  for  the  purchase  of  field  and 

to  most  of  the  younger  rural  popula-  road  equipment,  to  the  makers  of  build- 

tion.  ing  materials,  water  supply  systems, 

Manufacturers  thus  are  finding  that  electric  light  plants,  good  furniture  and 

a  great  deal  of  the  preliminary  educa-  modern  household  appliances, 

tional  work  normally  required  in  their  A  new  set  of  homes  will  be  dotted 

sales  projects  already  has  been  done,  over  the  agricultural  regions  of  the 

Their  propaganda  now  is  encountering  United  States  during  the  next  decade, 

a  ready  acceptance  over  the  countryside.  In  their  brighter  environment  most  of 

And  it  is  about  to  bear  commercial  fruit,  the  current  disadvantages  to  farm  life 

As  the  additional  income  for  American  are  certain  to  disappear.  And  the  vast 

agriculture  rolls  in  during  the  next  few  business  transactions  required  by  this 

years,  it  will  largely  be  diverted,  except  evolution  may  contribute  greatly  to  the 

on  farms  where  the  owners  are  deeply  complete  commercial  recovery  of  the 

in  debt,  and  except  that  portion  which  is  nation. 


The  Nazis  Turn  to  "Ersatz 


B 


BY  GEORGE  GERHARD 

What  chance  has  Hitler  of  succeeding  in  his  present  plan  to 

make  Germany  self-sufficient? 

ACK  in  1 920 — on  the  twenty-fourth  of  their  propaganda  and  oratory  on  poll- 
day  of  February,  to  be  exact —  tics,  and  to  them,  economics  was  some- 
the  Nazis  laid  down  twenty-five  thing  which  would  follow  automatically 
commandments  to  guide  them  on  their  in  the  wake  of  the  swastika,  as  the  night 
march  to  Berlin  and  the  Wilhelm  follows  the  day. 

Strasse.  Their  programme  began  with  a  To  a  philosophical  mind,  it  might  oc- 

demand  for  cancelation  of  the  Treaty  of  cur  that  it  is  the  day  rather  that  follows 

Versailles — and  ended  with  one  for  an  the  night;  and  a  more  searching  Nazi 

all-powerful  central  authority.  In  be-  mind  might  have  become  aware  of  the 

tween  the  two  one  could  find  demands  possibility  that  the  course  of  the  political 

for  the  former  German  colonies,  for  ship  is  definitely  influenced  by  a  lull  or 

state  ownership  of  all  trusts,  for  "com-  a  breeze  or  a  storm  in  the  economic  de- 

munalization"  of  the  large  department  velopment  of  the  country.  If  the  Nazi 

stores,  for  agricultural  reform,  for  the  mind  has  in  the  past  failed  to  realize  the 

elimination  of  Jews  from  the  public  life  importance  of  economics,  current  events 

of  the  nation,  and  for  many  other  things,  have  forced  it  quickly  to  remedy  the 

Some  of  these  tenets  have  been  real-  oversight. 

ized,    others    have    apparently    been  The  man  who  stands  as  the  political 

dropped  in  dispassionate  silence.  But  it  exponent  of  the  New  Germany,  Adolf 

may  be  an  indication  of  the  wisdom  and  Hitler,  and  the  man  who  is  its  present 

foresightedness  of  Nazi  policy  in  its  economic    leader,    Dr.    Schacht,    both 

early  stages  that  no  mention  whatever  agree  that  the  nation  must  aim  at  greater 

was  made  in  these  twenty-five  com-  self-sufficiency  (they  call  it  "autarchy") 

mandments  of  that  problem  which  is  and,  possibly,  at  complete  economic  in- 

today,  nineteen  months  after  the  ascend-  dependence.  If  they  add,  however,  that 

ancy  of  Adolf  Hitler,  at  the  root  of  the  autarchy  has  been  forced  upon  them  by 

Third  Reich's  difficulties:  the  shortage  a  hostile  world,  they  don't  know  their 

of  raw  materials,  the  inadequacy  of  -for-  history — or  they  don't  expect  others  to 

eign  markets — briefly,  the  problem  of  know  it.  Autarchy  has  long  been  a  Ger- 

economic  self-sufficiency.  The  reason  for  man  'household    word,    even    under 

the  neglect  in  the  original  platform  Stresemann  and  Dr.  Bruning.  For  what 

seems  obvious:  the  Nazis  put  the  chips  would  be  more  natural  for  a  nation 


462  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

which  has  been  defeated  and  suppressed  voted  to  iron  and  steel  research  and 
by  its  enemies  than  to  throw  out  its  chest  which  has  two  purposes:  first,  to  main- 
in  bold  defiance  and  to  declare:  "All  tain  the  high  prestige  of  German  quality 
right,  if  you  abandon  our  stricken  ship  steel  on  the  world  market ;  second,  to 
on  the  high  seas,  we  shall  make  port  search  for  new  methods  in  the  manu- 
under  our  own  power,  even  if  we  have  facture  of  iron  and  steel  under  the  pres 
to  use  our  shirts  for  sails."  There  is  a  ent  conditions  of  raw  material  scarcity, 
difference,  though.  Under  Briining  the  The  important  part  which  the  Insti- 
flag  of  autarchy  was  conveniently  tute  plays  in  present-day,  and  undoubt- 
hoisted  as  a  worth  while  long-term  eco-  edly  will  continue  to  play  in  future, 
nomic  policy;  and  the  good  will  of  the  Germany  is  not  only  derived  from  the 
outside  world  was  by  no  means  neg-  military  preparations  of  which  the  Hit- 
lected.  Today,  autarchy  is  a  last  refuge,  ler  regime  has  been  accused  time  and 

Economic  self-sufficiency  is  to  be  at-  again,  and  in  which  the  steel  industry 
tained  in  three  ways:  ( i)  by  increasing  occupies  the  spotlight.  It  is  also  derived 
the  production  of  raw  materials  with  from  the  public  works  programme  of 
greater  physical  effort;  (2)  by  increas-  the  Government,  for  which  some  three 
ing  the  production  of  other  natural  billion  marks  will  be  expended,  and 
products  by  new  scientific  or  technical  which  makes  heavy  demands  on  the 
processes;  (3)  by  the  production  of  steel  industry.  The  revival  of  the  metal 
substitutes  for  raw  materials.  It  may  be  and  machine  industries,  the  stimulation 
noted  at  this  point  that  so  far  autarchy  of  exports,  renewed  building  and  hous- 
seems  to  be  aimed  principally  at  pur-  ing  activities  throughout  the  country 
chases  from  foreign  countries;  it  is  not  emphasize  the  importance  of  this  lead- 
mentioned  that  all  this  new  domestic  ing  key-industry.  When  it  is  recalled 
production  must  be  absorbed  by  the  that  steel  production  last  year  totaled 
German  people  themselves.  Nor  is  any  nearly  eight  million  tons,  as  compared 
provision  made  to  increase  wages  and  with  less  than  six  million  tons  in  1932, 
salaries  and  earnings  so  as  to  give  the  and  that  the  production  of  raw  steel  has 
people  the  purchasing  power  to  take  care  nearly  doubled  within  the  last  two  years, 
of  the  added  industrial  and  agricultural  it  becomes  obvious  what  a  tremendous 
output.  responsibility  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  In 
stitute  is  facing  in  its  future  work. 
Germany  has  a  very  vital  interest  in 

What,  exactly,  is  the  German  Gov-  new  scientific  methods  of  improving  the 
ernment  doing  in  order  to  rid  the  coun-  quality  of  inferior  iron  ore.  The  domes- 
try  of  its  dependence  upon  foreign  tic  iron  ore  production  could  be  increased 
suppliers?  Take,  as  an  instance,  the  by  about  two  million  tons  annually  from 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  Institute,  which  was  domestic  mines,  of  which  those  in  Ba- 
founded  in  1917  in  the  midst  of  the  varia  are  the  most  abundant,  their  de- 
World  War  when  the  scarcity  of  raw  posits  being  estimated  at  hundreds  of 
materials  created  a  desperate  situation,  millions  of  tons.  But  the  German  ore  is 
It  may  or  may  not  be  a  coincidence  that  far  below  that  of  Swedish,  French  or 
a  few  months  ago,  in  a  similarly  trying  Belgian  origin  in  quality;  hence,  new 
period,  the  foundation  was  laid  for  a  methods  of  smelting  must  be  found  if 
new  home  for  this  institute  which  is  de-  the  Germans  are  to  make  the  proper  use 


THE  NAZIS  TURN  TO  "ERSATZ"  463 

of  their  ore  deposits.  This  will  be  one  of  product.  Besides,  climatic  conditions  did 
the  chief  tasks  of  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  not  seem  favorable  to  large-scale  plant- 
Institute,  ing  of  the  bean.  Now,  however,  the  Gov- 

The  annual  convention  of  the  Asso-  ernment  has  decreed  that  steps  must  be 

ciation  of  German  Chemists,  recently  taken  to  save  a  large  amount  of  foreign 

held  at  Cologne,  disclosed  some  inter-  exchange  every  year  by  cultivating  the 

esting  trends  on  the  problem  of  how  to  bean,  thus  supplying  not  only  the  popu- 

achieve  greater  economic  self-sufficiency,  lation  but  industry  also  with  a  highly 

Dr.  Drawe  of  Berlin  told  of  the  produc-  valued  raw  material.  Just  how  success- 

tion  of  gas  through  a  special  process  of  ful  the  plan  is  going  to  be  must  be  left 

combustion  of  coal  with  oxygen.  Over  to  time  and  the  ingenuity  of  the  Nazi 

35,000  cubic  feet  of  city  gas  were  ob-  regime.  Land  is  scarce,  and  if  the  soya 

tained  out  of  one  ton  of  soft  coal.  The  bean  is  to  be  planted  on  a  large  scale, 

enormous  advantage  of  this  special  proc-  other  crops  will  have  to  be  reduced, 

ess  would  be  complete  gasification  of  Another  speaker  at  the  convention 

the  coal,  whereas  heretofore  only  about  advocated  increased  oilseed  cultivation, 

twenty  or  twenty-five  per  cent  was  con-  which  has  dwindled  to  almost  nothing 

vertible  into  gas.  This  may  be  bad  news  in  the  last  fifty  years.  While  in  1875 

for  the  coal  magnates  of  the  Ruhr  Val-  between  350,000  and  400,000  hectares 

ley,  who  have  had  more  than  enough  accounted  for  this  particular  branch  of 

competition    from    the    gas    manufac-  agriculture,  last  year  there  were  not 

turers.  But  then  a  better  and  more  profit-  more  than  5,000  hectares  in  cultivation 

able  use  for  coal  may  soon  be  found  if  of  oilseeds.  Germany  is  dependent  upon 

present  studies  of  the  synthetic  produc-  foreign  suppliers-  of  both  mineral  and 

tion  of  oils  and  fats  out  of  coal  lead  to  vegetable  oils,  and  therefore  the  Gov- 

more  practical  results  than  have  so  far  ernment  is  determined  to  exploit  oilseed 

been  obtained.  cultivation  to  the  full  capacity  of  the 

Another  product  which  interests  the  German  peasantry.  It  will  continue  for 
German  Government  and  chemists  another  year  the  minimum  price  guar- 
alike  is  the  soya  bean.  No  other  seed,  antee  to  farmers  producing  oilseeds.  By 
with  the  sole  exception  of  the  peanut,  bounties,  it  has  succeeded  in  doubling 
contains  between  fifteen  and  twenty-  this  year  the  area  under  flax,  and  in 
four  per  cent  of  fat,  and  between  thirty-  nearly  quintupling  the  area  under  rape 
five  and  forty-nine  per  cent  of  albumin,  and  other  oilseeds.  Heretofore,  only  an 
as  the  soya  bean  does.  As  food  and  as  insignificant  part  of  the  German  con- 
fodder  it  is  equally  important,  not  to  sumption  of  vegetable  oils  has  been  sup- 
speak  of  its  value  to  the  chemical  indus-  plied  by  domestic  producers.  But — as  in 
try  for  the  manufacture  of  oils,  soaps  the  case  of  the  soya  bean — increased  pro- 
and  the  like.  The  soya  bean  costs  Ger-  duction  is  limited  by  a  lack  of  suitable 
many  about  one  hundred  million  marks  lands,  as  well  as  by  the  small  number  of 
every  year  on  the  import  list.  In  past  oil-bearing  plants  that  are  adapted  to 
years,  the  cultivation  of  the  bean  was  German  conditions.  Any  substantial  in- 
handicapped,  for  various  reasons:  the  crease  could  only  be  made  at  the  expense 
import  price  was  so  low  that  the  farmer  of  grain  production.  Yet  the  Govern- 
was  not  very  much  attracted  by  the  ment  seems  confident— otherwise  it 
prospect  of  competing  with  the  Far  East  would  not  have  suspended  all  imports 


464  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

of  vegetable  oils  and  oleaginous  raw  that  the  rayon  industry  must  develop  to 

materials,  as  it  recently  did.  a  point  where  it  can  take  care  of  the 

The  subject  of  the  loudest  propa-  domestic  demand, 
ganda  is  the  replacement  of  imported 
raw  materials  by  synthetic  substitutes. 

Textiles  are  leading  the  procession,  most         Here,  then,  are  some  efforts  in  three 

of  which  are  products  of  the  rayon  in-  leading  key  industries.  Steel,  which  we 

dustry,  which  has  a  proud  record  but  a  first  took  up,  is  indispensable  for  hous- 

poor  future.  Back  in  1913  Germany  was  ing,  building,  construction.  Food  and 

first  on  the  list  of  world  production,  fol-  vegetable  and  mineral  oils  are  as  essen- 

lowed  by  Great  Britain  and  France,  tial  to  human  beings  as  shelter.  And  the 

Italy  was  in  sixth  place,  and  the  United  last  subject  which  was  discussed,  textiles 

States  supplied  not  more  than  5.7  per  and  rayon,  have  to  do  with  clothing  the- 

cent  of  world  production.  Last  year,  the  people.  So  there  are  the  three  funda- 

United  States  headed  the  procession,  mentals:  shelter,  food  and  clothing.  If 

with  thirty-two  per  cent  of  the  world  the  Government  succeeds  in  establishing 

output,  followed  by  Japan  with  fifteen  the  economic  self-sufficiency  of  the  coun- 

per  cent,  Great  Britain  thirteen,  and  try  in  these  three  fields,  at  least  the  peo- 

Italy  twelve  per  cent — with  Germany  pie  can  be  sure  of  the  fundamental  re- 

nowhere  in  the  picture.  In  fact,  between  quirements  of  living  a  civilized  life. 

1913   and    1933   German  imports   of  True,  there  are  many  other  products 

.rayon  rose  from  1,600,000  kilograms  to  which  have  to  be  imported:  lumber,  for 

10,300,000,  and  last  year  they  supplied  instance,  of  which  eighty-five  per  cent 

more  than  thirty  per  cent  of  total  do-  of  the  total  domestic  demand  has  to  be 

mestic  consumption.  imported;  or  leather,  nearly  sixty  per 

Again,  the  Government  raises  a  de-  cent;  or  paper  fifty  per  cent;  or  tobacco 

termined  fist.  Imports  of  rayon  have  of  which  practically  one  hundred  per 

been  placed  on  the  restricted  list.  Tech-  cent  has  to  be  purchased  from  foreign 

nical  improvements  and  lower  produc-  countries. 

tion  cost  are  counted  upon  to  make        But  these  and  other  products,  while 

greater  self-sufficiency  of  the  rayon  in-  important  for  the  industrial  life  of  the 

dustry  a  reality.  But — again  there  are  nation,  do  not  affect  the  life  of  the  indi- 

difficulties.  The  industry  has  to  import  vidual  citizen  to  any  great  extent.  Even 

wood  which  it  can  not  find  on  the  home  if  the  Government  gives  attention  to 

market.  What  is  even  more  important,  the  production  of  artificial  leather  and 

expansion  and  reorganization  of  the  in-  artificial  rubber,  even  if  it  replaces  cop- 

dustry  would  require  a  vast  investment  per  with  aluminum  ( for  which,  inciden- 

of  new  capital  and  would  destroy  old  tally,  the  raw  material,  bauxite,  has  to 

investments.  The  new  materials  which  be  imported  from  abroad,  too),  even  if 

have  appeared  on  the  market  are  techni-  according  to  latest  reports  fuel  oil  is  be- 

cally  inferior  and  can  not  compete  with  ing  successfully  produced  from  coal,  one 

foreign  products.  Besides,  they  are  very  may  conveniently  forget  about  these  and 

dear.  Neither  of  these  factors  justifies  other  achievements.  They  are  secondary 

new  capital  investment.  Besides,  for  an  in  importance;  they  may  make,  in  differ- 

inferior  product  there  would  be  no  ex-  ent  circumstances,  contributing  factors 

port  market.  Yet  the  Government  insists  to  the  prosperity  of  a  nation.  But  that  is 


THE  NAZIS  TURN  TO  "ERSATZ"  465 

not  the  issue  at  stake.  The  primary  de-  the  short  period  of  Hitlerism  that  one 
mand  in  the  German  situation  today  and  ought  to  be  careful  not  to  put  the 
tomorrow  and  the  day  after  is  to  pull  cards  down  on  the  table  and  say:  "Im- 
the  people,  and  therefore  the  nation,  possible!"  What  would  have  been  con- 
through  a  period  of  political  and  eco-  sidered  "possible"  two,  three  years  ago? 
nomic  isolation.  Can  Hitler  and  his  fol-  The  wholesale  elimination  of  the  Jews? 
lowers  feed  and  house  and  clothe  the  The  defiance  of  a  whole  world?  The 
people,  out  of  the  people's  own  resources  blindfolding  of  sixty-five  million  peo- 
and  independent  of  the  attitude  of  the  pie?  The  open  preparation  for  another 
rest  of  the  world?  war?  The  firm  (and  ever  growing 

Offhand,  one  would  feel  inclined  to  firmer)  establishment  of  Adolf  Hitler 

say  no.  For  obvious  reasons:  first,  Ger-  and  his  Nazis? 

many's  industry  and  agriculture  have  Hence,  it  may  not  be  so  unwise,  after 
been  built  from  the  'very  beginning  all,  to  give  at  least  passing  thought  to 
upon  the  basis  of  "service,"  that  is,  to  the  possibility  that  National-Socialism 
serve  the  outside  world.  They  have  not  may  succeed  in  its  fight  for  "Ersatz" 
been  the  final  product  of  an  age-old  at-  for  substitutes  of  important  raw  mate- 
tempt  to  attain  self-sufficiency;  that  rials,  too.  There  are  factors  that  speak 
came  only  after  the  World  War.  Long  for  such  achievement.  First  of  all,  Ger- 
before,  they  grew  and  prospered  not  be-  man  industry  is  today  far  from  what  it 
cause  of  the  domestic,  but  because  of  the  was  in  1914.  Its  unique  structure  (built 
foreign  markets;  and  the  people  at  home  for  the  purpose  of  serving  the  world 
prospered  because  industry  and  agricul-  demand)  was  first  affected  by  the  re- 
ture  prospered.  How,  then,  could  any  quirements  of  the  World  War.  After 
regime  step  forth  and  make  the  bold  the  revolution,  it  had  to  change  around 
announcement  that  from  now  on  the  and,  because  of  the  lack  of  domestic 
farmer  and  the  manufacturer  must  give  buying  power,  produce  for  the  world 
up  their  dreams  about  world  domina-  markets  once  more.  Meanwhile,  export 
tion  (so  far  as  their  sales  are  concerned)  possibilities  have  shrunk  to  a  consider- 
and  must  serve  first  and  foremost  the  able  extent  while  at  the  same  time  the 
nation  at  home?  This  would  involve  Nazis  have  started  their  public  works 
tremendous  sacrifices,  would  change  programme  and  other  measures  de- 
their  economic  structure  and  would  turn  signed  to  give  work  to  industry— arma- 
inside  out  -their  organization,  their  pol-  ments  may  be  only  one  of  them, 
icies  and  their  whole  economic  attitude  By  the  same  token,  the  German  peas- 
and  outlook.  It  would  mean  revamping  ant  has  found  a  great  patron  in  the  Nazi 
completely  a  nation  that  was  born  in  an  regime.  He  has  for  some  time  felt  the 
international  cradle  in  a  commercial  uncomfortable  pressure  of  foreign  grow- 
sense  and  that  had  given  all  the  years  of  ers,  of  declining  world  prices,  of  abun- 
its  young  life  to  the  (once  more  com-  dant  supplies.  And  for  some  years  even 
mercial)  realization  of  its  mission.  before  the  coming  of  the  swastika  he  had 

As  much  and  as  strongly  as  any  such  had  high  tariff  protection,  import  quotas 

effort  is  condemned  by  common  sense,  on  foreign  shipments  and  special  privi- 

as  well  as  by  fifty  centuries  of  mankind's  leges  on  the  domestic  market, 
history,  one  must  admit  this  much:  so         Thirdly,  the  Nazis  are  not  starting 

many  things  have  been  changed  within  at  the  bottom  of  a  depression.  In  fact, 


466  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

they  are  riding  the  crest  of  relative  pros-  the  Nazis  have  made  headway  in  the 

perity  at  home.  It  is  not  their  fault —  past  without  the  world.  Even  if  every 

they  were  merely  lucky  in  that  economic  precedent  is  a  warning  to  Hitler  to  go 

betterment  in  the  Fatherland  started  slowly,  his  tremendous  hold  on  the  im- 

actually  six  months  before  Hitler  as-  agination  of  his  people  may  prove  pow- 

sumed  power.  erful  enough  to  shatter  every  one  of 

So,  when  you  hear  of  autarchy,  do  them — even  to  regain  the  good  will  of 

not  dismiss  it  without  remembering  that  the  world. 


This  Is  Peace 

BY  FRANCES  FROST 


THIS  is  rest:  last  leaf 
down-stricken  from  the  gray 
twig  and  sky,  the  sheaf 
bent  to  the  final  day. 

Under  the  silver  limb 
of  autumn,  cool,  undone, 
this  is  peace  for  him 
who,  in  the  heat  of  sun, 

set  his  heart  to  the  green 
upturn  of  loam,  to  seed 
broken  in  bud,  the  lean 
and  toss  of  purple  weed. 

Now  a  calm  and  amber 
enchanted  change  has  come 
upon  the  hills.  November 
sends  beast, and  blossom  home, 

blows  across  man's  eyes 
the  ghost  of  frozen  aster, 
the  balm  of  empty  skies, 
the  quiet  of  disaster. 


Modern  Maledictions,  Execra- 
I          tions  and  Cuss-Words 

BY  BURGES  JOHNSON 

While  the  theological  bases  for  cursing  were  being  undermined, 
the  younger  generation  discovered  new  ones 

WHEN  man  began  to  lose  his  oaths  we  have  left  must  be  galvanized 
belief  in  a  petty-minded,  in-  daily  into  life  by  perjury  laws.  Even  the 
terfering  God,  then  oaths  and  bootleg  profanity  of  Yankee  Calvinists 
curses  began  to  lose  their  true  value,  who  thought  they  might  hurl  God's 
Enemies  hurling  curses  at  one  another  name  without  His  knowing  it — gee,  gol, 
had  to  believe  that  each  curse  had  the  gosh  and  godfrey — is -no  more  today 
backing  of  some  sort  of  Omnipotence,  than  the  trash  of  speech,  undeserving 
or  it  couldn't  amount  to  much.  Perhaps  a  capital  letter  or  an  exclamation  point, 
it  was  not  so  important  for  the  man  who  Yet  until  recently  there  still  lingered 
hurled  the  curse  to  believe  in  it;  but  cer-  about  some  of  these  tattered  and  soiled 
tainly  the  man  at  whom  it  was  hurled  fragments  of  an  abandoned  theology  a 
ought  to  be  convinced  of  its  authority,  sort  of  mystery,  an  aroma  of  power. 
As  the  conviction  slowly  died  out  that  They  ceased  to  be  curses,  but  they  con- 
there  was  a  God  ready  at  a  moment's  no-  tinued  as  cuss-words.  Their  value  lay 
tice  to  take  sides  in  any  small  quarrel,  in  the  fact  that  those  at  whom  they  were 
the  sonorous  old  oaths  dwindled.  "By  hurled,  while  having  no  idea  of  what 
God's  Mercy!"  shrank  to  "Gramercy";  they  once  meant,  still  sensed  a  malign 
"By  God's  Death!"  became  "Ods-  significance.  At  their  worst,  when  they 
death,"  "God's  Wounds!"  became  were  made  up  of  words  which  were  so- 
"Zounds,"  and  finally  along  with  a  cially  ostracized,  they  became  maledic- 
sturdy  lot  of  profane  relatives  went  tions,  or  Bad  Words.  A  malediction,  I 
down  into  complete  oblivion.  The  take  it,  is  an  invocation  of  evil  from  no 
Goodness  and  Graciousness  of  Deity  omnipotent  source,  but  a  sort  of  home- 
still  serve  the  ladies  for  mild  emphasis,  made  defilement.  Little  boys  who  use 
"Dio  Mio"  has  become  "dear  me";  "A  any  of  them  have  their  mouths  washed 
pox  upon  you! "  has  been  vaccinated  out  out  with  soap. 

of  existence  j  and  "May  you  be  con-  One  other  dwindling  heritage  re- 

demned  to  eternal  torment ! "  has  shriv-  mained  to  us  from  a  form  of  cursing 

eled  into  "damn."  In  fact  the  only  real  which  was  the  most  ancient  of  all  j  when 


468  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

man  called  upon  Deity  to  turn  his  en-  not  want  to  buy  political  power,  rich 

emy  into  a  pig  or  an  ass,  or  any  other  men  harassed  and  overtaxed,  rich  men 

creature  lacking  in  social  status.  This  in  jail — all  are  plutocrats.   Bolshevik 

form  of  execration  still  survived  as  "epi-  comes  from  a  Russian  word  meaning 

thets,"  or  the  calling  of  names.  majority.  In  America  we  believe  that 

Please  note  that  I  have  been  employ-  the  majority  should  rule  but  that  a  Bol- 

ing  a  past  tense.*  For  in  this  present  day  shevik  shouldn't.  A  Bolshevik  in  Russia 

of  unrestrained  emphasis,  even  the  sur-  believes  in  Russia  first — Russia  for  the 

viving    cuss-words,    maledictions    and  Russians;    down  with   foreign  goods, 

execrations  of  ancient  and  half-forgot-  foreign  music,  foreign  capital,  foreign 

ten  lineage  are  dying  of  anemia,  sharing  labor!  In  America  it  is  the  Rotarian,  so 

the  fate  of  Zounds  and  Gramercy  and  I  am  told,  who  believes  in  America  first, 

Odsblood.   There   seems   to   be   little  and  down  with  foreign  labor  and  for- 

left  that  a  man  might  use  against  his  eign  goods.  Ergoy  a  Rotarian  is  a  Bol- 

adversary   except   logic,   and   that   of  shevik.  A  Communist  is  one  who  be- 

course  is  out  of  the  question.  lieves  that  all  wealth  should  be  held  in 

common;  that  those  who  were  lowest 
should  be  as  the  highest,  and  that  those 

But  man  must  have  words  to  hurl;  who  were  highest  have  no  right  to  live 
and  I  am  suddenly  aware  that  a  new  vo-  at  all.  All  power,  they  say,  should  be  in 
cabulary  of  vituperation  has  been  born  the  hands  of  the  common  people;  and 
while  I  slept.  Its  terms  perhaps  lack  the  yet  all  communes,  since  time  began, 
authority  of  the  old  oaths  and  curses.'  have  been  ruled  by  dictators.  An  Inter- 
But  at  least  they  are  cuss-words.  They  nationalist  is  one  who  seeks  to  force  our 
have  all  the  requisites:  neither  the  government  to  do  something  about  the 
cusser  nor  the  cussed  knows  just  what  Jews  in  Germany,  but  either  doubts  or 
they  mean;  and  yet  there  clings  to  regrets  the  waves  of  emotion  which 
them  a  certain  mystery,  a  malign  por-  swept  our  country  at  news  of  "Butcher 
tentousness.  Weyler's"  concentration  camps  of  starv- 
Plutocrat!  Bolshevik!  Capitalist!  ing  women  and  children  in  Cuba.  An 
Communist!  Pacifist!  Imperialist!  Mil-  Internationalist  would  make  sacrifices 
itarist!  Fascist!  Radical!  Rotarian!  for  his  household,  and  his  village,  and 
Bourgeoisie !  Petite-Bourgeoisie !  Prole-  for  all  mankind ;  but  not  for  his  nation, 
tariat!  Hurl  one  of  these  in  the  proper  as  represented  by  "the  flag."  I  have  yet 
tone  of  voice,  and  the  cussed  shrinks  to  learn  his  exact  attitude  toward  county, 
back  as  from  a  blow,  while  the  cusser  State,  congressional  district  and  other 
gains  all  of  that  spiritual  relief  which  political  units.  A  Militarist  believes  in  a 
was  once  enjoyed  by  the  militant  church-  bigger  and  better  army  in  order  to  avoid 
man  who  cried,  "Anathema,  maran  fighting.  A  Pacifist  believes  in  bigger 
athay  maledicta!"  and  better  fighting  in  order  to  avoid  the 
No  dictionary  is  new  enough  to  offer  army.  A  Pacifist  is,  in  fact,  one  who  be- 
definitions  of  these  words  based  on  cur-  lieves  he  should  not  resist  a  foreign  foe, 
rent  usage,  for  usage  changes  overnight,  but  would  like  to  die  resisting  an  Ameri- 
A  "plutocrat"  used  to  be  one  who  ruled  can  policeman. 

by  reason  of  his  wealth;  but  rich  men  in  Somehow,  out  of  all  this  scrambled 

hopeless  minorities,  rich  men  who  do  usage,  I  hope  sooner  or  later  to  obtain 


MODERN  MALEDICTIONS  469 

definitions,  and  then  will  come  power!  plies  the  term  to  himself — who  says  our 

For  if  you  have  followed  my  reasoning  three  American  classes  are  the  exploit- 

you  must  know  that  the  strength  of  a  ers,  the  exploited  and  (in  between)  the 

cuss-word  lies  in  its  mystery.  When  I  petits-exploiters — jackals,    as    it    were, 

have  them  defined  I  may  still  hurl  them  who  run  around  after  the  lions.  He  says 

with  effect,  but  if  they  are  hurled  at  me  I  am  one  of  the'latter.  Why?  Partly  my 

I  am  as  Achilles.  attitude  of  mind,  but  chiefly  because  my 

Achilles  in  truth !  For  I  shall  always  slender  savings  are  invested  in  stocks 
have  a  vulnerable  heel.  That  word  and  bonds,  which  represent  the  sweat 
"Bourgeoisie"  j  I  shrink  from  it  in  argu-  of  the  toilers.  He  thinks  it  is  my  invest 
ment.  Give  it  just  the  right  twist  of  pro-  ments  which  determine  my  attitude  of 
nunciation,  stretched  out,  with  a  show-  mind.  My  education  or  culture,  he  says, 
ing  of  teeth  when  you  come  to  the  has  nothing  to  do  with  it,  and  I  wonder 
"wah,"  and  a  hissing  "z"  sound  to  the  just  what  he  implies  by  that.  Patiently 
"s,"  and  I  lie  down  on  my  back,  meta-  I  pointed  out  to  .him  that  at  various 
phorically,  and  put  all  four  feet  in  the  times  in  my  life  I  have  had  traffic  with 
air.  When  it  is  followed  up  in  attack  by  plumbers,  carpenters,  mechanics  and 
Petite-Bourgeoisie  I  am  dead,  and  Pro-  others  who  are  said  to  exude  perspira- 
letariat  buries  me.  tionj  and  in  more  than  one  instance  I 

It  does  me  little  good  to  reason  about  suspected  that  their  investments  ex- 
these  words ;  to  say  that  they  are  used  ceeded  mine,  and  that  they  exploited 
by  people  who  borrow  terms  as  well  as  me.  He  admitted  that  while  there  are 
arguments  from  an  old-world  situation  undoubtedly  three  classes  in  America — 
and  foolishly  try  to  apply  them  to  the  otherwise  how  could  a  poor  social  agi- 
new.  Am  I  of  the  bourgeoisie?  I  can't  tator  gain  a  living? — yet  the  members 
be,  unless  there  is  an  aristocracy  above  of  our  classes  are  regrettably  lacking  in 
me,  and  two  "classes"  below.  Is  it  wealth  class-consciousness  and  refuse  to  stay 
that  separates  our  superior  from  our  put.  A  banker  in  jail,  I  was  told,  work- 
middle  class?  Tell  that  to  the  old  citi-  ing  with  a  road  gang,  is  still  bourgeoisie 
zens  of  Massachusetts  or  of  Virginia  or  because  he  wants  to  get  out  and  get  back 
the  Carolinas,  and  then  call  out  the  ma-  to  his  exploiting.  But  a  street-sweeper, 
rines.  Is  it  birth  ?  I  have  some  Mayflower  who  wishes  he  were  not  a  street-sweeper 
ancestors  but  I  greatly  fear  me  they  but  investing  that  banker's  money,  is 
were  proletariat  when  they  came  over  \  still  proletariat, 
and  some  Virginian  forebears  were 
lowrer  than  that,  if  there  is  'anything 

lower  than  a  proletarian.  Is  it  rank  ?  That  "There's  glory  for  you ! " 

comes  into  existence  at  the  whim  of  the  "I  don't  know  just  what  you  mean  by 

supreme  authority,  which  would  con-  'glory,'  "  Alice  said, 

fine  our  uppest  class  to  senators  and  rep-  Humpty  Dumpty  smiled  contemp- 

resentatives,  or  else  to  judges  and  post-  tuously.  "Of  course  you  don't — till  I  tell 

office  employes.  It  would  depend  upon  you.  I  meant  'there's  a  nice  knock-down 

whether  you  held  that  supreme  power  argument  for  you!'  " 

rested  with  the  people  or  with  Mr.  "But  'glory'  doesn't  mean  'a  nice 

Farley.  knock-down    argument,' "    Alice    ob- 

I  have  a  Communist  friend — he  ap-  jected. 


470  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

"When   I   use  a  word,"   Humpty  his  tan,  could  he  have  understood  it  all. 
Dumpty  said  in  rather  a  scornful  tone,         There  is  an  essay  that  I  must  write 

"it  means  just  what  I  choose  it  to  mean  some  day.  It  will  be  entitled  "Is  There 

— neither  more  nor  less."  Anything  left  to  Whisper  About? "  My 

So  far  as  most  of  those  new  cuss- words  thesis  will  be  that  some  of  the  lost  reti- 

are  concerned  I  have  gained  some  im-  cences  had  their  value.  But  just  how  to 

munity.  I  have  stopped  shrinking.  Not  prove  it  I  have  not  yet  reasoned  out. 
so  in  the  face  of  another  group.  "Intro-         To  the  same  extent  I  sigh  now  and 

vert!"  "Complex!"  "Moronic!"  "In-  then  for  the  conservation  of  profanity, 

hibited ! "  "Mind-Set ! "  "Habituation ! "  I  think  that  I  might  one  day  learn  to  use 

"Prepotent      Response ! "      "Defense  some  of  these  new  maledictions  and  exe- 

Mechanism ! "  "Eye-Cue ! "  As  a  very  crations,  and  attack  my  own  contempo- 

small  boy  it  was  my  custom,  if  I  found  raries  with  them;  but  militant  youth, 

myself  near  some  barnacled  old  salt  thus  armed,  frightens  me. 
who  muttered  hoarsely,  "Avast  there,         "My  son,"  I  protest,  "I  don't  see  how 

blast  your  eyes!"  to  withdraw  hastily  you  could  possibly  consider  doing  such 

and  seek  the  purer  companionship  of  a  thing!" 

my  parents.  I  was  taught  that  such  "In  that  case,"  he  retorts,  "your  eye- 
words  might  be  the  heralding  of  a  richer  cue  must  be  subnormal."  It  is  almost 
verbal  onslaught,  equally  obscure  but  as  though  he  had  replied,  "The-hell- 
even  more  dangerous.  Today,  when  I  you-say!"  In  fact  the  enormity  of  what 
find  myself  in  the  company  of  some  frail  he  might  mean,  if  either  of  us  under- 
and  inoffensive  appearing  schoolmarm,  stood,  leaves  me  tongue-tied, 
and  she  chances  to  murmur  "Fixation! "  Cussing  in  my  day  never  meant  any- 
or  "Psychosis!"  my  early  training  re-  thing.  But  in  those  arguments  where  it 
asserts  itself  and  I  seek  safer  companion-  was  used,  the  one  who  used  most,  and 
ship.  pronounced  it  most  emphatically,  gen- 

Once  upon  a  time  vituperation  was  erally  won.  That  is  still  true.  In  these 

cabined  and  confined.   Strong   words  latter  days  I  have  known  an  assemblage 

were  for  strong  men.  But  times  have  of  parents  of  both  sexes  to  engage  in 

changed.  "Damn"  is  lisped  from  the  argument  upon  the  upbringing  of  chil- 

cradle,  and  the  vocabulary  of  youth  has  dren,  all  contentedly  talking  at  once; 

burgeoned.  When  the  average  young  until  some  firm  young  person  suddenly 

person  of  today  really  unlimbers,  even  silences  the  lot  of  them  by  interjecting 

an  old  sinner  might  better  sound  the  the  word  "Norm! "  It  is  as  unsafe  to  ask 

retreat.  her  what  she  meant  as  to  inquire  of  a 

"Freudian  Complex! "  Here  is  a  pair  London  cabby  what  he  means  by  "Gor- 

of  expletives  which,  in  combination,  blyme."  He  would  only  swear  again, 

have  almost  the  authority  of  an  oath,  and  worse. 

Add  "Libido!  "and  they  become  a  curse.         The  old-time  cussing  had  its  source 

I  have  heard  them  from  the  lips  of  a  in  theology.  The  lexicon  of  bright  youth 

young  woman  who  watched  me  with  the  today  is  far  richer,  drawn  as  it  is  from 

wide  eyes  of  apparent  innocence;  and  sociology,  pedagogy,  and  above  all  from 

I    knew    they    heralded    a    barrage  psychology.  Here  is  a  science  that  seems 

that  would  cause  that  horny  old  salt  to  be  all  expletive.  I  myself  have  heard 

of  my    childhood   to   blush    through  two  vocal  adepts  in  this  field  hurling  at 


IN  TIME  OF  DROUGHT 


each  other  "Ideation,"  "Epiphenomen- 
alism,"  "Panpsychism,"  "Psycho-physi 
cal  Monism,"  "Inhibited,"  "Gestalt," 
until  the  air  was  shattered. 

"Impenetrability!  That's  what  I 
say!" 

"Would  you  tell  me,  please,"  said 
Alice,  "what  that  means?" 

"Now  you  talk  like  a  reasonable 


child,"  said  Humpty  Dumpty,  looking 
very  much  pleased.  "I  meant  by  'im 
penetrability'  that  we've  had  enough  of 
that  subject,  and  it  would  be  just  as  well 
if  you'd  mention  what  you  mean  to  do 
next,  as  I  suppose  you  don't  mean  to 
stop  here  all  the  rest  of  your  life." 

"That's  a  great  deal  to  make  one 
word  mean,"  Alice  said,  in  a  thought 
ful  tone. 


In  Time  Of  Drought 

BY  MAY  WILLIAMS  WARD 

DROUGHT  is  not  only  the  lack  of  rain, 
Not  only.  .  .  . 

In  drought  man  thinks  that  he  prays  in  vain. 
Ah,  lonely, 

Forsaken,  resentful,  he  shrivels  inside. 
Apart 

From  the  bone-bare  field  and  the  choking  herd 
There  is  drought  of  heart. 


~|HE  IJERAIIY  IANDSCAPE 


by 


HERSCHEL   BRICKELL 


^r WSJHE  last  time  I 
wrote  a  Land- 

-1L  scape  under  the 
pear  tree  where  I  am 
now  sitting,  it  was 
early  summer  and  the 
brook  that  roars  at 
my  back,  disgorging 
itself  of  the  autumn 
floods  was  just  as  busy 
then  with  the  down 
pours  of  June.  The 
march  of  the  seasons 
has  made  the  ex 
pected  alterations  in  the  color  of  the' 
country,  but  in  spite  of  these  superficial 
changes^  there  is  the  feeling  of  perma 
nence  that  is  always  to  be  found  in  na 
ture,  and  a  very  comfortable  feeling  it 
is,  too,  in  a  world  so  torn  as  ours. 

The  brook  sings  in  the  same  key,  and 
has  the  same  trick  of  making  its  human 
neighbors  dream  that  it  is  raining,  and 
half-awake,  to  realize  that  nothing  need 
be  done  about  the  windows;  in  fact,  that 
nothing  at  all  need  be  done  except  to 
stretch,  snuggle  under  the  covers,  and 
sink  again  into  sleep,  without  the  sound 
of  a  single  squealing  brake  or  thumping 
manhole  cover  to  break  the  profound 
peace. 

.  How  much  quieter  the  country  is  in 
autumn  than  in  spring,  when  things  are 
beginning!  The  phoebe-bird  that  was 
busy  with  her  family  during  the  other 
visit  is  gone;  the  lovely  barn-swallows, 
whose  mother  lured  them  out  into  the 
open  after  giving  them  flying  lessons 
in  the  barn  for  a  week,  and  taught  them 


all  the  tricks,  have 
vanished.  Last  night 
the  katydids  argued 
for  a  while  in  the 
rain;  otherwise,  there 
were  no  sounds,  and 
this  morning,  neither 
sound  nor  motion,  ex 
cept  for  the  brook, 
and  the  chipmunk, 
still  pudgy  from  pea 
nuts  and  chocolate 
candy,  but  not  entirely 
spoiled,  for  he  was 
busy  very  early  with  a  large  apple, 
which  he  added  to  his  winter  store  only 
after  a  hard  struggle. 

Many  things  have  happened  in  the 
world  since  that  other  Landscape,  and 
few,  one  grieves  to  say,  from  which 
much  comfort  can  be  extracted,  except 
that  there  was  no  European  war  in  the 
late  summer.  Next  year,  say  the  proph 
ets  ;  about  June  or  maybe  as  late  as  July. 
.  .  .  No  one  can  fail  to  see  that  all 
the  ingredients  are  present  for  an  explo 
sion  which  might  make  the  other  World 
War  look  like  a  Sunday  School  picnic, 
but  poverty  may  save  the  day,  or  at 
least  postpone  the  disaster.  For  modern 
warfare  is  a  very  expensive  pastime,  and 
recent  revelations  concerning  our  friends 
the  munitions  makers  make  it  seem  un 
likely  that  they  would  be  interested  in 
financing  a  war  if  there  were  any  uncer 
tainty  about  the  bills  being  paid. 


^  7 

They 


3V[en 


They  are,  as  Shaw  pointed  out  some 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  473 

years  ago,  in  business  to  make  money  only  question  is  "What  next?"  There 

and  it  is  hard  to  understand  how  they  are  six  hundred  pages,  about  two  hun- 

could  expect  to  profit  by  another  uni-  dred  too  many,  because  of  the  repeti- 

versal  conflict  that  would  be  bound  to  tions,  and  Mr.  Corey  has  made  out  an 

leave    Europe    bankrupt,    and    which  excellent  case,  one  of  the  most  convinc- 

might  conceivably  inflict  wounds  from  ing  yet  set  down.  The  volume  is  heavy 

which  civilization  would  be  several  gen-  going  because  of  the  style,  but  in  spite 

erations  recovering.  So  about  the  only  of  all  its  handicaps,  it  deserves  the  at- 

thing  for  those  of  us  who  do  not  love  tention  of  thinking  people.  It  is  not 

war  to  do  is  to  pray  that  everybody  keeps  sensational,  neither  is  it  a  dogmatic  at- 

broke,  with  the  faint  hope  that  before  tempt  to  show  that  because  Karl  Marx 

money  gets  plentiful  again,  mankind  said  so  capitalism  must  go;  Mr.  Corey 

will  by  some  miracle  make  up  his  mind  believes  that  capital  had  as  much  to 

that  war  is  foolishness  and  give  it  up  as  do  with  its  fate  as  the  prophecies  of 

a  bad  and  unprofitable  habit.  Marx. 

As  for  what  is  happening  in  our  own  Another  book  in  the  same  general 

country,  the  opinion  continues  to  pre-  field  is  a  large  and  handsome  sympo- 

vail,  especially  among  followers  of  the  sium  called  Challenge  to  the  New  Deal, 

doctrines  of  Karl  Marx,  that  we  are  edited  by  Alfred  M.  Bingham  and  Sel- 

headed  for  Fascism,  and  that  the  only  den  Rodman  (Falcon  Press,  $3.50),  in 

alternative  is  Communism.   Marxians  which  the  editors  of  Common  Sense, 

are  believers  in  a  rigid  dogma,  in  fact,  a  with  the  help  of  many  distinguished 

far  more  rigid  dogma  than  Marx  him-  contributors,  undertake  to  show  that  the 

self  taught,  which  sometimes  happens  in  New  Deal  was  doomed  from  the  start 

religions,  and  from  the  Landscaper's  because  of  its  attempt  to  straddle,  and 

point  of  view  they  are  far  too  cocksure  that  the  only  solution  for  our  problems 

in  their  prophecies,  since  it  does  not  is  a  far  more  radical  attack  than  we  have 

seem  by  any  means  certain  that  we  shall  had  up  to  the  present.  The  contributors 

either  have  to  go  Fascist  or  Communist,  represent  a  wide  range  of  thought,  and 

Either  extreme  would  be  antagonistic  to  no  unified  programme;  most  of  them 

American  traditions,  which  lie  much  are  simply  "agin  the  government."  The 

better  than  many  superficial  observers  Bingham-Rodman  programme  itself  is, 

realize,  and  this  remark  applies  both  to  of  course,  Left  political  action  through 

foreigners    and   to    our    natives   who  the  Farmer-Labor  party;  they  believe 

haven't  been  around  the  place  very  the  interests  of  farmers  and  industrial 

long,  or  who  know  America  in  its  urban  workers  lie  side  by  side,  which  is  a 

aspects  alone.  charming  piece  of  naivete  on  their  part. 

cr/     o    j    j:  ^      •     T  However,   there   are   some    excellent 

T he  End  of  £  apttahsm  essays  in  the  C0nection,  and  a  large  num- 

One  of  the  longest  and  most  impres-  ber  of  amusing  cartoons, 

sive  of  the  recent  books  in  this  field  is  James   Warburg's   It's   Up   to    Us 

Lewis  Corey's  The  Decline  of  Ameri-  (Knopf,  $2.50)  is  one  more  book  bear- 

can  Capitalism  (Covici-Friede,  $3.50),  ing  directly  upon  present  problems.  Mr. 

in  which  Mr.  Corey  attempts  to  prove  Warburg  believes  generally  in  a  swing 

that  capitalism  as  we  have  known  it  is  back  to  the  Right  and  away  from  what 

quite  definitely  done  for,  and  that  the  he  considers  regimentation,  although  in 


474  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

asking  for  a  return  to  "early  principles"  United  States  is  suffering  a  rapid  decline 
he  admits  that  the  Republican  party  has  under  the  urbanization  of  the  race, 
taken  many  planks  from  Socialist  plat-  So  we  are  faced  with  a  future  of 
forms  in  the  past  and  may  have  to  do  as  plenty  and  very  few  people  to  enjoy  it, 
much  again.  In  other  words,  Mr.  War-  if  the  trend  can  not  be  reversed,  which 
burg  seems  to  the  Landscaper  to  want  does  not  appear  improbable.  Perhaps 
the  Elephant  to  gallop  off  in  opposite  some  new  system  will  be  put  into  effect 
directions  simultaneously,  which  is  no  that  will  make  everybody  love  life  so 
easy  trick  even  for  a  political  elephant  much  that  it  will  quite  naturally  be 
accustomed  to  many  strange  and  dim-  passed  on  to  as  many  offspring  as  pos- 
cult  maneuvers.  Mr.  Warburg,  how-  sible.  However,  as  matters  stand,  the 
ever,  represents  a  sort  of  middle-ground  authority  of  the  churches  has  either  dis 
common  sense  point  of  view  that  is  appeared  or  is  very  much  weakened,  and 
never  out  of  place  j  useful  as  a  check  and  practical  means  of  contraception  are 
balance,  if  for  nothing  else.  available  to  practically  everybody,  with 

the  results  as  suggested  in  the  foregoing 

T>eath  of  the  White  Race  paragraphs. 

In  connection  with  the  prospects  for  . 
another  World  War,  and  also  in  con-  Tlenty  of  Food 
nection  with  the  political  and  economic  As  an  appendage  to  Dr.  Charles's 
future    of    this    country,    Dr.    Enid  book,  there  is  O.  W.  Willcox's  Re- 
Charles's  The  Twilight  of  Parenthood  shaping  Agriculture  (Norton,  $2.50), 
(Norton,  $2.50)  makes  exceedingly  in-  which  deals  the  Malthusian  theory  an- 
teresting,  if  rather  alarming,  reading,  other  hard  blow,  and  which  attempts  to 
Dr.  Charles  announces  that  the  white  prove  that  farming  in  the  future  will 
race  is  committing  suicide  by  not  having  be  safe  and  easy,  although  how  it  can  be 
a  sufficient  number  of  children  even  to  profitable  if  there  are  no  people  to  con- 
maintain  its  present  numbers,  much  less  sume  is  quite  another  matter, 
to  increase  at  a  sufficient  rate  to  consume  On  the  question  of  world  trends,  R. 
all  the  products,  industrial  and  agricul-  Palme  Dutt,  an  English  follower  of 
tural,  that  science  is  dumping  into  the  Marx,  has  written  a  readable  if  often 
world.  illogical  and  unreasonable  book  called 

It  is  her  conclusion  that  in  no  single  Fascism  and  the  Social  Revolution  ( In- 
white  country,  except  Russia,  is  there  a  ternational  Publishers,  $2.25).  The  title 
possibility  of  an  increase  in  population  tells  the  story:  the  only  choice  is  be- 
during  the  next  hundred  years,  that  in  tween  Fascism  and  Communism,  and 
some  countries,  the  decline  has  already  Communism  is  ideal,  whereas  Fascism  is 
set  in,  and  that  it  will  come  quickly  to  just  terrible,  so  why  doesn't  the  whole 
the  majority  of  the  others.  Also  in  world  demand  Communism,  which  be- 
Japan,  despite  the  efforts  of  the  authori-  sides  being  ideal  is  inevitable,  because 
ties  to  keep  the  birth  rate  up,  there  has  Marx  said  so.  Mr.  Dutt  sees  a  close 
been  a  steady  decline  for  the  past  ten  parallel  between  Roosevelt  and  Hitler, 
years,  which  is  accelerating.  Vital  statis-  which  shows  what  a  strange  and  wonder- 
tics  among  the  black  races  are  hard  to  ful  thing  is  the  mind  of  an  orthodox 
come  by,  although  it  is  clearly  estab-  Marxist, 
lished  that  the  Negro  birth  rate  in  the  Gerald  Heard,  who  is  a  noted  broad- 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  475 

caster  in  England,  writes  about  our  own  new  has  many  wonderful  new  things  in 
times  from  a  somewhat  different  angle  it  nobody  can  deny.  Many  of  these  mod- 
in  These  Hurrying  Years  (  Oxford  Uni-  ern  miracles  are  fully  treated  in  A.  Fred- 
versity  Press,  $2.50),  an  interpretative  erick  Collins's  The  New  World  of  Sci- 
history  of  the  Twentieth  Century  to  ence  (Lippincott,  $2.50),  the  result  of 
date.  It  is  Mr.  Heard's  theory  that  we  a  visit  to  the  Century  of  Progress  Ex- 
are  living  in  a  new  world,  and  that  un-  position.  Mr.  Collins  ranges  widely,  ex- 
less  we  can  adjust  ourselves  to  it,  our  plaining  the  photoelectric  cell  and  its 
minds  particularly,  the  whole  show  will  uses,  how  planetaria  are  made,  the  latest 
blow  up,  and  the  human  race  will  have  thing  in  automata,  television,  and  so  on. 
to  start  over.  What  he  would  like  to  There  are  many  diagrams  and  illustra- 
have  us  do  is  to  content  ourselves  with  tions,  and  even  explanations  about 
a  sort  of  vague  belief  in  the  existence  of  making  many  of  the  devices.  It  is  an 
a  First  Cause,  and  beyond  this  to  keep  interesting  volume,  although  very  badly 
our  minds  open  and  well- ventilated,  or  written  j  if  you  buy  a  copy  for  your  teen- 
in  other  words,  to  do  something  the  hu-  age  boy,  who  will  probably  eat  it  up,  tell 
man  race  has  never  been  able  to  do  up  to  him  he  is  not  to  take  the  style  as  a  model, 
this  point,  namely  to  face  eternity  with- 
out  any  certainty  whatever.  The  Wall  Street  Casino 

To  swing  back  to  economics  for  a  mo- 

e^f  Radio  ^Philosopher  ment,  there  is  John  T.  Flynn's  Security 

Mr.  Heard  writes  vigorously  and  is  Speculation:  Its  Economic  Effects  (Har- 
often  delightfully  ironical.  Some  of  his  court,  Brace),  which  can  not  be  passed 
history  is  excellent  reading,  some  of  it  by,  since  Mr.  Flynn  is  the  Landscaper's 
quite  irritating.  As  a  philosopher,  he  favorite  writer  on  Wall  Street.  He  be 
rates  about  as  far  up  the  list  as  might  be  lieves  the  Stock  Market  is  a  gambling 
expected  from  anybody  who  talks  regu-  joint  and  says  so  and  comes  as  near  to 
larly  over  the  radio  5  the  Landscaper  proving  his  point  as  anybody  can. 
feels  that  at  bottom  he  has  very  little  to  Of  world  affairs  outside  our  own  di- 
offer  except  entertainment,  and  that  if  rect  range,  although  concerned  with 
his  premise  is  true,  that  we  live  in  a  events  that  may  have  a  hand  in  shaping 
wholly  new  world  to  which  we  must  our  future,  also,  there  are  two  new  books 
make  our  adjustments  or  perish,  we'll  about  what  is  happening  in  central 
just  perish.  China,  where  a  Soviet  Republic  is  actu- 

To  begin  with,  a  large  part  of  the  ally  functioning,  with  some  80,000,000 

old  world  is  left  both  outside  mankind  adherents.  They  are:  General  Victor 

and  inside,  and  even  if  it  were  not  the  A.  YakhontofPs  The  Chinese  Soviets 

race  has  not  yet  mastered  such  speedy  (Coward-McCann,    $3),    and    Agnes 

adaptability  as  Mr.  Heard  demands.  Smedley's  China's  Red  Army  Marches 

Too  much  must  not  be  expected  when  (Vanguard,  $2.50).  General  Yakhon- 

so  many  of  us  in  this  age  suffer  all  our  toff's  book  is  factual  and  documented, 

lives  from  digestive  troubles  the  cause  where  Miss  Smedley's  is  colorful  and 

of  which  is  that  some  remote  ancestor  romantic,  but  there  is  no  essential  dis- 

decided  eons  ago  to  get  up  off  his  all-  agreement  between  the  two  observers, 

fours.  .  .  .  Miss  Smedley  is  completely  partisan, 

But  that  our  world  if  not  altogether  and  perhaps  not  free  from  exaggera- 


476  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

tion  of  the  heroic  qualities  of  the  Red  of  the  present  Roosevelts.  This  book 

Army,  but  this  has  nothing  to  do  with  has  everything  in  it  to  attract  a  wide 

the  importance  of  what  she  is  writing  public,  and  if  it  is  not  high  up  on  all 

about.  Both  writers  are  of  the  opinion  best-seller  lists  by  the  time  these  words 

that  the  establishment  of  this  Commu-  appear,  the  Landscaper  will  be  will- 

nist  government  arose  from  the  needs  ing  to  admit  that  he  is  no  kin  to  a 

of  the  peasants  and  was  not  the  result  of  prophet. 

external  propaganda  5  both  consider  it  Hoover  saw  everything  and  has  set 
likely  that  the  nation  within  a  nation  it  all  down  in  candor  j  his  book  is  even- 
may  be  a  nucleus  from  which  will  grow  tempered  and  convincing,  and  pretty 
a  government  strong  enough  to  offer  much  without  heroes,  although  he 
stiff  and  effective  resistance  against  for-  thought  Theodore  Roosevelt  and 
eign  domination.  Woodrow  Wilson  were  somewhat  above 

As  footnotes  to  all  these  books  about  ordinary  stature.  The  other  Presidents 
contemporary  affairs,  R.  B.  Mowat's  he  knew  intimately  seemed  to  him  not 
charming  study  of  the  Eighteenth  Cen-  at  all  above  the  ordinary  and  some  of 
tury,  The  Age  of  Reason  (Houghton  them  below  average.  Coolidge  he  con- 
Mifflin,  $2.50),  and  Herbert  1VL  Mo-  sidered  a  little  queer,  but  the  Executive 
rais's  Deism  in  Eighteenth  Century  he  really  disliked  was  Hoover,  who,  he 
America  (Columbia  University  Press,  says,  never  had  a  pleasant  word  for  any- 
$3.50) ,  make  good  reading,  particularly  body  and  who  "worked  all  the  time  like 
since  the  tolerance  and  internationalism  a  man  in  fear  of  losing  his  job."  The 
of  the  Eighteenth  Century  have  so  book  is  in  some  respects  of  first  impor- 
completely  disappeared  from  our  own  tance  historically,  but  aside  from  its  per- 
nationalistic  age.  The  Landscaper  has  al-  manent  value,  it  is  chock-full  of  the  most 
ways  had  a  passion  for  The  Age  of  Rea-  fascinating  gossip,  and  as  much  of  this 
son,  which  had  a  far  stronger  influence  is  about  the  President's  wives  as  about 
upon  the  culture  of  the  ante-bellum  the  Presidents,  so  that  women  readers 
South  than  is  generally  known,  and  the  will  like  it  no  less  well  than  the  men. 
course  of  Deism  in  this  country,  includ-  The  publishers  announce  that  the  book 
ing  its  final  defeat  at  the  hands  of  the  version  is  virtually  entirely  different 
orthodox,  is  an  exceptionally  interesting  from  the  parts  of  Mr.  Hoover's  manu- 
subject,  which  Mr.  Morais  has  treated  script  that  appeared  in  the  Saturday 
thoroughly,  although  the  arrangement  Evening  Post. 
of  his  material  leaves  much  to  be  desired. 

Qood  American  Shovels 
Q os sip  tAboVt  ^Presidents  Several  distinguished  American  nov- 

There  are  so  many  novels  waiting  for  els  have  appeared  since  the  last  Land- 
attention  that  not  all  the  space  can  be  scape  was  written,  and  of  a  notable  half- 
given  to  the  most  delightful  book  of  the  dozen  three  of  the  authors  are  men, 
month,  which  is  Irwin  W.  (Ike)  Hoo-  which  shows  that  not  all  our  good  fiction 
ver's  Forty-Two  Years  in  the  White  comes  from  the  distaff  side,  although 
House  (Houghton  Mifflin,  $3),  an  in-  the  women  in  this  country  do  hold  the 
side  account  of  events  and  people  in  the  lead  by  an  unmistakable  margin. 
Executive  Mansion  from  the  adminis-  The  six  are  Grace  Zaring  Stone's  The 
tration  of  Cleveland  down  to  the  arrival  Cold  Journey  (Morrow,  $2.50),  Jo- 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  477 

sephine  Johnson's  Now  in  November  or  pessimistic,  rather  it  is  the  simple 

(Simon    and    Schuster,    $2),    Nancy  truth  that  life  somehow  goes  on  and 

Hale's   Never  Any   More    (Scribner,  that  a  sense  of  the  beauty  of  small  things 

$2.50),  Archie  Binns's  Lightship  (Rey-  is  a  secure  defense  against  anything  that 

nal    and    Hitchcock,    $2.50),    Samuel  may  happen  to  pathetic  human  beings. 

Rogers's  Dusk  at  the.  Grove  (Atlantic  Both  the  writing  and  the  point  of  view 

Monthly  Press-Little,  Brown,  $2.50)  are  astonishingly  mature,  and  lead  one 

and  John   O'Hara's  Anointment  in  to  expect  a  great  deal  of  this  very  tal- 

Samarra  (Harcourt,  Brace,  $2.50).  ented  new  author. 

Mrs.  Stone  is  the  only  established  Miss  Hale's  novel  is  concerned  with 
novelist  in  the  lot.  She  is  already  well  the  workings  of  the  New  England  con- 
known  for  The  Bitter  Tea  of  General  science  in  the  lives  of  three  modern 
Yen,  The  Heaven  and  Earth  of  Dona  young  women,  and  is  written  with  both 
Elena,  etc.  The  present  book  is  con-  skill  and  insight,  a  well-organized  and 
cerned  with  the  Deerfield  Massacre,  moving  novel,  which  owes  much  to 
and  the  adventures  of  the  survivors  modern  technique,  and  which  is  well 
who  were  taken  to  Canada,  and  who  worth  reading. 

finally  found  their  way  back  again  to  Mr.  Rogers's  Dusk  in  the  Grovey 
the  Massachusetts  colony.  It  is,  there-  which  won  the  current  $10,000  Atlan- 
fore,  a  historical  novel  as  to  general  tic  Monthly  prize,  and  which  is  the  first 
classification,  but  actually  it  is  a  study  American  novel  to  gain  this  coveted 
in  three  civilizations,  the  Puritan,  the  award,  is  a  fine  example  of  the  stream- 
French  or  Catholic,  and  the  Indian  j  of-consciousness  novel  in  which  this 
and  Mrs.  Stone  has  brought  a  great  method  is  handled  with  deftness,  and 
deal  of  ironical  wisdom  to  the  task  of  in  which  the  characters  come  vividly  to 
setting  these  three  off  one  against  the  life.  It  is  the  story  of  an  American  fam- 
other.  A  style  that  is  cool,  balanced  and  ily  whose  lives  centre  about  a  Rhode 
precise,  an  understanding  of  people,  Island  summer  place,  and  it  follows 
particularly  women,  and  a  keen  sense  of  the  fortunes  of  mother  and  father  and 
the  technique  of  the  novel  combine  to  the  children  to  the  end,  or  at  least  until 
make  this  book  a  genuine  work  of  art,  we  see  which  way  things  are  going  for 
and  to  the  Landscaper's  way  of  think-  them.  The  prose  is  smoothly  beautiful 
ing  Mrs.  Stone's  finest  achievement  to  for  the  most  part,  and  while  the  book  is 
date.  by  no  means  great,  it  is  far  superior  to 

most  prize  novels.  As  this  is  being 

<L#  Mature  First  Shovel  written,  it  has  won  considerable  popu- 

Josephine  Johnson  is  a  very  young  larity,  although  it  has  been  criticized 
short  story  writer  whose  first  novel  is  a  by  proletarian  reviewers  because  its 
story  of  our  own  times,  the  adventures  people  seem  to  be  aloof  from  the  con- 
of  a  family  driven  back  to  the  land  by  temporary  struggle,  secure  middle- 
the  depression.  The  time  is  the  summer  class  people  whose  troubles  arise  from 
when  everything  depends  on  the  sue-  conflict  within  rather  than  without, 
cessful  outcome  of  the  crops  and  a  The  Landscaper  feels  that  its  problems 
drouth  ensues.  There  are  other  trage-  are  so  essentially  human  that  no  system 
dies,  one  on  top  of  another,  but  the  can  remove  them,  and  does  not,  there- 
philosophy  of  the  book  is  not  gloomy  fore,  hold  that  the  book  is  any  less  im- 


478  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

portant  because  Communism  is  never  follies,  he  takes  the  easy  way  out  by 

mentioned  in  it.  suicide. 

Life  tA  board  a  Lightship  ^Mr.  O'Hara's  Virtues 

Mr.  Binns's  novel  deals  with  the  lives  In  its  details  there  is  no  denying  the 
of  a  small  group  of  men  on  a  lightship  truth  of  Mr.  O'Hara's  picture,  the  ex- 
off  the  Pacific  Coast.  The  main  thread  cellence  of  his  dialogue,  nor  his  ability 
of  the  story  is  the  fate  of  the  ship  itself,  to  tell  a  story.  But  there  is  a  brittleness 
to  which  we  are  introduced  at  a  time  about  the  whole  thing  that  does  not 
when  storms  have  cheated  of  proper  make  for  real  excellence,  and  the 
relief,  and  when  food  and  coal  are  both  brittleness  lies  only  partly  in  the  nature 
running  low.  Mr.  Binns  tells  the  tale  of  of  the  material.  One  has  the  feeling 
each  of  the  men,  who  are  a  thoroughly  that  Mr.  O'Hara's  admiration  for  his 
interesting  lot  of  human  beings.  The  unadmirable  characters  is  too  great  5  his 
author  spent  months  on  a  lightship  racketeer  is  too  romantic,  and  the  rack- 
himself  when  young,  and  his  atmos-  eteer's  assistant,  Al  Grecco,  too  noble, 
phere  is  therefore  authentic,  but  again  The  language  of  the  book  is  completely 
his  primary  interest  is  in  people,  in  the  frank,  and  the  sexual  episodes  un- 
strange  things  that  go  on  in  their  minds,  varnished,  although  it  is  certainly  in 
and  the  curious  adventures  they  man-  no  sense  deliberately  pornographic, 
age  to  have  before  they  drop  anchor.  Rather,  it  is  an  indication  that  we  live 
Done  with  admirable  grasp  of  the  in  an  age  that  does  not  recognize  dig- 
material  and  with  cleverness  in  the  nity,  and  there  are  some  of  us  who 
weaving  of  a  complicated  pattern,  this  think  this  is  a  loss;  that  people  who  do 
is  a  very  good  novel  indeed,  romantic  not  recognize  dignity  as  of  any  impor- 
in  its  essence,  although  credible  and  tance  are  able  to  live  only  slightly  above 
unstrained.  It  reveals  a  new  author  the  animal  level.  So  when  they  decide 
who  has  something  to  say,  in  addition  to  kill  themselves,  it  is  very  hard  to  be 
to  being  able  to  write  exceptionally  moved,  for  there  is  no  tragedy  in  the 
well.  death  of  the  trivial  and  the  ordinary, 
Mr.  O'Hara's  study  of  life  in  a  Penn-  defeated  by  its  own  inner  weaknesses, 
sylvania  town  has  the  failings  and  the  However,  Mr.  O'Hara's  book  is  highly 
virtues  of  a  certain  hardboiled  attitude  readable. 

toward  life  and  people  that  is  to  be  Of  recent  English  novels,  Rose  Mac- 
found  in  the  works  of  Dorothy  Parker,  aulay's  Going  Abroad  (Harper,  $2.50), 
and  which  is  also  familiar  to  readers  of  a  satire  on  Buchmanism  in  the  Basque 
Mr.  O'Hara's  short  stories  in  The  New  country,  and  a  most  amusing  picture  of 
Yorker  and  elsewhere.  He  deals  with  a  group  of  English  people,  plus  two 
the  country  club  set  and  the  emptiness  beauty  shop  owners,  during  a  summer 
of  the  lives  of  its  members.  His  central  on  the  northern  coast  of  Spain,  is  one  of 
figure  is  a  handsome,  attractive  and  sue-  the  choicest  items.  Miss  Macaulay  is 
cessful  automobile  dealer,  whom  we  gentler  than  she  used  to  be,  but  she  can 
meet  when  his  life  has  taken  a  sudden  still  make  a  bull's  eye  with  her  barbs, 
turn  for  the  worse,  and  who  seems  un-  and  this  book  is  easily  one  of  the  most 
able  to  check  his  disastrous  course,  entertaining  the  Landscaper  has  seen 
Trapped  by  his  own  weaknesses  and  this  season. 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  479 

Charming  English  ^Panorama  *An  ^Anti-Fascist  Shovel 

Doris  Leslie's  Full  Flavour  (Mac-  Among  other  recent  foreign  books, 

millan,  $2.50)  is  a  long  and  leisurely  IgnzzioSilone'sFontamara  (Smith  and 

novel  of  the  panoramic  type,  covering  Haas,  $2.50)  is  outstanding,  a  singu- 

Victorian  England  and  fetching  up  at  larly  effective  tale  of  a  tiny  hill  village 

the  World  War.  Its  central  figure  is  in  the  south  of  Italy  which  held  out  for 

Catherine  Ducrox,  who  becomes  after  the  twinkle  of  an  eye  against  the  on- 

the  death  of  her  charming  but  ineffec-  rushing  tide  of  Fascism.  It  is  a  peasant 

tive  father  the  head  of  a  cigar  business  story  by  a  man  who  has  spent  his  life 

and  at  last  an  important  factor  in  the  fighting  for  the  rights  of  a  class  that 

whole  English  tobacco  trade.  She  is  has  suffered  severely  at  the  hands  of 

therefore  a  prototype  of  the  modern  the  great  Mussolini,  and  therefore  it  is 

business  woman,  and  a  charming  per-  partisanly  hot  with  emotion.  But  it  has 

son  besides.  There  are  many  other  char-  the  authentic  ring,  and  is  told  with  fine 

acters  and  sufficient  adventures  to  keep  skill.  The  author  is  now  living  in  exile 

the  story  moving  gently  along,  and  the  in  Switzerland,  where  he  is  the  editor 

fact  that  the  discerning  reader  will  see  of  a  labor  newspaper.  His  novel  has 

how  the  book  is  constructed  will  prob-  been  a  best  seller  in  most  European 

ably  not  mar  his  pleasure  in  it  all.  It  is,  countries,   although,   of  course,   it   is 

as  one  reviewer  said,  "sweetly  written,"  under  the  Fascist  ban. 

and  the  Landscaper  enjoyed  it  thor-  Other  recent  American  novels  in- 

oughly  with  one  reservation,  Miss  Les-  elude  Albert  Halper's  The  Foundry 

lie's  single  American  character,  whose  (Viking,  $2.50),  which  is  the  story  of 

language  is  atrocious  and  impossible  an  electrotyping  plant  in  Chicago  done 

and  who  is  vulgar  because  she  is  Ameri-  with  great  realism  and  made  highly 

can.  The  English  are  very  tiresome  on  readable,  with  much  humor  to  give  it 

this  point.  savor.  It  is  frequently  lacking  in  taste, 

Hugh    Walpole's    latest,    Captain  and  also  the  style  is  badly  in  need  of 

Nicholas  (Doubleday,  Doran,  $2.50),  pruning,  a  talented  book  that  could 

is  a  Walpole  potboiler  about  a  charm-  have  been  better.  Mr.  Halper  needs 

ing  villain  who  returns  to  the  London  badly  to  curb  his  carelessness  in  the 

home  of  his  family  after  a  long  absence  inept  use  of  metaphor,  for  one  thing.  A 

and  just  about  wrecks  a  peaceful  and  friend  with  plenty  of  blue  pencils  could 

old-fashioned  household.  Speaking  as  be  of  great  service.  .  .  . 

one  who  has  never  been  impressed  with  Also     William     Wister     Haines's 

Mr.  Walpole's  greatness,  the  Land-  Slim  (Atlantic  Monthly  Press-Little, 

scaper  found  the  novel  only  passably  Brown,  $2.50),  the  story  of  a  lineman 

entertaining,  and  at  times  pretty  tire-  on  high  tension  systems  that  is  an  au- 

some,  especially  when  the  author  wan-  thentic   piece   of   Americana,   written 

dered  off  his  pitch  to  discuss  matters  not  with  a  great  deal  of  vigor.  It  was  a 

very  germane  to  the  story.  There  are,  runner-up  to  Samuel  Rogers's  Dusk  at 

however,  thousands  of  readers  who  like  the  Grove,  and  if  it  had  won  the  prize 

Mr.  Walpole,  and  the  latest  novel  bears  would  probably  have  gone  a  good  deal 

the  strong  marks  of  his  personality,  al-  further  than  the  Rogers  book  because  it 

though  it  is  not  among  his  major  works,  is  less  "literary."  At  any  rate,  it  is  a 


480 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


good  swinging  healthy  tale,  and  de 
serves  attention. 

A  few  additions  to  the  non-fiction  list 
that  are  of  outstanding  importance: 
Sacheverell  Sitwell's  Liszt  (Hough ton 
Mifflin,  $3),  one  of  the  year's  best  biog 
raphies  j  Henry  W.  Nevinson's  In  the 
Dark  Backward  (Harcourt,  Brace, 
$2.50),  a  stirringly  written  adventure 
in  human  history,  in  which  the  schol 
arly  author  takes  his  departure  from 
some  contemporary  scene  and  wanders 
off  into  past  civilizations,  the  feat  being 
done  with  invariable  charm  j  Captain 
Henry  Landau's  All's  Fair:  The  Story 
of  the  British  Secret  Service  Behind  the 
German  Lines  (Putnam,  $2.50),  one 
of  the  best  of  the  spy  books  j  and  Aladar 
Kuncz's  Black  Monastery  (Harcourt, 
Brace,  $2.50),  a  book  about  the  life  of 
an  internment  camp  during  the  World 
War,  an  exceptionally  well  done  and 
interesting  account  of  what  happens 


when  a  group  of  men  is  forced  to  live 
under  unusual  conditions. 


Qood  ^Animal  Tlooks 

The  past  few  weeks  have  been  un 
usually  heavy  in  the  way  of  new  pub 
lications  even  for  this  season  of  the 
year  and  with  all  his  agility  the  Land- 
scaper  has  not  been  able  to  cover  the 
peaks  and  valleys  fully;  He  bows  him 
self  out  with  a  strong  recommendation 
for  two  animal  books,  R.  W.  Thomp 
son's  Wild  Animal  Man:  The  Story  of 
Reuben  Castang  (Morrow,  $2.50)  and 
Courtney  Riley  Cooper's  Boss  Ele 
phant:  The  Story  of  Old  Mom  (Little, 
Brown,  $2).  Mr.  Castang  has  tamed  all 
kinds  of  beasts,  including  grown  chim 
panzees,  and  is  a  remarkable  man  on 
many  counts,  worth  reading  about  5  and 
Old  Mom  is  one  of  the  most  fascinating 
elephants  the  Landscaper  has  ever  en 
countered. 


Tyriusqut  mibi  nullo  discrimine  agetur 


American  T^eview 


VOLUME  238  DECEMBER,  1934  NUMBER  6 


Aperitif 


For  these  reasons  he  may  well  have  ap- 

The  Save-a-Life  League  peared  to  be  at  the  end  of  his  rope  or 

THIS  department's  staff  interviewer  contemplating  dangling  by  his  neck 

had  a  disconcerting  experience  the  from  it. 

other  day  when  he  was  sent  out  to  look  But  the  surprise  of  being  so  mis- 

into  the  activities  of  the  Save-a-Life  judged  did  little  or  no  good  to  his  re- 

League.  The  League,  you  may  know,  maining  aplomb,  and  when  he  assured 

engages  in  the  commendable  work  of  the  Reverend  Dr.  Harry  M.  Warren, 

preventing   people   from   committing  president  of  the  Save-a-Life  League, 

suicide,  or  trying  to,  at  least.  What  hap-  that  he  desired  nothing  better  than  a 

pened  evidently  was  that  the  abnormal  long  life,  the  assurance  must  have  fallen 

number  of  customers  brought  in  by  the  short  of  actually  assuring.  Dr.  Warren 

depression    had    made   the   League's  seemed  doubtful,  and  every  now  and 

president  somewhat  absent-minded,  and  then  during  the  interview,  when  he  was 

when  our  interviewer  arrived,  the  presi-  explaining  the  technique  of  dissuading 

dent,  forgetting  his  name  and  occupa-  people  from  suicide,  the  explanation 

tion,  immediately  went  to  work  on  him  had  such  a  direct  and  realistic  quality 

as  another  despondent  prospect  for  the  that  our  interviewer  suspected  that  Dr. 

halter.  Warren  was  taking  no  chances,  was  get- 

There  was,  possibly,  good  reason.  In  ting  in  some  good  licks  of  dissuasion 

the  first  place,  he  was  far  from  the  best  just  in  case  he  really  happened  to  be  a 

man  for  the  job,  since  Dr.  Walter  B.  customer,  in  disguise. 

Pitkin  maintains  that  persons  of  feeble  "You,"  said  Dr.  Warren,  for  instance, 

nervous   energy   should   avoid   inter-  to  the  interviewer,  "don't  really  hate 

views,  and  our  interviewer  is  hardly  so  your  body  enough  to  destroy  it.  You 

well  equipped  in  this  respect  as  the  don't  hate  it  at  all.  You  like  it.  Look  at 

doctor  himself.  Moreover,  he  quails  at  this  leg  of  yours."  Here  he  grasped  it 

the  sight  of  moral  tracts  and  neatly  just  under  the  knee.  "Why,  it's  a  fine 

framed  quotations  from  the  Bible  on  leg  —  a  splendid  leg.  You  wouldn't  do 

the  walls,  which  were  in  profusion  at  anything  to  harm  such  a  leg."  This  was 

the  offices  of  the  Save-a-Life  League,  partly  true,  and  partly  rank  over-em- 

Copyright,  1934,  by  North  American  Review  Corporation.  All  rights  reserved. 


482  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

phasis,  if  he  intended  it  for  our  inter-  Weekly  radio  addresses  and  dramatiza- 
viewer.  While  that  worthy  doubtless  tions  have  brought  the  League  to  public 
has  no  wish  to  do  injury  to  his  under-  attention,  as  has  newspaper  and  maga- 
pinnings,  they  are  actually  pretty  mis-  zine  publicity  from  time  to  time.  Be- 
erable  specimens,  knobby  and  lean  and  tween  May  i,  1933,  and  May  i,  1934, 
with  nothing  splendid  about  them.  But  workers  of  the  League  called  upon 
the  argument  was  fascinating,  Dr.  War-  1,819  persons  in  New  York  City  who 
ren  was  magnetic,  and  with  a  shiver  of  had  tried  to  kill  themselves,  1,321 
doubt  running  up  his  spine  our  inter-  families  in  which  suicides  had  occurred, 
viewer  began  to  wonder  whether  he  and  at  the  offices  of  the  League  inter- 
might  not  really  be  a  customer,  after  all.  viewed  2,822  persons — 2,157  men  and 
It  was  very  confusing.  665  women. 

All  this,  obviously,  represents  a  great 
deal  of  effort,  and  cynical  persons  are 

Nevertheless,  with  an  effort  of  will  apt  to  doubt  that  it  is  worth  it.  Their 

he  set  about  gathering  facts.  The  Save-  argument  is  that  a  man  or  woman  who 

a-Life  League  was  started  twenty-eight  is  honestly  determined  to  commit  sui- 

years  ago  by  Dr.  Warren,  formerly  cide  will  go  ahead  and  do  it  without 

pastor   of   the   Central   Park   Baptist  confessing  the  intention  to  an  organiza- 

Church  in  New  Yorkj  and  he  estimates  tion  whose  purpose  it  is  to  prevent  such 

that  it  has  saved  between  twenty-five  things.  In  this  connection  an  insurance 

and  thirty  thousand  lives  since.  It  is  an  agent  told  recently  of  a  man  who  had 

interdenominational  association,  large-  taken  out  several  hundred  thousand 

ly  manned  by  clerics,  who  believe  that  dollars'  worth  of  life  insurance  and 

suicide  is  a  sin  against  God  as  well  as  an  carried  it  for  two  years  and  one  day, 

unnecessary,    painful    and    profitless  then  killed  himself,  knowing  that  it 

undertaking.    Its   activities   consist   in  could  not  be  contested  on  the  ground  of 

answering  letters  of  prospective  sui-  suicide  after  that  length  of  time.  The 

cides,  interviewing  them  at  its  office,  agent  was  convinced  that  the  man  had 

sending  out  agents  to  interview  those  suicide  in  mind  when  he  took  out  the 

whose  relatives  or  friends  telephone  in  policy.  Now  one  of  the  stock  tricks  of 

to  ask  help,  and  doing  whatever  it  can  the  League  workers  is  to  persuade  a 

to  relieve  distress  in  families  where  would-be  suicide  to  wait  a  day  or  two, 

suicides  have  already  occurred.  In  this  after  which  the  desire  usually  begins  to 

last  category  the  League's  work  in-  wane.  But  a  man  who  can  plan  ahead 

eludes  sending  some  200  children  of  two  years  for  self-destruction,  and  carry 

suicides  to  summer  camps  and  giving  it  out,  is  surely  beyond  help  from  the 

away  an  equal  number  of  Christmas  most  persuasive  minister, 

baskets.  It  has  branches  or  allied  work-  It  must  be  true  that  a  great  many  of 

ers  in  Boston,  Detroit,  Chicago,  Atlanta,  those  who  go  to  the  League's  offices 

St.  Louis,  Minneapolis  and  half  a  dozen  professing  the  intention  of  suicide,  even 

or  a  dozen  other  cities.  Some  7,000  vol-  if  they  are  not  merely  looking  for  hand- 

untary  contributors  support  its  work.  outs,  are  willing  to  go  at  least  half-way 

The  police  and  the  medical  exami-  with  any  one  who  tries  to  dissuade  them, 

ner's  office  report  daily  to  the  League  Dr.  Warren  says  that  all  most  of  them 

cases  of  suicide  and  attempted  suicide,  need  is  some  one  to  listen  sympatheti- 


APfiRITIF  483 

cally   to   their   troubles.    Presumably  own  regard  for  living  into  the  youths, 

there  is  such  a  vast  deal  of  trouble  in  If  a  prospective  suicide  has  close  rela- 

the  world  today  that  sympathetic  ears  tives,  it  is  usually  an  easy  matter  to 

are  growing  scarce,   and   it  becomes  restrain  him  by  describing  the  unhappy 

necessary  to  have  special  organizations  effects  upon  those  relatives.  Qne  of  these 

of  this  sort  in  lieu  of  ordinary  friend-  effects  is  a  tendency  to  imitate.  Very 

ship  or  affection — which  is  a  sad  state  of  often  one  suicide  in  a  family  will  start 

affairs  in  itself.  But  it  does  not  answer  a  train  of  them. 

the    question    whether    such    persons  Many  persons  begin  thinking  of  sui- 

would  actually  commit  suicide  if  they  cide  because  they  feel  that  there  is  no 

could  find  no  sympathy  at  the  League's  place  left  for  them  in  life.  An  aging 

offices  or  a  similar  place.  man,  retired  or  jobless,  may  become 

Many  times,  however,  the  troubles  despondent  over  the  fact  that  he  is  a 
are  of  such  a  nature  that  it  is  possible  burden  on  relatives  and  a  useless  part 
for  Dr.  Warren  and  his  associates  to  do  of  the  community.  Such  cases  require 
something  concrete  about  them.  If  a  only  the  discovery  of  some  activity  to 
man,  not  normally  dishonest,  has  taken  engage  the  person's  thoughts  and  en- 
some  one  else's  money,  occasionally  the  ergy.  In  one  instance  the  activity  for  a 
League  workers  can  make  arrange-  widowed  and  retired  clergyman  took 
ments  for  its  gradual  return  without  the  ironical  form  of  searching  the  Bible 
having  him  sent  to  prison.  When  such  for  admonitions  against  suicide  and  pre- 
a  man  is  of  a  temperament  that  could  paring  a  pamphlet  on  his  findings.  Dr. 
not  bear  the  disgrace  of  imprisonment,  Warren  believes  that  he  has  been  in- 
then  obviously  the  League  has  pre-  strumental  in  preventing  some  sixty 
vented  him  from  committing  suicide.  If  clergymen,  of  all  creeds  and  denomi- 
an  indiscreet  girl  can  not  face  the  dis-  nations,  from  committing  suicide, 
grace  of  bearing  a  child  out  of  wedlock  Among  the  miscellaneous  bits  of  in- 
and  sees  suicide  as  the  only  course,  the  formation  our  interviewer  picked  up  is 
League  can  and  frequently  does  per-  the  fact  that  women  are  less  successful 
suade  her  that  she  can  have  the  child  in  their  attempts  to  do  away  with  them- 
safely  and  without  any  one's  being  the  selves  than  men.  Apparently  their  lack 
wiser,  even  her  parents.  In  such  cases  of  a  mechanical  bent  stands  them  in 
the  League  saves  two  lives  at  a  time.  good  stead.  Another  rather  curious  item 

High  school  and  college  students  is  that  boys  most  often  choose  hanging 

have  been  indulging  in  suicide  lately  as  their  method  of  suicide.  Just  why  this 

rather  more  than  is  good  for  them.  Dr.  should  be  so  Dr.  Warren  could  not  be 

Warren  has  a  story  of  two  roommates,  sure,  but  presumably  a  necktie,  belt  or 

one  an  upper  classman  who  had  been  piece  of  rope  is  nearly  always  lying 

subdued  by  Schopenhauer  and  the  other  about  for  handy  use  when  a  pistol, 

younger  but  also  susceptible.  They  ar-  poison  or  tall  building  might  be  hard  to 

ranged  a  suicide  pact,  and  but  for  the  come  by. 

generous  gesture  of  inviting  a  popular  Whether  or  not  the  League  actually 

young  instructor  to  join  them,  might  prevents  suicides  in  the  thousands  of 

now  be  beyond  all  care.  The  instructor  cases  of  despondent  people  which  come 

appealed  to  Dr.  Warren  and  Dr.  War-  before  it,  is  not  perhaps  so  important  as 

ren  managed  to  transmit  some  of  his  the  fact  that  it  does  instill  new  hope  and 


484  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

courage  in  most  of  them.  Even  if  a  per-  cide  plans,  or  whether  the  remark  was 

son  is  lacking  in  the  "guts"  which  Dr.  merely  intended  as  a  casual  insult.  In 

Warren's  elevator  boy  said  were  neces-  either  case,  knowing  his  instinctive  con- 

sary  for  a  real  suicide,  he  must  be  in  an  trariness,  we  have  since  watched  over 

exceedingly  unhappy  state  of  mind  be-  him  like  a  hawk. 

fore  approaching  the  League,  and  it  is  ^gp 

undeniably  true  that  the  League  does 

yeoman's  work  in  improving  despond-  "^American  'Principles" 

ent  mental  conditions.  There  is  a  story  from  Washington 

Naturally,  religion  plays  a  consider-  which  has  to  do  with  the  curious  effect 

able  part  in  the  undertaking.  Many  of  of  exposing  New  Deal  measures  to 

the  applicants  are  good  Christians  at  democratic  institutions.  It  seems  that 

heart  and  can  be  affected  by  religious  the  Bankhead  Bill,  dealing  with  the 

arguments.  Dr.  Warren  usually  prays  cotton  restriction  programme,  had  a 

with  them  by  the  time  he  has  succeeded  provision  requiring  the  vote  of  cotton 

in  restoring  their  sense  of  proportion  to  producers  on  the  continuation  of  the 

a  point  where  there  seems  to  be  no  fur-  restrictive  measures.  A  fe'w  weeks  ago 

ther  danger  of  self-destruction.  He  re-  the  AAA  thought  it  was  time  to  do 

iterated  this  fact  as  our  interviewer  was  something  about  the  matter  and  began 

about  to  depart,  and  his  manner  seemed  thinking  of  ways  to  hold  the  election, 

to  indicate  that  he  would  not  be  at  all  Whereupon  difficulties  rose  up  in  a 

averse  to  trying  it  with  that  sinner  also,  cloud. 

But,  like  moral  tracts  and  neatly  framed  The  Secretary  of  Agriculture  has  no 
quotations  from  the  Bible,  being  prayed  constitutional  power  to  say  who  shall  or 
with  or  over  gives  our  slubberdegullion  who  shall  not  vote  in  any  American 
interviewer  a  queer  sensation  at  the  pit  election,  but  who  else  was  there  to  de- 
of  the  stomach.  It  also  causes  confusion  cide  on  age  limits,  for  instance?  There 
in  his  mind,  and  since  he  had  already  are  cotton  producers  under  twenty-one 
been  thoroughly  upset  over  the  ques-  as  well  as  over  it,  but  is  the  convention 
tion  as  to  whether  or  not  he  might  of  twenty-one  years  as  the  age  of  major- 
really  be  a  customer  for  the  halter,  it  ity  in  ordinary  political  voting  a  suffi- 
seemed  the  part  of  wisdom  to  leave  cient  reason  for  excluding  those  under 
without  this  ceremony.  After  all,  it  it  in  purely  economic  voting? 
would  have  been  a  terrible  black  eye  for  Such  matters  caused  a  wave  of  head- 
the  League  if  he  went  there  merely  for  aches  in  Washington.  But  the  thing 
a  story  and  came  away  so  confused  that  which  completely  stumped  the  Admin- 
he  jumped  in  front  of  a  subway  train.  istration  thinkers  was  the  inclusiveness 

It  was  as  he  left  that  the  elevator  boy  of  that  word  "producers"  in  the  Ian- 
confided  in  our  interviewer  his  opinion  guage  of  the  bill.  "Producers"  were  not 
that  it  took  more  "guts"  to  commit  sui-  only  owners  but  tenant-farmers  as  well, 
cide  than  he  thought  most  applicants  to  There  was  no  denying  that.  But,  as 
the  League  possessed.  Our  interviewer  every  one  knows,  tenant-farmers  were 
is  still  wondering  whether  the  elevator  also  in  good  proportion  Negroes,  and 
boy  was  in  the  pay  of  Dr.  Warren  and  Negroes  do  not  make  a  practice  of  vot- 
this  was  a  last  subtle  touch  to  clinch  the  ing  in  the  South,  considering  it,  on  the 
discouragement  of  his  presumptive  sui-  whole,  unhealthy.  Worse,  if  they  did 


APfiRITIF  485 

begin  to  vote  on  crop-restriction  meas-  years  has  gone  serenely  along  in  the  old 

ures,  there  was  no  telling  when  they  way,  unbothered  by  revolutions  or  New 

might  take  it  into  their  heads  to  insist  Deals.  This  class  consists  of  radio  broad- 

upon  voting  on  other  things,  such  as  casters  of  football  games.  They  might 

Huey  Long,  or  Tom  Heflin,  or  Bilbo  occasionally  become  confused  over  the 

the  Two-Edged  Sword,  or  even  the  nature  of  a  penalty  or  the  name  of  a 

good  Senator  Bankhead  himself.  tackier,  but  on  the  fundamentals  up 

Obviously,  there  was  nothing  to  do  until  this  fall  they  remained  sure  of 
but  drop  the  matter  hastily,  and  hastily  themselves  and  were  almost  happy, 
it  was  dropped.  It  ought  to  be  a  pleas-  Now  it  appears  that  even  this  last  rock 
ure,  at  any  rate,  for  opponents  of  the  of  stability  is  to  be  denied  us.  In  New 
New  Deal  to  learn  how  easily  New  Haven  on  the  Saturday  of  the  Yale- 
Deal  measures  shrivel  away  when  ex-  Army  game  an  announcer — surely  cor- 
posed  to  the  strong  flame  of  good  old  rupted  by  the  spirit  of  the  times — re- 
democratic  institutions.  marked  late  in  the  afternoon:  "It's 
sy*  getting  very  dark  up  here  now."  A  mo 
ment  later  he  hedged  with:  "But  the 
frothing  Ventured  visibility  isn't  diminishing."  Then 

While  political  and  economic  observ-  clinched  the  argument  with:  "By  any 

ers   were  staggering   around   looking  chance."  Thus  covering  every  eventu- 

f or  something— almost  anything— clear  ality  and  making  himself  as  safe  as  an 

and  definite  to  comment  on,  at  least  one  economist, 
class  of  commentators  in  the  past  few  w.  A.  D. 


How  the  English  Handle  Crime 

BY  P.  W.  WILSON 

1  The  case  of  Bruno  Hauptmann  brings  up  again  the  contrasts 
in  English  and  American  legal  machinery 

IN  A  RECENT  broadcast,   President  On  May  i,  ten  years  ago,  the  at- 

Roosevelt  made  a  flattering  allu-  tendant  at  the  left  luggage  office  of 

sion  to  Great  Britain's  far-famed  Waterloo  Station  in  London  noticed 

way  of  managing  her  affairs.  Did  Eng-  blood  on  a  handbag  there  deposited.  He 

land  remain  on  the  gold  standard?  Tri-  informed    the    police    and    detectives 

umphantly,  the  President  answered —  watched  the  office.  On  May  2,  a  man — 

no.  Mahon — claimed  the  bag.  He  was  ar- 

Comparisons  of  this  kind  are  chiefly  rested  at  once  and  taken  to  the  police 
of  value  when  they  suggest  what  may  station  for  questioning.  The  bag  was 
be  to  the  public  advantage,  and  there  found  to  contain  women's  clothing  and 
is  another  problem  on  which  the  ex-  certain  indescribable  fragments, 
perience  of  England  may  shed  a  side-  The  man  was  warned — as  the  law  re 
light.  That  problem  is  not  currency  but  quires — that  any  statement  made  by 
crime.  him  would  be  taken  down  in  writing 

The  United  States  is  mobilizing  the  and  might  be  used  against  him.  He 
forces  of  the  law — Federal  and  State  wrote  and  signed  a  confession  that,  at 
and  municipal — against  the  under-  a  bungalow,  he  had  quarreled  violently 
world,  and  we  may  ask  the  question:  with  a  woman  whom,  in  self-defense,  he 
how  do  the  English  handle  a  case  of  al-  had  killed.  On  May  3  the  police 
leged  murder?  To  take  an  illustration  searched  the  bungalow  and  verified  the 
— let  us  suppose  that,  at  some  gasoline  story  in  so  far  as  the  killing  was  con- 
station  in  London,  a  Bruno  Hauptmann  cerned. 

changed  a  five-pound  note  for  which  According  to  law,  the  prisoner  on  that 

the    authorities    had    been    watching,  day  was  brought  immediately  before  a 

What  would  have  happened?  magistrate  and  charged  with  murder. 

No  two  criminal  cases  are  precisely  Remands  or  postponements  of  a  further 

parallel  and  kidnapping  for  ransom  has  hearing  were  granted  until  May  22. 

been  almost  unknown  in  Great  Britain.  Five  days  were  then  devoted  to  the  pre- 

But  we  may  consider  a  few  typical  prose-  liminary  hearing.  In  the  meantime,  a 

cutions  for  murder,  some  of  them  end-  coroner's  jury  had  brought  in  a  verdict 

ing  in  conviction  and  others  in  acquittal,  of  wilful  murder  against  the  prisoner, 

which  illustrate  the  English  procedure.  The  decision  of  the  magistrate  or  the 


HOW  THE  ENGLISH  HANDLE  CRIME  487 

verdict  at  the  inquest— either  or  both—  Mahon  was  arrested  at  some  distance 

would  have  been  enough  to  support  an  from  the  scene  of  his  offense,  which  was 

indictment  before  the  grand  jury,  and  perpetrated  in  a  county  outside  London, 

the  grand  jury  did  not  hesitate  to  bring  But  this  circumstance  did  not  assist  him. 

in  a'true  bill.  On  July  16,  the  case  was  Instead  of  extradition  there  was  juris- 

heard  before  the  Sussex  Assizes  and  a  diction,  and  the  jurisdiction  was  imme- 

verdict  of  guilty  resulted.  After  all  diate. 

measures  had  been  taken  to  modify  the  The  importance  of  adequate  jurisdic- 

sentence  of  death,  either  by  appeal  to  a  tion  can  not  be  overestimated.  Society 

superior  court  or  to  the  Crown  for  the  in  the  United  States  is  easy-going.  But 

prerogative  of  mercy,  Mahon  was  exe-  in  the  end  crime  has  to  be  suppressed, 

cuted  on  September  3.  The  case,  thus  If  the  law  is  ineffective,  other  measures 

disposed  of,  had  followed  a  normal  time  are  applied.  There  is  lynching.  The  Ku 

table.  From  the  discovery  of  the  hand-  Klux  Klan  or  Vigilantes  are  organized, 

bag  to  the  disappearance  of  the  mur-  The  police,  knowing  that  convictions 

derer  on  the  gallows,  there  elapsed  a  are  made  difficult  and  even  impossible, 

period  of  just  four  months.  and   that   dangerous   malefactors   are 

released  from  prison  again  to  prey  upon 
the  community,  solve  the  problem  by 

The  problem  of  dealing  with  such  a  shooting  bandits  at  sight.  It  is  only  by 
crime  in  England  or,  indeed,  in  any  strict,  rapid  justice  in  the  courts  that 
European  country,  must  always  be  these  alternatives  can  be  avoided.  It  is 
simpler  than  in  the  United  States.  Eng-  significant  that  in  England  the  police, 
land  is  an  island  of  limited  area  with  as  a  rule,  do  not  need  to  carry  arms, 
a  carefully  patrolled  seaboard.  The  In  many  cases,  it  is  the  local  police 
United  States  is  a  continent  with  two  who  are  the  first  to  be  brought  on  to  the 
frontiers — the  Canadian  and  the  Mexi-  scene  of  a  murder  and,  like  all  police, 
can — which  are  more  or  less  open.  In  they  are  suitably  imbued  with  a  sense  of 
this  vast  continent — again  to  recapitu-  their  own  infallibility.  But  in  any  grave 
late  the  familiar  argument — there  are  case  where  the  solution  is  not  obvious, 
forty-eight  sovereignties,  with  the  Dis-  they  do  not  hesitate  to  call  in  Scotland 
trict  of  Columbia  added,  all  of  them  en-  Yard  and,  in  any  event,  Scotland  Yard 
dowed  with  powers  of  life  and  death.  A  can  intervene.  The  inquiry  thus  becomes 
suspect  of  a  crime  committed  in  one  what  in  the  United  States  is  called  Fed- 
State  has  only  to  domicile  himself  in  eral.  The  whole  of  the  experience  ac- 
another  State,  and  he  greatly  compli-  cumulated  within  a  powerful  and 
cates  the  task  of  the  police.  There  has  national  agency  is  brought  to  bear  on 
to  be  extradition  by  a  process  of  law  the  local  investigation, 
usually  reserved  for  treaties  between  The  bungalow  case  is  instructive  also 
foreign  countries.  In  the  Lindbergh  because  it  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  kind  of 
case,  extradition  was  powerfully  op-  murder  with  which,  as  a  rule,  England 
posed  by  the  defense  and  the  prosecu-  — often  in  contrast  with  the  United 
tion  had  to  be  very  sure  of  its  ground  States — has  to  deal.  A  broad  comparison 
in  order  to  secure  the  usual  opportunity  of  criminal  conditions  in  the  two  coun- 
to  put  the  prisoner  on  trial  for  the  real  tries  is  here  essential, 
charge  against  him.  In  596  cities  of  the  United  States  with 


488  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

a  population  of  21,661,366,  there  were,  English  were  to  relax  their  vigilance 
duringtheyeari932,no£ewerthani,224  against  murder,  they  would  become  as 
cases  of  murder  and  non-negligent  man-  murderous  as  anybody  else.  At  this 
slaughter.  That  is  about  sixty  cases  per  moment  Great  Britain  is  seriously  con- 
million  of  people.  In  England,  the  cor-  cerned  over  a  crime  wave — anyway  a 
responding  figure,  in  so  far  as  it  is  avail-  ripple.  As  elswhere  the  police  are  hav- 
able,  works  out  at  five  cases  per  million  ing  to  combat  the  automobile  and  the 
on  the  average — sometimes  a  little  pistol  as  weapons  for  defying  the  law. 
more,  sometimes  a  little  less  but,  in  any  A  good  deal  is  said  about  the  evil  stimu- 
case,  only  a  fraction  of  the  American  lus  of  gangster  films  and  the  exploits 
percentage.  of  daredevils  like  Dillinger  being  fully 

Some  people  in  England  believe  that  reported  in  the  press, 

a  European,  when  he  crosses  the  Atlan-  What  England  has  achieved  is  not 

tic  and  settles  in  a  new  world,  is  en-  the  eradication  of  crime.  It  is  its  disin- 

dowed  diabolically  with  a  double  por-  tegration.  Crime  is  still  individual.  But 

tion  of  original  or  aboriginal  sin.  The  it  is  not  a  system.  There  are  deplorable 

theory  is  merely  amusing  and  it  hap-  lapses  from  the  usual  world,  but  there 

pens  that  Great  Britain,  while  more  is  no  underworld  as  that  term  has  been 

successful  than  the  United  States  in  used  in  the  United  States.  Murder  is 

dealing  with  murders,  is  at  the  moment  not  a  matter  of  professional  routine  in 

less  successful  in  handling  motor  cars,  which  somebody  is  put  on  the  spot  and 

There  is  plenty  of  slaughter  on  the  bumped  off  by  trained  gunmen.  The 

highroads.  murderer — for  instance,  Mahon — is  an 

No  nation  has  a  monopoly  of  health,  amateur,  acting  for  himself. 

That  nation  is  healthiest  which  takes  the  Restrain  every  impulse  to  crime  in 

wisest  measures  to  safeguard  health,  boys  and  girls.  There  is  always,  here  and 

So  it  is  with  safety,  so  it  is  with  the  pre-  there,  the  pervert  who,  after  years  of 

vention  of  crime.  It  has  to  be  carefully  progressive  degeneracy,  succumbs  to  a 

and  courageously  organized.  fatal  impulse.  He  does  not  shoot,  rob 

In  the  United  States  the  murderer  a  safe  and  run.  Living  as  a  rule  in  a  re 
starts  young  and,  in  conspicuous  in-  spectable  neighborhood — possibly  a  vil- 
stances,  he  has  committed  a  number  of  lage — he  may  have  no  criminal  record 
murders  before  he  is  hunted  down  and  of  any  kind.  His  act  of  violence — as  in 
killed  off  as  we  kill  vermin.  In  England  the  case  of  Mahon — is  the  hideous  cli- 
a  strongly  deterrent  policy  suppresses  max  of  some  situation  in  which  there  has 
what  may  be  called  the  light-hearted  been  sordid  or  sexual  strain  or  stress, 
murder,  especially  among  the  young.  The  amateur  murderer  has  had  no 
A  murderer  may  by  great  luck  escape  practice.  His  only  "master  mind"  is  his 
the  gallows,  but  not  more  than  once,  own  mind  and  he  is  trying  a  terrible 
and  it  is  not  worth  while  for  boys  and  experiment  for  the  first  time.  It  is  no 
girls  to  adopt  a  career  of  "gunning  for  wonder  that,  clumsy  in  his  methods,  he 
dough."  makes  an  untidy  job  of  the  business. 

Juvenile   delinquency   is   always   a  Burned  and  buried  bodies,  mutilations, 

danger  and  not  for  an  instant  can  Great  trunks    and   torches — it   is   peculiarly 

Britain — any  more  than  other  countries  hideous.  There  may  not  be  many  of 

— afford  to  let  down  the  bars.  If  the  these  murders.  But  those  that  do  hap- 


HOW  THE  ENGLISH  HANDLE  CRIME 


489 


pen  are — like  the  bungalow  affair — far 
from  pleasant. 

In  the  case  of  the  bungalow  murder 
nobody — when  the  handbag  was  dis 
covered — knew  that  an  offense  had  been 
committed.  The  habits  of  the  slain 
woman  suggested  that,  for  a  consider 
able  period,  her  disappearance  might 
have  aroused  no  comment.  The  infor 
mation  given  promptly  by  the  attendant 
at  Waterloo  Station  was  thus  of 
immediate  value  and  it  is  an  instance 
of  what  is  always  helpful  in  the  war 
against  crime.  The  people  assist  the 
police  and  public  opinion  demands  that 
such  assistance  shall  be  whole-hearted. 
There  are,  of  course,  those  who  have 
reasons  to  obstruct  the  course  of  justice 
by  withholding  information  or  other 
wise  misleading  the  authorities.  But  it 
is  a  risky  game  to  play.  England  sees 
to  it  that  law  is  more  to  be  feared  than 
lawlessness.  The  criminal  may  have 
friends.  But  if  they  assist  him,  he  can 
not  protect  them  afterwards. 

in 

The  United  States  is  faced  by  a  diffi 
culty  which  is  not  to  her  discredit.  In 
1776  this  country  set  out  to  solve  what 
has  always  been  the  ultimate  perplexity 
of  government — namely,  the  exercise 
of  authority  over  a  free  people.  Many 
of  the  persons  who  deal  with  a  serious 
crime  are  thus  elected  to  their  offices — 
the  coroner  who  presides  over  the  in 
quest,  the  prosecuting  attorney,  the  pre 
siding  judges  and  the  governor  in  whom 
is  vested  the  prerogative  of  mercy.  A 
long  series  of  motion  pictures,  pro 
duced  at  Hollywood  and  distributed 
throughout  the  world,  has  created  what 
is  now  an  impression,  difficult  to  efface, 
that  justice  is  not  concerned  alone  with 
the  guilt  or  innocence  of  the  accused 
but  with  the  votes  to  be  cast  at  some 


prospective  election.  It  does  not  matter 
so  very  much  whether  that  idea  is  well 
founded  or  ill  founded.  What  does  the 
harm  is  the  fact  that  such  a  point  should 
be  raised  at  all. 

In  Great  Britain  there  is  no  suspicion 
that  in  a  legal  proceeding,  and  especially 
a  murder  case,  political  expectations 
could  be  involved,  however  remotely. 
The  law  officers  of  the  Crown — that  is, 
the  attorney  general  and  the  solicitor 
general — belong  to  the  government  of 
the  day.  They  are  elected,  but  not  to 
their  legal  office,  only  to  the  House  of 
Commons.  In  any  event,  prosecutions 
are  usually  conducted  by  advocates  who 
regard  such  a  brief  as  any  advocate  re 
gards  any  brief.  The  magistrates  who 
sit  as  a  court  of  first  instance  are  ap 
pointed  by  the  lord  chancellor  and  can 
only  be  dismissed  by  him.  Most  magis 
trates  are  unpaid.  The  judges  are  ap 
pointed  by  the  Crown  on  the  advice  of 
the  lord  chancellor  and  they  are  irre 
movable  save  by  a  vote  of  both  Houses 
of  Parliament.  The  prerogative  of 
mercy  is  used  in  the  name  of  the  King 
who  acts  on  the  advice  of  the  home  sec 
retary. 

In  the  United  States,  it  is  the  people 
who  impeach  one  of  their  number. 
Equals  are  dealing  with  an  equal.  In 
England,  the  King  prosecutes  one  of 
his  subjects.  A  superior  is  dealing  with 
an  inferior.  The  distinction  may  seem 
to  be  subtle.  But  it  makes  all  the  differ 


ence. 


On  the  one  hand,  few  dilatory  mo 
tions,  obstructive  of  the  course  of  jus 
tice,  are  permitted.  At  the  assizes  the 
jurymen  are  seldom  seriously  chal 
lenged.  It  is  assumed  that,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  they  will  fulfil  their  duties. 
In  the  bungalow  case  a  juryman  fainted 
and  had  to  be  replaced.  This  was  not 
held  to  be  any  sufficient  reason  for  allow- 


49° 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


ing  a  murderer  to  escape  justice.  The  The  British  hold,  rightly  or  wrongly, 

case  was  rapidly  reopened  and  the  evi-  that,    if    evidence    is    carefully    and 

dence  already  taken  was  repeated  to  the  promptly  collected  and  if  the  law  is 

new  juryman  from  the  judge's  notes.  firmly  enforced  there  ought  to  be  no 

On  the  other  hand,  great  care  is  taken  need  to  resort  to  the  third  degree  with 
to  avoid  an  appearance  of  "railroading"  violence — what  is  called  giving  the 
the  prisoner  to  a  conviction.  However  works.  The  whole  of  this,  including  lie- 
severe  may  be  a  cross-examination,  coun-  detectors  and  such  devices,  has  been 
sel  are  not  permitted  to  walk  up  to  a  proved — broadly  speaking — to  be  un- 
witness  in  the  box  and  shout  questions  necessary  to  the  administration  of  jus- 
in  his  (or  her)  face.  Nor  are  they  per-  tice.  Here  and  there,  the  police  do  un- 
mitted  to  parade  a  peripatetic  eloquence  doubtedly  bring  pressure  to  bear  upon 
before  the  jury,  as  if  the  court  were  a  suspected  or  accused  persons.  In  a  recent 
public  meeting.  A  prisoner's  previous  case  the  authorities  denied  that  the  ques- 
record,  if  criminal,  is  carefully  withheld  tioning  of  a  girl  had  taken  fifty-two 
until  the  verdict  has  been  delivered,  hours. 

and  with  regard  to  expert  evidence  there  It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  the  United 

has  been  built  up  what  is,  surely,  the  States  and  England  share  the  same 

only  sound  tradition.  The  doctors  and  common  law.   In  the  United  States, 

chemists  from  Scotland  Yard  who  re-  there  are  millions  of  citizens  whose 

port  upon  wounds  and  poisons  and  nat-  European  background  is  not  English, 

ural  disease  are  called  as  witnesses  by  Procedure  in  criminal  cases  thus  in- 

the  prosecution.  But  they  are  not  sup-  eludes  methods  which,  if  attempted  in 

posed  to  testify,  nor  do  they — unless  England,  would  arouse  a  good  deal  of 

it  be  by  rare  inadvertence — testify  with  comment, 
a  view  either  to  conviction  or  acquittal. 

They  have  won  general  approbation  by  IV 

giving  the  facts,  as  ascertained,  with  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Eng- 

scientific  detachment,  leaving  it  to  the  land  solves  all  of  her  murder  mysteries, 

court  to  draw  conclusions  from  the  facts.  The  cases  run  on  from  year  to  year 

The  defense  cross-examines  these  wit-  and  the  statistics  are  thus  confusing, 

nesses,  but  seldom  if  ever  in  a  hostile  Roughly  we  may  say  that  an  arrest  is 

or  combative  manner  which  would  sug-  made  in  respect  of  one  out  of  three 

gest  bad  faith.  As  a  rule,  this  official  evi-  deaths  where  foul  play  is  suspected, 

dence  is  accepted  by  both  sides  as  reli-  There  are  many  reasons  why  an  arrest 

able  and  complete.  does  not  follow  the  crime,  but  most  im- 

Scotland  Yard  leaves  little  to  chance  portant  perhaps  is  the  carefully  asserted 

in  the  way  of  fingerprints  or  other  de-  principle  that  a  man  must  be  treated  as 

tails.  The  examinations  of  bodies  for  innocent  until  he  is  proved  to  be  guilty, 

poisons — for  instance,  arsenic — are  es-  A  body  is  discovered.  But  is  it  quite 

pecially  elaborate  and  the  results  are  certain  that  a  murder  was  committed? 

accepted  by  the  courts  as  final.  One  re-  Could  it  have  been  suicide?  May  there 

calls  the  story  of  the  specialists  subject-  not  have  been  an  accident?  A  person 

ing  a  human  hair  to  treatment  and  so  may  be  strongly  suspected,  but  can  the 

drawing  conclusions  as  to  the  permea-  case  be  proved  against  him?  May  there 

tion  of  poison  within  a  given  time.  not  be  a  case  no  less  plausible  against 


HOW  THE  ENGLISH  HANDLE  CRIME  491 

some  other  person?  I  remember  years  On  the  whole,  the  British  public  have 
ago  listening  to  a  highly  sensational  confidence  that  the  system  provides  for 
trial  at  the  Old  Bailey.  A  woman  had  a  fair  trial.  By  an  exciting  case  of  murder 
been  killed  at  night  in  her  room.  It  was  the  English  are  as  deeply  stirred  as 
known  that  two  men  had  visited  her.  other  nations.  They  follow  the  proceed- 
But  which  of  them  did  the  deed?  In  ings  closely.  But  it  is  only  when  the 
effect,  each  was  giving  evidence  against  machinery  of  the  law  has  led  to  a  verdict 
the  other,  and,  mainly  as  a  result  of  this  that,  in  rare  instances,  these  emotions 
uncertainty,  the  accused  man  was  are  unleashed.  From  time  to  time  some 
acquitted.  Also  there  are  the  cases  in  factor  in  a  disputed  case  leads  to  a  de- 
which  a  person,  after  committing  mur-  mand  for  pardon  or  reprieve,  which  the 
der,  kills  himself.  home  secretary  may  have  to  face  with 

The  net  result  of  this  sifting  within  some  embarrassment.  The  famous  case 

a  recent  year  was  that  the  police  made  of  Mrs.  Maybrick  is  a  case  in  point  .That 

fifty-six  arrests.  Twenty  prisoners  were  liability  is  much  reduced  by  the  estab- 

ad judged  to  be  insane,  twelve  were  ac-  lishment  of  a  Court  of  Criminal  Appeal, 

quitted  and  twenty-four  were  sentenced  consisting  of  three  judges,  which  has 

to  death.  The  number  of  actual  execu-  complete  power  to  review  the  proceed- 

tions,  in  a  year,  runs  to  about  fifteen  on  ings  in  a  lower  court, 

the  average.  Of  public  confidence  in  criminal  pro- 

In  Great  Britain,  as  in  the  United  cedure,  there  is  at  the  moment  a  clear  in- 

States,  there  is  a  tabloid  press.  Indeed,  dication.  For  centuries,  the  grand  jury 

all  newspapers,  there  as  here,  exploit  has    been    regarded    as    a    safeguard 

sensation.  The  bungalow  murder  was  against  unreasonable  prosecution  of  the 

obviously  melodrama  of  the  most  lurid  British  citizen.  But  now  it  is  abolished, 

color  and  it  was  fully  reported.  But  only  The  public  hearing  before  a  magis- 

within  allowable  limits.  trate's  court  is  considered  to  serve  the 

From  the  moment  that  Mahon  was  purpose  sufficiently, 

charged  with  an  offense,  the  case  be-  With  her  written  constitution,  the 

came  sub  judice,  and  any  newspaper  United  States  believes  in  government 

commenting  upon  it  became  liable  to  by  laws  not  men.  Her  criminal  proced- 

immediate  fine  or  imprisonment  for  con-  ure  is  as  carefully  codified,  if  that  be 

tempt  of  court.  The  case  was  tried  conceivable,  as  the  intricacies  of  her 

throughout,  not  by  the  press,  but  by  football  j  and  during  testimony  in  court 

legally  constituted  tribunals.  there  is  a  perpetual  barrage  of  "objec- 

Criminal  insanity  is  recognized  in  tion"    from    attorneys,    followed    by 

Great  Britain.  But  a  plea  of  insanity,  sup-  "overruled"  or  "sustained"  by  the  j  udge 

ported  by  psychopathic  witnesses,  is  not  and — it  may  be — "exception"  from  a  dis- 

permitted  to  supersede  moral  responsi-  senting  attorney.  On  one  side  or  the 

bility.  In  the  bungalow  case  the  question  other,  points  are  thus  scored,  and  to  win 

was  whether  Mahon  had  or  had  not  on  points,  as  in  a  prize  fight,  is  among 

committed  the  act  that  cost  his  victim  the  aims  of  advocacy, 

her  life  and  no  attempt  was  made  to  In  England  there  is  also  a  good  deal 

suggest  that,  normally  sane,  he  had  sud-  of  this  kind  of  cut  and  thrust.  But  the 

denly  ceased,  in  committing  a  homicide,  constitution,    in   its    fundamentals,    is 

to  be  responsible  for  his  actions.  there  unwritten  and  a  large  discretion 


492  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

is  left  to  the  judge.  In  the  United  States,  A  girl  was  found  dead  in  a  house.  A 

a  judge  wields  a  hammer — as  if  his  au-  man  called  at  the  police  station,  con- 

thority  were  open  to  challenge.  In  Eng-  fessed  that  he  had  committed  the  crime 

land,  a  judge  wears  wig,  scarlet  and  and  stated  that  he  wished  to  give  him- 

ermine  and  sits  in  court  with  an  appear-  self  up  to  justice.  He  was  brought  up  for 

ance  of  authority  which  nobody  would  trial. 

dream  .of  challenging.  The  judge  is  The  judge  decided  that  there  was  no 

paid  what  is  considered  to  be  a  high  case  to  go  to  the  jury  on  these  grounds, 

salary — normally  $25,000  a  year — and  A  man  can  not  be  convicted  on  his  own 

on  retirement  he  has  a  corresponding  evidence  alone  and,  in  this  case,  there 

pension.  In  prestige  and  in  finance,  his  was  no  adequate  corroboration.  Also, 

position  is  unassailable.  the  prisoner  had  spent  ten  hours  ex- 

The  Court  of  Criminal  Appeal  is  ploiting  and  being  exploited  by  jour- 
more  than  careful,  therefore,  to  pay  nalists,  which  raised  doubts  as  to  his 
full  respect  to  the  decision  of  the  trial  veracity.  It  was  thus  laid  down  that  a 
court,  and  it  is  rarely  that  a  verdict  is  person  can  not  be  hanged  for  murder 
upset.  A  strong  argument  is  that  the  because  he  happens  to  be  "a  liar,"  and 
jury,  in  hearing  the  evidence,  saw  the  the  prisoner  was  sternly  acquitted, 
witnesses.  The  words  of  the  evidence  A  second  case.  A  barge  docked  in 
are  not  alone  of  significance.  There  is  port.  The  captain  and  mate  went  ashore 
the  manner  in  which  the  evidence  is  and,  in  friendliest  fashion,  had  a  drink 
given.  together  at  a  "pub."  The  captain  asked 

In  terms,  England  does  not  differen-  the  mate  to  call  for  letters  at  the  barge 

tiate  between  first,  second  and  third  de-  office  on  his  way  back  to  the  boat.  The 

gree   homicide.   Once  more  there  is  mate  brought  the  letters  to  the  captain 

flexibility.  The  alternative  verdicts  of  on  the  barge  and  the  captain  was  found 

murder,  with  or  without  recommenda-  dead,  struck  with  a  hammer  and  with  a 

tion  to  mercy,  and  of  manslaughter,  rope  round  his  neck.  The  mate's  story 

serve  the  purposes  of  such  differentia-  was  that  the  captain  insulted  a  girl  to 

tion.  In  Scotland,  there  are  three  ver-  whom  he  was  engaged,  there  was  a  quar- 

dicts  possible — guilty,  innocent  and  non-  rel,  a  fight  and  a  death.  He  used  the 

proven.  If  a  charge  is  non-proven,  the  rope  to  pull  the  body  to  the  side  of  the 

accused  man  regains  his  liberty  and  he  boat  and  throw  it  into  the  water, 

can  not  be  charged  again  with  the  same  Three  theories  were  advanced:  first, 

offense.  But  his  innocence  is  still  in  that  here  was  plain  murder  j  secondly, 

question.  that  under  provocation,  there  was  a 

fight  which  ended  fatally  for  the  cap- 

v  tain  and  involved  the  mate  in  man- 

"The  law,"  said   Mr.   Bumble  in  slaughter;  and  thirdly,  that  the  mate 

Oliver  Twisty  "is  a  ass — a  idiot,"  and,  was  attacked  by  the  captain  and  struck 

assuredly,  the  law  in  England  has  what  in    self-defense,    which    would    have 

President  Roosevelt  would  call  her  pe-  meant  acquittal.  The  verdict  of  the  jury 

culiarities.  Here  are  two  cases  in  which  was  wilful  murder,  and  the  Court  of 

it  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  result  Criminal  Appeal  declined  to  interfere, 

in  England  would  have  been  the  result  Here  is  another  case.  A  woman  was 

in  the  United  States.  killed  during  a  burglary.  A,  B  and  C 


HOW  THE  ENGLISH  HANDLE  CRIME  493 

were  put  on  trial.  All  of  them  were  con-  the  present  generation  what  a  trial  by 
victed  of  murder,  but  on  appeal  the  ver-  jury  could  be  in  days  gone  by. 
diet  on  B  and  C  was  suppressed  and  on  The  United  States  seems  to  have  ar- 
these  grounds :  According  to  A,  he  stood  rived  in  her  turn  at  the  point  where  the 
outside  th'e  house  while  B  and  C  entered  law  must  be  taken  seriously.  Procedure 
it.  The  aim,  said  A,  was  robbery  alone,  should  be  simplified  and  accelerated, 
and  A  claimed  that  having  had  no  homi-  Judges  and  jury  and  witnesses  should 
cidal  intention  he  was  not  guilty  of  the  be  credited  with  honesty  and  intelli- 
murder  charged  against  B  and  C.  On  gence.  There  should  be  a  readiness  to 
their  side,  B  and  C  denied  A's  story,  arrive  at  decisions.  The  aim  of  the  prose- 
On  appeal,  A's  conviction  was  sustained,  cution  should  be  to  discover  the  needle 
The  conviction  of  B  and  C  was  quashed,  in  a  haystack  and  not  to  pile  up  new  hay- 
because  the  judges  held  that,  if  A  was  stacks  around  the  needle.  The  sole  ob- 
guilty  of  murder,  which  was  the  con-  ject  on  all  sides  should  be  not  this  ver- 
tention  of  the  Crown  and  the  decision  diet  or  that  verdict  but  the  right  verdict, 
of  the  jury,  his  evidence  against  B  and  and  all  counsel  should  recognize  that, 
C  required  corroboration.  There  was  in  serving  a  client,  they  are  also  and 
some  corroboration  but  it  included  evi-  above  all  the  officers  of  the  court, 
dence  that,  by  law,  was  inadmissible.  From  legal  proceedings  the  camera 
The  conviction  of  A — by  discrediting  should  be  absolutely  excluded.  There 
his  evidence — thus  contributed  to  the  is  not  even  a  shadow  of  justification  for 
acquittal  of  B  and  C.  One  man  went  to  allowing  such  pictures  to  be  flash- 
his  fate  and  the  other  men  were  re-  lighted.  Interviews  with  judges,  coun- 
stored  to  freedom.  sel  and  even  the  prisoner  should  be 
The  administration  of  criminal  law  entirely  stopped.  The  whole  of  that 
in  England  is  thus  accompanied  by  a  full  kind  of  publicity  is  subversive  of  jus- 
allowance  for  subtleties  of  procedure,  tice.  News  reels  of  persons  involved  in 
and  these  subtleties  are  analyzed  with  a  case,  directly  or  indirectly,  with  ap- 
a  dexterity  from  which  prejudice  and  peals  to  emotion,  horror  or  sympathy, 
passion  are  supposed,  at  any  rate,  to  should  become  a  thing  of  the  past, 
have  been  eliminated.  It  was  not  always  Crime  is  always  a  drama.  That  can  not 
thus.  Dickens,  Gilbert  and  Sullivan,  and  be  prevented.  But  it  should  cease  to  be 
many  another  satirist  have  revealed  to  offered  to  the  public  as  a  pantomime. 


Horse-Car  Liberal  Arts  Schools 

BY  DONALD  HAYWORTH 

The  main  trouble  with  liberal  arts  education  is  that  it  tries  to 
instill  the  culture  of  1850  instead  of  a  modern  one 


HE  liberal  arts  college  claims  to  teachers  know  that  these  requirements 

exist  for  the  purpose  of  develop-  are  mostly  old  lumber  from  the  cultural 

-**-    ing  in  the  youth  a  certain  degree  structures  of  1850  —  old  lumber  warped 

of  culture,  and  yet  no  one  —  not  even  the  by  the  unseen  and  unconf  essed  pressure 

college  itself  —  is  able  to  tell  what  cul-  of  faculty  politics. 

ture  is  or  how  it  may  be  identified.  We  We  college  teachers  have  been  struck 

college  instructors  may  be  exceedingly  by  the  fact  that,  whatever  definition  of 

industrious  in  microscopic  and  chemical  culture  may  be  used,  many  of  our  grad- 

analysis,  but  we  have  found  no  way  of  uates  are  no  more  cultured  than  if  they 

dissecting  ten  thousand  cultivated  indi-  had  never  entered  a  college  classroom. 

viduals  to  find  the  sine  qua  non  of  cul-  Something,  doubtless,  is  going  to  be 

ture.  The  literature  of  higher  education  done  about  it.  Leaders  in  American 

contributes  only  a  few  scattered  para-  higher  education  say  they  are  aware  of 

graphs,  and  these  describe  the  cultured  "the  spreading  ferment  in  American 

man  in  glowing,  but  not  closely  defined  higher    education    everywhere,"    not 

phrases  —  language  so  indefinite  as  to  be  merely  discontent  among  students,  but 

useless  in  constructing  a  curriculum  or  throughout   faculties   and   among  ad- 

defining  the  requirements  for  a  degree,  ministrators.   Over  one-fourth  of  the 

If  the  liberal  arts  college  can  not  de-  colleges  are  working  and  experimenting 

fine  the  culture  it  proposes  to  develop,  on  various   forms   of  reorganization, 

society  has  every  right  to  ask  how  it  de-  searching  the  skies  for  some  pillar  of 

termines  a  programme  of  study.  The  fire  that  may  guide  them  to  the  prom- 

student  is  told  that  he  must  amass  a  hun-  ised  land.  They  are  trying  to  find  a  bet- 

dred  and  twenty  semester  hours   of  ter  way  of  training  the  youth  in  culture  j 

credit  j  but  progressive  educators  every-  and,  in  order  to  give  degrees,  they  want 

where  admit  the  inadequacy  of  the  se-  some  way  of  measuring  cultural  achieve- 

mester  credit  as  a  yardstick  by  which  ment.  But  whatever  device  may  be  se- 

cultural  achievement  may  be  measured,  cured  for  the  measurement  of  cultural 

The  college  student  is  further  told  that  achievement  it  will  be  impossible  to 

his  work  must  be  distributed  among  cer-  solve  the  problem  until  they  know  what 

tain  departments  of  study,  presumably  they  are  trying  to  measure. 

to  insure  a  broad  training  j  but  college  The  term  culture  is  used  by  sociolo- 


• 

HORSE-CAR  LIBERAL  ARTS  SCHOOLS  495 

•-^£?*>,   ^ 

gists  almost  as  synonymous  with  civiliza-  culture.  Culture  is  a  kind  of  code — a 

toon,  and  thus  they  speak  of  the  culture  code  used  as  a  medium  of  intercourse 
of  the  Aztecs,  the  Spaniards,  the  ancient  between  lively  minds.  It  becomes  a  con- 
Romans,  or  other  similar  groups.  But  vention,  much  as  the  style  of  dress,  and 
ordinarily  when  we  say  an  individual  is  marks  the  man  of  worth.  Germany,  at 
cultured  we  mean  that  he  deserves  to  be  one  time  stressed  the  Greek  tradition  j 
counted  among  those  who  are  consid-  France  stressed  the  Roman  tradition, 
ered  the  elite  of  his  own  age — the  intelli-  Either  might  almost  as  well  have  taken 
gent  upper  crust  of  society.  the  Hebrew,  the  Chinese  or  the  Indian 

It  is  certainly  obvious  that  the  marks  tradition.  The  important  thing  is  that 

of  cultured  men  are  not  the  same  in  they  did  stress  something.  They  each 

different  ages  or  different  countries,  took  a  body  of  literature  that  was  vibrant 

The  cultured  Greek  had  some  musical  with  life  and  stimulating  to  the  imagina- 

ability,  and  took  his  turn  with  the  lyre  tionj   their  young  men  tossed  those 

for  the  entertainment  of  his  companions,  stimulating  ideas  around,  struck  them 

Every  cultivated  Greek  had  taken  part  together,  and  saw  flashes  of  fire.  Now, 

in  athletic  contests  as  a  young  man  and  whether  this  be  done  with  Greek  litera- 

continued   a   lively   interest   in   them  ture  or  Roman,  or  with  any  other  intel- 

throughout  life.  A  knowledge  of  Greek  lectual  medium,  is  not  nearly  so  impor- 

religion,  of  current  philosophies,  of  law  tant  as  that  it  should  be  done.  Boys  may 

and  of  mathematics,  was  essential  to  the  play  either  baseball  or  tennis  5  the  im- 

man  of  worth.  portant  thing  is  that  they  get  exercise — 

Turn  your  eyes  across  the  shadows  of  any  kind  of  exercise  adapted  to  their 

ten  or  fifteen  centuries  to  the  Orient  and  well-being.  Since  it  was  on  Greek  classics 

you  will  find  that  the  cultured  gentle-  that  Germans  found  a  common  ground 

man  of  China  had  interests  which  were  for  intellectual  activity  it  was,  therefore, 

fundamentally  different  from  the  inter-  conventional  for  a  German  boy  to  study 

ests  of  Greek  culture.   The  Chinese  Greek  literature.  If  he  had  studied  Latin 

classics  provided  him  with  a  more  defi-  classics  he  would  not  have  been  cultured 

nite  and  entirely  different  body  of  cul-  — not  in  Germany  at  least,  and  probably 

tural  material.  not  in  France,  because  he  would  not  have 

Elizabethans,  on  the  other  hand,  been  stimulated  by  contact  with  those 
wrote  poetry  as  commonly  as  the  Greeks  who  were  conversant  with  the  same  tools 
sang  with  the  lyre.  The  English  gentle-  of  learning.  The  developing  student 
man  of  that  period  was  required  to  be  must  speak  the  conventional  language 
a  fop  in  dress  and  a  trickster  in  language  of  those  about  him.  If  he  is  to  become 
— although  it  was  the  French  who  most  more  and  more  cultured  he  must  speak 
emphasized  the  subtleties  of  language,  the  language  of  his  fellows — he  must 
Glance  back  several  generations  to  understand  the  conventions  of  culture  in 
feudalistic  England  and  the  cultured  his  own  age.  Such  cultural  conventions 
gentleman  was  unable  to  read  poetry,  constitute  a  code  by  which  human  ex- 
much  less  to  write  it.  The  proof  of  his  cellence  is  socially  achieved, 
culture  lay  in  the  regalia  of  chivalry. 

Those  Americans  who  are  nauseated 

by  everything  contemporaneous  fail  to  The  liberal  arts  college  of  today  is 

comprehend  the  fundamental  nature  of  surely  not  obliged  to  propagate  the  best 


496  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

culture  of  the  Chinese,  and  probably  not  tured  must  meet  the  standards  which 

that  of  the  Greek,  Roman  or  Eliza-  are  maintained  by  the  elitey  and  which 

bethan.  At  any  rate  no  one  has  suggested  may  be  divided  into  three  groups.  First, 

that  American  college  students  should  he  must  acquire  a  certain  body  of  knowl- 

learn  to  play  the  lyre  or  write  Eliza-  edge,  or  at  least  a  considerable  sampling 

bethan  sonnets.  It  would  be  almost  as  of  it.  Second,  he  is  expected  to  have  cer- 

unfair  to  say  that  the  arts  college  is  tain  psychological  attitudes  toward  life 

pledged  to  disseminate  the  sum  total  or  in  general  and  toward  many  specific 

even  the  most  desirable  characteristics  things  in  life.  And  third,  he  is  expected 

of  various  cultures.  For,  although  our  to  have  certain  abilities.  Inasmuch  as  he 

present  culture  is  truly  heir  to  all  the  measures  up  to  these  standards  he  will 

ages — although  every  social  usage  di*aws  be  considered  cultured  j  inasmuch  as  he 

on  all  the  past  and  goes  back  to  the  great  falls  short  he  will  be  considered  un- 

mystery  of  creation  just  as  does  every  cultured. 

cell  of  our  bodies — yet,  each  culture  is        We  often  ask  ourselves,  "Does  Amer- 

more  than  a  composite  of  the  past.  It  ica  actually  have  a  culture?"  This  ques- 

is  unique,  new.  Every  culture  is  a  whole,  tion  may  be  more  easily  answered  if  we 

with  each  thread  wonderfully  inter-  divide  it  into  these  three  parts:  Is  there 

woven  throughout  the  whole  fabric.  A  a  definite  body  of  knowledge  with  which 

college  can  not  possibly  present  a  com-  outstanding  Americans  are  commonly 

posite  of  all  important  cultures  or  even  conversant?  Do  they  have  a  more  or  less 

their  outstanding  characteristics.  The  uniform  outlook  on  life — a  widely  ac- 

constituent  characteristics  are  too  closely  cepted  psychological  attitude  toward  life 

woven — too  interdependent.  and  toward  certain  things  of  life?  Do 

It  would  be  still  more  absurd  for  the  they  have  certain  abilities  in  common? 
college  to  try  either  to  set  up  an  ideal  What  body  of  knowledge  is  common 
culture  or  even  to  discover  the  char-  to  Americans  of  wide  experience?  They 
acteristics  of  an  ideal  culture.  Not  until  know  something  of  hygiene,  etiquette, 
civilization  has  been  perfected  and  hu-  sociology,  psychology,  history,  travel, 
manity  has  achieved  that  Serene  state  of  geography,  law,  international  affairs, 
idyllic  bliss  in  which  pain  shall  have  mechanics,  business,  natural  science  and 
vanished  and  thornless  roses  grow  un-  many  other  things.  Perhaps  this  color- 
planted  in  the  buttonholes  of  men's  less  generality  does  not  seem  very  sig- 
lapels — not  until  we  are  ultimately  wise  nificant.  Then,  if  you  will,  take  the  first 
shall  we  ever  find  a  perfect  culture.  A  of  the  above  topics — hygiene.  It  is  at 
culture  must,  rather,  be  nourished  in  the  once  apparent  that  intelligent  Ameri- 
life  of  the  community  itself.  Its  roots  cans  not  only  possess  a  body  of  informa- 
must  be  entwined  with  the  roots  of  the  tion  on  this  subject,  but  they  know  more 
economic  tree,  and  it  must  feed  upon  the  about  it  than  any  other  group  on  earth 
soil  from  which  spring  the  plants  and  or  in  the  history  of  the  world.  The  same 
grasses  of  social  custom.  No  college  thing  is  true  of  psychology,  business  and 
should  try  to  teach  its  youth  a  composite  perhaps  more  of  these  topics.  There  is 
of  all  culture;  nor  should  it  try  to  create  so  much  every-day  knowledge  taken  for 
a  new  one.  Either  of  these  would  be  a  granted  that  we  are  greatly  surprised 
task  far  too  heroic.  to  discover  what  a  tremendous  body  of 

The  individual  who  wishes  to  be  cul-  information  cultivated  Americans  do 


HORSE-CAR  LIBERAL  ARTS  SCHOOLS  497 

possess  in  common.  It  is  surely  no  exag-  ability  in  home  planning,  child  care,  and 

geration  to  say  that  in  1934  the  most  other  aspects  of  home  economics,  as  well 

intelligent  ten  per  cent  of  Americans  as  in  dancing  and  cards,  and  perhaps 

hold  more  facts  and  principles  in  com-  some  ability  in  music.  The  cultured  indi- 

mon  than  the  highest  ten  per  cent  from  viduals  of  no  other  era  had  quite  these 

any  group  prior  to  1900;  and  surely  in  same  abilities. 

respect  to  such  knowledge  Americans  Perhaps  American  culture  is  not  so 
would  compare  favorably  with  the  high-  clearly  defined  as  were  those  of  many 
est  ten  per  cent  of  Englishmen,  Ger-  historic  civilizations.  We  have  not  set- 
mans  or  Frenchmen.  As  far  as  possess-  tied  upon  any  literature,  such  as  did 
ing  a  common  knowledge  is  concerned  England  when  she  took  the  Latin  litera- 
we  have  some  claim  to  a  distinctive  ture,  nor  any  definite  religious  philoso- 
American  culture — as  much  claim  as  al-  phies  as  are  held  in  India,  nor  have  we 
most  any  other  group  that  could  be  any  feudal  system  as  once  was  found  in 
named.  Japan.  The  lively  and  dominant  indi- 

Next  we  ask  what  psychological  atti-  viduals  who  are  responsible  for  the 

tudes  are  common  to  all  cultivated  molding  of  our  national  life  are  still 

Americans?  We  might  name  first  "the  engaged  in  the  process  of  developing  a 

scientific  attitude"  without  which  one  distinctive  culture.  But  enough  has  al- 

does  not  belong  to  this  age.  Another  ready  been  accomplished  to  indicate  that 

prominent  psychological  attitude  is  our  America  does  have  a  culture — one  which 

worship  of  success — achievement  in  any  is  distinctive  from  the  culture  of  a  hun- 

form.  Americans  believe  in  advertising,  dred  years  ago  as  Greek  culture  was 

in  big  business,  in  personal  liberty.  They  different  from  that  of  the  Chinese.  A 

are  confident  that  human  destiny  is  not  hundred  years  ago  the  cultured  Amer- 

in  the  hands  of  inexorable  fate,  nor  are  ican   gentleman   proudly   showed   his 

they  willing  to  yield  themselves  to  reli-  library  of  a  thousand  or  more  volumes, 

gious  veneration.  It  is  obvious,  then,  that  and  affectionately  handled  his  favorite 

modern  Americans  have  in  common  books.  They  were  his  "Open  Sesame" 

many  psychological  attitudes — attitudes  to  vigorous  thinking,  and  it  was  chiefly 

which  distinguish  their  culture  from  all  through  them  that  he  was  able  to  find 

those  that  have  gone  before.  stimulating  intellectual  material.  His 

What  abilities  do  most  outstanding  culture,  therefore,  came  almost  wholly 
Americans  have?  The  abilities  of  men  from  a  well  defined  body  of  accepted 
are  somewhat  different  from  those  of  literature.  „ 
women.  The  typical  modern  American  Today,  on  the  other  hand,  our  man 
man  is  able  to  care  for  machinery  and  of  accomplishment  is  driven  into  vigor- 
electrical  appliances.  He  can  live  with  ous  thinking  by  magazines,  radio,  news- 
some  degree  of  comfort  in  the  open  and  papers,  speeches,  advertising,  business, 
acquit  himself  creditably  in  various  personal  contact  with  miracles  of  medi- 
recreations  all  the  way  from  dominoes  cine  and  by  brushing  up  against  dozens 
to  bridge.  Most  outstanding  Americans  of  new  and  vigorous  personalities  each 
know  how  to  travel.  They  can  speak  in  week.  All  these  sources  of  intellectual 
public  more  or  less  effectively,  and  keep  material  are  put  to  him  with  tremendous 
a  set  of  books  if  driven  to  it.  The  culti-  driving  force.  No  longer  can  we  say  that 
vated  young  matron  has  considerable  the  literature  of  the  past  is  the  store- 


498  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

house  of  our  national  culture.  Most  of  botany  is  an  essential  part  of  a  liberal 
our  knowledge  comes  from  other  arts  education  we  should  not  allow  a 
sources;  our  attitudes  are  absorbed  student  to  substitute  chemistry.  Nor 
largely  from  personal  contacts  that  beat  should  French  and  Latin  be  inter- 
thick  upon  us  in  this  thundering  jugger-  changeable.  The  requirements  for  an 
naut  of  men  and  machines  which  we  call  arts  degree  should  be  limited  to  the 
modern  civilization;  and  it  is  obvious  knowledge,  psychological  attitudes  and 
that  our  abilities  are  not  identified  with  skills  which  mark  our  outstanding  men 
literature.  and  women.  Beyond  this  broad  and  corn- 
There  is  no  need  to  regret  this  break  mon  training  of  America's  elite  lies 
from  traditional  literature  as  the  source  specialization.  There  are  those  who  say 
of  educational  stimulation.  The  much  no  one  can  be  liberally  educated  until 
romanticized  Golden  Age  of  Greece  he  has  gone  to  the  roots  of  one  particular 
was  not  so  much  an  age  of  reading  as  of  subject.  It  is  therefore  customary  to  re- 
talking.  Greek  education  was  made  up  quire  the  student  to  "major"  in  some 
of  wrestling  and  public  speaking,  curious  department  of  his  choice.  Such  speciali- 
tales  of  foreign  travel  and  affairs  of  zation  may  be  splendid  for  the  building 
state,  the  indecent  daring  of  the  most  of  character  and  of  scholarly  habits,  but 
recent  lurid  drama  and  the  exquisite  by  the  definition  itself — by  whatever 
workmanship  of  some  chaste  sculpture,  would  seem  to  be  a  reasonable  definition 
Education  was  informal — it  was  merely  of  a  liberal  education — specialization  is 
the  satisfaction  of  natural  curiosity  and  automatically  excluded, 
the  normal  unfolding  of  the  complete  Higher  education  is  not  altogether 
man.  The  culture  of  Greece  rested  upon  lacking  in  influence,  naturally.  Institu- 
an  eager  intellectual  curiosity,  and  was  tions  of  higher  learning  have  unques- 
kept  alive  and  developed  by  peripatetic  tionably  been  a  most  important  factor 
scholars — walking  and  talking  teachers,  in  formulating  our  present  national  cul- 
not  by  books.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  ture.  More  often,  however,  the  influence 
culture  of  a  people  must  be  passed  on  to  of  the  college  has  been  indirect.  A  single 
the  youth  by  the  use  of  the  classical  student,  or  at  least  a  relatively  small 
literature.  group,  may  be  impressed  within  his  col 
lege  walls  by  an  idea  about  which  his 
fellow  students  share  little  knowledge 

If  culture  is  a  code — a  code  that  is  and  no  enthusiasm.  But  after  graduation 
understood  by  the  more  lively  intelli-  this  single  student  may  succeed  in  thrust- 
gences  of  the  time — and  if  we  propose  ing  that  idea  upon  the  entire  public, 
to  introduce  our  youth  to  that  code  as  it  Take  the  matter  of  health,  for  example, 
has  been  developed  in  our  own  social  There  are  few  college  courses  in  hygiene 
group,  it  follows  that  we  should  first  which  exercise  a  significant  and  direct 
discover  as  exactly  as  possible  the  precise  influence  upon  the  health  habits  of  the 
nature  of  the  code,  and  then  make  it  student  body.  At  the  same  time,  the 
most  easily  available  to  our  youth.  American  attitude  toward  personal  hy- 
There  is  this  further  implication:  the  giene  is  one  of  the  outstanding  char- 
material  required  for  a  liberal  arts  de-  acteristics  of  our  civilization;  and  it 
gree  should  be  required  uniformly  of  doubtless  came  almost  wholly  from  col- 
all.  That  is  to  say,  if  a  knowledge  of  lege-trained  men — bacteriologists,  doc- 


HORSE-CAR  LIBERAL  ARTS  SCHOOLS  499 

tors,  writers,  advertisers,  lecturers.  In  automobile  design  or  of  modern  trends 
such  a  manner  American  higher  educa-  in  domestic  architecture  would  be  more 
tion,  operating  indirectly  through  a  few  easily  understood  and  more  helpful.  At 
specialists,  has  exercised  tremendous  in-  one  time  or  another  there  have  been  cul- 
fluence  over  all  our  lives — including  the  tures  which  demanded  thorough  ac- 
socialization  of  our  government,  the  quaintance  with  such  subjects  as  Shake- 
creation  of  new  entertainment,  the  revo-  speare,  trigonometry  and  French.  That 
lution  in  transportation  and  the  discov-  time  is  past.  Our  present  national  culture 
ery  and  marketing  of  new  foods.  has  appropriated  new  fields  of  subject 

There  is  no  reason  why  the  college  matter.  This  does  not  mean  that  Shake- 
should  not  attempt  to  formulate,  or  at  speare,  trigonometry  and  French  should 
least  improve,  our  national  culture.  But  be  entirely  eliminated  from  our  cur- 
the  task  of  building  it  on  French  or  ricula.  As  long  as  people  enjoy  or  profit 
Latin,  calculus  or  physics,  is  too  heroic  by  such  subjects  let  them  be  taught.  But 
for  us  to  attempt.  We  can  not  build  on  in  awarding  the  liberal  arts  degree  they 
the  Bible,  as  did  our  Puritan  fathers,  should  not  be  required. 
There  is  surely  very  little  in  the  body  A  defender  of  the  status  quo  might 
of  accepted  English  literature  which  can  seek  a  rhetorical  victory  by  saying,  "But 
be  utilized.  Many  of  the  things  taught  we  don't  require  French  now.  The  stu- 
in  college,  if  required  of  the  entire  stu-  dent  may  choose  other  foreign  Ian- 
dent  body,  would  be  useless  in  the  for-  guages."  This  serves  to  sharpen  the  issue 
mation  of  a  national  culture;  and  those  and  we  reply  that  it  is  possible  for  an 
subjects  which  might  provide  material,  individual  in  America  today  to  be  cul- 
such  as  zoology  and  history,  are  usually  tured  in  the  liberal  arts  of  our  time  with- 
taught  so  unimaginatively  and  with  such  out  a  single  day's  training  in  any  foreign 
poor  selection  of  subject  matter  that  they  language.  For  proof  of  this  you  need  but 
likewise  have  little  value.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  look  about  you.  How  many  cultured 
Cultured  America  may  be  able  to  re-  Americans  do  you  know  who  are  well 
suscitate  from  some  college  course  in  acquainted  with  any  foreign  language? 
literature  a  few  scattered  impressions  Far  be  it  from  me  to  depreciate  the 
about  Browning  or  some  fragmentary  need  for  cultural  training.  But  I  do  want 
information  from  a  course  in  zoology,  to  point  out  that,  contrary  to  the  general 
but  the  things  in  which  they  have  de-  assumption,  the  modern  liberal  arts  col- 
veloped  a  genuine  and  lively  interest  lege  is  not  providing  an  educational  pro- 
since  graduation  were  not  even  touched  gramme  of  truly  liberalizing  arts.  I  do 
by  their  college  curriculum.  not  stop  with  saying  that  college  educa- 

It  is  true  that  the  liberal  arts  college  tion  is  impractical,  but  venture  to  assert 

must  build  the  educational  structure  that  for  the  most  part  the  whole  pro- 

with  the  materials  of  the  past;  but  it  gramme  is  unrelated  to  culture— unre- 

should  build  upon  the  foundation  of  the  lated  to  the  culture  of  this  age  and 

present  and  with  a  purpose  toward,  and  perhaps  only  remotely  related  to  the 

a  vision  o/,  the  future.  The  college  in-  culture  of  other  ages, 
structor  in  the  history  of  art  would  have 
us  appreciate  the  mutilated  lines  in  a 

broken  fragment  of  Greek  sculpture;  It  is  one  of  the  interesting  but  un- 

but  an  intelligent  criticism  of  current  fortunate  vagaries  of  human  psychology 


500  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

that  drives  the  normal  individual  to  served  as  a  cultural  code — a  common 
evangelize  the  type  of  education  which  medium  of  exchange  among  the  highest 
he  has  himself  received.  Of  course  this  intelligences  of  the  time.  But  during  the 
is  true  of  all  human  activities.  We  all  are  Renaissance  this  practice  of  going  to  the 
missionaries  of  our  own  interests  and  past  became  so  well  established  that 
activities.  We  like  to  have  others  eat  the  among  scholars  it  has  become  a  thing  of 
foods  we  eat,  play  the  games  we  play,  habit  and  has  been  accorded  a  reverence 
and  read  the  books  we  read;  if  we  hap-  which  it  no  longer  deserves.  Men  are 
pen  to  have  been  thoroughly  trained  in  doing  straighter  thinking  and  better 
mathematics  and  were  fairly  successful  writing  now  than  ever  before.  Our  bet- 
in  it,  we  are  likely  to  insist  that  every  ter  magazines  are  rich  with  vigorous 
one  else  should  take  the  same  course  of  thinking  and  vibrant  with  modern  life  j 
study.  There  are  many  instances  of  yet  how  many  colleges  lead  their  stu- 
youth  being  forced  to  acquire  a  mass  of  dents  to  these  sources  of  culture?  Every 
meaningless  material  because  it  is  tradi-  year  there  are  new  dramas,  new  books, 
tional.  A  lodge  ritual  is  passed  to  the  new  discoveries  in  science  and  new  crea- 
neophytes  with  the  solemn  injunction  tions  in  art— all  of  which  are  closely 
that  thus  it  has  been  repeated  for  hun-  bound  up  with  the  life  we  are  living.  Yet 
dreds  of  years  and  must  therefore  be  our  liberal  arts  colleges  almost  ignore 
preserved  in  similar  form  for  all  time  them.  Only  those  who  are  warped  by  an 
to  come.  Can  we  blame  the  venerable  unreasonable  devotion  to  their  own 
scholar  who  found  recreation  in  reading  idealistic  conceptions  of  an  unreal  past 
Greek  for  his  protest  when  a  knowledge  can  find  greater  happiness  in  the  long 
of  that  language  was  no  longer  required  coffined  cultures  of  resurrected  civiliza- 
for  a  bachelor  of  arts  degree?  Since  he  tions  than  in  our^own  age. 
had  benefited  by  his  study  of  Greek,  he  This  is  not  meant  as  a  disparagement 
thought  with  all  sincerity  that  true  cul-  of  the  study  of  former  institutions, 
ture  had  been  forsaken.  either  ancient  or  more  recent,  but  they 
There  is  a  wide-spread  impression  should  be  studied  for  the  purpose  of 
that  genuine  culture  may  be  secured  meeting  the  needs  of  modern  culture, 
only  through  the  writings  of  the  distant  In  the  typical  course  in  history  students 
past.  Thus  to  know  the  history  of  dining  are  expected  to  learn  much  which  they 
room  chairs  would  be  considered  cul-  will  never  use  again,  and  which  there- 
turalj  but  to  be  able  to  make  one  would  fore  can  not  constitute  a  culture  or  con- 
be  far  below  the  dignity  of  any  of  the  tribute  to  it.  Who  of  us  uses  these  facts 
liberal  arts.  We  are  asked  to  search  the  we  so  carefully  studied:  the  military  de- 
remote  beginnings  of  everything  and  velopments  of  the  American  Revo- 
every  idea.  Now  it  is  true  that  at  the  lution,  the  numerous  coalitions  and 
time  of  the  Renaissance,  and  for  some  alliances  of  European  diplomacy,  the 
time  after,  the  key  to  culture  lay  in  a  details  of  the  Hayes-Tilden  contro- 
knowledge  of  Greek  and  Roman  civili-  versy?  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  signifi- 
zations  and  especially  in  a  knowledge  cant  to  our  modern  culture  that  we  know 
of  such  learning  as  had  fortunately  been  something  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  her 
preserved  in  ancient  manuscripts.  These  times,  something  of  the  history  of  na- 
classics  constituted  the  chief  source  of  tionalism,  political  parties  and  democ- 
the  best  available  wisdom,  and  they  racy.  History  is  useful  to  modern  culture 


HORSE-CAR  LIBERAL  ARTS  SCHOOLS  501 

in  helping  us  appreciate  modern  litera-  so-called  liberal  arts  colleges  offer  guid- 

ture  and  art,  and  also  in  building  a  cer-  ance  in  the  study  of  such  subjects,  much 

tain  attitude  of  sophistication  toward  less  require  them  for  a  bachelor  of  arts 

the  institutions  of  our  own  time.  degree?  Other  neglected  fields  are  per- 

Educationalists  seem  foresworn,  not  sonal  and  public  health,  management  of 

only  to  an  historical  approach,  but  to  personal  finances,  investment  and  insur- 

analysis.  The  whole  laboratory  method  ance,  geography,  marital  relations  and 

of  instruction  consists  largely  of  tearing  rearing  of  children,  current  literature 

things  apart.  The  assumption  is  that  if  a  and  modern  art,  music,  dress,  etiquette 

student   actually   tears   something   to  and  a  profitable  use  of  leisure.  Think  of 

pieces  he  will  understand  it  better.  But  those  untouched  fields!  Then  think  of 

sometimes  the  process  only  confuses  the  painful  instruction  on  antiquated, 

him,  and  in  order  to  get  his  notebook  useless  subjects,  and  we  can  scarcely  fail 

prepared  he  is  forced  to  secure  the  aid  to  sympathize  with  the  rebellion  of  stu- 

of  some  friend  who  is  able  to  "see  dents  against  the  programme  of  study 

through  it."  Even  at  best  the  laboratory  which  they  are  forced  to  take  in  the 

method  is  an  expensive  and  slow  process  typical  liberal  arts  college.  The  so-called 

of  education.  Our  common  sense  is  ap-  "liberal"  college  is  no  longer  a  truly 

pealed  to  when  we  hear  advanced  edu-  liberating   institution — no   longer   en- 

cators  claim  that  they  can  teach  the  gaged  in  freeing  the  individual  into  a 

significant  contributions  of  natural  sci-  realm  of  unhampered  and  equal  inter- 

ence   much   more   rapidly   and   more  course  with  the  best  minds  of  the  age. 

surely  by  the   lecture   demonstration  The  college  is  so  interested  in  other 

method.  cultures  that  it  has  neglected  the  best 

Another  reason  for  the  inadequacy  of  thinking  of  our  own  time  and  our  own 

much  college  instruction  may  be  attrib-  people.  It  is  so  engrossed  in  Shake- 

uted  to  the  fact  that  the  beginning  speare  that  it  almost  forgets  Eugene 

course  in  each  of  the  "departments"  of  O'Neill, 
knowledge  has  been  designed,  not  to 
give  a  broad  sweep  of  the  whole  field, 

but  rather  to  provide  an  introduction  Some  of  these  concepts  and  sugges- 

which  will  constitute  the  first  step  of  tions  have  not  appeared  in  educational 

those  who  intend  to  "major"  in  the  sub-  literature 5  others  have  already  enjoyed 

ject.  It  is  obvious  that  the  first  course  interesting  and  usually  successful  experi- 

of  the  student  who  intends  to  devote  his  mentation.   President   Meiklejohn,  at 

life  to  botany  might  be  very  different  Amherst  College,  was  among  the  first 

from  a  course  given  a  whole  student  to  break  in  this  general  direction.  The 

body  for  cultural  purposes  and  required  University  of  Chicago  has  been  the  most 

for  a  bachelor  of  arts  degree.  recent  noteworthy  and  vigorous  depar- 

Liberal  arts  colleges  leave  large  fields  ture  from  the  traditional  liberal  arts 

untouched.  In  our  present  civilization  a  training. 

man  who  knows  nothing  of  mechanics,  But  even  those  who  are  most  pro- 

or  a  woman  who  knows  nothing  of  in-  gressive  in  the  field  of  higher  education 

terior  decoration,  is  not  cultured — if  we  do  not  seem  to  recognize  that  the  cul- 

accept  a  definition  of  culture  based  on  ture  of  today,  as  found  among  the  f ore- 

the  modern  intelligence.  Yet  how  many  most  intelligences  of  our  time,  is  quite 


502 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


different  from  the  culture  of  1850.  has  been  a  half-hearted,  jumbled,  con- 
Their  reforms  seem  to  have  been  in-  fusing  introduction  partly  to  the  cul- 
spired  by  an  effort,  not  to  help  young  tures  of  dead  civilizations  and  partly  to 
people  acquire  the  culture  of  our  own  such  sciences  and  other  subjects  as  can 
age,  but  rather  to  make  the  study  of  neither  be  remembered  nor  have  any 
traditional  subjects  more  acceptable  to  value.  These  young  college  graduates 
modern  youth.  They  have  attempted  to  have  a  right  to  be  dissatisfied, 
be  more  gentle  and  more  subtle,  but  es-  It  is  most  encouraging  to  see  our 
sentially  they  are  still  trying  to  implant  several  hundred  liberal  arts  colleges  en- 
a  love  for  the  culture  of  generations  past,  gaged  in  an  impatient  self-analysis,  and 
If  an  instructor  in  calculus  or  Anglo-  searching  for  new  educational  experi- 
Saxon  should  be  so  enthusiastic  over  his  ences  through  various  forms  of  reorgan- 
subject,  so  charming  in  his  personality  ization.  But  they  need  to  examine  more 
and  so  lively  in  his  teaching  that  stu-  carefully  the  fundamental  basis  of  all 
dents  flocked  to  his  courses,  he  would  their  work.  They  need  to  accept  a  new 
be  called  a  great  teacher.  Young  men  definition  of  culture.  After  all,  the  cul- 
and  women  might  be  graduated  from  ture  of  former  ages  can  not  be  imposed 
the  institution  skilled  in  calculus  or  An-  on  our  youth.  Let  the  colleges,  there- 
glo-Saxon  as  the  case  might  be — never  fore,  first  study  the  culture  of  the  age 
to  use  such  knowledge  again !  The  pro-  in  which  they  work.  Only  after  exhaus- 
fessor  would  perhaps  gain  the  head-  tive  research  and  thoughtful  considera- 
ship  of  his  department,  prestige  and  the  tion  can  a  curriculum  of  the  truly  liberal 
maximum  salary — when,  as  a  matter  of  arts  be  built  to  meet  the  needs  of  mod- 
fact,  he  should  be  censured  for  enticing  ern  culture. 

young  people  into  wasteful  and  unprof-  These  suggestions  need  not  imply 
itable  effort — prostituting  his  subject  by  that  the  liberal  arts  colleges  should 
seducing  youth  away  from  its  best  in-  lower  their  standards.  They  should  al- 
terests.  ways  furnish  instruction  beyond  the  con- 
One  young  man  was  led  by  a  kindly  temporary  attainments  of  cultured  peo- 
and  persuasive  professor  into  thinking  pie.  The  arts  colleges  should  build  upon 
that  the  road  to  culture  lay  through  and  above  the  culture  of  their  time.  But 
Latin  and  Greek  with  a  minor  in  mathe-  they  must  not  build  apart  from  the 
matics.  Today  that  young  man,  now  structures  which  are  best  known  and 
nearing  middle  age,  bitterly  resents  his  most  admired  in  our  own  age — lest  all 
years  of  effort  on  the  classics,  and  re-  their  work  be  lost.  If  the  arts  colleges 
gretfully  wishes  he  knew  something  of  accept  somewhat  cheerfully  the  culture 
music,  art  and  other  subjects  that  would  of  our  own  time  they  will  doubtless 
fit  more  nearly  into  the  demands  of  find  much  that  is  goodj  and  what  is 
modern  culture.  There  are  too  many  more,  they  can  confidently  count  them- 
such  cases  in  the  flood  of  "bachelors  of  selves  a  most  significant  force  in  di- 
arts"  which  pours  upon  us  every  June,  recting  the  constant  evolution  of  our 
Their  so-called  "liberal  arts"  training  national  culture. 


The  Hollywood  Purge  — - 

BY  WILLIAM  E.  BERCHTOLD 

What  has  the  Legion  of  Decency  campaign  succeeded  in  doing 

to  the  movies? 

MOST  industrialists  whose  prod-  ably  scientific  indicators  of  public  taste 
ucts  bid  for  a  nation- wide  mar-  as  a  key  to  developing  their  products, 
ket  have  developed  through  that  vast  audience  which  buys  an  aver- 
experience  an  attitude  of  mild  contempt  age  of  75,000,000  tickets  at  cinema  box- 
toward  minority  groups  who  harass  offices  in  the  United  States  each  week 
them  with  demands  from  time  to  time,  has  defied  scientific  analysis  of  its  tastes. 
Hollywood's  gloss  of  sophistication  has  The  tinkling  of  a  cash  register  at  the 
never  been  sufficient,  apparently,  to  box-office  is  the  only  reliable  indicator, 
steel  its  Barons  of  Celluloid  against  the  and  the  Hollywood  mind  is  naturally 
haranguing  attacks  of  minorities.  While  attuned  to  it.  Anything  which  may  inter- 
conversation  along  Broadway  among  fere  with  the  box-office  cash  register, 
theatre  people  was  placing  no  extraor-  such  as  a  threatened  boycott  of  a  sub- 
dinary  importance  in  the  Legion  of  stantially  organized  minority  group,  be- 
Decency  drive  against  the  films,  it  took  comes  a  serious  menace.  Sometimes  the 
only  an  overnight  flight  from  Broad-  demands  of  minority  groups,  loud  in 
way  to  Hollywood  to  convince  me  that  voice  but  short  on  effective  action,  are 
the  producers  in  the  major  studios  were  mistaken  for  the  demands  of  the  vast 
seriously  disturbed  at  the  threat  of  a  movie-going  public  itself.  Such  mis- 
boycott  against  their  products  on  the  takes  are  certain  to  be  written  on  the 
grounds  of  vulgarity,  obscenity  and  in-  books  of  the  motion  picture  companies 
decency.  And  when  Hollywood  be-  in  red. 

comes  disturbed  over  anything,  its  fev-         As  both  the  reformers  and  the  mo- 

erish  activity  is  a  mania  that  affects  tion  picture  producers  have  taken  occa- 

every  phase  of  studio  planning.  The  sion  to  point  out  at  various  times,  only 

film  capital  is  in  the  throes  of  such  a  the  Bible  and  the  Koran  have  an  indis- 

disturbance  now;  the  Catholic  Legion  putably  larger  circulation  than  the  latest 

of  Decency  has  reached  the  brain  of  the  Hollywood  film.  The  screen  is  an  un- 

Hollywood  producer  through  his  pock-  questionably  great  educational  force, 

etbook.  and  the  calls  upon  producers  to  direct 

The  Hollywood  mind  is  inextricably  that  force  in  a  certain  direction  are 

bound  up  with  the  dollar  sign.  While  numerous.  Peace  societies  want  anti-war 

most  industries  have  developed  reason-  films.  Patriotic  societies  ask  for  pictures 


504  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

which  glorify  love  of  country  as  their  picture  producer  is  not  primarily  con- 
social  goal.  Societies  for  the  prevention  cerned  with  improving  the  public  mind, 
of  crime  turn  thumbs  down  on  gangster  It  is  his  chief  interest  to  provide  enter- 
films,  and  insist  on  endings  which  in-  tainment,  not  propaganda,  for  millions 
variably  portray  the  law  as  triumphant,  of  people  who  are  willing  to  pay  $i,- 
Nearly  every  trade  and  business  has  at  250,000,000  at  the  box-office  each  year, 
one  time  or  another  sought  the  aid  of  He  might  consciously  give  every  film  a 
the  motion  picture  producers  in  putting  propaganda  turn  toward  a  social  goal 
across  their  particular  products.  The  approved  by  the  reformers,  but  it  is 
stereotyped  screen  hero  has  long  been  doubtful  whether  the  75,000,000  who 
a  cigarette  or  pipe  smoker  j  now  the  approach  the  cinema  box-offices  each 
cigar  manufacturers  are  asking  the  pro-  week  would  pay  for  it  as  entertainment, 
ducers  to  portray  cigar  smoking  as  a  The  world  has  just  been  furnished  with 
habit  of  male  leads.  The  anti-tobacco  an  opportunity  to  study  the  effects  of 
crusaders  have  long  attempted  to  con-  political  propaganda  presented  as  enter- 
fine  smoking  as  a  habit  solely  to  vil-  tainment  in  Germany  since  the  advent 
lains.  Industries  rise  up  in  wrathful  of  the  Nazi  regime.  The  Nazi  stage  and 
indignation  when  the  motion  pictures  the  Nazi  screen  have  been  dominated 
portray  their  activities  in  anything  but  by  pointed  political  propaganda.  Those 
a  favorable  light.  The  newspaper  pub-  who  have  seen  the  films  say  they  have 
lishers  protested  vigorously  against  been  handled  with  high  technical  skill, 
such  films  as  Five  Star  Final,  and  sue-  but  the  dull  uniformity  of  the  propa- 
ceeded  in  having  two  subsequent  news-  ganda  message  has  kept  millions  upon 
paper  films  changed  to  meet  their  de-  millions  away  from  the  theatres  in  each 
mands.  The  aircraft  industry  protested  succeeding  month  since  the  campaign 
against  the  original  version  of  Central  started.  The  results  at  the  box-office 
Airport,  and  succeeded  in  having  some  have  been  so  alarming  (reaching  an  at- 
of  its  most  harrowing  scenes  removed  tendance  reduction  of  forty-five  per 
from  the  final  prints.  And  so  the  de-  cent)  that  the  Minister  of  Propaganda 
mands  of  self-interested  groups  which  in  September  agreed  to  lighten  the 
feel  that  their  interests  are  being  dam-  propaganda  burden  on  the  film  produc- 
aged  through  this  great  educational  tion  schedule,  and  the  practice  of  giving 
force— the  motion  picture—pour  in  customers'  tickets  (discarded  a  year  ago 
upon  Hollywood  daily.  Many  of  the  as  a  "Jewish  uneconomic  idea"),  en- 
criticisms  are  justified  and  the  pro-  titling  the  bearer  to  admission  on  the 
ducers  attempt  to  meet  those  requests  j  payment  of  a  small  sum,  has  been  re- 
most  of  the  .criticisms  are  the  narrow  sumed  to  bolster  up  attendance.  It  is 
views  of  small  but  sometimes  highly  doubtful  whether  economic  or  social 
organized  minorities  who  could  never  propaganda,  which  in  the  last  analysis 
obtain  the  sanction  of  those  millions  is  the  unannounced  goal  of  most  of  the 
who  line  up  at  cinema  box-offices  each  cinema  reform  groups,  would  have  any 
week.  greater  success  than  political  propa- 
The  motion  picture  could  be  an  art  ganda  has  had  in  Germany.  Censorship 
or  a  science  or  a  great  educational  me-  is  no  more  than  a  negative  veto  which 
dium  or  a  business;  it  is  all  four,  but  seeks  to  obtain  the  same  ends  from  a 
principally  it  is  a  business.  The  motion  social  standpoint  that  the  Nazi  propa- 


THE  HOLLYWOOD  PURGE  505 

gandists  obtained  through  positive  ac-  crat  of  Texas,  sought  to  prohibit  block- 

tion  for  political  purposes.  booking  and  to  create  a  Federal  Motion 

Picture  Commission.  More  than  thirty 
cities  censor  films  through  their  munici- 

The  American  motion  picture  indus-  pal  licensing  ordinances.  Chicago  cen- 
try  first  faced  the  problem  of  censorship  sors,  the  strictest  of  the  municipal  re- 
as  early  as  1909,  when  a  concerted  at-  viewers,  delete  anything  that  shows  a 
tempt  to  restrict  the  exhibition  of  pic-  machine  gun;  Pennsylvania  will  not 
tures  in  New  York  City  resulted  in  the  approve,  among  other  things,  any  se- 
closing  of  all  motion  picture  theatres  quence  which  deals  with  rioting  5  Kan- 
by  the  mayor.  When  exhibitors  ap-  sas  has  deleted  lines  of  dialogue  re 
pealed  to  the  late  Dr.  Charles  Sprague  ferring  to  a  night  club  bar,  even  though 
Smith,  founder  and  director  of  the  Peo-  no  bar  was  shown  in  the  picture  j  and 
pie's  Institute  of  New  York  (a  citizens'  through  the  various  censorship  organi- 
bureau  of  social  research),  he  formed  a  zations  from  several  hundred  to  several 
committee  representing  civic,  social  and  thousand  deletions  are  made  in  feature 
religious  agencies  which  became  the  Na-  pictures  each  year.  The  annual  cost  of 
tional  Board  of  Censorship.  The  finan-  censorship,  both  legal  and  voluntary, 
cial  burden  imposed  upon  the  com-  is  estimated  at  from  $3,000,000  to 
mittee  became  heavy  in  1914,  and  it  $4,000,000. 

accepted  money  from  the  producers.  Not  one  Federal  or  State  censorship 

Some  of  the  committee  members  re-  bill  has  been  passed  since  1922,  not  so 

signed  in  a  row  which  followed  accept-  much  because  political  censorship  where 

ance  of  the  subsidy  from  producers,  and  tried  has  been  petty  and  ineffectual,  but 

the  organization  changed  its  name  to  because  the  motion  picture  industry  re- 

the  National  Board  of  Review,  with  its  tained  the  services  in  that  year  of  its 

purpose  the  "selection"  and  not  the  high-powered  lobbyist  and  self-styled 

censorship  of  films.  Charges  of  laxity  tsar,  Will  Hays.  He  has  carried  on  a 

brought  renewed  demands  for  State  campaign  of  self-regulation  within  the 

censorship  and  the  New  York  Legis-  industry  to  meet  the  demands  of  mi- 

lature  passed  a  censorship  law  in  1916,  nority  groups  which  march  on  Holly- 

which  was  vetoed.  By  1921,  with  the  wood.  He  has  been  hailed  as  an  elevator 

success  of  national  Prohibition  legisla-  of  the  human  race  and  damned  as  a  cor- 

tion,  the  reformers  were  calling  for  rupter  of  world  morals.  Obviously,  he 

film  censorship  laws  throughout  the  can  not  be  both.  Gilbert  Miller  once 

country,   thirty-six   States   considering  called  him  the  "highest  salaried  nitwit 

censorship  bills  in  that  year.  Several  in  America"  and  Canon  Chase  pictured 

States  passed  film  censorship  laws  which  him  as  "the  greatest  enemy  of  civiliza- 

are   still   in   operation:    Pennsylvania  tion."  Damned  on  numerous  occasions 

(1911),    Ohio    and    Kansas    (1913),  for  passing  sex  pictures,  he  was  once 

Maryland    (1916),    New    York    and  charged  in  a  law  suit  with  impairing  the 

Florida  (1921),  and  Virginia  ('1922).  happiness  and  health  of  the  people  by 

Congress  has  considered  several  bills  discountenancing    sex    pictures.    His 

for  a  Federal  censorship  of  films,  the  enemies  charge  that  he  has  met  criticism 

first  in  1915  and  the  latest  only  last  by  "putting  his  critics  on  his  payroll," 

March,  when  Wright  Patman,  Demo-  and  the  charge  is  not  without  sub- 


506  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

stantiation  in  fact,  for  an  investigation  end  Daniel  A.  Lord,  S.J.,  of  St.  Louis, 
of  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches  of  Missouri.  The  code  was  considered  ex- 
Christ  in  America  revealed  that  fifty-  cellent  on  paper,  but  Tsar  Hays's  en- 
two  influential  persons,  representing  f  orcement  of  it  was  considered  lax.  The 
religious  or  social  organizations  inter-  fault  was  not  wholly  his,  for  the  en- 
ested  in  cinema  morality,  had  accepted  forcement  machinery  provided  for  a 
salaries,  honoraria  or  expense  money  committee  of  appeal  made  up  of  three 
from  the  Hays  organization,  the  Mo-  producers  chosen  from  the  several 
tion  Picture  Producers  and  Distribu-  studios  to  whom  disputed  films  were 
tors  of  America,  Inc.  Tsar  Hays,  long  submitted  for  review.  An  understood 
an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  church  (  one  policy  of  "you-pass-my-questionable- 
of  the  militant  Protestant  denomina-  films-and  Pll-pass-yours"  took  the  real 
tions  in  earlier  crusades  against  the  power  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Hays 
films)  and  one-time  Indiana  politician  censor,  and  reduced  the  code  to  so  many 
and  Postmaster  General  under  Presi-  words  in  a  little  booklet.  The  Most 
dent  Harding,  was  ably  fitted  through  Reverend  John  J.  Cantwell,  Bishop  of 
church,  political  and  lodge  affiliations  Los  Angeles,  a  close  observer  of  the 
to  stop  the  flood  of  censorship  legisla-  Hollywood  tactics,  sent  letters  to  the 
tion  which  worried  the  producers  in  Bishops  of  the  104  Catholic  sees  in  the 
1922.  That  the  producers  were  pleased  United  States,  then  brought  the  mat- 
with  his  efforts  was  proved  in  1924  ter  before  the  annual  conference  of 
when  his  five-year  contract  calling  for  American  bishops  in  Washington  in 
an  annual  salary  of  $100,000  was  torn  November,  1933.  The  result  was  the 
up,  and  another  one  raising  his  salary  appointment  of  the  Catholic  Bishops' 
to  $150,000  and  extending  his  tenure  Committee  on  Motion  Pictures  headed 
ten  years  was  substituted.  By  keeping  by  the  Most  Reverend  John  T. 
the  reform  forces  flattered,  disorgan-  McNicholas,  Archbishop  of  Cincinnati, 
ized  and  bewildered,  he  has  achieved  a  and  the  subsequent  organization  of  the 
remarkable  degree  of  freedom  for  the  Legion  of  Decency  campaign.  The 
screen  in  America.  Each  succeeding  re-  Catholic  hierarchy  was  aiming  at  noth- 
form  crusade  against  the  films  for  more  ing  more  than  organizing  the  20,000,- 
than  a  decade  was  successfully  met  with  ooo  Catholics  in  America  to  prove  the 
promises  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  force  of  Tsar  Hays's  oft  repeated  state- 
minority  and  a  subsequent  display  of  ment :  "The  box-office  delivers  the  final 
frenzied  activity  at  self-regulation.  verdict  on  our  product." 

But  Tsar  Hays  has  definitely  lost  The  Legion  of  Decency  moved  to 
caste  in  the  estimate  of  many  Holly-  boycott  films  which  it  judged  as  vulgar, 
wood  officials  as  the  result  of  his  in-  obscene  and  indecent.  That  arch-zealot 
ability  to  attune  his  efforts  at  self-  of  motion  picture  purity,  His  Excel- 
regulation  to  the  tempo  of  the  demands  lency,  Dennis,  Cardinal  Dougherty  of 
of  the  Catholic  hierarchy  before  the  Philadelphia,  called  for  a  Catholic  boy- 
move  for  a  Legion  of  Decency  got  un-  cott  of  all  movies  until  he  decreed  that 
der  way.  The  motion  picture  producers  the  ban  should  be  lifted  in  his  arch- 
in  the  Hays  organization  adopted  a  diocese.  His  subsequent  visit  to  Rome 
production  code  in  1930  which  was  even  brought  to  the  crusade  the  blessing  of 
written  by  a  Catholic  priest,  the  Rever-  Pope  Pius  XL  What  started  as  a  liberal 


THE  HOLLYWOOD  PURGE  507 

move  to  clean  up  immoral  motion  pic-  stay  away  from  the  Cincinnati  meeting 

tures  swung  for  a  time  toward  a  rabid  of  the  Catholic  Bishops'  Committee  in 

crusade  to  remove  sex,  love  and  crime  June  and  to  send  Joseph  I.  Breen, 

as  subjects  for  motion  picture  treatment.  Catholic  press  agent  for  the  Eucharistic 

The  Catholic  Legion  of  Decency  was  Congress  in  192 6,  as  his  emissary.  Breen 

soon  offered  the  support  of  the  Federal  and  Quigley  went  to  Cincinnati,  and 

Council  of  Churches  of  Christ  in  Amer-  Breen  subsequently  was  endowed  with 

ica,  long  a  critic  of  Hollywood,  and  the  unlimited  powers   for  self-regulatory 

Central  Conference  of  Jewish  Rabbis,  censorship  of  films  as  the  Hays  prime 

the  strongest  rabbinical  organization  in  minister  in  Hollywood.  He  has  been 

the  world.  The  ubiquitous  professional  responsible  for  the  Great  Hollywood 

reformers  of  every  variety,  always  sure  Purge, 
of  nation-wide  publicity  during  a  moral 
ity  crusade  against  Hollywood,  rushed 

in  to  join  the  campaign.  The  Catholics  Mr.  Breen  and  his  staff  of  aides  now 
soon  had  many  odd  bedfellows,  some  pass  on  all  pictures  from  the  time  the 
of  whom  had  previously  advocated  stories  are  submitted  to  the  studios  until 
birth  control  legislation,  the  abolition  the  final  scenes  have  been  filmed.  The 
of  parochial  schools  and  the  banning  of  studios  have  further  agreed  to  give 
sacramental  wines.  The  confusion  be-  theatre  managers  the  right  to  cancel  any 
came  worse  with  the  announcement  of  picture  on  moral  grounds  which  had 
black  and  white  lists  in  several  arch-  been  released  prior  to  July  15,  when 
dioceses,  displaying  an  alarming  dis-  Mr.  Breen  and  his  staff  began  their  is- 
parity  of  opinion  as  to  what  was  moral  suance  of  what  Hollywood  calls  a 
and  what  was  immoral  in  the  current  "purity  seal,"  and  what  Tsar  Hays  pre- 
output  from  Hollywood.  fers  to  have  called  a  "certificate  of  ap- 
Tsar  Hays  might  have  been  given  proval."  The  seal  is  now  familiar  to  all 
cause  for  a  time  to  believe  that  this  cam-  on  the  screen  as  an  assurance  that  the 
paign,  like  so  many  others  by  religious  picture  which  follows  has  been  given  a 
organizations  in  past  years,  was  due  to  clean  bill  of  health.  Mae  West's  most 
break  up  on  the  rocks  of  intramural  recent  picture,  Belle  of  the  Nineties, 
bickering  and  disorganized  confusion,  finally  appeared  with  full  benefit  of  the 
To  those  who  knew  the  potential  or-  "purity  seal,"  but  not  until  after  its  title 
ganizing  power  of  the  Catholic  hier-  had  been  changed,  lines  had  been  elimi- 
archy  and  the  temper  of  the  Catholic  nated,  whole  sequences  had  been  re- 
Bishops'  Committee  it  was  clear,  how-  made  with  a  censor  on  the  set  during 
ever,  that  Tsar  Hays  could  not  expect  re-taking  and  a  new  final  ending  added, 
to  flatter  and  cajole  the  Catholic  cru-  The  West  picture  furnishes  an  excellent 
saders  into  submission  through  one  of  example  of  some  of  the  problems  which 
his  typical  hallelujah  revival  speeches,  arise  from  censorship  of  even  a  self- 
in  which  he  gives  away  Hollywood  like  regulatory  brand.  Under  the  lively  title 
a  souvenir  ("The  films  are  yours,  not  It  Ain't  No  Sin,  the  West  picture  was 
ours.")  and  promises  something  like  a  in  production  when  the  Legion  of  De- 
perpetual  Lent.  Martin  Quigley,  a  cency  drive  began  and  was  completed 
Catholic  who  publishes  several  movie  for  release  late  in  June.  The  heat  of  the 
magazines,  persuaded  Tsar  Hays  to  new  self-regulation  drive  within  the  in- 


508  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

dustry  and  criticism  of  the  New  York  pret  the  demands  of  the  crusaders  has 

State  censors  sent  it  back  to  Hollywood  taken  many  other  forms.  Jean  Harlow's 

for  laundering.  It  has  long  been  one  of  newest  picture  was  retitled  from  One 

the  reformers'  criticisms  that  the  mar-  Hundred  Per  Cent  Pure  to  Born  to  be 

riage  ceremony  figures  too  seldom  in  Kissed  to  The  Girl  from  Missouri  be- 

motion  pictures,  Dr.  W.  W.  Charters  fore  the  Breen  censors  were  satisfied.  A 

in  his  studies  for  the  Payne  Fund  sup-  continuity  editor's  failure  to  see  that  an 

porting  these  criticisms  with  the  fact  exit  for  Gilbert  Roland  from  Claire 

that  only  fifteen  per  cent  of  the  males  Trevor's  room  was  filmed  in  Eleanor 

and  twenty-one  per  cent  of  the  females  Norton  following  a  crucial  scene  and 

in  the  hundreds  of  pictures  he  examined  time  lapse  caused  Hamilton  McFadden 

subscribed  to  matrimony.  Those  enter-  to  cover  the  lapse  with  an  afternoon's 

ing  into  the  spirit  of  the  Hollywood  re-takes.  Many  of  Bette  Davis's  most 

Purge  decided  that  Miss  West  must  add  vivid  scenes  in  Of  Human  Bondage — 

a  marriage  ceremony  to  her  picture  in  all  taken  from  the  novel — were  sacri- 

addition  to  changing  the  title  from  It  ficed  to  the  morality  campaign,  only  to 

Ain't  No  Sin  to  Belle  of  the  Nineties,  have  reviewers  criticize  the  film  for  this 

As  every  cinema-goer  now  knows,  that  unfaithfulness  to  the  novel.  Claudette 

marriage  ceremony  before  a  justice  of  Colbert's  Cleopatra  was  pruned  of  sev- 

the  peace,  in  which  she  makes  holy  the  eral  exotic  touches,  as  was  Marlene 

wedlock  she  had  clearly  been  out  of  for  Dietrich's  Scarlet  Empress  and  Dolores 

a  long  time,  adds  an  hilarious  touch  to  Del  Rio's  Madame  DuBarry.  These 

the  whole  performance,  one  which  Miss  pictures,  which  were  in  production  when 

West  and  Paramount  did  not  have  as  the  agitation  for  cleaner  films  became 

their  original  thesis.  As  St.  Clair  Me-  strong,  were  changed  in  celluloid,  but 

Kelway  in  his  New  Yorker  review  of  all  scheduled  after  July  15  have  been 

the  picture  said:  "If  she  has  been  forced  cleansed  to  suit  the  Hollywood  censors 

to  preach  a  thoroughly  immoral  sermon  before  shooting  was  started.  More  than 

in  Belle  of  the  Nineties ,  I  don't  see  how  100  novels  or  plays,  including  Barbary 

anybody,  especially  Paramount,  can  do  Coast  and  The  Postman  Always  Rings 

anything  but  laugh.  Without  the  assist-  Twice,  have  been  shelved  temporarily, 

ance  of  the  outsiders,  Miss  West  could  If  they  are  brought  to  the  screen  at  all, 

never,  I  am  sure,  have  been  able  so  the  authors  will  not  be  likely  to  recog- 

blatantly  to  urge  the  young  to  think  nize  their  own  works.  The  reformers 

twice  before  settling  down,  or  to  demon-  may  be  pleased  with  the  results;  those 

strate  so  forcibly  that  the  wages  of  sin  who  complain  against  the  screen's  dis- 

are  a  good,  fat  drawing  account,  and  tortion  of  original  works  will  be  dis- 

expenses."  Yet  Belle  of  the  Nineties  in  pleased;  and  the  producers  will  depend 

its  revised  form  met  the  demands  of  upon  the  salacious  publicity  given  the 

the  censors ;  it  was  a  far  better  picture  titles  to  tide  them  over  at  the  box-office, 

from  a  production  standpoint;  and  as  Horizontal    love    scenes    and    pro- 

the  exhibitors  who  showed  it  on  Broad-  longed    kisses    have    been    outlawed, 

way   for  three  weeks  to  big  houses  although   the  reformers   and  censors 

pointed  out:  "Now  It  Ain't  No  Sin  to  themselves    have   difficulty   in    deter- 

see  Mae  West  in  Belle  of  the  Nineties"  mining  what  constitutes  a  prolonged 

Hollywood's  frenzied  efforts  to  inter-  kiss.  When  The  Merry  Widow  was  in 


THE  HOLLYWOOD  PURGE  509 

production,  the  censors  decreed  that  a  would  permit  me,  I  should  like  nothing 

scene    which    called    upon    Maurice  better  than  to  take  $400,000  of  their 

Chevalier  to  lift  Jeanette  MacDonald  money  and  produce  a  film  version  of 

into  his  arms,  carry  her  across  the  room,  Faust  just  for  the  satisfaction  of  having 

and  place  her  on  a  sofa  (making  love  it  censored  and  of  hearing  the  censors 

to  her  as  he  did  so)  must  be  eliminated,  inform  the  public  that  Goethe  is  an  im- 

Director  Ernst  Lubitsch  chose  to  argue  moral  writer.  The  difference,  as  I  see  it, 

the  point  with  Mr.  Breen,  contending  between  the  vulgarizing  effect  and  the 

that  the  scene  was  absolutely  necessary  uplifting  effect  of  art  is  the  difference 

to  the  comedy.  He  was  finally  per-  between  the  bad  artist  and  the  good 

mitted  to  use  it,  "tf  Miss  MacDonald  artist." 

keeps  her  feet  on  the  -floor  as  she  is  The  producers  are  not  likely  to  risk 

placed  on  the  sofa"  Such  split-hair  deci-  $400,000  on  such  a  Lubitsch  experi- 

sions  are  said  to  be  numerous  in  all  ment  at  the  present  time,  for  they  are 

studios,  and  there  is  no  guarantee  that  leaning  over  backward  in  their  attempt 

the  reformers  will  agree  with  the  final  to  eliminate  any  story  which  might 

decision,  no  matter  how  sincerely  it  is  prove  a  financial  boomerang  through 

made.  Little  Man,  What  Now  and  The  mutilation  by  the  censors  or  a  church 

Life  of  Vergie  Winters  were  passed  by  boycott.  The  outstanding  success  of  Lit- 

the  Hays  office,  then  later  condemned  tie  Women  with  Katherine  Hepburn 

by  individual  church  groups.  Of  Hu-  has  dictated  the  casting  of  Miss  Hep- 

man  Bondage  was  on  the  white  list  in  burn  in  The  Little  Minister,  and  the 

some  Catholic  archdioceses  and  on  the  digging  up  of  the  Gene  Stratton  Porter 

black  list  in  others.  story  Laddie,  which  RKO  characterizes 

as  a  Little  Women  with  boys.  The  titles 
IV  of  some  of  the  current  or  future  releases 
Director  Lubitsch  expressed  the  will  suggest  the  trend  of  the  times: 
thoughts  of  many  producers  and  direc-  Girl  of  the  Limberlost,  Ruggles  of 
tors  when  he  said:  "If  I,  at  the  present  Red  Gay,  Mrs.  Wiggs  of  the  Cabbage 
time,  should  be  asked  to  make  a  great  Patch,  Rip  Van  Winkle,  The  Tale  of 
and  sincere  picture  on  a  serious  subject,  Two  Cities,  David  Copper  field,  Kim, 
I  should  be  forced  to  reply  that  it  would  Freckles,  The  Good  Earth,  Call  of  the 
be  impossible  for  me  to  do  so.  Even  the  Wild,  Cardinal  Richelieu,  A  Midsum- 
greatest  of  Biblical  characters  would  fall  mer  Nights  Dream,  Pickwick  Papers, 
under  the  scissors  of  the  censors.  As  Sequoia,  Gulliver's  Travels,  Becky 
matters  stand,  I  can  work  with  almost  Sharp,  Treasure  Island,  Peck's  Bad 
complete  freedom  on  light,  flimsy  Boy,  Captain  Blood  and  The  Student 
stories  like  The  Merry  Widow,  but  it  Prince.  And  with  Black  Beauty  ex- 
would  be  impossible  for  me  to  produce  pected  to  join  the  list  at  any  time, 
a  film  which  pretended  at  any  pro-  Such  stars  as  Will  Rogers,  Janet 
fundity  in  story  and  character.  In  mak-  Gay  nor,  Harold  Lloyd  and  Jean  Muir, 
ing  Faust,  for  example,  I  would  find  who  are  public  symbols  for  "cleanli- 
that  here  is  a  girl  who  gives  birth  to  an  ness"  in  film  characterization,  are  being 
illegitimate  child  and  who  kills  the  worked  overtime.  Two  Will  Rogers 
child,  and  it  would  be  impossible  for  an  pictures,  Handy  Andy  (small  town 
artist  to  evade  that  fact.  If  the  producers  druggist)  and  Judge  Priest  (small  town 


5io  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

judge)  were  rushed  to  the  screen  while  masterful  pioneer  as  Cecil  B.  DeMille 
Mr.  Rogers  was  on  his  world  tour,  and  (  Ten  Commandments y  King  of  Kings, 
five  others  are  scheduled  for  shooting  The  Sign  of  the  Cross)  is  turning  again 
in  rapid  succession  now  that  he  has  re-  to  a  broad  religious  canvas  for  his  next 
turned:  Life  Begins  at  Forty  (a  best-  picture  The  Crusades ,  after  a  none  too 
selling  title  to  which  a  country  editor  successful  fling  at  a  pagan  spectacle  in 
story  has  been  hitched) ',  One  More  his  recent  Cleopatra.  DeMille  has  said 
Spring  (with  Janet  Gaynor  and  Warner  many  times  that  "a  religious  picture  has 
Baxter)  j  The  County  Chairman  (small  never  failed"  and  proved  his  point 
town  politics)  j  What  Am  I  Bid?  (an  gloriously  with  his  three  greatest  pic- 
auctioneer)  -,  and  another  as  yet  un-  tures.  The  producer  of  a  religious 
titled.  The  Fox  studio  is  also  rushing  spectacle  has  no  difficulty  in  concocting 
new  stories  for  Shirley  Temple,  the  five-  scenes  of  sadism,  debauchery  and  war- 
year-old  star  who  made  such  a  hit  in  fare,  for,  since  the  incidents  involve  the 
Little  Miss  Marker  (Paramount),  ancients  who  did  not  believe  in  God, 
Baby,  Take  A  Bow  (Fox)  and  Now  they  are  not  questioned  by  reformers 
and  .Forever  (Paramount).  Other  and  religious  crusaders  against  immoral 
studios  are  searching  for  child  stars,  films. 
Universal  having  discovered  Baby  Jane 
Quigley  as  its  bid  for  attention  with  v 
juvenile  pictures.  The  Hollywood  producers  have  for 

The  1934-35  film  gangster  is  a  far  the  most  part  taken  the  Legion  of  De- 
different  personality  as  the  result  of  the  cency  drive  as  something  more  than  the 
morality  drive.  Thanks  to  Tsar  Hays,  demands  of  an  articulate  minority 
Mr.  Breen  and  Damon  Runyon,  screen  group.  They  have  interpreted  it  as  an 
gangsters 'are  no  longer  wicked;  they  outward  expression  of  the  great  mass  of 
are  now  gentlemen  masquerading  in  movie-goers  themselves.  Whether  they 
wolves'  clothing.  Little  Miss  Marker y  are  correct  in  giving  such  weight  to  their 
Lady  for  a  Day  and  Midnight  Alibi  appraisal  of  these  demands,  only  the 
were  typical  of  the  new-style  molly-  next  several  months  of  box-office  re- 
coddle  outlaw  heroes  whose  better  na-  ceipts  will  tell.  They  are  anxious 
tures  are  aroused  by  old  ladies  or  little  to  learn  whether  the  public  which 
Shirley  Temple.  Hide-Out,  another  thronged  to  the  so-called  vulgarities  of 
picture  of  this  new  school,  transforms  the  last  few  years  is  the  same  public 
a  night  club  chiseler  into  a  gentleman  which  is  represented  as  calling  for  sup- 
farmer.  The  gangster  characterizations  pression  now.  Few  of  them  question  the 
were  due  for  a  change  j  it  might  have  validity  of  the  attacks  which  have  been 
been  toward  a  more  sordid  treatment,  made,  although  most  of  them  fear  that 
but  the  "clean-up"  campaign  and  Mr.  the  attacks  have  been  so  violent  as  to 
Runyon's  stories  dictated  the  sugary  delay  progress  in  the  artistic  develop- 
trend.  ment  of  "sophisticated"  and  "adult" 

Some  producers  are  digging  deep  films  at  least  several  years.  They  admit 
into  history  for  their  major  characters  that  the  menace  of  mediocrity  is  great. 
in  new  films,  reasonably  certain  that  Vulgarity  can  be  curbed  and  nudity 
they  can  stay  the  censors'  scissors  on  draped  through  the  voluntary  censor- 
grounds  of  historical  accuracy.  Such  a  ship,  but  not  dulness.  Some  of  them  feel 


THE  HOLLYWOOD  PURGE  511 

that  the  motion  picture  had  just  started  whole  gamut  from  Hate-the-Hun  to 
to  show  signs  of  rising  above  the  mo-  comedy  to  romance  to  disillusionment 
ronic  standards  which  dominated  it  for  to  horror  to  pacifistic  bitterness,  and 
many  years,  and  they  fear  the  worst  as  each  capitalized  on  the  state  of  the  pub- 
the  result  of  returning  to  the  building  lie  mind  for  its  success  at  the  time  of 
of  pictures  to  social  standards  which  ap-  release.  Similarly,  the  producers  con- 
ply  to  every  one  from  five  to  eighty,  tend  that  many  pictures  which  have 
Every  attempt  on  the  part  of  exhibitors  been  attacked  by  reformers  are  merely 
to  provide  special  performances  of  in-  reflecting  an  era  of  sophistication,  and 
terest  to  children  has  failed;  such  per-  that  the  reformers  are  attacking  the 
formances  have  proved  unprofitable  if  mirror  instead  of  the  conditions  which 
held  more  than  once  a  week  and  on  any  it  reflects.  It  is  an  old,  old  habit  of  the 
day  other  than  Saturday.  They  know  sinner  to  rage  at  his  sins  instead  of 
that  pictures  widely  endorsed  for  their  himself. 

fine  moral  and  educational  values  rarely  From  another  standpoint,  the  moral- 
have  good  box-offices.  The  local  ex-  ity  drive  against  the  films  by  the  united 
hibitor,  who  has  the  privilege  of  can-  church  groups  might  be  taken  as  an  il- 
celing  ten  per  cent  of  the  pictures  for  luminating  commentary  on  the  in- 
which  he  has  signed  up  under  the  block-  effectiveness  of  the  churches  to  implant 
booking  arrangement,  rarely  cancels  a  high  moral  standards  in  their  flocks. 
Mae  West,  Greta  Garbo,  Jean  Harlow,  If  the  churches  in  their  age-old  task  of 
Marlene  Dietrich  feature,  but  often  raising  the  moral  standards  of  the  corn- 
checks  out  the  Abraham  Lincolns  and  munity  had  met  with  reasonable  success, 
Evangelines  which  he  knows  from  ex-  the  cheap  vulgarity  of  the  films  would 
perience  will  put  him  in  the  red.  be  so  revolting  to  the  church-educated 
Although  Hollywood  is  credited  movie-goer  that  his  protest  would  be 
with  extraordinary  powers  as  an  educa-  automatically  registered  at  the  box- 
tional  influence,  some  of  the  smartest  office.  The  Hollywood  producer  has  no 
producers  have  long  realized  that  they  desire  to  run  counter  to  the  dictates  of 
can  not  advance  a  viewpoint  on  war  or  the  little  rows  of  figures  on  the  box- 
crime  or  love  or  any  other  subject  and  office  cash  register.  It  is  principally  be- 
expect  it  to  be  a  success  at  the  box-office,  cause  he  believes  that  a  militant  high- 
unless  the  public  mind  is  receptive  to  powered  campaign  against  Hollywood 
that  viewpoint  at  the  time  it  is  advanced,  and  all  its  works  could  affect  the  box- 
The  story  editor  of  one  of  the  biggest  office  for  a  time,  that  he  is  acceding  to 
studios  in  Hollywood  recently  traced  the  demands  of  the  reformers  now.  If 
for  me  the  history  of  the  successful  war  the  box-office  returns  of  the  next  year 
pictures  in  terms  of  the  public  attitude  fail  to  confirm  that  verdict,  it  will  be  a 
toward  war  at  the  time  each  feature  was  chapter  in  the  motion  picture  industry's 
released.  What  else  could  explain  the  history  which  will  be  written  in  red  ink 
success  of  such  widely  varying  treat-  on  the  companies'  books, 
ments  of  war  as  My  Four  Years  in  Hollywood,  already  deep  in  red  ink 
Germany ,  Shoulder  Arms,  The  Big  as  the  result  of  its  flights  of  frenzied  fi- 
Parade,  What  Price  Glory,  Journey's  nance  in  the  late  'Twenties,  is  in  no 
End,  All  Quiet  on  the  Western  Front  mood  to  question  the  ability  of  the 
and  Farewell  to  Arms?  Here  is  the  Catholic,  Protestant  and  Jewish  church 


5I2 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


groups  to  unite  in  a  nation-wide  movie  tion  cost  less  than  $200,000  for  each 

boycott  which  might  bankrupt  the  in-  picture. 

dustry.  It  takes  no  more  than  a  barrage  The    crusade    against    Hollywood 

of  telegrams  from  civic,  social  or  re-  started  by  the  several  religious  groups 

ligious  organizations,  which  claim  mem-  — and  led  by  the  Catholic  Legion  of 

berships  in  millions,  protesting  against  Decency — could  be  a  vital  force  in  ar- 

a  particular  film  to  unnerve  the  already  ticulating  the  average  movie-goer's  dis- 

jittery  producer.  The  motion  picture  satisfaction  with  the  dull  mediocrity  of 

industry  has  a  tremendous  investment  the  product  turned  out  by  Hollywood 

at  stake:  two  billion  dollars,  of  which  for  his  entertainment.  It  appears  more 

$110,000,000  is  in  production  studios  certain  that  it  will  succeed  in  banishing 

alone.  Its  profits  in  recent  years  have  the  crudest  types  of  vulgarity  and  in 

been   uncertain   and   negligible,   only  draping  the  more  notorious  attempts  at 

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  and  Columbia  nudity,  but  it  is  quite  likely  that  its  zeal 

Pictures  maintaining  a  record  in  black  for  reform  will  breed  a  kind  of  moronic 

figures     throughout    the     depression  mediocrity  which  will  be  more  devastat- 

years.  The  producers  know  that  a  typi-  ing  than  anything  to  which  the  cinema- 

cal  successful  picture  which  cost  $375,-  going  public  has  yet  been  subjected, 

ooo  to  produce  will  do  well  to  return  The  motion  picture  is  America's  only 

$100,000  profit;  this  is  not  an  average,  distinctive  contribution  to  the  artsj  it  is 

The  300  feature  pictures  which  figure  so  closely  tied  up  with  the  box-office 

in    the    industry's    major    production  dollar  that  nothing  less  than  a  vast  im- 

schedule  for  the  year  may  cost  as  much  provement  in  public  taste  itself  will  ever 

as   $1,000,000   for  a  single   feature;  raise  it  to  the  level  it  potentially  de- 

$350,000  is  not  uncommon;  although  serves  j  and  to  expect  that  is  to  expect 

about  one-third  of  the  year's  produc-  the  millennium. 


Hitler  or  Hohenzollern? 


BY  G.  E.  W.  JOHNSON 

There  are  indications  that  Hitler  is  approaching  a  choice  of 

monarchs 


E  death  of  President  von  Hin-  monarchy  be  contemplated.  It  may  be 

denburg  on  August  2,  and  the  well  to  recall  the  broad  outlines  of  the 

-J-L   seizure  by  Hitler  of  supreme  constitution  of  the  German  Empire  as 

power  —  more  absolute,  we  are  told,  it  existed  from  its  foundation  under 

than  that  which  any  autocrat  has  exer-  William  I  in  1871  until  its  collapse  a 

cised  since  the  days  of  Jenghiz  Khan  little  less  than  forty-eight  years  later 

—have  brought  Germany  to  another  when  the  German  military  machine 

crossroads  in  her  long  and  troubled  his-  went  down  to  defeat  and  William  II, 

tory.  In  particular,  it  focuses  attention  third  and  last  German  Emperor,  fled 

on  the  question  of  Germany's  future  ignominiously  to  Holland. 

form  of  government.  What  is  Hitler  The  shining  armor,  the  mailed  fist, 

planning  to  do?  Does  the  little  cor-  the  winged  helmet,  the  fiercely  up- 

poral  who  has  become  Chancellor  plan  turned    mustachios    and    the    other 

to  model  himself  after  Cromwell,  after  picturesque  appurtenances  of  the  All- 

Bismarck,  or  after  that  other  little  cor-  Highest  War  Lord  bulked  so  large  in 

poral,  Napoleon?  In  other  words,  does  the  imagination  of  foreigners  that  they 

his  assumption  of  the  headship  of  the  tended  to  forget  that  Germany  boasted 

state  mark  the  attainment  of  his  ulti-  no  less  than  twenty-one  other  reigning 

mate  goal?  Or  does  the  first  Chancellor  sovereigns  besides  the  Kaiser  himself. 

of  the  Third  Reich  intend  to  follow  the  The  German  Reich  was  composed  of 

example  of  his  great  predecessor,  the  twenty-five    states.    Three    of    these 

first  Chancellor  of  the  Second  Reich,  states,  rather  anomalously,  were  free 

and  elevate  the  House  of  Hohenzol-  cities  with  a  republican  form  of  govern- 

lern  to  the  German  imperial  throne?  mentj    the    other    twenty-two    were 

Or  will  he  prefer  to  emulate  Napoleon  monarchies  ruled  by  hereditary  sov- 

—  the  third  of  the  name  would  furnish  ereigns  of  varying  rank.  There  were 

a  more  fitting  analogy  than  the  first  —  four  kings  —  of  Prussia,  Bavaria,  Sax- 

and  place  a  crown  upon  his  own  head?  ony    and    Wurttemberg.    Six    grand 

Before   attempting  to   fathom   the  dukes,  five  dukes  and  seven  princes 

plans  that  Hitler  has  in  mind,  we  must  completed  the  roster.  The  Reich  was 

consider  some  of  the  questions  that  regarded  primarily  as  a  confederation 

would  arise  should  a  restoration  of  the  of  princes,  not  as  a  union  of  states.  In 


5 14  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

virtue  of  the  importance  of  Prussia,  ting  up  of  an  emperor  to  rule  a  unitary 
which  comprised  three-fifths  of  the  Germany,  or  will  it  involve  the  rein- 
whole,  the  King  of  Prussia  was  recog-  stallation  upon  their  respective  thrones 
nized  as  a  sort  of  hereditary  president  of  all  of  the  twenty-two  reigning  fam- 
of  the  confederation  under  the  title  of  ilies,  just  as  before  1918? 
Kaiser  or  emperor.  The  Kaiser  was  ter-  Those  old-fashioned  monarchists 
ritorial  sovereign  of  Prussia  only;  the  who  cling  to  the  idea  of  divine  right 
other  federated  princes  remained  terri-  advocate  the  latter  course.  The  reign- 
torial  sovereigns  of  their  respective  ing  princes,  it  is  argued,  no  matter  how 
states.  The  Kaiser  was  simply  a  first  petty  may  have  been  their  states,  oc- 
among  equals.  This  relationship  was  cupied  their  thrones  by  a  divine  ordi- 
implied  in  his  official  title:  he  was  not  nance  that  transcended  all  merely  hu- 
"Emperor  of  Germany,"  as  he  was  man  law;  therefore  they  or  their  de- 
often  erroneously  styled  by  foreigners,  scendants  have  an  indefeasible  right  to 
but  "German  Emperor."  In  theory,  be  restored  to  their  thrones.  Moreover, 
the  other  reigning  princes  continued  to  to  attempt  to  single  out  one  dynasty  for 
be  sovereign  and  independent  except  in  restoration  would  have  the  practical 
so  far  as  they  voluntarily  transferred  consequence  of  alienating  the  adherents 
to  the  imperial  government,  of  which  of  other  dynasties  and  thereby  split- 
the  Kaiser  was  chief  executive,  certain  ting  the  monarchist  forces ;  if  a  Hohen- 
functions,  such  as  foreign  affairs  and  na-  zollern,  for  example,  were  selected,  the 
tional  defense,  which  were  most  con-  Wittelsbachs,  whom  the  Bavarian  roy- 
veniently  administered  for  Germany  as  alists  follow  almost  to  a  man,  might 
a  whole.  Of  course,  the  "voluntary"  not  lift  a  finger  to  help  the  cause, 
nature  of  this  transfer  of  powers  was  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  more 
largely  a  pious  fiction;  the  South  Ger-  realistic  school  of  monarchists  who 
man  states  led  by  Bavaria  joined  Bis-  argue  that  in  these  days  neither  a  mon- 
marck's  Reich  only  when  they  were  archy  nor  any  other  form  of  govern- 
constrained  to  do  so  after  their  defeat  ment  can  long  survive  without  a  broad 
by  Prussia  in  the  War  of  1866.  basis  of  popular  support.  They  point 

With  the  revolution  of  1918,  all  the  out    that    even    the    most    autocratic 

states  became  republics,  but  they  pre-  regimes— such  as  those  of  Stalin,  Mus- 

served  their  separate  identities,  save  for  solini  and  Hitler — claim  to  emanate 

some  miniature  states  which  were  ab-  from  the  people  in  the  same  breath  that 

sorbed  into  larger  units,  thus  reducing  they    pour    contempt    on    democratic 

the  total  number  from  twenty-five  to  principles  and  that  it  is  the  loyalty  of 

seventeen.  There  was  a  further  cen-  the  great  masses  of  the  population  that 

tralization  of  power  in  the  hands  of  the  gives  these  regimes  their  tremendous 

Reich  government,  but  the  states  con-  strength.  To  claim  divine  right  for  even 

tinued  to  exercise  considerable  jurisdic-  one  dynasty  is  to  stir  up  much  popular 

tion  in  such  fields  as  education  and  po-  resentment  and  opposition;  to  claim  it 

lice  administration:  for    twenty-two    dynasties    simultane- 

In  dealing  with  the  problem  of  a  ously  is  to  excite  ridicule  by  a  reductio 

monarchical  restoration,  therefore,  one  ad  absurdum.  It  were  better,  so  it  is 

of  the  first  questions  that  arises  is  this:  argued,  to  follow  the  precedent  set  by 

will  a  restoration  mean  simply  the  set-  Louis  Philippe  in  1830  and,  discarding 


HITLER  OR  HOHENZOLLERN?  515 

all  pretensions  to  divine  right,  boldly  in  a  unitary  state.  On  the  contrary,  he 

found  the  monarchy  on  the  will  of  the  cautiously  sidesteps  the  issue  by  taking 

people  rather  than  on  the  grace  of  God:  refuge  in  the  time-hallowed  device  of 

let  the  voice  of  the  people  be  the  voice  ambiguity,    beloved    of    demagogues 

of  God.  The  restored  monarch  must  be  through  the  ages.  The  demagogues' 

a  Volkskaiser — a  people's  emperor.  art  consists  in  marshaling  the  innumer 
able  and  frequently  contradictory  dis- 

4  contents  of-  a  troubled  era.  He  must 

Inasmuch  as  Hitler  occupies  a  key  alienate  none  of  the  diverse  factions 

position  in  the  Reich,  it  is  natural  to  among  his  following.  He  must  be  all 

inquire  what  are  his  expressed  senti-  things  to  all  men.  He  becomes  a  master 

ments  on  the  question  of  monarchy,  of  the  art  of  concealing  the  absence  of 

First  of  all  we  may  glance  at  his  book  a  specific  programme  under  a  superficial 

Mem  Kam'pf  (My  Struggle),  which,  profundity  of  phrase.  His  oracular  ut- 

published  in  two  parts  in   1924  and  terances  must  be  so  worded  that  they 

1927,  generally  expresses  his  political  are  open  to  whatever  construction  his 

opinions  with  less  reserve  than  he  has  hearers  wish  to  put  upon  them.  Hitler's 

seen  fit  to  employ  since  he  became  pronouncement  on  the  institution  of 

Chancellor  in  1933.  monarchy  is  an  unusually  fine  specimen 

The  totalitarian  state  with  absolute  of  this  ingenious  art.  "The  [National 

authority  in  the  hands  of  one  man  is  Socialist]  movement,"  he  writes,  "does 

Hitler's  pet  political  theory.  This  the-  not  see  its  task  in  restoring  this  form  of 

ory  would  naturally  preclude  the  idea  state  or  fighting  against  that,  but  in  cre- 

of  setting  up  a  score  of  hereditary  sov-  ating    those    fundamental    principles 

ereigns  in  as  many  states.  As  a  matter  without   which    neither   republic   nor 

of  fact,  Hitler  mercilessly  castigates  the  monarchy  can  permanently  endure.  Its 

petty  German  dynasties  for  the  part  mission  lies  not  in  the  founding  of  a 

they  played  in  obstructing  the  unifica-  monarchy  nor  in  the  establishment  of  a 

ti on  of  Germany  prior  to  1871.  Since  he  republic,  but  in  the  creation  of  a  Ger- 

attained  power,  he  has  ended  states'  manic  state." 

rights  and  centralized  all  authority  in  So  much  for  Hitler's  words.  What 

the  hands  of  the  Berlin  government.  At  of  his  deeds?  What  has  been  his  attitude 

the  same  time,  he  expresses  admiration  toward  the  land-owning  Junkers,  who 

for  the  great  Prussian  monarchs,  whom  are  the  backbone  of  the  German  mon- 

he  describes  as  having  played  a  worthy  archist  movement?  His  relations  with 

part  in  the  unification   of  Germany,  them  have  passed  through  a  series  of 

Hitler's  references  to  William  II  are  vicissitudes,  in  the  course  of  which  it 

everywhere     couched     in     respectful  has  seemed,  now  that  he  was  working 

terms,  though  he  frequently  chides  the  with  them  hand  in  glove,  and  now  that 

former  Kaiser  for  having  failed  on  this  he  had  irretrievably  broken  with  them, 

or  that  occasion  to  be  guided  by  the  pe-  Hitler's  first  open  alliance  with  the 

culiar  notions  since  made  the  law  of  Junkers  took  place  in  October  of  1931, 

the  land  by  the  Nazi  regime.  when  he  made  a  political  compact  with 

But  nowhere  in  his  book  does  Hitler  two  monarchist  groups — the  German 
make  an  unvarnished  statement  of  his  National  Party  led  by  Dr.  Alfred  Hug- 
views  on  the  institution  of  monarchy  enberg  and  the  Stahlhelm  (Steel  Hel- 


516  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

mets),  a  legion  of  War  veterans  led  by  vincing  him  that  he  could  not  gain  office 
Franz  Seldte.  The  three  groups  save  by  submitting  to  their  terms,  and 
pledged  themselves,  though  maintain-  to  maneuver  him  into  accepting  a  sub- 
ing  their  separate  identities  and  pro-  ordinate  position  as  their  ally.  Abortive 
grammes,  to  work  in  harmony  toward  conferences  between  Hindenburg  and 
the  common  goal  of  reawakening  Ger-  Hitler  brought  this  truth  home  to  the 
man  nationalist  sentiment.  This  coali-  latter.  He  was  enraged  by  what  he 
tion  was  popularly  known  as  the  Harz-  deemed  an  attempt  to  betray  him.  He 
burg  Front,  from  the  name  of  the  town  went  into  violent  opposition,  joining  the 
where  the  bargain  was  struck.  Communists,  Social  Democrats  and 

In  the  middle  of  1932,  the  German  Centrists  in  voting  against  the  Junker 
republic  began  to  labor  in  heavy  seas,  cabinet.  In  the  Reichstag  Papen  was 
Chancellor  Bruning  proposed  to  liqui-  supported  only  by  the  Hugenberg 
date  the  bankrupt  estates  of  the  large  group  and  was  voted  down  by  a  major- 
number  of  Junkers  who  were  unable  to  ity  of  sixteen  to  one.  Convinced  at  last 
carry  on  without  continuing  to  receive,  that  his  humiliating  position  had  be- 
under  the  guise  of  agricultural  relief,  come  untenable,  Papen  soon  thereafter 
governmental  loans  which  there  was  no  yielded  place  to  General  von  Schleicher 
reasonable  expectation  of  their  ever  be-  and  entered  into  secret  negotiations  with 
ing  able  to  repay.  President  von  Hin-  Hitler. 

denburg,  himself  a  Junker  with  a  deep         Chancellor  von  Schleicher  tried  a 

sense  of  loyalty  to  his  order,  was  mor-  new  tactic.  He  covertly  sought  to  se- 

tally    affronted.    He    summarily    dis-  duce  from  their  allegiance  to  Hitler  a 

missed  Bruning.  Colonel  Franz  von  group    of   disaffected    Nazis    led   by 

Papen  was  entrusted  with  the  chancel-  Gregor    Strasser.     Hitler,    however, 

lorship  and  formed  the  frankly  mon-  scented  the  intrigue  and  forestalled  a 

archist  "Cabinet  of  Barons,"  recruited  secession  that  might  have  been  disas- 

from  among  circles  intimately  associ-  trous  by  forthwith  reading  Strasser  out 

ated  with  the  Hugenberg  Nationalists,  of  the  party.  By  engaging  in  this  in- 

Hitler  at  first  adopted  a  tolerant  trigue,  Schleicher  and  Strasser  signed 
attitude  toward  the  new  cabinet.  Sup-  their  own  death  warrants.  They  in- 
ported  as  it  was  by  only  a  fraction  of  curred  Hitler's  undying  hatred,  and 
the  Reichstag,  it  could  not  continue  were  among  those  who  received  the 
forever  to  depend  on  the  President's  attentions  of  his  gunmen  during  the 
sanction  alone  j  and  Hitler  counted  "purge"  of  June  30  last.  Hitler  is  a 
upon  it  to  smooth  his  own  path  to  office,  man  who  forgets  nothing  and  forgives 
It  soon  became  evident,  however,  that  nothing. 

the  Junkers  were  making  a  bold  and  Papen,  meanwhile,  had  succeeded  in 
independent  bid  for  power.  Their  ob-  persuading  Hitler  to  accept  the  chancel- 
jective  was  to  capture  control  of  the  lorship  with  a  predominantly  monarch- 
great  popular  movement  that  Hitler  ist  cabinet.  Papen  was  to  be  Vice- 
had  built  up  and  harness  it  to  their  own  Chancellor,  Hugenberg  Minister  of 
chariot.  Hitler  had  been  the  "drum-  Economics  and  Seldte  Minister  of  La 
mer"  of  the  nationalist  revival,  and  bor.  Papen  assured  President  von 
was  deemed  to  have  served  his  purpose.  Hindenburg  that  with  this  bodyguard 
The  Junkers  were  now  intent  upon  con-  to  keep  watch  over  his  actions,  Hitler 


HITLER  OR  HOHENZOLLERN?  517 

would  be  effectually  curbed.  It  seemed  to  resign  from  the  cabinet  in  June, 
a  plausible  plan  to  the  aged  Field  Mar-  1933.  Papen,  however,  was  Hinden- 
shal,  whose  most  cherished  dream  was  burg's  favorite,  and  it  was  not  until 
to  further  the  restoration  of  the  House  July  of  this  year,  when  Hindenburg 
of  Hohenzollern.  An  old  man,  in  a  was  sinking  into  his  last  sleep,  that  Hit- 
hurry,  he  was  impelled  to  make  the  ler  was  able  to  rid  himself  of  Papen's 
most  momentous  decision  of  his  presi-  company  by  fobbing  him  off  with  an 
dential  career:  on  January  30,  1933,  appointment  as  Minister  to  Austria, 
he  appointed  Hitler  Chancellor  of  the  During  his  first  seventeen  months  of 
Reich.  office — from  his  appointment  on  Janu 
ary  30,  1933,  to  the  "purge"  of  June 
111  30,  1934 — Hitler's  regime  displayed  a 
In  accepting  office  under  such  condi-  pronounced  anti-monarchist  bias.  Dur- 
tions,  Hitler  proved  himself  a  far  ing  this  period  the  influence  of  Dr. 
shrewder  judge  of  political  realities  Joseph  Gobbels,  who  belongs  to  that 
than  his  Junker  colleagues.  He  knew  wing  of  the  Nazis  which  is  strongly  op- 
that  once  he  was  endued  with  the  pres-  posed  to  a  restoration,  was  in  the  as- 
tige  of  the  chancellorship,  the  flagging  cendant.  He  has  on  several  occasions 
spirits  of  his  followers  would  be  re-  voiced  his  outspoken  hostility  to  the 
vived,  and  that  this  advantage,  in-  idea.  Associated  with  Dr.  Gobbels  in 
tangible  though  it  might  seem,  would  holding  this  point  of  view  are  Dr.  R.  W. 
soon  overbear  the  technicalities  of  con-  Darre,  Minister  of  Agriculture,  who 
stitutional  procedure  with  which  the  advocates  a  break-up  of  the  landed  es- 
Junkers  were  trying  to  hedge  him  in.  tates  of  the  Junkers,  and  Dr.  Alfred 
The  subsequent  election  saw  a  tre-  Rosenberg,  the  "philosopher"  of  the 
mendous  increase  in  the  Nazi  vote.  By  National  Socialist  movement.  This 
the  simple  expedient  of  outlawing  the  group  fears  that  a  restoration  would  be 
Communist  deputies  in  the  Reichstag,  a  piece  of  flummery  that  would  only 
the  Nazis  acquired  a  majority  over  all.  serve  to  antagonize  those  sections  of  the 
Thereafter  the  Junker  members  of  the  working  masses  which  were  lured  to 
cabinet  were  at  their  mercy,  except  in  the  swastika  standard  by  promises  of 
so  far  as  the  senile  and  failing  Hinden-  radical  changes, 
burg  might  still  be  able  to  exercise  a  re-  During  this  first  phase  of  Hitler's 
straining  influence.  regime,  monarchist  societies  were  corn- 
Naturally  enough,  Hitler  had  con-  pelled  to  dissolve  in  company  with  all 
tracted  an  abiding  personal  aversion  to  other  non-Nazi  organizations.  Mon- 
both  Hugenberg  and  Papen,  who  he  archist  propaganda  was  forbidden.  The 
felt  had  tried  to  play  him  a  scurvy  trick.  Hugenberg  press  was  muzzled  to  a  de- 
He  was  resolved  to  throw  them  over-  gree  unknown  under  the  rule  of  the 
board  at  the  first  opportunity.  Hugen-  avowedly  republican  parties.  The 
berg's  blazing  indiscretions  at  the  Lon-  Stahlhelm  was  reorganized.  Some  of 
don  Economic  Conference,  when  he  its  recalcitrant  leaders  were  expelled 
blurted  out  the  truth  concerning  the  or  arrested;  its  name  was  officially 
Nazi  ambitions  of  conquering  territory  changed  to  "National  Socialist  Front 
in  Russia,  furnished  an  excuse  to  dis-  Fighters'  League";  and  it  was  an- 
pense  with  him,  and  he  was  constrained  nounced  that  eventually  it  would  be 


5i 8  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

completely  amalgamated  with  the  Nazi  idea  takes  precedence  over  the  person, 

Storm  Troops.  while  the  inner  meaning  of  this  form 

The  bias  in  favor  of  monarchy  which  of  government  has  to  reside  exclusively 

Hitler  had  previously  displayed  suf-  in  the  institution  as  such.  Thus  the  mon- 

fered  a  sharp  setback  in  consequence  arch  himself  falls  into  the  circle  of  those 

of  the  cavalier  manner  in  which  the  who  serve  it.  He  is  only  one  more  cog 

Junkers  had  treated  him.  He  was  filled  in  the  machine." 
with  a  dislike  of  the  monarchist  leaders 
and  a  suspicion  of  their  motives.  Hitler 

and  his  intimates  are  men  of  lower  mid-  It  is  interesting  to  recall  that  during 
die  class  origin  who  have  had  to  fight  the  period  when  Hitler  was  still  nurs- 
hard  and  unscrupulously  to  attain  to  ing  his  grievance  against  the  monarch- 
their  present  positions  of  eminence,  ist  leaders,  he  had  at  least  one  brush  with 
They  can  not  but  harbor  a  suspicion  the  ex-Kaiser.  On  November  22,  1933, 
that  if  the  Junkers  play  a  decisive  role  William  wrote  a  letter  acknowledging  a 
in  restoring  the  monarchy,  nobility  of  resolution  of  loyalty  forwarded  to  him 
birth  will  once  more  be  made  a  prereq-  by  a  group  of  ex-officers.  The  text  of 
uisite  for  holding  high  office,  just  as  this  letter  was  not  made  public  until 
it  was  under  the  old  imperial  regime,  about  three  months  later,  when  Count 
and  the  hungry  horde  of  demagogues,  Reventlow,  a  Nazi  Reichstag  deputy, 
fanatics,  atheists,  neo-pagans,  gunmen  in  whose  newspaper  it  was  published, 
and  doctors  of  philosophy  that  make  up  branded  it  as  an  attempt  to  "incite 
the  Nazi  movement  will  be  suitably  former  officers  against  the  National  So- 
thanked  and  politely  but  firmly  invited  cialist  leadership"  and  as  an  act  of  "high 
to  return  to  the  beer-cellars  whence  treason."  The  passage  in  William's  let- 
they  emerged.  Men  like  Hitler  and  ter  to  which  exception  was  taken  read: 
Goring  would  never  have  had  a  chance  "Only  under  its  Kaiser  and  the  German 
of  becoming  Chancellor  of  the  Reich  or  federated  princes  can  the  Reich  endure 
Prime  Minister  of  Prussia  in  the  old  and  regain  its  old  might  and  glory. 
Hohenzollern  days.  A  new  crown-  Therefore  forward  with  God  for  King 
topped  gilt  frame  that  would  enclose  and  Fatherland,  for  Kaiser  and  right!" 
their  own  portraits  might  not  be  objec-  This  letter  early  came  to  the  knowl- 
tionable  to  them,  but  assuredly  they  are  edge  of  the  Nazi  high  command  and  ex- 
not  going  tamely  to  hand  power  and  cited  no  little  indignation.  In  his  speech 
privilege  on  a  platter  to  the  Junkers  to  the  Reichstag  on  January  30,  1934, 
and  resign  themselves  to  unwelcome  the  anniversary  of  his  attainment  of 
obscurity.  If  there  is  to  be  a  monarchy,  power,  Hitler  included  a  passage  that 
it  must  be  their  monarchy  and  not  the  was  obviously  a  reply  to  the  ex-Kaiser's 
Junkers'  monarchy.  The  emperor  must  exhortation,  although  its  significance 
be  a  purely  symbolical  figure  who  will  was  not  at  the  time  generally  recog- 
not  be  in  a  position  to  interfere  with  nized.  "May  I  here  enter  a  protest," 
Hitler's  effectual  control  of  the  execu-  cried  Hitler,  "against  the  most  recently 
tive  power.  "The  virtue  and  significance  advocated  thesis,  that  Germany  can  be 
of  the  monarchical  idea  can  not  reside  happy  again  only  under  her  hereditary 
in  the  person  of  the  monarch  himself,"  federated  princes.  No!  One  people  are 
writes  Hitler  in  Mem  Kam-pf.  "The  we  and  in  one  Reich  will  we  live!  •;"' .,  I 


HITLER  OR  HOHENZOLLERN?  519 

With  all  respect  for  the  merits  of  the  treated  with  all  the  harshness  that  a 

monarchy,  with  all  veneration  for  the  brutal  corporal  might  inflict  upon  dis- 

really  great  emperors  and  kings  of  our  obedient  privates,  but  at  the  same  time 

German  history,  the  question  of  the  he  is  beset  by  a  sense  of  loss  without  a 

final  form  of  the  political  reconstruction  commanding  officer  over  his  head.  The 

of  the  German  Reich  is  today  excluded  instinct  to  turn  for  guidance  toward 

from  all  discussion."  some  higher  authority  has  been  im- 

Despite  the  apparently  emphatic  Ian-  planted  deep  in  the  German  mentality, 

guage  employed  by  Hitler,  it  will  be  and  Hitler  shares  this  characteristic  in 

observed  that  his  declaration  is  not  free  full  measure.  "Each  of  us,"  he  asserted 

from  a  characteristic  ambiguity.  What  in  a  recent  speech,  "has  been  raised  in 

he  specifically  condemned  was  the  idea  respect  for  laws  and  respect  for  author- 

of  restoring  all  the  federated  princes  j  ity,  obedience  to  command  and  order 

he  did  not  in  so  many  words  reject  the  issued  by  it,  and  inner  devotion  toward 

notion  of  a  single  monarchy  for  all  Ger-  those  who  represented  the  state."  As 

many.  That  the  ex-Kaiser,  who  in  his  long  as  Field  Marshal  von  Hinden- 

days  of  grandeur  made  no  concealment  burg  was  alive,  he  fulfilled  this  relation- 

of  the  exalted  notions  of  divine  right  ship  toward  Hitler.  This  does  not  mean 

which  he  attached  to  the  kingly  office,  that  Hitler  would  willingly  surrender 

should  cling  to  the  idea  of  restoring  all  any  real  power  j  but  it  does  mean  that 

the  dynasties  is  no  cause  for  surprise,  he  suffers  from  a  sense  of  malaise  in 

To  this  project,  which  presupposes  the  the  absence  of  a  symbolic  figure  who 

existence  of  a  federal  polity  for  the  would  be  vested  with  the  headship  of 

Reich,  Hitler  is  unalterably  opposed,  the  state  and,  even  though  exercising  a 

In  fact,  on  the  very  day  that  he  made  merely  nominal  authority,  would  fill 

his  retort  to  the  ex-Kaiser,  the  Reich-  the  void  in  Hitler's  mental  outlook, 
stag  passed  the  appropriate  legislation 

abrogating  the  last  vestiges  of  states'  v 

rights    in    Germany.    But    is    Hitler  If  Hitler's  personal  grievance  against 

equally  opposed  to  the  establishment  of  the  monarchist  leaders  had  ever  influ- 

a  unitary  monarchy?  The  question  of  enced  him  to  consider  the  Napoleonic 

the  final  form  of  government  is  ex-  solution  of  his  problem,  the  events  of 

eluded   from   discussion   today.   That  June  30  last  seem  to  have  definitely 

very  statement  implies  that  it  will  be  closed  this  avenue  of  approach.  If  he 

open  to  discussion  tomorrow.  had  aspired  to  elevate  himself  to  the 

Personal  pique  and  political  expedi-  imperial  throne,  he  would  have  had  to 

ency  alike  dictate  Hitler's  adoption  of  rely  primarily  on  the  Storm  Troops, 

an  attitude  of  non-committal  equivoca-  for  it  is  well  known  that  the  Relchswehr 

tion  in  dealing  with  this  thorny  ques-  or  regular  army,  which  in  its  upper 

tion.  But  there  seems  to  be  evidence  for  reaches  is  officered  almost  exclusively 

the  belief  that  he  is  characterized  by  a  by  Junkers,  is  strongly  partial  to  the 

quirk  of  temperament  that  is  likely  to  Hohenzollern  claims  and  would  regard 

impel  him  ultimately  to  a  monarchical  Hitler's  seizure  of  the  throne  as  rank 

restoration.  At  bottom,  Hitler's  psy-  usurpation.  It  is  therefore  highly  sig- 

chology  is  that  of  a  glorified  corporal,  nificant  as  a  clue  to  the  trend  of  future 

Those  who  question  his  authority  are  events  that  the  "purge"  has  had  the 


520  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

effect  of  shifting  the  basis  of  Hitler's  has  been  granted  his  wish  to  obtain  his 
power  from  the  Storm  Troops  to  the  new  recruits  from  sources  outside  the 
Reichswehr.  Storm  Troop  ranks.  The  membership 
As  part  of  Hitler's  scheme  of  Ger-  of  the  Storm  Troops  is  composed  in 
man  rearmament,  the  Reichswehr  is  be-  goodly  measure  of  urban  proletarians 
ing  rapidly  expanded  from  its  treaty  who  have  long  been  exposed  to  infec- 
strength  of  100,000  to  at  least  300,000.  tion  by  radical  and  unsettling  propa- 
Now,  despite  the  veil  of  obscurity  that  ganda — in  fact,  many  of  them  are 
the  Hitler  Government  has  thrown  known  to  be  former  Communists, 
around  the  mysterious  and  bloody  Blomberg  is  obtaining  his  new  men  from 
events  of  June  30,  enough  has  leaked  Stahlhelm  circles  and  the  peasantry, 
out  to  make  it  clear  that  the  real  issue  who  have  a  much  more  stable  politi- 
at  stake  was  a  struggle  for  supremacy  cal  background  and,  it  may  be  added, 
between  the  Storm  Troops  and  the  would  undoubtedly  prove  receptive  to 
Reichswehr.  Captain  Ernst  Rohm,  the  the  idea  of  restoring  the  monarchy.  The 
Chief  of  Staff  of  the  Storm  Troops,  had  very  fact  that  Hitler  has  discovered  dis- 
been  dunning  Hitler  with  three  de-  affection  among  his  Storm  Troops  has 
mands :  first,  that  the  Junker  Minister  obviously  shaken  his  confidence  in  them, 
of  Defense,  General  Werner  von  Blom-  and  has  led  to  a  reduction  in  their  num- 
berg,  be  ousted  and  replaced  by  Rohm  5  ber  from  2,500,000  to  700,0005  con- 
secondly,  that  the  new  men  being  re-  versely,  the  shock  of  the  sudden  and 
cruited  by  the  army  be  obtained  by  in-  murderous  "purge,"  in  which  many 
ducting  Storm  Troopers  en  masse  into  popular  Storm  Troop  leaders  perished, 
the  Reichswehr;  and  thirdly,  that  the  has  been  a  terrible  blow  to  the  morale 
Stahlhelm  be  either  dissolved  or  of  the  rank  and  file  and  to  their  trust  in 
placed  under  Rohm's  control.  Hitler  their  Fuhrer.  Hence  it  is  inevitable  that 
turned  down  all  three  demands.  In  the  Hitler  should  come  to  rely  more  and 
early  part  of  June  he  had  a  stormy  five-  more  on  the  Reichswehr.  As  its  num- 
hour  interview  with  his  Chief  of  Staff,  bers  increase,  its  weight  must  make  it- 
from  which  Rohm  withdrew  in  a  dis-  self  proportionately  felt  in  the  balance 
gruntled  mood.  Rohm's  ambition  to  of  forces  that  now  control  Germany, 
have  under  his  control  the  army  and  the  Its  influence  is  certain  to  be  cast  in  a 
two  semi-military  organizations  threw  monarchist  direction. 
Hitler  into  a  panic  and  he  struck  out  That  Hitler's  coolness  toward  the 
blindly  at  every  conceivable  enemy,  monarchists  had  its  roots  in  personal 
Whether  or  not  Rohm  actually  or-  rather  than  political  motives  is  indi- 
ganized  a  plot  to  overthrow  and  assas-  cated  by  the  fact  that  his  animosity  was 
sinate  Hitler,  as  Hitler  himself  charges,  not  displayed  in  equal  measure  to  all 
must  remain  a  mystery  in  default  of  the  monarchist  leaders.  Hugenberg  and 
conclusive  evidence.  Papen  have  been  discarded,  but  there 
^  However  that  may  be,  Hitler's  ac-  are  still  in  the  Government  several 
tion  in  rebuffing  Rohm  and  finally  con-  members  of  the  original  "Cabinet  of 
signing  him  to  the  firing  squad  must  be  Barons"  who  have  been  left  undis- 
construed  as  favorable  to  the  monarch-  turbed  in  their  tenure  of  office— notably 
ist  cause,  ^  whether  or  not  that  was  his  Baron  Konstantin  von  Neurath,  Minis- 
conscious  intent.  General  von  Blomberg  ter  of  Foreign  Affairs;  Count  Schwerin 


HITLER  OR  HOHENZOLLERN?  521 

• 

von  Krosigk,  Minister  of  Finance  j  and  burg  on  August  1 7,  after  referring  to 

Baron    von    Riibenach,    Minister    of  the  fact  that  he  had  allowed  the  title 

Transportation.     In    addition    Franz  of  Reichs-President  to  lapse — "Nobody 

Seldte,  the  Stahlhelm  leader,  continues  shall  bear  that  title  in  the  future" — 

to  serve  as  Minister  of  Labor,  having  continued:  "While  I  thereby  in  no  way 

rehabilitated  his  once  strained  relations  anticipate  the  future  and  final  form  of 

with  Hitler.  the  constitution  of  the  German  Reich, 

It  is  significant  that  the  measures  I  believe  that  I  shall  succeed  in  adding 
taken  by  Hitler  upon  the  death  of  to  the  title  of  German  Reichs-Chancel- 
President  von   Hindenburg  are  pre-  lor  new  honor  for  the  future." 
cisely  those  that  would  pave  the  way  for  Like  all  of  Hitler's  utterances  that 
a  restoration.  The  office  of  president  of  touch  upon  this  subject,  this  statement 
the  Reich  has  been  allowed  to  fall  into  is    ambiguous,    not    to    say    obscure, 
abeyance  5    the    presidential    functions  Nevertheless,  taken  in  conjunction  with 
have  devolved  upon  Hitler,  who,  how-  Hitler's  previous  recurrent  hints,  it  con- 
ever,  prefers  to  be  known  by  the  titles  veys  an  unmistakable  intimation  that  he 
he  already  bore — Filhrer  und,  Reich-  is  nursing  some  thought  of  changing 
skanzler  (Leader  and  Chancellor  of  the  Reich's  form  of  government, 
the  Reich).  The  lapse  of  the  presidency 
seems,  from  the  psychological  point  of 

view,  to  create  a  vacuum  in  the  politi-  But  if  there  is  to  be  a  monarchy,  who 

cal  scene  and  to  prepare  the  German  will  be  the  monarch?  There  have  been 

people  for  the  notion  of  filling  it  with  some  suggestions  that  a  prince  of  a  royal 

something  else.  Will  that  something  house  other  than  the  Hohenzollerns 

else  be  an  imperial  crown?  might  be  chosen  j  notably,  the  names  of 

Hindenburg's  "political  testament,"  Prince  Philip  of  Hesse,  nephew  of  the 

which   the   Hitler   Government   pub-  ex-Kaiser  and  son-in-law  of  the  King  of 

lished  in  the  hope  that  it  would  bolster  Italy,  and  Duke  Ernest  Augustus  of 

up  the  popular  vote  for  Hitler  in  the  Brunswick,  the  ex-Kaiser's  son-in-law, 

August  19  referendum,  repeated  the  have  been  mentioned  in  this  connection ; 

hopes  originally  expressed  by  the  late  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  such 

Field  Marshal  in  1919  that  the  mon-  suggestions  may  safely  be  discounted, 

archy  would  be  restored :  "I  am  firmly  If  Hitler  plumps  for  a  monarchy,  it  will 

convinced  that  now,  as  in  former  times,  be  because  he  seeks  to  strengthen  his 

the  link  with  our  great  and  glorious  own  position  by  reinforcing  it  with  roy- 

past  will  be  safeguarded  and  that  wher-  alist  sentiment.  There  is  no  doubt  that 

ever  it  was  destroyed  it  will  be  restored,  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  monarch- 

.  .  .  Then  from  the  everlasting  mov-  ist  movement  would  regard  a  Hohen- 

ing  wave  of  the  life  of  our  people  the  zollern  as  the  logical  candidate  for  the 

rock  shall  emerge  to  which  the  hope  of  throne.  The  selection  of  a  prince  of  any 

our  fathers  once  clung  and  on  which,  other  dynasty  would  deprive  Hitler  of 

through  our  power  half  a  century  ago,  the  support  of  all  but  a  fraction  of  the 

the  future  of  the  Fatherland  was  con-  monarchists    and    would    vitiate    the 

fidently  founded:  the  German  Kaiser-  whole  project, 

dom!"  With  the  younger  generation  of  the 

Hitler  himself,  in  a  speech  at  Ham-  Hohenzollern    family,    Hitler's   rela- 


522 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


tions  have  been  friendly.  Prince  Augus 
tus  William  of  Prussia,  a  younger  son 
of  the  ex-Kaiser,  has  been  a  Nazi  Storm 
Trooper  for  many  years.  Ex-Crown 
Prince  Frederick  William  provoked  a 
minor  political  sensation  during  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1932  when  he 
announced  that  he  intended  to  vote  for 
Hitler  against  Hindenburg.  Indeed,  it 
was  even  bruited  abroad  that  Hitler 
had  invited  Frederick  William  to  be 
come  the  Nazi  candidate  for  president, 
but  that  the  wily  Crown  Prince,  fore 
seeing  defeat,  prudently  declined*  Re 
cently  the  Crown  Prince  has  given  cir 
culation  to  photographs  of  himself  and 
his  sons  ostentatiously  clad  in  Storm 
Troop  uniform.  At  the  time  of  the 
"purge"  of  the  Storm  Troops,  there 
were  rumors  that  both  Frederick  Wil 
liam  and  his  brother  had  been  impli 
cated  and  had  fallen  from  grace,  but 
Hitler  absolved  them  of  all  suspicion 
in  his  speech  to  the  Reichstag  on  July 
13:  "Of  whole  cloth  is  the  news  con 
cerning  the  participation  of  any  Ger 
man  princes  or  their  persecution." 

Putting  two  and  two  together,  then 
— Hitler's  repeated  though  obscure  in 
timations  that  a  change  in  the  form  of 
government  is  being  contemplated  for 
some  future  date,  his  friendly  relations 
with  the  Hohenzollerns,  the  strength 
ening  of  the  Reichswehr  with  monarch 
ist  elements,  and  the  reduction  in  the 
number  of  the  anti-monarchist  Storm 
Troops — we  are  inevitably  led  to  the 
conclusion  that  Hitler  either  is  defi 
nitely  planning  a  Hohenzollern  res 
toration  or  is  being  impelled  by  force 
of  circumstances  to  embark  upon  a 
course  that  can  have  no  other  outcome. 

Upon  whose  head  will  the  imperial 
crown  actually  be  placed?  The  ex- 
Kaiser  may  be  safely  eliminated  from 
consideration.  Too  many  tragic  mem 


ories  cling  to  his  name  to  make  it  likely 
that  his  restoration  would  be  welcomed 
even  by  any  considerable  section  of 
monarchists.  The  Crown  Prince  would 
be  a  more  acceptable  choice,  but  he  too 
suffers  from  handicaps.  He  was  the 
nominal  commander  of  the  German 
troops  in  the  bloody  and  unsuccessful 
attack  on  Verdun,  and  his  political 
enemies  were  not  slow  to  dub  him  the 
"butcher."  It  is  not  unlikely  that  Hitler 
and  the  monarchists  alike  would  prefer 
to  start  the  monarchy  anew  with  an  en 
tirely  clean  slate  by  choosing  one  of  the 
Crown  Prince's  sons.  This  solution 
would  have,  from  Hitler's  point  of 
view,  the  advantage  of  placing  the 
crown  upon  the  head  of  a  young  and 
inexperienced  emperor  who  would  fill 
the  symbolic  role  with  less  likelihood 
of  successfully  encroaching  upon  the 
monopoly  of  executive  power  which  the 
Chancellor  seeks  to  retain  in  his  own 
hands.  The  Crown  Prince's  eldest  son, 
Prince  William,  last  year  contracted  a 
marriage  with  a  young  woman  not  of 
royal  birth,  and  was  therefore  declared 
by  the  House  of  Hohenzollern  to  have 
forfeited  his  rights  to  the  succession, 
which  reverted  to  his  younger  brother, 
Prince  Louis  Ferdinand.  Louis  Ferdi 
nand  holds  a  doctor's  degree  from  Ber 
lin  University  and  has  worked  from 
time  to  time  in  the  service  of  the  Ford 
Motor  Company  at  Detroit.  He  is  said 
to  be  the  most  intelligent  of  the  Crown 
Prince's  sons,  and  it  is  very  probable 
that  the  choice  will  fall  upon  him  if  his 
father  is  passed  over. 

The  question  still  remains  as  to  when 
a  definite  move  toward  a  restoration  is 
likely  to  be  made.  No  overt  develop 
ments  need  be  looked  for  until  the 
Reichswehr  has  completed  its  expansion 
programme.  This  will  require  perhaps 
another  year.  Economic  factors  may 


HITLER  OR  HOHENZOLLERN?  ? 


%"   '^"Vp     '#.*•&" 

also  have  a  bearing  upon  the  situation,  limited  monarchy  serving  a  purely  sym- 

Should  there  be  a  deepening  of  the  bolical    function,    supreme    executive 

crisis,  Hitler's  hands  may  be  forced  power  being  retained  in  the  hands  of 

earlier  than  he  intends.  Such  an  eventu-  the  Chancellor.  Hitler  would  undoubt- 

ality  would  be  likely  to  lead  to  increased  edly  contemplate  a  relationship  between 

unrest  among  the  masses,  and  to  make  Emperor  and  Chancellor  such  as  now, 

the  loyalty  of  the  Reichswehr  more  obtains  between  King  Victor  Emman- 

than  ever  necessary  to  Hitler.  What  uel  and  Mussolini.  But  the  outside  ob- 

would  be  more  natural  than  to  seek  to  server  can  not  but  recall  that  the  tradi- 

cement  that  loyalty  by  restoring  the  in-  tions    of    the    Prussian    and    Italian 

stitution  for  which  the  Prussian  military  monarchies  are  quite  different.  Whether 

tradition  has  an  ineradicable  affection  —  a  scion  of  the  Hohenzollern  dynasty, 

the  Hohenzollern  monarchy?  My  own  which  has  for  centuries  regarded  the  ex- 

judgment  is  that  the  restoration  will  ercise  of  divinely  bestowed  arbitrary 

take  place  within  the  next  two  or  three  power  as  its  birthright,  would  be  long 

years  at  the  most,  and  possibly  within  content  to  play  so   humble  a  role  5 

the  next  twelvemonth.  whether  he  might  not  eventually  be 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  may  tempted  to  do  to  Hitler  what  William 

safely  be  assumed  that  a  monarchy  es-  II  did  to  Bismarck  when  he  "dropped 

tablished  under  Hitler's  auspices  would  the  pilot"  —  such  are  questions  that  it 

have  two  characteristics:  first,  it  would  were  premature  to  pose,  let  alone  to 

be  based  on  a  unitary  and  not  a  federal  answer,  before  the  scroll  of  history  shall 

polity  j  and  secondly,  it  would  be  a  have  unrolled  itself  further. 


Darrow  vs.  Johnson 

BY  LOWELL  B.  MASON 

The  former  general  counsel  of  Darrow 's  National  Recovery 

Review  Board  gives  the  history,  much  of  it  private 

before  now,  of  that  famous  investigation 

N  JULY  9,  1 933,  the  President  of  source.  This  was  a  desire  to  be  identified 
the  United  States  fixed  his  ap-  with  heroes  combined  with  a  little  per- 
proval  to  code  number  one  un-  sonal  chest-thumping  in  the  form  of  a 
der  the  authority  vested  in  him  by  the  card  to  hang  in  the  front  window  boast- 
National  Industrial  Recovery  Act.  ing  "We  Do  Our  Part." 
From  then  until  the  middle  of  Febru-  Democratic  institutions  are  not  so 
ary,  1934,  General  Hugh  S.  Johnson's  deeply  entrenched  that  they  could  not 
code-making  body  was  in  the  ascend-  be  bought  off,  if  one  had  the  price, 
ency.  Everywhere  people  clamored  for  Johnson  bid  for  them  with  shorter 
the  privilege  of  joining  the  fast-growing  hours,  less  work  and  more  pay  for  the 
multitude  of  Blue  Eagle  partisans.  Be-  worker.  To  big  business  he  offered  ex- 
tween  the  cotton  textile  industry  code,  emption  from  the  criminal  statutes  pro- 
the  first,  and  the  beauty  and  barber  hibiting  exploitation  of  the  public.  To 
shop  mechanical  equipment  manufac-  the  Administration  he  offered  a  crusade, 
turing  industry  code,  number  286,  a  focal  point  of  attack  against  depres- 
ranged  a  galaxy  of  industries  including  sion.  King  Midas  himself  could  not  pay 
steel,  oil,  coal  and  a  host  of  minor  ones  such  a  bid. 

such  as  sponge  rubber,  pin  tickets,  pow-  The  public  did  not  know  this,  but 
der  puffs,  banana  bags.  The  Adminis-  some  of  the  members  of  Congress  had 
trator  was  undisputed  arbiter  of  com-  heard  faint  rumblings  here  and  there  all 
merce.  over  the  country,  and  finally,  at  the  in- 
Johnson  typified  to  the  American  sistence  of  Senators  Borah  and  Nye,  the 
mind  a  virile  conqueror  of  the  dragon  President  early  in  March  appointed  the 
depression.  Every  one  could  not  be  a  National  Recovery  Review  Board  to  in- 
St.  George,  but  all  could  gain  vicarious  vestigate  NRA  and  to  ascertain  if  it  was 
aggrandizement  by  trooping  his  colors,  oppressing  the  small  business  man. 
Whether  one  cried  "Heil  Hitler*'  in  Senator  Nye  of  North  Dakota,  to  his 
Germany,  wore  the  Black  Shirt  in  Italy  own  surprise,  had  been  given  carte 
or  shouted  for  Johnson  in  America,  it  blanche  to  select  the  Board,  with  the  ex- 
all  came  from  the  same  psychological  ception  that  both  Johnson  and  Richberg 


DARROW  vs.  JOHNSON  525 

felt  he  should  include  the  liberal  leader,  clerical  help  and  supplies,  and  they 

Clarence  Darrow.  Richberg  had  known  could  stay  around  and  do  some  investi- 

Darrow  personally  for  many  years.  Al-  gating  and  let  him  know  if  the  codes 

though  he  had  met  him  only  a  few  were  all  right.  "But  supposing  we  find 

times,  Johnson  knew  Darrow  by  repu-  out  the  codes  are  not  all  right?"  in- 

tation  and  had  always  admired  him —  quired  Darrow.  "Then  you  report  to 

and  I  think  secretly  does  to  this  day.  So  me,"  said  the  General,  pointing  to  him- 

Darrow  was  included.  self  to  emphasize  his  statement.  "I  am 

So  far  as  his  personal  fortunes  were  the  big  cheese  here." 

concerned,  that  was  the  beginning  of  Darrow  quietly  suggested  that  he 

Johnson's  decline,  and  yet  he  could  did  not  think  he  would  care  to  do  that, 

hardly  be  blamed  for  it.  The  general  He  expected  he  had  better  see  the  Presi- 

of  an  army  expects  and  gets  obedience  dent.  Accordingly,  the  group  went  to 

to  his  personal  desires.  If  the  general  is  the  White  House,  and  the  President 

willing  to  have  something  investigated,  agreed  to  create  the  board  by  Executive 

it  is  usually  investigated  to  his  taste,  or  order — responsible  only  to  him  and  to 

else  .  .  .  report  to  him  instead  of  Johnson — thus 

If  Johnson  had  any  misgivings  about  obviating  any  chance  of  Johnson's  bury- 

Darrow,    they   were    quieted    by   the  ing  its  findings. 

knowledge,  or  at  least  the  thought,  that  Next  morning  I  prepared  the  draft 

he  would  be  able  to  bury  any  adverse  of  an  Executive  order  which  was,  with 

report  just  as  successfully  as  he  had  pre-  one  or  two  minor  changes,  the  instru- 

viously  buried  the  recommendations  of  ment  creating  the  National  Recovery 

his  own  Consumers  Advisory  Board  and  Review  Board,  commonly  referred  to 

Research  and  Planning  division.  as  the  Darrow  Board. 

For  the  first  organization  meeting  of 
the  Board  the  members  sat  in  Darrow's 

bedroom.  They  were  W.  R.  Neal,  vice-  Mr.  Darrow  and  I  had  adjoining 
chairman,  a  North  Carolina  hosiery  bedrooms  on  the  sixth  floor  of  the  Wil- 
manufacturer,  Fred  P.  Mann,  a  retail  lard  Hotel.  For  several  days  these  two 
merchant  from  North  Dakota,  John  F.  bedrooms  served  as  executive  offices  of 
Sinclair,  a  New  York  banker,  and  Sam-  the  Board.  Braddish  Carrol,  Chief  Clerk 
uel  C.  Henry,  of  Chicago,  head  of  a  of  the  National  Recovery  Administra- 
large  druggists'  association.  W.  O.  tion,  lent  us  some  cabinets  and  a  type- 
Thompson,  a  former  law  partner  of  writer  or  two.  Every  morning  I  got  up 
Darrow's,  later  joined  the  Board.  and  dressed,  pulled  the  clothes  off  my 

A  call  on  Johnson  was  considered  ap-  bed  and  rolled  it  out  into  the  hall  (much 

propriate,  and  after  several  telephone  to  the  disgust  of  the  hotel  maid),  thus 

conversations,     the    Board     members  turning  my  sleeping  quarters  into  an 

trooped  across  Pennsylvania  Avenue  to  office.  A  large  round  poker  table  served 

the  Blue  Eagle  stronghold.  The  Gen-  as  a  board  table,  and  Darrow's  room 

eral  received  them  and  after  cordialities  served  for  private  .conferences, 

had  been  exchanged  he  was  asked  what  As  soon  as  the  newspapers  announced 

he  thought  they  ought  to  do.  The  Gen-  the  creation  of  an  impartial  board  to 

eral  said  that  he  had  provided  rooms,  heed  protests,  from  small  business  men 


526  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

against  NRA  we  were  swamped  with  long  before  any  code  was  in  existence, 
complaints.  The  two  bedrooms  grew  to  Lawyers  made  long  speeches,  generali- 
f our  large  rooms  on  the  second  floor,  ties  were  indulged  in,  and  facts  brought 
Soon  we  added  fourteen  rooms  in  an  out  long  before  in  hearings  at  the  Na- 
uptown  office  building.  Linton  Collins,  tional  Recovery  Administration  were  re- 
son  of  the  Florida  judge  who  tried  the.  hashed.  With  the  exception  of  a  merry 
President's  would-be  assassin,  came  over  quip  now  and  then  from  Darrow,  the 
from  NRA  to  offer  his  help.  The  young  thing  developed  into  a  long  and  in- 
Floridian  was  of  great  assistance  in  these  terminably  dreary  bickering.  One  by 
organizing  days.  one  the  newspaper  men  folded  their 

The  first  hearing  was  held  in  a  large  pads  and  left  the  room.  The  Darrow 
public  room  of  the  Willard  Hotel.  Some  Board  was  getting  off  to  a  bad  start, 
of  the  newspapers  commented  on  the  That  night  Darrow  called  me  to  his 
fact  that  Darrow  had  his  office  in  a  room.  "This  procedure  has  got  to  stop," 
hotel,  while  the  secretarial  staff  was  in  he  said.  "Hereafter  we  will  take  no 
the  Barr  Building,  and  hinted  at  a  rift  more  testimony  until  witnesses  have 
in  the  workings  of  the  Board.  Darrow  first  been  interviewed  to  find  if  they 
had  offices  in  the  hotel  because  he  pre-  have  anything  of  value  to  this  inquiry, 
sided  over  practically  all  hearings.  While  you  are  counsel  of  this  Board, 
These  rooms  were  free  of  charge  at  the  you  will  have  the  duty  of  examining  wit- 
hotel,  which  was  glad  to  offer  them,  in  nesses  prior  to  hearings." 
return  for  the  added  patronage  of  wit-  We  had  limited  funds  and  a  limited 
nesses  and  complainants.  The  dark  amount  of  time  to  do  our  work.  From 
cubby-hole  in  the  Commerce  Building  then  on,  our  staff  worked  ten  to  four- 
across  the  street,  which  Johnson  had  teen  hours  a  day,  including  Saturdays 
turned  over  to  the  Review  Board,  was  and  often  Sundays.  Witnesses  with  silly 
entirely  inadequate  to  house  the  staff  and  inconsequential  complaints  were 
necessary  to  answer  the  thousands  of  let-  kept  from  monopolizing  the  Board's 
ters  received.  The  secretarial  office  un-  time.  Long-winded  witnesses  were  held 
der  the  supervision  of  Samuel  C.  Henry,  directly  to  the  facts,  and  with  the  experi- 
who  was  executive  secretary,  as  well  ence  of  the  first  trial  behind  us,  hearings 
as  a  Board  member,  was  located  in  ran  quickly  and,  taking  into  considera- 
quarters  several  blocks  removed.  tion  the  highly  controversial  subject, 

The  morning  the  first  case  was  heard  quite  smoothly, 
the  Board  members  filed  in  and  took 

their  seats  at  a  long  table  at  one  end  of  m 
the  room.  Tables  and  chairs  were  set  In  talking  over  anti-trust  complaints 
out  for  complainants,  their  attorneys  with  the  Attorney  General's  office,  we 
and  the  press.  The  complainants  were  found  that  there  had  been  more  filed 
small  manufacturers  of  electrical  light  against  the  motion  picture  code  than  any 
bulbs,  who  complained  that  they  were  other.  We,  too,  had  received  many  pro- 
being  put  out  of  business  by  operation  tests  against  the  operation  of  the  code, 
of  the  electrical  code.  To  put  it  mildly,  and  the  deputy  administrator  in  charge 
the  hearing  was  a  flop.  Most  of  the  acts  of  the  code  admitted  having  received  a 
complained  against  had  been  committed  large  mass  of  complaints.  Consequently, 


DARROW  vs.  JOHNSON  527 

the  Board  set  an  early  hearing  on  this  the  code,  and  would  he  let  the  Board 

matter.  see  them?  Did  he  know  that  the  Presi- 

I  had  been  unable  to  get  many  prom-  dent's  order  required  all  employes  of 

ises  of  appearance  before  the  Board  of  the  NRA  to  aid  the  Board?  For  what 

witnesses  in  the  motion  picture  industry,  purpose  was  he  present,  if  not  to  testify? 

Small  theatre  owners  are  much  like  the  Would  he  ask  General  Johnson  for  in- 

owners  of  small  farms.  Widely  sepa-  structions  as  to  whether  he  should  give 

rated,  financially  unable  to  make  the  the  Board  the  benefit  of  his  testimony? 

long  trip  to  Washington  to  complain,  When  he  came  back  in  the  afternoon 

they  were  easy  victims  for  the  closely  he  advised  the  Board  that  Johnson  was 

organized  and  wealthy  movie  combine,  "in  hiding"  in  the  hospital  where  he  was 

But  Abram  Myers,  a  leader  of  the  in-  resting  after  many  hard  days  of  work, 

dependent   exhibitors,   and    Governor  The  upshot  was  that  while  in  most  of 

Floyd  B.  Olsen  of  Minnesota  gave  ex-  the  hearings  the  other  deputy  adminis- 

cellent  portrayals  of  the  oppression  of  trators  not  only  were  present  but  sat 

the  small  business  man  in  the  motion  with  the  Darrow  Board  and,  together 

picture  industry.  Harry  Brandt,  presi-  with  the  various  code  authorities,  gave 

dent  of  the  New  York  independents,  freely  of  their  advice  and  aid,  the  entire 

brought  down  a  score  of  small  theatre  motion  picture  code  hearing  was  carried 

owners.  on  without  one  voice  being  raised  in  de- 

The  first  witness  was  Russell  Hardy,  fense  by  the  code  authority,  or  the  dep- 

Assistant  Attorney  General,  and  one  of  uty  in  charge. 

the  best  informed  men  on  the  motion  As  the  hearing  progressed,  the  reason 
picture  industry  in  Washington.  When  became  self-evident.  The  code  had  been 
he  had  finished,  I  noticed  the  deputy  ad-  drawn  with  such  patent  disregard  for 
ministrator,  who  had  charge  of  the  the  anti-trust  laws  that  none  dared  de- 
drafting  and  the  administration  of  the  fend  it.  The  steel  code  was  drawn  by  the 
code,  standing  in  the  back  of  the  room.  Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  the  coal  code 
Several  days  before  he  had  come  into  by  the  National  Coal  Association,  but  no 
Darrow's  room  and  complained  that  he  one  connected  with  the  Darrow  Board 
had  not  been  notified  of  the  hearing,  was  ever  able  to  find  out  who  drew  the 
saying  that  he  intended  to  make  a  speech  motion  picture  code.  There  could  be  no 
before  the  Board.  I  felt  that  this  was  a  question  but  that  it  was  drawn  for  the 
good  time  to  call  him  for  examination  benefit  of  the  big  film  producers, 
and  asked  him  to  take  the  stand.  When  the  National  Industrial  Recov- 

Beyond  inquiring  the  deputy's  name  ery  Act  was  passed,  each  industry  was 

and  occupation  I  had  not  the  faintest  to  have  a  voice  in  the  making  of  its  own 

notion  of  what  my  next  question  would  code.  Certain  basic  principles  were  to  be 

be.  He,  of  course,  did  not  know  that.  A  followed,    notably    those    prohibiting 

dozen  devastating  questions  must  have  child  labor,  shortening  work  hours  and 

flashed  through  his  mind  as  he  stood  be-  increasing  pay.  All  details  of  the  gov- 

fore  the  Board.  At  any  rate,  with  the  erning  of  industry  were  to  be  left  largely 

first  question  he  stood  upon  his  constitu:  to  its  own  choosing.  Each  branch  of  in- 

tional  rights  and  refused  to  testify.  Did  dustry  was  to  be  master  of  its  own  code 

he  have  an  armful  of  complaints  against  of  ethics.  No  one  expected  a  shoe  manu- 


528  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

facturer  or  a  textile  weaver  to  tell  a  de-  headed  by  the  Motion  Picture  Research 
partment  store  how  to  run  its  business,  Council  to  do  away  with  block  booking 
just  because  they  manufactured  the  and  blind  buying,  the  two  trade  prac- 
goods  to  be  sold  in  the  store  5  the  auto-  tices  which  are  to  my  mind  directly  re- 
mobile  manufacturers  did  not  include  sponsible  for  the  crusade  against  unfit 
the  automobile  dealers  in  their  code  ;  but  motion  pictures.  Petti  John's  business  re- 
this  rule  of  allowing  each  industry  to  quired  him  to  travel  all  over  the  coun- 
govern  itself  was  abrogated  in  the  mo-  try.  Being  in  close  touch  with  the  audi 
tion  picture  business.  The  big  producers  ences,  he  knew  that  unless  his  industry 
of  pictures,  through  complete  domina-  itself  corrected  these  practices,  public 
tion  of  the  NRA  division  in  charge  of  opinion  was  apt  to  rise  in  such  force  as 
their  code,  augmented  their  control  and  to  ruin  the  business.  He  told  me  that 
monopoly  in  this  business  by  including  the  industry  was  perfectly  willing  to  sit 
the  control  of  the  picture  houses  which  down  with  the  independent  exhibitors 
exhibited  their  films.  With  one  stroke  and  make  changes  in  their  code  that 
of  the  pen,  this  one  hundred  million  would  be  agreeable  to  both  sides, 
dollar  film  production  industry  took  Will  Hays  talked  to  me  on  the  long 
complete  control  of  all  the  motion  distance  telephone  from  Los  Angeles 
picture  houses  in  the  country,  and  heartily  agreed  with  the  plan.  I  re 
valued  roughly  at  twenty  times  that  ported  this  to  Darrow  and  we  called  in 
amount.  Meyers  and  Brandt,  two  leaders  of  the 

This,  of  course,  would  have  been  a  independents  who  were  fighting  block 

deliberate  and  open  violation  of  the  anti-  booking  and  blind  buying.  They  too 

trust  laws  if  it  were  not  for  the  protect-  agreed,  provided  that  Darrow  would 

ing  mantle  of  the  NIRA  immunizing  serve  as  chairman  or  appoint  some  one 

this    combination    from    prosecution,  to  preside  over  the  deliberations  who 

Other  industries  selected  their  code  au-  would  act  as  a  safeguard  for  the  public's 

thorities  themselves,  but  the  big  motion  interest.  After  considerable  negotiation 

picture   producers   did   not   trust   the  a  provision  to  work  out  this  plan  was  in- 

theatre  owners  with  this  power.  So  NRA  corporated  in  the  Darrow  report, 

named  the  code  authority  members,  per-  Of  course  this  provision  was  in  direct 

son  by  person,  directly  in  the  body  of  opposition  to  General  Johnson's  inten- 

the  code.  Of  the  ten  named,  the  Darrow  tions.  His  administration  had  drafted 

investigation  showed  eight  controlled  the  code  and  was  running  the  motion 

by  the  big  producers  and  two  by  inde-  picture  business.  Any  movement  which 

pendents.  took  this  power  away  from  him  or  his 

One  day  after  the  motion  picture  staff,  while  it  might  fit  in  well  with  the 
hearing  had  been  completed,  Charles  President's  policy  that  industry  should 
Petti  John,  general  counsel  for  Will  govern  itself,  did  not  fit  in  with  John- 
Hays,  came  to  see  me.  This  was  long  son's  private  ideas.  It  meant  for  him 
before  the  Legion  of  Decency  or  Dr.  losing  control  of  a  two  billion  dollar  in- 
Worth  Tippy's  Protestant  organiza-  dustry.  When  the  Darrow  report  was 
tion  crusaded  against  the  producers  of  released  to  the  public  after  being  held 
motion  pictures,  but  there  had  been  in  up  for  seventeen  days  while  Johnson 
existence  for  some  time  a  movement  wrote  his  answer  to  it,  the  answer  bit- 


DARROW  vs.  JOHNSON  529 

terly  condemned  any  attempt  to  change  the  sacred  precincts  of  the  Iron  and 

the  motion  picture  code.  Steel  Institute. 

What  could  Hays  or  Petti  John  or  the  My  presentation  before  the  Darrow 

rest  of  the  industry  do?  Johnson  had  Board  of  the  case  against  the  steel  code 

them  by  the  throat.  They,  of  course,  had  was  simple  and  quickly  made.  Fortu- 

to   maintain   a   discreet   silence   about  nately,  the  Federal  Trade  Commission 

agreeing  to   anything  that   emanated  had  just  issued  a  voluminous  report  on 

from  the  Darrow  Board.  monopolistic  conditions  in  the  steel  in- 

If  Hays  and  the  independents  had  dustry.  It  had  been  drawn  by  men  in  the 
been  allowed  to  follow  the  Darrow  employ  of  the  government  for  many 
Board's  recommendations,  there  would  years.  They  were  scholars  and  experts 
have  been  no  need  for  a  Legion  of  De-  who  had  devoted  their  lives  to  tracking 
cency  drive,  or  a  Protestant  Church  down  the  oppressive  practices  of  big  in- 
movement,  or  Jewish  protests.  The  cru-  dustries  against  small  business  men.  It 
sade  by  the  Motion  Picture  Research  was  a  public  report  and  I  presented  it 
Council  headed  by  Dr.  A.  Lawrence  to  the  Darrow  Board  and  asked  that  it 
Lowell,  Mrs.  James  Roosevelt,  Mrs.  be  received  in  evidence. 
Calvin  Coolidge,  Mrs.  August  Bel-  The  Steel  Institute,  whose  directors 
mont,  Rabbi  Stephen  Wise  and  Jane  were  the  code  authority,  asked  for  sev- 
Addams  would  have  accomplished  its  eral  months  to  prepare  an  answer.  The 
result,  without  the  necessity  of  wide-  Board  refused.  The  Steel  Institute  then 
spread  boycotts.  The  NRA  in  its  en-  proceeded  to  put  on  its  witnesses.  The 
deavor  to  "regiment"  the  whole  indus-  first  one  took  almost  two  days  on  direct 
try  into  the  hands  of  the  big  producers  examination.  Late  in  the  second  after- 
overreached  itself,  and  succeeded  only  noon  he  was  turned  over  to  me  for  cross- 
in  drawing  down  the  wrath  of  the  pub-  examination. 

lie  upon  exhibitors  and  producers  alike.  My  knowledge  of  the  steel  industry 

up  to  this  time  had  been  limited  to  rid- 

IV  ing  on  railroad  tracks,  crossing  bridges 

The  hearing  in  the  steel  code  was  and  watching  the  red  glow  in  the  sky 

quite  different,  though  it  came  to  the  from  blast  furnaces  at  night.  Unknown 

same  end.  Here  was  an  industry  very  to  the  Institute,  Darrow  had  given  me 

unlike  the  nouveau  riche  motion  picture  permission  to  employ  one  of  America's 

crowd.  The  steel  barons  were  long  and  foremost  authorities  on  the  steel  monop- 

deeply  entrenched  in  the  commercial  oly,  Frank  A.  Fetter,  professor  of  eco- 

structure  of  this  country.  They  had  not  nomics  at  Princeton  University,  who 

graduated  from  the  cloak  and  suit  busi-  sat  quietly  in  the  audience  during  all 

ness,  like  Laemmle  or  Fox,  or  from  the  the  direct  examination.  All  night  he 

band  business  like  Lasky,  or  from  the  and  another  lawyer  who  had  helped  try 

shoe  business  like  Warner,  or  the  fur  the  "Pittsburgh  Plus"  case  back  in  1924 

business  like  Zukor.  The  steel  men  were  drilled  me  on  the  facts  around  which  I 

the  foundation  structure  of  the  Ameri-  was  to  base  my  cross-examination.  The 

can  financial  oligarchy.  Their  suave  and  secretary  of  the  code  authority  was  on 

scholarly  spokesmen,  after  leaving  Har-  the  stand.  After  the  usual  preliminary 

vard  or  Yale,  spent  their  lifetimes  in  questions,  he  began  to  contradict  him- 


530  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

self.  A  recess  was  called  until  the  fol-  The  steel  industry,  then  under  the  con- 
lowing  week.  A  controversy  had  arisen  trol  of  the  National  Recovery  Adminis- 
as  to  the  existence  or  non-existence  of .  trator,  had  no  stomach  for  incurring 
papers  in  the  steel  code  authority's  files.  Johnson's  enmity.  There  was  perhaps 
During  the  delay,  I  sent  two  investiga-  no  public  figure  in  the  United  States 
tors  to  New  York  to  check  the  files,  so  willing  to  confess  his  own  faults  and 
They  were  stopped  at  the  front  door,  shortcomings  as  General  Johnson — pro- 
We  had  then  the  unique  situation  of  a  vided  he  did  it  himself.  The  steel  group 
code  authority,  having  legislative  and  had  witnessed  the  bitter  experiences  of 
judicial  power  granted  to  it  by  the  other  people  who  had  criticized  him, 
United  States  government,  refusing  to  and  they  had  no  desire  to  commit  this 
let  another  branch  of  the  government  tactical  error, 
examine  its  records.  If  the  Review  Board  came  out  with 

The  day  before  the  hearing  was  re-  too  strong  a  blast  against  the  code,  the 

sumed  I  received  a  letter  advising  me  President  might  not  reapprove  it  in  its 

that  the  witnesses  who  had  already  testi-  existing  form.  Rather  tha*n  give  up  the 

fied  in  behalf  of  the  code  authority  trade    practice    of    charging    fictitious 

would  not  return  for  cross-examination,  freight  rates,  known  as  the  basing  point 

They  were  not  going  to  expose  their  principle,  the  steel  industry — the  larg- 

hands  any  further.  est  employer  of  labor  under  any  of  the 

The  steel  group  was  a  little  uneasy  codes — would  withdraw  from  the  NRA. 
about  Johnson  at  that  time.  He  had  an-  This  would  be  a  death-blow  to  all  of 
nounced  that  he  was  against  some  of  the  General  Johnson's  plans, 
practices  the  steel  crowd  was  engaging  Negotiations  were  opened  to  see  if 
in,  insisting,  particularly,  that  basing  the  Board  would  resume  hearings.  I  was 
points  would  have  to  be  done  away  with,  anxious  to  examine  the  steel  men's  wit- 
Johnson  planned  to  fly  to  New  York  to  nesses  further,  but  Darrow,  with  intui- 
look  into  that  practice,  which  in  1924  tive  understanding,  saw  in  their  move  a 
was  outlawed  by  the  Federal  Trade  means  of  delaying  the  report  on  this 
Commission,  but  which  now,  in  a  industry  past  the  time  when  their  code 
slightly  modified  form,  was  in  full  would  be  up  for  reapproval  by  the  Presi- 
bloom  under  the  code.  The  steel  code  dent.  When  they  refused  to  proceed 
was  expiring  very  shortly.  It  had  only  promptly  he  ordered  the  report  drawn 
been  approved  in  its  existing  form  up  in  accordance  with  the  Federal  Trade 
to  the  end  of  May.  Commission's  findings. 

The  steel  group  was  perfectly  willing         Something  must  have  happened  at 

to  make  some  changes  in  the  code  which  the  NRA,  because  shortly  afterwards 

would  lighten  the  burden  on  small  fabri-  Johnson's  announced  trip  to  New  York 

cators,  but  already  it  was  openly  known  to  investigate  the  basing  point  practice 

in  Washington  that  Johnson  resented  faded  into  thin  air.  No  more  press  state- 

the  intervention  of  the  Darrow  Board  ments  came  from  him  against  the  steel 

in  what  he  considered  his  own  domain,  trust.  Johnson  kept  the  basing  point 

To  work  out  with  Darrow  and  the  machinery  for  price-fixing  in  the  steel 

Review  Board  changes  in  the  codes  code.  In  return  the  steel  industry  stayed 

would  be  stealing  Johnson's  thunder,  in  the  NRA. 


,*'  c^         ^^ 

DARROW  vs.  JOHNSON  ;  iJbijry 

troversy  waxed  hot,  reporters  discoy*'-;/' 
ered  with  glee  that  the  antagonists  were 

There  was  criticism  that  the  Review  in  adjacent  hotel  rooms  at  noon  each 
Board  found  fault  with  everything  that  day  and  hoped  for  an  explosive  meeting, 
came  under  its  scrutiny.  This  was  not  I  never  knew  of  his  going  to  see  Darrow 
true.  Many  of  Johnson's  deputies  were  except  once.  He  and  his  secretary  took 
praised  for  their  whole-hearted  and  sin-  Darrow  for  an  automobile  ride  one  day. 
cere  efforts  to  carry  out  the  President's  Darrow,  always  forgetful  of  small  de- 
plan.  Probably  it  wa"s  because  the  Presi-  tails,  went  out  without  a  hat.  When  he 
dent  sensed  the  inability  of  such  a  vola-  came  back  he  had  the  General's, 
tile  man  as  Johnson  to  handle  the  When  the  Board  was  first  organized, 
deeply  entrenched  and  monopolistic  oil  Darrow  was  told  that  almost  every  gov- 
industry  that  he  had  turned  this  code  ernment  agency  had  a  large  publicity 
over  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  staff.  Johnson's  NRA  led  the  list  with 
Harold  I.  Ickes,  to  administer.  This  sixty-five  on  its  payroll.  Although  these 
cool,  quiet,  unassuming  man  was  me*n  were  given  high-sounding  titles, 
handling  that  difficult  economic  struc-  their  real  work  was  to  ballyhoo  the 
ture  with  consummate  ease.  Given  the  '  man  or  the  department  they  worked  for. 
adequate  legislative  authority,  he  would  Darrow  refused  to  permit  any  one  to  be 
come  nearer  to  effectuating  the  Presi-  put  on  the  Board's  payroll  for  this  pur- 
dent's  New  Deal  than  a  thousand  John-  pose.  In  the  first  place,  he  contended 
sons.  The  Review  Board  devoted  con-  that  it  was  a  waste  of  the  taxpayers' 
siderable  space  to  commending  him.  money.  In  the  second  place,  he  said  that 

Of  course,  the  witnesses  and  com-  the  purpose  of  the  Board  was  not  pub- 
plainants  who  volunteered  to  testify  be-  licity,  for  itself  or  its  members,  but  to 
fore  the  Board  were  there  as  critics.  But  do  a  job  the  President  had  commis- 
Darrow  constantly  guarded  against  mis-  sioned  it  to  do  as  quickly  and  efficiently 
information,  by  insisting  that  all  code  as  possible,  and  get  out. 
authorities  should  be  notified  of  hear-  As  time  went  on,  it  became  more  and 
ings  so  that  they  could  be  present  to  more  apparent  that  with  the  initial  work 
controvert  any  misstatements  or  misrep-  of  drafting  and  approving  the  codes 
resentations.  In  contrast  with  the  NRA  done,  NRA  was  metamorphosing  itself 
hearings,  DarroW  insisted  that  when  a  into  a  gigantic  machine  using  all  its  en- 
witness  had  completed  his  testimony,  ergy  in  running  itself.  One  day  a  caller 
the  code  authority  attorney  or  the  code  in  our  office  told  of  an  NRA  rule  re- 
authority  member  himself  could  cross-  quiring  four  initials  to  a  letter  before  it 
examine  the  witness.  Many  code  au-  could  be  mailed.  Some  practical  joker 
thorities  and  deputy  administrators  co-  wrote  a  long- letter  on  a  highly  technical 
operated  in  this  respect.  subject  and  placed  in  the  middle  a  page 

During  all  the  time  we  were  in  Wash-  or  two  of  Alice  in  Wonderland y  at  the 

ington  Johnson  saw  Darrow  not  more  end  reverting  to  his  original  subject.  It 

than    a    half    dozen    times.    Johnson  passed  from  one  NRA  department  to 

usually  ate  lunch  in  his  private  rooms  another  and  finally  came  back  to  his  desk 

next  door  to  Darrow's  hotel  headquar-  fully  approved  with  all  the  initials, 

ters.  When  the  Darrow-Johnson  con-  NRA  built  up  a  set  of  precedents  and 


532  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

rules  for  its  own  government  which  ing  his  own  views.  This  Johnson  seized 
were  practically  impossible  to  overcome,  upon  and  characterized  as  being  part  of 
but  along  with  this  reverence  for  its  the  Board  report,  much  to  the  chagrin 
own  precedents  went  a  disregard  for  the  and  astonishment  of  other  members 
elementary  laws  of  economics  and  a  con-  who  had  never  seen  the  letter,  had  had 
tempt  for  decisions  of  the  highest  court  nothing  to  do  with  it  and  did  not  sub- 
of  the  land.  Houston  Thompson,  Chair-  scribe  to  its  principles.  Johnson's  large 
man  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  staff  of  publicity  men  used  it  to  cloud 
under  President  Wilson,  got  the  shock  the  real  purpose  of  the  reports  in  a  haze 
of  his  life  at  NRA.  The  Supreme  Court  of  misunderstanding, 
of  the  United  States  had  recently  de-  In  spite  of  Johnson's  attacks  and  de 
cided  a  case  similar  to  one  that  Thomp-  nials,  everything  that  the  Darrow  Board 
son  was  then  arguing  before  the  NRA.  recommended  has  since  in  some  form  or 
Having  served  as  Trade  Commissioner  other  been  recognized  as  the  only  sound 
for  many  years,  he  was  familiar  with  course  to  follow.  The  Board  was  against 
anti-trust  laws  and  cases,  but  to  make  price-fixing,  and  from  June  9  on,  no  new 
doubly  sure  took  along  under  his  arm  code  has  had  price-fixing  in  its  structure, 
the  latest  volumes  of  the  Supreme  Court  It  was  against  the  oppression  of  small 
reports,  including  this  last  case.  As  he  business  men,  and  the  Federal  Trade 
came  into  the  room,  the  deputy  admin-  Commission  has  taken  away  from  NRA 
istrator  in  charge  eyed  him  suspiciously,  the  power  to  adjudicate  what  are  op- 
" What  are  those  books  you  have  there?"  pressive  practices.  The  Darrow  Board 
he  asked.  "A  Supreme  Court  decision  reported  that  it  was  a  hopeless  task  to 
bearing  directly  on  my  case,"  Thomp-  try  to  fix  prices  in  service  trades.  John 
son  replied,  swelling  with  confidence,  son  bitterly  denounced  this,  but  shortly 
"Take  it  out,  we  are  not  interested  in  afterwards  took  price-fixing  out  of  the 
what  the  Supreme  Court  says,"  was  the  service  trades.  The  Darrow  Board  was 
astonishing  rejoinder.  against  one-man  control  and  needless  in- 

On  June  28,  1934,  less  than  four  terference  in  American  business.  Today 
months  after  its  inception,  the  National  Johnson  is  out,  a  board  is  running  NRA 
Recovery  Review  Board  filed  its  last  and  before  any  "cracking  down"  can 
report.  Fifty-seven  public  hearings  had  take  place  NRA  must  convince  the  Fed- 
been  held,  thirty-four  codes  examined  eral  Trade  Commission  and  the  Attor- 
and  over  3,000  complaints  examined.  ney  General's  office  of  its  necessity.  All 
Johnson  in  answer  to  the  criticisms  of  labor  controversies  are  removed  from 
the  Review  Board  vigorously  criticized  NRA  and  placed  with  a  special  indus- 
all  of  its  reports  and  demanded  that  trial  relations  board, 
the  President  remove  its  members,  The  enthusiastic  public  opinion  which 
declaring  them  to  be  ill-advised,  gave  force  at  first  to  the  NRA  law  has 
prejudiced  and  engaged  in  "special  been  sadly  reduced  by  the  discovery  that 
pleading."  the  Blue  Eagle  can  not  cure  everybody's 

At  the  time  of  filing  the  Board's  first  ills.  What  will  happen  to  the  remains 

report,  one  of  the  members,  a  Socialist,  of  the  General's  grandiose  structure  now 

wrote  a  letter  to  the  President  express-  that  he  is  gone  is  yet  to  be  seen. 


Playing  the  Numbers 

BY  J.  SAUNDERS  REDDING 

The  curious  history  of  a  gambling  racket  which  has  impoverished 
thousands,  affected  insurance  companies  and  appar 
ently  can  not  be  stopped 

No  ONE  seems  to  know  exactly  Came  the  day  when,  studying  the 
where  or  with  whom  the  num-  clearing  house  totals,  an  idea  struck 
bers  game  originated,  but  the  Holstein  between  the  eyes.  Tradition 
most  authentic  tradition  has  it  that  it  has  it  that  sitting  in  his  airless  janitor's 
began  with  a  West  Indian  Negro —  closet,  surrounded  by  brooms  and  mops, 
one  Holstein,  who  combined  the  prosaic  he  let  out  an  uproarious  laugh  and  in 
traits  of  a  financier  with  the  dizzy  im-  general  acted  like  a  drunken  man.  That 
aginative  flights  of  a  fingerless  Midas,  night  when  the  pavement  had  been 
Though,  the  story  goes,  before  his  rise  swept  and  the  last  clerk  had  gone,  he 
to  affluence  he  seldom  had  one  dime  to  sat  in  the  basement  until  dawn  study- 
rub  against  the  other,  he  studied  the  ing  the  clearing  house  totals  in  the  pa- 
financial  press  with  feverish  interest.  Ar-  pers  he  had  saved  religiously.  He  had 
riving  in  New  York  just  before  the  old  them  for  a  year  back.  The  thought  that 
policy  game  was  wiped  out,  he  learned  the  figures  differed  each  day  played  in 
one  rewarding  lesson — that  everybody  his  mind  like  a  wasp  in  an  empty  room, 
everywhere  desired  to  get  rich  quickly,  It  did  not  immediately  occur  to  him 
and  that  this  desire  could  be  cashed  in  how  he  was  to  use  this  information,  so 
on.  When  he  rose  to  wealth  and  posi-  for  six  months  he  thought  it  over,  mean- 
tion — contributing  to  Negro  education,  time  stacking  the  dollars  he  could  pinch 
donating  annually  a  substantial  literary  from  his  porter's  wages.  At  last  he  de- 
prize,  and  taking  hundreds  of  the  vised  the  simple  scheme  of  selecting 
poorer  Negro  children  up  the  Hudson  three  digits,  two  from  the  first  and  one 
each  summer — he  condemned  the  de-  from  the  second  total,  by  an  unvarying 
sires  which  his  skilful  manipulations  rule,  and  having  bets  placed  upon  guess- 
had  made  a  source  of  vast  wealth  for  ing  the  number.  Thus,  if  the  clearing 
himself.  But  earlier  he  had  not  been  so  house  totals  appeared  8,356,201  and  6,- 
mellow  a  philosopher,  so  kind-hearted  a  497,000  the  winning  number  would  be 
benefactor.  He  had  been  a  Fifth  Avenue  567.  He  offered  odds  of  600  to  one. 
store  porter  with  an  eye  for  the  stock  In  a  year  he  owned  three  of  the  finest 
market  reports  and  the  shrewdness  of  apartment  buildings  in  Harlem,  a  fleet 
a  race-track  tout.  of  expensive  cars,  a  home  on  Long  Is- 


534  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

land  and  several  thousand  acres  of  farm-  finance  with  daring  eclat.  A  common 

land  in  Virginia.  stunt  was  to  "back  down,"  the  name 

given  to  the  simple  procedure  of  declar- 

11  ing  all  bets  off  without  refunding  them. 

It  was  some  time  before  the  numbers  Perhaps  some  individual  gifted  with 
game  won  any  popularity  outside  Har-  an  instant  of  foresight  would  whisper 
lem.  Gradually,  however,  as  the  game  it  about  that  322  would  be  the  number 
attracted  more  competitors  in  Spadeland  three  days  hence.  The  players  would 
and  the  weaker  backers  were  driven  out  bet  on  it.  If  the  number  happened  to 
by  the  stronger,  the  cities  in  the  Mid-  "hit,"  the  banker  would  simply  make 
die  Atlantic  States  and  along  the  sea-  the  announcement  that  the  bosses  in 
board  came  to  know  of  it,  until  now  New  York  had  sent  word  that  there 
there  are  large  numbers  syndicates  op-  was  a  "leak"  and  that  no  bets  would  be 
crating  from  Portland  to  Savannah  and  paid  off  that  day.  It  was  the  method  he 
lesser  organizations  are  born  and  flour-  used  to  protect  himself  from  too  heavy 
ish  prodigiously  and  are  at  last  smoth-  a  run.  After  all,  the  players  stood  to 
ered  by  the  greater  weight  of  the  syn-  lose  only  a  penny  or  two,  at  most  a 
dicates.  Every  week  the  Negro  papers  dime,  and  they  usually  accepted  it  as 
carry  stories  of  rivalry  among  numbers  part  of  the  game, 
factions.  The  towns  in  New  Jersey  The  first  numbers  banker  in  our 
seethe  with  the  activities  of  the  num-  town  was  a  young  man  named  Bill 
bers  barons.  In  Philadelphia  one  city  of-  Castle.  He  graduated  from  the  seat  of 
ficial,  realizing  the  perniciousness  of  the  a  city  dump  cart  to  the  cab  of  an  inter- 
evil,  tried  to  get  police  backing  to  wipe  state  moving  van.  He  had  lots  of 
it  out  and  was  laughed  at  for  his  pains,  friends.  On  Saturday  afternoons  and 
It  is  reported  that  the  recent  mysterious  Sundays  he  used  to  sit  on  the  long  bench 
murder  of  a  young  evangelist  who  spe-  in  front  of  the  pool  room  and  boast  to 
cialized  in  "consecrated  dimes"  was  tied  his  listeners  that  he  had  "sense"  and 
up  with  the  Negro  pool.  So  long  as  the  that  before  long  he  was  going  to  have 
game  was  confined  largely  to  Negroes,  dollars.  Quite  a  punster  was  Bill.  Then 
municipal  authorities  did  little  or  noth-  in  the  fall  of  1929  when  the  moving 
ing  about  it,  "but  now  that  whites  are  business  took  a  seasonal  slump  he 
becoming  more  and  more  involved  it  climbed  down  from  behind  his  wheel, 
takes  on  the  nature  of  a  real  menace."  changed  his  clothes,  rented  a  small 

In  the  beginning  the  set-up  was  sim-  store  and'  put  in  a  few  cigars,  a  tele- 
pie.  Indeed  it  was  often  run  by  one  phone  and  a  carbon  duplicate  receipt 
man  who  started  on  the  proverbial  shoe-  book.  Thereafter  his  day  seemed  di- 
string,  limiting  his  clientele,  refusing  to  vided  into  two  periods  5  the  first  from 
take  bets  of  more  than  two  or  three  eight  to  eleven  A.  M.  when  the  shade  of 
cents,  and  in  general  husbanding  his  re-  his  store  window  would  be  down  mys- 
serves.  A  shrewd  man  managed  nicely,  teriouslyj  and  the  other  from  eleven 
He  acted  as  contacter,  writer,  pick-up,  on  when  he  seemed  to  do  nothing  but 
checker  and  banker.  He  put  himself  for-  talk  over  the  telephone  and  write  fig- 
ward  as  an  agent  usually,  and,  under  ures  in  the  receipt  book.  He  was  cater- 
the  protection  of  a  non-existent  organi-  ing  to  a  clientele  of  three  or  four 
zation,  pulled  off  his  maneuvers  in  high  hundred.  His  receipts  were  as  high  as 


PLAYING  THE  NUMBERS  535 

forty  dollars  a  day,  and  even  then  he  more  bets  were  to  be  made  at  the  place 

was  fighting  against  expansion.  of  business.  The  system  of  "runners"  or 

The  first  time  the  police  arrested  him  writers,  long  established  in  New  York, 
he  was  charged  with  being  a  public  was  put  into  use.  Each  runner  was  pro- 
nuisance  and  fined  to  the  limit.  He  paid,  vided  with  a  duplicate  receipt  book.  He 
He  was  glad  to.  But  it  made  him  wary,  canvassed  among  his  friends  and  ac- 
for  his  arrest  had  brought  him  out  of  quaintances  for  bets.  The  more  popular 
the  shade  into  the  glaring  light  of  pub-  a  runner  the  bigger  his  "takings"  and 
licity,  and  local  parasites  jumped  at  him  the  bigger  the  income  of  the  bank.  His 
like  fleas  at  a  mangy  dog.  But  they  were  cut  was  twenty  cents  on  a  dollar,  and 
not  all  parasites.  For  instance,  his  ward  many  of  them  made  as  high  as  six  dol- 
councilman  came.  He  was  a  man  of  lars  a  day.  When  one  of  the  players  for 
many  resources.  He  managed  the  only  whom  he  had  taken  a  bet  made  a  hit, 
Negro  theatre  in  the  town,  was  partner  twenty  per  cent  of  the  winnings  went  to 
in  a  growing  drug  store  and  had  been  the  runner.  With  what  a  clever  writer 
written  up  as  a  Negro  leader.  He  could  could  filch,  the  income  was  attractive, 
offer  Bill  definite  advantages,  obviat-  Many  men  have  given  up  the  legitimate 
ing  the  necessity  to  fight  against  expan-  pursuits  of  insurance  collecting,  Pull- 
sion.  With  some  twenty  thousand  man  portering  and  waiting  to  engage  in 
Negroes  to  sponge  on  (three-fourths  of  number  writing.  They  are  not  all  stupid 
whom  were  crying  for  a  chance  to  play)  men.  They  feel  that  the  income  from 
there  was  no  end  to  the  possibilities,  the  racket  is  permanent. 
Of  course  the  councilman  himself  As  the  number  of  runners  increased, 
would  take  no  chances.  His  name  and  each  was  given  his  own  district  and 
backing  must  be  kept  secret.  The  tax-  special  designation.  One  known  as 
payers  might  not  like  their  leader  being  "F  5"  had  the  factory  section.  It  was  his 
a  member  of  the  underworld.  by  inalienable  right.  (There  are  cases 

All  difficulties,  however,  were  ironed  in  which  a  writer  discharged  from  one 

out  and  the  numbers  flourished  anew,  organization  and  operating  for  another 

A  different  set-up  was  necessary.  The  has  gone  to  his  old  district  and  found  a 

police  had  found  out  about  Castle  be-  rival.  There  has  been  bloodshed.  The 

cause  it  was  against  all  the  laws  of  legiti-  tradition  among  them  is  fixed.  Each 

mate  economics  for  more  people  to  pass  new  writer  must  find  out  new  worlds  to 

in  and  out  of  a  man's  store  when  it  was  conquer.)  He  could  collect  his  bets  at 

supposed  to  be  closed  than  when  it  was  morning  by  making  the  rounds  of  the 

open.  Moreover,  no  one  ever  bought  factory  rest  rooms  before  work  began, 

the  cigars  he  pretended  .to  be  selling,  or  at  night.  It  was  required  of  him  only 

Oh,  he  renewed  his  stock  frequently,  that  his  slips  be  in  the  office  at  a  certain 

for  it  was  his  practice  to  mollify  the  time  each  day  and  that  there  be  no 

heavy  losers  with  gifts  of  stogies.  But  erasures,  no  blemishes,  no  changes  of 

for  the  most  part  all  who  entered  came  any  kind  on  a  slip.  It  was  also  thought 

out  with  a  little  white  slip  of  paper  and  best  for  the  runner  to  be  at  the  office  at 

an  adventurous,  hopeful  look  in  their  "pay-off"  time,  for  when  the  number 

eyes.  Finally  it  became  a  numbers  law,  came  through  and  one  of  his  patrons 

founded  on  usage  and  enforced  by  the  had  a  hit,  it  was  the  runner's  business  to 

sporadic  arrest  of  offenders,  that  no  collect  from  the  bank  for  his  client. 


536  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

This  system  of  paying  off  brought  up  tive  and  fellow  politician.  The  new 
another  problem.  Dishonest  runners  man  had  something  of  a  reputation  as  a 
collecting  from  the  bank  a  hit  of  four  ward  boss  and,  what  was  of  equal  im- 
or  five  hundred  dollars  (and  sometimes  portance,  his  wife  was  of  an  old  respect- 
as  high  as  eighteen  hundred)  have  been  able  family.  Changes  were  made  at 
known  to  abscond.  There  was  no  re-  once.  Heretofore  the  offices  of  the  game 
dress,  for  the  banker,  already  a  criminal  had  been  housed  in  suspicious-looking 
of  a  sort,  dared  not  report  to  police.  Too  stores  or  even  more  suspicious-looking 
many  explanations  would  have  been  houses  in  poor  communities.  They 
required.  In  our  town  the  politician-  moved  now,  establishing  themselves  in 
banker  was  put  in  a  ticklish  position  be-  a  long  room  on  the  second  floor  of  the 
cause  the  dishonest  runner  used  his  Negro  theatre  building.  Such  a  place 
political  and  social  standing  as  a  weapon  was  beyond  suspicion,  for  they  were 
against  him.  flanked  on  one  side  by  the  Y.M.C.A., 

But  the  pay-off  method  was  undesir-  and  on  the  other  by  a  polite  dancing 
able  for  another  reason.  In  a  town  school.  On  the  doors  and  windows  of 
where  the  majority  of  the  Negro  popu-  the  new  quarters  were  blazoned  "Na- 
lation  is  engaged  in  factory  work  or  tional  Society."  Adding  machines,  type- 
domestic  service,  going  to  and  coming  writers  and  telephones  were  installed, 
from  their  employment  at  regular  Duplicate  receipt  books  arrived  by  the 
hours  in  more  or  less  tell-tale  clothes,  case.  A  bank  cage  was  set  up  and  behind 
ten  or  twelve  Negroes  forever  dressed  it  stood  money  counters  and  changers, 
up  and  forever  apparently  loafing  quoters  and  housemen,  all  busily  en- 
through  nominal  working  hours  are  a  gaged  in  helping  a  poor  people  grow 
suspicion-arousing  lot.  Add  to  this  the  poorer.  That  summer  a  check-up  of  the 
fact  that  a  sharp-eyed  policeman  walk-  office  force  would  have  revealed  school 
ing  a  certain  beat  has  noticed  several  teachers,  male  and  female,  a  church 
times  these  ten  or  twelve  dandies  mak-  deacon,  the  wife  of  a  physician,  a  well 
ing  their  way  to  a  prearranged  meeting  known  ex-vaudeville  performer  and 
place,  and  you  have  all  the  elements  other  potential  "serviceable  citizens." 
necessary  to  a  raid.  Raids  occurred.  The  Their  being  there  was  significant  of 
police  confiscated  hundreds  of  dollars,  the  first  step  in  the  development  of  a 
Heavy  fines  were  imposed.  The  time  peculiar  mental  attitude  that  has  grown 
had  come  for  a  change  in  organization,  as  the  game  has  spread. 

Unlike  a  great  many  legitimate  busi 
nesses  the  numbers  game  has  never 

The  next  step  was  expensive,  but  it  employed  more  help  than  it  needs ;  nor 

was  also  expansive.  The  councilman  has  it  ever  tried  to  get  along  with  less, 

was  finding  his  underworld  business  Moving  into  more  spacious  quarters 

harrowing.  So  far  there  was  no  one  in  and  engaging  more  employes  was  neces- 

the  game  of  equal  social  responsibility,  sary.  (Receipts  at  the  time  were  about 

and  if  he  were  caught  there  would  be  a  thousand  dollars  a  day.)  It  was  also 

no  alleviating  his  disgrace.  What  he  good  business  from  the  standpoint  of 

wanted  was  some  one  to  share  the  the  bankers  to  employ  people  of  some 

opprobrium     and,     incidentally,     the  position;  people  who  would  feel  it  a 

profits.  He  found  such  a  man  in  a  rela-  lasting  shame  to  be  caught  and  would 


PLAYING  THE  NUMBERS  537 

therefore  take  all  precautions  not  to  be  heavy  losses  have  been  provided  for 

caught.  The  attitude  has  changed  now,  through  a  system  technically  known  as 

for  usage  has  made  people  callous,  and  "insurance." 

the  morale  of  the  office  personnel  has  Above  the  local  bank  is  an  organiza- 

sunk  to  the  level  of  that  of  the  writers,  tion  known  as  the  "surer,"  which  is  to 

A  corps  of  "pick-up"  men  was  en-  the  bank  what  the  bank  is  to  the  players, 

gaged,  further  to  circumvent  the  police.  Say  605  is  a  "hot"  number.  Many  peo- 

A  certain  house  in  each  district  was  pie  wager  on  it.  The  slips  are  full  of  it, 

designated   as   the    "lay-down."    The  representing  hundreds  of  dollars  at  six 

usual  price  for  engaging  such  a  house  dollars  on  the  penny.  The  overwhelm- 

was  ten  dollars  a  day.  Here  the  runner  ing  number  of  6o5's  shakes  the  banker's 

would  leave  his  collections  to  be  picked  confidence.  He  can  no  longer  afford  to 

up  and  taken  to  the  home  office,  and  pull  the  cheap  trick  of  backing  down, 

here  would  he  come  for  the  pay-off  for  He  thrives  on  the  trust  of  the  people, 

his  clients.  No  pick-up  man  had  more  But  605  is  too  big  a  risk  for  him  to  take  5 

than  two  lay-downs,  for  if  he  were  dis-  so  he  "sures  out"  to  a  syndicate  part  or 

honest  his  loot  would  have  run  into  all  of  his  bets  on  605.  It  is  a  chance  of 

hundreds  of  dollars.  But  this  did  not  course,  and  if  it  does  not  hit,  the  local 

eliminate  the  filching  runner.  Pay-off  banker  has  gained  nothing.  If  it  does 

men  were  engaged.  These  men,  offi-  hit,  he  should  worry, 
daily  listed  as  agents  of  the  National 

Society  (posing  as  a  mutual  insurance  IV 

company),  were  bonded.  Losses  from  Thus  matters  stood  in  the  summer  of 

dishonesty  became  practically  non-ex-  1929  when  several  well-known  insur- 

istent,  and  the  figures  show  that  the  ance  companies,  losing  premiums  to  the 

new  set-up  was  well  worth  the  expense,  tune  of  thousands,  got  together  in  an 

From  nine  and  ten  hundred  dollars  a  attempt  to  strike  an  effective  blow  at 

day  the  takings  jumped  to  sixteen  hun-  the  racket.  At  the  time  the  game  was 

dred — and  it  was  no  secret.  based  solely  on  the  clearing  house  fig- 

At  this  time  the  actual  backers  of  the  ures  which  were  published  daily.  The 
game  were  unknown  to  the  general  idea  was  to  stop  the  publication  of  the 
public.  The  organization  ran  smoothly,  figures  and  so  stop  the  game.  Straight- 
Bets  of  more  than  fifty  cents  on  a  num-  way  the  clearing  house  at  New  York 
ber  were  not  accepted.  Certain  numbers  stopped  publication  and  other  clearing 
called  "doubles"  and  "triples"  (225,  houses  followed  suit.  The  numbers 
444,  any  number  in  which  one  digit  is  barons  pulled  their  kinky  hair.  Two 
repeated)  paid  only  three  to  one,  that  days  after  the  drastic  action  of  the  clear- 
is,  three  dollars  on  the  penny:  some  ing  houses,  the  chief  bankers  from 
numbers  paid  nothing  at  all.  There  Richmond  to  Boston  met  in  impressive 
were  times  when  after  a  particularly  conclave  in  New  York.  Some  of  the 
heavy  run  the  bank  would  close  down  bankers  were  politicians,  some  physi- 
for  a  day  or  two  or  limit  the  play  to  a  cians,  some  ministers  and  others  plain 
few  hundred  people  until  losses  were  public  enemies  of  the  second  or  third 
recouped.  Of  course  such  emergencies  degree.  All  were  certain  that  they  were 
were  rare,  for  it  is  not  a  game  in  which  oppressed.  The  meeting  took  on  the 
the  bankers  can  lose.  And  now  the  nature  of  an  N.A.A.C.P.  conference 


538  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

when  one  baron  declared  that  white  their  clients.  They  reduced  the  ordinary 

demagogues  had  squelched  their  means  odds  to  500  to  one,  but  at  the  same 

of  livelihood  because  they  were  loth  to  time  they  introduced  "boxing,"  where- 

see  Negroes  acquiring  wealth.  They  by  a  player  may  take  one  number  and 

worked  themselves  into  a  lathering  rage  its  combinations,  play  as  much  on  it  as 

over  this'aspect  of  the  problem,  and  for  he  chooses,  and  if  any  of  the  combina- 

three  days  did  nothing.  Then  a  mild-  tions  hit,  collect  250  to  one.  They  also 

looking  little  man,  the  secretary  of  a  pay  odds  of  250  to  one  if  the  player  has 

baron  from  New  England,  suggested  the  last  two  digits  of  the  winning  num- 

that  the  race  track  figures  be  used.  ber. 

There  was  an  uncertain  silence  j  then  a         The  set-up  has  not  changed  much  in 

barrage  of  questions.  The  secretary  an-  the  last  few  years.  For  the  protection  of 

swered  them  all.  Of  course  the  races  all  the  employes  the  organization  now 

followed  the  seasons,  but  what  of  that?  hires  a  "front  man,"  one  who  is  known 

The  results  from  Caliente,  from  Havre  as  the  leader  of  the  racket  in  his  com- 

de  Grace,  from  Belmont,  from  Haw-  munity,  and  who  takes  all  the  blame, 

thorne — all    were    published.    Some-  It  is  his  business  to  appear  in  court 

where  horse  races  were  run  every  day.  whenever  a  writer  is  nabbed.  In  most 

The  idea  was  accepted  with  much  cases  there  is  .a  fine  of  from  fifty  to  a 

back-slapping  and  much  joy  at  having  thousand  dollars  with  jail  terms  as  alter- 

put  something  over  on  the  white  man.  natives.  The  fines  are  always  paid.  The 

In  a  jiffy  they  had  worked  out  the  buffer's  salary  is  tremendous.  One  front 

process  of  selecting  the  winning  num-  man  I  know  receives  five  hundred  a 

ber.  The  first  three  races  were  chosen  month  and  five  per  cent  of  the  takings, 

as  the  basis.  In  each  race  the  three  horses  He  keeps  three  cars  and  is  liberal  with 

coming  in  first  are  listed  as  winner,  sec-  his  money.  He  does  not  mingle  socially 

ond  and  third.  Beside  each  "money"  with  the  higher-ups  he  protects,  but 

horse  is  the  amount  he  pays  to  win,  to  other  men  of  better  social  position  than 

place  and  to  show.  For  an  instance:  his  envy  his  wealth,  and  high  school 

Bolitho,  the  winner,  pays  $5.255  Fara-  chaps  pattern  themselves  after  him.  He 

way,  running  second,  pays  $7.405  Thun-  is  a  new  type  among  Negroes.  He  is  the 

der,  the  third,  pays  $2.20.  These  figures  leader  of  his  own  set — a  fast,  sporting 

are  totaled — 1,485.  The  same  is  done  set  that  keeps  saddle  horses  and  motor 

for  the  second  and  third  races.  Now  let  boats,  expensive  liquors  and  anemic- 

us  say  that  the  total  for  the  second  race  looking  white  women, 
is  2,257  and  for  the  third  race  1,867.         Then  there  is  the  class  below  him, 

Then  the  third  figure  from  the  right  of  the  petty  clerks,  counters,  runners  and 

each  total  is  taken  to  form  the  winning  pick-ups.  Their  salaries  are  not  so  large, 

number,  in  this  case  428.  (Some  bank-  but  in  these  times  twenty-five  to  fifty 

ers  prefer  to  play  on  the  third,  fifth,  dollars  for  a  twelve-  or  fourteen-hour 

and  seventh  races,  but  the  work-out  is  week  is  not  to  be  sneezed  at.  And  they 

the  same.)  always  expect  to  make  a  big  hit.  Per- 

Within  a  week  after  the  insurance  haps  some  of  them  have  dreamed  of 
companies  had  throttled  the  evil  it  was  starting  on  their  own,  but  with  the  in 
going  again  full  blast.  crease  in  numbers  murders  their  ardor 

Always  the  bankers  have  looked  after  is  not  so  great.  Last  winter  a  carload  of 


PLAYING  THE  NUMBERS 


539 


gangsters  using  bombs  and  bullets 
wrecked  the  club  of  a  baron  in  Camden, 
New  Jersey.  In  the  spring  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  was  stunned  by  the  gang 
murder  of  Daddy  Black,  one  of  the  best 
known  digit  kings  in  the  East.  The 
thugs  walked  into  the  back  room  of  the 
counting  house  where  Black  was  help 
ing  count  out  seven  thousand  dollars  in 
coin  (the  day's  receipts)  and  opened  fire 
immediately.  At  the  trial  of  the  mur 
derers  the  growing  bi-racial  aspect  of 
the  racket  was  revealed.  White  gang 
sters,  jealous  of  the  big  takes,  have 
introduced  Moranic  methods — swift 
motor  cars,  steel  doors  and  sub-machine 
guns. 


Each  racket  has  its  scavengers  who 
catch  up  the  crumbs  from  the  royal 
feasts.  A  belief  in  sights  and  signs  and 
sorcery  has  always  been  the  weakness 
(or  the  strength)  of  Negroes.  Between 
the  time  that  the  policy  game  was  dying 
and  the  numbers  game  being  born  dream 
books,  lucky  stones,  snake  oil  and  other 
paraphernalia  of  abracadabra  passed 
somewhat  into  discard.  Now  they  have 
come  back  again.  There  are  forty-three 
varieties  of  dream  books  on  the  market. 
Each  dream  is  listed  with  the  number 
it  foretells:  cake — 1745  nuts — 213.  No 
two  books  list  the  same  number  for  the 
same  dream.  Some  are  advertised  as 
sure-fire.  Others  are  more  modest:  "We 
guarantee  no  hits.  The  stars  may  not  be 
with  you."  And  still  others  list  three 
and  four  numbers  for  each  dream,  read 
them  backwards  or  forwards,  top-to- 
bottom,  bottom-to-top,  take  your  choice. 
Numerologists  and  seers  advertise  in 
the  papers  that  make  no  bo.nes  of  cater 
ing  to  the  numbers  game.  The  most 
revered  papers  are  the  tabloids,  like  the 
Mirror  and  the  News  of  New  York 


and  the  News  of  Philadelphia.  They 
carry  the  dope  of  such  famed  prognosti- 
cators  as  Policy  Pete,  Lucky  Sam  and 
Darby  Hicks.  Under  "Personals"  the 
News  of  Philadelphia  carries  the  fol 
lowing  ad: 

Lucky  Hits,  ist,  2nd,  3rd  R  [aces]  Mail 
5Oc.  today  Pay  $2.00  when  you  hit.  Horo 
scopes,  3  yr.  forecasts  $3.00.  Professor  Harvey. 

I  have  seen  Professor  Harvey's  fore 
casts.  He  sends  out  a  sheet  of  paper  full 
of  figures.  He  warns  his  customers  to 
keep  the  numbers  in  until  they  hit.  Per 
fectly  simple !  Any  combination  of  num 
bers,  will  come  out  if  one  has  the  money 
and  patience  to  keep  them  in. 

Even  more  complete  results  are 
guaranteed  by  Gould  and  Company.  In 
the  Afro-American,  a  Negro  weekly 
with  a  large  circulation,  Gould  and 
Company  carry  the  following  exciting 
anouncement. 

LOOK!  LOOK!  The  horses  are  really  run 
ning  true  to  form  at  Hawthorne  track  and 
Coney  Island.  Gould  and  Co.  is  right  on  the 
scene  of  action,  looking  out  for  our  own  inter 
est,  and  taking  special  care  of  our  numbers 
clients.  Our  complete  list  of  clients  are  really 
making  good  money  off  our  straight  Exact 
Number  Info  [information] .  We  are  race  horse 
owners  and  trainers.  We  are  right  on  the  scene 
of  action;  we  are  directly  connected  with  every 
race  track  in  America.  We  see  everything  that 
goes  on  bejore  races  are  run,  that  is  pertaining 
to  inside  "Number  Dope."  .  .  . 

Gould  and  Company  then  set  forth  a 
string  of  numbers  which  hit  the  month 
before  and  which,  they  say,  they  fore 
cast,  adding  triumphantly:  "As  a  result 
of  these  numbers  many  small-time 
bankers  had  to  close  their  doors." 
Special  low  fees  are:  "$2 :5o  for  one  day 
or  $4:50  for  2  days  straight." 

Perhaps  the  highest  charge  is  made 
by  the  Morris  Stock  Exchange  of  New 
York.  Here  is  their  ad: 


540  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

We  told  you  last  week  we  were  going  to  evil,  would  Dr.  So-and-So,  or  lawyer 

spread  the  dope.  We  did  it.  All  our  customers  Whatzit  back  it?  Why,  he's  a  member 

got  well.  Now  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  r  .  i         i_      i  i         j       j              r  ^ 

didn't  get  in  on  our  last  week's  special,  you  °f  *V*?J  ^  ^  T  °£  the  trUS- 

have  another  chance  this  week:  if  you  have  tees  of  Chicksaw  College! 

been  a  loser,  now  is  your  time  to  get  well.  .  .  .  These  are  not  far-fetched  imaginings. 

Then  in  heavy  face  type  they  have  this  In  mj  °wn  town  the  two 

significant  line:  ers  of  th«  &me  are  men,  of 

station.  One  is  a  member  of  the  city 

Congratulations  to  our  many  happy  custom-  council  f rom  the  most  populous  ward  in 

:£±&^R2:S:S  ^  city.  The  other  was  until  recently 

hard  all  over  the  country  with  my  numbers  and  the  onl7  JMegro  on  the  board  Ot  seven 

many  of  them  have  warned  their  writers  not  State  commissioners  of  the  poor.  Their 

to  accept  any  more  of  my  numbers.  Keep  your  social  positions  are  unassailable.  A  defi- 

secrets!  No  matter  how  long  you  have  played  nite  notion  J^  grown  up  between  them 

without  success  you  can  get  ahead  with  my  ^    ^       ^  ^     benefactors  of  their 

dope.  My  word  is  my  bond  that  I  will  back  to  i      ii        i                          r         i  •   • 

the  limit.  All  my  customers  are  absolute  win-  Pe°Ple-  The7  have  a  Wa7  of  explaining 

ners.  Rush  $3:00  by  Western  Union  or  Postal  it,  of  making  it  all  seem  plausibly  phil- 

Telegraph  only  and  receive  one  winner  for  the  anthropic.  "Take  the  person  of  small 

following  day.  Notice— Don't  write,  no  letters  means  who  plays  a  penny  or  two  a  day. 

acceded  or  answered.  Perhaps  he  does  not  hit  for  a  week.  He's 

Certainly  they  do  not  mean  to  be  haled  only  a  few  cents  out.  But  there's  always 

into  court  on  charges  of  using  the  mails  the  chance  to  win,  a  chance  worth  tak- 

to  defraud.  They  are  no  dummies.  ing.  And  if  he  wins,  if  he  makes  a  two- 
cent  hit  once  every  two  weeks,  or  even 

VI  once  a  month — well,  figure  it  out  for 

But  what  of  the  people  who  play?  To  yourself." 

what  class  do  they  belong?  We  have  But  with  all  their  explanations,  they 

seen  that  in  many  instances  the  bankers  know  that  such  is  not  the  way  of  the 

are  the  social  and  political  leaders  in  game.  The  chances  are  999  to  one.  The 

their  communities.  At  first  there  was  a  small  player  seldom  hits  more  than 

decided  feeling  among  the  operators  of  once  in  ten  or  eleven  months,  while  the 

the  game  that  their  activities  should  be  average  is  twice  in  68 1  days.  It  is  the 

kept  secret 5  that  it  was  not  just  the  person  who  plays  from  fifty  cents  to 

thing  for  respectable  people  to  engage  two  dollars  a  day  on  a  large  group  of 

in.  But  as  custom  made  them  less  mind-  numbers  who  hits  with  some  frequency  j 

ful  of  public  opinion  they  worked  more  but  even  he  plays  a  losing  game.  One 

in  the  open,  only  careful  not  to  embar-  syndicate  with  a  flair  for  statistics  pre- 

rass  the  police,  who  in  many  instances  sents  the  following  record  (records  of 

are  paid  to  be  deaf,  dumb  and  blind,  the  racket  are  compiled  and  sold  to 

A  peculiar  psychology  eventually  per-  the  bankers)  marked  "Mrs.  Average 

vaded  the  followers  of  the  put-your-  Player."  It  tells  an  interesting  tale.  The 

money-on-the-number  cult.  After  all,  record  is  of  68 1  play  ing  days.  The  aver- 

they  came  to  reason,  it  is  not  really  age  play  per  day  was  twenty-one  cents, 

gambling.  One  does  not  miss  a  penny,  amounting  to  $143.22  for  the  whole 

or  two  pennies,  or  even  a  dime  a  day.  period.  Of  this  amount  $16.60  went 

And  if  it  were  wrong,  if  it  were  a  social  back  to  the  player  in  hits,  one  for  two 


f     PA  fj*: 

PLAYING  THE  NUMBERS     *,  ;  [  ,541 

cents  on  the  366th  day,  one  for  one  cent  gelist,  psychic  adviser  and  seer.  Her 

on  the  4O2nd  day.  In  the  period  the  evangelical  services  are  worth  a  hun- 

player  lost  $126.62.  A  relatively  small  dred  dollars  a  night  to  her;  but  she  also 

amount?     But    wait.    Mrs.    Average  sells  lucky  oil.  A  smear  of  it  costs  a 

Player  is  a  domestic  at  seven  dollars  a  quarter.   She  herself  applies  it.  The 

week,  carfare  paid.  She  has  a  husband  touch  of  her  hand  is  said  to  be  blessed, 

and  two  children  of  pre-school  age.  The  When  she  has  worked  her  audience  into 

husband  has  not  been  in  steady  employ-  a  religious  fervor  she  injects  the  eco- 

ment   for   eighteen   months   and   has  nomic  question.  Through  the  spirit  she 

added  just  $22.71  to  the  family  income  touches  the  pocket.  To  the  uninitiated 

in  that  length  of  time.  They  pay  ten  her  talk  is  so  much  Chinese,  but  to  the 

dollars  a  month  rent  for  two  rooms:  a  devotee  .  .  .  Her  oil  will  grease  the 

sick  benefit  insurance  policy  has  lapsed :  way  to   affluence.     One  by   one   her 

she  is  "unfinancial"  in  her  lodge.  For  listeners  file  by  while  from  a  copper  can 

such  a  person  $126.62  is  quite  a  fortune,  she  dabs  each  with  oil  smelling  heavily 

The  average  male  player's  record  is  of  rose  water.  She  leads  a  prayer.  She 

somewhat  different  in  detail,  but  nearly  announces  a  hymn,  and  the  number  of 

the  same  in  general  outline.  His  income  the  hymn  is  the  number  to  play  the  next 

is  larger,  but  he  also  plunges  deeper.  He  day. 

is  a  bachelor  with  no  one  dependent  When  in  the  spring  of  1930  a  highly 
upon  him  for  support.  Occasionally  he  reputable  Negro  insurance  company 
sends  away  for  a  number  and  plays  as  operating  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
much  as  two  dollars  a  day  on  it  for  a  and  the  Middle  Atlantic  States  went 
week,  by  which  time  his  reckless  courage  into  receivership  people  shook  their 
has  worn  out.  "Mr.  Average  Player"  -  heads  and  blamed  it  on  the  depression, 
wagers  twenty-eight  cents  a  day.  His  One  of  the  district  officials,  however, 
bets  for  68 1  days  amount  to  $190.61.  revealed  this  information:  "Most  of  the 
Of  this  amount  he  receives  back  in  win-  people  we  insure  are  the  every-day 
nings  $46.40.  He  is  an  industrial  la-  wage  earners  who  want  to  protect  them- 
borer  at  $13.50  a  week.  Board  and  selves  in  case  of  illness  and  want  some- 
lodging  cost  seven;  his  laundry  is  done  thing  to  bury  themselves  with.  Their 
by  the  Chinaman;  he  is  "financial"  in  policies  call  for  ten  or  fifteen  cents  a 
the  Elks  and  the  social  club  to  which  he  week,  collected  weekly.  Over  a  period 
belongs;  he  owns  no  insurance;  num-  of  several  months  the  number  of  people 
bers  is  not  his  only  form  of  gambling,  who  allowed  their  insurance  to  lapse 
He  pretends  that  he  does  not  feel  was  tremendous— people  who'd  been  in 
twenty-eight  cents  a  day,  but  he  gets  for  years.  I  did  a  little  investigating  and 
feverishly  excited  as  he  buys  the  eve-  discovered  that  the  money  that  formerly 
ning  paper.  When  he  hits,  he  often  gets  went  for  insurance  was  being  paid  out 
roaring  drunk  and  spends  the  rest  of  his  •  in  numbers.  In  one  town  alone  where  in 
winnings  by  sending  away  for  a  number  1928  we  insured  sixteen  hundred  peo- 
or  by  visiting  Madame  Redfern  who  pie,  by  the  end  of  1930  we  could  not 
"sees"  a  number  for  him  at  a  dollar  a  point  to  one  hundred  paid  up  premi- 
look.  Those  who  play  and  pay  go  to  urns." 

extraordinary  lengths  to  be  bamboshed.  A  school  teacher  protests  at  the  fall- 
Mother  Brown  is  a  practising  evan-  ing  off  in  the  savings  of  her  pupils.  She 


542  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

sets  an  excellent  example.  Her  students  black  bankers,  have  entered  the  field, 
see  her  anxiously  scanning  the  early  They  are  more  ruthless  than  the  Ne- 
edition  of  the  evening  paper.  They  groes.  One  white  syndicate  was  set  up 
watch  her  pore  over  the  little  white  in  Wilmington,  Delaware,  last  summer, 
slips  she  takes  from  her  bag.  They  They  found  the  established  bankers 
know  what  those  slips  mean.  Have  they  paying  600  to  one,  and  they  proposed 
not  seen  the  numbers  writer  making  his  that  the  odds  be  brought  down  to  500 
rounds  at  recess?  And  do  not  their  to  one.  When  the  colored  big  shots  re- 
mothers  have  the  same  kind  of  slips?  fused,  the  whites  employed  strong  arm 
Have  they  not  been  questioned  about  methods.  There  was  sufficient  excite- 
their  dreams  and  about  the  numbers  ment  to  arouse  the  Evening  Journal.  It 
they  have  seen  and  thought  and  per-  carried  editorials  on  the  racket  on 
haps  written  down?  It  is  an  old  August  10  and  n,  thereby  prodding 
belief  that  children  are  more  gifted  the  police  to  action.  Three  petty  arrests 
with  powers  of  divination  than  their  were  made  during  the  week.  The  wise- 
elders,  acres  read  the  editorials  and  watched 
So  the  fever  has  struck  all  classes  and  the  lethargic  activity  of  the  police  with 
conditions  of  men.  The  whites,  a  little  amused  and  cynical  smiles.  The  num- 
jealous  of  the  aggrandizement  of  a  few  bers  game,  they  said,  is  here  to  stay. 


A  Use  for  Human  Interest  Stories 


BY  WILLIAM  G.  MATHER,  JR. 

When  newspapers  give  intimate  details  about  the  latest  head- 
liner  they  are  doing  more  than  pander  to  idle  curiosity 


s  I  write  these  lines,  a  famous  kid 
napping  case  has,  in  the  quaint 
parlance  of  the  newspapers, 
"split  wide  open" — and  the  "human  in 
terest  story"  is  with  us  again. 

How  the  reporters  manage  to  dig  out 
the  intimate  details  of  an  individual's 
life  in  such  great  quantities  and  such 
short  time  is  their  own  secret,  but  a 
constant  source  of  astonishment  to  me. 
Last  night's  paper  carried  a  picture  of 
the  kidnapper's  house,  and  gave  all  the 
particulars  of  its  size  and  furnishings  j 
this  morning's  has  a  picture  of  the  par 
lor,  with  the  man's  bewildered  wife 
sitting  in  an  overstuffed  chair  j  this  af 
ternoon's  shows  her,  baby  on  hip,  stir 
ring  some  kind  of  food  in  a  kettle  on 
the  kitchen  stove.  What  tomorrow's  will 
reveal,  only  the  composing  room  knows. 

In  common  with  most  people  who 
make  a  pretense  of  decent  privacy,  I 
have  usually  been  somewhat  revolted 
by  this  human  interest  type  of  news 
paper  article  and  picture.  Of  what  con 
cern  to  other  people,  I  have  said,  is  it 
that  Daisy  Doe,  charged  with  shooting 
one  husband  too  many,  had  fried  eggs 
for  supper?  Or  that  Gladys  Gorgeous, 
film  star,  is  "that  way"  about  her  cam 
era  man?  And  that  Dick  Daring,  the 
desperado,  has  a  weakness  for  lavender 


pajamas?  Let  them  eat  their  eggs,  love 
their  loves,  and  lie  in  lavender  in  peace, 
so  long  as  they  stay  off  my  front  porch ! 

As  I  looked  at  this  afternoon's  paper 
it  struck  me  as  being  remarkably  nosey 
— photographing  a  woman  in  her  own 
kitchen,  her  own  intimate  quarter  of  the 
family  castle,  not  because  she  was  devel 
oping  a  new  dish  in  response  to  woman's 
eternal  query,  "What  shall  we  have  to 
eat?"  but  just  out  of  ordinary,  very 
plain  curiosity.  Small-town  stuff.  Neigh 
borhood  gossip. 

And  then  I  thought,  why  not?  Is  it 
really  out  of  place  in  a  metropolitan 
newspaper,  after  all? 

Suppose  the  man  and  his  family  had 
lived  in  your  old  home  neighborhood, 
back  in  Grubb's  Corners — a  rural  cross 
roads  hamlet  of  a  church,  a  district 
school,  a  corner  store  and  a  dozen'houses 
straggling  along  the  intersecting  roads? 
You  would  not  have  needed  a  picture 
of  his  wife  and  his  child  and  his  kitch 
en,  for  you  would  have  known  exactly 
what  each  looked  like.  You  would  have 
known  what  kind  of  clothes  they  wore, 
and  known  it  so  well  you  could  have 
made  a  good  guess  as  to  which  suit  he 
had  on  when  arrested.  You  would  have 
known  what  their  favorite  foods  werej 
very  likely  your  own  wife  would  have 


544  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

established  the  custom  of  trading  her  long  generations  been  a  world  of  small, 

buns  for  the  lady's  crullers,  and  the  like,  primary,  intimate,  face-to-face  groups, 

You  would  have  known  where  each  of  with  each  man  knowing  each  detail  of 

the  family  was  born,  his  age,  how  long  his  neighbor's  life,  and  being  so  known 

they  had  lived  in  what  places,  what  they  by  him.  Mankind  is  as  yet  a  stranger  to 

had  intended  to  make  of  themselves,  the  modern  urban  life  with  its  casual, 

what  broken  dreams  they  had,  their  se-  secondary,  one-purpose  contacts.  And  as 

cret  vices  and  their  secret  hopes.  a  stranger,  is  it  not  possible  for  him  to 

The  stuff  the  newspaper  prints  would  become  lonely — lonely  for  the  old  inti- 
have  been  superficial  to  you,  for  you  macy  and  publicity  of  his  and  his  neigh- 
would  have  known  so  much  more  about  bor's  lives,  back  in  Grubb's  Corners? 
them  that  was  so  much  more  intimate.  The  human  interest  article  of  the 
In  a  small  rural  neighborhood,  even  a  newspaper  gives  something  of  that  inti- 
man's  soul  is  not  his  own,  but  common  macy.. In  the  reading  of  it,  we  become 
property.  Door  sills  are  low;  neighbor-  neighbors,  to  a  certain  degree,  of  those 
hood  affairs  run  in  over  them,  personal  famous  and  infamous  ones  who  have 
affairs  run  out.  hitherto  been  but  names  and  faces  to  us. 

The  sociologist  calls  the  neighbor-  By  it  we  peek  into  their  closets  and 

hood  a  "primary"  group ;  its  human  count  their  suits  and  dresses,  as  we  used 

contacts  are  intimate,  direct,  constantly  to  lift  the  corner  of  the  sitting-room 

face-to-face.  Its  controls  are  strong.  If  curtain  to  peek  at  the  neighbors'  Easter 

an  individual  stray  but  a  hairbreadth  array;  we  overhear  their  quarrels,  just 

from  the  beaten  path,  that  straying  as  we  used  to  listen  to  Jed  Simpkins 

is  known  and  commented  upon,  and  argue  with  his  wife;  we  gaze  at  the 

a   thinly-concealed   scorn   brings   him  slain  gun-Moll,  as  we  peered  through 

sharply  back.  No  one  makes  innovations  the  doorway  of  the  undertaker's  at  the 

in  conduct  in  his  home  neighborhood —  luckless  tramp  whom  the  constable  shot 

experiments  with  ethics  and  morals  are  rifling  the  clothing  store  safe.  It  satisfies 

best  merely  sighed  after,  or  else  saved  our  insatiable  desire  to  peek  and  pry, 

for  a  glorious  and  wicked  spree  in  the  and  to  be  peeked  and  pried  at. 
city.  For  we  each  of  us  have  a  desire  to 

For  our  modern  city  is  dubbed  a  "sec-  know  thoroughly  and  to  be  known  thor- 

ondary"  group;  its  human  contacts  are  oughly.  That  is  one  of  the  reasons  for 

casual  and  impersonal.  One  knows  John  marriage;  by  it  we  have  an  interchange 

Smith  as  a  banker,  but  rarely  finds  out,  of  the  little,  intimate  hopes  and  fears 

or  cares  to  find  out,  his  religion  or  his  and  thoughts  and  habits,  become  impor- 

morals.  But  a  part  of  one's  character  is  tant  to  some  one,  and  acquire  some  one 

known  to  each  group  of  friends;  Jekyl-  who  is  important  to  us.  The  newspaper 

and-Hydes  are  common.  Though  there  human  interest  story  may  be  just  such 

are  those  who  would  condemn  if  they  another  mechanism  for  the  satisfaction 

knew,  still  one  can  find  congenial  souls  of  that  human  desire  for  intimate  re- 

for  almost  any  enterprise,   any   new  sponse. 

scheme  of  behavior,  and  the  public  con-         Certain  it  is  that  many  of  them,  writ- 
science  is  weak.  ten  by  the  principals  themselves,  have 

But  the  city  is  of  comparatively  recent  little  reticence.  They  are  obviously  a 

dominance.  The  social  world  has  for  means  of  relief  to  the  tellers,  particu- 


A  USE  FOR  HUMAN  INTEREST  STORIES              545 

larly  the  most  bragging  ones.  Generally  sity  to  our  modern  urban  world.  There 
their  publication  is  followed  by  a  flood  has  never  been  an  enduring  civilization 
of  letters  to  the  writers  or  the  written-  built  upon  secondary  relationships  in  the 
about,  letters  which  praise  or  condemn,  world.  The  neighborhood,  with  its 
offer  advice  or  matrimony,  tell  personal  strong  social  controls,  may  be  a  necessity 
troubles  in  return,  or  ask  for  gifts.  The  if  the  human  animal  is  to  be  properly 
first  individual  has  bared  something  of  trained  and  disciplined  into  safe  society, 
his  secret  to  the  public,  and  the  public,  But  we  can  not  go  back  to  the  real  neigh- 
in  turn,  seeks  to  share  its  own  and  com-  borhood  and  still  keep  our  urban  civili- 
plete  the  cycle  of  intimate  expression  zation.  The  "psychic  neighborhood" 
and  response.  which  this  strange  kind  of  writing 

It  may  well  be  that  the  newspaper,  creates  may  be  as  far  from  Grubb's 
in  its  role  of  neighborhood  gossip,  thus  Corners  as  we  dare  to  go. 
renders  a  distinct  service  to  its  readers.  The  more  we  are  fascinated  by,  and 
Of  course,  we  do  not  all  like  it — con-  yet  repulsed  by,  the  human  interest 
sciously.  Some  of  us  have  come  to  hate  story,  the  more  valuable  it  will  become 
gossip  in  any  form — openly.  But  it  is  as  a  means  of  social  control.  For  in  the 
hard  to  stop  reading  a  real  human  inter-  old  neighborhood  where  humanity  was 
est  story,  just  as  it  is  hard  to  hush  a  reared  some  of  us  conformed  to  the  con- 
gossip  when  she  bears  delightfully  ventions  only  because  we  knew  full  well 
shocking  news.  We  know  it  is  evil,  yet  that  if  we  did  not,  Susie  Pry  would 
we  feel  its  pull.  And  perhaps  the  more  spread  the  tale  of  our  misdeeds  far  and 
sophisticated  of  us  do  wrong  to  condemn  wide.  And  the  threat  of  having  the  cut 
too  loftily  that  which  may  be  an  essential  of  one's  undershirt  discussed  in  a  neat 
part  of  the  social  life  of  our  fellows.  little  box  in  the  Evening  News  may 

After  all,  something  like  the  human  be   having   the   same   salutary   effect 

interest  story  may  be  an  absolute  neces-  today! 


Biographical  New  Dealing      ] 

BY  LOUISE  MAUNSELL  FIELD 

The  crazy  spirit  of  our  times  manifests  itself  rarely  in  so  peculiar 

a  fashion  as  in  the  trend  of  biographies 

IOGRAPHICALLY  as  well  as  politi-  tion,  too  good  to  last,  and  now  we  have 

cally,  we  are  in  the  throes  of  a  the  New  Deal,  whose  aims  and  objects 

New  Deal.  A  New  Deal  which,  are  the  very  opposite  of  the  Belittlers'. 

if  it  has  thus  far  failed  to  provide  any  of  Instead  of  showing  us  how  many  of  the 

us  with  a  really  first-class  hand,  has  at  famous  were  really  infamous,  the  dev- 

least  produced  a  tolerable  amount  of  otees  of  the  BRA  are  busily  engaged 

excitement.  The  political  New  Deal,  of  in  telling  us  how  many  of  those  we  have 

course,  has  its  special  symbol  in  the  fondly  looked  upon  as  reprehensible,  if 

NRA$    the  biographical   one   has  its  not  positively  infamous,  are  in  truth 

BRA,  or  Biographical  Rehabilitation  worthy  of  respect,  and  perhaps  even  of 

Association.  admiration. 

Not  so  very  long  ago,  biography  was  The  New  Deal  in  biography,  like  the 
almost  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  New  Deal  in  politics,  is  not  entirely 
Belittlers,  perhaps  more  generally  novel  in  all  its  aspects.  For  instance, 
known  as  the  Debunkers,  whose  great  some  years  have  passed  since  unkind 
aim  it  was  to  drag  down  all  our  one-time  historians  compelled  us  to  give  up  our 
heroes  and  heroines  to  a  level  below  that  long-cherished  vision  of  Lucrezia  Bor- 
of  ordinary  humanity,  by  being  extraor-  gia  as  a  beautiful  but  exceedingly  im- 
dinarily  perspicacious  regarding  their  proper  young  woman  with  an  interest- 
faults,  and  more  than  a  little  blind  re-  ing  and  dramatic  habit  of  administering 
garding  their  virtues.  Not  only  were  poison  to  any  one  who  happened  to  dis- 
the  feet  of  clay  upon  which  certain  of  please  her;  poison,  moreover,  of  a  pe- 
our  former  idols  undeniably  rested  re-  culiarly  subtle  kind  which  proved  a 
vealed  and  analyzed  with  savage  glee,  never-failing  help  and  comfort  to  writ- 
but  attention  was  concentrated  upon  ers  of  murder  stories.  It  was  a  sad  day 
them  to  an  extent  which  caused  many  for  all  of  us  when  we  were  compelled 
to  forget  or  at  least  ignore  the  fact  that  to  relinquish  this  fascinatingly  oppro- 
while  the  idols'  feet  might  be  made  of  brious  figure,  and  accept  in  its  stead  a 
clay,  their  heads  were  quite  certainly  rather  dull  but  very  respectable  person 
compounded  of  a  different  substance,  possessed  of  numerous  domestic  virtues, 
This  heyday  of  the  Belittlers  was  fol-  who  may,  for  all  we  know,  have  been 
lowed  by  a  very  brief  period  of  modera-  addicted  to  dosing  those  about  her  with 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NEW  DEALING  547 

the  Fifteenth  Century  equivalent  of  tive  provocation  has  vanished,  and  in 

ipecac  or  castor  oil,  but  never,  never  in-  his  place  we  have  a  courageous,  sorrow- 

dulged  in  the  use  of  anything  more  ful,  loyal  prince,  one  of  whose  shoul- 

lethal.  Nor  can  her  brother  Cesare  be  ders  was  perhaps  a  little  higher  than  the 

any  more  regarded  as  the  complete  other,  but  so  very  little  that  we  can't 

fiend  whose  nefarious  doings  were  so  even  be  sure  which  one  it  was.  Sadly 

entertainingly  drastic.  But  the  rehabili-  we  gaze  at  this  substitute  for  our  lost 

tating  of  the  Borgias  is  only  one  instance  Mephistopheles,  feeling  ourselves  most 

out  of  many  in  that  now  concerted  effort  cruelly  bereft, 
to  bereave  us  of  horrible  examples. 

Consider  that  recent  and  quite  fasci 
nating  biography  by  Philip  Lindsay,  Of  course,  the  BRA  is  not  always 
which  he  calls  The  Tragic  King.  Here  quite  so  emphatic  in  its  methods,  or  so 
we  meet  a  truly  royal  gentleman,  a  extreme.  When  it  busies  itself  with  any 
brave  soldier,  a  devoted  husband,  a  fond  of  the  members  of  the  very  considerable 
father,  a  loyal  brother,  an  excellent  "Forgotten  Man"  group,  it  is  not  so 
uncle,  a  friend  completely  trustworthy  difficult  to  endure  its  re-presentations 
in  an  age  of  almost  universal  treachery  with  equanimity.  Many  of  us,  and  more 
— in  short,  the  complete  antithesis  of  especially  those  who,  like  myself, 
that  Richard  III  whom  we  have  always  chance  to  be  adherents  of  Alexandra 
considered  such  a  satisfactorily  unmiti-  Dumas  fere,  more  or  less  vaguely  asso- 
gated  villain.  Richard,  Mr.  Lindsay  ciate  Mesmer  with  Cagliostro,  and 
assures  us,  and  marshals  no  small  have  a  nebulous  impression  of  weird 
amount  of  evidence  to  uphold  his  con-  and  secret  rites,  of  wonder-working 
tention,  didn't  murder  his  nephews  j  hands  and  abnormal  sleep  during 
King  Henry  VI  might  still  be  living  which  dreadful  things  might  per- 
had  he  depended  on  Richard  to  termi-  chance  be  done  to  the  hapless  slumberer. 
nate  his  unfortunate  existence,  while  Nevertheless,  we  are  able  to  bear  with 
far  from  making  "quick  conveyance"  comparative  fortitude  Margaret  Gold- 
with  his  gentle  wife  Anne,  as  Shake-  smith's  assurance  that  the  real  Franz 
speare  has  long  induced  us  to  believe  Anton  Mesmer  was  neither  necro- 
he  did,  the  last  Plantagenet  was  a  lov-  mancer  nor  charlatan,  but  an  entirely 
ing,  and  even  a  faithful  husband!  It  is  honest  man,  a  qualified  physician  whose 
true  that  Mr.  Lindsay  does  suggest  that  theories  "bridged  the  gap  between  an- 
many  of  the  crimes  wrongly  attributed  cient  'superstitions  and  modern  psycho- 
to  Richard  were  actually  committed  by  therapy,"  a  dignified,  much  persecuted 
Henry  VII,  but  that  mean-spirited  and  individual,  somewhat  chilly  as  to  tern- 
stingy  Tudor  is  but  a  poor  substitute  perament,  but  in  the  days  of  his  pros- 
for  the  cheerily  and  glamorously  perity  a  lover  of  music  and  a  friend  of 
wicked  Richard.  Where  indeed  shall  Leopold  Mozart,  from  whose  young 
we  ever  find  another  whom  we  can  de-  son  Wolfgang  he  ordered  that  little 
test  so  heartily,  and  so  enthusiastically!  opera,  Bastien  und  Bastienne,  which 
The  Richard  Crookback  of  romance  was  the  first  of  Mozart's  operas  to  be 
and  drama  and  poetry,  the  clever,  produced.  Since  he  was  an  innovator, 
smooth-tongued  demon  who  was  ready  Mesmer  was  of  course  unpopular  with 
to  commit  murder  on  the  most  diminu-  the  members  of  his  own  profession,  who 


548  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

for  the  most  part  denounced  his  practice  cient  Khorassan  of  which  he  writes  so 

and  repudiated  his  theories.  Neverthe-  interestingly,  and  that  he  uses  it  for  the 

less,  some  there  were  who  supported  background  of  a  very  entertaining  ro- 

and  developed  his  ideas.  He  became,  or  mance,  made  doubly  effective  by  the 

so  our  author  claims,  the  father  of  sinister  presence  of  Hassan  ibn  Sabah, 

psychoanalysis  on  the  one  hand  and  of  chief  of  the  Assassins,  whose  mountain 

Christian  Science  on  the  other.  Not  stronghold  of  Alamut  Omar  is  quite 

often  does  a  more  or  less  Forgotten  plausibly  supposed  to  visit.  But  as  far 

Man  produce  such  startling  claims  to  as  his  account  of  Omar  goes,  you  can,  in 

remembrance!    But   then,   as   Branch  the  familiar  phrase,  believe  it  or  not. 

Cabell  so  amusingly  points  out  in  his  If  you  like  to  think  of  the  poet  as  exist- 

letters  to  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  long  ing  in  a  perpetual  state  of  intoxication, 

since  dead,  a  very  great  many  people  you  may,  and  if  you  prefer  to  believe 

are  remembered  for  reasons  which  have  that  he  used  wine  as  a  symbol,  you  can 

little  to  do  with  the  facts  of  their  lives,  do  so,  or  you  may  accept  Mr.  Lamb's 

or  with  the  merits  and  demerits  actually  intermediate  version,  and  agree  with 

theirs.  Tutankhamen  was  one  of  the  him  that  Omar  indulged  to  excess  only 

least  important  of  Egypt's  Pharaohs,  on  certain  occasions  and  under  extreme 

but  many  know  of  him  who  have  never  provocation.  The  only  thing  you  need 

even  heard  of  Amenemhat  I,  or  of  really  be  afraid  of  is  that  some  day, 

Thutmose  III,  while  Ananias's  wide-  somewhere,  some  inconsiderate  person 

spread  reputation  for  lying  rests  upon  a  will  discover  that  Omar  was  in  fact  a 

foundation  so  slight  that  most  of  us  plagiarist  who  cribbed  all  his  famous 

could  produce  a  far  more  solid  one  with-  Rubaiyat  from  some  entirely  forgotten 

out  half  trying.  and  unappealing  predecessor. 

Yet  it  is  something  of  a  relief  to  real 
ize  that  there  are  still  some  personages 

of  whose  histories  so  little  is  known  Anne  of  England,  on  the  contrary, 
that  we  can  feel  cheerfully  confident  is  a  well-documented  person,  one  of 
that  whatever  blame  or  praise  they  may  those  royalties  you  have  been  used 
receive  is  due  principally  to  the  author's  pleasantly  to  despise.  A  fat,  lethargic, 
preferences,  or  to  the  state  of  his  diges-  underdone  dumpling  of  a  woman,  a 
tion.  Notable  among  these  is  our  old  mere  lump  of  dough  kneaded  into  shape 
friend  Omar  Khayyam.  He  was  an  first  by  the  termagant  Duchess  of  Marl- 
astronomer  j  he  lived  during  the  reign  of  borough  and  later  by  the  more  gentle 
the  Sultan  Melikshah,  his  grave  may  hands  of  Mrs.  Masham,  she  seemed 
still  be  seen  at  Nasapur,  and  he  wrote  scarcely  ever  to  have  made  any  definite 
quatrains  that  are  still  famous,  espe-  exertion  save  on  the  notable  occasion 
cially  in  the  Western  world.  Beyond  when  she  exchanged  one  manipulator 
these  few  facts,  so  little  is  really  known  for  another.  But  now  comes  M.  R. 
about  him  that  we  can  feel  entirely  free  Hopkinson,  bringing  chapter  and  verse 
to  accept  or  to  reject  the  picture  given  to  justify  her  claim  that  Anne  was  in 
of  him  in  that  fictionized  biography  by  very  truth  a  "Great  Queen,"  and  a  re- 
Harold  Lamb  which  bears  his  name,  markable  woman.  If  the  BRA  is  main- 
We  must  admit,  of  course,  that  Mr.  tained,  then  we  must,  it  seems,  part  not 
Lamb  is  well  acquainted  with  the  an-  only  with  our  detestations,  but  with 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NEW  DEALING                       549 

those  scorns  which  enabled  us  to  feel  so  and  to  some  extent  of  the  opprobrium 
pleasantly  superior.  Living  people,  as  which  still  envelops  his  name,  is  an 
we  all  know,  have  an  exasperating  habit  idea  which  will  probably  prove  rather 
of  proving  themselves  to  be  neither  as  startling  to  the  majority  of  readers,  in 
good  nor  as  bad,  neither  as  admirable  whose  eyes  he  has  always  appeared  as 
nor  as  contemptible,  as  we  have  been  a  peculiarly  revolting  monster.  Yet  in 
inclined  to  think  them.  But  it  is  trying  Mr.  Gorer's  view,  it  was  de  Sade  him- 
indeed  not  to  be  able  to  maintain  im-  self  who  justifiably  brought  a  "black 
mutable  judgments  concerning  those  indictment"  against  society,  an  indict- 
long  dead!  ment  which  were  he  living  today  he 
But  if  Mrs.  Hopkinson's  Anne  of  might  well  repeat.  It  is  true,  however, 
England  robs  us  of  our  complacent  that  Mr.  Gorer's  own  beliefs  are  of  a 
contempt  for  the  last  Stuart  sovereign  kind  which  will  scarcely  find  favor 
as  pitilessly  as  Philip  Lindsay's  Tragic  among  those  who  do  not  regard  private 
King  robs  us  of  our  delectably  gruesome  property  as  an  unmitigated  evil,  or  con- 
idea  of  the  last  Plantagenet,  Geoffrey  sider  poverty  as  "a  crime  committed  by 
Gorer's  Marquis  de  Sade  deprives  us  the  rich  against  the  poor." 
of  a  monster  of  almost  legendary  hor 
ror,  one  of  the  few  fit  to  stand  beside  ^ 
such  repulsive  symbols  of  psychic  ills  But  while  biographers  are  demon- 
as  Caligula  or  Giles  de  Retz.  Has  not  strating  their  whole-hearted  support  of 
the  Marquis  given  his  name  to  a  special  the  New  Deal  and  the  BRA  by  thus 
type  of  sexual  aberration,  are  not  his  rehabilitating  everybody  in  sight,  from 
writings  so  obscene  as  to  be  for  the  most  domestic  Anne  to  the  distinctly  far  from 
part  unprintable?  Yet  he  was  in  fact,  or  strait-laced  Marquis  de  Sade,  they  are 
so  Mr.  Gorer  asserts,  a  "passionate  not  its  only  supporters.  Some  notabili- 
idealist,"  who  was  "terribly  aware"  of  ties  of  the  present  day  have  thought  it 
the  misery  and  evil  in  the  world  around  wise  to  take  due  precautions  against  a 
him  and  objected  to  it  strongly,  a  man  possible  return  of  the  Belittling  era  by 
of  charm,  courage  and  extreme  sensi-  putting  on  record  their  impressions  of 
bility,  a  daring  thinker,  whose  ideas  are  themselves  through  the  simple  expedi- 
still  too  novel  and  revolutionary  to  suit  ent  of  writing  their  own  biographies, 
most  people.  Which,  to  judge  from  the  Apart  from  the  minor  fact  that  they 
specimens  quoted,  one  can  only  hope  have  all  been  the  subiects  of  more  or 
they  may  remain.  For  twenty-seven  less  gossip,  H.  G.  Wells,  Marie,  the 
years  de  Sade  was  imprisoned,  much  of  Dowager  Queen  of  Rumania,  and 
the  time  through  the  enmity  of  his  Frieda  Lawrence  could  not  be  accurately 
mother-in-law,  his  quarrel  with  whom  regarded  as  having  a  very  great  deal 
originated  in  the  fact  that  after  his  fam-  in  common,  yet  each  and  every  one  of 
ily  and  hers  had  arranged  that  he  should  them  has  recently  utilized  this  simple, 
marry  one  of  her  daughters  he  fell  vio-  self-guarding  expedient.  Don't  they, 
lently  in  love  with  another,  who  on  her  after  all,  know  a  great  deal  more  about 
part  fell  no  less  violently  in  love  with  their  own  virtues  than  any  one  else  pos- 
him.  That  political  pamphlets  and  an  sibly  could?  And  isn't  it  wise  of  them  to 
enraged  mother-in-law  should  have  forestall  more  drastic  criticism  by  ad- 
been  the  main  causes  of  his  misfortunes,  mitting  the  possibility  that  they  may 


550  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

conceivably  have  certain  faults,  and  with  his  Socialistic  proclivities  and 
even  failings?  Who  save  Marie,  Queen  Utopian  schemes?  He  admits  the  fact. 
of  Roumania,  herself  could  be  so  com-  And  not  only  admits  it  but  emphasizes 
pletely  positive  that  anything  and  it  by  declaring  that  his  mother's  weari- 
everything  said  in  her  dispraise  was  somely  fervent  admiration  for  the 
plain  calumny,  since  nothing  she  did  "dear  Queen"  probably  had  much  to 
was  the  result  of  anything  worse  than  do  with  his  anti-royalist  and  anti-aristo- 
high  spirits  or  perhaps  shyness?  She  crat  complex,  while  his  early  envy  of 
can  tell  us  with  confidence:  "Pity  lies  those  fortunate  youths  who  were  able 
at  the  very  root  of  my  'ego',"  assure  us  to  go  to  college  has  never  been  com- 
of  that  "staunch,  fearless  fidelity  pe-  pletely  eradicated  from  his  system.  "I 
culiar  to  my  nature,"  and  let  us  know '  am  a  typical  Cockney,  without  either 
without  any  foolish  quibbling  that:  "I  reverence  or  sincere  conviction  of  in- 
was  always  of  perfect  good  faith,  genu-  feriority  to  any  fellow-creature,"  he 
inely  desirous  of  making  others  happy,  declares.  Have  his  marriages,  his  di- 
of  spreading  nothing  but  good  will  vorce  and  incidental  affairs  been  sub- 
around  me.  But  I  was  seldom  met  with  jects  for  gossip?  He  retaliates  by  re- 
the  same  spirit  of  broad,  generous  un-  lating  their  histories  fully  and  freely, 
derstanding."  After  that,  what  could  thereby  cutting  away  the  ground  from 
any  biographer  have  to  say?  It  is  all  under  the  feet  of  those  who  love  to 
most  appealing,  the  picture  of  a  pretty,  frequent  backstairs  and  to  haunt  key- 
fair-haired,  sensitive  "little  princess"  holes. 

coming  in  trustful  innocence  to  a  strange  Combined  with  his  sketch  of  himself 
land,  there  to  be  tyrannized  over,  spied  and  his  own  doings  is  a  picture  of  the 
upon  and  maligned,  but  winning  most  world  he  lived  in,  a  world  about  the 
if  not  all  hearts  at  the  last,  seeing  all  same  in  time,  but  otherwise  altogether 
eyes  turn  to  her  as  to  "my  people's  .  .  .  different  from  that  glittering  one  of 
supremest  hope."  Incidentally,  she  has  which  Queen  Marie  tells  us.  For  a  per- 
provided  some  entertaining  and  highly  petual,  unsuccessful  struggle  against 
amusing  sketches  of  other  royal  and  dirt  and  bugs  was  a  part  of  his  early 
imperial  personages,  not  all  of  whom  surroundings,  while  his  early  play- 
were  by  any  means  as  lovable  or  as  ground  was  a  dingy  bit  of  backyard.  His 
noble-hearted  as  herself,  besides  many  mother  was  an  upper  servant,  his  father 
vivid  descriptions  of  events  and  cere-  a  gardener  who  became  a  shopkeeper, 
monies  of  which  she  was  an  eye-witness,  his  own  "first  start  in  life"  was  as  as- 
or  in  which  she  was  a  beautifully  sistant  to  a  draper.  Nor  does  he  claim 
gowned  and  much  admired  participant,  for  himself  any  intellectual  preemi- 
Queen  Marie  evidently  has  great  nence.  "My  brain,"  he  tells  us,  "is  not 
faith  in  the  power  of  the  written  word  a  particularly  good  one."  In  its  appre- 
to  carry  conviction;  Mr.  H.  G.  Wells  hension  of  things,  as  in  his  general  be- 
is  more  skeptical,  and  more  subtle.  His  havior,  "the  outline  is  better  than  the 
chosen  method  for  an  Experiment  In  substance."  All  that  he  does  claim  for 
AutobiograDhy  is  the  use  of  a  disarming  himself,  the  work  "for  which  I  take 
frankness.  Have  unkind  persons  sug-  myself  seriously  enough  to  be  self- 
gested  that  the  humbleness  of  his  own  scrutinizing  and  autobiographical,"  is 
origin  has  had  more  than  a  little  to  do  what  he  calls  "the  crystallization  of 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NEW  DEALING  551 

ideas,"  the  giving  of  a  tangible,  distinct  impression  being  that  whatever  else 
form  to  conceptions  previously  some-  Lawrence  did  or  did  not  do,  whether 
what  nebulous.  And  that  he  has  he  was  a  genuis  or  only  a  writer  of  un 
achieved  this  few  people  can  honestly  usual  talent,  he  was  most  certainly  de- 
deny.  Whether  or  not  one  agrees  with  structive  to  any  sense  of  balance  or  of 
his  conclusions,  the  fact  remains  that  humor  ever  possessed  by  any  of  his  as- 
many  of  the  thoughts  and  ideas  more  sociates.  Consider,  for  instance,  what 
or  less  in  the  air  during  his  writing  life  his  wife  tells  us  of  Mabel  Dodge:  "One 
have  found,  often  first  found,  expres-  day  Mabel  came  over  and  told  me  she 
sion  in  his  work.  As  his  own  mind  has  didn't  think  I  was  the  right  woman  for 
developed  under  stress  of  experience  Lawrence,  and  other  things  equally  up- 
these  ideas  have  necessarily  altered  to  setting."  Comment  is  superfluous.  "We 
some  extent,  but  the  main  outlines  of  couldn't  get  on  somehow,"  Mrs.  Law- 
a  "creative  world  community,"  or  as  rence  naively  remarks  a  little  later,  a 
he  later  called  it,  a  "Great  State,"  were  propos  of  herself  and  Mabel.  But 
early  shaped,  and  have  remained  practi-  neither  was  Lawrence  always  easy  to 
cally  unchanged.  His  influence  upon  the  get  on  with,  his  wife  telling  us  of  one 
general  thought  of  his  time  has  been  occasion  when  he  "flung  half  a  glass  of 
to  a  great  extent  of  this  crystallizing  red  wine  in  my  face,"  and  of  how  he 
type — sometimes  even  helping  to  crys-  sometimes  "hit  out  at  me,"  when  ex- 
tallize  ideas  quite  opposed  to  his.  But  asperated.  Perhaps  there  were  moments 
even  though  subsequent  biographers  when  the  realization  that  she  had  left 
should  deny  the  BRA  and,  resurrecting  husband  and  children,  position  and 
the  Belittlers'  School,  refuse  to  allow  home  for  his  sake  got  on  his  nerves.  But 
him  any  other  virtue,  they  will  find  there  is  one  letter  among  many  written 
themselves  obliged  to  admit  that  in  to  the  mother-in-law,  of  whom  he  seems 
this  book  he  has  endeavored  to  tell  the  to  have  been  remarkably  fond,  which  is 
truth  about  himself  as  he  saw  it.  Man  more  illuminating  than  all  the  rest  put 
can  do  no  more.  together,  the  letter  in  which  he  ex- 
Nor  woman  either.  No  less  frankly,  presses  his  desire  for  strength  rather 
though  with  a  method  not  quite  so  di-  than  for  peace  or  for  the  love  of  which 
rect,  Frieda  Lawrence,  the  German  he  seems  to  have  been  more  than  a  little 
woman  who  eloped  with  D.  H.  Law-  weary.  And  no  wonder,  considering  the 
rence,  married  him  after  her  divorce,  way  women  fought  over  him.  Poor  con- 
and  was  part  of  his  life  until  his  death,  sumptive  Lawrence,  a  bone  of  conten- 
eighteen  years  later,  contrives,  if  not  tion  in  death  as  he  was  in  life!  Will  he 
to  forestall,  at  least  to  counteract  criti-  eventually  become  a  "Forgotten  Man," 
cism  of  herself  by  writing  her  memories  or  will  a  legend  form  about  him,  a  leg- 
of  her  husband  under  the  rather  "pre-  end  perhaps  as  baseless  as  any  of  those 
cious"  title,  Not  7,  But  The  Wind.  ...  of  which  Mr.  Cabell  has  so  amusingly 
Since  the  death  of  that  much  abused  written? 

and  much  praised  author,  most  of  those  For  there  will  surely  be  other,  many 
who  knew  him  seem  to  have  rushed  to  other  New  Deals  long  after  this  one 
„  print  their  reminiscences  j  the  general  has  vanished  into  a  more  or  less  respect- 
result  has  been  to  make  one  firm  im-  able  oblivion,  and  with  it  all  its  numer- 
pression  on  the  mind  of  the  reader,  this  ous  alphabetical  associates.  But  though 


552  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

New  Deals  may  become  antiquated,  from  us,  and  with  them  all  those  ac- 
human  nature  has  an  ineradicable  long-  companying  thrills  and  excitement 
ing  for  black  and  white,  the  definitely  which  have  made  biography  almost  as 
admirable,  or  the  no  less  definitely  popular  as  the  detective  story, 
despicable.  We  all  enjoy  contemplating  The  only  thing  we  can  do  is  cherish 
monsters  who,  whatever  destruction  a  faint  hope  that  neither  the  Rehabilita- 
they  may  have  wrought  in  their  own  tors  nor  the  self-justifiers  will  triumph 
time,  can't  possibly  hurt  us,  from  utterly,  but  that  a  few  of  the  gruesome 
ichthyosauri  to  Jack  the  Ripper.  These  ogres  of  history  may  be  left  to  supply 
simple  joys  the  present  school  of  Re-  the  needs  of  those  generations  of  read- 
habilitating  Biographers  would  take  ers  yet  to  be  born. 


Year's  End 

BY  FRANCES  FROST 

TET  the  year  perish, 
JL/  the  dark  plum-colored  vine 
bend  bewildered  under  starry  ice. 
It  was  never  mine. 

Let  the  roots  clutching 

squared  fields,  clench  tighter,  freeze 

down  to  their  final  reaching  frightened  tips. 

I  have  nothing  to  do  with  these, 

save  to  await  their  sweet  reluctant  thawing 
toward  sap  and  fragile  leaf. 
I  have  nothing  to  do  with  death; 
love  is  mine,  not  grief. 

Winter,  the  frozen 

stinging  and  ruthless  storm, 

may  bitter  the  brain  as  it  stiffens  the  rusty  earth, 

yet  the  knowing  heart  keeps  warm. 

Let  the  mind  shrivel 

as  deer-grass-stalk,  as  vine ; 

let  the  year  perish  in  canting  crystal  flakes — 

it  was  never  mine. 


The  AAA  Succeeds — in  Helping 
Foreign  Farmers 

BY  GERHARD  HIRSCHFELD 

The  Government's  restriction  programme  has  raised  prices  and 
opened  world  markets  for  other  than  American  products 


THE  first  days  of  October, 
American  farmers  had  received 
more  than  $350,000,000  in 
rental  and  benefit  payments.  They  had 
benefited  to  the  tune  of  more  than 
$100,000,000  from  government  pur 
chases  of  hogs  and  cattle,  of  butter  and 
cheese,  in  export  operations  in  wheat 
and  in  conservation  of  seed.  Nor  must 
one  forget  the  liberal  lending  policy  of 
the  Government  which,  in  the  fifteen 
months  ending  September  i,  led  to 
more  than  a  million  loans  valued  at 
nearly  two  billion  dollars.  In  addition, 
there  are  the  relief  measures  such  as 
the  purchasing  of  over  a  million  acres 
of  submarginal  land  to  be  turned  into 
parks,  forests  and  game  preserves  j  also 
the  $75,000,000  forest  shelter  belt  a 
hundred  miles  wide  and  extending 
through  the  heart  of  this  year's  drought 
area  from  Canada  to  Texas.  All  things 
considered,  it  may  not  be  too  much  (if, 
indeed,  enough)  to  estimate  the  total 
outlay  by  the  government  for  the 
American  farmer  at  about  three  billion 
dollars. 

It  was  the  original  purpose  of  the 
Agricultural   Adjustment   Act,   under  . 


whose  patronage  these  measures  were 
initiated,  to  raise  the  price  of  farm 
products  by  restricting  production  5  to 
refinance  indebtedness,  to  provide 
working  capital  and  to  liquidate  fore 
closed  farm  property — to  put  the 
"other  half"  of  American  business  on  a 
sounder  basis  than  it  has  had  during  the 
last  decade  or  so.  In  short,  the  AAA 
proposed  a  New  Deal  for  the  farmer. 
And  a  New  Deal  it  has  been.  Com 
pare,  if  you  will,  a  total  outlay  of  some 
thing  like  three  billion  dollars  for 
about  six  million  farmers,  or  an  aver 
age  of  $500  per  farmer,  with  the  fact 
that  in  the  pre-depression  years  fully 
one-half  of  the  nation's  farms  produced 
less  than  $1,000  worth  of  products 
apiece.  Take  the  mortgage  loans,  ninety 
per  cent  of  which  have  been  used  to  re 
finance  existing  indebtedness.  They 
have  reduced  the  farmer's  interest 
charges  by  about  twenty  per  cent. 
(Farm  real  estate  taxes  per  acre  have 
decreased  thirteen  per  cent  on  the  aver 
age  since  1932  in  sixteen  States.)  About 
forty  million  acres  of  land  are  being 
removed  from  production  of  cotton, 
wheat,  tobacco  and  corn.  Last  year 


554  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

alone  the  farmer's  position  in  the  na-  Nor  is  the  lending  of  nearly  two  bil- 
"  tional  economy  was  improved  by  a  lion  dollars'  worth  of  cash,  of  credit,  of 
forty-five  per  cent  increase  in  farm  mortgages  to  be  considered  anything 
prices,  as  compared  with  only  half  that  but  an  advance  to  be  repaid  in  due  time, 
advance  in  the  prices  of  department  The  Emergency  Farm  Mortgage  Act 
store  goods,  and  this  does  not  include  of  last  year  authorized  the  Federal 
the  various  subsidies  and  relief  meas-  Land  Banks  for  two  years  to  issue  two 
ures.  billion  dollars'  worth  of  four  per  cent 
The  success  of  the  AAA  effort  to  farm  loan  bonds  with  interest  guaran- 
raise  prices  may  be  seen  from  the  sim-  teed  by  the  government  to  refinance 
pie  but  convincing  fact  that  the  market  farm  mortgages  at  interest  not  to  ex- 
value  of  the  four  basic  commodities,  ceed  five  per  cent, 
wheat,  corn,  hogs  and  cotton,  is  at  pres-  This  repayment  may  be  a  long  time 
ent  101  per  cent  higher  than  it  was  two  off.  After  all,  the  real  aim  behind  these 
years  ago:  large  government  subsidies  was  not  to 

Hogs  67%  higher  than  2  years  ago  enable  the  farmer  to  Pa7  ^is'debt  to 
Corn  172%  higher  than  2  years  ago  tne  government  but  to  increase,  or 
Wheat  92%  higher  than  2  years  ago  rather  restore,  his  purchasing  power, 
Cotton  73  %  higher  than  2  years  ago  for  the  good  of  the  country,  for  the  gain 
By  restricting  production  and  by  a  rigid  of  industry  and  to  the  advantage  of  the 
control  of  supply,  income  has  been  urban  population  of  the  United  States, 
raised  to  a  level  where  it  is  estimated  Not  only  is  there  little  talk  about  re- 
that,  for  1934,  it  will  exceed  that  of  paying  the  two  billions  advanced  by 
1933  by  about  twenty  per  cent,  in  spite  various  government  agencies,  but  in 
of  the  drought.  And  while  it  still  is  a  far  addition  to  these  loans  about  400,000 
cry  from  the  more  than  ten  billion  dol-  borrowers  from  Federal  Land  Banks 
lar  income  of  1929,  at  least  it  can  be  who  had  loans  outstanding  in  June, 
said  that  the  trend  is  upward.  So  much,  I933>  have  obtained  reductions  in  in- 
then,  for  the  gain  of  the  farmer.  The  terest  and  postponement  of  principal 
question  arises:  what  has  it  cost  the  gov-  payments  for  the  next  few  years.  In 
ernment  to  produce  these  results  ?  other  words,  the  loans  are  a  sort  of  draft 

upon    future    prosperity,    comparable 
to  relief  or  public  works  expenditures; 

To  be  sure,  agricultural  recovery  is  in  this  sense,  they  may — or  may  not — 

not  supposed  to  cost  the  government  be  "self-liquidating." 

anything  at  all.  The  benefit  and  rental  The  fact  remains  that  the  govern- 

payments  in  acreage  restriction  are  to  ment  has  actually  spent  since   May, 

come   from   the   yield   of   processing  1933,  approximately  three  billion  dol- 

taxes.  In  fact,  by  1936,  when  all  pro-  lars  for  the  benefit  of  the  farmer.  Of 

duction  control  and  surplus  removal  this,  about  half  a  billion  dollars  has 

activities  are  completed,  it  is  expected  come  from  processing  taxes  while  the 

that  revenues  from  processing  taxes  will  remaining  two  and  a  half  billions  have 

exceed  expenditures  by  more  than  four  been  produced  by  Federal  taxes.  While 

million  dollars.  The  farmer's  bonus  has  this  is  clear  enough  as  far  as  the  govern- 

been    designed    as    a    self-liquidating  ment  is  concerned,  it  does  not  explain 

scheme.  who  actually  paid  for  the  privilege. 


THE  AAA  SUCCEEDS                                 555 

One  must  not  forget  that  in  the  lavish  some  form  or  other  on  the  debit  side  of 
spending  of  the  last  eighteen  months  the  ledger,  that  is,  the  non-agricultural 
the  government  is  not  the  payer  but  part  of  the  country, 
rather  the  trustee  through  whom  pay-  However,  it  is  difficult  even  to  es- 
ments  are  arranged.  The  people  pay.  timate  the  cost  of  the  agricultural  con- 
Consequently,  our  question  should  cessions  to  the  rest  of  the  country  be- 
read:  what  does  it — and  has  it — cost  the  cause  the  sources  from  which  they  are 
people  to  produce  the  present  degree  paid  are  so  complex  and  manifold  and 
of  agricultural  recovery?  Obviously,  widely  scattered.  One  can  only  take  the 
three  factors  are  involved:  first,  the  aggregate  increase  in  the  cost  of  food 
processing  tax  imposed  upon  the  vari-  which,  since  the  Roosevelt  Administra- 
ous  commodities  for  whose  restricted  tion  took  command,  amounts  to  more 
production  the  farmer  is  paid  the  bonus,  than  ten  per  cent.  The  total  annual  con- 
Naturally,  it  is  not  being  borne  in  the  sumption  of  foods  is  approximately 
last  analysis  by  anybody  but  the  pub-  90,000,000  tons,  for  which  the  public 
lie  -,  hence,  it  should  show  (and  has  pays  about  eighteen  billion  dollars.  Con- 
shown)  in  increased  food  prices.  Sec-  sequently,  the  public  is  now  paying 
ondly,  the  deficit  caused  in  the  Fed-  nearly  two  billion  dollars  more  for 
eral  budget  by  those  expenditures  not  food  than  it  did  at  the  time  of  last  year's 
covered  by  the  processing  tax,  that  is,  banking  holiday.  This  increase  in  the 
two  and  a  half  billion  dollars.  This  defi-  cost  of  food  is  undoubtedly  to  a  large, 
cit  is  and  will  be  reflected  in  increased  measure  due  to  the  production  restric- 
taxes,  which  make  for  higher  prices  but  tion  programme  of  the  AAA,  although 
also  for  reduced  income.  Thirdly,  allowances  must  be  made  for  a  variety 
higher  prices  caused  by  restricted  pro-  of  factors,  such  as  the  higher  purchas- 
duction  of  farm  commodities.  All  three  ing  power  of  the  farmer,  as  well  as  of 
factors  are  bound  to  step  up  the  cost  of  food  and  other  industries,  also  for  the 
living.-  stimulus  brought  upon  the  entire  na- 
This  is  as  it  should  be.  It  is  the  char-  tional  economy  by  higher  prices  of 
acteristic  of  any  national  economy,  and  farm  products. 

particularly  of  one  so  close  to  self-suffi-  On  the  other  hand,  the '  extent  to 

ciency  as  that  of  the  United  States,  that  which  the  increased  cost  of  food  is  miti- 

increase  in  the  cost  of  one  part  must  gated  by  these'  factors  is  more  than  off- 

necessarily  result  in  loss  to  the  other,  set  by  higher  taxes  to  cover  the  deficit 

A  predominant  industrial  development  of  the  government,  which  has  in  no 

as  we  have  seen  it  in  the  two  decades  pre-  small  degree  been  caused  by  agricul- 

ceding  the  1929  collapse  will  work  out  tural  subsidies.  For  the  past  fiscal  year, 

to  the  disadvantage  of  its  agricultural  tax  collections  showed  a  gain  of  more 

counterpart,  as  reflected  in  increased  than  a  billion  dollars  over  the  preced- 

production  cost,  increased  indebtedness,  ing  year.  Assuming  that  about  one-third 

increased  cost  of  land,  and  so  on.  The  of    total    expenditures    since    March, 

same  is  true  of  Germany,  of  France,  1933,  was  for  the  direct  or  indirect  bene- 

and  of  many  other  countries.  By  the  fit  of  the  farmer,  one  probably  would 

same  token,  quite  as   obviously,  any  not  go  very  far  wrong  in  stating  that 

large  amount  of  help  and  subsidy  ex-  approximately  $300,000,000  have  been 

tended  to  agriculture  must  pop  up  in  paid  by  the  public  which  would  not 


556  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

have  been  paid  but  for  the  cost  of  farm  lion  bales  a  year  ago.  This  is  the  small- 
relief.  Adding  two  and  two  together,  est  crop  since  1896,  with  the  exception 
it  seems  that  the  gain  of  the  farmer,  of  1921.  While  the  drought  is  responsi- 
amounting  to  about  three  billion  dol-  ble  for  the  reduction  to  some  extent, 
lars,  and  the  cost  to  the  public  are  not  the  plow-up  campaign  chiefly  accounts 
widely  separated.  And  why  should  they  for  the  result. 

be,  since  the  gain  of  one  is  the  loss  of  Because  of  this  government  attempt 

the  other?  to  help  the  cotton  farmer,  foreign  pro 
duction  is  expected  to  exceed  the  do- 

111  mestic  output  for  the  first  time  since  the 

Turning  back  to  the  farm  policy  of  Civil  War  period,  by  about  four  mil- 
the  Federal  Government,  there  is  an-  lion  bales.  It  is  feared  that  the  suprem- 
other  field  in  which  the  AAA  might  acy  of  United  States  cotton  in  the  world 
feel  the  pride  of  achievement.  It  has  markets  is  seriously  threatened.  For- 
been  its  conviction  that  the  prosperity  eign  nations  are  quick  to  sense  the  ex- 
of  the  American  farmer  depended  to  posed  weakness  of  the  American  cotton 
some  extent  upon  the  world  market  in  position  abroad.  They  are  in  a  hurry  to 
view  of  his  considerable  surplus  year  in  make  up  for  the  reduction  caused  by 
and  year  out.  It  was  thought  that  the  plow-up  campaign.  They  are  ob- 
higher  prices  of  farm  products  in  the  viously  motivated  by  two  opportunities, 
United  States  would  tend  to  stabilize  namely,  to  make  the  loss  of  the  Ameri- 
world  market  conditions,  since  many  of  can  cotton  export  trade  their  own  gain, 
these  products  play  quite  a  part  in  those  and  to  profit  at  the  same  time  from  the 
markets.  Well,  the  pick-up  in  farm  relatively  high  price  level, 
product  prices  in  this  country  did  bene-  Argentina  is  encouraging  increased 
fit  foreign  interests  5  it  did  contrib-  cotton  production  in  the  Chaco  terri- 
ute  to  more  stable  world  market  con-  tory.  Soviet  Russia  is  stepping  up  cotton 
ditions.  But  whether  this  worked  out,  production.  In  1933-34,  Brazil  pro 
as  anticipated,  to  the  benefit  of  the  duced  969,000  bales,  as  compared  with 
American  farmer,  may  be  doubted.  448,000  bales  the  year  before  5  in  the 
Judge  for  yourself  when  you  read  same  period,  Mexico  more  than 
through  the  experiences  of  the  four  doubled  her  production  j  Egypt's  cotton 
basic  farm  products.  production  showed  a  gain  of  eighty  per 

Cotton  is  the  king  of  them  all,  not  cent,  India's  of  seven,  China's  of  twenty 
only  because  of  its  dominating  position  per  cent.  Are  Soviet  Russia,  then,  and 
on  the  world  market  but  especially  be-  Argentina  and  Brazil,  Mexico,  India, 
cause  the  prosperity  and  even  the  eco-  China  and  Egypt  buying  more  from  the 
nomic  life  of  the  South  is  invariably  United  States  because  the  latter  helped 
bound  up  with  the  product  whose  ex-  them  to  stimulate  their  cotton  exports? 
port  yield  alone  gives  the  Southern  half  Not  that  one  could  detect  with  naked 
of  the  United  States  about  half  a  billion  eye.  On  the  contrary,  they  barter  with 
dollars  every  year  of  fresh  money  with  other  countries  their  cotton  gains: 
which  to  sustain  its  purchasing  power.  Brazil  sold  cotton  to  Germany  from 
This  season's  domestic  crop  is  in  the  whom  she  bought  coal.  Soviet  Russia 
neighborhood  of  nine  million  bales,  as  buys  European  machinery  against  cot- 
compared  with  more  than  thirteen  mil-  ton  deliveries.  India  sold  cotton  to  Ja- 


THE  AAA  SUCCEEDS  557 

pan  and  bought  cotton  cloth  in  return,  the  fact  that  the  1934  crop  for  the 
Egypt  has  removed  all  restrictions  and  Northern  Hemisphere  is  estimated  at 
is  doing  a  flourishing  business  in  cotton  only  ten  per  cent  below  a  year  ago,  in 
exports.  But  when  it  comes  to  the  spite  of  the  world-wide  drought  which 
American  farmer,  he  plows  under  his  reduced  crops  in  many  countries  by 
cotton  on  which  the  foreigners  are  cash-  twenty  and  thirty  per  cent.  The  reduc 
ing  in,  and  gets  a  bonus  instead.  Mean-  tion  of  the  American  wheat  crop  may 
while,  the  South  may  feel  the  effect  of  tend  to  change  the  world  picture  next 
this  glaring  mistake  in  foreign  trade  year  in  favor  of  the  foreign  wheat 
policy  for  years  to  come.  growers. 

The  international  wheat  market  is  The  same,  or  at  least  similar,  facts 

essentially  different  from  cotton,  inas-  prevail  in  corn  and  hog  production  in 

much  as  the  international  wheat  agree-  which  the  Government  followed  the 

ment  tends  to  equalize  the  interests  of  same  policy  of  reducing  or,  if  possible, 

the  participating  nations.  But  even  this  eliminating  the  surplus  and  carry-over 

agreement  could  not  do  away  alto-  for  the  sake  of  better  prices.  In  both 

gether  with  the  effect  of  the  restricting  respects,  it  has  succeeded.  The  total 

policy  of  the  AAA,  to  which  must  be  crop  of  corn,  for  instance,  is  more  than 

added  the  devastating  result  of  the  one  billion  bushels  smaller  than  last 

drought.  Both  combined  in  producing  year,  and  the  normal  surplus  of  hogs  is 

the  shortest  crop  since  1 893,  amounting  expected  to  be  wiped  out  this  year.  This 

to  but  500,000,000  bushels  from  winter  will,  naturally,  benefit  such  countries 

and  spring  supplies.  While  carry-over  as  Australia  and  Argentina,  not  to  men- 
supplies  will  bring  the  total  available  '  tion  Soviet  Russia,  which  will  derive  the 

to  783,000,000  bushels,  thus  assuring  same  advantages  as  foreign  cotton  pro- 

an  ample  domestic  supply,  the  figures  ducersj  they  will  obtain  better  prices, 

virtually  spell  the  withdrawal  of  the  thanks  to  the  limitation  of  the  Ameri- 

American  wheat  producer  from  the  can  supply,  and  they  will  rid  them- 

world  market.  selves  of  a  powerful  competitor  on  the 

Foreign  competitors  are  acting  ac-  markets  of  the  world, 
cordingly.  Last  year,  Canada  exported 
195,000,000  bushels,  while  its  export 

quota  was  fixed  at  200,000,000.  Ar-  Summarizing  the  trend  of  develop- 

gentina,  with  a  quota  of  110,000,000,  ments  at  home  and  abroad,  as  we  have 

actually  exported  1 44,000,000  bushels  j  described  them  above,  it  seems  more 

Australia  was  allowed  a  quota  of  105,-  than  likely  that  the  large  agricultural 

000,000  but  shipped  only  90,000,000.  grants  and  subsidies  will  turn  out  to  be 

This  year,  Canada  expects  to  increase  a  two-edged  sword.  Their  purpose  was 

her  wheat  exports  from  195,000,000  to  and  is  to  increase  the  purchasing  power 

no  less  than  288,000,000  bushels,  a  of  the  American  farmer.  But  it  has  been 

hope  which  is  inspired  as  much  by  the  shown  that  what  has  been  given  to  the 

increased  demand  in  Europe  as  by  the  farmer  has  been  taken  from  industry, 

withdrawal  of  the  United  States  from  from  consumers,  from  the  cities— in 

the  export  market.  That  other  foreign  short,  from  other  parts  of  the  national 

producers  have  no  idea  of  curtailing  economy.  One  can  not,  by  word  of  law, 

their  wheat  output  may  be  seen  from  dictate  the  prosperity  of  some  part  of 


558  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

the  nation  without  affecting  other  parts,  upon  an  export  trade  which  is  made 
without  upsetting  the  economic  equilib-  more  and  more  difficult  by  the  agricul- 
rium,  without  creating  forces  that  may  tural  policies  of  the  Government, 
hit  back  at  some  future  and  probably  It  may,  therefore,  be  advisable  to  ex- 
unexpected  time.  tend  government  planning  beyond 
Besides,  it  looks  like  an  impossible  mere  handing  out  of  a  bonus  to  the 
task  in  the  light  of  American  history  to  farmer  and  securing  higher  prices,  to 
try  to  keep  the  farmer  within  the  cage  determining  the  effect  at  home  and 
of  national  self-sufficiency.  It  may  be  abroad  of  such  measures.  Then  it  will 
feasible  for  a  time  to  take  away  his  ex-  be  seen  that  it  will  not  do  as  an  eco- 
port  possibilities  and  satisfy  him  with  a  nomically  adequate  measure  to  take 
nice  birthday  present  instead,  but  in  the  money  from  one  class  (and  by  no  means 
long  run  such  a  policy  must  undermine  a  rich  class)  and  give  it  to  another,  nor 
the  birthright  of  the  American  farmer,  to  cut  off  the  excess  production  simply 
who  built  his  prosperity  upon  supplying  as  a  price-stimulating  step.  For  while 
the  markets  of  the  world.  No  domestic  the  farmer  may  be  benefited  only  tern- 
effort,  I  believe,  can  be  an  adequate  sub-  porarily,  the  consumer  is  called  upon  to 
stitute.  And  this  is  nowhere  shown  more  pay  for  the  privilege  permanently.  And 
clearly  than  in  the  case  of  cotton  in  foreign  nations  are  likely  to  occupy  the 
which  the  economic  lives  of  some  twenty  position  vacated  by  this  country  for 
million  people  are  directly  dependent  some  time  to  come. 


Fascism  and  the  New  Deal 

BY  ROGER  SHAW 

The  New  Deal  uses  the  mechanics  of  Italian  Fascism  to  combat 
the  spirit  of  Fascism  in  American  business 


HAT  America  needs  is  a  Mus-  social  welfare  and  movements  for  co- 

solini  !  "  many  an  American  lonial  independence.  Yet,  despite  its 

V    V     business  man  has  declared  admiration  for  Mussolini  Fascism,  it 

with  fervor.  Yet  in  the  next  breath  he  heartily  condemns  the  NRA,  the  advis- 

will  bitterly  attack  the  NRA,  most  of  ers  of  the  President  and  those  putting 

which  was  adapted  from  Fascist  Italy,  actual  Fascist  measures  into  effect  at 

while  he  assails  the  President  of  the  Washington.  Mrs.  Roosevelt,  Mayor 

United  States  as  a  tyrannical  dictator,  La  Guardia,   Mahatma  Gandhi,  Ed- 

and  speaks  out  in  stout  defense  of  his  ouard  Herriot,  Jane  Addams,  Glenn 

constitutional  liberties.  All  this  sounds  Frank,  Margaret  Sanger  and  the  Fos- 

inconsistent,  but  Fascism  in  America  is  dicks  are  names  taken  at  random  from 

inconsistent  to  a  marked  degree.  The  this  book's  long  listing  of  the  damned. 

New  Dealers,  strangely  enough,  have  Here  is  another  contradictory  case  of 

been  employing  Fascist  means  to  gain  Fascists  of  the  spirit  attacking  Fascists  of 

liberal  ends;  while  their  Old  Guard  op-  the  flesh  —  patriotic  societies  versus  the 

ponents  are  strongly  in  favor  of  liberal  New  Dealers  and  all  their  works.  .  .  . 
and  constitutional  means  to  gain  Fascist         Fascism  is,  in  many  respects,  the  most 

ends.  Those  who  bitterly  accuse  Don-  significant  political  and  social  develop- 

ald  Richberg  or  Miss  Frances  Perkins  ment  of  the  entire  post-  War  period. 

of  Fascist  tendencies  are  often,  in  real-  Marxism  in  its  various  forms  has  ex- 

ity,  themselves  Fascist-minded.  This,  I  isted  since  the  hectic  days  of  the  Cow- 

think,  helps  to  explain  the  confusion  of  munist  Manifesto  in    1  848  j    but  the 

the  average  anti-Roosevelt  American  Italian  Black  Shirt  movement,  which 

who  admires  Mussolini,  and  sometimes  evolved  into  the  march  on  Rome  of 

even  Hitler  or  the  late  Dollfuss.  1922,  was  a  brand-new  phenomenon 

The  Red  Network,  that  all-embrac-  and  one  which  was  at  first  but  hazily 

ing  who's  who  of  American  "radical-  understood.  Fascism,  in  the  beginning, 

ism,"  is  a  little  volume  of  extraordinary  was  simply  interpreted  as  a  militant 

interest  to  students  of  hysteria.  It  is  vio-  anti-Communism  intended  to  combat 

lently  anti-liberal,  and  takes  a  Fascist  the  Marxist  heresies  of  the  Russian  rev- 

tone  regarding  pacifism,  birth  control,  olution;  just  as  the  Jesuits  of  Loyola 


560  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

had  fought  the  Protestant  reformation  planned  Fascist  policy  for  combating 

four  centuries  earlier  by  counter-revolu-  home  dissension,  Bonaparte  and  Musso- 

tionary  means.  Fascism  defeated  Marx-  lini  being  in  agreement  that  proletarians 

ism  in  Italy  decisively,  as  the  Jesuits  should  oppose  foreigners  rather  than 

had  once  broken  Protestantism  in  Po-  employers.  Mussolini  uses  France  and 

land  and  Bohemia.  Jugoslavia,  and  now  the  other  Fascist 

Mussolini  announced  that  his  politi-  state  of  Germany,  as  scapegoats  for  pop- 

cal  brain-child  was  not  intended  for  ex-  ular  wrath ;  just  as  Bonaparte  was  using 

port  or  migration,  and  the  fun  began.  Austria  and  England  a  little  over  a  cen- 

But  the  black  shirts  of  Italy  turned  into  tury  before. 

the  brown  shirts  of  Germany,  silver  A  thoughtful  French  pacifist  has  corn- 
shirts  of  America,  blue  shirts  of  Ire-  mented  on  Fascist  foreign  policy  in  the 
land,  green  shirts  of  Austria,  red  shirts  following  words :  "Democracy  has  come 
of  India,  and  various  other  rainbow  to  the  fore,  and  now  in  order  to  main- 
shades  and  hues.  Old  Garibaldi,  whose  tain  the  spirit  of  class  distinctions  and 
free-companions  had  originated  the  col-  keep  every  one  in  his  place,  the  inter- 
ored-shirt  fad,  would  have  rubbed  his  ested  classes  have  felt  that  they  can  do 
eyes  in  Nineteenth  Century  astonish-  no  better  than  to  stimulate  nationalism, 
ment.  Giuseppe  the  Great  was  a  Left-  which  in  turn  fosters  a  permanent  mili- 
wing  radical  whose  sympathies  would  tary  spirit  in  a  people,  makes  it  more 
have  been  strongly  with  Matteotti  and  inclined  to  recognize  the  advantages  of 
against  Mussolini  5  and  yet  his  shirt-pat-  taking  orders  from  above,  the  legiti- 
ent  was  being  infringed  upon  by  Right-  macy  of  superiorities  and  inferiorities — 
wing  reactionaries  of  the  most  bellicose  which,  in  a  word,  puts  it  in  the  frame 
type  in  almost  every  country  in  the  of  mind  that  best  suits  those  who  are 
world.  (Black  Shirt  accord  with  the  interested  in  having  it  as  their  servant." 
Vatican  in  1929  must  have  made  the  Voila! 

anti-clerical    Freemason    turn    in    his         But  the  true  Fascist  state  must  have 

grave  as  the  Papacy  was  restored  to  its  a  Fascist  economic  system  to  match,  as 

temporal  power.)  rainbow  shirts  spread  from  land  to  land, 

Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  unquestion-  and  from  continent  to  continent.  Since 

ably  the  first  of  modern  pseudo-Fascists,  the  chief  purpose  of  Fascism  is  to  end 

followed  later  by  his  nephew,  Louis  Na-  the  Marxist  controversy  between  capital 

poleon,  second  Bonaparte  dictator.  Just  and  labor  by  the  substitution  of  a  united 

as  modern  Fascism  seeks  to  terminate  front,  an  economic  mechanism  is  vitally 

the  class-struggle  as  devised  by  Marx,  so  necessary.  It  is  so  necessary  that  it  has 

the  first  Bonaparte's  task  was  to  combat  been  carefully  devised,  and  is  now  func- 

the  class-struggle  directed  by  Robespi-  tioning  with  greater  or  less  efficiency  in 

erre  and  his  fellow  terrorists  of  1793-4.  Italy,  Austria,  Germany  and  a  number 

It  is  true  that  the  class-struggle,  as  of  lesser  countries  in  Europe  and  South 

waged  by  Robespierre,  cost  less  than  America.  Fascist  economic  organization 

20,000    lives,    and    that    the    "glori-  has  been  called  the  "corporative  state," 

ous"  national  wars  of  the  Corsican  die-  and  under  it  strikes  and  lockouts  are 

tator  brought  death  to  millions.  But  a  generally  forbidden,  with  compulsory 

policy  of  aggressive  nationalism  is  the  arbitration  as  the  state-directed  alterna- 


FASCISM  AND  THE  NEW  DEAL  561 

tive.  Capital  and  labor  are  represented  Fascism.  Both  spirit  and  mechanics  are 
by  occupational  guilds  or  confederations,  present  in  Italy,  where  traditional  na- 
In  theory,  capital  and  labor  are  tionalism  and  ultra-patriotism  go  hand 
hitched  side  by  side  to  the  Fascist  char-  in  hand  with  the  practical  workings  of 
iot  of  state,  while  the  dictator  lashes  the  occupational  Council  of  Corpora- 
both  beasts  impartially  in  his  role  of  na-  tions,  which  contains  the  representatives 
tional  charioteer.  The  private  employer  of  capital  and  labor  in  thirteen  industrial 
is  retained,  but  he  is  stringently  regu-  categories.  Furthermore,  the  spirit  of 
lated  by  the  state — to  such  a  degree,  Fascism  in  Italy  (as  in  the  Fascist  Third 
indeed,  that  capitalistic  laissez-faire  of  Reich)  is  distinctly  on  the  side  of  vested 
the  old,  familiar  type  practically  disap-  interests  and  industrial  property,  evi- 
pears  under  state-planning.  Big  business  denced  by  the  names  of  the  financial 
and  modern  monopoly  capitalism,  rein-  backers  of  the  march  on  Rome  and  of 
forced  by  sympathetic  state  subsidies,  the  Hitler  movement  in  its  later  stages, 
appear  to  be  best  adapted  to  economic  To  the  Agnellis  and  Thyssens,  Fascism 
Fascism  in  practice.  Communism  elimi-  was  a  safe  shield  against  the  reds,  and 
nates  the  private  employer  and  profit-  the  corporative  state  held  out  a  nominal 
maker,  but  Fascism,  at  least  in  economic  sop  to  the  suppressed  Marxists  whose 
theory,  retains  him  as  a  slave  of  the  trade-unions  had  been  suppressed.  Fas- 
state.  When  faced  with  so  cruel  an  al-  cism,  by  most  of  the  political-econo- 
ternative,  most  business  men  would  nat-  mists  of  Europe,  was  considered  a  veiled 
urally  be  inclined  to  favor  Fascism,  "rich  man's  tool." 
which  is  a  compromise,  a  mid-step,  or 
perhaps  a  half-way  station  between  the 

opposing  poles  of  individualism  and  col-  This  brings  us  to  the  American  scene, 
lectivism  as  practised  in  Holland  and  in  with  its  New  Deal  and  National  Indus- 
Russia.  In  the  Third  Reich,  for  ex-  trial  Recovery  Act.  Since  the  depression, 
ample,  workmen  dare  not  strike,  for  this  which  was  begun  with  the  stock  market 
would  be  contrary  to  the  best  interests  crash  in  the  fall  of  1929,  dissatisfaction 
of  the  Hitler  state;  but  a  hard-shelled  with  laissez-faire  capitalism  had  grown 
employer  who  refused  to  grant  his  men  by  leaps  and  bounds  in  the  United 
a  two-weeks'  vacation  was  sent  to  a  States.  With  close  to  twelve  million  un- 
government  concentration  camp  for  dis-  employed,  with  business  failures,  hard 
ciplinary  purposes.  times  and  in  some  districts  virtual  star- 
There  are,  of  course,  several  phases  vation,  the  result  was  the  Roosevelt 
to  Fascism  as  a  way  of  national  life,  landslide  of  1932.  This  has  been  gen- 
These  would  include:  one-party  dicta-  erally  interpreted  as  a  striking  victory 
torship  under  a  "great  man,"  a  corpora-  over  "rugged  American  individualism" 
tive  economic  system  as  described  above,  of  the  sort  that  had  prevailed  in  Amer- 
a  "tough"  foreign  policy,  a  philosophi-  ica  since  the  Civil  War,  and  especially 
cal  traditionalism  and  a  glorification  of  during  the  Harding  and  Coolidge  "pros- 
force,  not  as  a  means,  but  as  an  end  in  perity  eras"  coming  after  the  interna- 
itself.  These  various  phases  of  Fascism  tional  crusade  against  Germany  and  the 
may  be  subdivided  roughly  into  the  "Huns."  Wholesale  bank  failures 
sprit  of  Fascism  and  the  mechanics  of  greeted  the  new  Roosevelt  Administra- 


562  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

tion,  with  its  popular  and  labor-minded  nition  of  Russia,  anti-imperialist  policy 

policies  of  the  much  advertised  New  in  Latin  America  and  the  Philippines, 

Deal.   There   resulted,   among   other  sympathetic  attitude  toward  labor  and 

crisis  measures,  the  National  Industrial  the  utilization  of  women  in  public  posi- 

Recovery  Act  of  the  year  1 933.  tions.  The  New  Deal  philosophy  resem- 

The  NRA,  with  its  code  system,  its  bles  closely  that  of  the  British  Labor 

regulatory  economic  clauses  and  some  Party,  while  its  mechanism  is  borrowed 

of  its  features  of  social  amelioration,  was  from  the  B.L.P.'s  Italian  antithesis, 
plainly  an  American  adaptation  of  the         American  opposition  to  the  New  Deal 

Italian  corporative  state  in  its  mechanics,  centres,  naturally,  among  New  York 

It  was  recognized  as  such  by  both  Mus-  bankers  and  Pennsylvania  industrialists, 

solini  and  Hitler,  and  certain   frank  with  support  from  a  majority  of  em- 

Washingtonians  admitted  that  its  seem-  ployers  and  business  men  the  country 

ing  similarity  to  Italian  economic  work-  over.  Sectional  lines  in  America  have 

ings  was  more  than  an  accident.  Occupa-  for  once  broken  down  in  favor  of  class 

tional  cooperation  by  industries,  under  lines,  although  there  is  no  systematic 

government  supervision  or,  if  need  be,  class   hatred  in  the  vicious   Marxian 

dictation,  was  certainly  Fascist  j  and  as  sense.  The  only  parallel  in  American 

in  Italy,  the  capitalistic  framework  and  history  is,  perhaps,  the  controversy  be- 

the  profit-motive  were  retained.  The  tween  Federalist  "gentry"  and  "plain" 

working  mechanics  of  economic  Fascism  Jeffersonians  in  the  first  decades  of  our 

were  present  in  the  NRA,  but  the  eco-  Republic. 

nomic  application  of  the  NRA  was  con-         In  the  United  States  there  are  a  num- 

trary  to  the  spirit  of  Fascism.  American  ber  of  self-conscious  Fascist  movements, 

Fascist  elements,  many  of  them  unwit-  wearing  colored  shirts  and  giving  Fas- 

tingly  Fascist  in  their  ideology,  were  cist  salutes  in  the  best  European  style, 

paradoxically  opposed  to  the  corpora-  The  American  Realists,  the  Blackburn 

tive  state  as  applied  to  the  United  States.  Grayshirts,  the  Silver  Shirts  and  the  in- 

Therein  lies  the  American  contradiction,  digenous  Ku  Klux  Klan  might  be  in- 

and  it  is  a  strange  one.  eluded  among  such  militant  groups  of 

The  conservative  spirit  of  Fascism  is  self-styled  patriots  and  saviours.  They 

in  instinctive  sympathy  with  vested  in-  hold  meetings,  march,  belabor  Russia 

terests,  and  the  American  New  Deal  has  and  Marx,  and  have  a  fraternal  good 

very  definite  ties  with  the  masses.  It  has  time  generally.  They  are  often  anti-sem- 

been  using  Fascist  apparatus  to  combat  itic>  and  frequently  roar  out  their  belief 

those  very  interests  which  in  Europe  up-  m  Nordic  supremacy.  But  these  profes- 

hold  Fascism.  The  corporative  state,  in  sional  Fascists  are  not  the  true  Ameri- 

Europe  the  shield  of  big  business,  has  can  Fascists — the  red  Fascists  whom 

in  America  become  a  sword  of  Damocles  liberals  view  with  alarm.  Die-hard  big 

which  dangles  in  horrific  style  above  the  business — the  conservative  bankers,  and 

skyscrapers  of  Wall  Street  and  the  mills  industrialists,  and   mine-owners — with 

of  Pittsburg.  The  Roosevelt  Adminis-  its  constitutional  slogans  and  its  finan- 

tration  has  shown  itself  out  of  sympathy  cial  power  which  could  be  used  to  raise 

with  the  spirit  of  Fascism  in  other  lib-  and  equip  private  armies  if  the  need 

eralways:  repeal  of  Prohibition,  recog-  should  arise:  this  is  the  spirit  of  Fas- 


FASCISM  AND  THE  NEW  DEAL  563 

cism  in  America.  These  "Fascists"  do         The  New  Deal  is  surf eited  with  grave 

not  think  of  themselves  as  such,  for  Fas-  difficulties.  There  have  been  graft,  "pol- 

cism  is  foreign  and  fantastic,  and  these  itics,"  lavish  borrowing,  a  superabun- 

hard-headed  executives  are  eminently  dance  of  needless  strikes,  an  ill-advised 

practical  men.  In  fact,  they  would  con-  agrarian  policy.  These  are  the  premiums 

sider  the  self-styled  Fascists  of  Smith  or  that  any  people  pays  for  liberal  and  hu- 

Blackburn  almost  as  pestiferous  as  the  manitarian  experimentation  along  pro- 

equally  fantastic  American  Marxists.  gressive  lines  j  the  premium  paid  out  for 

The  power  of  American  big  business  insurance  against  the  die-hard  spirit  of 

to  hire  private  armies — Pinkerton  detec-  Fascism.  But  these  administrative  bun- 

tives,  factory  police,  vigilantes,  battling  glings  also  supply  potential  Fascists  with 

strike-breakers,  etc. — has  been  shown  ammunition  for  their  broadsides.  Mus- 

through  the  whole  course  of  our  indus-  solini  used  "strikes"  as  an  excuse,  and 

trial  history.  And  it  was  with  private  it  served  his  purpose  exceedingly  well, 

"black"  and  "brown"  armies,  financed  Hitler  used  "graft"  and  "politics"  as  his 

by  big  business,  that  Mussolini  and  Hit-  apologia,  and  his  stand  won  him  ample 

ler  and  their  industrial  sponsors  came  popular  support  despite  his  economic 

into  supreme  power.  In  both  Italy  and  and  philosophical  aims.  The  potential 

Germany  the  suppression  of  strikes  and  power  of  American  Fascism,  as  wielded 

trade-unions  swiftly  followed.  Monop-  by  certain  Old  Guardsmen  of  both  po- 

oly  big  business,  with  all  of  its  faults  litical  parties,  is  very  great  j   and  its 

and  many  of  its  unquestionable  virtues,  waters  run  very  deep.  The  New  Deal 

was  in  the  saddle.  The  German  and  had  best  look  to  its  laurels,  seek  the 

Italian  Roosevelts,  Tugwells,  Perkinses  maximum  of  efficiency,  and  keep  its 

and  Wallaces  scuttled  for  safety  as  lib-  powder  dry. 

eralism  came  to  a  sorry  end.  Militant         There  is,  of  course,  an  alternative  to 

counter-revolution  had  checked  liberal  militant  direct-action  by  the  spirit  of 

evolution.  Fascism  in  its  assault  upon  the  New 

In  America,  die-hard  votes  are  ex-  Deal.  The  alternative  is  ordinary  politi- 
ceeded  by  "mass"  votes  for  the  New  cal  procedure  through  the  commonplace 
Deal.  "Greatest  good  for  the  greatest  medium  of  voting  urns  and  ballot  boxes, 
number"  has  been  accurately  recorded  But  the  only  conceivable  legal  way  in 
by  the  pacific  ballot  box.  But  if  voting  which  the  "outs"  can  oust  the  "ins"  is 
should  sound  an  economic  death-knell  by  bigger  and  better  New-Dealing;  that 
for  certain  conservative  interests,  what  is,  by  a  platform  which  offers  at  least 
is  the  die-hard  alternative?  The  spirit  comparable  gains  to  the  common  man 
of  Fascism,  perhaps,  for  Fascism  is  the  who  has  come  to  look  for  governmen- 
work  of.  a  militant  minority  possessed  tal  interference  in  his  behalf . 
of  determination  and  machine-guns,  and  Once  a  new  departure  has  been  taken, 
directed  by  men  behind  the  scenes.  A  it  is  exceedingly  hard  to  turn  back, 
few  die-hard  bullets  can  defeat  any  When  the  Bourbons  regained  their 
number  of  "mass"  ballots,  and  history  throne  in  1814,  they  retained  most  of 
records  very  few  cases  of  a  pacific  sur-  the  more  radical  reforms  of  the  French 
render  of  economic  privileges  by  the  Revolution ;  and  Tsar  Cyril,  exiled  pre 
possessing  order  of  society.  tender  to  the  Russian  sceptre,  has  de- 


564  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

clared  that  if  he  is  reinstated  in  Mus-  the  question  if  the  free  choice  of  the  ma- 
covy  he  will  retain  the  Soviet  system,  jority  of  American  voters  is  permitted, 
and  that  only  the  Communists  them-  Will  the  spirit  of  Fascism,  intolerant 
selves  must  go.  Hence,  if  the  American  of  the  New  Deal  and  all  its  works, 
"outs"  regain  power,  as  they  may  in  a  permit  the  orderly  triumph  of  a  corn- 
perfectly  legitimate  manner,  the  New  peting  liberal  programme,  similar  in 
Dealers  will  have  to  go — but  the  New  general  outline  to  the  policies  of  Roose- 
Deal,  under  one  name  or  another,  will  velt?  Will  the  spirit  of  Fascism  support 
remain  in  its  more  salient  reformatory  a  Republican  Regeneration,  built  out  of 
features.  The  Bourbons  could  not  bring  liberal  ideas,  as  against  the  Democratic 
back  feudalism  on  their  return 5  and  the  New  Deal?  It  is  possible,  and  let  us 
"outs"  have  come  to  realize,  at  least  to  hope  that  it  is  probable.  But  the  spirit 
some  degree,  that  a  return  to  pre-de-  of  Fascism  dies  hard.  Time  will  tell, 
pression  laissez-faire  is  equally  out  of  and  1936  is  not  far  off. 


w 

Flif 


Evangelist  of  Music 

BY  FRANCIS  RUFUS  BELLAMY 

An  aluminum  fiddle,  a  summer  music  camp  and  the  tremen 
dous  enthusiasm  of  Dr.  Joseph  E.  Maddy  give  thou 
sands  of  Americans  their  first  true  enjoyment 
of  music 

To  MAKE  America  genuinely  musi-  chestra  in  the  country:  seventy  pieces, 
cal,  one  man  without  money  has  Then,  to  show  the  possibilities  of  instru- 
done  more  in  the  last  ten  years  mental  music  in  our  public  schools,  he 
than  all  our  musical  foundations  put  decided  to  take  all  his  seventy  players 
together.  His  name  is  Joe  Maddy,  pro-  to  the  next  national  meeting  of  music 
fessor  of  music  in  the  University  of  supervisors  at  Nashville,  and  give  a  full 
Michigan — America's  evangelist  of  mu-  hour's  concert.  He  had  no  money,  so  he 
sic.  approached  a  local  manufacturer  of 
Fifteen  years  ago  Maddy  was  an  ob-  phonograph  records  and  persuaded  him 
scure  music  supervisor  in  the  public  to  let  his  orchestra  play  for  the  record- 
schools  in  Richmond,  Indiana.  He  had  ing  instrument.  Result:  one  evening 
been  a  viola  player  in  the  Minneapolis  after  school  seventy  boys  and  girls  rang 
Symphony,  and  had  spent  two  years  as  a  doorbells  in  Richmond,  selling  records 
jazz  player  in  a  Chicago  cabaret.  At  a  of  the  concert  for  a  dollar ;  and  $2,800 
meeting  of  music  supervisors  in  Mis-  took  the  orchestra  to  Nashville, 
souri  he  had  his  eyes  opened.  From  Par-  There,  the  concert  raised  a  furore, 
sons,  Kansas,  a  town  of  10,000,  came  a  A  half  dozen  honor  pupils  back  home 
small  high  school  orchestra  of  thirty-  were  still  the  utmost  most  music  super- 
five  pieces  which  played  with  amazing  visors  could  boast  of.  But  a  full  seventy- 
skill.  Inquiry  developed  the  fact  that  piece  orchestra! 

this  was  no  ordinary,  haphazard  school  "Let's  bring  our  honor  students  to 

band,  practising  after  hours  in  a  base-  these  conventions,"  suggested  Maddy. 

ment.  Its  members  played  every  day  for  "Give  me  a  week  and  I'll  make  an  or- 

an  hour  and  got  full  credit  for  it  in  the  chestra  out  of  them.  Maybe  that  will 

school  curriculum.  show  educators  what  can  be  done." 

Maddy's  imagination  was  stirred.  In  Four  years  later,  300  picked  students, 

his  own  school  he  already  had  the  mak-  drawn  from  100  public  schools  in  thirty 

ings  of  an  orchestra  j  finally  he  had  the  States,  were  rehearsed  by  Maddy  after 

first  fully  staffed  symphony  school  or-  his  own  original  ideas,  and  made  an 


566  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

amazing  showing — so  amazing  that  it  All  summer,  guests  attracted  to  the 

seemed  shameful,  after  one  week,  for  camp  filled  the  inn.  The  hotel  profits 

such  an  orchestra  to  disintegrate.  ran  into  the  thousands — a  great  help  to 

"What  we  need,"  said  Maddy,  "is  a  the  camp.  For  from  the  start  Maddy 

summer  camp  where  we  can  hold  these  held  down  tuition  to  cost.  Like  the  su- 

boys  and  girls  together  all  summer.  A  pervisors,  most  of  the  students  were 

camp  for  supervisors  and  students."  poor  and  Maddy  knew  it  j  in  fact,  rather 

In  1928,  in  the  Michigan  pine  woods  liked  it  that  way.  Usually  each  one  had 
near  the  village  of  Interlochen,  he  worked  for  every  cent  of  his  money  or 
found"  a  natural  amphitheatre,  be-  had  been  aided  by  his  school  friends 
tween  two  lakes,  which  provided  an  back  home  through  baked  goods  sales, 
excellent  site  for  a  bowl  and  a  summer  luncheon  clubs,  rummage  sales  and  in 
camp.  Makers  of  musical  instruments  one  instance  an  amateur  circus, 
lent  him  instruments.  Music  supervi-  Today,  despite  the  depression  and 
sors  whom  he  knew  over  the  country  the  nerve-wracking  deficits,  the  Na- 
contributed.  Boys  who  had  played  in  his  tional  Music  Camp  has  500  acres,  107 
orchestras  signed  up  for  tuition.  Fees  buildings,  a  hotel  for  1 00  guests,  accom- 
were  placed  low  and  season  tickets  for  modations  for  500  students.  Maddy 
the  concerts  sold  at  a  ridiculous  price,  hopes  to  fill  it  next  year  at  $175  each. 
Before  the  summer  was  over,  success  Over  100  music  camps  have  paid  it  the 
was  apparent.  The  first  national  high  compliment  of  imitation.  It  has  proven 
school  orchestra  had  a  home  and  Maddy  the  most  valuable  single  thing  in  Mad- 
had  a  non-profit-making  camp  devoted  dy's  effort  to  put  a  good  symphony  or- 
to  making  musicians:  one  toward  which  chestra  in  every  town  of  over  5,000 
all  serious  students  might  strive.  people  in  America,  and  to  give  every 

By  1932  the  camp  had  sixty  build-  high  school  an  excellent  band, 

ings,  a  staff  of  thirty  symphony  orches-  Since  Maddy  started  his  crusade  well 

tra  players  as  teachers,  together  with  over  50,000  recognized  school  bands 

forty   music  supervisors   from   public  and  orchestras  have  come  into  existence 

schools,  and  300  boy  and  girl  students,  all  over  the  country  j  200,000  juvenile 

Thousands  of  people  were  listening  to  musicians  played  in  the  1934  school  con- 

the  concerts.  Famous  musicians,  from  tests.  The  next  time  your  boy  comes 

Sousa  to  Gabrilowitsch,  were  visiting  proudly  home  from  school  with  an  un- 

and  helping  it.  expected  violin  or  cornet  in  his  hand, 

Meanwhile,  as  a  result  of  steady  don't  blame  him— blame  Dr.  Joseph  E. 

pounding  by  Maddy  and  his  associates,  Maddy!  His  influence  has  reached  into 

orchestra  organization  and  teaching  of  your  town.  No  longer  do  youngsters 

instrumental  music  became  a  recognized  slink  furtively  to  music  lessons,  fearful 

part  of  the  high  school  course  in  forty  lest  the  fatal  music  roll  betray  them, 

states  j    all-State   and   national   school  Musicians  play  for  the  honor  of  the 

music  contests  were  in  full  swing.  school. 

Maddy    bought    300    acres    more.  To  Maddy  it  is  an  immense  satisfac- 

There  was  a  summer  hotel  on  the  new  tion.  Every  person,  he  thinks,  has  musi- 

tract.    He   gave   music   supervisors   a  cal  talent  to  some  degree.  The  oppor- 

chance  to  work  in  the  hotel  in  return  for  tunity  for  a  musical  education  should 

board,  lodging  and  musical  instruction,  be    the    birthright    of    every    child. 


EVANGELIST  OF  MUSIC  567 

His  mission  in  life  is  to  hasten  that  understandings.  Lessons  books  are  sent 

time.  to  the  schools  at  cost  by  the  University. 

The  story  of  his  unbreakable  alumi-  Teachers  on  the  spot  oversee  the  work, 

num  violin  is  an  instance  of  the  way  he  He  began  in  1931  with  3,000  beginners 

is  forever  pushing  toward  his  goal.  An  with  band  instruments.  Last  year  he  had 

ordinary  wooden  violin  costs  from  $25  2 6,000  in  bands,  orchestras  and  singing; 

to  $10,000.  And  unless  you  pay  a  high  despite  the  fact  that  music  had  been  one 

price,  you  get  an  inferior  instrument,  of  the  first  so-called  "frills". which  the 

Moreover,  every  violin  is  extremely  Michigan  schools  had  thought  to  do 

fragile.  "Why  not  make  them  of  alu-  without. 

minum?"  asked  Maddy.  "Unbreak-  Visits  to  the  schools  themselves  have 
able,  cheap?"  He  had  a  vision  of  mass  unearthed  extraordinary  facts.  One 
production  for  popular  use.  He  per-  county  of  8,000  which  had  no  music 
suaded  a  manufacturer  to  put  up  $16,-  teacher  and  no  school  music  now  has 
OOO,  and  had  a  fine  old  Stradivarius  six  full-time  music  teachers  with  more 
copied  exactly  in  dies.  With  these  he  than  1,000  regular  students:  children 
cast  the  first  metal  violin.  Today,  few  and  adults.  One  school  bought  a  used 
musicians  can  tell  the  difference  between  piano  with  fifty  chickens.  Another  town, 
Maddy's  violin  and  a  fine  wooden  fid-  population  954,  now  boasts  a  fifty-three- 
die.  It  is  painted  to  resemble  wood,  but  piece  school  orchestra.  Two-thirds  of  the 
its  tone  is  heavier  and  more  mellow  and  total  enrolment  in  one  country  village 
its  quality  as  good  as  the  best  wooden  with  a  population  of  422  are  in  orches- 
violins.  You  can  buy  it  by  mail:  $50.  tra,  chorus  and  glee  club. 

"Did  I  enjoy  doing  it?"  asks  Maddy.  Maddy  believes  fervently  that  mu- 

"I  even  forgot  to  make  any  money  out  sic's  function  is  to  enrich  our  lives  by 

of  it."  musical  participation :  through  self-ex- 

The  truth  is,  Maddy  can't  let  music  pression.  Training  professional  musi- 
alone.  He  has  founded  Interlochen  and  cians  for  an  already  overcrowded  field 
pushed  music  forward  in  what  to  most  and  subsidizing  professional  organiza- 
teachers  is  the  summer  vacation.  Win-  tions  will  never  make  us  truly  musical, 
ters  he  works  at  his  regular  job:  teach-  The  only  way  is  to  catch  us  young  and 
ing  music  over  the  radio  in  Michigan's  .teach  us  to  sing  and  play  ourselves.  If 
University  of  the  Air.  Last  winter  he  he  had  his  way  he  would  even  found  a 
taught  beginning  musicians  of  all  ages  great  musical  university  where  students 
in  3 1 2  small  towns,  over  the  air.  He  has  so  inclined  could  make  music  the  funda- 
a  sample  class  before  him,  behind  the  mental  subject  through  which  their  in- 
glass  in  the  broadcasting  studio,  so  that  terest  in  all  other  subjects  was  aroused, 
he  can  observe  the  difficulties  and  mis-  Some  day  he  may  do  it,  too. 


HE  ITTERARY  [ANBSCAPE 


by 


o  books  of 
recent  publica- 
.1L  tion  that  de 
serve  the  attention 
of  every  intelligent 
American,  since  they 
set  forth  opposing 
points  of  view  on 
fundamental  matters 
of  governmental  pol 
icy,  are  Herbert  Hoo 
ver's  The  Challenge 
to  Liberty  (Scribners, 
$1.75)  and  Henry  A. 
Wallace's  New  Frontiers  (Reynal  and 
Hitchcock,  $2). 

It  is  Mr.  Hoover's  contention  that 
the  New  Deal  is  carrying  this  country 
in  the  wrong  direction,  that  it  violates 
the  canon  of  individual  liberty  upon 
which  this  country  was  founded,  and 
that  unless  something  is  done  about  it 
we  shall  wake  up  some  fine  morning  to 
discover  that  there  is  nothing  left  of 
the  "rugged  individualism"  for  which 
our  forefathers  fought  and  bled  and 
died. 

It  is  Mr.  Wallace's  contention,  on  the 
contrary,  that  we  live  in  a  changed 
world,  and  that  a  measure  of  collective 
and  cooperative  effort,  in  which  the 
government  acts  as  a  sort  of  super 
vising  partner,  is  absolutely  essential  if 
we  are  to  pull  out  of  the  present  de 
pression  and  reach  any  sort  of  stable 
economic  level.  In  other  words,  Mr. 
Wallace  believes  in  the  possibility  of 
economic  planning  by  democratic 
means,  as  opposed,  for  example,  to  the 


HERSCHEL   BRICKELL 


autocratic  methods  in 
vogue  in  Russia,  while 
Mr.  Hoover  insists 
that  business  should 
be  let  alone  as  much 
as  possible  and  that  it 
will  find  its  own  way 
out. 

Aside  from  purely 
personal  prejudices, 
which  make  the  Land- 
scaper  lean  strongly 
toward  the  greater 
charm  of  Mr.  Wal 
lace,  who  writes  clearly  and  persua 
sively,  New  Frontiers  is  a  far  more 
readable  book  than  Mr.  Hoover  has 
been  able  to  turn  out,  since  he  is  not 
the  possessor  of  any  great  gifts  of  self- 
expression.  But  the  important  thing,  at 
bottom,  is  that  we  can  read  both  sides 
of  the  case,  and  that  Mr.  Hoover,  un 
der  whose  administration  many  of  the 
main  projects  of  the  New  Deal  were 
begun,  a  fact  not  to  be  forgotten,  should 
be  able  to  express  his  distaste  of  current 
trends  without  the  slightest  hindrance. 
Mr.  Wallace  is,  pf  course,  primarily 
interested  in  the  farm  problem,  which 
he  knows  at  first  hand,  and  one  of  the 
interesting  features  of  his  theory  that 
something  can  be  done  to  lift  agricul 
tural  prices  is  that  Mr.  Hoover's  own 
Farm  Board  had  the  same  idea,  and 
spent  a  good  many  millions  of  dollars 
with  the  same  purpose  in  view. 

The  Wallace  T)ream 

So  if  you  have  ever  had  doubts  about 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  569 

the  destruction  of  wheat,  hogs,  cattle  bearing  on  the  American  situation,  for 

and  cotton  in  the  midst  of  a  great  hu-  example,  in  that  it  shows  that  up  to  this 

man  need  for  all  these  things,  Mr.  point  at  least  the  New  Deal  has  actually 

Wallace  will  explain  just  why  this  pol-  moved  steadily  in  an  opposite  direction 

icy  was  adopted  and  what  he  hopes  will  from  Stalin's  policies,  and  that  in  the 

be  gained  by  it.  He  will  also  give  you  preservation  of  our  constitutional  rights 

an  excellent  outline  of  the  general  aims  of  free  speech  and  a  free  press,  we  may 

of  the  New  Deal,  and  he  has  the  ad-  have  held  on  to  something  much  more 

vantage  of  never  being  dogmatic  j  he  valuable  in  the  long  run  than  anything 

knows  we  are  experimenting,  and  he  the  Russians  will  be  able  to  work  out 

doesn't  know  that  we  are  going  to  get  for  themselves, 
what  we  want. 

In  other  words,  Mr.  Hoover's  book  Democracy  and  Famines 
represents  the  standpat  point  of  view         Mr.  Chamberlain  cites  the  horrors 

and  Mr.  Wallace's  the  belief  that  Some-  of  the  famine  of  1932-1933,  all  news 

thing  Can  Be  Done  About  It,  and  which  of  which  was  carefully  suppressed  by 

one  you  agree  with  will  depend  a  good  the  Soviet  officials,  as  an  example  of 

deal  upon  which  side  of  the  fence  you  the  advantages  to  the  common  man  of 

are  on  temperamentally.  a  democratic  form  of  government,  and 

.  asks,  pertinently,  whether  there  has 

Stalm  and  Roosevelt  ever  been  a  great  famine  in  a  jemo. 

Comrade  Stalin  told  H.  G.  Wells  cratic  country  at  any  time  in  history, 

the  other  day  that  the  New  Deal  was  Not  only  did  some  hundreds  of  thou- 

foredoomed  to  failure  because  Roose-  sands  of  people  starve  to  death  in  the 

velt  was  without  autocratic  power  to  en-  Russian  famine,  largely  brought  on  by 

force  its  decrees,  and  because  there  was  the  cast-iron  collectivist  policies  of  the 

an  irresolvable  conflict  between  the  in-  Soviets,  but  the  Government  used  the 

terests  of  the  proletariat  and  the  inter-  famine  to  break  down  peasant  resist- 

ests  of  the  rich.  A  good  many  of  us  have  ance  to  its  plans  for  state  farms  and 

thought  and  said  that  economic  plan-  collectives. 

ning  without  the  use  of  autocratic  pow-         This  is  only  one  point  from  a  book 

ers  of  enforcement  was  bound  to  be  no  filled  with  interest  and  with  valuable 

go,  and  it  was  highly  interesting  to  the  information.   Mr.   Chamberlain  lived 

Landscaper  to  read  in  William  Henry  altogether  twelve  years  in  Russia,  went 

Chamberlain's  Russia's  Iron  Age  (Lit-  there  enthusiastic  about  the  Revolu- 

tle,  Brown,  $4)  that  economic  planning  tion,  and  is  now  very  doubtful  about 

even  with  autocratic  powers  of  enforce-  the  blessings  of  Communism.  He  points 

ment  does  not  always  work  either.  out  the  ghastly  "liquidation"  of  whole 

There  are  several  reasons  why  this  classes  of  citizenry,  intellectuals  and 
exceptionally  fine  book,  which  Mr.  technical  experts,  as  well  as  kulaks,  a 
Chamberlain  wrote  with  a  free  hand,  kulak  being  any  peasant  with  enter- 
since  he  has  left  Russia  for  a  Far  Eastern  prise  enough  to  collect  together  a  little 
assignment,  and  does  not,  therefore,  property,  as  one  of  the  blackest  blots 
have  to  worry  about  whether  or  not  the  on  the  history  of  the  Soviets,  and  pic- 
Soviets  are  pleased  with  what  he  says,  tures  Stalin  as  the  most  autocratic  ruler 
is  mentioned  at  this  point.  It  has  a  direct  alive  in  the  world  today.  He  draws  an 


570  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

astonishing  parallel  between  Peter  the 
Great  and  Stalin  and  their  attempts  to 

industrialize  Russia,  and  adds  the  state-  There  is  also  more  relation  to  present 

ment  that  the  two  million  or  more  peo-  events  than  may  appear  on  the  surface 

pie  at  forced  labor  in  the  country  today  in  Fletcher  Pratt's  The  Heroic  Years: 

are  as  much  serfs  as  were  the  other  1801-1815  (Smith  and  Haas,  $2.50), 

millions  freed  by  a  Tsar.  a  brilliant  history  of  this  country  and 

._.7               .  .  ,  of  what  happened  during  the  War  of 

Left,  Right  or  Middle*  I8l2?  particuiariy  at  sea.  Mr.  Pratt  can 

He  also  says,  and  this  is  a  pertinent  write  about  naval  battles  in  a  way  to  stir 

answer  to  the  reiterated  statement  that  the  blood,  but  his  book  has  other  points, 

this  country  will  go  either  Fascist  or  especially  its  main  thesis,  which  is  that 

Communist  in  the  event  of  a  break-down  the  nation  was  not  born  during  the 

of  the  Roosevelt  programme,  that  Com-  Revolutionary  War  at  all,  but  that  it 

munist  pressure  in  other  bourgeois  coun-  actually  came  into  being  as  we  know  it 

tries  has  brought  Fascism  every  time,  at  the  Battle  of  New  Orleans  when" 

But  it  ought  to  be  remembered  that  Andy  Jackson's  assorted  riflemen  in 

strong  Communist  pressure  is  necessary  coonskin  caps   and  pirates   from  the 

to  drive  a  free  country  into  Fascism,  lower  reaches  of  the  Mississippi  wrecked 

and  the  Landscaper,  for  one,  thinks  the  the  flower  of  the  British  army  under 

prophecy  that  we  must  go  either  ex-  Pakenham. 

treme  Left  or  extreme  Right  is  non-  If  you  care  to  look  deeply  enough 

sense.  This  is,  of  course,  rank  heresy  in  into  the  matter,  you  may  discover  that 

the  eyes  of  the  Marxists  who  know  just  Mr.  Hoover  is  on  the  side  of  the  early 

what  is  going  to  happen,  because  they  aristocrats  who  fought  the  mother  coun- 

once  read  it  all  in  a  book,  or  somebody  try  and  wrote  the  Constitution,  and 

who  had  read  the  book  told  them  about  Mr.  Wallace  on  the  side  of  the  common 

it.  people  who  took  command  in  the  next 

At  any  rate,  Mr.  Chamberlain  has  century  and  turned  a  respectable  oli- 

written  an  invaluable  book  for  people  garchy  into  a  roaring  democracy,  which 

whose  minds  are  open  on  the  subject  of  it  still  is,  although  it  has  frequently 

Russia  and  Communism,  and  most  of  looked  more  like  a  plutocracy  than  any- 

the  things  he  has  to  say  against  the  sys-  thing  else. 

tern,  now  seventeen  years  old  and  still  But  aside  from  these  matters,  Mr. 

kept  in  power  by  terror,  would  apply  Pratt  writes  history  most  attractively 

with  equal  force  to  Fascism.  and  entertainingly,  and  his  is  one  of  the 

Another  book  that  is  timely,  even  if  most  readable  books  of  recent  weeks, 

the  quality  of  the  thinking  in  it  is  hardly  He  is  a  young  man  who  will  most  cer- 

to  be  regarded  as  of  the  highest  order,  tainly  be  heard  from  in  the  future.  His 

is  Glenn  Frank's  Americas  Hour  of  sketches  of  the  leaders  in  the  War  of 

Decision  (Whittlesey  House,  $2.50),  1812    have    a    touch    reminiscent    of 

in  which  Mr.  Frank  discusses  all  phases  Huddleston's  Gentleman  Johnny  Bour- 

of  the  New  Deal,  and  arrives  at  no  very  goyne,  a  biography   of  great   charm 

definite  or  useful  conclusions,  except  that  was  published  a  few  years  ago 

that  he  agrees  we  are  not  in  danger  from  and    followed    shortly    afterward    by 

either  Fascism  or  Communism.  the  death  of  its  admirable  author,  a  mat- 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  571 

ter  of  the  deepest  regret  to  many  of  of  the  great,  and  is  guaranteed  as  first- 

us.  rate  entertainment. 

Inside  the  White  House  ^Another  World  War 

For  those  who  relish  a  bit  of  gossip         Broadening  our  scope  so  as  to  take  in 

about    the    great,    and    who,    having  some  more  of  the  world  than  the  part 

elected  a  man  to  an  office  that  will  most  of  it  we  occupy,  there  is  available  a 

likely  make  a  fool  of  him  in  one  way  or  rather  terrifying  book  called  The  Sec- 

another,  are  cruel  enough  to  laugh  at  ond  World  War,  by  Johannes  Steel 

the  spectacle,  Irwin  H.  (Ike)  Hoover's  (Covici-Friede,  $2),  in  which  the  flat 

Forty-two  Years  in  the  White  House  prediction  is  made  that  1935  will  see 

(Houghton  Mifflin,  $3.50)  is  heartily  another  general  conflict  in  progress, 

to  be  recommended.  For  the  past  week  Mr.  Steel  is  an  ex-German  official,  now 

or  two  it  has  rested  safely  on  the  best-  a  journalist,  who  has  a  most  remarkable 

seller  lists  alongside  Herbert  Hoover's  record  as  a  prophet  of  the  turn  of  events 

A  Challenge  to  Liberty y  which  must  in  Europe,  and  what  he  has  to  say  about 

appeal  to  many  as  ironical,  for  the  rea-  the  possibility  of  another  war  is  based 

son  that  Chief  Usher  Hoover  thought  upon  a  first-hand  knowledge  of  condi- 

less  of  President  Hoover  than  he  did  of  tions.  Where  it  will  start  exactly  he  does 

any  other  President  he  had  known  dur-  not  say,  although  he  picks  Austria  as 

ing  his  long  tenure  of  office  at  the  White  one  of  the  most  likely  places,  the  Saar 

House.  as  another,  Hungary  as  another,  Jugo- 

In  fact,  out  of  the  Presidents  he  knew  slavia  as  another,  Italy  as  another,  and, 
only  as  a  Chief  Usher  could  know  them,  of  course,  the  Far  East  as  still  another, 
and  they  ran  from  Harrison  through  His  theory  is  that  the  other  war  never 
Hoover,  with  a  faint  suggestion  of  a  ended,  merely  changed  its  form  into  a 
second  Roosevelt  in  the  distance  just  cut-throat  economic  battle, 
before  Ike  Hoover  died,  he  thought  He  has  written  a  most  alarming  and 
only  two,  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  at  the  same  time  clear  and  hard-headed 
Woodrow  Wilson,  were  at  all  above  the  volume,  which  crams  a  great  deal  of  in- 
average  ;  the  rest  rather  below  it,  if  any-  formation  into  a  brief  compass,  and 
thing.  Wilson  took  Hoover  to  Paris  which  gives  one  and  all  the  opportunity 
with  him,  and  is  painted  in  admiring  of  a  look  into  the  gloomy  future.  Of  the 
terms,  except  that  Hoover  tells  too  chances  of  averting  the  conflict,  Mr. 
much  about  the  way  Wilson  acted  after  Steel  is  extremely  pessimistic;  he  thinks 
he  fell  in  love  with  Mrs.  Gault.  He  a  world  economic  policy  is  the  only 
acted,  if  one  may  accept  the  Hoover  thing  that  can  save  civilization  from  a 
record  as  gospel,  exactly  like  a  lovesick  fine  chance  of  destroying  itself,  and  he 
adolescent,  and  without  any  dignity  does  not  believe  such  a  policy  is  likely 
at  all.  in  the  near  future. 

Mr.  Hoover's  book  has  its  historical  ^70  77 
value  as  well,  particularly  in  connection  T he  **Stern  b  ront 
with  Wilson's  illness  and  with  Cool-         Concerning  the  chances  of  a  war  be- 
idge's  famous  "I  do  not  choose  to  run,"  tween  Japan  and  Russia,  which  would 
but  it  is  above  everything  else  the  low-  inevitably  lead  to  a  much  more  wide- 
down  on  the  great,  including  the  wives  spread  conflict,  Mr.  Chamberlain  in 


572  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

Russia?*  Iron  Age  is  not  so  despondent  and  authority.  In  the  main,  he  thinks 

as  Mr.  Steel  5   he  considers  that  the  that  Japan  is  in  danger  of  an  internal 

Soviets  have  been  busy  with  their  effi-  collapse    because    of   economic    condi- 

cient  propaganda  machine  and  that  at  tions,  which  might  lead  the  country 

least  a  part  of  the  war  scare  has  been  into  war  to  divert  the  attention  of  the 

manufactured    because    the    Russians  populace,   an    old   trick   that   usually 

thought  it  would  please  the  Americans,  works. 

Mr.  Chamberlain's  belief  that  other  What  would  happen  in  the  event  of  a 

nations  could  not  afford  a  victory  by  defeat?  Perhaps  the  arrival  of  Commu- 

either  the  Russians  or  the  Japanese,  and  nism,  and  what  a  pleasant  propect  that 

that  a  defeat  for  the  Russians  might  would  be  for  the  capitalistic  countries, 

very  easily  bring  down  the  whole  Com-  with  China  turning  redder  and  redder 

munist  structure  with  a  run,  makes  him  as  the  months  pass! 

more  wary  of  prophecy  than  Mr.  Steel,  Mr.  Wildes's  book  also  contains  good 

and  of  course  Mr.  Chamberlain  has  the  chapters  on  the  Youth  Movement  in 

advantage  of  more  direct  contact  with  Japan,  on  vice  and  the  opium  traffic, 

the  situation,  although  Mr.  Steel  also  and  many  other  timely  topics.  It  is  a 

knows  Russia  and  the  Far  East  inti-  book  for  the  general  reader  and  clearly 

mately.  and  simply  written. 

After  reading  the  work  of  these  two  Many  other  books,  some  of  them  a 
competent  and  intelligent  journalists  good  deal  more  cheerful  than  most  of 
who  know  what  a  fact  looks  like,  A.  A.  the  ones  we  have  been  discussing,  await 
Milne's  Peace  with  Honour  (Button),  attention,  so  a  word  or  two  more  about 
a  plan  to  put  an  end  to  war  by  having  serious  matters  and  the  subject  will  be 
everybody  in  the  world,  including  the  changed.  James  Truslow  Adams's 
leaders  of  all  civilized  nations,  take  an  latest  is  America's  Tragedy  (Scribner's, 
oath  not  to  fight  on  any  account,  seems  $3),  a  study  of  slavery  and  sectionalism 
a  very  mushy  and  tiresome  piece  of  in  this  country,  by  a  historian  whose 
poppycock.  Mr.  Milne  hates  war,  re-  work  is  unfailingly  interesting ;  and 
garding  it  as  utterly  useless  and  stupid,  two  volumes  of  what  promises  to  be  a 
which  it  is,  but  writing  whimsical  paci-  work  of  first  importance  are  available 
fistic  piffle  strikes  the  Landscaper  as  for  those  who  wish  to  acquire  a  back- 
just  a  little  worse  than  futile.  When  ground  for  the  understanding  of  our 
the  English  go  soft  in  the  head  they  own  times. 

usually  do  a  good  job  of  it.  ...  The  title  of  the  project  is  The  Rise 

of  Modern  Eurofe^  and  the  two  books 

War  or  'Bust?  out  already  are  A  Decade  of  Revolu- 

For  a  complete  study  of  contem-  tion:  1789-1790  by  Crane  Brinton,  and 

porary  Japan,  with  direct  bearing  upon  Reaction  and  Revolution:  1814-1832 

the  chances  of  that  nation  going  to  war  by   Frederick    B.    Artz.    William    B. 

in  the  next  few  months,  Harry  Emer-  Langner  of  Harvard  is  the  general 

son  Wildes's  la-pan  in  Crisis   (Mac-  editor    (Harpers,    $3.75    a    volume), 

millan,  $2)  is  to  be  recommended.  Mr.  and  the  pair  of  volumes  at  hand  are 

Wildes  was  formerly  professor  of  eco-  admirably  done,  very  easy  to  read,  in 

nomics  and  sociology  in  Keio  Univer-  addition   to   their   other   good   quali- 

sity,    and   writes   with   both    interest  ties. 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  573 

>^      /  **/•  novels  can  be  other  than  interesting. 

Some  Qood  Shovels  Nor  is  the  same  reader  convinced  even 

Of  the  current  fiction,  the  Land-  by  Miss  Suckow  that  life  has  ever  been 

scaper's  choice  would  go  something  like  so  thoroughly  and  completely  humor- 

this :  less  in  this  country  as  she  makes  it  seem 

Mary  Ellen  Chase's  Mary  Peters  in  The  Folks,  for  all  the  Americans  I 

(Macmillan,  $2. 50),  a  beautifully  done  have  ever  known,  a  good  many  kinds 

and  unforgettable  book  about  Maine  and  colors,  have  been  amusing  at  times, 

folk  of  a  past  generation  with  the  sea  often  bawdily  so,  but  amusing.  Maybe 

in  their  blood  5   Louis  Dodge's   The  the  Landscaper  just  doesn't  know  Iowa 

American  (Messner,  $2.50),  a  long  and  its  folksy  folks,  and  maybe,  to  be 

and  stirringly  colorful  and  honest  novel  perfectly  frank  about  it,  he  doesn't  care 

about  the  frontier,  with  solid  merit,  and  much  if  he  doesn't,  provided,  that  is, 

no   literary   pretensions,   which    most  Miss  Suckow  is  entirely  correct  on  the 

readers  will  enjoy  thoroughly  j  Joseph-  subject, 
ine    Johnson's    Now    In    November  , 

(Simon  and  Schuster,  $2.50),  which  ^ore  Moon-Calf 
the  Landscaper  may  have  mentioned         Other  American   novels   of  recent 

last  month,  but  which  is  such  a  fine  first  publication  that  are  worthy  of  atten- 

American  novel  that  it  rates  all  the  tion,  but  not  exactly  triple-starred,  in- 

publicity   anybody   can   give   it;    and  elude  Floyd  Dell's  latest,  The  Golden 

Irving  Stone's  Lust  for  Life  (Long-  Spike  (Farrar  and  Rinehart,  $2.50), 

mans,  Green,  $2.50),  a  fictionized  ver-  which  contains  a  repetition  of  a  Dellian 

sion  of  the  life  of  Vincent  Van  Gogh  pattern  familiar  from  Moon-Calf  on, 

which  is  accurate  in  its  details,  and  and  not  a  great  deal  more;  Bernard 

which  Mr.  Stone  has  done  extremely  DeVoto's    exceedingly    readable    and 

well.  rather  puzzling  We  Accept  with  Pleas- 

At  the  moment,  all  these  books  are  ure   (Little,  Brown),  a  novel  about 

popular,  and  deservedly,  but  not  a  one  Boston  Brahmins  that  seems  rather  un- 

of  the  lot  is  a  thing  of  the  moment,  so  certain  in  its  intention — Mr.  DeVoto 

if  you  don't  get  around  to  them  between  appears  to  be  bent  upon  taking  the  Bos- 

now  and  the  holidays,  they'll  keep,  and  tonians  for  a  ride,  but  to  admire  them 

they  will  be  worth  waiting  for.  underneath   at   the   same   time;    and 

Ruth  Suckow's  much  praised  novel  Frank  Ernest  Hill's  novel  in  verse, 

of  Iowa  farm  life,  The  Folks  (Farrar  The  Westward,  Star  (John  Day,  $2.50), 

and  Rinehart,  $3),  a  732-pager,  the  another  version  of  the  pioneer  story. 

Landscaper  accepts  with  reservations.  The  quality  of  the  narrative  poetry  is 

It  obviously  has  length  and  it  also  has  excellent,  but  the  book  does  not  rate 

solidity,  but  it  struck  this  observer  as  very  high  as  a  novel,  and  is  not  meant 

dull  reading  matter,  accurate,  no  doubt,  to    be    spine-thrilling    poetry,    so    it 

but  without  any  profound  significance,  doesn't  seem  of  any  especial  moment, 

Miss  Suckow  knows  her  people  inti-  although  pleasant  enough  reading, 
mately,  and  regards  them  with  compas-         There  is  also,  among  American  nov- 

sionate  understanding,  which  is  com-  els,  Mary  Johnston's  Drury  Randall 

mendable,  but  which  does  not,  however,  (Little,  Brown,  $2.50),  a  story  of  the 

convince  one  reader  that  really  good  Virginia  of  the  i85o's  and  the  life  of  a 


574  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 

gentleman  there,  a  gentle  book  with  that  pathetic  resignation  of  the  per- 
very  much  of  an  other-worldly  air  that  petual  underdog.  Read  Fontamara  and 
will  please  some  readers  and  fail  to  im-  the  chapters  of  Mr.  Chamberlain's 
press  others  because  there  does  not  seem  book  on  Russia  dealing  with  the  treat- 
a  sufficient  quantity  of  blood  in  the  ment  of  the  peasants  for  a  picture  of 
veins  of  the  characters.  the  treatment  of  farmers  under  both 
Among  the  imported  fiction  there  forms  of  dictatorships;  in  this  country- 
are  a  new  Wodehouse,  Brinkley  Manor  we  even  pay  our  kulaks  and  peasants 
(Little,  Brown,  $2),  which  is  a  Jeeves  not  to  work  at  all,  and  still  there  are 
story  and  needs,  really,  no  further  com-  people  who  are  not  satisfied  with 
ment  except  that  it  is  up  to  the  mark ;  democracy.  .  .  . 
Ford  Madox  Ford's  Henry  for  Hugh  Of  biographies,  one  in  particular  is 
(Lippincott,  $2.50),  another  proof  of  outstanding,  Douglas  Southall  Free- 
the  remarkable  technical  skill  of  this  man's  R.  E.  Lee,  which  will  eventually 
veteran  of  the  art  of  writing  and  a  good  be  in  four  large  volumes,  and  of  which 
novel  on  other  counts;  Sholem  Asch's  the  first  two  sections  have  been  pub- 
Salvation  (Putnam,  $2.50),  a  charm-  lished  (Scribner's,  $3.75  a  volume), 
ing  and  poetical  story  of  Eighteenth  They  bring  the  story  down  as  far  as 
Century  Poland  rich  in  Chasiddic  lore;  the  death  of  Stonewall  Jackson,  with 
and  if  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  new  book,  its  effect  upon  Lee's  Virginia  campaign, 
since  it  was  first  published  here  last  Mr.  Freeman,  who  is  a  distinguished 
spring,  James  Hilton's  Lost  Horizon  journalist,  has  been  at  his  Lee  for  a 
(Morrow,  $2.50)  now  out  in  the  Haw-  matter  of  twenty  years,  and  it  is  the 
thornden  Prize  edition,  which  is  one  of  definitive  work,  alike  impressive  for  the 
the  best  pieces  of  fiction  of  this  year.  It  thoroughness  of  its  research  and  for  the 
deserves  more  notice  than  that,  of  skilful  selection  and  handling  of  the 
course,  but  the  Landscaper's  advice  is  material.  Nothing  is  omitted  that  would 
that  if  you  have  missed  it  up  to  this  serve  to  throw  any  light  on  the  subject, 
point,  repair  the  omission.  It  is  some-  and  still  the  book  represents  a  tremen- 
thing  rare  in  the  way  of  a  philosophical  dous  task  of  intelligent  winnowing, 
adventure  story.  The  author  is  a  specialist  on  military 

^  campaigns  and  for  this  reason  his  analy- 

The  Toor  ^Peasants  sis  of  the  battles  is  of  spedal  interest 

From  farther  away  comes  Ignazio  Naturally,  the  Lee  who  emerges  from 
Silone's  Fontamara  (Smith  and  Haas,  his  pages  does  not  differ  in  any  striking 
$2.50),  a  remarkable  novel  about  what  way  from  the  conventional  ideas  of  the 
happened  in  a  peasant  village  upon  the  man,  but  there  are  no  gaps  left  in  this 
arrival  of  Fascism;  of  course  the  peas-  portrait,  and  it  is  not  likely  to  be  sup- 
ants  lost  everything.  Silone  is  an  exile  planted, 
who  runs  a  labor  paper  in  Zurich,  and  ^          /     •/-•*•• 
does  not  love  the  present  administra-  Tragedy  ^n  Mexico 
tion  in  Italy,  but  his  prejudices  have  Another  excellent  biography,  which 
not  kept  him  from  writing  an  excellent  is  history  as  well,  is  Bertita  Harding's 
narrative,  cunningly  put  together  and  The  Phantom  Crown:  The  Story  of 
filled  with  salty  peasant  humor,  as  well  Maximilian   and   Carlota   of  Mexico 
as  the  power  of  the  peasant  to  accept,  (Bobbs-Merrill,  $3.50),  an  absorbing 


THE  LITERARY  LANDSCAPE  575 

narrative  of  the  curious  fate  that  led  the  imaginative  life   of   Omar  Khayyam 

handsome  young  Hapsburg  Archduke  (Doubleday,  Doran,  $3.50),  which  is 

and  his  charming  bride  away  from  their  entertaining,  but  not  up  to  the  best  of 

castle  on  the  Adriatic  into  the  grim  old  Mr.  Lamb's  previous  books,  such  as 

fortress  of  Chapultepec,  and  left  him  his  Genghis  Khan;  and  Diamond  Jim: 

dead  and  her  hopelessly  mad.  Mrs.  The  Life  and  Times  of  James  Buchan- 

Harding's  family  was  Austrian  and  she  an  Brady,  by  Parker  Morrell  (Simon 

has  lived  much  "of  her  life  in  Mexico,  and  Schuster,  $3),  an  informal  chron- 

so  she  knows  both  backgrounds  and  has  icle  of  a  shrewd  capitalist  of  the  'Nine-, 

been  able  by  careful  research  to  write  ties  who  was  also  highly  picturesque, 

a  book  that  is  both  scholarly  and  read-  Mr.  Morrell  comes  of  a  famous  fam- 

able.  It  is  a  story  but  little  known  to  ily  of  jewelers  and  he  first  became 

Americans,  largely  because  this  coun-  interested  in  Brady  because  of  Brady's 

try  was  busy  with  its  own  affairs  just  well-known  passion  for  diamonds,  but 

after  the  end  of  the  Civil  War  and  was  later  his  investigations  led  him  to  do  a 

so  little  interested  in  Maximilian  that  complete  biography.  Brady  was  buried 

it  did  nothing  to  save  him  from  the  bedecked  in  the  diamonds  of  his  Num- 

Juaristas,  although  it  was  an  undeserved  ber  i  set,  and  there  were  twenty-four 

death  he  met,  this  well-intentioned  if  sets  altogether. 

not  overly  intelligent  young  aristocrat.  It  is  not  particularly  easy  to  classify 
Another  good  biography  is  Schima  the  next  book  to  be  mentioned,  al- 
Kauf man's  Mendelssohn :  "The  Second  though  it  is  really  a  chapter  from  an 
Elijah"  (Crowell,  $3.50),  a  complete  autobiography,  but  whatever  it  is  called 
account  of  the  life  of  a  musician  who  Robert  P.  Tristram  Coffin's  Lost  Para- 
died  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven,  leaving  dise:  A  Boyhood  on  a  Maine  Coast 
behind  him  a  considerable  body  of  Farm  (Macmillan,  $2.50)  is  a  lovely 
great  work.  Mr.  Kaufman,  who  is  and  memorable  piece  of  work.  It  goes 
himself  a  violinist  in  the  Philadelphia  along  with  Mary  Ellen  Chase's  Mary 
Symphony  Orchestra,  discusses  Men-  Peters  and  her  own  autobiography,  'A 
delssohn's  work  critically,  and  predicts  Goodly  Heritage _,  both  permanent  ad- 
a  new  popularity  for  his  tuneful  compo-  ditions  to  the  regional  literature  of  this 
sitions.  The  background  of  the  period  country,  bringing  back  to  life  as  it  does 
is  fully  and  competently  done,  and  the  the  life  of  Maine  a  generation  ago. 
sketches  of  other  important  figures  ,  ^ 
carefully  and  accurately  drawn.  Writ-  *?  Luck^  SmM  ^W 
ten  for  the  general  reader,  there  is  Mr.  Coffin's  small  boy,  Peter,  who  is 
nothing  too  technical  in  the  book,  which  himself,  of  course,  has  the  good  fortune 
is  attractively  illustrated.  to  live  on  a  farm  that  is  semi-aquatic 

and  not  a  single  one  of  its  charms  has 

Other  biographies  eluded  the  memory  Of  a  grown-up  poet, 

Other  important  biographies  include  who  not  only  draws  delightful  pictures, 

William  Seabrook's  The  White  Monk  but  who  writes  movingly  of  the  tragedy 

of  Timbuctoo  (Harcourt,  Brace,  $3.50),  that  comes  to  the  young  with  the  reali- 

a  study   of  that   curious   man,   Pere  zation  that  the  world  is  capable '  of 

Yakoub,  about  whom  Mr.  Seabrook  changing..  There  were  nine  other  chil- 

has  already  written ;  Harold  Lamb's  dren  in  the  family  and  a  father  and 


576 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW 


mother  of  heroic  proportions  j  you  will 
like  them  all,  and  the  book  will,  the 
Landscaper  believes,  sing  in  the  mem 
ory  of  the  people  who  read  it,  espe 
cially  if  their  own  childhoods  were 
anything  like  Peter's.  The  Landscaper's 
was,  although  spent  a  long,  long  way 
from  Maine,  and  with  no  sea  near,  only 
a  yellow  river  bearing  on  its  muddy 
bosom  a  string  of  stern-wheel  steam 
boats,  the  last  of  their  race. 

Some  Rare  Tales 

Omitted  from  the  fiction  list  was  a 
collection  of  short  stories  that  must  be 
mentioned,  at  least,  and  this  is  Christina 
Stead's  The  Salzburg  Tales  ( Appleton- 
Century,  $2.50),  tales  strung  together 
with  the  famous  festival  as  the  thread, 
and  Decameron-like  in  their  arrange 
ment,  but  reminiscent  of  nothing  so 
much  as  that  remarkable  book,  Seven 
Gothic  Tales,  by  Isak  Dinesen.  Miss 
Stead  also  has  the  true  Gothic  touch, 
seems  to  know  everything  and  to  have 


been  everywhere,  and  writes  with  real 
magic.  There  hasn't  been  a  better  piece 
of  imaginative  fiction  around  this  year 
than  her  volume,  a  three-star  recom 
mendation. 

Also  not  to  be  overlooked  in  the  rush 
are  Henning  Haslund's  Tents  in  Mon 
golia  (Button,  $5),  a  modest  and 
stirring  account  of  the  Danish  Krebs 
expedition  into  the  little-known  terri 
tory  of  Outer  Mongolia,  a  grand  ad 
venture  in  pioneering  finally  wrecked 
by  the  U.S.S.R.;  Meade  Minneger- 
ode's  fascinating  reconstruction  of  the 
mystery  of  the  Lost  Dauphin,  The  Son 
of  Marie  Antoinette  (Farrar  and  Rine- 
hart,  $3);  Peter  Fleming's  One  Com 
pany  (Scribner's,  $3),  the  wanderings 
of  this  brash  and  entertaining  young 
Englishman  in  China,  Russia,  Siberia, 
and  Manchukuo;  and  Charles  Harris 
Whitaker's  From  Rameses  to  Rocke 
feller:  The  Story  oj  Architecture  (Ran 
dom  House,  $3.50),  a  splendid  outline, 
well  illustrated. 


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