^feS;; 
 
EDITORIALS 
 
 AND 
 
 EDITORIAL -WRITING 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT WILSON NEAL, A. M. 
 
 FORMERLY OF THE WORLD'S WORK. 
 BOSTON SUNDAY AMERICAN, SPRING- 
 FIELD UNION, ETC. AUTHOR OF SHORT 
 STORIES IN THE MAKING, TODAY'S 
 SHORT STORIES ANALYZED. ETC., AND 
 SOMETIME OF THE ENGLISH FACULTY, 
 UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI AND RUT- 
 GER'S COLLEGE, AND DIRECTOR OF THE 
 MAJOR COURSE IN JOURNALISM, MASSA- 
 CHUSETTS AGRICULCTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 HENRY J. HASKELL, 
 
 Associate Editor, The Kansas City Star 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 
 THE HOME CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL, Inc. 
 
 1921 
 

 TO THE EDITORIAL WRITERS OF THE 
 ENGLISH-THINKING WORLD 
 
 ON THEM IN LARGE PART DEPEND FOR DE- 
 FENSE AND PERPETUATION THE HIGH IDEALS 
 OF A THOUSAND YEARS OF ANGLO-SAXON 
 CirXLIZATION 
 
 /^GRIC. DEPl. ^^i^'^^ 
 
 4^, 
 
 
 Copyright, 1921 
 By The Home Correspondence School, Inc. 
 All Rights Reserred 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE EDITORIAL IMPERATIVE 
 
 The newspaper, it is widely believed, is merely a billboard on which the 
 news of the day is displayed in flaring type. The figure is inadequate. In 
 spite of many attempts, the newspaper never has succeeded in being simply a 
 common carrier of news. 
 
 The news itself is not a commodity, like soap, to be packed in cartons and 
 standardized for sale. It is a matter of selection. Stevenson said he could 
 make an Iliad of a daily newspaper by blotting. Extensive blotting already has 
 been done in the production of the news. So much depends on the point of 
 view. To be sure, a vast amount of news in standardized form is furnished by 
 the press associations. But the individual side of the newspaper, the thingf 
 that distinguishes one newspaper from another in its presentation of news, ^8 
 determined by the standpoint. It may be the standpoint of the conservative, 
 the progressive, the radical, the financier, the sporting man, the worker, the 
 intellectual. On this depends the value and proportion accorded what we 
 call news. 
 
 In the second place publishers long ago discovered that their customers 
 desired more than the tale of the day. They desired news of the stores, adver- 
 tising, pictures, entertaining reading of every sort. And they desired inter- 
 pretation and comment. A man from Mars might be surprised to find a carrier 
 of news offering advice to its readers. Sometimes it does seem presumption to 
 the editorial writer himself. The justification must be on the ground of 
 noblesse oblige. Questions are constantly arising in which all of us are vitally 
 interested. Primarily, we form our opinions on the basis of the news. James 
 Parton once argued with Horace Greeley that the editorial is merely a man 
 speaking to men, while news is Providence speaking to men. He was right. 
 Nevertheless, under ordinary circumstances, we haven't time to investigate, 
 and we life to form our opinions in the light of intelligent discussion. We may 
 not agree with the editorial. But it formulates the arguments and helps us to 
 see more clearly the two sides. The writer of the editorial may not be an expert 
 or a genius. At least he is in the habit of thinking about public questions. He 
 is presumed to have some gift for public affairs. He has more time to investi- 
 gate and more sources of information than the average busy person. 
 
 A daily medium meeting these requirements is not a billboard. It is 
 essentially a personality. The headlines, the general arrangement of material, 
 are merely an outward sign. They constitute the habiliments in which the 
 personality is clothed. The dress may be flashy, loud, vulgar. It may be 
 sedate, or lively, but in good taste. In general, the dress is an index to the 
 personality behind it. In the long run, people take this newspaper rather than 
 that because they prefer on the whole one type of personality rather than 
 the other. 
 
 Modem psychology, which finds the human personality a unified whole 
 instead of a bundle of independent traits, would discover a unity in the news- 
 
iv. INTRODUCTION 
 
 paper; in the news, editorials, typography, and the other features. But the 
 fundamental character of the publication is expressed more directly in the 
 editorial comment. Here is the soul of the newspaper. Here is its interpreta- 
 tion of the human comedy given in a thousand different forms and moods, 
 whether in a discussion of scrapple or of the League of Nations, whether in 
 comment on baseball, the conduct of organized labor, or the methods of unde- 
 sirable citizens of great wealth. From the editorial expressions in a year it 
 ought to be possible to construct the newspaper's system of ethics and its 
 general philosophy of life. 
 
 The editorial, then, is not simply or chiefly a source of political advice 
 and admonition. It is a narrow misconception to assume that its function is 
 merely to tell people what to do in a given political situation and to infer that 
 it is a failure if the advice given is not followed at the polls. There is no more 
 reason to insist that a newspaper, to be successful, must carry a particular 
 election, than that any other agency, the church, for instance, or the school, 
 must carry it. The newspaper is only one of the numerous cultural instru- 
 ments of society. 
 
 If the newspaper by virtue of its accumulated functions, has taken on 
 personality, the fundamental qualities of the editorial comment through which 
 the personality finds expression, are fairly obvious. They must be those of a 
 gentleman. This likeness is to be traced in accordance with the rule of reason. 
 The editorial goes to every class of readers. The printed page is unobtrusive, 
 and the reader sometimes lacks imagination. Often the editor must bear in 
 mind Roosevelt's dictum that he must work with a poster and not with a zinc 
 etching. 
 
 But with the adaptations evidently necessary, it is easy to see the parallel 
 that the newspaper must bear to the welcome visitor in the home. The visitor, 
 of course, should have good manners ; the boor doesn't wear. He should be well 
 informed, sane, enterprising, entertaining. He should have the socialized 
 attitude. That is, his fundamental motive, though often implied rather than 
 expressed, should be to promote the common good. He should not be long 
 faced, or oppressively pious. He ought to be tolerant, yet ready to fight for his 
 convictions if the need should arise. Cardinal Newman's definition of a gen- 
 tleman as one who never willingly gives pain, we all recognize as applying 
 merely to the amenities of social intercourse and not to times when moral issues 
 are involved. He should be a cheerful companion at a dinner table, yet a man 
 who could be depended on in the supreme hour. Above all, he must be sincere. 
 Smartness can never take the place of sincerity. The reader is entitled to have 
 confidence in the integrity of his newspaper, just as he is of his doctor or 
 minister. 
 
 These are the standards that the editorial day by day should meet. That 
 it fails in varying degree is the inevitable result of the human factor in its 
 production. It succeeds to the extent that it embodies the fundamental traits 
 of honesty, intelligence, and the passion for that complete humanization of 
 man in society that Matthew Arnold said was civilization. 
 
 Henry J. Haskell. 
 Editorial Rooms, 
 The Kansas City Star. 
 
ERRATA 
 P. 179, col. 2, 11. 2-3: read imitative, not initiative. 
 P. 359: Transpose heading, "A Journalist's Testament, 
 the large type. • 
 
 P. 363, col. 2, bottom: read Villard, not Willard. 
 
 to follow 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Part I: Theory and Practice 
 
 ^ Page Page 
 
 Chapter I. Editorial manner and style 3 ^ Chapter VI. Editorial of interpretation 68 
 
 The distinctive editorial manner— Instruction through interpretation — 
 
 Simplicity and directness— Clarity Modern interpretive spirit— News- 
 
 of idea and expression— Imperson- storv as a parallel— Varied plan 
 
 alism — Authoritative manner — R^- though one purpose — Plans that can 
 
 sponsibility of editorial-writer — ^ utilized 
 
 ilerdse'T^'^.l .!^.^!'!'!^^.^. '. '. '. '. '. *. '. *. '. '. '. 13 Representative editorilTs , 70 
 
 Exercises , 88 
 
 Chapter II. Peg-hung editorial 15 
 
 Peg as text or starting-point — Time- ^ Chapter VII. Controversial editorial - . 90 
 
 liness and interest — Individual page Editorials to influence reader's atti- 
 standards — Misleading the reader — tude — Foundation of reason, not pas- 
 Art of the timely slant — Unindicated sion — Range of debatable subjects — 
 pegs. Dependence on statable proposition — 
 
 Editorial of formal argument — 
 
 Representative editorials 18 Modifying the formal argument — 
 
 Exercises 26 Argument without its form — Satire, 
 
 i^L * TTT rriu *■ A'* .; 1 oT sarcHsm , aud irouy — Invective and de- 
 Chapter III. Three-part editorial 27 Tinnpintinn 
 
 Editorial variety and range— Instruc- nunciaiion 
 
 tional function of the editorial — _ ^ i.- j-i. • i oo 
 
 1 hree-part prepositional plan— Representative editorials 93 
 
 . Exercises 106 
 
 Representative editorials 28 ^ ,...,.«„ 
 
 Exercises 37 Chapter VIII. Serious essay-editorial. 108 
 
 _- ^ _-- -, J-. . 1 J J- Essay in journalistic garb — Adapting 
 Chapter IV. News-editorial and edi- ^^^ essay-Definition of essay-Brit- 
 tonal of news summary . . 38 .^ j ^^ essays-American tend- 
 Lack of structural categories-Three- ency-Kinds of serious essay-edito^ 
 part structure not enough-News edi- ^.J, conspectus; criticism-Subjects 
 tonal defined-Kmds of news-edito. treatment-Essays of contro- 
 r^al-News-editorial <>f ^^^J^^ry— ^^^^.^^ trend-Essays of reflection- 
 News summary-and-comment- Position assigned such editorials- 
 Representative editorials 40 Free composition processes- 
 
 Representative editorials Ill 
 
 Chapter V. Summarizing editorial of Exerci<=;es 127 
 
 survfey and review 51 
 
 Non-news editorials of summary— Chapter IX. Casual essay-editorial . . 129 
 From news to review and survey— Casual ("familiar") essay character- 
 Need of reading— Information from ized — Eighteenth-century models— 
 non-printed sources— Distance be- Twentieth-century dress— Free form 
 
 tween news-summary and summaries ^^ editorial 
 
 of review — Scope of survey-editorials 
 
 Representative edit^riSs 53 Representative editorials 129 
 
 Exercises 65 Exercises J^^u 
 
v»- CONTENTS 
 
 habitol moTd^n'edtelVag^^Fitf a^'*'r^n^S^^ implication or sly 
 
 ting mood to purpose- */T;Apt --'og-AjPhonsm, satire 
 
 fct?s*"''r^''!'°.""^: ::::::;:::: 111 f-<='-^ ~ iw 
 
 Chapter XI. Home-subject editorial . . 154 M^^P^^^ XIII. Writer of editorials. . . 170 
 
 Home-community spirit— Past neglect if Editorial type of mind— Demands of 
 of home news— Growth of interest in m editorial-writing— Philosophical mind 
 home news— Growth of the home-in- M —Scientific attitude— Interpretive in- 
 terest editorial— Home subjects in ff stinct — Leanings of the litterateur- 
 metropolitan papers— Available home i| Practicality— Educational needs of 
 subjects— Business— Community wel- I the editorial-writer— Two chief edu- 
 
 fare— Country and farm — Problems eating influences — The cultural aim 
 
 of self-government — Manner and . Disciplinary studies— Subjects that de- 
 mood m the home editorial— Contro- ^ velop ideals— Pursuit of general ed- 
 versial editorials for home readers— ucation— Studies for general educa- 
 Avoidmg ill feeling— tion— "Historical" group— "Scientific' 
 
 Representative .m^U 158 l^^^'^^^^tA-^AfZ^'^^ 
 
 Uixercises 164 fessional training— Intensive train- 
 
 Chapter XII "Paragraph." squib, or J^^hlol ^'&taoct"-Kri 
 
 smpmgr-shot 165 job— vxcotmg 
 
 Part II: Additional Specimens 
 
 Editorials for analysis and criticism 177 
 
 British editorial articles • 331 
 
 Part III: Supplementary Theory and Study 
 
 1. Ideals, sidelights and hints. 
 -^11. Outline for study. 
 III. Representative editorial pages. 
 
Part I 
 Theory and Practice 
 
 s 
 le 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 STYLE AND MANNER 
 
 Distinctive tone and manner. — 
 
 When one opens a treatise upon 
 science after reading one upon history 
 (let us say), he is immediately aware 
 of its different tone and manner. If 
 he then take up a book of essays, he 
 finds that the tone and manner of 
 the essay-collection are unlike those 
 either of the historical or the scien- 
 tific works. 
 
 He will find corresponding differ- 
 ences if he turn to a narrative of 
 travels, from that to a volume of ser- 
 mons, and from the serm.ons to a col- 
 lection of decisions by the courts-of- 
 law. Every category of writing is 
 thus characterized by a standard tone 
 and manner, distinguishably its own 
 in treatment and expression. 
 
 This distinguishing standard is de- 
 termined partly by the kind of sub- 
 ject-matter treated by that class of 
 writing, and the attitude of mind de- 
 manded thereby; partly by the pur- 
 pose of the writing ; and partly by the 
 class of persons to be addressed. 
 
 Editorial-writing is no exception to 
 this rule; for though it deals with 
 many kinds of subjects, and though 
 the individual editorials often differ 
 widely from one another in method 
 and in manner, yet they observe cer- 
 tain general requirements that are 
 fundamental and unmistakable. Hence 
 they reveal a characteristic general 
 tone and manner sufficiently peculiar 
 to their class to distinguish them 
 clearly from other kinds of writing. 
 
 Simplicity and directness. — The 
 first characterizing quality of good 
 editorial-writing is simplicity and di- 
 rectness of diction. The long sentence 
 is used sparingly. The congested and 
 
 the complicated sentence are scrupu- 
 lously excluded. The more artificial 
 forms (such as the periodic and the 
 balanced sentence, especially the rhe- 
 torical sentence of carefully-balanced 
 parallel constructions) are introduced 
 only after the effect they will have 
 has been carefully estimated. 
 
 An easy, finished, informal and yet 
 dignified colloquial sentence is the fa- 
 vorite, such as may be met with in 
 the conversation of educated persons 
 without taint of pedantry or affecta- 
 tion, or in careful and self-respecting 
 business correspondence. 
 
 The vocabulary likewise is direct 
 and simple. Words are chosen for 
 clearness, for precision, to a consider- 
 able extent for brevity and vigor, and 
 never for mere ornamentation or dis- 
 play. 
 
 The editorial-article, indeed, repre- 
 sents one of the most effective appli- 
 cations of Herbert Spencer's prin- 
 ciples of "economy," formulated in 
 his "Philosophy of Style." 
 
 Clarity. — Owing to its directness 
 and simplicity of diction, the edito- 
 rial-article is characterized by notable 
 clarity, not only of treatment, but of 
 idea and of thought. Direct and 
 simple expression is not possible be- 
 fore the thought itself is clear in the 
 v/riter's mind. 
 
 Impersonalism. — Another charac- 
 teristic quality of the present-day edi- 
 torial is impersonalism. The edito- 
 rial-article, like the news-story, usual- 
 ly excludes outward suggestion of the 
 person who writes it; in authorship 
 and approach, it often is almost as 
 impersonal as the formulas in the 
 pharmacopeia. 
 
EDITOEIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Time v/as wh«n ^ ihe : contrary of 
 this was true. The editorial Columns 
 reeked with a kind of personaHsm, 
 often expressed in the worst kind of 
 personalities. Those were the days 
 of "personal journalism," in which 
 the paper was regarded as the organ 
 of its editor, and not infrequently 
 was prostituted to the carrying on of 
 his individual or party feuds. 
 
 But when our journals discovered 
 not only the educative, but also the 
 commercial value of news, and be- 
 came purveyors of timely informa- 
 tion, the editorial columns had to 
 change likewise. There was a de- 
 mand for impersonal discussion of 
 what appeared in the news-columns, 
 and the editorial-writers were obliged 
 to supply it. The now less com- 
 mon ^'impersonal editorial We*' at one 
 time represented a stage in the tran- 
 sition to the present manner, which 
 ordinarily sanctions no nearer ap- 
 proach to indicating the source of the 
 article than the insertion of the name 
 of the paper itself (as in "The Star 
 has always urged . . .").* 
 
 *In other words as the changes went on the indi- 
 viduality of the writer was submerged by and merged 
 in the individuality of the paper itself. There is now 
 a tendency to print signed e<]itorials. The signed 
 articles, however, are usually written by men of great 
 prominence, and are so published just for that rea- 
 son. Mr. Roosevelt, after his retirement from the 
 presidency, became one of the editors of The Outlook, 
 and a contributing editor to The Metropolitan Maga- 
 zine ; Mr. Taft writes articles to be syndicated to the 
 press under his name. Writers like these must be re- 
 garded as exceptions to the rule. 
 
 Anthoritative manner. — Again, the 
 editorial article is characterized by a 
 sort of judicial manner; it "speaks as 
 one having authority," though not 
 dictatorially nor presumptuously. The 
 reason for this attitude and tone is 
 apparent. The paper, and not any 
 one person engaged in producing it, is 
 now the power behind the editorial, 
 and the article represents the paper, 
 not the person. Representing the 
 views and wisdom of the journal it- 
 self, it not only must be impersonal in 
 
 tone ; it must assume also the attitude 
 of assured authority. Written other- 
 wise, it would lose much of its im- 
 pressiveness and influence. 
 
 Responsibility of the editorial- 
 writer. — This fact imposes a great 
 responsibility and obligation on the 
 editorial-writer. What is printed as 
 the view of the journal for which he 
 works has far more weight than it 
 would have were it printed as the 
 view merely of the individual. 
 
 By every consideration of honesty, 
 therefore, the editorial-writer is 
 bound to be fair, just, accurate, truth- 
 ful, and conscientious alike in his in- 
 formation, in his premises, in his as- 
 sertions, in his conclusions, and in the 
 teachings and appeals he bases on 
 them. 
 
 There is no worse offender against 
 the individual or the nation than a 
 slovenly, lazy, indifferent, low-idealed, 
 loose-thinking, or dishonest writer of 
 published editorials. 
 
 Schema. — The characteristics of 
 the editorial style and manner are : 
 
 1. Simplicity and directness of 
 diction. 
 
 2. Clarity of idea and clarity of 
 treatment. 
 
 3. Non-personal tone. 
 
 4. Authoritative attitude. 
 Representative editorials. — ^These 
 
 four qualities — directness and sim- 
 plicity of diction ; clarity of treatment 
 and of idea; impersonalism ; authori- 
 tative manner — are to be aimed at in 
 far the greater part of editorial-writ- 
 ing. They can be studied in the edi- 
 torials that here follow. 
 
 DEACON WILL H. HAYS 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. Will H. Hays, chairman of the Na- 
 tional Republican Committee, has been elect- 
 ed and installed a deacon in the Presbyterian 
 Church in his home town in Indiana. He 
 succeeds his father in that church office, 
 which is subordinate to the minister and 
 elders and has to do with the communion 
 services and charitable activities. 
 
STYLE AND MANNER 
 
 5 
 
 2. It is good to know this. Men in high 
 tlace who deserve and accept service in 
 hurch organizations are shining examples 
 o their countrymen, too many of whom are 
 trangers to all direct religious influences, 
 ind go through life content with material 
 uccesses alone. 
 
 1. Is there a good reason why the first sentence 
 hould not be two sentences, thus? — "Will H. Hays, 
 hairman of the National Republican Committee, is 
 . deacon. He has been elected and installed by the 
 'resbyterian Church in his home town in Indiana." 
 )iscuss the two openings. Wherein does the au- 
 horitative attitude of this editorial reveal itself? 
 
 CURSES NOT LOUD, BUT DEEP 
 
 Kansas City Times. 
 
 1. A writer in an agricultural paper who 
 ;elt inclined to ruminate a little at the 
 >reakfast table one morning, figured on the 
 ;ost, original and otherwise, of a certain 
 ^puffed" article which he was eating. The 
 irticle, "increased to eight times its orig- 
 nal size," according to the label on the box, 
 •etailed for 15 cents per 4-ounce box. 
 
 2. Now, from a bushel of wheat which 
 jost the manufacturer $2.26, just $36 worth 
 Df the puffed commodity was made. The 
 farmer tempted into buying some of the 
 final product of his $2 a bushel wheat, paid 
 a final retail price of $36. 
 
 3. A Florida grower, according to the 
 same writer, sold his grapefruit at 3 cents 
 each and then made a little trip on which 
 he found that he had to pay 20 cents for 
 half a grapefruit on the train. 
 
 4. Obviously, there is something deep 
 and strange about all this if one could just 
 find it out. But he can't fathom it, so he 
 just says things to himself, as we all do. 
 
 Decide what in this editorial gives it the effect of 
 being authoritative. Is it the array of definite 
 figures ? 
 
 Can t4 here be tenned impersonal in expression at 
 the end? Is an editorial always impliedly an address 
 to the reader, which may occasionally lapse into direct 
 discourse? Or are these four words merely a col- 
 loquial way of saying, "It is a situation that has pro- 
 duced universal resentment" ? 
 
 NEW TIMES, NEW MEASURES 
 
 New York Evening Post 
 
 1. After the Irish Home Rule bill passed 
 the second reading in the Commons by a 
 tremendous majority, one Unionist was 
 heard saying to another in the lobby: "I 
 little thought that I should live to vote for 
 Home Rule for Ireland." The other's reply 
 was: "Times have changed." They surely 
 have. One of the Unionists who voted for 
 the bill was Austen Chamberlain, son of 
 Joseph. What would the father's feelings 
 have been if he could have revisited the pale 
 glimpses of the House of Commons ? 
 
 2. Joseph Chamberlain's life is about to 
 be written. The task has been confided by 
 the family to Mr. J. L. Garvin. An Irish 
 biographer, he will undoubtedly throw full 
 light upon Chamberlain's break with Glad- 
 stone over Irish Home Rule. It was dis- 
 creetly treated by John Morley in his "Life 
 of Gladstone," less so by Barry O'Brien in 
 his "Life of Parnell." Joseph Chamberlain, 
 by the way, was a warm friend and ad- 
 mirer of John Morley, despite their sharp 
 political differences. He once told Morley 
 that he usually carried a volume of his when 
 he went off on a speaking tour. What was 
 the book? Probably, "On Compromise." 
 
 Editorials such as this will repay the study neces- 
 sary to appreciate their compactness of thought and 
 expression. The ability, in phrasing thought, to pack 
 much into a few words, and yet to keep all clear, is 
 tbe^re evidence of a disciplined mind. 
 
 V J FINANCING THE BONUS 
 
 \J^ New York Times 
 
 1. Aside from the question of whether 
 the sound in body and the employed should 
 be presented with substantial sums of 
 money, or be otherwise rewarded for mil- 
 itary service to save America from a power- 
 ful and predatory enemy, it is plain to the 
 simplest understanding that no plan of tax- 
 ation that has been proposed to find the 
 money for bonuses is free from grave objec- 
 tions. Sixty-eight republican members have 
 signed a "round robin" protesting against a 
 tax on sales, because it would bear too 
 heavily upon the consumers. The proposal 
 to increase income surtaxes also encounters 
 opposition, and it is doubtful if the money 
 required could be raised in that way. A 
 new excess profits tax working retroactively 
 is altogether impracticable. Moreover, if 
 authorized, it would prove a "knockout" for 
 business, which is now slowly getting to its 
 feet. 
 
 2. So far no practical method of raising 
 a sufficiency of revenue to pay the bonuses 
 has been conceived, none will stand the test 
 of analysis by treasury experts. The repub- 
 licans who gayly promised the ex-service 
 men the legislation they wanted now find 
 that politics does not always mix well with 
 revenue finance, and their dilemma would be 
 diverting if the matter were not so serious. 
 
 HI. Try breaking up the first sentence into two or 
 three. Is there a gain in clarity? Are the items of 
 argrument made more distinct to the reader? la there 
 a loss in close-connectedness of thought? 
 
 JAPAN'S BIGGEST CORPORATION 
 
 Columbus Dispatch 
 
 1. We in this country suppose that we 
 have some pretty fair-sized corporations; in- 
 deed, most of us have been supposing all 
 along that we had the biggest corporations 
 
6 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 in the world. But, nothing of the kind! 
 Here comes an article concerning a Jap- 
 anese corporation that causes our own great 
 aggregations or associations of capital to 
 seem small by comparison. 
 
 2. The Japanese corporation is called the 
 Mitsui Busan Kaisha. It comes as nearly 
 dealing in everything as any other corpora- 
 tion on earth. It makes and buys and sells 
 silks and steel products — and everything in 
 between. It owns railroads and steamships 
 and mills and mines and farms and banks 
 and stores and hotels. It transacts business 
 in every country under the sun and has em- 
 ployees that speak every known language. 
 
 3. The main offices of the corporation are 
 like a great international court, with experts 
 from every land, familiar with the people of 
 all nations, and reports from the four cor- 
 ners of the earth pour in to the general 
 managers daily. 
 
 4. All of which is here mentioned simply 
 to call attention to the fact that we do not 
 possess on this side of the ocean a copyright 
 of organization nor a patent of greatness. 
 
 ^1. Does the "we" mean the editor, or is it used 
 merely as a more intimate way of saying "the people 
 of the United States"? Can it he accurately said 
 that editorials may be intimate in manner without 
 becominR personal? (The truth of this distinction 
 can be tested by considering the jokes in a humorous 
 journal like Life ; they are intimate in tone, but not 
 personal — on the contrary, very impersonal — in tone 
 and expression. 
 
 TO INDIA'S CORAL STRAND 
 
 The Delineator 
 
 1. Comes now to our desk a little mag- 
 azine, The Woman Missionary's Friend, pub- 
 lished in Waltham, Massachusetts. It 
 doesn't sound thrilling, does it? Yet, do 
 you remember how Kipling's Kim intrigued 
 your fancy? Do you recall how Kipling 
 brought to the very door-step of your 
 imagination the sound and scents and sights 
 of India? 
 
 2. Here, then, is a little monthly that 
 brings word in intimate, homely detail of the 
 Christian missionaries in Kim's country. 
 Somebody writes from Lucknow of the in- 
 fluenza plague that burned as fiercely there 
 as here. Another tells the pathetic story of 
 a little low-caste Hindu girl named Chan- 
 darmani. Chandarmani, little and neglected, 
 who lives in Cawnpore, India! Some one 
 else tells of a trip through the Ichang 
 Gorge on the way to Chungking in western 
 China. 
 
 3. V/onderful women, these missionaries, 
 who give their lives to carrying the Chris- 
 tian God to far places; brave beyond our 
 stay-at-home understanding; wise, we sur- 
 mise, beyond our limited conceptions; un- 
 sung except for casual mention in casual 
 
 report. We are yet very sure that the world 
 has marched upward on the sacrifices of such 
 as they. 
 
 Another editorial that is intimate, yet non-personal. 
 
 HE HUGHES TO THE LINE NOW 
 
 Chicago Evening Post 
 
 1. Charles E. Hughes may not have as- 
 sayed 100 per cent as a presidential candi- 
 date back in 1916, but as a lawyer and as a 
 money-getter in the legal field it doesn't 
 seem he has any serious competitors. 
 
 2. Friends of the former Republican can- 
 didate say his income is $1,000,000 a year. 
 If he really makes that $1,000,000, Hughes 
 is making more out of strictly legal work 
 than any other lawyer in this country. 
 
 3. Hughes' present income is in striking 
 contrast to what he received as a justice of 
 the United States Supreme Court. That 
 position pays $14,500 a year. When Hughes 
 was defeated for the presidency some said 
 he made a mistake in resigning from the 
 Supreme Court in order to run. But did he ? 
 
 4. What really happened in November, 
 1916, was that the voters of this country — 
 and particularly the voters of California 
 — kicked Hughes upstairs into a position 
 about sixty times what his former one had 
 yielded. 
 
 5. So busy is Hughes' law office on lower 
 Broadway that attorneys say he has enough 
 work on hand and offered him to keep him 
 busy for a hundred years. 
 
 ^"5s, He'll be very lucky if he gets to finish 
 it. He was 58 years old on April 11. 
 
 This editorial probably takes its tone of half-cyni- 
 cal, half-contemptuous colloquialism from the fact 
 that it deals v;ith merely material success. Tlte com- 
 piler makes a guess that the Post writer respects Mr. 
 Hughes's ability and has _ a kindly feeling for Mr. 
 Hughes personally, but that he is "shy" of en- 
 thusiasm for Mr. Hughes's career "as a money-getter 
 in the legal field." Observe, however, that this im- 
 pression has to be gathered by inference from the 
 undertone of the editorial. In expression and all 
 other externals, the editorial is thoroughly impersonal 
 
 in method and manner. An example of reversed 
 
 newspeg position (see Chapter II) ; the news item 
 suggesting the editorial is mentioned in 116, not in f 1. 
 
 WOOD THE CAMPAIGNER 
 
 Minneapolis Journal 
 
 1. General Wood is a plain, blunt sol- 
 dier who talks in short, jolty sentences. 
 Every sentence packs an idea. He holds his 
 audiences without any of the usual arts of 
 the platform orator. He stands up and in 
 a clear, carrying voice clips out his remarks 
 without a gesture, his hands generally be- 
 hind his back, occasionally his right punch- 
 ing an idea home. Men who have been with 
 him throughout his trips say never in an 
 audience is there coughing or scuffling of 
 feet, nothing but keen-edged attention to a 
 speaker who seems to be in deadly earnest. 
 
STYLE AND MANNER 
 
 2. In conversation his utterance is the 
 same — short, crisp, pithy, no excess baggage 
 on any of his sentences. He has a chest like 
 a barrel, a massive face, and a steel blue 
 eye. His endurance is remarkable. On one 
 of his Dakota trips he went seventy-two 
 hours with only nine hours sleep, and at the 
 end made an appointment by d];jving through 
 a blizzard on a handcar. On his trips he 
 exercises sitting down. 
 
 3. On the train he goes through muscle 
 flexing exercises without moving in his seat. 
 And he is "mentally ambidextrous," to use 
 the phrase of a newspaper correspondent 
 who traveled with him for six weeks — he 
 can dictate to a stenographer and talk to a 
 visitor at the same time without getting his 
 correspondence and his conversation mixed 
 up. Eighteen hours a day at his desk is- a 
 usual thing with him. 
 
 Here the first two sentences describe the editorial 
 itself. Study its diction and style throughout. 
 
 RECOGNIZING THE NEW ERA 
 
 St. Louis Globe-Democrat 
 
 1. Chile voluntarily proposes to let Bo- 
 livia come again into possession of a strip 
 of territory that gives access to the sea. 
 Some years ago, by hostile operations, Chile 
 wrested this land from Bolivia and Peru, and 
 the main purpose was to take control of rich 
 nitrate deposits. By treaty Chile agreed to 
 submit the territorial dispute to a vote of 
 the inhabitants, but by tactics of delay and 
 evasion this test has not been made. 
 
 2. It is gratifying to note that Chile sees 
 a new light in the settlement of such con- 
 troversies. This one originated in the 
 predatory use of force and in the old system 
 of crooked diplomatic schemes. The nitrate 
 beds are valuable. Money profits in con- 
 trolling them was the allurement in one of 
 the little wars. Another armed struggle 
 was likely to grow out of it. At all events, 
 there was a sense of injury, a dangerous 
 difference among adjoining nations. A 
 despoiler is not easily forgiven by those 
 whom he wrongs. 
 
 3. How completely Chile is converted to 
 the idea of a fair deal for Bolivia and Peru 
 remains to be seen, but the step taken is 
 hopeful and cheering. An error confessed is 
 indicated in the readjustment. Putting up 
 predatory jobs on other countries has gone 
 out of fashion. The game was prominent 
 among the causes of the war. Its practice 
 was even lauded as a controlling principle 
 of government and international custom. 
 
 4. How easy it is for nations to heal a 
 dispute when all are willing to be just! 
 
 11111-2. Note how simply and clearly the situation is 
 explained ; the essential facts in the plainest lan- 
 guage. Especially observe the compressed philosophy 
 at the end of 112. 
 
 THE FIUME QUESTION SETTLED 
 
 Springfield Republican 
 
 1. It is gratifying news that Italy and 
 Jugoslavia have privately reached an agree- 
 ment in regard to Fiume, and there is no 
 little interest in the fact that left to them- 
 selves they have fallen back upon President 
 Wilson's plan, including the setting up of a 
 buffer state. That neither country liked the 
 plan is not necessarily a condemnation; in 
 such cases neither disputant is likely to be 
 very cordial to any. plan which the other 
 side can be brought to accept. For both 
 sides to be somewhat dissatisfied is more 
 hopeful than for one side to be pleased and 
 the other side to be discontented to the point 
 of chronic hostility. 
 
 2. The Wilson plan gives Italy ample 
 security and at the same time affords, a 
 basis for amicable relations. It is highly 
 probable that the settlement shows among 
 other things that both countries, in view of 
 the way things are going in the near East, 
 feel the necessity of patching up their dis- 
 pute and acting together in matters of com- 
 mon interest. 
 
 3. There are some signs that Italy is 
 coming to be even more concerned over the 
 Turkish question than over the Adriatic; 
 Premier Nitti is predicting a war in Asia 
 Minor for which "Italy will not send a single 
 soldier." But Greece will and no doubt the 
 prosperity of Greek imperialism contributes 
 to the eminently satisfactory settlement of 
 the Fiume question. 
 
 111. Suppose sentence 1 to be rewritten thus: "Italy 
 and Jugoslavia have reached an agreement about 
 Fiume. Left to themselves they have fallen back 
 upon President Wilson's plan, including the setting 
 up of a buffer state.'! Is something gained, or some- 
 thing lost? As a general principle, would you judge 
 long sentences or short ones to be better at the 
 opening ? Compare the editorials Wood the Cam- 
 paigner, The Lesson of Frank Wermke, Routine Kills. 
 With Everybody's, The American Language, and that 
 on Mr. Howells. 
 
 THE FARMER'S SALARY 
 
 Louisville Courier-Journal 
 
 1. The Federal Department of Agricul- 
 ture makes a clear statement, which should 
 be pondered in industrial centers, when it 
 says its investigations show that the average 
 profit of an Iowa farmer; 1918, was $1124, 
 above interest at 5 per cent upon the invest- 
 ment in land and equipment. 
 
 2. In other words, the farmer's salary in 
 one of the best farming States in the Union 
 is, upon the average, about $21 a week. This 
 does not indicate a state of hardship to the 
 farmer who, let us say, has $10,000 invested, 
 owes nothing and works his own land. But 
 it shows why a little expansion of the wages 
 of farm labor where two men or more are 
 employed upon wages, would reduce the 
 
8 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 owner's return upon his own effort to a point 
 below the wages of his own farmhands. It 
 shows also that a farmer with $10,000 in- 
 vested, if he is a young man confident of his 
 ability to adapt himself to new duties, may 
 see greater opportunity in a city, and why 
 the farmhand is tempted to leave an occupa- 
 tion if the road to proprietorship is not a 
 royal one, and in which the proprietor does 
 not earn a large income. It shows why a 
 farmer with 200 acres employed in extensive 
 agriculture is inclined to reduce tillage rather 
 than feed an extra team, house and pay 
 an extra man, competing for labor with in- 
 dustrial centers upon the basis of wages now 
 paid. 
 
 3. The figures published by the Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture are designed to show 
 that the farmer is not gouging the con- 
 sumer. Inasmuch as the agricultural pro- 
 ducer cannot tag his produce and sell it at 
 his figures, must sell in a market over which 
 he exercises no control, he cannot gouge 
 anybody, but the prices he receives may be 
 increased by creation of conditions in in- 
 dustrial centers under which it grows harder 
 and harder to persuade intelligent men, 
 landed or landless, to regard farming as a 
 profitable calling. The nonproducing city 
 population gouges itself. 
 
 Ifl. Try the effect of making a new sentence at "It 
 says." 
 
 THE LESSON OF FRANK WERMKE 
 
 Kansas City Star 
 
 1. Prevention of the making of Frank 
 Wermkes is one of the problems presented 
 by the I. W. W. trial at Kansas City, Kas. 
 
 2. Wermke's is an old, old story. Mother 
 dead and deserted by father at the age of 
 5 years a state orphanage becomes his home. 
 Then follow periods of indenture to one 
 farmer and another, rebellion against his 
 treatment, the industrial school, and then 
 the reform school. Free from the institu- 
 tions, without home tie or friends, this "foot- 
 ball of society" drifts from an individual 
 migratory worker to a position as an I. W. W. 
 organization leader, and conducts a cam- 
 paign of sabotage and terror through the 
 wheat belt when the nation is calling for 
 increased production. 
 
 3. A kindly North Dakota judge gives 
 Wermke an opportunity to escape a jail sen- 
 tence and enter the army. He takes it, and 
 with thousands and hundreds of thousands 
 of other American boys sails for France to 
 fight for the government he would have over- 
 thrown. And this soldier — a mere accident 
 in the army from out of the ranks of the 
 I. W. W. "jungle" camps — returns home 
 with the courage of a new-found patriotism 
 and joins with the government's legal ma- 
 
 chinery to expose the reds in order that the 
 nation for which he had crossed the seas to 
 fight might cease to be menaced from within. 
 4. America is answering the challenge of 
 reds and radicals, speaking through organ- 
 izations largely composed of foreigners. But 
 Americanism must respond to Wermke's 
 story and give closer heed to prevent her 
 homeless boys and girls from falling victims 
 to agitators and red card revolutionists. 
 
 Note the direct, rapid language. (Are there any 
 grammatical misconstructions, the result of extreme 
 condensation ?) 
 
 MARSHALL AND TAGGART 
 
 Indianapolis News 
 
 1. In discussing the intimation that there 
 was a deal on between former Senator Tag- 
 gart and Boss Murphy, of New York, to 
 nominate Vice-President Marshall for the 
 presidency, Mr. Marshall yesterday spoke 
 with great frankness, and, as those familiar 
 with conditions know, told the exact truth. 
 Here is his statement: 
 
 I think Tom Taggart made a good, 
 clean, competent senator. He is a busi- 
 ness man and believes in business meth- 
 ods and if we had had him here during 
 the war, he would have done a great 
 deal to see that things were run on a 
 business basis. He likes to boss and 
 name candidates, and all that, but he is 
 not a candidate for office for the money 
 he will get out of it. I can say that 
 without hesitation. But as far as pol- 
 itics goes, we have never played the 
 same game and I have never followed 
 his leadership. I do not believe in the 
 kind of politics that he believes in. 
 2. This was not intended to be a reflec- 
 tion on Mr. Taggart. It is simply a pointing 
 out of the differences between the two men, 
 one of whom trusts in politics largely to 
 ideas, while the other relies largely on man- 
 agement. Yet during his brief term in the 
 senate Mr. Taggart showed that he was 
 something more than a mere manager, and 
 it may be that as a result of that experience 
 ne has got the larger view. If so, the two 
 men are not after all so far apart. As to 
 the story of the supposed deal, the Vice- 
 President said: "It is all bosh." If New 
 York decides to support Mr. Marshall there 
 is no way in which he can prevent it from 
 doing so. It is the simple truth to say that 
 he has not turned a hand to get the nomina- 
 tion. He refused to allow his name to go 
 before the primary in his own state, and gen- 
 erally speaking has seemed more interested 
 in repelling than in seeking support. Some- 
 times this is the kind of a man a party likes 
 to nominate. 
 
 J 
 
STYLE AND MANNER 
 
 h2. Count the words in each sentence, setting down 
 ;the numbers in a row. Draw one line over each one 
 tstanding for a short sentence, three lines over each 
 indicating a long sentence, and two lines over the 
 medium-length numbers. Is there anything of a reg- 
 iilar alternation of shorter with longer sentences ? 
 Try the test on other smooth-reading editorials. 
 
 ROUTINE KILLS! 
 
 The Etude 
 
 1. Once in awhile we gently purloin an 
 editorial which is too good to pass. Here is 
 one that is particularly good for music 
 teachers — who are often far too prone to 
 fall into a rut. It is from Prof. Edgar 
 James Swift's excellent new book, "Psychol- 
 ogy and the Day's Work" (Charles Scrib- 
 ner's Sons). 
 
 2. "Routine kills. If it does not kill the 
 body it blunts its sensory edge. Response 
 to stimulation, both external and internal, 
 is slower and less efficient and it kills the 
 mind. The distinction from bodily death is 
 that he who is mentally dead thinks that he 
 is alive. A man who never or rarely takes a 
 vacation does things mechanically, does the 
 'next thing' mechanically and his digestion 
 works mechanically. The writer once saw a 
 motto on a business man's desk which read, 
 'Do the next thing.' Now, one who does the 
 'next thing' never gets anywhere. There is 
 no selection, no discrimination of values. A 
 startling change of environment, with its 
 necessary alteration of habits, throws one 
 out of gear for the moment. That is its 
 value both bodily and mentally. The things 
 that one has been doing are no longer a 
 part of oneself because one can no longer do 
 them. So a man is able to view them objec- 
 tively. He has a better perspective. He 
 sees proportions more clearly. The worries 
 of business are not as troublesome, since he 
 sees that some of the matters are not so 
 important as he thought when he stood 
 facing them. Their magnitude diminishes 
 with distance. Other things settle them- 
 selves; this mental composure acts benefi- 
 cially upon digestion. Change of scene ani- 
 mates the mind by relieving it of the weari- 
 ness of 'the same old things;' and the mental 
 refreshment puts one into condition to an- 
 ticipate one's meals. Later, on returning, 
 the old takes on a new look, and the man 
 begins his work with more alert judgment 
 because his metabolism is improved. William 
 James once shocked certain Puritanic, naive 
 people, devoid of humor, by saying that even 
 a spree has its value. Any break in routine 
 is refreshing, and the sharper the break the 
 better." 
 
 3. Why not plan now for a vacation (if 
 even but one day in length) that will be a 
 very marked change. You will never re- 
 gret it. 
 
 t2. Try here the test explained in the note oa Mar- 
 shall and Taggart. 
 
 16-TO-l REALIZED 
 
 Pittsburgh Gazette-Times 
 
 1. In London the market value of silver 
 bullion has advanced to a premium over the 
 Engish mint price, and it is now profitable 
 to melt coin and convert it into bullion. 
 Fractional silver currency has become so 
 scarce in France that Paris shopkeepers are 
 resorting to postage stamps and scrip in 
 making change. In New York the price of 
 the metal is about $1.28 an ounce, and it 
 would have to advance only a cent and a 
 quarter to raise the value of the bullion in 
 a silver dollar to the gold-dollar basis, thus 
 restoring the 16-to-l parity of the metals. 
 The price of the bullion in subsidiary coins, 
 however, would have to advance to $1.38 be- 
 fore it would be profitable to throw the 
 dimes, quarters and halves into the melting 
 pot. In that event our Government would 
 probably be compelled to issue fractional 
 paper currency — known in the old days as 
 "shinplasters" — in order to supply the de- 
 mand for "change." 
 
 2. Since April, 1918, the supply of silver 
 dollars held in the Federal Treasury against 
 silver certificates has decreased 280,000,000, 
 representing silver dollars melted down to 
 produce bullion to send to the silver-using 
 countries of Europe. The price of silver 
 has more than doubled since the outbreak 
 of the war, due first to the greater demand 
 and second to the reduction in supply of 
 American mines on account of labor strikes 
 and curtailment of operations at copper 
 mines whose ores carry a considerable per- 
 centage of the white metal. 
 
 3. Many middle-aged and elderly men 
 can recall their first experience with the use 
 of silver coin as money. That was in 1879, 
 when specie payments were resumed in the 
 United States. "Hard" money had disap- 
 peared during the Civil War, and a week or 
 so before the date fixed for the resumption 
 of specie payments, stores, barber shops and 
 saloons in Pittsburg and other cities dis- 
 played signs in their windows stating that 
 on the designated date customers presenting 
 a paper dollar in payment of a purchase 
 would receive a certain part of the change 
 in silver. By the way, that was a time when 
 a dollar had some purchasing power, and 
 change naturally attended its use. Now- 
 adays a different sign is posted, at least by 
 retail grocers — namely, that with the pur- 
 chase of a dollar's worth of goods which you 
 have no immediate use for, you may gain 
 the privilege of buying a pound of sugar. 
 
10 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 The easy manner of the educated man dealing 
 colloquially with a subject of interest about which 
 he is well informed. In ^3, the writer is probably 
 depending on his own remembrance; but observe how 
 he avoids the appearance of personal reminiscence 
 and conveys the impression of historical statement 
 (authority). 
 
 ECONOMY IN CLOTHING 
 
 San Francisco Bulletin 
 
 1. If we are out after the high cost of 
 living, why be content to bind his body with 
 overalls, to kick him in the shins with 
 wooden shoes, or to get his scalp with an 
 old rag hat? Why not get him around the 
 neck and strangle him with a paper collar? 
 
 2. The high cost of high linen and cotton 
 collars is not the least of our burdens, and 
 then think of the soaring charges of the 
 laundry men. It takes almost as much to 
 ransom our collars from the laundry as to 
 ransom a rich American in Mexico. In fact, 
 only the rich can afford to pay for the return 
 of their collars. 
 
 3. All this might be solved if some enter- 
 prising manufacturer, taking his cue from 
 the return to overalls and wooden shoes, 
 were to put a paper collar on the market. 
 We wouldn't laugh at the wearer as we did 
 in the old days at the "masher," 
 
 With his penny paper collar round his 
 
 neck, 
 La de da. 
 
 4. On the contrary, we would welcome 
 him as a leader of the overallists. And what 
 might an advertising age not do with the 
 paper collar. If we are to go in for econ- 
 omy, why not let out the back of our neck 
 as a paper billboard? The nickel-nursers 
 who refuse to buy a paper and insist upon 
 looking over our shoulder might be content 
 to read the back of our neck and spare us 
 the wish for a gas-mask. 
 
 5. But on second thoughts the paper- 
 collar maker might also become a profiteer 
 and in apology for piratical prices tell us 
 about the high cost of paper. It's a sad 
 story, mates. 
 
 Endeavor to find why this editorial has the non- 
 personal tone. Is it — or is it not — explained by say- 
 ing that the editorial shows detachment? In 50 
 words, settle the inquiry. 
 
 HIGH PRICES AND PROFITEERING 
 
 The Country Gentleman 
 
 1. Most of the newspaper reports and 
 most of the news about prospective govern- 
 mental operations seem to assume that our 
 high prices are due wholly to illegitimate 
 practices in trade and to conscious profiteer- 
 ing. 
 
 2. That there is profiteering no sane man 
 will deny, but there are other causes for 
 high prices which ought to be understood; 
 and not all trade practices that tend to in- 
 
 crease costs can be called profiteering. Foi 
 example, prices are high everjnvh^e noW>_ 
 as they always are after a war; a fafet that 
 is due largely to reduced production and in- 
 sufiicient supply. The only wonder now is; 
 that prices are not higher than they are i>nd^ 
 that supplies are as nearly sufficient as thej' ' 
 seem to be. | 
 
 3. Again, prices are high and will con-' 
 tinue high while this war debt hangs over 
 our heads unpaid — unless temporarily we go 
 through a period of depression, and if we do 
 that we shall likely starve and freeze like 
 the rest of the world — for this debt must be 
 paid out of our savings or else out of our 
 extra earnings, and nobody seems inclined 
 just now toward extra earnings. 
 
 4. A few months ago an agent of a pop- 
 ular but standard watch visited a retail 
 jeweler. "Nothing in your line today," re- 
 marked the retailer. "Did I ask to sell any- 
 thing?" replied the traveling representative 
 of the company. "I am here to buy. I will 
 give you the retail price for any watch you 
 have in stock. We cannot fill our war order.s 
 and price is no consideration. 
 
 5. Let us analyze this transaction. The 
 company was out picking up stock. It must 
 pay the salary and traveling expenses of 
 the one it sent to find the watches. The re- 
 tailer upon the other hand could not be ex- 
 pected to part with his stock, which was 
 also in demand — for everybody bought free- 
 ly during the war — unless he would get his 
 usual profits or nearly so at least, for he 
 not only had his gains to look after, but his 
 customers to serve lest he lose them to his 
 competitors. 
 
 6. Here now is a transaction perfectly 
 natural and legitimate, but which was bound 
 to add five or ten dollars to the cost of every 
 watch. Yet there was no profiteering. 
 
 7. The same principle applies to food but, 
 as with watches, only when the supply is 
 low. For example, a retail grocer in the 
 same town with the jeweler was offered a 
 twenty-five per cent advance if he would 
 cancel an order for canned goods. Here was 
 his opportunity to get his profits without 
 handling the goods. He refused just as the 
 jeweler did, and for the same reason — in 
 order to serve his customers. 
 
 8. We cannot get away from the old and 
 fundamental fact that when the seller seeks 
 the buyer prices tend downward, but when 
 the buyer seeks the seller they will go up 
 as sure as heated air rises over a fire, and 
 no power on the earth or under the earth or 
 above the earth can prevent it. 
 
 9. Another fact is fundamental, too. 
 When the supply is short the buyer will seek 
 the seller, and if the buyer is hungry enough 
 
STYLE AND MANNER 
 
 11 
 
 he will go the length of his pocketbook in 
 closing a deal. 
 
 10. Of course, let clear cases of profiteer- 
 ing be prosecuted. Nothing is too bad for 
 any man who deliberately holds up supplies 
 and business now, but even this will have 
 little and only temporary effect upon high 
 prices. It may keep them from soaring to 
 impossible heights at any given moment, but 
 the only final remedy for high prices is the 
 one The Country Gentleman has so often 
 emphasized, namely, increased production. 
 
 11. Even so, we may not expect prewar 
 prices in food any more than we may expect 
 prewar prices in clothing or other commodi- 
 ties. Not only that, but we must be pre- 
 pared for relatively high prices at least until 
 our war debt is paid. In the meantime, let's 
 all go to work and be as sensible as possible 
 under the irritating conditions that always 
 follow war. 
 
 This editorial has the manner of authority. It dis- 
 cusses its theme with quiet assuredness, such as would 
 be produced by clear understanding of the subject, 
 adequate command of data to make the matter plain, 
 and confidence in the soundness of one's position, 
 
 WITH EVERYBODY'S PUBLISHERS 
 
 Everybody's Magazine 
 
 1. How seldom we read the names Smith, 
 Brown, Robinson, among those of speakers 
 at a Madison Square Garden or Central Hall 
 meeting of "radicals!" Plain Americans are 
 not in demand at such meetings either as 
 speakers or as audience. 
 
 2. They persist in a disheartening con- 
 tentment with American institutions and the 
 American Constitution, as is. 
 
 3. And yet — we were informed a few 
 mornings ago by our newspapers that Madi- 
 son Square Garden rocked with the applause 
 that followed reference by a speaker of 
 Germanic descent, using broken English, to 
 the privileges "won by our forefathers at 
 Bunker Hill and Trenton." 
 
 4. Perhaps the speaker was a Hessian 
 and the privilege his forefather won was 
 that of contemplating the rest of the Revo- 
 lution as a guest of the Continentals. 
 
 5. The Garden must at times suffer 
 slightly from vertigo because of the amazing 
 variety of the forces which rock it. No 
 sooner had it attained a state of equilibrium 
 from the Revolutionary-forefather rocking, 
 than along came another speaker — oddly 
 enough also of German extraction — ^who, ac- 
 cording to the newspapers, set it swaying 
 again: "6,000 in frenzy as Blank prophesies 
 a Red Sea drowning for forces of Capi- 
 talism." 
 
 6. If the Smiths, Browns, et al., an^ poor 
 material for either speakers or audiences at 
 these meetings, it ought to follow that they 
 
 3 
 
 are not much good as timely and judicious 
 distributors of high explosives on the door- 
 steps of judges and other backward Ameri- 
 cans in high places. 
 
 7. And so it proves. For almost never 
 do we read these names among the elite in 
 this branch of elevating both the standard 
 of citizenship and citizens themselves. The 
 police, piecing together the fragments in 
 cases of poor timing by the distributor, 
 usually report him to have been "of a dis- 
 tinctly foreign tjrpe." 
 
 8. On the whole, then, it is a safe as- 
 sumption that the plain, ordinary American 
 is not liked by the alien agitator who 
 strives earnestly to make obvious his dis- 
 taste. How earnestly is evident from the 
 risks which the agitator runs in transport- 
 ing explosives here and there where dem- 
 onstrations seem to him imperative. 
 
 9. Under these circumstances and in the 
 face of such convincing proof of distaste on 
 the part of the agitator, it is striking testi- 
 mony of the forgiving spirit of the plain 
 American that he refuses to return distaste 
 for distaste, refuses to rock Madison Square 
 Garden with prophecies of Red Seas for 
 alien agitators, and never by any chance 
 enters seriously into the method of demon- 
 stration by high explosives. 
 
 10. And until we see on the law books 
 an immigration act which shall proportion 
 the admission of aliens of any European 
 race to the number of that race already 
 become American citizens, and until we shall 
 see the deportation of the highly paid Bol- 
 shevist propagandists who are now domiciled 
 comfortably off Fifth Avenue, while the sons 
 of mothers of Michigan and Wisconsin are 
 fighting and dying in northern Russia and 
 Siberia, we shall not lose faith in the vaunted 
 good nature of these plain Americans. 
 
 The characteristics of the editorial tone and style 
 are: 
 
 Simplicity and directness of diction. 
 Clarity of thought and treatment. 
 Non-personal attitude. 
 Authoritative manner. 
 Test this editorial for the presence, separately, of 
 each of these qualities. Is it a good example of the 
 
 editorial tone and style? (This editorial was 
 
 printed as a whole page, in display, with typelines set 
 to page width, in the Publishers' Department, preced- 
 ing the magazine pages proper.) 
 
 THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE 
 
 Fargo Courier-News 
 
 1. Some of our literati are worried over 
 the remarkable expressions used in news- 
 paper accounts of sports. A contemporary 
 quotes the following: 
 
 2. "He banged the sphere on the nose for 
 a complete circuit of the bags." Then he 
 asks: "What would Ben Franklin make of 
 that?" 
 
12 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 3. The answer is easy: Baseball was not 
 in Franklin's day. He would not understand 
 either the game or the description; how 
 could he ? 
 
 4. Other instances are giyen, usually 
 from the sport writers. But "we should 
 worry." The sport writers are not seriously 
 creating that modification of English which 
 is fast forming into the American language. 
 Most of these writers are smart young men 
 who try to see what unique and expressive 
 terms they can utilize, under the impression 
 that they are becoming great writers. And 
 like the summer girls or the shark epidemic, 
 they pass with the season. 
 
 5. Meanwhile, did you ever think that 
 language grows by slang? All nations and 
 all times have their slang. It can be de- 
 tected even in the scriptures and in the 
 classics of most ancient times. We hold no 
 brief for slang, but it is almost always born 
 in the effort to express graphically and 
 sententiously some striking fact. And after 
 its picturesqueness has brought it into gen- 
 eral use, it will be found creeping into "good 
 writing" and finally in the dictionaries. 
 Then you may use it without fear and silence 
 all objectors. 
 
 6. If language stuck to the classics it 
 would die — and that's exactly what ancient 
 tongues did, and so they are classics. 
 
 7. A robust, vigorous people will invent 
 slang which describes as no literary term 
 can possibly do. And as ours is a language 
 which, in accord with the piratical instincts 
 of the Anglo-Saxon, appropriated foreign 
 terms whenever and wherever the users of 
 it chose, it ill becomes us to excoriate those 
 who create rather than steal. 
 
 Comment that is judicious and intelligent always has 
 weight, for what seems sensible carries authority. 
 
 THE CHARM OF POE 
 
 Oklahoma City Oklahoma 
 
 1. The death of James Whitcomb Riley 
 reminded the world that the Hoosier poet 
 was born on the same day that Edgar Allan 
 Poe died; and that, together with the fact 
 that Riley first attracted general attention 
 by palming off some verses he had written, 
 as a Poe manuscript, has reawakened in- 
 terest in the tragic bard. 
 
 2. A strange character, Poe. Sometimes 
 it seems as if he never really lived, but just 
 played a grand and gloomy part. He is 
 recognized as the father of the American 
 short story, yet his detective tales, after all, 
 are just detective tales. He has written 
 some of the best known poems in our lan- 
 guage, but, despite that, his verse, if musical, 
 is mostly meaningless. His fame rests on 
 the bizarre and curious. He has no place in 
 the cosmopolitan fellowship of letters. He 
 
 does not compare with Whitman or Long- 
 fellow as a poet, nor with Hawthorne as a 
 writer of fiction. Nevertheless, he exercised 
 a greater influence on literature than any of 
 them. Browning, Tennyson, Swinburne, all 
 fell under his spell, as did also Baudelaire. 
 
 3. It seems to us that Poe is a good deal 
 like the measles or whooping-cough, without 
 which no childhood was complete. He was, 
 of course, an adolescent malady. We all had 
 to have our attack of Poe in those strange, 
 longing days of moods and mysteries. 
 Those days are gone. "Nevermore" can the 
 "Raven" thrill us from "that pallid bust of 
 Pallas." We sigh no longer for the "lost 
 Lenore." But once we did thrill and once 
 we did sigh; and for those memories and for 
 all the mighty host of Poe's purple dream- 
 ing, we * recall him gratefully, not as a 
 writer, but as a wonderful companion when 
 the world was young. 
 
 Another w^ay in which to describe what we mean 
 by the term "authoritative" is this: Evidencing a 
 right to speak by displaying knowledge of the sub- 
 ject and ability to deal instructively with it. 
 
 YOUTH AND THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL 
 
 Portland Oregonian 
 
 1. It would be informative, and other- 
 wise interesting, if we might have an in- 
 quiry to determine the reasons why the 
 young people do not turn out to Sunday- 
 school as they used to do. It is not many 
 years since every child who regarded him- 
 self as anybody in the community of chil- 
 dren was dressed in his best on Sunday 
 morning and posted off to Sunday-school as 
 a matter of course. Quite often he was 
 fortified in advance by certain parental aid 
 in mastering central truths and golden texts, 
 to say nothing of Bible verses committed 
 to memory in the spirit of competition when 
 not of reverence. The foundation of whole- 
 some taste for Bible literature, and in par- 
 ticular facility in Bible quotation. Was 
 usually laid in the Sunday-school of bygone 
 days. It is not surprising, after reading the 
 figures just revealed, that a college examiner 
 should have discovered a few months ago 
 that out of twenty-five Biblical allusions in 
 Tennyson's poems submitted to a class of 
 sophomores, not a single student was able 
 to identify as many as 50 per cent. Famil- 
 iarity with the Bible is on the decline be- 
 cause the Sunday-school is on the decline. 
 No one but a hidebound atheist will contend 
 for a moment that this is a good sign. 
 
 2. No doubt the church will attack the 
 problem and solve it in due time. It will 
 not find the job easy. There are counter- 
 attractions innumerable where a generation 
 ago the Sunday-school, at least in the 
 smaller town, had the field practically to 
 
STYLE AND MANNER 
 
 13 
 
 itself. And parental authority seems to be 
 on the decline, too. Half a generation of 
 holding the public school teacher responsible 
 for everything that happens to little Willie 
 begins to show its effects in other places. It 
 is up to the adult church-goers, who have 
 just swelled the membership totals for 1920, 
 to line up the young folks, or the church 
 will be in a bad way, statistically and other- 
 wise, along about 1935. 
 
 Would such a discussion gain or lose were it given 
 a personal tone? In the answer, you have the 
 reason for a great deal of the influence exercised by 
 editorial writing. We instinctively discount what is 
 too strongly personal, knowing from experience that 
 the purely personal view is likely to be narrow if not 
 warped. 
 
 Dallas Morning NeAvs 
 
 1. Literature's debt to William Dean 
 Howells is manifold. As poet, novelist, es- 
 sayist, critic and editor, he rendered a 
 service of indubitable distinction. Through- 
 out more than half a century he maintained 
 allegiance to the lettered arts with such 
 jealous fidelity and such creative power that 
 it was given him to wear from his noonday 
 to his sunset honors that have been con- 
 ferred upon few men of letters in their life- 
 time. One of the illustrious few who held 
 their gift as a trust, Howells wrought with 
 consistent fineness. Now that death has ad- 
 mitted him to the larger company whose 
 labors are finished, his work is submitted to 
 the testing years for their true appraisal. 
 It is the novelist who will exact the more 
 serious consideration, who will command the 
 approval of students and lovers of literature. 
 A realist, after the manner of the modern 
 Russian masters, he wrote with a clarity of 
 diction, a simplicity of style, a conscientious 
 delineation of types, a keen and sympathetic 
 insight into the lives of the common people. 
 It may be too early to accredit him with 
 having written "the great American novel." 
 But many contemporary critics are agreed 
 that "The Rise of Silas Lapham" more 
 nearly measures up to that classification 
 than any other fictional achievement of the 
 long day in which Howells labored. To his 
 discriminative judgment as an editor, first of 
 the Atlantic Monthly, later of Harper's, has 
 been due the rise of many geniuses, the 
 enrichment of American literature, and the 
 maintenance of high literary standards in a 
 day when a flood of inconsequential and 
 sheerly clever things threatened to obliter- 
 ate them. As creator and critic, his impress 
 upon American letters will endure. Regret 
 at his passing is for loss of a leader, not for 
 what he might still have written, for 
 Howells was prolific, though deliberate. His 
 was a finished work, a finely rounded 
 achievement. 
 
 To attain to directness and clarity, to make itself 
 readily comprehensible, to achieve colloquial ease of 
 expression, must an editorial descend to the crude 
 (even though picturesque and forceful) language of 
 the pavement level? This simple, cultured interpre- 
 tation of Mr. Howells shows us that "pep" and slang, 
 excellent as they are when kept in bounds, and in 
 their proper place, are not the best that language 
 offers, and cannot express the best there is in thought. 
 
 Chapter I. Exercises. 
 
 1. Examine the editorial page of at least 
 five newspapers of good repute. Note (a) 
 how much space in each is devoted to edi- 
 torials, strictly so called; and (b) with what 
 kind or kinds of matter the remaining part 
 of the page is filled. 
 
 2. Omitting the editorial articles, make 
 a list of the classes, or kinds, of material 
 found on the editorial page of each of the 
 papers, and estimate the proportion of the 
 total space of the page that it occupies. 
 (Included in this may be letters to the 
 editor; verse; cartoons; the humorous "col- 
 yum," such as that of "B. L. T." and of 
 "F. P. A."; other department stuff, or 
 regular feature-department articles; special 
 articles, articles of editorial-correspondence, 
 etc. Study the entire page thus, to discover 
 the kinds of material that its editors deem 
 closely related with the editorial character 
 of the page, and therefore group in com- 
 pany with the editorial articles.) 
 
 3. Seek the probable reason why each 
 kind of article has been thus classified as 
 being related to the editorials and belonging 
 on the page with them. 
 
 4. Estimate the length of the longest 
 editorial on each page. How many of these 
 contain not more than 250 words? than 500 
 words? How many run to 1000 words? 
 to 1500? 
 
 5. About how many words does the 
 representative editorial run on each of the 
 pages ? 
 
 6. Are any of the editorials emphasized 
 by being printed in type different from that 
 of the others? by being leaded out (wider 
 space between lines) ? Are the editorial 
 columns the same width as the other columns 
 on the page? as the columns in the news 
 pages? In what other ways are the edi- 
 torials given "display," or emphasis to the 
 eye? 
 
 7. In what part of the paper is the 
 editorial page? — the' front, the middle or 
 beyond it, or the last page? Upon con- 
 sideration, which of these positions would 
 you pronounce as most appropriate? most 
 desirable? most expedient from the view- 
 point of making news-stand sales, or other- 
 wise increasing the circulation? (Will a 
 
14 
 
 EDITOHIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 front page of news stories, or one of 
 editorial content, attract the larger number 
 of buyers at the news stands ? ) 
 
 8. What difference do you note between 
 the editorial page in the Sunday (or Satur- 
 day afternoon) edition, and that of the 
 same paper on other days? How do you 
 account for the difference? 
 
 9. In the editorials, how many sentences 
 do you come across that run more than 
 25 words? more than 30, 40, 50? Do any 
 of the papers show a tendency to long or 
 otherwise difficult sentences? 
 
 10. Do any of them show a noticeable 
 preference for short, jerky sentences? 
 Examine a dozen or so paragraphs, and 
 decide whether there is a monotonous ad- 
 herence to sentences of similar form and 
 length, or an agreeable variation? 
 
 11. Run down one column of editorials 
 in each paper, marking all the words that 
 are unknown to you, or that appear un- 
 common. Can simpler, more familiar ex- 
 pressions be substituted with better effect, 
 or without spoiling the mood, tone, or 
 manner of the editorial? 
 
 12. What are the ten longest Words 
 that you notice? Mark the words and 
 phrasings that lack vitality, vividness, and 
 
 force, or those which are conventional or 
 worn-out. 
 
 13. What are the most effective passages 
 (one sentence or a few sentences) that you 
 note? 
 
 14. About how many lines (type) do the 
 paragraphs run? How short are the short- 
 est ones? how long the longest? What 
 difference do you observe between the 
 length of paragraphs in editorials and the 
 length of those in books? of those in the 
 news columns? How do you account for 
 the differences? 
 
 15. Compare the editorials found in 
 weekly journals of news or review, of na- 
 tional circulation, with those found in 
 daily newspapers. Jot down a list of the 
 differences you detect between the editorials 
 of the former and the latter. How do you 
 account for them? 
 
 16. Write a compact article, in the 
 editorial manner, presenting or discussing 
 these differences. 
 
 17. If your material is too much for 
 presentation in a single article of 400-500 
 words, confine the first article to differences 
 of mood and manner, and write a second 
 concerning differences in class and character 
 of the subject-matter. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 THE PEG-HUNG EDITORIAL 
 
 The peg as text or as starting-point. 
 
 — Most sermons, even of the ultra 
 modern type, require — or employ — a 
 text. Most editorials employ what is 
 loosely named "the news-peg." The 
 purpose of the text is to connect the 
 sermon with the eternal interest of 
 men in spiritual truth. The purpose 
 of the "news-peg" is to connect the 
 editorial with the current interest of 
 readers in some subject of contempo- 
 rary prominence. The peg usually is 
 indicated at or near the beginning, 
 though a different plan of develop- 
 ment may lead to its appearance 
 somewhere in the body, or even at 
 the end, of the editorial. 
 
 Either text or peg may be the 
 theme, or topic ; but often they serve 
 merely as the starting-point for the 
 discussion — are the fact or idea that 
 serves as the excuse, or better, as the 
 justifying reason, for saying what is 
 to be said. Hence the expression, 
 "hanging the editorial on a news- 
 peg." 
 
 The interest of timeliness. — In the 
 designation "the news-peg," the word 
 "news" is meant to be the equivalent 
 of "timely." 
 
 We must remember that the vast 
 majority of periodicals wherein edi- 
 torial articles will be used at all are 
 periodicals concerned largely with 
 subjects of the day — with current 
 topics — topics running with the pres- 
 ent. The interest of these periodi- 
 cals to the reader lies largely, some- 
 times wholly, in their present timeli- 
 ness; he reads them because they 
 deal with matters that belong to the 
 immediate now. Timeliness, current 
 "nowness," is felt to be almost indis- 
 
 pensable, at least in their news col- 
 umns — so much so that there is con- 
 stant effort to make even technical- 
 subject articles seem to have current 
 timeliness by hanging them on a 
 "news-peg" or writing them in 
 "newsy" form and manner. This 
 tendency is affecting even journals of 
 highly specialized sciences, arts, pro- 
 fessions, and industries. 
 
 Need of timeliness in editorials. — 
 
 The demand for present timeliness in 
 the contents of the news columns ex- 
 tends likewise to the editorial col- 
 umns. To the editorial columns read- 
 ers turn for opinion, discussion, and 
 interpretation covering those matters 
 which are for the day or the hour at- 
 tracting attention ; and if they do not 
 find there what they seek — ^treatment 
 of the current topics — ^they lose in- 
 terest in that part of the journal, and 
 may discard the journal itself for an- 
 other that deals in more "up-to-date" 
 editorial subjects. 
 
 The principle of practice dictating 
 that the editorial shall be hung upon 
 a peg of timeliness is, therefore, 
 founded firmly on accurate psycholog- 
 ical observation — on a study of the 
 way the mind of the reading public 
 reacts toward editorial articles that 
 disregard present timeliness in their 
 subjects and comment. 
 
 Timeliness the chief restriction on 
 editorial ranging. — Readers perhaps 
 expect eight out of every ten edi- 
 torials to arise out of and be closely 
 associated with matters of current 
 attention. But beyond demanding 
 this, they do not go far in demands 
 concerning the materials out of which 
 the editorial shall be built up. 
 
16 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Once assured that the editorial in 
 some way deals with a matter that is 
 commanding present attention, they 
 incline to let the editorial writer de- 
 cide for himself what he shall give 
 them to think about concerning this 
 subject — always provided that he 
 does give them something to think 
 about, that he does write interesting- 
 ly, and that he does not offend their 
 taste — or perhaps, their principles or 
 prejudice. 
 
 Standards peculiar to the individual 
 page. — The assertion just above is 
 subject to one important qualifica- 
 tion. Each paper has its individual 
 standards, in accordance with which 
 there will be limitations upon the 
 form, the manner, and the range of 
 subjects in its editorial columns. 
 Thus the editorial page of the paper 
 gains a distinct individuality. No one 
 (for illustration) could mistake that 
 of The New York World for that of 
 The New York Times. The editorial- 
 writer must learn the standards pe- 
 culiar to his paper, and conform to 
 them. 
 
 Betraying the reader's confidence. 
 — There is something a bit ludicrous 
 and a bit pathetic in the way in which 
 readers — even the well educated — un- 
 consciously accept the editorial-writer 
 as a sort of superior intellect, a man 
 of universal knowledge, an infallible 
 teacher, a human encyclopedia and a 
 seer and prophet all in one. It is this 
 pathetic confidence of the public in 
 his learning and judgment that at 
 once gives the editorial-writer his op- 
 portunity for good, and imposes on 
 him the sobering obligation of an ex- 
 treme responsibility. 
 
 A misleading assertion, an unsound 
 conclusion, on his part, may deceive 
 and mislead hundreds. The circula- 
 tion of the New York Times is be- 
 tween 300,000 and 400,000 daily. If 
 but one reader out of twenty reads 
 and is deceived by a mistaken edi- 
 
 torial, 15,000 persons are that day 
 misled. Certain papers sell, or say 
 they sell, in the neighborhood of a 
 million copies daily; an unsound edi- 
 torial in such a paper, if read and be- 
 lieved by only one-twentieth of its 
 daily purchasers, may mislead 50,000 
 persons. And it is no small offense 
 for the editor of a country weekly, 
 with a circulation of 800, to mislead 
 forty of his fellow-citizens in a single 
 week. 
 
 The art of the timely "slant."— 
 Owing to the demand for timeliness, 
 an important part of the skill which 
 the editorial-writer must cultivate is 
 the art of giving what he writes a 
 timely slant — of making the reader 
 perceive that, no matter what the na- 
 ture or content of the editorial be, 
 the editorial itself arises out of, and 
 at some point or angle touches, a 
 matter of present interest. 
 
 Another, and perhaps quite as sig- 
 nificant, way of putting this assertion 
 is, that the writer should cultivate 
 the power of seeing in every timely 
 subject a variety of possibilities. A 
 few illustrations will make both state- 
 ments of the principle more clear. 
 "^ 1. Current trade-news reports 
 mention a decrease in the amount 
 of dressgoods manufactured. Hang- v 
 ing his editorial upon this peg, the 
 writer may discuss the conditions 
 of cotton or of woolen manufactur- 
 ing; or he may choose to be hu- 
 morous or satirical, and take a shy 
 at some contemporary fashion that 
 dictates short skirts and narrow 
 for women; or he may elect to be 
 didactic in a moralizing sort of way, 
 and point out how "fashion" reacts 
 disastrously on industrial condi- 
 tions, and thus on the income and 
 welfare of the laboring classes. 
 
 2. Local news tells that the men 
 students of a certain university are 
 making a fad of collecting hairpins 
 picked up in the corridors and class- 
 
PEG-HUNG EDITORIALS 
 
 17 
 
 rooms and on the campus walks. 
 The editorial-writer may hang on 
 this peg an editorial considering 
 the psychology of "collecting," 
 touching on such objects of the col- 
 lector's fancy as "antiques," pipes, 
 stamps, old or curious editions of 
 books, weapons, etc.; or he may 
 hang on the same peg an editorial 
 ridiculing the silliness of such a fad 
 on the part of young men who 
 should have serious interests; or 
 he may grow reminiscent, and re- 
 count instances of other college- 
 student fads, drawing on the his- 
 tory of student life in the colleges 
 for his material; or he may wax 
 irate, and produce an editorial de- 
 nouncing the flippancy and lack of 
 responsibility in the present gener- 
 ation, as compared with the good 
 old times. 
 
 3. The literary news reports the 
 publication of a dictionary of new 
 slang and other terms produced by 
 a recent war. Either this news- 
 report itself, or the mere fact that 
 such expressions have attracted 
 general attention in the war-news, 
 war-literature, and soldiers' letters 
 and conversation, is enough to af- 
 ford a peg of timeliness. On this 
 peg may be hung an editorial mere- 
 ly enumerating some of the more 
 interesting instances of these coin- 
 ages; or an editorial pointing out 
 how other crises in history have 
 produced similar important addi- 
 tions to the vocabulary of a people ; 
 or an editorial yet more strictly in 
 the way of linguistic history, dis- 
 cussing the enrichment of thought 
 and speech through new develop- 
 ments in industry, science, and the 
 arts ; or an editorial on the univer- 
 sality of slang, illustrated by ref- 
 erences to George Ade, Shakespere, 
 and perhaps the Ancients; or an 
 editorial on the imitativeness of 
 
 the human monkey, or the speech- 
 habits of the human parrot, exem- 
 plified in the way we seize on strik- 
 ing and novel expressions, and use 
 them on every possible and impos- 
 sible occasion. 
 
 Unindicated and omitted pegs. — 
 Now and then editorials can be and 
 are, written without employment of 
 the peg of timeliness to assure that 
 they will be of current interest. A 
 good many of these, however, have to 
 do with themes of perennial interest 
 to mankind, needing no extraneous 
 fact to give them appeal — ^themes 
 that are always timely, such as the 
 rights of man, problems of life and 
 conduct, and the like. Nevertheless, 
 examination will show that many edi- 
 torials apparently pegless, in reality 
 have a peg in the fact that the public 
 is at the moment especially interested 
 in the subject they discuss. 
 
 A few make their own interest, by 
 reason of their own vitality, view- 
 point, novelty, humor, or other qual- 
 ity adequate to command attention 
 regardless of immediate timeliness in 
 the subject. 
 
 Nevertheless, even though an edi- 
 torial concern The Ice-Box Moses 
 Didn't Have, or Woman Fair Woman, 
 or Why Is a Joke a Joke, it will gain 
 in its power to command attention if 
 it be linked up logically (or sometimes 
 illogically) with an aspect of current 
 news, current thought or current 
 feeling, and if the linking be plainly 
 indicated. Similarly, when the edi- 
 torial discusses current events, it 
 usually gains from specific reference 
 to the particular happening or fact 
 that suggested it; for in most cases 
 this happening or fact will add perti- 
 nence to an editorial even of broad 
 and general discussion. Indeed, the' 
 news-peg may be indispensable, as in 
 the two editorials that follow. 
 
18 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 NATURAL LAW IN THE PRINTING 
 TRADES 
 
 New York Evening Sun 
 
 1. The logic of facts is asserting itself in 
 at least one conspicuous instance among the 
 many confused and confusing industrial 
 phenomena of the day. Sixty magazines 
 have quit printing in New York, and many 
 of them will stay away for good. Their de- 
 termination is the immediate result of the 
 recent "outlaw" strikes in the printing 
 trades, but, no doubt, it has deeper and more 
 continuous causation. Owing to labor condi- 
 tions for some years past, the proprietors 
 have found it too expensive and too irksome 
 to carry on their work here. 
 
 2. By their exit, the morning papers say, 
 some three thousand men are deprived of 
 permanent work here. They must either go 
 into other trades, or accept partial employ- 
 ment where they can get it, or else migrate 
 to other cities. The alternatives are sad for 
 men who recently had fine situations at 
 good pay with easy hours. But they cannot 
 complain. They are simply reaping the 
 fruits of their own action. 
 
 3. The magazines will have to employ 
 printing-trades workers wherever they go, 
 but by scattering they will have to deal with 
 less powerful unions than those of New 
 York. Probably some of them will take 
 their printing to small towns where there 
 are no unions. It is not impossible that 
 they may effect considerable economies in 
 cost of output. But it is likely they care 
 less about this phase of the question than 
 about gaining peace and security in the con- 
 duct of their business. 
 
 4. Perhaps the principal public interest 
 in the change is the demonstration that 
 natural law does work inescapably in eco- 
 nomics. Its operation may be postponed or 
 suspended, but in the long run it only strikes 
 with more crushing force. 
 
 JOHNNY APPLESEED 
 
 Lynn (Mass.) Item 
 
 1. A modern Johnny Appleseed is now 
 going up and down the country urging the 
 planting of trees. Charles Lathrop Pack, 
 president of the American Forestry Asso- 
 ciation, hammers day and night on the need 
 of a national forest policy. He has called 
 on the timberland owners and the foresters 
 to get together on a fire protection policy as 
 the first step. 
 
 2. This modern Johnny Appleseed is 
 reaching thousands where the Johnny Apple- 
 seed of legend, who marched from town to 
 town, and planted as he went, reached only 
 the few. Memorial Trees, Roads of Remem- 
 brance, Victory Drives, all planted with trees 
 
 in honor of the men who offered their lives 
 to their country, have met with a remarkable 
 response. Women's clubs, churches, Rotary 
 clubs, Kiwanis clubs and patriotic organiza- 
 tions, to say nothing of individuals, are 
 planting trees in rows, groups and groves. 
 
 3. With thousands more interested in 
 trees, thousands more will be interested in 
 the whys and wherefores of a national forest 
 policy. 
 
 Representative editorials. — Em- 
 ployment of the newspeg and of the 
 principle of timeliness can be studied 
 in various aspects in the editorials re- 
 printed below : 
 
 WELL, irS A BEGINNING 
 
 Worcester Telegram 
 
 1. Hurrah, and Hurrah, and Hurrah, and 
 a Tiger! Standard flour in Minneapolis has 
 had the second reduction of 50 cents a barrel 
 in its wholesale price within the space of 
 seven days. Flour is now only $15.25 whole- 
 sale. 
 
 2. That is to say, it is only a meager $2 
 a barrel higher than it was three months 
 ago. 
 
 3. Who says deflation and price reduc- 
 tions haven't begun? 
 
 Tfl. Newspeg ironically stated. 
 
 112. Ironical comparison. ' 
 
 1f3. Ironical conclusion. 
 
 This neat little peghung editorial is also a good 
 example of the three-part structure (Ch. Ill) and an 
 excellent iyustration of both the effectiveness and the 
 limitations of the satirical manner. It especially de- 
 serves study for its compactness. (Try it without the 
 opening sentence, and decide whether or not that sen- 
 tence adds to its effectiveness.) 
 
 SILENT TEAS FOR WOMEN 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 1. A dispatch from England announces 
 that the experiment of silent teas for women 
 is being tried under the auspices of the wife 
 of a distinepaished church official in that 
 country. AF these teas, it appears, there is 
 no conversation, but sacred music is played. 
 The results are understood to have been thus 
 far indifferent. 
 
 2. What is a tea party for if not to af- 
 ford the opportunity for cheerful loquacity ? 
 According to one epigram-maker, this far- 
 famed afternoon function is sufficiently de- 
 scribed by the four words, "giggle, gabble 
 and git." That is not quite fair; the tea 
 drinking itself is an important part of the 
 ceremony; but it is safe to say that silent J 
 teas will not become generally popular — ' 
 even if pieced out with sacred music or any 
 other kind. 
 
 HI. Newspeg. 1(2. Light sex-satire or badinage 
 
 of the good-natured sort that is always being ex- 
 changed. (This H shows how a more or less serious 
 point of view can be expressed in persiflage.) 
 
PEG-HUNG EDITORIALS 
 
 19 
 
 VANGUARD OF A WELCOME ARMY 
 
 St. Louis Post-Dispatch 
 
 1. A thousand Irish girls have just ar- 
 rived at Ellis Island to engage in domestic 
 service in this country. Because of her lim- 
 itations, some types of the fellow country- 
 women of these girls who used to come here 
 to assist us in our household tasks figured 
 as a part of the dramatis personse of the 
 humorous papers, but after all they were 
 wonderfully satisfactory as a whole. We 
 know them and are habituated to their ways. 
 
 2. The thousand new arrivals will not go 
 very far in filling the clamorous famine de- 
 mand from a million American households, 
 but these are said to be only the first of a 
 steady stream of Irish girls that is to pour 
 in to assist others in home-making at cur- 
 rent high rates of pay, and presently to be 
 home-making for themselves, after the 
 fashion of Irish girls since the first immi- 
 grant came from Ireland to America. In 
 the minimum of requisite time they will be 
 voters and leaders of their enfranchised sex 
 in politics. 
 
 3. Let them come. We need 'em. Let 
 further contingents be met on arrival with 
 bands and welcomed with ovations. If nec- 
 essary, suppress the humorists. Only seven 
 of the thousand failed to pass the literacy 
 test. The glorified new type has all-around 
 competency. 
 
 111. Newspeg and beginning of comment (strikes fa- 
 vorable "keynote"). 
 
 112. Continues comment of interpretive effept. 
 
 ^3. Reaches a concluding application, none the less 
 genuine for the good-humored exaggeration of its 
 raillery. 
 
 CATCHING DRIFTWOOD ON SHARES 
 
 Kansas City Times 
 
 1. Herbert Hoover, who wasn't born yes- 
 terday, rises to protest against the United 
 States accepting the mandate for Armenia. 
 Armenia, he says, is a poorhouse surround- 
 ed by solvent banks. Other nations have 
 accepted mandates for the cotton fields of 
 Mesopotamia, the copper mines of Syria and 
 the oil fields of the Black Sea coast. They 
 wish the United States to take charge of the 
 poorhouse. 
 
 2. Which merely indicates the difficulties 
 growing out of sitting in the other fellow's 
 game. The United States hasn't cut its eye 
 teeth yet in international politics. Once 
 your Uncle Sam walks down to the seashore, 
 somebody is likely to come along and offer 
 to let him catch driftwood on shares. And 
 unless somebody looks sharp, he will be apt 
 to jump at the chance. 
 
 1[1. Newspeg stated. The news is interpreted by 
 
 means of analogy. 
 
 f2. Application of these facts to the situation. 
 
 ^1 
 
 XTHE SWIMMING SEASON OPENS 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 1. For most of us the waters of the 
 harbor and bay do not yet look attractive 
 enough to tempt us into a swimming suit, 
 but fifteen or twenty youngsters, we read, 
 opened the season on Friday at a dowji- 
 town wharf. "Gee, it's great!" shouted the 
 first boy overboard, and he was soon sur- 
 rounded by a group of sputtering and 
 splashing lads. 
 
 2. There is no youthful sport more fasci- 
 nating than this. There is none for which 
 American boys yearn more impatiently as 
 the snow melts and spring comes back and 
 the suggestion of summer gets into the air. 
 What, indeed, is there in the way of outdoor 
 pastime for any of us more wholesome and 
 satisfying than a plunge in salt water, with 
 a blue sky above and a place conveniently 
 near where one can loll for a while on wharf 
 or sand? May good Mother Nature have 
 many bright days in store for us this season, 
 with just enough strength in the sun to 
 warm the- water to an agreeable temperature 
 without taking off its invigorating tang. 
 
 ^1. Peg of local human-interest news. 
 
 112. Casual reflections on the subject, ending in a 
 
 wish of human-interest appeal. 
 
 NOT SO FOOLISH AS IT SEEMS 
 
 New York World 
 
 1. By nominating a candidate for Presi- 
 dent who is serving a term of imprisonment 
 in the Federal Penitentiary at Atlanta, the 
 Socialists will have established a political 
 precedent that is not to be held in low 
 esteem. 
 
 2. There are great and obvious advan- 
 tages in having a presidential candidate in 
 jail until after election at least. For one 
 thing, the party will always know where to 
 find him. It will know who goes to see him 
 and can be sure that no campaign pledges 
 will be made except in the presence of the 
 warden. There can be no secret promises 
 and arrangements under such a system. 
 
 3. Moreover, the candidate himself is re- 
 moved from much mischievous temptation. 
 He cannot make rear-platform harangues 
 that have to be explained away the next day 
 by the party managers. He cannot be 
 dragged into such a muddle as Mr. Hughes 
 fell into in California in 1916 when his visit 
 cost him the State. Nor is he subject to 
 any of the vicissitudes of a Rum-Romanism- 
 and-Rebellion speech such as defeated Mr. 
 Blaine in 1884 because he forgot to repudiate 
 it at the psychological moment. 
 
 4. A candidate in jail is bound to stay 
 put. He cannot get out and the office- 
 seekers cannot get to him. Nobody can 
 
20 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 heckle him, and if the campaign goes wrong 
 he has a complete alibi, which would be ac- 
 cepted in any court of record. 
 
 Ifl. Keynote H, with newspeg implied. (The news- 
 facts have been cai'ried prominently in all the news- 
 papers.) 
 
 l1f2-4. These have the effect of ridicule hecause they 
 refuse to regard seriously the action involved. At 
 thte same time they satirize party politics by the 
 ironical assumption that having a candidate who is in 
 prison is better than having a candidate not so re- 
 strained. The editorial is therefore double-edged, 
 cutting two ways with a more or less direct contro- 
 versial intent. 
 
 PROPOSING TO RIVAL ROCHDALE 
 
 New York Times 
 
 1. Up in Schenectady some employees of 
 the General Electric Company — a thousand 
 of them are interested in the plan — have 
 undertaken to duplicate the success of the 
 famous Rochdale weavers in co-operative 
 buying and selling. In theory there is no 
 reason why they should not do this. Indeed, 
 there are reasons why they should, or might, 
 be even more successful than the most nota- 
 ble of their predecessors in the elimination 
 of the middleman from between consumer 
 and producer. 
 
 2. The Rochdale weavers were few and 
 they were almost desperately poor. The 
 Schenectady men are numerous, their work 
 is done in far better conditions, their wages 
 are high, and in the very beginning of their 
 experiment they can command an amount of 
 capital that it took the earlier co-operators 
 years and years to attain. The idea, too, is 
 entirely practicable, as has been proved 
 when carried out on a large scale in most of 
 the European countries, including Russia 
 under the Czar. 
 
 3. But Europe is not America and Euro- 
 peans are not Americans. Hitherto co-oper- 
 ation of this sort has always been a failure 
 here, sooner or later, and of the many at- 
 tempts of one form or another that were 
 made by American communities back in the 
 middle of the nineteenth century to reduce 
 living costs in this way, as an incident in the 
 carrying out of other purposes, usually re- 
 ligious, the great majority ended in speedy 
 disaster, while of the others only two or 
 three now are lingering like pallid ghosts 
 on the very edge of final disappearance. 
 
 4. The Schenectady proposal is much 
 simpler than those just referred to, as its 
 aims are purely economic, but that, judging 
 by the past, by no means makes its pros- 
 pects brighter. 
 
 111. Newspeg, and introduction of the discussion. 
 
 T|2. Continues the review and comparison begun in Ijl. 
 
 is. Sets oif opposed facts in American experience. 
 
 ^4. Concludes that success is doubtful. 
 
 PROSTRATE BOSTON 
 
 Kansas City Star 
 
 1. We felt it in our bones that we should 
 hear something more from the unholy doings 
 in Boston during the police strike. A city is 
 not so soon quit of its sins. And now sure 
 enough the people of that town have voted to 
 lay hands on the Common and dedicate part 
 of its inviolate soil to the uses of Tremont 
 and Boylston street traffic. 
 
 2. It shows something serious has fetched 
 loose in Boston. The fires of rebellion still 
 smolder. A little while ago and the project 
 to dig a subway under the Common was 
 strenuously withstood, and could not be car- 
 ried out until the plans were changed to 
 make the subway twist and turn as tortu- 
 ously as the streets. On no other terms 
 would Boston permit traffic even under the 
 Common. 
 
 3. Now we see how shines a naughty deed 
 in a good city. Once permitted to show its 
 head the spirit of destruction, although 
 driven back growling to its lair, stalks forth 
 again at the first opportunity. Nothing is 
 safe in Boston now. The hitherto docile cod- 
 fish may turn at any moment and bite the 
 hand that molds it into cakes for Sunday 
 morning. 
 
 111. In this editorial, the newspeg is used merely as a 
 starting point. (Allusion to a recent and widely- 
 known set of events, to catch interest. It also helps 
 in the irony of the editorial as a whole, by setting 
 the key.) The true peg, introducing the real subject 
 of the editorial, is in sentence 3. The analysis by 
 paragraphs follows : Ijl- The peg. The topic indi- 
 cated. — 1[2. Preparatory discussion. US. Applica- 
 tion of topic and discussion. 
 
 THE EIGHT-HOUR DAY 
 
 Boston Post 
 
 1. United States experts, after a careful 
 detailed study of conditions and production 
 in standard factories, have come to the con- 
 clusion that an eight-hour day is not only 
 as efficient as the 10-hour day in industrial 
 plants, but is more economical. This con- 
 clusion was reached after a comparison of 
 the results obtained in similar factories em- 
 ploying a large number of hands. The ad- 
 vantages in favor of the eight-hour day or 
 shifts as compared with the 10-hour day 
 relate to maintenance of output, to lost time 
 and to industrial accidents. 
 
 2. These findings should have a special 
 interest to every employer in the United 
 States. It is an official confirmation and 
 endorsement of the practicality and of the 
 equal division of the day — eight hours work, 
 eight hours sleep and eight hours play — 
 showing that efficiency, the one thing most 
 desired by employers, is promoted and in- 
 creased under such allotment. The eight- 
 hour day may not be considered so much a 
 
PEG-HUNG EDITORIALS 
 
 21 
 
 concession as a creation of economic condi- 
 tions that are now being recognized and 
 put in operation for the profits that such a 
 day brings to all. The steel industry was 
 among the first of the big corporations to 
 realize these results and nothing could in- 
 duce the m.anagement to go back to the old 
 working time. 
 
 3. With the report made to Washington 
 it would seem only a question of time when 
 the whole country will be placed on an eight- 
 hour basis. 
 
 tl. Newspeg, in a condensed statement of official 
 
 findings. 
 
 112. Presentation of brief arguments in favor. 
 
 iz. Forecasts establishment of the principle. 
 
 AN OBSOLETE FORMALITY 
 
 Boston Globe 
 
 1. To appoint Miss Mabel Stinson town 
 clerk of Winchester after she had served 
 13 years as assistant, the Selectmen are 
 obliged to go to the Legislature for a special 
 bill. Miss Stinson has been clerk for the 
 assessors, for the tax collector, for the 
 auditor, for the town treasurer and for the 
 overseers of the poor, in addition to her reg- 
 ular work, and in the absence of these 
 officers she has unofficially donned the toga. 
 In order for her to be appointed town clerk 
 to finish the term of George H. Carter, 
 deceased, the Selectmen find they must push 
 an act through the House and Senate and 
 have it submitted to the Governor. 
 
 2. In the course of a few weeks a Salem 
 woman has been appointed probation officer 
 in Essex County for the first time, Yale has 
 added a woman to her faculty, and a girl has 
 presided over the New York Legislature. 
 Everywhere women are coming into their 
 own. Legal impediments in New England, 
 however, have in most cases obstructed their 
 progress. Recently in a Wyoming town 
 women were elected to all the offices. 
 
 3. With the inevitable ratification of the 
 suffrage amendment, women will advance 
 more and more into public life. 
 
 4. Massachusetts laws should be liberal 
 enough to allow Selectmen to appoint a 
 woman to fill an unexpired term without 
 going seeking permission from Beacon Hill. 
 
 11. The newspeg and its explanation. 
 
 t2. Mention of other recent items of similar bearing. 
 
 tTI3-4. Conclusion stated. 
 
 A JURY OF REPORTERS 
 
 Boston Herald 
 
 1. Four reporters, representing respec- 
 tively the Mexican newspapers named 
 Universal, Excelsior, Heraldo and Demo- 
 crata, by request of Gen. Obregon are to 
 investigate and make a formal report upon 
 the death of the late President Carranza. 
 Of the competency of the reporters of 
 Mexico for such a task we have no informa- 
 
 tion, but of the value of the services of 
 reporters in general in establishing facts in 
 the midst of conflicting stories those in a 
 position to know have long and justly held 
 a high opinion. The trained reporter who 
 sees an incident will narrate the facts with 
 closer fidelity to truth than the untrained 
 observer, however honest and intelligent the 
 latter may be. The experienced reporter 
 who has many times followed tangled trails 
 in search of elusive facts is harder to de- 
 ceive and makes fewer mistakes than any 
 other investigator unless it be the profes- 
 sional detective. The reporter learns in the 
 first years of his occupation to keep his 
 head, to trust the testimony of no single 
 observer, to verify and confirm whatever he 
 hears, to endure and to dare whatever may 
 be necessary for securing the truth, and all 
 the truth, with respect to any event of 
 importance. 
 
 111. The news-fact is here used as a peg on -which to 
 hang an estimate and appreciation of the ability and 
 efficiency of skilled reporters. 
 
 THE RUINED FORTRESS 
 
 New York Evening Sun 
 
 1. The fortress of Helgoland, whose 
 great guns and solid concrete battlements 
 held the allied navies at bay during the war, 
 is now a mass of harmless ruins. All the 
 batteries have been dismantled and the de- 
 struction of the harbor works and other 
 fortifications is proceeding rapidly. 
 
 2. This Gibraltar of the North Sea was 
 built at a cost of more than $175,000,000, 
 and was considered impregnable. So for- 
 midable were its batteries that the possi- 
 bility of an assault upon them by a battle 
 fleet was never even considered. Through- 
 out the war they afforded not only a safe 
 barrier for the approaches to the Kiel Canal, 
 to Hamburg and to Bremen, but a base 
 from which cruisers could go out to raid the 
 British coast and submarines to war upon 
 the merchant marine of the world. Helgo- 
 land has not inaptly been likened to a pistol 
 pointed at the head of Great Britain. 
 
 3. As this grim fortress was symbolic of 
 the German policy of blood and iron, so will 
 its destruction be accepted as a promise that 
 the old Germany is gone forever. Its black, 
 dreary shores, its ruined ramparts stand as 
 a warning against the ambitions of princes 
 and the folly of militarism. As the mer- 
 chant vessels of the new German republic 
 pass the island, while plying back and forth 
 in their efforts to build up the shattered 
 prosperity of their country, they should see 
 in its desolate ruins not only the inevitable 
 fruits of the old imperial policy, but a 
 promise that that policy will never again be 
 revived. 
 
22 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 111. Newspeg. Note the tone of simple yet impres- 
 sive seriousness here and throughout. 
 
 112. Development; review and summary of facts per- 
 tinent to the subject. 
 
 1f3. Concluding comment of interpretation. Observe 
 the increase in seriousness of tone, descriptive vigor, 
 and depth of feeling. 
 
 WHEN BARNEY WRITES HIS BOOK 
 
 Columbia Record 
 
 1. Bernard M. Baruch is bidding fare- 
 well to Wall Street, and while he has not 
 disclosed his plans for the future, New York 
 gossip has it that he will devote himself dur- 
 ing the months that lie immediately ahead 
 to writing a book on economics — more par- 
 ticularly with reference to the economic 
 aspects of the peace treaty. Well, Mr. 
 Baruch can afford to become an author. He 
 has been eminently successful as stock- 
 broker and financier. But this former South 
 Carolinian who now commands millions, and 
 who became an international figure during 
 the world war, the loyal friend and personal 
 adviser of President Wilson, has not always 
 walked a path bestrewn with roses. When 
 he first went to New York from his boyhood 
 home at Camden, there to seek his fortune, 
 he ran errands for a downtown firm for the 
 magnificent salary of $3 a week. 
 
 2. Mr. Baruch recently gave it as his 
 opinion that having reached the "peak of 
 unproduction and scarcity," the nation is 
 now "beginning to dig its way oi|^ of its 
 troubles." Which, coming from one of his 
 broad views and exceptional facilities for 
 forming an opinion based upon actual condi- 
 tions as these exist in the industrial world, 
 is encouraging. We hope Mr. Baruch is 
 right about it. It is about all we have to 
 tie to. But we should remember that eco- 
 nomic changes are necessarily gradual. 
 Neither Mr. Baruch nor any other student of 
 the present situation expects any sudden 
 drop in prices. Only the demagogue politi- 
 cian holds out any such false hope. 
 
 3. If it is true that Mr. Baruch intends 
 taking up the pen as he leaves the stock 
 market to round off his career with the book 
 he is supposed to have in mind, he is in posi- 
 tion to contribute much valuable informa- 
 tion on this highly important subject. As 
 chairman of the War Industries Board he 
 had extraordinary powers in the industrial 
 field, saw at first hand much of the wreck 
 and ruin in which more than four years of 
 war left Europe, and helped frame the eco- 
 nomic and reparation clauses of the pact at 
 Versailles. His book will be distinctly worth 
 while. 
 
 UNewspeg, to which is appended interesting biographi- 
 cal comment. 
 
 1|2. Citation of a recent opinion of the person men- 
 tioned, about a matter of universal concern, with 
 consideration of it. 
 
 113. Forecast of the value of the work that the news- 
 peg says is to be undertaken. 
 
 Mr. Baruch being from South Carolina, this edito- 
 rial in a South Carolina paper may be regarded as 
 one of state-interest. This local interest accounts for 
 the way in which the subject is approached and the 
 tone of the treatment. 
 
 REMEMBER ALICE GARY 
 
 Cleveland Plain Dealer 
 
 1. April brings the hundreth birthday an- 
 niversary of Alice Cary, born April 20, 1820. 
 She was the elder sister of Phoebe Cary, 
 born four years later. Both of the Cary 
 girls had literary aspirations — ^both wrote 
 poems and stories, and Phoebe was con- 
 sidered a famous wit. 
 
 2. Their father was an Ohio pioneer, and 
 they were born eight miles north of Cincin- 
 nati, on a farm which was afterward known 
 as "Clovemook." At the outset of their lit- 
 erary careers they had to do their writing 
 at night because of a press of household 
 duties, and candles being an extravagance 
 they wrote by the light of a burning wick or 
 rag floating in a saucer of lard. 
 
 3. Alice was eighteen when her first 
 poems were published in a Cincinnati daily. 
 Presently recognition came to the sisters 
 from the outside world — from John G. Whit- 
 tier, from Edgar Allan Poe and others. 
 
 4. In 1849 a great event stirred the 
 sisters' quiet lives. Horace Greeley came up 
 from Cincinnati and called on them. It was 
 the finest form of advertising they could 
 have received. In 1852 the sisters, greatly 
 encouraged by the reception given their first 
 book of poems, removed to New York, where 
 they lived in simple style and yet drew to 
 their modest home the most cultured charac- 
 ters of the metropolis. 
 
 5. One of the poems written by the light 
 of the tallow dip — it is credited to Phoebe 
 when she was 18 — is the popular "Nearer 
 Home," which begins: 
 
 One sweetly solemn thought 
 Comes to me o'er and o'er: 
 
 I'm nearer home today 
 
 Than I ever have been before. 
 
 6. It is interesting to note that one of the 
 first trees planted in 1882 in the grove in 
 Eden park, Cincinnati, where the custom of 
 planting and dedicating trees to authors, 
 statesmen, actors and other noted persons 
 originated, was the Cary tree. 
 
 7. Who reads Alice Cary now? Perhaps 
 not many people; but the impression she 
 left endured for many years. One of her 
 best known poems, a favorite with public 
 readers and juvenile declaimers of forty 
 years ago, was "An Order for a Picture." 
 Many will recall it. It began: 
 
PEG-HUNG EDITORIALS 
 
 23 
 
 O, good painter, tell me true, 
 
 Have your hands the cunning to draw? 
 Shapes of things that you never saw ? 
 Ay? Well, here is an order for you. 
 
 8. Both sisters died in 1871, Alice preced- 
 ing Phoebe by a few months, and both are 
 buried in Greenwood cemetery. 
 
 111. Newspeg and introductory facts. 
 if2-4. Summary of personal data. 
 15. Mention of what will immediately give numer- 
 ous readers a sense of personal interest in the two 
 sisters, because so many are familiar with the lines, 
 either as verse or as set to music. 
 
 116. Additional fact indicative of the contemporary 
 popularity of the sisters. 
 
 1[7. Completion of the brief biographical and critical 
 review. 
 
 Like the editorial concerning Mr. Baruch, this 
 editorial about the Gary sisters is strong in the 
 element of state-interest (home-subject interest). 
 
 CALIFORNIA'S JAPANESE 
 
 Indianapolis News 
 
 1. What is termed, in California, the 
 "Japanese menace," seems, according to re- 
 ports from such newspapers as the Sacra- 
 mento Bee and the Los Angeles Times, to 
 have aroused so much opposition among the 
 Americans in California that Governor 
 Stephens has been obliged to consider call- 
 ing a special session of the legislature to 
 deal with it. Owing to the somewhat un- 
 defined relations between the United States 
 and Japan as to Japan's rights and inten- 
 tions in the far east, the question as to how 
 far the Californians will go assumes na- 
 tional importance. 
 
 2. The California Japanese land law, once 
 believed to be adequate as a means of check- 
 ing the invasion, has been cleverly evaded 
 by the Japanese. It is reported that thou- 
 sands of acres are now held in the names of 
 infants, and since the Japanese families in 
 California grow very rapidly, a farmer is 
 often enabled to hold much more land than 
 he can hold, under the state law, in his own 
 name. The "picture bride" industry has 
 been taken up from a new angle by Cali- 
 fornia women, who have discovered that 
 these brides work long hours in the fields to 
 the detriment of their health and the well- 
 being of their children. 
 
 3. The American farmers in the Imperial 
 valley have been all but driven out of the 
 cantaloupe industry by Japanese, who buy 
 what land they can and lease many acres at 
 as much as $50 yearly an acre. By working 
 the entire family in the fields, Japanese labor 
 cost is reduced to almost nothing, and the 
 American farmer cannot compete with the 
 Japanese on anything like a fair basis. 
 
 4. From many persons, who maintain 
 that Californians can immediately stop the 
 invasion by refusing to lease land to the 
 Japanese, California gets no sympathy in 
 
 its efforts to put down the Japanese, but 
 the problem cannot be solved by an appeal 
 to state patriotism. 
 
 Tfl. Newspeg, with explanation of the importance of 
 the news. 
 
 112. Explanation ; how the present situation has arisen. 
 Ti3. Summary ; the results produced by the situation. 
 i[4. Why the situation is unnecessary ; it could be 
 remedied by simple means, but this remedy will not 
 be adopted. 
 
 COLLEGE COOKS 
 
 New York Herald 
 
 1. Smith College always is original. So 
 are her alumnae. It is announced that the 
 women of that institution propose to become 
 professional caterers for a few weeks and 
 thus solve a domestic problem for the 
 woman who can afford to hire a cook, but 
 cannot find one. The Publicity Committee 
 calls it a "flying corps." Why not call it a 
 cooking corps and for those few weeks 
 descend from the accustomed angelic plane 
 which a "flying corps" of young women sug- 
 gests, thus fitting the sobriquet to the work ? 
 
 2. These Smith College "flying corps" 
 will be formed of squads of three alumnae, 
 with two maids on each team, who will pre- 
 pare luncheons and dinners. The difficulty 
 as well as frequent impossibility of obtain- 
 ing servants and caterers within reasonable 
 cost these Smith College corps will, it is ex- 
 pected, meet, and the servant and house- 
 keepina problem will be 'Solved. These 
 young •w^omen will serve meals for one an- 
 other, taking turns as hostesses and as 
 cooks. 
 
 3. There is intense interest in the work, 
 and the results will be watched eagerly, not 
 only by the Smith College alumnae, but by 
 the greater number of alumnae of the hard 
 school of modern servantless housekeeping. 
 The idea originated with Mrs. Mary Ormsbee 
 Whitton, a Smith College alumna of New 
 York city. If the "flying corps" of Smith 
 College will help solve the domestic and 
 servant problem they will go into history as 
 the greatest benefactors of the race — at 
 least that portion of the race suffering from 
 the ills of modern civilization. 
 
 4. It is announced that the entire returns 
 over their expenses will be turned over to 
 their alma mater for her endowment fund. 
 
 1[1. Newspeg. 1112-3-4. The news amplified and 
 
 interpreted. 
 
 BLUE JEANS AND CALICO 
 
 New York Tribune 
 
 1. Birmingham, Ala., has an "overall 
 club," with 2500 men bound together in 
 solemn league and covenant to wear denim 
 of the most iron kind until the price of other 
 fabrics comes down. 
 
 2. Passing over the question of whether 
 this is a conspiracy in restraint of trade, 
 
24 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 and likewise passing over the failure of the 
 women to take a corresponding oath in be- 
 half of calico, it may be remarked that no 
 serious deprivation is proposed. The Re- 
 public waxed in the days of blue jeans. 
 The virtuous and vigorous age lasted down 
 to the consulate of "Blue Jeans" Williams, 
 Governor of Indiana, who conceded to fash- 
 ion in the matter of silk linings and was 
 willing to endure a swallow-tail cut, but 
 insisted that the outside layer of his habili- 
 ments be of twilled cotton. 
 
 3. To the governor the cloth represented 
 more than economy. It was a symbol of 
 equality and democracy. The insignia, of 
 the hired hand, the good man was fond of 
 exclaiming, was good enough for him or for 
 any man. He rejected the crinkly seer- 
 sucker as the entering wedge of corrup- 
 tion. He believed in standardization. As 
 Henry Ford has held his customers could 
 have any color of car they wanted provided 
 they wanted it black, so the great Hoosier 
 was for any hue in clothes if the selection 
 was blue. 
 
 4. The effectiveness of the boycott would 
 be certain if all would join in it. But will 
 there be numerous recruits? Comrade 
 Krassin, of Lenine's Cabinet, bewailing the 
 failure of Russian Communism, remarked 
 the other day: "Life has shown itself 
 stronger than Communist doctrine." 
 
 5. We kick at prices, but so strong is the 
 pull of vanity and habit that we are not 
 willing to live simply for even a week. The 
 apparel still doth proclaim the man, or at 
 least the degree of his material success, and 
 we want things often for no better reason 
 than that our neighbor can't get them. 
 Never were the millinery shops more crowd- 
 ed than in this year of great grumbling. 
 
 HI. Newspeg. 112. Consideration of the reported 
 
 matter in perspective with the past. (Observe the 
 
 tone and method of the transition at the beginning of 
 
 the V) 
 
 1[3. Continuation of the topic of 1(2, but generalized. 
 
 (The closing sentence completes the thought lightly, 
 
 and yet with descriptive thoroughness.) 
 
 114. Consideration of the news-fact directly, raising 
 
 the question answered in f5 — v/hether human nature 
 
 is not too strong, or too weak, for such attempts to 
 
 succeed. 
 
 US. Suggestion of answer to 114. 
 
 SUBSTITUTE "YES" FOR "YEHR" 
 
 St. Louis Post-Dispatch 
 
 1. Kansas reports a new and appealing 
 kind of "drive." It starts at Concordia in 
 that State, and is a "drive" for correct 
 speech. The zero hour has already been 
 passed for those doubtful, slipshod forms of 
 speech that lurk in no man's land as well as 
 for those more hopeless and vicious forms 
 that are intrenched beyond as a part of the 
 line of the insurrectionary, outlaw enemy. 
 
 2. What more agreeable accomplishment 
 is there than the ability to use and the habit 
 of using one's mother tongue correctly? It 
 does not mean stilted speech. It does not 
 mean that highly expressive word forms are 
 to be discarded. It does not mean even that 
 all slang phrases are to be avoided and put 
 far from us, when the metaphors of such 
 phrases are in good taste and have some pre- 
 cision in meaning and following the tradi- 
 tions of the language. English is a living, 
 growing language, not a dead language. But 
 it does mean that barbarities are to be elim- 
 inated, that certain simple usages governing 
 the relations of words and sentences are to 
 be observed, that words invested with mean- 
 ings to which they are not entitled or which 
 are under the condemnation of good au- 
 thority, are to be denied a place in the indi- 
 vidual vocabulary. Unlike most accomplish- 
 ments that predispose one in the favor of 
 others, this accomplishment is easily ac- 
 quired. It is within the reach of us all. 
 
 3. May the barrage begun at Concordia 
 have an extension along a continent-wide 
 line and may it prove appallingly destructive 
 of the forces that war against the vitality 
 and resources and structure of our splendid 
 tongue. 
 
 111. First comes the newspeg. This is followed by 
 
 an informal, urbane indication of the subject. 
 
 1i2. Interpretation of the purpose of the undertaking 
 
 in question. 
 
 113. Expression of editorial sympathy. 
 
 COLLEGE COSTS CLIMB 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 1. Amherst College has increased its an- 
 nual tuition fee from one hundred and forty 
 to two hundred dollars. Trinity College at 
 Hartford has made an advance from one 
 hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars, 
 with a ten-dollar increase in so-called inci- 
 dental fees. This makes the total cost of 
 tuition equal to the new Amherst rate. 
 Moreover, Trinity announces higher require- 
 ments for both admission and graduation. 
 
 2. One might think that this combination 
 of higher tuition and better scholarship 
 would react to Trinity's disadvantage. But 
 the college has so many applicants for ad- 
 mission that it can afford to choose among 
 them. And this is true of most of its con- 
 temporaries. The increasing cost of getting 
 an education is not deterring young men 
 with minds fixed upon college. On the con- 
 trary, it would appear that the determina- 
 tion to win a degree is more prevalent than 
 ever. Reports from colleges throughout the 
 country predict unusually large enrollments 
 in the class of 1924. 
 
 3. Recently the Presidents of nine uni- 
 versities, including Yale, Harvard, Columbia, 
 
PEG-HUNG EDITORIALS 
 
 25 
 
 Princeton, Syracuse and Ohio State gave 
 nine hundred dollars as the average cost of 
 a year in college. President Hadley of Yale 
 put the minimum at seven hundred and 
 sixty-nine dollars. President Hibben of 
 Princeton submitted six hundred and twenty- 
 six dollars as the lowest possible figure, 
 while President Lowell said that by strict 
 economy a student at Harvard could pull 
 through on seven hundred dollars annually. 
 Chancellor Day of Syracuse agreed with 
 President Lowell. 
 
 4. These figures offer interesting contrast 
 to the average of five hundred and twenty- 
 seven dollars as computed for Brown by 
 Dean Randall seven years ago. The average 
 on the Hill today is between six hundred and 
 seven hundred dollars, with the higher figure 
 probably predominating. But knowing that 
 a good education is necessary, if expensive, 
 and with opportunities to earn money toward 
 defraying costs many and varied, youth will 
 not be denied. What a shock, though, pres- 
 ent bills for tuition and necessities would 
 give to the Brown student of the early days 
 whose record shows that his four years of 
 college cost him not quite two hundred 
 dollars! 
 
 111. Newspeg. (Note the collected items used as a 
 peg. 111I2-4. Additional news-information intro- 
 duced for survey purposes. 
 
 This news editorial might also be classified as one 
 of news-summary and comment (Ch. IV) or of re- 
 view and survey (Ch. V). 
 
 GETTING TO THE LIMITS 
 
 Philadelphia Public Ledger 
 
 1. Two remarkable addresses were made 
 to labor bodies in Massachusetts in the last 
 few days. One of them was by Frederick 
 W. Mansfield, who not only has been the 
 counsel of the Massachusetts division of the 
 American Federation of Labor, but the Dem- 
 ocratic candidate for governor three times. 
 
 2. He spoke to a newly-organized labor 
 body. 
 
 3. "Strikes," he said, "are a relic of the 
 dark ages. They cause untold suffering to 
 workers and great losses to employers. The 
 remedy for unrest is not to strike, but for 
 employer and employees to get together and 
 work. While I do not say strikes ought to 
 be forbidden by law, I do say the unions 
 ought to make such a law unnecessary by 
 voluntarily agreeing to arbitrate all disputes 
 where the public would be seriously incon- 
 venienced if service were stopped. 
 
 4. "In former days the employer was able 
 to dictate whatever terms of employment 
 suited him, and the worker was forced to 
 accept them. Now, when the worker finds 
 himself in a position of power because of 
 combination, the worker in turn is endeavor- 
 ing to get all he can from the employer. 
 
 Labor unions, to be successful, must be 
 honest, honorable in intention, their objects 
 lawful and praiseworthy, and above all they 
 must regain public respect and confidence. 
 One can't deny that unions in the last few 
 years have lost caste." 
 
 5. The other address was made by Pro- 
 fessor William D. Ripley of Harvard. He 
 was speaking to the delegates attending the 
 Amalgamated Clothing Workers' Conven- 
 tion, held in Boston. They had pledged 
 themselves to demand a forty-hour week at 
 the present rate of pay. 
 
 6. After suggesting to them that they 
 were creating conditions which might oper- 
 ate to the disadvantage of labor, he asked 
 his hearers if they appreciated that today 
 one-half of the people in America were 
 schooling themselves to economize to the 
 limit in the purchase of clothing and, in fur- 
 therance of this plan, were wearing old 
 clothes. 
 
 7. "Look at mine," he exclaimed. There- 
 upon he opened his coat so that everyone 
 could see that the lining was tattered. 
 
 8. Then he told his hearers that they 
 might cut their hours and get as much pay 
 for the shorter term as for the former 
 schedule, and the manufacturer might add 
 to the price of garments, not only to cover 
 the increased cost of production, but to add 
 to his profits; but there was one thing as 
 sure as anything could be, and that was, 
 the public would not buy and the worker 
 would be out of work, and the manufacturer 
 would be out of profits. 
 
 9. There was a limit to public ability to 
 pay and a limit, too, to the public's patience. 
 
 in|l-2. Newspeg (incomplete) ;see 115 . 1i1I3-4. De- 
 velopment of the thought by quoting from one of the 
 addresses. 
 
 f5. The other division of the peg, 1116-9. De- 
 velopment of the thought by means of a condensation 
 of the second of the two addresses. 
 
 This editorial may also be regarded as one of in- 
 terpretation utilizing news-summary (Chs. VI and IV). 
 
 ANOTHER CASE OF EVERYBODY'S 
 BUSINESS 
 
 Kansas City Star 
 
 1. Public school teachers of New Orleans 
 have asked the school board for a 50 per 
 cent increase in salaries next year. The 
 teachers declare that if the increase is not 
 granted they will work only six months in 
 the year. The Kansas Teachers' Association 
 last Friday asked Governor Allen to au- 
 thorize a bill calling for an increase of tax 
 limits in school districts to the end that 
 teachers of the state might be reasonably 
 paid. 
 
 2. Instances of this character are of al- 
 most daily occurrence. The one big question 
 in educational circles throughout the coun- 
 
26 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 try today is the imperative necessity of a 
 wage that will enable teachers to live com- 
 fortably and a wage that will hold competent 
 teachers in the profession. 
 
 3. There have been slight and sporadic 
 increases in teachers' salaries in this coun- 
 try in the last year or so. A school board 
 in this or that town has resorted to the ex- 
 pedient of a 5, 10 or 15 per cent advance in 
 salaries in a desperate effort to keep schools 
 open. But many schools in various states 
 are closed now for lack of teachers, some 
 have considerably fewer teachers than are 
 needed and many others are being conducted 
 by inexperienced and incompetent teachers. 
 
 4. Everybody concedes the teachers ought 
 to be better paid. School boards generally 
 do not doubt this fact and declare they are 
 doing all they can to meet the emergency. 
 Public officials and legislators generally are 
 in favor of the move, too, and the public is 
 sympathetic toward the case of the poorly 
 paid teacher. 
 
 5. Sympathy and support the teacher has 
 in abundance; but he has not the needed in- 
 crease in salary. Every fellow seems to 
 take the position that the other fellow ought 
 to see to it that the teacher is decently 
 paid. And so matters drift on while the 
 schools decline in efficiency, the teachers talk 
 about going on strike, demanding shorter 
 hours or looking for other employment. It 
 is another case of everybody's business. 
 
 Ifl. Here the newspeg consists of two specific in- 
 stances that are shown to represent a general situa- 
 tion. 
 
 112, Announcement of subject. 1113-4. Consid- 
 eration of pertinent aspects of the subject. US. 
 
 Conclusion from the facts considered. 
 
 Chapter II. Exercises. 
 
 1. Run through fifteen of the editorials 
 in this book, other than those classified as 
 "peg-hung," and determine which of them 
 reveal a "newspeg." 
 
 2. Do the same with the editorials in at 
 least three daily papers of current date. 
 
 3. Go through the news columns of a 
 daily paper, and jot down the ten best pegs 
 you find for editorial utilization. 
 
 4. Taking the first five of these pegs 
 one by one, set down under each a statement 
 of the theme (topic, or "point") of the 
 editorial that you would hang upon it. 
 Compress each statement into a single, 
 definite sentence. To this then add a clear, 
 definite statement, how you would treat, or 
 develop, this topic. (Mark the word: it is 
 how.) 
 
 5. Taking two weekly journals (such as 
 Collier's, Leslie's, Harvey's, The Outlook, 
 The Independent, The Review), examine the 
 editorials of one number each, noting which 
 of them are and which are not hung upon 
 a newspeg. Is the peg evidently present, 
 though unstated, in any of the editorials ? 
 
 6. In the same way, examine the edi- 
 torials in representative industrial and trade 
 journals. Make a memorandum of each 
 peg so found; i. e., of the news that con- 
 stitutes the peg. (This will be mainly news 
 of the industry, business, or trade.) 
 
 7. Do the same with representative agri- 
 cultural papers. (Here the news will be 
 mainly that of agriculture and rural life.) 
 
 8. Using the following (fictitious) news- 
 item as a peg, write an editorial of 300-400 
 words: Investigation by the department of 
 journalism of Blankington University shows 
 that 77 per cent of the editorials published 
 by American daily papers are "hung upon 
 a newspeg" — that is, directly spring from 
 and refer to facts or items reported in the 
 news of the day. 
 
 9-13. "Write as many of the editorials 
 prepared for in No. 4 as the instructor may 
 direct. 
 
 i 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE THREE-PART EDITORIAL 
 
 Variety and range of the editorial. 
 
 — Whether, excepting fiction, any 
 form of contemporary writing per- 
 mits more variation in approach, or 
 more non-conventionaHty of tone, 
 than does the editorial-article, may 
 be questioned. So universal is the 
 range of the editorial in subject-mat- 
 ter, so unrestricted is it in choice of 
 treatment and impression, that it will 
 be found, at one time or another, em- 
 ploying now exposition, now argu- 
 mentation, now narration, and now 
 description, perhaps separately and 
 perhaps in combination. 
 
 Moreover, even when its purpose is 
 manifestly explanatory or argumenta- 
 tive, it has recourse to all those con- 
 tributory and ancillary means, de- 
 vices, and methods which composi- 
 tional experience put at the disposal 
 of the skilled writer. As "nothing of 
 concern to man is alien" to its inter- 
 est, so no kind of written expression 
 that is effective in discussing the con- 
 cerns of man is, when ably directed 
 to the ultimate purposes of the edi- 
 torial page, alien to its use. 
 
 Instructional function of the edi- 
 torial. — The function of the editorial- 
 writer (Mr. Brisbane has said) is to 
 teach, attack, defend, and praise — a 
 partitioning that either does not go 
 far enough or goes too far, except for 
 purposes of popular exposition. From 
 a strictly philosophical point of view, 
 it in truth goes too far. Ultimately 
 (except for their secondary purpose, 
 that of attracting readers and in- 
 creasing circulation), the editorial 
 page and article have but one guiding 
 function — that of teaching. Attack- 
 ing, defending, and praising are 
 
 merely particular ways of teaching; 
 and even what at first, as in the 
 casual-essay and the human-interest 
 editorial, strikes us as being merely 
 diversional, proves on consideration 
 also to be instructive, and consequent- 
 ly instructional. This affirmation gives 
 an extremely wide meaning to the 
 word "teaching" ; yet there is a legiti- 
 mate sense in which the assertion 
 clearly is true, and the ultimate func- 
 tion of the editorial is, indirectly or 
 directly, to teach. 
 
 The inference follows, that the edi- 
 torial will oftenest deal with directly 
 instructive subjects, and usually in a 
 directly instructive manner. Hence 
 it will more often be expositional or 
 argumentative than otherwise. That 
 is, it will — broadly speaking — ^be 
 propositional in method. 
 
 The three-part propositional plan. 
 — We may therefore assert, though 
 arbitrarily, that there is a standard, 
 or type, form of editorial article ; and 
 our assertion, as a mere generaliza- 
 tion, is strengthened by the fact that 
 numerous editorial articles not ob- 
 viously of the propositional type, are 
 found upon analysis nevertheless to 
 follow the general plan of proposi- 
 tional presentation. 
 
 The structural plan of such articles 
 is direct and simple. They consist of : 
 
 1. The annunciatory beginning. — This 
 
 announces either (a) the prop- 
 osition, or (b) the facts, with 
 which the discussion deals. 
 Often the annunciatory begin- 
 ning will consist of or include 
 a newspeg. 
 
 2. The considerative advance, or inter- 
 
 pretive amplification. — In this 
 
28 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 will be found the explanation, 
 discussion, examination, or 
 other consideration of the prop- 
 osition or facts. This stage 
 lays the foundation for the 
 final inference or application. 
 3. The conclusion or application. — This 
 is the culmination of the edi- 
 torial, to which all that pre- 
 cedes is preparatory. 
 Representative editorials. — Ex- 
 amples of the editorial of three-stage 
 plan are easily found. Possibly this 
 plan is especially common in the so- 
 called news-editorial — ^the editorial 
 that treats its subject primarily from 
 the viewpoint of news (see Chapter 
 IV) ; but it is in general use for all 
 kinds of editorial, as is shown by the 
 specimens here following : 
 
 SETTING UP MILLIONAIRES AD LIB 
 
 Manufacturers' Record 
 
 1. Hardly a day now passes in Washing- 
 ton that some member of Congress does not 
 solemnly announce that the war produced 
 20,000 or more new millionaires. The num- 
 ber differs. Some fix it as high as 40,000. 
 
 2. We have repeatedly pointed out that 
 no figures, so far as we know, are available 
 to sustain these statements. We have writ- 
 ten to man after man who quoted them, but 
 none has ever given an answer that means 
 anything at all. 
 
 3. If there is anybody who has any actual 
 figures and reliable statistics on which to 
 base a statement that the war created 20,000 
 new millionaires, he will be performing a 
 public duty by producing them. 
 
 4. How far does a lie travel ? 
 
 fl. Annunciatory beginning. (Observe the Vigorous 
 mood revealed from the outset.) 
 1f1!2-3, Development; refutation of the assertion. 
 f4. Conclusion. (Note the force of the conclusion 
 in this indirect form ; but also note that such a clos- 
 ing form would fail unless the thought had been com- 
 pletely developed beforehand. The effect of 1[4 is 
 solely that of emphasis.) 
 
 WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH LABOR? 
 
 New York Mail 
 
 1. It is said that in our motion picture 
 houses seven out of every ten persons in the 
 afternoon audiences are males. Not long 
 ago nine out of every ten were women and 
 children. 
 
 2. This single instance, cited by Harold 
 Roberts, vice-president of the North Amer- 
 ican Copper Company, in a recent address, 
 suggests the answer to his question, "What's 
 
 the matter with labor?" His answer is that 
 the so-called shortage of labor is really a 
 shortage of product, through a decrease in 
 per capita production and an indifference to 
 a full six-day week when the earnings of 
 half a week suffice. 
 
 3. Consequences may be mathematically 
 stated, using Department of Labor figures 
 that wages have advanced over 130 per cent 
 since we entered the war and production 
 fallen one-third. This means that produc- 
 tion which costs $1 before the war now 
 costs $3.45. 
 
 HI. Preparatory data (drawn from current news). 
 if2. Annunciatory statement and beginning of de- 
 velopment (material drawn from same source). 
 US. Development carried further (by means of ma- 
 terial drawn from another source), with a closing 
 sentence of interpretation. The intended application 
 or conclusion is indicated by the opening words of 
 the H. 
 
 DESERVE CONSIDERATION 
 
 Boston Post 
 
 1. In a letter published in the Post not 
 long ago a bank teller pointed out the fact 
 that clerks and minor officials in our banks 
 and trust companies are for the most part 
 receiving pay not much in advance of that 
 of years ago, and that they feel most keenly 
 the mounting cost of living with which their 
 salaries have in no way kept pace. 
 
 2. "When the employee," said the writer, 
 "who has the responsibility of handling large 
 sums of money, receives a smaller remuner- 
 ation than even the man who comes around 
 to wash the windows, it is hardly a fair 
 proposition." 
 
 3. It is indeed "hardly a fair proposi- 
 tion," and banks should make it a matter of 
 pride, as well as of justice, tcflsee to it that 
 men in their employ who have to be edu- 
 cated, personally pleasing and well dressed, 
 and who are constantly held to account for 
 great sums of money, be paid more in ac- 
 cordance with the demands of the time and 
 the value of their work. 
 
 111. Annunciatory beginning. 1f2. Development 
 
 by means of quotation, restating the thought. 
 
 1f3. Conclusion. 
 
 HOW MANY HOURS OF WORK A DAY? 
 
 New York Sun and Herald 
 
 1. In the course of his remarks to a Sen- 
 ate committee on the impossibility gf apply- 
 ing rigid rules or instantaneous legislation 
 to labor matters, Mr. Hoover cited the 
 eight-hour day question as an example. 
 
 2. That is not a matter of universal ap- 
 plication. In some industries eight hours is 
 too long a day. 
 
 3. Nobody doubts that; and it is equally 
 certain that in some industries eight hours 
 is too short a day. The number of hours 
 at which a man can turn out the largest 
 
THREE-PART EDITORIALS 
 
 29 
 
 amount of good work without unreasonable 
 fatigue must be determined by tests in each 
 line of business. 
 
 4. In Cleveland last October the thousand 
 employees of a large machine factory peti- 
 tioned their employers to reduce the hours of 
 work from ten to nine without change of 
 pay, agreeing that if at the end of six 
 months production was found to have fallen 
 off the extra hour's labor would be re- 
 sumed. The experiment was satisfactory to 
 both sides. Speeding up in nine hours did 
 the work that once took ten. 
 
 5. Now the same employees ask that 
 their hours be reduced to eight a day and a 
 similar six months' test to be used. They 
 feel that they can do in eight hours the 
 work which once consumed ten. The em- 
 ployers have consented and next autumn we 
 shall see whether the workmen have over- 
 estimated their abilities. The only risk of 
 loss in such experiments as these is taken 
 by the employer when he agrees to a test 
 which lasts so long as six months. 
 
 6. Only by such practical means can the 
 proper number of working hours be de- 
 termined. 
 
 tl. Annunciatory beginning, hung on a peg of news. 
 
 112. Transition from stage 1 to stage 2. 
 
 TI1I3-5. Considerative advance. In fS, the proposition 
 is restated in an interpretive form ; in 114 it is illus- 
 trated by means of a concrete instance ; in 115, a pro- 
 posed further trial of the principal is noted. 
 116. Application of the preceding facts in a conclu- 
 sion concerning the desirable procedure. 
 
 WHAT IS A PIKER? 
 
 Worcester Telegram 
 
 1. In these days of extravagance the an- 
 swer propounded to the question "What is 
 a piker?" by a former member of the Stock 
 Exchange deserves consideration as well as 
 attention. The answer came after a mo- 
 ment's deliberation and reflection and was: 
 
 2. "A piker is a man who lives within his 
 income." 
 
 3. Like similar answers, it has, beneath 
 its light-heartedness, material for thought- 
 ful consideration. 
 
 111. Annunciatory beginning. 1|2. Stage 2. The 
 
 development is adequately completed merely by quot- 
 ing the definition. 113. Concluding comment. 
 
 This is an excellent example of the tabloid editorial, 
 
 A HUMILIATION AND A RELIEF 
 
 Chicago Evening Post 
 
 1. _ It is humiliating to think that a man 
 considered of sufficient eminence to qualify 
 for the United States Senate should be 
 guilty of the offenses against the laws of 
 his country and the ethical standards of his 
 time which have been charged and proved 
 to the jury's satisfaction aganst Truman 
 H. Newberry. It is humiliating to think 
 that he could find sixteen men of prominence 
 to associate themselves with him in a con- 
 
 spiracy to debauch the electorate of a great 
 State. It is humiliating to think that the 
 conspiracy succeeded; that the State suc- 
 cumbed to the tide of dollars. 
 
 2. But it is a relief to know that the con- 
 spiracy has been discovered and exposed; 
 that a jury, after hearing all the evidence, 
 has had the courage to convict, and that a 
 judge has passed adequate sentence upon 
 the guilty. 
 
 3. The Senate must now deal with New- 
 berry. His expulsion should follow without 
 debate or delay. 
 
 4. The political atmosphere should be 
 cleaner for this trial and its result. On the 
 eve of a presidential election it comes as a 
 loud warning to candidates who are inclined 
 to put their faith in the persuasiveness of 
 money. It vindicates the law and the courts. 
 It encourages all the forces which are work- 
 ing for righteousness in democracy. 
 
 HI. Announces subject and deals with the first main 
 proposition derived from it ("It is humiliating," etc.) : 
 the announcement and the beginning of the develop- 
 ment are combined. 
 
 12. Develops the reverse proposition ("But it is a 
 relief," etc). 
 
 1f1[3-4. Reaches an interpretive conclusion and dis- 
 misses the subject. 
 
 FIGURES OUT OF LINE 
 
 Breeders' Gazette 
 
 1. The truth is that as a result of long 
 years of abundance in this country a level 
 of values for farm products was established 
 that was in almost every instance too low. 
 The farmer has rarely, except in war times, 
 had as much as he had a right to expect for 
 his wheat, his corn, his live stock. Bread 
 and butter and meat have been the cheapest 
 commodities — relatively speaking — upon the 
 American market. It was not to be ex- 
 pected that $20 to $23 per cvid:. could be 
 maintained as a price for fat cattle and 
 hogs after the war emergency needs were 
 met. It was almost certain that in the 
 easing off from these abnormal levels losses 
 would be made by some who failed to take 
 into account the deflation that must take 
 place when war drums cease to roll. 
 
 2. Nevertheless it is not to be expected 
 that farmers and feeders will quietly pocket 
 their losses and say nothing and do nothing 
 by way of protest against a situation in 
 which they find themselves between the 
 upper millstone of declining prices for their 
 products (aggravated by railway and indus- 
 trial strikes) and the nether millstone of 
 profiteering prices for shoes, stockings and 
 pitchforks. The old ship is listing, to the 
 exceeding discomfort and distress of the 
 hardest-working element in our American 
 population, and it is nearly time that the 
 rest of the country woke up to that serious 
 fact. 
 
EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 3. Prevailing prices for farm products 
 are low enough, even for normal times. The 
 next step is deflation in other lines of pro- 
 duction. Liquidation has already done its 
 work in the field and feedlot, and it is com- 
 ing to the other fellow. High money is one 
 thing that will hasten the turning of the 
 trick. 
 
 Tfl. Annunciatory and preparatory beginning. 
 
 T12. Interpretive (and augmentative) advance. 
 
 ^3. Conclusion and application. 
 
 This specimen reveals the employment of the 
 3-stage plan in an editorial that is one of a group 
 making a longer editorial, or editorial sequence (not 
 given here). The opening four words and its closing 
 sentence "lock" it into the sequence; with these 
 omitted, it could stand as an entirely distinct edi- 
 torial. (This emphasizes the presence of plan not 
 merely in writings as a whole, but in their con- 
 stituent divisions also.) The grouping of editorials 
 into a sequence, more or less closely interrelated, is 
 not infrequent, though it is not a general practice. It 
 is more characteristic of the weekly and monthly 
 reviews, and of other magazines, than it is of news- 
 papers. 
 
 WHAT LABOR WARS ARE COSTING 
 
 New York World 
 
 1. More than any one cause, perhaps 
 more than all other causes ^combined, labor 
 wars in this city have interfered with the 
 erection of homes to hold the profiteering 
 landlord within measure. 
 
 2. To take but two instances now fore- 
 most in the news: With the whole world 
 hungry for production in every field, a re- 
 sponsible body of labor men in New York 
 is demanding that the steel frames of a 
 number of buildings be torn down for re- 
 erection because they have been set in place 
 by non-union men. More senseless waste 
 could not, outside of war, be imagined; and 
 directly or indirectly the cost of this waste, 
 if perpetrated, would fall upon the home- 
 seeker and the rent-payer. 
 
 3. Again, though urgently needed here, 
 the bricklayers of New York are leaving in 
 thousands to seek work elsewhere because 
 they cannot work in the metropolis. While 
 a strike against employers has been going 
 on since the beginning of the year, the Build- 
 ing Trades Council has in effect boycotted 
 the bricklayers to force them into joining 
 the council. Here also the chief sufferers 
 are poor families who cannot find shelter. 
 
 4. The question is not one of wages; 
 these must be high to meet the cost of 
 living. But at least builders might go to 
 work with a will on houses to make life en- 
 durable for other workmen. In times like 
 these there is no excuse for arbitrary lim- 
 itation of work or product, and the workers 
 themselves are the ultimate victims of labor 
 wars that mean higher rentals. 
 
 111. Annunciatory beginning. 1112-3. Considera- 
 
 tive advance, consisting in the discussion of two rep- 
 resentative instances. f4. Application of facts in 
 
 an interpretation of the consequences. 
 
 A RETURN TO WHISKERS 
 
 1. The city editor lays upon the editorial 
 desk the startling announcement of the bar- 
 bers that "after February 1 the price of 
 shaves will be 25 cents and of hair cuts 50 
 cents, on Saturdays and holidays 30 cents 
 and 60 cents." We foresee a hirsute genera- 
 tion. 
 
 2. The shaven face and the close-cut hair 
 have become so characteristic of American 
 men that they were among the first things 
 noted, and most often commented on, about 
 our soldiers abroad. But they are the product 
 of habit only. Long hair and whiskered 
 faces were just as much the fashion for- 
 merly; even college boys cultivated the 
 flowing lock and the pilose cheek, and ap- 
 parently the young ladies of that day re- 
 sponded to the capillary attraction of the 
 mode as readily as those of our own day 
 respond to the attractiveness of the current 
 fashion. 
 
 3. How far the comparative cheapness of 
 shaves and hair cuts contributed to our na- 
 tional custom of discurtation, one can only 
 guess; but with the price of the barber's 
 service doubled, there is small doubt that 
 men will visit the "tonsorial parlor" less 
 frequently and less gaily. Safety razors 
 may do somewhat to keep us bare-faced; 
 but the men who henceforth do not wear 
 their hair longer are likely to be bald- 
 headed. 
 
 Ifl. Newspeg. Announcement of subject in the last 
 
 sentence. lf2. Considerative advance, consisting 
 
 of a look backward. 13. Transitional clause, lead- 
 ing in the conclusion. 
 
 This editorial is a "news" editorial, as it owes its 
 interest principally to the news-item with which it 
 deals. 
 
 MONTANA 
 
 Country Gentleman 
 
 1. Montana is oar third largest state. It 
 is as large as 117 Rhode Islands and con- 
 tains more acres than New England, New 
 York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland 
 combined. Thus it is a young giant — very 
 young, but very much a giant, as we are re- 
 minded by a prideful booklet just issued by 
 Charles D. Greenfield, commissioner of agri- 
 culture and publicity for the state. 
 
 2. Due homage has been rendered to 
 Montana as a mining state. Its stores of 
 silver, gold, copper, zinc, lead, coal and 
 manganese intrigue our interest and excite 
 our wonder, but we must now begin to think 
 of Montana as a farming state, Mr. Green- 
 field reminds us. This is not because the 
 state's crown of precious metals is slipping, 
 but because the state's topsoil is beginning 
 to be worked. The state threatens to snatch 
 the flax leadership from North Dakota. Its 
 potato average in 1918 was 135 bushels to 
 
THREE-PART EDITORIALS 
 
 31 
 
 the acre. It ranks well in sugar beets, 
 spring wheat, oats, barley; is climbing 
 rapidly in corn; and is fairly soaring in sun- 
 flowers for silage. Not counting its live- 
 stock or its wool crop, the state's farm prod- 
 ucts totaled $146,713,000 in 1918. This is 
 more than the yield of all its mines. 
 
 3. It is better thus. Mines play out and 
 are abandoned. Farm lands, properly 
 handled, are practically inexhaustible. Mon- 
 tana as a farm state will be a more solid and 
 safer citizen in our Union. 
 
 111. Annunciatory beginning, striking the tonal "key- 
 note." 112. Developing advance, consisting in the 
 
 citation of basic statistical fact. Note the easy yet 
 
 vigorous manner of expression. US. Conclusion, 
 
 in the form of an interpretation or "moral." 
 
 UP AND DOWN 
 
 Harvey's Weekly 
 
 1. If skirts stay up, prices go down; if 
 skirts go down, prices go up. The National 
 Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers' Asso- 
 ciation has thrown down the gauntlet. The 
 Women's Activities Branch of the Depart- 
 ment of Justice has taken it up. 
 
 2. The Manufacturers in convention as- 
 sembled at Cleveland ruled that skirts are 
 to go down this Fall, and that with their 
 descent will come a corresponding elevation 
 of prices. Edith C. Strauss of the Women's 
 Activities Branch of Mr. Palmer's Justice 
 Department has handed down a decision 
 that skirts and the prices thereof shall stay 
 where they are, or women will wear their 
 old clothes. "The women of this country," 
 continues the Women's Activities author- 
 ity, "can prevent this increase in prices, as 
 well as bring about an actual reduction of 
 prices, by their continued sane and conserva- 
 tive buying." 
 
 3. Of course they can. Their husbands, 
 fathers and brothers have been digging up 
 and wearing their garments of ante-bellum 
 vintage. A distinguished United States 
 Senator, Mr. Thomas of Colorado, pointed 
 with pride in the Senate Chamber itself the 
 other day to his patched clothes and to his 
 four-year-old shoes. While not yet abso- 
 lutely de rigueur in man's attire, patches 
 bid fair to become selective badges of dis- 
 tinction. And if the Women's Activities 
 Branch of the Department of Justice should 
 join in the great masculine Old Clo' Move- 
 ment, and go in strong for reefed skirts, the 
 crash of tumbling prices this Fall will be 
 heard above all the election uproar. 
 
 HI. Annunciatory beginning (incomplete ; see news- 
 peg in |2). The H sets the tone of the editorial — 
 serious at bottom, but not too serious in manner. 
 
 112. Interpretive advance by means of summary of 
 the news-facts. 
 
 K3. Additional facts, ending in an approving conclu- 
 ;»ion — still semi-serious, although lightly phrased. 
 
 APOTHEOSIS OF THE CORNCOB 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. America produces around two and a 
 half billion bushels of corn each year, and 
 fully an equal amount of cobs. For the corn 
 much use has been found, although its juice 
 no longer is extracted, distilled and doctored 
 up to befuddle the brain and excite the pas- 
 sions. The cob yet remains almost exclu- 
 sively a waste product, despite the limited 
 service that comes from the "Missouri 
 meerschaum," and the inconsequential fuel 
 supply developed from the pile around the 
 sheller. Now, however, the chemist has been 
 making close inquiry into the corncob, and 
 finds it useful in the dye industry. Various 
 chemical substances essentially necessary in 
 the process of making colors fast and 
 furious, establishing qualities of permanence 
 and brilliance, are found in the cob. One of 
 these substances now being supplied at $17 
 a pound can be extracted from the corncob 
 and sold at a profit for 15 cents a pound. It 
 sounds too good to be true, but the chemists 
 now in conclave at St. Louis solemnly as- 
 severate that it is true. So science has 
 added another triumph by discovering serv- 
 ice in waste, and a use is found for some- 
 thing that has hitherto been only in the way. 
 The railroads may yet be required to devise 
 special cars to haul the cobs to market, and 
 maybe the time will come when the shelled 
 corn will be piled carelessly on the ground, 
 while the precious cob will be carefully 
 stored under cover. It is a topsy-turvy day, 
 you know. 
 
 Sentences 1-4 announce the subject. Succeeding 
 sentences develop the thought by citing recently 
 evolved processes for utilizing cobs. A third group 
 of sentences offers concluding remarks of a discursive 
 yet pertinent nature. 
 
 This editorial is not in itself too long for printing 
 in a single If. Nevertheless, many papers would sep- 
 arate it into two or three, using the journalistic 
 rather than the literary, or book, standard of length. 
 The standard newspaper column is narrow, usually 
 permitting not more than 6, 7 or 8 words to the line. 
 Hence a If that occupies 15 lines on a book-page 
 may occupy 25 or 30 lines in a newspaper, and (con- 
 sequently) appear long and repellent to the eye 
 trained to the mere cut-and-take If. 
 
 THE ADMINISTRATION HAS SURREN- 
 DERED TO THE MAN WHO 
 WON'T WORK 
 
 New York Sun 
 
 1. Because of the longshoremen's strike 
 the Postoffice Department threw up its 
 hands and quit its job of moving the foreign 
 mails. Letters, periodicals, parcels, the 
 postage on which has been prepaid and de- 
 livery of which the Postoffice has contracted 
 to undertake, lie on the piers, awaiting the 
 hour when men who don't want to work for 
 the pay offered to them will allow men who 
 do want to work to get on the job. 
 
32 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 2. The Government of the United States 
 found the mails obstructed at Chicago in 
 the railway strike of 1894, The administra- 
 tion of the Executive Department of the 
 Government in that year was in the hands 
 of Grover Cleveland. He sent soldiers to 
 Chicago to protect the men who wanted to 
 work from the men who did not want them to 
 work. Under the protection of the soldiers 
 the mails were moved. The public service 
 that violence had halted was resumed. The 
 supremacy of the law was upheld. 
 
 3. The Executive Department of the 
 United States Government today does not do 
 what Grover Cleveland did. When the peace 
 of the country is disturbed it does not seek 
 to defend it. It lies down. When it lies 
 down the law is powerless, the agents of the 
 law are paralyzed, the machinery of govern- 
 ment ceases to function. 
 
 4. The weakness is in the Administra- 
 tion. It has all the authority and all the 
 power 6f the Government at its hand, but 
 does not use them. The Administration has 
 surrendered to the disorderly, and the Gov- 
 ernment is made helpless by its surrender. 
 
 Ifl. Annunciatory beginning. 1I1I2-3. Considera- 
 
 tive advance, comparing past courses of action (112) 
 with those of the present (US). 1,4. Conclusion. 
 
 FARMS DESERTED 
 
 In Vermont Also Scarcity of Labor Makes 
 Crops Uncertain 
 
 1. To The Sun and New York Herald: 
 I note the letter "Farmers Are Quitting," 
 and also other letters treating of the same 
 topic. Allow me to say similar conditions 
 prevail in New England. 
 
 2. Men who can perform only unskilled 
 work ask $3 and $4 for a short day — even 
 more in haying and harvesting periods — 
 and refuse to do the chores night and morn- 
 ing or to help get under cover a load of hay 
 after 5 p. m., even if rain threatens. 
 
 3. Last year acres of grass in Vermont 
 and quantities of potatoes in Maine • were 
 ruined for lack of laborers, and today pota- 
 toes are soaring. In the working hours 
 these men do as little as possible. When not 
 working they smoke and gossip. 
 
 4. Last summer New England was cry- 
 ing for men to work in field and orchard 
 while at that very time many a soldier boy 
 was walking city streets searching for a job 
 exactly to his mind, when he could have had 
 healthful work, with good food and wages, 
 in the country, perhaps finding also an 
 agreeable place to locate for life. 
 
 5. When the war was on New England 
 women were glad to plant, dig, pick up and 
 store potatoes and do many other hard 
 stunts, and Western women to handle the 
 
 heavy ranch jobs. They are less keen now 
 to do these things. Yet they are obliged to 
 do them because of the preposterous attitude 
 of labor. 
 
 6. I believe the American Legion, acting 
 promptly, could go over the top once again 
 and stop the exodus from the farms, a move- 
 ment surely gaining headway, and with 
 neighborhood tractors and other co-opera- 
 tive plans could put a new face on the labor 
 problem of the farms, whose operation is 
 vital to the nation. 
 
 Vermont Woman. 
 
 Ifl. Annunciatory beginning. 1I1I2-5. Considera- 
 
 tive advance ; comparative summary of conditions else- 
 where. 116. Conclusion in the form of a sugges- 
 tion of practical purpose. 
 
 The Letters to the Editor — printed by nearly all 
 newspapers — include much that is crude and illogical. 
 Indeed, the editor sometimes prints such letters solely 
 because they are humorous unawares, or because 
 their crudity, weak logic, or violence tacitly reveal 
 the intellectual "caliber" of those who support or 
 attack some particular measure ; for ridiculous sup- 
 port throws ridicule or doubt upon the thing sup- 
 ported. On the other hand, as in this specimen, no 
 small amount of keen, sensible thought expressed in 
 good and sometimes excellent form, will be found in 
 the Letters-from-Readers department. Nearly all such 
 letters are editorial in nature. 
 
 THE LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND 
 
 New Haven Journal-Courier 
 
 1. The Springfield Republican makes this 
 illuminating comment: "The 'overalls clubs' 
 forming in the South as a protest against 
 the high cost of clothes have sent the high 
 cost of overalls to the sky, and the move- 
 ment will have to retire to a previously pre- 
 pared position." 
 
 2. The obvious purpose of these overalls 
 clubs was to bring down the price of regular 
 clothing. Before this object could be at- 
 tained the price of overalls reached a figure 
 that ruined the clubs' prospects. The un- 
 precedented demands upon the overalls trade 
 created a scarcity of them and sent their 
 value soaring. Without the most careful 
 and painstaking precautions it should have 
 been seen by these reformers that only one 
 result could be reached and that the one 
 that has been reached. High prices cannot 
 be overcome this way. They have a way of 
 transferring themselves with amazing swift- 
 ness, as was seen in this case. The mo- 
 ment overalls were made the fashion of the 
 day, they advanced in value, for they be- 
 came something that everybody wanted and 
 what everybody wants refuses to stay cheap, 
 the more so when it is quite understood that 
 the demand is of only temporary duration. 
 
 3. During the War the soldiers of the 
 Confederate Army were in part fed upon 
 the then despised terrapin. The soldiers to 
 be fed today upon that delicious and expen- 
 sive dish would have to hold a higher rank 
 
THREE-PART EDITORIALS 
 
 33 
 
 than any soldier ever held and be in enjoy- 
 ment of a higher wage. High prices are not 
 to be escaped by all jumping from one 
 article to another at the same time. The 
 discrimination practiced must have its basis 
 in a studious form of economy extending all 
 along the line. The only general rule to be 
 applied is that of increased production and 
 of increased thrift. The present high cost 
 of living today, broadly speaking, is due to 
 extravagance of a general character and to 
 an amazing view of work as something to be 
 done at a minimum effort. Until this mad- 
 ness has been corrected overalls may be 
 viewed as something we all may have to 
 wear to cover our bodies instead of as the 
 key to the door of the empty barn. 
 
 1[1. Annunciatory beginning. 1[2, Developing 
 
 advance, consisting in an expository analysis. 
 1f3. Exposition continued by means of a historical 
 instance (first 2 sentences). This forms a direct 
 transition for introducing the conclusion, which con- 
 tinues the analysis, then drives the explanation home 
 in an outright conclusion. 
 
 GOVERNMENT-OWNED RAILROADS 
 
 Montreal Star 
 
 1. One of the questions toward which the 
 public attitude is changing radically is 
 public ownership. The uninformed clamor 
 in favor of this policy, largely supported by 
 men in both political parties who were will- 
 ing to sacrifice the country to enrich rail- 
 way speculators and to rescue their impru- 
 dent backers, has largely been silenced by 
 the disastrous results of experiments in the 
 United States and Great Britain, and by a 
 realization of the fraud behind much of the 
 public advocacy of the policy in Canada. 
 
 2. The people are beginning to realize 
 that the outrage on decency in the C. N. R. 
 deal, for instance, was committed by Lib- 
 erals and Conservatives alike, some of whom 
 on both sides had for many years been the 
 beneficiaries of the railway schemers. But 
 light is breaking in, and those who were 
 swayed by the sophistries of the Mackenzies 
 and the banking clique are fast realizing 
 that they committed their country to the 
 greatest blunder that has been made in its 
 history — a blunder for which both parties 
 must share the blame, though the heaviest 
 responsibility must rest on the shoulders of 
 the late Minister of Finance, under whose 
 administration the deal was concluded. 
 
 3. There is some hope for the country in 
 this visibly growing trend of public opinion. 
 A continuance along the present course of 
 least resistance in railway policy will bring 
 Canada close to financial disaster. The ex- 
 perience in the United States and Great 
 Britain condemns Government operation of 
 railways as a promoter of waste and in- 
 efficiency. It inevitably creates expense and 
 
 depreciates the efficiency of the service and 
 fosters shocking deficits. Canada already 
 has several railways on its hands, all losing 
 money and all deteriorating in service. It 
 is even possible that before many days an- 
 other road may be added to the country's 
 encumbrances. When the next budget is 
 made public the people may realize in a 
 shocking way the result of buying property 
 which they have not the means to manage. 
 
 4. If Canada is to navigate the troubled 
 waters ahead, she must quickly find another 
 course. The current on which she is drift- 
 ing sweeps over more debts and more 
 deficits to the rocks of grave disaster. Public 
 safety demands a new railway policy that 
 will give the public the advantage of the 
 stimulating energy that only comes from in- 
 dividual enterprise, and that will at the same 
 time protect them from the exactions of in- 
 dividual greed. Efficient and economical 
 railway service is essential to the success of 
 every Canadian industry, and this can best 
 be guaranteed by active private operation 
 under rigid public control. 
 
 11. Announcement of subject, and indication of the 
 
 opinion to be advanced. 
 
 1I1I2-3. Considerative advance. 1[2 states a situation ; 
 
 113 discusses its results. 
 
 114. Argumentative conclusion. 
 
 THE FARMER AND PROSPERITY 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. Buying power and disposition to buy 
 on the part of the great body of the people 
 are two prime necessities for general pros- 
 perity, particularly for the mercantile busi- 
 ness. The farmers of the country, who con- 
 stitute one-third of the population, or one- 
 half if those living in towns and villages 
 under 5000 are included, are always the 
 backbone of prosperity. Trade slackens 
 when they are pinched. It booms when they 
 are doing well. 
 
 2. The facts about the farms and their 
 owners are therefore of constant interest to 
 every branch of trade and industry. Let us 
 consider them, as disclosed by statistics. 
 The gross value of the twelve principal crops 
 harvested the past three years has doubled 
 that of the three years preceding 1915, with 
 net earnings nearly if not quite equal to 
 gross earnings before the war. With these 
 increased earnings the value of farm prop- 
 erty has doubled. Indebtedness has de- 
 creased among the farmers proportionately. 
 Here's an instance: Four years ago a farm- 
 er's property was worth $15,000. He carried 
 a $5,000 mortgage on it. He knew himself 
 to be worth $10,000. Today he can sell the 
 farm for $30,000. He still owes the $5,000, 
 which leaves him net assets of $25,000. He 
 is worth two and a half times what he was 
 in 1917. 
 
34 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 3. He knows that and so does his family. 
 And they all know that prices for farm 
 products in 1920 are as promising, if not 
 more promising, than in 1919. The effect is 
 that the farmer pays his mortgage and be- 
 gins to spend his big profits. He buys his 
 daughter a piano. He gets a touring car 
 for pleasure. His family buys more and 
 better clothing, house furnishings and mil- 
 linery. It is a natural expression of in- 
 creased buying power that comes with in- 
 creased assets. And it is going on all over 
 the country on every farm, big or little, and 
 in the villages and towns in which farmers 
 live while their children are being educated. 
 
 4. Add to this prodigious buying power 
 the tremendously increased earnings in all 
 the trades and occupations in the cities, and 
 there results an economic certainty of good 
 business conditions throughout 1920. Only 
 a great crop failure could check it, and there 
 is no reason to expect that. 
 
 5. Those who give the most careful study 
 to economic conditions and markets are now 
 of opinion that what has been denounced as 
 an orgy of extravagance in buying was in 
 fact simply a natural expression of legiti- 
 mate buying power which may be expected to 
 continue for at least three years. Merchants 
 whose foresight has been accurate in the 
 past, believe that advertising never prom- 
 ised better returns than now. This belief 
 prevails among national, as among local, 
 advertisers. 
 
 tl. Annunciatory beginning (farming prosperity a 
 
 sign of general prospering). 
 
 1f2. Begins considerative advance with the citing of 
 
 comparative figures. f3. Continues stage 2, 
 
 showing results of improved finances. ^[4. Con- 
 tinues stage 2, stating favorable conditions outside 
 of farming. 
 
 t5. Stage 3, stating the conclusion as an interpretive 
 report of authoritative opinion. 
 
 MAKE HELGOLAND A ROOST 
 
 Chicago Evening Post 
 
 1. The peace treaty deprives Helgoland 
 of its dignity and menace as one of the 
 world's mightiest fortresses. The guns are 
 gone, never to return, if the hopes of men 
 are realized. 
 
 2. And now men recall that Helgoland 
 served a purpose far more valuable to the 
 world than any to which it was put by Ger- 
 many, and it is proposed that international 
 law shall recognize and sanction this pur- 
 pose. 
 
 3. Ornithologists tell us that the island 
 rock has been the half-way resting place for 
 millions of birds making their spring and 
 autumn migrations across Europe. Break- 
 ing the weariness of their long journeying, 
 they have halted for a night, and the lives, 
 not merely of countless individuals, but of 
 
 whole species, have been preserved by this 
 opportunity to fold the tired wings and re- 
 cruit new strength for further travel. 
 
 4. The birds came in spite of the guns 
 and the garrison. These, indeed, were less 
 disturbing to them than the traps set by the 
 Germans, who are said to have caught hun- 
 dreds of thousands of the feathered pilgrims 
 during their brief sojourns. 
 
 5. Bird lovers in Great Britain and 
 America urge that Helgoland be made a 
 secure hospice for its guests; that the trap- 
 ping or killing of birds upon the island be 
 forbidden. Much would be gained in the 
 preservation of bird life, the importance of 
 which is now everywhere recognized, and an 
 unrivaled opportunity would be afforded 
 for the study of the habits of birds, particu- 
 larly in the exercise of the migratory in- 
 stinct. Surely, there should be no opposition 
 to such a proposal as this, and no serious 
 difficulty in the way of giving it effect. 
 
 in[l-2. Subject announced. (Note how HI prepares for 
 If 2 by providing contrast.) 
 
 1113-4. Explanatory amplification, aided by descrip- 
 tive narration. 1[5, Application. 
 
 ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN, BUT HOW? 
 
 Pep 
 
 1. What does a shop girl think about ? 
 
 2. She has your paper under her arm. 
 She works all day, dances all night, dresses 
 within an inch of her wages, inhabits a hall 
 bedroom, and her ambition is a near-leather 
 coat. 
 
 3. The grimy mechanic from the shop, 
 with a wife and eight kids at home — tired, 
 cussing the H. C. L., perhaps an embryo 
 red. What does he think about? Certainly 
 of nothing that the shop girl does. 
 
 4. The housewife, with her children, her 
 darning, her wash and her mops, brooms 
 and brushes, and a perpetually leaping 
 grocer's bill. What does she think about? 
 Certainly nothing that the shop girl or the 
 mechanic meditates on. 
 
 5. The more comfortable professional 
 and business class, with their reading 
 lamps, their slippers, their perfectos, their 
 smattering of learning, their clubs and their 
 opera. What think they in common with 
 any of these other classes? 
 
 6. Then the editor, in his little center of 
 the big-town web, thinking circulation, rates, 
 street sales, politics, policies and, perhaps, 
 propaganda. What has his thought-life in 
 common with any of these others ? 
 
 7. And yet the editor is supposed to put 
 into his paper each night something that 
 will appeal to each of these classes, some- 
 thing that will be in their language, some- 
 thing for them individually, something out- 
 side the news that his rival will not offer. 
 
THREE-PART EDITORIALS 
 
 35 
 
 Otherwise there need be but one paper in a 
 town. 
 
 8. How about it? Has your paper any- 
 time ever tried to think like a shop girl, a 
 worn housewife, a ditch-digger, a profes- 
 sional or business man, or merely like an 
 editor ? Editors are not paying subscribers. 
 
 9. Think it over. 
 
 Ifl. Annunciatory opening (merely a "starter," not 
 an actual announcement) ; the announcement proper 
 is found in US, the editorial being inverted. 
 f1f2-5 Subject considered in particulars representing 
 four different sides of the question. 11116-7. Sub- 
 ject considered from a fifth side. 
 1118-9. Application and exhortation 
 
 TEACH WORKMEN BUSINESS TRUTHS 
 
 Iron Trade Review 
 
 1. Wrong conceptions of business funda- 
 mentals, confusion of gross and net incomes, 
 the acceptance of the doctrine fostered by 
 the radicals and the wilful disturbers, that 
 the employer's profit from a workman's 
 daily toil is many times the latter's wage, 
 are elements of a distorted perspective of 
 labor that is proving one of the underlying 
 causes of the present unrest. This perspec- 
 tive is being created and molded by agitators 
 whose only hope for success lies in stirring 
 the emotions of the ignorant and unthinking. 
 
 2. Individual workmen are led to believe 
 that they earn every day from $5 to $60 for 
 their employers, and in many instances the 
 case is "proved" by holding up the figures 
 of gross earnings. A study of the reports 
 of four great steel companies reveals that 
 the net profits of each for 1918 were equiva- 
 lent to between $1 and $2 a day for each 
 employee, while in the June quarter of 1919 
 they were equivalent to less than $1 for each 
 employee. 
 
 3. The agitator too long has been the 
 only advocate in court. The time has come 
 for the employer to take his side of the 
 case to his men, for, by his indifferent 
 silence, he is permitting them to accept the 
 deception and the insidious doctrines of the 
 preachers of unrest. 
 
 4. Refutation of the preposterous conten- 
 tions of industrial disturbers and a frank, 
 clear explanation of the simple fundamental 
 truths of business finance would go far in 
 purging the air of Bolshevist poison. The 
 ardor of gullible workmen for the com- 
 munistic Utopia, which they now believe 
 would bring them riches and leisure, would 
 vanish in a twinkling were they made to 
 see that equal division of the fund now 
 going to capital would net them but a few 
 cents a day additional income. 
 
 5. Groups of men will ever heed the call 
 of leadership. It remains for employers to 
 provide healthy, enlightened, mutually help- 
 ful leadership from within, or see the alle- 
 
 giance of employees drift into the camp of 
 radical, outside agitators. Where an honest 
 desire to treat men fairly and squarely 
 exists, nothing is to be lost by laying the 
 cards upon the table before them; indeed, 
 everything is to be gained by such a course. 
 
 HI. Annunciatory beginning, including a catalog of 
 
 significant particulars. 
 
 11112-3-4. Progressive development. 112. Refutation. 
 
 113. Direct reasoning. ^4. Direct reasoning 
 
 •with persuasive tone. 
 
 115. Conclusion and application. 
 
 THE STRIKE EPIDEMIC 
 
 New York Evening Sun 
 
 1. The estimate of The Sun, this morn- 
 ing, makes 220,000 men the number out of 
 work in New York city because of strikes; 
 there are 170,000 strikers and 50,000 men 
 made idle through strikes paralyzing their 
 industries. 
 
 2. The World prints in a Washington 
 dispatch a tabulation of seventy strikes in 
 parts of the United States other than New 
 York. These range from the steel walkout 
 with adherents and victims well up in six 
 figures down to local struggles involving a 
 few thousand people. The facts come from 
 the office of Frank Morrison, secretary of 
 the American Federation of Labor, and from 
 the Division of Conciliation, United States 
 Department of Labor. The Federation ac- 
 knowledges eight strikes approved or au- 
 thorized by it. The other sixty-two are 
 outlaw or at least freelance enterprises 
 
 3. In an address before the Institute of 
 Arts and Sciences yesterday, President 
 Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia Uni- 
 versity asked: "Must the American form of 
 government commit suicide in order to give 
 to industry better and more satisfactory 
 organization?" The question is one nat- 
 urally pressing upon many minds in face of 
 the breakdown of the present organization 
 and leadership. Many of the strikes, tabu- 
 lated as above set forth, are undertaken to 
 establish the existing organization, to secure 
 recognition for present leadership and to set 
 present leaders firmly in the saddle. Others 
 of them are undertaken in defiance of exist- 
 ing organizations and in opposition to the 
 urgent advice of existing leaders. 
 
 4. Considered as a whole, the strike sit- 
 uation amounts to a struggle for an organ- 
 ization which does not organize except for 
 trouble and for a leadership that has broken 
 down and become impotent for peace and 
 prosperity. Dr. Butler discussed somewhat 
 vaguely the remedy for this monstrous evil, 
 which threatens not merely the prosperity, 
 but the life of the country. Much that he 
 said was wise and true. His urgency to 
 regard country before narrow class interests 
 was sound and patriotic. 
 
36 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 5. But, through all his periods, there 
 seemed to be one panacea in his mind. It 
 was conciliation. Unhappily there is no new- 
 promise in that. Conciliation has been the 
 rising wave for months and years. There 
 are those who fear it has slopped over into 
 cowardice. It is, at least, a question whether 
 inevitable yielding ever became a final bar- 
 rier to aggression. Can a forward rolling 
 force ever be stopped by running away 
 from it? 
 
 1I1I1-2. Preparatory beginning, including a newspeg 
 and explanatory data that indicate the subject. 
 K1I3-4. Considerative advance, beginning with a for- 
 mal wording of the question involved (see quotation), 
 followed by an interpretive definition (114) and some 
 emphasized opinion. 
 US. Conclusion (with controversial bearing). 
 
 PAY ROLLS 
 
 Saturday Evening Post 
 
 1. Thirteen hundred officers have re- 
 signed from the Regular Army since the 
 armistice was signed, or one in every eight. 
 The General Staff is exercised about it and 
 recently ordered an investigation. The re- 
 port shows that high cost of living is the 
 chief cause, and remarks that the War De- 
 partment is now paying a hod carrier 
 substantially as much as a second lieutenant, 
 and a plasterer more than a first lieutenant, 
 who may have had seven years of university 
 and hospital training. Both pay and allow- 
 ances of the army officer are included, and 
 he gives all his time against the wage- 
 earner's eight hours. 
 
 2. Perhaps in an ideal adjustment of 
 human values a plasterer is worth more than 
 a first lieutenant or than a brigadier-gen- 
 eral; but the plasterer's seven and a quarter 
 dollars a day, he says, barely covers his cost 
 of living, and a first lieutenant has been 
 brought up and educated to a more expen- 
 sive plane of living. 
 
 3. The chief victims of this high cost of 
 living are the salary earners, the savers, and 
 unorganized inarticulate wage laborers. 
 And they get the least consideration, be- 
 cause they are usually not in a position to 
 raise a row. The Government is no better 
 employer, from the point of view of the 
 people on its pay roll or from the point of 
 view of society as a whole, than any private 
 concern is. It pays its lieutenants now just 
 what it paid them in 1908, and it can hardly 
 pay them more, precisely because it has to 
 pay its plasterers seven and a quarter dol- 
 lars a day, or more if the plasterers ener- 
 getically demand it. Its pay roll exhibits 
 the same inequality as any other; in fact, a 
 greater inequality than most pay rolls. Ex- 
 tending the field of government employment 
 of labor promises nothing. 
 
 1 
 
 f 1. Announcement of what seems the subject ; begin- 
 ning of consideration. (As the true topic is revealed 
 only in the last sentence of the editorial, we may re- 
 gard this as an inverted editorial of the 3-stage plan, 
 like All Things to All Men.) 
 
 12. Consideration continued by means of comparison. 
 is. What seems the application (except in the closing 
 sentence). The real conclusion is in the last sen- 
 tence. Note the effectiveness gained by this "surprisi 
 ending" ; it is like that of the surprise-ending in 
 fiction story. 
 
 UNFORTUNATE INTERWEAVING 
 
 New York Evening Sun 
 
 1. A bitter wail of regret goes up fro: 
 Paris. It is now plainly seen how dire th 
 blunder was of interweaving the League of 
 Nations covenant with the peace treaty. 
 Some of the delegates to the Peace Council 
 dimly perceived the mistake even while it 
 was being made. They protested mildly, 
 weakly, but to deaf enraptured ears. 
 
 2. Now the evil is plain for all to see. 
 The peace is effective in Europe, but there 
 is no league. The interweaving results in 
 a woof without a warp, to hold the fabric 
 of pacification together. It is in danger of 
 falling into a loose, patternless tangle. 
 
 3. Had the League of Nations scheme 
 been kept separate, the peace proper would 
 have been ratified by all the Powers weeks 
 ago. It would have had its own machinery 
 of application and administration, involving 
 no abstract questions, and obnoxious to the 
 interests or dignity of no people. The 
 system would have gone into operation as a 
 matter of course, as after the Franco- 
 German, the Russo-Japanese or any other 
 war. 
 
 4. The league idea would have been 
 moulded in a leisurely fashion with regard 
 to the principles and the rights of every 
 participant. There would have been time 
 to hear from all in detail after full discus- 
 sion. When the plan was matured, to the 
 satisfaction of all parties, it would have 
 been cordially ratified by all, and then would 
 have taken over in working order the greater 
 conclusions of the peace while the original, 
 simple, direct mechanism would continue to 
 function as to the details. 
 
 5. It is quite true that all international 
 relations are now in a disagreeable mess, 
 and makeshift methods must be found to 
 carry out the conditions imposed on Ger- 
 many, while nobody looks forward to the 
 League with any real welcome. The con- 
 fusion which may result is in no sense 
 blamable upon those who are determined to 
 make the covenant safe for America. It 
 lies entirely at the door of those who would 
 have sacrificed American rights to their own 
 purposes. Regardless of all else, the obli- 
 gation remains unlessened to see that the 
 Government and the people of the United 
 
THREE-PART EDITORIALS 
 
 37 
 
 States abdicate nothing of independence or 
 sovereignty in entering into a working 
 agreement for the preservation of such of 
 the adjustments now made as may be worth 
 preserving. 
 
 Ijl. Annunciatory beginning. |2. Interpretive 
 
 amplification. 
 
 HI 3-4. Considerative advance ; assertion of what 
 
 might have been in different circumstances. 
 
 |5. Application in a controversial conclusion. 
 
 Chapter III. Exercises. 
 
 1. Clip from three (or more) daily news- 
 papers of current date all the editorials 
 constructed on the three-stage plan. Mark 
 off in each the three parts. Bring to class 
 for discussion. 
 
 2. Do the same with three weekly jour- 
 nals of general circulation. (Do the dailies 
 or the weeklies tend more to employ the 
 three-stage plan?) — (Periodicals such as the 
 Literary Digest are unsuited for this exer- 
 cise, as their articles are compilations made 
 by a specialized method.) 
 
 3. How many of the three-stage edi- 
 torials found in doing Nos. 1 and 2 above 
 are hung upon a newspeg? In what part 
 
 of the editorial does the newspeg appear 
 when it is present? 
 
 4. From the telegraph news of your 
 daily paper clip three stories that recom- 
 mend themselves for editorial treatment. 
 Paste each on a separate sheet of paper, and 
 opposite it set down in skeleton, or "out- 
 line," form the plan of the editorial, three- 
 stage type. Have the sheets ready for sub- 
 mission to the instructor for suggestions. 
 
 5. Write one of the editorials, revise it, 
 and put it into completed form. 
 
 6. Repeat exercise 4, but clip the stories 
 from the local news columns, not from the 
 telegraph news. 
 
 7. Same as No. 5, but base on the 
 stories clipped according to No. 6. 
 
 8. Write a three-stage editorial that is 
 timely, but that does not employ a newspeg. 
 
 9. Write a three-stage editorial upon a 
 more general theme, endeavoring, however, 
 to give it the effect of current interest. 
 
 10. Write a paper of 500 words upon 
 "The three-stage editorial: its parts and 
 their management, and its utility." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE NEWS EDITORIAL AND EDITORIALS OF NEWS SUMMARY 
 
 Lack of structural categories. — One 
 
 in vain seeks a thoroughly scientific 
 classification of editorials according 
 to structural form and type. But 
 there is nothing surprising in this 
 absence of formal classification. 
 
 So unlimited is the number of sub- 
 jects with which the editorial-writer 
 may deal — so fundamental and well 
 understood are the compositional 
 methods, that, with or without spe- 
 cial modification, he may employ in 
 dealing with these subjects — so well 
 is the function of the editorial recog- 
 nized by reason of its universal em- 
 ployment to inform and instruct 
 the public — ^that analysis from the 
 strictly rhetorical, or structural, view- 
 point seems almost superfluous. It 
 certainly is difficult, if not impossible, 
 as a matter of precise logic. 
 
 This is all very well until, without 
 previous journalistic experience, one 
 finds himself called on to produce 
 editorial articles. Then he realizes 
 that, however much the principles 
 and practice of general rhetoric may 
 help him, they do not afford him all 
 the help he needs as an apprentice in 
 this specialized branch of writing; 
 and he begins to yearn for a few of 
 those set forms which, in his more 
 irresponsible hours, he has ridiculed 
 as representing the tedium, and for- 
 malism of composition. 
 
 Confronted with the specialized 
 problems of editorial-writing, he 
 would welcome a set of patterns, no 
 matter how conventionally standard- 
 ized, that he could imitate until, 
 through imitation, he should have 
 gained a more definite conception of 
 the structure and manner of such 
 
 articles and developed in himself th^ 
 skill of adapting the general pri] 
 ciples of composition to the particulj 
 requirements of editorial expressioi 
 
 The three-part structure m 
 enough. — Some such patterns have 
 already been presented, in examples 
 of the peghung editorial. As a prac- 
 tical working-form of simple structure 
 the three-stage editorial is exceed- 
 ingly useful; but were all editorials 
 written to this pattern, the editorial 
 page would become unattractive 
 through being mechanical and mo- 
 notonous. 
 
 Moreover, the three-part editorial, 
 though clearly the best form for cer- 
 tain purposes of discussion and infer- 
 ence, is by no means the best for cer- 
 tain other purposes of editorial 
 presentation. It is not even the sole 
 form for what we are about to con- 
 sider — the news-editorial. 
 
 News-editorial defined. — ^When we 
 speak of "news"-editorials, we have 
 in mind editorials concentrating 
 themselves upon their subject as a 
 matter of news, or dealing with it 
 from the news viewpoint. As already 
 mentioned, the peghung editorial is 
 frequently a news-editorial in this 
 sense. True, it may minimize the 
 significance of the news-aspects of its 
 subject, emphasizing instead some 
 element that will command the 
 reader's attention from an entirely 
 different point of view. But when it 
 does this, it is not a news-editorial, 
 although it originates in some item of 
 news. On the other hand, when it 
 stresses news-aspects, treating its 
 subject as a matter of timely infor- 
 mation and focusing attention upon 
 
NEWS AND NEWS-SUMMARY EDITORIALS 
 
 39 
 
 its significance from that point of in- 
 terest, it clearly makes itself a news- 
 editorial. 
 
 Kinds of news -editorial. — An ex- 
 amination of the specimens already 
 printed (especially in Chapter II and 
 Chapter III) will show that the news- 
 editorial may be written (A) to draw 
 an inference from or make an appli- 
 cation of some part of the day's news. 
 But the news-editorial often is 
 written (B) to bring together scat- 
 tered items concerning its subject, 
 thus providing a single collected 
 statement such as the reader cannot 
 find in the news-columns nor — 
 usually — prepare for himself. Indeed, 
 not infrequently it contains mention 
 of details that are part of the cur- 
 rent news, but, for one reason or an- 
 other, have not appeared at all in the 
 news-columns. Or it may be written 
 (C) for the purpose of setting forth 
 news boiled down to the essential 
 facts and skimmed of details such as, 
 though interesting and picturesque, 
 do not constitute its real significance. 
 
 The news-editorial of summary. — 
 Manifestly, then, the news-editorial 
 includes a kind of editorial, devoted 
 solely, or mainly, to presenting an ab- 
 stract of the news. Here is an edi- 
 torial that illustrates the collective 
 summary : 
 
 i UP GOES "GAS" 
 
 1. Reports from different parts of the 
 state show that automobile owners and other 
 users of gasoline have not yet "passed the 
 peak" in their attempt to keep up with 
 climbing prices. At Dillton the lowest re- 
 tail price quoted was 26 cents. At North 
 Wheeler and Bluefield it was 25 cents, with a 
 few dealers going to 27 cents. Worden 
 teetered between 26 and 27; New Barford 
 and most of the Neck and Elton County- 
 points followed Meredith in asking 28 cents; 
 and Kazburg, with no reason apparent, in- 
 sisted upon 29 cents. Nearly everywhere 
 dealers are reported as predicting a further 
 increase within a week. In several places 
 cleaning establishments have advanced the 
 price for cleaning clothing, giving as a rea- 
 son, among others, the increased cost of 
 
 gasoline. Evidently before long even to 
 sport a suit of clothes smelling of gasoline 
 will be to proclaim oneself as belonging to 
 the moneyed class. 
 
 The news-abstract that is also an 
 abridgment is exemplified by the fol- 
 lowing, quoted from The Review of 
 Reviews : 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE CROPS 
 
 1. The month of June brought bad 
 weather for wheat, and the hope for a 
 billion-bushel crop was lost in a deterioration 
 for the month estimated at 40 million bush- 
 els. This brings the present forecast for 
 wheat producton this year to something less 
 than 900 million bushes, still well above the 
 five-year average. 
 
 2. The weather has been harmful to other 
 crops also, to a less degree, but com is ex- 
 pected to make a record in production, now 
 estimated at 3,160,000,000 bushels, although 
 the acreage is some 5 per cent smaller than 
 that of last year. This, and the indicated 
 yields of barley, rye, sweet potatoes and 
 rice, will make records for our agricultural 
 history. The crops of oats, white potatoes, 
 tobacco, and hay will all be larger than the 
 average of the preceding five years. 
 
 The news-editorial of summary- 
 and-comment. — Not always, however, 
 can we expect the editorial of news- 
 summary to stop merely with the ab- 
 stracting of the facts; frequently it 
 (D) introduces passages of comment 
 or interpretation, thus showing the 
 significance of the facts in addition 
 to summarizing them. We can de- 
 scribe this kind of editorial as the 
 news-editorial of summary-and-com- 
 ment; thereby distinguishing it in 
 structure from the three-part edi- 
 torial, which first sets forth the prop- 
 osition or fact, then proceeds to con- 
 sideration, and in the third stage 
 presents the resultant conclusion or 
 application. (The news-editorial of 
 summary-and-comment, as already 
 noted, is a form of the editorial of 
 interpretation; concerning this, see 
 Chapter VI.) The comment may be 
 massed, perhaps near the beginning 
 or (more likely) in the latter part of 
 the editorial ; or it may be distributed 
 throughout, in which case we have an 
 
40 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 editorial of running summary-and- 
 comment. The editorial, Holland's 
 New Democracy here quoted (from 
 The Review of Reviews) thus com- 
 bines interpretation with summarized 
 reporting : 
 
 HOLLAND'S NEW DEMOCRACY 
 
 1. The democratic tendencies in western 
 Europe have been illustrated in the general 
 elections held early in July for a new parlia- 
 ment in Holland. The number of voters 
 under the new law is increased 50 per cent. 
 The voting age in Holland has long been 
 fixed at twenty-five years, instead of twenty- 
 one, as with us. Until now there were re- 
 strictions that shut out one-third of the men 
 above this age of twenty-five. These have 
 been removed, and there are now a million 
 and a half voters instead of a million. 
 
 2. Women are not yet enfranchised in 
 Holland, but under the new law they are 
 permitted to be candidates, and there were 
 twenty-one women running for parliament 
 last month, of whom it is reported that sev- 
 eral were elected. 
 
 3. The election does not yet seem to have 
 resulted in any radical changes in the gov- 
 ernment's policies, and the endeavor to 
 maintain strict neutrality is supported by 
 all groups and parties as necessary to Hol- 
 land's independent existence. The practical 
 difficulties of Holland's position do not grow 
 less as Germany from time to time makes 
 demands for animal food supplies that im- 
 pair Holland's ability to obtain breadstuffs 
 from America. The sympathies of the Dutch 
 are undoubtedly increasingly anti-German as 
 the war goes on. It was announced on July 
 15 that Queen Wilhelmina had asked Deputy 
 Nolens, head of the Catholic party, to form 
 a new cabinet to replace that of Premier 
 van der Linden. 
 
 Schema. — The news-editorial as 
 discussed in this chapter includes: 
 
 A. The editorial of inference or 
 application based upon news (the 
 three-stage form) . 
 
 B. The editorial of collective news 
 abstract. 
 
 C. The editorial of abridged and 
 simplified abstract (or emphasizing 
 summary). 
 
 D. The editorial of news-sum- 
 mary with accompanying comment; 
 the comment being either — 
 
 1. Massed, or 
 
 2. Distributed (running sum 
 mary-and-comment) . 
 
 Upon editorials of interpretation, 
 which sometimes are news-editorials, 
 see Chapter VI. Controversial edi- 
 torials (Chapter VII) usually concen- 
 trate on the argument, not the news. 
 
 Representative editorials. — How 
 the news-editorial of summary brings 
 together all the available information 
 about a subject; culls therefrom the 
 facts of leading significance and sets 
 them in perspective, at the same time 
 putting aside those which have but a 
 secondary importance; and by this 
 process, aided sometimes by the in- 
 troduction of explanatory comment, 
 provides the reader an adequate un- 
 derstanding of the facts or situation, 
 is shown by the following examples: 
 
 A MIDDLE-CLASS DEFENSIVE UNION 
 
 The Continent 
 
 1. Organization of the "salariat," the 
 middle classes who are neither manual work- 
 ers nor capitalists, has been suggested as the 
 means of asserting the rights of the great 
 "third" division, comprising approximately 
 90,000,000 people in the United States. A 
 middle-class union was formed recently in 
 New York, and its first members were vol- 
 unteers manning trains during the outlaw 
 railroad strike. The New York State Cham- 
 ber of Commerce is sponsoring the new 
 organization, which is called the "Citizens' 
 Protective Union." Its members are trades- 
 men, professional workers, clerks and sim- 
 ilar holders of "white collar jobs" and sal- 
 aried positions generally. In New Jersey a 
 strike by members of a tenants' association 
 quickly brought landlords to reduce exorbi- 
 tant rents. Tenants' associations have forced 
 the passage and enforcement of drastic 
 rental laws in New York State, and a similar 
 organization is being developed in Chicago. 
 Chauncey M. Depew, who lately celebrated 
 his eighty-sixth birthday, urges a national 
 defensive union of the middle class. 
 
 This may be called an editorial of emphasizing re- 
 statement ; it gives emphasis to the suggestion — 
 prominent at the time in the news — for the organiza- 
 tion of a middle-class "union." But it combines with 
 the re-presentation a collective news r^sumS, Let the 
 student determine for himself whether or not the 
 structure is that of the 3-stage plan, and whether the 
 editorial is one of emphasizing re-presentation or 
 rather one of news-r6sum6. 
 
 I 
 
NEWS AND NEWS-SUMMARY EDITORIALS 
 
 41 
 
 THE FLOOD OF BOOKS 
 
 Minneapolis Journal 
 
 1. Despite the paper shortage, more than 
 ight thousand books were published in the 
 Jnited States last year. Of these, 969 were 
 ew editions, and the others were new books, 
 'ruly, of making books there is no end. 
 
 2. Sociology and economics claim the 
 argest number of new volumes, 891. His- 
 ory is a close second, and, surprisingly 
 nough, fiction has third place. Religion has 
 ourth place, science fifth and poetry sixth. 
 
 3. Librarians say it is difficult to trace 
 hanges in reading taste from month to 
 aonth, but over longer periods it is possible. 
 
 he problems of reconstruction have, no 
 toubt, doubled interest in economics and so- 
 iology, and the war deepened popular con- 
 ern also in religion. 
 
 4. Obviously no one can hope to read nin^ 
 housand books a year. Did time permit, 
 luman eyesight would rebel. So every 
 eader must pick and choose the ones that 
 ire to his need and taste. But reading three 
 )r four good books a year is better than 
 eading at random and by wholesale. "Read 
 md ruminate," is the golden rule. A book 
 hat gives no cud to chew is hardly worth 
 eading. 
 
 Plan of this editorial: 1I1I1-2. Re-presentation of 
 
 sasic news-details (condensation of news-report). 
 
 IK3-4. Reflective consideration. 
 13. Interpretation of the data. 
 114. Moralizing conclusion, or "tag." 
 
 "AMERICA FOR AMERICANS" 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. A little side-light on the sentiment of 
 South Americans is afforded by the address 
 of Dr. Baltazar Brum, president of Uruguay, 
 made to the students of the University of 
 Montevideo. He proposes a league of 
 American nations, under which each would 
 find an opportunity for accepting some 
 greater share of responsibility under the 
 Monroe doctrine. Such a league, Dr. Brum 
 says, can exist without the League of Na- 
 tions, and will be of more immediate benefit 
 to the governments concerned than the' 
 greater organization. 
 
 2. This expression may be taken as a 
 reply to the unfriendly outburst of La 
 Prensa, the great Buenos Aires newspaper, 
 which very lately delivered a violent attack 
 against the Monroe Doctrine and the guar- 
 dianship assumed under it by the United 
 States. That article has been looked on as 
 inspired by the Argentinian government, 
 which is not especially well inclined toward 
 us, because of the sinister European influ- 
 ences now dominant in Argentina. La 
 Prensa also takes the Chilean view of the 
 difficulties with Bolivia and Peru, flatly ac- 
 
 cusing the Peruvians of being disturbers. 
 Independence of the Monroe Doctrine and a 
 closer alliance with Europe is the suggestion 
 of the Argentinian editor. Chile is noto- 
 riously actuated by the same springs that 
 move Argentina in this matter, despite the 
 fact that the two governments have an 
 open dispute relative to the boundary be- 
 tween them. 
 
 3. These agitators forget that whatever 
 of independence in politics or popular gov- 
 ernment exists below the Rio Grande del 
 Norte, all the way to Puentas Arenas, is 
 enjoyed by the people because of the Monroe 
 doctrine. Dr. Brum's idea is more in line 
 with the general sentiment of the Americas, 
 both North and South, and we believe it will 
 grow much faster than the unwise proposal 
 of the Argentinians, which would open the 
 way to much contention if not actual con- 
 flict. The United States is not ready to 
 give up its traditional stand in this matter, 
 but will continue to cultivate a more intimate 
 relation with its southern contemporaries. 
 A League of American nations would help 
 much along this line. 
 
 In this editorial, HHl and 2 inform us respectively 
 of the attitude of Uruguay and the attitude of Argen- 
 tina and Chile toward the United States. They thus 
 have the effect of collective summary. However, the 
 same 111 not only consist of comment in addition to 
 summary, but also prepare for the consideration to 
 which ^3 is devoted ; hence we are at liberty to call 
 the editorial one of running summary-and-comment, 
 
 SHAME ON HARVARD-RADCLIFFE! 
 
 New York World 
 
 1. What is the matter with Harvard? 
 Among its distinguished sons General 
 Leonard Wood holds top rank. As a mem- 
 ber of the Board of Overseers he adds im- 
 mensely to the prestige and dignity of that 
 illustrious body. To the university that 
 nurtured and sheltered him in the days of 
 his youth he has many times repaid his debt 
 by carrying its fame to distant corners of 
 the world. 
 
 2. Yet when the opportunity to root for 
 Wood as a presidential candidate is pre- 
 sented. Harvard reveals a shameful indif- 
 ference to his political ambitions and its 
 own claims to the presidential succession. 
 The chance to send a fourth Harvard man 
 to the White House finds it wanting in the 
 right college spirit. The faculty might be 
 expected to rise like one man and acclaim 
 him as Cambridge's favorite son, but it 
 basely deserts him for the graduate of an 
 institution as far away from New England 
 as the Pacific Coast. It is a painful story 
 of ingratitude to relate, but in a total of 
 358 the faculty vote stood 281 for Hoover 
 to only 52 for General Wood. 
 
42 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 3. And Radcliffe? Military glory and 
 brass buttons and khaki and the virile vir- 
 tues and all that, according to accepted 
 theories, should cause a tremendous flutter- 
 ing of the hearts among young women of an 
 impressionable age. But Radcliffe students 
 were as false to the dictates of sentiment as 
 Harvard's faculty and lined up 190 strong 
 for Hoover to only 37 for Wood. 
 
 4. When such things are possible it is 
 enough to make the men and women of an 
 older generation despair of the future of 
 the Republic. Who can tell what might 
 happen if Columbia's faculty and Colum- 
 bia's student body were to take a test vote 
 on President Nicholas Murray Butler as a 
 presidential candidate ? 
 
 This editorial is a news-editorial only in the doubt- 
 ful sense that it is hung upon a news-item. It is 
 prompted by the amusing fact that a straw vote has 
 not shown the results that a well-behaved straw vote 
 ought to show; and also perhaps a little by the fact 
 that Tlie World is a Democrat paper, and was friendly 
 to Mr. Hoover as a possible Democrat candidate, and 
 unfriendly "on general principles" to General Wood 
 as a possible Republican candidate. We may charac- 
 terize the editorial as a casual newshung editorial of 
 humor, tinged with political opinion. 
 
 Christian Science Monitor 
 
 1. Correlation of news often brings some 
 interesting results. Taken individually, 
 with lapses of time sufficient to generate a 
 "smoke screen," the various items appear 
 innocent enough, but a glance back over the 
 gasoline prices, for instance, argues to the 
 contrary. Not long ago the price of this 
 commodity was advanced, ostensibly because 
 of a shortage. Then, after the ripples of 
 objection had been prevented from becom- 
 ing waves of action, the United States 
 Bureau of Mines reported a "decided im- 
 provement in stocks, compared with a year 
 or two ago. At the end of March, this year, 
 the stocks totaled 626,393,000 gallons, where- 
 as in March, 1918, the figure was 526,383,000 
 gallons." Now comes the report of the 
 Standard Oil Company of New Jersey for 
 the year ended January 1, 1920. After 
 charges and taxes were deducted, the sur- 
 plus was $77,985,684. The surplus at the 
 end of the preceding fiscal year was $58,- 
 109,919. This is an increase in the surplus 
 of almost $20,000,000. Since the 1st of Jan- 
 uary of this year wholesale gasoline prices 
 have been increased about 20 per cent. In- 
 teresting questions that naturally arise from 
 this correlation are: To what figure will the 
 increase in the price of gasoline enlarge the 
 surplus next year, and how far were the 
 reasons given for the advance founded on 
 business necessity? 
 
 This editorial assembles items that otherwise the 
 reader would not see together. In this it is like a 
 news-editoria of the collective-summary kind. In 
 interjecting comment, it is like the news-editorial of 
 
 running summary-and-comment. But in introducin 
 the news-facts, not for informational but for argt 
 mentative purposes, it withdraws itself from th 
 
 news-editorial class. 
 
 ROBBERY AS A BUSINESS > 
 
 Indianapolis News ^ 
 
 1. Attempts were made to rob thirty 
 Indiana banks during the first eleven mont>^ 
 of last year. Nine were frustrated. In i)ti< 
 others the losses ranged all the way frof} 
 $5 to $28,000. Twenty-three attempts wer 
 made to rob Indiana banks since the cr-.n 
 pilation was made. Thus, while it tool 
 practically eleven months to show thirty-on' 
 robberies last year, the record of four ant 
 one-half months — up to the present date- 
 shows twenty-three. 
 
 2. In the robbery of a South Bend banl 
 a few days ago the robbers did not wea: 
 masks. They held up the officials and es 
 caped in daylight with $10,000. Other baiJ 
 robberies have not been conducted s( 
 boldly. The towns visited during the las- 
 four and one-half months were Brooklyn 
 Brownsburg, Chrisney, Churubusco, Claj 
 City, East Chicago, Fishers, Francisco, Ful 
 ton, Gosport, Highlands, Lawrence, Merom 
 Michigantown, Moreland, Morgantown, New 
 port. New Richmond, Oxford, Poneto, West' 
 ville and one or two other places. 
 
 3. Most of the towns mentioned are 
 small, but at Churubusco the amount re- 
 ported stolen, was $25,000. Ten of the 
 twenty-three, attempts were unsuccessful 
 General robbery is on the increase. On€ 
 explanation is that the high cost of every- 
 thing has driven people to thievery. An- 
 other is that many people do not want tc 
 perform any labor in return for the monej 
 they spend. At any rate, bank robbing 
 now seems to be a profession rather than an 
 exciting way to spend idle hours. 
 
 HI. Emphasizing re-presentation of news-repoi s, 
 condensed, with interpretation of the data. 
 1f2. Amplification of the re-presentation by (a) selec- 
 tion of an outstanding incident and (b) enumeration 
 of towns. (The enumeration, besides stimulating in- 
 terest through mention of local names, gives impres- 
 siveness because of the length of the list.) 
 113. Amplification continued in a synopsis of addi- 
 tional interesting facts. Following this are sentences 
 dealing with matters of interpretation and conclusion, 
 (Query for student: Would it be better to put these 
 sentences in a separate H?) 
 
 The editorial may be classified as one of abstract 
 and r§sum§ combined with running comment. 
 
 A SORE SPOT UNDER OUR FLAG 
 
 New York Evening Post 
 
 1. The report just issued on the Virgin 
 Islands by a visiting committee of Congress 
 reveals the urgent need of reform. The 
 basic maladies of the islands closely re- 
 semble those of Porto Rico, and seem of 
 about equal gravity. The population is 
 dense— over 26,000 for 135 square miles— 
 
NEWS AND NEWS-SUMMARY EDITORIALS 
 
 43 
 
 dth almost no manufacturing and with 
 onsiderable areas uncultivable. In St. 
 !roix, where sugar raising has been most 
 eveloped, the sugar lands are, as in Porto 
 Lie s largely in the hands of a few com- 
 mies. Four-fifths of the people are 
 throes and most of the rest are of mixed 
 lood. When the recent labor-union move- 
 lent began, testified the union head, "thou- 
 ands of laborers were living under the 
 ^prst conditions; they were paid about 20 
 y'25 cents a day, and they were ill-treated 
 tthe hands of the employers." This means 
 hat the home of the ordinary laborer and 
 is family was often "just two boxes and a 
 ew pieces of board to lie on," and that the 
 leople were undernourished and sickly. 
 Vages went to 35 cents in 1916 and now are 
 1, a sum still much too low. Infant mor- 
 ality is high — 300 children were born in 
 !t. Thomas in 1919 and 176 died. As for 
 ducation, no instruction above the grades 
 3 given, there are not enough schoolhouses 
 or regular attendance, and the teachers — 
 nostly natives — are paid about $25 a month. 
 2. Already, under the Navy Department's 
 dministration, some improvements have 
 een effected, especially in health. The 
 nortality rate, which hovered near 32 a 
 housand under Denmark, was brought down 
 24.3 in 1918, and infant mortality has 
 alien 38 per cent. But the islands need 
 )etter communication with the outside 
 vorld, which means that the Shipping Board 
 nust give them attention and that funds 
 nust be appropriated for harbor improve- 
 nent. They need a water system — in one 
 •ecent year water actually had to be im- 
 )orted — and a sewerage system. The Agri- 
 ultural Department must teach the natives 
 rodern farming. In these and other ways 
 ^ can make our purchase of the islands a 
 essing to their people. 
 
 J 
 
 Abstracting summary, with a few touchings of com- 
 nent. 
 
 DEFLATION 
 
 5. The price-cut movement is spreading 
 from coast to coast and in many lines of 
 commodities, but particularly clothing. 
 
 6. Governor Harding of the Federal Re- 
 serve Board "thinks that the drop in prices 
 comes as a result of restriction of credits, 
 and that it will keep up until the country is 
 back upon a sound basis." 
 
 7. Trading in the Fall River cloth market 
 during the week was the quietest in two 
 years. "Sales, it is estimated, did not exceed 
 12,000 pieces." 
 
 8. The British Government wool auction 
 at Boston was even less successful on Friday 
 than it had been on Thursday, only 24 per 
 cent of the offerings being taken. 
 
 9. Paris sends word that the American 
 economy campaign^ has made itself felt 
 there. Many buyers who are in Paris on 
 behalf of large department stores in the 
 United States have been directed to buy less 
 than they first intended. 
 
 10. Thus the story goes. It all points to 
 readjustment and deflation. 
 
 An excellent example of collective news-r§8um6. 
 The facts here are assembled to support a conclusion. 
 
 Observe the 3-stage structure: Stage 1, HI. Stage 
 
 2, 1112-9. Stage 3. HIO. 
 
 SPAIN'S INVERTED STRIKE 
 
 New York Evening Sun 
 
 1. The lockout in Spain, though less com- 
 plete in fact than in threat, does admittedly 
 affect the city of Barcelona, the single great 
 industrial center of the country. Out of a 
 population of hardly 600,000, the employees 
 cast out of work, as Madrid concedes, num- 
 ber 40,000. The number has increased since 
 the lockout started, a sign that the move- 
 ment developed power enough to draw in 
 supporters hesitant at first. 
 
 2. It is possible that the Spanish authori- 
 ties have avoided giving any particulars re- 
 lating to the number of those in Barcelona 
 who remain at work. The early dispatches 
 sent here did not contain this information. 
 In an industrial city of such a size at least 
 one-quarter of the population might be num- 
 bered among the industrially employed. The 
 40,000 would form barely more than one- 
 quarter of this quarter. The failure of the 
 authorities to announce that the other 110,- 
 000 remain at work is conspicuous. 
 
 3. A sudden rise in the cost of neces- 
 saries within the city gives odd but signifi- 
 cant token of the disturbed state of mind 
 among the citizens. The workers* syndical 
 organization has issued a proclamation 
 threatening "energetic" measures; a menace 
 quite comprehensible, though vaguely word- 
 ed. Violence, should they resort to it, will 
 only damage the industrial plants needful 
 for the workers' own future employment. 
 
44 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 4. The whole thing is a strike reversed, 
 a strike of employers. As so frequently 
 happens, the courts fail to render prompt 
 and sufficient aid. Those struck against in 
 this case can no more afford to destroy the 
 employers' property than the employers in 
 a normal strike can afford to drive their 
 indispensable though fractious working force 
 out of town. As in other great labor alterca- 
 tions, the public will no doubt suffer the 
 chief hardship. 
 
 Here is a full-blown example of the news-editorial, 
 involving abstract, abridgment, and comment. 
 
 TEXAS HAS THE TURKEYS 
 
 Houston Post 
 
 1. With a coal strike impending, a rail- 
 road strike threatened and the soda-jerkers 
 preparing to walk out, the clouds hang 
 heavy over the Eastern cities. But there is 
 a rift in the blackness of the outlook, to be 
 found in the announcement that Texas will 
 be ready to send to New York and its 
 suburbs more than the usual number of 
 turkeys for their holiday dinners. 
 
 2. Now, if the East can manage to get 
 fuel for cooking and to keep the railroads 
 busy, Texas will do its part in furnishing 
 the table for the long-suffering East on 
 Thanksgiving and Christmas days. 
 
 3. Reports from many sections of Texas 
 tell of the larger crop of turkeys raised this 
 year. In spite of the wet and unfavorable 
 weather, authentic trade reports indicate a 
 much larger supply of turkeys than was 
 raised last year. Texas will have not only 
 enough for providing the tables of her own 
 people with holiday feasts, but will send 
 many carloads to those sections of the coun- 
 try, chiefly the Eastern cities, where a tur- 
 key is seen by the majority of the popula- 
 tion only after he has been dressed and 
 baked and is ready to be served. 
 
 4. With Federal restrictions removed, a 
 favorable season for the growers and ship- 
 pers is in prospect — provided transportation 
 is not tied up by a strike. The turkeys for 
 the holiday tables will put several millions 
 of dollars into the hands of Texas farmers 
 and poultry growers, which insures some 
 holiday festivities in Texas also this year. 
 
 5. Meantime the East, gazing longingly 
 in this direction and conjuring up visions of 
 the annual holiday dinners, may rest as- 
 sured that Texas is ready with an abun- 
 dance. Just keep traffic open and send along 
 the cash. 
 
 The collective summary of Ifl is employed merely as 
 an interest-hightener. Observe how the news on 
 which the editorial concentrates is so treated as to 
 adapt it not only to Texas readers (home-subject 
 editorial), but also to readers elsewhere. 
 
 A NAVY FOR CANADA 
 
 Boston Herald 
 
 1. Canada is without a navy. The order 
 went forth in March from the ministry of 
 marine to "scrap" her little fleet. It con- 
 sisted of two antiquated British cruisers, 
 one stationed at Halifax for the Atlantic and 
 the other at Esquimault for the Pacific, 
 with a number of auxiliaries, yachts, 
 trawlers and various small vessels which 
 were employed for coast defense during the 
 war. Since the Dominion attained the status 
 of nationhood she has felt the need of some- 
 thing worthier the name of navy than the 
 makeshift which has gone. Viscount Jellicoe 
 has inspected her doors on the two great 
 oceans, considered her requirements and re- 
 sources, and presented several schemes of 
 naval defense from which she may make a 
 choice. 
 
 2. Discussing the situation in the current 
 number of the American Review of Reviews, 
 Sir Patrick Thomas McGrath says that the 
 Jellicoe report puts before the Canadian gov- 
 ernment four alternatives, ranging in an- 
 nual cost of upkeep from $5,000,000, for a 
 coast defense or purely local force, to 
 $25,000,000 for a naval arm proportionate to 
 Britain's. He refers to the adverse crit- 
 icism of the report in the Canadian Parlia- 
 ment on the ground that, the war being 
 over and Germany powerless, the naval ex- 
 penditure would be wasteful. But he be- 
 lieves that a compromise is likely. 
 
 3. "The Imperial Government," he says, 
 "has offered Canada a free gift of effective 
 British warcraft costing originally $16,000,- 
 000, and Canada proposes to operate them, 
 which will cost her $2,500,000 a year, while 
 as others are required in the future she 
 will build them in her own shipyards and 
 man them from the mercantile marine 
 which she is now working in conjunction 
 with her railways." This, we presume, is 
 the probable "compromise" to which he 
 alludes. If it be adopted, it will give our 
 Canadian friends an easy and effective start, 
 free *from incitement to ambitious naval 
 competition. 
 
 An editorial of running r6sum§ and interpretation, 
 including a distinct newspeg (Ifl). The remaining ^i 
 are in the nature of survey and comment. 
 
 SOUTH AFRICA AND THE EMPIRE 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 1. The recent general election in the 
 Union of South Africa threatened to seat a 
 Parliament that would be strong for separa- 
 tion from the British Empire and the estab- 
 lishment of an independent republic. Though 
 the results sufficiently assure the failure of 
 this movement, the Nationalist party, which 
 represented it, has made extraordinary 
 
NEWS AND NEWS-SUMMARY EDITORIALS 
 
 45 
 
 gains. The South African party, headed 
 by General Smuts, lost fourteen seats, as 
 compared with its situation in the War 
 Parliament, elected five years ago; the 
 Unionists lost fifteen, while the Nationalists 
 gained sixteen. There are twenty-one La- 
 borites, as compared with four in the last 
 Parliament, and three Independents. 
 
 2. The separatists made the paramount 
 issue, and General Smuts faced it with 
 characteristic courage. He challenged the 
 propagandists to tell him wherein South 
 Africa lacked independence, and declared: 
 "We are few whites settled amid millions 
 of mentally advancing blacks, and we have 
 gold mines which some great Power would 
 at once endeavor to seize if the British flag 
 went." In behalf of separation, the Na- 
 tionalists pictured the protection of the 
 country under the League of Nations. But 
 General Smuts, though he had had more to 
 do with drafting the covenant than Mr. 
 Wilson, insisted that the British flag is more 
 dependable. 
 
 3. The Nationalist forces came through, 
 nevertheless, with three more seats than 
 Smuts won. Fortunately, he will be sup- 
 ported on the issue by the twenty-five 
 Unionists. And the Labor party is not to 
 be regarded as anti-imperial. In its attitude 
 toward important domestic affairs the new 
 Parliament may be an uncertain one. But 
 it is evidently going to be steady if the 
 question of separation should come up in 
 any form. 
 
 4. The leader of the separatists is one 
 Hertzog. An incident relating to him that 
 occurred during the war may be recalled. 
 In the Capetown Assembly he boasted of 
 his German ancestry, which called from 
 General Botha this observaton: "Only the 
 freedom which my honorable friend knows 
 he is safe under when the British flag con- 
 fers it, allows him to make that statement." 
 
 This is an editorial in which the news-facts are 
 enumerated successively in connection with passages 
 of survey and interpretation. It may therefore be 
 called either a news-editorial of summary-and-com- 
 ment, an editorial of survey (Ch. V, or one of inter- 
 pretation (Ch. VI). 
 
 SERVANT PROBLEM SERIOUS 
 
 Half-Dozen Customers for Every Girl Who 
 Applies at Public Employment Office — 
 Hotel Help May Come with Close of 
 Schools 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 1. "What shall we do for help?" con- 
 tinues to be the perplexing question of the 
 household. The demand is so great that six 
 or more persons await every applicant at 
 the oflice of the public employment bureau 
 of the Massachusetts Department of Labor 
 
 and Industries at 8 Kneeland street. House- 
 work girls are daily leaving their employ- 
 ment to seek positions at higher wages, and 
 housewives are particularly anxious at the 
 beginning of the summer season, when 
 houses are being opened in the country and 
 at the shore. 
 
 2. The month of May, according to the 
 records of the Public Employment Office, 
 shows an increase in the demand for help 
 from employers of thirty -two per cent over 
 the same month last year; also an increase 
 of seven per cent over April this year. The 
 number of positions reported filled show an 
 increase of eighteen per cent over last year 
 and an increase of three per cent over last 
 month. 
 
 3. May began with a good demand for 
 carpenters and painters, with a fair supply 
 of applicants. There were a number of car- 
 penters wanted for out-of-town jobs, at 
 union wages, but applicants turned them 
 down in favor of places in the city proper. 
 The second week in May brought out a 
 better general demand for help than for the 
 past two months, which was met with a fair 
 supply of applicants. Machinists, helpers, 
 electricians, also foundry and general helpers 
 were in heavy demand for arsenal work; 
 while the demand for reamers, riveters and 
 able-bodied laborers for shipyard work was 
 very active during the earlier part of the 
 month, but began to slacken toward the 
 end. There is less activity in the boot and 
 shoe, textile and printing industries, with a 
 good supply of applicants on hand. Engi- 
 neers' and firemen's jobs are scarce com- 
 pared with the number of applicants. There 
 is a big supply of male applicants for office 
 and clerical work, with very few opportuni- 
 ties for placing them. 
 
 4. In the male unskilled department the 
 call has been for able-bodied laborers, farm 
 hands and kitchen men. The outlook for the 
 farmer in obtaining the help he needs is far 
 from encouraging, and, although wages are 
 twice and in some cases three times higher 
 than pre-war rates, there are very few ap- 
 plicants. 
 
 5. There is considerable activity for 
 kitchen men and culinary workers, both for 
 city and summer resorts, with a small sup- 
 ply. The supply of able-bodied laborers for 
 inside and outside work is not sufficient to 
 cover the demand. 
 
 6. There are many demands for boys for 
 all descriptions of work, but the wages are 
 not sufficient to attract them. This condi- 
 tion, however, will end as soon as the schools 
 close for the summer, and boys will soon 
 find it difficult to secure a place for the next 
 two months. 
 
46 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 7. Hotel help for the summer resorts has 
 been the principal feature of the women's 
 department this month, with a supply that 
 has been variable, but the coming month is 
 expected to assist the supply very mate- 
 rially, owing to the closing of colleges and 
 schools. Clerical workers are in fair de- 
 mand at wages which are no inducement to 
 the applicants; whereas there are a number 
 of beginners in stenography in the market, 
 but there is a demand for only experienced 
 help at higher wages. The demand for 
 nurses and attendants in State institutions 
 continues to be very heavy, with a very 
 small supply. 
 
 8. During the month 1455 service men 
 (1088 ex-soldiers and 367 sailors) visited the 
 office in search of work. Of these, 398 were 
 willing to accept positions open and were 
 sent out, and 177 of them (121 soldiers and 
 56 sailors) were placed. 
 
 In this we have a news-story or an editorial ac- 
 cording as we choose to regard it. It as printed in 
 the news-columns as local news. It clearly is news 
 of local conditions, in the form of a review and 
 survey. But it is also in the form of an editorial 
 rSsumS, with interpretive touches and a general in- 
 terpretive effect, and if the editorial policy of an 
 individual paper favored special attention to local- 
 news subjects on the editorial page, it could prop- 
 erly be printed as a home-news editorial. For the 
 editorial page, however, it is unnecessarily detailed, 
 and a better way would be to print it as news, 
 printing also a brief emphasizing editorial in which 
 to point out the significant aspects of the subject. 
 
 RETAILERS' RULES FOR CENSORING 
 ADVERTISING 
 
 Western Advertising 
 
 1. Poor phrasing and the careless selec- 
 tion of words, is more noticeable in retail 
 store advertising than in almost any other 
 form. That comes naturally through the 
 great haste with which retail copy has to 
 be prepared compared with the greater 
 length of time most other advertisers enjoy. 
 
 2. Writing to meet press schedules, it is 
 so easy to slip into terms of exaggeration 
 and shadings of the truth, that one depart- 
 ment-store head has issued a little booklet of 
 rules on the subject. In it are set forth the 
 customary words and phrases of the trade 
 with reasons why they may or may not be 
 used. Following are a few examples: 
 
 3. "All sizes." The use of this phrase is 
 permitted only when a complete stock of 
 all sizes is on hand. 
 
 4. "Bargain" (as applied to goods quoted 
 below regular price) is a word the public 
 understands, and its use is permitted where 
 circumstances warrant. 
 
 5. "Best" is prohibited. Frequent mis- 
 use of the word has deprived it of its mean- 
 ing, and it is impossible to tell just when its 
 application is correct. 
 
 6. "Choice of the house" or "Entire 
 stock." These phrases are permitted only 
 where every article is in stock and where no 
 reserve supply is held back. 
 
 7. "Cost," "At cost" or "Below cost" are 
 not allowed because the public is very likely 
 to look upon them with suspicion. 
 
 8. "Ever before" is a meaningless phrase 
 and is not used. 
 
 9. "Fortunate purchase," "Sample lot" 
 and "Manufacturers' overstock" are not 
 allowed to stimulate interest in goods from 
 regular stock. When used they must apply 
 truthfully to conditions. 
 
 10. "Sale" and "On sale" are limited to 
 goods and occasions where actual reductions 
 from regular prices are made. 
 
 11. "Half price," "One-third off" and 
 similar phrases are only permitted where 
 prices are actually one-half, one-third or 
 more off. 
 
 12. "Last season's" is O. K. if it ex- 
 presses the truth. 
 
 13. "Limited quantity." The use of this 
 is encouraged where the supply is likely to 
 be exhausted before the end of the day. 
 
 14. "Never before" and "Never again" 
 are prohibited. 
 
 15. "Not all sizes" is misleading. Sizes 
 should be stated, if possible, giving the 
 amount of each, if all sizes are not on hand. 
 
 16. "Not the latest" to be used only when 
 goods are not entirely out of date. 
 
 17. "Regular price should be" or "Would 
 be" or "Made to sell for" are phrases used 
 when goods are advertised that were bought 
 below the market price. 
 
 18. "Seconds" or "Run of the mill" 
 should always be used in an advertisement 
 of such goods. 
 
 19. "Sold elsewhere at" is misleading 
 and therefore not accepted. 
 
 20. "Special," "Special price" or "Special 
 sale" must be complied with literally. Price 
 in each instance must be below regular. 
 
 21. "The latest," "The newest" must ex- 
 press absolute truth. 
 
 22. "Usually sold for" does not refer to 
 competitors' prices, but to the store's own, 
 and means the same as regular price. 
 
 23. "Value" is another meaningless word 
 because of over-use. It is also difficult to 
 judge the exact value of any particular 
 article. 
 
 24. "Width of merchandise" should only 
 be used in stating width as it is at that 
 time; not as it was before bleaching or 
 shrinking. 
 
 25. "Worth up to" is forbidden because 
 it allows for too much misrepresentation. 
 Lowest as well as highest price must be 
 stated. 
 
NEWS AND NEWS-SUMMARY EDITORIALS 
 
 47 
 
 26. These are simple rules of precaution, 
 but they no doubt account in no small degree 
 for this store's remarkable following. 
 
 The news in this editorial is "class" news. Class- 
 news is news of concern to a particular class of 
 readers — in this instance, advertising-men and adver- 
 tising retailers. The preparation of honest, yet at- 
 tractive, advertising is of constant interest to this 
 class. Hence an editorial that, by re-presenting it, 
 emphasizes news bearing on the practice of adver- 
 tising, will command attention from them. The 
 editorial page of the trade and the class journals is 
 an influential part of such publications, providing 
 well-informed, sound and progressive consideration of 
 the many important aspects and tendencies of the 
 occupation, business, science, or profession, and thus 
 contributing materially to its vitality and healthy 
 growth. 
 
 HIGH PRICES AND EXPANDED CREDIT 
 
 New York Evening Post 
 
 1. Replying to a Senate resolution, which 
 asked the Federal Reserve Board to state 
 what have been the causes of the continued 
 expansion of credits and Federal Reserve 
 note circulation, the Governor of the Board 
 yesterday answered that, among many con- 
 tributing causes, five are paramount. These 
 are, first, the great war itself; second, the 
 great extravagance, national, municipal and 
 individual; third, the inefficiency and indif- 
 ference of labor, resulting in lessening pro- 
 duction; fourth, a shortage of transporta- 
 tion facilities, preventing the norijial move- 
 ment of commodities; fifth, the vicious circle 
 of increasing wages and prices. 
 
 2. The Reserve Board further expresses 
 the opinion that for many months past, "the 
 expansion of bank credits in this country 
 was proceeding at a rate not warranted by 
 the production and consumption of goods." 
 This is a judgment which would seem to 
 require particulars, and the particulars are 
 stated. A week ago, at the conference held 
 at Washington with the Advisory Council, 
 representing bankers from all parts of the 
 United States, this resolution was unani- 
 mously adopted: 
 
 The whole country is suffering from 
 inflation of prices with the consequent 
 inflation of credit. From reports made 
 by the members of this conference, 
 representing every section of the coun- 
 try, it is obvious that great sums are 
 tied up in products which if marketed 
 would relieve necessity, tend to reduce 
 the price level and relieve the strain on 
 our credit system. 
 
 3. That situation was ascribed in the 
 resolution largely to the blockade of trans- 
 portation facilities, which prevented the 
 prompt sale to consumers of goods held by 
 merchants on the basis of bank loans. But 
 the Board itself goes somewhat further, in 
 remarking that the credit now absorbed in 
 "frozen loans" represents both commodities 
 
 held back for lack of transportation and 
 commodities held back for speculation. One 
 partial sidelight on the extent of this hold- 
 ing-back is given in the last Federal Reserve 
 Bulletin, which reports for one Western dis- 
 trict stocks of various merchandise on hand 
 ranging 6V2 to 30 per cent above the same 
 date last year, and for one Southern district 
 a similar increase of 9 to 72 per cent. It is 
 fair to say that the period of 1919 with 
 which comparison is made was a time when 
 merchants' shelves were unusually bare. 
 Nevertheless, the increase is very large. 
 
 4. What, then, is to be the remedy ? The 
 Reserve Banks began six months ago to ad- 
 vance their rates for rediscounting loans of 
 other banks, but without effecting the cur- 
 tailment of credit transactions. "There has 
 been no such liquidation; on the contrary, 
 commercial loans have steadily increased." 
 Therefore the time arrived when pressure 
 should be applied; when "unnecessary and 
 habitual borrowings should be discouraged" 
 and when "liquidation of long-standing, non- 
 essential loans should proceed." This is 
 precisely what has been going on, during the 
 past week or so, in various wholesale and 
 retail markets. It is, we suppose, the real 
 key to the general situation, as the ab- 
 normally high rates for loans on Stock Ex- 
 change securities and merchants' paper were 
 the key to it at the beginning of the year. 
 
 5. The Board very properly advises 
 "gradual liquidation" and avoidance of 
 "drastic steps" by banks. But the process 
 is none the less the first essential step in 
 that "deflation" which the people and the 
 economists have been discussing for a year 
 or more. It will be observed that the course 
 of actual events has carried the discussion 
 pretty far away from the theories lately 
 promulgated that the high prices and the 
 inflated trade were solely a consequence of 
 an increased Reserve note circulation. 
 
 An editorial of re-presentation, in condensation, 
 with accompanying interpretation. 
 
 SOME MARKS FOR PROFITEERS 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 1. Rice, raisins, prunes, canned salmon, 
 salt pork, bacon and cornmeal are among 
 the articles of food the retail prices of which 
 are so far above where they ought to be as 
 to evidence persistent and extensive prof- 
 iteering. As to the first three, the prices 
 are so far out of joint, and the difficulty in 
 getting detailed correct information is so 
 great, that the Federal fair-price committee 
 for Massachusetts does not feel warranted in 
 setting a proper retail figure. Rice is selling 
 at retail at prices varying from 15 to 20 
 cents a pound. These prices have been 
 caused by excessive rice speculation which 
 
48 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 has had its center in Chicago and which has 
 had wide and wild ramifications. Reports of 
 the Federal Trade Commission mention "big 
 five" packers as involved in speculative rice 
 deals. Certain it is that there has been no 
 crop shortage to warrant the advance from 
 bV2 cents a pound paid in the winter of 
 1914-15 for carload lots of rice secured in 
 Texas through the efforts of former Mayor 
 Curley to allay anticipated famine in Boston. 
 The rise in rice may be called purely spec- 
 ulative — largely profiteering by "outsiders." 
 
 2. As to raisins: various retailers are 
 charging from 22 to 50 cents a pound, with 
 numerous camouflaging package devices to 
 avoid selling directly /by the pound. The 
 trade is full of stories about large quantities 
 of raisins being spoiled in storage while held 
 for high prices. Meanwhile the Navy De- 
 partment, which lost a liberal supply, has 
 been selling raisins of excellent quality (pre- 
 sumably at cost) for 15 cents a pound. 
 
 3. Prunes are retailing in groceries at 25 
 to 32 cents a pound. Here again there is 
 evidence of the speculative hoarding, trace- 
 able to Chicago. Navy Department quota- 
 tions are 7 pounds for 63 cents. War De- 
 partment surplus sales have been quoted at 
 11 cents a pound. There is some difference 
 in form of putting up the goods sold by the 
 two Governmental departments at the 
 figures quoted. 
 
 4. As to salt pork, bacon and corn meal, 
 high prices at retail have been maintained, 
 even out of proportion to the enhanced value 
 of the corn from which all these originate. 
 Corn at 2% cents to 3 cents a pound does 
 not call for a retail price of bV2 to 7 cents a 
 pound for corn meal, for the expense of 
 milling is comparatively small. Neither does 
 a price of 14 cents a pound for live hogs 
 warrant 33 cents a pound for salt pork or 
 36 to 50 cents a pound for bacon at retail. 
 To illustrate this is the fact that the United 
 States has sold many millions of pounds of 
 bacon, in small lots, at less than 23 cents a 
 pound — in quality as good as that retailing 
 at 36 to 50 cents a pound in Boston stores 
 and markets — and has much more which it 
 is ready to sell. 
 
 5. The story of canned salmon remains 
 to be told. In the trade it is said variously 
 that there is a "corner" or a "great short- 
 age." Retailers are asking from 28 to 33 
 cents a pound for round cans containing one 
 pound of the red salmon. They pay to 
 wholesalers prices which indicate that the 
 retailers are making, in «most cases, no ex- 
 cessive profit. Yet the Navy department, 
 within the last two weeks, has sold, to em- 
 ployees, large quantities of canned salmon 
 (presumably at cost) at $6.24 for 48 one- 
 
 pound cans, or exactly 13 cents a pound. 
 The lowest retail price quoted above is 115 
 per cent and the highest nearly 154 per cent 
 above the Navy figure. Both indicate 
 profiteering. 
 
 An editorial of running enumeration and com- 
 ment, tending to controversial conclusion. As indi- 
 cated by ^1, sentence 1, the editorial will deal with 
 news of prices considered as the evidence of profiteer- 
 ing. It will therefore follow the plan of the col- 
 lective report with interlarded commentary. Thus fl, 
 besides introducing the thought, considers rice ; %2 
 deals with raisins, and 1f3 with prunes. These Ht may 
 be called the first section of the editorial. 
 
 The second section is like the first, except that it 
 deals with foods of another class. 
 
 The net effect of the editorial is, to inform the 
 reader definitely concerning the current prices of im- 
 portant articles of food, and of certain other news 
 matters indicating that these prices are excessive : 
 and by this means and accompanying comments, to 
 support the conclusion that profiteering is going on. 
 (Compare Servant Problem Serious.) 
 
 VOTE FOR CLOSURE ON BONUS BILL 
 
 Steering Committee Finally Agrees to Re- 
 port It, But Four Members 
 Balk and Bolt 
 
 ACTION WOULD STOP AMENDMENTS 
 
 Fifty Republication Members Reported as 
 
 Willing to Join Democrats to 
 
 Defeat the Rule 
 
 Special to The New York Times 
 
 1. Washington, May 22 — Republican 
 House leaders suddenly changed their tactics 
 today and ordered a closure rule reported to 
 prevent amendment of the soldier bonus bill. 
 No explanation was given for this action. 
 Republican members of the Rules Commit- 
 tee, who were in conference yesterday, at 
 which it was decided to postpone action on 
 the rule until next week, denounced the 
 steering committee for breaking the agree- 
 ment, and four of them, including Repre- 
 sentative S. D. Fess, Chairman of the 
 Republican National Congress Committee, 
 announced that they intended to vote against 
 the rule and the bill when they appear in '■ 
 the House, 
 
 2. While the steering committee decided 
 to report a rule which limits debate to five 
 hours, prevents amendments and permits 
 only a motion to recommit the bill, they ad- 
 mitted tonight that they did not know when 
 the rule would be reported to the House. It 
 was said that they might have the situation 
 sufficiently in hand to make a test on next 
 Tuesday. But nothing would be done, it 
 was said, until the Republican leaders were 
 satisfied that they could control the situation. 
 
 3. The mere fact that the rule was de- 
 cided on today does not mean, in the opinion 
 
 I 
 
NEWS AND NEWS-SUMMARY EDITORIALS 
 
 49 
 
 '"^'^.WP' 
 
 of those favoring the legislation, that the 
 Republican majority can carry the rule and 
 pass the bill as it was reported by the Ways 
 and Means Committee. Fifty Republican 
 members are opposed to the excise tax on 
 stock dividends and they are reported to be 
 willing to join the Democrats to defeat the 
 rule. If this coalition should succeed and 
 amend the rule so as to permit amendments, 
 the Democrats in conjunction with their Re- 
 publican allies would be able to strike out 
 the stock dividends tax and make other 
 changes. 
 
 4. The Republican leaders are fully alive 
 to the situation. They realize that if the rule 
 is defeated the Republican bolters and Dem- 
 ocrats can amend the bill so as to make it 
 unacceptable to the majority, thus defeating 
 bonus legislation and leaving the onus of 
 defeat upon the majority. It is becoming 
 apparent to those familiar with the senti- 
 ment in the House that strong opposition 
 has developed to any bonus legislation at 
 this time and, even if such a bill should be 
 passed there, the Senate will not accept it at 
 this session. Ten Senators are reported to 
 oppose bonus legislation. 
 
 5. The opinion of the most conservative 
 Republican leaders is that there will be no 
 bonus legislation before Congress takes a 
 recess about June 5, and if it is delayed be- 
 yond the November elections, the prospects 
 for passing such a bill will be remote. 
 
 This dispatch was sent by a Washington corre- 
 spondent and printed by The Times as nev^s— which 
 it is. Transferred to the editorial page, however, it 
 might be printed as an editorial combining the char- 
 acteristics of classes IV, V and VI— the news-editorial. 
 the survey, and the interpretation. It is here repro- 
 duced to call attention to the fact that news articles 
 reporting conditions, the status of opinion, or the 
 influences or other elements affecting a situation, 
 are frequently editorial in method. This is true par- 
 ticularly of the work of special correspondents, since 
 one of their main duties is, to report, survey, and 
 interpret situations that are of timely interest. 
 (Sometimes the editorial views of the correspondent 
 conflict with the position the paper takes m its 
 editorial columns.) 
 
 THE HUN IN PEACE 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 1. What the Huns did in time of war in 
 Belgium and Northern France the horrified 
 world well knows. What they have been 
 doing and are doing in time of nominal peace 
 in a Polish province, which they do not want 
 to return to its rightful owners, the world 
 ought to know. Particularly ought it to be 
 known by the gentlemen in Paris who lately 
 prescribed terms of peace and good behavior, 
 and who theoretically have Germany under 
 their control and Poland under their protec- 
 tion. _ 
 
 2. We have lately heard much from Ger- 
 man sources about the "atrocities" which the 
 
 "barbarous Poles" were committing upon 
 hapless Germans who had been forced under 
 their rule. We have also heard from such 
 sources something about the activities of 
 German troops in Upper Silesia in combat- 
 ing and suppressing Bolshevism. From Ger- 
 man sources; therefore presumably false. 
 
 3. Now come reports from credible ob- 
 servers. Christopher Lumby, a correspond- 
 ent of the London Times, is one of the most 
 careful and trustworthy of writers. The 
 same is to be said of Cameron Mackenzie of 
 the London Morning Post, who is, we be- 
 lieve, an American who had an enviable 
 reputation during his years of journalistic 
 work in this country. 
 
 4. These two correspondents exactly 
 agree in their accounts. Indeed, they have 
 issued a joint statement. They tell us that 
 the German troops on entering Polish vil- 
 lages "arrested everyone they could lay 
 hands on — old men, young boys, women — 
 who were collected in droves and made to 
 march, sometimes for hours, their hands held 
 above their heads. . . . Their prisoners 
 were continually beaten with the butts of 
 rifles and pieces of wire cable and belting." 
 
 5. At one place the floors of prison-cells 
 in which Poles had been confined "were so 
 covered with blood from wounds inflicted on 
 the prisoners that one's shoes stuck in walk- 
 ing over them." At another place forty 
 Poles were shot by the Germans without 
 trial. All Poles found with weapons in their 
 possession were shot without trial, by order 
 of the German State Commissioner, and 
 many unarmed Poles were shot immediately 
 
 6. The purpose of this deviltry was ob- 
 vious. A plebiscite was to be taken in that 
 region to determine whether it should belong 
 to Poland or to Germany, and the German 
 Government naturally wanted to "remove" 
 as many Poles as possible before the vote 
 was taken. 
 
 7. This was not in August, 1914, but m 
 August, 1919. What was that saying about 
 the inability of the leopard to change his 
 spots, or the Hun his nature ? 
 
 fl. Semi-announcement of subject. 12. Prepara- 
 tory to introducing the news facts. 
 
 113. Statement of authority. 1I1I4-5. Summary of 
 
 the news facts. 
 
 %Q. Interpretive explanation of the facts. T|7. 
 
 Interpretive comment, or application- 
 Chapter IV. Exercises. 
 
 1. Clip from the daily papers two news- 
 editorials of summary, and from weekly 
 journals two more. Paste each editorial on 
 a separate sheet, and opposite it write down 
 the kind of summary that it represents — 
 collective astract; boiled-down abstract; ab- 
 
50 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 stract with massed comment; or running 
 summary-and-comment. Have the sheets 
 ready for submission to the instructor. 
 
 2. Examine the news-editorials of sum- 
 mary found in the daily papers, those found 
 in the weeklies, and those found in the 
 monthly reviews. Jot down their resem- 
 blances and differences, and the reasons that 
 you think account for them. 
 
 3. Using the data got in doing No. 2, 
 write a paper of 350-450 words comparing 
 and contrasting the editorials of news- 
 summary characteristic of the three classes 
 of journal. 
 
 4. Select some subject that is command- 
 ing continuous attention in the local news. 
 For one week carefully follow this subject 
 in the papers, clipping and preserving all 
 the news-stories and editorials having refer- 
 ence to it. Then write a news-editorial 
 summarizing the significant news-facts and 
 developments of the week. (Enclose your 
 clippings in an envelope and attach them 
 securely to the copy in submitting the 
 editorial.) 
 
 5. Select some important event or hap- 
 pening reported at length in the telegraph 
 news. Collect all the clippings that you can 
 procure, recounting or commenting upon the 
 matter. Then write a news-editorial of 
 boiled-down abstract. Aim at brevity; in- 
 clude the points of prime significance, and 
 
 exclude particulars and details that are 
 merely of descriptive interest or secondary 
 importance. The purpose of such an edi- 
 torial is to present fundamental facts only, 
 put into accurate perspective. (Enclose and 
 attach your clippings as in No. 4.) 
 
 6. Select some subject of current news 
 that is commanding continued attention; 
 collect clippings upon it for a week or a 
 fortnight; then write a news-editorial of 
 running summary-and-comment. As in No. 
 
 5, deal with what is of main significance 
 merely, aiming primarily at perspective. 
 
 7. Using the material gathered for No. 
 
 6, write a news-editorial of massed sum- 
 mary-and-comment. 
 
 8. Re-examine the opening of the edi- 
 torials that you have written, revising them, 
 if necessary, to rid them of stiltedness, 
 over-formality, or dull or mechanical 
 manner. (Often this kind of editorial will 
 employ some form of annunciatory begin- 
 ning such as is used in the three-stage plan.) 
 
 9. Extend the re-examination to the re- 
 maining portion of the editorials. Revise 
 these in whatever way promises to increase 
 their clarity, accuracy, significance, and 
 effectiveness. (In submitting rewritten 
 copy, the original should be included.) 
 
 10-13. Write additional editorials, of the 
 news or news-summary kind, as the in- 
 structor may direct. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE SUMMARIZING EDITORIAL OF SURVEY AND REVIEW 
 
 The editorial of summary. — ^In 
 
 Chapter IV, we considered editorials 
 that summarize or abstract news. 
 But it is evident that the news-edi- 
 torial does not afford us a complete 
 view of summarizing editorials, and 
 therefore cannot be taken as their 
 only type. Indeed, we saw that the 
 news-editorial sometimes is not a 
 summarizing editorial at all — a fact, 
 by the way, that further illustrates 
 the overlapping of categories in at- 
 tempts to classify editorials sys- 
 tematically. As we saw that not all 
 news-editorials are editorials of sum- 
 mary, so now we are to see that not 
 all editorials of summary are news- 
 editorials. 
 
 The non-news editorial of sum- 
 mary. — Often the editorial- writer has 
 reason to present an outline or ab- 
 stract of fact other than news-fact — 
 of fact having present interest or sig- 
 nificance, yet not an immediate part 
 of the actual current news. To il- 
 lustrate : In a political campaign, the 
 attitude of a political party, for or 
 against some policy, may be brought 
 into question. The editorial-writer, 
 in dealing with this question, writes 
 an editorial, or a series of editorials, 
 in which he reviews the history of 
 the party upon the principle in ques- 
 tion. The matters presented are not 
 current events, but matters of his- 
 torical interest; though they concern 
 the present, they constitute a survey 
 of the party's record in the past. 
 
 A second illustration: When Ga- 
 briele D'Annunzio, the poet, became 
 one of the heroes of Italy through his 
 feats of aviation in the great war, 
 and later, seizing Fiume, made him- 
 
 self an insurrectionary leader in be- 
 half of Italy's territorial rights, de- 
 fying the orders of the Entente allies, 
 he became the object of widespread 
 curiosity. Hundreds of thousands of 
 persons who perhaps had never be- 
 fore heard of him suddenly wished to 
 know who and what he was, and nu- 
 merous editorial articles were printed 
 giving a brief review of his life. This 
 history of the poet-fighter did not 
 present what were primarily news- 
 facts, but what were biographical 
 data ; they supplied a survey that be- 
 longed to the historical as distin- 
 guished from the contemporaneous. 
 
 The summary, of course, may deal 
 with a contemporary as well as with a 
 past subject. • 
 
 From news -summary to review and 
 survey. In doing the survey-edi- 
 torial, therefore, the editorial-writer 
 may (A) draw upon current news, 
 making his editorial, however, a re- 
 view and survey of the facts rather 
 than an abstract of them ; or he may 
 (B) for material draw principally 
 upon other sources than the news. 
 When he does the former he usually 
 produces an interpretive news-edi- 
 torial. But when he does the latter, 
 his survey has got outside the limita- 
 tions of current news. 
 
 When this latter takes place, his- 
 tories, scientific works, annual re- 
 views, yearbooks, statistical ab- 
 stracts, treatises, research reports, 
 and theoretical and philosophical pub- 
 lications, are among the many sources 
 of information that he may consult 
 to gather the information that he 
 needs. 
 
52 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Need of extensive reading. — As a 
 
 consequence, so constant and impera- 
 tive is the need of the editorial- 
 writer for authoritative knowledge 
 upon almost every subject, that his 
 general reading, not to speak of his 
 special investigational study, would 
 to the ordinary hit-or-miss reader 
 seem a staggering task. One of the 
 chief weaknesses of the apprentice or 
 as yet undeveloped writer, whether 
 of editorials or of other articles, is 
 lack of thorough, broad, and specific 
 information. He makes the mistake 
 of thinking that, if only he has an 
 opinion and some smattering of facts, 
 he has all that is necessary for the 
 building of an article ; and with igno- 
 rant self-confidence he turns into the 
 primrose entrance of the path to the 
 everlasting waste basket. One cannot 
 write editorials without sound knowl- 
 edge, and eternal reading is the price 
 — or one part of it — of knowledge. 
 
 Information from non -printed 
 sources. — But printed matter is not 
 the only source to which the editorial- 
 writer needs to go for information. 
 He must in addition observe for him- 
 self, and draw information from 
 others. If he is writing surveys of 
 trade-conditions, he needs more than 
 a knowledge of what the trade- 
 journals report ; he had better get out 
 and talk with representative leaders 
 in the trade as well. He is likely to 
 get from them, not only their own 
 worth-while interpretations, but also 
 concrete incidents and figures that 
 will illuminate his generalizations and 
 vitalize his writing. If he is dealing 
 with proposed legislation, he cannot 
 afford to remain ignorant of what 
 lawyers think about it, or of the view 
 taken of it by the men whose in- 
 terests it will affect. Not only does 
 constant contact with affairs, with 
 men of affairs, and with the "average 
 citizen" supply him direct opinion 
 and original data that are indis- 
 
 pensable. It saves him from growing 
 stale and jejune, from that deadly 
 curse the in-growing mind. It keeps 
 his viewpoint adjusted to reality, his 
 intellect working vigorously, his 
 knowledge concrete, varied, intimate, 
 and fresh. It preserves him from the 
 remote, theoretical attitude toward 
 actuality which so frequently turns 
 knowledge barren, and may vitiate 
 even the best thinking with vague 
 impracticality. No man knows a sub- 
 ject who does not know it from inter- 
 course with men as well as with 
 books. The editorial-writer must go 
 to human sources of information no 
 less than to the library. 
 
 When survey supplants news-sum- 
 mary. — How far the editorial of sum- 
 marizing, when it turns into a survey 
 or review, may draw, in part or in 
 whole, away from purely contempo- 
 rary facts, can be realized from the 
 following passages from an editorial 
 concerning small colleges and large 
 colleges. It appeared in the New York 
 Evening Post. The editorial was 
 "hung" upon an item of current lit- 
 erary news, and the survey based 
 upon information from a magazine 
 article. 
 
 . . . . One thing everybody can see for 
 himself, and that is, that the term "small 
 college" means a very different kind of in- 
 stitution from the one it suggested a few 
 decades ago. Then Harvard, Yale, Prince- 
 ton, and Columbia were not only in the list 
 of small colleges, but one or two of them 
 were smaller than certain colleges now 
 whose presidents find it profitable to de- 
 nounce the evils of large universities. Even 
 in the hey-day of the small college, Dart- 
 mouth, Williams, and Amherst graduated 
 classes of forty or fifty. . . . 
 
 The revered "professors" of half a cen- 
 tury ago were often under thirty, and they 
 were frequently in charge of classes that j^ 
 would be absurd to call "small." Professo^j 
 Stevenson [author of the magazine article 
 that gave rise to the editorial] makes short 
 work of the "supposition that in ante-bellum 
 days there was any genuine intimacy be- 
 tween professors and students." The two < 
 bodies, he asserts, were in opposing camps, 
 and faculty-meetings were devoted largely 
 
SURVEY AND REVIEW EDITORIALS 
 
 53 
 
 to discussions of discipline. . . . But the 
 figures are misleading. Most of the presi- 
 dents had to go to small colleges, since there 
 were no large ones. . . . 
 
 "The old curriculum, while narrow, was 
 compulsory. Music, art, pedagogy, and 
 semi-professional courses, were not open to 
 the undergraduate. As a consequence, it 
 was impossible for 50 per cent or more of 
 the students to be enrolled as college men 
 while taking non-collegiate work. 
 
 Scope of the survey-editorial. — As 
 
 the foregoing passages indicate, a 
 large part of the editorial from which 
 they are quoted consists of a review, 
 or survey, of facts concerning col- 
 legiate conditions fifty years before 
 the editorial was written. 
 
 Provided only that the editorial 
 theme be one of contemporary bear- 
 ing or significance, there is no limit 
 to the nature of the facts, nor to 
 their historical remoteness, a survey 
 of which may be warranted by the 
 editorial purpose. Economic condi- 
 tions in Egypt before the period of 
 the Hyksos kings, the sanitary laws 
 of the ancient Hebrews, the Greek 
 system of hetairai, or cultured con- 
 cubines, commerce in the period of 
 the Free Cities, agriculture in the 
 time of Sir Thomas More, communism 
 in the French Revolution and in the 
 nineteenth century in France, the es- 
 tablishment of machine manufactur- 
 ing and the growth from it of a new 
 industrial system — these are merely 
 chance illustrations of subjects that 
 editorial-writers of our day have had 
 occasion to pass in survey for our 
 concern or information. The one re- 
 striction is, that the matter reviewed 
 shall reveal a bearing upon something 
 of contemporary interest. 
 
 Schema. — The non-news editorial 
 of summarizing includes : 
 
 A. The review or survey of past 
 
 fact. 
 
 B. The review or survey of 
 
 present fact. 
 
 C. The comparative review or 
 survey of fact. (Without 
 comment, or with it.) 
 Representative editorials. — The edi- 
 torials that follow illustrate varying 
 employment of summarizing review 
 and survey. 
 
 RISE IN VALUES ON THE FARM 
 
 Worcester Telegram 
 
 1. The old-fashioned cow sold for $60; 
 the owner charged us 5 cents a quart for 
 milk, with all the cream there was. The 
 new-fashioned cow costs $240, and the owner 
 charges us 20 cents a quart for milk, with 
 some mystery as to where the cream is. 
 The old maple orchard made the farm worth 
 $100 more, and the farmer sold us sugar for 
 5 cents a pound. The new maple orchard 
 adds $400 to the sale value of the farm, and 
 we are charged 40 cents a pound for sugar 
 made of the sap. 
 
 2. When the $60 cow prevailed the farm- 
 ers made good livings and kept the boys and 
 girls at home, and they had sweet times 
 making maple sugar, which, if sold at all, 
 was by means of barter, pound for pound, 
 for store sugar. 
 
 3. By means of science the cows have 
 been vastly improved, and it is claimed that 
 only the cow of large value is now fit to 
 keep, though the old-fashioned cow may still 
 be secured. The maple is not bothered much 
 by science, but the syrup and sugar are 
 easier to produce by new devices. 
 
 4. But the farmers' boys and girls do not 
 stay at home and prosper by the new prices 
 of the dairy and the maple orchard. They 
 come to the cities and join us in paying these 
 higher prices. 
 
 A comparative survey, made by setting off items 
 of past against items of> present representative fact. 
 HI. Then and now: economic data. 
 
 112. Then and now: social data. 
 
 113. Then and now:' effect of science. 
 ^4. Then and now: illogical outcome. 
 
 INCREASED ACRE YIELDS 
 
 Breeder's Gazette 
 
 1. Every farmer's business as well as 
 opportunity this year is to make each culti- 
 vated acre more productive than it ever has 
 been before. In most of the best farming 
 regions the season is two to three weeks 
 later than the average. Planting and seed- 
 ing consequently have been delayed, and 
 some crops at the maturing stage may be 
 damaged by frost. Farm labor is not likely 
 to be cheaper or more abundant six months 
 hence than it is now. Most self-reliant 
 farmers, who have a habit of quietly and 
 prudently attending to their own business, 
 
54 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 are g'oing ahead with their spring field work, 
 on an abridged scale. They are taking it 
 for granted that there will be a shortage of 
 farm labor until the scarcity and high prices 
 of food, and the laying off of large numbers 
 of men by business concerns, balked by 
 tightened credits, wage demands and strikes, 
 force thousands of city workers and others 
 back into the country. Although no definite 
 plan to curtail production this year has been 
 formulated by organized farmers, hundreds 
 of practical, foresighted men will reduce 
 their areas devoted to cultivated crops, so 
 that, assisted by their families, they can 
 tend and harvest according to customary 
 methods. Many are making big applications 
 of barnyard manures and commercial fer- 
 tilizers. Their object is to hasten the ma- 
 turing of crops, and secure maximum yields 
 on a decreased acreage, with the labor avail- 
 able. This course is suggested by common 
 sense, and enforced by existing conditions. 
 
 This editorial gives agricultural conditions a "once- 
 over," with a view to sizing up the practical require- 
 ments of the situation as they will affect the farmer" 
 and his plans. 
 
 A PAIR OF GOVERNORS 
 
 Cleveland Plain Dealer 
 
 1. The last presidential candidate Illinois 
 had was U. S. Grant, who was born in Ohio. 
 The only other one the State ever had was 
 Abraham Lincoln, who was born in Ken- 
 tucky. Now the Republicans of Illinois pro- 
 pose to nominate Governor Lowden, who 
 was born in Minnesota. 
 
 2. The governor has the backing of a 
 well-organized movement, not only in his 
 own State, but in the East. It is noted, for 
 instance, that John W. Weeks of Massachu- 
 setts, himself a presidential aspirant until 
 his defeat for re-election to the Senate a 
 year ago by David I. Walsh, is now actively 
 behind the Lowden candidacy. Whether as 
 a result of Weeks's interests or not, it is an 
 interesting development that Congressman 
 Rodenberg now brings from the East a well- 
 seasoned proposal for making Governor 
 Coolidge of the Bay State running-mate 
 with Lowden. 
 
 3. Governor Coolidge was re-elected on a 
 law and order platform, opposed by the 
 ousted but organized policemen of Boston 
 and their allies. Governor Lowden was 
 quoted the other day as declaring that the 
 coal strike "is a strike against the American 
 public." Answering the threat of the 
 Soviets, he does not believe the American 
 people are "yet ready to abandon their form 
 of government." 
 
 4. The last time an Illinois man ran for 
 President, his running mate, Henry Wilson, 
 was from Massachusetts, and both were 
 
 elected. No Illinois man was ever defeated 
 for President as a major party candidate. 
 No Massachusetts man was ever defeated 
 for Vice-President. Is the double-rule prece- 
 dent to be put to a new test ? 
 
 Presentation of a possible parallel- from the past 
 — interesting, but not very significant. Such bits of 
 political gossipry, however, do sometimes serve a 
 minor purpose as suggestions or "feelers." 
 
 POOR OLD FELLOW! 
 
 New York Evening World 
 
 1. Pressed for an epitaph for tottering 
 Old Man 1919, the average reader would be 
 apt to suggest something like, "Here Lies a 
 Grouch." 
 
 2. To begin with, it must be admitted 
 that 1919 had a rather unfortunate ancestry. 
 Both 1917 and 1918 were abnormal. Each 
 was afflicted with a bad case of nerves. 
 Neither had learned to think for itself. Opin- 
 ions were thrown at 1917 and 1918, in pre- 
 digested form and both suffered from mental 
 indigestion. Young 1919 had a hereditary 
 tendency to do as he was told without ask- 
 ing questions, and that is what he seems to 
 have done. 
 
 3. Every one expected great things of 
 1919, but few gave whole-hearted effort in 
 bringing them about. With only two ex- 
 ceptions, there was scarcely any general 
 agreement as to what were the most im- 
 mediate tasks, and the result was a conflict 
 of "go ahead" here and "back up" there 
 orders that was enough to confuse, confound 
 and paralyze any year, particularly one of a 
 nervous disposition like 1919. 
 
 4. Every one, even profiteers, wanted the 
 High knocked out of the Cost of Living, but 
 in every case the actual assistance was 
 passed on to someone else. So 1919 failed 
 here. Every one, with few exceptions, want- 
 ed the soldiers returned to civil life and 
 installed in good jobs. There was a unani- 
 mous demand, 1919 heard and did the job 
 in creditable style. It is the biggest credit 
 mark on the ledger. 
 
 5. Year 1919 did some other things not 
 so creditable. He flirted shamelessly with 
 several objectionable minorities, the Anti- 
 Saloon League, the Reds, the Republican 
 treaty obstructors, for example. Before 
 casting reproach on 1919 it is well to recall 
 that these objectionable minorities were well 
 organized and trained to yell in unison, in the 
 general style of the college rooting section. 
 So 1919 heard the voice above the confused 
 babble of tongues and obeyed orders. In 
 other matters the babble merely confused 
 him and developed the grouch. 
 
 6. If there is any moral to this explana- 
 tion of the deeds of 1919 it lies in the need 
 for less yelling and more thinking. Young 
 
SURVEY AND REVIEW EDITORIALS 
 
 55 
 
 1920 has a better start than Old 1919. His 
 nerves are not quite so awry. But he too 
 will need help and unified direction. Sober 
 judgment, industry and definite ideas for 
 procedure will make the record of 1920 bet- 
 ter, and nothing else will. If 1919 was a 
 grouch, so were most of the rest of us. 
 
 An editorial of occasional (or seasonal) timeliness, 
 prompted by the impulse to look back on an anni- 
 versary or at the end of any fixed period. Without 
 great originality in presentation, it nevertheless 
 avoids dullness and has enough "difference" to keep 
 it free of the tone of merely task writing. 
 
 A NEW METAL FOR MONEY PURPOSES 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. Gold has practically ceased to be a 
 circulating medium all over the world, and 
 has become simply the guarantee of a stand- 
 ard of currency. The business of the world 
 is done with paper now, the gold being used 
 to equalize exchange between the currency 
 of the nations. 
 
 2. Russia contemplates using platinum 
 money. Platinum being the most valuable 
 of existing metals in commerce, and Russia 
 being the fortunate possessor of the only 
 considerable platinum deposits in the world, 
 why not? Value, in some form which can 
 be readily transferred from one country to 
 another, is the backbone of all paper 
 "money," so called. Money, as we know it, 
 is any "legal tender" which law compels to 
 be received in payment for a debt. Our 
 Indians used shells in lieu of gold, tea has 
 been used in Tartary, tobacco in the Amer- 
 ican colonies, sugar in the West Indies, 
 leather by the Carthaginians, silk by the 
 Chinese, and nails in Scotland. Tin was 
 used in England's early days and by some 
 Roman emperors, as an article having a 
 sufficiently stable value for exchange pur- 
 poses. 
 
 3. Lycurgus, the celebrated lawgiver of 
 Sparta, banished gold and silver coins and 
 made iron money the only legal tender, for 
 reasons wholly incompatible with modern 
 conditions. He sought to decrease, not in- 
 crease, riches — to make his people forget 
 money so far as possible, and seek virtue 
 rather than wealth. Like Solon of ancient 
 Athens he realized that — 
 
 Virtue's a thing that none can take away; 
 But money changes owners all the day. 
 
 A survey of the past with reference to the func- 
 tion of "money." The interest is partly economic 
 (the function of money), and partly historical and 
 curious — perhaps mainly the latter, 
 Ifl. Preparatory explanation. ^ 112. Newspeg in- 
 terest-catcher, with further exposition of the func- 
 tion of money, this in turn introducing the enumera- 
 tion of review-facts. .' 
 
 113. Review enumeration and comment continued. 
 There is no conclusion ; the economic exposition is 
 subordinate to the "reader interest." 
 
 The Review 
 
 1. A somewhat encouraging straw in the 
 housing situation is to be found in the rapid 
 rate at which building operations have been 
 resumed at Springfield, Mass., according to 
 a detailed account given in the Springfield 
 Republican. Despite the bad outlook for a 
 building revival during the early spring 
 months, the half-year closed with a total of 
 $2,159,000, which is more than double the 
 amount of building done in the whole of the 
 year 1918. It is expected that the year will 
 close with a record of approximately 150 
 new one-family houses and 100 new two- 
 family houses. The character of the de- 
 velopment is worth noting: 
 
 A large part of the new dwelling 
 house construction is going forward in 
 sections of the city that are being de- 
 veloped by real estate men. Sections 
 that only a few years ago were covered 
 with scrub growth of oak and birch have 
 been laid out and reclaimed by real 
 estate men. Many of these sections 
 which were in the making three or four 
 years ago are now pretty residential 
 sections. 
 This is characteristic of what goes on gen- 
 erally in the extension of building in our 
 cities and those who imagine that the great 
 obstacle to such extension is to be found in 
 speculative "holding of land out of use" are 
 invited to consider whether it is holding 
 out of use or putting into use that prepon- 
 derates as the result of leaving the develop- 
 ment of urban and suburban sites to the free 
 play of supply and demand — speculation or 
 no speculation. 
 
 This editorial shows how a review of typical con- 
 ditions in a limited locale can be so handled las to 
 throw light on the same conditions generally. 
 
 A NEW ORATION DUE 
 
 Washington Star 
 
 1. Some of the older observers of pol- 
 itics — men who follow the game more for 
 entertainment than anything else — say that 
 a new and striking convention oration is 
 due, and are of opinion that either Chicago 
 or San Francisco will produce it. Three 
 such orations stand out in the convention 
 history of the past half century. 
 
 2. At Cincinnati in 1876 Robert G. Inger- 
 soll put Mr. Blaine in nomination for Presi- 
 dent in a speech of extraordinary beauty, 
 and gave to the subject of his eulogy the 
 sobriquet that described him in and for the 
 time, and for all time since. "The Plumed 
 Knight" will stick while Mr. Blaine holds a 
 place in history. The speech did not secure 
 Mr. Blaine the nomination, but did secure 
 for its author a very high place among the 
 orators of his generation. 
 
56 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 3. At Chicago in 1892 Bourke Cockran 
 protested the nomination of Mr. Cleveland, 
 then on the convention card, in a speech 
 which even Mr. Cleveland's friends agreed 
 was a wonderful exhibition of platform 
 oratory. But it did not accomplish its ob- 
 ject. Mr. Cleveland was nominated, and, 
 contrary to Mr. Cockran's prediction, car- 
 ried New York on election day. 
 
 4. Four years later William J. Bryan in 
 the same town enchanted a national conven- 
 tion with a speech which made him his 
 party's leader in that campaign and laid 
 the foundation for two more presidential 
 nominations. And it remains, at the end 
 of twenty-four years, part of the power and 
 influence attaching to Mr. Bryan's name. 
 And one hears it referred to in the gossip 
 about a fourth nomination for its author. 
 
 5. Is a new figure to appear this year 
 to take his place with this trio of spell- 
 binders? He must possess, and show, very 
 high class in order to do so. 
 
 A "timely" product, suggested and made interest- 
 ing by the nearness of the national nominating con- 
 ventions. (Observe tbe orderly structure, and make 
 a plan of it, H by If.) 
 
 PROHIBITION IN THE CAMPAIGN 
 
 Washington Star 
 
 1. How strongly prohibition is entering 
 into this year's political equation may be 
 seen in the result of the Alabama primary. 
 Mr. Underwood was indorsed for a second 
 term as senator by a substantial vote, but 
 had to fight for it. 
 
 2. Except for his wet record, the Senator 
 would probably have been unopposed. On 
 the other scores the State had reason to be 
 proud of him. For some years he has 
 played a prominent part in Congress, first 
 in the House and later in the Senate. A 
 tariff law bears his name — a much coveted 
 distinction. 
 
 3. But Alabama is a dry state, and Mr. 
 Underwood was open to attack on the pro- 
 hibition question. His enemies improved 
 their opportunity; and when Mr. Bryan vis- 
 ited the State in the closing days of the 
 campaign to assist the anti-Underwood 
 movement he stressed the dry sentiment 
 against the Senator. 
 
 4. This is one instance. There are others. 
 At Friday's session of the Socialist national 
 convention the platform was under discus- 
 sion, and Meyer London was a speaker. 
 Among other things, he said: "You will find 
 that 2.75 per cent beer will play a larger 
 part in the coming campaign than freedom 
 of speech or press." 
 
 5. While this is probably an extreme 
 view of the case, there is full warrant for 
 the statement that both wets and drys are 
 
 girding for a hard fight, and will go their 
 utmost to keep the prohibition issue well to 
 the front. The peace treaty will, of course, 
 engage attention. The President's attitude 
 insures that. Likewise will the railroad 
 question come in for much consideration. 
 But the 18th amendment and the Volstead 
 act are certain of a prominent place in the 
 spotlight next fall. 
 
 An editorial of political interpretation based upon 
 a survey of significant incidents. (Again study the 
 orderly plan.) 
 
 AS 1919 GOES OUT 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 1. As the Old Year goes out it leaves 
 behind the mark and the memory of three 
 events epochal in the life of the Nation: 
 
 (1) The death of Roosevelt and resultant 
 demonstration of the deathless influence and 
 inspiration of his immortal spirit. 
 
 (2) The birth of the American Legion. 
 Its members saved America in war and their 
 leadership in peace will preserve and mul- 
 tiply the fruits of victory. 
 
 (3) The blocking by the Senate of the 
 attempt to overthrow the government of the 
 Constitution of the United States and to 
 supplant it by the supergovernment of the 
 Covenant of a League of Nations. 
 
 2. In the spirit of Roosevelt and under 
 the leadership of the Legion and loyal to the 
 Constitution and that "American character" 
 which Washington envisaged and Roosevelt 
 incarnated, America can enter the New Year 
 full of hope and promise. 
 
 A second occasional (New Year) review-editorial. 
 It differs from the preceding one (Poor Old Fellow) 
 in these respects: (1) It does not attempt an inclu- 
 sive review, but reviews only to select "epochal" 
 events. (2) It is more serious and forceful in tone — 
 and correspondingly less informal and amusedly "off 
 side" in its manner. The one is zealous in its point 
 of view ; the other more observational and interpre- 
 tive. 
 
 A NEW TREND IN ADVERTISING 
 
 Printer's Ink 
 
 1. New habits of thought on the part of 
 any considerable portion of the population 
 are invariably followed by new kinds of ad- 
 vertising and new trends in advertising copy. 
 It is a convincing indication of alertness in 
 advertising men generally, that the new copy 
 follows the new thought so closely. 
 
 2. In the old days, when industry was in 
 the early stages of changing from a manual 
 to a machine basis, the introduction of any 
 new labor-saving device was usually the 
 signal for resentment and sabotage on the 
 part of the workers. Strikes and riots were 
 resorted to as a protest against inanimate 
 things, which it was considered would throw 
 thousands of people out of work. This sus- 
 picion of any new machine was always pres- 
 
SURVEY AND REVIEW EDITORIALS 
 
 57 
 
 ent in the worker's mind and the early 
 hostility continued through the various pe- 
 riods of industrial development. It is only 
 in the very recent past that a change of 
 mind has come over the men who invest 
 their muscle in the business. They have 
 come to realize that machinery which does 
 the work formerly necessarily accomplished 
 by hands, increases output, lessens fatigue, 
 and helps to raise the level of their labor 
 from mere physical exertion to a quasi-exec- 
 utive position, with a machine as their 
 assistant. 
 
 3. A few months ago the railroad broth- 
 erhoods, among their demands, included the 
 installation of a certain automatic stoker on 
 locomotives, and mentioned it by name. This 
 new realization on the part of labor has 
 been followed by several advertising cam- 
 paigns directed to the men. The Lamson 
 Conveyor Company, Rice's "Barreled Sun- 
 light," Gaston and Knight Belting Company, 
 and several other national advertisers, are 
 directing their copy-appeal to win the good- 
 will of the man in the plant. In this new 
 trend in advertising, which ties up so 
 closely with the news-value of the necessity 
 for increased production and a better under- 
 standing between capital, management and 
 labor, the worker is almost in the position 
 of the retailer in the usual type of campaign, 
 without whose good-will and co-operation 
 the full measure of success is practically 
 impossible. 
 
 4. Convincing this important factor in 
 industry, that newer labor-saving machinery 
 and factory accessories are to their advan- 
 tage, promises to become more and more a 
 function of the advertising for their group 
 of products, which are constantly growing 
 in numbers and in national importance. 
 
 A survey of contemporary fact, with comparative 
 reference to the past. 
 
 HI. Preparatory generalizations. 112. Review of 
 
 past conditions, and change in attitude. 113. Illus- 
 tration and interpretation of the new attitude. 
 
 114. Forecast based on the survey. 
 
 WAR-WON INDUSTRIES 
 
 New York Herald 
 
 1. Necessity has proved to be the mother 
 of invention. Entrance of the United States 
 into the war and interruption of shipping 
 facilities found this country in a serious sit- 
 uation with respect to certain articles neces- 
 sary to many American industries. Several 
 of these articles — notably dyes, and coal tar 
 derivatives, also "fibre" silk, zinc, chemicals, 
 optical and laboratory glass, potash and fer- 
 tilizers — were largely if not wholly imported. 
 Under the stimulus of necessity Amer- 
 ican ingenuity set to work to produce in 
 this country the articles formerly imported. 
 Such has been the success of these 
 
 efforts that now the United States produces 
 not only nearly all the dyes needed, but 
 exports dyes as well. The United States 
 also produces "silk" from wood-pulp, said 
 to be more durable than the product of the 
 silk worm. 
 
 2. In the metal industries this country 
 has made tremendous strides in four years. 
 Red lead, tungsten and graphite are now 
 produced here to the extent of our wants. 
 Many drugs which before the war were im- 
 ported exclusively from Germany are manu- 
 factured at home. Germany once said that 
 if the United States entered the war she 
 "would put a halter about our neck" by 
 withholding Germany's chemicals. Now this 
 country manufactures nearly all the chem- 
 icals formerly imported and last year sup- 
 plied its own wants and exported $175,000,- 
 000 worth in addition. 
 
 3. Now the United States makes the 
 finest optical glassware, also high-grade 
 watch-crystals and chemical glassware, for- 
 merly imported. Once Germany made all of 
 the finest draughting instruments used; now 
 America makes her own. Before the war 
 this country imported more than $125,000,- 
 000 worth of fertilizers from abroad. Prac- 
 tically there was no potash in America. Now 
 this country produces nearly all the potash 
 needed for domestic use, and if the present 
 progress keeps up all our needs will be sup- 
 plied by home industries. 
 
 4. The serious problem is how to hold 
 what the country has gained — how to pro- 
 tect the men who have put their brains, 
 genius and money into these new and needed 
 industries. That is a problem for Congress 
 to solve. 
 
 111. Preliminary general survey, the situation as it 
 was at the beginning of the war, and as it is at the 
 time of writing. 
 
 11112-3. Rapid summarizing review of advance made 
 in various industries individually. Observe the alter- 
 nating then-and-now method of presentation. 
 1[4. The review given a timely application. 
 
 WORLDWIDE UNREST 
 
 Wall Street Journal 
 
 1. When striking truckmen in New York, 
 overpaid on any cost of living, without a 
 grievance, but obviously looking for trouble 
 to the point of making it where it does not 
 exist, hold up the New York consumer's 
 necessaries of life, we are all too ready to 
 take a local view, and apply local remedies. 
 We prescribe emollients for the skin irrita- 
 tion, but do not search deeply or at all scien- 
 tifically into the organic trouble beneath. 
 
 2. It must strike everybody that the 
 greatest period of industrial unrest the 
 world has ever seen is accompanied by the 
 highest wages industry has ever been able 
 to pay, together with a standard of living, 
 
58 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 in a time when no man need be out of work, 
 which would have been considered the rank- 
 est luxury by our fathers. The problem is 
 not one of New York, or the industries of 
 Ohio or the railroads of the country. It is 
 world-wide, subject only to the peculiar con- 
 ditions arising out of war as evidenced in 
 central Europe. 
 
 3. In Cape Town, South Africa, for in- 
 stance, the Kaffir dock hands, paid four 
 shillings a day — a sum far in excess of their 
 cost of living, which is light, although 
 heavier than it was, to the extent of the 
 higher price of "mealies" and oil for per- 
 sonal adornment — were induced to strike on 
 the advance in these two articles, together 
 with cheap perfumery. 
 
 4. Japan, which has been making million- 
 aires hand over fist out of the war and her 
 exceptional strategic position, has not only 
 seen a startling advance in wages, but has 
 developed organized labor activity and dis- 
 content which shows her the seamy side of 
 her much vaunted assimilation of western 
 civilization. There is chronic labor unrest 
 in Argentina, and native workers in the 
 coffee plantations are becoming hard to find 
 and harder still to handle. There is not an 
 industrial area in the civilized or semi- 
 civilized world where this subterranean vol- 
 canic action is not rumbling. 
 
 5. Your own maid servant, untroubled by 
 the cost of living (for you attend to that), 
 works perfunctorily and discontentedly at 
 double and treble the wages she was receiv- 
 ing only six years ago. It is part of the 
 same problem, and it is a condition as uni- 
 versal as the belief in witchcraft, up to the 
 hanging of the Salem "witches" on Boston 
 Common in 1692. Where the Zulu paid 
 "lobola," the price of ten cows, to his future 
 bride's father for his wife, a tolerable wife 
 now costs twenty. She does all the work, 
 even that in the fields, except plowing, and 
 missionaries say her efficiency has fallen off. 
 
 6. Here is the most astonishing psycho- 
 logical problem with which the world has 
 ever been confronted. Is it the unregistered 
 tail of some comet that has turned us all 
 crazy, and is Congress, in its floundering 
 extravagance, truly representative at last, 
 being if anything crazier than the people it 
 represents ? 
 
 A survey of a contemporary condition, based upon 
 an array of facts brought together from widely sep- 
 arated places. Its main purpose is to illustrate the 
 situation and make it realizable — to which extent, it 
 may be called interpretive. 
 
 HOUSING IDEAS FROM ENGLAND 
 
 Springfield Republican 
 
 1. Both the Government and organized 
 labor in Great Britain are going at the hous- 
 ing plan with a vigor and radicalism that 
 
 contrast interestingly with America's cau- 
 tious and tentative policy. The cities that 
 need houses are undertaking to build them 
 and the building workers are co-operating 
 by undertaking to furnish the labor directly 
 without the mediation of contractors. Pa- 
 ternalism and the guild idea, both foreign 
 as yet to American habits of thought, are 
 back of the British policy. The problems in 
 the two countries, however, are not dissim- 
 ilar. Both need all the light they can get. 
 
 2. The London county council in develop- 
 ing a program for the building of 29,000 new 
 houses for 150,000 people in the outskirts of 
 the city has bought 3000 acres of land at 
 Barking, in Essex, and plans to build a city 
 there within five years. The city of London 
 proper is to build 2000 houses at Ilford; 
 Leeds is to build 8155, Edinburgh 10,000 — 
 including 3000 to be reconstructed — and 
 Sheffield, Newcastle and Hull 5000. The 
 British cities are backed financially by the 
 British Government, which, by the housing 
 act of 1919, has accepted responsibility for 
 most of the municipal building enterprises. 
 Under the terms of the act local communi- 
 ties were required by November 1 last to 
 report building plans to meet their own 
 needs, and under this requirement 3165 
 sites, covering 29,435 acres — room for ap- 
 proximately 294,000 houses — have been ap- 
 proved. 
 
 3. Labor's contribution, still in the ex- 
 perimental stage, is described by S. G. 
 Hobson, a well-known writer on guild so- 
 cialism, who first suggested the plan, as an 
 attempt "to marry the labor monopoly of 
 organized building workers to the credit of 
 the public authorities." The workers, or- 
 ganized into a guild, supply and collectively 
 control the labor in all its branches, the 
 Government paying the cost of the labor 
 plus ten per cent. A novel arrangement is 
 an all-weather working programme, accom- 
 plished by having all the workers employed 
 indoors or out according to weather condi- 
 tions. Such loss of time as is unavoidable 
 is to be compensated for from the ten per 
 cent reserve. The rest of the reserve is to 
 go toward the purchase of working plant to 
 be owned by the guild. The plan is to be 
 put into effect first at Irlam, in the out- 
 skirts of Manchester, where the guild's offer 
 to build 1000 houses has been accepted. The 
 city of Manchester itself and a dozen or 
 more other towns are taking preliminary 
 steps toward adopting the plan if its in- 
 auguration proves successful. 
 
 4. There are historic reasons why the 
 competitive system of private capital is like- 
 ly to continue as the basis of most housing 
 enterprises in the United States, at least for 
 
SURVEY AND REVIEW EDITORIALS 
 
 59 
 
 good while. Whether the more direct 
 ritish way of dealing with such a need as 
 le present will gain substantial foothold 
 ;re may depend largely upon how the Brit- 
 h experiments work out and especially 
 Don whether the spirit expressed by the 
 ew York landlords who are bound to get 
 1 they can from the rent-payers continues 
 
 dominate. 
 
 British policy surveyed in contrast with Amer- 
 
 an, 112. R6sum6 of municipal building opera- 
 
 )ns in England and Scotland. 113. Survey of 
 
 e part taken by labor in the program. 
 
 Concluding speculation concerning the likelihood 
 
 a similar program in America. (This H "ties up" 
 
 e close with the beginning, by turning considera- 
 
 Dn again to the subject as it applies to the United 
 
 ates.) 
 
 THE AGRICULTURAL CRISIS 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 1. "Not since the Civil War," says Mr. 
 dward H. Thompson, president of the Fed- 
 ral Land Bank in Springfield, and a man 
 ery close to the farmers and their produc- 
 on, "have the farmers faced such a short- 
 ge of help. In many communities, at the 
 resent time, there is not a single man avail- 
 ble for a day's work on the farm. Any job 
 fiat requires help must simply wait until a 
 eighbor can find time to furnish such help. 
 he most conservative reports from prac- 
 cally all districts indicate a shortage of at 
 ?ast 15 per cent below last year, and many 
 eports range from 25 per cent to 35 per 
 ent below." Side by side with Mr. Thomp- 
 on's statement comes a report from the 
 'ederal Reserve Board at Washington de- 
 laring that the question of obtaining labor 
 or the farms is the most difficult element of 
 he labor situation. In the Southern States, 
 inhere negro labor is drifting northward to 
 leet industrial and construction demands, 
 armers have been unable to obtain more 
 han half the labor they need. 
 
 2. Food prices and the general economic 
 ituation have already been seriously affect- 
 d by the scarcity of farm labor. If the 
 armer reduces his production, selling his 
 lens instead of keeping them to lay, and get- 
 ing rid of his cows for beef instead of 
 •etaining them to produce milk, it is not 
 rom mere perversity. The farmer, and 
 specially the New England farmer, has a 
 leavier load than he can carry. Labor is 
 lenied him, or is too expensive to leave him 
 
 margin of profit on his operations. He is 
 ompelled to restrict his production; he is 
 
 lot restricting it from spite. And the re- 
 triction, of course, means decreased pro- 
 
 iuction of crops and live stock. According 
 Mr. Thompson of the Springfield Land 
 
 Bank, it also means something worse than 
 
 chat — it lowers the morale of the agricul- 
 
 tural class. The farmer becomes discour- 
 aged, regarding his business as a hopeless 
 and hopelessly bankrupt one. He begins to 
 reconcile himself to a condition of things in 
 which he merely exists, ignoring the prob- 
 lem and duty of production. With every 
 factor against him, he is in danger of total 
 demoralization. 
 
 3. How is this condition to be remedied? 
 What circumstances or policy will supply 
 the farmer with his needed labor? Will 
 anything do it except a surplus of labor in 
 the general industries ? Probably not. The 
 farmer gets the tail end of the labor supply. 
 It is the last run of shad for him. Highly 
 paid industries take their pick, and the pres- 
 ent scale both of employment and of wages 
 leaves practically nothing for agriculture. 
 When wages in the industries are deflated, 
 either by a process of liquidation or by large 
 immigration, there may be some labor left 
 for the farmer. By way of encouragement 
 for the consumer, we can only say that 
 somehow or other the crops get sown and 
 harvested, and that thus far at least there 
 has been no marked falling off in agricul- 
 tural production. The labor outlook on the 
 farms is alarming, but Providence, we are 
 in the habit of saying, is good to the Amer- 
 ican people. But after all, heaven helps only 
 those who help themselves. The American 
 agriculturist has a strenuous spring and 
 summer before him. 
 
 This is merely one of a large class of editorials 
 that, by means of review, survey, and interpretation, 
 help to educate the public at large upon matters of 
 vital concern to the family as well as to business and 
 industry. 
 
 HI. Survey of the immediate data. 1(2. Survey 
 
 of the results. 1[3. Survey of the chances of 
 
 improvement. 
 
 SOVIET RUSSIA: A SERVILE STATE 
 
 Youth's Companion 
 
 1. The practical statesman must always 
 be an opportunist. Instead of taking the 
 precise course that he expects, events are 
 continually creating situations from which 
 he needs all his ingenuity and pliancy to 
 extricate himself with credit. Even Oliver 
 Cromwell, who had as definite a body of 
 ideals and as much ability and firmness as 
 any public man who ever lived, found him- 
 self while governing England driven to ex- 
 pedients and compromises quite at variance 
 with his own convictions. 
 
 2. In like manner Lenine has been forced 
 to modify in practice many of the rigid 
 theories that he determined to realize when 
 he seized power in Russia. The Bolshevik 
 government is by no means what he pro- 
 claimed, what the Russian masses looked for, 
 or what its defenders in the United States 
 pretend it to be. 
 
60 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 3. First, Lenine had to abandon the idea 
 of complete communism. He found that, al- 
 though the indigent industrial worker would 
 accept it, the peasant who had land, or who 
 saw a chance to get it, would not — and the 
 peasant stands for the Russian people. So 
 private ownership of land — within limits — 
 is conceded and seems likely to spread to 
 personal property. 
 
 4. Next, Lenine found that the proletariat 
 (even including intellectual revolutionists 
 like himself and Trotzky) had not the prac- 
 tical ability to run the industries of the 
 country. The general murder of the 
 bourgeois is no longer in fashion. Contrary 
 to all his principles, Lenine permits tech- 
 nically educated men of business experience 
 to become managers of industrial works at 
 comparatively high salaries. It is the only 
 way he can prevent production from break- 
 ing down completely. 
 
 5. Finally, Lenine has found that the 
 workers take freedom to mean freedom 
 from work, freedom to be idle, maintenance 
 without exertion. He has had to enact laws 
 that force men to work more hours than 
 they were accustomed to under the old 
 regime. Systems of "scientific" efficiency 
 like the Taylor system are being introduced. 
 Strikes are not permitted; those who try to 
 organize them are shot down in cold blood. 
 In practice the "dictatorship of the prole- 
 tariat" turns out to mean the servile state, 
 in which men work under compulsion. 
 There is as much corruption among the Bol- 
 sheviki as there was under the czars, though 
 it is by no means so expertly organized. 
 Those in high office are not so selfish or so 
 extravagant as the old ruling class, but 
 they are less human; the peasants, who are 
 in large measure beyond the active author- 
 ity of Moscow, are better off because of the 
 revolution and in a position to improve their 
 lot still further when peace and order re- 
 turn. But the proletariat, for whose espe- 
 cial benefit the communist regime was en- 
 acted, have their choice between gradual 
 starvation and work under conditions of 
 state control that make them little better 
 than serfs. There is no other country on 
 the face of the globe where there is so little 
 real liberty as there is under the govern- 
 ment at Moscow. 
 
 CL r~ By a review of the failures and actual results of 
 ^•^ the Russian attempt to establish communism, the 
 } I fundamental impracticability and the basic error of 
 ' the theory are interpreted. We have therefore an 
 editorial of interpretation, by way of review and 
 survey, with the ultimate purpose of conviction, (Ob- 
 serve how the generalized exposition of |1, disclos- 
 ing the universal necessity of adaptation in govern- 
 ment, prepares for the account of Lenine's failure.) 
 
 SOME "INFANT PRODIGIES" 
 
 Boston Herald 
 
 1. Europe is ringing with the exploits of 
 Samuel Rzechewski, the Polish boy who 
 came out of Lodz a few years ago to teach 
 skill to the masters of chess and carry off 
 their laurels. At the age of six he encoun- 
 tered them in Vienna and won several 
 medals; his play in Berlin gave him ninety- 
 one games out of ninety -two; in forty con- 
 tests arranged for him in Paris he lost two 
 and won thirty-eight. The latest news of 
 his triumphal progress tells of a single- 
 sitting encounter in Paris with "twenty of 
 the best players of the Palais Royal So- 
 ciety," and of its issue in the complete de- 
 feat of his "grey-bearded and bald antagr 
 onists." Against this "frail child with a 
 pale, thoughtful face," now eight years old, 
 their most subtle plans and wiles avail noth- 
 ing; "he mated them when they least ex- 
 pected it." And in each case, moving with 
 impassive face from board to board, he took 
 in the situation at each as if he had spent 
 hours in puzzling it out. 
 
 2. Chess prodigies are as rare in Eu- 
 rope as musical prodigies are plentiful 
 everywhere, but the balance is restored 
 when old-world mathematical and literary 
 prodigies are taken into account. At the 
 head of them we usually class C. H. Heink- 
 sen, the infant who, on the completion of 
 his first year, could summarize the chief 
 facts in the five books of Moses, and by 
 the time he was four years old had com- 
 mitted to memory the whole history of the 
 Bible, the histories of several countries, 
 eighty psalms, 200 hymns with their tunes, 
 and 1500 verses and sentences from the 
 Latin classics. Johann Dase, the Dutch boy, 
 was another European "phenomenon"; he 
 could mentally multiply numbers of eight 
 figures in "less than a minute," and is known 
 to have multipled two numbers, each con- 
 sisting of m.ore than thirty-nine figures, 
 without aid from pencil and paper. Heink- 
 sen, dying early, went into history merely 
 as "the learned child of Luebeck"; Dase did 
 nothing more in life than calculate a few 
 mathematical tables. Contrast this disparity 
 between promise and performance with the 
 achievement of Macaulay, who produced a 
 compendium of universal history at the age 
 of seven, or with that of Flammarion, who 
 wrote a cosmogony when he was sixteen. 
 
 3. Should the young Polish chess player 
 visit the United States, and he is reported to 
 be on his way, he will find the ground richly 
 prepared for "precocious" attainments. 
 Some of us still remember James Broone 
 of Boston, a lad of twelve, who did not 
 hesitate to match his skill in recondite sub- 
 
SURVEY AND REVIEW EDITORIALS 
 
 61 
 
 jects against that of the brainiest of Har- 
 vard's professors, and is said to have argued 
 on one occasion with President Eliot himself. 
 When the Indiana lad, Arthur Griffiths, was 
 suddenly asked for the cube root of 1,367,- 
 631, he promptly replied 111. Byron Howse 
 of Atchison, Kan., was admitted to the bar 
 at the age of 7 after passing "a rigid exam- 
 ination before the justices of the supreme 
 court," and at the age of 5 Edward Roche 
 Hardy matriculated from the University of 
 New York. It took just thirty-seven seconds 
 for young Arthur A. Gamble of Chicago to 
 tell his psychology class the exact number 
 of minutes which had elapsed since the sign- 
 ing of the Declaration of Independence. And 
 since these examples we have had boy 
 mathematicians, metaphysicians, naturalists, 
 lecturers, and preachers by the score. Not 
 all of them win other fame than that of 
 being prodigies, but they attract attention, 
 and they interest the psychologists and the 
 educators most of all. 
 
 A review of curious instances of precocity or 
 supernatural ability, the subject being suggested by 
 a youthful chess "prodigy" of the hour. The inter- 
 est in this subject is almost entirely that which we 
 take in the unusual — our human interest in the 
 strange or curious. On the whole, in newspaper pub- 
 lication, these curious-interest subjects are better 
 adapted for presentation in feature-articles or syndi- 
 cated feature-series than in editorials. Nevertheless, 
 they are readily adaptable to reader-interest edito- 
 rials, and enough of the sort are written to form a 
 distinct, though small, sub-class of editorials. One 
 merit that they have is that of introducing variety 
 and novelty into the editorial columns. 
 
 FICTION AND FACT 
 
 Kansas City Star 
 
 1. Dickens always had a rollicking time 
 when he touched on the subject of his 
 majesty's government. The national cinder 
 heap he calls it, in "Hard Times," and pic- 
 tures ministers and members of parliament 
 scratching away in it, filling all eyes, includ- 
 ing their own, with dust. Then there is the 
 delicious account in "Mutual Friend" of 
 Veneering's being brought into parliament 
 froni Pocket Breeches, and the exuberant 
 detail of the formation of a government 
 when Lord Doodle went out and Lord Coodle 
 wouldn't come in. 
 
 2. England was in a terrible way for a 
 short time. Coodle and Moodle and Roodle 
 and the rest (if we have the names right) 
 just couldn't agree on who should have the 
 woods and forests and other offices, and in 
 the meanwhile England was without a gov- 
 ernment. But finally Coodle (if not one of 
 the others) not only consented to come in, 
 but brought his whole family in with him. 
 
 3. This makes us a good example of 
 Dickens's exaggerated methods, but we 
 would make a mistake if we dismissed it as 
 merely that. Dickens is giving us the truth 
 
 by the fiction process. He is telling us that 
 the business of governing Britain is the busi- 
 ness of a few families. Until Lloyd George 
 became premier Britain never knew what 
 it was to be governed by anybody outside 
 the Coodle and Doodle circle — ^the circle of 
 the governing class. The way the woods 
 and forests and the other offices are parceled 
 is exaggeration in fiction, but in history and 
 fact it is very near truth. 
 
 4. In Lord Morley's "Recollections" we 
 have a picture not essentially different in 
 the account he gives of the formation of 
 the Rosebery government, of which Morley 
 himself was a member. When Gladstone was 
 starting to Windsor to tender his resigna- 
 tion he had reason to believe the queen 
 would sound him as to his successor. He 
 asked Morley: "If you were in my place, 
 now, whom would you advise?" "If I were 
 in your place," said Morley, "I should be 
 disposed to decline advice." Gladstone: "No, 
 I could not do that. It would not be con- 
 sistent with my view of my duty." Morley: 
 "Then I am bound to say I should advise 
 Rosebery." Gladstone: "I shall advise 
 Spencer." 
 
 5. Rosebery it was, and then began the 
 negotiations. Morley's diary continues: 
 
 Toward 4 in the afternoon Spencer 
 came. Much alarm felt at B. Square 
 and by himself at the news brought by 
 Acland that I would not join if the F. O. 
 arrangement for Kimberley were per- 
 sisted in. . . . Spencer and I in a 
 hansom to B. Square. R. very pleasant. 
 Others came in. He and I withdrew to 
 the inner room. We discussed the mat- 
 ter of the F. O. . . . He then asked 
 me whether I would stay in Ireland or 
 go to India. . . . J. M. (head 
 plunged between his hands), "Do not 
 ask me that." ... He offered that 
 I should be lord president or privy seal. 
 J. M., "No, no." ... He ordered 
 his phaeton, and off we drove in the 
 darkness and east wind to my house. 
 . . . R. said it would be right to 
 put it in the newspapers that I might 
 have been a secretary of state if I liked. 
 ... I found R. and G. sitting up. 
 They knew very well what to expect. 
 "It's precious hard lines," cried G. with 
 youthful vehemence. "I knew you 
 would," said R. with profound vexation. 
 
 6. That might almost be a page in Dick- 
 ens. But it is a true account of how a 
 British government was formed as late as 
 1894. A Liberal government, too, and 
 headed by a peer who couldn't even lead it in 
 the house of commons. Morley's whole ac- 
 count, if lifted bodily and placed in a page 
 
62 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 of fiction, would go very readily for satire. 
 Dickens's account if placed on Morley's book 
 might go equally well for fact. 
 
 A somewhat discursive and literesque editorial of 
 historical survey, illustrating political conditions in 
 Great Britain as they remained toward the close of 
 the nineteenth century; but it is almost as much an 
 essay in literary criticism as in political exposition. 
 Observe the literary "frame" (Hill, 2, 3 and 6) with- 
 in which the historical review (1114 and 5) is mounted. 
 The ultimate effect of the editorial is interpreta- 
 tion either of Dickens as an accurate burlesquer of 
 politics or of actual politics as revealed by Dickens — 
 whichever the reader prefers. Either way, he has 
 been entertained and informed at one and the same 
 time. 
 
 NEWSPAPERING FIFTY YEARS AGO 
 
 Building Trade With Farmers 
 
 1. That newspaper conditions have vastly 
 changed in the past fifty years is amply 
 proven by a comparison of the first volume 
 of the American Newspaper Drectory issued 
 January 1, 1869, with the one for 1920. 
 This comparison has been made by N. W. 
 Ayer & Son, the present publishers, and is 
 as follows: 
 
 2. In 1869 there were 5,411 publications. 
 The present volume lists 22,428. The 1869 
 book listed 367 Canadian publications. 
 Canada shows 1,416 this year. 
 
 3. The nine territories of that day, 
 Arizona, Colorado, Dakota, Idaho, Montana, 
 New Mexico, Utah, Washington and Wyo- 
 ming, had a total of 59 newspapers among 
 them. The ten states formed out of these 
 territories have today 2,216. Kansas had 
 53, now it has 652. Nebraska had 27, today 
 it has 584. Oregon had 31, today it has 263. 
 The eastern states show large increases, as 
 our population today is about three times 
 as large as in 1869, but the chief increases 
 are shown, of course, in the Western coun- 
 try, which, fifty years ago, except for a few 
 isolated communities like Cheyenne, Denver, 
 Pueblo, Santa Fe, Salt Lake City, Helena 
 and others, was almost a wilderness from 
 the eastern parts of Kansas, Nebraska and 
 Dakota to within a few score miles of the 
 Pacific. 
 
 4. Conditions at that period are indicated 
 by the advertisement of the Kenosha, Wis., 
 Telegraph, appearing in the 1869 directory, 
 which states, "The town is renowned for 
 the manufacture of wagons, which find a 
 market all the way to the Rocky Mountains, 
 and even in Oregon, being shipped by way 
 of New York." 
 
 5. In the first edition William CuUen 
 Bryant is named as one of the editors of the 
 New York Evening Post. Harriet Beecher 
 Stowe was editor of a New York weekly 
 publication named Hearth and Home, at 37 
 Park Row. Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher 
 edited a monthly, The Mother at Home and 
 
 Household Magazine. Theodore Tilton was 
 editor of the Independent. The late Robert 
 Bonner, chiefly known, in his later days, as 
 the owner of Maud S., was running the New 
 York Ledger. Louisa M. Alcott was editor 
 of Merry's Museum of Boston, an illustrated 
 monthly. And some of our suffragist friends 
 may be interested to know that a "Woman's 
 Rights" weekly, under the title of Revolu- 
 tion, was edited by Elizabeth Cady Stanton 
 and owned by Susan B. Anthony. 
 
 6. There was still an anti-slavery weekly 
 published in New York, The National Anti- 
 Slavery Standard. It was balanced by the 
 States Rights Democrat, published by Mr. 
 Victor W. Thompson in La Grange, Texas. 
 We suspect Brother Thompson was em- 
 phatically "Unreconstructed." George Wash- 
 ington Childs was busy making a reputation 
 for the Public Ledger of Philadelphia. 
 Godey's Lady's Book and Peterson's Ladies' 
 National Magazine, which might be consid- 
 ered as the Ladies' Home Journal and 
 Woman's Home Companion of that day, 
 were both published in Philadelphia and 
 claimed the huge circulations of 106,000 and 
 140,000, respectively. The largest circula- 
 tion in the country was 275,000, the proud 
 boast of Pomeroy's Democrat of New York. 
 
 7. In Louisville, Ky., we find the Courier- 
 Journal, with a gentleman mis-named Henry 
 Matterson as editor-in-chief. "Marse 
 Henry" is too well known and too highly 
 regarded today for anybody to spell his 
 name with an M. We note the name of 
 George W. Peck, afterward Governor of 
 Wisconsin, and famous as the author of 
 "Peck's Bad Boy," and of the thrilling his- 
 tory of "How Private Peck Put Down the 
 Rebellion," etc. Our first edition shows him 
 up. He was then just George W. Peck, 
 editor and publishers of the Representative, 
 a Ripon (Wis.) weekly. "Parson" Brown- 
 low, known to almost every soldier of the 
 Civil War, who did as much to keep the 
 Union flag flying in eastern Tennessee as 
 any man in America, was publishing the 
 Whig at Knoxville. 
 
 8. The Saturday Evening Post of that 
 day claimed a modest 20,000 circulation. It 
 has several more now. The Brooklyn Eagle 
 confessed to "the largest circulation of any 
 evening paper in the United States." The 
 Eagle is a good paper, but if it should make 
 such a circulation claim today, there might 
 be some objections. 
 
 9. The newspapers advertised liberally 
 in the first Directory, there being between 
 four and five hundred advertisements, a 
 great number of them treating of two or 
 more publications issued from the same 
 office. One of the chief points they enlarged 
 
SURVEY AND REVIEW EDITORIALS 
 
 63 
 
 upon in that day was their size. "A large 
 40 column newspaper," "One of the largest 
 papers in New England," "32 large col- 
 umns," "A large folio newspaper," "The 
 largest sheet published in the county," etc., 
 appears frequently. Forty columns do not 
 make a very large paper today. 
 
 10. That the value of good advertising 
 agencies was appreciated half a century ago 
 is proved by some of the advertisements. 
 One paper in Fultonville, N. Y., says, "Our 
 paper is on file with the best advertising 
 agents in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, 
 Chicago, and other large cities. Advertisers 
 will find it to their interest to contract with 
 our agents, as we charge an extra price for 
 the trouble and annoyance of treating with 
 separate parties." The McMinnville, Tenn., 
 New Era says : "We prefer transacting busi- 
 ness through well-established advertising 
 agents, but where parties desire to contract 
 directly, a cash payment of one-fourth of the 
 amount will be required." Others show the 
 same preference. 
 
 11. Honesty and morality in the adver- 
 tising columns is not a new idea. We find 
 many of the papers stating that "Only first- 
 class advertising will be accepted," "Ob- 
 scene advertisements not inserted at any 
 price," "No advertisements inserted unless 
 they are strictly unobjectionable," "No 
 swindling or humbug advertisements re- 
 ceived," "As we admit none but first-class 
 advertisements, our people have great con- 
 fidence in our advertisers." 
 
 12. Verily, honesty is the best policy, 
 both for newspapers and advertisers. It 
 was so half a century ago, is today and will 
 be forever. 
 
 A running review, or chronological survey. 
 
 AVIATION TRIUMPHANT 
 
 New York Times 
 
 1. A year ago — aviation was torpid then 
 — who would have predicted that the colleges 
 would soon be holding races in the air? 
 But Mineola, on those level fields dedicated 
 to the training of soldiers and mail-carriers, 
 has seen the college youngsters, from Yale, 
 Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, 
 Pennsylvania, and even Williams, Rutgers 
 and Wesleyan, cleaving the air in ardent 
 competition and complete masters of their 
 frail craft. Yale had the distinction on 
 Friday of winning the opening event, a 
 25-mile race, in sixteen minutes. Several 
 scores of pilots were entered for different 
 distances, and some of them had flown to 
 the field from New England. And it seems 
 only the other day that the Wrights were 
 giving exhibitions above the Hudson with a 
 weather eye for rude winds of ten miles an 
 
 hour before ascending. A dead calm was 
 prayed for, a breeze of six miles was con- 
 sidered none too safe. But that was the 
 infancy of the science. No one talked of 
 flying as a sport then. 
 
 2. The college air races confound the 
 prophets of a year ago, who saw little hope 
 for American aviation. As usual, the opti- 
 mists were thought to imagine vain things. 
 They did not care if the campaign to obtain 
 large aviation appropriations for the army 
 and navy had failed. The American manu- 
 facturer could get on without Government 
 aid, they asserted. And they were right. 
 The Government has not done much for the 
 science of flying in the last year. Four thou- 
 sand planes have been sold in a twelve- 
 month, and half of them are in the hands of 
 the optimists — ^that is to say, in use. It 
 required courage to invest capital in the 
 industry and go ahead when so many had 
 lost faith and were saying that the industry 
 was dead, killed by the indifference of the 
 Government. The flourishing state of manu- 
 facturing proves that when the demand for 
 a medium of transportation is growing 
 apace subsidies are not necessary. 
 
 3. If any aeronautical journal is exam- 
 ined, the evidence of the progress of avia- 
 tion may be seen on every page. At random 
 in a late issue one reads that Spokane, out 
 in Washington, is to have two flying fields; 
 the Salvation Army uses planes in this State 
 to scatter its pamphlets; corporations estab- 
 lish air ports; Newark finds it necessary to 
 adopt ordinances to control flying because 
 the carelessness and rashness of aviators 
 over the city have become dangerous; 
 schools of instruction are starting all oyer 
 the country; manufacturers are delivering 
 their goods by planes over distances of 100 
 and 200 miles. Some of the news of prog- 
 ress is stimulating to the imagination. In 
 the County of San Francisco the Board of 
 Supervisors calls for bids for a plane to be 
 used in carrying a payroll from City Hall 
 into the High Sierras, where men are em- 
 ployed on dam sites and sawmills belonging 
 to the city, the journey at present by boat, 
 train and motor car being difficult, slow and 
 expensive. 
 
 4. At an exposition at Santa Barbara a 
 horse arrived by airplane. Officers of the 
 S. P. C. A. protested against the carrying 
 of the beast, but it was proved to them that 
 it would be crated and properly secured. 
 The horse seemed to enjoy the trip. In 
 Washington a plane is used by a farmer, 
 who might be called a farming magnate, 
 because he lives at Spokane, a great many 
 miles from the lands he is cultivating. By 
 automobile the trip takes nine hours and a 
 
64 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 half. Stepping into his "bus" in the city, 
 he arrives at his farm in one hour and 
 twenty minutes. 
 
 5. Aviation is already popular. The 
 Aero Club of America plans to make the 
 plane compete with the automobile. There 
 is to be a "drive" for 100,000 members, but 
 it is one thing to call for enthusiasts, an- 
 other thing to get them. The club's method 
 will be to hold exhibitions that will attract 
 attention all over the country; indeed, all 
 over the world. The Aerial Derby Around 
 South America seems at first like a flight of 
 the imagination, an essay in audacious ad- 
 vertising; but since Australians have flown 
 from London to their island continent, there 
 is no practical reason why Americans should 
 not succeed in flying from Florida down the 
 east coast of South America and up the 
 west coast — it is a matter of equipment and 
 landing fields. The Derby around the world 
 would once have been regarded as a Jules 
 Verne dream, but the proposal is being taken 
 up in Japan, China, Siam and India, and 
 nobody laughs at it now. 
 
 |1. Newspeg plus retrospective contrast. 
 "|[2. Survey of private compared with governmental 
 share in advance. 
 
 113. Evidence of advance reviewed by citing indi- 
 vidual instances of practical employment of planes. 
 14. Evidence of extension of employment in more 
 unusual ways. 
 
 115. Assertion of achieved progress, with evidence 
 thereof in further plans. 
 
 THE LONG DARK YEAR 
 
 New York Times 
 
 1. It is a year since hostilities in the 
 Great War came to an end in France with 
 the signing of the armistice. The German 
 emperor had abdicated on Nov. 9, 1918, and 
 Emperor Charles of Austria-Hungary sur- 
 rendered his crown on the day the German 
 plenipotentiaries signed the historic docu- 
 ment that stilled the roar of cannon in 
 France and Flanders and wherever the 
 troops of America and her allies faced their 
 enemy. Crowns fell in every German State. 
 The revolution came as the Kaiser crossed 
 the frontier to Holland. On Nov. 16 a Gov- 
 ernment of the people was formed in Ger- 
 many with Friedrich Ebert at its head. 
 Forthwith it had to deal with the Sparta- 
 cans, whose evil inspiration came from the 
 Russian Bolsheviki, but by the middle of 
 January of this year the streets of Berlin 
 had been cleared with machine guns and the 
 new government was secure. The Czecho- 
 slovak Republic was proclaimed in Prague 
 on Oct. 28, the Polish Republic at Cracow 
 on Nov. 9. In the end of that month a re- 
 public was set up in Lithuania. The Monte- 
 negrin Assembly declared for union with 
 Serbia under King Peter on Dec. 2. 
 
 2. Royalty had not entirely passed in Eu- 
 rope, but the young nations turned joyously 
 to republicanism. "It will be a new world 
 in this twentieth century," wrote the vet- 
 eran Frederic Harrison about this time. 
 "Shall we be new men, new women, worthy 
 to use it rightly?" And, looking back over 
 his long life, he said: 
 
 In these 87 years the change has been 
 as great as in 700 years since Magna 
 Charta. When I was a boy the only 
 republic was in America. Russia, it was 
 thought, might overwhelm Europe. 
 
 3. That is what the Bolsheviki, under 
 Lenine and Trotzky, are planning to do in 
 the new era heralded and celebrated by Mr. 
 Harrison, and the menace is still something 
 more than a vapor on the horizon. States- 
 manship must grapple with it. On the eve 
 of negotiations to draw up a peace treaty. 
 President Wilson — the occasion of his ad- 
 dress was the announcement of the armis- 
 tice to Congress — ^proclaimed his faith in the 
 establishment of the new era in the follow- 
 ing eloquent passage: 
 
 The great nations which associated 
 themselves to destroy the arbitrary 
 power of the military caste of Germany 
 have now definitely united in the com- 
 mon purpose to set up such a peace as 
 will satisfy the longing of the whole 
 world for disinterested justice, embodied 
 in settlements which are based upon 
 something much better and more lasting 
 than the selfish competitive interests of 
 powerful States. 
 
 4. Russia had to be left out of the pre- 
 liminaries, with a dubious prospect that her 
 people would soon realize the blessings of 
 peace and industry and the boon of "dis- 
 interested justice." Millions of Russians 
 had gone mad with their new-won liberty, 
 and the armed mobs of their leaders were 
 running amuck, cruelly tyrannizing over an 
 impotent majority. But the cause of the 
 majority was not lost. Eight days after the 
 armistice that brought peace to western 
 Europe, Admiral Kolchak became virtual 
 dictator of the great body of the Russian 
 people and commander of the All-Russian 
 army and fleet, with an organized govern- 
 ment at Omsk; while in the south, on Nov. 
 20, General Denikin captured Kiev, over- 
 turned the Ukrainian Government, and 
 began his robust campaign against the 
 Soviet government. 
 
 5. While civil war desolated Russia and 
 many thousands perished of hunger and cold, 
 and while little wars blazed up in other parts 
 of Europe and new republics were shaken in 
 the convulsions that the negotiators at Paris 
 had no time to deal with, the framing of the 
 
SURVEY AND REVIEW EDITORIALS 
 
 65 
 
 great Treaty went on and the League of 
 Nations was grafted on it. Slow seemed the 
 deliberations, leisurely so, as if the repre- 
 sentatives of the Allies were deaf to the 
 turmoil elsewhere and blind to the misery 
 that was reducing millions to despair. But 
 at last the work was done, and on June 28, 
 1919, the formal ceremony of signing took 
 place in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. 
 From Paris, President Wilson cabled an ad- 
 dress to the American people, in which he 
 said of the consummation of the long drawn 
 out and difficult negotiations: 
 
 It is more than a treaty of peace with 
 Germany. It liberates great peoples 
 who have never before been able to find 
 the way to liberty. It ends, once for all, 
 an old and intolerable order under which 
 small groups of selfish men could use 
 the peoples of great empires to serve 
 their ambition for power and dominion. 
 It associates the free Governments of 
 the world in a permanent League in 
 which they are pledged to use their 
 united power to maintain peace by main- 
 taining right and justice. 
 6. More than four months have passed 
 since that solemn ceremony in the Hall of 
 Mirrors, but the momentous Treaty, with 
 its League of Nations, the hope of a dis- 
 tracted world, is still unratified by the United 
 States, which was the last nation to enter 
 the war. Great Britain ratified as long ago 
 as July 31, Belgium on Aug. 8, and France 
 on Oct. 13. Japan has ratified. The king 
 of Italy signed on Oct. 7, but the Italian 
 Parliament must give its approval before the 
 compact becomes a law of the realm. France 
 and Great Britain are marking time, waiting 
 for the United States to make up its mind. 
 As soon as the Senate ratifies the Treaty 
 will become effective. In this belated hour 
 in America there sounds like an echo of 
 hope that simple but noble sentiment uttered 
 by President Poincare at the celebration in 
 Paris of the redemption and return of Alsace 
 and Lorraine: "All honor to the dead, the 
 immortal ones who shall teach us how to 
 live." 
 
 An editorial of review and survey with the purpose 
 of persuading to action. 
 HI. Events at or soon after the date of the armistice. 
 
 i[2. Opportunity of the people in republicanism. 
 
 1[3. Threat and promise in the "new era." 
 
 114. The situation in Russia. 
 
 fS. Confusion and suffering in the period before the 
 
 completion and signing of the treaty of peace, with 
 
 its league-of -nation 3 pendant. What its promoters 
 
 hoped from the leafrue. 
 
 %6. Status of world awaiting the ratification by the 
 
 United States. Appeal for action. 
 
 Chapter V. Exercises. 
 
 1. Examine a current issue of a periodi- 
 cal like The Literary Digest. What propor- 
 
 tion of its articles are of the summarizing 
 class? Are they in the nature of news- 
 summary, or of review-and-survey sum- 
 mary? If you can procure clippings, 
 prepare an article of like kind dealing with 
 a current topic. 
 
 2. Follow the editorials of a good daily 
 until you have found at least three satis- 
 factory examples of the summarizing edi- 
 torial of review or survey. Paste these on 
 separate sheets of paper. Opposite each 
 write in a thorough analysis of the editorial 
 and to this add a paragraph of instructive 
 comment. 
 
 3. Examine the editorials and editorial 
 articles in eight recent issues of a good 
 weekly magazine. Select the three best 
 examples of review and survey, and do with 
 them as in No. 2. 
 
 4. Carefully scan the news-columns of a 
 good daily, and note in writing all the ideas 
 you find for summarizing review or survey 
 editorials. Put your suggestions into form 
 to submit to the instructor if he calls for 
 them. 
 
 5. Selecting one of your hints from No. 
 4, gather the material and write the edi- 
 torial. 
 
 6. Repeat No. 4, using another paper 
 of another date. 
 
 7. Repeat No. 5, using a hint from the 
 No. 6 list, about a different subject. 
 
 8. Do one of the editorials here directed: 
 
 A. Go through the files of the campus 
 (or the local) paper, and write a review of 
 the football season. Make it really a sur- 
 vey, not merely a repetition of old news. 
 
 B. As in A, reviewing the baseball 
 season. 
 
 C. As in A, reviewing the tennis or the 
 track season . 
 
 D. As in A, reviewing the hockey, the 
 golf, or some other outdoor-sports season. 
 
 E. As in A, reviewing the dramatic 
 season. 
 
 F. As in A, reviewing the glee club 
 season (in town, the "entertainment" or 
 "lecture-course" season). 
 
 G. As in A, reviewing the debating sea- 
 son or the year's achievement of the college 
 papers. 
 
 9. Do another of the editorials directed 
 in No. 8. 
 
 10. Do yet another of the editorials 
 directed in No. 8. 
 
 11. Do a survey of the boarding or 
 dining-hall situation at the college, or in 
 the town where you live. 
 
66 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 12. A survey of the dormitory or the 
 housing situation at the college, or in the 
 town where you live. 
 
 13. Do a review and survey on one of the 
 following: 
 
 A. The year's work in the local school, 
 or schools, or the college. 
 
 B. The year in your home church, or in 
 the Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., Y. M. H. A., 
 etc. 
 
 C. The year in your club, sorority, 
 fraternity, or lodge. 
 
 D. The hunting or the fishing season. 
 
 14. Do a survey-review on one of the 
 following: 
 
 A. The local school "situation," or some 
 aspect of it. 
 
 B. The status of the church in your 
 community. 
 
 C. Business conditions in the occupation 
 in which you are employed. 
 
 15. Do a survey-editorial on the outlook 
 in some one of the interests named below. 
 Keep it local. 
 
 A. Stock-raising. 
 
 B. Poultry-raising. 
 
 C. Fruit-raising. 
 
 D. Viticulture. 
 
 E. Grain-farming. 
 
 F. Truck-gardening. 
 
 G. Automobile-trade. 
 H. Implement- trade. 
 I. Milling. 
 
 J. Manufacturing. 
 
 K. Trolley or jitney transportation. 
 
 L. Dray-and-trucking business. 
 
 M. The building-trades. 
 
 N. Public improvement. 
 
 O. Community growth. 
 
 P. Baseball or football, etc. 
 
 Q. Hunting or fishing. 
 
 16. Do another of the editorials directed 
 in No. 15. 
 
 17. Do a third one of the editorials 
 directed in No. 15. 
 
 18. Our South American trade. 
 
 19. The Russia of today. 
 
 20. France resurgent. 
 
 21. The new Ireland. 
 
 22. New departures in education. (This 
 may be limited to a survey of education in 
 particular countries or in particular direc- 
 tions, etc.) 
 
 23. Christmas then and now. 
 
 24. Grandmother's grand- daughter. 
 (Changed status of woman.) 
 
 25. Electricity in Franklin's day. 
 
 26. What his times thought of Darwin. 
 
 27. The surgeon of 1865. 
 
 28. When the telephone came. 
 
 29. Old-fashioned jewelry. 
 
 30. Our cut of coat and father's. (Men's 
 styles then and now.) 
 
 31. Bakery-brewed bread. (Our period of 
 machine-made bread.) 
 
 32. The trend in land-prices. 
 
 33. Our absentee-landlordism. 
 
 34. From dress-maker to modiste. 
 
 35. The postponed marriage age. (The 
 tendency to later marriage.) 
 
 36. The vanished pulpit-pounder. 
 (Changes in the manner of preaching.) 
 
 37. The prehistoric "spring" wagon. 
 (The family vehicle previous to the auto- 
 mobile.) 
 
 38. Charity as she was. (Changed 
 theory and practice in poor-relief.) 
 
 39. Making the "pen" a pleasure. (Sur- 
 vey of the new "penology.") 
 
 40. Modern small-town advertising. (It's 
 different from the old.) 
 
 41. The farmer advertises. (So he does. 
 Another changed practice producing new 
 conditions.) 
 
 42. The age of pewter. (Those days — 
 "primitive" or "thrifty" according as you 
 look at it — when pewter not quadruple-plate 
 or sterling was the common metal for table- 
 ware.) 
 
 43. Chemistry sixty years past. 
 
 44. This peaceful world (or, This uneasy 
 world. A survey of the conditions tending 
 toward quiet or toward unrest). 
 
 45. Recent ideas in architecture. 
 
 46. New needs in housing. 
 
 47. Cities that "jest grow." (A survey 
 of the slow advance of the principle of 
 city-planning.) 
 
 48. Must the farmer quit the job ? (Sur- 
 vey of conditions affecting agriculture.) 
 
 49. Do it by law. (A survey of the 
 tendency to "pass a law" whenever any- 
 thing is thought to need adjustment.) 
 
 50. Youthful college graduates. (In- 
 stances of early graduation — and what hap- 
 pened to the precocious grads.) 
 
 51. Classic class legislation. (Notorious 
 past instances of legislation in behalf of 
 "special interests." They should be specific 
 and acknowledged.) 
 
 52. Politics is an old game. (Review 
 of past political schemes and tricks.) 
 
 53. Earth's easing pains. (Present 
 freedom from volcanic action, earthquakes, 
 etc., in comparison with the mountain-form- 
 ing geological period.) 
 
 54. Future of electricity as power. 
 
 55. Politics, that simmer. (They used to 
 boil. See the histories.) 
 
SURVEY AND REVIEW EDITORIALS 
 
 67 
 
 56. A moral people. (Americans' sensi- 
 tiveness to reform ideals. See the histories.) 
 
 57. The last frontier. (Survey of Ameri- 
 can pioneering; apparently it must end with 
 Alaskan development.) 
 
 58. Freak reforms. (Review of ab- 
 surdities in reform theory and legislation.) 
 
 59. Laid at last? (Survey of the long 
 struggle over the tariff question. See the 
 histories. Has the "ghost" been laid?) 
 
 60. The fighting editor. (Editing as it 
 was and as it is.) 
 
 61. Has boyhood grown pale ? (Boyhood 
 today and boyhood 50 years ago.) 
 
 62. Big agriculture. (The tendency to 
 consolidation and industrial methods in 
 farming.) 
 
 63. Denuded hills. (Survey of the 
 "timber crisis." If reforesting occurs, the 
 title may read "Reclothed hills.") 
 
 64. Presidential vocations. (Review of 
 the vocations of our presidents in private 
 life.) 
 
 65. The woman with the hoe. (Survey 
 of female field-labor in the United States.) 
 
 66. Our Japanese troubles. 
 
 Make lists of subjects for summarizing 
 editorials of review or survey, as follows: 
 
 67. Five historical and five literary. 
 
 68. Five commercial and five financial. 
 
 69. Five industrial and five political. 
 
 70. Five religious or moral, and five 
 social. 
 
 71. Make an unclassified list of 15 addi- 
 tional subjects. 
 
 72. Another list of 15, as in No. 71. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 THE EDITORIAL OF INTERPRETATION 
 
 Interpretation for the sake of in- 
 struction. — We have seen that most 
 of the purposes of the editorial article 
 closely associate themselves, in one 
 way or another, vi^ith the ultimate 
 aim of teaching, of conveying instruc- 
 tion. The editorial is written by men 
 and women whose business it is to 
 study and understand, for the infor- 
 mation and guidance of the more 
 thoughtful and serious part of the 
 paper's readers.^ 
 
 As one of the most important 
 means of instruction, interpretation 
 must enter largely into the purpose 
 of editorial-writing, and the editorial 
 of interpretation is now exceedingly 
 common. In the older journalism, 
 however, which was primarily parti- 
 san or combative in spirit, it was 
 much less prominent. When inter- 
 pretation was offered at all, it usually 
 was offered less for the sake of in- 
 forming the reader than for the sake 
 of controversial appeal. Hence it was 
 prejudiced, insincere, or dishonest, 
 and therefore undependable. 
 
 The modern spirit of interpreta- 
 tion. To find editorials that offer in- 
 terpretation in this spirit is not yet 
 difficult. Nevertheless, with the de- 
 velopment of the modern standard of 
 news — the facts for their own sake, 
 fully and impartially reported, "let 
 the chips fall where they may" — a 
 great change came also in the ideal of 
 the editorial. 
 
 It did not give up its function as a 
 means of argument — of debate and 
 conviction — for it could not do that 
 without surrendering its duty to urge 
 opinion and principle. But it as- 
 sumed a new function in addition 
 thereto. It became a medium of im- 
 partial explanation, and turned a 
 large part of its energy into the pro- 
 duction of unbiased, informative in- 
 terpretation. Only in periods of 
 emergency and crisis do we now find 
 the intensely controversial editorial 
 unmistakably ousting the editorial of 
 educative interpretation from its 
 place of equality, if not of supremacy. 
 
 Indeed, a shrewd surmise began to 
 renew itself in a good many minds. 
 
 ^It is true that some newspaper publishers 
 minimize the value of the editorial, and that 
 a few would abolish it entirely. It is also 
 true that the editorial function of the news- 
 paper (as a newspurveyor) can be empha- 
 sized excessively. When this happens, the 
 journal loses in all-round interest, is likely 
 to decline in money-returns, and may fail as 
 a business undertaking. But it is also true 
 that deterioration in its news-function fol- 
 lows when the editorial-function of the 
 paper is neglected. The journal then be- 
 comes a chronicle of undigested and un- 
 interpreted fact, and faces the constant 
 temptation to overdo the sensational in some 
 of its numerous varieties, in order to create 
 and sustain interest. Under this policy, 
 
 large and paying "circulations" are some- 
 times built up. Yet the final judgment 
 founded upon a study of such papers is 
 almost inevitable. They do not discharge 
 the full obligation that they owe to their 
 readers and to the community and nation. 
 This failure appears even in their news- 
 columns, which gradually become less in- 
 structive and less substantial than are the 
 news-columns in which the selection and 
 presentation of news is more guided by 
 standards set in the department of the 
 editorial-writer. When these standards are 
 removed, or become low, slovenly, indif- 
 ferent, or superficial, deterioration in the 
 quality of the news-columns can soon be 
 observed. 
 
EDITORIALS OF INTERPRETATION 
 
 69 
 
 luring the war with Germany and 
 he time of agitation and unrest fol- 
 owing it, that the most effective edi- 
 orials upon the problems before the 
 Dublic are not those of heated and 
 )assionate argument, but those 
 ather of cool, sensible, reasoned 
 inalysis and interpretation. A plain, 
 ;incere explanation is often the 
 trongest kind of proof. 
 
 The ideal of the strictly interpre- 
 ;ive editorial is the same as that 
 vhich gives us the highest quality of 
 nodern news-report. The ideal of the 
 •eporter is to put the facts fully and 
 airly before the reader, leaving him 
 :o form his own judgment from them. 
 The ideal of the editorial of interpre- 
 tation is to put a just, fair, well-in- 
 lormed explanation of facts, events, 
 principles, or tendencies before the 
 -eader, leaving him to accept, amend, 
 )r reject it as he will. If it be sound 
 md just, it will inevitably influence 
 lim. 
 
 Resemblance to the news-story. — 
 !n this respect, the difference between 
 he interpretive editorial and the 
 lews-story is principally one of sub- 
 stance, as determined by purpose. 
 The matter of the news-story is actual 
 fact; the interpretive editorial con- 
 sists of matters of judgment, under- 
 standing, and inference. The matter 
 of the news-story is concrete and 
 verifiable ; the matter of the interpre- 
 tive editorial is abstract. If the re- 
 porter be fully informed, carefully ac- 
 
 To counteract this inevitable effect is 
 ometimes undertaken by ''making the selec- 
 ion and presentation of news the means of 
 effecting and guiding public opinion." But 
 this policy is thoroughly vicious, leading to 
 he supnression of news, and to all the evils 
 of colored and manipulated news. Were it 
 to establish itself widely, it would, by cor- 
 rupting the news-honesty of journalism, de- 
 stroy its usefulness as an institution of de- 
 pendable public information. The remedy is 
 far worse than the condition. 
 
 Observers of the press-agent and propa- 
 ganda publicity that began about 1914, and 
 
 curate, truthful and impartial, one 
 can depend upon the facts of his 
 news-story. If the editorial-writer 
 be well-informed, sincere, honest, and 
 straight-thinking in arriving at his 
 theory or conclusion, one can depend 
 upon his interpretation. At the least, 
 his statement of the logical data will 
 be illuminative and thought-provok- 
 ing, whether his interpretation of 
 them be acceptable or not. 
 
 Demand for interpretive editorials. 
 — This ideal of earnest, honest, care- 
 ful, educative explanation has made 
 the contemporary interpretive edi- 
 torial perhaps the most effective and 
 the most desired kind of editorial- 
 writing among thinking readers — 
 and their tribe increases. 
 
 Definite in purpose, but varied in 
 plan. — There is, and there can be, no 
 set plan nor standard method for 
 such editorial articles. Their method, 
 their structure, and their manner, 
 will vary according to the subject, 
 the circumstances, the body of read- 
 ers, and the writer. The one fixed 
 and determined thing about them is 
 their intent. They are written to 
 show forth the significance of a set of 
 facts; the relations of these facts to 
 one another or to other facts; the 
 tendency of events; or the nature of 
 the premises underlying a theory of 
 action. To describe it briefly, the in- 
 terpretive editorial exists to make 
 clear the true inwardness and bearing 
 of the matter it discusses. 
 
 was still flourishing years thereafter, testify 
 to a resultant deterioration of our press. 
 Its news, they say, declined in both thorough- 
 ness and completeness, in accuracy and au- 
 thenticity, in impartiality and, therefore, in 
 honesty, dependability, and value. 
 
 But between the minimized and the over- 
 emphasized editorial function there is a safe 
 and necessary middle ground. Too much 
 stress on the editorial element can be 
 avoided; the other extreme must be, because 
 it vitiates the news — the very blood of 
 healthy journalism. 
 
70 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 To accomplish this expository pur- 
 pose, it is free to employ any plan of 
 structure and any method of presen- 
 tation that is clear, forcible, logically 
 sound, and adapted to the standards 
 of appropriateness and the practical 
 psychology of commanding attention 
 and respect. 
 
 Available plans for building the in- 
 terpretive editorial. — Some of the 
 most usual methods employed in 
 building the editorial of interpreta- 
 tion are : 
 
 1. The newspeg method. The facts 
 to be interpreted are stated in the 
 newspeg; the body of the editorial 
 (in which the peg may appear at al- 
 most any point, though it is likely to 
 be placed near the opening) enlarges 
 upon this in some explanatory or il- 
 luminative way. 
 
 2. The method of the annuncia- 
 tory beginning. The first part of the 
 editorial announces its subject and 
 introduces the thought ; what follows 
 proceeds with the exposition in such 
 detail and in such arrangement as are 
 dictated by the subject, the circum- 
 stances, and the writer's technique. 
 Really, this is often the three-stage 
 plan, though it frequently stops short 
 of an explicit statement of the con- 
 clusion or application. But to add 
 the third stage is quite permissible; 
 and the editorial-writer may do so 
 with small fear of detracting from 
 the effect of his interpretation, pro- 
 vided that the interpretation itself 
 reveals accuracy and sincerity. 
 
 3. The method of summarizing. — 
 The facts to be interpreted are 
 brought together and set in perspec- 
 tive in a summary similar in method 
 to that of the news-summary (Chap- 
 ter IV) or to the summarizing edi- 
 torial of review or survey. Fre- 
 quently, the mere statement of the 
 facts in such a form is enough to 
 make their meaning clear. When 
 
 this is not enough, explanatory com- 
 ment completes the interpretation. 
 
 4. Informal methods. The skilled 
 writer, besides following the more 
 customary editorial practice, may occa- 
 sionally employ narrative or descrip- 
 tive presentation, incident, anecdote, 
 fable, parable, and so on. Sometimes 
 the exceptional form will constitute 
 the entire editorial, and some- 
 times it will be introduced into the 
 article merely as a means of develop- 
 ment or emphasis at some particular 
 stage of the thought. Only writers 
 of sure experience and judgment, 
 however, can safely venture on a no- 
 ticeable degree of informality in edi- 
 torial presentation, for only they will 
 know how to keep the informality 
 surely within judicious bounds. 
 
 Schema. — Interpretation may ap- 
 pear in various forms of editorials. 
 Loosely, these belong to one or an- 
 other of three overlapping categories ; 
 namely : 
 
 A. The editorial of direct inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 B. The didactic editorial, that di- 
 rectly instructs or teaches. 
 
 C. The editorial of indirect or 
 casual interpretation. 
 
 Representative editorials. — Ways, 
 means, and manners of interpreting 
 are illustrated — but yet not exhaus- 
 tively — by the editorials that follow: 
 
 OUR DEBT TO INDUSTRIAL GIANTS 
 
 The Churchman 
 
 1. In the death of Theodore N. Vail the 
 nation loses another of its industrial giants. 
 It takes two to make each of the great in- 
 ventions which help to conquer time and 
 space. First, we must have the man who 
 reveals one of the secrets of science. Bui 
 that revelation, were the revealer to stand 
 alone, would be impotent to serve the ra 
 The other inventor is the man who tak 
 the secret, organizes it, finances it, hai 
 nesses it into a great system, making i1 
 available for the profit and comfort of th( 
 millions. Mr. Vail may be said to be n( 
 less of an inventor of the telephone thai 
 Alexander Graham Bell. 
 
EDITORIALS OF INTERPRETATION 
 
 71 
 
 2. There is a tendency among certain 
 eople to underestimate the contribution of 
 ur great administrators. Their genius has 
 ndeed been lavishly rewarded; but without 
 he administrators, financiers and organizers 
 ur creative geniuses who make the inven- 
 ions would be impotent to make them effec- 
 ive for service. Men like Mr. Vail no less 
 han inventors like Bell deserve the grati- 
 ude and honor of mankind. 
 
 Material for editorial interpretations is always at 
 land, because life infinitely repeats itself, and each 
 lew generation must have life's abiding truths 
 xplained to it through exposition of the men and 
 natters of its own passing day. This editorial at- 
 ;empts to give guidance by interpreting social value 
 is corresponding to helpful service. 
 
 POST-WAR POLITICAL ECONOMY 
 
 Shoe and Leather Reporter 
 
 1. One of the consequential results of the 
 greatest war of all time is double, treble 
 and even quadruple wages and enormous 
 profits. The country has been translated to 
 a sort of financial seventh heaven. The 
 problem is how to get our feet safely back 
 to earth again. If the transition is not 
 gradual there will be low prices with the 
 usual accompaniment of soup houses and 
 bread lines for the employees and fore- 
 closures and sheriff's sales for the employ- 
 ers. A few deluded creatures running 
 about wearing blue pants and hickory shirts 
 may make an amusing diversion, but they 
 will contribute nothing to the solution of 
 the post-war emergency. 
 
 2. Thus far we have not learned the first 
 letter of the alphabet of political economy, 
 which is that individuals and nations can 
 revel in extravagance upon borrowed money 
 only to fret, fume and protest when the day 
 of settlement comes. The high prices of 
 today are as logical as indigestion after plum 
 pudding. Swearing you will never eat such 
 a compound again may be salutary as an 
 exercise of conscience, but it does not repair 
 the damage already done. 
 
 Explanation of an industrial and economic condi- 
 tion. Observe its brevity. 
 
 THE REAL MAGIC 
 
 Haverhill Gazette 
 
 1. Thurston, the famous magician, says 
 he wonders at times why people come to his 
 show when there is so much free magic all 
 about them. 
 
 2. The bursting bud, the growing child, 
 the nesting bird — these are manifestations 
 of the real magic, yet who takes but passing 
 note of them? he asks. And man's own 
 wizardry has become but a commonplace of 
 his everyday life. 
 
 3. A bell rings at one's elbow and one 
 places an instrument to his mouth and talks 
 to a man who may be a thousand miles away. 
 
 4. Magic, indeed! But it thrills no 
 longer, any more than the casual conversa- 
 tion one had with his neighbor on the street 
 in the morning. 
 
 5. A slight pressure of the hand on a 
 lever lights up a city. A spark of elec- 
 tricity ignites a vapor and sets in motion 
 the wheels of a vehicle. The touch of a 
 finger on a key sends messages through air 
 and overseas. 
 
 6. It is related in the story of Aladdin 
 that he had but to rub his wonderful lamp, 
 express a wish, and it would be forthwith 
 magically fulfilled. 
 
 7. The fairy-tale of yesterday is the fact 
 of today. 
 
 8. One man makes a wish today and on 
 the morrow another man invents some new 
 marvel that fulfills that wish. 
 
 Eight tabloid IJIf of human -interest interpreting the 
 wonder of well-known things. (Let the student 
 diagram its 3-stage structure.) 
 
 Query. — Does the shortness of the HI produce an 
 effect of scrappiness? Are there some readers who 
 will follow the thought better because it is thus 
 marked off into fragmentary stages? What class of 
 readers would these be? 
 
 THE COUNTRY DOCTOR 
 
 Ohio State Journal 
 
 1. From early days the country doctor 
 has worked hard and made little money. 
 Considering the importance of his relation 
 to the happiness and well-being of the com- 
 munity, he gets the smallest reward society 
 offers any of the men in learned professions. 
 His office hours are day and night. Dis- 
 tance never interferes, weather has no ter- 
 rors to stop him. He gets no cash in ad- 
 vance. He cannot exact the higher fee for 
 night services. When there is a call he 
 goes, for they are all his neighbors. If they 
 pay he is fortunate. If they wait he gets 
 along some other way. The largest item on 
 his ledger is the charity service. The next 
 is the unpaid bills. From the latter he hopes 
 to get payment some time. When he dies 
 he has many thousands due him but few 
 dollars in the bank. 
 
 2. Larger fees and more of them are 
 offered in the cities. In New York State 
 there is talk of the State's subsidizing the 
 country doctor, guaranteeing him a fair 
 living and inducing him to stay in the small 
 places. 
 
 An exposition of the economic situation of an im- 
 portant social class. The news noted in 112 is men- 
 tioned, not as a newspeg, but as an item that further 
 interprets the situation. 
 
 Does a body of type appear well-balanced to the 
 eye when made up of one long H followed by a 
 short H? Would this set-up be more satisfying if Ifl 
 were broken into two HH? Could the division be 
 made on a logical principle, or would it be arbitrary? 
 (Most HH, if themselves well constructed, consist of 
 sub-units, or groups, of sentences, that can stand as 
 shorter %^. How is it here?) 
 
72 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 BUT THE DEMS WANT A RUNNER 
 
 Baltimore American 
 
 1. Scene — The Polo Grounds, somewhere 
 within the precincts of Greater Gotham. 
 Time — Sunday afternoon, May 2. Actors — 
 Members of the New York baseball team 
 and members of the Boston team. In the 
 grandstand and the bleachers 25,000 keyed- 
 up-to-the-cracking-point B. B. fans. Game 
 opens with Boston at the bat — no score. 
 New York goes to bat — no score. Five in- 
 nings played, not a run scored on either side 
 — judge the psychic strain in the grandstand 
 and the bleachers. Boston goes to bat in 
 the sixth and scores one run — death cham- 
 ber silence and solemnity pervades grand- 
 stand and bleachers when the New Yorks 
 shamble across to home base. 
 
 2. On called balls and bunts the New 
 Yorks manage to get three on the bases, and 
 then the mighty Babe takes the bat. No 
 sound breaks the awful silence except the 
 rasp of a tree locust sawing his legs in a 
 maple just behind the grandstand. And 
 then the sublime thing happens. According 
 to 25,000 fans who were there and saw that 
 phenomenal drive, the ball is heading 
 straight for the other side of the Harlem 
 River when it is stopped by a granite wall. 
 Five runs for New York that hit of the 
 mighty Babe scores, and language utterly 
 fails to describe the tumult that followed. 
 
 3. But, right here, let us pause to deliver 
 an inspired suggestion. The Democratic 
 party is wandering around in the wilderness, 
 looking for a likely candidate, but finding 
 none that has not the jinx sign pinned to 
 him. But there's Babe Ruth, at the mention 
 of whose name New York breaks into 
 tumultuous joy. No gloom imps are dancing 
 around the mighty Babe. Maybe he can 
 knock 'em over the fence in politics just 
 like he does in b. b. 
 
 An interpretation (US) by means of dramatic nar- 
 rative. The editorial is in the tone of the casual- 
 essay or the human-interest editorial, A "surprise" 
 effect is gained, quite in the manner of drama and 
 fiction, by the sudden swing of |3 to a political 
 application. 
 
 THE ANTI-THIRD TERM ARGUMENT 
 
 New York World 
 
 1. In the face of precedents that might 
 have given him warning, Venustiano Car- 
 ranza decreed his fate when he yielded to 
 temptation to override the Constitution and 
 establish a dictatorship. There was a small 
 chance of temporary success, but the prob- 
 able result was the grim alternative present- 
 ed to most of his predecessors. If not death, 
 exile. 
 
 2. Mexican leaders thus far have had one 
 delinquency in common. They are all pro- 
 fuse in promising the things that they may 
 
 not have the power to bring about, such as 
 peace and justice. Where they all fail is in 
 personal conduct, in the matters that depend 
 altogether upon themselves. 
 
 3. "That I should lay down my charge at 
 a proper period is as much a duty as to 
 have borne it faithfully," said Thomas Jef- 
 ferson when he was nominated for a third 
 term; "if some termination of the services of 
 the Chief Magistrate be not fixed by the 
 Constitution, or supplied by practice, his 
 office, nominally for years, will, in fact, be- 
 come for life, and history shows how easily 
 that degenerates into an inheritance." 
 Mexico's long and tragic record of misgov- 
 ernment is primarily due to the fact that it 
 never has had a chieftain able to conquer his 
 own greed for power and wealth. 
 
 An explanation of the course of Mexican affairs by 
 an analysis of Mexican ideals. 
 
 SAVING THE COUNTRY 
 
 Boston Evening Globe 
 
 1. Boston survived May Day, and so did 
 the rest of the country. To be sure, there 
 were demonstrations and killings, but in 
 Paris — and not Paris, Maine, Kentucky, 
 Missouri, Tennessee or Texas, but in Paris, 
 France. 
 
 2. Our Federal Attorney General appears 
 to be precisely as successful in fortelling 
 revolution as he is reducing the high cost 
 of keeping alive. 
 
 3. The only unusual event of the day 
 was a 26-inning ball game, but even that 
 had its tame side, since it was a tie. And 
 yet those who had hung on Mr. Palmer's 
 words expected to hear bombs exploding all 
 day long and to cower terror-stricken while 
 fragments of the State House pattered like 
 rain on the top of the fifth-floor flat. 
 
 4. Even Washington, D. C, a town sup- 
 posed to know the secrets of all booms, took 
 so much stock in Mr. Palmer's May Day 
 that some of its citizens telephoned to police 
 headquarters when a band of Harvard grad- 
 uates paraded with their crimson banners. 
 
 5. No doubt Mr. Palmer, or someone ac- 
 tive in his behalf, will explain that the red- 
 eyed, fire-spitting, bloody-minded "Reds" 
 were overawed by the public intimations 
 that agents of the Department of Justice 
 lurked with machine guns along all thor- 
 oughfares where the Leninites would have 
 paraded, if they had not been scared out of 
 their boots. 
 
 6. Being jumpy never does any good, 
 and, if it is repeated often enough, may do 
 considerable harm. There is an old story 
 about giving a dog a bad name and so 
 inciting him to violence. If the word 
 "Bolshevist" is thrown frequently enough 
 in the general direction of everybody who 
 
EDITORIALS OF INTERPRETATION 
 
 73 
 
 does not pay a supertax, Bolshevists may be 
 produced even from our native American 
 stock. 
 
 7. The real reason for the May Day 
 flivver is the quadrennial necessity for sav- 
 ing the country. Politicians, especially those 
 mentioned for the Presidency, are firm in 
 the idea that the oftener the country is 
 saved the better. The rest of us might as 
 well get used to being "saved" from high 
 prices and revolutions until after the cam- 
 paign is over. 
 
 At bottom, this editorial is about half and half 
 an exposition of the unwisdom of growing panicky 
 over threats of public disorder or upheaval, and a 
 criticism of the Attorney General on the assump- 
 tion that he was "playing politics." The editorial 
 refers to a warning sent out against probable revo- 
 lutionary outbreaks. 
 
 THE BOSS WHO PULLS 
 
 Brockton Times 
 
 1. Long, serious articles have been writ- 
 ten to prove the folly of attempting to 
 establish lines or sharp distinctions between 
 capital and labor in this country, but really 
 such grave dissertations are unnecessary. 
 The observant eye sees proof of this folly 
 every day on the public street. 
 
 2. A case in point: Three men were 
 taking a piano up the steps of a house. The 
 man at the front end was well dressed, spec- 
 tacled, overcoated. The two at the other end 
 of the box were dirty, overalled, rough- 
 handed. But just as it came to the final tug, 
 one of the overalled pair exclaimed to the 
 white shirt at the front, "Git straight around 
 in front of her, George, an' pull!" And 
 George did as he was told. 
 
 3. Now George is a member of the firm 
 that sold the piano. A few years ago he was 
 one of the teamsters that delivered the 
 pianos. Being short of help in his store, he 
 lends a hand himself where the need arises, 
 and his men called him by his first name, 
 
 4. This country is swarming with just 
 such cases. They are the finest argument 
 for free America that we have. They offer 
 the greatest incentive to ambition that any 
 country in the world has to offer. So long 
 as this country remains one in which the 
 men call the boss by his first name, and 
 when need arises the boss gets round in 
 front and pulls with the men, all the agi- 
 tators in the world can't do any lasting 
 harm. 
 
 The Times here gives us a common-sense view of 
 what it regards as the right spirit betAveen employers 
 and employed, illustrated by an incident from every- 
 day life. Besides being an editorial of interpreta- 
 tion, it is a "purpose" editorial ; or it may be called 
 a human-interest editorial, since it touches us as 
 much on the side of human as on that of industrial 
 relationships. In structure it is of the 3-stage plan. 
 Note the effectiveness of the head. 
 
 LAYING THE BASIS FOR NEW WARS 
 
 Springfield Republican 
 
 1. Dispatches from Warsaw throw addi- 
 tional light on the objectives of the Polish 
 campaign and the imperial project which in- 
 spires it. The Poles are to assist the 
 Ukrainian partisan leader Petlura to set up 
 a government under Polish protection and 
 with Poland represented in its cabinet. 
 Poland is to have control of the railways of 
 the Ukraine, and in return agrees to give 
 the Ukraine military support for ten years. 
 
 2. Polish troops, however, are not to in- 
 vade the region beyond the Dnieper, and 
 this detail is significant. Evidently the 
 Dnieper, if Pilsudski's plans succeed, is to 
 be the frontier of the new Polish empire 
 which will stretch from Danzig on the Baltic 
 to Odessa on the Black Sea. The Ukraine 
 would thus be divided into three parts, the 
 provinces which like east Galicia have been 
 annexed, the provinces which like those now 
 seized are to be nominally Ukrainian, but 
 under Polish control, and the fragment be- 
 yond the Dnieper which under these condi- 
 tions would be at Poland's mercy. 
 
 3. It is imperialism of a tolerably fa- 
 miliar type, and not very easy to distinguish 
 from the German imperialism which the 
 Allies combated. The protests made by 
 Ukrainians in this country indicate that it 
 will be resisted quite as vigorously as the 
 attempt of Germany two years ago to set up 
 a protectorate of much the same sort. That 
 Russia under the Bolsheviki or under any 
 other government is bound in simple self- 
 defense to resist dismemberment of this 
 sort is obvious. The success of Pilsudski 
 would make almost certain a new war, per- 
 haps a new cycle of wars. 
 
 This is an interpretive analysis of recent news-facts, 
 
 like an editorial of news-report and comment. 
 
 The six or seven years following 1914 were notable 
 for an increase in the relative number of editorials 
 dealing interpretively with events abroad, and our 
 own foreign relations. The reason was, that the 
 World War gradually turned our attention to foreign 
 affairs more and more eagerly, and brought us to 
 realize the interest and the importance to America 
 of what goes on abroad. Whether this interest will 
 continue with us outside of the more cultured and 
 classes, is a matter for debate. Perhaps by 1930 ad- 
 vanced students of journalism will find a good thesis- 
 subject in "The rise' and decline of American interest 
 in foreign affairs." 
 
 "FIRM BASED UPON THE 
 
 PEOPLE'S WILL" 
 
 Montreal Star 
 
 1. The last decade has been disastrous 
 to monarchy. Crown after crown has rolled 
 in the dust. Reigning families, whose his- 
 tory goes back to the dim ages, have been 
 swept aside like chaff; traditions of sanc- 
 tity and inviolability have vanished like a 
 morning mist. 
 
74 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 2. And out of the turmoil and upheaval 
 our own monarchy has emerged, not only 
 unshaken, but more firmly than ever built 
 upon the only sure foundation which mon- 
 archy can have — the respect, the affection 
 and the loyalty of the people. 
 
 3. It is not wholly by accident that this 
 has come to pass. We have perhaps and 
 generally accepted the theory that a British 
 king need be nothing but a polished figure- 
 head, around which the political and social 
 life of the country can revolve. If George V 
 had been nothing but that it is not likely that 
 he would today be receiving the congratula- 
 tions of millions of loyal subjects. In the 
 testing time of the last few years not many 
 useless anachronisms survived. The British 
 monarchy, in the person of the present king, 
 had a useful purpose to serve, and served it 
 usefully, otherwise neither it nor he would 
 be where they are today. 
 
 4. And so when we sing and pray "God 
 Save the King" our words are more than 
 merely conventional. We pray for the 
 preservation of an institution that has 
 proved its worth, and of a faithful, self- 
 sacrificing and able gentleman, whose des- 
 tiny has cast him in a most onerous and 
 most trying position. It is no light task to 
 be a king. It is our boast that ours is true 
 to kingship's noblest traditions. 
 
 The stability of English government, and at the 
 same time its remarkable adaptability to the demo- 
 cratic principle inherent in its spirit, have long been 
 the subject of comment. Here the Montreal Star in- 
 terprets them in the light of the events of the World 
 War. 
 
 WHEN FARM ISOLATION ENDS 
 
 Kansas Industrialist 
 
 1. When a farmer can drive the dozen 
 miles to town in half an hour, when he can 
 talk over the telephone with any other 
 farmer in the county — or in the state, for 
 that matter — when he gets his newspaper 
 and other mail daily, the period of farm 
 isolation is over. 
 
 ^ 2. With the disappearance of farm isola- 
 tion, which is rapidly becoming a fact all 
 over the country, comes the end of the ex- 
 treme individualism that has characterized 
 the farmer, for his individualism was large- 
 ly the product of his isolation. It will take 
 some years for this spirit to pass away. In- 
 deed, some of the individualism will never 
 pass away and should never pass away, be- 
 cause the farmer must always work to a 
 large extent as an individual, and because 
 a certain amount of^ individualism is a 
 healthful factor in national life. 
 
 3. That the extreme individualism is 
 passing, is shown by the co-operation of 
 farmers in ways that would have been in- 
 credible a generation ago. Farmers' organ- 
 
 izations have millions of members. Some of 
 these organizations are engaged in co-oper- 
 ative buying and selling. Farm bureaus are 
 bringing farmers together in support of the 
 best aims and methods in their profession. 
 
 4. These things mean greater influence 
 for farmers, greater opportunity for farm- 
 ers to impress their ideals upon the nation. 
 Like most other opportunities, this one has 
 come as a result of economic determinism. 
 Consequently, it rests on a sound basis. 
 
 111. Announcement. t2. Result. 1[3. Proof. ^4. Ap- 
 plication (interpretation drawn to a head). 
 
 WHY HE LOST A LOT OF JOBS 
 
 Davidson News (Sioux City, Iowa.) 
 
 1. Once upon a time was a young chap 
 who began at the bottom of a business. His 
 work wasn't as important as the running 
 of a railroad or managing of a government, 
 but the young chap treated it as if it were. 
 From the way be charged into his little 
 clerical job you might have thought it was 
 the Presidency of the United States. 
 
 2. Right from the very start it was easy 
 to see that he "hated" work worse than any- 
 thing else in the world, for he was always 
 thinking up ways to get it done more 
 quickly. He would spend whole evenings 
 fussing and stewing over one little idea, 
 just to save an hour's time in the day's 
 routine. It got to be so that his desk would 
 be cleaned up every afternoon at 3 o'clock. 
 The boss isaid there was no hope of keep- 
 ing him busy on that job, so he made him 
 manager. 
 
 3. But that didn't seem to help a bit. The 
 young chap had caught a disease known as 
 "System on the Brain," and he soon had 
 things lined up to cram an eight-hour day's 
 work into six hours. 
 
 4. The amount of time that fellow found 
 to read business magazines and ads was a 
 caution. It got to be so noticeable that the 
 boss said he couldn't stand for any such 
 loafing as that any longer. The young chap 
 had to be kept busy, he said, even if they 
 had to make him superintendent, which they 
 did. 
 
 5. There was a mountain of work con- 
 nected with this job, and for about a month 
 the young chap didn't get time to eat more 
 than a sandwich for lunch. But soon he 
 fell into his idle ways again. By reorganiz- 
 ing his department and putting in some 
 crazy ideas that no one ever heard about he 
 found just as much extra time at his com- 
 mand as ever. 
 
 6. Finally the firm heard of his idle ways 
 and decided to have a doctor examine him. 
 The doctor did examine him and pronounced 
 his case as an incurable case of Executive 
 Ability. So as a last desperate effort to 
 
EDITORIALS OF INTERPRETATION 
 
 75 
 
 eep the young man busy, they made him a 
 ice-president. 
 
 7. "How do you do it?" they asked him. 
 .nd then he told them he always planned 
 is work ahead, did one thing at a time, and 
 id that well. 
 
 Another example of interpretation, or explana- 
 on, by means of narration. The reason-why of 
 ersonal advancement is made clear, the effect being 
 ;rengthened by the employment of "reverse Eng- 
 sh" (irony). 
 
 NO TIME FOR DESPAIR 
 
 Pittsburg Press 
 
 1. Christian, the Pilgrim, is presented by 
 ohn Bunyan as walking in a pathway "ex- 
 eeding narrow." On the right thereof was 
 
 deep ditch and on the left a quagmire. 
 When he sought in the dark to shun the 
 itch on the one hand, he was ready to tip 
 ver into the mire on the other," says Bun- 
 an. "Also when he sought to escape the 
 nire, without great carefulness he would be 
 eady to fall into the ditch. Thus he went 
 n, and I hear him sigh bitterly; for besides 
 he dangers mentioned above, the pathway 
 vas here so dark, that ofttimes, when he 
 ift his foot to set forward, he knew not 
 vhere, or upon what he should set it next." 
 
 2. A fairly accurate picture is this of a 
 arge portion of mankind today, groping in 
 :he dark with unsteady foot; weary, stum- 
 Dling, afraid; bent low under a grievous 
 Durden of debt; eyes still filmed with the red 
 t saw for four years; on the one hand the 
 iitch of economic ruin, and on the other 
 :he quag of despair. 
 
 3. But far ahead of him Christian saw 
 a dim light, as of breaking dawn. And when 
 fie knew not whether to give himself to the 
 ditch on the one hand, or to the quag on the 
 other, he was sustained by the light in the 
 distance, and so went on, though the way 
 became more difficult with each step 
 forward. 
 
 4. Like Christian, mankind neither will 
 fall into the quag nor the ditch, for it is 
 guided by the light of a sublime faith, in 
 itself based on a history in which the going 
 has been mostly rough. 
 
 5. Always has mankind been stumbling 
 and almost falling; blundering and groping; 
 and yet always stumbling and falling 
 FORWARD on the steep road, toward the 
 broad, level stretches where the light shines. 
 Often before it has come through the dark- 
 est paths safely, and in this fact lies the 
 basis of its faith today. 
 
 Moralizing exposition frequently gives us, as in 
 this instance, the editorial sermonette, or the "in- 
 spirational" editorial. Observe the sermon-like 
 adaptation of the 3-stage plan : Text ; amplifica- 
 tion ; application. 
 7 
 
 FOREIGN SERVICE REFORMS 
 
 New York Tribune 
 
 1. Representative Rogers of Massachu- 
 setts has been working on a scheme for 
 reorganizing the diplomatic and consular 
 services. One of his suggestions is the 
 fusion of the diplomatic and the consular 
 corps. At present these two branches of 
 the foreign service are kept distinct. Mr. 
 Rogers believes that by merging them the 
 range of selection for the more important 
 posts would be helpfully broadened and that 
 talent and experience could be better 
 utilized. 
 
 2. In many of the European services 
 transfers from consular to diplomatic work 
 are common. A former German ambassador 
 to the United States, Baron Speck von 
 Sternburg, had been serving as consul gen- 
 eral in Calcutta. Prior to that he had been 
 a secretary of legation and embassy. The 
 better consular posts in the United States 
 service carry larger salaries than are paid 
 to diplomatic secretaries. In a few cases 
 our ministers have also acted as consuls 
 general. And occasionally a consul general 
 has served as a diplomatic agent. But 
 these were only temporary conjunctions. 
 According to Mr. Rogers's plan, exchanges 
 would be general. This could be easily ac- 
 complished by abolishing the grades of sec- 
 retaries of embassy and legation and giving 
 the incumbents rank as consuls or consuls 
 general. 
 
 3.^ What is most needed in the foreign 
 service is permanent tenure and promotion 
 under the merit system. Mr. Rogers wants 
 to create a training school from which stu- 
 dents would be graduated into the foreign 
 service as vice consuls. Under the Roose- 
 velt and Taft administrations efforts were 
 made to create a permanent diplomatic and 
 consular corps — at least in the grades up to 
 minister. But Mr. Bryan's spoils policy of 
 removals and appointments wrecked the 
 good work accomplished. If we want to 
 build up a competent service a fresh start 
 will have to be made. 
 
 4. Mr. Rogers and the House Committee 
 on Foreign Relations are on the right track. 
 To get good diplomats and consuls a real 
 and permanent career must be offered them. 
 
 What is the length of life of an editorial subject? 
 Here is an editorial explaining the cause of unsatis- 
 factoriness in our foreign service. The same subject 
 and the same remedy have been discussed for many 
 years — but the remedy has not yet been adopted. When 
 it is adopted, editorials upon "what's the matter 
 with our foreign service" will still be written, but 
 they will take some other direction. The answer to 
 our question is, that the life of an editorial subject 
 is as long as that of the matter which It concerns. 
 Brief significance, brief life. 
 
76 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 TOO MANY CITY MARKETS 
 
 Breeder's Gazette 
 
 1. Evidence of the lucrative character of 
 meat vending is furnished by the number 
 of retailers at the great urban centers dur- 
 ing the latter part of the war-period and 
 since. With profits at 50 to 100 per cent a 
 retail business has been profitable even with 
 a limited volume of trade. As these dis- 
 tributors multiplied, the necessity for in- 
 creasing profits arose, thus magnifying 
 what is obviously an evil. A Chicago re- 
 tailer recently demonstrated that he was de- 
 pendent on Saturday's profits to balance his 
 books that day, which invariably witnesses 
 the highest prices of the week. The increase 
 in the number of markets has created a 
 labor scarcity. Many salesmen have gone 
 into business on their own account, with 
 small cash capital, depending on their in- 
 fluence with customers of former employers. 
 A reduction in retail markets in such cities 
 as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and 
 Boston by 50 per cent would still leave a 
 surplus; in fact, a goodly majority of those 
 engaged in purveying meats may be classed 
 as nonessential. 
 
 2. The head of one of the big packing 
 concerns, discussing meat problems, recently 
 remarked, "We all know that the bane of 
 the industry is an excessive number of re- 
 tailers. But do not quote me," he added. 
 This is the packer attitude toward a problem 
 that must eventually be solved. So far 
 packers refuse even to discuss it, except in 
 confidence. They appreciate its menacing 
 nature, and are apprehensive that criticism 
 on their part would elicit accusation of 
 monopoly by entering the distribution sphere. 
 
 3. The British Government has been com- 
 pelled to cut this knot by fixing maximum 
 prices. Eventually it may be necessary for 
 our government to adopt similar measures. 
 
 Direct matter-of-fact interpretation. 
 
 Ifl. Interpretation through a survey of facts. 
 
 1[2. Illustration of the situation as it is beneath the 
 surface. fS. Quick turn of application by sug- 
 gesting an unpleasant possibility. 
 
 THE GREATEST UNION 
 
 Life 
 
 (This little story that follows is neither 
 fable, fiction, nor parable. Because it is 
 fact culled from the day's work, it seems 
 worth the telling. Better still, it is but a 
 thin cross section of what is happening daily 
 throughout America wherever the Legion 
 has furled its battle flags. And we need 
 something of optimism in this day of strikes 
 and rumors of strikes, violence and threats 
 of violence, and a promise that out of it all 
 is coming that "nobler and better America" 
 that lighted our way with its hopes in the 
 
 darker days that have passed. It is onl] 
 necessary to add that the real names hav« 
 been disguised.) 
 
 1. O'Brien, the head of a family of six 
 waived exemption because he believed other 
 knew better than he where he would mos 
 be needed when the call came. He landed in 
 class 1-A, and went — ^without beefing oi 
 asking why. He was wounded three times 
 and gassed, and after nine months in the 
 hospitals was discharged, the doctors advis- 
 ing outdoor work to stave off incipient 
 tuberculosis. 
 
 2. In a canvass for new members, an 
 American Legion worker called at his home, 
 Neighbors who were caring for five children 
 said that the mother was doing day-workj 
 and that O'Brien was starting his third 
 week in search of any kind of a job he 
 could hold down. 
 
 3. Stein, the American Legion Post em- 
 ployment officer, corralled him that nightj 
 and for five solid days, forgetting his own 
 business and the drive for new recruitSj 
 trudged with him the streets of the city of 
 brotherly love. Everywhere it was the same 
 answer, "Too light for the job," softened, 
 perhaps, with a smile or an "I wish we 
 could, my boy." 
 
 4. Strangely, he was not too light for the 
 job "over there" he'd helped finish, although 
 when he came to the post no tinge of bitter- 
 ness or of rancor stamped his speech or 
 manner. There remained only that last- 
 ditch "Let's go" spirit, that for nearly a 
 month had driven one hundred and thirty 
 pounds from door to door in search of work. 
 They sent him to Mason, a member of the 
 legion and Captain of the Guards of one of 
 Philadelphia's oldest industries, and Mason 
 put him on the pay roll — without asking 
 why. 
 
 5. That is all, except that Stein, who 
 neglected his business, was a Jew, Mason 
 was a Protestant, and the man they "saw 
 through" was a Catholic without a member- 
 ship card in the legion. 
 
 An editorial in narrative (observe the severe direct- 
 ness of the telling). The introductory note empha- 
 sizes beyond oversight the "moral" of the story — 
 and the moral is, the spirit of the Legion: brother- 
 hood through plain human friendliness. The story 
 is told to interpret this spirit. Here then we have 
 the editorial adopting the literary method of narra- 
 tion, and utilizing it to a better effect than the 
 direct expositional method would produce. 
 
 HIS SOUL GOES MARCHING ON! 
 
 Chicago Evening Post 
 
 1. Roosevelt memorial week. 
 
 2. We cannot read the phrase, so many 
 times repeated in the newspapers, without 
 a poignant feeling of loss. 
 
 3. Alas, that we have but the memory 
 of his name, his voice, his presence; that we 
 
EDITORIALS OF INTERPRETATION 
 
 77 
 
 lust turn to his picture, his effigy in bronze 
 r his printed words — ^poor substitutes at 
 heir best for the man we loved. 
 
 4. In these months that have gone since 
 le died, how often we have wished that he 
 vere here to tower above the little politi- 
 ians, the contending factions in national 
 !:)ongress and industrial conference, with his 
 :lear, fearless challenge to the spirit of a 
 )ig, broad-visioned Americanism. 
 
 5. But, gone though he be, he still speaks 
 
 us. The influence of his life remains, 
 md Roosevelt memorial week is no mere 
 perfunctory manifestation of respect for a 
 ost leader. It is, rather, the expression of 
 
 1 deep resoLve that his leadership shall con- 
 tinue, that the ideals he upheld shall be 
 revitalized by our common purpose, that the 
 sause, for which he died as truly as the 
 
 oldier on the firing line, shall be carried on 
 :o final triumph. 
 
 6. The ideal of Roosevelt was to make 
 the American flag so surely the symbol of 
 justice and equal opportunity for every man, 
 woman and child in the country that none 
 would wish for any other; to make it so 
 surely the symbol of honest, chivalrous 
 dealing with the world that every nation 
 would respect it. Because he believed in 
 this ideal, and because he believed that 
 through our democratic institutions it could 
 be realized, Roosevelt was the uncompro- 
 mising foe of the "red" and the courageous 
 champion of a full-grown, world-fronting 
 Americanism. 
 
 7. Many another city will pay its tribute 
 to him in lasting form, and the national fund 
 throughout the years will contribute to the 
 making of Americans, to the development of 
 American spirit and the fuller achievement 
 of that world-leading, world-serving na- 
 tionalism of which he was the foremost 
 exponent. 
 
 8. And so "his soul goes marching on!" 
 
 An interpretation of character, mainly impres- 
 sionistic. 
 
 HI. Newspeg. Note its brevity and force. 112. Key- 
 note of the mood of the interpretation. 
 1IK3-4. Emotional intensifiers, emphasizing the im- 
 portance of the man, and appealing to our admira- 
 tion for him to give weight to what follows. This 
 has the effect of indirect interpretation. 
 
 Ho. Transition to outright interpretation. 
 
 i[6. Direct interpretation. 117. Emotional re- 
 inforcement. 
 
 1|8. Inobvious but effective judgment of his influence 
 presented by means of quotation that appeals to 
 everyone through its association. 
 
 OUR BONDS AND OTHERS 
 
 Boston Post 
 
 1. From a reader of the Post comes the 
 following query, which is worthy of a care- 
 fully considered and, if possible, convincing 
 answer, because it is in the minds of so 
 many Americans: 
 
 Some time back my boy bought a 
 Liberty bond with the $100 he had saved 
 up and now that he sees it is worth 
 only $85 he doesn't understand it, and 
 I am not able to explain it to him, espe- 
 cially when I am told that French, 
 British and other foreign bonds show no 
 such shrinkage. He says his teacher 
 told him that Wall street did it. Is that 
 true? 
 
 2. Starting with the last question first: 
 It is not true that Wall street is responsible 
 for the shrinkage in the market value of 
 Liberty bonds. Wall street is only the 
 "broker," acting as agent between buyer 
 and seller. There is a fair open market for 
 the bonds and the volume of bonds out- 
 standing is so tremendous that no group of 
 men could either advance or depress the 
 price materially for any length of time. 
 
 3. Second, it is not true that bonds of 
 other countries have not declined. Many of 
 them have declined more than those of the 
 United States. British and French govern- 
 ment bonds were recently selling in our 
 markets to yield 12 per cent, or more than 
 double the yield on the lowest of the Amer- 
 ican bonds. One British government issue 
 which sold above 100 less than 20 years 
 ago is now selling for 50. 
 
 4. As to the general cause for the shrink- 
 age in market prices of bonds, it must be 
 understood that bond prices are a measure 
 of the price of money. A bond will always 
 sell at a price to yield the current market 
 rate for money. If the market rate for 
 money is 4 per cent, a bond paying 4 per 
 cent will sell at 100, where the yield is 4 per 
 cent. If the rate for money advances to 5 
 per cent, the 4 per cent bond must sell 
 down to a price which will yield 5 per cent. 
 
 5. It is unfortunate that the buyers of 
 Liberty bonds have had to witness a shrink- 
 age in market value. But the interest is 
 being paid regularly and if the bonds are 
 held they will recover in price. Uncle Sam 
 is always solvent. 
 
 6. Meanwhile it might be well to point 
 out that this shrinkage in market value is 
 the least sacrifice that anybody has suffered 
 because of the war. 
 
 Popular instruction ; a simplified explanation of 
 the financial principles bearing upon bonds. Indi- 
 rectly, such instruction helps to inform the public 
 how to manage its savings safely and profitably, 
 with consequent benefit to every one. (Note the 
 employment of a reader's letter as a peg. Practice 
 in this respect varies, some papers never using this 
 kind of peg, and others using it without prejudice. 
 It is common in some of the class and technical 
 journals, as a hook for editorials conveying technical 
 or vocational information in answer, directly or 
 indirectly, to inquiries or to letters of discussion con- 
 cerning subjects of class interest.) 
 
78 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 AN INCONSISTENT MOVEMENT 
 
 New York Journal of Commerce and Commercial 
 Bulletin 
 
 1. Characterized as inconsistent, the 
 overall movement is said by many leading 
 manufacturers of this city to be rapidly get- 
 ting away from the purpose for which it was 
 launched. These manufacturers see in its 
 progress a passing fad which will do more 
 harm than good. It is their belief the 
 workingman is going to suffer and the price 
 of denim is going higher as the slogan "don 
 the denim" becomes more audible. Car- 
 penters, bricklayers, firemen, mechanics, 
 chauffeurs and others who constantly need 
 overalls, are going to face higher prices if 
 the movement gains success or fails. Pub- 
 licity given, it is considered sufficient to 
 give manufacturers of overalls a chance to 
 boost the price of denim. 
 
 2. The greatest inconsistency is seen in 
 announcements by prominent manufacturers 
 behind the movement who propose to make 
 men's suits in plain, striped and checked 
 denim, cut in the latest spring styles, as well 
 as tuxedoes at prices unusually low. These 
 announcements, it is said, are characteristic 
 of propaganda behind the movement and far 
 from correct. In publishing these state- 
 ments the matter of labor has not been 
 considered for the manufacture of spring 
 suits made from denim. 
 
 3. The cost of labor in the manufacture 
 of clothing has been recognized as the 
 greatest factor causing high prices. Labor 
 is constantly getting more and cannot be 
 eliminated from discussions centering 
 around the production of denim suits 
 modeled along latest lines. Material, it is 
 said, in these suits might not cost much, 
 but labor in making them will be just as 
 much as in the manufacture of spring 
 suits made from other materials. For this 
 reason announcements of this kind are con- 
 sidered far from practical and laughed at 
 by manufacturers inclined to look askance 
 at the overall movement. 
 
 4. The use of coarse wool in tweed suits 
 at prices ranging between $20 and $30 is 
 said to be much more advantageous. These 
 suits are exceptional values and have re- 
 markable wearing qualities which make 
 them more sensible than denim, it is said. 
 Many prominent retailers are offering suits 
 of this kind. 
 
 5. Manufacturers admit prices on cloth- 
 ing are up too high and would welcome a 
 recession, but fear it will be impossible as 
 long as labor is able to get higher wages. 
 Until there are three men for one job and 
 not three jobs for one man, this condition 
 
 is expected to continue and no relief in the 
 matter of production is seen. 
 
 6. Meantime, some manufacturers frankly 
 admit that persons wanting to combat the 
 high cost of clothing should do so by wear- 
 ing old clothes. This phase of the movement 
 is thought of much more favorably than 
 the denim plan and urged for greater 
 emphasis. 
 
 An estimate of the wisdom and probable conse- 
 quences of a movement that temporarily commanded 
 general attention. 
 
 GOOD NEWS FROM VALLEY FALLS 
 
 Kansas City Times 
 
 1. The Congregationalists at Valley 
 Falls, Kas., have sold their church. They 
 have no more use for it. The Valley Falls 
 Congregationalists have united with the 
 Methodists. For the past four years the 
 Congregationalists and the Methodists have 
 been walking the straight and narrow path 
 together, and they have found it profitable 
 But all the time the Congregationalists have 
 kept their church building, perhaps with the 
 lingering suspicion that if the Methodists 
 should show any signs of regretting the 
 union the Congregationalists could go "back 
 home." 
 
 2. The four years' experience, however, 
 has brought the two congregations into one 
 body. The Congregationalists have learned 
 to say "Amen" as heartily as ever the 
 Methodist brethren shouted it, and for the 
 life of you it is not possible now to dis- 
 tinguish between a Methodist and a Congre- 
 gationalist in Valley Falls. 
 
 3. For that reason the Congregationalists 
 have decided to "cast aside every weight" 
 that bound them to the old factional life 
 and sell their church building. ,That means 
 they have burned their bridge behind them. 
 They will dwell in the Methodist fold and 
 pasture with the Methodist flock. "The ex- 
 periment was such a success," the news dis- 
 patch from Valley Falls says, "it was de- 
 cided to sell the extra church and set an 
 example to other congregations in the hope 
 that all Protestant churches in small com- 
 munities would combine and make one 
 strong organization." 
 
 4. It is a fine example, too, of Christian 
 grace and religious efficiency that the Meth- 
 odists and Congregationalists of Valley Falls 
 have set for the churches of small com- 
 munities. The definite action of the Con-, 
 gregationalists in selling their churcl 
 building, as a result of the success of thej 
 movement, is an eloquent tribute also to thej 
 fact that church federation in the small 
 towns is possible, and it is a testimony notj 
 to be scorned by the outside world to the! 
 fact that there is something in "the faith 
 
EDITORIALS OF INTERPRETATION 
 
 79 
 
 once delivered to the saints" aside from de- 
 nominational zeal. 
 
 5. While the choir sings 
 
 Blest be the tie that binds 
 let other weak and struggling churches in 
 the rural districts come forward and give 
 each other the right hand of fellowship, 
 declaring by that act their intention to lay 
 aside their denominational partisanship and 
 unite to build up one strong church in each 
 community. Valley Falls, Kas., has set the 
 example for them. 
 
 Beginning with a newspeg and r6sum§, the al- 
 ways vigorous and refreshing Times gives us a 
 light yet seriously sincere interpretation of the de- 
 sirability and spirit of church unity. 
 
 AN UNPOPULAR REMEDY 
 
 Youth's Companion 
 
 1. Among the many causes assigned for 
 the present confusion and unrest one of the 
 most plausible is that the normal ratio be- 
 tween supply and demand has been de- 
 stroyed. There is a real shortage of the 
 articles that everyone needs. Thousands of 
 things that we used to find constantly on 
 sale before the war are not now to be had, 
 or can be had only after long waiting. 
 Even when there is plenty elsewhere, we 
 may lack, through delays or inadequacy in 
 transportation. And the situation is ren- 
 dered worse by excessive prices. 
 
 2. Examine that statement critically and 
 you will find that it shows the gaps between 
 supply and demand. The supply fails, now 
 because it is not enough, now because it is 
 difficult or impossible to get it to the would- 
 be purchaser, now because the price is too 
 high. 
 
 3. But all those causes can be removed. 
 Agriculture, manufactures, transportation 
 and commerce depend upon labor, and there 
 is no lack of labor anywhere in this coun- 
 try. Were all who could make or move 
 goods actively at work there would be no 
 shortage, no delay, no soaring prices. What 
 causes the existing trouble is an artificial 
 shortage, and the remedy is to increase pro- 
 duction all along the line by speeding up 
 our work. The reason we are not remedy- 
 ing the evils is that we are deliberately and 
 systematically slowing down our work. 
 
 4. If all the people of the United States 
 — the mechanics, all the factory hands, all 
 the railway men, all those in short who earn 
 their living, either on their own account or 
 as wage earners — were to use their energy 
 and efficiency in producing all they could — 
 nay, if they were to increase their energy 
 only moderately — supply would soon over- 
 take demand. Prices would rapidly decline, 
 the relation between wages and the cost of 
 living would become more satisfactory, and 
 
 by producing at low cost we could compete 
 on better than equal terms with any other 
 country. The good old times would be with 
 us again. 
 
 5. But they tell us that we are dreaming 
 of Utopia, and point us in the opposite direc- 
 tion. Since we already produce too little 
 and pay too much for it, we should produce 
 less and pay more. But if we must dream, 
 we had rather that it be of Utopia than of 
 Bedlam. 
 
 An editorial of didactic, or applied, interpreta- 
 tion, sufficiently definite in instructive aim to verge 
 on the tacitly controversial, or "purpose" editorial. 
 The divisions of the editorial are: 
 f^l-2. Expository statement (theory of the causes 
 of the situation.) 
 
 ^^3-4. Expository statement (the available means of 
 remedy). 
 |5. Argumentative, or appeal-to-reason, close. 
 
 AMERICAN TASTE 
 
 Indianapolis News 
 
 1. American taste, as manifested in 
 homes and home decoration, is on the de- 
 cline, according to some officers of the 
 Metropolitan Museum of Art, who discussed 
 the subject with a representative of the New 
 York Times. One of the officers was so con- 
 fident of his knowledge of the history of 
 American taste that he made a graphic 
 chart of 100 per cent high and 120 years 
 long— from 1800 to 1920— and showed that 
 from 1800 to 1870 the standard of American 
 taste dropped from 100 to ten, the lowest 
 point in the entire period. About 1870 a 
 change for the better was noted, the cause 
 being the influence of the Morris movement 
 on America, but the rise was hardly appre- 
 ciable until the Columbian exposition, after 
 which it rose rapidly until 1914, where it 
 remained stationary for a time. In the last 
 three years it has dropped back to sixty, 
 or to the standard of 1835. 
 
 2. One of the reasons for this decline is 
 the furniture shortage. Before the war fur- 
 niture makers found it difficult to keep up 
 with the standard of public taste. They 
 caused designers to be expensively educated, 
 and encouraged craftsmen to acquire the 
 highest skill. They had to do it to get the 
 business. Now, however, there is a tre- 
 mendous demand for furniture — any kind of 
 furniture — and the eager buyers can not 
 wait for furniture to be made according to 
 the pre-war standards, but must have it 
 right away, regardless of the maker's wish 
 to protect his reputation and preserve the 
 craft-pride of his men. 
 
 3. The standard has shown a post-war 
 tendency to drop to the level of the new 
 millionaires, a natural and by no means un- 
 expected slump. After the civil war came 
 the cast-iron lawn zoo. The 1800 American 
 millionaires and many near-millionaires pro- 
 
80 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 duced by the world war seem to run to 
 hotel furnishings for dwellings. They have 
 as yet not gained access to homes exhibiting 
 an appreciation of the best standard of 
 American taste, and they have been so busy 
 making money that their personal standards 
 are untrustworthy. It is this aping of the 
 hotels that accounts for much of the de- 
 cline, but the cantonment builders, the muni- 
 tions makers and the other swollen gentry 
 have the money, and if properly managed 
 by the people who know, can be depended 
 upon to restore the standard of former 
 times. 
 
 One of the benefits of such editorials of survey and 
 tacit interpretation is that — given time enough — their 
 critical principles will seep through into the differ- 
 ent "strata" of society and promote strivings after 
 better standards. 
 
 There are various v/ays of getting such ideas to 
 the public. The student can profitably ask himself 
 how the subject of this editorial would be treated 
 respectively by such papers as The Saturday Evening 
 Post, different agricultural papers, The Delineator, 
 etc. How would it be handled by Mr. Brisbane for 
 The New York Evening Journal? Would The Amer- 
 ican Furniture Manufacturer treat it as would Tbe 
 Furniture Trade Review and Interior Decorator, and 
 would these treat it as would The Furniture Worker 
 (retail furniture trade) ? Adaptation of point-of-view 
 and of treatment to the public addressed must always 
 be considered. 
 
 A CERTAIN AMERICAN HOME 
 
 New York Tribune 
 
 1. One perhaps should know Springfield 
 to appreciate the full dramatic quality of 
 events of the last week in this quiet old 
 Illinois town. A king and queen there 
 arrived to pay their respects to a certain 
 small clapboard home and the man it housed 
 some sixty years ago. A visiting English 
 poet and dramatist, John Drinkwater, fol- 
 lowed on the same errand. There were 
 luncheons and formalities, and Governor 
 Lowden spoke ably for his State and of her 
 greatest citizen. He is a queer American 
 who does not feel a throb of emotion at 
 this unique celebration of a place and a 
 man and a career that sum up practically 
 the whole of American achievement. 
 
 2. The city of Springfield has lost none of 
 its old-fashioned flavor. The banks do busi- 
 ness not by virtue of new marble fronts, 
 but on the strength of their age symbolized 
 in their old walnut furniture and counters, 
 carefully preserved. It is a flat, midland 
 little city, neither poor nor prosperous, com- 
 fortably and calm above all else, quite 
 unawed by the fine capital and its new 
 hotel and its many sojourning politicians. 
 Lincoln's home is a low, inconspicuous house 
 off the main street, left quite unchanged, 
 without tablet or monument to advertise it. 
 It is the same within as without. Alike 
 with the town itself, the dignity and sim- 
 plicity of Lincoln seem to have brooded over 
 
 these places of his early career and pro- 
 tected them from pretense or perversion. 
 
 3. It was to this unchanged spot, the 
 most intensely American spot that we pos- 
 sess, it might be said, that these Old World 
 visitors paid homage. John Drinkv/ater's 
 play, "Lincoln," has been one of the out- 
 standing successes in London. It lacks 
 veracious local flavor — its author had never 
 visited America — it is strong in the uni- 
 versal quality of Lincoln, that simple, un- 
 erring greatness which touched all that he 
 did, whether he was writing a letter to his 
 brother on thrift or dedicating a great 
 battlefield. As for the king who visited 
 Springfield, he needs no lesson in democracy 
 to make him comprehend the spirit of Lin- 
 coln's home town. Our greatest American 
 has gained in stature before the world in 
 the last years. What he fought and died 
 for here has somehow been advanced every- 
 where by the men who died for civilization 
 in the great war. Words and definitions 
 are useless to express such a fact. These 
 small episodes at Springfield, the tribute of 
 the world to a tall, gaunt figure looming 
 ever taller with the years, symbolize the 
 record better than a host of orators or fine 
 phrases. 
 
 An attempt at interpreting the spirit of Lincoln 
 as an influence in the world's change. 
 
 "111. Newspeg and keynote preparation. 
 
 \2. Springfield and the Lincoln house as represent- 
 ing the Lincoln spirit. 113. The spreading ap- 
 preciation of the spirit typified by the Lincoln of 
 tradition. 
 
 Observe the frequency with which the 3-stage plan 
 affords the structural skeleton, especially in editorials 
 of simple scope and moderate length. 
 
 A DIFFERENCE AND WHY 
 
 Building Trade With Farmers 
 
 1. A while ago the writer saw a famous 
 actor in a famous play at a large coliseum. 
 It was a wonderful play and the acting was 
 good — a play that was meeting approval 
 everywhere. But for some reason or an- 
 other it failed to make the impression on 
 that particular audience that the reputation 
 of the actor and that of the play warranted. 
 
 2. Sometime later it was the writer's 
 privilege to see the same play put on by 
 the same company, including the famous 
 actor mentioned, at a large theater. 
 
 3. This time the audience was carried 
 away with the play and the acting. There 
 wasn't any particular difference in the two 
 audiences, so far as the writer could see. In 
 fact, the first one perhaps outranked the 
 second in average education because it was 
 in a college city. 
 
 4. The reason for the difference lies in 
 the two buildings. The first was a large 
 barn-like affair, with wide spaces on either 
 side of the stage. The drop curtain was 
 
EDITORIALS OF INTERPRETATION 
 
 81 
 
 anvas, as were also the partitions that 
 eparated the audience from that part of 
 
 ^'^fi le stage behind the wings. The players' 
 oices seemed to have a sound that was 
 nnatural — this was probably because they 
 ad to strain themselves to "fill" the build- 
 ag that was not planned for plays, where 
 he slightest inflections of the voice some- 
 imes mean so much. On the other hand, 
 1 the theater building every little change 
 n the tone of the actor's voice seemed to 
 
 lie liean as much as what he said. 
 
 5. But what has all this to do with ad- 
 ertising ? 
 
 6. Simply this: The atmosphere in which 
 he advertising in any publication has to 
 work" has much to do with that advertis- 
 ng's effectiveness. Some publications are 
 ;asy to read and in them the advertisements 
 eem to invite attention. 
 
 7. You just naturally read such a pub- 
 ication more carefully. The reading matter 
 s neatly arranged and the advertisements 
 carefully placed with some regard to the 
 
 howing the whole printed page will make. 
 
 8. On the other hand other publications 
 eem to have been thrown together almost 
 ny old way to get the matter in, and the 
 holes" filled up with whatever pieces of 
 late matter or dead ads happen to fit. 
 
 9. This kind of a publication does not 
 hold the reader's attention and, therefore, 
 
 ven though an advertisement be most care- 
 ully thought out, accurately written and 
 expertly displayed, it does not have the 
 chance to pull because it is handicapped by 
 the place in which it has to work. 
 
 10. Like the famous actor mentioned, a 
 high class advertisement may pull well in 
 one newspaper and not at all in another, and 
 the fault lies in the second newspaper — not 
 the audience. 
 
 An editorial of exposition for "class" readers — ■ 
 those practically interested in advertising. (It ia 
 characteristic of present-day writing — or perhaps 
 of present-day thinking — that even an editorial of 
 such specialized nature can be scanned with in- 
 terest by the general reader.) 
 
 A QUESTION OF DECADENCE 
 
 London Times 
 
 1. The conduct of Signor d'Annunzio, 
 whatever we may think of it politically, 
 must be surprising to those who have judged 
 him from his writings to be the most signal 
 example of "decadence," that mysterious 
 disease which, according to Max Nordau, is 
 endemic among modern poets and painters. 
 The decadent is one who expresses his over- 
 wrought nerves in that which he is pleased 
 to call his art. If he takes corruption and 
 decay for a subject, it is, of course, because 
 he himself is corrupt and decaying. He is 
 the last, perversely refined product of an 
 
 effete civilization; you think of him as 
 working, if it can be called work, in the 
 midst of voluptuous scenes which he is 
 unable to enjoy. He is the heir of all the 
 ages, but one whom the ages have made 
 incapable of entering into his inheritance; 
 one born senile and tottering, crowned with 
 faded rose-leaves from his cradle to his 
 grave. Signor d'Annunzio was certainly 
 thought to be decadent before the war by 
 those who judged him by his writings; and 
 now we have the report of a speech made 
 by the president of the National Council of 
 Fiume, in which he is called "the great 
 soldier-poet, the hero of heroes, who a hun- 
 dred times has risked his life for Italy"; and 
 what is more, the description, however 
 rhetorical, is not untrue. Signor d'Annunzio 
 has proved himself as good a man of action 
 as any healthy, normal Englishman, who 
 would no more read a line of poetry than 
 he would write one. 
 
 2. The fact is, the ostentatious decadent 
 has deceived us all, just as the ostentatious- 
 ly casual Englishman deceived the German. 
 As the German thought the Englishman 
 who enjoyed being casual must continue to 
 be casual always and against his own will, 
 so we have supposed that the decadent of 
 literature or art must be himself decadent 
 always and against his own will. But his 
 very ostentation might have put us on our 
 guard. It needs some energy to be ostenta- 
 tious over anything; it would need a good 
 deal of energy to produce the works of 
 Signor d'Annunzio. You cannot write well, 
 whatever your subject, if you are capable of 
 nothing; and Signor d'Annunzio, by general 
 consent, does write well. The true decadents 
 of the later Roman Empire went on writing 
 imitations of Virgil, because they had not 
 energy to do anything else. They are not 
 shocking, but dull. The real decadent is 
 always a pedant, at the mercy of the past; 
 and the decadent periods of history are not 
 those in which men make a feast, drink deep 
 and fast and crown themselves with flowers, 
 but those in which they go on doing just 
 what their ancestors have done, from force 
 of habit and fear of making mistakes. The 
 later Roman Empire was decadent because 
 of its pedantry, its legalism, its timidity, 
 its respectability even, not, as some people 
 still suppose, because of its voluptuous 
 splendor. Ruin came to it because it could 
 not conceive of change as possible; it was 
 what it was according to the nature of 
 things; in its literature it spoke with alien 
 jaws of what had happened long ago; it 
 was unable to notice what was happening in 
 the present. But the modern decadent, how- 
 ever perverse and absurd, does notice what 
 
gg 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDitORlAL-WRITiNG 
 
 is happening in the present. Signer d'An- 
 nunzio was quite aware that there was a 
 war on, and acted accordingly, turning from 
 art to fighting with a remarkable power of 
 adaptation. The true decadent, whether in- 
 dividual or society, lacks just that power of 
 adaptation; and the lack of it is decadence, 
 which makes for death and dissolution^ 
 whereas Signer d'Annunzio is at least very 
 much alive. 
 
 Interpretation of a term (representing a philo- 
 sophical conception), through interpretation of a per- 
 son to whom it has been supposed to apply. 
 Ifl. Descriptive definition of decadence. (Note the 
 placing of the newspegs.) D'Annunzio illustrates a 
 mis-application of the term. 
 
 1(2. Philosophizing view of the decadent as he 
 really is ; it is given concreteness by the references 
 to d'Annunzio. Note the historical comparisons, 
 showing the difference between actual and affected 
 decadence. The last two sentences definitely formu- 
 late a description that defines actual decadence in 
 contrast v/ith what merely appears decadent. 
 
 Observe the long paragraphs of the English edi- 
 torial ; the scholarly references ; the leisurely 
 yet compact manner ; and the tone of intellectual 
 interest. 
 
 WHEAT PRODUCTION COSTS IN 
 
 KANSAS 
 
 Breeders' Gazette 
 
 1. According to a recent report issued by 
 the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, the 
 average cost of growing an acre of wheat 
 in that state in 1919 was $25.20, and the 
 average return to the grower $24.77, leaving 
 a deficit of 43 cents. In the eastern division 
 of the state the loss per acre was 15 cents, 
 and in the central $1.52, while in the western 
 section a profit of $1.89 per acre was made. 
 Of the total acreage 76 per cent shows a 
 loss, and 24 per cent a gain. Kansas pro- 
 duced 16 per cent (146,000,000 bushels) of 
 the nation's wheat last year, and lost money 
 by doing so. 
 
 2. This disclosure, evidently a surprise to 
 many Kansans and others, has evoked the 
 interesting question, "How is it, then, that 
 Kansas farmers have the cash to pay for 
 motor cars, machinery, and home conven- 
 iences, which everybody knows that they 
 are buying?" Secretary J. C. Mohler an- 
 swers: "The large gross return ($290,000,- 
 000) from the crop has little meaning except 
 in relation to the cost of production. A 
 considerable cash balance in wheat growers' 
 hands at the end of the season does not 
 necessarily mean a profit, for it covers much 
 besides profit. Even at a low rate of in- 
 terest on the enormous aggregate capital 
 employed in farming means a large sum. 
 Mainly through what they do without, the 
 personal expenses of farmers are much less 
 than those of men who devote equivalent 
 skill or capital to other enterprises. Horse- 
 keep does not call for much outlay. The 
 
 family usually draws no pay, though often 
 doing much work. On many farms only the 
 most urgent repairs are made. Rarely is 
 anything definitely set aside to cover de- 
 preciation in buildings, machinery, and soil 
 fertility. In other words, the farmer's re- 
 turn from a wheat crop is mainly in cash, 
 and, broadly speaking, in a lump sum, while 
 many of the expenses incurred in its pro- 
 duction do not call for cash expenditures, 
 or may be deferred. 
 
 3. "The cash balance in a wheat grower's 
 hands after harvest is no measure of his 
 profit. Such considerations, however, must 
 be taken into account by the farmer in bal- 
 ancing his books, for obligations incurred 
 must eventually be met; deferred repairs 
 and replacements will accumulate; lost soil 
 fertility means a lower yield or added ex- 
 pense for fertilizers; low wages and a 
 narrow environment will not secure desirable 
 farm hands or hold the second generation 
 on farms; and unfavorable returns on the 
 investment will not attract the capital 
 needed for better methods. There must be 
 a real and substantial profit, not merely a j 
 December appearance of profit, if the needs j 
 of consumers are to be satisfied. Liberal j 
 production will not be continued at a loss - 
 or without the stimulus of profit." 
 
 Explanation of a matter of agricultural economics, 
 with the purpose of strengthening the argument in 
 favor of better prices for farm products. 
 
 MEXICO AS SEEN BY A NOVELIST 
 
 The Outlook 
 
 1. "The tragical and semi-barbarous side 
 of Mexican political strife has just been 
 illustrated by the fate of Carranza; the per- 
 sonal and human-character side is strikingly 
 depicted by Sefior Blasco Ibafiez, author of 
 one of the most widely read books of our 
 times, "The Four Horsemen of the Apoca- 
 lypse." In a series of shrewd and enter- 
 taining letters to the New York Times the 
 distinguished author brings close to the 
 reader's mental perception the very men 
 most involved in the present crisis — Car- 
 ranza himself, Obregon, Gonzales, Bonillas, 
 Barragan, and others. He shows them to us 
 as they look, as they talk, as they laugh, 
 and as they plot. Characteristic bits of 
 conversation on all sorts of non-political 
 matters, interviews of an intimate but in- 
 formal nature, sharp digs at rivals, and 
 humorous rallying of friends — a hundred 
 such touches, slight but individual, put be- 
 fore us almost, one might say, face to face 
 the men themselves, not the posed military 
 and political lay figures. 
 
 2. This group of pen-pictures from the 
 pen of Sefior Ibafiez is really a contribution 
 to literature as well as a vivid piece of re- 
 
EDITORIALS OF INTERPRETATION 
 
 83 
 
 porting in the large sense. The hurry and 
 rush of modern newspaper work has rather 
 taken the emphasis off the literary form of 
 news writing and concentrated it on bare 
 facts. Special correspondence such as Archi- 
 bald Forbes and Frederick Villiers and — 
 may we add? — George Kennan were wont to 
 furnish is rare nowadays; instead we have 
 too often concentrated news with a lamenta- 
 ble lack of color, atmosphere, and humor. 
 Happily, there are shining exceptions to 
 this rule, and these apparently offhand yet 
 carefully written letters by Ibafiez are a 
 notable example. It is a pleasure to recog- 
 nize in them the practiced art of a writer 
 who knows how to interest and entertain as 
 well as to inform. We congratulate the 
 Times on its enterprise in procuring for its 
 readers such an unusual journalistic treat 
 as these articles furnish. They are what 
 they purport to be, "the impressions of a 
 novelist, an impartial observer." They pre- 
 sent a graphic view of the turgid but excit- 
 ing and adventurous complex of Mexico, 
 with its ignorant half-Indian populace, its 
 ambitious and fiery generals by the score, 
 and its total absence of a large body of 
 middle-class citizens who should understand 
 what fair play is and strive for peaceful 
 law and order. The Mexican people, says 
 Ibanez, is "the eternal victim of a tragi- 
 comedy that never ends, the poor slave 
 whom all pretend to redeem and whose lot 
 has remained unchanged for centuries." 
 
 3. The four men around whom the new 
 revolution has centered have been Carranza, 
 Obregon, Gonzales, and Bonillas. Of Car- 
 ranza's personal bearing Ibaiiez writes: 
 "Don Venustiano is an old country gentle- 
 man, a ranchman, with all the cunning of 
 rural landowners and all the shrewdness of 
 county politicians, but he is simpatico and 
 has a noble bearing. Despite his apparent 
 reserve, at times he waxes loquacious, 'feels 
 like a student' — as he puts it — and then he 
 talks freely; he even laughs." Obregon is in 
 appearance "white, so positively white that 
 it is difficult to conceive his having a single 
 drop of Indian blood in his veins. He is so 
 distinctively Spanish that he could walk in 
 the streets of Madrid without anyone guess- 
 ing that he hailed from the American 
 hemisphere." Of Gonzales, a general who 
 has the unique honor of having lost every 
 battle in which he was engaged, Carranza 
 said, ironically, to Ibanez: "Don Pablo in- 
 spires so much confidence; he is so respecta- 
 ble!" but Gonzales's many enemies told 
 Ibafiez that Gonzales was "a fraud, a hypo- 
 crite, and a crook." Of Bonillas, who left his 
 happy life as Mexican Ambassador at Wash- 
 ington to seek and lose the chance of becom- 
 
 ing President as Carranza's candidate, 
 Ibafiez repeats Obregon's comment: "A nice 
 fellow, my friend Bonillas. He is re- 
 liable, conscientious, and hard-working. The 
 world has lost a first-class bookkeeper. 
 . . . If I ever become President of the 
 Republic, I shall make him cashier in some 
 bank." 
 
 4. When these newspaper letters appear 
 in book form — and they certainly deserve 
 that honor — readers will find that the in- 
 numerable flashes of description and caustic 
 comment, such as these four bits, combine 
 to leave a lasting and clear impression of 
 Mexican politicians, men, and methods. 
 
 In this article. The Outlook provides a double- 
 barrel interpretation — an approving estimate of the 
 Spanish author's series of articles, and (involved 
 with this) a bird's-eye view of Mexican conditions 
 as revealed by Seftor Ibanez. It is itself a speci- 
 men in brief of the literesque in journalism of which 
 it speaks. 
 
 MAN AND NATION 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. In the confidence of free-will we say a 
 man's life is what he makes it. And so, 
 in one sense, it is. But it depends largely 
 on his surroundings, on physical and social 
 conditions, which is the general expression 
 meaning climate, the soil he treads upon, 
 the people he associates with, and the 
 average intelligence of the population in 
 which he is a unit — all which, taken to- 
 gether, mean for him opportunity or lack 
 of it. 
 
 2. No man is within himself wholly the 
 master of his destiny. From his childhood 
 too many threads outside his own personality 
 are tied to him, to bind, lead, restrict and 
 control his acts. Time also is a factor. In 
 youth he is sanguine and imagines himself 
 unfettered. Middle age finds him conscious 
 of many limitations undreamed of in his 
 enthusiastic youth. Old age too often over- 
 takes him disappointed, disillusioned and — if 
 he has learned to look truth squarely in the 
 face — aware that he has been used by an 
 infinite power for purposes he does not fully 
 comprehend. 
 
 3. Three things the old man realizes: 
 That his whole life has been dominated by 
 laws not of human making; that his entry 
 into the world is still a mystery to him; 
 and that his departure from earthly activi- 
 ties will be against his will. 
 
 4. The birth of a man means a life that 
 leads inexorably to death. The birth of a, 
 nation means the governmental life of a 
 people, which also leads inexorably to that 
 government's death. All history, both of 
 the individual and the nation, leads to that 
 certain conclusion. 
 
84 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 5. As the man protects himself against 
 an early and therefore untimely end, by 
 what reason and the experience of other 
 men teach him are wholesome and strength- 
 ening habits, so a nation, if its people are 
 enlightened, seeks to prolong its existence 
 by avoiding excesses and shunning those 
 things which have led to the death of other 
 nations. But while man or nation may 
 prolong its vigor by right living, neither 
 can forever avoid death, although both put 
 off the inevitable end by every expedient in 
 their power. Some men pin their faith to 
 a sound philosophy of life and live long; 
 others yield to bad habits, resort to quacks 
 and nostrums, and die early. Som.e nations 
 hold fast to sound principles and live for 
 many generations; others flee to strange and 
 radical doctrines and perish miserably in 
 their youth. 
 
 6. The United States is young as the 
 lives of governments are measured. Its only 
 dangerous sickness was the malady of 
 slavery. Bleeding cured it of that poisonous 
 infection. 
 
 7. But it must not be supposed, because 
 America is young and strong, that it is not 
 subject to acute and fatal diseases, just as 
 the young man. The germs that lead to 
 the illness and death of nations are every- 
 where, just as those that attack men. There 
 must be right living to keep the nation in 
 health. Our present youthful vitality has 
 been nourished and built up by national 
 "good habits," exemplified in the constitu- 
 tion of our republic, in our legislative, ex- 
 ecutive and judicial systems, and in our 
 government of, by and for the people. Our 
 national life blood is pure as yet, because as 
 a whole the people are clean, patriotic, 
 liberty-loving and law-abiding. 
 
 8. But we are all the time receiving new 
 elements into our system by immigration. 
 Some of human importations are wholesome, 
 some pestilent. We must have a care about 
 permitting vicious enemies to come to or 
 remain with us, or we shall suffer infection. 
 We still hold to the principles of the fathers 
 of our nation, which is well for us. But no 
 nation can live and grow without change. 
 Nothing is at rest in this world, neither 
 men, nor principles of government, nor na- 
 tions. Change is ^ the law of the life of 
 every earthly thing, whether individual, 
 legislative or constitutional. It is our task 
 to so educate ourselves in love of country 
 and of our people, that justice shall pre- 
 vail. Successful in that, our national life 
 will endure through centuries. Failing in 
 it, early death is certain. 
 
 9. The unrest following the death of the 
 imperial German government still disturbs 
 
 the world. We feel it in abnormal economic 
 and industrial conditions; but if we retain 
 our fidelity to law and order, vote down 
 the dangerous remedies and false doctrines 
 proposed by visionary and radical minori- 
 ties, the world war will not seriously in- 
 terrupt the healthful progress of our na- 
 tional life. We must remember that the 
 ballot directly influences the life of the 
 nation, as well as our individual prosperity 
 and happiness. 
 
 An attempt to explain the course and direction of 
 national life by comparing it to the life of the in- 
 dividual (sustained analogy). 
 
 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 
 
 Parish News, St. George's Church, Newport, R. I. 
 
 1. There is some confusion in the public 
 mind in regard to the issue of "Collective 
 Bargaining," the impression being that the 
 employers of the country deny to labor the 
 right to organize and as an organized body 
 to deal with the employers. This is entirely 
 misleading and unfair. All intelligent em- 
 ployers are willing to concede the right of 
 collective bargaining, they merely insist that 
 the right shall be interpreted in the light of 
 two principles, both eminently American, 
 both entirely fair, the principle of freedom, 
 and the principle of responsibility. The em- 
 ployers insist that the right to organize and 
 bargain collectively implies the right to re- 
 main unorganized and deal individually if 
 the men so prefer. They believe that the 
 right to bargain as a labor union affiliated 
 with the A. F. of L. must mean equally the 
 right to bargain as an organization of their 
 own, unaffiliated with the A. F. of L. 
 
 2. There is nothing whatever hostile to 
 labor in this attitude. On the contrary, it 
 provides for the fullest possible development 
 of labor along the line of free organization. 
 
 3. The employers also believe there 
 should be mutual responsibility. If a col- 
 lective bargain has any value at all, it must 
 be binding upon the employees as well as 
 upon the employers. But today it is not. 
 The employers are accountable for violation 
 of the collective bargaining, but the em- 
 ployees can keep it or break it without any 
 accountability. 
 
 4. We believe in "industrial democracy," 
 but the first essential, the fundamental basis 
 of democracy, is justice and fairness to all 
 classes and all individuals. In one of Mr. 
 Gompers* impassioned speeches at the In- 
 dustrial Conference he repudiated the idea 
 of a mutual responsibility by declaring that 
 the rights of capital are negligible as com- 
 pared with labor. "What is capital?" he 
 asked. "Capital consists of tables, clothes, 
 steel, wool, dead things, material things, 
 
EDITORIALS OF INTERPRETATION 
 
 85 
 
 lings which can be sold and bought." "And 
 hat is labor ? Labor is the workers, human 
 sings, men and women and children. 
 
 5. "When it comes to the question of de- 
 irmining what is of greater importance as 
 
 men and women and children and dollars 
 nd things, the soul of mankind goes out to 
 en and women and children rather than to 
 lings." 
 
 6. This is merely glittering rhetoric 
 ;^hich beclouds the issue. No one for a 
 loment questions that a human life is more 
 aluable than money. Does the fireman for 
 
 moment hesitate between the child at the 
 nndow above and the money in the vault 
 elow? Never — no one questions that 
 lUman lives are more valuable than things. 
 
 7. This is entirely true, but it in no sense 
 nvalidates the claim that labor should share 
 vith capital in the responsibility for carry- 
 ng out the collective bargaining. The terms 
 labor" and "capital," as ordinarily used, 
 ire misleading. Capital is not a thing by 
 tself, divorced from people, any more than 
 abor is divorced from people. Property as 
 luch has no rights — it is the man who owns 
 )roperty who has rights. It is human rights 
 hat the law protects, whether the human 
 )eing does or does not own any property of 
 ts own. 
 
 8. Again, we use the terms capitalist and 
 worker as if they were clearly differentiated. 
 This is not true. John Mitchell was a 
 worker. No one would dispute that. But 
 tie was also a capitalist, for he left over a 
 quarter of a million dollars of property. 
 Judge Gary is a capitalist, but could even 
 his worst enemy deny he is also a worker? 
 The farmer is a capitalist, but he is also a 
 worker, yes, and he works ten to sixteen 
 hours a day. The fact is that in this coun- 
 try nearly all capitalists are also workers, 
 just as nearly all workers have some capital, 
 even if it is only $100 in the bank. The 
 question is not between dead things and 
 living human beings at all. It is between 
 those who are employers and those who are 
 employed, both of whom are workers, both 
 of whom are usually to some degree capi- 
 talists, both of whom are human beings. It 
 is right that these men and women, em- 
 ployers and employees, should mutually 
 organize in any way they wish and bargain 
 collectively. But it is unfair and undemo- 
 cratic that those human beings who are 
 employers should be held accountable for 
 the bargain while those human beings who 
 are employees should have no accountability 
 whatever. If the stability of industrial life 
 demands the practice of collective bargain- 
 
 ing, it demands also, in order to guarantee 
 that stability, a mutual responsibility to 
 to keep the bargain. 
 
 1[1. Statement, or definition, of the question at is- 
 sue. It is written to remove misconception and 
 lay a foundation of accurate comprehension. The 
 employers' position interpreted. 
 
 f2. Emphatic assertion of a fact believed to be 
 necessary to an unbiased consideration of the exposi- 
 tion 113. The employers' position further in* 
 
 terpreted. 
 
 11^4-5. Exposition begun of the nature of the jus- 
 tice, or fair play, recognized as essential to indus- 
 trial democracy. The exposition takes the form of 
 a refutation of what is deemed an erroneous argru- 
 ment, by advancing more accurate definition of 
 terms and a clearer statement of the matters at 
 issue. 
 
 1116-8. Continues the exposition begun in 1[4, illus- 
 trating the refutory argument with concrete exam- 
 ples, and introducing an amended terminology for 
 the sake of clearer thinking. 
 
 18. The new definitions having now been expounded, 
 the editorial returns to the head inquiry, what is a 
 fair foundation for collective bargaining. 
 
 At first, this editorial may seem to be controver- 
 sial rather than interpretive. It certainly has a 
 "purpose," but as that purpose is to promote mutual 
 undei-standing by making clear basic principles, the 
 editorial cannot be called one of dispute. Exposition, 
 or interpretation, often indeed puts an end to dis- 
 pute by making clear the terms or the points at 
 issue. 
 
 LEGS IN THE SIXTIES 
 
 Walter Prichard Eaton, in The Freeman 
 
 1. To all of you, as to the famous bus 
 conductor, legs are less a treat than they 
 used to be. Yet the undressed drama con- 
 tinues to flourish, giving pain to the pious 
 and, no doubt, profits to the purveyors. 
 When the Winter Garden chorus appeared 
 in costumes modelled, in one respect, at 
 least, on those of the Scotch Highlanders, a 
 critic remarked that knees are a joint, not 
 an entertainment; but apparently they en- 
 tertain a certain proportion of the public. 
 This season, too, we have had a wave of 
 "bedroom farces," we have seen the trans- 
 planted "Afphrodite"; we have made, in 
 short, our generous offering to the great 
 goddess. Lubricity. Consequently, we have 
 (as usual) been informed that the drama is 
 treading down the primrose path, and trav- 
 elling at a rapid rate. 
 
 2. Well, well — it may be so. But from 
 the number of years during which the drama 
 has been traveling briskly toward the 
 eternal bonfire, one is forced to conclude that 
 this noted conflagration is very deep down 
 indeed. For instance, there were the 1860's. 
 My attention has been turned to the 1860's 
 because I fled out of a shower into the dim- 
 ness of a second-hand bookshop the other 
 day (I cannot afford an umbrella at present 
 prices), and there I picked up "Women and 
 Theatres," by Olive Logan (New York; 
 Carleton, 1869). Two chapters at once in- 
 terested me — "About the Leg Business" and 
 
86 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 "About Nudity in Theatres." I bought this 
 book for thirty-seven cents, and learned 
 something at first hand about the "palmy 
 days." 
 
 3. It was surely an odd and interesting 
 side-light which first caught my attention. 
 In the 1860's, Philadelphia carried off the 
 honors "in the pad-making art." "Thus," 
 said Miss Logan, "the New Jersey railroads 
 are frequently enriched by the precious 
 freight of penitential Mazeppas, going on 
 pilgrimages to the padding Mecca." She 
 reproduces this letter, surely a forerunner 
 of our simplified spelling: 
 
 Mam : Them tites is finished your nees 
 will be all K when you get them on. 
 Bad figgers is all plaid but now they 
 will caust 9 dollars. 
 
 4. The reason for the great demand for 
 "them tites" was the extraordinary popu- 
 larity of the "blonde burlesquers." We have 
 all heard, of course, of these delectable en- 
 tertainers, of "The Black Crook," and its 
 tribe; but few of us now realize to what an 
 extent the American theatre was given over 
 to the worship of Lubricity in the decade 
 following the Civil War. Miss Logan, who 
 herself had been an actress, and left the 
 stage to become a writer and a worker for 
 equal suffrage, says: 
 
 Clothed in the dress of an honest 
 woman (the actress) is worth nothing 
 to a manager. Stripped as naked as she 
 dare — and it seems there is little left 
 when so much is done^ — she becomes a 
 prize to her manager, who knows that 
 crowds will rush to see her, and who 
 pays her a salary accordingly. 
 
 5. This is what the "nude woman" did. 
 "She runs upon the stage giggling; trots 
 down to the footlights, winks at the au- 
 dience, and rattles off some stupid attempts 
 at wit, some twaddling allusions to 
 Sorosis or General Grant." Sometimes she 
 attempted to sing and dance. A sample 
 song is quoted, but our modern type rebels. 
 This woman. Miss Logan affirms, often made 
 more money than "the poetic Edwin Booth; 
 infinitely more than the intellectual E. L. 
 Davenport." She gives a list of the sixteen 
 then existing theatres in New York which 
 had at one time or another presented English 
 drama. Of the entire list, only Booth's 
 Theatre was clear of the charge of having 
 harbored the "nude exhibition." At one 
 time (evidently in 1868 or 1869) but two 
 theatres in all New York were offering 
 legitimate drama. One manager is quoted 
 as saying, "Devil take your legitimate 
 drama! If I can't draw a crowd otherwise^ 
 I'll put a woman on my stage without a rag 
 
 on her." Another manager, who was losing 
 money with a classic play, "rubbed his dry 
 old hands together" and said, "Aha! we must 
 have some of those fat young women in this 
 piece and make it draw." 
 
 6. All of which is not exactly pretty read- 
 ing, but is not without its cheerful side. 
 Such were the "palmy days" of the 1860's! 
 The stage was quite evidently headed for 
 Gehenna and going strong. Since 1869, a 
 matter of half a century, the number of 
 theatres in New York has multiplied sev- 
 eral times over. In many of them beauty 
 is still only shin deep. Legs are the lyrics, 
 the lure is the female form. It might almost 
 be gathered from this fact that there is 
 something eternally attractive about the 
 female form. But no such percentage of our 
 theatres is given over to nudity as in the 
 1860's, and in almost none of those more or 
 less devoted to our modern equivalent of the 
 old "burlesque" is the appeal crude and ugly 
 and coarse. Often it is made with at least a 
 pagan loveliness which is hopelessly disarm- 
 ing. As for the other theatres we have had 
 "Hamlet" and "Richard III," "Ruddigore" 
 and "Apple Blossoms," "Jane Clegg" and 
 "Clarence," Euripdes and Tolstoy, Brieux 
 and "Abraham Lincoln." There never was 
 a season in the "palmy days" which could 
 begin to rival, for richness and variety of 
 solid dramatic fare, what ^Broadway has 
 offered this past winter. ' The goddess 
 Lubricity no doubt still has, and will always 
 have, her priests and priestesses in the play- 
 house, and her throng of worshippers. But 
 any repetition of the raw, crude and ap- 
 parently almost universal theatrical de- 
 pravity which followed the Civil War is im- 
 possible in America today, even after the 
 World War. We have not one public, but 
 many now, and a constant process of selec- 
 tion and refinement seems to be going on. 
 Things are not as they were in the palmy 
 days — thank goodness! 
 
 An interpretation of present conditions through a 
 review and survey — somewhat of the article or per- 
 sonalized-essay type in the earlier part, but passing 
 over to a distinctly editorial tone about 114. Ob- 
 serve the discursive, yet animated and succinct style, 
 and the value of the well-balanced comment as an 
 antidote to the common denunciation and outbreak 
 of unthinking thinkers who discuss the same subject. 
 It is the difference between clear-sightedness plus 
 catholicity of mind, and narrowness of information 
 and judgment. 
 
 G. B. S. BREAKS ANOTHER LANCE 
 
 Kansas City Star 
 
 1. George Bernard Shaw being the duly 
 accredited jester to the court of literature 
 must let no opportunity pass to remind us 
 of his office. 
 
 2. "These Americans," says he, shaking 
 his bells — and waits to be drawn. For in 
 
EDITORIALS OF INTERPRETATION 
 
 87 
 
 jesting it does not do to be too forward. 
 The jest must fall pat if it would prosper. 
 As thus: 
 
 3. "How now, knave? What of the 
 Americans? See thou mindest thy man- 
 ners." 
 
 4. "Ay, uncle," says G. B. S., balancing 
 his wand on his nose. "But who is to mind 
 the manners of the Americans? Marry, in 
 the province of New-York, mark that we 
 Irish-English always use the hyphen in 
 New-York because the Americans don't, 
 which is reason enough I trow — in New- 
 York they have expelled the Socialists from 
 their parliament, which is mannerless." 
 
 5. "How does that concern thee, Sir 
 Jester?" 
 
 6. "It concerns me nearly, uncle. A 
 murrain! Am I not a Socialist myself?" 
 
 7. "Thou'rt paid to be a wit, madcap." 
 
 8. "True, but I must have something to 
 hang my wit upon withal. I must be dif- 
 ferent from other men or I am undone and 
 lose this pretty wand. I became a Socialist 
 thirty-five years ago because it gave me 
 chance to say startling things in a dull 
 world. I am still a Socialist because there 
 are some smart things still to be said, and 
 the world still jumps on being pricked. If 
 it didn't we jesters would be in sorry plight. 
 Truly, uncle, there is nought to be gained 
 by agreeing with the world. My genius is 
 in opposition, hence I am a Socialist, a 
 vegetarian and an Irishman." 
 
 9. "Thou'rt a saucy knave. But not bad, 
 not bad, i' faith! But prick on, fool. What 
 of the Americans?" 
 
 10. "They are barbarians, uncle. Aye, 
 villagers. They persecute for opinions, 
 which is the mark of a primitive people. I 
 call that good. Marry, I do." 
 
 11. "Call what good, sirrah? What the 
 Americans do?" 
 
 12. "No, what I said. What do I care 
 what the Americans do? It's what they 
 give me a chance to say that interests me. 
 Ting, a-ling, ling. Hear my pretty bells, 
 uncle." 
 
 13. "Hark'ee, fool. If persecuting for 
 opinions were in style our court would lack 
 a sorry jester, belike." 
 
 14. "Nay, uncle. I have no opinions. But 
 I have a great commodity of comment upon 
 opinions. That is my trade. These Amer- 
 icans are cakes and cream for me. They 
 are always doing something to bring me 
 out strong. If they should settle down and 
 be like the English, who scarce rise to me 
 any more, though I go constantly about 
 with my tongue in my cheek, I'd soon be 
 bereft of my cap. What brooks it any 
 more to say that liberty is gone in England, 
 
 since nobody believes me? But in America 
 they're still sensitive to epigram. I have 
 another one, uncle." 
 
 15. "A sorry one, by'r crown and scepter! 
 But have it out since it's thy trade." 
 
 16. "When is the Statue of Liberty to be 
 pulled down in New-York Harbor? Nay, 
 dullard, if that missed thee see if this one 
 pierces thy thick pate. The American 
 President is no safer than was Louis XVI. 
 A hit, uncle! I'd say a palpable hit, but 'tis 
 Shakespearean, and I am a greater than 
 Shakespeare. Will not the Americans writhe 
 at that, think you? Nay, sith I have thee 
 silenced at last — and thou'rt talkative enow 
 I warrant — hear me out. I care not a copper 
 groat for the Socialists, here nor in Amer- 
 ica. I made a good thing out of them in my 
 'Unsocial Socialist' years ago, and at the 
 Fabian Society, and they do begin to pall 
 as a literary asset. But I am Shaw, I am 
 G. B. S., I am an Irishman and cannot be 
 still when anything is said about liberty. 
 I specialize in liberty. It's hard going for 
 me just now, because England has too much 
 liberty. I have too much. If they'd only 
 put me in the tower! But they won't. 
 'Twas a sorry day for me when the English 
 government quit making martyrs of the 
 eloquent Irish. But America can still be 
 baited. And though the Americans are bar- 
 barians and villagers they have the literary 
 sense. They read my plays, though — a mur- 
 rain! — I do not think they know how good 
 they are. But I must not let them forget 
 me. They must not think my wit grows 
 dull just because the English decline 
 to stop my mouth. 'Twas a beggarly trick 
 on me when they bade Bertram Russell hold 
 his peace and let me talk on. Marry, a 
 scurvy trick and altogether English. But 
 mayhap the Americans haven't noticed that 
 and can still be touched by the Shavian 
 rapier. Hence these cudgels for my old 
 gossips of the Fabian days. Dost thou get 
 me, uncle, and have I not a pretty wit under 
 my belled cap?" 
 
 Here we have an urbane, yet satirical interpreta- 
 tion of the attitude and motives of Mr. Shaw. Ob- 
 serve the employment for this purpose of the form 
 of the literary skit, dramatic in method, and de- 
 veloped by means of dialog. The critical interpreta- 
 tion of Mr. Shaw's beliefs loses nothing of keenness 
 and value from being put in his own mouth; for 
 numerous judges have thought that Mr. Shaw's 
 writings themselves — in effect — say the same things 
 that he is here made to say about himself. The edi- 
 torial was, of course, provoked by one of Mr. Shaw's 
 scintillatingly recurrent pronouncements upon things, 
 men, immortals, and Shaw. (To see in the method 
 of presentation of this editorial a reversion to one 
 of the five forms of the Greek essay — the dialog — 
 is not difficult. Indeed, it would not be difficult to 
 find analogues, if not historical predecessors, of all 
 the forms of the contemporay editorial in classical, 
 or in the formational periods of Continental litera- 
 ture. 
 
88 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Chapter VI. Exercises. 
 
 1. Examine three or four issues each of 
 several daily papers (name them), with the 
 following questions in mind. Have the best 
 specimens classified and ready for presenta- 
 tion in case they are called for. 
 
 A. Do they neglect or do they emphasize 
 the editorial of interpretation? (Consider 
 each paper separately.) 
 
 B. What subjects do they seem most 
 inclined to interpret? 
 
 C. Do they tend to make their news- 
 editorial interpretational ? 
 
 D. Is it possible to sort them into groups 
 according to their practice in the matter of 
 editorial interpretation ? 
 
 2. Examine several weekly journals that 
 are devoted to or include editorial discus- 
 sion, applying questions A, B, and C, exercise 
 1. Have specimens ready for presentation 
 as in No. 1. 
 
 3. Under the heading Interpreters of the 
 Times, write an editorial interpreting the 
 service of our newspapers and magazines 
 as interpreters. 
 
 4. Write a paper (about 500 words), 
 pointing out the differences between news- 
 papers and weekly magazines in editorial 
 interpretation, as you observed them in 
 doing exercises 1 and 2. If you can make 
 it editorial in manner, so much the better. 
 
 5. Examine the editorials in several 
 issues each of three agricultural papers.* 
 What proportion of the editorials are given 
 to interpretation? What kinds of thing do 
 they interpret? 
 
 6. Repeat exercise 5, examining class 
 or trade papers of some other sort,* such as: 
 
 A. Railway journals. 
 
 B. Labor journals. 
 
 C. Lumber journals. 
 
 . D. Iron-and-steel trade journals. 
 
 E. Implement-trade journals. 
 
 F. Grocery-trade journals, wholesale, 
 retail. 
 
 G. Advertising journals. 
 H. Automobile journals. 
 
 I. Engineering and mining journals. 
 J. Medical journals. 
 K. Others. 
 
 7. Another, as in 6. 
 
 8. Still another, as in 6. 
 
 9. Write a paper (about 500 words) on 
 editorials of interpretation in class journals. 
 Try to make it editorial in manner. 
 
 10. Study a number of editorials of in- 
 terpretation in the newspapers, noting the 
 
 ♦For useful lists, see the latest edition of "Where 
 and How to Sell Manuscripts" (Home Correspond- 
 ence School). For classified name-lists only, see 
 Ayer's American Newspaper Annual and Directory. 
 
 differences they show in plan and method. 
 Discuss these in writing. Have illustrative 
 specimens ready for presentation in case 
 they are called for. 
 
 11. Repeat No. 10, examining weekly 
 periodicals. 
 
 12. Examine some of the fortnightly and 
 monthly review-periodicals with reference 
 to their editorials and articles of interpreta- 
 tion. Make memoranda of your observa- 
 tions and conclusions, and be prepared to 
 produce the editorials that illustrate your 
 points. 
 
 13. Discuss in a paper the interpretive 
 writing of the periodicals examined in 12. 
 
 14. Examine the editorials in the wo- 
 man's magazines, applying to them ques- 
 tions A, B, and C, exercise 1. 
 
 15. Discuss in writing the editorials in 
 the woman's magazines, with reference to 
 the matters observed in doing No. 14. Be 
 prepared to produce the editorials that illus- 
 trate your points. 
 
 16. Run through the news of the day; 
 select and have ready for presentation to 
 the instructor subjects for five interpreta- 
 tions, with the point or idea of the inter- 
 pretation stated in a single sentence. Be 
 prepared to produce clippings of the news 
 on which your suggestions are based. 
 
 17. Choose one of the subjects in No. 16. 
 First outline the editorial; then complete the 
 writing of it. 
 
 18. Repeat No. 17, using another of the 
 subjects. 
 
 19. Choosing one of the two subjects 
 about which you have already written (Nos. 
 17, 18), write another editorial of interpre- 
 tation, making it essentially different either 
 in the point of the interpretation or in the 
 method employed. 
 
 20. Repeat No. 16. 
 
 21. Repeat No. 17. 
 
 22. Repeat No. 19, using the editorial 
 written in No. 21. 
 
 23. Set down 10 ideas for editorials of 
 interpretation about affairs of daily life. 
 
 24. Out of these 10 ideas, select two; 
 outline the proposed editorials. 
 
 25. Write one of the two editorials out- 
 lined in 24. 
 
 26. Set down 10 ideas for interpretive 
 editorials having to do with religious or 
 moral aspects of life. 
 
 27. As in 24, using the ideas listed in 
 doing 26. 
 
 28. Write out one of the two editorials 
 outlined in 27. 
 
EDITORIALS OF INTERPRETATION 
 
 89 
 
 29. Set down a list of 10 ideas for in- 
 terpretive editorials dealing with scientific, 
 philosophical, governmental, economic, in- 
 dustrial, or similar subjects of significance. 
 Be prepared to show the journalistic value 
 of your ideas. 
 
 30. Write an editorial on one of the sub- 
 jects listed in 29. 
 
 31. Write an editorial on another of the 
 subjects in 29. 
 
 32. Write an editorial upon a third sub- 
 ject from No. 29. 
 
 33. Write a paper of 1500-2000 words 
 upon the editorial of interpretation. 
 
 34. Make a collection of interpretive 
 editorials from miscellaneous sources. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE CONTROVERSIAL EDITORIAL 
 
 The editorial of argumentative 
 effect. — Numerous editorials are 
 written to advocate, oppose, defend, 
 or attack theories, tendencies, poli- 
 cies, principles, and "causes," or the 
 men, groups, or parties representing 
 them. Such editorials are controver- 
 sial — i. e., their effect is that of per- 
 suasion, debate, or conviction. They 
 incline the reader's judgment, or his 
 sympathies, favorably toward or un- 
 favorably away from the proposition 
 or idea with which they deal. 
 
 The controversial editorial exists 
 to influence the reader for or against 
 something. Yet it does not have to 
 be controversial in the narrow sense 
 of that term. It is enough that it 
 have the purpose of affecting the 
 reader's attitude. Not a few such 
 editorials, indeed, are so little argu- 
 mentative in the commoner meaning 
 of the word, that we can adequately 
 describe them merely as "purpose" 
 editorials, employing the term in the 
 sense in which we use it when we 
 speak of a "purpose" novel. They 
 leave us with an attitude of mind 
 more favorable or less favorable 
 toward that with which they are con- 
 cerned. 
 
 A foundation of reasoning, not 
 passion. — The controversial editorial, 
 therefore, is merely an editorial 
 meant to sway the reader — perhaps 
 by a method of argument that is 
 subtly indirect — ^toward this or that 
 idea, conviction, or attitude. Yet 
 however indirect its method, it still 
 favors, supports, advocates, or sets 
 itself in opposition — still in effect de- 
 bates or argues. Therefore its only 
 sure foundation is that of safe, 
 straight argument. It must be based 
 
 on sound logic and reasoning, not o 
 sentiment, nor yet on ill-temper, bii 
 terness, or passion. The editorii 
 may be, and not infrequently is, ir 
 tensely earnest, powerful, and impaj 
 sioned; but let it begin to manifes 
 impatience, irritation, intolerance, c 
 bitterness, and its effectiveness be 
 gins to decrease. 
 
 Convinced partisans may hail th 
 fierce, angry, slashing editorial wit 
 glee, but the soberly thoughtfi 
 reader is doubtful of it, and sooner c 
 later is repelled by it. One thousan 
 is not too high a number to count be 
 fore yielding to the temptation t 
 write an editorial of incensed feeling 
 It can arouse the prejudiced, the i^ 
 norant, and the unthinking, and som 
 publications intentionally print sue 
 editorials for the sake of their viciou 
 appeal and vicious influence. But th 
 very fact that they so often pla 
 upon the defects, weaknesses, an 
 baser motives of the individual, cor 
 demns them. 
 
 The extending range of debatabl 
 subjects. — A considerable portion o 
 the editorials devoted to reasonabl 
 discussion are concerned with politics 
 questions, party principles, and part; 
 interests. So prominent have politi 
 cal questions been in the past as 
 subject of journalistic attention tha 
 the "political editor" is still an impor 
 tant adjunct to the staff in numerou 
 ofllices. 
 
 But the transition in journalisr 
 from partisan allegiance, or at leas 
 from party subservience, has ma 
 terially lessened the importance o 
 the editorial of mere partisan politics 
 Industrial, economic, social, and hu 
 
THE CONTROVERSIAL EDITORIAL 
 
 91 
 
 manistic questions, rather than pol- 
 itics, lead now as subjects of editorial 
 debate, and seem likely to do so for a 
 long time to come. 
 
 The same transition has likewise 
 been among the influences working to 
 extend the range of editorial writing 
 to yet other subjects. We feel no 
 surprise nowadays in coming across 
 editorials that, both directly and in- 
 directly, debate questions of morals, 
 of religion, of church policy, of edu- 
 cation; of art, literature, and es- 
 thetics; of feminism, of spiritualism, 
 of domestic relations, and other in- 
 definitely numerous matters in which 
 the public has learned to take an in- 
 terest. Editorial articles, when they 
 deal "controversially'* with such sub- 
 jects, range in manner from outright 
 argument to urbane, witty, or hu- 
 morous explanation, comment, or 
 skit. 
 
 Dependence upon a proposition, 
 stated or statable. — Being argumen- 
 tative in ultimate purpose, the contro- 
 versial editorial must conform to the 
 basic principles of argument. That 
 is, it must be founded upon a definite 
 proposition and made up of a body of 
 proof or disproof. 
 
 But its proposition need not be 
 stated outright, nor its proof formally 
 marshaled. Numerous means of pre- 
 senting an argument indirectly are 
 available ; and an argument suggested 
 or implied is often more effective 
 than it would be if set forth directly. 
 Moreover, the indirect presentation 
 is likely to be more pleasing through 
 increased literary quality. 
 
 An editorial, therefore, may have 
 all the effect of argument, yet little, 
 and perhaps none, of its form. But 
 nevertheless its point should always 
 be so clear as to be susceptible of 
 statement in the form of an outright 
 proposition. 
 
 The editorial of formal argument. 
 — When it is most formal in method 
 
 and structure, the controversial edi- 
 torial closely adheres to the struc- 
 tural plan of the argumentative 
 "theme" or "thesis" as aimed at in 
 college classes. This means that it 
 first announces its proposition; thc^a 
 step by step sets forth the reasons or 
 the proofs to support the proposition; 
 then closes with a renewed indication 
 (in a summary, application, or con- 
 clusion) of its theme. For practical 
 purposes, we can regard this as a 
 mere adaptation of the three-stage 
 structure. An inversion of the order 
 is also employed, the reasoning or 
 proofs being advanced first, and the 
 proposition stated at the end, as an 
 inference or application. 
 
 Modifying the formal argumenta- 
 tive structure. — However, one must 
 remember that the editorial is not 
 written as a practice-exercise in logi- 
 cal structure and expression, but as a 
 purposeful utterance of reasoned and 
 cultured thought upon a subject of 
 interest to readers. Hence, the edi- 
 torial-writer may find this academic 
 plan too barely formal and "soph- 
 omoric." 
 
 Among the means that he may em- 
 ploy to prevent his article from seem- 
 ing a mere "theme" upon a "topic" is 
 that of an easy, somewhat colloquial, 
 manner of expression, resorting to a 
 style that is distinctly in the editorial 
 manner, as described in Chapter I. 
 
 He may also compose his article in 
 such a way that its topic, or propo- 
 sition, will be clearly evident, and yet 
 not outrightly stated — at least, not in 
 any formally argumentative and 
 propositional phrasing. 
 
 Again, he may so order and man- 
 age his material as to permit him to 
 introduce a statement, or an indica- 
 tion, of his central proposition some- 
 where in the body of the article. This 
 indication he will introduce in such a 
 way as to give it the necessary sa- 
 lience and emphasis, and yet prevent 
 
92 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 it from standing out like the formal 
 statement of a question for debate. 
 
 Getting the effect of argument 
 without its form. — Broadly, however, 
 the fact is that in the controversial 
 tjditorial the editorial-writer not in- 
 frequently is seeking the effect of ar- 
 gument without its academic or 
 formal argumentative structure; and 
 this makes impossible the creation of 
 any thoroughly "standardized" type 
 of structure or treatment. The effec- 
 tiveness of such editorials depends 
 largely upon the skill with which the 
 writer organizes his material upon 
 some individual plan or conception 
 that will make its thought and propo- 
 sition manifest without conforming 
 the presentation to any fixed or pre- 
 determined model. The adequacy of 
 any such presentation can always be 
 tested by answering these three 
 questions : 
 
 A. Does the editorial take sides 
 upon some question arising from its 
 subject? 
 
 B. Is the "point" manifest that it 
 wishes to make upon this question ? 
 
 C. Is the editorial so presented 
 that the reader will realize its bearing 
 upon the matter? 
 
 By this test, no small number of 
 editorials of the newspeg, news-sum- 
 mary, review-and-survey, and inter- 
 pretation classes, are revealed as be- 
 ing more or less controversial in their 
 underlying purpose. 
 
 The two editorials that follow get 
 the effect of argument without its 
 form. 
 
 V^HY? 
 
 A leading publisher says that within a 
 fortnight he has been interviewed by 
 eighteen persons who wished him to publish 
 book-manuscripts recounting their personal 
 experiences or observations in the World 
 War. 
 
 One of these was a colonel, one a captain, 
 three were lieutenants, one was a sergeant, 
 and four were buck privates. Of the others, 
 two were Y. M. C. A. workers, three Red 
 
 Cross workers, two hospital nurses, and one 
 an entertainer. Thirteen were men and five 
 were women. 
 
 Of the eighteen, only four had had more 
 than ordinarily interesting experiences, and 
 only two showed narrative or descriptive 
 ability in telling their experience. Twelve 
 of the manuscripts were thoroughly 
 mediocre, more than half were notably 
 faulty in grammar and diction, and several 
 were illiterate. 
 
 Nevertheless, we have read with interest 
 . Lieut. Coningsby Dawson's impassioned pro- 
 test against the coldness of the publishers, 
 if not of the public, toward books dealing 
 with the war. 
 
 PATRIOTISM 
 
 In Erehwon [spell it backward] the cloth- 
 weavers decided that they ought to be paid 
 60 per cent more wages than they were re- 
 ceiving, and that they would not work again 
 before their demand was granted. When 
 the people of Erehwon, however, began to 
 sicken and die from exposure, they grew 
 angry and threatened the weavers with 
 force; upon which the weavers promptly pro- 
 claimed themselves good Erehwonites and 
 went back to work. In recognition of their 
 noble action, the President of Erehwon pub- 
 lished a proclamation praising them as 
 patriots. 
 
 [This editorial fable had reference to the 
 strike of the bituminous-coal miners in 
 1919, and at that time its bearing was 
 obvious.] 
 
 Editorials of sarcasm, satire, and 
 irony. — A favorite manner with some 
 editorial controversialists (as illus- 
 trated by the editorial Patriotism, 
 just above) is that of sarcasm, satire, 
 or irony. Well-managed satire un- 
 questionably has its place in editorial- 
 writing, for satire is one of the best 
 scourges for hypocrisy, insincerity, 
 dishonesty, or other offense against 
 morals, decency, duty, or public wel- 
 fare. Yet, too often employed sar- 
 casm palls; and satire is always in 
 danger of becoming truculent, angry, 
 and rancorous. Irony, too, may be 
 useful; but probably no ironical edi- 
 torial was ever printed that some lit- 
 eral-minded readers did not wofully 
 misunderstand. 
 
 The editorial of invective. — ^The ex- 
 treme kind of controversial editorial, 
 
THE CONTROVERSIAL EDITORIAL 
 
 93 
 
 that of out-and-out invective and de- 
 nunciation, is not often called for. In- 
 vective and denunciation frequently 
 creep into intense and long-continu- 
 ing discussions, but not frequently 
 with good effect. Abuse and the 
 calling of names are weak arguments,- 
 and therefore the denunciatory edi- 
 torial seldom justifies itself except 
 when there has been public miscon- 
 duct, injustice, or betrayal so gross 
 that it cannot be cured without in- 
 tense and violent attack. If the pur- 
 pose is to arouse to action readers 
 who are already convinced, editorials 
 of strong persuasion (to borrow a 
 term from the old rhetorics) may 
 prove more effective than editorials 
 confined to invective and denuncia- 
 tion. 
 
 Schema. — Among controversial edi- 
 torials we find : 
 
 A. The purpose editorial. 
 
 B. The editorial of direct argu- 
 
 ment, debate, or disputa- 
 tion. 
 
 C. The editorial of indirect, im- 
 
 plied, or latent argument. 
 
 D. The editorial of outright at- 
 
 tack and invective. 
 Representative editorials. — Here 
 follow editorials illustrative of the 
 argumentative, "purpose," or con- 
 vincing effects such as are described 
 above. 
 
 A COOLIDGE TEXT FOR TEXAS 
 
 San Antonio Ebcpress 
 
 1. "We need more of the Office Desk and 
 less of the Show Window in politics." 
 
 2. Those are the words of Gov. Calvin 
 Coolidge of Massachusetts; but what of 
 that? He is a big enough American to 
 merit the purposeful quotation of his public 
 utterances, in any other State; and the 
 foregoing epigram is likable and respectable 
 anywhere for its truth and its "punch." So, 
 the Express suggests its use as a text by 
 Texas Democrats who are actively opposing 
 Mr. Bailey's designs upon the governorship 
 and the delegation to San Francisco. Those 
 who are answering his anti-Administration 
 harangues may employ it to point a moral 
 and adorn a tale. 
 
 3. "We need more of the Office Desk and 
 less of the Show Window in politics." 
 
 4. What — or where — is Mr. Bailey's 
 office-desk record in politics? 
 
 A flank-assault — one man attacked by comparing 
 another with him, to the latter's advantage. 
 
 SUBJECT FOR ANOTHER DEBATE 
 
 Buffalo Express 
 
 1. Says Mr. Gompers: "The difference 
 between a slave and a freeman is that the 
 slave must work when his master or owner 
 directs and wills." 
 
 2. Says Governor Allen of Kansas: "We 
 have not forbidden to any man the right to 
 quit work. We merely have taken away 
 from Mr. Gompers his divine right to order 
 a man to quit work." 
 
 3. If the man who must work when his 
 master or owner directs and wills is a slave, 
 is not the man who must quit work when 
 his master and owner directs and wills, also 
 a slave? 
 
 4. And we are going to suggest that, 
 having started something, Mr. Gompers and 
 Governor Allen finish it, with this proposi- 
 tion as the subject for another joint debate. 
 
 Nutshell argument. 
 
 WHY LEGISLATE AT ALL? 
 
 Boston Post 
 
 1. Why should not Massachusetts accept 
 the Volstead act as the model for its own 
 State legislation ? — Springfield Republican. 
 
 2. "Concurrent power" again. It always 
 bobs up, and not even our learned friend on 
 the banks of the Connecticut is able to tell 
 just what it is. Certainly if it means 
 following federal legislation to a dot, it may 
 be "concurrent," but where is the "power" ? 
 
 3. If Massachusetts is to accept the Vol- 
 stead act as a model, why legislate at all? 
 Are not the federal statutes enough ? What 
 is the need of duplicating the laws? 
 
 A sharp, sharp return lunge. -112 parries the 
 thrust of the opposed quotation ; 1[3 completes the 
 parry in a counter-thrust. Quick, clean work. 
 
 THEY DONT STAY BOUGHT— BAH! 
 
 The Review 
 
 1. What is the matter with the "capitalist 
 press"? Does it not know that it ought to 
 suppress any such outgiving as that of Mr. 
 W. Jett Lauck, the statistician representing 
 the railway unions before the Railroad Labor 
 Board? And if it can't be suppressed, it 
 ought to be tucked away under a little head- 
 line in some obscure page of the paper. In- 
 stead of that, all the great New York 
 dailies which Big Business hires to keep 
 the people in ignorance, display the thing 
 conspicuously, under striking headlines and 
 without a word of introduction or comment 
 to break its force. What is the use of care- 
 
94 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 fully concealing from the people what some 
 tenth-rate Socialist orator may have said 
 in Paterson, and then giving them this peril- 
 ous stuff to feed on ? It looks as though our 
 plutocratic rulers were not getting anything 
 like their money's worth out of the editors 
 whom, as everybody knows, they own body 
 and soul. 
 
 Sarcastic irony, in the nature of a reductio ad 
 absurdum — disclosure of the ultimate absurdity of the 
 proposition involved. 
 
 ELBOW GREASE VS. HOT AIR 
 
 New England Homestead 
 
 1. An order was offered in the Massa- 
 chusetts House of Representatives last week 
 by Mr. Young of Weston directing the Com- 
 mission on the Necessaries of Life to recom- 
 mend legislation to bring about lower prices 
 of food and fuel and to prevent profiteering. 
 
 2. After adopting daylight-saving, forc- 
 ing it upon all New England, the Massachu- 
 setts Legislature has considerable courage 
 to ask what more it can do. That act alone 
 increased food costs many per cent. 
 
 3. The Homestead has already advised 
 each representative and senator that the 
 most outstanding thing they can do during 
 the remaining days of the session in behalf 
 of more food is to rescind the daylight- 
 saving law. 
 
 4. If the Legislature cares to go still 
 further, then enact enforceable legislation 
 for an honest day's work at an honest day's 
 pay — sincere efforts at production such as is 
 found upon our farms today. More old- 
 fashioned work with less extravagance and 
 radicalism is sadly needed. Lower prices of 
 food cannot come until labor returns to its 
 senses and substitutes elbow grease for hot 
 air and loafing on the job. 
 
 A plea for specific action. 
 
 LAWS AGAINST JAY-WALKING 
 
 Louisville Courier-Journal 
 
 ^A proposed ordinance against what is 
 colloquially called "jay-walking" should be 
 opposed as a step to reduce legislation to 
 idiocy. That laws should be suggested on 
 the subject of the methods of walking by 
 human beings points the length to which 
 busybody types of minds reach in their 
 desire to regulate something. Both nature 
 and law are expected to leave some modicum 
 of responsibility to the individual. Neither 
 nature nor law contemplates coddling a per- 
 son throughout life, tying his hands because 
 he might meet with accident, gagging him 
 because he might slander someone, muzzling 
 him because he might bite, strapping his 
 legs for fear he might kick a neighbor. It 
 is not for the law to fine a citizen for cross- 
 ing a street where somebody else might not 
 
 like him to do it, but it is for the citizen 
 himself to exercise prudence and give con- 
 sideration to his own safety. We do not 
 like to think of the world as made up of 
 adult babies who must be surrounded with 
 caretakers, nurses, milk-bottles and — laws 
 controlling their most ordinary conduct. An 
 ordinance against "jay-walkng" is too much! 
 A more sensible idea would be to make it a 
 felony for anybody to play Hawaiian music 
 on his phonograph. 
 
 ^This is not Marse Henry's hand, but it is Marse 
 Henry's spirit. But the editorial is as one voice 
 crying against a multitude. That is, it expresses 
 a point-of-view so much in disfavor at the time of 
 printing that an editorial representing it reads 
 strangely out of tune. Whether or not the eclipse 
 of American belief in individualism, in restriction 
 upon the powers of government, in the sanctity of 
 personal, community, and state rights against in- 
 vasion i)y centralized power, and in pergonal re- 
 sponsibility and education rather than legislation as 
 a means of directing conduct, will re-establish itself 
 with some return-beat of the pendulum, is a sealed 
 matter. Possibly, by 1930, 1940. or 1950, a change 
 in tendencies will have made editorials from this 
 viewpoint more common again and therefore less 
 strange-seeming. Meanwhile, it is profitable to note, 
 through such a comparison, how nearly general 
 editorial view is indicative of national tendency in 
 any period, sometimes sharing even the excesses of 
 that tendency. 
 
 THE WILDCAT'S KITTENS 
 
 Saturday Evening Post 
 
 1. Nature study in the high Sierras is an 
 absorbing pastime, but home Nature study 
 is a scarcely less fascinating pursuit. Right 
 now a splendid aid to it will be found in 
 the advertising pages of many newspapers 
 and in some of the illustrated booklets that 
 are being mailed to selected lists of Nature 
 lovers, and especially to those who are in- 
 terested in the life and habits of the wildcat. 
 
 2. From a careful study of this literature 
 it appears that the wildcat is the most 
 versatile of our American fauna. In 
 fecundity it outguinea-pigs the Belgian hare. 
 As a source of profit it is the long-sought 
 back-yard bonanza. It has been cruelly 
 maligned by those who claim that they have 
 been clawed and bitten by it. Our naturalists 
 portray the wildcat in these booklets as of 
 a beneficent and affectionate disposition, 
 asking only a chance to enrich small in- 
 vestors by increasing and multiplying in 
 their interests. 
 
 3. In these traits it is twin sister to many 
 if not most of the oil, mining and other 
 philanthropic promotions that are being ad- 
 vertised so lavishly. Never was there a time 
 when so many noble and unselfish men were 
 seeking to share their sure things with the 
 public. 
 
 An attack upon investment-faking. 
 infl-2. Ironical condemnation of worthless stocks 
 and gullible investors under burlesque pun-designa- 
 tions such as wildcat, nature lover, etc. 1|3. Di- 
 rect ironical application of the argument. 
 
THE CONTROVERSIAL EDITORIAL 
 
 95 
 
 CAUGHT WITH THE GOODS 
 
 Textile World-Journal 
 
 1. From time to time, the press contains 
 statements made by members of price com- 
 missions and other officials, tending to ex- 
 onerate the retailers from the charge of 
 profiteering and throwing the blame largely 
 upon the manufacturer and middleman. A 
 recent experience of a Philadelphia knit- 
 goods manufacturer shows the retailer in 
 this case to be the profiteer. 
 
 2. The wife of this manufacturer had 
 bought a certain textile notion at a leading 
 store in that city for which she paid $2.25 
 each. The manufacturer noted these and 
 when he heard the price, he knew the price 
 was too high, and said he would see what 
 he could do. He had an acquaintance who 
 was a jobber, handling such products, so he 
 approached him with the article and was 
 offered the same article at 57 ^c each in 
 a half-gross lot. 
 
 3. He immediately called at the store, 
 returned the article in question and secured 
 a credit slip for the $2.25. He next called 
 upon the buyer in the store, and stated he 
 would like to sell some of these goods, and 
 asked 57 ^c for the article. The buyer said 
 he could not pay that price; that they could 
 not get more than 65 or 70c for the article. 
 He was shown the credit slip and imme- 
 diately ran to cover, pleading they had to 
 make 41 V2 per cent before they gained any- 
 thing in the way of profit. 
 
 4. Such a case is not new to many textile 
 manufacturers; they have had such expe- 
 riences before, but it has always been the 
 favorite game to put the burden of blame 
 upon the manufacturer, so that he found he 
 gained little by protesting. The above case 
 was too flagrant, however, to be overlooked. 
 
 An attack by way of a specific incident intro- 
 duced as proof, and given generalized significance by 
 the comment appended in ^4. Note the propositional 
 (3-stage) structure: proposition, ^1; proof, 11^2-3; 
 conclusion, TI4. 
 
 FEEDLOT LOSSES 
 
 Breeder's Gazette 
 
 1. We wonder how long the laborites 
 think they can play with the fire in this 
 country. Switchmen have put the finishing 
 touches upon the just resentment of farmers 
 and feeders against the industrial worker 
 demanding a full dinner-pail produced at a 
 loss while he goes his easy way on short 
 hours and the fattest pay envelope he ever 
 saw or ever will see in our time. The losses 
 made by meat-producers since the peak of 
 war-prices was passed can only be computed 
 in the millions. The disaster that has over- 
 taken cattle-growers in the northwest is 
 little less than a calamity. All through 
 
 the cornbelt men have fed costly feedstuffs 
 to their animals only, for the most part, to 
 meet falling and unremunerative markets. 
 Still the cry goes up from the highly-paid 
 industrial worker for more and cheaper 
 food. He is not going to get it. On the 
 contrary, unless all signs fail, he will be 
 paying dearly for farm products even after 
 his own excessive wages have been trimmed, 
 as they will be sooner or later when the 
 readjustment now started proceeds to its 
 logical conclusion. Between the farm-labor 
 famine and the unprofitable prices of finished 
 products the feeder is wrestling with a real 
 problem, and he is taking the position that 
 he will have a living wage for his work and 
 a margin of profit for his grain or he will 
 do a little striking on his own account. And 
 you can't starve him out. Let the city 
 remember that one big point in the game. 
 
 An agricultural judgment, tinged with resentment, 
 concerning the wage and labor contest. 
 
 MR. WILSON "WAITING AT THE 
 CHURCH" 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. "Everything which America fought 
 for," said the president in his proclama- 
 tion announcing to the people of the 
 United States the signing of the 
 armistice, "has been accomplished." In 
 his message to congress at the same 
 time he said, "The war thus comes to 
 an end." Again, in the same official 
 document, "We know only that this 
 tragical war . . . is at an end." 
 Again, "We knew too that the object of 
 the war is attained." — New York Sun • 
 and Herald. 
 
 2. Yes, yes. Just so. Exactly true. Un- 
 deniably correct. The war ended. Every- 
 thing America fought for was accomplished. 
 The object of the war was attained. Mr. 
 Wilson had it right. 
 
 3. But what of it? Man, be reasonable! 
 Wilson needed war in his political business. 
 So he revived it. All by himself. In order 
 to end it His Way. But the senate acted 
 the mule. And there is no peace. Only a 
 rattled treaty. And a rejected covenant. 
 War still howls. And W. W. tents on the 
 old camp ground. And tut-tuts. Waiting 
 for the war to cease — His Way. 
 
 An attack on a man and his consistency. Note 
 the brevity force, and ironical sarcasm. 
 
 ON STRIKE BACK AT THE FARM 
 
 Sun and New York Herald 
 
 1. The American farmer is sick and tired 
 of the enormous tribe which reports for 
 only a few hours a day on the job and which 
 does mighty little work during those hours. 
 The American farmer is mad clean through 
 
96 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 over the fact that he puts in twelve and 
 fourteen hours when organized skilled labor 
 the country over puts in from 40 to 50 per 
 cent less time and about 80 per cent fewer 
 licks. He has made up his mind that he 
 will not work himself to a standstill to feed 
 and clothe millions of wage earners who 
 spend a good portion of their time striking 
 for higher pay, and then when they get it 
 will not earn it. 
 
 2. With their own arms the farmer and 
 his family can raise more than enough food 
 products to nourish themselves. With the 
 prices which would follow a diminished sup- 
 ply of food they can get enough cash to buy 
 what other necessaries they require. They 
 can even put by some savings. So, by the 
 tens of thousands, the American farmers are 
 demanding of organized labor a showdown 
 as to whether they are going to do all the 
 work or whether everybody else is going to 
 do his share of the work. 
 
 3. If the organized non-workers of this 
 country expect to go on living on the fat of 
 the land they will have to meet the American 
 farmer on his proposal that the high pro- 
 duction record shall not be scored only back 
 at the farm. 
 
 "Lambasting" labor over the farmer's shoulder. 
 Interpretation and exposition effectively turned to 
 argumentative purposes. 
 
 WHY HIS SPECTACLES WERE TAXED 
 
 New York Sun-Herald 
 
 1. A person unacquainted with the sur- 
 prises of the revenue act of 1918 writes to 
 this paper as follows: 
 
 To the Sun and New York Herald: 
 
 " As my eyes were failing I bought a pair 
 
 of spectacles for $15. The optician made 
 
 me pay 75 cents war tax. Why should 
 
 I be taxed for being unfortunate? 
 
 New York, March 30. X.Y.Z. 
 
 2. If our correspondent will look at his 
 glasses he will undoubtedly find that the 
 frame contains some silver or gold or the 
 plate of either metal. The presence of this 
 takes him out of the unfortunate class, ac- 
 cording to the great Democrats who wrote 
 the tax law, and puts him into the luxurious 
 class. 
 
 3. As Claude Kitchin drew the luxury tax 
 law and as it is still on the books, a tax 
 of 5 per cent is levied on the sale price of 
 "articles made of, or ornamented, mounted 
 or fitted with, precious metals or imitations 
 thereof." It was the theory of the deepest 
 thinker in Scotland Neck that anybody who 
 had enough sense to use gold next to his 
 skin instead of iron or copper must have 
 enough money to be taxable. 
 
 4. If a man should buy a wooden leg with 
 a silver plated hoop around it he would be 
 
 obliged, thanks to Kitchin, to pay a 5 per 
 cent tax on the purchase price. 
 
 5. The Democratic party had to have 
 money with which to pay the salaries of 
 thousands of Southern officeholders, and it 
 took it where it could find it. Neither the 
 spectacles of the aged nor the teething rings 
 of infants were left untaxed. 
 
 Two birds pelted with one stone — the tax-law and 
 the party said to be responsible for it. Hundreds 
 of political editorials are written to take tactical 
 advantage of "openings" afforded by facts or inci- 
 dents that, in themselves, are of minor interest, 
 but that are representative of larger aspects of 
 some issue. 
 
 A SOLEMN PROTEST 
 
 The Living Church 
 
 1. We are writing on the eve of the first 
 of the great national party conventions. 
 After candidates shall have been nominated, 
 and the customary partisan contest has 
 begun. The Living Church must probably re- 
 main silent, lest it be accused of taking sides 
 in party politics. Some of the principal can- 
 didates stand frankly and unblushingly for 
 a policy of national selfishness and the 
 repudiaton of much that had seemed dear to 
 us two years ago. Neither is it at all clear 
 that these misinterpret what the majority 
 of the people will vote that they want, for 
 the faculty of drifting with the tide takes 
 the place of the conscience in the anatomy of 
 the ordinary politician. 
 
 2. But today, before a platform has been 
 published or a candidate has been nominated, 
 we make our solemn protest as Americans 
 and as Christians, before God and the na- 
 tion, against the popular policy of national 
 selfishness which appears to be in the 
 ascendant; against the formal desertion of 
 our allies; against the attempts to make a 
 separate peace without honor; against the 
 refusal to participate in the League of Na- 
 tions; against the refusal to take an active 
 part in the reconstruction of Europe; 
 against the refusal to act as first friend to 
 the Armenians (though without maintaining 
 that we are bound to accept the mandate in 
 precisely the form in which it is tendered); 
 against the tendency to glorify the Irish 
 allies of Germany; against the attitude of 
 unfriendliness toward Great Britain; against 
 the callousness toward suffering and disease 
 and the refusal to take active measures to 
 end these before we ourselves are engulfed 
 in them. 
 
 3. No platform that shall condone this 
 national apostasy from the American ideals 
 of two years ago will be worthy of the sup- 
 port of any Christian American. No pre- 
 vious affiliation with any political party will 
 excuse anyone from supporting a party that 
 indorses such a position. 
 
THE CONTROVERSIAL EDITORIAL 
 
 97. 
 
 4. We call upon Christian men, in this 
 risis of the American nation, to place their 
 
 hristian principles above any considera- 
 ions of political partisanship. 
 
 An editorial calculated to direct the opinion of 
 readers and affect their attitude upon political is- 
 sues at a subsequent time. Compare the note ac- 
 companying the editorial An American Policy. 
 
 A VERDICT ON TWO WILSONS 
 
 Concord Monitor 
 
 1. Henry Lane Wilson, ambassador to 
 Mexico, whom the present administration 
 found in office and removed, has been fully 
 vindicated by events if ever a man was. 
 The story he has been telling to a Senate 
 committee can evoke nothing but disgust at 
 the picayunish Mexican policy of Woodrow 
 Wilson. If ever a man's judgment was dis- 
 credited by events, the judgment of Wood- 
 row Wilson in Mexican matters has been 
 discredited. 
 
 2. Yet the more Henry Lane Wilson is 
 vindicated and Woodrow Wilson is shown 
 to be wrong, the more bitterly Democratic 
 newspapers declaim against Henry Lane 
 Wilson, even when they cannot offer one 
 word in justification of the President. It is 
 such partisanship that makes successful rule 
 by the Democratic party impossible. 
 
 3. The Democratic administration's Mex- 
 ican policy, from "saluting the flag" to 
 "catching Villa" and baiting Carranza has 
 been one to cause no American to feel more 
 proud that he is an American. For seven 
 years it has been a policy of vacillation and 
 indecision and for seven years the problem 
 has become more vexing and troublesome. 
 The delay and lack of a course to steer to 
 has only aggravated an aggravating situation 
 and made it more difficult of settlement when 
 the inevitable settlement comes. 
 
 4. And events are not lacking to show 
 that the day of reckoning with Mexico may 
 be nearer than many of us think. If the 
 country below the Rio Grande is again 
 gripped by complete anarchy, can we con- 
 tinue to ignore the inevitable recurring in- 
 sults to Americans, with loss of life and 
 confiscation of property? 
 
 Accusatory political criticism. 
 
 AN AMERICAN POLICY 
 
 The World's Business 
 
 1. The parties are in a campaign that 
 calls for definite pledges and prompt per- 
 formances after election. The country needs 
 to be put back on the highway. It is wan- 
 dering far afield, and in some respects is lost 
 in a wilderness of strange "isms." The best 
 corrective for all of the socialistic, com- 
 munistic and Bolshevic ideas that are 
 offered is adherence to the Constitution of 
 
 the United States. A platform that re- 
 affirmed our charter of liberty would be all 
 that we need. There is not one man in a 
 thousand who is an enemy of the country at 
 heart, but the trouble lies in the wild propa- 
 ganda that is permitted to go unchallenged 
 and which offers everything to the worker 
 for nothing. 
 
 2. The opportunity is offered this fall for 
 men and women to vote in their own in- 
 terests, and at the same time act for the 
 benefit of all other law-abiding people. This 
 can be done by voting for an American 
 policy. Such a policy is certain to be adopt- 
 ed by the Republican party. It has all the 
 material at hand. 
 
 3. As a nation we want to maintain our 
 supremacy, and to do so we must continue 
 the principles of free government. We 
 must adhere to the right of individual free- 
 dom, curbed only by constitutional regula- 
 tion. The ideas of "mass" control, of "pro- 
 letariat" domination, of "nationalization" of 
 industries, are foreign to our country and 
 institutions. We want straight American 
 candidates on a sound platform. The people 
 will support such men, and we shall have a 
 new era of peace, prosperity and progress. 
 
 An appeal for a return to the first principles in 
 Americanism — with a party application. 
 
 All parties employ arguments so shaped up. It 
 is permissible to inquire, however, at what point the 
 fundamental patriotic appeal begins to lose its ef- 
 fect by being thus worked into a partisan appeaL 
 Obviously the argument pro patria is legitimate in 
 itself; but if too frequently employed, or if em- 
 ployed merely for party purposes, it loses its dig- 
 nity and its effect. Partisan prostitution of pa« 
 triotic ideals is not to be encouraged — though ex- 
 actly where it begins in political arguments is some- 
 times hard to determine. 
 
 ROBBERS OF SPRING BLOSSOMS 
 
 Concord Monitor 
 
 1. Why is it that just at the time of year 
 when God sets things to growing, mankind 
 is peculiarly possessed to destroy? 
 
 2. This is blossom time. In northern com- 
 munities the dogwood and shadblow whiten 
 the hillside woods, cherry and peach and 
 plum bloom in yard and orchard, apple is on 
 the way and every section of this great, 
 beautiful country has its own vernal gifts. 
 
 3. What a blessing it would be if for this 
 one year people might be content to enjoy 
 all this beauty where it belongs, instead of 
 ruthlessly breaking boughs, tearing off 
 branches and destroying whole shrubs and 
 trees for the temporary pleasure of having 
 a few flowers in the house! 
 
 4. No tree or shrub ever quite recovers 
 from this harsh treatment. It may go on 
 growing heroically, a wounded soldier re- 
 turning to his task, but shapeliness and 
 symmetry are gone and vitality lessened, 
 and long before its normal time it will die. 
 
98 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 5. The destruction of woodland inhab- 
 itants which should have lived for years to 
 bless the eyes of every forest wanderer is 
 bad enough, but robbing the fruit trees of 
 their blossoms does double damage. Not 
 only is the parent tree injured, but every 
 blossom destroyed means so much less fruit 
 when ripening season comes. 
 
 6. He who can see the blossom on the 
 bough, and, loving it, leave it there, remem- 
 bering the long patience which made it grow, 
 and its promise if undestroyed, content with 
 the memory of beauty in his heart, will 
 take home a far lovelier thing froln his 
 rambles than any bloom could ever be when 
 torn from its surroundings and fading in 
 the hand. 
 
 An editorial of "purpose" and persuasion, not of 
 dispute, convincing less by outright argument than 
 by an appeal to good impulses and the love of na- 
 ture. 
 
 HOW DO YOU LIKE IT? 
 
 New York Evening World 
 
 1. Wayne B. Wheeler, general counsel for 
 the Anti-Saloon League, dropped his moral 
 work for a moment to issue the following 
 statement, which the American public will 
 read with mingled resentment and amaze: 
 
 When the Governors of two great 
 States like New York and New Jersey 
 invoke the ancient and descr edited doc- 
 trine of personal liberty and State's 
 rights (the boldface is ours) to protect 
 the outlawed liquor traffic, it is mani- 
 fest that the work of Americanization 
 and the appeal to patriotism must ex- 
 tend beyond the ranks of aliens within 
 our borders. 
 
 Personal liberty was never guaran- 
 teed to the citizens of any civilized 
 Government. Civil liberty is guaran- 
 teed. The State rights doctrine was 
 settled once for all during the Civil War. 
 
 2. The Evening World has contended 
 in season and out that the feature of the 
 Prohibition Amendment most repugnant to 
 American democracy is its assault on the 
 personal liberty of the citizen. 
 
 3. Mr. Wheeler admits that such was the 
 design of the Anti-Saloon League. 
 
 4. Personal liberty is not to be recognized 
 as the right of the American under the Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 5. Mr. Wheeler has made the issue plain: 
 
 6. The Anti-Saloon League is to be the 
 sole arbiter of the degree to which personal 
 liberty in the United States shall be enjoyed. 
 
 7. As a citizen of "free America," how 
 do you like it ? 
 
 The two Worlds, morning and evening, are hard 
 hitters in the editorial ring. Their footwork is un- 
 surpassed ; they dance all round an opponent, and 
 
 until the punch lands, he hasn't any idea where 
 they intend to strike. They like quick, sharp fight- 
 ing, hopping in and out, and seldom permitting a 
 clinch ; and their eye is unerring in picking the 
 spot for a blow. Logic, conviction, and often in- 
 dignation, as in this specimen, make them "scrap- 
 pers" to be both respected and feared. But though 
 they are ready to come back any number of times 
 for another go, their bouts are essentially one-round 
 affairs. Perhaps this is owing largely to the theory 
 inherited from Joseph Pulitzer, that no man knows 
 more than 500 words' worth about any subject at 
 one time ; or, put in another way, that with proper 
 condensation, all there is to say about a proposition 
 can be said in 500 words. How this editorial takes 
 advantage of an opening to go through with a body 
 blow, is characteristic. 
 
 THE TRUFFLERS 
 
 Ck)llier's Weekly 
 
 1. A society with a long name and some 
 agents with long ears would suppress James 
 Branch Cabell's fantastical romance, "Jur- 
 gen." Some weeks ago the publishers of 
 a book called "Madeleine" were prosecuted 
 on a like charge. "Madeleine" may fail in 
 announced purpose to promote morality by 
 unflinching revelation of a certain lady's 
 life, or it may be unworthy serious consid- 
 eration as a work of art; the case of 
 "Jurgen" is different, though to agents bent 
 on suppression it seems the same. Here is 
 a work of brilliant fancy, the writing of a 
 man indisputably a master of prose. We 
 have yet to hear of a person of good taste 
 who finds in Mr. Cabell's work anything 
 vulgar or mean. But, as Mr. Oliver Herford 
 once remarked with similar cases in view, 
 "To the pure all is impure." 
 
 2. Societies employing trufflers to harry 
 the honest writer, sculptor, or painter with 
 charges that, however ridiculous, damage 
 him in the estimation of a people too hurried 
 to follow a case to the end, should be made 
 both civilly and criminally responsible 
 through their officers. Otherwise our art 
 must for safety's sake wear pantalets. 
 
 An attack on self-instituted censors of art and lit- 
 erature. A number of organizations have been 
 able to procure grants of authority giving them pow- 
 ers such as many citizens believe can with safety 
 be exercised by public officers only, and ought never 
 to be permitted to private persons. To appreciate 
 fully the strength of the editorial, one should know 
 that the great "trufflers" among animals are swine. 
 
 KEEP OUT THE BOLSHEVISTS 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 1. The House of Representatives has 
 voted, practically unanimously, in favor of 
 continuing our war passport restrictions an- 
 other year. These restrictions were abso- 
 lutely necessary, of course, in war time, but 
 they are scarcely less needed now, when the 
 hare-brained theorists of eastern Europe are 
 anxious to overrun us and would, if they 
 could, incite our inflammatory elements to 
 revolution. 
 
THE CONTROVERSIAL EDITORIAL 
 
 99 
 
 2. It is said that at every European port 
 Jolsheviki agents are gathering, waiting the 
 *resident's proclamation of peace in order 
 invade our borders. We must disappoint 
 hem by keeping the bars up against them. 
 Ve have no use for such mischief-makers on 
 his side of the ocean. They have helped to 
 ay Russia prostrate, they have stirred up 
 mrestful people throughout Europe, and 
 hey wish to inject their virus into the entire 
 American political system. 
 
 3. The extension of our passport restric- 
 ions is intended to cover the period preced- 
 ng a readjustment of our immigration legis- 
 ation. This legislation, it is expected, will 
 )rovide adequate protection for the country 
 :rom the threat of Bolshevist invasion, but 
 n the meantime it is imperative that no op- 
 )ortunity should be givien the trouble- 
 breeders to come in. Representative 
 Rogers of Massachusetts, acting chairman of 
 the Foreign Affairs Committee, says the 
 continuation of war-time passports is aimed 
 at the "dangerous propagandist class of 
 aliens." "The real purpose of the bill," adds 
 Representative Flood, "is to keep out dan- 
 gerous aliens who could do great harm to 
 our institutions." 
 
 4. There are already too many Bolshe- 
 vists of one or another sort in the United 
 States. Why is it that more of them are not 
 deported? On this point the New York 
 Times says: 
 
 It must be remembered that aliens 
 who have been convicted of offenses 
 against the Government, also many sus- 
 pects who have been proved "undesira- 
 ble," have not been deported as the law 
 requires. This scandalous indolence of 
 justice is well known in Europe, and it 
 is a reason why the European Bol- 
 sheviki regard America as the land of 
 opportunity for them, the soil in which 
 to sow their poisonous seed. 
 
 5. Let us have done with leniency toward 
 the dastardly plotters who wish to Rus- 
 sianize America. There is, or ought to be, 
 no room for them in a republic whose basic 
 principle is wholly hostile to the abom- 
 inable class tyranny which the Bolsheviki 
 advocate. 
 
 tl. Announcement of proposition. 112. State- 
 ment of basic facts involved by the situation. 
 
 ^3. Justification of means adopted for temporary 
 control. K114-5. Statement of situation in Amer- 
 ica, and appeal for decisive final action. 
 
 DODGING THE ISSUE 
 
 Breeder's Gazette 
 
 1. It seems impossible to make our posi- 
 tion on the family nomenclature matter as 
 relates to pedigree cattle breeding clear. 
 Either our powers of expression are alto- 
 
 gether inadequate or the comprehension of 
 some of our critics is of the lowest order 
 known to mammals. One of the latest of 
 those trotted out as high scientific authority 
 on this subject opens a reference to the mat- 
 ter with the following: 
 
 During the last few months certain 
 writers on livestock-breeding topics 
 have seen fit to question the value of 
 paying attention to the female line of 
 descent in the pedigree, on the ground 
 that this line is immaterial if the other 
 bloodlines of the animal are good. 
 2. It scarcely seems necessary to say 
 that so far as we have followed this con- 
 troversy no one has proposed that no atten- 
 tion be paid to the female line of descent. 
 No one, so far as we know, has said that 
 any one line of descent is "immaterial." 
 There has been a lot said, however, about 
 the folly of singling out any one female 
 ancestress alone, and playing her, or rather 
 her name, up as the one great paramount 
 basis of present-day sale-ring valuation to 
 the exclusion of other pedigree elements of 
 at least equal importance. It is against 
 this exaggeration of the relative importance 
 of some remote female ancestress that The 
 Gazette has protested, and will continue to 
 protest. The Gazette welcomes criticism 
 and discussion upon this point from any and 
 all sources. With those who set up men of 
 straw of their own creation and with flourish 
 of trumpets proceed to demolish the poor 
 creations of their own imagination we can 
 have no argument. They are just amusing 
 themselves; albeit they may fancy while so 
 engaged that they are performing a great 
 service to the public. Of course they know 
 better, but that makes little difference if 
 personal glory, cheaply bought, may be 
 achieved by such methods. 
 
 The Gazette's editorial was printed in a running 
 — and free-for-all — controversy. This particular con- 
 tribution is partly an attempt to keep the questions 
 at issue clear — something quite necessary in debate. 
 Its logical detachment, however, is perhaps obscured 
 a bit by the obviously disputatious tone. 
 
 THE VOICES GROW FAINT 
 
 Hartford Courant 
 
 1. The Democrats of Maine named dele- 
 gates to the coming convention in San 
 Francisco on Tuesday, and, judging by the 
 accounts of the meeting in Bangor, a "good 
 time was had by all." Antoinette Funk, 
 who sent circulars to all of us during the 
 war, was the chief speaker, after the chair- 
 man of the convention, L. J. Brann, became 
 exhausted upon having termed Governor 
 Milliken an autocrat, and she alluded to 
 President Wilson as a "leader of leaders." 
 With that beginning it was easy for the con- 
 
100 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 vention to express admiration for President 
 Wilson and "indorse his work for the party, 
 the country and the world." The things he 
 has done not for but to his party may be 
 expressed as plenty. 
 
 2. But it strikes us that the voices of 
 humanity are growing faint, for the Maine 
 Democrats in 1914 said this: 
 
 We rejoice in the glorious achieve- 
 ments of our great national party in 
 the administration of the affairs of the 
 nation; and to that pure patriot, wise 
 statesman and honest and fearless ex- 
 ecutive, Woodrow Wilson, and those 
 associated with him in their accom- 
 plishment, we extend our sincere con- 
 gratulations and express our fullest 
 satisfaction. 
 
 3. In those days the voices of humanity 
 were not husky and even here in New 
 England, a section of the country which 
 President Wilson had ignored pretty thor- 
 oughly, we find the Maine Democrats ex- 
 pressing themselves with enthusiasm. Even 
 Massachusetts found its followers of Jeffer- 
 son and others saying this: 
 
 We indorse the administration of 
 Woodrow Wilson in its entirety, and 
 ask every voter to think twice before 
 voting to rebuke a President who has 
 saved his country from all the horrors 
 of war. 
 
 4. Even the brethren in this State re- 
 affirmed their "allegiance to the time- 
 honored principles of Democracy" and in- 
 dorsed "the Democratic administration of 
 national affairs under the able leadership of 
 Woodrow Wilson." Where now, at the end 
 of six years, are the time-honored principles 
 and the able leadership? 
 
 5. The Rhode Island Democrats spoke of 
 the President as "patient," which he is 
 now in one sense of the word only, and 
 New Hampshire indorsed his administra- 
 tion "in the highest and most unqualified 
 terms." In view of these commendations it 
 must appear that the Democrats of Maine 
 have been ultra conservative in their ut- 
 terances this spring and the country will 
 await the eulogies of other gatherings with 
 some curiosity. 
 
 6. The glorious achievements and the 
 allegiance to time-honored principles are 
 now one with Nineveh and Tyre, and the 
 makers of platforms have a task before 
 them which is not exactly easy since the 
 aids to eloquence which were available in 
 1914 will not be in the midst of the platform- 
 makers this year. The voices of humanity, 
 as we have already said, are growing faint. 
 
 Clearly expressing disagreement and disapproval, 
 this editorial nevertheless escapes the disputatioxis 
 tone by reason of its satirically tolerant irony. 
 
 ALTERNATE JOHNSON 
 
 New York Times 
 
 1. Senator Johnson was elected one of 
 the alternate delegates to the Chicago con- 
 vention, "obviously," says Mr. De Young's 
 San Francisco Chronicle, "with a view of 
 making a vacancy for him in the regular 
 body when the question of the proposed 
 alliance is before the convention, as, ap- 
 parently, it will be." The "alliance" is, of 
 course, the Covenant of the League of Na- 
 tions, to whose "iniquities" "no other public 
 man has given such study." By a rather 
 unfortunate reference to "the florid elo- 
 quence" "of the young man Bryan" in the 
 Democratic National Convention of 1896, 
 the purpose and the hope of the California 
 Johnsonians in choosing their hero as an 
 alternate are betrayed. He has to melt 
 stony hearts by his eloquence. His mighty 
 voice is to soften and persuade hostile 
 delegations. The galleries, judiciously 
 "dressed," will make majestic reboation. In 
 a grand transformation scene, pandemonic 
 in hullabaloo, panangelic in brotherly affec- 
 tion, the foremost anti-iniquitarian will be 
 nominated by a unanimous vote. 
 
 2. Lovely picture, more than worthy of 
 the golden age! We hear the iron tears 
 drawn down Penrose's cheek. Even Murray 
 Crane takes shelter in a confessing handker- 
 chief. The rocky heart of William Barnes 
 is moved to the late remorse of love. The 
 groups of veteran politicians who were 
 cold and deaf to so many miles of appealing 
 words in 1912 and 1916 are won at last. 
 Yet why should Senator Johnson's physical 
 presence and far-heard voice be necessary 
 to get him the prize? He deserves it for 
 more solid reasons. He represents openly 
 the steady hostility, shown more insidiously 
 by the leader of the Republican Party in 
 the Senate, to the League of Nations, to the 
 reconstruction of business confidence, to the 
 diminution of armaments and war. In his 
 six years as Governor the expenditures of 
 the State were increased nearly 100 per 
 cent. As an economist, a reducer of taxa- 
 tion, he perfectly represents the passion for 
 economy and tax reform of this Republican 
 Congress. With a so flawlessly Republican 
 record, why should he have to let loose his 
 thunder at Chicago? 
 
 By disclosing the motive, or object, assumed to be 
 present, this editorial aims to lessen the impressive- 
 ness of an anticipated incident. Note the sarcastic 
 undertone, the satirical, though urbane, flings at 
 well-known personages of opposed political faith, and 
 the open irony. (Such editorials are of course 
 mere individual shots in the skiraiishes and battles 
 of a political campaign ; though they have their own 
 unity and object, they are in fact just small single 
 manifestations of the larger, governing political 
 policy of the paper. 
 
THE CONTROVERSIAL EDITORIAL 
 
 101 
 
 im 
 
 A GOOD BUSINESS 
 
 Pep 
 
 1. A lot of newspapermen sit around re- 
 eating that stale old epigram, and false, 
 hich proclaims the newspaper business a 
 ood business — to get out of. Forget it! 
 
 2. It's true that now and then some 
 iap fitted by nature to be a milkman or a 
 :reet car conductor drifts into the news- 
 aper business. Of course, it's a good bus- 
 less for him to get out of. And sometimes 
 ate shoves a potential banker or politician 
 ito a news room; and, of course, such a 
 lan should make his escape speedily. 
 
 3. But for the real newspaperman, the 
 lan with an instinct for news, the news- 
 aper business is the only logical business 
 1 the world for him to be in, by which is 
 leant that it's the only business that will 
 fford him, at one and the same time, a 
 iving, his widest opportunity for service, 
 ,nd happiness. 
 
 4. You've seen many a newspaperman 
 quit the game," as per long expressed 
 hreat, and you've seen just about as many 
 f these men tickled to death to get back 
 nto the game. 
 
 5. The nub of it all lies in this, that with 
 he same breath he threatens to quit the 
 lewspaperman bewails the low salaries news- 
 )apers pay. He fails to see that there is an 
 ntimate connection between the size of the 
 lewspaperman's wage and the estimate 
 lewspapermen place on their profession. 
 
 6. We know a certain news editor who 
 ?ets $85 a week, not a bad newspaper 
 salary as things go. For the same amount 
 )f thought, energy, and real genius this 
 newspaperman, were he a department head 
 Df a big manufacturing concern, would get 
 somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000. 
 
 7. All of that is true. But one of the 
 hings that makes it true. Pep believes, is 
 :his: The newspaperman's habit of under- 
 
 stimating the worth of his calling. 
 
 8. If you have a dollar you want changed 
 and you tell every man you meet that your 
 particular dollar is worth only ninety 
 cents, that because it's worth only ninety 
 cents you want to get out from under as 
 quickly as possible, you can't very well ex- 
 pect to get 100 cents in change for it. 
 
 9. Newspapermen have been doing things 
 of that sort. They have told themselves, 
 their fellows, their employers, their friends 
 and the public that a newspaper job is a 
 90 cent affair. 
 
 10. Talk of propaganda! Let every 
 newspaperman in the country or half of 
 them or a hundred of them start talking 
 their business as the best business in the 
 world, one that under no circumstances 
 
 they could be enticed out of, one that's 
 going to command bigger and bigger sal- 
 aries — let the newspaperman start talking 
 that way and Pep will bet a copy of itself 
 to a sheet of blank paper that in five years 
 newspaper salaries will respond to treat- 
 ment, and the falsity of the stale old 
 epigram will be patent. 
 
 T11I1-2. statement of pTOposition that is to be con- 
 troverted ; its occasional truth conceded. 
 
 ^113-4. The representative fact shown, opposed to 
 the occasional, 
 
 i[|5-6. Indication of the source of the trouble; illus- 
 tration. 1117-8. Exposition of and argument on 
 
 15 carried further. 119. Express application of 
 
 11117-8 to the disputed proposition. 
 
 ilO. Conclusion, couched in language of a stimula- 
 tive force for the sake of conviction, or appeal. 
 
 EXPLAINED AT LAST 
 
 Kansas City Star 
 
 1. Responsibility now has been fully and 
 satisfactorily fixed for all the shortcomings 
 of the postal service. Mr. Burleson, when 
 his attention was called to the fact that 
 the service was dragging in the middle and 
 sagging at both ends, instantly put his 
 finger on the whole trouble. He could have 
 done it before had he been notified that 
 anything was the matter. Actually, there- 
 fore, a large part of the blame rests upon 
 the public for not notifying the Postmaster 
 General sooner. He is a busy man, and can- 
 not be expected to be up on postal affairs 
 all the time. 
 
 2. But aside from this delinquency of the 
 public the responsibility for the postal 
 breakdown, the secretary explains, must be 
 placed upon "the interests." Perhaps there 
 are some persons who do not know what 
 "the interests" are. Well, they assume va- 
 rious forms to various public officials whose 
 departments are inefficient, but in Mr. Bur- 
 leson's case they are the railroads, which' 
 were opposed to the parcels post, and cer- 
 tain unpatriotic publishers who objected to 
 the increased second class postal rates. 
 These "interests" decided that the way 
 to get even was to demoralize the Post- 
 office Department so they wouldn't get their 
 own mail on time. It was a fiendish re- 
 venge, but "the interests" stick at nothing. 
 
 3. With this hint of where the trouble 
 lies it is perfectly easy to understand the 
 lengths to which these conspirators were 
 able to carry the persecutions under 
 which Mr. Burleson has labored. "The in- 
 terests" missent their own mail. They at- 
 tached mail cars to wrong trains. They 
 instructed their debtors to remit drafts to 
 fictitious persons so they would never come 
 to hand. "The interests" can do these 
 things because the childlike simplicity for 
 which Mr. Burleson is known is no match 
 for their political cunning. They wouldn't 
 
102 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 dare try it with a political Postmaster 
 General. 
 
 4. Mr. Burleson's explanation ought to 
 end all criticism of his department. But 
 if it doesn't he can come back with another 
 which surely will silence the most captious. 
 That one is that since he took over the 
 telegraph lines telegrams have been sent 
 by mail, which has so congested the latter 
 service that neither letters nor telegrams 
 arrive any more. 
 
 Irony and keen satire directed against a public 
 officer assumed to be incompetent or derelict in the 
 discharge of his duties. 
 
 A CHECK TO MEDDLESOMENESS 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 1. The Federal Trade Commission, no 
 doubt prompted by worthy motives in the 
 public interests — a Government bureau, of 
 course, ought to be above suspicion, when 
 it comes to motives — called upon a mining 
 company in Ohio to furnish it monthly re- 
 ports of production costs and other data. In 
 order to overcome any hesitancy about com- 
 plying, the commission notified the concern 
 that for every day's delay a penalty of one 
 hundred dollars would be imposed. The 
 company, instead of rendering a report, 
 brought what all parties in interest politely 
 agree is a "friendly suit," in the Supreme 
 Court of the District of Columbia, to test 
 the commission's authority to make any 
 such order, with or without a penalty. 
 
 2. The opinion of the court is that the 
 commission exceeded its authority; and, 
 moreover, that Congress could not grant to 
 a Federal bureau "power so vast and un- 
 precedented" as is involved in the right of 
 visitation and inquisition into a business 
 carried on within a State. 
 
 3. The Federal Trade Commission was 
 presumably aware of the suggested limita- 
 tion. But it reasoned that because coal is 
 shipped out of the State where it is pro- 
 duced everything relating to the business is 
 a legitimate matter for the Government's 
 concern, under the general authority of 
 Congress over interstate commerce. The 
 court flatly disagrees with this plausible 
 reasoning. 
 
 4. The friendly suit may be carried to 
 the ultimate tribunal. Meanwhile the busi- 
 ness community will shed no tears at the 
 enforced suspension of one of the meddle- 
 some activities of the Federal Trade Com- 
 mission. The railroads have long been 
 burdened with a vast annual expenditure in 
 making reports, for a great part unneces- 
 sary, demanded by the Interstate Commerce 
 Commission. It is appalling to think of the 
 waste of money and effort that would be 
 
 incurred If the Federal Trade Commission,^ 
 in its zeal to justify its existence, should 
 undertake to pursue the same policy with 
 respect to general industry, and be at lib- 
 erty to go as far as it pleased. As to the 
 production costs of mining corporations, of 
 course, there need not be, if there is, any- 
 thing withheld from the public about them 
 even if the trade commission is held in 
 leash. 
 
 fl. statement of preliminary facts. 112. State- 
 ment of resulting decision. ^3. R$sum^ of tlie 
 
 theory upset by the decision. 114. Condemna- 
 tion of the theory thus upset. 
 
 THE GRAND ARMY OF THE FARMS 
 
 Country Gentleman 
 
 1. Anyone who has traveled about agri- 
 cultural America these past few years has 
 been impressed with the fact that the 
 farms of this country are largely manned 
 by old men. If farmers who have passed 
 their fiftieth birthdays were removed from 
 American farms there would not be left suf- 
 ficient working force to grow food for the 
 seventy million or so who live in cities. If 
 all the men above sixty had been so removed 
 in April, 1917, part of Europe at least 
 would have starved, 
 
 2. Attend a convention of farmers in 
 almost any section of the United States and 
 you will be amazed at the number of gray- 
 beards. Talk to them and you will get a 
 definite expression of discouragement. The 
 boys have left the farms. 
 
 3. But father cannot hire help, for farm 
 labor is only a memory. Farmers at fifty 
 are but in their prime, provided they have 
 labor at their command; farmers at sixty 
 are, frankly, slipping. 
 
 4. It is doubtful if ever in our history 
 was the age average of American farmers 
 so high. As you talk to these farmers you 
 cannot escape the thought that they are 
 the Grand Army of the Farms. They can- 
 not live forever, and the pace for three 
 years has been fast. After they are gone, 
 who will carry the load? 
 
 5. Consider, for example, the case of a 
 Missouri farmer, now near seventy. When 
 war was declared his hired man left for 
 carpenter's wages on an army cantonment. 
 There was no other farm hand to be had. 
 Four sons, raised on that farm, were fend- 
 ing for themselves — in the cities. A fifth 
 son was in the state agricultural college. 
 He came home to do the work of the hired 
 man. In a few months the draft took him 
 from the farm. With three sons in the 
 Army, the father did not purpose to quit. 
 For two years he farmed 200 acres of 
 gumbo soil to the limit of his capacity and 
 that of his mule teams, but when the war 
 
THE CONTROVERSIAL EDITORIAL 
 
 103 
 
 nded he sold the farm and the mules and 
 noved to town. His case has its counter- 
 Darts in every state where draft boards 
 failed to temper patriotism with common 
 sense. 
 
 6. There are no medals to be handed out 
 to the farmers who stuck to their furrows 
 in wartime. And yet the gnarled old Con- 
 necticut granger who told, in the early fall 
 of 1917, all about his boy in the Argonne 
 
 nd then hurried home to milk his twelve 
 cows, was financially able to sit by the fire 
 and take his interest out in reading. 
 
 7. There never will be any Grand Army 
 of the Farms in name. There is one in fact. 
 Ask any county agent anywhere if he knew 
 of any farmer above three-score years who 
 quit in 1917 because the boys went to war 
 and hired help faded from the earth. These 
 old men are quitting now. It was not hard 
 to convince them that their duty was to pro- 
 duce food as long as the flag was still in 
 France. It is hard to convince them now 
 that they should toil at the plow to feed a 
 well-paid individual who would stop the 
 mines and railroads to enforce a six-hour, 
 five-day working schedule for himself. 
 
 An editorial like this is more than clear; it is 
 pleasing. Its easy, unaffected manner gives it both 
 lucidity and dignity, and its sympathetic view of the 
 subject gives it natural force without false in- 
 tensity. In structure it is of the plan opposed 
 
 to the topic-first type. It is inductive rather than 
 deductive in order. It does not begin with a state- 
 ment of its proposition or an indication of its 
 course of thought. Instead, it begins with particu- 
 lars that, although significant and interest-catching, 
 do not disclose as yet what they are leading to. But 
 as one particular or fact, following another leads 
 the reader on, the editorial gradually builds up an 
 interpretation that is an impressive appeal for the 
 honor due the farmers. Through fS it is a "purpose" 
 editorial ; only in ^.7 does it approach more directly 
 to outright argument. It is doubtful, however, if 
 outright argument all the way through would be 
 any more effective. 
 
 THE BEGUILING OF THE CLERGY 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. A brief letter from a rural citizen, 
 which has direct application to both church 
 and political conditions in many parts of 
 the country, is printed in the current Na- 
 tional Republican, as follows: 
 
 May I not suggest that if the litera- 
 ture of some of our churches taught 
 more of Jesus Christ and not so much 
 of Woodrow Wilson, they (the 
 churches) might not need to complain 
 of decreased membership, and the ef- 
 fect on the rising generation would be 
 more wholesome, if not so favorable to 
 Article X. 
 
 2. This letter was written by W. B. 
 Amos of Reedsville, O., a little village made 
 up of farmers. We happen to know both 
 
 the writer and his community, composed of 
 plain, unassuming citizens of the average 
 rural sort. There are ten thousand others 
 like it in the United States where men in 
 their shirt sleeves do straight thinking and 
 speak common sense. One of the glories 
 of America is that one does not have to go 
 to the big cities or great universities, for 
 lessons in religion or patriotism. No com- 
 munity is so remote or unimportant that 
 one cannot find American brains in it, func- 
 tioning in perfect accord with vital prin- 
 ciples of religion and politics. 
 
 3. Perhaps every church-goer and reader 
 of denominational publications has seen 
 one or more sermons whose real text was 
 not an utterance of Christ, but of Woodrow 
 Wilson. Only here and there, apparently, 
 was there a church editor or preacher 
 strong enough to resist Mr. Wilson's smooth 
 promises as a temporary substitute for the 
 words and promises of Christ. There was, 
 for a time after the president's return from 
 abroad, an epidemic of sermons glorifying 
 Wilson, inspired not by the word of God, 
 but by Wilson's adroitly phrased testament 
 of internationalism. Many ministers who 
 did not fathom its full meaning, who were 
 not then acquainted with the multitude of 
 abhorrent disloyalties to principles and dis- 
 honest compromises by which it was tainted 
 to suit the ulterior purposes of European 
 diplomacy, burst into eulogies of a thing 
 now abominable in the light of later knowl- 
 edge. They forgot the warning of Peter: 
 
 There shall be false teachers among 
 you, who privily shall bring in damna- 
 ble heresies. . . . And many shall 
 follow their pernicious ways; by reason 
 of whom the way of truth shall be evil 
 spoken of. . . . And with covetous- 
 ness shall they with feigned words make 
 merchandise of you. 
 
 4. Fortunately the majority of these err- 
 ing church papers and preachers now dis- 
 cern that the way of Wilson is not "the 
 way of truth;" that "damnable heresies" 
 against national principles are in his false 
 testament of selfish European interests, put 
 there "privily" after a solemn promise that 
 it should be an open covenant openly ar- 
 rived at; that covetousness of vainglory and 
 world-power animated the idol of clay they 
 worshipped at Paris; and that on his return 
 he "made merchandise" of them to promote 
 an unholy political ambition. They know 
 now that Article X of the covenant is 
 neither a beatitude nor an echo of the 
 Golden Rule, but a plot to use the military 
 power and resources of the United States 
 in every political dispute in the world, for 
 the sole advantage of Europe. 
 
104 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 5. Both church papers and preachers now 
 generally realize that confusing the craftily 
 constructed speeches of Mr. Wilson with 
 Holy Writ was an unprofitable venture. The 
 substitute for the Savior spread his net in 
 vain in the sight of village birds like W. B. 
 Amos of Reedsville. But it caught thou- 
 sands in the pulpits and university faculties. 
 
 An interpretation of a tendency, turning into an 
 attack upon a policy and the man associated with it. 
 
 COUNTING MADE EASY 
 
 Saturday Evening Post 
 
 1. We are informed that our friends, the 
 field sportsmen, viewing with alarm the 
 rapid decrease of shotgunnen-futter, are 
 contemplating radical action in remedy. 
 They propose to make a census of the re- 
 maining American game. We are to know 
 not only how many devastating hawks and 
 crows and pelicans and cats and kingfishers 
 we have, but also how many bobwhite quail 
 and ruffed grouse and rabbits and squirrels 
 and sparrows and meadow larks. 
 
 2. It is an excellent idea, and one not 
 without precedent. It will be recalled that 
 certain bureaus of the National Government 
 united a couple of years ago in making a 
 count of the Yellowstone elk. The elk were 
 decreasing, and cows and sheep were in- 
 creasing round them. Obviously the way to 
 save the elk was to count them; and there- 
 fore they were gravely counted. We be- 
 lieve that the result was very satisfactory 
 to all parties concerned, except possibly the 
 elk themselves. The cows and sheep might 
 thereafter increase, the elk thereafter might 
 decrease; but we had done our duty. We 
 had counted the game. 
 
 3. We beg leave to point out to our 
 friends in the Department of Agriculture 
 that their count was made too soon and un- 
 der difficulties which might have been 
 avoided. Not so irreverent as to doubt the 
 accuracy of a count of certain thousands of 
 live elk on the hoof, we must insist that the 
 count could have been much more easily 
 and accurately made had the Government 
 waited until the elk were dead. A dead elk 
 piled up on the station platform is so much 
 more apt to hold still while he is being 
 counted. 
 
 4. Two thousand elk, dead ones, were 
 counted at Gardiner Station, Montana, at 
 the north edge of Yellowstone Park, during 
 only one month of the fall, when a 
 premature snowstorm had driven them out 
 of the high range. The Montana season is 
 made long, so that every settler can get 
 his elk. 
 
 5. All along that line — a line of forced 
 and unnatural migration — the sound of rifle 
 fire was continuous for weeks. At this 
 
 writing the full tale of the killing is not 
 yet done. But surely two thousand elk 
 already counted are enough to clinch our 
 argument that our census takers should 
 have waited. They will not need to wait 
 long now before they can get the exact 
 count of the elk. 
 
 6. Of course if this country really cares 
 to save the last elk herd there is just one 
 way in which it can be done: The Greater 
 Yellowstone Park extension must go south as 
 far as the Buffalo Fork in the Jackson's 
 Hole country. This would partially provide 
 winter range if the domestic animals were 
 cleared out sufficiently to leave grass for 
 the elk. This extension alone would not be 
 enough. Additional range must come out 
 of some future adjustment of the balance 
 between the domestic animals and game. 
 We can raise domestic animals elsewhere, 
 but we cannot raise elk elsewhere in any 
 numbers. It is a problem in horse sense, 
 and requires no watchmaking mind for un- 
 derstanding. 
 
 This ironical attack on the routine methodology 
 of officialdom is, after an editorial fashion, sugges- 
 tive of Dickens's satire of the Circumlocution Office 
 and the method of How-not-to-do-it. 
 
 REBIRTH 
 
 The Delineator 
 
 1. We have a friend who lives on a 
 ranch in Montana. She is seventy-five 
 miles from the nearest railway and over 
 twenty miles from the nearest neighbor. 
 Excepting for her husband and her four 
 children, she is utterly alone. 
 
 2. She is a woman of education and re- 
 finement. For fifteen years she has never 
 known surcease from grinding poverty. She 
 has not had a new hat or suit in five years, 
 her husband in ten. Two years ago, 
 woman who was going to take up land be- 
 yond my friend's, died at our friend's cabin, 
 in childbirth. My friend's only good dress 
 was used to bury the poor wanderer in. 
 
 3. We know many intimate details of 
 
 G 's life. We know that her last letter 
 
 was written when the snow was six feet 
 deep around the cabin and the coyotes 
 howled outside the corrals. We know 
 that during the World War she made some 
 beautiful layettes for the clothesless babies 
 of France, and that it took her and her 
 husband nearly two years to pay up the 
 one hundred and forty dollars the materials 
 for the layettes cost. 
 
 4. We know that two of her children 
 are adopted and that she is deeply dis- 
 tressed that she cannot afford to take an- 
 other child. We know the books she reads; 
 and the colors she likes; we know many of] 
 her joys and griefs. 
 
THE CONTROVERSIAL EDITORIAL 
 
 105 
 
 5. Yet, we never have seen her. 
 
 6. To us she is as vivid a reality as 
 ough we could touch her hand this mo- 
 ent. We count her friendship as one of 
 e choice jewels of life. Out of that re- 
 ote mountain ranch there conies to us in 
 e maelstrom of the city, a philosophy as 
 
 I ear and high as it is unconscious. 
 7. G has found the well-springs of 
 e worth-while in human life. 
 
 8. She believes entirely that one must 
 ive more than one takes. She is troubled 
 lat she is not living in a more crowded 
 )mmunity where she can "do more for 
 
 3ople." G does not realize that it is the 
 
 2gree of sacrifice in the giving that 
 Dunts. When she put her only decent 
 ress on the body of the dead mother, her 
 ift was greater than all of Carnegie's 
 tiarities. When she and her husband gave 
 wo years of their toil to paying for the 
 ttle layettes, their munificence excelled 
 tiat of the Rockefellers. When she gave 
 p all idea of owning a ranch for years to 
 ome, that she and her husband might see 
 wo destitute children to decent American 
 itizenship, her heroism was worthy of 
 lore than a distinguished-conduct medal. 
 
 9. Goethe preached the doctrine of en- 
 ightened selfishness, and Pan-Germanism 
 esulted. 
 
 10. Mercenary selfishness is a perilously 
 )opular American spirit today. 
 
 11. The only hope America has of a re- 
 )irth that shall make her permanently great 
 
 s that people like my friend G and her 
 
 lusband live and give. Their spirit, and 
 :hat only, can fight America's Pan- 
 VLoneyism. 
 
 12. Easter! The resurrection day of the 
 areatest Giver the world has known: where 
 shall His doctrine be found today? Surely 
 ip at that lonely ranch where there is "the 
 silence that is of the starry skies, the 
 5leep that is of the lonely hills." 
 
 A defense — by the means of human interest — of 
 Lhe ideal of self-sacrifice and duty as the standard 
 jf life ; a "purpose" editorial. 
 
 SETTLING THE BONUS ACCOUNTS 
 
 Sun and New York Herald 
 
 1. Representative Pell of New York said 
 in Congress the other day that he expects 
 tiis opposition to bonus billions voted stu- 
 pendously and scattered indiscriminately to 
 forfeit his political career. Clear sighted as 
 a patriot on this grave national issue and 
 stout hearted as a public servant in the 
 performance of his duty, Mr. Pell may 
 prove to be a too modest estimator of his 
 measure in public opinion and an indifferent 
 prophet as to his own fate. 
 
 2. The American people are not in doubt 
 as to the purpose of the political gentry 
 which would engineer a colossal raid on the 
 national Treasury and the national tax- 
 payers. The American people know that 
 the Government is not able to pay its bills 
 this very fiscal year by a matter of more 
 than three billions of dollars. The Amer- 
 ican people know that the Government's 
 I U's are stuifed into the banks by the 
 ton to hocus-pocus this staggering defi- 
 ciency of revenues. The American people 
 know that this is what overstrains the credit 
 situation to the danger point, keeps the 
 printing presses printing money incessantly, 
 and jacks up living costs inordinately. 
 
 3. The American people demand that the 
 Government shall cut down its expenditures 
 by many hundreds of millions of dollars a 
 year; they know that if it doesn't do so the 
 Treasury I U's must go on piling into 
 the banks and national inflation must go 
 on slicing the value of our dollar. 
 
 4. The American people demand that 
 the Government's floating debt shall be ex- 
 tinguished; they know that if old taxes and 
 new taxes are not applied to wiping out 
 this I O U floating debt, industry and busi- 
 ness will become hamstrung, payrolls will 
 be cut and American bread and butter will 
 be sacrificed. 
 
 5. The American people demand that 
 those whom the war has left permanently 
 maimed and helpless shall be cared for un- 
 failingly and generously through all the 
 years of their need and suffering. They 
 know that if billions are now poured into 
 political bribery, emptying the Treasury, 
 undermining the national credit and increas- 
 ing the national floating debt even while the 
 national taxes soar higher and higher, there 
 never can be for those who are the na- 
 tion's true wards the adequate and tender 
 care which we all shall owe them to the last 
 hour of their blasted lives. 
 
 6. The American people's confidence is 
 going to be strengthened in their legisla- 
 tive representatives who resist to the end 
 the political profligates who would storm 
 the Treasury to pay for the votes they 
 want to buy with bonus billions. The 
 American people are going to fix the day 
 of reckoning for their faithless representa- 
 tives who, when the Government's excess 
 of expenditures over income can be counted 
 only in billions, are willing to make it 
 billions more; who, when the Government's 
 slathers of I U's are keeping three billions 
 of bank resources away from industry, busi- 
 ness and production, are willing to keep 
 away four billions or five billions or six 
 billions; who, when this inflation caused by 
 
106 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 the Government's I U's has driven up 
 prices 50, 75 and 100 per cent for American 
 consumers to pay, are wiling to drive them 
 up still further. 
 
 7. There will indeed be a settling of ac- 
 counts at the polls if bonus billions are 
 scattered right and left regardless of what 
 man deserves them and what man gets them, 
 but when the day of settlement comes no- 
 body need question that many a bonus poli- 
 tician will get from the American voters a 
 free ride out of public life on a rail. 
 
 Emphatic opinion concerning the motives and wis- 
 dom of impending legislation. At the time when 
 this editorial was printed, a bonus bill seemed cer- 
 tain of enactment by the Congress then in session. 
 Ultimately, however, it was left to some later time. 
 
 HOGS AND MERCHANDISE 
 
 (Secretary) E. T. Meredith, in Building Tirade With 
 Farmers 
 
 1. Three actors on the stage in a New 
 York theater were discussing what they 
 had done to help win the war. 
 
 2. One of them had joined the army 
 and gone to France. 
 
 3. The second one had joined the navy 
 and gone to sea. 
 
 4. The third man said he was a producer. 
 He had stayed at home and produced food 
 for the soldiers and sailors. 
 
 5. The others acknowledged that his 
 service was just as necessary as theirs, and 
 asked what kind of food he had produced. 
 He said he fed hogs. They asked him if he 
 found it profitable. 
 
 6. He said, "Well, I bought ten hogs for 
 $25 apiece. I fed them $250 worth of feed, 
 and sold them for $50 each." 
 
 7. The soldier said, "Why, you didn't 
 make any money on them. You just broke 
 even." 
 
 8. "Yes, I know," said the man who had 
 stayed at home. "But it was the patriotic 
 thing to do, and then I had the use of the 
 hogs all winter." 
 
 9. A good many merchants who buy un- 
 branded, unadvertised, unknown merchan- 
 dise because it is cheap and keep it on their 
 shelves because nobody wants it, must be 
 satisfied with the thought that they have 
 had the use of the merchandise for six 
 months or a year or more. 
 
 10. It has given their store the appear- 
 ance of being well stocked. It has filled up 
 their shelves and storage places. It has 
 occupied space that represents an expense 
 either in rent or interest on the investment. 
 
 11. Merchandise for which a general 
 reputation has been built through advertis- 
 ing does not keep the shelves filled up. The 
 merchant does not get the use of it very 
 long, especially if he uses your paper to tell 
 
 people that he has it in stock, Somebo., 
 is always ready to buy known merchandij 
 with an established reputation if they kncj 
 where to get it. 
 
 12. You, as the best advertising a 
 thority in your town, owe a very defini 
 obligation to your merchants, just as the 
 as purchasing agents for the communit 
 owe a definite obligation to the consumll 
 public. 11 
 
 13. It would be a real service to yoi 
 merchants and to the community if yo^ 
 
 with your natural nose for news, wotf 
 
 make an mvestigation of the shelves ^^ 
 your merchants to determine how much c 
 unbranded, unknown merchandise, bougi 
 because it was cheap, and kept because i 
 one wanted it, is wasting space in the 
 stores and tying up good money that mi 
 be earning dividends if it were invested 
 generally advertised merchandise that p 
 pie have been taught to want. 
 
 14. If you can lead them to get the oLi 
 unsalable stuff together and advertise it i 
 your paper as junk at junk prices, you wi 
 open the way for them to advertise a bettc 
 service to the community in the shape ( 
 generally known merchandise with an ei 
 tablished reputation for quality and satii, 
 faction. »■ 
 
 A "purpose" editorial, addressed to a "class" pil 
 lie — in this case, publishers of country papers.^" 
 may be called interpretive, too, as it is a didact" 
 explanation, how to accomplish a desired aim. Ho\i 
 ever, because it aims to persuade such publishei 
 to action in the way expounded, its kinship wit 
 the argumentative editorial is also clear. 
 
 I 
 
 Chapter VII. Exercises 
 
 1. Find good illustrations of each of th 
 four sub-classes of controversial editorif 
 (see Schema). Be prepared to produc 
 them (preferably clipped and pasted) fo> 
 discussion. U 
 
 2. Make a skeleton outline, or plan, 11 
 each of the editorials (No. 1), beginnin,* 
 with a sentence stating the central or under 
 lying proposition. 
 
 3. Follow the editorials of a good edii 
 torial page (daily paper) for a week, anr 
 write down the subject of each editoria 
 that you regard as controversial, with th 
 point made and the manner of treatment 
 Have the list ready for presentation shou 
 it be called for. 
 
 4. Examine the editorials in leadu^ 
 weeklies devoted to or including editorial 
 comment, and prepare memoranda as in. 
 No. 3. 
 
 5. Write a paper (about 500 word 
 based upon your observations and concluf 
 sions in No. 3. Make it editorial in manner 
 
 6. As in 5, but based upon No. 4. 
 
 I 
 
 'iar 
 1)1 
 
 4 
 
 i3f 
 
 err 
 
 J 
 
THE CONTROVERSIAL EDITORIAL 
 
 107 
 
 7. Examine at least 5 magazines or 
 )eriodicals of other categories, jottmg 
 lown memoranda as in No. 3. 
 
 8. Selecting one of the editorials that 
 ;ou have already found, write a controver- 
 ;ial editorial upon it from a different point 
 )f view. 
 
 9. Another, as in 8. (May be profitably 
 •epeated.) 
 
 10. From the news-column, clip 5 stories 
 3n which controversial editorials can be 
 Dased. In sentence-form, state the pro- 
 Dosed point of each editorial, and the man- 
 ler of treatment. 
 
 11. Select one of the 5 suggestions 
 (No. 10); outline the editorial, then write 
 :he editorial entire. 
 
 12. Do another editorial as in 11. 
 
 13. Decide upon a topic and write an edi- 
 torial that is controversial in effect without 
 Deing controversial in form. 
 
 14. As in 13, using another kind of topic. 
 
 15. Avoiding hints drawn from the news, 
 make a list of 10 ideas for controversial 
 editorials. After each hint, state the class 
 or kind of subject it pertains to (e. g., per- 
 sonal conduct, politics, morals, trade). 
 
 16. Select from the list prepared in No. 
 15, 3 hints to be developed into editorials, 
 and block out the editorials. 
 
 17. Write out one of the editorials 
 (No. 16). 
 
 18. First block out, and then write, an- 
 other editorial, making the same point as 
 No. 17, but by a different method. 
 
 19. Write out another of the 3 editorials 
 prepared for in No. 16. ^ 
 
 20. Do with this editorial as directed in 
 No. 18. 
 
 21. Write a "purpose" editorial discuss- 
 ing some matter of college or of home- 
 town import. 
 
 22. Write an editorial of good-natured 
 satire. 
 
 23. Write an editorial of ironical intent. 
 
 24. Examine all the controversial edito- 
 rials that you have now written. What 
 method has each followed? Are they 
 monotonous in the plan, method or treat- 
 ment adopted? Do they show ability to 
 argue without disputing? to make a point 
 without seeming to argue? to be forceful 
 without being violent, and to be fair though 
 feeling zeal? 
 
 25. Write a paper of 1500-2000 words 
 upon controversial editorials. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE SERIOUS ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 The essay turned journalistic. — All 
 
 the forms of editorial considered in 
 the preceding articles we are at lib- 
 erty to call essays; but if we do so, 
 we must look on them as essays skil- 
 fully specialized to a particular 
 purpose — that of journalistic presen- 
 tation. If "Journalism is applied lit- 
 erature," then these editorials may 
 be regarded as applied essay-writing. 
 
 There is, however, a type of edi- 
 torial in which the specific adaptation 
 of the article to the journalistic 
 method is less obvious and less far- 
 reaching. This is the essay-editorial, 
 frequently called the editorial essay. 
 Perhaps the term essay-editorial is, 
 however, the better; it reminds us 
 that the editorial essay is after all 
 conceived with journalistic purpose, 
 and not altogether as an essay, and 
 that it should, therefore, adapt itself 
 to journalistic requirements. 
 
 The essay in adaptation. — Chief 
 among the general principles that the 
 essay can utilize in adapting itself to 
 journalistic purpose, is the principle 
 of current timeliness or present perti- 
 nence. The essay must at bottom be 
 relevant to something about which 
 readers are thinking or desirous of 
 thinking; and if it establishes this 
 relevance by seizing upon some im- 
 mediate development or aspect of 
 affairs, so much the easier does it 
 command attention. There may be 
 no explicit indication of a "peg," yet 
 the reader will sense a bond between 
 the essay and his concern with life. 
 
 Its connection with contemporary 
 interest, its relevance to something 
 of prominence or significance in the 
 activities, the life, or the thought of 
 the times, once being apparent, the 
 
 editorial-essay then has extensivJ 
 freedom in choosing form and 
 method. It frequently adopts and 
 modifies to its purpose the formal 3- 
 stage plan: statement of theme and 
 preparatory matter, developing con- 
 sideration, and concluding inferenc^ 
 or application. Even in this, how] 
 ever, its adaptations of the formal 
 plan will be numerous and varied; 
 and it is not confined to the 3-stage 
 plan. Broadly speaking, we can 
 safely say that any scheme of organi- 
 zation suitable to the essay can be 
 adapted to the essay-editorial. Foij 
 the essay-editorial is journalistic! 
 more in purpose and spirit than it ha^ 
 to be in form. 
 
 Definition of essay. — For our pur- 
 poses, an essay may be defined as a 
 limited treatment or dissertation, 
 methodically developed, in careful if 
 not finished manner, upon some spe- 
 cial subject. Dissertations of such 
 sort may be either serious and 
 weighty, or casual and light, in their 
 treatment, mood, and tone. This 
 chapter is concerned with the more 
 serious sort of essay; Chapter IX i 
 will deal with those that are of thej 
 lighter touch and more casual vein. 
 
 The British leader as heavy essay. 
 — In several ways, the weighty or 
 serious essay-editorial is represented 
 by the editorial known in British 
 journalism as the editorial leader — a 
 careful presentation written for the 
 express purpose of serving as a guide 
 to public opinion. In the day of its 
 prime, the leader frequently ran two,,; 
 three, or even more columns in* 
 length. It was meant to be autliori- 
 tative ; it centered oftenest on a topic 
 of politics or government; and in 
 
THE SERIOUS ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 109 
 
 ome journals (for instance, The 
 imes) it semi-officially represented 
 he position of Government or the 
 
 I)pposition. The term "leader" is 
 till used; but British editorial col- 
 mns reveal a tendency toward 
 horter articles akin to that which 
 las affected American journals so 
 loticeably. 
 
 Tendencies in American practice. — 
 The American writer not infrequent- 
 y compresses his leading editorial 
 nto a column or half a column — not 
 ilways, it must be acknowledged, 
 ivithout sacrifices in thoroughness 
 md comprehensiveness. Extreme 
 compression, moreover, transforms 
 the essay into an editorial in the 
 stricter sense, since even a brief dis- 
 sertation requires a certain scope and 
 spaciousness for authoritative and 
 well-rounded presentation. 
 
 There is, however, a tendency with 
 us (and with our British brethren) 
 to transfer the essay-article to a 
 place outside the editorial columns — 
 those especially reserved for expres- 
 sion of the journal's "view," or "po- 
 sition," — thus quietly classifying it 
 as somewhat apart from the editorial 
 proper. This separate place may be 
 either on the editorial-page, or off it. 
 
 Kinds of serious essay-editorial. — 
 The serious, or authoritative, essay- 
 editorial can, for study purposes, be 
 subdivided into (a) the conspectus, 
 or essay of survey and review, and 
 (b) the critical essay. 
 
 The survey, or conspectus, is closely 
 akin to the editorial of review and 
 survey, already discussed. When the 
 editorial of survey grows into an au- 
 thoritative treatment in review, more 
 methodically developed and perhaps 
 more finished in manner, as well as 
 more inclusive in scope and material, 
 it becomes an essay-editorial. 
 
 Similarly, the critical essay is akin to 
 the editorial of interpretation or com- 
 ment. But it, too, is more thorough 
 and comprehensive in its inclusion 
 
 of facts, being (as we have noted) a 
 compressed study or limited disserta- 
 tion, rather than an expository sim- 
 plification of some more or less iso- 
 lated or incomplete set of facts. Like 
 the editorial, it treats the relations 
 and meanings of fact rather than the 
 facts in themselves ; for the function 
 of criticism is, to examine how dif- 
 ferent matters bear upon one an- 
 other, and thus to arrive at an under- 
 standing of more basic and general 
 views, theories, or principles. Hence 
 the critical essay either provides a 
 basic analysis of the matter in itself, 
 or else seeks a philosophic conception 
 of it or of its relations to other 
 subjects. 
 
 Subjects open to treatment. — ^The 
 authoritative essay-editorial, whether 
 belonging to the conspectus or to the 
 critical category, naturally has a 
 wide range of thought, since any sub- 
 ject that concerns mankind can, from 
 some viewpoint, be brought within 
 the aim of, and adapted to, journal- 
 istic presentation. The following 
 table lists the leading subjects likely 
 to be treated : 
 
 1. History and biography. 
 
 2. Science. 
 
 3. Politics and government. 
 
 4. Sociology and economics. 
 
 5. Art, literature, drama, music, 
 etc. 
 
 6. Philosophy. 
 
 7. Religion, morals, etc. 
 
 8. The inner life (intellectual or 
 spiritual life of the individual). 
 
 Essays of controversial trend. — So 
 
 far we have spoken of the essay-edi- 
 torial only in its function as an in- 
 formative article. It may, however, 
 be given a controversial turn. That 
 is, the survey or the criticism may be 
 made either (a) argumentative 
 throughout, or (b) given an argu- 
 mentative application, at the begin- 
 ning, the close, or both, the materials 
 of the essay then becoming a body of 
 
110 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 reasoning, evidence, or proof support- 
 ing or illustrating a proposition. 
 
 Reflective, or "wisdom," essays. — 
 A somewhat distinct type of essay 
 occasionally represented among the 
 essay-editorials is that commonly 
 called the reflective, or "wisdom," 
 essay. This is akin to the critical 
 essay. But whereas the critical essay 
 tends to be detached, objective, and 
 impersonal in its view and considera- 
 tion (thus maintaining its right to be 
 regarded as judicial and authorita- 
 tive) , the reflective essay more closely 
 represents the individual opinion and 
 reflection of its author, and conse- 
 quently involves to a greater extent 
 character, personality, and individ- 
 uality of viewpoint and philosophy. 
 It may be authoritative; but its au- 
 thority will depend upon the intrinsic 
 abstract truth or wisdom of the ideas 
 it sets forth — i. e., upon this aspect 
 of human-interest. 
 
 As this kind of essay, when longer 
 and more serious, allies itself with 
 the critical essay (being as it were 
 personalized criticism of life), so 
 when it is shorter, and lighter in 
 mood and tone, it allies itself with the 
 casual essay, to be discussed here- 
 after. In either case, it is likely to 
 spring more from an ethical or an 
 artistic and literary than from a 
 journalistic impulse — and therefore 
 to draw away a bit in spirit or con- 
 ception from the journalistic essay. 
 
 "Position" assigned the essay-edi- 
 torial. The essay-editorial, we have 
 noted, is by no means always printed 
 as an editorial in the editorial col- 
 umns. Nor need it appear on the 
 editorial page of the newspaper or in 
 the editorial department of the mag- 
 azine. Writing of this kind may be 
 printed independently as an article 
 of information, thought, or comment. 
 Hence it sometimes appears on the 
 news pages or in the department or 
 the feature columns of newspapers 
 (e. g., dramatic, musical, and literary 
 
 reviews and criticism) , or as a special 
 or a feature article, or in the general 
 pages of the magazines, or even in 
 the reviews. 
 
 When, however, it ceases to be the 
 product of the characteristic aim and 
 spirit of the editorial point-of-view, 
 it ceases to be editorial in nature, 
 and becomes a special article, a fea- 
 ture article, a human-interest article, 
 or frankly a non- journalistic essay. 
 
 Free choice of compositional proc- 
 esses. — Finally, it is worth remark- 
 ing that the essay is free to employ' 
 any of the fundamental processes of 
 composition. Naturally, the exposi- 
 tional processes are the most com- 
 mon ; and next to them, possibly, the 
 argumentative processes. Descrip- 
 tion and narration, however, are also 
 available, and they are frequently 
 employed, especially as contributory 
 means in the course of the presenta- 
 tion. 
 
 In short, the essay-editorial, call- 
 ing for methodical development and a 
 careful or finished manner of treat- 
 ment, combines literary quality with 
 instructional intent, and sometimes 
 frankly subjects its utilitarian to a 
 philosophic or an artistic purpose, jj 
 
 Schema. — Certain principles con- 
 cerning the essay-editorial can be 
 thus indexed: 
 
 I. Definition: A limited treatment 
 or dissertation — 
 
 A. Methodically developed, 
 
 B. In careful or finished 
 manner, 
 
 C. Upon some special sub- 
 ject. 
 
 II. Divisions of the essay. 
 
 A. Weighty or serious (Ch. 
 VIII). 
 
 B. More light or casual (Ch. 
 IX). 
 
 III. Usable means of adaptation to 
 journalistic purpose. 
 
 A. By seeking contemporary 
 relevance — 
 
THE SERIOUS ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 111 
 
 1. In timeliness of sub- 
 ject. 
 
 2. In significance or in- 
 terest of theme. 
 
 B. Sometimes by adapting 
 journalistic forms, such 
 as — 
 
 1. Some form of peg- 
 dependent structure. 
 
 2. Some form of 3- 
 stage structure. 
 
 C. By conforming in manner 
 to what is appropriate to 
 the journalistic page, 
 thus avoiding incongruity 
 of tone. 
 
 Available methods of treatment 
 and plans of structure: All 
 those appropriate to the non- 
 journalistic essay, subject only 
 to such modifications as are 
 called for to serve the journal- 
 istic purpose. 
 V. Kinds of serious essay-editorial. 
 
 A. The conspectus; akin to 
 the editorial of survey or 
 review. 
 
 B. The criticism, aiming at 
 basic analysis or philo- 
 sophical conception; akin 
 to the editorial of inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 Representative essay-editorials. — 
 ^'he reader should remind himself of 
 ;he fact already emphasized, that the 
 3Ssay-editorial has an exceedingly 
 raried range of subject and method, 
 and that therefore no small group of 
 specimens can fully represent its em- 
 ployments and adaptations. A few 
 titles, taken at random, will enforce 
 this assertion: 
 
 The Coal Crisis in Great Britain. 
 (Economic conspectus.) 
 
 The New Privileged Classes. (Eco- 
 nomic-social analysis and criticism.) 
 
 The Flivver Mind. (Humanistic 
 "essay'* in contemporary intellectual 
 criticism.) 
 
 Canada's Political Problems. (Po- 
 litical study.) 
 
 Samuel Butler the Unpleasant. 
 (Literary criticism and personality 
 analysis.) 
 
 Dr. Hill's Views on the Peace 
 League. (Analysis and abstract of 
 the views of an authority.) 
 
 Illustration of conspectus. — The fol- 
 lowing skeleton of a signed article 
 will indicate the general nature of the 
 conspectus essay-editorial, and its 
 kinship on one side with the study, 
 and on the other with the editorial 
 of survey. The article is a brief sur- 
 vey-dissertation upon treaty-making 
 under our Constitution, with a clos- 
 ing application of the principles dis- 
 cussed to the situation created by the 
 long dispute between President Wil- 
 son and the Senate over the ratifica- 
 tion of the treaty negotiated to end 
 the World War. 
 
 Analysis 
 
 I. Treaty-making as it was at the begin- 
 ning of our Unioh. (Historical — HI.) 
 
 II. Gradual development of a recognized 
 practice in treaty-making, by which the re- 
 lations between the Executive and the Sen- 
 ate in this co-ordinate function became 
 clarified and established. Illustrative in- 
 stances are introduced and discussed, and 
 the establishment and evolution of the 
 Foreign Relations Committee as the Sen- 
 ate's machinery for dealing with these mat- 
 ters is outlined. (Historical — 1I1I2, 3, 4.) 
 
 III. President Wilson's conduct exam- 
 ined in the light of these historical data, in- 
 cluding his failure to consult the Senate 
 through the Foreign Relations Committee. 
 The conclusion is reached, that he departed 
 from the customary practice, but was within 
 his powers in so doing. (Comparative sur- 
 vey— M5, 6, 7.) 
 
 IV. But it is pointed out that in this he 
 ran the risk of having his treaty rejected by 
 the Senate, since the Senate has co-ordinate 
 power with the Executive in treaty-making. 
 (Expository conclusion based on the preced- 
 ing data— n7, 8.) 
 
 From this outline, the editorial is 
 seen to be a dissertation, or study, in 
 the form of a historical conspectus, 
 upon constitutional law and practice, 
 closing with an application of the 
 principles to a matter of timely im- 
 
112 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 portance. (Timely application is 
 what gives this example its journal- 
 istic slant.) 
 
 Here is the article itself : 
 
 CAVEAT NEGOTIATOR 
 
 The Review 
 He shall have power, by and with the advice and 
 consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided 
 two-thirds of the Senators present concur. — Art. II, 
 Sec. 2, Par. 2. 
 
 1. For the past century the relatons be- 
 tween the President and the Senate in 
 treaty-making have been vastly different 
 from those which the framers of the Con- 
 stitution had in mind when they drafted 
 the treaty clause of that instrument, and 
 from those which Washington attempted to 
 set up. Our earliest international agree- 
 ments were made in accordance with the 
 theory that the obligation of the President 
 to seek the advice and consent of the Senate 
 extended to the entire process of treaty- 
 making. Consequently before initiating a 
 negotiation Washington at first formally se- 
 cured Senatorial sanction not only of the 
 general principles, but even of the detailed 
 provisions of the proposed treaty. The Sen- 
 ate then very clearly felt that it was bound 
 to accept the resulting agreement without 
 amendment, provided that it conformed to 
 the plan previously agreed upon. This feel- 
 ing was based upon a spirit of fair play 
 with the President, and upon an acknowl- 
 edgment of the then generally recognized 
 principle of international law that a gov- 
 ernment was virtually pledged to ratify 
 what its agent had signed provided that the 
 latter had acted within his powers. The 
 President sought the concurrence of the 
 Senate by personal consultation in the Sen- 
 ate chamber, by written communications 
 presented and explained by the Secretary 
 of War, or of State, or by messages de- 
 livered by his private secretary. The Sen- 
 ate acted by formal resolution, and in a 
 number of instances gave its approval with 
 qualifications by which it modified the pro- 
 posed treaties as planned by the executive. 
 
 2. But procedure based chiefly upon 
 theory cannot long withstand the impact of 
 practical politics, and the treaty-making 
 process was soon modified by events. The 
 terms in which the advice and consent of 
 the Senate were given to the initiation and 
 conduct of negotiations became decreasingly 
 detailed; its scrutiny of signed treaties in- 
 creasingly independent and critical. In 
 1793 an Indian treaty was negotiated inde- 
 pendently of Senatorial advice. It was re- 
 jected. A year later, after consultation with 
 his cabinet, Washington decided to conclude 
 
 another such agreement without previously 
 laying his plans before the Senate. He 
 feared that should he do so his proposals 
 would become known to the British Min- 
 ister and the success of the negotiation be 
 prejudiced. In this instance the Senate con- 
 sented to ratification. It was in connection 
 with the Jay treaty, however, that the es- 
 tablished relations between the President 
 and the Senate were subjected to the great- 
 est political pressure. And in making it 
 Washington frankly abandoned his earlier 
 practice and substituted for formal consulta- 
 tion with the Senate a working agreement 
 with the five Federalists who were the back- 
 bone of the administration party in that 
 body. Because it seemed extremely unlikely 
 that the Senate could be brought to agree 
 upon any detailed plan which the President 
 and his advisers might submit, it was recog- 
 nized that if the legislative branch of the 
 treaty-making power was to serve as a 
 "council of advice" in the existing crisis it 
 must be through the instrumentality of a 
 small number of its members in whom both 
 the executive and a majority of their col- 
 leagues had great confidence. In later years 
 this became the normal procedure, with a 
 standing committee on foreign relations 
 composed of both majority and minority 
 members acting the role first played by the 
 five Federalist friends. 
 
 3. The permanent use of the method 
 chosen in 1795 meant relinquishment by the 
 Senate of its right and its duty to exert a 
 direct and effective control over treaties in 
 the making. At the same time, however, 
 the new procedure relieved it from the obli- 
 gation to assent to the ratification of those 
 signed in accordance with terms previously 
 agreed upon by it and the President. On 
 the face of it the President was to have a 
 free hand in deciding what treaties it was 
 desirable to make, and in writing into them 
 whatever of his policies he could lead the 
 other parties thereto to accept; while the 
 Senate retained a like freedom to accept, to 
 amend, or to reject the results of his efforts. 
 Obvious considerations, however, have im-j 
 pelled most Presidents to ascertain just 
 what the other half of the treaty-making 
 power would or would not approve before 
 entering upon and during the course of a 
 negotiation. • The development of a recog- 
 nized method of gaining this information 
 was the next step in the evolution of our 
 treaty-making process. Twenty years 
 elapsed before it was achieved. During the 
 interim it became customary for the Senate 
 to approve by implication the general ob- 
 jects of a proposed treaty in confirming the 
 nomination of the agents who were to nego- 
 
THE SERIOUS ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 113 
 
 tiate it. This had been done in the case of 
 the Jay treaty, and the precedent was fol- 
 lowed down to and including the Treaty of 
 Ghent. 
 
 4. Meanwhile, however, the Senate Com- 
 mittee on Foreign Relations had come into 
 existence. This body is the oldest standing 
 committee of the Senate and the most in- 
 teresting American political organ whose 
 history is as yet unwritten. Ultimately it 
 became the connecting link between the 
 President and the Senate when performing 
 their joint functions. Through it successive 
 Presidents and Secretaries of State regu- 
 larly ascertained the opinion of the Senate 
 upon both the general and the particular 
 objects to be sought by proposed negotia- 
 tions. It enabled the Senate to influence 
 the making of the treaty from the outset 
 by exercising the three rights which 
 Bagehot ascribed to English kings: "The 
 right to be consulted, the right to encourage, 
 the right to warn." And like sensible and 
 sagacious monarchs it needed no other 
 powers. Nevertheless, the new procedure 
 deprived the Senate of direct control over 
 treaties during the stage of negotiation. 
 Consequently its obligation to exercise its 
 co-ordinate Constitutional powers complete- 
 ly and fearlessly at the time of ratification 
 was proportionately increased. This obliga- 
 tion it has met in many familiar instances 
 by the rejection or amendment of agree- 
 ments which it could not sancton as they 
 stood. In passing it is worthy of note that 
 this means of liaison between the two 
 branches of the treaty-making power was 
 personal, informal, and secret. The record 
 of its use is to be found only in chance let- 
 ters and memoranda in the files of the State 
 Department, and in the memoirs and the 
 correspondence of the individuals directly 
 concerned — sources unavailable until long 
 after the events which they elucidate. 
 
 5. How does the Wilsonian picture fit 
 into this historical background? Very evi- 
 dently the President decided to collaborate 
 with our allies in the conclusion of a gen- 
 eral treaty of peace, to make the United 
 States a signatory to a league of nations, 
 and later, to enter into a military alliance 
 with France, without having consulted with 
 either the Senate or its Committee on For- 
 eign Relations. Nor did he give the states- 
 men who are now called upon to consent to 
 the ratification of these treaties an oppor- 
 tunity to influence their making either by 
 participating in the selection of the nego- 
 tiators thereof, or by including one or more 
 of their number in the American commis- 
 sion. At only one point during the course 
 of the negotiations did he attempt to main- 
 
 tain contact with the Senate through the 
 recognized medium of the Committee on 
 Foreign Relations. In fact, he has failed 
 to use any of the methods by which his 
 predecessors from Washington down have 
 enabled the Senate to perform, to greater or 
 lesser degree, its Constitutional functions 
 during the formative stages of treaty- 
 making. 
 
 6. But although he has thus failed to 
 utilize the customary means of consulting 
 with the Senate, does it necessarily follow 
 that Mr. Wilson has actually negotiated 
 these treaties without the guidance of its 
 advice? To ask the question is to answer 
 it. Senators have indeed "been daily cog- 
 nizant of what was going on" at Paris. 
 And what one among them all has been too 
 humble, or too proud, to raise his voice in 
 suggestion, encouragement, or warning? 
 Has any President ever received so com- 
 plete and frank an exposition of the senti- 
 ment of his Senatorial colleagues upon every 
 essential provision of a treaty before the 
 document was signed and sealed? The 
 methods of Mr. Wilson are not those of his 
 predecessors. They are not of the past, but 
 very distinctly of the present. They are 
 consonant with "open covenants, openly ar- 
 rived at," and with the political theories 
 which lie behind the phrase. 
 
 7. It should be recognized, then, that a 
 new principle has been introduced into the 
 relations between the President and the 
 Senate in the negotiation of treaties. What 
 is the resulting effect upon the situation of 
 the two parties with reference to the ratifi- 
 cation of the pacts which Mr. Wilson signed 
 at Paris? Certainly if any conclusion can 
 be dravni from the history of American 
 treaty-making it is that the new procedure 
 leaves the Senate absolutely free to accept, 
 to amend, or to reject these treaties upon 
 their merits. If the President's methods 
 allowed him a singular freedom in follow- 
 ing or ignoring the Senate's advice, his 
 course has left to that body an equal inde- 
 pendence in considering his treaties. Fur- 
 ther, it may fairly be said that as Mr. 
 Wilson has seen fit to substitute for long- 
 established processes a new mode of ascer- 
 taining what his colleagues on the hill would 
 or would not assent to, the responsibility 
 for correctly gauging their sentiment rests 
 squarely upon him. It is clearly a case of 
 caveat negotiator. 
 
 8. Nevertheless, Senators are faced with 
 a fait accompli. They, and the people of 
 the United States, are told that very serious 
 results will follow any attempt to modify 
 the agreements made at Paris. There are 
 those who declare that the magnitude of 
 
114 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 such evils is the measure of the Senate's 
 duty to make the best of the treaties as they 
 stand and promptly to give its advice and 
 consent to their ratification. The opposing 
 position is that this very difficulty of 
 amendment laid upon Mr. Wilson a corre- 
 sponding obligation to conclude only such 
 agreements as the Senate would permit him 
 to ratify. A consideration of the clear lan- 
 guage of the Constitution and the practice 
 of one hundred and thirty years of actual 
 government can hardly leave a doubt that 
 the latter view must prevail. Unquestion- 
 ably there is a powerful presumption in 
 favor of the acceptance of these treaties as 
 they have been signed. But if the Senate 
 is to mantain its place in our Constitutional 
 system it must act with the courage of its 
 convictions should it finally decide that 
 amendment is necessary to protect the vital 
 interests of the nation. 
 
 — Ralston Hayden. 
 
 Illustration of criticism. — As one ex- 
 ample of the critical sub-class of 
 essay-editorial, we reproduce the fol- 
 lowing. It is critical because it aims 
 at basic analysis and at a philosophi- 
 cal conception of fundamental truths 
 concerning its subject. 
 
 MAKING A CLASSIC 
 
 Kansas City Star 
 
 1. How do the comparatively few books 
 in the world, known as classics, attain their 
 position of eminence? By what process 
 have all the millions of books produced by 
 the leading peoples been sifted out and only 
 a few thousand stamped as worthy of per- 
 manent use? 
 
 2. It is easy to say that the judgment 
 and taste of readers, aided by time, have 
 placed the few volumes on the ready shelf 
 and left the millions to be dust-covered, de- 
 cayed, and forgotten. But who among the 
 readers is responsible for this selection, and 
 how much time is required for the complete 
 testing of the classic ? 
 
 3. Neither of these essential questions 
 can be answered with definiteness and 
 finality. Generally speaking, there are two 
 classes of readers, the public, so-called, and 
 the professed lover and follower of litera- 
 ture, the latter class including the critic and 
 the producer of literature. 
 
 4. The taste and judgment of neither of 
 these classes can be fully depended upon at 
 the time a book is produced. Not even the 
 writer of a volume, that may prove to be 
 a classic, is a reliable judge of its merits. 
 Usually, one class is skeptical as to the 
 value of the other's opinion. Literary critics 
 
 as a rule do not think highly of the likes 
 and dislikes of the great mass of readers 
 known as the public. Immediate and wide 
 popularity is supposed by them to be a 
 sure index of fatal defects in a volume. 
 R. L. S. declared, "There must be something 
 wrong with me or I wouldn't be popular." 
 Aside from his modesty, Stevenson was 
 wrong in this estimate of popular judg- 
 ment. But a similar opinion might have 
 been right in many cases. 
 
 5. On the other hand, the general reader 
 is likely to regard the critic and the literary 
 practitioner as "high brow," unless the opin- 
 ions of these men agree with his own. 
 When the expertly wielded axes of the 
 critics descend with resounding whacks on 
 such popular favorites as Harold Bell 
 Wright, Marie Corelli or Ella Wheeler 
 Wilcox, the general reader is likely to smile 
 knowingly, curse inwardly, or declare openly 
 against conspiracies in high places to put- a 
 lovable and deserving writer down. 
 
 6. So at the time a book is produced, and 
 for some years thereafter, the critic may be 
 right or wrong in his opinion of it, and the 
 public may be right or wrong in its love or 
 neglect of it. If a vote were to be taken 
 as to which class is oftenest right or wrong 
 in its judgments, the ballot probably would 
 be cast along strictly "class" lines and de- 
 termine nothing. 
 
 7. Yet something definite and reliable 
 appears to be at work in the making of a 
 classic. Arnold Bennett states the belief of 
 a good number of "literary" persons when 
 he declares: 
 
 The fame of classical authors is orig- 
 inally made, and it is maintained, by a 
 passionate few. Even when a first- 
 class author has enjoyed immense suc- 
 cess during his lifetime, the majority 
 have never appreciated him so sincerely 
 as they have appreciated second-rate 
 men. He has always been re-enforced 
 by the ardor of the passionate few. 
 And in the case of an author who has 
 emerged into glory after his death, the 
 happy sequel has been due solely to the 
 obstinate perseverance of the few. 
 They could not leave him alone; they 
 would not. 
 
 8. And "time will tell," too, whether the 
 literary judgment of the few at any one 
 period or in any one case was right. If the 
 few of a later day and still a later day 
 concur in the estimate of their predecessors, 
 the classic is established. How much time 
 is necessary cannot be said. Often a year 
 or two will finish off a "best seller" in fine 
 shape. But for the permanent establish- 
 ment of a book that starts well or ill there 
 
THE SERIOUS ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 115 
 
 is necessary the combined favorable opinion 
 of succeeding generations. 
 
 9. But who may become one of the "pas- 
 sionate few?" Mr. Bennett lays down the 
 condition, but prudently does not say to 
 what extent it may be met: 
 
 The one primary essential to literary 
 taste is a hot interest in literature. If 
 you have that, all the rest will come. 
 It matters nothing that at present you 
 fail to find pleasure in certain classics. 
 The driving impulse of your interest 
 will force you to acquire experience, 
 and experience will teach you the use 
 of the means of pleasure. You do not 
 know the secret ways of yourself, that 
 is all. A continuance of interest must 
 inevitably bring you to the keenest joys. 
 
 10. The few, then, who sit in judgment 
 over the destinies of books, have none of 
 the exclusive character of the strict aristoc- 
 racy, although few they probably will re- 
 main. But the ranks of these must be kept 
 full, and a genuinely democratic welcome 
 awaits all who would find the way within. 
 The few always include members of both 
 classes that have to do with books. Exer- 
 cise of the taste and judgment of both is 
 necessary for the establishment and main- 
 tenance of the classic. 
 
 Representative editorials. — ^Various 
 
 illustrations of the methods, forms, 
 purposes, and tones found in the 
 essay-editorial here follow. 
 
 THE NEW FAITH OF SCIENCE 
 
 Pittsburg Press 
 
 1. Inquiries come to all defenders of all 
 creeds, from time to time, for "proof" of 
 the truth of religion. Requests of such 
 sort have reached this department of The 
 Press in considerable number. We cannot 
 comply with them if by "proof" is meant 
 the same kind of demonstration that is ac- 
 corded to a proposition in geometry, unless 
 the reader is willing to begin with certain 
 fundamental assumptions, as we do in 
 geometry. "Proof" is at best a fickle word. 
 There are few things in the universe that 
 can be "proved" beyond all possibility of 
 dissent. The law of gravitation has never 
 been proved, yet scientific men do not ques- 
 tion it. 
 
 2. Not even that familiar and relentless 
 foe of all theology, Prof. Haeckel — most 
 persistent of materialists — ^was able to the 
 end to hold the ground for that old-fash- 
 ioned, gross materialism of twenty-five or 
 thirty years ago which utterly denied the 
 existence of Mind or Spirit as an essence of 
 the universe, and which held that the "brain 
 
 secretes thought as the liver secretes bile." 
 Prof. Haeckel in his later writings held that 
 the universe contains but one substance, but 
 that it is an essentially animated substance, 
 at once extension (i. e. matter) and energy 
 (i. e. mind). He saw the difficulty he would 
 be in if he took for his starting point a 
 substance destitute of energy and on that 
 account incapable of evolving by itself. So 
 he animated his substance. 
 
 3. Well, that is precisely what the be- 
 liever thinks God did. To make scientific 
 monism even superficially plausible, Haeckel 
 was obliged to endow the one substance of 
 the universe with a principle of change and 
 of creation. It is because of just this, we 
 presume, the Encyclopedia Britannica in its 
 last edition declared Haeckel had miscon- 
 ceived the doctrine of real materialism. His 
 one substance is evidently, in the opinion of 
 the Encyclopedia writer, too spiritual by 
 half. But recent discoveries as to the 
 astounding degree to which matter is ener- 
 gized explain the emphasis Haeckel felt con- 
 strained to place in this direction. It also, 
 presumably, explains the inclination of re- 
 cent theological writers to cut loose from 
 their old dualistic hypothesis and trust them- 
 selves to monism (or the theory that there 
 is but one substance) in full confidence that 
 their trust will not be betrayed. 
 
 4. For an authoritative statement of the 
 new theological attitude we are referred to 
 Prof. Augustus H. Strong's "Systematic 
 Theology," in which, after noting the 
 powerful tendency toward monism in physi- 
 cal and metaphysical science, the writer 
 says: "Prolonged examination of the Bible 
 leads me to believe that monism is itself 
 the Scripture doctrine, implicitly if not ex- 
 plicitly taught not only by John but by 
 Paul; and I therefore provisionally accept 
 that doctrine." If this willingness of a new 
 theology to trust itself to monism is sur- 
 prising, it is no more so than the seal of 
 approval which men of the greatest emi- 
 nence in Science are placing upon theological 
 dogmas. In his book on "The Philosophy of 
 Effort," Armand Sabatier declares that 
 there is, in actual evolutionism, the indica- 
 tion of the Divine Personality, of the Crea- 
 tion, of the Fall, of the efficiency of Prayer, 
 and of the soul's immortality. 
 
 5. That here is a reaction from the re- 
 ligious despair of the two preceding genera- 
 tions is quite clear. It is a reaction none 
 the less interesting because Herbert Spen- 
 cer predicted reactions if there should be 
 sudden changes of religious institutions. 
 The concrete is the essence of science and 
 Spencer was the greatest scientific thinker 
 of the Nineteenth century. It is, therefore. 
 
116 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 not singular to find him forecasting revolts 
 of mankind against materialistic and 
 mechanistic theories of the universe. It 
 was on the contrary natural enough, as Prof. 
 Boutroux points out, that toward the close 
 of a life spent in search of concrete fact he 
 should manifest a greatly reduced severity 
 toward dogmas and institutions — that is, 
 toward religion in the concrete and given 
 form. Thus Spencer both foresaw reaction 
 and, as his Autobiography indicates, in a 
 measure experienced it. No less prophetic 
 of a reaction against scientific dogmatism 
 was the famous speech of thirty years ago 
 in which Dubois Reymond declared that the 
 limits of Science were already discernible. 
 Four enigmas, he said, were forever in- 
 soluble — namely, the essence of matter and 
 force, the origin of movement, the origin 
 of simple consciousness and the freedom of 
 the will. And yet, said he, the physicist 
 must explain all of them if a Godless uni- 
 verse is to be established. 
 
 6. Eleven years ago the growth of the 
 tendency of Science towards faith was most 
 impressively revealed on a most anomalous 
 occasion, none other than the Darwin cen- 
 tenary, when the chairman of the memorial 
 gathering in America, Prof. H. F. Osburn, 
 remarked that there was no use denying a 
 wide reaction against the central feature of 
 Darwin's thought. 
 
 7. Lord Kelvin is probably the foremost 
 scientist of the last century. We who main- 
 tain that we are not forbidden by Science to 
 hold to our faith that a Supreme Mind gov- 
 erns the universe may well rest upon his 
 authority. We shall find his full and un- 
 qualified support in the remarks which he 
 made at the University college in London 17 
 years ago, when he felt it incumbent upon 
 him to dissent from a statement by Rev. 
 Prof. Henslow that Science neither affirmed 
 nor denied Creative power. Science, Prof. 
 Kelvin said, positively affirmed Creative 
 power. Modern biologists had come once 
 more to a firm acceptance of something. 
 And that something was a vital principle. 
 They only knew God in His works, but they 
 were absolutely forced to admit and believe 
 with confidence in a directive power — in an 
 influence other than physical, dynamical, 
 electrical forces. 
 
 8. This is the spirit of the reaction which 
 the anti-humanistic dogmatism of Science 
 appears by all signs to have provoked at the 
 beginning of the Twentieth century. Evo- 
 lution is subsequent to Involution and only 
 equals it. Evolution, admitted and estab- 
 lished, but limited to its legitimate claims, 
 no longer disturbs the human family by 
 threatening to rob it of its whole spiritual 
 
 wardrobe. Hardly a day passes that some 
 laboratory does not claim to have produced 
 life out of inorganic matter. The claim 
 does not produce a tithe of the commotion 
 it produced forty years ago, for the reason, 
 apparently, that everywhere the tendency is 
 to acknowledge that Leibnitz was right 
 when he said: "There is no such thing as 
 inorganic matter." 
 
 9. All matter is composed of electrons, 
 of which one scientist says they seem to be 
 alive — minute personalities which know al- 
 ways what to do and where to go. "Can 
 it be that the Universal Mind dwells in 
 them?" science asks. The mere question is 
 symptomatic of the confidence that Uni- 
 versal Mind exists. 
 
 10. And thus we are back again in the 
 majestic company of Plato, Moses, Paul, 
 John, Augustine and all others who have 
 believed, standing with shoes removed and 
 upturned faces awaiting a new revelation — 
 a revelation which should be fuller and 
 richer than anything that has preceded it — a 
 spiritual renaissance. 
 
 This editorial upon faith and science is in the 
 nature of an essay because : — 
 
 1. It is a somewhat comprehensive consideration, 
 though less complete and elaborate than a pamphlet, 
 monograph, or treatise. 
 
 2. It has unity of theme and of purpose. 
 
 3. It is methodically developed. 
 
 4. It is written with a certain degree of care or 
 finish in the language. 
 
 FOREIGN EXCHANGE— THE 
 
 MODERN MYSTERY 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 1. Foreign exchange has become such a 
 vital factor in the scheme of things that an 
 elementary idea of what it means and how 
 it operates is essential to a popular under- 
 standing of present conditions in the world 
 of business. 
 
 2. We may regard foreign exchange as 
 the trading of the commodities, services, se- 
 curities, and attributes of one country for 
 the commodities, services, securities and 
 attributes of another country, the rela- 
 tive value of the transactions being ex- 
 pressed by translating the currency of one 
 country in terms of the currency of an- 
 other. It is international reciprocation into 
 which the various currencies of this world 
 enter as a means. Gold being the one fea- 
 ture which national currencies have in com- 
 mon, this is made the basis of exchange 
 quotations. It is because of the amount of 
 fine gold represented by the pound, the 
 franc, the dollar, etc., that the parity quota- 
 tions exist; there is normally $4.8665 worth 
 of gold back of each pound, and 19.3 cents 
 worth of gold back of 1 franc, or as it is 
 stated, there are 5.181/2 francs in the dollar. 
 Hence the foreign exchange quotations. 
 
THE SERIOUS ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 117 
 
 3. Now in normal times what forces con- 
 trol the action of the exchanges? Why is 
 the lira worth more than 19 cents one week 
 and less than 19 cents the next? Why- 
 should the pound fluctuate in terms of francs 
 or dollars from day to day? The answer 
 is supply and demand. If there is a greater 
 supply of bills of exchange (drafts) offered 
 on England than there is a demand to buy 
 them, the price of these bills will be lower 
 than if the opposite were true and there 
 appeared more bidders for the bills than 
 there were bills to go around. As an ex- 
 ample, John Wanamaker has an order from 
 a British customer for a gross of cut-glass 
 bathtubs. John Wanamaker exports the 
 consignment and presents his bank with a 
 60-day draft payable in pounds by the cus- 
 tomer in England. John Wanamaker doesn't 
 care to wait 60 days and more for the 
 money, and so the bank discounts the draft 
 and pays Wanamaker in cash, eliminating 
 him from the transaction. There is no 
 need of going into the technique of the 
 operation involved in collecting this draft. 
 The point is, the bank is willing to buy the 
 draft at the prevailing rate of 60-day bills, 
 knowing that it can be readily sold to some- 
 one who is importing goods from England 
 and who will buy this sterling draft in order 
 to pay for them. One draft thus clears two 
 deals — it pays the exporter and enables the 
 importer to settle his score. 
 
 4. Were it not for the existence of the ex- 
 change machinery people buying goods from 
 another country would have to ship gold in 
 payment thereof, and the exporter of the 
 goods would have to await the arrival of 
 this gold before receiving payment. All this 
 causes delay and waste. At times, however, 
 gold must be shipped to settle the balance of 
 trade, and usually a shipment of gold takes 
 place when exchange is at a discount of 
 2^/^ or 3 cents. The "gold points" may be 
 defined as those points in exchange quota- 
 tions below or above which it is more profita- 
 ble to ship gold. For example, if the pound 
 costs an American importer more than 
 about $4.89 (3 cents above parity) theo- 
 retically it is cheaper for him to buy gold 
 and ship it to London than to pay more 
 than $4.89 for a draft which would entitle 
 him to one pound. Conversely, if the rate 
 falls below $4.83 it is advisable for the Brit- 
 isher to ship gold to us. The gap between 
 a gold point and parity indicates the total 
 cost of shipping gold. It is well not to 
 forget that, after all, gold is a commodity. 
 It has the advantage of being accepted as 
 the common standard by most countries, 
 but it is nevertheless a commodity just like 
 
 celluloid collars and hard cider and other 
 things. 
 
 5. Naturally the questions arise, why 
 haven't England, France, Belgium, and Italy 
 exported more gold to us since their ex- 
 changes have fallen way below the gold 
 points. The answer is patent. They 
 haven't had enough gold to spare, and they 
 have wisely accumulated and held what they 
 could. To continue, if the simple case 
 stated in the preceding paragraph were al- 
 ways true, and the A's and E's always 
 balanced, there would be no fluctuations in 
 exchange, but when there are numerous 
 John Wanamakers offering drafts against 
 the pound sterling, and there are only a 
 few who need to make payment to England, 
 then the value of these drafts declines — 
 that is to say, the value of the pound de- 
 clines. Likewise in England when we are 
 sending across more goods than they are 
 sending us, there is a greater demand for 
 the dollar than there is a supply of claims 
 against the dollar; so the value of the dollar 
 mounts. 
 
 6. We may summarize the principal 
 forces which influence the trend in ex- 
 changes, as follows: 
 
 1. Exports and imports of merchan- 
 dise. 
 
 2. Exports and imports of securities. 
 
 3. Interest and dividends remitted 
 abroad. 
 
 4. Repayment of foreign loans. 
 
 5. Remittances by foreigners to their 
 home countries. 
 
 6. Shipping. 
 
 7. International services of various 
 kinds. 
 
 8. High or low money rates at home 
 or abroad. 
 
 9. Distrust of financial conditions 
 existing abroad, where a country has 
 large deposits of capital. 
 
 7. In thinking of foreign exchange it is 
 a good plan to consider everything which 
 one country does for another as exports and 
 everything done in return as imports. The 
 balance of these imports and exports de- 
 termines the rate of exchange. England 
 has almost always imported more goods 
 than she has exported. In 1913 the United 
 Kingdom's excess of imports over exports 
 was $651,000,000. England has kept the 
 scales of exchange in equilibrium largely 
 by "exporting" marine and freight services, 
 and by services in acting as the world's 
 recognized banker. Italy has in the past 
 depended largely on the money brought into 
 the country by foreign travellers and remit- 
 tances made by Italians living in the United 
 
118 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 States for the stabilizing of the lira. For 
 years she has imported a large excess of 
 goods over exports. 
 
 8. When Belgium floated a loan of $25,- 
 000,000 in this country she helped her ex- 
 change because she exported bonds, but 
 when Americans cash their coupons they 
 will tend to lower Belgium exchange be- 
 cause they will export coupons which must 
 be paid for. When the bonds mature in 
 1925 the United States will export the bonds 
 and Belgium must pay. It can be seen from 
 this that when a nation receives credit its 
 exchange is helped temporarily, but in the 
 long run it produces an opposite force be- 
 cause the bonds must be paid for in full 
 plus the interest. When the war broke out 
 in August, 1914, there was a flood of 
 foreign-held bonds dumped on our market, 
 with the result that a large demand was 
 created for foreign drafts with which to 
 pay for these securities, and the price of 
 the European exchanges soared. Sterling 
 reached the unheard of point of 7 dollars 
 to the pound. Europe was merely exporting 
 securities to us. 
 
 9. The most elusive factor which affects 
 exchange rates is the domestic and foreign 
 rates on money. It is evident that when 
 money is higher in one country, let us say 
 France, than in other countries, funds will 
 be sent to France for investment and this 
 "importing*' of the loaning facilities of 
 France will tend to raise the price of francs 
 by creating a demand for them. 
 
 10. This is all very well, but the world is 
 confronted today with an extraordinary ex- 
 change situation. Prices of foreign moneys 
 in many cases have shrunk to a shadow of 
 their former selves. On February 5th the 
 pound touched a low of $3.19, the franc 
 reached 6^/^ cents, the lira 5 cents, the 
 mark 1 cent. The par value of the pound 
 is $4.86%, of the franc and lira 19.3 cents, 
 of the mark 23.82 cents. But there is 
 nothing unreasonable in this behavior of the 
 exchanges. During the past five years we 
 have rolled up against the nations of Eu- 
 rope an enormous debt because of exports. 
 These exports must be balanced, and the 
 days of reckoning have come. Europe must 
 repay America and with interest. We have 
 been in the unique position of loaning to 
 Europe so that Europe could create an ex- 
 change situation unfavorable to herself. 
 Europe, to carry out our figure, has ex- 
 ported little to us but her indebtedness. 
 We have imported her future, and not 
 enough of that to square the account. 
 
 11. A great part of the world's gold is in 
 the United States. The premium on gold 
 
 and the depreciated currency of many 
 European nations are one and the same 
 thing. The buyer of this depreciated cur- 
 rency, this copious paper money, naturally 
 demands more of it in proportion as it is 
 depreciated. One dollar will buy almost a 
 dozen eggs; it might buy two dozen bad 
 eggs, if the quantity in this case were any 
 advantage. The buyer of foreign goods 
 would do better to remit in gold, if this 
 theory were not true. Furthermore, be- 
 yond the point to which currency is de- 
 preciated exchange will not deviate, be- 
 cause gold (even at a premium) would be 
 used to settle the debt. However, and this 
 applies to Europe today, if the exports do 
 not equal imports, and gold cannot be 
 shipped, the balance which a country has 
 to pay can be settled only by enormous 
 sacrifice; in fact, not at all, except by 
 diminution of imports or by foreign loans, 
 an expedient to gain time. 
 
 12. The fall in exchange is not per se an 
 evil. It is an automatic corrective. It is 
 a thermometer, not a cause, of conditions. 
 The high prices which Europe must pay 
 for the dollar acts as a tariff wall, but by 
 no means an insurmountable one, against 
 her importations, and the low prices at 
 which Americans can purchase European 
 goods stimulate our imports. 
 
 13. In the end the exchanges will rectify 
 themselves, unless we are to return to the 
 primitive methods of barter — one barrel of 
 rum for ten slaves. One country will not 
 indefinitely send its treasure to another 
 country and receive nothing in return but 
 promises. If that were the case trade 
 would cease altogether. Exchanges will re- 
 turn towards normal when Europe begins to 
 produce and export more than she imports 
 and consumes, or when the sufficient credit 
 is extended her; and the possibility of abus- 
 ing the latter method is dangerous. Un- 
 questionably it is this country's duty to 
 keep Europe from starving and to extend 
 credit with which she may secure such 
 goods as are essential in the reconstruction 
 of her industries. But it would be fool- 
 hardy to attempt an absolutely artificial 
 bolstering up of the exchanges by any 
 wholesale credit arrangements. Europe 
 must work out her own salvation. — Lewis 
 P. Mansfield. 
 
 This article, or essay-editorial, is didactic, em- 
 ploying expository criticism-and-philosophy in finance, 
 and including some survey. It may be called an 
 editorial lesson in simplified finance. It has im- 
 mediate contemporary interest for two reasons, each 
 stated in HI. In addition, at the time when the 
 article was printed, foreign exchange was badly up- 
 set by abnormal conditions and was attracting gen- 
 
THE SERIOUS ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 119 
 
 eral attention from being prominent in the day's 
 news. 
 
 I. Foreign exchange described by its importance 
 (Ifl) and by definitions (112). 
 
 II. Basic reason why the exchange rate varies 
 
 (113). H3. Excess of accounts on one side to 
 
 be balanced by exchange 1I1I4-5. How this pro- 
 duces gold shipment. 
 
 III. Important influences affecting the exchange 
 
 rate. 116. Listed. 1I1I7-8. The export-and- 
 
 import influence. 
 
 IV. The situation in foreign exchange at the 
 
 time of writing. 11119-11. Summarized. 
 
 112. Interpreted. 
 
 V. Concluding inferences presented (113). 
 
 GOVERNMENT AND CITIZENSHIP 
 
 Indianapolis News 
 
 Government 
 
 A Human Need 
 
 1. There would never have been, as far 
 as one can see, such a thing in the world as 
 government had it not been for the deeply 
 felt need for the preservation of peace and 
 order within the social group. This, there- 
 fore, is the primal duty, as it is the most 
 important function of government. No gov- 
 ernment can fail to perform them without 
 being false to the law of its life. If an 
 institution that was established to main- 
 tain peace and order is unwilling or unable 
 to do so, it ceases to be the institution that 
 men meant to create, and did create. In 
 the bad old days of rulers and ruled the 
 case was exceedingly simple. Though there 
 were often much disorder, and later re- 
 bellion and revolution, the differentiation 
 ■made it clear that there was a class charged 
 with the duty of suppressing disorder, and 
 another class bound to obey. There was 
 some law — the law of the land or the ruler's 
 will or whim — that was enforced on the 
 people. 
 
 2. There was no possibility of any con- 
 fusion of thought. Tyranny there was, and 
 often the greatest cruelty and injustice, but 
 there were also authorities and men under 
 authority. The laws were enforced un- 
 equally; favoritism abounded, and corrup- 
 tion permeated public life. Through revo- 
 lutions, whether sudden and violent, or 
 peaceful and gradual, old abuses were swept 
 away, the sphere of liberty was widened, 
 and government became more and more an 
 affair of the people. But there was one 
 thing that was not done away with, and 
 that is government itself, or the need for it. 
 Both endured, both will continue to endure. 
 Change of spirit and form there has been, 
 together with a redistribution of power. 
 But there has been little change in 
 human nature, which is no more able than 
 it was a thousand years ago to get 
 along without government. No proof of 
 this ought to be needed; but if it is de- 
 manded one has only to point to Russia, in 
 
 which country men are even driven to toil, 
 and kept at it, by governmental taskmasters. 
 Looking to the east for light, we find that 
 despotism has succeeded revolution — quite 
 according to precedent. The path is well 
 worn. 
 
 Self -Government 
 
 3.^ As the result of centuries of toil, 
 sacrifice and struggle, we in this country 
 enjoy what is called self-government. The 
 old separation of classes into governing 
 and governed has disappeared. The law is 
 the people's law; it is by the people, acting 
 through their representatives, that it must 
 be enforced; and it is always against some 
 of the rulers — that is the people — that it is 
 necessary to enforce it. It is, therefore, 
 not surprising that some men should be 
 confused in their thinking on this subject. 
 When rulers and ruled are identical, it is 
 hard for some to see how there can be any 
 ruled — how the rulers, if they are truly 
 such, can be ruled. Yet this is what self- 
 government means — it can mean nothing 
 else. There is no escape from government 
 and law. One of our greatest democrats, 
 Walt Whitman, says: "Democracy, too, is 
 law, and of the strictest, amplest kind. 
 Many suppose (and often in its own ranks 
 the error), that it means a throwing aside 
 of law, and running riot. But, briefly, it is 
 the superior law, not alone that of physical 
 force, the body which, adding to, it super- 
 sedes with that of the spirit. Law is the 
 unshakable order of the universe forever." 
 
 4. If, he goes on to say, the law of the 
 spirit does not operate, if people do not 
 live in it, then the people must apply the 
 law which is based on force. Self-govern- 
 ment is government, and not the denial or 
 abrogation of it. It should be peculiarly 
 sacred, since it is the creation of the people, 
 is consented to by them, and cannot survive 
 unless it is upheld by them. There has been 
 neither usurpation nor conquest, but a free 
 yielding by the people of powers to a 
 government of their own creation, powers 
 which that government must use, if it is 
 to justify the trust reposed in it, and per- 
 form the duties assigned to it by its cre- 
 ators. The choice is between self-govern- 
 ment and no government, followed as 
 always by despotism, whether it be of one 
 or many. The people of England have more 
 than once enforced the law against the 
 monarch. It is not remarkable, therefore, 
 that Americans should sometimes be under 
 the necessity of enforcing it against some 
 of those in whom sovereignty resides. 
 
 State and People 
 
 5. Yet there are people who think, or 
 pretend to, that the American government 
 
120 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 is a government of the old type, and that 
 those against whom it is sometimes forced 
 to act are, as were the people of other 
 days, slaves. The old division into rulers 
 and ruled still, in their minds, exists. The 
 conception of the identity between the two 
 is, apparently, so complex as to be beyond 
 their grasp. Of course they do not realize 
 that the American government would be 
 wholly without power unless it had the 
 great mass of the people behind it, and do 
 not understand that whenever the govern- 
 ment acts, it acts as the representative of 
 the people, in their name, and as the em- 
 bodiment and wielder of their power. 
 
 6. Radicalism is weak in this country be- 
 cause it is directed, not against a govern- 
 ment — as it thinks — but against a people, a 
 people who are for the most part contented, 
 and who are devoted to their country and its 
 institutions and laws. Precedents drawn 
 from the French revolution which are such 
 great favorites with our radicals, do not 
 apply; the very attempt to apply them 
 makes those who rely on them rather ridicu- 
 lous in the eyes of their fellow-countrymen, 
 who are not conscious of being oppressed 
 or enslaved, and to whom grass is not a 
 familiar article of diet. 
 
 7. Our would-be revolutionists are the 
 victims of their own false or mistaken 
 analysis. It was no difficult matter to stir 
 up and infuriate the mob against a French 
 king, but it is not so easy to get it into 
 successful action against 100,000,000 Amer- 
 icans, some of whom, at least, have a sense 
 of humor, which latter, by the way, is a 
 saving grace. It is like fighting the force 
 of gravitation. Self-government means, as 
 it might be supposed anyone could see, gov- 
 ernment by self. Where that exists, as it 
 does in America, there is not much danger 
 that men will be betrayed into a surrender 
 of their liberty. In our Americanizing pro- 
 gram this relation of the people to the state, 
 and of the state to the people should be 
 made clear. For there is a good deal of 
 misunderstanding abroad, which is by no 
 means confined to our foreign-born citizens. 
 
 Citizenship 
 
 Self -Control 
 
 8. But self-government implies the pos- 
 session of certain characteristics by those 
 who practice it. Intelligence of course is 
 necessary, for it takes intelligence to enable 
 one to understand what self-government is, 
 and how it works. This is why ignorance 
 has in this country been regarded as a great 
 evil and menace. Men who are to rule 
 must know how to rule, and if they are to 
 
 be ruled they must understand why. Her- 
 bert Spencer said: 
 
 The republican form of government 
 is the highest form of government, but 
 because of this it requires the highest 
 type of human nature — a type nowhere 
 at present existing. 
 
 9. There is, however, the comforting 
 thought that the best chance of producing 
 the type needed is found under a republican 
 form of government. The natural tendency 
 is toward the development of the kind of 
 citizenship that is needed. The problem is 
 one of encouraging and strengthening that 
 tendency, and co-operating with it. There 
 are many things we can do — educate, for 
 example. But underlying all means and 
 methods that are proposed, there is a prin- 
 ciple which must be understood, and applied, 
 and enforced. It is the principle of self- 
 control in the individual life. No man is fit 
 to rule others or to govern himself through 
 the political organism, or likely to submit 
 loyally to authority, unless he is in his 
 daily life master of himself. "If," writes 
 the apostle, "a man know not how to rule 
 his own house, how shall he take care of 
 the church of God?" But he cannot rule 
 his own house unless he is able to rule 
 himself. Men are not much given these 
 days to tracing responsibility back to the 
 individual, but there is where it belongs. 
 In a recent interview in the New York 
 World, Prof. John Erskine of Columbia 
 University said: 
 
 We drift toward a condition of gen- 
 eral irresponsibility for what we do. We 
 are so apt at explaining our conduct in 
 the light of heredity, or of environment, 
 or of political and economic conditions, 
 that • we have no occasion to think of 
 personal responsibility. 
 
 10. Nothing is more greatly needed to- 
 day than a recognition of this truth — and 
 submission to it. In a self-governing com- 
 munity individual self-control is a necessity. 
 
 Good Men 
 
 11. Yet most of the effort of the day is 
 directed toward the formulation of political 
 and social programs, which may be good or 
 bad, the assumption being that it is only 
 through some sort of political action that 
 evils can be cured. Most of our discussion 
 is of these subjects. But life is, as Pro- 
 fessor Erskine, harking back to Aristotle, 
 says, largely made up of choices, and man is 
 free to choose, and he, and he alone, is re- 
 sponsible for his decisions. The professor 
 further says: 
 
 Because this philosophy lays the re- 
 sponsibility upon man and therefore 
 ennobles the importance of his spirit, 
 
THE SERIOUS ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 121 
 
 it has been called humane. This doc- 
 trine of morals would say that although 
 economic conditions in the world provide 
 a large field of moral choice, they do 
 not compel the choice. It would say 
 that the great war was not brought 
 about by economic pressure any more 
 than robbery is brought about by the 
 poverty of the thief or the wealth of 
 his victims. Conditions such as these in 
 the humane philosophy are called 
 temptations, not causes, and the man 
 who yields to temptations has made a 
 bad moral choice. 
 
 12. Men are looking further and further 
 afield for remedies, and neglecting those 
 that lie right at hand. There is no civic 
 duty that begins to compare in importance 
 with that which rests on each American 
 citizen of being the best man he possibly 
 can be. The civic virtues are, after all, 
 individual virtues — honesty, loyalty, truth- 
 fulness, sincerity, self-reliance, self-control, 
 industry. The profiteer is a bad citizen be- 
 cause he is a bad man. A community of 
 ideal men living under very bad laws would 
 be a better community than one of bad men 
 living under ideal laws. 
 
 13. Morality, in other words, is not and 
 cannot be law-made — it is the fruit of char- 
 acter. Where self-government prevails, 
 these qualities are specially needed, because 
 when the self is weak or debased the gov- 
 ernment must suffer in the same way. When 
 the people rule they must be fit to rule; 
 otherwise there would be power without 
 virtue, and acknowledging no responsibility. 
 And the result would be the end of self- 
 government; or if it survived, it could hard- 
 ly be more than in mere name. Government 
 is trusteeship, and the people are trustees 
 for themselves. "It is required in stewards 
 that a man be found faithful." What 
 America shall be depends, not on what con- 
 gress does, but on what Americans are. 
 Here is a program that every man can, if 
 he will, put into effect. 
 
 The stale 
 
 14. Lawlessness and disorder are more 
 dangerous in free countries than in others, 
 for there can be no lawlessness or disorder 
 in such countries in which a part of the 
 state, that represented by lawnessness, does 
 not participate. So there is a schism in the 
 government itself. If the state is "all of 
 us," as it is, it is in effect, and for the time 
 being destroyed when some of us are set 
 against others of us.- 
 
 15. Americans should try to think of the 
 framework of the state as sacred, and, as 
 Arnold argued, of the state itself as repre- 
 senting our "best self." Just in proportion 
 
 as the best self is not developed, or, when 
 developed, is not so good as it ought to be 
 or might be, the state will be weak, and our 
 politics selfish and corrupt, in spite of all 
 the reforms that may be put into effect. 
 
 16. Finally, it should be said that self- 
 control and a sense of individual responsi- 
 bility are the correlatives of freedom. We 
 all agree that a man should be his own 
 master, but we often fail to understand 
 what that means. If he is his own master, 
 he must be — a master. When men are free 
 from sin, they are free of course, but not 
 from obligations, for they become the 
 servants of righteousness. 
 
 17. If the spirit of liberty prevails in 
 this country we shall look less and less to 
 the government for salvation, realizing that 
 when the government assumes duties that 
 the citizen should perform, or relieves him 
 of responsibility, it necessarily narrows his 
 freedom. Paternalism costs enormously, 
 and is extremely dangerous to liberty. It 
 weakens self-reliance, which is a vital ele- 
 ment of freedom, and tends to destroy the 
 very instinct of liberty. Self-government can 
 exist only among people who are capable of 
 managing their own private affairs, for it 
 implies individual self-rule. Even with its 
 defects, which are the defects of the people, 
 self-government is the strongest and most 
 solidly based government known to man. It 
 is a precious possession, and should be cher- 
 ished and jealously guarded by the American 
 people, and strengthened in every way 
 possible. 
 
 This essay (printed in a department called Case 
 and Comment) is a criticism. It is a serious ap- 
 peal to intelligence and patriotism through a phil- 
 osophical interpretation of the purposes of gov- 
 ernment and the duties of citizenship — an exposi- 
 tion of principles and relations. Note how the em- 
 ployment of cross-line heads and sub-heads results in 
 a clear formal indication of the plan of consideration. 
 The article consists of two main divisions (I. Grov- 
 ernment; II. Citizenship). The subdivisions in each 
 part are labeled by means of sub-heads, thus clearly 
 marking the advance of the discussion. Tb facili- 
 tate more detailed analysis in the classroom, the 
 article is here paragraphed more freely than it was 
 originally. 
 
 At the time when this was written, the World 
 War had increased the number of serious articles 
 dealing frankly and directly with larger problems 
 for their own sake. As time advances, the propor- 
 tion of more superficial and "popular" articles may 
 increase once more. The student will benefit from 
 taking a survey of the field to see if this shift 
 has yet occurred. 
 
 "THERE IS NO POWER BUT OF GOD" 
 
 Dallas Morning News 
 
 1. 'Whoever sees 'neath winter's field 
 of snow 
 The silent harvest of the future grow, 
 God's power must know." 
 2. It is a tremendously significent thing 
 that it has never been claimed that power 
 
122 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 has ever been given a bad man to perform 
 a miracle. 
 
 3. Only of those who are credited with 
 having been pre-eminent for their goodness 
 has it been asserted that they healed the 
 sick, cleansed the lepers or raised the dead. 
 Only of those whose devoutness, faith and 
 obedience were known of all men has it been 
 recorded that they received divine power to 
 the extent of being able to do such things as 
 required Divine power to do. 
 
 4. From the prophets on down through 
 the ages, only for those who recognized 
 God's power and dominion has the ability 
 to perform miracles been claimed. 
 
 5. It is they who have been able to 
 realize that, as the Psalmist says, "Power 
 belongeth unto God"; and the great Apostle 
 to the Gentiles says, "There is no power but 
 of God." nm 
 
 6. The man who had been blind from his 
 birth was not blind mentally or spiritually, 
 for when some of those who knew him began 
 to condemn the Great Physician he said: 
 "Why, herein is a marvelous thing, that ye 
 know not from whence He is, and yet he 
 hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that 
 God heareth not sinners; but if a man be a 
 worshiper of God, and doeth his will him he 
 heareth." This statement is given impres- 
 sive emphasis and confirmation by the 
 Apostle when he says: "The prayer of a 
 righteous man availeth much." The blind 
 man alluded to had sat without physical 
 vision for many long, dark years. He real- 
 ized that without the intervention of God 
 he would go the rest of his life with sight- 
 less eyes. Thus when the Pharisees de- 
 nounced the Savior as a sinner this grateful 
 beneficiary of His love said, "Whether he be 
 a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I 
 know, that whereas I was blind, now I see." 
 He recalled that the prophets had been able 
 to perform miracles in the past, that they 
 only who sought "first the kingdom of God 
 and his righteousness" had ever been able 
 to do these things, and that in every in- 
 stance this power was given for the accom- 
 plishment of good works only, he very 
 logically came to the conclusion, "If this 
 man were not of God he could ^o nothing." 
 Here it is plainly seen that unless he who 
 seeks power from the source of all power is 
 a fit instrument for using it, he cannot re- 
 ceive it. He recalled that it had been said, 
 "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
 their strength," and that this waiting con- 
 sisted of obedience, patience, loving kind- 
 ness, hope and faith. The Master Himself 
 said, "I can of mine own self do nothing. 
 . . . The Father that dwelleth in me, hej 
 doeth the works." And it is another very' 
 
 significant thing that before the accomplish- 
 ment of His great works Jesus went to His 
 Father in prayer. Indeed, he prayed "with- 
 out ceasing," and said, showing the great 
 importance of obedience, "I do always those 
 things that please him." 
 
 7. The power of God has never been 
 manifested through those who regard not 
 His law. 
 
 8. The blind man mentioned before 
 seemed to understand this, for he said: "We 
 know that God heareth not sinners: but if 
 any man be a worshiper of him, and doeth 
 His will, him he heareth." This statement 
 also received confirmation from the Apostle 
 when he said: "The prayer of the wicked 
 availeth nothing." 
 
 9. Thus we see the great enigma that 
 all men agree that only the good are ever 
 favored of God with an impartation of His 
 power, and yet many refuse to fit them- 
 selves as channels of His love and power by 
 being obedient to His will and law, when 
 such obedience is of itself the only means 
 by which they can be happy, either in this 
 world or the next. What a marvelous thing 
 is this, that man knows what is best for 
 him, realizes that it must be so, sees in 
 right living not only spiritual growth, but 
 an economic principle, and yet disregards 
 what he knows to be right, what he 
 knows is the only means by which he 
 can be happy and make others so, and 
 goes on in sin! One must be thoroughly 
 convinced of the mercy, love and infinite 
 goodness of God in order to be able and will- 
 ing to trust Him. It is he who can say, with 
 one whom we do not know, "One thing I do 
 believe — more surely than the evidences of 
 the senses, for they may be imposed upon; 
 more surely than those self-evident axioms 
 upon which mathematical truth is built, for 
 these axioms are only spun out of the 
 human mind, and not external to it. I do 
 believe that God is true. I do believe that 
 whenever God makes a promise He will as- 
 suredly fulfill it. I do believe that if you 
 or I come under the terms of the promise 
 He will fulfill it to us." 
 
 10. This is the kind of faith and love 
 one must have if he would rejoice in the 
 blessings of God's love. It is the kind that 
 gives joy to the dejected and disconsolate, 
 courage to the desolate and hope to the 
 despairing. Such a faith, such a hope, 
 changes one's life from the sinful or in- 
 different to one of devoted consecration, 
 from the doubtful and fearful to one of cer- 
 tainty and zeal; from one of idleness and 
 
 i^neglect to one of spiritual energy and con- 
 secrated endeavor. It causes him to hate 
 sin, but love the sinner; to look with love 
 
THE SERIOUS ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 123 
 
 upon all God's children, to see in them His 
 image and likeness; to find in them purity, 
 where before he saw only the impure; to 
 see honesty instead of dishonesty, good in- 
 stead of evil, love instead of hate. 
 
 11. The idea that the power of God would 
 be given to one with material thought is 
 given most terrible rebuke in the case of 
 Simon the sorcerer. He offered the Apostles 
 money, saying, "Give me also this power, 
 that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may 
 receive the Holy Ghost." The reply was, 
 "Thy money perish with thee, because thou 
 hast thought that the gift of God may be 
 purchased with money. Thou hast neither 
 part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is 
 not right in the sight of God." And the 
 heart of no one is right in the sight of God 
 who thinks the power of God can be pur- 
 chased with anything other than obedience 
 to His law, the law of Love. 
 
 This Sunday-topic essay-editorial, is a brief disserta- 
 tion, carefully expressed and methodically developed, 
 upon a unified theme; hence its relationship with 
 the essay. Were this religious essay delivered orally, 
 instead of literally, it would be a sermon. (Variety, 
 substantiality, geniality, and good sense make the 
 editorial page of The News enjoyable and 
 profitable.) 
 
 PILSUDSKI AND CONDITIONS , 
 IN POLAND 
 
 The Outlook 
 
 1. Years ago, a Polish authority informs 
 us. General Pilsudski was a bandit and was 
 prominent in the troubles of 1905. A So- 
 cialist, but with influence over the Polish 
 troops, his movements, we are told, were 
 favored and furthered by Germany. In re- 
 turn he has not, we learn, pushed Polish 
 independence and supremacy in former Ger- 
 man territory as vigorously as has Pade- 
 rewski. 
 
 2. Mr. Paderewski has especially resented 
 the cruel rumors spread abroad by. the 
 enemies of Poland of the wholesale killing 
 of Jews in that country. Months ago our 
 papers reported "thousands" of Jews slain 
 there. At Mr. Paderewski's request Secre- 
 tary Lansing appointed a commission, con- 
 sisting of Henry Morgenthau, the distin- 
 guished Hebrew diplomat. General Jadwin, 
 and Mr. Homer Johnson, to investigate these 
 rumors. The Commission remained in Po- 
 land for two months, traveling by auto- 
 mobile more than twenty-five thousand 
 miles, and making a personal investigation 
 in every town where anti-Jewish outbreaks 
 had been reported. It discovered that 252 
 Jews had been killed and many more Gen- 
 tiles. The Jews were killed either by un- 
 controlled troops or by local mobs. The 
 acts were apparently not premeditated, for 
 if they had been part of a preconceived plan 
 
 10 
 
 the number killed would have run into the 
 
 thousands. 
 
 3. Madame Paderewski's work in Poland 
 has been as unremitting as has been her 
 husband's. She is the head both of the 
 White and Red Cross, and has effectively 
 aided the beneficent mission of relief headed 
 by Herbert Hoover. After Mr. Hoover ar- 
 rived in Warsaw he said to the Prime Min- 
 ister, "Mr. Paderewski, I owe you money." 
 It seems that, years ago, two boys out in 
 San Jose, California, wanted Paderewski to 
 give a concert there and wrote to him about 
 it. He replied that he could not come ex- 
 cept for a guaranty of $2000. The confident 
 boys promised it, but, on the evening of the 
 concert, were aghast to discover that their 
 receipts amounted to far less than that sum. 
 They frankly told Paderewski about it, and 
 he indulgently said, "Take your expenses 
 out of what you have received, then take 
 ten per cent for yourself, and give me the 
 rest." There was little "rest," and this is 
 what Mr. Hoover meant by his remark — for 
 he was one of the two boys. 
 
 This and the next editorial, Paderewski the Pa- 
 triot, show an evident connection with each other. 
 They represent the editorial sequence. In the se- 
 quence, two or more editorials are grouped to- 
 gether, each dealing with some part or aspect of 
 the main subject. The sequence therefore serves, or 
 may serve, the purpose of a full-length conspectus 
 or critical essay-editorial ; Hit it may be and 
 usually is less thoroughly unified, looser of structure 
 and more flexible. 
 
 PADEREWSKI THE PATRIOT 
 
 The Outlook 
 
 1. Ignace Paderewski, who has now re- 
 signed as Prime Minister of Poland, has not 
 touched the piano for more than two years. 
 His fingers have had other work to do. 
 They throttled, for example, the neck of a 
 man found in the Premier's apartment one 
 night. With one hand the assassin pre- 
 sented a paper to Paderewski; with the 
 other a pistol. On the paper was written 
 Paderewski's abdication as Prime Minister. 
 "Sign that," said the villain, "or you are a 
 dead man." Paderewski grappled with his 
 visitor and held him until help arrived. To- 
 day that visitor is Paderewski's firmest 
 friend. For, with the unsettled state of the 
 country, the patriot had not haled the man 
 to court. 
 
 2. Physically, mentally, and morally, 
 Paderewski is a towering figure. When, at 
 the beginning of the war, he commenced his 
 work of recruiting Polish troops here and 
 getting American aid for his country, our 
 people looked at these activities as praise- 
 worthy detachments ftom his real work in 
 life as pianist and composer. America had 
 yet to learn that, before everything Pade- 
 rewski is a Pole and a patriot. They were 
 
124 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 even amused at his setting sail for Poland 
 to help in the effort to bring some law and 
 order into that chaotic land; they supposed 
 him quite too unpractical; indeed, we heard 
 a great deal about the artistic temperament 
 which. never gets down to "the real facts 
 of life." So, when the news reached Amer- 
 ica that Paderewski had become a part of 
 the Polish Government, and actually Prime 
 Minister, it took one's breath away. We 
 heard, "Why, he never yet kept an engage- 
 ment. What a man to choose!" 
 
 3. To cap this we heard that he was 
 going as ambassador to define the claims of 
 his country before the Paris Peace Confer- 
 ence! But he has justified his premiership 
 and his ambassadorship. Even more than 
 to Pilsudski, President of Poland, that 
 country, it is said, owes to him the increase 
 of her army from 1056 men to a million in 
 the active and half a million in the reserve 
 force. As to the Conference, certainly more 
 than to any other man Poland owes to him 
 its sanction regarding her boundaries. His 
 persuasive eloquence has elicited high 
 praise from the conferees; among others, 
 from Mr. Polk, who lately returned from 
 Europe at the head of the American dele- 
 gation. 
 
 4. Now that the Conference is practically 
 a thing of the past and Poland has got all 
 that Paderewski could get there, Pilsudski 
 drops him. But Paderewski would not re- 
 sign except with a guaranty that he would 
 be succeeded by men whom he had trained, 
 men in sympathy with his views. So we 
 now have Skulski as Premier at Warsaw 
 and Padek as representative in Paris. 
 
 See the note on Pilsudski. 
 
 MR. ROBINSON'S NEW 
 
 ARTHURIAN POEM 
 
 New York Times Book Review 
 LAJiCELOT. By Edwin Arlington Robinson. New 
 York: Thomas Seltzer. 
 
 1. Many poets, unable to keep continually 
 to the serene eminence of poetry, descend 
 from time to time to the flat lowlands of 
 verse, or even stumble into the mere ditches 
 of doggerel. This is not true of Edwin 
 Arlmgton Robinson. Although he does not 
 always achieve the perfection of a poem 
 like Flammonde," he never offers the pub- 
 lic any slovenly writing. Reviewers know 
 that any book by Mr. Robinson will be well 
 written, to say the least. 
 ^rh "Lancelot," which won the prize of 
 ?500 offered by Samuel Roth through his 
 magazine the Lyric, is no exception to this 
 rule. It has been well thought out, well 
 felt and well made. This is not to say 
 that it is a great poem, however, or that 
 no important criticism can be brought 
 
 against it. Readers will have to answer 
 once again the question that suggested it- 
 self when Mr. Robinson's "Merlin" was 
 published. Has he the temperament for the 
 task he has chosen? Mr. Robinson is a 
 modern, psychologically acute, accurate and 
 subtle. When he draws personality the 
 lines are firm and flawless. But can he show 
 us the color and texture of life, and make 
 us feel the heat of it in those old days of 
 myth and magic? 
 
 3. Perhaps he could if that were his in- 
 tention, but he has not done so. He has 
 provided no background for his great lovers, 
 Lancelot and Guinevere, created no atmos- 
 phere that belongs essentially and exclu- 
 sively to the legendary period of King Ar- 
 thur. Tennyson, in spite of much that we 
 find fulsome in his "Idylls of the King," did 
 really give to youth a sense of participation 
 in tournaments, in mad, chivalrous battles, 
 in quaintly old-fashioned miracles. He 
 lifted Excalibur out of the lake, and his 
 Grail was more than a Light. Mr. Robinson 
 tells us that battles are being fought, or, 
 lets his characters tell us. But he never 
 lets us see the fighting. His miracles are 
 of the modern sort that happen even today 
 in the minds of men and women. 
 
 4. Such miracles, however, he under- 
 stands far better than Tennyson under- 
 stood them. With the utmost lucidity and 
 precision he shows us what is happening 
 in the mind of his hero, and convinces us 
 that what he shows is truth. His Lancelot 
 is, indeed, an "engine of jrenown" and s 
 Prince among lovers: 
 
 And I remember more fair women's 
 
 eyes 
 Than there are stars in Autumn, all 
 
 of them 
 Thrown on me for a glimpse of that 
 
 high knight. 
 Sir Lancelot— Sir Lancelot of the Lake. 
 I saw their faces and I saw not one 
 To sever a tendril of my integrity; 
 But I thought once again, to make 
 
 myself 
 Believe a silent lie, "God save the 
 
 King!" . . . 
 I saw your face and there were no 
 
 more Kings. 
 
 5. He is also that unfortunate idealist 
 who learns that the woman he has chosen 
 cannot seek the Light with him; but he will 
 not forego the Light. 
 
 What I said once to you I said forever— 
 That I would pay the price of hell to 
 
 save you. 
 As for the Light, leave that for me 
 
 alone; 
 
THE SERIOUS ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 125 
 
 6. Mr. Robinson's Guinevere is of baser 
 metal. 
 
 With many questions in her dark-blue 
 
 eyes 
 And one gay jewel in her golden hair. 
 
 7. She is the woman far more feminine 
 than womanly. Even after disaster sends 
 her to the convent at Almesbury she re- 
 mains the proud and grave coquette. She 
 still has the heart to taunt Lancelot with 
 echoes of his own words to her. 
 
 8. When Tennyson's Guinevere retired 
 to Almesbury she repented and prayed to be 
 united to Arthur again in heaven, saying, 
 properly enough, but not all convincingly: 
 
 It was my duty to have loved the 
 
 highest; 
 It surely was my profit had I known; 
 It would have been my pleasure had I 
 
 seen. 
 We needs must love the highest when 
 
 we see it, 
 Not Lancelot, nor another. 
 
 And having come to this decision sHe sets 
 out to be a sensible nun and finally becomes 
 a worthy abbess. 
 
 9. But Mr. Robinson's Guinevere, even 
 at the end, thinks of Arthur only as a 
 shadow cast upon her life by the will of her 
 father. (And indeed in Mr. Robinson's ver- 
 sion of the story the King is little more 
 than a shadow!) We are made to feel that 
 she loved Lancelot and Lancelot alone, not 
 because of "duty," certainly, but in spite 
 of it, and in spite of "profit" and "pleasure," 
 because he was an individual person, 
 Lancelot. And when he is about to say 
 good-bye to her forever (as Arthur, not 
 Lancelot, said good-bye to Tennyson's 
 Guinevere) she is not making penitent 
 speeches and planning to be an abbess. She 
 is simply a woman broken by life and her 
 mad passion. She is telling Lancelot how 
 to remember her! 
 
 When you see one woman — 
 When you see me before you in your 
 
 fancy. 
 See me all white and gold, as I was 
 
 once. 
 
 10. Of the other characters in the poem 
 Gawaine is most interesting and very well 
 presented, a man with the nonchalant wit of 
 worldlings in every generation, who is will- 
 ing to be "fried with other liars in the 
 pans of hell" if it can be proved that he is 
 not a friend of Lancelot! 
 
 11. To sum it up, "Lancelot" is a pene- 
 trative study of the interplay of personali- 
 ties. In presenting Lancelot and Guinevere 
 Mr. Robinson seems to have thought of them 
 
 chiefly as two unique and powerful human 
 beings who might have lived at any time in 
 the world's history and simply happened to 
 live in the reign of King Arthur. In this 
 poem, as in many others, Mr. Robinson 
 shows a fine knowledge of life and a deep 
 sympathy with the great who must live it to 
 the full. "Lancelot" is easier to read than 
 "Merlin," also being simpler and more 
 concise. 
 
 12. But, although it is an idle task to 
 give themes to any poet, one cannot help 
 wishing that Mr. Robinson would interpret 
 modern American life. He is one of the 
 few who could show us the light in cities 
 whose towers are taller than those in 
 Camelot. — Marguerite Wilkinson. 
 
 An essay in literary criticism made timely by 
 the fact that the author and the poem discussed 
 were prominent in the contemporary literary news. 
 Observe the employment of what is virtually the 
 8-8tage structure : 
 
 |1. General estimate of the author. 1I1I2-10. De- 
 velopment, amplifying, particularizing, and consid- 
 ering with the book as a basis. f1[ll-12. Con- 
 clusion, especially with reference to the poem 
 discussed. 
 
 ^FRANCE 
 
 A. Glutton Brock 
 London Times Literary Supplement 
 
 1. Among all the sorrows of this war 
 there is one joy for us in it — that it has 
 made us brothers with the French as no 
 two nations have ever been brothers be- 
 fore. There has come to us, after ages of 
 conflict, a kind of millennium of friendship; 
 and in that we feel there is a hope for the 
 world that outweighs all our fears, even at 
 the height of the world-wide calamity. 
 There were days and days, during the swift 
 German advance, when we feared that the 
 French armies were no match for the Ger- 
 man, that Germany would be conquered on 
 the seas and from her eastern frontier, that 
 after the war France would remain a Power 
 only through the support of her Allies. For 
 that fear we must now ask forgiveness; but 
 at least we can plead in excuse that it was 
 unselfish and free from all national vanity. 
 If, in spite of ultimate victory, France had 
 lost her high place among the nations, we 
 should have felt that the victory itself was 
 an irreparable loss for the world. And now 
 we may speak frankly of that fear because, 
 however unfounded it was, it reveals the 
 nature of the friendship between France 
 and England. 
 
 2. That is also revealed in the praise 
 which the French have given to our army. 
 There is no people that can praise as they 
 can; for they enjoy praising others as much 
 as some nations enjoy praising themselves, 
 and they lose all the reserve of egotism in 
 
126 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 the pleasure of praising well. But in this 
 case they have praised so generously be- 
 cause there was a great kindliness behind 
 their praise, because they, like us, feel that 
 this war means a new brotherhood stronger 
 than all the hatreds it may provoke, a 
 brotherhood not only of war, but of the 
 peace that is to come after it. That wel- 
 come of English soldiers in the villages, of 
 France, with food and wine and flowers, is 
 only a foretaste of what is to be in both 
 countries in a happier time. It is what we 
 have desired, in the past of silly vn-angles 
 and misunderstandings, and now we know 
 that our desire is fulfilled. 
 
 3. For behind all those misunderstand- 
 ings, and in spite of the differences of 
 character between us, there was always an 
 understanding which showed itself in the 
 courtesies of Fontenoy and a hundred other 
 battles. When Sir Philip Sidney spoke of 
 France as that sweet enemy, he made a 
 phrase for the English feeling of centuries 
 past and centuries to be. We quarreled bit- 
 terly and long; but it was like a man and 
 woman who know that some day their love 
 will be confessed and are angry with each 
 other for the quarrels that have delayed the 
 confession. We called each other ridiculous, 
 and knew that we were talking nonsense; 
 indeed, as in all quarrels without real 
 hatred, we made charges against each other 
 that were the opposite of the truth. We 
 said that the French were frivolous; and 
 they said that we were gloomy. Now they 
 see the gaiety of our soldiers and we see the 
 deep seriousness of all France at this crisis 
 of her fate. She, of all the nations at war, 
 is fighting with the least help from illusion, 
 with the least sense of glory and romance. 
 To her the German invasion is like a pes- 
 tilence; to defeat it is merely a necessity 
 of her existence; and in defeating it she is 
 showing the courage of doctors and nurses, 
 that courage which is furthest removed 
 from animal instinct and most secure from 
 panic reaction. There is no sign in France 
 now of the passionate hopes of the revolu- 
 tionary wars; 1870 is between them and 
 her; she has learnt like no other nation in 
 Europe, the great lesson of defeat, which is 
 not to mix material dreams with spiritual; 
 she has passed beyond illusions, yet her 
 spirit is as high as if it were drunk with all 
 the illusions of Germany. 
 
 4. And that is why we admire her as we 
 have never admired a nation before. We 
 ourselves are an old and experienced people, 
 who have, we hope, outlived gaudy and 
 dangerous dreams; but we have not been 
 tested like the French, and we do not know 
 whether we or any other nation could en- 
 
 dure the test they have endured. It is no' 
 merely that they have survived and kep' 
 their strength. It is that they have a kinc 
 of strength new to nations, such as we se< 
 in beautiful women who have endured grea* 
 sorrows and outlived all the triumphs anc 
 passions of their youth, who smile when 
 once they laughed; and yet they are mor« 
 beautiful than ever, and seem to live witl 
 a purpose that is not only their own, bu' 
 belongs to the whole of life. So now w« 
 feel that France is fighting not merely fo: 
 her own honor and her own beautiful coun 
 try, still less for a triumph over an ar 
 rogant rival, but for what she means to al 
 the world; and that now she means fai 
 more than ever in the past. i 
 
 5. This quarrel, as even the German: 
 confess, was not made by her. She saw i 
 gathering, and she was as quiet as if shi 
 hoped to escape war by submission. Th- 
 chance for revenge was offered as it ha< 
 never been offered in forty years; yet sb 
 did not stir to grasp it. Her enemy gav' 
 every provocation, yet she stayed as still a; 
 if she were spiritless; and all the while sh^ 
 was the proudest nation on the earth, s« 
 proud that she did not need to threaten o: 
 boast. Then came the first failure, and sh< 
 took it as if she had expected nothing better 
 She had to make war in a manner wholl: 
 contrary to her nature and genius, and sh' 
 made it as if patience, not fire, were th« 
 main strength of her soul. Yet behind thi 
 new pa,tience the old fire persisted; and th 
 furia francese is only waiting for its chance 
 The Germans believe that they have deter 
 mined all the conditions of modern war, and 
 indeed, of all modern competition betweei 
 the nations, to suit their own national char 
 acter. It is their age, they think, an age i] 
 which the qualities of the old peoples, Eng 
 land and France, are obsolete. They mab 
 war after their own pattern, and we hav 
 only to suffer it as long as we can. Bu 
 France has learnt what she needs from Ger 
 many so that she may fight the German ide- 
 as well as the German armies; and whe: 
 the German armies were checked befor 
 Paris there was an equal check to the Ger 
 man idea. 
 
 6. Then the world, which was holding it 
 breath, knew that the old nations, the oL 
 faith and mind and conscience of Europe 
 were still standing fast and that scienc 
 had not utterly betrayed them all to th^ 
 new barbarism. Twice before, at Tours an< 
 in the Catalanian fields, there has been sue] 
 a fight upon the soil of France, and no\ 
 for the third time it is the heavy fate ani 
 the glory of France to be the guardian natior 
 That is not an accident, for France is stU 
 
THE SERIOUS ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 127 
 
 the chief treasury of all that these conscious 
 barbarians would destroy. They know that 
 while she stands unbroken there is a spirit 
 in her that will make their Kultur seem 
 unlovely to all the world. They know that 
 in her, as in Athens long ago, thought re- 
 mains passionate and disinterested and free. 
 Their thought is German and exercised for 
 German ends, like their army; but hers can 
 forget France in the universe, and for that 
 reason her armies and ours will fight for it 
 as if the universe were at stake. 
 
 7. Many forms has that thought taken, 
 passing through disguises and errors, mock- 
 ing at itself, mocking at the holiest things; 
 and yet there has always been the holiness 
 of freedom in it. The French blasphemer 
 has never blasphemed against the idea of 
 truth even when he mistook falsehood for 
 it. In the Terror he said there was no God, 
 because he believed there was none, but he 
 never said that France was God so that he 
 might encourage her to conquer the world. 
 Voltaire was an imp of destruction, perhaps, 
 but with what a divine lightning of laughter 
 would he have struck the Teutonic Anti- 
 christ, and how the everlasting soul of 
 France would have risen in him if he could 
 have seen her most sacred church, the visible 
 sign of her faith and her genius, ruined by 
 the German guns. Was there ever a 
 stupidity so worthy of his scorn as this at- 
 tempt to bombard the spirit? For, though 
 the temple is ruined, the faith remains; and, 
 whatever war the Germans may make upon 
 the glory of the past, it is the glory of the 
 future that France fights for. Whatever 
 wounds she suffers now she is suffering for 
 all mankind; and now, more than ever be- 
 fore in her history, are those words become 
 true which one poet who loved her gave to 
 her in the Litany of Nations crying to the 
 earth : 
 
 I am she that was thy sign and stand- 
 ard-bearer. 
 Thy voice and cry; 
 She that washed thee with her blood 
 and left thee fairer. 
 The same am I. 
 Are not these the hands that raised 
 thee fallen and fed thee, 
 These hands defiled? 
 Am not I thy tongue that spake, thine 
 eye that led thee. 
 Not I thy child? 
 
 An essay-study in national character (therefore 
 of the critical class). Note the earnest fervor that 
 shows in its generous appreciation, its sustained 
 vigor, its hightened expression. Note its style and 
 diction, combining simplicity, clarity, dignity, force 
 and beauty. Note the evidences of wide reading ; 
 and note especially how the phrasing is made to 
 describe, to characterize, to define, to interpret — 
 with clearness, with vividness, with philosophic ade- 
 
 quacy and precision. That the article was written 
 in the stress of doubtful war, and with the propa- 
 gandic purpose of creating in Britain a high and 
 trustful admiration for her ally, makes more nota- 
 ble its intellectual, its literary, and its spiritual 
 quality. But for its enthusiasm — eager and ex- 
 alted, yet sober and restrained — it might have 
 been written in some placidly studious chamber far 
 set away from things and thoughts of battle, suffer- 
 ing, and death. Thus to keep serene balance and 
 sure judgment, in the midst of conflict, yet above it 
 — that should be the editorial ideal. 
 
 Chapter VIII. Exercises 
 
 1. Examine 3 issues of such a journal as 
 The Outlook or The Independent for serious 
 essay-editorial articles, setting down memo- 
 randa of your observations and conclusions. 
 
 2. Prepare yourself (A) to discuss from 
 the data of No. 1 the kind of essay-editorials 
 characteristic of the magazine studied, or 
 (B) to write a paper of about 500 words on 
 the same subject. Be ready in either case 
 to produce satisfactory examples or illus- 
 trations from the matter read. Unless other- 
 wise directed, do (B). 
 
 3. As in No. 1, study such a journal as 
 Harvey's Weekly or The Review (New 
 York). 
 
 4. Repeat No. 2 with reference to No. 3. 
 
 5. As in No. 1, study such a journal as 
 The Nation, The Dial, or The New Republic. 
 
 6. Repeat No. 2 with reference to No. 5. 
 
 7. Work out a comparison of the maga- 
 zine studied in No. 1 with that studied in 
 No. 3, with reference to their essay-editorial 
 articles. Put it in outline form, ready to 
 submit to the instructor should it be called 
 for. 
 
 8. As in No. 7, comparing the magazines 
 of No. 3 and No. 5. 
 
 9. Develop in a brief essay the com- 
 parison outlined in No. 7. Endeavor to give 
 the presentation the journalist slant. 
 
 10. Repeat No. 9 with reference to No. 8. 
 
 11. Examine a week's issue of a good 
 daily paper, clipping all the articles that you 
 regard as being in the nature of essay- 
 editorial. 
 
 12. Classify the clippings made in No. 11 
 as regards subject, length, structure, tone 
 and manner, and purpose. From this data, 
 write a brief characterization (up to 500 
 words) of the paper with reference to its 
 essay-editorial tendency. 
 
 13. Draw up a list of 10 suggestions for 
 essay-editorials dealing with science, so- 
 ciology, economics, and commerce or indus- 
 try. Set down the subjects proposed, and 
 in a single sentence indicate the intended 
 line of thought. 
 
 14. Selecting one of the 10 suggestions 
 (No. 13), prepare an outline of the essay- 
 treatment in form for submission to the in- 
 
128 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 structor or the class for consideration should 
 it be called for. 
 
 15, 16. Write the essay-editorial laid out 
 in No. 14. 
 
 17. Repeat No. 14, using another of the 
 suggestions in No. 10. 
 
 18, 19. Write the essay-editorial laid out 
 in No. 17. 
 
 20. As in 13, draw up suggestions for 
 essay-editorials dealing with history, biog- 
 raphy, politics, and government. 
 
 21. As in No. 14, making it apply to 
 No. 20. 
 
 22. 23. Write the essay-editorial laid out 
 in No. 21. 
 
 24. As in No. 14, using another of the 
 suggestions in No. 20. 
 
 25, 26. Write the essay-editorial laid out 
 in No. 24. 
 
 27. As in No. 13, the editorials to deal 
 with art, literature, music, drama, and phi- 
 losophy. 
 
 28. No. 14 applied to the suggestions of 
 No. 27. 
 
 29. 30. Write the essay-editorial laid out 
 in No. 28. 
 
 31. No. 14 applied to another of the sug- 
 gestions of No. 27. 
 
 32, 33. Write the essay-editorial laid out 
 in No. 31. 
 
 34. No. 13 applied to religion, morals, 
 and the inner life. 
 
 35. No. 14 applied to the suggestions of 
 No. 34. 
 
 36, 37. Write the essay-editorial laid out 
 in No. 35. 
 
 38. No. 14 applied to another suggestion 
 from No. 34. 
 
 39, 40. Write the essay-editorial laid out 
 in No. 38. 
 
 41. Write an essay-editorial of contro- 
 versial trend. 
 
 42. Write an essay-editorial of the "wis- 
 dom" or reflective sort. 
 
 43. Write an editorial-essay of the con- 
 spectus class, unless you have already done 
 one of these in the previous exercises. 
 
 44. Write an essay-editorial of the crit- 
 icism class, unless you have already done 
 one of these in the previous exercises. 
 
 45. Review the essay-editorials you have 
 written, examining them with reference to 
 their journalistic suitability. 
 
 46. Continuing the review of No. 45, con- 
 sider your editorials with reference to their 
 plan and structure, clearness, comprehen- 
 siveness of treatment, interest, informative 
 and interpretive value, attractiveness of 
 presentation, etc. 
 
 47. Write a thorough-going criticism of 
 your essay-editorials based on the review of 
 Nos. 45 and 46. Deal with merits as well as 
 weaknesses. 
 
 48. Write an essay-editorial, under the 
 title Editors as Essayists, in which you dis- 
 cuss the essay-editorial, its value, and its 
 characteristics. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE CASUAL ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 The casual essay characterized. — 
 
 The essay we described as a limited 
 treatment or dissertation, methodi- 
 cally developed, in careful or finished 
 manner. If now we incline to shorten 
 this essay, thereby further restrict- 
 ing its thoroughness and comprehen- 
 siveness; if we make it lighter in 
 manner, mood, and touch; and if we 
 give it the air of being cursory, of 
 coming by chance suggestion as much 
 as by studied purpose, or even some- 
 times of being a bit indifferent to 
 deeper significance so long as it 
 pleases and entertains — then we pro- 
 duce the casual essay. 
 
 Its eighteenth-century models. — 
 Those who know The Spectator need 
 go no further for excellent examples 
 of the casual essay. Addison, Steele, 
 and the other eighteenth-century es- 
 sayists of the Spectator school, did 
 the thing to a nicety. Wit, humor, 
 gaiety, finish, lightness of touch, 
 fancy, urbanity, sympathy, keenness 
 of perception, variety of subject and 
 of theme — all these desiderata of the 
 casual essay characterize their work. 
 Nor is there missing that sin- 
 cerity, or ultimate wholesomeness of 
 thought and strength of purpose, 
 which worthy writing inevitably dis- 
 closes. 
 
 In twentieth-century dress. — ^To 
 catch the spirit and manner of the 
 Spectator essays, and to learn to em- 
 body them in the speech of our own 
 day, is to qualify for essay-writing 
 of this kind. True, so far as sub- 
 ject-matter, and to some extent in- 
 clusiveness, are concerned, many of 
 the Spectator essays can be classified 
 as serious. Such are the essays on 
 writing, on politics, on religion and 
 
 morals, and on critical themes. But 
 in manner and method even these in- 
 cline on the side of the casual. In 
 brief, the Spectator article needs 
 little more than some up-to-date 
 "peg" of pertinence and a twentieth- 
 century diction, to be an essay-edi- 
 torial, quite corresponding to those 
 of our later type. 
 
 The "free spirit" form of editoriaL 
 — The casual essay-editorial is the 
 natural medium for expressing spon- 
 taneous moods and treating transi- 
 tory, incidental or accidental topics 
 — ^though contradictorily enough its 
 themes will at bottom frequently be 
 found more permanent and more uni- 
 versal than in editorials seeming 
 more purposeful. As a consequence, 
 no other form of editorial allows the 
 individuality and personality of the 
 writer more freedom. The only 
 things prohibited in writing it are 
 dulness, heaviness, a too obvious 
 didacticism, and coarseness. It has 
 the extent and variety of subject 
 legitimate to the editorial in any cate- 
 gory, and in addition it permits the 
 utmost liberty of treatment. 
 
 Representative editorials. — The 
 spirit of the casual essay-editorial, its 
 informal, cursory manner, and its 
 range of subject and theme, are sug- 
 gested by the specimens here re- 
 printed. 
 
 "POWER" TO THE MOVIE AD. 
 
 Some Seen on Twelfth Street Have the 
 "Gripping" Qualities. 
 
 Kansas City Times 
 
 Robert W. Service has nothing on the 
 modern movie man for "power" and "grip- 
 ping" qualities, so on, ad infinitum. Look 
 at these, all from the same picture, seen on 
 Twelfth street yesterday. 
 
130 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 "Far to the North is the land of the un- 
 conquered primal." 
 
 (Speaking of the hero.) "Breed of the 
 silver North, with the gentleness of a baby 
 and the ferocity of a wolf." 
 
 "The land where men go to forget." 
 
 (A line about the asbestos heroine.) "A 
 girl of the silver North in whose veins runs 
 the fiery sunset." 
 
 (Alaska.) "Where the soul of a man is 
 awed by the big silence." 
 
 This is editorial in manner, but was printed as 
 a reader-interest item on a news page; observe the 
 news-story head. 
 
 WHO WILL BE OUR CURTIUS? 
 
 Lowell Courier-Citizen 
 
 1. An underground stream, conveyed 
 through an ancient conduit beneath Brook- 
 line avenue in Boston, has produced a curi- 
 ous subsidence in the surface of the street, 
 making a hole from five to eight feet deep, 
 twenty feet wide, and 100 feet long. In 
 ancient times such a cleft appeared in the 
 Roman Forum, and the engineering wisdom 
 of the day decided that it would only be 
 closed if the "most precious object in the 
 city" were thrown into it. Whereupon one 
 Marcus Curtius, modestly estimating him- 
 self to be said most precious object, leaped 
 with his horse into the yawning chasm — 
 which, we are credibly informed, closed obe- 
 diently above his head. Will Boston call for 
 prominent volunteers? Do we hear an 
 eager response from John F. Fitzgerald? 
 Or Mayor Peters? Or Mr. Filene? Here 
 seems to be a chance to become immortal — 
 at a considerable sacrifice, to be sure, but 
 for the lasting good of Brookline avenue and 
 within hailing distance of Fenway Park. 
 
 Mere fun-making over unimportant current news. 
 Yet observe how the exaggerated analogy between 
 Boston and old Rome suggests the world's progress 
 in freeing itself of superstition. Whether the grin- 
 ning writer in the Courier-Citizen office intended 
 this or not, does not greatly matter. He did his stick- 
 ful of casual funning, and there the thought is, 
 willy nilly. Shall we so misjudge his readers within 
 the zone of The Hub's intellectual influence as to 
 think that, when they had smiled at his little es- 
 say in poking fun, they missed the deep signifi- 
 cance of his comparison? 
 
 "OVERALLS" OR "OVERHAULS" 
 
 Detroit Free Press 
 
 1. Anent this new "overall" fad, Chris- 
 topher Morley, who probably knows much 
 more about books and bookshops than about 
 farms and farmers, remarks that if this 
 particular kind of fans knew anything about 
 the garments they affect they would give 
 them their customary rustic name, "over- 
 hauls." Not so, brother of the pen. The 
 agriculturist, in this particular, at least, con- 
 forms to established dictionary pronuncia- 
 tion and spelling in calling them overalls. 
 
 garments worn to protect the workingman's 
 clothing. 
 
 2. Carlyle has been accused of coining 
 the word, which is used in "Sartor Resartus" 
 in referring to "the vestural tissue of woolen ^ 
 or other cloth which Man's soul wears as its 
 outmost wrappage and overall." But the 
 word was in use before Carlyle's time, and 
 has always been associated with blue or 
 brown denim. 
 
 Tenuous and almost insubstantial, this cursory bit 
 of comment nevertheless commands interest. _ It 
 touches on something that is in the public mind, 
 and its casual detachment offers a pleasing variety 
 from most of the discussion on the same subject. 
 In a word, besides settling a question that doubtless 
 puzzled some readers, it gives relief from monotony 
 of viewpoint. 
 
 THAT DELECTABLE BROWN SUGAR 
 
 New York Sun 
 
 1. How about the light brown sugar of 
 boyhood days? Thrifty housewives may 
 have bought it because it was cheaper than 
 the ultimately refined white sugar, but it 
 was not always consumed, we will say be- 
 cause we know, for that reason. It was 
 spread in spoonfuls over buckwheat cakes, 
 over deep saucers filled with whole grain 
 hominy, over cornmeal, over oatmeal, over 
 layers of griddle cakes, full griddle size, 
 with plenty of butter to enrich the luscious 
 tower. And when boys came home after a 
 half day in the lake, the pond, the old swim- 
 ming hole, after an all day nutting excur- 
 sion, best of all then was a thick slice of 
 fresh — hot on red letter days — home baked 
 bread well spread with butter and then 
 thickly topped with a feast of brown sugar, 
 to be repeated until the partaker felt his 
 buttons. Who wanted lamb chops with 
 creamed potatoes, pork tenderloin with apple 
 sauce, after that perfect repast ? 
 
 Timely, because when it appeared most of the 
 world was thinking about sugar and how to get 
 it ; housewives were glad to get even a pound or 
 two of the formerly disdained brown article. Pleas- 
 ing, because it has the human interest of boyhood 
 remembrances. 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF CLOTHES 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 1. The near-tragic experience of the 
 President of the French Republic is another 
 reminder of the large part played by clothes 
 in our daily life. 
 
 2. The trackwalker to whom he appealed 
 after falling off his train would not believe 
 that the barefooted, bareheaded figure clad 
 only in pajamas was the head of the nation. 
 "Might you not be the Czar of Russia?" he 
 inquired ironically. 
 
 3. M. Deschanel did not have a visiting 
 card in his pocket. Perhaps he lacked even 
 a pocket. In his scanty night apparel he 
 was unrecognizable as the chief dignitary of 
 
THE CASUAL ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 131 
 
 the republic. No man, it is said, is a hero 
 to his valet; and none, it may be added, 
 looks like a President in his pajamas. 
 
 4. Thus it was that for several hours 
 M. Deschanel was utterly unable to estab- 
 lish his identity. His experience gives us 
 food for philosophic thought. 
 
 Obvious comment upon a theme as old as time 
 and almost as threadbare as often are clothes them- 
 selves. But it is not every day that the President 
 of a great Republic tumbles off his sleeping-car in 
 the middle of the night, and the incident is too 
 unusual not to be employed in re-pointing the ancient 
 moral. 
 
 AN OLDEST LIVING GRADUATE 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 1. Hats off to Rev. George G. Rice, the 
 oldest living graduate of the University of 
 Vermont. He was born in 1819 at Enos- 
 burg Falls, and now lives at Council Bluffs, 
 Iowa, being "still actively engaged as pastor 
 of the Congregational church in that city." 
 Moreover, "besides his work in the church 
 he is managing one of the largest fruit- 
 farms in western Iowa." 
 
 2. At one hundred and one, this veteran 
 graduate is certainly a marvel. How does 
 he manage to perform his dual task in life? 
 Perhaps by forgetting his age and attending 
 strictly to every day's business. That is a 
 pretty good rule for old people — and for 
 everyone else, for that matter. 
 
 A passing comment (casually made), largely of 
 an incidental news (human-interest) value. 
 
 A WEAPON BURGLARS FEAR 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. The Mexican gentleman who emerged 
 from an Omaha alley at 2 o'clock Friday 
 morning with a twelve-inch knife on his per- 
 son had the one sure weapon for attack or 
 defense. The man with a knife is exceed- 
 ingly dangerous to the health of his an- 
 tagonist. A bullet hole here or there may 
 heal up in time. A ten or twelve-inch thrust 
 of a knife in the body starts a lot of com- 
 plications not easily overcome. 
 
 2. The inoffensive citizen whose home is 
 invaded in the darkness of night by a feloni- 
 ous intruder has only to say audibly to his 
 wife: "Mary, hand me my bowie-knife!" and 
 the visitor will go while the going is good. 
 
 Another example of chance comment upon an 
 incidental bit of nevfs. It owes its readability 
 mainly to its brevity and its tone of cursory 
 lightness. 
 
 SUNBONNET SUE 
 
 New York Sun 
 
 1. The orchestra at a recent denim-ging- 
 ham wedding played "Sunbonnet Sue." Sun- 
 bonnet Sue herself, so far as we can make 
 out, was not there. Why was she not there ? 
 
 2. , Ah, sweet Sunbonnet Sue! How many 
 
 youngsters, as young, say, as that merry 
 hearted stripling, Dr. Depew — how many of 
 them, we ask, remember the sweet Sun- 
 bonnet Sues of other days? How many of 
 them remember that cool, umbrageous pas- 
 sage down which they had to go to — well, 
 never mind what they went down that pas- 
 sage for. It is nobody's business what hap- 
 pened when they got down to the end of 
 shady Sunbonnet lane, where dwelt Sue's 
 sparkling eyes and laughing lips. Besides, 
 they only went down there to see for them- 
 selves whether Sue really did have a freckle 
 on her nose. 
 
 3. But one thing they did find at the end 
 of that flower bordered little lane of smartly 
 frilled gingham — the finest thing in the 
 world, the face of a true-blue American girl. 
 Now if there is anybody on earth who wants 
 more than that, bring him on. He would be 
 a curiosity. We should like to see him. 
 
 4. When will you come back to us once 
 more, sweet Sunbonnet Sue? If you are 
 going in for gingham, why stop at the 
 gown ? Why not cap all the gingham glory 
 with the ravishing gingham sunbonnet the 
 American girl would so well know how to 
 wear, the sunbonnet with dainty shadows 
 which carried a lure all their own? 
 
 5. Ah, what a fine, pleasant day for our 
 own sweet Sue, and a glorious day for the 
 youngsters of the time when Sunbonnet Sue 
 returns to us! 
 
 Light casual comment in the mood of semi-serious 
 reflection — a pleasant relief from weightier subjects 
 and more "strenuous" writing. 
 
 THOSE WHO LAUGH AT 
 
 A DRUNKEN MAN 
 
 New York Evening Journal 
 
 1. How often have you seen a drunken 
 man stagger along the street! 
 
 2. His clothes are soiled from falling, 
 his face is bruised, his eyes are dull. Some- 
 times he curses the boys that tease him. 
 Sometimes he tries to smile, in a drunken 
 effort to placate pitiless, childish cruelty. 
 
 3. His body, worn out, can stand no more, 
 and he mumbles that he is going home. 
 
 4. The children persecute him, throw 
 things at him, laugh at him, running ahead 
 of him. 
 
 5. Grown men and women, too, often 
 laugh with the children, nudge each other, 
 and actually find humor in the sight of a 
 human being sunk below the lowest animal. 
 
 6. The sight of a drunken man going 
 home should make every other man and 
 woman sad and sympathetic, and, horrible 
 as the sight is, it should be useful, by inspir- 
 ing, in those who see it, a determination to 
 avoid and to help others avoid that man's 
 fate. 
 
132 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 7. That reeling" drunkard is going home. 
 
 8. He is going home to children who are 
 afraid of him, to a wife whose life he has 
 made miserable. 
 
 9. He is going home, taking with him 
 the worst curse in the world — to suffer bitter 
 remorse himself after having inflicted suf- 
 fering on those whom he should protect. 
 
 10. And as he goes home men and wom- 
 en, knowing what the home-coming means, 
 laugh at him and enjoy the sight 
 
 11. In the old days in the arena it occa- 
 sionally happened that brothers were set to 
 fight each other. When they refused to 
 fight they were forced to it by red-hot irons 
 applied to their backs. 
 
 12. We have progressed beyond the 
 moral condition of human beings guilty of 
 such brutality as that. But we cannot call 
 ourselves civilized while our imaginations 
 and sympathies are so dull that the reeling 
 drunkard is thought an amusing spectacle. 
 
 11. Note the appeal to every day experience. 
 11112-4. Note how plain and unpretentious, yet ef- 
 fective, is the description. fUS-lO make the reader 
 feel that he personally is addressed. 1(1111-12 drive 
 home the thought that has now been prepared for 
 by makine: the reader sense the human purport of 
 the thing that he has often seen. 
 
 This editorial is one of the "Brisbane editorials," 
 written by Arthur Brisbane, editor of the New 
 York Journal, himself owner and publisher of im- 
 portant papers elsewhere. Mr. Brisbane has a world- 
 wide reputation, gained by his editorials, and is said 
 to be the highest-paid editorial-writer in the pro- 
 fession. If common report is to be depended on, his 
 salary as an editor is at least $50,000, and it has 
 been stated as larger than that of the president of 
 the United States. His editorials are distinguished 
 by simplicity and clearness of exposition and by 
 extensive knowledge in many subjects, but still more 
 by their dependence upon human-interest. He is, 
 indeed, the leader among the writers of human- 
 interest editorials, and his reputation and influence 
 are the result of this remarkable ability of his to 
 write about his manifold subjects in a way that 
 makes them interesting by showing their bearing upon 
 every day human concerns. There are other writers 
 in the same kind who equal and perhaps surpass 
 Mr. Brisbane, in literary quality, or keenness of wit 
 or humor, or fancifulness and imaginativeness, or 
 skill in phrasing. Yet because of his long-sustained 
 output, and of his wonderful ability to lead the 
 common man to think by way of his every day ex- 
 periences and emotions, Mr. Brisbane's pre-eminence 
 in the editorial of human-interest effectiveness is 
 difficult to question. Additional Brisbane editorials 
 are_ reprinted in this book. Let the student analyze 
 their employment of human-interest, and compare 
 them in this respect with other human-interest 
 editorials. To write a study of a thousand words 
 based on this examination will be worth his effort. 
 
 WHAT IS A GENTLEMAN? 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. There has never yet been written a 
 definition of a gentleman that covers the 
 meaning of the word in every enlightened 
 country. A gentleman of France might not 
 be accepted as such in England, in Spain, in 
 Italy, or in America. And an American 
 
 gentleman is surely a quite different 
 creature from the gentleman of foreign na- 
 tions. 
 
 2. Some think that clothes make a gen- 
 tleman — an obvious error. Others consider 
 gentle birth the first requisite, and groups 
 differ in consideration of breeding, refine- 
 ment, profession and character. A gambler, 
 a burglar, a confidence man, may be a 
 gentleman under many definitions; even a 
 libertine is not barred in some conceptions 
 of the world's meaning. 
 
 3. In America we think the general ac- 
 ceptation of the word the best in the world, 
 because it considers character, conduct, and 
 kindly helpfulness and consideration for 
 others, regardless of social station or finan- 
 cial standing, more vital to gentility than 
 education or polish. It considers interior 
 qualities rather than exterior appearances. 
 A little girl mentioned in the Atlanta Con- 
 stitution has beautifully expressed the 
 American idea of what the word means. A 
 heavy wind blew her and a companion down 
 on the street while they were going to 
 school. A man picked them up and escorted 
 them to the school house, holding them by 
 the hand. We quote the Constitution: 
 
 4. When one of them related the occur- 
 rence at home, she was asked what kind of 
 a man he was. She answered: "I don't 
 know exactly. He wasn't a gentleman by 
 his clothes, but I think he was inside." 
 
 What caused the editor to write this passing con- 
 sideration of "what is a gentleman"? Who knows? 
 The subject came to him ; he saw that it was 
 good, and wrote. Once started, he said some sensi- 
 ble though by no means novel things, and gave us 
 a good descriptive definition. But after all, the in- 
 terest is mostly in the chance nature of the theme — 
 like the interest, always attractive, of "the things 
 that's said in passing by the stranger in the street." 
 
 A STRANGE RITE 
 
 Chicago Evening Post 
 
 1. The inhabitants of Manhattan — ^which 
 is described by geographers as an island 
 lying about a thousand miles east of the 
 great city of Chicago — have a strange cus- 
 tom, the origin of which is lost in antiquity. 
 
 2. Every twelvemonth the guardians of 
 the law of these people gather together all 
 the weapons which have been taken from 
 evildoers — revolvers, dirks, blackjacks and 
 "knucks" — load them on a boat and proceed 
 in the direction of the sea until they reach 
 a great statue called Liberty. 
 
 3. Here the boat pauses, and the weapons 
 — to the value of $30,000, it is said — are then 
 cast into the deep, one by one, by the guar- 
 dians of the law. Whether the throwing is 
 accompanied by incantations or prayers is 
 not known, as the guardians are very jealous 
 of this rite. 
 
THE CASUAL ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 133 
 
 4. It is supposed that by this ceremony 
 the guardians hope to purge the evildoers of 
 their evil spirit and thus preserve the lives 
 and the properties of the Manhattaners. 
 Otherwise, it is difficult to explain it, as the 
 iron and steel in the weapons could by a 
 process well known to the people of the 
 island be melted down and converted into 
 useful articles, as is, in fact, done by them 
 with other old iron and steel. 
 
 5. Neither can the strange custom be ex- 
 plained as a desire to lessen the number of 
 revolvers, etc., for they are produced in 
 large quantities in territory contiguous to 
 Manhattan, and, indeed, are openly sold in 
 the market places of the island. 
 
 6. By others, however, it is said that the 
 ceremony is an offering to propitiate Nep- 
 tune, that he may be more favorable to the 
 ships which the Manhattaners dispatch upon 
 the sea. Still others regard it as a tribute to 
 Venus, who is held in great esteem by the 
 islanders, and who, we are told, was born 
 from the foam of the sea. 
 
 Here is an editorial imitation of Irving. The un- 
 accustomed manner attracts us, and enables the 
 writer to comment on what has many times before 
 been commented upon. Quite likely, in a New York 
 paper a more direct treatment would have been given, 
 the subject being local. But the Chicago editor's 
 little essay would have been quite as good in New 
 York, whereas the subject, being local to New York, 
 would not so easily yield itself to a direct, matter- 
 of-fact approach for Chicago readers. 
 
 PUMPKIN AND FODDER SHOCK 
 
 Minneapolis Journal 
 
 1. When the Pilgrim Fathers first saw 
 about the Indian villages of Massachusetts 
 fields of corn with golden pumpkins between 
 the rows, they saw something. We who 
 have looked upon similar sights since, mul- 
 tiplied and glorified by good agriculture, 
 know what they missed by not having their 
 kodaks along. 
 
 2. There is something about freshly 
 shocked corn, standing in a stubble-field iall 
 spattered with globes of gold, that brings 
 the soul to tiptoe, smiling. Showier gardens 
 were known to the old World; but nothing 
 just like this — orderly rows of greenish, dun- 
 colored shocks in orderly rows of corn 
 stubble, and in and among them disorderly 
 gold, and enough of ripened weeds to give 
 to the scene the air of accidental growth and 
 accidental discovery. 
 
 3. Cutting corn in the days of the corn 
 knife was the farm boy's expedition in 
 search of the Golden Fleece. To cut a swath 
 two rods wide and eighty rods long through 
 a growthy cornfield was a ten-hours' work, 
 and the showiest day's work in the year's 
 programme. If the field contained un- 
 counted pumpkins, the work partook of the 
 joy both of forest clearing and of bonanza 
 
 mining. For the small boy on the unevent- 
 ful farm, corn cutting was glorious. 
 
 4. But now the corn knife and the pump- 
 kin are driven from the cornfield to the corn 
 patch. Horses and harvesters mow the crop. 
 Pumpkins would be in the way of the wheels. 
 On many well-managed farms there are no 
 fodder shocks, no slatted cribs of golden com. 
 The whole com growth — ^tassel, stalk, leaf 
 and ear — are swept up, run through a vege- 
 table sausage grinder, and canned for win- 
 ter use in the big barn towers, those benevo- 
 lent rural dungeon keeps of democracy that 
 stand as a guarantee of national prosperity 
 — good milk for babies and nourishing meat 
 for all. 
 
 Casual description and reminiscence suggested by 
 the season. Perhaps the writer had been taking an 
 auto drive among the Minnesota fields of corn at 
 harvesting time, and had his memory of boyhood 
 farming-days aroused by the contrast between them 
 and the present. Observe how in %i he finds com- 
 pensation for the change in the matters of fact 
 that he there mentions. Like the rest of us, the 
 editor may lament the past, but must see the good 
 in the present. 
 
 A STRIKE AGAINST STIFF COLLARS 
 
 New York Sun and Herald 
 
 1. Every man who wears a stiff collar 
 will have some sympathy with the strike in 
 Chicago against the starched yoke. Not 
 only have collars advanced painfully in price, 
 but the cost of laundering has doubled in 
 the last two years. Four cents a day for 
 a clean collar runs into money, eating as it 
 does the interest on nearly $300. As for 
 starched shirts, which the indignant Chi- 
 cagoese have also foresworn, they have been 
 growing fewer in recent years. 
 
 2. The soft white collar, which we pre- 
 sume is the substitute adopted in Cook 
 County, is an admirable garment. It looks 
 good on any man, at least for a few min- 
 utes. On some men it looks well all day, 
 but these men are particularly favored by 
 nature. There are other men unsuited by 
 their anatomic architecture to wear the 
 pliable cotton circle. They put one on in the 
 morning and the mirror approves it, but in 
 an hour all the beauty is gone. 
 
 3. The collar wilts under its own weight, 
 like certain presidential booms, or is crushed 
 by the relentless neck and jowl of the wear- 
 er. Nor will it rise, like truth, again. It 
 grovels and writhes, and no effort of its un- 
 happy owner, no scientific adjustment of the 
 necktie, can make it stand up and be any- 
 thing like the pictures of it that appear in 
 the soft collar advertising. 
 
 4. No, the soft collar is like pearls and 
 rubber plants, quickly affected by the pos- 
 sessor's personality. Some persevering 
 men, after years of effort, have learned to 
 make the soft collar change its ways and 
 
134 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 love them; yet it has never looked the same 
 on them as it appears on the gifted fellows 
 born to wear soft collars. 
 
 5. Incidentally, there is a common super- 
 stition that soft collars are more com- 
 fortable than starched ones in hot weather. 
 This is a fallacy as widespread as the notion 
 that it is a felony to hit a man who wears 
 glasses. Costly as it is, and uncomfortable 
 as it sometimes looks, the stiff collar is 
 infinitely cooler than the soft. But it is not 
 hot now in Chicago or anywhere else north 
 of Dixie, so the strike against the hard- 
 boiled collar can proceed in comfort. 
 
 Informal discursive remarks suggested by the 
 news in the peg. Very common and commonplace 
 details are handled "with a manner;" so that they 
 are raised above their uninteresting matter-of-fact- 
 ness and unpleasant associations, and tajte a tone 
 of homely fancy and entertaining, realistic pic- 
 turesqueness. (This effect is obtained largely by 
 means of good-natured comparisons, slightly exag- 
 gerated but kept well on this side of burlesque or 
 farce. The result is pleasing ; and the editorial 
 affords an excellent illustration of the possibilities 
 of very ordinary, not to say commonplace subjects, 
 in skilful hands.) 
 
 THE APOTHEOSIS OF MINCE PIE 
 
 Detroit Free Press 
 
 1. A writer of pessimistic disposition re- 
 cently bewailed the decadence of mince pie 
 — the winter pie-timber of the old-fashioned 
 housekeeper — complaining that faddists and 
 prohibitionists had quite ruined that 
 "noblest of desserts," so that it no longer 
 enchants the palate. 
 
 2. Time brings changes in culinary 
 recipes as well as in date lines. As a mat- 
 ter of fact, the mince pie of today is a 
 triumph of matter over mind. When a 
 sixth section is placed before the consumer 
 he is, after the initial mouthful, a firm 
 advocate of territorial expansion. He has 
 tasted a sublimated and etherialized viand 
 that far surpasses in deliciousness of flavor 
 and palatability his former knowledge of 
 pie, no matter what its species. The high 
 price of meat compelled a reconstruction of 
 the time-honored formula; the cook set out 
 upon a plan of improvement which has suc- 
 ceeded admirably, especially in that it re- 
 moves all danger of indigestion and night- 
 mare. The mince pie of today may be 
 meatless and moral, nevertheless it is not a 
 menace to sound sleep. 
 
 3. The science of the cookbook has been 
 revised to suit altered conditions of living, 
 less gross appetites and more refined pal- 
 ates. We do not scorn gastronomic joys, but 
 we temper them more discreetly. Who of 
 us could endure a series of Elizabethan 
 breakfasts, with their huge joints of beef 
 and mutton and prodigious meat pastries, 
 washed down with copious draughts of ale? 
 
 Man no longer feeds; he eats with more 
 moderation, and for the most part more 
 decorously. 
 
 4. It has been claimed that the degenera- 
 tion of a nation is measured by the deteriora- 
 tion of its food and cooking, and the deca- 
 dence of Rome has been instanced as an 
 example. But we are not mutilating larks 
 and nightingales to emulate the feasts of 
 Lucullus. We are rather progressing in re- 
 finement and knowledge of nutrition and, 
 incidentally, exalting the evolution of the 
 more ideal mince pie. 
 
 A second example of the commonplace homely 
 subject skilfully "essay-ized." See the comment on 
 
 "A Strike Against Stiff Collars," 
 
 ORIGIN OF A HOME-WRECKING 
 DISTEMPER 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. In all the city, town and country 
 homes of Nebraska, as the vernal season 
 gathers headway, all-too-busy housewives 
 are succumbing to the housecleanlng germ, 
 whose attacks come suddenly with each suc- 
 ceeding springlike day. We find it hard to 
 write of this semi-annual horror without be- 
 traying great bitterness of spirit, because it 
 is a form of industry we despise. We men- 
 tion it only because it comes in the line of 
 public duty to do so, in order to prepare 
 men's minds for the inevitable week of an- 
 noyance, disarranged books, misplaced fur- 
 niture, dust, flurry and cold meals. 
 
 2. When and where did housecleaning 
 originate? Not in ancient Greece or Rome, 
 nor in the land of the unspeakable Turk, 
 nor in Russia. Not in Cleopatra's mystic 
 realm, nor anywhere in all Asia and Africa. 
 China's curious civilization of 3000 years 
 has been free from it, as have Greenland's 
 icy mountains and India's coral strands. 
 Even the Moors who settled in Spain and 
 gave personal and civic cleanliness its first 
 victories in Europe, cannot be charged with 
 it. The American Indian also is guiltless, 
 as are the denizens of the innnumerable isles 
 of the seven seas. 
 
 3. Who, then, inflicted housecleaning, 
 with all its attendant ills, on America ? We 
 shall no longer conceal the truth. The New 
 Englanders did it, the Yankees, the busy- 
 bodies of the New World. But why? The 
 answer is easy. It was invented as a con- 
 trast to that other New England institu- 
 tion. Thanksgiving day. And it is some 
 contrast, verily. We used to think it a cus- 
 tom. Now we know better. It is a disease, 
 "peculiar to women," as dear old Lydia 
 Pinkham would say. But not even her 
 genius for medical discoveries ever found a 
 specific for it. We fear it never will be 
 shaken off in this world. Its tentacles have 
 
THE CASUAL ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 135 
 
 too firm a grip everywhere. It is the cancer 
 of housekeeping, the black plague of do- 
 mestic life, the scrub-brush and broom- 
 handle itch of modern times. It began 
 when the Blue law that prohibited men from 
 kissing their sweethearts and wives on Sun- 
 days went into effect. In their displeasure 
 the New England women began raising a 
 dust and called it housecleaning. They have 
 been raising this dust ever since, and men 
 flee when no man pursueth. Can you blame 
 them? 
 
 In one or another form, the sense of humor is 
 responsible for a large proportion of our casual- 
 essay editorials ; sentiment (sometimes sentimen- 
 tality) and pathos, for some; and pure wit for occa- 
 sional example. The fact that so many deal with 
 matters of daily existence may indicate that we 
 Americans are a domestic-minded people. Some 
 might say "bourgeois"-minded. But it is to be 
 noted that these lowly-sprung essays are likely to 
 reveal something of a philosophic quality, ability 
 lightly yet significantly to interpret or reveal, an 
 imaginative or fanciful sympathy — in short, a power 
 to idealize the commonplace into something higher 
 than mere commonness. 
 
 REDHEADS 
 
 Pittsburg Press 
 
 1. A woman writes to a current literary 
 journal protesting against novelists who 
 ascribe undesirable characteristics to per- 
 sons with red hair. She says truly that 
 this is unfair to all redheads, who are just 
 as nice as blackheads any day in the week 
 or month. 
 
 2. Thackeray, with his redheaded, mali- 
 cious Becky Sharp — Dickens, with his red- 
 headed Uriah Heep — Henry James, Edith 
 Wharton, Marion Crawford, arid many other 
 novelists seem to accept the dictum of a 
 bumptious Frenchman that people with red 
 hair are "either violent or false and usually 
 they are both." 
 
 3. The slander isn't exactly new. Judas 
 was gratuitously given red hair and a red 
 beard in paintings by ancient artists. 
 Shakespeare wrote of one of his characters, 
 "His very hair is of the dissembling color, 
 something browner than Judas'." Shake- 
 speare to the contrary notwithstanding, the 
 notion is as idle as the saying that "If you 
 see a white horse you will meet a red- 
 headed girl." The insult to redheaded people 
 which is involved in the fable that Judas was 
 redheaded has never received the sympathy 
 of artists. One of the greatest of them, 
 Titian, regarded red hair as a mark of su- 
 preme beauty, and P. J. Dagnan-Bouveret 
 in his great picture "Christ at Emmaus," 
 which hangs in our Carnegie gallery, por- 
 trays Christ with a mass of glorious red 
 hair. 
 
 4. Nearly everyone is familiar with the 
 circumstance that hair which is red in youth 
 
 often darkens with age. Does anyone imag- 
 ine that temperament changes with the color 
 of the hair? Or that the change in color 
 results from a change in character or tem- 
 perament? It is to be doubted even that 
 red hair indicates a short temper. A few 
 ladies with Titian red hair show temper, 
 perhaps, because they have been led to think 
 that the shade of their hair explains or ex- 
 cuses it. But is it really true that persons 
 with red hair are quicker of temper or more 
 violent of action than those whose hair is 
 black? What is your own observation in 
 regard to this? The chances are that the 
 worst-tempered people the majority of us 
 have ever known, and the least reliable, were 
 NOT redheaded. It is time that the nov- 
 elists of whom the woman correspondent 
 complains found a more interesting and 
 plausible fallacy. Nature may occasionally 
 seem capricious, but hair doesn't determine 
 character. 
 
 Chance, cursory remarks provoked by a subject 
 that is familiar, but has been approached from a 
 slightly different angle. The subject "appeals" be- 
 cause all mankind consists of only four classes — 
 those who haven't red hair and those who have, 
 and those who admire it and those who don't. 
 
 THE TIRED WORKINGMAN 
 
 Oliver Herford, in Leslie's 
 
 1. It used to be the Tired Business Man. 
 
 2. You know him well, dear reader; you 
 see his picture almost every week in some 
 newspaper. 
 
 3. He sits in a massive mahogany chair 
 at a massive mahogany table, surrounded 
 by telephones, stock tickers, dictaphones, 
 letters, telegrams, secret documents of every 
 description, and a photograph of his wife or 
 some one, in a massive gold frame. 
 
 4. Sometimes he is alone, sometimes 
 there are twelve tired business men who re- 
 semble him strangely. Take a good look 
 at him; the time of his passing is at hand. 
 If we are to believe the handwriting on the 
 wall, the Tired Workingman will soon be 
 sitting in his place. 
 
 5. All day he toils over his telephones 
 and secret documents and the photograph 
 of his wife in the massive gold frame, until 
 his brain is numb and turgid, like cold cereal. 
 
 Toiling, quick-lunching, borrowing, 
 Onward through life he goes; 
 Each morning sees some deal begun, 
 Each evening sees its close. 
 
 6. In the evening he is conveyed to a 
 theatre where his tired brain is massaged 
 to sleep by scented music and a peroxide 
 play from which all traces of plot or mean- 
 ing have been removed by the careful author 
 for his especial benefit. 
 
 7. And while the Tired Business Man 
 sleeps, in the outer darkness the two Genii, 
 
136 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Brain and Brawn, are fighting for his soul. 
 If Brawn wins, the Tired Business Man 
 must go; there will be no place for him. 
 The Tired Workingman will sit in his chair 
 at the massive mahogany table and eat his 
 quick-lunches and talk into his telephone 
 and fumble his ticker — but who will write 
 the plays for the Tired Workingman ? Why, 
 the Moving Picture Mechanics, of course. 
 
 Here satirizing wit is directed in passing irony 
 upon a timely aspect of affairs. 
 
 THE INEVITABLE CANDIDATE 
 
 New York Evening Post 
 
 1. Nothing can be more absurd than to 
 suppose that a candidate's chances at Chi- 
 cago or San Francisco are to be reckoned 
 in terms of delegates. The nominations will 
 be really determined by forces metaphysi- 
 cal, logical, geographical, physiological, 
 ouija-logical, historical-pastoral, pastoral- 
 comical, etc. By these various methods it 
 has been demonstrated that the candidate 
 who holds a commanding lead has no chances 
 at all, and the candidate with no chances 
 at all is a sure-fire winner. Take it from 
 the various campaign headquarters. 
 
 2. By a rigid application of such methods 
 it has been demonstrated to the satisfaction 
 of all reasonable men that the winning can- 
 didate at Chicago will be a man with no 
 perceptible virtues and therefore with no 
 striking flaws; with no friends and conse- 
 quently no enemies; no record and conse- 
 quently no hostile criticism; no strong views 
 and consequently no prejudices. The win- 
 ner will not be a force, but a resultant of 
 forces. He will (1) be bom close to the 
 centre of population, somewhere near the 
 Wabash; (2) be affiliated with a respectable 
 but small religious denomination, so as not 
 to antagonize the Methodists, Baptists, 
 Presbyterians and other sects which count in 
 millions, and (3) drive a Buick so as to be 
 equally acceptable to the Ford proletariat 
 and to the solid supersixes. 
 
 3. An entire class of Republican candi- 
 dacies has been based on Woodrow Wilson as 
 a horrible example. Since Mr. Wilson is the 
 worst President any republic ever had, the 
 candidate who can show the strongest di- 
 vergence from the man in the White House 
 is obviously the man of the hour. Mr. Wil- 
 son's illness has emphasized the need of 
 good health in a President, and there is at 
 least one Republican aspirant who takes a 
 ten-mile walk every morning. The next 
 President must not be a college professor, 
 which disposes of Nicholas Murray Butler. 
 His name must not begin with a "W," which 
 disposes of Leonard Wood. It must not end 
 m "son," which settles Hiram Johnson. 
 
 Lowden is partially affected, since three 
 letters in his name occur in Woodrow. The 
 chances for Herbert Hoover are nil. Her- 
 bert has the same number of letters as 
 Woodrow and Hoover the same number of 
 letters as Wilson. 
 
 4. On all these grounds — spelling, geog- 
 raphy, good health, charm, lack of personal 
 enemies, a record immune against all crit- 
 icism, and a belief in fairies — the inevitable 
 candidate would seem to be Maude Adams. 
 
 The casual-essay editorial (the student will have 
 discovered from the examples so far given), is, 
 like beauty, often its own excuse for being. It needs, 
 and often has, no purpose ulterior to that of en- 
 tertaining, of touching gracefully, humorously, 
 wittily, or otherwise lightly. If a meaning under- 
 lies, it is likely to be suggested or implied, not 
 urged, and it is treated "with an air of assumed 
 indifference." In the "shy" here taken by the 
 Evening Post at our methods of nominating presi- 
 dential candidates, the tone of casualness prevails, 
 but the reader will perceive a degree of ironical 
 and satirical temperature that is a trifle above the 
 normal of the casual essay. Cf. the note on A Lit- 
 tle Appreciation. 
 
 A LITTLE APPRECIATION 
 
 Charleston News and Courier 
 
 1. The value of appreciation is far from 
 being correctly measured by the majority of 
 persons. Too often we simply say "Thank 
 you" in acknowledgment of some good deed 
 done for us when instead we should strive 
 by every possible means to show just how 
 much that good deed means. It is so easy 
 to take for granted the kind feelings of 
 others for us, when if we only knew it we 
 really deserve but little of their charity. 
 Particularly is this true in our treatment of 
 older persons. In some ways the present 
 generation seems to have missed the happi- 
 ness that springs from a proper apprecia- 
 tion of our elders, but very probably every 
 generation throughout the ages has failed in 
 some way in this regard. The man who has 
 had his day, we argue, should be satisfied 
 to step aside and give others a chance, but 
 do we realize that as long as a spark of 
 ambition bums in the human breast no one 
 can become reconciled to be merely a looker- 
 on at events as they transpire? Men and 
 women everywhere are sacrificing much in 
 order to give their children the chance the 
 latter demand, and the sacrifice, we may be 
 sure, is not made without a hard wrench. 
 No one wants to step aside unless he is 
 forced to do so, well knowing that such ac- 
 tion means the final renunciation of all the 
 personal hopes and ambitions he has clung 
 to throughout the years. 
 
 2. "All of my life I have wanted to do 
 something worth while and I haven't," 
 writes a father of today in a recent com- 
 munication to his daughter. "It seems the 
 fires of my life have always been banked." 
 
THE CASUAL ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 137 
 
 What a tragedy is here glimpsed in these 
 simple words! How pitiful it has been for 
 this man to realize that no opportunity has 
 been afforded, nor ever will be afforded now, 
 of achieving his heart's ambition ? He must 
 be content to get what compensation he can 
 from the works and deeds of his children, 
 making himself believe that in their success 
 he will attain at least a shadow of the 
 gratification he yearned for on his own ac- 
 count. That the fires of his life never died 
 out completely is one thing for which he 
 has much to be thankful, for many men in 
 his position would have given up the game 
 long before. That the lesson he uncon- 
 sciously taught the daughter to whom he 
 wrote is being learned well and thoroughly 
 is demonstrated in the fact that today she 
 is beginning to appreciate, and is not afraid 
 to acknowledge it, the noble heritage that 
 has come to her from that father. She is 
 seeing him in a different way from that in 
 which she has been accustomed to regard 
 him throughout her life. He is the same 
 father, to be sure, but she has now glimpsed 
 certain great depths to his character that 
 she had not dreamed existed, and like the 
 good sport she is she has determined to 
 live up to the fine spirit, the noble self- 
 sacrifice, the unhesitating renunciations he 
 has been forced to make in order to give her 
 the chance to succeed where he believes he 
 has failed. 
 
 3. The heights are always just before us. 
 We are eager to scale them and some of us 
 seem weighed down by the impression that 
 we are the first to attempt the ascent. What 
 do we know of the bitter failures, the hard 
 disappointments, the hidden sorrows of those 
 whom experience shows us have made the 
 same attempt many times before we uncon- 
 sciously pushed them out of the way ? What 
 do we know of the hard knocks that life has 
 administered to them, to these fathers and 
 mothers who in their day went through the 
 same experiences that some of us are today 
 tasting for the first time, only to go down 
 in defeat ? What do we know of their piti- 
 ful life tragedies, their burnt offerings on 
 the altar of self-renunciation in order that 
 we may have the chance they missed ? Are 
 we appreciative of what they have done for 
 us ? Are we ready to acknowledge to them 
 by word of mouth the debt we owe them? 
 Let us turn these things over in our mind 
 and see for ourselves just where we stand. 
 They have done much for us in their time; 
 are we doing anything for them now that 
 we have told them in a thousand ways that 
 their day is over and they must make room 
 for us? A little appreciation goes a long 
 way in this world to make things easier and 
 
 pleasanter. Often it acts as a sweet oint- 
 ment to rub on wounds that reach deep down 
 into lives that have made heroic sacrifices 
 apparently in vain. It is never too late to 
 accord a full measure of understanding and 
 appreciation to those who have done some- 
 thing worth while for us, not in the hasty, 
 matter-of-course way in which so many of 
 us make our acknowledgments, but in that 
 earnest, sincere, lovable manner which 
 floods with light the heart that has long for- 
 gotten to expect true appreciation. 
 
 This editorial, though discussing its subject from 
 the angle of a proposition, considers it with an 
 informality, or avoidance of obvious plan, that is 
 characteristic of the casual essay. So is the detached 
 manner, as if one were indifferent to the impres- 
 sion he made, and interested merely to express ade- 
 quately his ideas upon the topic that has chanced 
 to come up. (This editorial reminds us — notwith- 
 standing our comment on The Inevitable Candidate — 
 that the casual essay may at times merge into the 
 editorial of interpretation or of "purpose".) 
 
 ON SANDY VALLEY ROAD 
 
 Boston Herald 
 
 1. At the farther edge of Dedham you 
 may have noticed a rather narrow street 
 swinging out of the formal highway as if 
 with a will of its own. The weathered sign- 
 board on the corner reads "Sandy Valley 
 Road." Local historians may know the rea- 
 son for that name, but you will find none 
 if you accept the challenge of this 
 curving byway and follow where it leads 
 past pleasant estates, over a meadow 
 brook and up a winding climb to the wooded 
 uplands southwest of the town. In a very 
 few minutes your road becomes a grassy 
 memorial of forgotten use; soon it is out 
 of fence and side wall, a cart path, stony 
 on the slopes as the bed of a torrent and 
 leveled on the summits not by transit and 
 drill, but by the glacier worn ledges on 
 which generations of oxen and horses 
 scratched the records of their slipping steps. 
 And you have hardly entered the pines that 
 like huge mullions bar the golden windows 
 of the west, before you find your road fork- 
 ing and forking again with not even a 
 mouldered signpost for your guidance. 
 Presently you are tracing your way only 
 by the ruts of long ago, now masked with 
 vines and screened with saplings. Within 
 a mile of railroads, garages and a county 
 courthouse you are in a silence like that of 
 Tuckerman's ravine or the Coconino forest. 
 A mile away wood is selling at $16 a cord; 
 here are piles of four-foot wood that by 
 their look must have been cut and for- 
 gotten; or perhaps the owner died while 
 wood hardly paid for the sledding. Ten 
 miles away are Dewey square and Park 
 street; here you would not be startled if 
 you came upon a camp of John Eliot's 
 
138 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 praying Indians, parching their com for 
 supper. 
 
 2. What this Sandy Valley road is to 
 Dedham— a short path to the quiet of un- 
 disturbed nature — our uncounted "Mountain 
 roads" and "Silver lanes" are to almost 
 every town in the commonwealth. For 
 though Massachusetts ranks among the 
 most densely peopled states of the union, 
 our population is so compacted into cities 
 and mill valley towns that in no other 
 state are so many people dwelling within 
 such easy reach of wild land. Even around 
 Boston, where the built-over areas are 
 largest and community centers most thickly 
 set, a short run by trolley or a twenty-mile 
 trip by steam train brings the Bostonian 
 among the aboriginal minks and muskrats; 
 a few minutes more bring him to the haunts 
 of ruffed grouse and red fox. In other 
 parts of the state, the lands that nature has 
 reclaimed, or has always kept, lie closer still 
 to cleared pasture, plowed field and resi- 
 dential street. 
 
 3. Such ready access to hills and low- 
 lands where life goes on almost as in the 
 days of Massasoit and lyanough we but 
 half appreciate; it takes the cousin who 
 comes down from Kansas or Maryland or 
 Indiana to point out to us our own advan- 
 tage. And these October days, like those of 
 May, are the time when the walking in the 
 woods is at its best; the trees are not yet 
 bare and bleak, but their thinner foliage 
 reveals many a secret of the summer and 
 lets the long perspective and far horizons 
 show through. 
 
 4. If you are in Massachusetts and have 
 half a day free, you have no excuse if you 
 fail to bring into your inner mood some- 
 thing of the restful mystery of our autumnal 
 woodlands. 
 
 Fortuitously discursive description, with comment 
 such as the subject naturally suggests. Note how 
 touches of realistic fact are combined with the 
 mood of sympathy with natural beauty. 
 
 "HEAVY, HEAVY HANGS" 
 
 Emporia Gazette 
 
 1. "Heavy, heavy hangs over our head." 
 The white light that beats upon a candidate 
 gleams upon the minority report of hair 
 that shelters our thought works in our de- 
 clining years. We are a candidate for dele- 
 gate to the Republican national convention 
 from this congressional district, and with 
 that candidacy liberty of the press is throttled 
 in the Gazette. For twenty-five years, 
 under monastic vows against office seeking, 
 we have said in the columns of this paper 
 whatever we pleased. If betimes it de- 
 lighted us to be a complete ten volume, 
 calf-bound idiot, we went at the job free and 
 untrammeled and put on the trimmings with 
 
 a glad hand. If we desired to use the a 
 upon a man, a cause, or a sacred institution 
 whack went the ax and in she went to tt 
 handle, and we tromped on the top if w 
 cared to. The Emporia Gazette was a fre 
 newspaper, hampered only by the limits 
 tions of a steadily growing payroll and 
 circulation thereunto appertaining. 
 
 2. But with this candidacy tq the Rt 
 publican national convention we have give 
 hostages to fortune. We are hamstrun 
 and hobbled. Every line we write has t 
 be considered in view of its effect upon a Ic: 
 of lunatic radicals who will think we hav 
 deserted them, or mossback standpatter 
 who will see us flying the party coop ever 
 time we indicate that Moses did not writ 
 the Payne- Aldrich tariff upon the tablets o 
 stone. 
 
 3. For instance, now comes friend Henr 
 Allen with these words of caution: 
 
 Our old friend. Smith, of Osage, was 
 in today to tell me that his county is 
 lining up for you in the fourth district 
 scrap. 
 
 He was a little afraid that just about 
 the time the very nice banquet of har- 
 mony they are preparing in the district 
 was ready to serve, you'd kick the table 
 over and drive all the guests screaming 
 away by saying something brilliant, 
 but unwise from the standpoint of the 
 Grand Old Party. I think I can say 
 without offense that you have a cer- 
 tain gift in this direction and I am the 
 last man in the world to ask you to 
 curb any of your instincts, but won't 
 you, for the love you bear me, desist 
 from throwing mud at any mourner in 
 the procession, or uttering any carping, 
 criticism, or emphasizing the League of 
 Nations, or Wilson, or assaulting the 
 Constitution in any place, or treading 
 on other sensibilities? I do not ask for 
 even a suspension of your viewpoint on 
 any of these matters, but merely for a 
 temporary truce out of decent regard 
 for the fact that the enemy has ceased 
 firing. 
 
 4. And as if that were not enough, ente: 
 our good friend, Toronto Kelley, who hai 
 promised to support us: 
 
 And William — Don't spill the beans, 
 yourself. The old gang will close their 
 eyes to all of your past provided you 
 don't print anything that brings up 
 thoughts of 1912 and the battle of Ar- 
 mageddon. 01 Little and myself seem 
 to be about the only ones of the old 
 gang who see any humor in the days 
 that were. Of course you have to 
 write editorials occasionally. But there 
 
THE CASUAL ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 139 
 
 are a lot of mighty fine topics that 
 have not yet received full treatment. 
 There's 
 
 The Turk. 
 
 The exkaiser. 
 
 Are We Receiving Wireless Messages 
 From Mars? 
 
 The Possibility of Meteors Being 
 Missiles Hurled at the Earth From 
 Neptune. 
 
 Bald Heads and How to Prevent 
 Them. 
 
 Is Vers Libre a Curable Disease? 
 
 The Comparative Value of Short 
 Skirts and High Top Shoes. 
 
 Village Life in the Golden Age of 
 15-Cent Butter and 10-Cent Eggs. 
 
 And an occasional book review, say 
 on "Seven Buckets of Blood," or the 
 "Tragedy of the Nail in the Cellar 
 Door." But you doubtless can think 
 up plenty of innocuous things to write 
 about during the next eight weeks, 
 and will be tickled to death to write 
 about them. And always an editorial 
 that lambasts hell out of the Demo- 
 cratic party is not only in order, but is 
 in good taste. I don't know that I 
 know much more than you do, but 
 I am two or three years older, and I 
 avail myself of the elder men's priv- 
 ilege of making suggestions. 
 
 5. We shall abide by the advice of these 
 :ood men. We have kissed Liberty a long 
 md lingering good-by until after this cam- 
 )aign. Not that we are going to send back 
 ler picture and her letters; not that we 
 hall ever forget the glad days when we 
 lisported ourselves with Liberty like a wild 
 iss of the desert. Not that we shall fail to 
 ro back to Liberty and love her as of old. 
 But not now; now she has gone out of our 
 ife and we are a respectable member of 
 lociety. The owl for wisdom and decorum 
 vill look like a dickey bird beside us. For 
 ve are a candidate, and will pussyfoot 
 icross these once festive pages as solemn 
 IS though we were passing the hat in 
 ihurch. You'd never think to see us walk- 
 ng the straight and narrow path of political 
 •ectitude that we have galloped up and down 
 he primrose path of political dalliance with 
 Joosevelt and Victor and Henry in the dear 
 iead days when it was grand to be bug- 
 lousel 
 
 6. But now "heavy, heavy hangs over our 
 lead" and the dread of dur life is spillin' 
 ihe beans! 
 
 American hnmor (we are told) is based dn exag- 
 seration ; bat ebservation wouM pi'obably reveal that 
 ntioh of it is also basfed on thfe p^tsrtmal. Hpi'Q we 
 feve thie es^^ss^rWiOn bf Diet«ma| ^sy^rmtltk—a 
 \on of flWK-disdript "pe'r^otial ^say," half a take- 
 
 oflF on politics and half a take-ofT on its writer. 
 The desk-dictionary gives five meanings for "casual," 
 and we defy anybody to prove that out of the five, 
 not one fits this essay. It therefore is a casual- 
 essay editorial. Q. E. D. 
 
 THE LISTENER 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 1. It is a satisfaction to an old-timer to 
 see two companies playing Shakespeare in 
 the same week in Boston, with good au- 
 diences resorting to two theatres and mak- 
 ing comparisons between rival actors in the 
 parts of Hamlet, Shylock, and so on. The 
 Listener had long been familiar with the 
 sincere if somewhat rough-cut work of Mr. 
 Mantell in Shakespeare parts, but he had 
 never before seen Mr. Hampden's Hamlet, 
 and was delighted to have the opportunity. 
 Without assuming the critical function, the 
 Listener may venture to record one or two 
 reactions which he had to Mr. Hampden's 
 performance of Hamlet. He missed in this 
 presentation the fine subtlety which was a 
 memorable feature of the work of the 
 Frenchman Charles Fechter, who played 
 Shakspeare parts here once, long, long ago, 
 and whose extraordinary mastery of the 
 use of the voice enabled him, though he 
 had spent his life upon the French stage, 
 to play in English with but the slightest 
 perceptible accent, and in a manner highly 
 agreeable to the ear. He also played it in 
 a manner agreeable to the eye. Fechter's 
 note, in playing Hamlet, was subtlety. He 
 introduced the auditor to a passionate but 
 deeply reflective Hamlet, whose emotions 
 were continually crossed by his hesitations, 
 his purposes generally clouded by his cogi- 
 tations. The Listener has seen many actors 
 in Hamlet, but not one has ever affected 
 him as he was affected by Fechter's per- 
 formance. In point of subtlety, Edwin 
 Booth's performance of Hamlet was the very 
 reverse of Fechter's. Booth played Hamlet 
 with straightforward, solemn dignity — ma- 
 jestically, impressively, but without a 
 shadow of that humor of which one is al- 
 ways conscious in reading Hamlet. His 
 reading was sonorous and sententious — 
 sometimes quite tiresomely so. 
 
 2. Mr. Hampden is not subtle in Hamlet; 
 he plays the part simply, intelligently, beau- 
 tifully, but not as if it contained any insolu- 
 ble problem. And in one respect he comes 
 forward, to the Listenelr's mind, admirably 
 — he plays the part with k keen and most 
 natural humtft*. What a Stense of humor 
 Hamlet has! How he is amused by the 
 capering courtiers, inciting them to new 
 capers and delivierances! How he delights 
 in playing thie niaJQitji^n! Hbw trfcessant are 
 his verb'kl twists a'ria turns! Hbw grim the 
 
140 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 laugh in the scene with the gravedigger, 
 though he feels full upon him the tragedy 
 that impends! For this play and attitude 
 of humor the Listener will always be grate- 
 ful to Mr. Hampden — for his new and most 
 sensible readings in the matter of emphasis, 
 too. Mr. Hampden gives the Listener the 
 impression not merely of an intelligent stu- 
 dent, but of a man who has gone to the 
 stage from among the people, and who has 
 known the world from a point of view with- 
 in its life and homely feeling, not contenting 
 himself with viewing it from the boards 
 above it and from behind the footlights that 
 it faces. 
 
 3. Edwin Forrest's Hamlet was wooden, 
 and hewed with a broad-axe. Irving's was, 
 to the Listener's recollection, subtle indeed, 
 but pretentious; when years are gone one 
 remembers Irving and his acting, but not 
 the Hamlet whom he embodied; whereas 
 the Hamlet of Fechter abides in the mem- 
 ory as Hamlet, as the very prince himself. 
 The Listener cannot speak of the Hamlet of 
 Forbes Robertson, for by the unkindness of 
 fate he was never permitted to see it. 
 
 4. The editorials in the New York Times 
 seem lately to have taken over some of the 
 old picturesque recondite words and phrases 
 which used to be regarded as the especial 
 property of the Sun. In an editorial on 
 Senator Knox's resolution and the debate 
 upon it on Wednesday last, the Times speaks 
 of the discussion of that document as "a 
 bombination in a vacuum," and further re- 
 fers to the talk as "mere leather and 
 prunella." Both of these phrases are 
 precious. "A bombination in a vacuum" 
 strikes the Listener as familiar, although he 
 cannot tell where it comes from; but 
 "leather or prunello" (not prunella) comes 
 from Pope: 
 
 Worth makes the man, the want of it 
 
 the fellow; 
 The rest is all but leather or prunello. 
 
 5. But at this day "prunella" is a kind of 
 leather, and it may be that— cheap and ordi- 
 nary in his day but precious in this — ^which 
 Pope had in mind when he wrote the lines 
 and inspired the Times writer, i At all 
 events, it is pleasant to see these evidences 
 of erudition in a political editorial. 
 
 6. Speaking of words and of the Hon. 
 Philander C. Knox, the Listener is reminded 
 of the old-time use of that word "philander." 
 Just how the senator got his name the 
 Listener does not know. His name is 
 Philander Chase Knox, and his parents prob- 
 ably called him after some person, to the 
 world unknown, named Philander Chase. 
 
 Anyhow, it took courage on their part to 
 call him by that name, for when the sen- 
 ator from Pennsylvania was born, in 1853, 
 the word "philander" signified (as it still 
 does in the title of Shaw's play, "The 
 Philanderer"), to fool away one's time in 
 flirting with the ladies. A young man who 
 was frivoling away his time with the 
 women, making himself agreeable to them; 
 all, but not marrying, was said to bei 
 "philandering." The word, somewhat in this 
 sense, was used by the Greeks, but in Eng- 
 lish literature it probably had its start from 
 "Philander, Prince of Cyprus, passionately 
 in love with Erota," in Beaumont and 
 Fletcher*s play, "Laws of Candy." 
 
 7. Once more, speaking of words: The 
 Listener was amused to see in the clever 
 verses from the Manchester Guardian, re- 
 printed in the Transcript's Musical and Dra- 
 matic columns the other day, a new proof 
 of the way in which American terms have 
 become household words in England. The 
 English writer in this English paper, refer- 
 ring to the scorn which actors once felt for 
 would-be social censors, says: "They didn't 
 give a continental." This is an American 
 cant word purely; it refers to the paper 
 money, which became at last almost worth- 
 less, issued by the Continental Congress 
 during the Revolutionary War. The bills 
 were known as "continentals," and in view 
 of the fact that in 1779 they were so much 
 depreciated that $100 in specie would pur- 
 chase $2600 in the paper money, they were 
 treated with contempt as a measure of 
 value. Not "giving a continental" (dollar) 
 then meant something. The phrase survived 
 the war and the continentals; it survives to 
 this day, and has spread into England. Vive 
 le continental! 
 
 Casual editorial writingr of this kind is akin to 
 what is frequently called the "personal" essay. An 
 essay-editorial that is not only casual, but also dis- 
 cursivtety informal, yet in the main adheres to one 
 subject, we have termed a causerie. The depart- 
 ment comment here quoted is under no obligation to 
 adhere to a single subject. It is editorial in 
 spirit, however, and akin to the causerie — is infact 
 two causeries making up the day's department. The 
 first chats informatively about actors in Shakes- 
 perian parts, the other about words and their 
 meanings. 
 
 Chapter IX. Exercises 
 
 1. Make a list of not fewer than 5 sug- 
 gestions for casual essay-editorials, drawn 
 from the news-columns of current papers. 
 Indicate the direction that the treatment is 
 to take. 
 
 2. Write one of the editorials according 
 to your suggestion in No. 1. 
 
 3. Repeat No. 2, using another of the 
 suggestions. 
 
THE CASUAL ESSAY-EDITORIAL 
 
 141 
 
 4. Make a second list as directed in No. 1. 
 
 5. As in No. 2, drawing from the list of 
 No. 4. 
 
 6. As in No. 2, using another of the sug- 
 gestions in No. 4. 
 
 7. As in No. 1, make a list of not fewer 
 than 5 suggestions for casual essay-edito- 
 rials dealing with matters of commonplace 
 environment. 
 
 8. Write one of the casual editorials sug- 
 gested in No. 7. 
 
 9. Write another of the casual editorials 
 suggested in No. 7. 
 
 10. As in No. 1, make a list of not fewer 
 than 5 suggestions for casual essay-edito- 
 rials of a humorous nature. 
 
 11. Write one of the casual editorials 
 suggested in No. 10. 
 
 12. Another as in No. 11. 
 
 13. As in No. 1, make a list of not 
 fewer than 5 suggestions for casual essay- 
 editorials of literary or imaginative trend. 
 
 14. Write one of the editorials suggested 
 in No. 13. 
 
 15. Another as in No. 14. 
 
 16. Turn one of the essay-editorials that 
 you wrote under Chapter VIII, into a casual 
 editorial. 
 
 17. Another as in No. 16. 
 
 18. Yet another as in No. 16. 
 
 19. Examine a number of newspapers for 
 examples of casual essay-editorials. Make 
 memoranda of your observations and con- 
 clusions. 
 
 20. Examine weekly magazines and re- 
 views for examples of casual essay-edito- 
 rials, making memoranda of your observa- 
 tions and conclusions. 
 
 21. As in 19 and 20, examine woman's 
 magazines and monthly magazines. 
 
 22. So far as possible, extend the exam- 
 ination directed in Nos. 19-21 to agricultural 
 journals and other periodicals. 
 
 23. Make an outline of a paper in which 
 you intend to set forth your observations 
 and conclusions under Nos. 19-22. 
 
 24. Write the paper outlined in No. 23. 
 
 25. Review the casual essay-editorials 
 that you have written, and write a criticism 
 of them with reference especially to their 
 interest and their attractiveness of presen- 
 tation. 
 
 26. Write a casual essay-editorial under 
 the heading. When the Editor Grows Frisky. 
 Endeavor in this to give, in the casual man- 
 ner, an accurate all-round impression of the 
 purpose and spirit of the casual essay- 
 editorial. (Don't let the word "frisky" 
 misguide you, as it might do.) 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 HUMAN-INTEREST EDITORIALS AND MOOD IN EDITORIAL- 
 WRITING 
 
 "Human interest" in the Casual- 
 Essay Type. — The human-interest 
 editorial can best be placed in the 
 casual category; but not all casual 
 essay-editorials are human-interest 
 editorials, though the kinship is 
 close. The human-interest editorial 
 (like the human-interest news or 
 feature-story) is one that so selects 
 and presents its materials as to pro- 
 voke an emotional response on the 
 part of the reader. The casual essay- 
 editorial may aim either at the feel- 
 ings or at the understanding. There- 
 fore it may be entirely effective when 
 it satisfies merely the discriminating 
 intellect, taste, or wit. But the hu- 
 man-interest editorial evokes sym- 
 pathy or anti-sympathy — a stirring 
 of sentiment, of amusement, of sur- 
 prise, or of some other kind of emo- 
 tional reaction, light or serious. It 
 aims at the feelings, and achieves its 
 effect when in some way it touches 
 them. 
 
 What makes the human-interest 
 editorial. — ^The human-interest edi- 
 torial is an editorial that we read, not 
 because we are interested in its sub- 
 ject, but because we are interested in 
 men, their characters, their concerns, 
 and their ways — because we are in- 
 terested in life and people. It may be 
 serious — some of the essay-editorials 
 reprinted in this volume might well 
 have been classified as human-interest 
 essays. 
 
 But in journalistic practice, as in 
 general literature, the human-interest 
 essay or essayette tends to deal more 
 frequently with brief and passing 
 aspects. "Essays," says the introduc- 
 tion to Earle's Microcosmographie 
 (ArKer RbF/rmts), *'(l€!ial ralthleff with 
 
 the permanent, internal, essential 
 constituents; characters with the 
 passing, external, accidental aspects 
 of men [and things] . . . Some 
 . . . are delineations of human 
 nature, common to all time; others 
 are incisive descriptions of 'charac- 
 ters* and scenes of the writer's age." 
 That is, they are casual in mood and 
 manner; and accordingly we have so 
 classified them in this book. 
 
 Briefly, then, the human-interest 
 editorial may be described as a jour- 
 nalistic essay or essayette written in 
 a mood, or from a point of view, that 
 appeals to the reader's general in- 
 terest in life and people, and in their 
 concerns. 
 
 Rise of the human-interest edi- 
 torial. — The "human-interest" ele- 
 ment, though not so named, is noth- 
 ing new in literature, or even in 
 journalism. One has only to read the 
 Spectator essayists, already men- 
 tioned, or realistic Defoe, or the 
 books of "characters," such as Earle's 
 Microcosmographie, to discover that 
 this quality had been sensed and def- 
 initely employed as a distinctly spe- 
 cialized source of interest, long before 
 the newspaper as we now have it was 
 developed. 
 
 But editorial-writers did not soon 
 perceive how this appeal could be em- 
 ployed to vitalize and improve the edi- 
 torial page. Not until the war be- 
 tween the states was almost upon us 
 did any prominent editor break away 
 from the tradition of the heavy edi- 
 torial of siege-mortar argument or of 
 personalities, partisan politics, and 
 controversial feud. Samuel Sullivan 
 Cox> of the Ohio Statesman^ seems to 
 have b^e^n thfe fir^t to vicflate this 
 
HUMAN-INTEREST EDITORIALS 
 
 143 
 
 hampering tradition. Osman C. 
 Hooper, formerly editorial writer of 
 the Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch, now of 
 the faculty of journalism, Ohio State 
 University, tells the story:* 
 
 "Sunset" Cox Violates Tradition. — 
 The power of the human-interest edi- 
 torial (says Professor Hooper) was 
 demonstrated in Columbus more than 
 sixty years ago, when Samuel Sulli- 
 van Cox wrote and published his edi- 
 torial, A Great Old Sunset. Accord- 
 ing to the story of Samuel Bradford, 
 then foreman of the Statesman com- 
 posing-room, he sent word to Cox one 
 afte'rnoon that more editorial copy 
 was needed. As all good editors do, 
 Mr. Cox responded to the S. 0. S. call 
 of his mentor, arriving at the office 
 as the sun was gloriously setting. 
 The beauty of the scene drove politics 
 and everything else out of his mind. 
 He looked and marveled and then, 
 leaning over the imposing stone in 
 the room where the men were waiting 
 for copy, he wrote the following edi- 
 torial : 
 
 A Great Old Sunset 
 
 What a stormful sunset was that of last 
 night! How glorious the storm and how 
 splendid the setting of the sun! We do not 
 remember ever to have seen the like on our 
 round globe. The scene opened in the west, 
 with a whole horizon full of golden inter- 
 penetrating lustre, which colored the foliage 
 and brightened every object into its own 
 rich dyes. The colors grew deeper and 
 richer until the golden lustre was transfused 
 into a storm cloud full of the finest light- 
 ning, which leaped in dazzling zigzags all 
 around over the city. 
 
 The wind arose with fury, the slender 
 shrubs and giant trees made obeisance to 
 its majesty. Some even snapped before its 
 force. The strawberry beds and grass plots 
 turned up their whites to see Zephyrus 
 march by. As the rain came and the pools 
 formed and the gutters hurried away, thun- 
 der rolled grandly and the firebells caught 
 the excitement and rang with hearty chorus. 
 
 The South and the East received the 
 copious showers, and the West all at once 
 brightened up in a long polished belt of 
 
 ♦Ohio state University Bulletin, Vol. XXI, No. 7; 
 Jouraalism Series, Vol. I, No. 1. 
 
 azure, worthy of a Sicilian sky. Presently 
 a cloud appeared in the azure belt in the 
 form of a castellated city. It became more 
 vivid, revealing strange forms of peerless 
 fanes and alabaster temples and glories rare 
 and grand in this mundane sphere. It re- 
 minded us of Wordsworth's splendid verse 
 in his "Excursion": 
 The appearance instantly disclosed 
 Was of a mighty city — boldly say 
 A wilderness of building, sinking far 
 And self-withdrawn into a boundless 
 
 depth. 
 Far sinking into splendor — without 
 
 end.* 
 But the city vanished, only to give place 
 to another isle, where the most beautiful 
 forms of foliage appear, imaging a para- 
 dise in the distant and purified air. The 
 sun, wearied of the elemental commotion, 
 sank behind the green plains of the West. 
 The "great eye in heaven," however, went 
 not down without a dark brow hanging over 
 its departed light. The rich flush of the 
 unearthly light had passed, and the rain 
 had ceased when the solemn church bells 
 pealed, the laughter of children rang out 
 loud and, joyous after the storm, was heard 
 with the carol of birds; while the forked 
 and purple weapon of the skies still darted 
 illumination around the Starling College, 
 trying to rival its angles and leap into its 
 dark windows. 
 
 Candles were lighted. The piano strikes 
 up. We feel it good to have a home, good 
 to be on earth where such revelations of 
 beauty and power may be made. And as we 
 cannot refrain from reminding our readers 
 of everything wonderful in our city, we 
 have begun and ended our feeble etching 
 of a sunset which comes so rarely that its 
 glory should be committed to immortal type. 
 
 That editorial, Mr. Hooper con- 
 tinues, was printed in the Ohio States- 
 man, May 19, 1853. It created a sen- 
 sation. It was a gem shining out of 
 the mud and common-place of pol- 
 itics. The Ohio State Journal repub- 
 lished it with annotations intended to 
 ridicule it. A Circleville editor wrote 
 a parody on it, which he called "A 
 Great Old Henset." Other papers 
 took it up and a wave of derisive 
 laughter swept the state. It was a 
 lead that too few editors could fol- 
 
 ♦Excursion, Book Second, The quotation made by 
 Mr. Cox from memory has required only two of 
 three slight typographical corrections and the change 
 of one word to make it exact. 
 
144 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 low, and none of them had the vision 
 of universal service; they were all 
 writing about politics and politicians, 
 and they did not mean to be pulled 
 out of the rut. Somebody dubbed 
 Mr. Cox ''Sunset," and the sobriquet 
 became so much of a fixture that, no 
 doubt, a great many people to this 
 day think that his initials, "S. S.," 
 stand for "Sunset." 
 
 Editorials as an expression of 
 mood. — ^Mr. Cox's editorial was an 
 impressionistic description, a word- 
 painting, that sprang from the mood 
 produced by the sunset splendor 
 spread before him just when he had 
 occasion to write. Nature offered 
 him a subject, and upon impulse he 
 seized it. 
 
 From one point of view, all edi- 
 torials may be called the expression 
 of a mood, though probably not many 
 of those written every day are the 
 immediate outcome of a sudden im- 
 pulse or an impressionistic mood 
 such as that which determined Mr. 
 Cox's choice of subject. Neverthe- 
 less, the writer who can depend upon 
 frequent "inspirations", or happily 
 spontaneous and varied ideas for sub- 
 jects and their treatment, is likely to 
 turn out more than the usual propor- 
 tion of original, pleasing and worthy 
 work. 
 
 Mood and the choice of subjects. — 
 
 But no writer can depend wholly upon 
 sudden situations and access of feel- 
 ing for his inspiration. He must 
 have his head full of a constantly re- 
 newed stock of subjects, about which 
 he has thought conscientiously and 
 thoroughly and concerning which he 
 has a supply of accurate information ; 
 and his choice of subjects and of 
 theme must often be governed by 
 considerations of timeliness, practi- 
 cality, intrinsic significance, and spe- 
 cific purpose. 
 
 Even here, however, mood enters 
 into editorial-writing. Though judi- 
 
 cious consideration and practical 
 weighing of appropriateness and of 
 values and effects are necessary, nev- 
 ertheless feeling also may and does 
 enter largely into the discovery of 
 subjects and the choice of treatment 
 for them. The wider the range, not 
 merely of the editor's knowledge, but 
 equally of his emotional experiences, 
 comprehensions, and sympathies, the 
 richer his store of subjects and the 
 more varied his resources of treat- 
 ment. 
 
 Effect of cast-of-mind on the edi- 
 torial page. — The feeling thus in- 
 fluencing the writer in his choice of 
 subjects may be mood in its strict 
 sense — a transitory and brief state of 
 feeling — or it may be feeling of a 
 more inherent and permanent kind. 
 In the latter case, it is described va- 
 riously as attitude of mind, habitual 
 mood, characteristic point-of-view, 
 cast of mind, temper, mental bias, 
 sympathies, leanings, and so on — all 
 vague terms and loosely employed, 
 except that they imply a prevailing 
 emotional or intellectual tendency. 
 
 This habitual mood or cast of mind 
 may be anything from romantic sen- 
 timentality to frigid intellectuality 
 and uncompromising rationalism. One 
 person may be, through temperament 
 or training, inclined to religious 
 thought and feeling; another, to phil- 
 osophical examination; another, to 
 scientific analysis and demonstration. 
 One will be introspective, retrospec- 
 tive, reflective, or moralizing; an- 
 other, practical, and utilitarian in his 
 sympathies ; another, imaginative, 
 artistic, and esthetic. One will be 
 optimistic or idealistic; his neighbor 
 may be matter-of-fact, materialistic, 
 or cynical. 
 
 Whatever the editorial writer's pre- 
 vailing attitude of mind may be, how- 
 ever, his "bias" will disclose itself. 
 Hence the ever-present danger of 
 inadequacy, dulness, monotony, or nar- 
 
HUMAN-INTEREST EDITORIALS 
 
 145 
 
 rowness. There are papers that jus- 
 tify the worst charges made by hos- 
 tile critics against the editorial page. 
 True, the reason for this occasionally 
 is the deadening control exercised by 
 a venal, partisan, ignorant, or self- 
 seeking owner, or by an incompetant, 
 stupid, or narrow-minded directing 
 editor. But not always. The over- 
 indulgence by the editorial-writer of 
 his individual predilection for certain 
 subjects, themes, views, and methods 
 of presentation may be what results 
 in dull and monotonous columns ; and 
 sometimes it is his irremediable stod- 
 giness, spiritual and mental, that 
 makes his lucubrations flat, stale, and 
 unprofitable. Better even facile flip- 
 pancy and easy but varied trivial- 
 ity than the nothing-at-all-ness of 
 sluggish ditch-water. 
 
 Fitting mood to purpose. — Every 
 experienced writer knows that not 
 only his subject, but also his purpose 
 in presenting it, must determine the 
 mood in which he writes — ^that he 
 must write in one tone or another 
 tone according to the editorial. If 
 primarily the editorial be one of fact- 
 statement, he must treat it in the 
 fact-mood. If it is meant to have a 
 humorous effect, he must get himself 
 to feeling — for writing purposes — 
 the humor of the matter. If he is 
 writing to satirize, he must get him- 
 self to feeling satire. In brief, so far 
 as his writing-mind is concerned, he 
 must throw himself into the spirit of 
 his theme as determined by his pur- 
 pose. 
 
 Ability to treat the same subject 
 from differing points of view and in 
 different moods is a matter of course 
 with trained writers. Read Steven- 
 son's biographical essay upon Fran- 
 cois Villon, and then his fiction-story, 
 A Lodging for the Night, built up of 
 the same materials. Or study the 
 news-stories of a competent reporter, 
 and then the special-feature article 
 
 written by the same man about the 
 same subject for the Sunday supple- 
 ment. 
 
 With practice, any one of moderate 
 intellectual versatility can acquire 
 ability to write in different tones or 
 manners ("moods") according to the 
 purpose, the subject, and — ^frequently 
 — ^the class of readers. Only practice 
 will develop it, however; for writing 
 "in keeping" is a subconscious adapt- 
 ation, almost as instinctive as the 
 fisherman's unconscious adjustment 
 of his position to the motions of his 
 dory. The apprentice who wishes 
 practice to acquire this ability can 
 best get it by writing about his sub- 
 jects first from one point of view and 
 with one special effect in mind, then 
 from another angle, with a different 
 purpose. 
 
 Representative editorials. — The va- 
 ried mood and matter of human-in- 
 terest editorials are suggested by 
 those that follow. 
 
 THAT BATHING SUIT IS NO JOKE 
 
 Richmond Times-Dispatch 
 
 1. It is time for us to strike the Jester's 
 Lute and play a tune about that bathing 
 suit — ^the one he sent her and she was so 
 surprised when she opened the envelope. 
 We should tell you about the bathing suit 
 sent by mail, and she couldn't find it any- 
 where until she took off the stamp, and 
 there it was! We might mention the girl 
 who was puzzled because she didn't know 
 whether to wear her bathing suit or stick 
 it on her chin like a beauty spot. 
 
 2. Yep; it is time to pull the bathing- 
 suit jokes. But do you know, we haven't 
 the heart ? Somehow or other, at prevailing 
 prices for feminine foibles, that bathing suit 
 is no joke! . . . Therefore, we refrain. 
 Let some other loon play the clown for the 
 summer girl. 
 
 An old-joke human -interest editorial, springing a 
 surprise at the end with a touch of earnest feeling. 
 Why has this editorial human-interest? Because all 
 mankind — ^both sexes — are interested in bathing- 
 suits, not to mention the question, how are we to 
 pay for 'em? 
 
 SHE IS JOY 
 
 Haverhill Gazette 
 
 1. Corpulent wom.en are truly the "fat 
 of the land." Macklyn Arbuckle, an actor, 
 made famous "nobody loves a fat man." 
 
146 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 But they do. And more than ever does 
 everybody love a fat woman. She is Joy, 
 and Laughter, and Cheerfulness, and Op- 
 timism, all rolled up into a mountainous 
 mass of happily undulating flesh. 
 
 2. One of them had recently attended a 
 movie comic in which "Fatty" Arbuckle 
 portrayed the part of a fireman. No doubt 
 she enjoyed the show. And it was better 
 than a movie treat to hear her describe the 
 fun after she reached home. 
 
 3. She hoo-hooed and ha-hahed, and bent 
 and twisted and shook with unconfined 
 mirth, her chair the meanwhile creaking as 
 if ready to give up the ghost because of the 
 weight thrust upon it. 
 
 4. Perspiration rolled down her face. 
 Her joy and her laughter were contagious. 
 Why, the first thing that was known the 
 whole audience at her house was visualiz- 
 ing what the fat woman saw at the picture- 
 show, and with her was laughing until it 
 was holding its sides. 
 
 5. A fat woman is always the life of the 
 party. As good as gold, as solid as Gibral- 
 tar, as joyous as Peter Pan, she sure enjoys 
 life. 
 
 Not to be too formal in our classifications, let us 
 say that the "human-interest" editorial is usually 
 but a casual-essay editorial wherein interest in the 
 human quality is chief; it catches xis on the side of 
 our interest in "folks" as "just folks." It gets next 
 to us through its humor, its pathos, its sympathy, 
 its ridicule or scorn of what is mean between man 
 and man, and so on. In a word, it reaches us 
 through one or another of our many human leanings 
 or emotions. Fat folk, for instance. Is there any- 
 one who cannot be stirred to amusement or pity by 
 contemplation of the too rolypoly man or woman? 
 
 SOME KINDNESS YET IN THE WORLD 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 1. There is more neighborliness in the 
 world than appears to the casual eye. For 
 instance, a poor woman, over eighty, and 
 her daughter, whose entire income is fifty 
 dollars a year, have the life use of their 
 house, and a charity fund contributes some- 
 what to their needs. But these sources of 
 assistance would be unavailing if it were 
 not for the goodness of a next-door neigh- 
 bor, who furnishes the food for their three 
 daily meals, cooks the meals and sends them 
 into the house. 
 
 2. Here is another instance: A woman is 
 in a highly nervous state, and therefore the 
 object of constant apprehension to her fam- 
 ily. Her husband must go to his work each 
 day to support her and her small children, 
 so the next-door neighbor — another self- 
 denying woman— has taken upon herself 
 the whole care of the disturbed household, 
 although she has a family of her own to 
 look out for also. 
 
 3. These are only two examples of the 
 spirit of kindness that can be found every- 
 where in the world. It is a comfort to 
 realize that it exists, alongside all the stress 
 and strife of our times, all the social agita- 
 tion, all the industrial uncertainty. It is a 
 basic human principle on which we can 
 count in the midst of discontent and change. 
 
 Kindness relieving distress. Dickens's novels are 
 fairly stuffed with incidents based on this kind of 
 human-interest — some of it sound, some of it sloppy. 
 Few readers do not respond to the appeal of suf- 
 fering and charitable intervention. 
 
 PUTTING IT ACROSS 
 
 The Finder 
 
 1. Nothing can be put across in this 
 world without enthusiasm. No fame — no 
 name has ever been gained except through 
 belief, backed by that whole-hearted, 
 earnest effort which makes long hours pass 
 quickly and hard work a pleasure. 
 
 2. Unless you have, first and last, an 
 abiding faith in your project and in your 
 ability — you cannot successfully carry it 
 out. 
 
 3. Enthusiasm is the connecting link be- 
 tween you and the world. 
 
 4. It carries you forward with a rush, 
 overcomes obstacles, surmounts difficulties, 
 beats down opposition, and gains your goal. 
 
 5. Enthusiasm is the key which opens 
 the hearts of the world's people. 
 
 6. On the baseball field, the battle front, 
 or in the busy ways of trade and industry 
 — it's all the same. People like pep, and 
 their plaudits and rewards are for the fellow 
 who goes at it heart and soul. 
 
 We have been fairly smothered for years beneath 
 the outpourings of the kind of human-interest writ- 
 ing called "inspirational" ; and the end is not yet, 
 nor will be. In reasonable doses, and compounded 
 from wholesome and proved ingredients, it is good 
 medicine, at that. But from the rankly materialistic, 
 get-there-no-matter-how-you-get, ignorantly empirical, 
 intellectually raw and spiritually vapid stuff. Good 
 Printer, deliver us. 
 
 LINCOLN'S RELIGION 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. From time to time efforts are made 
 to impeach the essentially religious charac- 
 ter of Abraham Lincoln's life. He has even 
 been charged with infidelity. 
 
 2. Dr. Lyman Abbott, in a book review, 
 effectually disposes of these slanders with 
 two quotations. The first is from Lincoln's 
 second inaugural, and follows: 
 
 Fondly do we hope — fervently do we 
 pray — that this mighty scourge of war 
 may speedily pass away. Yet, if God 
 wills that it continue until all the 
 wealth piled up by the bondsman's 250 
 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, 
 and until every drop of blood drawn 
 
HUMAN-INTEREST EDITORIALS 
 
 147 
 
 with the lash shall be paid by another 
 drawn with the sword, as was said 
 3000 years ago, so still it must be 
 said, "The judgments of the Lord are 
 true and righteous altogether." 
 
 3. Lincoln was not a churchman. That 
 is, he was not a member of any church; but 
 he frequently attended church services, in- 
 cluding midweek prayer meetings. He 
 once said, and this is Dr. Abbott's second 
 quotation: 
 
 When any church will inscribe over 
 its altar as its sole qualification for 
 membership the Savior's condensed 
 statement of the substance of both the 
 law and Gospel, Thou shalt love the 
 Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
 with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, 
 and thy neighbor as thyself— that 
 church will I join with all my heart and 
 soul. 
 
 4. There was the declaration of a man, 
 truly religious at heart, who would not bind 
 himself to an acceptation of man-made in- 
 terpretations of God's will. 
 
 The human-interest in this comes mainly from 
 the religious element. From some point-of-view, 
 every one is interested in the question of religion. 
 Most inquirers would be doubly interested to get 
 the view of a man like Mr. Lincoln upon the prob- 
 lems of man's faith. 
 
 MEN WHO CANT BE HEROES 
 
 Worcester Telegram 
 
 1. The Army held to it during the war 
 that you couldn't make a hero out of a 
 quartermaster. In peace the same restric- 
 tion goes for plumbers — despite the hardi- 
 hood of that tribe in raising prices — for 
 waiters, tea-tasters, soda-water drinkers, 
 librarians and a lot of other people, includ- 
 ing, of course, clerks. Clerks come in nat- 
 urally. It is difficult to imagine in heroic 
 role a male who spends his days politely 
 informing the trade that "it's a pleasant 
 day, isn't it?" and expanding delightedly 
 over the merits of taffeta, tulle and some- 
 thing neat and dressy in shirts. 
 
 2. Down in a Hartford department store 
 Tuesday a clerk putting away his goods — 
 maybe it was the taffeta or the tulle or the 
 neat and dressy shirts — saw the wall be- 
 tween the shelves begin to open. They 
 were excavating next door. The clerk knew 
 what was happening; also what was going 
 to happen. 
 
 3. Nevertheless he neither hallooed alarm 
 and thus started a panic nor hurried out to 
 save his own hide and see what followed. 
 Very quickly, but very quietly and politely, 
 he asked the people on the floor to leave 
 with dispatch. He got them out. Then he 
 ousted the people on the floors below. Last 
 
 of all he got out himself. Then the wall 
 crashed down. 
 
 4. The news dispatches relate that when 
 people looked for this clerk to tell him 
 what they thought of him he remarked that 
 he had merely performed as would anyone 
 having ordinary intelligence. 
 
 5. Again nevertheless: 
 
 6. HE man. 
 
 Most of us would like to be heroes. Most of ua 
 never will be. But we like to tell ourselves that 
 we could be if we had the chance, or that we AKE. 
 though we are such inobvious heroes that the world 
 doesn't find it out. Which facts are what give inci- 
 dents like the one in this editorial, their human- 
 interest. 
 
 GOLD STARS IN THE PARADE 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. Omahans yesterday got a better no- 
 tion of what the war meant in one way, 
 when the girls carrying the gold stars slowly 
 marched along the route of the parade. 
 Those who personally knew a soldier who 
 died were aware of the fact, but few if 
 any realized how many made the supreme 
 sacrifice. Not all of them went over the 
 top in a charge; some died in camp or in 
 hospital without having heard a shot fired, 
 but each gave his life for Freedom. Whether 
 or not he was inspired by a realization of 
 the sacred cause he represented, or whether 
 he went out with only a vague notion of 
 why he was called, each of these boys 
 stepped forth to do something for another. 
 For another's life he laid down his own. 
 "And greater love than this hath no man." 
 Words are empty things at any time, but of 
 these Gold Stars may we not say, as did 
 Lincoln at the Battlefield of Gettysburg: 
 "The world will little heed nor long remem- 
 ber what we say here; it can never forget 
 what they did here." The Gold Star boy 
 has won his fight, is now crowned with the 
 laurels of deathless victory. And, as in 
 Lincoln's time, it is for us, the living, to 
 carry on, to the end that these dead shall 
 not have died in vain. 
 
 A true and understanding touch of feeling. To 
 such an interpretation, both heart and head can 
 respond. 
 
 A NEWSBOY HERO 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 1. Every man of the Yankee Division 
 will read with pleasure of the posthumous 
 award of the Distinguished Service Cross 
 to Private First Class Albert E. Scott of 
 Company H, One Hundred and First In- 
 fantry. Many New Englanders are already 
 familiar with the story of the exploit of 
 this Brookline newsboy whose strict devo- 
 tion to duty cost him his life. 
 
 2. Scott was sixteen years old — the 
 youngest man in his regiment, if not in the 
 
148 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Yankee Division. In France he became an 
 expert in the use of the Chauchat auto- 
 matic rifle. His aim was uncanny; the 
 French officers who trained him marvelled 
 at his skill. On the day of his death, July 
 21, 1918, he was posted with his gun beside 
 a tree that stood opposite the opening of a 
 path in Trugny Woods, beyond Chateau 
 Thierry. 
 
 3. "See that path, Scott," said his com- 
 manding officer. "That's your target. Don't 
 let a German cross it." 
 
 4. "Yes, sir," was the gunner's reply as 
 he flattened out near his gun. He killed 
 thirty Germans before he was picked off 
 by a sniper. And not an enemy crossed 
 the path. 
 
 5. His work in Trugny Woods was as 
 perilous as it was plain. But he did it. 
 What a heartening change of conditions 
 would come about in the United States if 
 every American would from this time forth 
 go at his particular task with the zest, the 
 quiet air, the devotion to duty that animated 
 Private First Class Albert E. Scott! 
 
 A plain tale, plainly told, of plain constancy and 
 duty, has never failed to interest men since the 
 first account of the first devoted deed. 
 
 THE HEART'S DESIRE 
 
 The Delineator. 
 
 1. As we understand it, your vocation 
 is the job by which you earn your living. 
 Your avocation is the work in life you like 
 best to do. Very rarely does this happen to 
 be your bread-and-butter job. 
 
 2. "What," was asked at a distinguished 
 dinner-party, "do you like best to do?" 
 
 3. A famous portrait-painter ate a nut 
 thoughtfully. "I dislike painting pictures," 
 he said. "What I've always wanted to do 
 is to sing negro dialect. And I'm punk 
 at it." 
 
 4. The woman concert-singer laughed. 
 "And I'd rather earn my living by raising 
 pigs than at anything else. Really, I've 
 raised some wonders!" 
 
 5. The member of the cabinet chuckled. 
 "Well, my avocation is simple, but not quite 
 so low-brow as yours. If I can ever get out 
 of politics, I'm going to own and run the 
 speediest airplane in the world." 
 
 6. "I," said the great surgeon, "can 
 make the cleverest pottery you ever saw. 
 When I retire, I'll show Wedgwood a clean 
 pair of heels." 
 
 7. "As for me," exclaimed the suffragist 
 with an international reputation, "anything 
 looks good to me that has nothing remotely 
 connected with women about it. I've always 
 disliked women. They bore me to extinc- 
 tion. If it weren't for my silly family, I'd 
 go into the movies and play a man's i>art 
 
 as a swimming-expert. Some of you should 
 see me swim. Don't look astonished! If 
 you'd seen the side of women that I've seen 
 for twenty years you'd feel as I do. I'm 
 with Kin Hubbard. 'Women is like ele- 
 phants. I like to look at 'em but I'd hate to 
 own one.'" 
 
 8. "Well," said the lawyer, "I like my 
 own job. I wouldn't swap it for any other, 
 except to fish, and to make trout-flies. Yes, 
 I would like to end my days making flies." 
 
 9. It's a queer world, entirely. 
 
 "It's a queer world, entirely." So it is. That's 
 what makes it, and all its human aspects, so in- 
 teresting to us. 
 
 "SCOTTY" 
 
 Boston Post 
 
 1. Little "Scotty," Brooklin's heroic 
 newsboy, has been awarded a Distinguished 
 Service Cross. There is a vacant chair at 
 the family table, but there is now a na- 
 tional tribute to explain it and mitigate the 
 sorrow and heart breakings that the big 
 war brought to this humble Massachusetts 
 family. 
 
 2. The official story of this brave boy 
 tells so historically his record that there is 
 nothing to add. Here is the place that his 
 country has officially given him: "Private 
 Albert E. Scott (deceased), Company H, 
 101st Infantry, for extraordinary heroism 
 in action in Trugny woods, northwest of 
 Chateau-Thierry, France, July 21st, 1918. 
 During the Aisne-Marne offensive, Private 
 Scott, an automatic rifleman, voluntarily 
 posted himself on an exposed flank to cover 
 a means of approach of an enemy attacking 
 party. Absolutely alone he opened fire on 
 the enemy, killing and wounding many and 
 fully stopping the flank attack before he 
 himself was killed by a sniper's bullet. By 
 his heroic act he saved the company a great 
 many casualties and assured the main- 
 tenance of the perilous position." 
 
 3. A record like that can never be 
 forgotten. 
 
 That this record cannot and will not be forcrotten, 
 is doubtful. But there is no doubt that future 
 records of the sort will be just as interesting to 
 those who read them. So were the thousands and 
 tens of thousands of previous records like it that 
 have passed into oblivion in the ages through which 
 men have tried to whale righteousness and love into 
 the other fellow. 
 
 WHEN THE HUMAN MACHINE STOPS 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. There is no more delicately adjusted 
 mechanism on earth than the machinery of 
 a man. From his scalp to his heels nature 
 has built him in perfect adaptation to the 
 parts he is to play in creation. The proc- 
 esses of evolution have eliminated all mis- 
 takes. Every little thing in his make-up 
 has its utility in his life, every little move- 
 
HUMAN-INTEREST EDITORIALS 
 
 149 
 
 ment he makes has a meaning all its own. 
 His whole structure — bones, muscles, nerves 
 — and the vital organs which provide for 
 their maintenance — is wonderful; while his 
 brain and its activities, with the system by 
 which it keeps in instant touch with every 
 part of the creature, is marvelous beyond 
 words. Even his tonsils and vermiform 
 appendix, popularly regarded as mere holi- 
 day-makers for surgeons, have their uses. 
 
 2. The machinery of a man, like inani- 
 mate mechanical contrivances, wears out in 
 time. Much of it is replaced day by day 
 by natural processes. When the teeth wear 
 out they may be replaced by an outside 
 substitute of remarkable efficiency in both 
 chewing and articulation. Old eyes may be 
 given normal vision with glasses. A man 
 may continue to exist — a mere mechanical 
 automaton — ^when his brain has ceased to 
 function. But disaster is near when the 
 lungs, the heart, or the stomach falters. 
 
 3. Intelligent and successful men, when 
 their business shows symptoms of going 
 wrong, never wait until it collapses to 
 apply remedies. They are constantly on the 
 watch to keep it in perfect prosperity — alert 
 to every symptom of trouble in their busi- 
 ness organizations. If they were equally 
 concerned about their own bodies and the 
 physical organizations they contain, we 
 would have fewer instances of bodily failure 
 between the ages of fifty and sixty, because 
 of acute diseases originating in lungs, heart 
 or stomach. The lungs always give painful 
 warnings, but not always the heart and 
 stomach. 
 
 4. Perhaps the stomach is the most pa- 
 tient of the vital organs under abuse which 
 surely develops fatal disease. And when it 
 does protest we usually treat its symptoms 
 for temporary relief and give the cause of 
 its symptoms slight attention, if any. We 
 eat and eat and eat, gratifying gluttonous 
 appetites, while our overloaded stomachs, 
 seeking relief, turn over burdens they can- 
 not carry to the liver, the kidneys, or the 
 intestines, there to begin the secret and 
 insidious diseases that give little or no warn- 
 ing until an otherwise trifling infection 
 comes along that gives them their oppor- 
 tunity to poison and destroy the whole or- 
 ganization. Then a man dies in the prime 
 of life, when he should be at the apex of 
 useful achievement, and a community 
 mourns his untimely taking off and prates of 
 the mysterious dispensations of Providence. 
 
 5. But the doctor knows the man died, 
 after warnings, as the result of habits of 
 eating or drinking just as sure to kill as 
 the deliberate and continuous taking of in- 
 finitesimal doses of poison three times a 
 
 day. It may be remarked in closing that 
 there is useful literature on breathing, on 
 heart poisons, and on diet, available to every 
 man who would give to himself the same 
 solicitous care he gives his business. 
 
 You may have met someone who wasn't interested 
 in his own health and length of life — ^but you can't 
 recall who it was. That explains why writings on 
 health-preservation have human-interest. 
 
 THE SUICIDE OF MRS. CAYNE 
 
 Pittsburg Press 
 
 1. It all just pretty nearly makes it 
 impossible to believe that God cares any- 
 thing about mankind, let alone notes the 
 sparrow's fall — so remarked a young man 
 a couple of years ago in a group discussing 
 the war, when another man replied: "My 
 faith in God has not been any more severely 
 tried by the war than by some of the most 
 ordinary and universal experiences of life — 
 I mean poverty, vice and crime (which break 
 more hearts than war), and finally the in- 
 evitable bereavement by death." 
 
 2. And here is an example of the sort of 
 thing that this experienced observer meant, 
 in the case of Mrs. Cayne of Chicago. She 
 was the mother of one child, a little boy, 
 who was taken to the hospital a few days 
 ago, suffering from pneumonia. The faith- 
 ful mother, making daily or twice daily her 
 anxious visits, is met on one of them by 
 the attendants, who tell her gently that the 
 patient cannot live. She sobbingly kneels 
 beside his bed, with her arms around him, 
 and pleads with the ebbing life to return, 
 breathing a prayer one moment and remind- 
 ing the little sufferer of some favorite story 
 or song in the next. 
 
 3. AH at once she realizes that the child 
 eyes no longer see her; that the fond ears 
 no longer hear her familiar voice. She sud- 
 denly rises, making her way out of the 
 room, and before anybody can grasp her 
 purpose a sound of crashing glass is heard, 
 and a moment later the attendants pick up 
 her lifeless body from the courtyard, four 
 stories below. 
 
 4. The God who takes note even of the 
 sparrow's fall certainly does not do things 
 as men would do them, and on the whole it 
 is very lucky — even for men themselves — 
 that He doesn't. The far-flung and majes- 
 tic universe which He governs should warn 
 us that whereas we see things darkly and 
 only in infinitesimally small details He sees 
 them clearly as a whole. Would the 
 anguished suicide of Mrs. Cayne seem so 
 ghastly to us if we could see her, as per- 
 haps the Supreme One sees her, today en- 
 folding her child in one of those brighter 
 and happier realms in which infinite space 
 and infinite consciousness must surely 
 abound ? 
 
150 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 5. Meanwhile, we all ask ourselves the 
 old question — ^what in the whole creation, 
 visible and invisible, can equal a mother's 
 love? 
 
 The human-interest of mother-love and of the 
 mystery of life and death. (To what extent death, 
 disaster, and suffering shall be noticed in the press, 
 or whether they shall be noticed at all, is a ques- 
 tion. Subjects of pathos and sentiment not infre- 
 quently raise also questions as to restraint, exag- 
 geration, delioacy, taste, excessive sentimentality, 
 over-emphasis, false emotionality, etc., in the treat- 
 ment. The worst day of "yellow" journalism per- 
 haps are behind us ; yet there is still enough of 
 the mawkish, mushy, treaclish, insincere, crude, or 
 perverted sort of sentimental drippings. To make us 
 kin, the touch of nature may be simple, but it must 
 be true, in tone and feeling.) 
 
 LOVING BY LETTER 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 1. There is a market, it seems, for ten- 
 der epistles that express the divine emotion 
 which, like the sap in the trees, rises in the 
 spring. People buy publications which di- 
 rect them in the art of giving absent treat- 
 ment in love to those they adore. The book 
 sellers admit it. 
 
 2. Can it be that there has been a 
 change in the tactics of courtship during the 
 past 30 years ? In our youth the presence of 
 the charmer was the thing most assiduously 
 sought. We wanted nearness, propinquity, 
 contiguity — to be frank, actual contact, at 
 least to the extent of being permited to 
 hold a soft white hand. However (just one 
 moment for a sigh in memory of divers and 
 sundry hands), there are people who love to 
 express themselves on perfumed paper to 
 those with whom they are enamoured. Alas! 
 that such delicate missives should ever be 
 opened to excite ribald laughter in unfeel- 
 ing courts. But that's another story; let 
 us pass on. 
 
 3. We separated from a quarter yester- 
 day at a book stand for a treatise on "How 
 to Write Love Letters." Not that we need 
 assistance in that sort of cardiac perform- 
 ance, but that our readers may glimpse one 
 phase of belles-lettres not in general circu- 
 lation. Here is a paragraph from a model 
 proposal : 
 
 Ever since I have had the felicity of 
 becoming acquainted with you, the re- 
 memberance of your charms and accom- 
 plishments has been continually present 
 to my mind, and though I dread the 
 painful thought of my suit being re- 
 jected, I can no longer conceal the 
 passion which has preyed on my spirits 
 these few months past. 
 
 4. Isn't that perfectly beautiful? And 
 the favorable response is no less so. It 
 follows : 
 
 I need say no more than that your 
 proposals, if made in proper form to my 
 parents, will find a warm and not un- 
 interested advocate in one to whom the 
 acceptance of them will be happiness — 
 their rejection a misfortune. 
 
 5. Just one more quotation, this from a 
 model letter to a lady from her intended 
 husband: 
 
 If there is anything that can console 
 me for my unavoidable absence from 
 your side, it is the pleasure of anticipat- 
 ing in imagination the blissful time 
 when I shall bask in the sunshine of 
 your smile, and revel in the placid de- 
 lights of a home made happy by the 
 genial presence of a lovely and loving 
 companion. 
 
 6. One can but wonder how long an 
 ordinary man could maintain himself on so 
 high a plane of expression — after the honey- 
 moon. There is another form letter in the 
 book we would like to quote, but perhaps 
 'twill be better to omit it. It is from "a 
 widower professing attachment to a widow," 
 but suggestions to widowers, or to widows 
 either, along matters "appertainin' ro an' 
 touchin' on" courtship are absurdly super- 
 fluous. 
 
 7. We are disappointed in but one thing 
 in our review of this little book. It con- 
 tams no forms suitable for leap year pro- 
 posals. They would be really worth while 
 just now. 
 
 Next to being in love we enjoy making fun of 
 the fellow who is in love — all the more if he doesn't 
 know (most of 'em don't) hov/ not to make a fool 
 of himself. Then, of course, there is the added 
 absurdity of the hifalutin style of the Ready Letter- 
 Writer, with its vocabulary and diction ridiculously 
 remote from that of the poor "simp," who would 
 depend on such a manual. Human-interest? V/e 
 should say sol 
 
 SPRING IN THE ARBOHETUM 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 1. Perhaps no shrub is a more welcome 
 sight than the forsythia, which brings its 
 golden shower so early. Hungry for color 
 after the long fast of winter, a plant of 
 very much less merit would no doubt ap- 
 peal strongly to our longing eyes, and the 
 forsythia by no means stints its feast, but 
 pours it out lavishly before us, unfolding 
 the bright treasure of its bloom through 
 several weeks and fairly rivalling the sun 
 for splendor in the dull days of which we 
 have had so many of late, putting old Sol 
 to shame, in fact. Few plants have brought 
 to our gardens a larger or more valuable 
 gift of beauty than this genus of Oriental 
 shrubs, or one more generally satisfactory 
 for common acceptance; its freedom from 
 insect pests and diseases, the ease with 
 
HUMAN-INTEREST EDITORIALS 
 
 151 
 
 which it accommodates itself to almost any 
 soil, and, year after year, delights our 
 sight with the generous abundance of its 
 bloom and its reasonable hardiness in our 
 climate are a rare combination of excellen- 
 cies. If an occasional winter somewhat 
 blights its flower buds, the show of bloom 
 may be more or less curtailed for the time, 
 but the plants are not destroyed nor do 
 they fail to make a good display of pleas- 
 ant green foliage through the summer, and 
 are almost certain to make good on the 
 flowers the following season. 
 
 2. Forsythias, with one exception, are 
 Asiatic — and Chinese, I believe — the excep- 
 tion being F. Europsea, a species found not 
 many years since in Albania and which had 
 rather less valuable flowering qualities than 
 the others. It is said, however, to have 
 proved itself somewhat less liable to the 
 occasional winter blighting of flower buds 
 referred to above and may in time con- 
 tribute this valuable trait to the new forms 
 which the future will produce. 
 
 3. Certain hybrids of the early prevailing 
 species have appeared from time to time, 
 to which the general name of intermedia 
 has been given, and, as is often the case, 
 these hybrids, showing slight variations in 
 habit and color of flowers, have surpassed 
 their parents in some respects. One of them 
 bearing primrose yellow bloom, and called 
 F. intermedia, variety primulina, is a case 
 in point. No doubt this process of develop- 
 ment, both spontaneous and of artificial 
 origin, will ultimately furnish our gardens 
 with plants of much improved qualities; 
 meanwhile we are very thankful for the 
 fine outburst of golden splendor which they 
 now bring to us every spring, and make 
 annual pilgrimages to see them in the Ar- 
 boretum. 
 
 4. The great bank, various species and 
 varieties making up the display here, is on 
 the lower slope of Bussey Hill, just below 
 the lilacs and opposite the more westerly 
 of the little ponds. 
 
 5. Yellow seems the favorite but not the 
 sole color of spring flowers and we find 
 many others of this cheerful hue; nearer 
 to the pond stands a fine specimen of a 
 European dogwood (cornus mas.) covered 
 with bloom, its flowers minute but multi- 
 tudinous. This is a wide spreading rotund 
 mound, the bark being warm in color and 
 the whole effect cheery and dignified, yet 
 this shrub is somewhat precocious by nature, 
 very sensitive to periods of springlike mild- 
 ness even in winter, an amiability which 
 stmnetimes heatis it ftfr seeming disWtfer. 
 
 The writer well remembers his surprise some 
 years ago at seeing a large specimen in the 
 Public Garden, near Boylston street, show- 
 ing a considerable quantity of opening 
 flowers after a rather prolonged period of 
 February mildness. Returning cold quickly 
 checked this error of judgment, and the 
 shrub finished its festival later at the ap- 
 propriate time and appeared little the worse 
 for the adventure. Further up and nearly 
 opposite the end of the lilacs may be seen 
 the golden spray of the spice bush (Ben- 
 zoin) in full flower and beyond it the 
 fainter glow of the low, rather sprawling 
 dircas, or leatherwoods, not, as I write, yet 
 fully out. These little shrubs are native to 
 our damp woods from Canada to the Gulf 
 and once had an economic value which was 
 very well recognized by the red brethren of 
 the woods — and some of the early white as 
 well — for they furnished the Indians and 
 others with cordage. Its leather-like bark 
 "has so much strength that a man cannot 
 pull apart so much as covers a branch 
 one-half or one-third of an inch in diam- 
 eter," a useful plant in primitive days 
 for thongs and basket making. 
 
 6. The white flowers of Andromeda are 
 very prompt to open in April, though they 
 are of course fully formed when the winter 
 sets in and have little to do but to throw 
 off their blankets and jump into the spring 
 sunshine. In a climate so unfavorable to 
 most broad-leaved evergreens this very 
 hardy plant is a welcome addition to the 
 short list available. One may find it here 
 not only in the Shrub Collection, but along 
 the right side of Hemlock Road, among the 
 black-fruited native hollies (ilexglabra). 
 
 7. The Arboretum cherries when in flower 
 are one of the chief sensations of the floral 
 year, and should not be missed. Prunus 
 tomentosa, the earliest here, when fully 
 grown is a broad, vigorous and hardy shrub 
 with pinkish flower-buds which open into 
 good-sized white flowers; it is opening now; 
 its near neighbor, P. triloba, is a few days 
 later, but its flowers are the purest pink 
 and very beautiful. Both of these little 
 cherries are very floriferous, very hardy, and 
 most desirable additions to the flower garden 
 or border, though they seem to be but little 
 known to the general public. They are na- 
 tives of Northwestern China. The larger 
 tree cherries of Japan, P. Sargentii, P. 
 pendula and P. sabhirtella, are near by (all 
 are along the right of the road just inside 
 the Forest Hills entrance), and will soon be 
 covered by clouds of beautiful bloom, the 
 last-named evien nbw a mass of didl pink 
 buds, scfme of which ^te beginnm'g to Open. 
 
152 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 8. Already there is loveliness every- 
 where in this great garden, and though the 
 writer has not yet been able to explore it 
 very fully he suspects that Azalea path, 
 Hickory path, the great north meadow with 
 its feathery willows, Peters Hill and other 
 parts are full of things which, familiar as 
 they may be, always so successfully surprise 
 us with every returning spring. He did see 
 the larches today — hackmatacks he prefers 
 to call them as he did in his youth — they 
 were taking on that tender veil, in color 
 very near to what the Chinese potters call 
 apple-green, a lovely diaphanous cloud 
 which heaven seems to drop down over their 
 fine symmetrical forms at every spring 
 awakening. The riotous brook raced 
 through the meadow like a band of school 
 boys just let off from their books; the shad- 
 bush buds were fat, some looked near to 
 bursting; the striped maple, fair little tree 
 of the northern woods, was at that bewitch- 
 ing moment when the latent leaf buds, feel- 
 ing the stir of the sap, seem to glow with 
 a new pinkness along with the deep color of 
 the new twigs and somehow seem to sug- 
 gest an infant's tiny fingers. How strange- 
 ly we respond to all this — as though we too 
 were a part of it, as of course we are. 
 
 E. S. F. 
 "To him who in the love of nature holds com- 
 munion with her visible forms, she speaks a various 
 language." Admiration of or emotional response to 
 nature is a common human characteristic. This 
 article appeals to that instinctive sympathy. In 
 form, it is an essay of the causerie sort^ written 
 for those who have the instinctive appreciation of 
 trees and flowers. Since it restricts itself to nature 
 as observable in the Arboretum, it is also a "home- 
 subject" editorial. 
 
 THE COME-BACK 
 
 The Salt Seller 
 
 1. A cheery smile, a hearty greeting and 
 an optimistic viewpoint on things in general 
 and business in particular, will do more 
 toward landing orders than almost anything 
 else you can do. Why? Because when 
 you're in that mood you're at your best. 
 It's human nature to admire and respond to 
 the opposite in all things — in moods and in 
 business, as well as in sweethearts. 
 
 2. And so if you're cheerful and happy 
 when you meet Old Man Myers and try to 
 smooth out the kinks for him and chase 
 away the bugaboos, nine chances out of ten 
 hell warm up and you'll get his interest and 
 his business. 
 
 3. But, if you let him get on your nerves, 
 put you in the dumps and chase you out of 
 his store in a huff, you're lost — ^unless^ — 
 
 4. You've got a system for chasing away 
 Old Man Gloom and coming-back with a 
 wallop in each hand and a real smile. 
 
 5. What if Myers does throw you out; 
 what if he did get out of bed wrong-end-to; 
 he isn't the only man in town who can use 
 your line. 
 
 6. Granted it isn't the easiest thing in 
 the world to "come-back" after running up 
 against such sour-grapes and icicles! But 
 right there is where one salesman proves 
 himself better than the rest. If he can al- 
 ways "come-back" — if he never loses hold 
 of himself for more than a short time — ^then 
 he will be up and going again full tilt in no 
 time — and will land the business. 
 
 7. That's the idea on this "come-back" 
 proposition. Now for the Plan. Here's the 
 way one man did it! 
 
 8. He had read a poem at one time when 
 he was in the dumps and needed to "come- 
 back." This poem acted just like a tonic. 
 It was the very thing he needed to bring 
 him out of the rut of discouragement. And 
 so, ever afterward, when he got the blues 
 and needed to "come-back," he thought of 
 this poem: 
 
 Take a lesson from the rubber ball; 
 It makes no difference where you let 
 
 it fall. 
 It's always up and bouncing 'round. 
 You simply can't keep it on the ground. 
 If you hit with a wallop, it rebounds 
 
 with a smack, 
 And the harder you hit it the harder it 
 
 comes back. 
 
 9. Now maybe you're not interested in 
 poetry. All right, then, just think of the 
 poor boys who've made good under harder 
 handicaps than you have; just think of men 
 who've made good after being counted fail- 
 ures; just think of the times you've made 
 good when you had almost given up. 
 
 10. Why, man alive! The "come-back" 
 either in business or in other walks of life, 
 is always the winner. But he is also the 
 man who has planned better and worked 
 harder. 
 
 11. Make your plan — then work your 
 plan! But be sure to provide for the times 
 when you need to "come-back." 
 
 "Inspirational" interest (for class readers). The 
 compiler, having at one time or another dipped Into 
 Homer, Dante, Shakspere, Milton, Browning, and 
 others more recent, is entitled to his unexpressed 
 opinion about the accuracy of the term "poem" as 
 here applied. Ck)nceming the editorial itself, how- 
 ever, his experience gives him no reason to think 
 that it would fail to appeal to a numerous body of 
 readers. 
 
 Chapter X. Exercises 
 
 1. From current newspapers, clip and 
 paste, for submission, 5 examples of human- 
 interest editorial. In the unoccupied part 
 of the sheet, state the element of human- 
 interest found in the editorial. 
 
HUMAN. INTEREST EDITORIALS 
 
 153 
 
 2. From other sources collect 5 other ex- 
 amples, and treat them as in No. 1. 
 
 3. Prepare a list, not fewer than 5, of 
 suggestions for editorials in which nature 
 shall in some way supply the element of 
 human-interest. In each suggestion, state 
 what its source of appeal will be. 
 
 4. Write one of the human-interest edi- 
 torials suggested in No. 3. 
 
 5. Another as in No. 4. 
 
 6. As in No. 3, prepare suggestions for 
 editorials in which the human-interest shall 
 lie in the appeal of tenderness or sym- 
 pathy. (Fight shy of the soft and 
 mawkish.) 
 
 7. Write one of the editorials suggested 
 in No. 6. 
 
 8. Another as in No. 7. 
 
 9. As in No. 3, prepare suggestions for 
 human-interest editorials the appeal of 
 which shall lie in our aversion to injustice, 
 cruelty, or the like. 
 
 10. Write one of the editorials suggested 
 in No. 9. 
 
 11. Another as in No. 10. 
 
 12. As in No. 3, prepare suggestions for 
 human-interest editorials depending for 
 their effect on the element of incongruity, 
 grotesqueness, and the like. 
 
 13. Write one of the editorials suggested 
 in No. 12. 
 
 14. Another as in No. 13. 
 
 15. As in No. 3, prepare suggestions f6r 
 human-interest editorials depending for 
 
 their effect upon the element of curiosity, 
 singularity, or strangeness. 
 
 16. Write one of the editorials suggested 
 in No. 15. 
 
 17. Another as in No. 16. 
 
 18. Write a human-interest editorial in 
 the matter-of-fact mood. 
 
 19. Another as in 18. 
 
 20. Write a human-interest editorial in 
 the mood of reverence. 
 
 21. Write a human-interest editorial in 
 the mood of awe or wonder. 
 
 22. Another, in the mood of ridicule. 
 
 23. Another, in the mood of admiration. 
 
 24. Another, in the mood of esthetic or 
 artistic enjoyment. 
 
 25. Another, in the mood of satire or 
 sarcasm. 
 
 26. Clip and paste 5 news-stories offer- 
 ing hints for human-interest editorials, and 
 on the respective sheets state the idea for 
 the editorial. 
 
 27. Write one of the editorials suggested 
 in No. 26. 
 
 28. Another as in 27. 
 
 29. Write a news-editorial that shall be 
 one of human-interest. 
 
 30. Under the heading. When Editors 
 Grow Human, write a human-interest edito- 
 rial descriptive of the human-interest edi- 
 torial. 
 
 31. Write an essay-editorial dealing with 
 human-interest in editorials. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE HOME-SUBJECT EDITORIAL 
 
 The home-community spirit. — It is 
 
 possible to judge with a good deal of 
 accuracy the spirit of a community, 
 town or city by the interest that its 
 residents take in its affairs. Where 
 a large proportion of the people mani- 
 fest a lively concern in the various 
 aspects of the community life, its 
 problems, and its activities, a spirit 
 of comity, co-operation, and advance 
 usually exists, strong enough to 
 create wholesome conditions in busi- 
 ness, local government, intellectual 
 matters, and morals. Where no such 
 concern is taken, the community is 
 backward if not decadent. 
 
 Former neglect of home-news. — 
 Obvious as the truth of this asser- 
 tion is, it has often gone unrecog- 
 nized, even by the local papers, al- 
 though they should be the first to 
 perceive it and to propagate the pro- 
 gressive get-together spirit. The 
 smaller or more rural the town or 
 community, the more likely has the 
 local paper been to overlook the op- 
 portunity thus afforded it for service. 
 But that condition is now changing 
 very rapidly; indeed, it began to 
 change perceptibly, though slowly, 
 not many years after the war be- 
 tween the states, as the small papers 
 gradually followed the larger papers 
 in giving more attention to the pur- 
 veying of news. 
 
 Growth of interest in home-news. 
 — As might have been foreseen, how- 
 ever, small papers could not compete 
 with the large papers in the presenta- 
 tion of world, national, or even state 
 news. Hence the small paper was 
 forced to emphasize news of its own 
 vicinity. To many, the ^result was 
 ^iirlp^in:^. Thfe ^msB pafffe'r tWt 
 
 increased its proportion of well- 
 treated local news promptly grew in 
 popularity. 
 
 The appetite of the local public for 
 local news waxed with what it fed 
 on, and far-sighted small-community 
 publishers began to aspire to the pro- 
 duction of papers that should be "all 
 homeprint" — devoted mainly to mat- 
 ters local within their circulation- 
 radius, or intimately affecting the af- 
 fairs or welfare of the people within 
 that territory. Fully realized, this 
 aspiration tended to exclude even the 
 "canned news" and other reading- 
 matter supplied in the "patent in- 
 sides'*. 
 
 The evolution, of course, is far 
 from complete and may never be- 
 come complete; but the tendency to 
 devote the small local papers as much 
 as possible to home news grows 
 steadily. Some publishers affirm that, 
 in communities of fewer than 20,000, 
 the daily paper receiving a telegraph 
 or telephone service from the news 
 associations (thus putting itself into 
 competition with the larger dailies 
 that inevitably circulate in the same 
 territory), loses rather than gains 
 circulation thereby. In other words, 
 they believe that in the community 
 even of 20,000, the local paper had 
 best concentrate upon local affairs. 
 
 The assertion may not be war- 
 ranted by the facts, but it indicates 
 the importance now laid upon news 
 of the local field. By far the larger 
 number of small papers, daily or 
 weekly, that emphasize local news, 
 are found to prosper, assuming, of 
 course, that their business-manage- 
 i^flnt is as stjund as their news- 
 
THE HOME-SUBJECT EDITORIAL 
 
 155 
 
 Growth of the community-interest 
 editorial. — Development of the func- 
 tion of the small paper as a dissemi- 
 nator of home news led naturally, 
 though slowly, to an increasing dis- 
 cussion of community matters in its 
 editorials. This tendency to devote 
 more of the editorial page to consid- 
 eration of matters of direct interest 
 in the home territory has been 
 strengthened by the gradual recogni- 
 tion of the value of the newspaper as 
 a stimulus to local spirit. An honest, 
 public-spirited, open-minded, progres- 
 sive newspaper can do more than any 
 other single agency to provoke 
 thought, create community pride, and 
 bring about intelligent, well-reasoned 
 community opinion and action. The- 
 oretically, this has long been pro- 
 claimed; publishers and editors are 
 now finding that the theory repays 
 application in practice. 
 
 Home-interest editorials in metro- 
 politan papers. — The stress here laid 
 upon the importance of home-subject 
 editorials in the small paper does not 
 imply that such editorials are not also 
 important in larger journals. The 
 city and metropolitan press, however, 
 earlier recognized the opportunity 
 offered by community subjects for 
 interesting and influencing the public ; 
 and it usually gives adequate atten- 
 tion on the editorial page to the 
 larger and more impressive aspects 
 of local affairs. 
 
 Some large papers go further than 
 this, and endeavor more or less con- 
 sistently to interpret significant local 
 movements and activities, even 
 though they concern only a limited 
 part of the city or of the populace, 
 and lack the impressiveness of sub- 
 jects that more obviously affect the 
 city as a whole. But how far the 
 metropolitan paper can thus go in 
 making itself the interpreter of com- 
 munity spirit within the separate 
 boroughs, districts, wards, and sim- 
 
 12 
 
 ilar subdivisions of its city, is un- 
 certain. 
 
 How much such subjects shall be 
 stressed editorially must therefore 
 be determined a good deal from the 
 viewpoint of general appeal and cir- 
 culation. The small paper has an in- 
 tensive appeal; but the large paper 
 has an extensive appeal, and its prac- 
 tice, therefore, leans decidedly toward 
 treatment of only the larger, more 
 significant and more vital affairs of 
 its own community. The more spe- 
 cifically localized and internal sub- 
 jects it leaves to those "Home News" 
 weeklies and semi-weeklies which 
 confine themselves to locally inter- 
 esting aspects of the city's life. 
 
 What community subjects are 
 available. — Any local subject about 
 which the people of a community are 
 thinking and talking, or about which 
 they can be led to think and talk in- 
 telligently, is available for editorial 
 treatment, if handled with good judg- 
 ment. Occasionally even tittle-tattle 
 and scandal can be beneficially 
 touched upon, provided that the 
 editor have the courage, the tact, and 
 the skill to deal with the matter 
 wholesomely, correctively, and con- 
 structively ; otherwise, of course, they 
 should be resolutely avoided. Aside 
 from this, any theme that touches the 
 life, welfare, and enjoyments of the 
 community, or of its individual resi- 
 dents, is worth treating, especially if 
 it can be presented stimulatively or 
 constructively. 
 
 Business subjects — Hence, busi- 
 ness subjects call for editorial con- 
 sideration. The poverty-stricken com- 
 munity is doomed to further deterio- 
 ration unless it can attain or regain 
 a moderate degree of financial pros- 
 perity, reasonably distributed. Local 
 trade, industry, finance, and enter- 
 prise, the conditions affecting them, 
 their relation to the community and 
 of the community to them, prices, 
 service, advertising, proposals for the 
 
156 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 improvement of trade, transporta- 
 tion, communication, and other con- 
 ditions affecting business welfare — 
 subjects such as these offer numerous 
 opportunities for editorial discussion 
 that will inform, instruct, or stimu- 
 late the community thought. The 
 prime purpose of such editorials will 
 be, to keep the public mind alert con- 
 cerning the importance of the com- 
 munity's business, and to produce 
 mutual understanding, and therefore 
 to develop a sense of common inter- 
 ests, between business and the pubHc. 
 
 Community welfare. — ^The welfare 
 of any community, however, depends 
 not merely upon its commercial and 
 industrial prospering, but even more 
 upon the purpose with which it pros- 
 pers and the use that it makes of its 
 prosperity. "A better place to live 
 in" is the animating motto of all 
 right-spirited communities. Hence 
 they are interested, progressively and 
 earnestly, in the practical application 
 at home of such ideals as can effec- 
 tively contribute to making the com- 
 munity more desirable as a place in 
 which to live. 
 
 Among such matters are village or 
 city improvement ; Americanization 
 of foreign residents; abolition of 
 slums (which exist in small as well 
 as in large communities, and in a 
 sense even in backwoods districts) ; 
 education, and the betterment of the 
 schools; sanitation and the commu- 
 nity health; community lectures, 
 plays, "sings," and other means of 
 promoting community understanding 
 and culture; local interest in music, 
 art, and literature ; religious interests 
 of the community ; moral healthiness ; 
 and so on. By a sensible, tactful, 
 sincere editor, all such subjects can 
 be so presented as to stimulate 
 thought, awaken interest, promote 
 co-operation, and so encourage public- 
 spirited activity. 
 
 The farm-community editorial. — 
 So many American weekly papers 
 
 owe a large part, often the major 
 part, of their circulation to farm sub- 
 scribers, that the wisdom of empha- 
 sizing country news and country 
 topics, including agriculture, is ob- 
 vious. These are among the most 
 important elements of the community 
 welfare, and consequently are of in- 
 terest and concern, not only in the 
 country surrounding the town, but 
 also to the townspeople, since the 
 town prospers or fails to prosper in 
 proportion as the farming district 
 about it thrives or stagnates. 
 
 Problems of community self-gov- 
 ernment. — Questions of local self- 
 government, such as taxation, public 
 improvements, local ordinances and 
 regulations, and public expenditures, 
 appertain to community welfare ; but 
 owing to the specialized nature of 
 their problems and to the immediate 
 effect they have upon the community, 
 they call for the emphasis of sepa- 
 rate mention. 
 
 Manner and mood of the home-sub- 1 
 ject editorial. — Broadly speaking, v/e 
 can say that the home-subject edi- 
 torial does not need to differ in 
 method, style, or tone from other edi- 
 torials. It can be built up by the 
 same processes, and expressed in the 
 same manner. Of such editorials in 
 papers circulating in large cities, this 
 is unqualifiedly true. 
 
 But in the small town, the remote 
 impersonality that the large paper 
 can and does maintain may give place 
 somewhat to a tone of acquaintance- 
 ship and neighborliness. Conse- 
 quently, the editorial article, though 
 preserving its dignity and its atti- 
 tude of authority, may have a more 
 homely tone. This does not imply 
 that the editor "writes down" to his 
 fellow townsmen and countrymen. 
 By no means. He would not deserve 
 to last long, and probably would not 
 last long, as an editor, if he felt this 
 condescending spirit. 
 
THE HOME-SUBJECT EDITORIAL 
 
 157 
 
 But it does mean that he instinc- 
 tively senses himself as one among 
 his own people, and while addressing 
 them with thorough respect for their 
 intelligence, yet employs the easy and 
 spontaneous directness of expression 
 natural to such association. 
 
 Sweeping generalization, however, 
 is not possible. Not only the editor's 
 personality, but also the carefully 
 studied character and attitude of his 
 people collectively, will determine the 
 manner and the effectiveness of his 
 approach. The breezy hail-fellow- 
 ness that won appreciation and ap- 
 proval in a buoyant Wyoming or Ari- 
 zona town might repel, if not offend, 
 in a staid Massachusetts village or an 
 old Southern community of still-sur- 
 viving aristocratic traditions, social 
 and intellectual. There are degrees 
 even in informality and unconvention- 
 ality, and each v/riter must discover 
 for himself what is best. 
 
 Controversial editorials on home 
 subjects. — A word of caution may be 
 advisable concerning controversial 
 editorials in the home paper, in ad- 
 dition to the cautionary comment 
 made in Chapter VII. 
 
 Occasions arise when the home 
 paper must espouse, defend, or at- 
 tack. But often the editor can avoid 
 direct controversy by employing the 
 editorial of interpretation, accom- 
 plishing his purpose quietly and un- 
 demonstratively by means of explan- 
 ation—of "education"— rather than 
 by means of argument. This, when 
 possible, is desirable; for in sniall 
 communities, differences of opinion 
 more easily become personal, and so 
 develop into latent enmities or open 
 quarrels. 
 
 When direct argument is employed 
 concerning matters on which commu- 
 nity opinion is divided, it should be, 
 first of all, fair, and next to that, tol- 
 erant and good-natured. Loosed by 
 the large paper, the sarcastic and 
 bitter editorial may be an arrow shot 
 
 into the air; loosed from the bow- 
 string of the small paper, it flies 
 straight to the mark, and lodges deep, 
 and the wound festers. 
 
 Convinced of his honesty, his fair- 
 ness, and his usual good judgment, 
 the editor's neighbors will not lay up 
 against him his support even of an 
 unpopular issue; but a few sharp, 
 lashing, intolerant paragraphs, even 
 if penned in a moment of righteous 
 indignation, may go far toward un- 
 dermining his position. Almost in- 
 variably, in the small community, the 
 reputation of being a "good one" in 
 the use of edged language and cut- 
 ting argument is purchased at the 
 price of lessened friendliness and loss 
 of influence. It doesn't pay. Far 
 better to urge the point with modera- 
 tion and good-nature. 
 
 Avoiding rancor on community 
 issues. — "How should I criticise a 
 road-overseer for neglecting his 
 duties?" said Don C. Seitz, of the 
 New York World. *T wouldn't. I'd 
 print a single sentence, as if it were 
 merely a news-item : 
 
 " 'A mudhole twenty feet long re- 
 mains in front of Mullen's block since 
 the recent rains.' 
 
 "The next week I might note: *In 
 one of the busy hours yesterday 28 
 wagons and autos drove through the 
 20-foot mudhole in front of the Mul- 
 len block.' 
 
 "If the joshing comment that such 
 notes would bring the overseer from 
 the townspeople didn't stir him, I 
 would continue them : 
 
 " The mudhole left in front of the 
 Mullen block by the rain three weeks 
 ago is gradually disappearing. It 
 has shrunk from 20 to 15 feet in 
 length.' 
 
 " ^Measurement shows that the 
 ruts in the Mullen block mudhole are 
 14 inches deep.' 
 
 "That's all. Sooner or later, public 
 opinion will do the actual knocking, 
 and the street will be repaired." 
 
158 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Mr. Seitz's illustration indicates 
 the spirit of sweet but firm reason- 
 ableness that should shape the policy 
 of the local editorial even when its 
 purpose is that of criticism — not that 
 of rancor, not even of outright at- 
 tack, but sensible, good-natured, 
 neighborly considerateness. 
 
 Representative editorials. — Some of 
 the home subjects likely to appear in 
 the editorial columns, and some of 
 the ways in which they can be 
 treated, are suggested by the illustra- 
 tions that follow. 
 
 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 Times-Citizen (Roseville. 111.) 
 
 1. A stranger judges this town mainly 
 by its appearance. 
 
 2. If it is clean, sanitary and inviting, he 
 •carries the good word afar. But if it is 
 
 dingy, and ill kept, he carries the bad record 
 to even greater distances. 
 
 3. We should have a reputation second to 
 none — superior to many — but we will have 
 only that which we carve out by our own 
 efforts. 
 
 4. Let's all pitch in and make this the 
 cleanest and the brightest and the most 
 progressive year in our history. 
 
 5. Spring is the time to begin. 
 
 An appeal to home pride. 
 
 "MUFFLERS" 
 
 Boston Post 
 
 1. A pedestrian on Washington or Tre- 
 mont streets during the rush hours would 
 never get the impression that Massachu- 
 setts has a law providing that automobiles 
 shall be equipped with "mufflers" to "pre- 
 vent unnecessary noise." 
 
 2. Use of the "cut-outs" in the open dis- 
 tricts is habitual with motorists, but there 
 is a growing tendency to use them indiscrim- 
 inately, even at crowded intersections. The 
 result is not only a distressing rumble and 
 roar, but a superfluous discharge of smoke 
 and gases. If the law intends to alleviate 
 noise and save pedestrians from unneces- 
 sary nausea it should be enforced. 
 
 Not a word is said here about the police. Neverthe- 
 less, the brief comment is a suggestive "tip" to 
 the police department. 
 
 BOOKS FOR COUNTRY CHILDREN 
 
 Detroit Free Press 
 
 1. At the April meeting of the Wayne 
 County Library Round Table the subject of 
 the launching of a new kind of library serv- 
 ice within the county was under discussion, 
 the purpose being to provide more nearly 
 
 equal advantages for children in rural and 
 city schools. A county library would seem 
 the natural outgrowth or adjunct of a county 
 educational system, and other counties have 
 found ways of seeing that the books are 
 circulated. A county library in Maryland 
 sends a motor carload of books into the sev- 
 eral townships at regular intervals, and the 
 service is highly esteemed by the people. 
 
 2. Certainly where a want is felt there 
 are ways of supplying it, and a distribution 
 book-service can be made a great instrument 
 for good in country schools. School readers 
 get stale from much droning repetition, yet 
 are seldom changed, so that any inclination 
 toward reading which the child possesses is 
 soon lost in monotony. By all means circu- 
 late books. They stir the wisdom of ages. 
 
 Which is more vital — an editorial jumping on a 
 county commissioner because he is or is not a good 
 democrat or a good republican, or one encouraging 
 the increase of books among the county's citizens? 
 
 OLD CLOTHES 
 
 Massachusetts State Colleeian 
 
 1. The official adoption of an old clothes 
 campaign by the students will make little 
 difference in the general appearance of the 
 men. Although not in the sweatshirt class, 
 neither are the men of M. A. C. accustomed 
 to appearing in formal attire at the evening 
 meal. It is apparent to the casual observer 
 that a sensible adaptation of the old-clothes 
 movement has been in force on this campus 
 for some time past. Serviceability has been 
 placed ahead of appearance. Sartorial dis- 
 play has been relegated to the background 
 in favor of comfort and durability. 
 
 2. Nevertheless, the official sanctioning 
 of the old-clothes movement, rather than 
 the promulgation of an overalls club, is a 
 step in the right direction. Overalls would 
 be merely a new expense, especially so, con- 
 sidering the "crocking" qualities of the 
 fabrics used in their manufacture. Old 
 clothes are comfortable, inexpensive, and 
 more or less durable. More power to the 
 old-clothes campaign! 
 
 See the comment on What Do You Know. 
 
 WOULD SAVE THE OLD HOUSES 
 
 Charleston News and Courier 
 
 1. The newly organized Society for the 
 Preservation of the Old Dwelling Houses of 
 Charleston has been formed not a moment 
 too soon. Indeed it has come into being in 
 the very nick of time. A few weeks ago a 
 New York newspaper man of wide expe- 
 rience, a man of culture and cosmopolitan 
 tastes who had travelled all over the world, 
 spent a day in Charleston and was thrown 
 almost into a panic by the evidence which 
 he saw of danger to the old houses here. 
 He saw that the city was growing and was 
 
THE HOME-SUBJECT EDITORIAL 
 
 159 
 
 sure to grow more and more rapidly; and he 
 feared that in the changes which its rapid 
 development would bring about many of the 
 old houses would be sacrificed. This, he de- 
 clared, would not only be a terrible mistake 
 from the point of view of Charleston's own 
 interest, because it is to its old houses that 
 this city owes much of its charm, but it 
 would also be a calamity to the country be- 
 cause it would alter disastrously the charac- 
 ter of one of America's most distinctive 
 cities. 
 
 2. It is the purpose of the Society for the 
 Preservation of the Old Dwelling Houses of 
 Charleston to prevent this calamity, and in 
 this undertaking the organization ought to 
 have the support of all intelligent citizens. 
 In setting the movement on foot Miss Frost, 
 who has already done so much to preserve 
 and restore what was best in Charleston's 
 architecture in the past, has performed a 
 service to the community the value of which 
 will be recognized in increasing measure as 
 the years pass. 
 
 The judgment of an outsider sometimes influences 
 the public more promptly than the arguments of 
 their fellow townsmen. This editorial, in approv- 
 ing the purpose of the new society, lets a report 
 of the outsider's view present the argument, and 
 merely appends to that an indication of its 
 agreement. 
 
 OMAHA'S TUESDAY MUSICAL CLUB 
 
 Omaha Beo 
 
 1. One agency for the cultivation and 
 dissemination of artistic knowledge to which 
 Omaha owes considerable of its cultural 
 advancement is the Tuesday Musical club. 
 The natural outgrowth of a smaller and 
 more exclusive organization, originally lim- 
 ited in membership to a comparatively few 
 earnest students of music, it has come to be 
 a most important factor in the city's social 
 life. At a time when the business of bring- 
 ing here the great musicians of the world, 
 that they might charm and enlighten those 
 who otherwise could not hear them, was fall- 
 ing into decay, this organization shook off 
 the limits of its original form, took over the 
 greater work, and has accordingly pros- 
 pered. It is in no sense a money-making 
 institution; its members have a distinct ad- 
 vantage in being preferred for sittings at 
 any concert or recital under the club's aus- 
 pices; but whatever of gain is noted in the 
 club's exchequer is used for the advance- 
 ment of the art to which it is devoted. The 
 season which closed last night has been per- 
 haps the most brilliant of its history, be- 
 cause of the energy and good management 
 of the ladies who directed the club's activi- 
 ties. Omaha has had much of direct benefit 
 as a result of this organization, and it is en- 
 couraging to know it is already laying plans 
 
 for even greater things in the future. Its 
 service to the community is greater than 
 even its members realize. 
 
 Where lies the line between "boost" and "puff"? 
 — between deserved sincere commendation and cheap 
 notice or brummagem laudation ? It is hard to say. 
 For this reason, the young editor to whose taste 
 self -advertising and plastered-on praise are abhor- 
 rent, will sometimes withhold deserved approval lest 
 it seem a puff. Undeserved notice and unmerited 
 disregard are niistakes, each in its own way ; but if 
 one must err, perhaps he had better not err on the 
 side of discouraging coldness toward desert. 
 
 MAYOR'S BUILDING PLANS 
 
 Boston Post 
 
 1. By calling into conference bankers and 
 industrial employers to devise a method of 
 furnishing money to enable the construction 
 of dwellings, Mayor Peters is doing the 
 practical thing to meet the inadequate hous- 
 ing conditions now existing in Boston. 
 There is the greatest need of action during 
 the present building season, for the condi- 
 tions, now very bad indeed, will be ever so 
 much worse in the fall. There is an abso- 
 lute famine in suitable habitations for the 
 people who desire to live within the city's 
 limits. 
 
 2. Industrial employers are more con- 
 cerned than they may think, for the near- 
 ness of employees to their work is of prime 
 importance in the promotion of efficiency and 
 the securing of a complement of workers. 
 The banks, by placing in construction-loans 
 money largely deposited by Bostonians, are 
 in "good business"; for the demand for 
 apartments and small homes, renting at 
 from $30 to $40 a month, is so pressing that 
 the investments may be placed among the 
 gilt-edge variety. Then, too, in building 
 their city they are building themselves. 
 
 3. Dwellings are so much needed that the 
 mayor is doing just what might be expected 
 of a vigilant official strictly on his job. 
 There should be the heartiest co-operation 
 in putting his plans across. There is em- 
 ployment for the allied trades, profit for 
 the investors, and, most of all, homes for 
 families. 
 
 Here again the argument is not so much urged 
 as suggested and made attractive — another evi- 
 dence of the working-theory which recognizes public 
 opinion as being easier to lead than to drive. 
 
 WHAT DO YOU KNOW? 
 
 Massachusetts State Collegian 
 
 1. What do you know about M. A. C? 
 What is the relation between the extension 
 service, the experiment station, and the col- 
 lege? Could an engineering department be 
 established at this college without the per- 
 mission of the state legislature? Why is 
 military training compulsory? What is the 
 Hatch Act? Who supports the college? 
 What departments receive federal aid ? 
 
160 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 2. An examination on the history and 
 organization of the college administration 
 would find the majority of men on this 
 campus rated very low. The undergraduate 
 body has no apparent interest in these facts. 
 Yet, is it not worth the while of any man 
 to know how and why his college came to 
 be what it is today? Its story is one of 
 the important parts in the history of Massa- 
 chusetts. To possess a complete knowledge 
 of, and to be able to talk intelligently on 
 the subject of what your state has done 
 toward the development of agriculture is 
 something which could be expected of a man 
 attending M. A. C. Can you ? 
 
 3. The devotion of a morning chapel to 
 a brief explanation of the college history 
 and organization would bring enlightenment 
 to many. 
 
 Steady improvement of college journalism is found 
 not only in better reporting, writing, and business 
 management, but also in an increasing attention to 
 all the aspects of the many-sided college life. This 
 neatly turned and spontaneous editorial upon a sub- 
 ject entirely pertinent to campus thouj^ht, would do 
 credit to any college paper, and will stand com- 
 parison with many a newspaper editorial. The same 
 is true of the editorial — Old Clothes. 
 
 "PULL TOGETHER— GET 
 ACQUAINTED" 
 
 Fair bank (Iowa) View 
 
 1. "Pull together." "Get acquainted with 
 your neighbor — you may like him." "Let 
 this community work collectively for the 
 things it needs." "No man or one organ- 
 ization is large enough to get what this com- 
 munity needs. We will all join hands and 
 get it." Now, Mr. and Mrs. Farmer, don't 
 think this is a town proposition. It is not. 
 It is a town and country proposition. 
 
 2. The mutual relation of the farmer, 
 banker, merchant, professional men, editor, 
 pastor and our private citizens, creates the 
 community. This relation extends as far 
 out as the auto or team brings customers 
 to the common center. Every member of 
 this community should be vitally interested 
 in the welfare of every other member. 
 
 3. The bank, the store, the office, and the 
 market of the smaller towns is worthless 
 without that great number of silent partners 
 in the country, who come as far as the auto 
 brings them to deposit or borrow money, to 
 buy goods, to get expert counsel or to sell 
 products. On the other hand, the farm has 
 no value if the towns close around be de- 
 stroyed. The basic fact is that we are all 
 partnerfe in each other's business and affairs. 
 Successful partnership is based upon good 
 will, co-operation, and the square deal. In 
 addition to the home community, we have a 
 much larger community, bound together by 
 common ties known as the county, the state, 
 the nation, and even the world. Yet the 
 
 community of overshadowing importance is 
 the home community. Here we live and 
 have our being. 
 
 4. Team work won the war. Team work 
 brings success to the great department store, 
 mail order house and packing plants. Team 
 work between us fellows in town and the 
 farmer in the country is the only way to 
 better the community and get things worth 
 while, which this community needs badly. 
 
 You have heard of the "booster" editorial. Her« 
 it is. 
 
 Trivial details as well as large principles deter* 
 mine the effectiveness of writings. As an illustra* 
 tion of this, consider the "Mr. and Mrs. Farmer" 
 of HI. Farm editors, agricultural agents, and others, 
 have discovered that not a few farmers dislike to 
 be addressed as "Mr. Farmer," "Neighbor," "Brp+her 
 Farmer," and so on — much as othera might object 
 to being addressed constantly as "Mr. Blacksmith," 
 '"Mr. Railroader," or "Mr. Coalmijier." It is a 
 natural resentment of invidious class appeal or 
 (sometimes) of class condescension. Consequently 
 in some editorial offices care is taken to avoid, when 
 possible, this manner of approach or address. The 
 "psychology" of the matter seems to be this : 
 Americans do not like to have class dissimilarities 
 emphasized even in discussions of the peculiar prob- 
 lems of their occupation; they prefer to have their 
 problems and claims considered from the viewpoint 
 of their fundamental citizenship, not their accidental 
 status. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE TREES 
 
 Boston Globe 
 
 1. The Spring drive is on and every per- 
 son in the State having a proprietary in- 
 terest in a tree should apply for ammuni- 
 tion and get into the fight. 
 
 2. The State Forestry Department has 
 obtained an ample supply of poisons to be 
 used against the creeping things which de- 
 stroy trees, and is selling at wholesale to 
 cities and towns, which in turn will supply 
 the requirements of tree owners at cost. 
 
 3. With the tent caterpillars and brown- 
 tails already hatched out and waiting in 
 their nests for a series of gorges on the 
 first leaves, most of the forests and or- 
 chards in New England are in danger. The 
 gypsy moth is reported on the way to re- 
 inforce the enemies of foliage. 
 
 4. Loaded sprayers alone can save the 
 day. 
 
 5. Trees have come into a position of 
 larger significance than ever before in this 
 part of the country. Every one of them has 
 increased in value, and it does not matter 
 whether a tree is a producer of wood or of 
 fruit. It is worth protecting. Lumber 
 prices have soared like sugar. Firewood 
 has kept pace with the advance in coal. And 
 New England's apples cost as much, if not 
 more, than oranges imported from Florida 
 or California. 
 
 6. Trees ruined by insect pests cannot 
 be replaced for a generation, but almost 
 
THE HOME-SUBJECT EDITORIAL 
 
 161 
 
 every tree may be preserved by proper an- 
 nual care, of which spraying in time is the 
 first item. 
 
 7. If a Spring drive does not go well in 
 a war, a later effort may be made in Sum- 
 mer or Autumn, but it is not so in the de- 
 fensive campaign to protect trees. If the 
 insects score a crushing victory' now, all 
 that they will leave will be inferior fire- 
 wood. 
 
 8. If it is not to be lost, the battle of 
 orchard and grove must be fought in the 
 next few weeks. 
 
 9. The local tree warden has marching 
 orders, which he is ready to pass on. He is 
 also the authority on ammunition. Tree 
 owners must do the rest. 
 
 In Massachiisetts and New England, the impor- 
 tance of forest, fruits and shade-tree preservation 
 makes such an editorial significant in every village, 
 "town," and city. That, however, is true in many 
 other sections where insect pests threaten our trees ; 
 and the publication of many such articles as home- 
 subject editorials is a natural consequence. 
 
 The smaliness of the New England states, singly 
 and collectively, makes many problems and inter- 
 ests almost identical in the various communities 
 throughout this territory. It also results in the 
 larger papers' paying more attention than is usual in 
 many places to numerous questions in their localized 
 bearings. The same tendency is found in other sec- 
 tions thickly enough settled within a limited ares 
 to have developed it. Nevertheless, it is probable 
 that in no other section do the larger papers pay 
 more attention to subjects locally interesting outside 
 the zone of city and suburban circulation. Excellent 
 transportation and communication facilities have 
 contributed greatly to this result. 
 
 THE INDIANS 
 
 Indianapolis News 
 
 1. The Indians started the baseball sea- 
 son under the most discouraging circum- 
 stances within the range of a fan's mem- 
 ory, which, however, is short. The weather 
 forced a lot of loafing when the team needed 
 practice to round off its spring-training sea- 
 son. Weakness in the box and a general 
 dearth of "pep" started the team toward the 
 cellar, and poor playing, combined with luck 
 and the stalling match last Sunday to finish 
 the job. Thursday the team trailed the 
 league even with a shakeup to stimulate 
 better baseball, and the outlook was indeed 
 blue. 
 
 2. Yesterday the 5-0 victory over the 
 Columbus team, ancient rivals of the In- 
 dians, broke the monotony of successive de- 
 feats, something the most loyal fan soon 
 tires of. The team climbed over Kansas 
 City and advanced one place toward the 
 head of the list. Today it has a chance to 
 get even with the Mud Hens for the defeat 
 suffered at their hands in the opening game 
 at Washington Park. Taking the Columbus 
 victory into consideration, and giving full 
 weight to the fact that it showed that the 
 
 Indians can play ball, the opportunity at 
 Toledo is a good deal more important than 
 many a series later in the season will be. 
 
 3. If the spirit shown by the fans at 
 the opening game means anything — and ex- 
 perience in former years indicates that it is 
 a fair index to the character of the season — 
 this will be a good ball season in Indianapo- 
 lis. The extraordinary interest in the 
 amateur leagues shows that the game is 
 more than holding its own as the great 
 American sport. Interest centers on the 
 Indians, however, and no doubt Manager 
 Hendricks and his tribe are determined to 
 win a place for themselves while on the 
 road which will make the team's return to 
 its home lot something of a public event. 
 This calls for loyalty and a fair allowance 
 for the team's initial drawbacks, but it also 
 calls for baseball in keeping with the city's 
 standing among the other towns represented 
 in the league. 
 
 "Baseball in heaven." It would make one begin 
 to feel at home at once, and in half an hour be 
 hotly arguing the prospects of the team. Home 
 sports and athletics will get more attention in the 
 news-pages, but they have their claim upon the 
 editorial page also. 
 
 TAXPAYERS APPROVE TEACHERS* 
 SALARY RAISE 
 
 Pittsburg Press 
 
 1. The public which foots the bill is un- 
 feignedly glad of the increase in public 
 school teachers' pay. As finally fixed and 
 announced by the Board of Public Education 
 yesterday, the revised schedule will add to 
 the total earnings of the body of teachers 
 in the Pittsburg schools something like 
 $1,167,542 a year. 
 
 2. It is not what the teachers demanded, 
 but comes close to it (being a fraction more 
 than 84 per cent of the $500 flat increase 
 that the teachers' association asked). Fur- 
 thermore, it is as large an increase as the 
 board is able to provide with the money 
 which it is borrowing for the purpose. 
 
 3. Not the least pleasing feature of the 
 matter is that the increase is to be retroac- 
 tive. In other words, the higher salaries 
 will date from Jan. 5 last, and the teachers 
 will receive checks for the back pay as 
 speedily as the payrolls can be made up. 
 Such of their number as have been obliged 
 to go into debt will be assisted materially by 
 this back-pay arrangement. The morale of 
 public school instruction cannot help being 
 improved by this at least partial measure of 
 justice to the teachers. In the end we shall 
 all of us be gainers. 
 
 4. Pennsylvania is to be congratulated 
 that it has been awakened to the grave 
 social peril of a disorganized public school 
 system. The teacher is the best policeman 
 
162 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 in the world. How menacing a condition 
 may grow out of a denial of an adequate 
 teaching wage is indicated by the fact that, 
 as one review of the situation in the coun- 
 try as a whole points out, the doors of 
 18,000 schools in the United States are 
 shut, and have been for months, with no 
 immediate prospect of their reopening. 
 
 5. In 41,000 other schools the teaching is 
 described as being "diluted." That is, the 
 teachers in those schools are below the pre- 
 viously existing standard of competency. 
 
 6. While it is true that these demoralized 
 schools are largely confined to states whose 
 neglect of public education has become 
 proverbial, it is still unquestionable that 
 there has been marked school deterioration 
 even in such great states as New York, 
 Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota, all because of 
 their refusal to grant teachers a compensa- 
 tion sufficient to deter them from drifting 
 into better paying occupations. 
 
 7. There is a limit to the amount of 
 financial self-sacrifice that the public can 
 exact from its teaching servants. In this 
 city it took a strong manifestation of pop- 
 ular sentiment on the teachers' behalf to 
 coerce the Board of Public Education into 
 remedial action. The practical wisdom of 
 that action is undoubted. 
 
 In every community, the newspaper has its op- 
 porttmity to influence opinion upon school affairs, di- 
 rectly or indirectly through all the variations of 
 editorial method. Here is direct support of the ac- 
 tion of the home board. The editorial dexterously 
 strengthens its position by citing the general sit- 
 uation and shifting attention as much as possible 
 from the question of increased local taxation to 
 the fact that Pittsburg, falling in with the state, 
 has taken steps to escape the deterioration observable 
 elsewhere in the schools. Incidentally, the board is 
 patted on the back for doing what it did not want 
 to do — support of public officers in well-doing, even 
 though the well-doing was forced upon them. 
 
 THE MARYVILLES OF AMERICA 
 
 Editor and Publisher 
 
 1. When the Republic was young, 
 Gloucester, Marblehead, New Bedford and 
 half a dozen other towns of the New Eng- 
 land coast were known in the port cities 
 on all seas. They were known because those 
 were the names that were blazoned on the 
 ships that went forth to trade with the peo- 
 ples of the world. "Of Gloucester" was the 
 first form of community advertising and was 
 successful. In the markets of the world 
 those two words carried a trade message. 
 Ships' cargoes were valued according to the 
 standing of other products that had been 
 offered under the community name. To be 
 known then as a Gloucester man, a Salem 
 man or a New Bedford man, was a pride. It 
 was community pride. No community can 
 be successful without it. 
 
 2. Since the founding of the Republic, 
 civilisation has marched inland from the 
 seas. Commerce and trade are no longer 
 confined to water routes alone in the hunt 
 for the best markets of the world. Under 
 the newer methods the name of town has 
 given away to trade names and company 
 names, but markets are still won and held 
 by the pride the maker shows in his product 
 through advertising. 
 
 3. When the Republic was young the 
 buyers in the market-places of the world 
 flocked to the waterfront when a ship came 
 in; they judged the products to be offered 
 them by past experiences with the offerings 
 that had been brought them by ships that 
 sailed from the same home port. The ap- 
 peal of the advertising of that day was 
 very limited and was not even known by 
 that name. In this day it would not do. 
 The greater buying power of the world has 
 no water-front to flock to. 
 
 4. Instead of the name of a city painted 
 on a ship, the daily newspaper carries mes- 
 sages of pride in product and promises of 
 its worth to every fireside. Markets are no 
 longer confined to water-fronts — the daily 
 newspaper has made them nation-wide. 
 
 5. There is one lesson that the modern 
 seeker of trade has to learn from the man 
 "of Gloucester," however. It is community 
 pride — pride in your own town, your own 
 people and the things that they are making 
 for the markets of the world. 
 
 6. Out in Maryville, Mo., they solved this 
 problem by advertising Nodaway County to 
 its people through their home newspaper. 
 H. E. Miles, advertising manager of the 
 Maryville Tribune, told all about it this 
 week at the convention of the Associated 
 Advertising Clubs of the World. Large dis- 
 play space was used over a period of a year. 
 "Of Maryville" now means something in 
 Missouri. 
 
 7. There are hundreds of Maryvilles in 
 the United States and they are bidding for 
 a place in the markets of the world. To suc- 
 ceed they must first sell to themselves and 
 there is no better place to start than in the 
 advertising columns of their own news- 
 papers. 
 
 Here is a home subject, once removed from 
 "home." This editorial is addressed to all the com- 
 munities in America through their local papers. 
 But how pertinent the subject is in each community, 
 and how readily it would lend itself to repeated 
 presentation in varied aspects, is evident. 
 
 A POLICEMAN'S DAYS OFF 
 
 Springfield Union 
 
 1. While in these days of mounting prices 
 and of high taxes occasioned by the high 
 cost of government — necessarily high, in 
 most instances — ^we hesitate to recommend 
 
THE HOME-SUBJECT EDITORIAL 
 
 163 
 
 any change that may add anything to the 
 public's burdens, we feel, nevertheless, that 
 the City Council would be justified in giving 
 the members of the Police Department one 
 day off in eight. This is now the practice 
 in most Massachusetts cities, and where it 
 does not obtain it is likely to be brought 
 about through the referendum provisions of 
 a bill recently passed by the Legislature. 
 Experience has proved that when such ques- 
 tions are put to popular vote the proposal is 
 carried by a substantial majority. By act- 
 ing favorably in this matter the City Coun- 
 cil will anticipate by only a few months a 
 situation it will almost certainly have to 
 face, and it might as well secure whatever 
 advantage lies in taking voluntary action, 
 thereby tending further to prove that 
 Springfield means to treat its police force 
 squarely and humanely. 
 
 2. At present our policemen are allowed 
 twenty-four days off a year, exclusive of the 
 customary vacation period, and the practice 
 is to grant one day off in every fifteen. 
 While there are many compensating fea- 
 tures of a policeman's employment, such as 
 dignity of position as the upholder of law 
 and order, certainty of tenure pending good 
 conduct, and adequate provision for old 
 age, these are not such uncommon advan- 
 tages that he should necessarily be called 
 upon to sacrifice the day of rest that others 
 enjoy; in fact, there is no particular reason 
 except custom why the biblical law should 
 not apply to him. A day off in every eight 
 closely approximates the scriptural idea of 
 what is necessary for the restoration of 
 mind and body, and we believe public senti- 
 ment will approve this departure from the 
 fifteen-days arrangement. 
 
 3. It is estimated that to put this plan 
 into effect will entail a cost of about $7000 
 for the remainder of the city's fiscal year, 
 and that thereafter the cost will be from 
 $12,000 to $14,000. To increase the police 
 appropriation by this amount would not 
 prove burdensome, and we believe it is due 
 the members of our police force as a matter 
 of justice and evidence of good will. 
 Through loyalty, efficiency, and devotion to 
 duty policemen can best show their appre- 
 ciation of the various efforts that the city 
 is making to improve the circumstances 
 attending their service. 
 
 Public opinion gets itself into the editorial ; for 
 the newspapers not to deal, positively or negatively, 
 with what the country is thinking about, is impossi- 
 ble. This editorial, for instance, was written under 
 the silent and probably unrecognized influence of 
 nation-wide sentiment. First, its position was af- 
 fected by the humanitarian sentiment that for many 
 years past has been so strong among us ; funda- 
 mentally, the editor's point-of-view is favorable to 
 moderate hours of labor and to regular "time off" 
 for the man on the job. Second, events in our 
 
 country in the years just preceding the time of 
 this editorial, had made us recognize anew the vital 
 importance of a loyal constabulary in maintaining 
 order, public and private safety, and the lawful 
 processes of public opinion and government. Every 
 community therefore had been considering the wel- 
 fare and efficiency of its police, from this point of 
 view, as a local policy ; and the trend of public 
 thought in this matter likewise found expression in 
 scores of editorials. 
 
 SAVING THE WASTE LANDS IS GOOD 
 BUSINESS 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 1. A world which has many new billions 
 of debt to pay must find some way of 
 making the earth pay it. We live on the 
 earth and by it. What makes man's labor 
 avail to meet man's necessities is the fact 
 that his work, directly or indirectly, is spent 
 upon the earth as its object or vehicle. If 
 men set out to live entirely upon one an- 
 other, instead of getting their living out of 
 the earth, they would perish as a man would 
 perish who sought to slake his thirst with 
 his spittle. The war debts, the increased 
 cost of living, the higher wages that labor 
 will never be content to relinquish — all this 
 must be got out of the earth somehow. 
 England, France, Germany and other coun- 
 tries are learning that lesson fully. The 
 traditional person who makes two blades of 
 grass grow where one grew before must 
 now live in very fact. More than that, 
 judging by the sudden threefold expansion 
 of the nation's obligations and demands, he 
 must make three blades grow where one 
 grew before. Three grains of wheat must 
 spring where only one sprang. What does 
 this involve? It means that every rood of 
 land, as in the past, must maintain its man. 
 No more waste! No more "unproductive" 
 lands, if the genius of man can make them 
 productive. Right here, and all around us, 
 the earth must be made to yield her utmost 
 in food and other materials. 
 
 2. This fact, patent to all who observe 
 the signs of the times, lends high importance 
 to the article by Mr. Allen Chamberlain in 
 another column of this paper on the gigan- 
 tic project for gradually reclaiming the 
 1,000,000 acres of waste land in the State of 
 Massachusetts, through a system of timber- 
 ing which will cover fifty years of time. 
 What is the reason, the motive, of such a 
 plan as that ? It is the fact, already noted, 
 that the time is at hand when the world 
 can no longer afford to permit a single one 
 of its resources to remain unused. There is 
 no economic reason why the State of Massa- 
 chusetts should go on importing, for ex- 
 ample, 75 per cent of the food its people eat, 
 when it can do much better than that. 
 There is no reason why it should go on 
 importing 80 per cent of the lumber and 
 
164 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 wood that it consumes, when it could not 
 only produce the 100 per cent, but have a 
 good deal to sell. We are already embarked 
 on the first stages of this great enterprise, 
 and 30,000 voters have petitioned the Legis- 
 lature to take the task in hand in earnest. 
 It is not necessary that this generation shall 
 undertake the heavy cost of such a reclama- 
 tion as is described in Mr. Chamberlain's 
 article. It is a good square money-making 
 proposition — in the long run. It is esti- 
 mated by competent authorities that it 
 means a profit of 60 per cent on the invest- 
 m.ent in fifty years. So it is proper that our 
 children, who will reap the benefit, should 
 pay the biggest part of the cost. Yet every 
 citizen should remember that the abstract 
 citizen never dies. He is a continuing en- 
 tity, from one generation to another. The 
 concrete or living citizen, acting on his re- 
 sponsibility as a parent and a patriot, can- 
 not, or at least should not, always figure on 
 an individual return to his own pocket of 
 the taxes he pays to the State. Just as at 
 his own cost he plants an orchard for his 
 children, so he decrees improvements for the 
 rising generation, and bears some proper 
 share of their expense. We are moving the 
 cost of the great State improvement to the 
 shoulders of our children by the bond sys- 
 tem that goes with it, but we have other- 
 wise burdened posterity pretty heavily lately, 
 and there is at least no moral reason why 
 we should put upon it the entire cost of this 
 beneficent scheme. 
 
 This editorial upon the conservation and renewal 
 of ^ state resources is ircluded amnnj^ home-subject 
 editorials because the discussion is not primarily 
 national in its viev,T)oint, and because there still 
 remains a vestige of the individual identity of the 
 states that is preserved by independent, self-injtiated 
 and self-determined action on the part of the state 
 as a distinct geographical and governmental unit 
 within the nation. Somewhat of a stretching of 
 the term may be necessary to call state subjects 
 "local" subjects ; but in distinction from national 
 subjects, the state subject may — and certainly should 
 be — thought of as a home subject ; a nation well 
 governed in its parts will have far fewer problems 
 to worry it as a whole. 
 
 Chapter XI. Exercises 
 
 1. Take a walk or a ride about your 
 neighborhood, town or city, and from your 
 observations make a list of usable sugges- 
 tions for home-subject editorials, for sub- 
 mission for class discussion if called for. 
 
 2. Attentively go through 3 issues of the 
 home paper, examining its items and news 
 for hints for home-subject editorials. As in 
 
 No. 1, prepare a list of ideas so derived. 
 (Regard the college paper as a home paper.) 
 
 3. Examine a number of issues of city 
 papers for examples of editorials dealing 
 with what are home-subjects for the par- 
 ticular paper. 
 
 4. Examine back numbers of your home 
 or college paper for examples of local- 
 subject editorials. Briefly report your find- 
 ings. 
 
 5. Make as full a list of suggestions as 
 you can for editorials upon business subjects 
 in your community. 
 
 6. As in 5, about community-welfare sub- 
 jects. 
 
 7. As in 5, about farm and country 
 subjects. 
 
 8. As in 5, about community-government 
 subjects. 
 
 9. Write one of the editorials suggested 
 in No. 5. 
 
 10. Another as in No. 9. 
 
 11. A third as in No. 9. 
 
 12. Write one of the editorials suggested 
 in No. 6. 
 
 13. Another as in No. 12. 
 
 14. A third as in No. 12. 
 
 15. Write one of the editorials suggested 
 in No. 7. 
 
 16. Another as in No. 15. 
 
 17. Another as in No. 15. 
 
 18. Write one of the editorials suggested 
 in No. 8. 
 
 19. Another as in No. 18. 
 
 20. A third as in No. 18. 
 
 21. Review the home-subject editorials 
 that you have written, testing them for sig- 
 nificance, variety of treatment, appropriate- 
 ness of treatment for home reading, prob- 
 able appeal to home readers, etc. 
 
 22. Rewrite the least satisfactory of the 
 editorials reviewed under No. 21. 
 
 23. Rewrite the next-worst editorial as 
 shown by your review. 
 
 24. Write a controversial editorial upon 
 some matter of importance in your com- 
 munity (or college). 
 
 25. Write a "booster" home-subject edi- 
 torial, endeavoring to escape the boasting 
 tone and over-statement. 
 
 26. Write a casual essay-editorial upon a 
 local subject. 
 
 27. Write an essay-editorial upon a local 
 subject. 
 
 28. Write an editorial of interpretation 
 upon a local subject. 
 
 29. Write a survey-and-review editorial 
 upon a local subject. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE "PARAGRAPH," SQUIB, OR SNIPING-SHOT 
 
 Editorial short -lengths. — Inspec- 
 tion of almost any newspaper edi- 
 torial-page will disclose the presence 
 of at least a few very short para- 
 graphs, complete in themselves, and 
 independent of the other articles and 
 paragraphs typographically. These 
 are known (in the cant of the office) 
 by various terms, such as "para- 
 graph," "squib," and "sniping-shot" 
 or "sniper." In some papers they 
 lead the editorial columns, the longer 
 and more substantial editorials fol- 
 lowing them. In other papers, the 
 longer editorials come first, and the 
 "paragraph-stuff" comes at the tail. 
 In yet others, the "shorts" are dis- 
 tributed through the column, between 
 the longer editorials. None of them 
 have headlines. The headline, by 
 emphasizing them, would give dis- 
 proportionate importance to their 
 content and make the editorial col- 
 umns impress the eye as being unre- 
 lieved by lighter, cursory comment. 
 
 Many of these "paragraphs" con- 
 sist of a single sentence only. One 
 name for them in the composing- 
 room is "three-liner," since they so 
 frequently run to only three lines in 
 type — a handy length when "plugs" 
 are needed to fill holes in the column 
 in making up. But they may contain 
 two, three, or four sentences. Some 
 papers, indeed, use short-lengths of 
 100 or 200 words; and a few print 
 what virtually are full-length edi- 
 torials without the emphasizing head- 
 line. In this chapter, however, we 
 have in mind the paragraph of a few 
 lines or sentences only. 
 
 Newspaper editorial short-lengths 
 are separable into two classes: the 
 
 matter-of-fact short and the light- 
 vein short. 
 
 The matter-of-fact "short."— The 
 matter-of-fact short is directly and 
 literally instructive; it is written to 
 mention some current matter of fact, 
 and to pass brief, yet serious, com- 
 ment thereupon. Ability to pack 
 fact and significant comment into few 
 words, is what it calls for. Only its 
 brevity leads to its mention here, 
 with the following examples : 
 
 If reports are correct, there is plenty of 
 sugar for export, but little or none for sale 
 at the corner grocery. But, of course, if we 
 have to do without sugar so that Europe can 
 be supplied, then we just have to do without 
 it, that's all. 
 
 Prince Ruppretch of Bavaria may be tried 
 for his share in outrages committed in 
 France and Belgium during the war. It 
 would be an odd sight to see anyone hanged 
 from the branches of the thousand-year-old 
 family tree of Wittelsbach, but the greater 
 the culprit the greater the wrong. 
 
 Tablets from ancient Babylon, which be- 
 long to Stanford University, show distinctly 
 the prints of the fingers that moulded them 
 more than four thousand years ago. Few 
 "footprints on the sands of time" have en- 
 dured as long, and even little Johnnie's 
 finger marks on the pantry door can hardly 
 last longer. 
 
 There is an old saying, "Don't look for a 
 leak in the gas pipe with a lighted match; 
 you might find it." Most people regard the 
 saying as a joke, but there is still need 
 enough to take it seriously. Only a few 
 weeks ago exploding gas and the fire that 
 followed killed four people in a Western 
 town. When you notice the odor of gas the 
 only safe light is an electric torch. 
 
 Since the Declaration of Independence 
 was signed, 33,000,000 people have come 
 from foreign lands to this country. More 
 than 6,000,000 of them came from Germany; 
 
166 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 more than 4,000,000 from Ireland; a little 
 less than 4,000,000 from the rest of the 
 United Kingdom; and not quite 2,000,000 
 from the Scandinavian countries. Between 
 1776 and 1890 approximately one alien in 
 every three who came to America was a 
 German; but since 1890 approximately only 
 one in seventeen has been a German. 
 
 It seems to be established that a broker, 
 thinking he was dealing by telephone with 
 a speculator, offered Food Commissioner 
 Williams 10,000,000 pounds of sugar at a 
 high price, but strange as it may appear, as 
 soon as the commissioner revealed his iden- 
 tity the man who made the proposition, and 
 all his banker and broker associates, forgot 
 the name and address of the owner of the 
 hoard. Possibly loss of memory so unusual 
 might be treated successfully at a clinic 
 presided over by the United States Grand 
 Jury. 
 
 The verdict in the trial of the leaders of 
 the recent general strike at Winnipeg is 
 likely to have an important effect on the 
 future of organized labor in Canada. In 
 substance the verdict classifies as sedition 
 all general strikes and sympathetic strikes, 
 direct action, "one big union," seeking to 
 control industry, advocating a change in the 
 form of government, or doing anything to 
 endanger the "comfort" of the public. The 
 leaders of the strike were sentenced to two 
 years in the penitentiary. 
 
 The Senate was considering a deficiency 
 bill. A little item of $32,000 attracted the 
 attention of Senator McKellar, who asked 
 the Senator in charge of the bill what the 
 money was wanted for. Senator Warren re- 
 plied: "It is for the purpose of clearing up 
 the expense accounts and effects of what re- 
 mains of the Creel bureau of so-called in- 
 formation." The sum may, happily, close 
 up the expense accounts of the Creel bureau, 
 but not the "effects and what remains." 
 They, if Senator Watson is correctly in- 
 formed, are drawing sustenance from and 
 enjoying activities after their kind in the 
 Federal Trade Commission. 
 
 The light-vein "short."— The sec- 
 ond class, the light-vein short, is less 
 direct in its instructional method. It 
 takes a lighter view of its subject, 
 and brings humor or wit to bear in 
 dealing with its current topic. This 
 class is the one usually meant when 
 "paragraphing," or "squibbing," is 
 spoken of. These "snipers" are hard 
 
 to do well, and the writer who has the 
 knack of turning them out may es- 
 tablish himself as a valuable member 
 of the writing-staff. 
 
 Adages, maxims, and proverbs as 
 "shorts." — Some periodicals that do 
 not confine themselves strictly to 
 timely matters in their editorial col- 
 umns, print "paragraphs" of a more 
 remote or abstract purpose. The 
 Youth's Companion, for example, reg- 
 ularly prints didactic, gnomic, or 
 "wisdom" squibs, sometimes in rime. 
 Such are those here quoted : 
 
 Poverty like a grindstone sharpens wits, 
 but energy must turn the handle. 
 In Easy Learning Germs of Failure lurk; 
 He gains the Key to All who Learns to Work. 
 
 Time, the inexorable critic, leaves nothing 
 except the intrinsically great and the essen- 
 tially good. 
 
 A land sale always attracts a lot of peo- 
 ple who cannot pay their rent. 
 
 Down the Stream he poled the Raft; 
 
 All the little Fishes laughed. 
 
 Silence is golden. At least the man who 
 says nothing cannot be misquoted. 
 
 Newspapers sometimes carry such 
 epigrams and maxims in their "fea- 
 ture" or "interest" departments, as 
 matter for Hterary or general-interest 
 reading. But in newspapers, these 
 are "feature-stuff", distinct from edi- 
 torial writing. 
 
 Timeliness essential to the squib. 
 — In the newspaper editorial-column, 
 however, the squib and sniper inva- 
 riably are timely. Their interest lies 
 in the very fact that they spring 
 from something in which the public 
 is interested at just the moment of 
 their appearance. What that matter 
 is may not even need to be mentioned, 
 but merely implied. Their "point" 
 may be perfectly evident without be- 
 ing indicated ; as when, on the morn- 
 ing after an election, a paper greets 
 its successful candidate with an all- 
 sufficient one-liner: 
 
 Good morning. Mayor Peters. 
 The squib in specialized form. — If, 
 or when, there is nothing more to the 
 
THE "PARAGRAPH" OR SQUIB 
 
 167 
 
 squib than humor merely, no particu- 
 lar form or method can be suggested 
 for it. It must manifestly concern 
 something timely, and it must pro- 
 duce a smile; beyond this, little can 
 be prescribed. But when it is written 
 to "make a point** by way of com- 
 ment, it can and usually does base 
 itself upon the epigram, or upon some 
 modification of this or of related 
 forms of sententious expression, as 
 perhaps the apothegm, the proverb, 
 the pun, and the wittily-turned jest. 
 
 In practice, however, it is the effect 
 of the squib, and not its classification, 
 that is important. Hence we shall 
 not attempt further to discriminate 
 the types of squib from one another, 
 but shall deal rather with the effec- 
 tive means of presenting it — espe- 
 cially since all the types combine and 
 merge with the greatest freedom. 
 
 1. Sometimes the point of the 
 "paragraph," "squib," or "sniper" 
 lies in a pun or a twisted meaning: 
 
 These are the days when the coal-buying 
 citizen wishes that his dealer would mark it 
 down on the slate. 
 
 The striking actors have quit work by re- 
 fusing to play. 
 
 The Austrian complaint is, that the small 
 territory left her will not support Vienna 
 in the style in which she was raised. 
 
 Congress is opposed to both daylight and 
 moonshine. 
 
 Despatches speak of cold-storage eggs be- 
 ing libeled — as if that were possible. 
 
 An Illinois farmer sold the hide of a calf 
 for $6, then went to town and bought a pair 
 of shoes for $8. Now he knows what a 
 skin game is. 
 
 Football ought to go great this fall. It 
 has the kick. 
 
 The Japanese artistic temperament seems 
 to be manifesting itself in the collection of 
 rare pieces of China. 
 
 Pat-riotism is again raging in Ireland. 
 
 Europe faces a coal-famine, but the na- 
 tives show a charming disposition to make 
 it hot for one another. 
 
 The Bolsheviki use Karl Marx for theory, 
 German marks for practice and easy marks 
 for victims. 
 
 In France the war-tanks are being used 
 to tow canal-barges. Apparently all the 
 tanks are being driven to water-ways. 
 
 The Canadian snap-shot fiends are pester- 
 ing the heir to the British throne. They're 
 all eager to get the prints of Wales. 
 
 The Reds have cinched the pennant, and 
 Chicago has given birth to a Red party. 
 Evidently Samuel Gompers' remark that the 
 Reds are about to vanish referred to noses. 
 
 2. Frequently the effect is cre- 
 ated by means of surprise, the squib 
 making an unexpected comparison or 
 application, or revealing an un- 
 thought-of similarity or relation. 
 
 D'Annunzio has forsaken the lyric for the 
 jazz. 
 
 Austria protests that she has a right to 
 dispose of herself. She has already done it. 
 
 Identification of the Bolsheviki in Phila- 
 delphia will be impossible now. The bar- 
 bers are on strike. 
 
 God made the world in seven days. But 
 he didn't have a Senate to deal with. 
 
 Lansing is reported to have said that the 
 American people would reject the Treaty if 
 they understood it. Then they will never 
 reject it. 
 
 Prohibition is bringing a lot of sunshine 
 into many homes. Also moonshine. 
 
 English judges object to trying the kaiser 
 "by a law they do not know." Will some 
 one be good enough to lend them a copy of 
 the Ten Commandments? 
 
 3. The sniper of incongruity or 
 burlesque exaggeration closely re- 
 sembles that of surprise. 
 
 Herbert Hoover has proved that the bis- 
 cuit is mightier than the cannon-ball. 
 
 In Russia, rubles are selling by dry 
 measure. 
 
 Mr. Wilson's objections to a trial of the 
 kaiser are not economically sound. Just 
 think how much of the war-bill we could pay 
 from the box-office and moving-picture re- 
 ceipts. 
 
 Some of the beautiful soft drinks now 
 current show that the dye industry must 
 have departed from Germany for good. 
 
 With tickets at $7, at last grand opera has 
 been brought within the reach of the work- 
 ing-classes. 
 
 4. Contrast and antithesis may 
 give the thought a speed and force 
 comparable to that of the sharp- 
 shooter's bullet. 
 
 D'Annunzio has the heart of a patriot. It 
 is unfortunate that nature denied him a head 
 to co-operate with it. 
 
 Our guess is, that Europe's heart won't 
 break as long as its stomach is full. [Allu- 
 
168 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 sion to the assertion that rejection of the 
 league of nations by America would break 
 the heart of Europe, and to America's aid 
 in provisioning Europe.] 
 
 Must we wrong the rights of the United 
 States to right the wrongs of Europe? 
 
 In an Oklahoma town, a thousand men 
 signed an agreement to wear their old 
 clothes three months longer on account of 
 the high cost of living. A thousand men 
 in Lynn are doing the same thing without 
 signing. 
 
 Are the window-cleaners wise in striking 
 for a weekly wage of thirty-six dollars ? If 
 they are not careful, college presidents will 
 be trying to take their jobs away. 
 
 These expeditions into Mexico are meant 
 to be punitive, not puny. 
 
 You have to hand it to the kaiser for one 
 thing; he hasn't suggested a plan for the 
 control of our railroads. 
 
 If the profiteers don't get -our goat, we 
 might eat that. 
 
 As an insinuating method of recording 
 that she's been at war, we infer, China has 
 declared peace on Germany. 
 
 5. Another useful method with 
 the squib is that of the subtle impli- 
 cation, or sly dig. 
 
 Has every one struck who wished? 
 
 In these troubled times, there is consola- 
 tion in the fact that Mr. Wilson understands 
 every phrase of the situation. 
 
 "You and I must be able to shake hands 
 with the capitalist or the day laborer," says 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt. All right. 
 Colonel; as long as you don't include the 
 landlord. 
 
 Dr. Karl Muck will land in Denmark, thus 
 confirming what Hamlet said about that 
 kingdom. 
 
 We are with the ministers if they strike 
 for better-paid sermons, unless they ask 
 time-and-a-half for overtime. 
 
 It's all very well to tell a fellow to order 
 his coal now, but the cellars of the Republic 
 are taxed to their uttermost already. [Al- 
 lusion to private stocks of liquor.] 
 
 6. Yet another means by which 
 the paragraph attains its purpose in 
 the apt analogy. 
 
 The railroad men seem to have overlooked 
 the fact that it isn't the strikes, but the 
 runs, that win the game. 
 
 What "Society owes" you is the interest 
 on the capital you invest in it. 
 
 China is so thick-headed that she cannot 
 understand why the policeman who recov- 
 ered the stolen goods is to get it all. 
 
 Boiled down, it may be said that the Presi- 
 dent wants the United States to marry the 
 
 whole world, and Senator Lodge insists that 
 we merely be a sister to it. 
 
 7. Examples of paragraphs that 
 are aphoristic, satirical or ironical, 
 and epigrammatic, will be found in 
 the preceding lists, but to identify 
 these sorts clearly, a few additional 
 illustrations are given here. 
 
 A strike a day keeps fair prices away. 
 (Aphoristic.) 
 
 The police never strike twice in the same 
 place. (Aphoristic.) 
 
 After carefully watching the effect of re- 
 form legislation, we have about concluded 
 that the world will not become so good in 
 our day that it will cease to be interesting. 
 (Satirical.) 
 
 The job of conquering Russia might be 
 turned over to Roumania. (Ironical satire.) 
 
 One way, of course, to reduce the high 
 cost of living is for everybody to quit v/ork 
 and stand round and talk about it. (Ironical 
 satire.) 
 
 Life is very simple for the average man. 
 All he has to do is to earn enough money to 
 support his family, pay the wage-demands 
 of organized labor, and profits to the em- 
 ploying corporations. (Ironical satire.) 
 
 It is evident that people will never be 
 satisfied in this country until everybody has 
 more than everybody else. (Epigrammatic.) 
 
 There is now neither peace nor war, says 
 the President. But we have war-time pro- 
 hibition. (Epigrammatic.) 
 
 The best time to settle a strike is before it 
 strikes. (Epigrammatic.) 
 
 The reason Europe respects American 
 ideals is, that they include square meals 
 with square deals. (Epigrammatic.) 
 
 Chapter XII. Exercises 
 
 Write paragraphs, squibs, and sniper- 
 shots, in sets of 10 each, as follows: 
 
 1. Based on adages, maxims, and 
 proverbs. 
 
 2. Depending upon a pun or a twisted 
 meaning. 
 
 3. Another set as in No. 2. 
 
 4. Depending upon surprise. 
 
 5. Another set as in No. 4. 
 
 6. Depending upon incongruity or bur- 
 lesque exaggeration. 
 
 7. Another set as in No. 6. 
 
 8. Depending upon contrast or antithesis. 
 
 9. Another set as in No. 8. 
 
 10. Depending upon subtle implication or 
 sly dig. 
 
 11. Another set as in No. 10. 
 
 12. Depending upon apt analogy. 
 
 13. Another set as in No. 12. 
 
THE "PARAGRAPH" OR SQUIB 169 
 
 14. Epigrammatic in form. 19. A survey or review editorial. 
 
 15. Another set as in No. 14. 20. An editorial of interpretation. 
 
 16. In the form of the rimed couplet. 21. A controversial editorial. 
 
 17. In the form of the rimed quatrain 22. A home-subject editorial. 
 
 (not fewer than 7). 23. Put in two or three stanzas of good 
 
 Write editorials in the form of rimed verse the expression of a serious editorial 
 
 prose (in the manner of Walt Mason) as opinion, 
 
 follows: 24. As in 23, using the form of free 
 
 18. A news editorial. verse. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE WRITER OF EDITORIALS 
 
 Editorial type of mind. — Though its in- 
 dividual variations are endless, the editorial 
 mind nevertheless has distinctive funda- 
 mental characteristics. What these are we 
 shall soon consider. 
 
 Stern demands of editorial-writing. — The 
 work of the editorial-writer demands a stern 
 and enduring attitude of spirit and of will. 
 This can result only from a deep conviction 
 of the reality and earnestness of life, a 
 catholic appreciation of its manifold as- 
 pects, a thoroughly reasoned philosophy of 
 its principles, and an intimate knowledge of 
 its interests as manifested in its actual daily 
 concerns. 
 
 The sub-foundation on which the success 
 and usefulness of the editorial-writer are 
 reared is the same as that in any other call- 
 ing: a sense of duty and responsibility. But 
 the actual building requires abiding pur- 
 pose, long and resolute preparation, and 
 continuing hard labor. For achievement in 
 an editorial career, a mere desire to air one's 
 personal views, or a vague longing to "do 
 the v/orld good," is worth about as much as 
 a one-lung engine would be for propelling a 
 five-ton truck up Mt. Whitney. Spiritually 
 and intellectually, the character of the edi- 
 torial-writer must be of the firmest, best, 
 and most substantial stuff; his effort must 
 be the product of high-power ability; and 
 since to the full development of ability 
 good-health is indispensable, he ought 
 withal be the possessor of physical health 
 and vigor. 
 
 Philosophical mind. — The editorial mind is 
 philosophical. Whether he does his reflect- 
 ing while on the golf-links, in the office, or 
 in the study, the editor will be given to 
 reflection — to thinking things out, putting 
 them in logical order, pondering them in 
 their many aspects and relations, and com- 
 ing to conclusions about them. 
 
 Scientific attitude.— The philosophical 
 bent implies the scientific attitude; for to 
 reach sound conclusions, one must first seek, 
 and often verify, the basic facts. For the 
 editorial-writer, these basic facts may lie 
 anywhere — in universal human nature — in 
 the history of a people, a state, or an idea 
 — in an industrial process— in a table of 
 bare statistics. Yet, like the scientist, he 
 must be sure of them. Interpretation calls 
 for understanding; understanding calls for 
 
 facts; and only the scientific attitude of mine 
 in seeking and examining data can provide 
 the necessary fact-foundations. 
 
 Interpretive instinct. — In addition to the 
 philosophical bent and the scientific atti- 
 tude toward data, the editorial-writer has 
 the interpretive instinct. Like the "born" 
 teacher, he is impelled to make others un- 
 derstand; not for the sake of venting his 
 personal opinions, but for the sake of the 
 thought itself. 1 
 
 The true interpretive impulse — the in- 
 stinct to communicate and promote under- 
 standing — is diametrically the opposite of 
 the vain and empty impulse to fire off opin- 
 ion, and but distantly related to the vaguely 
 sentimental wish to "do good." To his 
 scientific instinct for facts and his philo- 
 sophical instinct to reason out and under- 
 stand, the editorial-writer adds the instinct 
 to popularize knowledge and promote com- 
 prehension — the instinct, that is, of the in- 
 terpreter, the teacher. 
 
 Leanings of the litterateur. — To these 
 three characteristics of the editorial mind 
 should be added a fourth: the qualifications 
 of the litterateur. The editori%l-writer may 
 not of necessity be a scholar; but he must 
 be a man of reading tastes and of extensive 
 reading, and not infrequently he is indis- 
 putably a scholar of sorts in some special 
 subject. He is not of necessity a man of 
 literature; yet he is fortunate if he have 
 imaginative power, and he can scarcely do 
 v/ithout three of the fundamental literary 
 gifts — the sense of structure, the sense of 
 fitness in tone and style, and the knack of 
 words. Without these qualifications of the 
 litterateur, the editorial-writer may, not- 
 withstanding his thinking mind, his respect 
 for data, and his instinct for interpreta- 
 tion, grind but a dry and husky flour from 
 even the best of grain. Indeed, it is a 
 question whether this fourth is not the only 
 qualification that he needs, since in the lit- 
 terateur are inherent the philosophical mind, 
 the scientific attitude toward fact, and the 
 impulse to make clear. The journalist is 
 merely a litterateur directing his abilities to 
 a special end. 
 
 The flux of practicality. — But as metals 
 require a flux to make them fuse, so these 
 qualifications of the editorial-writer require 
 the admixture of an additional constituent 
 
THE WRITER OF EDITORIALS 
 
 171 
 
 to produce proper fusion. This ingredient 
 is practicality. The editorial-writer needs 
 to be a man of the world, to walk with 
 his feet on the earth, to know and appreciate 
 the realities of this imperfect world. Para- 
 celsus, where'er he gazed, beheld a star. So 
 should the editorial-writer. But in fixing his 
 gaze on the stars, he had better not fix it so 
 raptly that he cannot look down to see 
 whither he is going and what obstructions 
 lie in his path. His idealism must be work- 
 able. It must meet the utilitarian test of 
 attainable results. 
 
 In a word, he needs to know men and 
 things, not remotely and theoretically, but 
 practically — as they are, and cannot help 
 but be, in life as we have to live it every 
 day. He needs a temperament practical 
 enough so that he could boss a street-gang, 
 manage a factory, or organize a corporation 
 — so practical, indeed, that from his edi- 
 torial chair he can talk sound sense with the 
 gang-boss, the manufacturer, and the finan- 
 cier, on their own business. The problems 
 of the world are too important and too in- 
 |tricate to be treated by men who know 
 them but remotely and abstractly. It is the 
 gift of knowing things not only well, but 
 practically, that equips the editorial-writer 
 to employ his other qualifications usefully. 
 
 Educational needs of the editorial-writer — 
 "The man at the information-desk needs to 
 know everything and then some, but he 
 hasn't anything on the editor in that." The 
 remark is descriptive if not constructive. 
 The editorial-writer cannot know everything, 
 but he needs to come as near it as is 
 humanly possible. Perhaps no one has more 
 need for extensive learning. 
 
 How shall the young man or woman who 
 aspires to the editorial typewriter go about 
 to get the education that is best for his pur- 
 pose, or hers ? No answer to the question is 
 possible that will not be open to dispute, or 
 that will apply to every case. But sound 
 guiding suggestions can be given; for we 
 can see what kind of abilities the editorial- 
 writer needs most to exercise, and what 
 kind of problems and subjects he will deal 
 with in employing them. 
 
 The two chief educating influences. — The 
 editorial-writer will get the most effective 
 "education" for his work from two distinct 
 sources. The first is systematic study and 
 contributory reading — formal education. 
 The second is actual contact with the 
 world — experience in the university of prac- 
 tical life. The more one gets of each kind 
 of education, the better. 
 
 The cultural aim. — Indisputably the edito- 
 rial-writer needs culture of mind; and this 
 should be what he especially aims at in his 
 
 13 
 
 formative years. The end of cultural study 
 is character-building and spiritual equip- 
 ment. This involves two things: (1) disci- 
 pline of the mind and development of the 
 intellectual powers; (2) inculcation of ideals 
 and creation of sound spiritual standards. 
 
 Disciplinary studies. — Certain subjects are 
 especially effective in developing the intel- 
 lectual powers and, along with them, certain 
 fundamental moral qualities. These sub- 
 jects are: ^u}\^S^\\^! 
 
 The languages, particularly the ancient 
 languages. 
 
 Logic (a subject now often discarded as 
 a formal discipline in the colleges). 
 
 Mathematics (up to a certain point). 
 
 Basic science (best represented by chem- 
 istry and physics if mathematics be re- 
 garded separately). 
 
 Psychology. 
 
 Rightly taught and rightly studied, these 
 subjects, especially the first three, are the 
 best means that the world has yet dis- 
 covered for developing intellectual power. 
 All the attacks upon them are traceable to 
 two head reasons: they call for more appli- 
 cation and hard brain-work than some stu- 
 dents are willing or qualified to give, and 
 they call for more time than some students 
 can spare who must or desire to enter a 
 gainful occupation early in life. But for 
 those who can make the time and who have 
 the character and ability necessary to take 
 them, they are the best means of intellectual 
 discipline that we have. 
 
 Subjects that develop ideals.— The dis- 
 ciplinary studies have in addition no small 
 influence in equipping the student with spir- 
 itual ideals and standards, and in developing 
 certain of the moral qualities that enter into 
 character and into successful living. This 
 culture is much extended by the "liberal" 
 study of two other subjects; namely, litera- 
 ture and philosophy. 
 
 In literature one gets concrete presenta- 
 tions of ideals — the spiritual motives, good 
 and bad, that influence human conduct. In 
 literature, likewise, he makes acquaintance 
 with the spirit, the principles, and the mani- 
 festations of art, thus acquiring and develop- 
 ing the standards of a high and true taste. 
 Philosophy gives him ideals in the abstract 
 instead of the concrete; for it systemizes 
 and interprets the conceptions of life and 
 science through which mankind has grad- 
 ually advanced to its present status, and 
 which it must take into account in its efforts 
 for further development. 
 
 Pursuit of general education. — Besides 
 the studies pursued for directly cultural re- 
 sults, there is a group desirable as a part 
 of "general education." Though contribut- 
 
172 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 ing to culture, these subjects are to be 
 pursued rather for their effect in extending 
 one's information and one's appreciative un- 
 derstanding of things. They are frequently 
 described as "broadening." To produce the 
 best results, the cultural subjects must 
 usually be studied in youth and early ma- 
 turity; but the subjects of general education 
 can be beneficially continiued or beneficially 
 taken up at almost any age. 
 
 Indeed, that enviable class of persons who 
 have earned the designation of being "well 
 read" — of having a thorough, extensive, and 
 varied general education drawn from books 
 — represents the stayers, not the stoppers, 
 in study. They have acquired and never 
 given up the book habit; and many a man 
 among them whose youth afforded him no 
 education beyond that of the grammar or 
 the high school, has by this persistence made 
 himself a person of much better general 
 education than the college graduate who let 
 his studies drop on leaving college. 
 
 For what is the use of winding up the 
 clock, then stopping it ? And if it winds the 
 clock, what difference about the key we use ? 
 A hundred years ago, Lincoln had to de- 
 pend upon chance borrowings for the 
 books through which he gave himself 
 his intellectual and spiritual culture, 
 and from which he drew the larger 
 part of his general education. Fifty years 
 ago, though books were slowly becoming ac- 
 cessible to those who could afford to buy, 
 there was still no ready means by which 
 either youth or maturity could obtain direc- 
 tion to their contents or guidance in their 
 use except by attending schools. But today 
 libraries, great and small, traveling 
 libraries, extension courses, and correspond- 
 ence courses, bring the means not only of 
 general education but of fundamental cul- 
 ture within reach of nearly everyone. Given 
 a thirst for learning such as Lincoln had, 
 or such as the parents even of the present 
 generation often had, there is small reason 
 why the earnest youth of today should not 
 achieve both culture and general informa- 
 tion. It is a matter of three things: desire, 
 determination, and persistence. 
 
 No insurmountable obstacle, therefore, 
 confronts the young man or woman who 
 would educate himself or herself thoroughly 
 for editorial-writing, unless it exist in the 
 student's limitations of character or in- 
 tellect. 
 
 Studies for general education. — The sub- 
 jects most contributory to general education 
 — to the acquirement and appreciative un- 
 derstanding of a varied body of general in- 
 formation — can be assigned loosely to two 
 large classes. Call the first class historical. 
 
 the second, scientific. These designations b 
 no means imply that the subjects are a! 
 ways to be studied either as history or a 
 science. As one studies the subjects her 
 grouped as history, he begins to accumulat 
 material for a historical comprehension c 
 man, of life, and of society. He learns wha 
 man and men have beei;, have thought, an 
 have done, in the past; and because he know 
 what their history has been, he is bette 
 able to understand them as they are. Hi 
 knowledge of what-has-been gives him 
 background for what-is; and this baicls 
 ground is the history of the world in man 
 aspects — the background of historical ur 
 derstanding. And as he studies the scier 
 tific group, he accumulates a store of scier 
 tific fact, and achieves a comprehension c 
 scientific aims and principles and of thei 
 application in contemporary science. Agai 
 he has provided himself a background — th 
 background of scientific understanding. I 
 this sense, the two groups are legitimatel 
 called the historical and the scientific. 
 
 The historical group. — First in the hij 
 torical group comes history, commonly s 
 called — the narrative and descriptive outlin 
 of the world's past as represented by gres 
 events and the periods that they determine 
 But an infinite number of influences ha\ 
 determined these events — economic and ir 
 dustrial conditions, political aspiration; 
 personal qualities and ambitions, religiou 
 conceptions, racial ideals and characterij 
 tics, social standards, art, morals, the ac 
 vance of science. Accordingly, one is le 
 at once into study of "history" in man 
 aspects. It includes whatever up to on 
 own day has had a bearing upon economic 
 and industry; laws and political institutions 
 social customs; science; literature, ar 
 music; ideas; individual peoples, states, an 
 nations; their social, political, and commei 
 cial relations with one another; the persor 
 who played a part in their affairs; and so oi 
 
 All these divisions have varied, not 1 
 say innumerable, sub-divisions, intertwinin 
 branches, and mutual relations. To mast€ 
 this body of historical information entii 
 would be impossible; but fortunately in eac 
 department of it there are works of ou 
 standing thoroughness that help to redu< 
 it to system and to supply a foundation; 
 scheme upon which one can build accordin 
 to his choice and need. 
 
 In college study or study outside of co 
 lege in preparation for journalism, or 
 should aim at procuring a thorough, sin 
 plified foundation in the historical grou] 
 even a year or two of well-directed industi 
 will begin to provide a serviceable basis- j 
 the more so because at so many places thej j 
 subjects touch or coincide. i 
 
k 
 
 THE WRITER OF EDITORIALS 
 
 173 
 
 le scientific group. — In the scientific 
 group, one finds again a multiplicity of sub- 
 divisions; but in degree as a basic science 
 runs into strictly technical specializations, 
 knowledge of it in these specializations be- 
 comes less indispensable as a part of gen- 
 eral education. Of the leading and charac- 
 teristic developments of chemistry and 
 physics, one should keep informed; and if 
 his foundation in these subjects has been 
 adequate, he can follow the course of im- 
 portant new applications intelligently and ap- 
 preciate the significance of new hypotheses. 
 
 But he ought to be well grounded also in 
 two divisions of another leading science — 
 biology. No man is well informed who does 
 not know the fundamentals of biologic 
 science in zoology and in botany, and who 
 has not kept abreast of the principal con- 
 temporary developments of these subjects. 
 
 Geology we need not violently insist upon; 
 but geography should receive much more 
 attention than most of us give it. Accurate 
 knowledge of the earth's topographical and 
 political divisions and subdivisions, of cli- 
 mates, populations, religions, customs, in- 
 stitutions, resources, products, and trans- 
 portational facilities, certainly is important 
 to the editorial-writer and clearly desirable 
 as part of a general education. 
 
 Subjects directly preparatory to journal- 
 ism. — Half way between those subjects that 
 pertain primarily to general education and 
 those which belong to professional training, 
 lies another group — one consisting of sub- 
 jects in which much of the study is directed 
 upon the principles for their practical, or 
 utilitarian, applications, rather than for 
 their historical and philosophical aspects. 
 Here we have the subjects recognizedly use- 
 ful as a preparation for law, banking, manu- 
 facturing, transportation, and for the vari- 
 ous departments of business. Among them 
 are all those familiarly known under the 
 names of economics, finance, transportation, 
 sociology or the social "sciences," and gov- 
 ernment. Here too would come the spe- 
 cialized study of the world's commerce, in- 
 dustry, and transportation; that is, of 
 commercial and industrial geography. In 
 taking up these subjects, as in taking up 
 those appertaining to general education, the 
 student's aim at first should be, to seek 
 courses that provide the fundamental prin- 
 ciples, leaving for further study at a later 
 time their more detailed and special appli- 
 cations. 
 
 Specialized professional training. — Slowly 
 but surely the sense of the dignity of jour- 
 nalism as a profession led to the establish- 
 ment of schools of journalism; and the 
 growing realization that every branch of 
 
 knowledge should be accessible to all the 
 members of the democracy is now leading to 
 the establishment of extension and corre- 
 spondence study of the subject. 
 
 The programs of study vary in plan and 
 organization, but not in ultimate principle 
 and aim. As a foundation, they call for as 
 large an amount of cultural and general 
 education as is possible. This assumed, the 
 professional courses aim: 
 
 1. To produce an understanding of the 
 significance and nature of news, and to 
 practice the student in effective methods of 
 telling it. This ranges from simple report- 
 ing and newswriting up to the preparation 
 of feature and special articles. Apprecia- 
 tion of news-values is indispensable to every 
 journalistic writer. 
 
 2. To train in the preparation of copy 
 for the printer (revising, rewriting, correct- 
 ing proof, and writing headlines). This im- 
 plies elementary acquaintance (or more) 
 with the mechanical processes of printing. 
 
 3. To train the student in editorial dis- 
 cussion and interpretation, and to acquaint 
 him with sources of information. 
 
 4. To provide perspective by means of 
 the history of journalism. 
 
 5. To provide instruction in the ideals 
 and ethics of the profession (theory of the 
 function and practice of journalism). 
 
 6. To provide instruction in the theory 
 of publishing and management. 
 
 In addition, specialized courses in supple- 
 mentary subjects are frequently given. 
 
 Intensive training in writing. — That the 
 journalist should be an expert writer, is ob- 
 vious. Theoretically, every one knows the 
 importance of skill in writing; but many try 
 to write who are still rankly inexpert in, or 
 even ignorant of, the compositional prin- 
 ciples. This lack of preparatory training 
 shows itself in numerous ways, of which 
 one of the worst is careless or ignorant mis- 
 use of terms. 
 
 But probably this inexpertness is nowhere 
 so manifest as in the management of the 
 sentence. "The sentence is the smallest 
 complete unit of thought"; yet persons who 
 have not yet learned how to think an indi- 
 vidual thought clearly and express it pre- 
 cisely and effectively, wonder why their 
 earnest written efforts to solve the problems 
 of the world, are rejected. Every would-be 
 writer who means business should wreak 
 himself upon the sentence for the sentence's 
 sake. 
 
 No thought but can be expressed in vari- 
 ous forms to different effects by means of 
 differing constructions. The writer who is 
 not master of these constructions and these 
 forms, who cannot discover with exactness 
 
174 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 what the thought is that he needs in that 
 one sentence to express, and then create a 
 sentence that fits the purpose of the thought, 
 may be a writer in posse, but certainly is not 
 a writer in esse. He may be capable of 
 developing into a writer, but he certainly 
 has not attained to writership. The appren- 
 tice in writing can do no better than to 
 devote a half-hour daily for a year to 
 practice concentrated upon constructing and 
 then reconstructing over and over, single 
 sentences. Seldom will he get this discipline 
 in the schools; but he can give it to himself 
 with results that may be even better, since 
 they will come from his own effort, and 
 represent the growth and fruitage of his 
 own understanding, not the mere assimila- 
 tion of another's instruction. 
 
 Precise knowledge of words, and ability 
 to put them together in the accurate expres- 
 sion of the thought to its intended purpose 
 — these come first. Then follows skill in the 
 constructing of the paragraph — varied, as 
 the sentence is, according to its content and 
 its purpose. Finally comes the constructing 
 of longer writings, each planned and built 
 according to its individual purpose — in the 
 main a matter of skilfully applying, adapt- 
 ing, and extending the principles of the 
 paragraph to larger or more complex 
 themes. 
 
 As for style, manner, tone, these depend 
 upon the person. He who can see, think, or 
 feel one particular thing at a time, ac- 
 curately and truly, and express that one 
 thing appropriately and effectively in a 
 single sentence, has the ability to write, be- 
 cause with experience he can see, think, 
 feel, and express many things in combina- 
 tion. 
 
 For after all, writing depends upon ob- 
 servation, understanding, and imagination — 
 upon personality — upon native gift. Men 
 can be trained to write, but the best writers 
 are the writers who are born as well as 
 made. 
 
 Direct experience. — One sometimes hears 
 that the only journalistic training worth 
 having is that which comes from actual ex- 
 perience "on the job." Omit "only" and the 
 assertion becomes indisputable. Every hour 
 of the newspaper day something turns up 
 that can be handled the better for practical 
 experience. But so is it in the ministry, 
 the law, medicine, engineering, the chemical 
 industries. Nevertheless, a congregation 
 does not prefer its minister because he has 
 managed to get ordained without attending 
 the theological school; nor a patient regard 
 his physician any the more favorably for 
 having picked up his medicine without at- 
 tending the medical college; nor a house- 
 
 holder ask a carpenter to plan his house in 
 preference to an architect. Quite the con- 
 trary. 
 
 We know that men have reached high 
 standing in journalism by the scramble-up 
 route. But we know too that, notwithstand- 
 ing their chances to climb by the same hap- 
 hazard route, journalism has its full propor- 
 tion of half-way and inferior men. Some 
 men who have studied journalism theoreti- 
 cally have been notably successful in its 
 practice; others have failed badly. But here 
 again the success or the failure may have 
 been the result chiefly of personal ability or 
 the lack of it. At least, the probabilities 
 and the evidence are strongly in favor of 
 professional study. 
 
 But professional study does not relieve the 
 student of the need of practical experience. 
 At the very beginning he will make an 
 egregious mistake in assuming that it does. 
 His introduction to journalistic theory and 
 his preliminary training may, and appar- 
 ently do, give him a decided advantage in 
 the long run, but mainly in the long run. 
 Before he can begin to regard himself as 
 a competent journalist, he too must go 
 through the apprenticeship of thorough 
 "shop" experience. His preliminary study 
 ought to enable him to complete that ap- 
 prenticeship in shorter time, but complete it 
 he must if he is to have an all-round train- 
 ing; and the fuller the experience, the more 
 probable his advance. 
 
 In any branch of journalism, one will be 
 the better for six months' daily association, 
 eight hours a day, with type and its possi- 
 bilities and limitations, got in the compos- 
 ing-room. Nor will he be the worse for 
 knowing how to make a "mat" and cast a 
 stereotype plate, or for being on speaking 
 terms with the presses in the basement; 
 and if he is so fortunate as to begin on a 
 small paper, he certainly should know how 
 to make love to and quarrel with the cylin- 
 der-press. He should know what can and 
 what cannot be done by the art-room by 
 way of illustration and engraving. And 
 sooner or later, he should familiarize him- 
 self with the problems of circulation and of 
 advertising. 
 
 In reporting, eighteen months or two 
 years may be little enough time to make the 
 inexperienced man a dependable and com- 
 petent fact-getter. If he is not merely a 
 "leg-man," but is permitted to write out as 
 well as to get his stories, the same period 
 should make him a fairly competent news- 
 writer. But one's experience would be still 
 better rounded out if he had also done re- 
 write, sat at the copy-desk, and handled 
 telegraph. 
 
THE WRITER OF EDITORIALS 
 
 175 
 
 Evidently, to know journalism in theory 
 is not enough; applying the theory in prac- 
 tice is all that can complete the journalistic 
 training or confirm the student's fitness for 
 the work. The fact that men who know 
 nothing of type and printing begin as re- 
 porters, and succeed, is immaterial; we are 
 speaking of what is desirable, not of what 
 may be accepted. Every composing-room 
 knows that the reporter and the editor who 
 understand "the mechanical end" of the bus- 
 iness, save their paper time and money, are 
 moreover likely to prepare their copy more 
 effectively, and therefore are better all- 
 round workmen and more desirable em- 
 ployees. 
 
 The "school of hard knocks."— We said 
 that one of the chief parts of the editorial- 
 writer's education is the part that he gets 
 from actual and intimate contact with the 
 world — from "the school of hard knocks." 
 Let us emphasize the assertion. Only from 
 intimate familiarity with men and things as 
 they are will come that practicality of atti- 
 tude and ideal which saves his thinking from 
 being remote and ineffectual. At intervals 
 he must betake himself to the desert or 
 the mountain-top for communion with him- 
 self; but he must also, like Odysseus, have 
 known "cities of men" — ^the crowded places 
 of endeavor, rivalry, and strife. He must 
 himself have shared in these, have dealt with 
 men and been dealt with by them, have 
 mingled, fought, triumphed, and been de- 
 feated. He must know what's what as men 
 play the game. If experience like this has 
 not come his way, he should go out to seek 
 it. The more various the places and people 
 he has seen, the things he has done, the 
 jobs he has held, the ups-and-downs he has 
 gone through, the better — the better, that is, 
 so long as they have been a means of 
 growth. If they have robbed him of his 
 ideals and his faith, he had better quit the 
 editorial-room and turn profiteer or ward 
 boss. 
 
 Getting a job. — Were there any sure way 
 of getting a job, qualified men would not 
 be out of work when there is work to do. 
 The most likely way of getting oneself into 
 an editorial-writing position is, to work into 
 it from some other position on the paper. 
 Here the newsroom affords the best though 
 not the only opportunity. The news staff 
 have an advantage in being acquainted 
 with news-values, and often in having a 
 chance to know the news of the day soon 
 after it reaches the office; so that they can 
 write about it while it is "hot." In addition, 
 getting the attention of the editorial-room 
 to their contributions may prove easier for 
 them than for the outside volunteer, espe- 
 
 cially as the insider is likely to know the 
 paper's policy and standards better. If the 
 editorials volunteered are good, they are 
 likely to win their writer a trial when an 
 editorial-writing job is to be filled. 
 
 Another possibility is, to ask permission 
 to submit editorials. If the editor-in-chief, 
 chief editorial writer, or whoever has charge 
 of the editorial-writing in that office, is will- 
 ing to consider volunteer editorials from the 
 outside, good work may lead to occasional 
 assignments or to regular employment. But 
 many offices would hesitate to encourage this 
 volunteer contributing — certainly without a 
 reason to believe that the contributor is 
 well qualified, or some prospect of needing 
 his services. 
 
 Occasionally — ^not often — continued sub- 
 mission of editorials without previous con- 
 sultation may attract favorable attention 
 and open the way for regular contributing 
 or for employment. 
 
 In all such approaches, the work submitted 
 must be unmistakably good. Further, it 
 must indicate that the writer knows some- 
 what of the paper's policy and standards 
 and can adapt himself to them if called upon 
 to write for it. 
 
 Papers differ widely in the organization 
 of their editorial-writing service. A metro- 
 politan daily may have a corps of writers 
 numerous enough to require a rotation pro- 
 viding each man his one-day-off-in-seven. 
 At the other extreme, a small-town daily 
 may have no separate corps of writers, but 
 depend entirely upon a daily stint of edi- 
 torial copy required from the men in the 
 newsroom in addition to their other duties. 
 
 To supplement its corps of office-writers, 
 the metropolitan paper may have editorial- 
 contributors outside, to deal with some par- 
 ticular class of subject, or possibly to supply 
 a regular amount of copy on whatever sub- 
 jects the editorial director calls for. The 
 editor of the large paper is likely also to 
 have a list of specialists in various subjects 
 on whom he can call, in case of need, for 
 editorial discussions requiring more tech- 
 nical or expert knowledge than the non- 
 specialist can be trusted to possess. Law- 
 yers, clergymen, and college professors are 
 likely to constitute the larger number of 
 these outer satellites of journalism. Med- 
 ical topics may be covered by a physician, 
 engineering topics by an engineer, aviation 
 by a specialist in aeronautics, and so on. 
 
 All this increases the chance of employ- 
 ment, provided that one is qualified and that 
 he can, by means of his work or otherwise, 
 bring himself to notice. If a man is well 
 known, the job may occasionally seek him 
 out; but most of us have to plan and con- 
 
176 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 duct a campaign when we seek such em- 
 ployment, and in every such campaign the 
 objective is two fold: first, to gain the at- 
 tention of the man who does the hiring, and 
 second, to convince him of our ability to "de- 
 liver the goods." The man who is not quali- 
 fied need not expect to gain attention; and 
 
 when all is said, the best evidence of qual- 
 ification is successful experience.* 
 
 ♦In Writing for the Magazines (Tlie Writer's Li- 
 brary, Home Correspondence School). Dr. J. Bers 
 Esenwein enumerates with reservations a number 
 of possible ways of gettinfi: a job on a magaxine edi- 
 torial staff. Obviously, some of these possibilities 
 would be less in the case of editorial-writing 
 positions. 
 
Part II 
 
 Specimens for Analysis 
 and Criticism 
 
 British Editorial Articles 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 EDITORIALS ILLUSTRATING STYLE AND MANNER 
 
 Abundant material for further 
 study of the editorial style and man- 
 ner will be found in the pages that 
 
 follow, and to these the student is 
 referred. To develop style, much in- 
 itiative practice is recommended. 
 
 CHAPTER H 
 
 EDITORIALS EMPLOYING A PEG 
 
 The editorials here following vary 
 greatly in character, kind, purpose, 
 and method, but are alike in the fact 
 
 that each of them in some way uti- 
 lizes a newspeg in its development. 
 See Part I, Chapter II. 
 
 WANTS 4 PER CENT KICK 
 
 Richmond Times-Dispatch 
 
 Governor Coolidge of Massachusetts has 
 vetoed the 2.75 per cent beer bill passed by 
 the Legislature of that State. He said he 
 opposed it on the ground that it was "legis- 
 lative deception." Deception is correct. Any 
 beer containing less than 4 per cent of 
 "kick" is a fraud as a thirst- quencher. 
 
 SQUINTING AT FATHER-IN-LAW 
 
 Chicago Evening Post 
 
 "I doubt most seriously," declares _Mr. 
 McAdoo, "that I possess the qualifications 
 required to meet the exacting requirements 
 of the present situation." 
 
 Mr. McAdoo refers to a suggestion that 
 he is the fit man to be elected President. 
 His modesty does him credit; but it does 
 more — it indicates that the son-in-law is not 
 yet sure his father-in-law has abandoned all 
 thought of a third term. Taken in connec- 
 tion with other signs and omens, it is an 
 interesting confirmation of the theory, now 
 gaining ground, that Woodrow Wilson is 
 hearing the call of destiny and considering 
 gravely what answer he should make. 
 
 A LANDIS DECISION 
 
 Philadelphia Record 
 
 Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, of Chi- 
 cago, has a faculty for handing down highly 
 original decisions. He has just added one 
 more to his score. Homer B. Whitehead, 
 head of the mailing department of the Fed- 
 
 eral Reserve Bank, drawing a salary of less 
 than $30 a week, had pleaded guilty to 
 padding the bank's payrolls. In sentencing 
 him to siix months in the House of Correc- 
 tion, the judge said: "The same Govern- 
 ment that is paying this man starvation 
 wages is asking me to send him to the peni- 
 tentiary for years, but instead of years I 
 will make it months, and instead of i)eni- 
 tentiary it will be jail." The Government 
 is thus made the guilty party. But let 
 those business men who may be inclined to 
 rejoice over this arraignment of the Govern- 
 ment pause for a moment and meditate the 
 possible application of the judgment to their 
 own cases. 
 
 CHASING THE AMBULANCE CHASERS 
 
 Charleston News and Courier 
 The Spartanburg Bar Association, which 
 has just adopted a new constitution and 
 by-laws, vigorously condemns ambulance 
 chasing, the soliciting of business by law- 
 yers either directly or indirectly, the drum- 
 ming up of business in person or otherwise 
 at the county jail and the practice of rela- 
 tives of members of the bar habitually going 
 bail or becoming surety for defendants or 
 parties before the court. 
 
 These practices are denounced as against 
 public policy and the Bar association de- 
 clares that any member of the bar who does 
 these things "shall be deemed guilty of un- 
 professional conduct and shall be denied the 
 privilege of membership in this association 
 
180 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL- WRITING 
 
 in addition to any other penalty that may 
 be inflicted upon him." 
 
 We do not know that Spartanburg is 
 worse afflicted than other communities with 
 lawyers of low standards who need to be 
 jacked up as is proposed by the Spartan- 
 burg Bar Association. 
 
 SPARE THE MAYFLOWER 
 
 New York Herald 
 
 The Plymouth tercentenary seems to have 
 stimulated the gathering of trailing arbu- 
 tus this spring through confusion of its 
 popular name in New England with that of 
 the ship which brought the Pilgrims over. 
 For its protection, therefore, it is timely to 
 remind Mayflower descendants and their 
 friends that the blossom of the English 
 hawthorn was the original mayflower for 
 which the ship was named. 
 
 The trailing arbutus is of good American 
 stock. The English hawthorn is found here 
 only sparingly. The English Puritans cut 
 down maypoles and banned festivals in 
 honor of Crataegus oxyacantha. Their 
 American relations should not imitate them 
 to the extent of joyously uprooting Epigaea 
 repens. Trailing arbutus is as tempera- 
 mental as its blossom is lovely and will not 
 put up with rough treatment. 
 
 NOT EXACTLY THE IDEA 
 
 Boston Post 
 
 "The men who oppose a military man for 
 President are all cads," said General 
 Leonard Wood to a Springfield interviewer. 
 "They are not Americans," he added. 
 
 But is not the general a bit away from 
 the idea underlying many good men's opposi- 
 tion to a professional soldier for President ? 
 The feeling is not against the practice of 
 arms and the military science; most people 
 respect and honor them. The real senti- 
 ment in such cases is that the military life 
 is not the best preparation for the presi- 
 dency, and that with very few exceptions 
 our distinctively soldier Presidents have not 
 been of the first rank. 
 
 It is no slur upon the uniform nor upon 
 our nation's defenders to prefer a civilian 
 for the White House. 
 
 "CUNARDER" KAISERIN AUGUSTA 
 
 Worcester Telegram 
 Five years of war and a change in the 
 
 history of the world is indicated in the New 
 
 York despatch, which begins: 
 
 Sir Auckland Geddes, the new British 
 Ambassador to the United States, ar- 
 rived yesterday on the Cunarder Kai- 
 serin Augusta Victoria from Liverpool. 
 For the Kaiserin Augusta was built by the 
 
 Norddeutcher Lloyd to compete when vessels 
 
 of the Kaiser and Kronprinz class wrested 
 the laurels from the Cunarders — until the 
 Mauretania came. The Kaiserin was never 
 in the front rank of the flyers, but attracted 
 by the luxurious accommodation for pas- 
 sengers. She was one of the fleet of mer- 
 chant vessels which prior to 1914 was slowly 
 but steadily gaining the ascendency for Ger- 
 many over Great Britain in ocean trade. 
 
 Now her yellow funnels are painted red, 
 with black band, sign in all the seven seas 
 of the greatest steamship company in the 
 world, and on the steamer named for the 
 wife of the former Kaiser arrives the .man 
 who arranged the details of the merchant 
 ships at the conference which on Nov. 21, 
 1918, brought to Seapa Flow the greatest 
 array of warships ever made captive — ^with- 
 out the firing of a shot. 
 
 So in another field than that of army or 
 navy is indicated the passing of Germany 
 as a world power. 
 
 INTEREST IN FRENCH 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 The newly awakened interest in the 
 French language is reflected in the plans 
 for the summer French School at Middle- 
 bury College. So great has been the de- 
 mand for registration that four additional 
 houses have been secured, making eight 
 places of residence in all; and bookings will 
 begin on the first day of May for the season 
 at hand. There will be, among other fea- 
 tures of the school, la house for teachers 
 who wish to remain in residence during the 
 college year to do graduate work in French. 
 
 It seems strange that a comparatively 
 remote college up in Vermont should spe- 
 cialize in the French language, yet it is a 
 laudable and useful task that it has under- 
 taken. Middlebury may become more noted 
 for this work than any other, and certainly 
 the pleasant town among the Green Hills 
 offers many attractions for summer study 
 of any sort. 
 
 WHAT TO WEAR FOR SWIMMING 
 
 Syracuse Post-Standard 
 
 The Milwaukee beach-manager gives his 
 approval to the one-piece bathing suit for 
 women. His defense is unusual. It isn't 
 so much what women wear that counts, as 
 he views it, but the mind of man. "Our 
 duty," he says with a confidence that is due 
 for a fall, "is to train the minds of a certain 
 type of men to view a pretty form in a bath- 
 ing suit as one looks at a painting, or a 
 statue." 
 
 We don't believe that the beach-manager 
 will get far in the mental education of "a 
 certain type of men." We can't see wherein 
 the management of a bathing-beach imposes 
 
EDITORIALS EMPLOYING A PEG 
 
 181 
 
 upon him this exacting duty. We can see a 
 more valid defense of his permissive regula- 
 tion, which does not look so far for support. 
 
 The one-piece bathing suit is not, because 
 it comes in one piece, immodest. The pro- 
 priety of a garment for water-wear or 
 beach-wear is not measured by the number 
 of pieces. 
 
 The one-piece suit is the only sensible gar- 
 ment for swimming. The woman who gets 
 into bathing togs with no intention of get- 
 ting them wet should be satisfied with some- 
 thing less disclosing and more ornate. The 
 woman who wants to swim should be per- 
 mitted to wear clothing she can swim in. 
 
 POPULAR INTEREST IN DISTANCES 
 
 Sun and New York Herald 
 The dispute now on among members of 
 the National Academy of Sciences regarding 
 the diameter of the Milky Way will not be 
 of practical interest to travellers of the 
 present generation. Whether it be 30,000 
 light years, as has been suspected, or 300,- 
 000 light years, as Dr. Shapley suggests, 
 may be a matter of importance in A. D. 
 19200, when the vacationist of the earth 
 plans a summer trip to Antares on the 
 Galactic Superether Line; but now the ques- 
 tion is academic except to astronomers. 
 They take these distances mighty seriously 
 and we can picture a peacemaker interrupt- 
 ing an overheated discussion with an in- 
 quiry as to what 175 quadrillion miles is 
 among friends. 
 
 These distances are unreasonable. For 
 the faltering mind of the layman it is far 
 enough from here to the moon. "All the 
 peanuts eaten at the circus in a year if 
 placed end to end would reach there and 
 back." That means something; but nobody 
 can imagine a row of peanuts extending to 
 Aldebaran. Not but what the people are 
 interested in distances. It is so far from 
 the Bronx to Coney Island that it takes light 
 one ten-thousandth part of a second to make 
 the run; and yet the Public Service Com- 
 mission has ordered a five-cent fare for the 
 trip. Most of our young people would rather 
 see Coney Island than the nebular wilder- 
 ness. 
 
 A CHEAP MOTOR FUEL 
 
 Washington Star 
 Announcement from Rome that a chemist 
 of that city has discovered a process for 
 producing liquid hydrogen, one gallon of 
 which will drive an automobile 250 miles, is 
 certainly good news to all motorists and to 
 business men who use gasoline. The an- 
 nouncement is not complete, however. It 
 refers to "cheaply producing the liquid 
 
 hydrogen," but how cheaply ? At what rate 
 could it be put on the market? 
 
 Gasoline is now selling roughly at 30 
 cents a gallon. That means for a car that 
 can get fifteen miles out of a gallon — and 
 that is going some — ^two cents a mile for 
 fuel. A gallon of liquid hydrogen at the 
 same rate of mileage cost and capable of 
 yielding 250 miles would cost $5, so that 
 anything less than $5 a gallon retail for this 
 new fuel would be an economy. At $2.50 a 
 gallon it would be equivalent to 15-cent 
 gasoline. At a dollar a gallon it would be 
 equivalent to six-cent gasoline. If by 
 "cheaply producing" it is meant to signify 
 anything around a dollar a gallon, there- 
 fore, the fuel problem is definitely solved. 
 And motor riding will become again a joy 
 rather than a constant strain upon the con- 
 science as well as the purse. The sole ques- 
 tion would then be as to the universality of 
 the use of this process. Great care must 
 be exercised to keep such a remarkable 
 method of fuel production out of the hands 
 of monopolists, or the world will be right 
 back where it is now in respect to motive 
 power. 
 
 POLICEMEN AS TEACHERS 
 
 Cleveland Press 
 
 "The new police idea is to present law as 
 a protector; to show conclusively that fear, 
 as a crime deterrent, is seldom if ever per- 
 manent," runs a comment on the construc- 
 tive policy which Police Commissioner 
 Woods has introduced into the New York 
 system. 
 
 Thus, one by one, modern theories about 
 crime and criminals reach the experimental 
 stage. 
 
 The literature of criminology has m- 
 creased enormously in the past twenty-five 
 years, and the better housing, feeding, dis- 
 ciplining, and education of convicted men 
 has received a limited amount of intelligent 
 attention. 
 
 But the notion that a city's police system 
 can be used for anything except to trap and 
 arrest offenders is quite foreign to the pop- 
 ular education and experience of the people. 
 
 For this reason. Commissioner Woods is 
 now sending officers into schools and other 
 places where children are assembled, to ex- 
 plain the city ordinances to them and to 
 enlist them as friends and supporters of 
 the law. 
 
 Genuine pride in civic welfare is wanted. 
 This must be based on knowledge of what 
 is "against the law." Probably the best 
 way of spreading this information is the 
 New York plan of sending out a few police 
 officers to do a little teaching once in a 
 while. 
 
182 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 WHAT BOYS AND GIRLS READ 
 
 Waterbury Republican 
 
 The superintendent of schools in Decatur, 
 111., gives surprising testimony as to the 
 reading habits of high-school boys and girls. 
 His report deals with 800 students. The 
 chief point of interest is likely to be found 
 not so much in what they read as in what 
 they don't read. 
 
 One-fourth of these supposedly wideawake 
 and intellectually curious young persons 
 confess that they never read the newspapers 
 — and this at a time when the papers are 
 filled with world-events as important as any 
 narrated in their textbooks. Half of them 
 read no books except those their teachers 
 require them to read in connection with 
 their school studies. Among those who do 
 read books of their own volition, there is a 
 distinct lack of interest in authors who are 
 universally regarded as landmarks of lit- 
 erature. Only one out of these 800 students 
 reads Shakspere from choice. Only one reads 
 Tennyson. Only two read Hawthorne. Only 
 two read Scott. Only four read Dickens. 
 Only two read Cooper and two Hugo. Only 
 one reads Barrie and one Kipling. Not one 
 reads George Eliot or Stevenson. 
 
 This is really an amazing revelation of 
 the indifference of the present generation to 
 good literature. Can it be that those Deca- 
 tur boys and girls are really representative 
 of the high-school youth of the country ? If 
 so, the next generation seems destined to 
 read little, and that mostly trash. For if 
 children don't develop a taste for good read- 
 ing in the high-school, will they ever de- 
 velop it? 
 
 HOUSES, NEW STYLE 
 
 New York Evening Sun 
 
 The type of expanded apartments de- 
 scribed in the current news is a natural de- 
 velopment. When New Yorkers began to 
 step on each other's toes the apartment was 
 invented to economize room. The new form, 
 however, proved to have positive attractions. 
 It centralized heating and other necessary 
 service. 
 
 The shortage of servants has made cen- 
 tralization of service increasingly desirable. 
 Such dwellers in separate houses as are not 
 forced to consider economy in cost have be- 
 gun to look longingly to the comfort and 
 freedom from detail of management that 
 are characteristic of the apartment. Cre- 
 ators of the latest thing in living quarters 
 declare that tenants will be relieved of "all 
 the annoyances of home administration." 
 
 On the other hand there will be plenty of 
 room. The apartments will simply be 
 houses within houses. It sounds luxurious. 
 
 We only hope that the people whose lives 
 are so completely relieved of friction will 
 find some happy outlet for the energy thus 
 saved. A big house with nothing to do in 
 it appears to call for a search after other 
 interests. 
 
 A MYSTERY OF THE SEA 
 
 Detroit Free Press 
 
 The Navy Department has given up as 
 lost the big collier Cyclops, which left Bar- 
 bados on March 4, 1918, with 293 persons 
 on board, and has not been heard of since. 
 There is nothing to tell whether she foun- 
 dered in a storm, ran on rocks or was sunk 
 by an enemy. None of her boats or any 
 part of her woodwork that could be identi- 
 fied has been picked up, not even a bottle 
 containing a message. AH that we know is 
 that the vessel has been missing for two 
 years and is undoubtedly lost. 
 
 Such mysteries were fairly frequent in 
 the days of the wooden sailing vessels, but 
 even steamships of steel construction have 
 at times completely vanished between port 
 and port. A noted instance was the loss of 
 the Naronic, which left the United States om 
 a trip to England and was never heard of 
 again. A lifeboat, much battered and bear- 
 ing some letters that seemed to identify her 
 as one of the Naronic's lifeboats, was re- 
 ported by a passing vessel, but the boat 
 might have easily been washed overboard 
 before the ship met with disaster, as there 
 was no evidence that it was occupied when 
 it dropped into the water. 
 
 The Cyclops furnishes a mystery even 
 more profound. Not only was she in much 
 frequented waters and almost in sight of 
 land when lost, but she carried a wireless 
 installation. Had she been torpedoed by a 
 U-boat she could surely have had time 
 enough to call for help before going to the 
 bottom. The Germans declared that none 
 of their submarines even saw the Cyclops. 
 The boat was reported to be staunchly built 
 and able to live through a much worse 
 storm than any she could have met with 
 after leaving port. 
 
 What became of the craft will probably 
 never be known. 
 
 THE MORALE OF THE HARVEST ARMY 
 
 Boston Globe 
 Civic and church organizations through- 
 out the Middle West are this year planning 
 to be mothers and fathers to the soldiers of 
 the harvest army. These organizations 
 promise that now the harvest field laborer 
 will not only be the highest paid, but also 
 well fed and housed. Community centers 
 with entertainments are part of the pro- 
 gram. 
 
EDITORIALS EMPLOYING A PEG 
 
 183 
 
 The problem of harvest help in the Mis- 
 S sissippi Valley has always been vital to 
 i millions of people, and this year it is par- 
 » ticularly acute. Each year in early Summer 
 a roving band, gathered from the river cities 
 and towns and the Great Lakes, assembles 
 on a line in Oklahoma in all sorts of con- 
 veyances and works north with the ripen- 
 ing crops. 
 
 Wages have always been very high, be- 
 cause this item was unimportant to the 
 farmer who needed the men for a few days 
 only. But accommodations have been no- 
 toriously wretched, the men sleeping often- 
 times in the open, without any facilities, 
 and usually the prey of thugs. 
 
 Men who have been through the harvest 
 season know too well the picture, especially 
 the scourge of "burning out," or severe sun- 
 stroke. 
 
 Unlivable working conditions — not poor 
 wages — made the harvesters a fertile field 
 for radical agitators. 
 
 In fixing conditions on morale, the farmers 
 have at last tackled the problem of making 
 the vast horde of rovers a contented army. 
 Never was there greater need for it than 
 now, when food shortage can only be set 
 right by a good harvest. 
 
 OPERA IN LATIN AMERICA 
 
 New York Globe 
 
 Some twenty-one years ago, as the eulo- 
 gists of Leonard Wood like to remind us, 
 Cuba was a place of Stygian darkness 
 wherein the slaves of Spain clanked their 
 fetters, and Havana, reeking with pesti- 
 lence, made mariners hold their noses as 
 they passed by ten miles offshore. There 
 have been changes. The admired and ad- 
 mirable Enrico, with others of the Metro- 
 politan Opera Company, is about to make a 
 professional visit to Havana, where his pure 
 tones, listened to by an audience which has 
 been happy to pay as much as $35 a seat, 
 will command $10,000 a night. It is pos- 
 sible, according to the announcement of 
 Adolfo Bracale, impresario of the National 
 theatre in Havana, that the tour will be 
 continued at the same rate to Peru, Porto 
 Rico and Venezuela, in which case Signor 
 Caruso will earn $300,000 in thirty nights 
 of singing. This is not what he might have 
 made on the stock exchange had he been 
 differently, but equally gifted, but is 
 enough; it will serve. 
 
 Tenors at $10,000 a night demand audi- 
 ences ready to pay as much as the Havana 
 audience will pay, which is six times as 
 much as any New York audience has yet 
 been willing to give up. And audiences 
 willing to pay $35 a seat imply a concen- 
 tration of wealth which fairly outshines our 
 
 own, and a culture that may not be as deep 
 as our own, but is at least as expensive. 
 The upper layers in Cuba, Porto Rico, and 
 Latin America may flourish on a basis of 
 semi-slave labor, but there they are, silk 
 hats, canes, limousines, chauffeurs, butlers, 
 and all. And in the appreciation of opera 
 given by star casts Buenos Ayres at least 
 outshines us. These are facts well enough 
 known, but not fully realized. No doubt 
 most Americans yet think almost everything 
 south of Key West a jungle. 
 
 STANDARD TIME ON THE SEA 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 By an order of the Navy Department the 
 fleet will hereafter keep standard time, in- 
 stead of the time made daily by the noon 
 observation of the navigating officers. Thus 
 the convenient system introduced by Amer- 
 ican railroads thirty-seven years ago, and 
 now in use in nearly all countries, will be 
 literally in world-round operation. It ap- 
 pears that the British, French and Italian 
 navies have adopted it, and very likely the 
 merchant marine will gradually follow suit. 
 
 According to the internationally accepted 
 arrangement, sea and land are marked off 
 in zones at intervals of fifteen degrees of 
 longitude — equivalent to one hour of time — 
 beginning at the Greenwich Observatory; 
 and within each zone the clocks keep the 
 same time, differing by exactly one hour 
 from that in the adjoining zones. But this 
 simple standardization has, until recently, 
 been applied only on land. There is no 
 apparent reason why it should not be about 
 as useful on the sea — so that, regardless of 
 the exact position a ship is in from day to 
 day, the clock's hands need be moved for- 
 ward or back only when it finds it ihas 
 passed out of one of the time zones and is 
 in another. 
 
 In crossing the Atlantic, for example, a 
 slow-moving ship, setting its clocks every 
 day after the observation of the sun at the 
 meridian, changes them many times by frac- 
 tions of an hour. Using standard time only 
 four changes would be necessary, each of 
 an exact hour. 
 
 CAMPING OUT IN BRITAIN 
 
 Christian Science Monitor 
 Two circumstances, not, at first sight, in 
 any way connected, are tending to afford a 
 great popularity to camping out as an ex- 
 pedient for the holiday maker in Great Brit- 
 ain. These two circumstances are the hous- 
 ing shortage and the enormous increase in 
 the available supply of motor cars. During 
 a great part of the war the motor car, as a 
 pleasure vehicle, was practically extinct in 
 Britain. As soon, therefore, as the embargo 
 
184 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 was raised and the manufacture of motor 
 cars, in any quantities, became once again 
 possible, the country found itself called 
 upon to readopt this great world develop- 
 ment in transport at a point some three or 
 four years ahead of its last previous expe- 
 rience. All the possibilities and inventions 
 of those three or four years were suddenly 
 tumbled out onto the public market, with 
 the result that, this year, there appears to 
 be small likelihood of there being house 
 and hotel accommodation sufficient in rural 
 England to meet the demands of those who 
 decide to take a motor holiday. 
 
 The inevitable solution, however, has al- 
 ready been found in the motor caravan. 
 Light, inexpensive, easily put together and 
 taken apart, supplied with every kind of 
 comfort and convenience, from a coal fire to 
 a glazed window, the very latest thing in the 
 way of caravans can be attached to any 
 motor car, and towed with the greatest ease, 
 even with the aid only of a low-powered 
 machine. Then the Camping Club of Great 
 Britain and Ireland has a list, which it sup- 
 plies to members, of some 500 official sites 
 where a fixed charge is made. Or the holi- 
 day maker, be he a member or not, may 
 take his own way and choose his own site, 
 following the open road wherever and when- 
 ever fancy leads him. 
 
 "After meeting the initial expense of the 
 caravan and the tents," declares a recent ac- 
 count of the matter, "holidays could be 
 enjoyed amidst the choicest scenery at the 
 expense of petrol and car depreciation 
 only." The prospect is certainly attractive. 
 
 MISTAKEN WISEACRES 
 
 The £tude 
 When Verdi went to the Milan Conserva- 
 tory it is reported that Basily, the prin- 
 cipal, after a thorough examination, de- 
 cided that the boy had not the requisite 
 talent, and accordingly rejected the greatest 
 Italian master since Palestrina. Indeed, it 
 often seems to be the weakness of highly 
 schooled conservative academicians to be 
 stone blind to real talent. There are in- 
 numerable instances in musical history of 
 teachers rejecting or discouraging young 
 men and women who have afterward be- 
 come far more celebrated than the teachers 
 who turned them down. Garcia at first 
 turned aside Jenny Lind, and the following 
 incident from Mr. David Bispham's highly 
 interesting book, A Quaker Singer's Recollec- 
 tions, indicates how the able and experienced 
 Sir George Henschel might have robbed 
 America of her greatest baritone if Mr. 
 Bispham's ambition had not been uncon- 
 querable. Henschel was then conducting the 
 Boston Symphony orchestra. Mr. Bispham 
 
 says : "After full inquiry into my experience 
 and capabilities he told me, to my keen dis- 
 appointment, that he thought them inade- 
 quate as a basis for professional work, for 
 what I had done had been done entirely as 
 an amateur and without serious study. I 
 was listening to an accomplished pianist, 
 composer, conductor and singer. I could not 
 play the piano. I had never conducted. I 
 could not compose, but I thought I could 
 sing. Henschel, however, told me that 
 though I had a good natural voice, my in- 
 ability to play the piano made it fairly 
 impossible for me to learn even a little of 
 the music I must know if I wished to take 
 up a singer's career with any reasonable 
 hope of success. Disappointed as I was, I 
 nevertheless determined from that night to 
 be a singer." 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 Work is to be resumed upon the Cathedral 
 of St. John the Divine in New York. The 
 trustees, at a meeting held this week, voted 
 to begin the erection of the nave on the first 
 of April next. This great temple of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church will be the 
 third largest cathedral in the world. Mod- 
 em scientific knowledge has enabled its de- 
 signers to improve in many respects ujwn 
 the methods of construction known to the 
 masters of the past, while at the same time 
 this modem structure retains all the dis- 
 tinctive features of cathedral architecture. 
 Barring some great catastrophe, it will 
 stand on the heights above the Hudson for 
 unnumbered ages. In its majestic propor- 
 tions it will vie with the other great 
 cathedrals of the world. 
 
 The nave will be 200 feet in length, and 
 will rise to a height of 175 feet. It will be 
 built of golden granite, so-called, a stone 
 of light buff color in keeping with the ap- 
 pearance of the stone used in the com- 
 pleted parts of the edifice. The cost is esti- 
 mated at $4,000,000, and $2,000,000 addi- 
 tional will be raised, in accordance with 
 the policy of the trustees that each addi- 
 tion to the structure shall be accompanied 
 by a corresponding increase in the endow- 
 ment. It is thought that the work will 
 progress at a rate which will call for the 
 expenditure of about $500,000 annually. 
 
 Many good people, harassed and per- 
 plexed by the plight of a war-ravaged world, 
 will find comfort in the decision to resume 
 work on the cathedral. The slowly rising 
 structure will serve to recall to their minds 
 the eternal verities which are not affected 
 by passing strife and turmoil. Lincoln in- 
 sisted, during the dark days of the Civil 
 
EDITORIALS EMPLOYING A PEG 
 
 185 
 
 War, that work on the Capitol should con- 
 tinue in order that it might constitute a 
 proclamation that the Government at Wash- 
 ington would endure. The continuance of 
 work on the Cathedral of St. John the 
 Divine during the years when the world is 
 being remade, after the destruction wrought 
 by the greatest of wars, will serve to remind 
 those who follow its progress that the les- 
 sons taught by Christianity, although they 
 may have seemed to be forgotten, are still 
 cherished in the heart and mind of human- 
 ity, and point to a world made better and 
 a strengthened hope for the future. 
 
 MOBY DICK 
 
 New York Sun 
 
 A good many persons will incline to be- 
 lieve that the attacks on bathers which have 
 furnished such dreadful reading lately were 
 the work of one or two sharks, and if the 
 readers are of the older generation their 
 minds will instinctively revert to a story of 
 Herman Melville's which appeared just 
 sixty-five years ago. 
 
 "Moby Dick, or the White Whale," was 
 the tale of a sea monster whose ferocity 
 filled the souls of seamen with awe and 
 terror. The formidable thing about this 
 great cetacean was the cruel intelligence he 
 displayed. He had a peculiar snow-white 
 wrinkled forehead and a high pyramidal 
 white hump. The rest of his body was so 
 streaked and spotted and marbled with the 
 same shrouded hue that, in the end, he had 
 gained his distinctive appellation of the 
 White Whale; a name, indeed, literally jus- 
 tified by his vivid aspect when seen gliding 
 at high noon through a dark blue sea, leav- 
 ing a milky-way wake of creamy foam, all 
 spangled with golden gleamings. 
 
 It was not so much his size, his ghastly 
 color, nor his deformed lower jaw that in- 
 spired fear, says Melville, "as that unex- 
 ampled, intelligent malignity which, accord- 
 ing to specific accounts, he had over and over 
 again evinced in his assaults." The chron- 
 icler adds: 
 
 "More than all, his treacherous retreats 
 struck more of dismay than perhaps aught 
 else. For, when swimming before his 
 exulting pursuers, with every apparent 
 symptom of alarm, he had several times 
 been known to turn suddenly, and, bearing 
 down upon them, either stave their boats to 
 splinters or drive them back in consterna- 
 tion to their ship. His three boats stove 
 around him, and oars and men both whirl- 
 ing in the eddies, one captain, seizing the 
 line knife from his broken prow, had dashed 
 at the whale, as an Arkansas duellist at his 
 foe, blindly seeking with a six-inch blade to 
 reach the fathom deep life of the whale. 
 
 That captain was Ahab. And then it was 
 that, suddenly sweeping his sickle-shaped 
 lower jaw beneath him, Moby Dick had 
 reaped away Ahab's leg, as a mower a 
 blade of grass in the field." 
 
 Melville's discursive narrative, in 134 
 chapters (some only a page or so long), tells 
 of Captain Ahab's monomaniac pursuit of 
 Moby Dick. This tragic chase aroused the 
 superstitious horror of the crew, who saw 
 something impious in the captain's madness 
 for revenge. For the precise and vivid ac- 
 count of whaler's work Melville was in- 
 debted to his own experience. At twenty- 
 two he rounded Cape Horn on a whaler and 
 was so hardly used that he and a com- 
 panion escaped to one of the Marquesas 
 Islands, where, as a captive of warlike 
 natives, Melville got the material for his 
 romantic novel, "Typee." The tale of the 
 White Whale was his last romance to con- 
 tain enduring qualities; the waters of tran- 
 scendentalism closed over Melville's head 
 and some of his later books are well-nigh 
 unfathomable. 
 
 HOMESICK IN HEAVEN 
 
 New York Times 
 
 Sorrow in Petrograd, and one poor heart 
 breaking. Miss Emma Goldman is weary of 
 her own, her native land. Exported, at con- 
 siderable expense, from an ungrateful coun- 
 try quite unworthy of her; brought back 
 into the genial bosom of Bolshevism, the 
 friend of humanity is unhappy. Six weeks 
 she has been in the home of the exploited 
 proletariat; six weeks she has been exiwsed 
 to the free and joyous movement of tri- 
 umphant applied Marxism; and the salt 
 tears are tender in her eyes. "It is rotten," 
 says the broken-hearted one; "it's so rotten 
 I am sick of it." 
 
 Our lost angel of universal happiness has 
 seen in its own home and capital the triumph 
 of the beloved idea of her soul. She says, 
 very frankly, that socialism in Russia "has 
 taken away even the little freedom the man 
 has under individual capitalism and has 
 made him entirely subject to the whims of 
 a bureaucracy which excuses its tyranny on 
 the ground it is all done for the welfare of 
 the workers." Unhappiness and disillusion; 
 the long dream of this gracious friend of 
 humanity broken and destroyed. 
 
 Still, parting is such sweet sorrow. In- 
 deed, one begins to hope that the troubles 
 of the Soviet are not as great as they are 
 represented to be. If they have made the 
 country unpleasant to Miss Goldman, they 
 have reconciled Americans just the least bit 
 to that unpleasantness. Evidently she 
 yearns to come back. No possible relations 
 of trade and commerce and friendliness with 
 
186 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 future Russian Governments could induce 
 Americans to consent to the re-exportation 
 or re-immigration of Miss Goldman. Of her, 
 at least, the country has been rid; and it 
 does add a bitter vividness to our conception 
 of the horrors of the dictated proletariat to 
 think that even she finds them intolerable. 
 INDIANS AND THE HALL OF FAME 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 A reflective New York contemporary dis- 
 cusses the interesting question whether the 
 name of an American Indian should not be 
 inscribed on the panels of the Hall of Fame. 
 It makes no nomination, however, content- 
 ing itself with the general statement that in 
 view of the Indian's original ownership of 
 the land, he is entitled to a representative 
 position in the national Valhalla. It is im- 
 possible to quarrel with this position, and it 
 would not be difficult to name several In- 
 dians who have possessed the qualities of 
 true greatness. The fact that most of these 
 Indians were at one time or another the 
 enemies of the United States or of the peo- 
 ple of the English Colonies should not mil- 
 itate against the presence of the name of 
 one or more of them in the Hall of Fame. 
 
 We might begin with Massasoit, who, 
 three hundred years ago, welcomed the Pil- 
 grims to these shores. He was a kindly 
 and noble ruler, who believed that his people 
 had been chastened to their death by the 
 Great Spirit, and seems to have had a 
 prophetic view that the whites would dem- 
 onstrate their fitness to possess the land. 
 He might well be enshrined as a prophet, or 
 in memory of his position at the very 
 threshold of our history. His son, Meta- 
 comet, whom the whites called King Philip, 
 was undoubtedly a great man. In his inter- 
 course with the white colonists, as well as 
 in his organization of the Indian resistance 
 to them, he showed the highest qualities of 
 brain and of spirit. Red Jacket, a Seneca, 
 was an orator whose eloquence deeply im- 
 pressed his time. The greatest of our In- 
 dian figures, undoubtedly, was Tecumtha 
 or Tecumseh, chief of the Shawnees — a 
 brave and able man of the noblest qualities. 
 
 In more recent times we have had a long 
 list of Indian chieftains of distinction — the 
 redoubtable Cochise, the Apache, who had, 
 by measurement and weight, a brain as large 
 as Daniel Webster's; Geronimo of the same 
 heroic tribe; Joseph, the broad-minded and 
 gentle chief of the Nez Perces, who per- 
 formed one of the most notable of military 
 feats in his baffling retreat before General 
 Howard; Red Cloud and Sitting Bull, the 
 finest flowers of the greatest of Indian 
 races, the Sioux; Osceola, the Seminole 
 half-breed, who in the Everglades long defied 
 
 the power of the whole United States; and 
 others as well. 
 
 Of course the essential difficulty about the 
 selection of an Indian name for the Hall of 
 Fame lies in the fact that each Indian chief- 
 tain, though possibly a great man, shone 
 only in the records of one tribe or one small 
 Indian nation, and did not pertain, as our 
 white heroes are supposed to pertain, to a 
 whole vast continental nation. But that in- 
 ferior dignity was rather our own fault than 
 theirs. If our fathers, by a generous in- 
 clusion of the Indian natives in the body of 
 their State, had absorbed or assimilated 
 them, we might ere this have had an Indian 
 name which would have assumed the emi- 
 nence in our annals that glorifies the name 
 of Benito Juarez in Mexico. 
 
 WHAT ARE UP-TO-DATE 
 
 "FAMILY VIRTUES"? 
 
 The Mayor of Providence, R. I., Has to 
 Decide — Can You Help Him? 
 
 Philadelphia Public Ledger 
 
 Candidates for the position of mayor of 
 Providence, R. I., will please form a line on 
 the left! 
 
 The Mayor of Providence has had a per- 
 fectly good new job wished on him in per- 
 petuity by an entire stranger which may 
 tend to make the office unpopular. The 
 "dark stranger" in the case is — or rather 
 was — Count Paul Bajnotti, of Turin, Italy, 
 a millionaire who had the good sense to 
 marry an American lady. This turned the 
 attention of the Turin Count to America, a 
 far-off land which a countryman of his dis- 
 covered. He thought so well of us, indeed, 
 that he remembered us in his will; and he 
 apparently based this kindly remembrance 
 of us on the goodly virtues of the wife we 
 gave him. This is the point, marked on the 
 diagram by an "X," where the troubles of 
 the Mayors of Providence begin. 
 
 The will bequeaths to the city of Provi- 
 dence the sum of $10,000, "the interest of 
 which shall annually be donated about July 
 17 to the young lady in that city who, being 
 twenty years old, marriageable and a daugh- 
 ter of the common people, will best deserve 
 it by her conduct and family virtues." 
 
 All that is left to do is to pick the lady 
 with the "family virtues"; and this simple, 
 easy and noncontentious job is laid on the 
 shoulders of the Mayor. She is to be "a 
 daughter of the common people" — ^the class 
 who have the most votes — and she is to be 
 selected seriatim every year. This will ren- 
 der it unnecessary in the future for Provi- 
 dence to have any constitutional provision 
 against a Mayor succeeding himself. The 
 
EDITORIALS EMPLOYING A PEG 
 
 187 
 
 "common people" whose daughters are not 
 chosen "about July 17" will attend to that 
 detail. 
 
 It is interesting to surmise what the 
 worthy Mayors of Providence will decide to 
 be the supreme "family virtues" of today. 
 Once it would have been easy. The "daugh- 
 ters of the common people" had nothing but 
 "family virtues"; they all got them at the 
 same pure sources; and they all practiced 
 them with the same assiduity on the de- 
 fenseless male members of their own fam- 
 ilies until some venturous youth from a 
 neighboring household volunteered as "vic- 
 tim." 
 
 But are there any of these dear, 
 docile, demure, unsophisticated, uncigaretted 
 "daughters" left? "Daughter" itself— one 
 of the most charming words in the language 
 — is tending to become obsolete. It seems 
 in its old-fashioned resonance to mark a 
 difference in age and standing between two 
 members of the family on the distaff side 
 which neither of them is anxious to em- 
 phasize. The "daughter" is chagrined to be 
 thought less worldly-wise than her mother; 
 and it is only fair to add that she seldom is. 
 The "mother" on her part is no doubt the 
 perfection which that sweet name always 
 connotes; but she modestly declines, as a 
 rule, to "dress the part," and is seldom so 
 flattered as when she is taken for the elder 
 sister of her youngest "bud." Mothers are 
 becoming more and more difficult to dis- 
 tinguish, and "grandmothers" have entirely 
 disappeared. 
 
 So when the plucky but puzzled Mayor of 
 Providence sets out to find his "daughter 
 of the common people" he is liable to make 
 mistakes. He will need a sly glance at the 
 Family Bible — if by any chance such antique 
 denizens of the "parlor center-table" still 
 exist. Yet it is possible that in this new 
 day the voters' lists will set him right. 
 "Mother" is likely to figure among the "free 
 and independent" politically. She is much 
 superior to that domestically. 
 
 But when it comes to the supreme test of 
 assessing the "family virtues," how is the 
 Mayor going to make up his schedule? He 
 must have a list of percentages — so much 
 for "bread-making," so much for "keep- 
 ing a room tidy," so much for untidying it 
 again with personally constructed "tidies," 
 and so on. This is really the crux of the 
 situation. It will never do for the Mayor to 
 set out on his understudy of Paris without 
 a fixed and definite schedule of values to 
 cling to. Otherwise he is apt to g^t his 
 he^d turnfed ^nd his ju'di'c'ial bfukltti*^ fatally 
 
 14 
 
 twisted by feminine attributes which may 
 enhance but are oftener regarded as ren- 
 dering unnecessary "family virtues." 
 
 Still the difficulty is going to be that, if 
 the Mayor be a man of middle age who has 
 not paid any particular attention to the 
 daughters of either common or uncommon 
 people — or the uncommon daughters of most 
 folks these days — since he was a young man, 
 he may find that his list of these "virtues," 
 prepared from memory, turns out to be 
 really a list of nonexistent qualities and 
 capacities that are only memories. For in- 
 stance, he naturally puts down "bread- 
 making" as a first-class family virtue worth 
 10 per cent. But when he gets all round, no 
 one has earned the 10 per cent. They all 
 get it from the baker. 
 
 Doubtless he will put down "pleasing 
 social qualities," rated at 15 per cent; and 
 then his perplexities will multiply. Has a 
 young lady "pleasing social qualities" who 
 cannot talk about the books that her 
 mother should never have read? How does 
 she class up when she cannot join him in a 
 cigarette on the porch? What if her danc- 
 ing repertoire does not go much beyond the 
 waltz and its decorous sisterhood? Or sup- 
 pose, on the other hand, that all the animal 
 dances with animal names — or names which 
 a "daughter of the people" twenty years 
 ago would have thought meant something 
 unmentionable in mixed society — are fa- 
 miliar to her, but that her piquant vocabu- 
 lary is drawn almost wholly from the 
 "slanguage" lexicon, how is he to mark 
 her on his schedule? How does gum-chew- 
 ing rank? Is it an accomplishment, a 
 rhythmic exercise or a wicked waste of 
 energy ? 
 
 These are all difficult problems for His 
 Honor, the Mayor of Providence. He will 
 need all the help that Providence can give 
 him. And he will not get a cent for all his 
 parlous adventures, all the mighty risks he 
 will run, all the undying enmities he will 
 create. Count Bajnotti should have left a 
 legacy to the Mayor as well; say, a retir- 
 ing allowance. 
 
 But, as a matter of fact, the people of 
 America who are favored by this attention 
 from overseas should rally to the help of 
 the Mayor and see that he is equipped with 
 the best afdvice and the latest technical in- 
 formation on the object. He should be able 
 to deduce from a nation-wide symposium of 
 expert opinion just what do constitute 
 "family virtues" in the American home to- 
 day. Ha\pe wfe th'e c^t^-fashione^ collection 
 with us yet? ffa'vte wis eVen the old-fash- 
 
188 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL- WRITING 
 
 ioned home ? Do we still cherish the maiden 
 who stood "with reluctant feet where the 
 brook and river meet"; or do we prefer her 
 whose feet are "reluctant" only to be still, 
 whether it be a Jazz band, a classic dance or 
 
 the foot-levers of a high-power motorcar 
 that invite action? 
 
 We ought to give the Mayor something to 
 go by. We ought not to leave him to face 
 so delicate and dangerous a problem alone. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 EDITORIALS DEVELOPED IN THREE STAGES 
 
 The editorials collected in the next 
 following pages are widely various 
 in other respects, but are alike in the 
 fact that each of them is developed 
 
 more or less strictly in three parts, 
 representing the three-stage plan 
 explained and analyzed in Part I, 
 Chapter III. 
 
 THE OTHER FELLOW'S JOB 
 
 Quincy (Calif.) Bulletin 
 
 It was Josh Billings who said, "When a 
 man thinks his nabor is happier than he, 
 if he would traid places with him he'd want 
 to traid back next day." Underneath the 
 quaint spelling and humor of Josh there is 
 always a deal of common sense. This little 
 proverb is no exception. 
 
 Generally it is because we do not know 
 the other fellow's job that we envy him. We 
 see only the easy side of it. We do not 
 know the work he has to do, what he has 
 to stand for and what he is expected to give 
 for the salary he receives. 
 
 Usually we get about what we give. If 
 we see a man getting a big salary, inside 
 investigation will show that he is probably 
 giving just a little bit more for the money 
 than anyone else his employers know about 
 — else he would not get it. 
 
 A FOOD ANCHOR TO WINDWARD 
 
 New England Homestead 
 
 "Buckwheat is my answer to the cold, late, 
 backward spring," said to us one of the best 
 farmers in Delaware County, N. Y. He can- 
 not hire help for planting potatoes, cabbage 
 and similar crops, or for a dairy, but points 
 out that buckwheat can be sown quite late, 
 will yield heavily on good land, and in view 
 of the prospective shortage of other grains, 
 ought to sell readily at good prices. 
 
 Each passing day emphasizes the possi- 
 bility of food-shortage next winter. It 
 seems safe to conclude that everything the 
 farmer can raise ought to command good 
 prices. The real danger is that, in spite of 
 their desire to do their best, farmers will 
 not be able to produce nearly as much as 
 
 the market requires. There is no conspiracy 
 among them to reduce consumption, but 
 farmers are this season the victims as never 
 before of inexorable conditions wholly be- 
 yond their control. 
 
 LET THE SOUTH RAISE SORGHUM 
 
 Memphis Commercial Appeal 
 
 We have in our hands a partial remedy 
 for the high price of sugar. An acre of 
 sorghum will furnish enough sweetening for 
 any ordinary family with some to spare, 
 and sorghum can be grown successfully from 
 the Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 About now is the time to plant sorghum. 
 Every planter should grow enough to guar- 
 antee his tenants sweetening-matter at a 
 low cost during the greater part of the fall 
 and next year. Every small farmer should 
 do the same. 
 
 As a commercial crop, sorghum will be 
 high this fall. If any man grows a surplus 
 he can find a ready sale for it. The cotton- 
 products people were in the market for 
 sorghum two or three years ago, but the 
 market was not stabilized and their expe- 
 rience was not always happy. Some of the 
 surghum-growers sold their product at an 
 agreed price and then when there was an 
 advance sold to someone else. 
 
 The Southern people could make it so 
 that the high price of potatoes and the 
 high price of sugar, the high price of beans 
 and even com and meat, would concern 
 them very little. 
 
 WHERE GOOD-WILL GOSPEL BEGINS 
 
 The Churchman 
 
 A crucial question in Christianity is. Do 
 you own your genius, your leadership, your 
 
EDITORIALS DEVELOPED IN THREE STAGES 
 
 189 
 
 skill, or are they God's, to be used for His 
 purpose ? 
 
 We shall not find the solution of the in- 
 dustrial problem until our industrial gen- 
 iuses take orders in the kingdom of God. 
 The Christian doctrine of stewardship is not 
 concerned, first of all, with who has prop- 
 erty or how much one has. The gospel 
 grips the problem farther down. It does 
 not propose a programme for the solution 
 of our industrial problem; it insists that a 
 programme shall be worked out by men 
 who have dedicated their leadership to 
 Christ. Has the industrial and social prob- 
 lem ever had from our business geniuses 
 this single-minded contribution of good- 
 will? If our social reforms have been so 
 often visionary, it is because idealists have 
 had so little co-operation from industrial 
 leaders, who, if they had the good will, 
 might have pointed out practical paths of 
 progress. 
 
 It is not the selfish use of property which 
 has caused the present social conflict. It is 
 the selfish use of skill, genius and power. 
 
 IDLY FLAPPING 
 
 Cincinnati Times-Star 
 
 Is aviation to continue to be the great 
 shame of America? Is the heritage of the 
 Wright Brothers to be less appreciated by 
 their own countrymen than by the British, 
 the French, the Italians, the Germans? 
 
 It looks that way. The various aviation 
 services of the United States are approach- 
 ing extinction. Congress is permitting 
 them to die a more or less slow death. Ap- 
 propriations are withheld and, worse still, 
 there has been no constructive legislation 
 that would permit a healthy development 
 of aviation even if the money were forth- 
 coming. Meanwhile Great Britain has es- 
 tablished a Cape to Cairo air service in 
 Africa. In six months of civil aviation in 
 England, over 50,000 passengers were car- 
 ried, with but two fatalities. The man 
 who would fly between London and Paris 
 or between Paris and Brussels has but to 
 buy his ticket and find out when his aero- 
 plane leaves. Flocks of aeroplanes pass 
 almost daily over the Alps from France 
 into Italy, or vice versa. 
 
 After expending a billion or so, we never 
 really got into the war, in an aviation 
 sense. With all our money we were unable 
 to compete with the countries that had de- 
 veloped the science of flying. And we have 
 not even learned the lesson that apprecia- 
 tion of our ignorance would have taught. 
 Other countries are going ahead, while we 
 mark time. About all that can be said of 
 aviation in the United States is that it is 
 "up in the air" metaphorically, not literally. 
 
 DO YOU STUDY ANY MORE? 
 
 The Three Partners 
 
 With many the idea is common that the 
 study period of life ends when college or 
 school days end; that one studies to pre- 
 pare for work and when work begins study 
 ends; that when one gets a job or a position 
 study days are over. 
 
 In youth one studies both to acquire 
 knowledge and to learn how to think, how 
 to digest information. The act of studying 
 may be defined as the intensive application 
 of a mind to a given subject. Studying is 
 both a beneficial mental exercise and a 
 means of acquiring more knowledge. It 
 most certainly should not be abandoned 
 when one becomes grown up and the pos- 
 sessor of a job. 
 
 There is a saying, "As a man readeth, so 
 he thinketh; as a man think eth, so he is." 
 
 A certain amount of intensive reading 
 and studying — the good old-fashioned kind 
 that is near to drudgery, that often hurts — 
 should be done each day, whatever one's 
 age, in order to keep the mind at its active 
 best, to increase efficiency, to keep up with 
 one's daily work, to fit one for better things 
 to come. 
 
 No, hours of systematic study should 
 never cease if one is to progress from year 
 to year. 
 
 SOMETHING BIGGER THAN PARTY 
 
 New York Evening Post 
 
 The splendid outcome in Massachusetts is 
 only what would be seen in any part of this 
 country where the same test were made. 
 
 Uneasy and glib gentlemen who know 
 their fellow-countrymen only as they see 
 them in the distorted mirror of their own 
 emotions, have had much to say about vast 
 impending changes in the United States. 
 The past was to be sponged clean. Old po- 
 litical methods were to expire in contempt. 
 There was to be "direct action," control of 
 everything by a group that knew exactly 
 what it wanted and was to brush aside all 
 obstacles to obtaining it instanter. Now, 
 the great majority of the people have been 
 listening to this sort of talk, first with 
 amusement, then with irritation, and finally 
 with impatience to "get at" that kind of 
 nonsense. 
 
 They had their first chance in Massachu- 
 setts. And the whole nation rejoices at the 
 emphatic demonstration of what America 
 stands for unflinchingly. It has led to the 
 unprecedented action of a Democratic Pres- 
 ident congratulating a Republican governor 
 on his triumphant re-election. The thing is 
 bigger than party. It is plain that thou- 
 sands of Massachusetts Democrats voted for 
 Coolidge. So would partisan lines be 
 
190 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 broken everywhere, if the simple issue were 
 squarely laid before the people. And on 
 account of what Massachusetts has done, 
 Americans of all parties or of none have 
 reason to thank God and take courage. 
 
 SWITZERLAND'S MOTORLESS SUNDAY 
 
 Springfield Republican 
 
 In forbidding the use of motor cars on 
 Sunday the Swiss Government acts pri- 
 marily in the interest of its own people, 
 who want one day in the week to use their 
 roads without annoyance or the constant 
 fear of being run down. Yet it is possible 
 that tourists, also, if worthy of a sojourn 
 among the Alps, may come to appreciate 
 the charm of a motorics s day. 
 
 That there is a great charm in gliding 
 swiftly and easily along the smooth high- 
 ways which have made the beauties of 
 Switzerland so accessible is recognized by 
 everybody, but the mountains deserve, too, 
 a more deliberate and meditative apprecia- 
 tion than the motorist is likely to give. If 
 Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge and the other 
 poets who have recorded their impressions 
 had merely seen the Alps from a motor car 
 little in the way of poetic inspiration would 
 have resulted. 
 
 There is little danger that in our day the 
 kinetic sense will be neglected; it is stim- 
 ulated to the utmost by airplane, automobile 
 and motion picture. All these quicken the 
 imagination, it is true, but they do not go 
 deep, and one image is effaced by the next 
 in the endless phantasmagoria of modern 
 life. It is not difficult to comprehend why 
 Switzerland should want in its week one day 
 of quiet, sober comfort. 
 
 A PRIEST PROPERLY SPANKED 
 
 Hartford Courant 
 
 Rev. Dr. Percy Stickney Grant, rector of 
 the Church of the Ascension, New York, 
 who was very properly spanked by his cler- 
 ical and lay brethren last week, showed his 
 ill temper on Sunday when he indicated to 
 his congregation that the Protestant Epis- 
 copal Church in this country is not directed 
 to his liking. 
 
 He said that the bishops are reaching out 
 after authority which narrows and hampers 
 the growth of the church and that the more 
 vigorous of its ciergy will organize their 
 parishes into community churches or else 
 will leave the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 altogether. He told them, if he was cor- 
 rectly quoted, that confirmation is an out- 
 worn custom and that few thinking adults 
 join the church today upon any intellectual 
 persuasion. 
 
 Something serious, we infer, is about to 
 happen; either the church will disappear 
 
 and leave Rev. Dr. Grant in possession o: 
 a community church or else Dr. Grant wil 
 leave the denomination, as did Rev. Di 
 Richmond. There is no occasion for th( 
 world to worry at least as far as Rev. Dr 
 Grant's remarks are concerned, inasmuch ai 
 a higher power than he or his bishop maj 
 be assumed to have in charge the future o: 
 the church. What Dr. Grant has said goei 
 far to establish the wisdom of the conven 
 tion which rebuked his actions. 
 
 TWO YEARS OF BOLSHEVISM 
 
 New York Evening Sun 
 
 Two years ago today the Bolsheviki over 
 threw Premier Kerensky and took posses 
 sion of the Russian Government. The] 
 came proclaiming a new era of freedom aaic 
 prosperity, a Utopia, in which the poor mai 
 was to have bigger opportunity than the 
 rich, a regime in which the theories oJ 
 Karl Marx should be put into actual opera- 
 tion, and the old unequal fabric of societj 
 swept away forever. 
 
 Today the Bolsheviki stand discredited 
 hated and feared in Russia, outlawed by the 
 rest of the world. In their two years oJ 
 power they have brought to the ancieoit em- 
 pire of the Czars suffering and desolatior 
 unprecedented in modem times. With its 
 industrial system ruined, with the best ele- 
 ments of its population exiled or held ir 
 abject subjection, with its people cold and 
 hungry, shuddering in terror at the pitiless 
 despotism which grips them, unhappy Russia 
 has cause to rue that day two years age 
 when Lenine and Trotzky established 
 themselves as its masters. 
 
 The radicals of the world may celebrate 
 November 8 if they choose, but for Russia 
 the day will be forever associated with suf- 
 fering and unspeakable disaster. 
 
 JAIL FOR HAZING 
 
 New York Evening Sun 
 
 A crime by any other name is no lesa 
 criminal. Now that the courts are begin- 
 ning to impose actual sentences upon stu- 
 dents who injure their fellows under cover 
 of an evil tradition, there is hope that the 
 practice of hazing may finally be stamped 
 out. 
 
 A Montgomery county jury has sent one 
 student of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute 
 to the penitentiary for a year, three others 
 getting six months each in jail. This ought 
 to take some of the false charm out of the 
 custom. It is to be hopted that all boys 
 with inclinations toward that type of sav- 
 agery will take notice, and that other courts 
 will take courage to do their ful^ duty. 
 
 There is no, desije to be vindictive toward 
 these misguided boys. Some kind of bitter 
 
EDITORIALS DEVELOPED IN THREE STAGES 
 
 191 
 
 medicine appears to be needed to cure the 
 disease and save those that are to come. In 
 the case referred to the victim of the hazers 
 suffered paralysis of the spine as a result 
 of the blows inflicted "in fun," with "no 
 idea of serious injury." 
 
 The chief end of school is preparation for 
 life. Consideration for the rig'hts of others 
 is one of the first lessons in good citizen- 
 ship. If school traditions teach the oppo- 
 site, they must be exploded. Jail sentences 
 may help to blast them out, like an old 
 stump, by the roots. But the process 
 shouldn't stop there. It is too external. 
 College boys themselves must develop a 
 better ideal of manliness. And when col- 
 lege sentiment turns against hazing, high 
 schools and other institutions will take the 
 hint. 
 
 A TIP FOR MOTHERS 
 
 Columbus Citizen 
 
 A woman on the North Side has solved the 
 hot weather problem for her children, aged 
 six and four. 
 
 Each afternoon she fills a large washtub 
 with water and places it in the sun in the 
 backyard. 
 
 An hour or two later, the kiddies, in their 
 home-made bathing togs — ^they're mighty 
 scant, too— climb into the water for their 
 romp. 
 
 Such fun as they have! In a week they 
 have acquired a healthy coat of tan. They 
 kick and splash to their heart's content, 
 forgetting the heat, and giving tired mother 
 a chance to cool off a bit out on the front 
 porch. 
 
 Our folks never thought of this stunt for 
 us, but we have a hunch that we would have 
 enjoyed a dip every afternoon in our own 
 backyard. 
 
 Your children probably would, too. Why 
 not give it a trial ? 
 
 STRICTLY PRIVATE STRIKE 
 
 New York Evening Sun 
 
 If all the disputes between employer and 
 employee were carried on with as little pub- 
 lic inconvenience as the drug clerks' strike, 
 there would be little ground for complaint. 
 We remarked the other day that crippling 
 the modem pharmacy was not primarily a 
 chemical matter. But so far as the medical 
 aspect is concerned the chief danger was 
 guarded against from the beginning. 
 
 Arrangements were made before the con- 
 test began to keep open at least one pre- 
 scription department in every section of the 
 city, so that necessary medicine could be 
 obtained without delay. Such consideration 
 is in happy contrast with the conduct of 
 many of these affairs. Whatever be the 
 
 degree of justice in the demands of the 
 employees, at least public sympathy will 
 not be alienated because of ruthless dis- 
 regard of life and health. 
 
 As to the progress of the strike itself, 
 accounts differ. The union declares that 
 employers are acceding to their demands. 
 Certain proprietors, however, insist that 
 they have all the help they need without 
 making concessions. It may be that the 
 case will settle itself in some mysterious 
 way by the simple passage of time and the 
 pressure of necessity. The point to be 
 noted, however, is the exceptional case of a 
 strike carried on without infliction of hard- 
 ship on the public. Employer and employee 
 are competent, under those circumstances, 
 to come to any terms they can agree upon. 
 
 VALUE OF THE SHIN BONE 
 
 Baltimore Star 
 
 Recently we have been informed that we 
 do not need the entire shinbone, that lowly 
 part of the body which helps to propel us 
 through life. If a bone is shattered or dis- 
 eased in some other part of the body mod- 
 em surgery does not hesitate to cut out a 
 piece from the leg bone, but in such cases 
 you get back what you give up. Such 
 operations have not been infrequent, espe- 
 cially in relief of the spinal column. 
 
 In the European conflict, however, the 
 shinbone has been found invaluable in giv- 
 ing back to wounded soldiers their facial 
 beauty. When the soldier's jaw is shattered 
 and he seems doomed to horrible disfigure- 
 ment for life, the surgeon steps into the 
 amphitheater of his happy existence and by 
 grafting a piece of his shinbone upon his 
 shattered jaw makes him passably pretty by 
 leaving only an honorable scar instead of 
 a grotesque facial outline. In this work it 
 is pleasing to note that American surgeons 
 have taken a most prominent part. 
 
 Man has not missed the rib, the appendix 
 or the piece out of his shinbone. It might 
 be interesting to know just how many other 
 parts of the human anatomy could be dis- 
 pensed with, in view of the great advance 
 made by modern surgery. 
 
 FARMERS SHOULD TAKE THE HOME 
 NEWSPAPER 
 
 Spencer (Wis.) Record 
 
 The most important paper for any Wis- 
 consin farmer to take is the paper edited, 
 and published for and in his community. It 
 should be the first paper on his reading 
 table, says F. G. Swoboda, county agent. 
 
 The publisher of the country paper ranks 
 in influence and power to do good with the 
 pastor or priest, the school teacher, the 
 county agent, and the banker. He is the 
 
192 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 connecting link between the town and coun- 
 try folks. In his position as purveyor of 
 the news of the community he occupies a 
 strategic position where he can do a great 
 deal in breaking down prejudice, discord, 
 and misunderstanding. A failure to appre- 
 ciate the place throws the whole community 
 into the rut. 
 
 By all means the best acquaintances of 
 the publisher are the farmers of the neigh- 
 borhood. Being the most numerous, the 
 most important class in the county, they 
 hold out a field with news of vital interest 
 to the entire community — urban as well as 
 rural. 
 
 Farmers are beginning to advertise, for at 
 some period of the year, every farmer has 
 something to sell. Their products may not 
 warrant a large display advertisement for a 
 classified or small display may suffice. 
 
 The best place for the farmer to advertise 
 is in the home paper. The cost will be 
 smaller and the returns larger than from 
 any other form of advertising. Where there 
 is no local market for his stock or produce 
 then only should the farmer need to go out- 
 side his community to find a profitable ad- 
 vertising medium. 
 
 Farmers in many communities are now 
 buying neatly printed letterheads as well as 
 the customary auction posters from the local 
 paper. Farm booklets and sales lists, as 
 well as other forms of advertising, grow 
 more common each year as farmers learn 
 the value of advertising, the value of the 
 home paper, and the home print shop. 
 
 MOVIES AND THE CHURCH 
 
 Indianapolis Star 
 
 An investigator — there are investigators 
 in these inquisitive and meddlesome days 
 into all human activities — announces, with 
 an air of uncovering human iniquity, that 
 more people in Chicago attend motion pic- 
 ture shows than go to church. 
 
 This is no doubt ti-ue, but what is anyone 
 going to do about it? Of course a great 
 many people who go frequently to the 
 movies go also to church, the line between 
 the patrons of picture-shows and churches 
 not being a dividing one by any means. It 
 is tiTie that many moving pictures are not 
 worth looking at, but on the whole there is 
 nothing incompatible between churchgoing 
 and visiting the shows. 
 
 It is undoubtedly a fact, however, that a 
 great proportion of the people who make up 
 movie crowds do not attend church, and the 
 plain and simple explanation is, not that 
 they are necessarily sinners, but that they 
 find themselves better entertained by the 
 pictures. This may be a reflection on the 
 judgment and religious attitude of the movie 
 
 patrons, but it is a situation that exists; it 
 is a problem for earnest and devoted 
 thought. 
 
 Before the advent of the moving picture 
 it used to be said in a condemnatory way 
 of nonchurchgoers that they idled their Sun- 
 day hours away and gained no benefit. They 
 are equally condemned now that they do get 
 some benefit, for notwithstanding the triv- 
 ialities of many films, in the long run edu- 
 cation and enlightenment as well as enter- 
 tainment are derived from them. The thing 
 to do, it would seem, is for the church folk 
 not to decry the movies, but to strike a 
 partnership with them and adapt them tc 
 their own uses. 
 
 A JOB FOR VICE-PRESIDENTS 
 
 New Orleans Times-Picayune 
 
 Senator Edge of New Jersey is credited 
 with the proflcer of a mildly interesting sug- 
 gestion. The vice-president, he thinks, 
 should be useful as well as ornamental 
 "Congress," he assumes, "is about to pass 
 finally a budget bill. Here is a chance foi 
 a real working vice-president. Under the 
 budget system the president becomes more 
 and more responsible for the estimates as 
 transmitted to Congress representing as 
 they necessarily do every activity of the 
 government. In my judgment, the vice- 
 president should therefore be looked upor 
 as the real executive officer of the govern- 
 ment, having general charge of carrying 
 out the policy of the Administratior 
 through the various departments of th( 
 governments, directly overseeing the budget 
 which is the bedrock of these activities 
 and really becoming what a chief of staff 
 executive officer or vice-president in anj 
 successful business organization in the worlc 
 would be. He should sit with the cabinet 
 and be the connecting link." 
 
 The suggestion has its practical possi' 
 bilities if we assume that the business oi 
 the government is at last to be conductec 
 in a business-like way. In a thoroughly 
 business-like organization the vice-presiden" 
 could very well render more and more use 
 ful service than he has done hitherto. Bu' 
 it would require a good deal of adjusting tc 
 fit the vice-president into the budget scheme 
 of things as general overseer /or "chief o: 
 staff," and the budget bill recently passec 
 does not attempt it. 
 
 The average American president is ap 
 to be strong-minded, strong-willed anc 
 jealous of his prerogatives. The commoi 
 or garden variety of Congress is inclined t( 
 be resentful of the interposition of sub 
 ordinates between itself and the chief exec 
 
EDITORIALS DEVELOPED IN THREE STAGES 
 
 193 
 
 utive. Serving in the capacity suggested by 
 Senator Edge, we feai that the vice-presi- 
 dent's lot would not be a happy one. Ex- 
 change of his present ease and leisure for 
 the carking cares of a difficult and perhaps 
 thankless job as assistant business manager 
 might intensify the present shortage of 
 vice-presidential aspirants. It is interesting 
 to note that Senator Edge, after outlining 
 his idea, promptly and emphatically declined 
 to be considered a candidate for the vice- 
 presidency. 
 
 COLLEGE EDUCATION AGAIN 
 
 SioTix Falls Ar^us-Leader 
 
 The Red Man, a publication devoted to 
 Indian welfare, has an article on the sub- 
 ject, "Is a College Education Necessary to 
 Success ?" The purport of the article would 
 seem to be comforting assurance to the red 
 brother that if he does not happen to be 
 able to get a college education he can suc- 
 ceed just as well in the world. 
 
 The burden of the article is that many 
 men have succeeded without a college edu- 
 cation, and this is true. 
 
 There died some months ago in South 
 Dakota a farmer who was reputed worth 
 over a half million dollars; he could hardly 
 read or write, and did not believe m educa- 
 tion for his children. He also lived a 
 miserable, pinched life. He was successful, 
 but he would have been more successful 
 had he believed in the highest kind of 
 education for his children, and provided it 
 for them. At least, the children would 
 have been happier, and he would have 
 shared in their joy. 
 
 The article mentions many men who did 
 not have a college education, and became 
 successful, even famous. But they obtained 
 in some way an education that embodied 
 several features of the technically so-called 
 college education. 
 
 No one could claim that a college educa- 
 tion is the sure road to success. There is 
 no such road, anyway. College education 
 is no panacea against failure; is it fair to 
 say that the college is always to blame for 
 it? Colleges do not supply brains or 
 commonsense. They only supply the 
 students with knowledge to help develop 
 them. The very word education, which 
 means "to bring out," is suggestive here. 
 The college can but bring out into one's 
 life the desirable things that are already 
 in him. If they are not there, ten sheep- 
 skins will do him no good. When we speak 
 of failure of the college, it would be well 
 to remember that in many cases, the failure 
 is not in the college, but in the student 
 
 who either did not have the ability to avail 
 himself of college instruction, or deliber- 
 ately failed to make good. 
 
 At any rate, a college education given 
 an ambitious, well-balanced, brainy young 
 man is no bar to his success in life. It is 
 a strong factor in his favor, not against 
 him. 
 
 THE DIE IS CAST 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 The judgment of his countrymen has no 
 more effect now on the president sick than 
 it did after the 1918 election when the 
 president was well. The large majority in 
 the senate against the league without 
 reservations, the formidable opposition in 
 his own party to the league with or with- 
 out reservations, have made no impression 
 upon him. 
 
 So weak physically he can walk but a few 
 steps without assistance, chained most of 
 his working hours to an invalid's wheel, 
 carefully deposited in a chair by attendants 
 before cabinet members are admitted to 
 meetings, greeting them without rising, 
 suffering from periods of mental depression, 
 his passion for autocratic domination of all 
 about him, and his intolerance of counsel 
 from any source, remain unimpaired. 
 
 This is demonstrated by his action Satur- 
 day in dictating a message to Oregon demo- 
 crats in which he demands from his party 
 the unqualified endorsement of his League 
 of Nations and its covenant, without the 
 "dotting of an i" or the "crossing of a t." 
 He seeks to fasten on his party what he 
 calls "the service of humanity" at the cost 
 of his country's political independence, its 
 treasure, and the blood of its youth, which 
 he would freely give to establish and main- 
 tain the independence and the territorial 
 integrity of foreign nations as fixed in the 
 grabbing and bargaining at the peace con- 
 ference. 
 
 The hopes of the sane democracy of the 
 nation are dashed. Its vision of division 
 and disastrous defeat is made certain. It? 
 leader in the White House welcomes for it 
 the repudiation of American nationalism for 
 internationalism, contrary to the teachings 
 of the fathers of the republic. The fight is 
 now precipitated. Mr. Wilson demands 
 what Mr. Bryan aptly calls "suicide," and 
 what many other northern and not a few 
 southern democratic leaders believe to be 
 a fatal policy. The issue is squarely de- 
 fined, and the sure result of the adoption 
 of the Wilsonian ukase has been forecasted 
 in the primary elections of this spring. 
 
194 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 THE ADVANCE OF THE FARMER 
 
 Orlando Reporter-Star 
 
 As pictured in the comic supplements, the 
 farmer is a frowsy sort of animal. His 
 clothes look like a tramp's, he is usually 
 minus a necktie, and if his whiskers grow, 
 they look like Carranza's. 
 
 The real farmer, as he comes down town 
 these fine mornings, is a different person- 
 age. If his errand calls for contact with 
 the beasts of the field or good red earth, 
 he may not look just fit for a dancing party. 
 But usually you can't tell him from any 
 other kind of business man. 
 
 An Iowa man was remarking the other 
 day, that in his neighborhood the average 
 farm is worth close to $30,000, and is in- 
 creasing in value 10 per cent annually. A 
 number of other states are just as pros- 
 perous as Iowa. Our friend remarked how 
 many farmers now have houses lighted by 
 electricity or gas, funiace heat, brussels 
 carpets, lace curtains, pianos and victrolas. 
 They have one or two automobiles, take 
 one to three daily newspapers and as many 
 weeklies, support churches liberally, and 
 send their children to college and technical 
 school. 
 
 Of course in the newer states, many of 
 the farmers are where the Iowa man's 
 father was 30 years ago. But they will 
 soon come along. In the more unpro- 
 gressive states of the East, it is not fully 
 understood as yet that the agricultural 
 college knows more than your grandfather. 
 But this fact is much better realized than 
 it was. 
 
 What folly then, for the newspapers to 
 continue the preposterous habit of ridiculing 
 the farmer's alleged rusticity. It could well 
 be ignored, did it not lead some silly young 
 people to quit the farms for the empty 
 allurements of the white way. Also it 
 deters working men from going to the 
 country, and makes it harder to get farm 
 help, thus raising the cost of living for 
 everyone. But the city man who pities the 
 country people for their primitive condition 
 may have to borrow money of them to 
 help him buy the necessities of life. 
 
 HE IS RIGHT 
 
 St. Joseph Gazette 
 
 Prof. George Melcher of Kansas City is 
 quite right. Students frequently choose 
 more wisely in selecting their school work 
 than do instructors who seek to direct what 
 the pupils shall do. It is common knowl- 
 edge among the scholars that this is true, 
 although we do not before recall having 
 
 heard educators themselves confess to the 
 fact. 
 
 A boy, for instance, knows far better 
 than the faculty and the board of education 
 what he wishes to do in school. Yet he 
 seldom succeeds in having his way. He 
 realizes the value of inveigling flies and 
 bugs into bottles in order that he may study 
 their mysterious ways, while at the same 
 time giving the girl in the next seat the 
 scare of her timid young life, by offering 
 to dump the exhibit into her lap. He knows 
 that the thrilling nickel novel tucked away 
 inside the covers of his geography affords 
 him a better understanding of the life of 
 the western country than can be gleaned 
 from a map of the Pacific slope states — but 
 what teacher will believe him? He appre- 
 ciates the superiority of studying the human 
 body from going in swimming in the alto- 
 gether to that of discussing its frailties by 
 means of a schoolroom chart, yet he has 
 difficulty in getting educational lights to 
 accept his viewpoint. 
 
 It is much the same with a girl's studies. 
 Left to arrange the curriculum herself, she 
 would have one period for comparing latest 
 styles, another for washing the hair, a third 
 for practice in writing notes of acceptance 
 to invitations for her company, and yet an- 
 other for learning something about boys. 
 Still, how futilely might she suggest such 
 a course of study to the bespectacled fem- 
 inine members and the bald-headed men of 
 the corps of instructors! 
 
 Yes, Professor Melcher is undoubtedly 
 right — quite right. The student could select 
 a better schedule of work for the recitation 
 room and study hall than is now in force 
 by mandate of the board of education. The 
 choice, unhappily, is never left to the class- 
 men. That is why things are as they are; 
 that is why the world of education is chaos 
 itself, as any bright junior can tell you. 
 
 "SUPERFLUOUS WOMEN" 
 
 Knoxville Journal and Tribune 
 
 This is one of the things that are now 
 adding to the troubles of our Uncle John 
 Bull. Sir Rider Haggard has been making 
 a tour of the world, making an investiga- 
 tion looking to the disposition of the over- 
 stock of "the sex" in Great Britain. He 
 has paid special attention to the possibility 
 of reducing the number of inhabitants of 
 the female "gender." He says there were 
 over a million of superfluous women in 
 Great Britain, and that when the war ends 
 there will be millions of them. 
 
 This is easily understood. If there were 
 so many more women than men before, the 
 
EDITORIALS DEVELOPED IN THREE STAGES 
 
 195 
 
 difference will be widened on account of so 
 many men being killed in the war. And 
 what applies to Great Britain must also 
 apply to Germany and France, and Belgium 
 and Austria, in which countries the loss of 
 lives of men must run away up into the 
 millions. 
 
 It is claimed that there is a shortage of 
 women in Canada, Australia and other 
 British possessions to which many un- 
 married men have been immigrating and 
 but a few of them finding wives. Of course 
 there may be found places for a portion of 
 the superfluity; but what if they don't care 
 to leave England and go there? What is 
 to be done? Will the women be forced to 
 go to these outlying possessions, just to get 
 rid of them and make them less plentiful? 
 As suggested by the Louisville Courier- 
 Journal, "the truly advanced woman might 
 prefer a seat at a spindle in an English 
 factory, with wages and independence, as 
 against the hardship of a home in New 
 Zealand, British Columbia or British 
 Africa." But it must be borne in mind 
 that women as well as men have a love for 
 the home of their childhood. Be it ever 
 so humble, there's no place like the old 
 home. 
 
 There be those who without serious 
 thought may be provoked to smile at 
 such a condition as that reported; but 
 with those who think, it wears a very 
 serious aspect. The killing of men in war 
 is bad enough seen from any point of view, 
 and there are various points to be con- 
 sidered. The presence of so many "super- 
 fluous women," is one of them. 
 
 RAIL CONSUMPTION CUT LOW 
 
 Iron Trade Review 
 
 A smaller tonnage of steel rails was con- 
 sumed in the United States in 1919 than 
 during any similar period in more than 
 twenty years. Considering the expansion 
 of the transportation systems of the coun- 
 try during the past two decades it is prob- 
 able that the 1919 consumption relatively 
 was the lowest, barring one or two years, 
 in all history since steel rails came into 
 common use. These are the conclusions to 
 be drawn from the official figures of rail 
 production for the year 1919 which have 
 just been issued and appear elsewhere in 
 this issue. 
 
 The output of 2,203,843 gross tons of 
 rails in 1919 was the lowest since 1898, ex- 
 cepting only the two poor business years 
 of 1908 and 1914, when 1,921,015 gross 
 tons and 1,945,095 gross tons respectively 
 were rolled. Exports of rails in 1919, how- 
 
 ever, were the largest in history, totaling 
 652,449 tons, and making the net domestic 
 consumption 1,551,394 tons. This compares 
 with the net indicated domestic consumption 
 of 2,087,356 tons in 1918, 2,431,492 tons in 
 1917, 2,313,690 tons in 1916, 1,812,824 tons 
 in 1915 and 1,770,415 tons in 1914. 
 
 As has been pointed out before, the rail- 
 roads during the period of Government con- 
 trol were exceedingly poor buyers of rails 
 and other forms of iron and steel. The 
 total purchases of rails of the Railroad 
 Administration in 1919 in fact amounted to 
 only a few hundred thousand tons, the re- 
 mainder of the tonnage consumed having 
 come from deliveries against contracts 
 placed by the roads with the mills while 
 the former were under private management. 
 The parsimonious attitude of the Railroad 
 Administration in taking care of renewals 
 and replacements has put an added burden 
 upon the railroads under restored private 
 management. This has forced the latter 
 to come as a large buyer into the steel 
 market dominated by a general shortage 
 of tonnage and to bid for supplies against 
 other consumers with a consequent sharp 
 increase of costs to themselves. 
 
 A SCHOOL OF AMERICANISM 
 
 New York Herald 
 
 In a recent address Mr. Martin J. Wade, 
 judge of the United States Court for the 
 Southern District of Iowa, contributes to 
 current thought many valuable suggestions 
 on the question, Shall we have a school 
 of Americanism? 
 
 Judge Wade says that the war "disturbed 
 the lives of many of our people, unsettled 
 their occupations, overturned ordinary eco- 
 nomic conditions and produced confusion. 
 The war aroused many elements of human 
 passion which under the influence of Chris- 
 tion civilization had long been dormant. 
 The passion of selfishness and greed seems 
 to have been aroused to a degree never 
 before existing in this country. The com- 
 mon interest in the lives and fortunes of 
 our fellow men which must exist in a 
 democracy seems to have faded away." 
 
 Many persons will not agree with Judge 
 Wade in his apparent pessimism; neverthe- 
 less all will endorse his statement that 
 education is the first remedy for the evils 
 which exist as a result of radical socialism, 
 anarchism and all forms of Bolshevism. It 
 is well said that "every American should 
 be a lamp lighting the way of freedom as 
 well as a stone wall resisting every attack 
 upon the integrity of the nation." Yet the 
 
196 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 big question is, How shall this education be 
 practically accomplished ? 
 
 Judge Wade suggests that in an Ameri- 
 canization campaign the methods of political 
 campaigners should be adopted. Some 
 stanch American should be selected in each 
 precinct. A questionnaire should go to him 
 giving information concerning every voter. 
 From these answers a mailing list should 
 be made. To the proper persons on this 
 list Americanization literature should be 
 sent which will help bring to them some- 
 thing of the vision of their country as it 
 really is. 
 
 In the words of Judge Wade: "This 
 generation is going to protect the flag; the 
 next generation may substitute the red flag 
 for the Stars and Stripes." To avoid this 
 calamity the present generation must in- 
 augurate some Americanization campaign 
 bringing practical results. Judge Wade's 
 suggestions with regard to the manner of 
 conducting such a campaign are worthy 
 of serious consideration. 
 
 MARVELOUS MODERN FACILITIES 
 
 Providence Bulletin 
 
 The public's attention has been directed 
 anew to one of the strange conditions of 
 modern life by the statement that cold- 
 storage warehouses in New Jersey now 
 hold eighteen million dozens of eggs, seven 
 million pounds of meat, and eleven million 
 pounds of other foods. And this is the re- 
 port from only one of the States in which 
 the cold-storage industry is a tremendous 
 factor in conserving the food-supply of the 
 nation and equalizing its distribution. 
 
 Here is one of the little-considered 
 changes that have occurred in the economic 
 mechanism of living during the past three 
 or four decades, but it has been far-reach- 
 ing in its effects. The development of store- 
 house facilities has been marvelous since 
 the days when Joseph in Egypt warned 
 against the famine menaced by the "lean 
 years," and advised conservation. The pos- 
 sibilities of modern cold-storage seem 
 almost unlimited. The combination of ware- 
 house and refrigerator-car has made prac- 
 ticable many achievements that were con- 
 sidered impossible fifty years ago, but that 
 are now accepted as commonplace. 
 
 The development of refrigeration has 
 been both beneficial and detrimental in its 
 effects upon economic conditions, for there 
 are inevitable drawbacks in most processes 
 of evolution. We cannot believe that the 
 change is yet complete. Probably in a 
 hundred years the present conditions will 
 be regarded as quite as crude as the con- 
 
 ditions of 1816 now appear to us. Not onlj 
 will improved methods be employed, bu1 
 probably some of the present commercia 
 evils of the cold-storage business will be 
 eliminated by that time. Unquestionablj 
 we have reached a permanent era of cold- 
 storage and canned goods, but in this the 
 importance of fresh food need not be for- 
 gotten. The next problem to be recognized 
 is that of prompt and equitable distribu- 
 tion. There is too strong a tendency at 
 present to sacrifice fresh food-supplies to 
 the interests of canning and cold-storage 
 industries. 
 
 THE MORGUE-KEEPER 
 
 Pep 
 
 All jobs on newspapers are good, but 
 some are worse. The worst is that of the 
 down-trodden morgue-keeper. 
 
 The morgue-keeper, usually of the 
 feminine gender, begins her career filled 
 with the importance of her job. The editor 
 has just had a long talk with her. He has 
 told her how essential a morgue is to his 
 paper, how in the past his hasn't been the 
 realest sort of morgue. But now he has 
 determined to build up a morgue that will 
 be worth more to him than many reporters. 
 
 If the mayor of Tokyo dies, this editor 
 is going to be in a position to print the full 
 facts of his mayorship's life; these facts 
 will all have been clipped from here and 
 there, filed and properly indexed. And, of 
 course, the mayor's picture will also have 
 been filed. If a burglary is done and much 
 swag is made away with, the paper will be 
 able instantly to print an article on all the 
 famous burglaries that have been committed 
 in the past fifty years; the facts for this 
 article will have been clipped and filed by 
 the morgue-keeper. 
 
 And so the editor raves on in the ear of 
 his elected clipper, filer and indexer, and 
 he believes his own ravings. 
 
 And the morgue-keeper, flattered that she 
 of all others has been selected to fill so 
 responsible a post, undertakes her work of 
 reading and clipping and filing. And in 
 less than a week she is also doing social, 
 writing recipes for the woman's page, an- 
 swering the telephone, going out on a story 
 when there is no one else to go out on it 
 (and there usually isn't), reading proof; 
 and in between times she finds 10 minutes a 
 day to devote to the morgue. 
 
 Every man in the editorial room finds 
 eight hours a day to devote to removing 
 from the morgue files, clippings, pictures, 
 mats. He returns them if he feels like 
 doing so, which he usually doesn't. 
 
EDITORIALS DEVELOPED IN THREE STAGES 
 
 197 
 
 And yet through it all this feminine per- 
 son known as the morgue-keeper does get 
 away with her job. Somehow she always 
 can come through with the dope that will 
 build the flash story up. She loses her 
 temper sometimes, but never her loyalty. 
 She fights for that darn morgue as a tabby 
 fights for a kitten. And somehow the 
 morgue is a success. 
 
 Not as big a success as would be if its 
 importance were really understood. 
 
 It is apparent that the editor who insists 
 on a well conducted morgue and then fails 
 to co-operate in its upbuilding doesn't really 
 understand what a morgue's all about. But 
 despite lack of co-operation that girl in 
 the morgue does make herself worth several 
 reporters. 
 
 Pep sympathizes with her trials, recog- 
 nizes her service, and wishes her luck. 
 
 MILK SUPPLY AND PRICES 
 
 Springfield Union 
 
 The report that farmers are being ad- 
 vised to sell some of their cows in order 
 to keep up the price of milk through a 
 reduction of the supply is naturally pro- 
 voking protests from producers. In the 
 ordinary course the spring months, with 
 their plentiful supply of green feed, bring 
 increased milk production and lower prices. 
 This year, it is reported, some producing 
 interests hope to avoid a reduction of the 
 price and are urging reduction of herds as 
 a means of preventing the usual spring 
 surplus of milk from coming on the market. 
 
 From the viewpoint of dollars and cents 
 to the producer this proposal may seem in- 
 viting, especially with labor scarce and with 
 the railway transportation conditions far 
 from the desired standards of efficiency. 
 But from the standpoint of public welfare 
 such a reduction would constitute a real 
 peril. Milk is a necessity, the use of which 
 should be encouraged by every means that 
 can be devised by publicity, co-operation 
 and proper legislation. The best and surest 
 way to promote that end is to make the 
 price of milk as reasonable as possible, in 
 justice to all factors. 
 
 To an extent the producer is no doubt 
 warranted in his desire to prevent a decline 
 of the price of milk through expansion of 
 the supply, since grain and help are so 
 exceptionally high as to involve special 
 stakes and risks for the farmer. But some 
 reduction of the price would seem to be 
 warranted by the natural advantage that 
 comes from the farmer's being enabled to 
 turn his cows out to grass and economize 
 
 in their feeding and care. The public, for 
 urgent and vital reasons, should reap a 
 share of that advantage. Attempts to 
 profiteer in milk should be emphatically dis- 
 couraged. There is a broader reason, more- 
 over, why any movement to cut down farm 
 herds should be discouraged. A reduction 
 of livestock on the farms means a reduc- 
 tion in fertility and output of the farms on 
 general lines, and that certainly is not in 
 line with the efforts making on the part 
 of our farm improvement and rural better- 
 ment organizations. 
 
 LEARNING TO THINK 
 
 Fargo CJourier-News 
 
 According to a professor in the summer 
 school of the Ohio State University, there 
 has been a marked deterioration in the last 
 twenty-five years in the ability of students 
 to think. He says that formerly he was able 
 to lead his pupils to consecutive thought, but 
 now they do not concentrate; what they ac- 
 quire is by parrotlike memorizing. 
 
 This is also admitted by other noted edu- 
 cators in different parts of the country, and 
 doubtless has a large amount of truth in it. 
 The youth of today has his attention scat- 
 tered and diverted over a wide area of in- 
 terests. The variety of amusements outside 
 of school, the highly spiced and exciting ex- 
 periences of everyday life, are not calculated 
 to develop the ability to fix the attention 
 upon a subject until it has been measured. 
 The school curriculum is largely given over 
 to a variety of subjects — so great a variety, 
 in fact, that few pupils get more than a 
 smattering of each. 
 
 But too much ought not to be expected 
 from the public school pupil. When it is 
 realized that nearly all of the instruction 
 he gets in culture, religion, morals and be- 
 havior is now given in the schools, it be- 
 comes apparent that they have a big job on 
 their hands. 
 
 Further than this, the art of fixing the 
 attention is not easily acquired. Ability to 
 concentrate is gained only by painful and 
 persistent effort. Our guess is that the most 
 serious fault here is due to the teachers* 
 failure to instruct the pupils in the method 
 of concentration. They should be expert in 
 this, for college training is supposed to 
 have this for one of its chief objects. 
 
 We have not forgotten the dictum of a 
 professor, uttered in our hearing long ago, 
 in a manner calculated to impress all stu- 
 dents who heard it. "At the end of the 
 freshman year in college the student ought 
 to be able to think consecutively upon a 
 subject for five minutes; at the end of his 
 sophomore year, for ten minutes; at the end 
 
198 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 of the junior year, for fifteen minutes, and 
 the graduate having carefully utilized the 
 advantages of his alma mater for four years 
 should be able to concentrate and think 
 consecutively for twenty minutes." 
 
 The college training which can bring its 
 subjects to the commencement (of their ac- 
 tive life) with the ability to think consecu- 
 tively and with concentration upon a subject 
 for twenty minutes ought to be satisfactory 
 enough for anybody. 
 
 Meanwhile, we commend to the attention 
 of public school teachers — especially high 
 school teachers — ^the need of teaching stu- 
 dents how to think, how to concentrate and 
 how to study. It is in these points that the 
 chief defects of our system lie. 
 
 LINCOLN AND FIUME 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 A report went the rounds, just prior to 
 the San Remo conference, that Abraham 
 Lincoln once interested himself in the Fiume 
 question. Verification is now furnished in 
 a statement that a representative from 
 Zara, on the Dalmatian coast, among those 
 present at San Remo, had a "hitherto un- 
 published letter," written by Lincoln in 1853, 
 dated at Springfield, Illinois, which made 
 known his ideas — incidentally they were 
 widely divergent from those that Mr. Wilson 
 has been attempting to force on Italy. The 
 Journal printed the substance of the re- 
 ported letter recently, and it is said that 
 photographic copies of the original, found 
 in the archives of the Melloni family, are 
 on their way to America. 
 
 Anything new relating to Lincoln is, of 
 course, of great interest. Last February 
 what was announced as a "find," a speech 
 delivered in 1842 "comparable to the Gettys- 
 burg Address," was made public. But it 
 turned out that Lincoln's biographers had 
 not overlooked it. No reference to any such 
 letter as that now reported, however, ap- 
 pears to have been made by the historians 
 — ^which is not surprising, considering the 
 reported circumstances. 
 
 As narrated, it was written to Professor 
 Macedonio Melloni, a distinguished Italian 
 physicist, at the latter's request. Professor 
 
 Melloni, who died in 1854, had been prom- 
 inent as a revolutionist; he was undoubtedly 
 interested in world politics as well as 
 science; he had a wide acquaintance with 
 personages in Paris and London, and that 
 he should have communicated with a rising 
 American statesman is not improbable. 
 
 Lincoln, at that tim«, was in what his 
 biographers call the second period of his 
 career. His service in Congress had given 
 him some political reputation, but he bad 
 settled down to the practice of law at 
 Springfield, and was studying the mathe- 
 matics of Euclid to make himself proficient 
 in close and sustained reasoning. Italy was 
 in a fever of irredentism. Trieste was seeth- 
 ing with revolution, and the whole Dalma- 
 tian coast was affected. 
 
 Large views are expressed in this sup- 
 posed Lincoln letter. A United States of 
 Europe was in the writer's mind; and, first 
 of all, in order to secure the equilibrium 
 necessary to the realization of the idea he 
 regarded it as "indispensable to assure the 
 absolute independence of Italy." Latin civ- 
 ilization strongly appealed to him. He was 
 heart and soul with the Irredentists. He 
 held that not only should the lost provinces 
 be restored to Italy, but she should have 
 "absolute mastery of the ancient Lake of 
 Venice — ^the Adriatic — ^from Fiume as far 
 as Cattaro without interruption, the whole 
 length of Dalmatia as far as Albania, which 
 also ought to be united to Italy." His study 
 of the twenty-two centuries of Dalmatia's 
 history had convinced him that "the ethnical 
 quantities which have been violently super- 
 imposed there, to the prejudice of the native 
 Italians, are formed by the most barbarous 
 people of the world, Bulgarians, Croats and 
 Serbians." He looked forward to the time 
 when the territory should be taken from 
 Austria, to which Power the soulless Holy 
 Alliance had given it. 
 
 Assuming the authenticity of this inter- 
 eting document, Italy will have the backing 
 of the American people in appealing from 
 Wilson to Lincoln. Regardless of the au- 
 thorship of the letter, of course, the just- 
 ness of the Italian aspiration is as clear 
 today as it appeared to the writer seventy 
 years ago. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 EDITORIALS FOCUSED UPON THE NEWS 
 
 The editorials in the pages next 
 following are brought together be- 
 cause they have one characteristic in 
 common— each of them focuses itself, 
 
 from one angle or another, upon its 
 subject as a news-matter. See Part 
 I, Chapter IV, for classifications of 
 the news-editorial. 
 
 THE WAR-DIPLOMAS 
 
 Maasaehusetts Ck)llegian 
 In granting diplomas to those men who 
 attended M. A. C. for three years and then 
 left college for the service, the faculty is 
 taking a step which should have been made 
 long ago. It is never too late to mend and 
 the faculty is to be congratulated upon the 
 belated magnanimity. Just exactly what 
 these diplomas are worth, except as parlor 
 decorations, remains to be seen. 
 
 BETTER BRING AN UMBRELLA 
 
 Buffalo Express 
 
 Here is a current despatch from Provi- 
 dence, R. I.: "A three-day week schedule 
 has been inaugurated in many textile mills 
 here owing to the slack situation in the 
 market. Practically all the silk mills have 
 adopted the three-day week and contem- 
 plate shutting down unless the situation 
 improves." 
 
 This is the first discordant note in the 
 chorus of prosperity. It is not to take 
 alarm at, but merely to remind that no tide 
 stays long at flood and that the coming 
 rainy day should find us with a roof over 
 our heads and provisions in the house. 
 
 WE'RE EMBARGOED 
 
 Sun and New York Herald 
 On and after the first day of June it will 
 cost citizens $10 for permission to voyage 
 from these States to foreign lands — $1 for 
 executing the application and $9 for the 
 passport when issued. But there are ex- 
 ceptions. The elder statesmen constituting 
 the committees of Congress having juris- 
 diction over bills relating to our foreign 
 relations, meeting in conference, were moved 
 by charity, generosity, pity or what not, and 
 excepted from payment of this tax those 
 voyagers whose destination is Cuba or Can- 
 ada. Fortunate Cuba! Happy Canada! 
 Lands blessed with climates alluring and 
 no $10 handicap imposed upon those eager 
 ebtd^ ^ngii^ m^r w(ays id ab^'rb Miniatic 
 delight^. 
 
 PAPER MADE FROM GARBAGE 
 
 Sun and New York Herald 
 The experiences of paper manufacturers 
 in Middletown, 0., last year have proved the 
 practicability of manufacturing paper from 
 the refuse and garbage of cities, and may 
 point the way toward a solution of the paper 
 shortage, according to Thomas J. Keenan, 
 secretary-treasurer of the Technical Asso- 
 ciation of the Pulp and Paper Industry, 
 which is meeting in conjunction with the 
 forty-third annual convention of the Amer- 
 ican Paper and Pulp Association. 
 
 The fibres of vegetable matter, old paper 
 and cloth, wood an-d leather fragments found 
 in refuse make a satisfactory pulp, when 
 treated by the continuous heating system 
 and cooked with soda, for the manufacture 
 of coarse, strong paper, said Mr. Keenan. 
 Although the paper itself is too stiff and 
 dark colored to be useful as newsprint, 
 quantity production in many cities on a 
 large scale might be expected to partly re- 
 lieve the demand for high grade wood pulp 
 needed in newsprint manufacture, which is 
 now used in the manufacture of low grade 
 papers. 
 
 LATENT POWER IN ATOMS 
 
 Scientific American 
 
 Only a few years ago it was the teaching 
 that the atom was the smallest division of 
 matter, and today scientists are discussing 
 the possibility of the race learning how to 
 use the force which would become available 
 with the unlocking of the latent atomic 
 power. 
 
 Prof. W. A. Noyes discussed the relations 
 between atoms and electrons, which form a 
 part of atoms, in his address upon being 
 awarded the Willard Gibbs medal, and stated 
 that electrons probably rotate. This would 
 make the atom a sort of miniature universe 
 in which its nucleus would correspond to a 
 sun and the electrons to the revolving 
 planets. 
 
 Sir Qlive^ I^od^e u^ a cece^t fiddrea^ alsb 
 spoke 6i the latent atoftufe povreit which h^ 
 
200 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 considers so very great that it would be 
 disastrous to have it become available to 
 men before a moral plane high enough to 
 prevent its abuse has been reached. He 
 thought that a way to release this great 
 power is not beyond the possible and some 
 day it may supply a satisfactory substitute 
 for that now obtained when molecules, made 
 up of atoms, are shattered by combustion of 
 fuel or other chemical processes. 
 
 PERCENTAGE OF STORE EXPENSE 
 Dry Goods Reporter 
 
 Several weeks ago the Michigan Retail 
 Dry Goods Association sent to its members 
 a questionnaire regarding percentage of 
 gross annual expense. It was the purpose 
 of the association to gather figures which 
 could be used with authority in case a mem- 
 ber should be called before an investigating 
 committee on a charge of profiteering or to 
 give general figures as to retail business. 
 
 The replies received from the members 
 indicate that most of the stores do not keep 
 accounts accurately enough to enable them 
 to tell just what their expenses are. 
 
 The statements of expense varied widely. 
 One of the most accurate statements that 
 was made, indicating that the store has a 
 very complete understanding of the costs of 
 doing business, gave the gross annual ex- 
 pense for 1917 as 32.5 per cent and for 
 1918, 36.5 per cent. Another, equally com- 
 plete, gave figures for the two years of 
 29.75 and 29.25 per cent. A third gave 26.18 
 and 25.4 per cent. 
 
 Other figures were much lower. One very 
 successful merchant in a country village 
 gave his expenses as 14,6 and 11.4 per cent. 
 The total costs in small towns ran from 16 
 to 24 per cent a year. 
 
 The general summary of the replies indi- 
 cates that the gross cost of doing business 
 in Michig£^n is not far from 25 per cent and 
 anyone estimating lower than this is apt to 
 be led into error and subsequent loss. 
 
 Retailers are advised to give this figure 
 as the approximate cost of doing business, if 
 called upon for a statement. 
 
 THE CENTENNIAL ERA 
 
 Boston Post 
 The people of Hawaii are winding up a 
 season of celebrations to commemorate the 
 landing at Honolulu one hundred years ago 
 of the party of American missionaries which 
 sailed from Boston for those Pacific Islands 
 six months before. This benevolent in- 
 vasion fixed the foundation of the develop- 
 ment of that people and of their rich terri- 
 tory along the lines which have led to 
 incorporation as a worthy section of our 
 republic. 
 
 In a more distant outlook, preparations 
 are now making at Manila to mark the 
 discovery of the Philippine Islands by 
 Magellan. The fourth century from the 
 date when the great navigator set foot upon 
 the island of Malhou will not be completed 
 until March of the coming year; and at this 
 distance in the ages there will be no in- 
 congruity in continuing the celebration, as 
 has been proposed, for a couple of months 
 to commemorate the arrival of Admiral 
 Dewey at Manila in these modern times. 
 
 Right here at home we are accepting the 
 centennial habit with approval. The his- 
 tory which has been written on this con- 
 tinent since the Pilgrim Fathers landed at 
 Provincetown three hundred years ago forms 
 the greatest chapter in the world's records. 
 
 HOME-MADE BOOZE 
 
 San Francisco Bulletin 
 
 Nominally the nation is bone dry; ac- 
 tually, it is almost as moist as ever, but 
 with a strange, new, amateur and home- 
 made moisture. Everybody's brewing it, but 
 they are all brewing it in different ways. 
 They meet and exchange experiences, 
 formulas and samples, and never in the his- 
 tory of the country was there such wide- 
 spread interest in the chemistry of intox- 
 icants. 
 
 Some librarians have censored all volumes 
 containing information on the subject of 
 brewing, vinting and distilling, and there 
 are gaps in their encyclopedias, but the lit- 
 erature of enlivening liquids is very exten- 
 sive and accessible. Even if it were not, the 
 human instinct for making draughts with a 
 "kick" would come to the rescue of the in- 
 dustriously thirsty. The earliest nature 
 study revealed the plants from which some 
 form of "joy juice" may be extracted. The 
 most benighted of savages were quick to 
 seize upon the herbs with a latent jolt or a 
 narcotic balm. Huxley says that savage 
 man's first step toward civilization was 
 when he devised some way of qualifying his 
 water, and scientists tell us that civilization 
 is many thousand years older than some of 
 us may believe. 
 
 It will be interesting to observe the results 
 of the prevailing enthusiasm for the study 
 of chemistry. The search for new explosives 
 is as nothing compared with the search for 
 new ways of getting an internal "kick." 
 
 SENATOR FALL ON MEXICO 
 
 New York Evening Post 
 Of outstanding interest in the report of 
 the Fall committee upon our relations with 
 Mexico is its recommendation that the pro- 
 visions of the famous Article 27 of the 
 Mexican Constitution shall not apply to 
 
EDITORIALS FOCUSED UPON THE NEWS 
 
 201 
 
 A-mericans. This is the article which pro- 
 ddes that subsoil products, meaning par- 
 ncularly oil, shall be and remain the prop- 
 irty of the Mexican Government, to be dis- 
 posed of by law or decree. The Petroleum 
 3ode, which was drafted to carry out the 
 provisions of this article, was the subject 
 of a protest from President Wilson to Car- 
 ranza two years ago. In that note the 
 President declared: "The United States can- 
 aot acquiesce in any procedure ostensibly or 
 nominally in the form of taxation or the 
 exercise of eminent domain, but really re- 
 sulting in the confiscation of private prop- 
 erty and arbitrary deprivation of vested 
 rights." So long as Article 27 remains in 
 the Mexican Constitution unaltered, it can 
 be made the basis for confiscatory legisla- 
 tion. With a new regime in Mexico, de- 
 sirous of better relations with us, there is 
 hope that advances made by the State De- 
 partment in the proper spirit may result in 
 such modification of the article as will re- 
 move one of the chief causes of contention 
 between the two countries. 
 
 For the time being we may fix our atten- 
 tion upon that phase of the Fall report 
 which emphasizes the need of an under- 
 standing with Mexico without taking too 
 seriously the alternative of a military oc- 
 cupation. 
 
 SHEEP RAISING IN THE HILLS 
 
 Kansas City Star 
 
 The Department of Agriculture of Penn- 
 sylvania is trying to make great sheep pas- 
 tures of the hilly districts of that state; 
 and Massachusetts is working out a plan 
 for extensive sheep raising in the Berkshire 
 hills, which cover the western part of that 
 state. In those sections the soil is poor and 
 the land, for the most part, lies waste and 
 unproductive. Yet it might be profitably 
 employed in raising sheep. 
 
 In Pennsylvania the state buys the ewes 
 and places ten of them with anyone who 
 will care for them, the farmer keeping all 
 the wool and one-half the lambs bom. The 
 state takes the other half, and this pays the 
 cost of carrying on the plan. It is hoped 
 that the farmer who gets the ten sheep 
 will soon learn that there is a good profit 
 in sheep-raising as a food and wool supply. 
 
 In Massachusetts the plan is for several 
 neighboring farmers to combine their flocks 
 into one large flock and hire a shepherd to 
 care for them. 
 
 Agricultural experts agree that no coun- 
 try is better adapted to sheep-raising than 
 the Ozark hills of Missouri, and yet there 
 are scarcely any sheep there. With the 
 present stimulus of high prices for mutton 
 
 and wool, and the outlook for the continu- 
 ance of those prices, there ought to be good 
 profits in sheep raising in the Ozarks. 
 
 ANESTHETICS USED ON PLANTS 
 
 New York Times 
 
 Several recent dispatches from London 
 have told of an interesting piece of mechan- 
 ism, the invention of an East Indian sci- 
 entist, by the use of which the growth and 
 movements of plants were so magnified as 
 to become easily visible as shadowed on a 
 screen. These exhibitions gave the ob- 
 servers of them a clearer realization than 
 they had before of the fact that plants not 
 only are alive, but that their lives are active 
 and purposeful in much the same way as 
 are the lives of animals. 
 
 Now the same scientist — who has the fine 
 name of Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose — has 
 made, he says, the interesting discovery that 
 if plants are to be subjected to a severe 
 shock, such as is involved when they are 
 removed from one place in the ground to 
 another, they are much more likely to sur- 
 vive it if they are anaesthetized before the 
 "operation" is performed. This seems a 
 fanciful assertion, but its accuracy is a 
 matter of fact, not of opinion, and the pro- 
 pounder of the theory says that he has 
 tested it repeatedly in transplanting ex- 
 periments, and that his success has been 
 remarkable. 
 
 It has been known for years that the vital 
 activities of plants, exactly like those of 
 animals, can be slowed down or suspended 
 by the use of anaesthetics, and by this 
 means some florists have prevented blossom- 
 ing before a desired date like Easter or 
 Christmas. That transplantation is a great 
 shock to all vegetable growth from seed- 
 lings to mature trees — that it is often fatal 
 and always delays their progress — is known 
 to every gardener, professional or amateur. 
 It is not at all incredible, therefore, that the 
 removal would be better borne if the plant 
 were in a state describable as one of un- 
 consciousness. 
 
 These investigations deserve heeding by 
 people who let what might be called do- 
 mesticated plants go hungry, and especially 
 thirsty — subject them, that is, to cruelty 
 which they would not dream of inflicting 
 on any animals. That the plants thus 
 neglected "suffer" in the ordinary sense 
 of the word may not be demonstrable, but 
 they present all the familiar signs of pain, 
 including that of death, when the maltreat- 
 ment is too prolonged or severe, and the 
 possessors of hearts really kind and con- 
 sciences really sensitive should feel com- 
 punction when they forget to water the 
 geraniums on the window ledge. 
 
202 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 CHURCHES AFTER THE WAR 
 
 New Orleans States 
 
 The prediction of a general spiritual 
 awakening after the war is only partially 
 fulfilled in the statistics given in the year 
 book of the Federal Council of Churches, 
 just now issued. 
 
 The tables reveal an increase of 2,780,000 
 members in all the churches of the United 
 States since 1916, 580,000 representing the 
 growth of the Protestant bodies belonging 
 to the Council. 
 
 These figures, taken alone, are encourag- 
 ing evidence of freshened religious activity, 
 but a closer analysis discloses some grounds 
 for discouragement, as for instance in the 
 falling off in Sunday schools and attend- 
 ance upon them. 
 
 Last year there were 10,587 fewer Sunday 
 schools than three years ago, and the at- 
 tendance 3,644,000 less. The churches, of 
 course, draw their new membership from 
 the Sunday schools, and, with a declining 
 Sunday school attendance, the growth in 
 church membership cannot fail to be af- 
 fected. 
 
 One curious development is a falling off 
 in attendance at the Jewish synagogues of 
 New York. Last year it was 260,000, indi- 
 cating that a considerable number of per- 
 sons of Jewish ancestry have ceased to go 
 to religious services. 
 
 According to the figures of the year book 
 the membership of the Protestant churches 
 is 26,000,000, and of the Roman Catholic 
 18,000,000. It is explained, however, that 
 whereas the Protestant reports only cover 
 adult church members the reports of the 
 Catholic churches cover entire families. 
 
 The Greek Orthodox Church reports a 
 total membership of 120,000, and the Rus- 
 sian Orthodox 100,000. It may surprise 
 many to know that the membership of the 
 two Mormon bodies is within 5000 of half 
 a million. 
 
 THE END OF AN ODYSSEY 
 
 Manchester Guardian 
 
 The news from Berlin of the arrival in 
 Arabia of the remnants of the Emden's crew 
 is the finishing touch to an adventure well 
 in keeping with the general history of the 
 famous German commerce raider. When 
 the Emden was caught by the Sydney off 
 Cocos Island on November 9 she put out to 
 meet the Sydney without taking on board 
 ag'ain the landing party which had been 
 put ashore to Wretk the cable station. 
 
 By the time the Emden had formally sur- 
 rendered and several rescues had been made 
 of isolated mfembbrs of her crfew who had 
 taken to the water, night was fallitfgi knd 
 
 it was too late for the Sydney to get into 
 communication with the cable station. 
 
 When she did so on the next day her cap- 
 tain learned that the Emden's landing party 
 of forty men and three officers had made 
 vigorous use of the delay. They had seized 
 and provisioned a seventy-ton schooner, the 
 Ayesha, and escaped in her the previous 
 evening with four Maxims and a modest 
 but useful amount of ammunition for them. 
 
 There was material here for a fine ad- 
 venture after the heart of a sea-faring 
 novelist, and it has been pretty well fulfilled 
 in fact. The cable operators vowed that it 
 would be a short one, asserting that the 
 Ayesha was leaking when she was seized 
 and would take her captors to the bottom 
 with her before they got very far. 
 
 But she did not sink — ^perhaps the re- 
 sourceful crew repaired her on their voyage 
 — and in three weeks she was lying in storesi 
 at Padang, a straight 830 miles away, on 
 the coast of Sumatra. This was on No- 
 vember 28, and since then, from the details 
 given in the Berlin message, the Ayesha 
 has made her way in four months across at 
 least 4100 miles of the Indian Ocean, reach-j 
 ing the Arabian coast at the bottom of the' 
 Red Sea on March 27. 
 
 Presumably the intention of her crew was 
 then to march inland to the nearest center 
 of their allies, the Turkish army. But their 
 adventures were by no means over, for on 
 their way they were attacked by the Arabs 
 of the Yemen, who have no great love for 
 Turkish rule. The Arabs clung to the party 
 for three days, and left their mark on i\ 
 in the shape of several casualties. 
 
 The wounded, says the Berlin message 
 are now in hospital at Jeddah, which pre- 
 sumably means that the rest have got intc 
 touch with some sort of Turkish forces: 
 and so we come definitely to the "last of the 
 Emden," as an individual fighting unit. 
 
 JAPAN AND AMERICA 
 
 Chicago Tribune 
 
 Two items of interest touching the sub- 
 ject of Japanese-American relations have 
 appeared in the press. 
 
 One was a report from Argentina thai 
 Japan seems to have embarked upon an ex- 
 tensive colonization scheme in South Amer 
 ica. Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru, and Bolivia 
 are said to be welcoming settlement oJ 
 Japanese in their countries, having un- 
 developed land to spare. 
 
 The Japanese, cooped up in their islands 
 and growing in numbers, must go some- 
 wbfer'ei. Thfe Unilfed States is tr^ng to keej 
 them dul b'f it^ borders. Siberii^ iis th^ 
 
EDITORIALS FOCUSED UPON THE NEWS 
 
 203 
 
 reverse of hospitable. China is already 
 overpopulated. Corea is limited. 
 
 Expansion is not a policy with Japan. It 
 is a necessity. 
 
 The other item conveyed news of the 
 generous welcome given by Japan to a 
 travelling party of American business men. 
 One of the party says: "It is inconceivable 
 that Japan and America will fight over a 
 misunderstanding now when European 
 civilization has retrograded fifty years as a 
 result of the war and a Jap-American con- 
 flict would retard civilization a century. 
 Literally the hope of both east and west 
 rests upon American- Japanese co-opera- 
 tion." 
 
 As for a misunderstanding, we agree 
 that it is at least almost inconceivable 
 that Japan and America should fight over 
 a misunderstanding. Wars are seldom the 
 result of a misunderstanding, unless it be 
 a misunderstanding of each other's strength. 
 But consideration for civilization has never 
 stopped a great war, and we doubt if it 
 ever will. 
 
 A war between Japan and America will 
 not come unless America blocks the road 
 to some object which the Japanese consider 
 essential to their welfare and progress, or 
 unless Japan, in pursuing that road, threat- 
 ens the peace and welfare of America. 
 
 The amenities of international inter- 
 course, official or non-oiScial, will not avoid 
 either. 
 
 The American people and their govern- 
 ment would do well to grasp the truth that 
 the way to come to blows with Japan is 
 to be so weak and uncertain as to invite 
 encroachment: to be taken in by pacifists 
 who would have us believe that Japanese 
 policy is not energetically patriotic but 
 sentimentally altruistic, or by optimists, of 
 a more practical disposition, who discern 
 private profits in financial enterprises in 
 the far east. 
 
 We see no necessity for war with Japan, 
 But peace can be preserved between us 
 only if we study Japanese policy and ac- 
 tion, understand their powerful motives, 
 and at all times maintain our power to 
 defend our own legitimate concerns. There 
 is nothing, we believe, in the direct path 
 of Japan's proper expansion which need 
 clash with our important interests, and 
 there is no likelihood, therefore, of our 
 adopting a course of action which Japan 
 must necessarily challenge. 
 
 That is, there is no likelihood if we look 
 facts clearly in the face and do not permit 
 our defensive strength to fail to a point 
 
 at which Japanese policy might be tempted 
 to expand at our expense. 
 
 The South American development is not 
 one to which we can afford to shut our 
 eyes. If it extends, it is likely to bring 
 about a serious situation for both countries. 
 On the other hand, Japanese expansion in 
 the far east promises no very serious diffi- 
 culties, and we must hope it marks the 
 trend of Japanese amibition, rather than 
 expansion on our side of the Pacific. 
 
 But if we neglect our naval and military 
 power we shall be preparing with certainty 
 the war we would earnestly avoid. 
 
 ELIMINATING TYPESETTING 
 
 FROM THE MAGAZINES 
 
 The Inland Printer 
 
 What may prove to be a revolution in 
 methods of producing publications appears 
 very likely to be the outgrowth of the 
 present disturbance in the printing industry 
 of New York city. A report from that city 
 advises us that two magazines attempted 
 publication during the past month without 
 the aid of compositors, one getting out its 
 issues without the aid of pressmen. 
 
 In order not to miss an issue after 
 seventy-three years of continuous publica- 
 tion, the Dry Goods Economist produced its 
 October 11 number on mimeographs, five of 
 these machines being installed to accom- 
 plish the work, copy being written on a 
 typewriter, and some crude outline draw- 
 ings inserted in the advertising pages. The 
 mimeographs took sheets 8V^ by 14 inches 
 in size and printed on only one side. The 
 magazine required twenty-four of these 
 sheets, printed on both sides. The sheets 
 were folded once, collated and stitched, 
 making a book of ninety-six pages, 7 by 8% 
 inches. The edition was thirteen thousand, 
 and it was necessary for the five machines 
 to be kept working four days and nights, 
 ninety-six hours, to get it out. For the 
 issue of October 18 several multigraphs 
 where used, with somewhat better results, 
 as these machines print from type or elec- 
 trotypes from photoengraved plates. This 
 issue consisted of fifteen thousand copies, 
 one hundred pages, and twenty-five signa- 
 tures had to be collated and wire stitched. 
 
 The publishers of The Literary Digest 
 adopted the plan of typewriting the copy 
 and having it photoengraved, so that the 
 magazine was printed from photoengrav- 
 ings. The copy was typewritten in ten- 
 point type, five inches wide. Pages were 
 pasted up on cardboard, the typewritten 
 matter, headings and proof from engrav- 
 
204 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 ings being assembled and sent to the en- 
 graver, who reduced them to the regular 
 page size, which brought the type down to 
 about eight-point. Our report states that 
 nothing was saved in the cost of composi- 
 tion, as it was found that the cost of the 
 typewriting, pasting and photoengraving 
 averaged $7.50 a page. 
 
 Another report from California indicates 
 that the same or a similar plan was adopted 
 by the Los Angeles Times, and this report 
 goes so far as to predict that "within ten 
 years the linotype will be a thing of the 
 past." 
 
 This plan of tjrpewriting copy to be photo- 
 engraved, the engraved plates to be used 
 in printing instead of printers' type, has 
 been tried several times. It may be in- 
 teresting to recall that in 1905 Browning & 
 Backes, of New York, published a book 
 called "Glorified Typewriting, Its Book- 
 Teaching the Principles of American Calli- 
 typy," which defined callitypy as the art 
 of typewriting in such adapted manner that 
 the machine's product can be used for 
 printing purposes through line-engraving 
 processes. The idea failed because type- 
 written copy when reproduced is illegible 
 compared with regular type printing, and 
 human eyes are too precious to take any 
 chances of injuring them. 
 
 The results of these efforts to issue pub- 
 lications without the use of regular type can 
 not be called satisfactory. It is doubtful 
 whether such a plan could be developed to 
 an extent that would give results equal to 
 those given by type. Nevertheless, they 
 demonstrate what can be done in an emer- 
 gency, and it seems evident that we may 
 look forward to some remarkable changes 
 in methods of producing publications. 
 
 This recalls to mind the fact that some 
 years ago it was proposed that pictorial 
 sections of magazines be produced on a 
 photographic rotary press, using a reel of 
 film and rolls of sensitized paper which 
 would be brought into contact and printed 
 photographically, developed, washed, dried, 
 folded and delivered rapidly. 
 
 Who can tell what the next decade may 
 bring forth in the way of improvements in 
 the reproduction of illustrations and letter- 
 press in magazine work! 
 
 LLOYD GEORGE SEES NEW LIGHT 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 The speech which Lloyd George made 
 Thursday in the House of Commons was 
 far more than a perfunctory enumeration 
 of the results of San Remo. Merely to 
 render an account of his stewardship, the 
 
 British Premier need not have addressed 
 the House of Commons. Lloyd George's 
 speech of yesterday is significant as a de- 
 fense of a striking reversal of policy, and 
 the acceptance by the British Government 
 of the main points of the position laid down 
 by Premier Millerand acting as the spokes- 
 man of the French nation. The British 
 Premier is especially anxious to emphasize 
 the completeness of the accord between the 
 two governments, and the success with 
 which he has pointed out the solid basis 
 of the agreement is the measure of the 
 extent to which the French policy of treaty 
 enforcement has prevailed in the agree- 
 ments reached at San Remo. 
 
 Lloyd George tells the House of Commons 
 that absolute unanimity prevails in regard 
 to the necessity of enforcing the terms of 
 the treaty. The point of view has changed 
 with incredible swiftness. Only a few 
 weeks ago, the British Government was 
 reported as bitterly opposed to the use of 
 anything more than economic pressure to 
 bring home to Germany the necessity of 
 fulfilling her treaty obligations. Today, 
 France is supported by the full force of 
 British influence. The occupation of Frank- 
 fort and adjoining territory, is now recog- 
 nized by the British premier as a measure 
 of defence fully justified. The San Remo 
 conference has "dispelled all suspicions" 
 that a divergence is possible between the 
 British and French Governments on funda- 
 mental questions. "It was perfectly clear 
 to our mind," says Lloyd George, "as to 
 theirs, that the Treaty of Versailles is the 
 basis upon which European policy must 
 march in reference to Germany, and that 
 we propose to act with them and the other 
 Allies in the enforcement of the treaty." 
 
 Even more successful is Lloyd George 
 in clearing up the misunderstandings and 
 suspicion of the motives of France which 
 a short time ago filled the air in England. 
 The charge of "militarism" raised by those 
 ignorant of the basic facts in European 
 diplomacy, he dismisses as groundless. 
 France, the British Premier points out, is 
 free from imperialistic designs in her 
 present policy towards Germany. Her 
 leaders are firmly convinced that another 
 world war will become a certainty if a 
 new "Alsace-Lorraine" problem comes into 
 being in the redrawing of the map of 
 Europe. "I need hardly assure the House 
 that the French minister readily and sin- 
 cerely gave assurances that the vast ma- 
 jority of the people of France were just 
 as much opposed to any policy of that kind 
 
EDITORIALS FOCUSED UPON THE NEWS 
 
 205 
 
 as the people of Great Britain. That 
 declaration is embodied in the minutes of 
 the conference. I attach enormous im- 
 portance to it." The misunderstandings, he 
 continues, were chiefly due to mischief- 
 makers at home, who, from "personal 
 malignity," were idly seeking to sow dis- 
 cord and confusion between nations which 
 are determined to progress together in 
 comradeship and good feeling. 
 
 Lloyd George's speech in the House of 
 Commons has achieved its purpose. It has 
 given notice to the world that the British 
 Government is in close accord with French 
 policy of treaty enforcement. Lloyd George 
 has repudiated the policy which a few weeks 
 ago threatened to create an impassable gap 
 between the two governments to the great 
 joy and visible comfort of Berlin. That 
 crisis has been averted. It has been averted 
 because Lloyd George, the responsible head 
 of the British Government, has seen the 
 peril that lurked in his former path, and 
 before it was too late, has had the common 
 sense to pledge British support to the 
 French in disposing of the chief obstacle 
 in the way of permanent European peace. 
 
 THE ROSE 
 
 Country Gentleman 
 
 We have our favorite flowers for all oc- 
 casions and places. The purity of the lily 
 for Easter, the sweetness of the carnation 
 for Mothers' Day, and the gay poinsettia 
 for merry Christmas. All the states but 
 five have designated a state flower, the 
 choice ranging from the cactus, sagebrush, 
 sunflower and the golden weed which hay- 
 fever victims shun, to the fragile violet and 
 waxy Mayflower — a total of thirty-seven 
 different flowers being thus honored. 
 
 Officially, we have no national flower, but 
 unofficially we might well agree on the 
 rose. We depend upon roses for all occa- 
 sions where words fail or seem inadequate. 
 Brides carry them, the sick are cheered by 
 them, and our dead are buried under a 
 benedictory blanket of them. Our pioneers 
 planted a rosebush beside the door as a 
 pledge that it was a home. Three of our 
 states found the wild rose growing and 
 made it the state flower, and two other 
 states have adopted varieties of roses as 
 their sentimental representative in the hall 
 of states. 
 
 As our civilization has become a little 
 older, and as we have taken more time to 
 improve our homes, the rose garden has 
 become commoner. A well-planned rose 
 garden is almost a sanctuary where one 
 
 may take tired muscles and troubled hearts 
 for rest. When you see men and women and 
 children working with roses, caring for 
 them, loving them, you have no doubt about 
 them. The influence of the rose is for good. 
 
 We feel inspired to say all this by the 
 arrival of The American Rose Annual, the 
 official book of The American Rose Society. 
 The society has been organized since 1899, 
 and for the last five years it has been 
 recording rose progress in its handsome and 
 informative annual. 
 
 To those folks to whom a rose is just a 
 rose the book will be a revelation. It lists 
 144 new varieties. It calls attention to the 
 fact that America is not only growing all 
 the best varieties of Europe but is develop- 
 ing many wonderful roses particularly 
 suited to our climate and conditions. A 
 map by the Department of Agriculture 
 shows where teas may be grown, where 
 hybrid teas may be expected to be safe, and 
 where hybrid perpetuals should endure. 
 It is only a small portion of the United 
 States where a rose of some sort cannot 
 be grown, according to this map. Thus is 
 the rose truly national. 
 
 E. T. Meredith, the new Secretary of 
 Agriculture, writes the greeting in the book 
 and calls attention to the fact that people 
 are not content with the three primary 
 necessities of food, clothing and shelter, but 
 must have things like the rose to "express 
 life's great drama in the passing of the 
 seasons." 
 
 "No decorative plant has been more closely 
 identified with the progress of western 
 civilization than the rose," he says. "It is 
 an insignia alike of joy, of sorrow, of love, 
 and of war. It is the flower beloved by all. 
 Certainly those who contribute in any way 
 to the propagation, development and culture 
 of the rose are adding much to the joys and 
 beauties of life." 
 
 And we feel he might have gone further 
 and said that they are also adding to the 
 safety of society. The rose is an inde- 
 pendent sort of flower with a sharp thorn 
 for him who would tread on it, but its mere 
 presence speaks of permanency, and the 
 sermon of its beauty certainly suggests 
 neither wandering from our hearthstones 
 nor our national altars. 
 
 For any of our readers who may feel the 
 same way and want to aid let us suggest 
 that two dollars sent to E. A. White, secre- 
 tary, American Rose Society, Ithaca, New 
 York, will bring a membership and a copy 
 of the book. 
 
206 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 INTERCHURCH MOVEMENT TO 
 
 ADVERTISE NATIONALLY 
 
 Printer's Ink 
 
 At the recent World Survey Conference 
 of the Interchurch World Movement at 
 Atlantic City plans were approved for a 
 national advertising compaign to be 
 launched this spring. Virtually all the ad- 
 vertising devices of proved effectiveness 
 will be employed, at a total cost of prob- 
 ably $1,000,000. It is proposed to invest 
 from $300,000 to $400,000 of this sum in 
 newspaper and periodical advertising. Be- 
 sides this, posters, circulars, booklets, dis- 
 play-cards, exhibits and numerous other 
 mediums will be used. 
 
 The aim of the campaign will be to ac- 
 quaint the nation with the facts based on 
 the world survey recently completed by the 
 Interchurch organization. This survey in- 
 cluded work among the home missions both 
 in city and country, in foreign missions, in 
 the educational field, among hospitals and 
 other benevolent institutions, in industrial 
 relations, and among the churches and min- 
 isters themselves. The secular as well as 
 the religious needs of humanity will be 
 proclaimed, all the advertising being based 
 on a scientific plan of "churching the 
 country." 
 
 The campaign will be carried out under 
 the supervision of C. S. Clarke, of the 
 Interchurch World Movement, whose offices 
 are at 222 Fourth Avenue, New York, who 
 will have the aid and counsel of the two 
 advertising agencies of Joseph Richards 
 Co., Inc., and Barton, Durstine & Osborn, 
 Inc., which will co-operate with each other 
 in planning, producing and placing the ad- 
 vertising. 
 
 The advertising programme will be a 
 step toward the realization of the broad 
 plans of the World Movement, which has 
 already completed the stages of organiza- 
 tion and preparation. This movement had 
 its immediate rise in the conference of 135 
 representatives of home and foreign mis- 
 sion boards in New York on December 17, 
 which met to consider some form of church 
 co-operation. It was agreed at this time 
 that the time was ripe for the working 
 bodies of the various evangelical denomina- 
 tions so to relate their activities as to 
 present a united front to the world. A com- 
 mittee of twenty was appointed to outline 
 a plan of church co-operation and to present 
 it to the denominational and inter-denomina- 
 tional boards that were to meet the fol- 
 lowing month. The purpose of the move- 
 ment, as defined by this committee, was 
 
 "to present a unified programme of 
 Christian service and to unite the evangeli- 
 cal churches of North America in the 
 performance of their common task, thus 
 making available the values of spiritual 
 power which come from unity and co-ordi- 
 nated Christian effort and meeting the 
 unique opportunities of the new era." 
 
 In January, a meeting of six joint boards 
 endorsed the plan and their action was ap- 
 proved by more than sixty denominational 
 boards and interdenominational agencies. 
 
 The preliminary steps in the organization 
 of the Interchurch World Movement cul- 
 minated at the Interboard Conference at 
 Cleveland, April 29-30, and May 1. It was 
 representative of the majority of the official 
 denominational boards and societies of the 
 United States and was attended by more 
 than 500 men and women connected with 
 home and foreign missionary work and 
 benevolent boards of the evangelical 
 churches of North America. 
 
 The findings committee brought in a re- 
 port which summarized the aims and ideals 
 of the movement. It declared "that the In- 
 terchurch World Movement is a co-operative 
 effort of the missionary, educational and 
 other benevolent agencies of the evangelical 
 churches of the United States and Canada 
 to secure the necessary resources of men 
 and money and power required for these 
 tasks (i. e., the missionary and evangelistic 
 tasks previously defined) ; that it is a spirit- 
 ual undertaking of survey, education and 
 inspiration; that it is an instrumentality of 
 co-operation and co-ordination of adminis- 
 trative agencies, designed to serve and not 
 to supplant them." 
 
 In effect, the proposed campaign of the 
 Interchurch World Movement is not greatly 
 unlike that planned by commercial concerns. 
 It has surveyed its field, decided upon its 
 market, obtained the necessary preliminary 
 distribution, and hence there only remains a 
 broad advertising campaign. 
 
 OUR RULE CRITICISED 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 The criticism, made by speakers at the 
 Clark Unversity conference on Mexico and 
 the Caribbean, of the Administration's 
 course toward Santo Domingo and Haiti 
 and the practices of its agents there, to- 
 gether with some reference also to Cuba, 
 Nicaragua and the Virgin Islands, is not to 
 be wholly disregarded, even though we may 
 surmise that the critics are not friendly to 
 the United States. Our paternal policies 
 affecting some of the smaller Latin Ameri- 
 
EDITORIALS FOCUSED UPON THE NEWS 
 
 207 
 
 can republics have, of course, been viewed 
 with suspicion by their neighbors. 
 
 In this instance we are denounced by a 
 Venezuelan publicist and by a former func- 
 tionary of the Dominican Government. Al- 
 though Venezuela was rescued from the 
 tyrant Castro largely by our effort, we 
 never seem to have many friends in influ- 
 ential circles in that country. As for the 
 Dominican spokesman, it might be pre- 
 sumed that he would be a prejudiced witness 
 of the results of our guardianship of that 
 troublesome little country. 
 
 The Venezuelan confined himself to a 
 consideration of our Government's general 
 policy as pursued since 1898, to extend 
 American influence over the Caribbean, 
 chiefly for strategic purposes. American 
 opinion can join issue on this controversial 
 ground without being sensitive about it. It 
 is probably the fact, for instance, as this 
 critic complains, that in protecting Nicara- 
 gua from revolutions we put restraint on 
 the free will of the Nicaraguans; but, 
 surely, we can defend ourselves on that 
 score. So in Cuba, if our paternalism helps 
 to keep the country at peace and promotes 
 its prosperity we need make no apology. 
 Our critic believes, indeed, that "the United 
 States has a noble mission in the Carib- 
 bean," but he thinks we show little con- 
 sideration for the "moral and political" in- 
 terests of the people down there. 
 
 The denunciation of our rule in Haiti 
 
 and Santo Domingo, however, goes further. 
 The Dominican spokesman holds that 
 "wherever in the last five years the United 
 States has assumed the government of an- 
 other country, the coming of the American 
 flag signified suppression of popular insti- 
 tutions and the setting up of an arbitrary 
 and inefficient militarism." He declares 
 that the Virgin Islanders regret that they 
 are no longer under the Danish flag. And, 
 additionally, he charges acts of abuse, even 
 cruelty, against the inhabitants of Santo 
 Domingo, of the same general nature as 
 were once charged in the Philippines. As 
 to the practices he mentions he does not 
 pretend to much knowledge beyond hearsay 
 testimony., 
 
 We may recall that the Wilson Adminis- 
 tration, during the Bryan period, made a 
 mess of things in Haiti and Santo Domingo, 
 but our Marines have certainly established 
 peace on the island, and there has been no 
 recent information to indicate that matters 
 are not going on satisfactorily. But if 
 there is anything in the "unfortunate stories 
 of torture of prisoners," and other allega- 
 tions of gross abuses of authority, the 
 American people ought to know about it. 
 
 The Administration through its civil rep- 
 resentatives and the Navy Department is 
 responsible for the government of Haiti 
 and Santo Domingo, and regardless of their 
 source specific accusations should not pass 
 unnoticed. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 EDITORIALS CONCERNED WITH SURVEY AND REVIEW 
 
 The specimens reprinted in this 
 division represent editorials that em- 
 ploy or are in some way directed 
 toward survey or review of matters 
 
 more or less outside of "spot" news ; 
 i. e., from the immediate news of the 
 day. For discussion of such editorials, 
 see Part I, Chapter V. 
 
 Breeder's Gazette 
 All over the combelt live stock feeders 
 and shippers are clamoring for cars ordered 
 weeks ago, consignments reaching Chicago 
 from Iowa this week as much as seven 
 weeks behind schedule. As shippers of 
 grain and other commodities are in similar 
 predicament immediate relief is improbable. 
 By the somewhat drastic process of taking 
 stock cars from western roads the eastern 
 embargo on live stock has been lifted dur- 
 ing the past week, relieving congestion at 
 Chicago and stabilizing prices to some ex- 
 tent, but both the market and the trans- 
 portation situation are unsatisfactory, the 
 countryward movement of stock cattle hav- 
 ing been crippled at a time when pastures are 
 usually replenished. Shipments of live stock 
 from Chicago to local eastern points have 
 been positively refused by several lines, but 
 traffic to Atlantic seaboard points was re- 
 stored to a normal basis this week. West- 
 em roads are taking stock cattle, injecting 
 considerable life into that trade after a 
 month of stagnancy. The practice of east- 
 em roads of holding stock cars unless they 
 can be returned loaded is working hardship 
 on the industry. 
 
 CARRYING MAIL BY AIRPLANE 
 
 New York Times 
 
 A former Army aviator was arrested at 
 Los Angeles not long since for disorderly 
 conduct in looping the loop over a public 
 square. On the same day two aviators were 
 arrested in New Jersey for shooting wild 
 geese in the closed season from a plane. 
 These incidents of "joy riding" in the air 
 are worthy of notice as showing how much 
 at home man has become in the element 
 through which, since the dawn of time until 
 less than twenty years ago, only the birds 
 wmged their way. When we turn to the 
 use of the airplane for transportation in 
 the carrymg on of business we have the 
 proof of stability and stanchness that ex- 
 plain how liberties can be taken with it by 
 darmg aviators. 
 
 When an attempt was made to substitute 
 the airplane for the mail car there was a 
 solemn wagging of heads; in fine weather all 
 might go well and the letters and express 
 parcels might be delivered on time, but it 
 was ridiculous to suppose that any kind of 
 schedule could be maintained in the winter 
 season. Well, in one of the most inclement 
 and turbulent of winters the carriers easily 
 beat the railroads and sometimes triumphed 
 over conditions that delayed the land mail 
 for hours, and even for days. The routes 
 on which the flying was done were laid out 
 between New York and Washington and be- 
 tween New York and Cleveland. 
 
 TIME TO ACT IN TIME 
 
 The Independent 
 
 Because the inevitable revolutions in the 
 despotic countries of Europe were postponed 
 the Great War was rendered inevitable. By 
 postponing unity of command and other nec- 
 essary but disagreeable measures the Allies 
 came near losing the war. By putting off 
 the revision of the secret treaties the vic- 
 torious Allies found themselves unready to 
 declare their peace terms at the end of the 
 war. By failing to settle the Adriatic 
 question a year ago the diplomats in Paris 
 gave d'Annunzio his chance to intervene and 
 make the question more insoluble than ever. 
 Because they could not agree on a partition 
 of Turkey in 1854, 1878, 1912 and 1919 the 
 Powers find it harder than ever to agree in 
 1920. Because England refused Home Rule 
 to Ireland a generation ago the Irish are 
 demanding complete independence today. 
 Because the Senate delayed the peace treaty 
 to tag the League of Nations covenant with 
 needless reservations the United States re- 
 mains at war with Germany and in rather 
 strained relations with the Allies. 
 
 De Quincey once warned the youth of his 
 generation that murder led to theft, theft to 
 drunkenness, drunkenness to Sabbath break- 
 ing and profanity, and these vices in the end 
 led to habits of idleness and procrastina- 
 tion. Professor Clark of Columbia has sug- 
 
REVIEW AND SURVEY EDITORIALS 
 
 209 
 
 gested that in view of the mischief which 
 procrastination has wrought in the world, 
 De Quincey's moralizing should have been 
 taken seriously. 
 
 No settlement is a right settlement unless 
 it is made at the right time. 
 
 BET YOU DON'T KNOW BEANS 
 
 Chemical Round Table 
 
 Many of us think that we know beans. 
 We may change our point of view, for re- 
 cent researches show that the average 
 American does not really know the value of 
 the various grades of those much-used 
 legumes. The true story of the bean was 
 told recently by Dr. C. 0. Johns of the 
 Bureau of Chemistry, Department of Agri- 
 culture, in an address before the biological 
 section of the American Chemical Society. 
 
 Dr. Johns said that the beans which gave 
 full growth to the animals to which they 
 were fed were of Chinese origin, the soy 
 bean, which is already cultivated to some 
 extent in this country, and the mung bean, 
 from which the Chinese raise the sprouts 
 which are a leading ingredient in chop 
 suey. There is another Oriental bean, the 
 adsuki, which has about half the value in 
 promoting growth as have the soy and 
 mung beans. 
 
 The bean of commerce, known as the navy 
 bean, used both in the making of Boston 
 baked beans and New York beans, does not, 
 according to Dr. Johns, promote growth, 
 but it will maintain strength and restore 
 the losses of fatigue. 
 
 The Lima bean has about the same quali- 
 ties as the navy bean. 
 
 These two American beans can be made 
 more valuable for growing children by the 
 addition of cystene, a crystal derived from 
 wool, if three-tenths of 1 per cent of that 
 product is added. 
 
 Dr. Johns also recommended the peanut, 
 as having about the same qualities as the 
 Chinese beans, of which he spoke in glowing 
 praise. 
 
 DUELING LEGAL FOR ONCE 
 
 New York Times 
 
 ^ By passing a law giving formal authoriza- 
 tion to dueling, after a duly appointed com- 
 mission has decided that in no other way 
 can a quarrel be honorably settled, the 
 little Republic of Uruguay has taken action 
 which, if not without precedent, certainly 
 comes near to being so. 
 
 Of course, in many countries and for 
 many centuries, and in not a few countries 
 still, the duel has been in fact obligatory, 
 in certain well understood conditions, upon 
 all men of military or social rank high 
 enough for them to claim with plausibility 
 
 to be possessed of "honor." Even in those 
 countries, however, not only now, but al- 
 most as far back as the beginning of re- 
 liance on courts for the settlement of per- 
 sonal grievances, the duel has been forbidden 
 and penalized, so far as the statute book 
 was concerned. 
 
 That such laws were not often enforced 
 with either sincerity or vigor is true, but 
 they have existed, and everywhere, almost 
 invariably, the encounters had to be con- 
 ducted with at least the pretense of secrecy. 
 Spectators were few and trusted, the scene 
 a forest glade or sequestered meadow, the 
 time dawn. And when the result of the 
 combat was death it was usually essential 
 to the victor's convenience, and often to his 
 safety, that he should retire across the 
 nearest frontier until the representatives of 
 authority forgot his offense. 
 
 In other words, custom has tolerated or 
 compelled dueling, while the law forbade it. 
 The course of Uruguay is therefore anom- 
 alous and at this late day astonishing. The 
 only available explanation is that an ex- 
 President of Uruguay recently killed a man 
 in a duel and prefers to have such acts 
 legalized. 
 
 THE SLACKER EVIL 
 
 Minneapolis Journal 
 
 Never in the country's history has un- 
 skilled labor had such an inning as now; 
 and never has it flouted its fortune as now. 
 "Wages have doubled and service has been 
 cut in half" is a common saying among em- 
 ployers of common labor. 
 
 In the Federal Employment Agency in 
 this city are jobs for a thousand men. From 
 one to three hundred men come daily to 
 look over the offerings, and most of them 
 go away to remain idle. From fifty to 
 sixty-five cents an hour is offered for un- 
 skilled work on highways, on railroads, for 
 chore work or for any task lasting from a 
 day to a year. 
 
 Twenty-five calls daily for farm hands are 
 received, and usually not more than five or 
 six men respond. The wages offered range 
 from seventy to eighty-five dollars a month 
 with board, room and laundry — ^the equiva- 
 lent of forty or fifty dollars more. To mar- 
 ried couples is offered a hundred dollars a 
 month, with house, garden and other sub- 
 stantial privileges. Where the employment 
 is at a distance, the railroad fare is usually 
 paid. 
 
 Recently a call came for three men to 
 carry mail. Their duty would be to sit on 
 a wagon seat, drive about a little and wait 
 a good deal — no lifting, no care of horses. 
 The job was near to doing nothing, and the 
 pay was a hundred and five dollars a month. 
 
210 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Yet the agency had great difficulty in find- 
 ing three men out of three hundred. 
 
 During the war slacking of this kind was 
 a misdemeanor; and the men wilfully un- 
 employed had to fight or work. This slack- 
 ing element is as sore a load as it was 
 during the war. It aggravates every eco- 
 nomic evil; it eats what its betters produce 
 and spoils more than it consumes. 
 
 It is a pity that pressure cannot be 
 brought to bear on this disloyal mass to 
 make it bear its fair share of the load under 
 which the world is now staggering. 
 
 THE FARMER'S NEW VOICE 
 
 Kansas Industrialist 
 
 Men in business are always ready listen- 
 ers when their business is being discussed. 
 Probably the most striking example of this 
 is found in the interest shown by farmers 
 in the country correspondence of a local 
 newspaper. 
 
 Farmers realize that it is their neighbor 
 who is writing, the man who farms under 
 the same conditions, goes to the same 
 church, sends his children to the same 
 school, votes at the same polls — a man that 
 has proved himself to be a trusted friend. 
 
 People are giving their attention now 
 more than ever to the correspondent who 
 can do more than report the news. The 
 rapidly developing field of country corre- 
 spondence now contains reports of experi- 
 ments in feeding, plowing, and seeding, and 
 the results of the harvests. Current topics, 
 with application to the particular locality, 
 are presented. Questions relating to roads, 
 markets, boys' and girls* clubs, machinery, 
 farm bureau work, schools, and churches 
 are discussed and the views of different per- 
 sons are given. 
 
 It is the new voice of the farmer speaking 
 as an individual and as a community. The 
 miller, the merchant, the manufacturer, the 
 laborer, and the politician are all watching 
 the new development with a keen eye. 
 
 THE COMING NEWSPAPER 
 
 Ft. Scott Tribune 
 
 It probably will not be many years before 
 the rates per inch or per line in American 
 newspapers will be six or eight times as 
 high as they are now, necessitating a great 
 reduction in the size of the advertisements. 
 This change would be attended, also, by a 
 great reduction in the amount of reading 
 matters in the newspapers. 
 
 The world's shortage of newsprint paper, 
 should it continue much longer, and the tre- 
 mendous costs of labor and supplies will 
 bring this about. 
 
 These two changes could be effected with- 
 out serious consequences. Fully one-half of 
 
 the reading matter that appears in the 
 average American newspaper could be cut 
 without curtailing the real, essential news 
 of the day. The larger city papers could 
 eliminate two-thirds of their reading mat- 
 ter and still give as much news as they 
 do give. 
 
 The growth of American newspapers the 
 past quarter of a century has resulted in 
 the padding of the news columns to bal- 
 ance the advertising columns. It is a theory 
 that there must be a proportionate amount 
 of reading matter to advertising. The result 
 is that, regardless of the nature or quality 
 of the news, so much space must be filled 
 with reading matter. News stories are 
 padded and much unimportant stuff is pub- 
 lished. It would detract nothing from the 
 effectiveness of the merchants' advertising 
 to reduce the space, if all advertisers reduce 
 their space proportionately. A page of the 
 Tribune-Monitor would be just as effective 
 were the full page but half its present size 
 and the general standard of sizes propor- 
 tionately diminished. In other words, the 
 efficacy of advertising is not measured by 
 inches, but by proportions. And so, if it 
 becomes necessary to reduce the size of 
 newspapers, to eliminate the surplusage in 
 reading matter and increase the charge for 
 space proportioately, the service to the ad- 
 vertiser would in no way be impaired, and 
 the new economic obstacles that confront the 
 newspaper trade would be met. 
 
 LONDON-CAIRO-THE CAPE, BY 
 AIRPLANE 
 
 Scientific American 
 
 The recent flight from London to the Cape 
 of Good Hope by way of Cairo, a distance, 
 over the route followed, of nearly 10,000 
 miles, is comparable with the 12,000-mile 
 flight which was recently made from London 
 to Australia, and, like the preceding ven- 
 ture, it has brought its full measure of 
 useful scientific and technical data. Colonel 
 Van Rynevelt and Captain Brand, of the 
 South African Air Service, left London in 
 a Vickers-Vimy on February 4th, and trav- 
 eled by way of Rome and Solium, on the 
 African coast, to Cairo. Leaving Cairo on 
 February 10th for a non-stop to Khartoum, 
 they crashed when about half-way over the 
 desert at Wadi Haifa, and the plane was 
 hopelessly vn:ecked. They salved their en- 
 gines and returned to Cairo, where they 
 placed them in a sister machine and made 
 another start. Again they came down in 
 the tracherous air at Wadi Haifa, but 
 struggled through to Khartoum. Victoria 
 Nyanza was reached February 26th, Vic- 
 toria Falls on the Zambezi on March 2d, and 
 Buluwayo on March 5th. Leaving Bulu- 
 
REVIEW AND SURVEY EDITORIALS 
 
 211 
 
 wayo, their machine failed to rise properly 
 and crashed. The South African Govern- 
 ment sent north a Royal Air Force Factory 
 Vickers machine, and on this they left 
 Buluwayo on March 17th and reached Cape 
 Town on March 20th. 
 
 The lessons of this extraordinary fight 
 with the elements are, first, that the air- 
 plane is no mere fair-weather craft, but is 
 capable of winning through against ab- 
 normally severe obstructions. One of the 
 competing craft had no less than eight 
 forced landings in a strange country, in spite 
 of which it was able to carry on. We quite 
 agree with Land and Water that aircraft 
 manufacturers must cut loose from some 
 war conceptions; that just as the battleship 
 would make a poor merchantman, the battle 
 plane should be the foundation rather than 
 the model of the commercial plane; and, 
 finally, that it is necessary to chart the air 
 as the sea has been charted. There are 
 areas of dangerous and stormy air as there 
 are of dangerous and stormy sea. Hot, dry 
 air was the cause of forced descent and of 
 failures to rise, and areas of this character 
 must be carefully charted before regular 
 overland travel can be achieved with safety 
 and on schedule time. 
 
 PAPER FROM COTTON-STALKS 
 
 Charleston Post 
 German scientists announce the interest- 
 ing "discovery" that paper can be made from 
 cotton-stalks, a fact which has been known 
 and proved in this country for at least ten 
 and probably a good many more years. A 
 while back it used to be quite a stirring 
 subject throughout the cotton-growing 
 States, and there was a lot of talk about 
 the great factories that were to be put up 
 in the South for the conversion of this waste 
 material into a useful product, and the news- 
 papers of this part of the country, for a 
 time, even dreamed that they would be inde- 
 pendent of the northern pine forests — ^and 
 the paper trust. We rather think some of 
 the cotton-stalk paper was made up at 
 Gaffney as an experiment, and it looked 
 very good, too, though more like heavy wrap- 
 ping paper than newsprint. Certainly paper 
 can be made from cotton-stalks; the German 
 professor has discovered a true thing, and 
 it is to be hoped he has had as happy a 
 thrill as used to be enjoyed by the folk 
 hereabout who first found it out and thought 
 they had a new bonanza. But as a com- 
 mercial proposition the German financiers, 
 who have not too much to spare on new 
 ventures just now, anyway, had better — 
 and it is a safe guess that they will — look 
 a little closer into the matter and do some 
 scientific figuring. 
 
 WAR AND PANIC PRICES 
 
 Better Farming 
 
 There is just complaint of the present 
 high prices, but it may be a little comfort 
 to know that they have been higher. I 
 have been going over the record, which 
 shows the prices prevailing in the years be- 
 tween 1865 and 1868, just following the 
 great war between the States. It appears 
 that cotton was $1.54 per pound, wheat was 
 $2.16, cattle $9.50 per hundred, hogs $15.60, 
 butter 70c, flour $23.50 per barrel, sugar 
 37c per pound, tea $2.10 per pound, calico 
 50c a yard, potatoes $5 a bushel, wool $1.70 
 per pound. Doubtless everybody was ask- 
 ing then, as now, "Will these war prices 
 ever tumble?" They did tumble, and they 
 tumbled fast when once they started down- 
 ward. The low level seems to have been 
 reached in the years 1895, 1896 and 1897. 
 An extract from a local paper of that period 
 in Iowa has come to my desk. The prices 
 quoted are as follows: Eggs, 7%c per dozen; 
 butter, 10c per pound; spring chickens, 5c 
 per pound; ducks, S^/^c; geese, 3c; hay, $6 to 
 $7 per ton; steers, $3.50 to $4 per hundred 
 pounds; cows and heifers, $2 to $2.50; hogs, 
 $2.50 to $2.85; sheep, $2 to $2.50. Com ap- 
 pears to have been worth 15c to 17c per 
 bushel; wheat, 40c; oats, lie; potatoes, 9c 
 to 12c per bushel; wool, lie per pound. 
 Horses were sold for $5 to $25 each for 
 unbroken Westerns, others from $20 up- 
 wards, but it took a good one to bring $100. 
 
 These prices must have been discouraging 
 to the farmer, but he had some consolation 
 in the fact that he could buy a pair of 
 overalls for 35c, suspenders for 9c, two 
 flannel shirts for 45c, shoes for $1.50, ladies' 
 fine shoes $2, a pound package of coffee for 
 20c, eighteen pounds of granulated sugar 
 for $1, and a sack of flour for 95c. 
 
 The chief instruction that the above fig- 
 ures impart, both high and low, is this: Con- 
 ditions today will not be the conditions to- 
 morrow. No one desires the post-war prices 
 of 1865 nor those of 1920 to continue. 
 Neither do we desire the panic prices of 1896. 
 There must be and will be a fair medium 
 which will grant to the producer a fair re- 
 turn for his investment and labor and will 
 give the consumer the chance to live with- 
 out mortgaging his next year's salary. 
 
 PRESIDENTS FURNISHED BY WARS 
 
 Washington Post 
 
 "Every war in which America has en- 
 gaged has produced one or more presidents, 
 and despite the natural reaction against all 
 things that smacked of the military imme- 
 diately following the bloodiest of all wars — 
 supposedly the last war — I believe that the 
 
212 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 precedent will be followed in 1920," said 
 G. E. Ford of Denver. "The war for inde- 
 pendence gave us President Washington, the 
 war of 1812 gave us President Jackson, the 
 Indian wars gave us President William 
 Henry Harrison,- the Mexican War gave us 
 Presidents Taylor and Pierce, the Civil War 
 gave us President Grant, and the Spanish 
 War gave us President Roosevelt. Presi- 
 dents Lincoln, Garfield, Hayes, Benjamin 
 Harrison and McKinley all had military rec- 
 ords, which beyond question greatly 
 strengthened their candidacies. Soldiers 
 have been leaders in government since the 
 beginning of civilization, and unless human 
 nature changes almost overnight I am of 
 the opinion that a soldier will lead this 
 country for the next four years. 
 
 "General Wood is unquestionably the 
 leading candidate at present. Although he 
 has become involved in several party con- 
 troversies which may militate against his 
 chances, his strength throughout the coun- 
 try cannot be gainsaid, and it will be diffi- 
 cult for the other aspirants for the Repub- 
 lican nomination to overcome his lead. The 
 other soldier candidate. General Pershing, 
 now looms as a compromise candidate, due 
 to the strife which has grown up between 
 the candidates. Of all the soldiers who have 
 been elected the chief civil magistrate of 
 the country, not one has been chosen on his 
 military record alone. In addition to the 
 spectacular prominence accorded a military 
 leader in time of war, each one of these 
 soldier candidates was made his party 
 standard bearer because of some quality 
 brought out under the acid test of war aside 
 from purely military ability. In General 
 Pershing's case this quality, prominently 
 brought out during the war, was business 
 ability— the successful management of 
 America's vast business enterprises, the 
 American Expeditionary Forces. No man 
 other than Roosevelt has ever been given 
 such a reception as Pershing has been given 
 everywhere he has appeared since his return 
 to America. That the cheers given him 
 could be translated into votes should he be 
 named at Chicago, there is little doubt." 
 
 THE SHIFTING CORN-BELT 
 
 Brooklyn Standard Union 
 
 Somebody has discovered that the corn- 
 belt has the habit of moving, and announces 
 the fact, which is likely to cause surprise 
 in quarters where this staple is planted, 
 gathered and is the subject of discussions 
 and predictions. 
 
 At one time the belt stretched across 
 Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana; and then it 
 shifted, or was extended, to certain parts of 
 Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Da- 
 
 kota. There it remained stationary for a 
 period, and then it resumed its travels, go- 
 ing South into Louisiana, Tennessee, Geor- 
 gia, Alabama, and Texas. 
 
 But like most belts it did not long re- 
 main still, and it has now migrated to the 
 Northwest, to Oregon; and that State, which 
 is so rich in scenery, fruit, timber and po- 
 litical nostrums, is letting the world know 
 about the latest shift. Of course, when the 
 term corn-belt is used, it does not mean 
 the nation's center of corn-production, but 
 is intended to include those sections which 
 rise far above the average in bushels per 
 acre raised. 
 
 And where the corn belt is, there is rural 
 prosperity. At least, the farmers' prospects 
 of buying new automobiles are considerably 
 increased. 
 
 A SAGE-BRUSH TRAGEDY ^ 
 
 Boston Herald 
 
 It is a pity that Mark Twain is not living 
 to write the obituary of the Virginia City 
 (Nev.) Enterprise, on which he worked in 
 the bonanza days of long ago. A brief 
 news item chronicles the suspension of that 
 newspaper; its passing brings back the 
 memory of the remarkable boom city where 
 the great silver fortunes were made, a city 
 of which but a pitiful ghost survives among 
 the sand and sage. For years the Enter- 
 prise struggled on after the great boom 
 "busted," but Virginia City could not "come 
 back." 
 
 In all the romantic story of the West 
 there is no chapter more entrancing than 
 that which tells of the rise of the fabulously 
 rich mining-camp. It was the wildest place 
 that the wild West knew, the richest center 
 in the land, where millions were made and 
 lost in a minute. Its days of glorious pros- 
 perity were only a few years ago, but to 
 the occasional visitor, whom curiosity draws 
 to its deserted streets and tumbledown 
 shacks, its glory seems further in the past 
 than the mysterious civilization of the Mesa 
 Verde. 
 
 The West is full of lost cities and dead 
 towns, not only the mining regions, but the 
 prairie states as well, but among them all 
 Virginia City is in a class by itself. And 
 the tragedy of it is that the place does not 
 know that it has long been dead, and the 
 people still live, or exist, there who cling to 
 hope that in some magic way the boom will 
 come back. And in all the sovereign State 
 of Nevada — by the way, a state about as 
 large in area as all New England and New 
 York combined — there are fewer persons 
 than in the city of Somerville, Mass., and 
 a very different class of population in the 
 main. 
 
REVIEW AND SURVEY EDITORIALS 
 
 213 
 
 THE TERM "TWO BITS" 
 
 Milwaukee News 
 
 The discussion over the origin of the term 
 "two bits" and its multiples of "four bits," 
 "six bits," etc., may arouse as much com- 
 ment as the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy. 
 To Northern and Eastern people the term 
 sounds like a popular slang expression, but 
 to the people of the West and Southwest, 
 it is common if not provincial. The price of 
 "a quarter" is seldom used. It is invariably 
 "two bits." It is much easier to say "six 
 bits" than 75 cents. 
 
 Explanation of the origin of the term 
 "bit" comes from the reference to the 
 monetary system in 1792, when the Spanish 
 milled dollar became a unit of money. At 
 that time there happened to be coined under 
 Spanish authority a piece of silver for Mex- 
 ico representing the eighth part of a dollar, 
 called a "real," after the name of a coin 
 in Spain, and with the same value as the 
 early American shilling. Yankees used the 
 shilling as a common expression, and some 
 can remember when farmers in the Central 
 and Eastern States employed their extra 
 help at so many shillings a day. Six, eight, 
 ten and twelve shillings was heard in all 
 lines of trade. 
 
 When adventurers went to California and 
 the southwestern part of the United States 
 they found that dos reales of the Mexican 
 was equivalent to two shillings in the United 
 States. Later dos reales became common 
 as a quarter. American speech has ab- 
 sorbed very few Spanish words. While the 
 language is filled with German and French 
 words, few Spanish words are found. The 
 American never learned to say dos reales, 
 and he might have Americanized that 
 amount by saying "two bits." Hence it may 
 be that "two bits" is of Southwestern and 
 not Eastern origin. 
 
 LABOR UNREST IN JAPAN 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 The extent to which Japanese labor is 
 being drawn into the current of the ideas 
 which prevail among the working classes of 
 Europe and America is revealed in a recent 
 interview in Tokio from Bunji Suzuki, the 
 representative of the Japanese Government 
 at the Versailles labor conference and the 
 president of the most important labor union 
 in the Mikado's Empire. Perhaps Japan is 
 in no imminent danger from an "uprising of 
 labor," says its chief spokesman in Japan. 
 But it is certain that the workingmen of 
 Japan have become conscious of their 
 power; that they are restless, and no longer 
 content to remain industrial slaves, without 
 a voice in the formulation of capitalistic 
 
 policies or share in the material profits of 
 capitalism. Labor in Japan is alert, aggres- 
 sive, and determined to achieve the rewards 
 to which it feels entitled. Its policy includes 
 the nationalization of the main industries of 
 Japan, a share in the profits now monop- 
 olized exclusively by the capitalistic class, 
 and in general the reform of the abuses of 
 the existing capitalistic system, by heroic 
 means if necessary. 
 
 The programme thus being put forward 
 by Japanese labor is certain to prove dis- 
 turbing to Premier Hara and the Japanese 
 Government. No less certain is it to cause 
 uneasiness in the ranks of the capitalists, 
 the war profiteers and the possessors of 
 inherited titles of nobility. The restlessness 
 of the working classes of Japan is the basic 
 condition out of which has arisen the in- 
 sistent demand for manhood suffrage. The 
 cry for universal suffrage, which so long 
 has fallen on ears which heeded it not, can- 
 not much longer be disregarded. The Jap- 
 anese Diet, which was recently adjourned 
 by the edict of the Emperor because of the 
 deadlock over manhood suffrage between 
 the Government and the forces of liberalism, 
 is shortly to reconvene, after a general elec- 
 tion. It will come together then with a 
 new popular mandate, and the fight for man- 
 hood suffrage is sure to be renewed imme- 
 diately it reassembles. Manhood suffrage in 
 Japan is inevitable sooner or later. The 
 Mikado's Government cannot hold out in- 
 definitely against the tide of Western lib- 
 eralism. And the granting of manhood suf- 
 frage, by giving to the peasant and the 
 laborer a share in the Government, may 
 serve to prevent the present labor unrest in 
 Japan from developing into the excesses of 
 radical Socialism or out-and-out Bolshevism. 
 
 RUSSIA AND INDIA 
 
 The Outlook 
 The conjunction of the names Poland and 
 India is not common, but it may become so. 
 Already the New York "Times" says: "The 
 loss of Poland might be a greater disaster 
 for England and the world than the loss of 
 India." The occasion for this remark was, 
 first, the Bolshevist success in conquering 
 the law-and-order forces in Russia repre- 
 sented by the armies under Kolchak, Deni- 
 kene, and Yudenitch; second, Bolshevist 
 penetration to the Black and Caspian Seas; 
 third, Bolshevist penetration into the anti- 
 Bolshevist republics of Georgia and Azer^ 
 baijan (or, Transcaucasia and, across its 
 southern boundary, the adjoining Persian 
 territory), which are now pleading at Paris 
 for protection; fourth, Bolshevist penetra- 
 tion across Transcaspia into Russian Tur- 
 kestan, where the infamous Enver Pasha 
 
214 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 is trying to enlist for the Bolshevists a 
 pan-Turanian movement; finally, Bolshevist 
 penetration into Afghanistan. Thus the 
 borders of India are threatened. 
 
 In all these countries German and Turkish 
 agents have been sedulously cultivating dis- 
 trust of the Entente Allies. 
 
 At a moment when the American Govern- 
 ment has announced the withdrawal of its 
 troops from Siberia, the menace to the 
 countries bordering Russia proper to the 
 east, to the south, and especially to the 
 west, is greater than ever. The way is 
 open for the invasion of eastern Siberia, 
 India, Persia, and, above all, of Poland. 
 For Poland, as we declare in an editorial 
 on another page, may become the storm 
 center of Europe. 
 
 It must be saved from a strangling to 
 death by pincers pressed on the one hand 
 by the Bolshevists and on the other by the 
 Germans. With characteristic precision. 
 Marshal Foch has already suggested the es- 
 tablishment of a cordon militaire, to be 
 composed of the forces of the Baltic States, 
 Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania and Jugo- 
 slavia, all under French command — his 
 own, we hope. But this proposal, which 
 has been debated by the Paris Peace Con- 
 ference, was rejected, we learn, because of 
 the refusal of the only power which could 
 successfully finance it — America. 
 
 THE HIGH COST OF PUBLISHING 
 
 Scientific American 
 
 For seventy-five years the Scientific 
 American has appeared each week, despite 
 printers' strikes, paper shortage, transporta- 
 tion tie-ups, and the thousand-and-one other 
 worries that confront all publishers of pe- 
 riodicals. And, too, despite the constantly 
 increasing cost of such materials and labor 
 as enter into the manufacture of a publica- 
 tion, the Scientific American has steadfastly 
 maintained the price of ten cents per copy. 
 Seventy-five years! A long, long time in- 
 deed, as affairs go in the publishing world. 
 It is a record of which we are justly proud 
 and which we have endeavored, and shall 
 continue, to maintain at all costs. 
 
 The past six months have witnessed the 
 problems of the publisher multiplying by 
 leaps and bounds. Expenses have increased 
 at a truly alarming rate. Paper— the basic 
 raw-material of the publishing industry — 
 has been increased in cost every thirty days, 
 until at this writing we are paying more 
 than three times what the same paper cost 
 in 1914. Printing— the most essential labor 
 entering into the manufacture of any jour- 
 nal — has increased twice in the past six 
 months. Inks, lithographed covers, art 
 work, editorial contributions, office salaries 
 
 and expenses — in fact, everything that con- 
 tributes toward this weekly publication has 
 greatly increased in cost in the short space 
 of six months. 
 
 And we must not forget to mention post- 
 age. In the good old days, not so long ago 
 in point of time, the mailing rate for all 
 periodicals was one cent per pound. But 
 Congress has seen fit to change this system 
 of mailing and has harnessed publishers 
 with a graduated scale for various distances. 
 Thus the United States and possessions are 
 subdivided into mailing zones, and the pub- 
 lisher pays according to the distance from 
 the mailing point to the subscriber. Where- 
 as the rate was formerly one cent per pound, 
 it is now, in many instances, three cents, 
 five cents and even seven and more cents. 
 The mailing costs, it is obvious, have risen 
 manifold — and threaten to rise much higher. 
 
 So, all in all, the publisher is today con- 
 fronted with the problem of making both 
 ends meet or relinquishing his periodical 
 or periodicals. Despite every effort to 
 maintain the price of the Scientific Ameri- 
 can at 10 cents as in the past three-quarter- 
 century of its existence, the publisher has 
 at last been compelled to increase the price 
 per copy to 15 cents, beginning with this 
 issue. The annual subscription price re- 
 mains the same — $5.00 per year. 
 
 It is a matter of dire necessity. Other 
 publishers have already advanced their 
 prices, in some cases even doubling them. 
 The Scientific American has reluctantly 
 raised its per-copy price at last, but only 
 to the extent of meeting the added costs of 
 publishing it. 
 
 PURE-BRED ORANGES FOR BOSTON 
 
 Florida Times-Union 
 
 The announcement that the first shipment 
 of the new variety known as the Temple 
 orange, originated by Mr. Gillett in the 
 Buckeye Nurseries, sold on the Boston auc- 
 tion at $27 per box, will be received with 
 interest by every orange grower in Florida, 
 as this is the recognized high price paid for 
 any oranges produced in this country in 
 the regular season and on the open market. 
 
 Florida oranges have been leading in the 
 big markets all winter, and even where the 
 shipments did not show as clear in skin and 
 attractive in appearance as those from Cal- 
 ifornia, their recognized superiority in juice 
 and flavor has become so generally recog- 
 nized by consumers that they have brought 
 top prices. But oranges selling for $27 a 
 box are a, distinct novelty. 
 
 The production of oranges is taking on 
 the same complexion as that of live stock; 
 the purebreds are commanding much higher 
 prices than the grades with which we were 
 
REVIEW AND SURVEY EDITORIALS 
 
 215 
 
 content in the main until the past decade 
 or two. Now it is a mark of distinct su- 
 periority to say that a herd is all pure- 
 bred, and when a shipment of purebred 
 cattle or hogs is made to the stock yards, 
 the bidding is always more keen and they 
 invariably top the market in price paid for 
 them by the packers. Oranges and grape- 
 fruit are getting into the same class. They 
 are being bred up to perfection and the per- 
 fect types are being improved and developed 
 until they are distinctly superior in flavor 
 and quantity of juice and in all the features 
 that go to make them so desirable to the 
 critical consumer. 
 
 The Temple orange is a purebred, al- 
 though it is admitted that it is a cross 
 from two of the best varieties of the orange 
 family. The King orange and tangerine 
 have been much sought because of the fact 
 that they can be eaten from the hand more 
 readily, without danger of spilling the juice 
 over one's clothes, but they have not con- 
 tained as much juice as the regular oranges. 
 To combine the kid-glove feature of the 
 King orange and tangerine with the splendid 
 juice qualities and quantities of the best 
 varieties of the oranges, has evidently been 
 Mr. Gillett's plan in producing this new 
 Temple orange, named after the first presi- 
 dent of the Florida Citrus Exchange, who 
 was one of the leaders in orange production 
 a decade or more ago. That he has suc- 
 ceeded has been amply proven by the testi- 
 mony of many of the best orange growers 
 in the State, who have sampled it, and now 
 it proves its selling value by bringing this 
 almost fabulous price on the Boston open 
 market. 
 
 COURAGEOUS FRANCE 
 
 The Outlook 
 
 Anything that Professor Tuffier, of Paris, 
 says bears the mark of authority. The 
 other day, at the meeting of the American 
 Surgical Association in St. Louis, he gave 
 the following summary of "the exact state 
 of affairs in France": 
 
 Of the 8,400,000 men drafted into the 
 army (this figure representing 89 per 
 cent of possible draftees) 3,000,000 were 
 wounded, 770,000 permanently muti- 
 lated, and 1,864,000 killed in battle; 
 this figure being raised to more than 
 2,000,000, counting the dead of disease 
 and missing. We can appreciate what 
 this mortality means if we imagine 
 that of the splendid American Army 
 which you so generously sent to France 
 in the cause of liberty not one ever 
 returned. 
 
 As regards material losses, there have 
 been destroyed — 
 
 94 per cent of our woolen mills. 
 
 90 per cent of our linen mills. 
 
 90 per cent of our mineral resources. 
 
 83 per cent of our steel mills. 
 
 70 per cent of our sugar industry. 
 
 60 per cent of our cotton mills. 
 
 55 per cent of our coal mines. 
 
 45 per cent of our electrical power. 
 
 We have a deficit of twelve billion francs 
 revenue unpaid from Russia, Belgium, 
 Turkey, and Rumania. 
 
 Surgeons, remarked Dr. Tuffier, "are ac- 
 customed to think less of the extent of the 
 wound but rather the fashion in which the 
 injured man reacts. What, then, have we 
 accomplished since the war? Since fifty- 
 seven per cent of the drafted men between 
 eighteen and thirty-four years have been 
 killed, our labor has been greatly crippled." 
 Yet France has restored conditions as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 80 per cent of the railway devastation. 
 
 74 per cent of the bridges. 
 
 18 per cent of the highways. 
 
 49 per cent of the canals. 
 
 30 per cent of the factories. 
 
 33 per cent of the houses. 
 
 "You thus see exactly what our losses 
 have been," said Professor Tuffier, "and 
 what we have done to offset them. Not- 
 withstanding this tremendous effort, seven- 
 ty-six non-devastated departments have 
 paid this year no less than eighteen billion 
 francs in taxes." 
 
 France, he concluded, is laboring ener- 
 getically. She wishes to live. "But our 
 material resources have been greatly re- 
 duced, and all our energy, all our produc- 
 tion, all our exportation, is expended towards 
 the reconstruction of our lands and cities." 
 
 Americans will join in Dr. Tuffier's wish 
 expressed in these words: "I hope, for the 
 greatest good of humanity, that the under- 
 standing and co-operation . . . firmly 
 established between our two countries will 
 continue, and even become still more in- 
 timate." 
 
 TWO FRONTIERS 
 
 Harvey's Weekly 
 
 General Alvaro Obregon has expressed an 
 admirable ideal for the relationship between 
 Mexico and the United States, which we are 
 certain every right-minded American would 
 like to see realized. That is, "to make the 
 international border like the Canadian boun- 
 dary, where the presence of troops is en- 
 tirely unnecessary." It is a fact that for a 
 hundred and five years unbroken peace has 
 prevailed between the United States and its 
 
216 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 northern neighbor, and that the long boun- 
 dary line from ocean to ocean, though in 
 parts at times the subject of dispute, has 
 never in all that time been a military fron- 
 tier. There is nothing that this country 
 desires more sincerely than that its other 
 frontier, the only other land frontier it has, 
 shall be equally tranquil and pacific. 
 
 At the same time it must with regret be 
 said that it is not so, and that there is no 
 reasonable ground for expecting it imme- 
 diately to be made so. We shall be glad to 
 believe that General Obregon is sincere in 
 his expression of friendship for this coun- 
 try, and to note from time to time the prog- 
 ress which, under his influence, is made 
 toward transforming abstract friendship 
 into concrete conditions. Friendship is not, 
 however, enough to assure the realization 
 of his fine ideal, desirable as it may be. 
 Indeed, it is not upon friendship that such 
 conditions depend. We have been at peace 
 with Canada, and have been able to main- 
 tain a boundary without a soldier, for other 
 reasons than friendship. Truth to tell, we 
 have not always been able to flatter our- 
 selves upon the possession of any marked 
 degree of Canadian affection. Certainly in 
 the early part of this century and more of 
 peace, the old resentment of the outraged 
 Loyalists still rankled against us in thou- 
 sands of Canadian hearts and minds, and in 
 later years there were some acrimonious 
 passages over North Atlantic fisheries, the 
 seals of Bering Sea, and the boundary of 
 the Alaska panhandle. 
 
 The cause of our peaceful relations with 
 Canada is found in the fact that Canada 
 and the United States come of the same 
 racial stock and from the same political 
 and juridical antecedents. We have, in gen- 
 eral, the same intellectual disposition, and 
 regard things from the same general point 
 of view. Moreover, we have both come 
 from many centuries of self-governing an- 
 cestors. Marked as this resemblance is be- 
 tween us and Canada, equally marked is the 
 contrast between us and Mexico. We are 
 of different and contrasting races, and of 
 different and contrasting governmental tra- 
 ditions. We have entirely different ways 
 of looking at things. We have different 
 standards of esteem for law and order and 
 constitutional authority. It would be un- 
 reasonable to expect Mexico instantly to 
 transform herself into our ways; and we 
 have not yet seriously thought of Mexicaniz- 
 ing ourselves. 
 
 Let us confess, also, that there is a vast 
 difference in the attitudes and tones of this 
 country respectively toward Canada and 
 toward Mexico. We have never looked upon 
 Canadians as "damned Greasers" nor re- 
 
 garded the natural resources of their coun- 
 try as objects for our unlimited exploita- 
 tion. We have treated our northern 
 neighbors as our equals, but have too often 
 treated our southern neighbors as inferiors. 
 The reasons for that attitude need not now 
 be discussed; the fact of it remains indis- 
 putable. And the existence of such a fact 
 is an inevitable cause of trouble. These are 
 the conditions which make the difference be- 
 tween the two frontiers. They are not 
 capable of being immediately abated. They 
 are susceptible of material amelioration, 
 though that achievement must be effected 
 by other means than either arrogant dicta- 
 tion or "watchful waiting." What is neces- 
 sary is for each country to recognize and 
 to respect the other's differences from it- 
 self, and to act upon the perfectly valid and 
 practicable principle that differences, even 
 the strongest contrasts, are not necessarily 
 causes of hostile conflict. 
 
 TROUBLE 
 
 A Wail from the Publisher 
 
 Concrete 
 
 There is the trouble experienced by the 
 contractor who sharpens his pencil, puts in 
 a winning bid and then can't get his ma- 
 terials or has to pay enough for them to 
 break him financially. 
 
 And the concrete products manufacturer 
 whose plant is mobbed by customers clamor- 
 ing for his goods, at a time when he can't 
 get cement. 
 
 And the engineer who can't revise his esti- 
 mates fast enough to keep pace with chang- 
 ing prices. 
 
 And the cement manufacturer who now 
 has to figure the percentage of hydration 
 in a gondola car of cement en route if pro- 
 tected by a tarpaulin — ^providing he can get 
 the gondola car. 
 
 These troubles are more or less familiar — 
 generally more — to the readers of this mag- 
 azine. But there are other troubles. 
 
 The backs of our readers are not the 
 only backs that are aggravated by hair 
 shirts. 
 
 The life of a publisher in these pestifer- 
 ous times is not all sweetness and light. 
 
 White paper costs four times what it did 
 ten years ago — that is, if the publisher can 
 find any to buy. This issue of Concrete is* 
 printed on job lots of paper, of varying 
 quality, picked up wherever we could find 
 it, at whatever murderous price was dic- 
 tated. The issue was delayed while we 
 hunted paper on which to print it. 
 
 A zinc cut 2 inches square, to reproduce 
 for you the picture of a house, costs $2.50. 
 We formerly got it for 60 cents. 
 
REVIEW AND SURVEY EDITORIALS 
 
 217 
 
 We hate to think how much more it costs 
 to set type now than it did before the war — 
 and how much harder it 'is to get the work 
 done at all. 
 
 A copy of the May issue of Concrete, 
 mailed May 17 to the Editor at his home 
 in Detroit, just four miles by street car 
 from the printing plant, was delivered by 
 the postoffice May 27. 
 
 Now this is in no sense intended as an 
 apology. No matter what the difficulties 
 are, it is our job to deliver to our subscribers 
 and our advertisers the kind of service they 
 have been led to expect from us. 
 
 This is just a spontaneous wail that es- 
 capes us as we close the forms for our 
 June issue several days late. 
 
 Trouble is not confined to the construction 
 business — no profession has a monopoly of 
 agony. 
 
 Patience and co-operation will do a lot to 
 help conditions until the Repubocrats get 
 into office, or the metric system is adopted, 
 or the single tax is made the law of the 
 land, or we all speak Esperanto, or some 
 other cure-all straightens out the whole ag- 
 gravating, sob-starting, profanity-instigat- 
 ing set of circumstances in which the world 
 is trying to do business now. 
 
 WAR DEBTS COMPARED 
 
 New York Evening Sun 
 
 According to a computation made with 
 the authority of the British Parliament, the 
 war has laid upon the population of the 
 United Kingdom almost three times as great 
 a burden of debt per head as upon the 
 people of the United States: nearly $790, 
 as against $275. Even in gross additions 
 to their debt, the British Isles, despite their 
 smaller population, much exceeded our 
 country. 
 
 America entered the fight when the going 
 was most expensive and the price of par- 
 ticipation at its highest. The intensive 
 quality of the effort swelled the expense. 
 The remoteness of the base from the scene 
 of action added another generous percentage 
 to the cost. But, though the United States 
 attained something like parity with French 
 and British in numbers and the quality of 
 Equipment, it had to maintain all this for 
 only a relatively short time. America's 
 effort involved topmost expenditure during 
 less than two years. The period of British 
 topmost expenditure ran over twice as long. 
 
 When we consider the future aspects of 
 bhe great debt burden resting on every Brit- 
 ish head, we must bear in mind that England 
 may to some extent count on part at least 
 Df her colonial empire for help in bearing 
 it. The greater dominions, with their own 
 accumulations of war debt, may not care 
 
 to help pay the mother country's besides. 
 The experience of 1776 warns against press- 
 ing them tuo hard to do so. Many of the 
 colonies remain, however, in that stage of 
 close conjunction with the parent country 
 where the accounts can hardly be kept sep- 
 arate. 
 
 Germany, which expended a larger total 
 effort from first to last than any other par- 
 ticipant, bears only $640 of added national 
 debt per capita. No doubt the empire would 
 have burdened the population yet more se- 
 verely if it had been able to extract more 
 effort thereby. The former standard of 
 costs ran lower in Germany, and a stem 
 system of paternalism kept the figures low 
 until the very end, so that $640 per German 
 may well represent more in the equivalent 
 it purchased than does $790 per Briton. 
 
 Likewise for the French does $570 per 
 head in war debts represent a greater ex- 
 penditure than would that figure here or in 
 England. All the debts of the big nations, 
 in so far as they are good, represent obliga- 
 tion to pay in gold. In gold therefore they 
 must be measured, and the decline of paper 
 money does little to lighten the per capita 
 burden. Yet oddly enough, in the case of 
 France, the burden may rest less severely 
 than that of any of the other chief par- 
 ticipants. The French colonial empire, un- 
 like that of England, stands in close touch 
 with the parent country. The colonials have 
 proved in many cases their sentiment of 
 common interest in the affairs of France, 
 and they may well be expected to accept a 
 considerable share of the burden. 
 
 Viewed together, the debts of neither the 
 British nor the French seem of a magnitude 
 that need permanently check their national 
 powers. With Germany the outcome must 
 partly depend on the trade that the German 
 industries can secure wherewith to obtain 
 the means to meet internal obligations. 
 
 BRITISH COLUMBIA HAS TO 
 
 SOLVE DIFFICULT PROBLEMS 
 
 Spokane Spokesman -Review 
 British Columbia is the western-most 
 province of Canada and the Ultima Thule 
 of its expansion westward. Yet it is not 
 Canada's far west as are Saskatchewan, 
 Manitoba and Alberta. It still holds, as 
 it has always stood — isolated from the rest 
 of Canada by its mountains. 
 
 Its present situation is peculiar to itself, 
 and it is devoted to a destiny all its own. 
 The Pacific has been its door and road to the 
 world without, and despite the transconti- 
 nental railways to the east its future will 
 mainly develop by means of the ocean. 
 
 Discovered and settled from the sea, Brit- 
 ish Columbia's greatest economic asset con- 
 
218 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 sists of the ports of Victoria, Vancouver, 
 and Prince Rupert. Its large industry and 
 its richest recourse are on the sunset slope. 
 There are the forests and the fisheries. But 
 the railroads through the interior have done 
 much to promote mining, and the minerals 
 and metals constitute a rapidly developing 
 resource. The handicap of British Columbia 
 is that the easily accessible areas of fertile 
 districts are few and that producing an 
 adequate supply of food forms one of its 
 vital problems. 
 
 Potentially, this probably is the richest 
 province in Canada. But industry in Brit- 
 ish Columbia is mainly sustained through 
 the industrial demands of Alberta, Mani- 
 toba, and Saskatchewan, and financial de- 
 pression, if it should chance to ma- 
 terialize, would be felt more in this maritime 
 commonwealth than anywhere else in Can- 
 ada. Substantial props are now being built. 
 Since 1913 the population of British Colum- 
 bia has declined from 400,000 to 300,000 
 The public debt for railroads exceeds $80,- 
 000,000. The municipal debts aggregate 
 $165,400,000. The people annually spend 
 over $25,000,000 in importing foods and the 
 production of farms. The provincial budget 
 presented to the legislature at its recent 
 session estimated the state revenue for the 
 current fiscal year as only $5,944,015. Dur- 
 ing the war the province has lost millions 
 of possible trade because it lacks adequate 
 facilities for transportation by water to 
 ship its lumber to France or England. 
 
 What the lumbering interests of British 
 Columbia need is the solution of the prob- 
 lem of transportation. What the farming 
 business requires is the release of large 
 areas in the Peace river region from spec- 
 ulators, and unhampered 'iccess to markets. 
 
 ACQUISITION OF THE 
 
 DANISH WEST INDIES 
 
 Tacoma Ledger 
 
 The Danish West Indies, negotiations for 
 the sale of which to the United States have 
 practically been completed, consist of three 
 small islands, St. John, St. Thomas and St. 
 Croix or Santa Cruz, the total area of all 
 of them being only about 138 square miles. 
 A few years ago their total population was 
 120,892. Exports and imports were small. 
 The islands are not regarded as having 
 much commercial value, and that is prob- 
 ably the reason Denmark is willing to dis- 
 pose of them. They are valuable to the 
 United States for naval reasons. They lie 
 near Porto Rico, which is a possession of 
 the United States. 
 
 Acquisition of the Danish West Indies 
 is in pursuance of a policy adopted by the 
 
 United States several years ago. In 1902 
 a treaty for the purchase was negotiated. 
 President Roosevelt signed it and the United 
 States senate ratified it, but the landsthing, 
 the upper branch of the parliament of Den- 
 mark, postponed a decision and then prac- 
 tically decided against sale. One of the 
 conditions suggested by the landsthing was 
 that a plebiscite be held in the islands to 
 ascertain whether the inhabitants desired 
 to be turned over to the government of the 
 United States. Most of the inhabitants of 
 the Danish West Indies are negroes. 
 
 A writer who traveled in the West Indies 
 a few years ago observed that "as we sail 
 down the eastern islands ... we find 
 five foreign flags and no less than a dozen 
 distinct colonial governments with no 
 shadow of federation between them, or even 
 co-operation of any kind." The black races 
 of the West Indies were gathered from 
 numerous tribes of Africa, and they show 
 differences in inherited qualities as well as 
 in habits. There are British, French, Dutch, 
 and Danish islands. One island, St. Martin, 
 is divided between the Dutch and the French. 
 
 Denmark has possessed the islands we 
 are about to acquire for 100 years. St. 
 Thomas was settled by the Danes in 1671, 
 taken by the British in 1801, restored to the 
 Danes in 1802, taken again by the British 
 in 1807, and finally restored to the Danes in 
 1815. St. John was transferred back and 
 forth at the same time as St. Thomas. St. 
 Croix or Santa Cruz has been in the hands 
 of the Dutch, British, Spanish and French 
 at different times. France ceded it to Den- 
 mark in 1733. Great Britain took it in 1807, 
 and by the treaty of Paris in 1814 it was 
 restored to Denmark. 
 
 It is reported that the United States is 
 to pay $25,000,000 for the islands. The 
 price under the proposed agreement of 1902 
 was $4,000,000. 
 
 THE CENTRE DE POPULATION 
 
 The Open Road ; 
 
 It is an interesting reflection that the' 
 Centre of Population, though he is one of 
 our oldest and best-known inhabitants, has 
 never had a home of his own nor any per- 
 manent abiding place. He came among us 
 with the first settlers and will be with us 
 as long as the nation lives, yet by the im- 
 perious will of the rest of us he is con- 
 stantly "moving on"; a sort of a Wander- 
 ing Jew, condemned to a never-ending 
 migration. 
 
 The earliest record that we have of his 
 
 place among us is the census of 1790, the 
 
 first that the United States ever took. H( 
 
 /as then in latitude 39°-16'-30" north, anc 
 
 longitude 76°-ll'-12" west, which fixes 
 
REVIEW AND SURVEY EDITORIALS 
 
 219 
 
 residence at a point about twenty-three 
 miles east of Baltimore. 
 
 Nothing more was heard of him for ten 
 years. Then he was discovered to have 
 moved west and a little south, to a point 
 in Virginia about forty miles northwest of 
 Washington, influenced, no doubt, by the re- 
 sults of the Louisiana Purchase. He has 
 been pushing west ever since, and for a time 
 a little south, too, so that in 1810 he was 
 sixteen miles north of Woodstock, Virginia, 
 and in 1820, nineteen miles southwest of 
 Morefield, West Virginia. There he ceased 
 his southern drift and ever since has moved 
 only west, and always very close to the 39th 
 parallel of latitude. 
 
 Crossing West Virginia, he entered Ohio 
 and stayed there between thirty and forty 
 years, then passed into Indiana, where the 
 census enumerators of 1910 found him in 
 the southern part of the State, in the west- 
 em end ^of Bloomington City, and as one 
 conscientious professor figured out, under 
 the windows of a furniture factory. In all 
 the years since 1790, when he was first dis- 
 covered, he had moved only five hundred and 
 fifty-seven miles. In a little while those in 
 charge of the present census will tell us 
 how far he has travelled since, and where 
 he is now. 
 
 The process is simple. 
 
 Imagining the whole area of the United 
 States, exclusive of Alaska and the islands, 
 to be a plane without weight, supporting the 
 whole population, each member of which 
 weighs the same as every other member, 
 they figured where the plane would balance. 
 At that point is the centre of population. 
 It might justly be called the centre of 
 gravity of the population. 
 
 The idea is an amusing one for the mind 
 to play with. It is evident from the terms of 
 the proposition that the centre of population 
 is as sensitive to movements of the people 
 as the seismograph is to tremors of the 
 crust of the earth. Not only does it re- 
 spond instantly to great popular migra- 
 tions, like the rush to California in '49 and 
 the opening of the public lands in Okla- 
 homa, but no family can move from even 
 one end of a city to another without affect- 
 ing it. And since it is coincident with the 
 centre of gravity of the people as a whole, 
 the farther away the family is from that 
 centre, the greater will be the shift that it 
 will cause in the centre of population. The 
 struggle of the Harvard and Oregon foot- 
 ball teams up and down the gridiron, and 
 the coming and going of the crowds that 
 watched them, moved the centre of popula- 
 tion back and forth much farther because 
 the game was played in California than they 
 
 would have moved it had the game been 
 played in Chicago; for California is near 
 the edge of the plane instead of being near 
 its centre of gravity. 
 
 Our oldest inhabitant is therefore an in- 
 teresting personage, whose position in life is 
 inseparable from that of every one of us. 
 We cannot live without him, we cannot even 
 die without affecting his whole subsequent 
 career. As for him, he is immortal. 
 
 WHAT THE GERMANS THOUGHT OF 
 JUTLAND 
 
 Scientific American 
 
 It has been reserved for a German naval 
 officer to expose the absurdity of the Ger- 
 man claim that the battle of Jutland was 
 for them a great victory. This confession is 
 to be found in a book which has recently 
 been written by Commander Georg von 
 Hase, the Chief Gunnery Officer of the 
 battle-cruiser Derfflinger, which was in 
 the thick of the great battle from first to 
 last. The reader does not proceed very far 
 with this work before the conviction is 
 borne in upon him that it is a straight- 
 forward and vivid account of the battle, 
 written in a sailor-like manner by one who 
 was an eye-witness of the dramatic events 
 which he records. 
 
 Von Hase admits that the British "shot 
 superbly and at a fabulous speed." "At 
 times," he says, "so effective was the Brit- 
 ish gun-fire that we stood powerless before 
 the enemy, unable to return his fire!" The 
 best work of the Germans was done in the 
 earlier phases of the action, when the Queen 
 Mary was sunk. To quote him again: 
 "About 6.26 p. m., the Queen Mary met her 
 doom. For two minutes our salvos had been 
 straddling her repeatedly, and ten seconds 
 after the last had fallen, we saw a huge 
 red flame shoot up from her forepart. Then 
 followed two prodigious explosions, and 
 amidst the smoke we saw her great masses 
 of debris rise in the air." 
 
 After the loss of the two battle-cruisers 
 Queen Mary and Indomitable, he remarks: 
 "We were fighting an enemy at the second 
 stage of the action, inferior in numbers, but 
 superior in fighting power, which was de- 
 pressing, nerve-racking and painful. Our 
 only means of defense was to sheer out of 
 line as soon as the enemy found our range." 
 In his discussion of the last phase of the 
 battle and the retreat of the German fleet, 
 he writes : "Admiral Scheer had realized the 
 perilous situation of his fleet. Our van 
 was enclosed within a semicircle of hostile 
 ships, and we found ourselves in the soup 
 (im absoluten Wurstkessel). 
 
 "The only means of escape was to turn 
 the whole fleet about," that is, for each ship 
 
220 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 to execute a turn through sixteen points. 
 "It was decided therefore to execute the 
 maneuver unobserved and unmolested by the 
 enemy, and this could only be done by 
 creating a diversion." The German battle- 
 cruisers and destroyers were ordered to 
 cover the retreat of the main body, and as 
 Scheer signalled the main fleet to turn 
 about, he ordered the battle-cruiser force 
 to charge the enemy, which was done. 
 
 "Now," he says, "there broke upon the 
 Derfflinger, as leading ship, a perfect tor- 
 nado of fire. . . . One 15-inch shell 
 pierced the armor of C turret and exploded, 
 killing seventy-three of the seventy-eight 
 men, and setting the ship on fire at that 
 part. Another fifteen-inch shell penetrated 
 a roof of D turret, killing eighty men in 
 all, instantly. With every moment, the 
 British fire seemed to grow more intense 
 and accurate. Another shell wrenched two 
 armor plates from the bows of the Derf- 
 flinger and tore a hole twenty feet by six- 
 teen feet in the hull, through which the 
 water poured whenever the vessel pitched. 
 All her yards were shot away, the flags 
 burned and searchlights wrecked, and all 
 voice-pipes and telephone cables had been 
 shot away." 
 
 Again, in speaking of the German battle- 
 cruiser Lutzow, he says she was "shot to 
 pieces by the British battle-cruisers and the 
 Fifth Battle Squadron. She is reported to 
 have received more than sixty heavy projec- 
 tiles in the course of action." Von Hase 
 tells us that after the German fleet had 
 retreated toward their home under the shel- 
 ter of the night, they were greatly relieved 
 when dawn broke to find that the British 
 fleet had been eluded, and when the British 
 did turn up next day, the Germans were 
 too badly wrecked to be sent out. 
 
 These are only a few of the comments 
 which the Commander makes upon the fury 
 and destructive effect of the British gun- 
 fire; and the fact that, in spite of this, only 
 one German battle-cruiser was sunk, proves 
 how excellent were the defensive arrange- 
 ments, in the way of sub-division and armor, 
 embodied by the German naval architects in 
 their capital ships. Thus, in their battle- 
 cruisers, not only was the belt and turret 
 armor of battleship thickness, but there was 
 an elaborate protection in the way of heavy 
 deck plating against that plunging fire which 
 sent the relatively poorly protected British 
 cruisers to the bottom. Commander Von 
 Hase, as we have said, was an Ordnance 
 officer, and this fact gives particular value 
 to his observations on the behavior of guns 
 and armor. The terrific destruction wrought 
 on the German ships is a tribute to the 
 
 value of the heavy gun and the highly ex- 
 plosive armor-piercing shell of big caliber, 
 such as the 13.5 and 15-inch projectiles with 
 which most of the damage to the German 
 ships was done. 
 
 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 BOLSHEVIST "RED BIBLE" 
 
 Boston Herald 
 
 Evidence just given before the Senate 
 labor committee by Lt. Van Buren, a mem- 
 ber of Gen. Wood's staff, shows that the 
 recent "Red" activities at Gary, Ind., had 
 their direct inspiration in Moscow and were 
 aimed at the overthrow of the American 
 government by armed force. The witness, 
 after describing the attempt to organize a 
 "Red guard" on the soviet pattern, testified 
 that at least twenty different Bolshevist 
 publications, some of them printed in Russia, 
 one issued by the "Soviet Workers of Phila- 
 delphia," are now in circulation at Gary 
 and may be found in radical headquarters 
 all over the United States. From this litera- 
 ture the lieutenant cited sentences urging 
 "the disarmament of the bourgeoisie" and 
 "the seizure of political power" by "the 
 destruction of capitalistic armies, govern- 
 ment officials, priests and all bourgeoisie 
 tools." His chief sample document was 
 the so-called "Red Bible," a reprint of the 
 appeal sent out from Moscow last March by 
 Lenin and Trotzky, calling on the workers 
 of all lands to unite for the overthrow of 
 capitalism and capitalistic governments. 
 Many tons of this booklet have been seized 
 by the authorities, yet it continues to be 
 issued, and still reaches alien workers in 
 such numbers that, according to Van Buren, 
 "the country is flooded with it." 
 
 If any doubt existed as to Bolshevist 
 propaganda in the United States, the Gary 
 revelations would alone suffice to dispel it. 
 There is the same kind of evidence for the 
 existence of a world propaganda. Working 
 on the assumption that if sovietism is to 
 triumph in Russia, it must be imposed on 
 all other countries, Lenin has spread his 
 net literally over the two hemispheres. The 
 results have been most conspicuous in Ger- 
 many, Austria, France, Great Britain, Italy, 
 Belgium, Holland and Switzerland, yet there 
 is scarcely a European country which has 
 escaped disorder stirred up by the Bolshevist 
 emissaries. It has been charged that the 
 Egyptian troubles of a few months ago 
 came largely from the same source; to the 
 Bolshevists have also been traced certain 
 extreme phases of the nationalist movement 
 in India. Only so recently as last June 
 Russian agents were found conducting an 
 extensive propaganda throughout Afghanis- 
 
REVIEW AND SURVEY EDITORIALS 
 
 221 
 
 tan. In an address delivered at Moscow, the 
 soviet commissary, Lunacharsky, described 
 the proletariat of China and India as "the 
 natural ally of the soviet republic," and in 
 August last Lenin formally invited the Chi- 
 nese people to ally themselves with the 
 Bolshevists, declaring that the "Red" forces 
 were on the way with the gift of "freedom 
 to the people, liberation from foreign bay- 
 onets and emancipation from the yoke of 
 foreign gold which is throttling the en- 
 slaved peoples of the east, particularly the 
 great Chinese nation." 
 
 Lenin has his^ own Chinese bodyguard at 
 Moscow, and it is from China that he hopes 
 to draw recruits for the "Red" armies; 
 something more than rumor also credits 
 him with the ambition to use the Orient for 
 the subjugation of the west. Bolshevist 
 Moscow prints a newspaper for circulation 
 in China and carries on Chinese propaganda 
 through a Chinese department headed by 
 Chun Yun Sun. Each envoy sent out by 
 him is instructed to spread through China 
 the statement that Lenin is a reincarnation 
 of Chinghis-Khan, come to life again to lead 
 Asia to the conquest of Europe. Portraits 
 of Lenin in Asiatic attire are being distrib- 
 uted broadcast among the Chinese, with the 
 effect, it is said, of convincing the ignorant 
 among them that he is, in truth, "their 
 legendary national hero." The great mass 
 of China's population are, of course, proof 
 against these wiles; many an oriental there 
 must be who will remember that it was 
 Chinghis-Khan who with fire and sword 
 scourged Asia as well as Europe. And 
 there is also a picture propaganda in our 
 own land, for the people whom Lt. Van 
 Buren found with Bolshevist literature in 
 their possession "usually had a big picture 
 of Lenin and Trotzky. We saw literally 
 thousands of these photographs." How long 
 will the misguided devotees of the soviet 
 system at Gary and elsewhere remain blind 
 to the difference between tyrants and lib- 
 erators ? 
 
 CANDIDATES OF OLD CAMPAIGNS 
 
 Christian Science Monitor 
 
 The United States convention system of 
 nominating candidates for the presidency 
 allows the presentation of the names of 
 many estimable gentlemen who are very 
 little known to the world. To be mentioned 
 for the presidency is to achieve an honor 
 which is worthy of at least a phrase in 
 "Who's Who in America"; but if there were 
 to be a society of those so mentioned it 
 could easily have a very large membership. 
 The student of history, comparing the 
 balloting in conventions today with the ac- 
 
 counts of older campaigns, finds much to 
 think about. How strange seem today the 
 names of some men who were ardently sup- 
 ported for the presidency only a few years 
 ago. One wonders if they were ever 
 seriously considered; and yet the writers 
 of history tell us that some of them were 
 among the chief pre-convention candidates. 
 All this may well be especially interesting 
 at a time like the present, when the selec- 
 tion of nominees has been made from a 
 particularly large field. 
 
 Suppose a man or woman, in order to 
 qualify as a voter today, had to give some 
 information about Benjamin H. BristoW, 
 Horace Boies, or Jeremiah M. Rusk! Yet 
 for many a ballot Mr. Bristow had more 
 than a hundred votes in the Republican 
 convention which met at Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 in 1876. As Secretary of the Treasury, he 
 had prosecuted the notorious "Whisky 
 Ring" and earned an excellent reputation as 
 a reformer, so that he was certainly one 
 of the main figures in the Republican Party 
 of his time. Horace Boies, Governor of 
 Iowa, was a leading candidate for the 
 Democratic nomination up to the time of 
 the convention in 1896, at which he received 
 a very considerable number of votes. Much 
 of his fame came from his opposition to 
 the Republican tariff policy. Jeremiah M. 
 Rusk, Governor of Wisconsin, was the 
 "favorite son" of his State in the campaign 
 of 1888. Afterward he became Secretary 
 of Agriculture under President Benjamin 
 Harrison. All three of these gentlemen 
 thus accomplished much in their own ways, 
 and yet they never reached the presidency. 
 
 A host of other names could be men- 
 tioned. William Windom of Minnesota, 
 Elihu B. Washburn of Illinois, and Senator 
 George F. Edmunds of Vermont received 
 votes in the Republican convention of 1880. 
 Walter Q. Gresham of Indiana, E. H. Fitler 
 of Pennsylvania, Richard P. Bland of 
 Missouri and Senator Thomas F. Bayard 
 of Delaware were repeatedly mentioned with 
 a considerable degree of enthusiasm at one 
 time or another. Marshall Jewell, Hamil- 
 ton Fish, and many another were talked 
 of, but never received the nomination. The 
 history of each party shows numerous 
 worthy names. Every four years, of course, 
 adds a new group of those who have been 
 eagerly presented for the attention of the 
 nominating conventions. It is an interest- 
 ing pastime to look over these names, and 
 to comprehend something of what a party 
 convention involves. Yet, after ^ all, the 
 names themselves amount to but little, and 
 
222 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 are soon forgotten. Whatever of progress 
 was really achieved remains, even while the 
 names lose their meaning. What was truly 
 worth while twenty years ago has by now 
 become merged into the general experience 
 of the many. One who, in the present 
 campaign, is either 
 
 Lifted high. 
 Conspicuous object in a nation's eye, 
 Or left unthought-of in obscurity, 
 
 might be interested to consider something 
 of the history of the candidates of the past, 
 and, along with this study, to read again 
 that favorite poem of many a president, 
 Wordsworth's "Character of the Happy 
 Warrior." In the long run, it is the thing 
 done, and not merely the person doing it, 
 that counts. Favorite sons can continue 
 pleasantly to be worthy of honor; but they 
 need not congratulate themselves unduly on 
 the mere fact of having been mentioned for 
 the presidency. 
 
 STOPPING WILD SPECULATION 
 
 New York Journal of Commerce and Commercial 
 Bulletin 
 
 Ever since the organization of the Federal 
 Reserve system there have been hasty 
 thinkers who have expressed the opinion 
 that panics have been made inevitable or 
 impossible. Some of these might now see 
 fit to revise their opinion or to put it a little 
 less positively in view of the post-war de- 
 velopments in banking and credit; never- 
 theless it is a fact that even with the 
 extreme stress of war conditions and in the 
 midst of alarming episodes our new bank- 
 ing system has stood up well under the 
 strain. The question, however, recurs and 
 is of live and direct interest today, whether 
 this or any other system can put panics 
 out of the question. 
 
 Probably the old style panic in the money 
 market so familiar to the traders of a 
 decade ago is now fairly well out of the 
 run of things expected. True, call money 
 rates have shown a disposition to fluctuate 
 and to reach levels which have been believed 
 to be a thing of the past. It is nevertheless 
 true that these great fluctuations have not 
 induced the anxiety that would have been 
 caused in former days. We may conclude 
 that panics or money disturbances will not 
 be likely to take exactly the same form in 
 the future that they have in the past. To 
 say that they can never occur in any form 
 is quite a different thing and could be true 
 only in the event that human nature had 
 materially changed or that methods of do- 
 
 ing business were quite different from those 
 of earlier years. 
 
 There is nothing in the Federal reserve 
 or any other banking system, however 
 strong it may be, to neutralize the undue 
 inflation of credit or the disturbance and 
 anxiety which accompanies such a condition. 
 Many think that we should not have 
 reached our present inflated level of bank- 
 ing and credit had it not been for the 
 facilities extended by the Federal Reserve 
 system. Be this as it may, the inflation 
 has taken place and the results of disturb- 
 ances which have accompanied it have. been 
 greater than any others ever witnessed in 
 the history of this country or perhaps any 
 other country where solvency and pros- 
 perity existed. The dollar is worth only 
 about 50 per cent of its pre-war value, or 
 in other words the standard of our money 
 has been reduced even more than during the 
 bulk of the greenback period of the Civil 
 War. As inflation increased and as the 
 margin between reserves and the minimum 
 reserve percentage has declined the ques- 
 tion has naturally occurred: What will 
 happen when the legal minimum is reached, 
 as it easily may be in the near future? 
 The inevitable outcome in that event would 
 be either a continued expansion due to the 
 suspension of reserve requirements or else 
 a sharp and sudden contraction of credit 
 due to the enforcement of reserve require- 
 ments and the consequent cutting off of the 
 possibility of relief for hard-pressed banks. 
 
 It is just this kind of jar or shock to 
 credit due to the sudden withdrawal of 
 support that in that past has caused busi- 
 ness depression and at times "panic." In 
 former days banks lost deposits by reason 
 of lack of confidence on the part of the 
 public; they became unable to meet the 
 demands brought to bear upon them, and 
 they either failed or joined together with 
 other banks in a suspension of payments 
 mitigated by an artificial kind of currency 
 issue in the form of "clearing house cer- 
 tificates." When the critical time arrived 
 credit was contracted and business suffered 
 accordingly. 
 
 If our reserves today were to reach a 
 minimum figure they might be suspended, 
 but such suspension could take place only 
 to the accompaniment of a very drastic 
 curtailment of credit. Bank failures would 
 not occur where institutions were sound and 
 hence able to rediscount, but the shock to 
 business would be just the same as that of 
 
REVIEW AND SURVEY EDITORIALS 
 
 223 
 
 former years. Values would collapse as ad- 
 ditional loans were withheld and as a result 
 weak houses would probably go to the wall. 
 This might not be a panic in the old- 
 fashioned sense, but it would be a serious 
 curtailment or collapse of credit, and its 
 consequences would be about as bad in 
 their general effects as those of former 
 times. It is earnestly to be hoped that no 
 such situation as this may come to pass. 
 There is no reason why it should; for the 
 machinery of banking which we now have 
 makes it possible to apply the brakes and 
 prevent our credit machinery from attain- 
 ing too great a speed. They have not been 
 set before, but they are being set now and 
 if a proper grip on them is maintained it 
 ought to be effective. Yet, if no limits 
 should be enforced, but expansion should go 
 on, accompanied by speculation and rising 
 prices, the time of reaction and retribution 
 cannot be very long deferred. There is no 
 artificial machinery for avoiding the con- 
 sequences of over trading and unwise busi- 
 ness policy, and it would not be wise to put 
 such a mechanism into operation, even if 
 it could be devised. 
 
 TOPICS OF THE DAY 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 Not quite a foregone conclusion, perhaps, 
 but certainly a result to be expected, was 
 the presentation of "an entirely new theory 
 of matter" at the annual gathering of the 
 National Academy of Science at Washing- 
 ton last week. To set forth a new defini- 
 tion or conception of matter seems to have 
 become a periodical stunt on the part of 
 science. The lay mind no sooner gets itself 
 adjusted to one new idea on this subject than 
 some enterprising theorist comes along with 
 a brand-new and more intricate theory and 
 asks the world to accept it. 
 
 And of course we all accept it, because 
 there is nothing else to do. A mere igno- 
 ramus cannot afford to dispute any claim 
 that is advanced by an expert of physical 
 science. But it is all tremendously baffling 
 and bewildering. By the time we get our 
 mental equilibrium adjusted in these re- 
 spects the scientists invite our attention to 
 a new conception and the whole dish of 
 beans is spilled. 
 
 When those of us who are now old enough 
 to vote were going to school we were re- 
 liably informed that matter was composed 
 of atoms, molecules and particles. The 
 smallest portion of matter visible to the 
 naked eye was a particle, a "grain of dust," 
 
 for instance. But the particle was com- 
 posed of a great number of molecules, and 
 each molecule in turn consisted of an in- 
 finite number of atoms. So we learned to 
 think of matter as composed of a mass of 
 particles, each of which was a universe in 
 itself composed of a great number of 
 separate units or atoms. 
 
 That theory is still good as far as it 
 goes, but it is only a beginning in the 
 analysis of matter. A few years ago science 
 introduced us to electrons. Personally we 
 have always understood that the electron 
 was a sub-division of the atom, but from 
 some of the scientific stuff that has been 
 printed lately we are not sure whether an 
 atom is composed of electrons or whether 
 an electron is a collection of atoms. Any- 
 way, at best the thought of an electron 
 was disturbing, for working microscopically 
 the task of getting our mind down to a 
 smaller conception than that of an atom 
 was absolutely impossible. By a desperate 
 effort of the imagination we are able to 
 atomize our mind, but beyond that it will 
 not go. 
 
 But apparently there is no stopping place 
 for the scientific mind. It goes on and 
 on in the reduction of the absolute minimum 
 until the ordinary mind gets positively 
 dizzy. The notion of the electron was bad 
 enough, but Dr. Iriving Langmuir has now 
 introduced us to the "quantel." So now 
 when you consider the tremendousness of a 
 grain of dust you have to let your imagina- 
 tion split it up into molecules, and then into 
 electrons and atoms and quantels. When 
 you get to the quantel you have reached 
 the ne plus ultra of the indivisibility of 
 matter. That is, you have reached it so 
 far as anybody knows today, but of course 
 it is an accepted fact that scientific progress 
 is still in its infancy. Everything we know 
 today is merely a kindergarten exercise 
 compared with what will be known fifty or 
 a hundred years hence, and we are going 
 ahead steadily in the acquisition of knowl- 
 edge. No doubt even by the time the Na- 
 tional Academy of Science meets next year 
 someone will have dug out a still more in- 
 tricate theory of the composition of in- 
 numerable woozigrams or something else. 
 And so on and so on, through the years 
 to come. 
 
 Dr. Langmuir explains the quantel by 
 saying that it consists of two parts, posi- 
 tive and negative, and that it is present m 
 all matter and throughout space, moving 
 in all directions with the velocity of light. 
 
224 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 It is declared to be capable of "passing 
 through matter," and hence we may con- 
 clude that while it is an integral part of 
 matter the quantel is not confined to matter 
 but is capable of passing in and out at will. 
 Therefore, is it not logical to conclude that 
 with this phenomenal fluidity, as it might 
 be called, it is possible for all the quantels 
 in any given mass of matter to absent 
 themselves from that mass simultaneously, 
 leaving a specimen of matter in which 
 for the time being there would not be a 
 single quantel ? In that case, it would seem 
 that there may be much matter in which, 
 temporarily at least, there are no quantels. 
 
 But no doubt there is a natural law which 
 governs the behavior of quantels and 
 prevents any erratic conduct of this sort. 
 If there is a "balance of trade" and a 
 "balance of power" in the childish economic 
 affairs of man, it is perhaps reasonable to 
 assume that nature holds a balance of 
 quantels. But it is an interesting and 
 rather disconcerting thought that with the 
 powers of movement thus ascribed a half- 
 dozen quantels residing in or on your 
 thumb-nail, for instance, might show a 
 flighty disposition and fly off into space 
 without a moment's warning. And as they 
 move with the velocity of light there is no 
 telling where or how far they may go. A 
 quantel that is in your thumb-nail now may 
 be on the moon a second or two later. 
 Perhaps that is what happens when you 
 hit your thumb with a hammer, the in- 
 stantaneous agony being caused by the 
 flight of quantels. 
 
 There are many dazzling speculations as 
 to symptoms, causes and effects which seem 
 to be opened up by this theory. Dr. Lang- 
 muir makes the subject a little clearer by 
 saying that quantels constitute what has 
 heretofore been known as the "ether of 
 space," and that they are the responsible 
 cause of all phenomena of light, electricity, 
 mass and energy. He also declares that his 
 new conception proves that "space and time 
 have a structure analogous to that of 
 matter." Now just to entertain yourself 
 please speculate a bit on that idea. Try to 
 consider the distance across the room in 
 which you are sitting, the interval between 
 two-thirty and three p. m., daylight-saving 
 time, and a generous section of apple pie 
 as being "analogous in structure." When 
 you can do that in a way that is convincing 
 to yourself, perhaps you may be regarded 
 as having mastered the elementary principle 
 of the quantel. 
 
 F. H. Young. 
 
 BECLOUDING THE ISSUE 
 Scientific American 
 
 The Congressional investigation of the 
 criticism of the first four months of our 
 naval co-operation in the war, as made by 
 Admiral Sims in a private letter to the 
 Secretary, has developed very much along 
 the lines which we had expected. Taken 
 by and large, the testimony of the line 
 officers who fought the war upon the high 
 seas has been an endorsement of Admiral 
 Sims' criticism; whereas the defense of Sec- 
 retary Daniels and the group of bureau 
 chiefs with which he has surrounded himself 
 has followed the expected course of becloud- 
 ing the issue by dealing in vague general- 
 ities. 
 
 In what way have Mr. Daniels and the 
 faithful few in Washington beclouded the 
 issue ? First, by giving the impression that 
 Admiral Sims had criticized the whole con- 
 duct of the war from the time we entered 
 until the signing of the armistice; and, 
 second, by conveying the impression that 
 not only was such criticism undeserved, 
 but that any criticism whatsoever of the 
 Navy was as unpatriotic as it was unjust. 
 We do not say that these charges were made 
 categorically, but we do say that the 
 testimony of Mr. Daniels and his bureau 
 chiefs has tended to discredit Admiral Sims 
 in the eyes of the lay public, by suggesting 
 that this gallant officer had cast a slur upon 
 the Navy to which he belongs by criticizing 
 its record throughout the whole eighteen 
 months of the war. Whether this result 
 was intended we do not know, but this we 
 do know — that by throwing so much dust in 
 the air in the endeavor to becloud the real 
 issue, a gross injustice has been done to one 
 of the truest-hearted, most hard-working 
 and most brilliant officers that ever brought 
 honor and credit to the United States Navy. 
 
 As a matter of fact — and Secretary 
 Daniels knows this just as well as we do — 
 Admiral Sims' criticisms were aimed at the 
 amazing and baffling delay and lack of 
 aggressive action which marked the first 
 three months of the war — for the work of 
 the Navy both in the Department at Wash- 
 ington and on the high seas after those 
 first few months of hesitation, Admiral 
 Sims has nothing but the very highest 
 praise. Of this fact, his written and spoken 
 words bear abundant proof. 
 
 The Admiral's letter was a letter of con- 
 structive criticism addressed to the Secre- 
 tary and intended for the most secret 
 archives of the Department. That the 
 existence of such a letter became known 
 
REVIEW AND SURVEY EDITORIALS 
 
 225 
 
 to the public is largely the fault of the 
 Secretary himself, and that it was read be- 
 fore the Committee is not in any sense 
 chargeable to Admiral Sims, but to the 
 Chairman of the Committee before whom 
 the Admiral was giving testimony — and the 
 Chairman, by the way, has publicly ac- 
 cepted full responsibility for the reading 
 of the letter. It is the duty of officers of 
 the Navy to write such letters of con- 
 structive criticism; they come into the De- 
 partment all the time, and it is the privilege 
 even of the youngest ensign to send in a 
 letter of this kind, if he thinks he has 
 criticisms or suggestions to offer, which 
 may add to the sum total of technical in- 
 formation in the Department files and serve 
 to promote the interests of the Navy as a 
 whole. 
 
 There has always been a large body of 
 men in the Navy who, thank Heaven, believe 
 that our Navy is never so good but that it 
 can be greatly improved, and among these 
 Admiral Sims has always been conspicuous. 
 He believes that a navy thrives best in a 
 bracing atmosphere of friendly, helpful 
 criticism, and that nothing is so hurtful to 
 its progress as the atmosphere of everlast- 
 ing and overdone adulation with which a 
 secretary of strongly political instincts is 
 prone to surround his navy. 
 
 That the Navy was ill-balanced and in no 
 condition immediately to enter a great war 
 was well known and universally admitted 
 by the officers of the Navy in the period of 
 1913-1914. When Admiral (then Captain) 
 Sims bent every effort to awaken the nation 
 to our state of unpreparedness, it was 
 largely in answer to this appeal that the 
 Scientific American wrote a series of ten 
 articles under the caption "The Needs of the 
 United States Navy," which appeared in 
 the spring of 1914 and therefore only a few 
 months before the war. Secretary Daniels 
 not only gave the editor every facility to 
 acquire the necessary data as to our un- 
 preparedness, but he himself crowned his 
 approbation by contributing one of the 
 articles. Now, the remarkable facts which 
 we wish to bring out are that the most 
 stringent of the Admiral's criticisms were 
 mild compared to the facts as to our un- 
 preparedness which were revealed in that 
 series of articles; and that such criticisms 
 as he made of our first four months of 
 participation in the war show that what did 
 happen was about what we predicted would 
 happen, when we were disclosing the needs 
 of the Navy early in 1914. 
 
 We are writing this in the interests of 
 truth and justice and in the hope that it 
 may serve to blow away the dust of un- 
 generous innuendo and misrepresentation 
 with which the real issue has been beclouded 
 and the record of a brilliant and highly 
 patriotic naval officer besmirched. 
 
 Let us get this thing straight; for the 
 facts are simple and they are of record. 
 For several months at the most critical 
 period of the naval war, America's partici- 
 pation was confined to a single executive 
 representative in London, with only one 
 assistant to help him; and the repeated, ur- 
 gent recommendations of this representative 
 that our Navy Department get into the war 
 at once by sending every possible destroyer 
 and anti-submarine craft to the theater of 
 operations, were either refused or ignored. 
 
 Would it not be advisable for the Secre- 
 tary to stop making smoke screens and get 
 down to the business of explaining this 
 most amazing situation? 
 
 SCREEN VERSUS STAGE 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 There is a vast amount of chatter just 
 now about the encroachment of the "movies" 
 upon the legitimate territory of the theater. 
 Much of it belongs to that order of gossip 
 of which there is apt to be an outbreak at 
 the approach of each successive "silly sea- 
 son." Some of it, in the absence of more 
 serious matter, may justify a few words 
 of comment. The recent jeremiad of a 
 prominent manager predicting the ultimate 
 extinction of the theatre, or its survival 
 simply as a subservient handmaid to the 
 film, was, of course, the negligible utterance 
 of unreflecting impulse or sheer panic. The 
 theatre as a dramatic institution is in no 
 sort of danger. Between it and the moving 
 picture show the difference in aims and re- 
 sources is so great that any real competi- 
 tion between them is almost inconceivable. 
 There will always be a demand for the 
 better sort of acted and spoken drama, 
 which the movies cannot even attempt to 
 supply. But that the commercial develop- 
 ment of the shadow drama constitutes a 
 serious menace to the occupation and the 
 pockets of commercial speculators in va- 
 rious inferior forms of theatrical entertain- 
 ment seems to be entirely credible, although 
 scarcely a cause for profound lamentation. 
 It is likely, indeed, in the long run to prove 
 highly beneficial to the theatre. 
 
 It may be as well, before going further, 
 to disavow any intention of speaking dis- 
 paragingly of the movies in general. 
 Many of them are highly admirable, not 
 
226 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 only from a pictorial point of view but for 
 various other sterling qualities. They are 
 interesting, artistic and instructive. Others 
 are sensational and somewhat silly, but, on 
 the whole, comparatively harmless, while 
 among the cheaper varieties not a few are 
 irredeemably stupid or bad. Much the same 
 might be said truthfully of the various ex- 
 hibitions in the regular theatres. In fact, 
 between the products of the picture and 
 the acting stages there are points of simili- 
 tude as well as radical and irreconcilable 
 differences. And these differences, it should 
 be noted, grow wider and wider as each 
 of the rival enterprises makes an advance 
 in its especial province, the movie stage in 
 the marvels of spectacle and the theatre in 
 the finest achievements of the spoken 
 drama. This must always continue to be 
 the case so long as the shadow actors re- 
 main dumb, which will be until the occur- 
 rence of some new mechanical miracle. And 
 even that could not abolish the need of 
 properly trained actors. In short, the movie 
 stage must always be more or less depend- 
 ent upon the theatre, with which it cannot 
 compete upon equal terms, although it may, 
 and doubtless will, interfere very seriously 
 with the receipts of many theatrical box 
 offices. 
 
 This is where, for the moment, it has 
 great and obvious advantages. In the first 
 place, it can make cheap "releases." No 
 doubt the initial cost of an elaborate spec- 
 tacle is very great, but when the pictures 
 have once been made they can be reproduced 
 simultaneously in as many places as is de- 
 sirable and transported with a minimum of 
 trouble or expenditure, piling up profits at 
 every turn. It can give fifty or a hundred 
 performances where the theatre can only 
 give one, while from many of the incidental 
 daily expenses of the theatre it is almost 
 entirely free. Moreover, it has no difficulty 
 in finding suitable places of exhibition in 
 almost every locality. Thus it can furnish 
 entertainment close at hand for innumerable 
 groups of population and adapt the nature 
 of the show to local conditions ; and — a most 
 important consideration — it can provide 
 popular performances at prices suited to 
 the purses of its prospective patrons. In- 
 cidentally, in its borrowings from the drama 
 it can reap the benefit of the preliminary 
 advertisements which have been paid for by 
 the theatrical manager. It is, from almost 
 every point of view, a most attractive busi- 
 ness proposition — for the present at any 
 rate — and it is in the hands of shrewd pro- 
 moters, quick to make the best use of exist- 
 ing opportunities. 
 
 When the circus comes to town there is 
 apt to be a notable decrease in the receipts 
 at many box offices. In the movie houses 
 theatre managers have to deal with a per- 
 petual circus of constantly increasing ca- 
 pacity and attractiveness. They are con- 
 fronted with an organization of rival 
 showmen who — to quote their own favorite, 
 but fallacious phrase — are giving the people 
 what they want and charging them very 
 much less for it. Some of them seem to 
 think that the fact that amusement seekers 
 will go where they get most fun for their 
 money is a sign that it is about time for 
 the theatre to shut up shop. Of course it 
 is nothing of the kind. It does not appear 
 to occur to these hitherto lucky profiteers 
 that it is possibe to fight the movies with 
 their own weapons, or that the theatre is 
 possessed of resources which are peculiarly 
 and exclusively its own. They are scared 
 out of their wits at the mere notion of a 
 legitimate competition outside their own 
 domain, which they have for so many years 
 conspired to smother within it. The answer 
 to the menace of the movies such as it is, 
 may be found in a policy of better plays — 
 and more of them — better acting and more 
 reasonable prices. 
 
 Financial success of the most substantial 
 kind has attended the plays to which, by 
 common consent, the chief artistic honors 
 have been accorded. They were not de- 
 serted for the movies. The lesson here is 
 plain enough for any one to read, and shows 
 in what way the prosperity and progress 
 of the theatre may be most certainly se- 
 cured. There would be no cause for anxiety 
 even if more good pictures were substituted 
 for inferior plays, and this would certainly 
 happen if the theatrical managers should be 
 foolish enough — at this time of all others — 
 to make any attempt to raise their prices 
 without any corresponding improvement in 
 the quality of their goods. — J. Ranken 
 Towse in The New York Evening Post. 
 
 The fact that the moving picture mag- 
 nates are rapidly extending their control 
 over the producing playhouses of Broadway 
 has its significance, certainly. In its char- 
 acter as an industry, as distinguished from 
 an art, the screen is asserting its control 
 over the spoken drama. Plot rises supreme 
 above the varied and delicate portrayal of 
 character, mere bodily action above the in- 
 finitely subtle revelations of human speech 
 — above dramatic literature, in short. 
 
 The triumph of the moving picture indus- 
 try is signalized by the fact that it has won 
 the citadels of the Empire and the Lyceum 
 
REVIEW AND SURVEY EDITORIALS 
 
 227 
 
 Theatres. This marks an epoch in the 
 American stage, no less. These are the 
 houses in which contemporary drama first 
 became literate. The elder stock companies 
 of Wallack, Palmer and Augustin Daly had 
 their glory of the Shakespearean repertory, 
 which has never since been equaled; but 
 for their modern pieces they relied mainly 
 upon the melodrama of Paris, the comedy 
 of Berlin. In the old Lyceum and the Em- 
 pire the "new school" of English comedy 
 came to us — Pinero, Barrie, Henry Arthur 
 Jones, Oscar Wilde and their fellows. It 
 was a drawing-room world they lived in, 
 and their theme was the motions of the 
 delicate heart, expressed in the speech of 
 the socially elect. Clyde Fitch and Augus- 
 tus Thomas applied their manner to Ameri- 
 can life. But the new school is new no 
 longer. In Am.erican life the drawing room 
 is a mere incident, and mainly exotic at 
 that. Later playwrights portrayed the 
 great public in its habits as it lived — in 
 business office, commercial hotel, State 
 House and State's Prison. In emotion and 
 lirmor what was delicate became racy, vig- 
 orous. High comedy gave way to popular 
 farce, drama to melodrama. The subtleties 
 and distinction of educated speech were 
 supplanted by the great American "Slan- 
 guage" — the subtleties and distinctions of 
 which are fewer but perhaps no less real. 
 In a word, the drama met its conquerer 
 half way — marched forth from the citadels 
 of polite comedy to capitulate. The real 
 conqueror was not the moving picture nor 
 its backers in Wall Street; it was the in- 
 stinctive demand of the American people 
 to see itself depicted in its native moods. 
 
 Scorn not the movie — nor yet its blood 
 brothers, the farce of bedroom and hotel 
 lobby, the melodrama of Tenderloin and 
 criminal court. Their virtues may be few, 
 but they are fundamental, even in the most 
 literate drama. They deal in basic passions 
 and racy, familiar character. They tell a 
 story nimbly and with rapid, cumulative 
 effect. Aristotle himself found the primary 
 value of a drama in its "fable" — salient 
 character in action. The "literary" qualities 
 were subordinate to plot, as sculpture and 
 painting are subordinate to the rhythms of 
 great architecture. Shakespeare himself took 
 his best plots, perhaps all of them, from the 
 current drama and literature of his day. 
 His masterpieces, as Victor Hugo said, are 
 each a soul tragedy impaled upon the frame- 
 work of a popular melodrama. Even his 
 dramaturgy was that of the screen rather 
 than of the modern stage. There are many 
 
 of his plays, as for example, "The Tempest" 
 and "Macbeth," the swift development and 
 moving climax of which are identical in 
 technique with the rapidly changing screen 
 and cannot be realized in the theatre except 
 by reverting to the nimbler shifts of his 
 own unhampered stage. That our plays are 
 produced with more than one eye upon 
 their subsequent availability for the screen 
 is not an unmitigated loss. The basic ele- 
 ments of drama will be valued and rec- 
 ognized as never before. In point of fact, 
 our public is far from scorning the movie, 
 whatever the pseudo-literary may say. 
 
 It is possible that a more exalted drama 
 will be achieved by investing the popular 
 fable with the raiment of exalted poetry and 
 passion, so that, reversing the progress of 
 Greek and Elizabethan drama, the great 
 play may descend to humbler spheres, 
 stripped of its literary quality. As yet 
 this has not been definitely accomplished. 
 The ruling spirit is antagonism. When the 
 Broadway theatres capitulated, the more 
 literate comedy and drama took refuge in 
 lanes and byways, to lead there an obscure 
 and fitful life — the Washington Square 
 Players, the Provincetown Players, the 
 Theatre Guild. Of three distinguished pro- 
 ductions of the present season, Booth 
 Tarkington's "Clarence" is incapable of 
 transfer to the screen without loss of all 
 its essential quality; St. John Ervine's "Jane 
 Clegg" and Eugene O'Neill's "Beyond the 
 Horizon" contain more viable stories, but 
 not of a distinctly popular character. The 
 problem of making the straddle between 
 drama and movie is probably insoluble ex- 
 cept by the rarest genius. — John Corbin in 
 the New York Times. 
 
 HOUSES FOR HARMONY 
 
 AN OPPORTUNITY TO QUELL UNREST 
 Congressman Tinkham of Massachusetts 
 Has a Plan Which Representatives of 
 National Organizations Believe Would 
 Do Much to Make the Country Contented 
 — Ten Million Families Live in Rented 
 Houses in the United States — Decline in 
 Ownership of Homes — Plans for Twenty 
 Thousand Houses Available — A Federal 
 Agency Necessary, and Valuable Infor- 
 mation at Hand 
 
 Regular Correspondent of the Boston Transcript 
 
 Washington, Nov. 13. 
 Congress, in the opinion of represent- 
 atives of scores of national organizations, 
 will stem the tide of unrest and at the 
 same time please both capital and labor if 
 it acts promptly on the bill introduced by 
 
228 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Congressman George Holden Tinkham of 
 Boston to create a Bureau of Housing and 
 Living Conditions in the Department of 
 Labor. These representatives seemed to 
 have convinced the congressional committee 
 which has heard their arguments that better 
 housing conditions will improve the coun- 
 try-wide situation, that the owner of a 
 home is not so likely to be carried away 
 by the hue and cry of radicals as the man 
 who has nothing at stake. A question up- 
 permost in the minds of the committee 
 members, however, is whether the Tinkham 
 bill, which limits the activities of the 
 proposed bureau to research, experimenta- 
 tion and the giving of advice, goes far 
 enough. This question will be settled dur- 
 ing the coming month when some plan will 
 be evolved to solve the vexing housing 
 problem which faces practically every city 
 in the United States. 
 
 10,000,000 Families Live in Rented Homes 
 
 The housing shortage is pictured as being 
 more acute now than at any other time in 
 the history of the country. It is estimated 
 that there is a deficiency of one million 
 homes at the present time. No less than 
 100,000 business blocks have been turned 
 into tenement houses since the war began 
 and the persons who have crowded into 
 these buildings are living under the worst 
 possible conditions. Surveys made in the 
 large cities reveal that practically 10,000,000 
 people are living under conditions which 
 make for deterioration of the human race. 
 The next generation is suffering. Statistics 
 laid before the committee reveal that the 
 death rate of children under five years of 
 age in one of the large cities of the country 
 is three times as large as the death rate of 
 children in the communities adjoining that 
 same city. Official figures show that of 
 20,255,000 families in the United States, 
 10,697,000 live in rented houses. 
 
 Home Ownership Is Declining 
 
 One reason for the shortage of homes 
 is that home building practically ceased in 
 the early days of the war. The situation 
 has been made more acute since the signing 
 of the armistice by the difficulty in secur- 
 ing loans for building purposes. Another 
 factor is the rapid growth of urban popu- 
 lation which would have forced the housing 
 problem on the attention of the nation even 
 though construction had not been stopped 
 by the war. The urban population was 46 
 per cent of the whole in 1910 according to 
 the census taken that year, and the rate 
 
 of increase since then has been so great 
 that the 1920 census is expected to show 
 that more than 50 per cent of the popula- 
 tion is in cities. Slum conditions are pic- 
 tured as being worse than they were a few 
 years ago and home ownership is said to 
 be declining steadily. The increasing land 
 values, the increasing cost of construction, 
 the increasing cost of maintenance and 
 the increasing cost of transportation are 
 rendering more and more difficult the 
 problem of the working-man to provide 
 adequate shelter for his family within a 
 reasonable distance of his work. 
 
 A Clearing House of Information 
 
 Persons who have made a study of the 
 situation say it is significant that the man 
 whose dissatisfaction with the Government 
 leads him to propose revolutionary meas- 
 ures is usually the homeless man who 
 comes from intolerable living conditions, 
 the man who has nothing to lose by de- 
 stroying order. In their opinion the solu- 
 tion lies in the Government making a care- 
 ful investigation of conditions in all parts 
 of the country; in scientific study and ex- 
 perimentation to find means of relief; and 
 in wide dissemination of the experience of 
 each community and of experts. They have 
 seized upon the Tinkham bill as the best 
 means of securing the desired results. This 
 measure provides for the creation of a 
 bureau to conduct these investigations, re- 
 searches and experimentations and directs 
 it to serve as a clearing house of informa- 
 tion on housing and living conditions. To 
 the proposed bureau would be transferred 
 the collections of plans, books, pamphlets, 
 reports and other material gathered by the 
 United States Housing Corporation and by 
 the Housing and Transportation Division 
 of the Emergency Fleet Corporation. The 
 bureau would be authorized to expend 
 $250,000 in conducting its work. 
 
 A Federal Agency Imperative 
 
 W. B. Wilson, Secretary of Labor, heartily 
 approves of the creation of the bureau. In 
 a letter to Congressman John W. Langley, 
 chairman of the Committee on Public Build- 
 ings and Grounds, Mr. Wilson says that 
 the shortage of houses and the prevalence 
 of unwholesome living conditions have as- 
 sumed proportions which make the estab- 
 lishment of a Federal agency for advice and 
 research imperative. "It is important," 
 says the Secretary, "that th^e should be a 
 clearing house for information on housing 
 and living conditions, in order to handle the 
 
KEVIEW AND SURVEY EDITORIALS 
 
 229 
 
 scores of requests coining to this depart- 
 ment daily from Chambers of Commerce, 
 builders, manufacturers, committees and 
 individuals intending to build homes. I 
 cordially approve both the principle and the 
 detailed provisions of the bill and hope that 
 such a measure will be passed at this ses- 
 sion, in order that such an advisory bureau 
 may be established at once. There is no 
 doubt the housing shortage in America will 
 be more acute this winter than it has been 
 at any other time in the history of this na- 
 tion, and every effort should be tried to 
 stimulate the building of homes and to as- 
 sist communities in making available hous- 
 ing facilities in order that the hardships 
 may be reduced to a minimum." 
 
 Plans of 20,000 Houses Available 
 
 During the war the Government spent 
 something like $100,000,000 on housing. In 
 the possession of wartime boards are plans 
 for no less than twenty thousand houses 
 which were drafted by hundreds or archi- 
 tects who stopped drawing plans of sky- 
 scrapers and great buildings of all kinds to 
 design houses which the Government could 
 build for from $3000 to $6000 each. It is 
 argued that the country will get its greatest 
 salvage out of the war if it makes use of 
 these plans for peace-time purposes. If the 
 plans are not used they will be sold eventu- 
 ally for junk at approximately one cent a 
 pound. The proposal in the Tinkham bill 
 to utilize these plans is not novel. Con- 
 gress in the past has provided bureaus for 
 several departments similar to the proposed 
 bureau. The Interior Department has its 
 general land office in the Geological Survey; 
 the Department of Agriculture its Bureau 
 
 of Animal Industry, the Forest Service and 
 the Insect Bureau; the Department of Com- 
 merce has its Bureau of Foreign and 
 Domestic Service and the Coast and Geo- 
 detic Survey; while the Department of 
 Labor has a Bureau of Labor Statistics and 
 the Children's Bureau. 
 
 26 Countries Encouraging Building 
 
 What is proposed for the United States 
 is already being done in 25 countries. 
 Every European nation and most of the 
 British colonies have taken governmental 
 action to enable the city worker to provide 
 his family with a house and decent living 
 conditions. Even before the war Great 
 Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Den- 
 mark, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Sweden, 
 Roumania and half a dozen other countries 
 had provided, either through loans from 
 public funds, through subsidy or through 
 some other form of government aid, the 
 decent housing necessary to maintain the 
 health and vigor of their people. Great 
 Britain now has before Parliament a bill 
 extending the housing acts of 1890 and 1909, 
 by making it mandatory for local govern- 
 ment authorities to provide housing for in- 
 dustrial workers. In case the local author- 
 ities failed to act, the Government board 
 may step in, take the necessary action and 
 charge the cost to the local community. 
 The bill is expected to pass substantially 
 in the form in which it was introduced. 
 Canada, since the armistice, has provided a 
 fund of $25,000,000 to be loaned through 
 the provincial governments to local govern- 
 ments, building societies and individuals to 
 build homes. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 The editorials in this division have 
 as their common characteristic the 
 employment of interpretation, with 
 the aim of clarifying and explaining, 
 or of imparting direct instruction, or 
 
 of otherwise considering and com- 
 menting upon the matter involved in 
 such ways as will produce a better 
 understanding of the subject. See 
 Part I, Chapter VI. 
 
 THE BUDDING OF MARSHALL 
 
 flichmond Times-Dispatch 
 
 Vice-President Marshall has grown tre- 
 mendously in public as well as party favor 
 in the last few months. As Governor of 
 Indiana he was one of the party stalwarts; 
 then the vice-presidency seemed to swallow 
 him up. But recently. he has emerged from 
 the shadow of his office and today he stands 
 four-square to the world, a big man and a 
 big Democrat, and whether he intends it so, 
 a clever politician. The Times-Dispatch has 
 said before, and repeats it now, that the 
 party, when it convenes in San Francisco, 
 could go much further and do much worse 
 than to make him its standard-bearer. Cer- 
 tainly he can have Virginia's electoral vote, 
 provided its own favorite son is not in the 
 running. 
 
 THE FACULTY OF LOOKING AHEAD 
 
 Syracuse Post-Standard 
 
 Herbert Hoover knows more about eco- 
 nomic conditions in the United States and 
 abroad than any other man. He knows not 
 because of super-intelligence, but because he 
 has studied and figured upon these condi- 
 tions. What is the value of this habit of 
 study and of application of its results? 
 Listen: 
 
 Mr. Hoover proposed a year ago that the 
 United States should purchase the Cuban 
 sugar crop, which was selling at about one- 
 half its present prices. He saw what was 
 coming, not because he has the gift of 
 clairvoyance, but because he had the facts 
 in front of him and he looked ahead. If 
 Mr. Hoover's counsel had been followed the 
 saving to the American public would be 
 about $100,000,000 a month. 
 
 LABOR AND FALLING PRICES 
 
 Fibre and Fabric 
 
 No one expects a return of the prices that 
 ruled five years ago, but there must be a 
 general markdown all along the line and 
 labor must bear its share as it has benefited 
 
 by the advance. What form the labor re- 
 adjustments will take is problematical, but 
 just now the four-day week in numerous 
 places answers the question, and complete 
 shutdowns have quite a tendency toward re- 
 adjustment in other places. 
 
 In times past many mills accumulated 
 stock during dull periods, to keep their help 
 employed. But the attitude of labor during 
 the past two years has eliminated any sym- 
 pathy and now it narrows down to cold 
 business, and the plants will run on profita- 
 ble orders and shut down when such orders 
 are not forthcoming. 
 
 DISCIPLINE THE LAW OF LIFE 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 In all the movements, individual or collec- 
 tive, professedly having mitigation of the 
 horrors of matrimony for their purpose, the 
 underlying idea is found to spring from re- 
 bellion against duty, responsibility and 
 discipline. 
 
 Human life is a course in discipline, from 
 childhood to old age. Marriage is discipline, 
 as is school, business and the profession. 
 Without discipline man would be merely a 
 selfish savage. Seclusion from the trials 
 that develop character and strength un- 
 doubtedly promote individuality, but it is 
 the individuality whose characteristic trait 
 is selfishness that totally disregards the 
 comfort, happiness or welfare of others. 
 
 Society cannot patiently contemplate a 
 2.75 brand of near-matrimony. 
 
 CHICAGO'S DAYLIGHT GRIEVANCE 
 
 Capper's Weekly 
 
 Chicago banks are compelled to open an 
 hour earlier and close an hour earlier that 
 they may have time to transact the neces- 
 sary business with New York banks under 
 New York's Daylight-Saving Law. The re- 
 sult is that business houses in Chicago and 
 in fact all persons who make a daily de- 
 posit in a Chicago bank, are compelled to 
 make this deposit in the middle of the day, 
 
EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 231 
 
 ;hen carry overnight all the receipts of the 
 afternoon, thereby adding the high cost of 
 jurglary to other expenses of doing busi- 
 aess. The difference in standard time be- 
 tween New York and Chicago is one hour. 
 When the clock was moved forward another 
 hour that the bankers and Wall Street 
 irokers may have an extra hour of golf, 
 ;hat makes two hours' difference in time. 
 A>nd as Chicago bankers do an enormous 
 3usiness with New York banks every day, 
 it is easy to see what a nuisance this is to 
 Chicago business men. 
 
 SOUND BRITISH POLICY 
 
 Harvey's Weekly 
 
 The clear thinking and straight speaking 
 which characterized the Prince of Wales in 
 lis intercourse with Americans while he was 
 Dur guest are evidently a fixed habit, and 
 lo not desert him when he is among his own 
 people. Some echo of the silly chatter 
 ivhich is periodically raised about sale of 
 tihe British West Indies reached his ears 
 while he was in Barbados a few weeks ago, 
 •ind moved him to say, in an after-dinner 
 speech: 
 
 You have probably heard that it was 
 suggested the other day that the Brit- 
 ish Empire might pay off some of its 
 war debt by selling part of the British 
 West Indies. What an idea! I need 
 hardly say to you that the king's sub- 
 jects are not for sale to other govern- 
 ments, and that their destiny, as free 
 men, is in their own hands. Your 
 future is for yourselves to shape. 
 So long as the sovereign or his spokes- 
 nan cherishes such sentiments, it will be 
 juite safe for him to say of every colony, 
 IS the Prince added concerning Barbados: 
 I am sure that Barbados will never waver 
 n its loyalty to the British Crown." And 
 the Prince is in the fifth generation from 
 leorge III. 
 
 MAKING A STATUE IN BUTTER 
 
 The New Republic 
 
 In his heart the spellbinder campaign 
 peaker knows, during those intervals of 
 eisure when he is neither delivering nor 
 neditating his specialty, that at nine con- 
 ventions out of ten the result would be the 
 ;ame if there were no nominating nor sec- 
 onding speeches. Knowing this, he must 
 'or the next few weeks behave as if he did 
 lot know it. It is his duty to behave as if 
 le did not know it. His aim is to make, at 
 Chicago or San Francisco, a crescendo nom- 
 nating speech, which near its beginning will 
 )e punctuated by cheers, near its middle will 
 }e interrupted by a storm of cheers, and 
 after it is over will be followed by a per- 
 
 fect storm of cheers, also called pandemo- 
 nium. His hero may be as uninspiring as 
 Senator Knox, as drab — though this seems 
 no longer possible — as Senator Harding. No 
 matter. No difficulty is too formidable for 
 the spellbinder. Never does his task appal 
 him, though it be to make a statue, some- 
 thing in the marmorschoen or aere peren- 
 nius line, of a sitter for whom butter would 
 be an unduly imperishable medium. 
 
 BULGARIA ARRANGES TO GO CRAZY 
 
 New York Tribune 
 
 It is reported that Bulgaria is about to 
 go Bolshevist. Genuine or imitation va- 
 riety ? 
 
 A disagreeable treaty has arrived from 
 Paris, and it has become diplomatic tech- 
 nique to go or threaten to go Bolshevist 
 under such circumstances. Berlin kept the 
 skeleton dangling for three months while 
 her representatives sought better terms. 
 Karolyi stepped aside at Budapest on the 
 theory that Bela Kun could drive a better 
 bargain. Vienna experimented with the 
 same plan until it appeared that the Reds 
 would steal more than the Allies would 
 exact. Sofia thus treads a well beaten path. 
 
 Not all is Bolshevist which flies its ban- 
 ners. Lenine, taken in by the Bela Kun 
 fraud, has indignantly declared he will not 
 be "stung'' again. To pretend to be crazy 
 is a familiar device for avoiding the con- 
 sequences of crime, and Bulgaria may rage 
 furiously until convinced that the mas- 
 querade does not deceive. The Balkan coun- 
 try is a land of peasant proprietors, who 
 are little likely to nationalize their home- 
 steads, although patriotically willing to 
 allow their city dervishes to dance a little 
 if the spectacle will soften the peace terms. 
 
 CONSUMERS WHO WERE PRODUCERS 
 
 Southwestern Telephone News 
 
 Every time a farm boy decides to become 
 a city feller, the food problem gets tougher. 
 
 One man who has sat up nights figuring 
 it all out says that the high cost of food- 
 stuff is due in no small degree to the fact 
 that they haven't been able to "keep 'em 
 down on the farm." 
 
 Some of the farm boys have been think- 
 ing that it might be easier to go to the 
 city, where they are shortening the hours 
 and increasing the pay, than to get up be- 
 fore daylight to sneak up on the wild oats. 
 
 Since the beginning of the war, there has 
 been a constant stream of labor from the 
 farm to the big, industrial works in the 
 cities. The result is that there have been 
 more mouths to feed with fewer farmers 
 producing the food; hence the shortage; 
 hence increased cost. 
 
232 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 The world must eat, and in so far as 
 each individual provides some of the food 
 that he must eat, so far will the problem 
 of feeding the world be simplified. 
 
 Every back yard is an undeveloped gar- 
 den. Every potato raised in the back yard 
 is so much added to the common fund. 
 
 Besides, there is fun and health-givmg 
 exercise in hoeing potatoes. Let's consider 
 seriously the kitchen garden. Now am the 
 time. 
 
 MEN WORTH WHILE 
 
 Forbes Magazine 
 
 Every employer is looking for men who 
 are wide awake, alert, quick to see trends, 
 quick to recognize profitable opportunities. 
 
 One very large employer recently en- 
 gaged an executive at a salary in excess of 
 half a million dollars a year. In one of his 
 first tours of inspection throughout the 
 plant he saw a means of effecting an econ- 
 omy which would amount in the course of 
 twelve months to fully one-third of a 
 million dollars. Within two months from 
 the date of his employment he saw another 
 opportunity for saving almost as much. 
 
 Why was this man and the others here 
 mentioned able to see the things they did 
 see? 
 
 Because they fitted themselves to see 
 things not discernible by careless eyes and 
 indifferent minds. 
 
 The best way to learn to see more is to 
 learn more. 
 
 The Japanese have a proverb which says 
 that "A look is better than a thousand 
 words.'* 
 
 Keen, eager observation is one of the 
 standard methods of increasing one's knowl- 
 edge. Keeping one's eyes wide open helps 
 to open one's mind. 
 
 WORLD SALVATION BY PRODUCTION 
 
 Shoe and Leather Reporter 
 
 As a result of the meetings of the Na- 
 tional Chamber of Commerce the idea of 
 increased production will be vitalized and 
 nationalized. Labor will everywhere be im- 
 pressed by the necessity for intensified pro- 
 duction to save the world. It will be ex- 
 plained that there is no desire to return to 
 pre-war wages, or to demand more and 
 more work without additional compensation. 
 In many instances wages may be inordinate- 
 ly high, but that is not the immediate con- 
 sideration. The urgent problem is one of 
 work, without special regard to remunera- 
 tion. If civilization is to be restored, if the 
 wounds of war are to be healed, men must 
 work. The world is suffering for food, 
 clothing, furniture and homes. Given ade- 
 quate transportation and credit facilities 
 
 there vnll be markets for everything our 
 mills and factories can turn out. Over- 
 production will continue to be a remote con- 
 tingency for years to come. 
 
 HEALTH IN BUSINESS 
 
 Haverhill Gazette 
 
 A business man walked into a doctor's 
 office the other day. 
 
 He looked in the pink of condition. 
 
 "I want a thorough physical examina- 
 tion," he said. 
 
 The doctor accommodated him. Heart 
 was sound, lungs were healthy, kidneys and 
 all the other organs functioning properly. 
 
 "You're the most splendid specimen I've 
 seen in a long time," said the doctor. 
 
 "Thanks; I intend to remain so," said the 
 client. "You shall go over me like this 
 every six months. And I propose to have 
 every man in a responsible position in my 
 organization undergo a similar examination 
 twice a year. 
 
 "A competing firm recently put a man into 
 an important job who looked as well as I. 
 He broke down, and in the demoralization 
 of the firm's business that came with his 
 breaking, our firm has taken over one of 
 their biggest and best accounts. A condi- 
 tion of twenty years' standing, which he 
 thought completely overcome, caused that 
 man's breakdown. 
 
 "I don't propose that my firm shall suffer 
 through any such experience." 
 
 Cold, hard business applied to health. 
 Doesn't personal interest recommend to 
 every man such prudence? 
 
 How many men can you recall who have 
 discovered a serious state of health too late 
 to mend? 
 
 THE DENIM-CRATIC PARTY 
 
 Cincinnati Times-Star 
 
 The "overall" movement that is sweeping 
 across the country is more significant than 
 it seems. There is more in it than the 
 spirit of a sartorial prank. It means that 
 at last there is a popular appreciation of 
 the inexorable truth that to cut down the 
 high cost of living we shall have to cut out 
 some of the high living. 
 
 There was a time, not so long ago, when 
 the boys of a neighborhood wore trousers 
 that were things of patches, if not of shreds. 
 And they weren't ashamed of them. But 
 the general tide of prosperity swept 
 patched trousers into the discard. The boy 
 whose trousers are of more than one ma- 
 terial is now a social pariah. He belongs 
 to the juvenile proletariat, whose parents 
 are not able to buy him a new suit when 
 time has abraded the seat of his trousers. 
 But don't blame the boys. This feeling, this 
 
EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 233 
 
 class distinction, is a heritage from fathers 
 who formerly walked or rode in street cars, 
 but who now "tour" to and from work, and 
 from mothers who are not satisfied so long 
 as Mrs. Jones next door has a car of more 
 expensive make. 
 
 The American people have not been living 
 as they used to. But they are going to live 
 more and more as they used to. The "over- 
 all" movement is a picturesque harbinger 
 of the days that are on their way. 
 
 THE BOY IN THE APPLE TREE 
 
 San Antonio Express 
 
 In the old blue-back spelling book there 
 was the story (with illustration) of the 
 small boy in the apple tree, and the owner 
 pelting him from the ground with tufts of 
 grass in an effort to persuade him to come 
 down and surrender. The effort being of 
 no avail, the owner of the orchard finally 
 concluded that if the tufts of grass would 
 not fetch him he would try what virtue 
 there might be in stones. The result was 
 that the boy quickly capitulated, when the 
 missiles that meant something began to 
 come his way and he realized that the man 
 hurling them meant business. 
 
 The story is recalled by the firmer official 
 and managerial tone, and the more drastic 
 action that is being taken publicly, or is 
 threatened, to bring about a change in rail- 
 road operation conditions that are intoler- 
 able. There are two sides to every question, 
 and there always ought to be a way of de- 
 termining which is the wrong side. When 
 reason and fair argument fail, something 
 else must be tried. "It is a poor sort of 
 bow that has only one string." The trans- 
 portation situation that causes distress to 
 great numbers of people who are in no wise 
 responsible for it, must not continue if there 
 be any legal and practical means of correct- 
 ing it, no matter what the grievance on one 
 side or the stubbornness on the other. The 
 general public has rights which the "in- 
 terests" directly involved must be made to 
 respect; and if they will not "come down" 
 for fair words, the suffering public is not 
 and should not be without means to substi- 
 tute something effective for fair words. 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF THE DINNER PAIL 
 
 New Bedford Standard 
 
 After overalls, the dinner pail. 
 
 That is only natural. The two go together 
 or used to before lunch counters became^ so 
 numerous. If Mr. Coupon Cutter is going 
 down town for the day's work, dressed in 
 blue jeans or khaki, why shouldn't he carry 
 his dinner? All he would need then would 
 be a paper cap to become a real proletarian. 
 The lunch box is in some ways a better 
 
 idea than the overalls. Each one to his 
 taste, of course, but in many cases a light 
 repast such as could be packed in a box 
 would be better for the worker than a meal 
 grabbed off the counter of a restaurant. 
 
 If a man lives any distance from his work 
 it takes most of his meal hour to go back 
 and forth and even then he has to hurry. 
 
 Where going home is impossible, recourse 
 to a restaurant means a quick lunch, or, if 
 he goes at it leisurely, the loss of a good 
 deal of time while his order is being filled, 
 and a temptation to eat more heartily than 
 is good for him. Nothing is so conducive 
 to afternoon lethargy as a heavy dinner — 
 nothing, that is, except alcoholic indulgence. 
 
 The danger of a dinner-pail lunch is that 
 one would be inclined to eat it quickly and 
 then resume working. The noon hour is 
 even more essential for rest and repose than 
 it is for sustenance. If a man would eat 
 sparingly and then devote the rest of his 
 hour to a walk or a rest, the dinner-pail 
 fashion would have its advantages. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS 
 
 Spokane Spokesman-Review 
 
 The church is just beginning to pay a 
 long overdue debt to the Sunday school. 
 There is a general realization that without 
 good Sunday schools church membership will 
 fall off rapidly. The Sunday school not only 
 gives boys and girls spiritual instruction, 
 but it fixes in them firmly the habit of 
 church-going. This means that when they 
 grow up they are not nearly so likely to 
 join the great number of men and women 
 who have a theoretical church membership 
 but accept none of its privileges or re- 
 sponsibilities. 
 
 Church leaders today say that the Sunday 
 school brings more active members than 
 any other form of religious activity. A man 
 is more apt to join a church because his 
 children are going to Sunday school than 
 because he likes the preacher or the music. 
 
 Yet for many years it has been difficult 
 to get the average church to pay proper 
 attention to the children. Bishop Page of 
 the Spokane Episcopal district tells of a 
 parish that willingly appropriated several 
 hundred dollars a year to pay a tenor soloist, 
 but begrudged the much smaller amount it 
 gave to the Sunday school. Yet the money 
 spent for music was, in terms of active 
 membership, a losing investment, while that 
 spent in the Sunday scho'ol paid large div- 
 idends. 
 
 That point of view is disappearing. The 
 Sunday schools are beginning to get what 
 is due them, and this is a good omen for 
 the whole church. 
 
234 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 NEW DISCOVERIES EVERY DAY 
 
 Reno Gazette 
 
 A cure for typhus was announced in the 
 dispatches yesterday, and gradually cures 
 for all the epidemic diseases are being pro- 
 claimed by physicians, but it is to be noted 
 that none has yet been discovered for cholera 
 or for infantile paralysis. Yellow fever 
 still flourishes wherever there are proper 
 conditions, though it appears to have been 
 conquered in Cuba, Mississippi, and Louisi- 
 ana. For leprosy there is no known cure, 
 and for the great curse of the Orient, the 
 true plague, no cure has been found. 
 
 Recently a correspondent of an Eastern 
 paper suggested that perhaps many of the 
 cures attributed to serums were really due 
 to improved conditions, such as the drainage 
 of swamps and the removal of centers of 
 miasmatic exhalations. Maybe he is right, 
 and perhaps the next generation will find 
 that what has been taken as the final word 
 in bacteriology was really only a symptom. 
 Twenty-five years ago the bacteria them- 
 selves were blamed. Now it is the toxins 
 that they create. 
 
 Medical discoveries, like those in every 
 other branch of science, are in the plastic 
 stage. There is nothing discovered that to- 
 morrow may not change. 
 
 WHO WILL SUCCEED HADLEY? 
 
 New Haven Journal-Courier 
 
 The task assigned the Yale committee ap- 
 pointed by the corporation of examining the 
 field of presidential prospects is a huge one 
 and will require a concentration of thought 
 perhaps never before necessarily exercised. 
 Aside from the scarcity of material from 
 which to draw, there is the greater problem 
 of finding for President a man who com- 
 bines scholarship with administrative abil- 
 ity. It is not enough to have a love of 
 scholarship to counteract the influences of 
 an administrative and executive mind. It 
 must be real scholarship in its understand- 
 ing and application to the conduct of the 
 affairs of this great institution. The opin- 
 ion is not unjustified that the work of the 
 committee will be aided in spirit if, in the 
 search for Dr. Hadley's successor, presi- 
 dential prospects are considered regardless 
 of Yale origin, not that the right one may 
 not be found in the ranks of Yale men, but 
 that the premise that only Yale men can be 
 considered may naiTow the committee's 
 vision and interrupt the further mastery of 
 this venerable seat of learning. 
 
 V/e have faith that the modem spirit of 
 what for a better term must be called the 
 commercial spirit will not be permitted to 
 influence the judgment of the committee and 
 the corporation. It is because the commer- 
 
 cial spirit is so strong in all walks of life, 
 touching even the dignity of the professors 
 to their disadvantage, that Yale should 
 utilize all of her energies, traditions and 
 high-mindedness to restore a normal bal- 
 ance, which is no balance at all if cultural in- 
 fluences and passions are to be omitted. 
 It is only by holding fast to her ideals that 
 Yale can continue to fulfill her superb mis- 
 sion in life. 
 
 AN ADLESS COUNTRY 
 
 Successful Farming 
 
 Suppose there was no advertising. Would 
 that condition appeal to you? 
 
 Suppose everything was sold in bulk with- 
 out a name or a brand or any mark to 
 identify it? Would you like to go into that 
 kind of a market to buy the things you 
 need? 
 
 The man who invented trade-marks and 
 brands and advertising was as great a bene- 
 factor to us all as the man who invented 
 names by which to distinguish animals and 
 plants. 
 
 Suppose you wanted to buy an animal that 
 would give milk in large enough quantities 
 to supply your family and there was no word 
 to identify that animal. Suppose there was 
 no such word as "cow" and no word to take 
 the place of the word "cow." Wouldn't it 
 be awfully inconvenient to have nothing but 
 the word "animal" to describe your wants? 
 The same thing is true with merchandise. 
 You wouldn't want to go back to the time 
 when "flour" was just "flour" and there 
 was no way to identify the different kinds 
 so you could be sure of their quality before 
 you baked your bread or cake. 
 
 The old "nameless" method was a gamble. 
 It was like taking a chance on a grab bag. 
 The newer, better method is to have each 
 article of merchandise named and marked 
 with a trade-mark and have the merits of the 
 article carrying that name or trade-mark 
 honestly and clearly set forth in publica- 
 tions that guarantee the honesty of their 
 advertisers. 
 
 This newer, better method eliminates the 
 gamble so that our money can be paid out 
 for merchandise with a reasonable assur- 
 ance that we will get what we want to get 
 when we make the purchase. 
 
 SPIRITUAL OVERALLS 
 
 Sun and New York Herald 
 
 To wear overalls not merely in the flesh 
 but in the spirit should mean to waste not 
 of anything so that we shall want not of 
 anything. Waste neither silks nor woolens, 
 neither satins nor cottons — neither conven- 
 tional garb nor overalls. Waste neither 
 canvasback duck nor beefsteak, neither ter- 
 
EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 235 
 
 rapin nor corned beef and cabbage. Waste 
 neither our working hours nor our working 
 minutes. 
 
 To be in overalls in the spirit means in 
 the bigger and the truer sense for every 
 worker to put in the hardest licks he knows 
 how at production, whether digging coal, 
 hoeing potatoes, spinning textiles, building 
 houses or whatever be his share of the 
 task of earning his living and contributing 
 to the world's store of necessaries of life. 
 Such "overall" labor will be worthy of every 
 American — the man who scratches out his 
 daily bread either with his pickaxe or with 
 his pen, the man who is a builder of rail- 
 roads and of steel plants or of chicken 
 coops and beanpoles. Such "overall" pro- 
 duction will make more of everything, how- 
 ever we dress; it will make everything 
 cheaper — even overalls. 
 
 To be in overalls in spirit means to get 
 back to the fundamentals of economics, to 
 the grass roots of Americanism, to the bed 
 rock of honest and honorable, stout and 
 clean manhood. 
 
 In that sense let us all get into our over- 
 alls forthwith and wear them proudly. 
 
 SQUEEZE THE WATER OUT OF LABOR 
 
 Leslie's 
 
 At seventy-three, Thom.as A. Edison said 
 he was glad the eight-hour day had not 
 been invented when he began to v/ork, and 
 that there was no agitator to prevent his 
 putting his best into every day's work. No 
 one would wish to return to the twelve or 
 fourteen-hour day. A reasonably short day 
 has been found to be profitable to employer 
 as well as just to employee. But the day 
 may be made so short as to overstep the 
 bounds of justice and to wipe out profit. 
 That is the situation at present. The de- 
 mand for higher wages, coupled with the 
 demand for a shorter day (which means 
 lowered production), spells economic dis- 
 aster. 
 
 What the world needs now above every- 
 thing else is extra production, to feed the 
 starving, clothe the naked and refill the 
 'empty storehouses. That can't be done on 
 a short day. British labor leaders, who 
 have been preaching high wages linked with 
 low production, have begun to see their 
 error. James Henry Thomas, secretary of 
 the British Railwaymen's Union, has been 
 telling the workers they must increase their 
 outpi t, that the British workman must work 
 a quarter harder than before the war, the 
 French twice harder and the German 
 eighteen times harder. Yet in all those 
 countries, as in the United States, produc- 
 tion is lower than it was before the war. 
 The second National Industrial Conference 
 
 at Washington regarded favorably the uni- 
 versal eight-hour day. If generally adopted, 
 the eight-^hour day, packed full of honest 
 work, will do more than any other single 
 factor to bring down prices by increasing 
 the supply. Watered labor is fully as bad 
 as watered capital. 
 
 FROM THE BOOK OF THE PRESENT 
 
 Boston Evening Globe 
 
 Because he refused to go to church, a 
 17-year-old lad was shot by a policeman in 
 a religious community on Tangier Island, 
 Chesapeake Bay, and is dying in a hos- 
 pital at Chrisfield, Md. The boy was on 
 the front porch of his home, when the po- 
 liceman ordered him to church. The youth 
 refused, the policeman grappled with him, 
 and when the boy got away, the officer of 
 the law fired. 
 
 Only a political upheaval, and an election 
 of a municipal board from the younger 
 element, can bring about a change in the 
 law, we are told, which "is essential to the 
 religious welfare of the community." The 
 ordinance under which the boy was shot 
 represents the sincere sentiment of the 
 majority of the old heads of the com- 
 munity, who believe it entirely legitimate 
 to instill religious principles into the people 
 in that m.anner. Should a dissenting resi- 
 dent of the community dare to violate the 
 ordinance tomorrow, the one police official 
 of Tangier would find a majority of the older 
 natives supporting him, should he deem it 
 necessary to kill the violator. 
 
 Thus, a few hours from Philadelphia and 
 Washington, is a picture of life reminiscent 
 of the old days of the weekly news letter. 
 There was a time in our history when laws 
 compelling Sunday observance were gen- 
 eral throughout the Provinces. The minis- 
 ter of the Gospel was oftentimes an officer 
 of the Goviernment. In Virginia, a fine of 
 tobacco was imposed for absence from 
 church. New England had a pleasant pen- 
 alty of branding and whipping. 
 
 Oftentimes we acquire a fatigued way of 
 looking at incidents in the past, until his- 
 tory repeats itself at our doorstep. 
 
 DETAILS, IDEALS AND PRINCIPLES 
 
 New York Tribune 
 
 An illuminating phrase was dropped by 
 Mrs. Rose Pastor Stokes in the course of 
 her examination in the Gitlow case. She 
 could not remember much that was asked; 
 and in particular she could not recall 
 whether she had signed a check for $345 to 
 pay for printing The Revolutionary Age. 
 By way of explanation she added: "I carry 
 few details in my head. I remember ideals 
 and principles." 
 
236 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 A wealth of sad and painful truth resides 
 in this chance boast. Not only Mrs. Stokes 
 but many parlor radicals suffer from this 
 same malady. The professed ideals of 
 Lenine and Trotzky, for example, they carry 
 in their heads. Such details as that com- 
 munism in factories doesn't work and that 
 there never was less free speech anywhere 
 than under Bolshevism in Russia, and that 
 communism, socially speaking, means not 
 more freedom but lan unspeakably compli- 
 cated and elaborate system of petty regula- 
 tion — such details as these no worshipper of 
 the soviet carries in his or her head. 
 
 The distinction is fundamental. For a 
 century and a third the American type of 
 mind has been that of Lincoln, who held 
 fast to his ideals and principles, but who 
 knew, as he knew his letters, that govern- 
 ment, progress, reform, all life, were mat- 
 ters of detail. It is precisely this ability of 
 the American to keep his feet on the ground 
 that has made our government the sure and 
 steadily progressing instrument that it is. 
 "Idealistic" is often applied to the American 
 people; but the strain of practicality that 
 Franklin so marveiloulsly personified and 
 that no really great American has ever 
 lacked belongs on a level with it. That this 
 is still true our amateur Bolshevists are 
 finding to their gloom, we are glad to say. 
 
 WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 
 
 Indianapolis News 
 
 William Dean Howells, who died today, 
 was for many years the foremost figure in 
 American literature. His numerous novels 
 are thoroughly American, though this has 
 been denied by later writers who think 
 that nothing can be American that is de- 
 cent. Those who became familiar in their 
 youth with the work of Mr. Howells have 
 never lost their sense of its charm. Unlike 
 many of his successors, Howells had a keen 
 sense of humor, humor not lof the biting, 
 but kmdly type. He was a realist— and a 
 clean one. There were, and are many, who 
 thmk that he did not give a large enough 
 place to romance, but his theory was that 
 there was and could be nothing more ro- 
 mantic than life itself, as lived by ordinary 
 men and women, such as we meet every day 
 No one can read his books without feeling 
 that his people are "our kind." That as not 
 true of the characters of some of the pres- 
 ent-day writers. Mr. Howells was a realist 
 from conviction. His artistic conscience 
 would not permit him to be anything else. 
 
 As a craftsman he stood very high. His 
 style was clear, forceful and often elegant, 
 without any striving for effect. The books 
 were all well constructed. He never wrote 
 B story that was not interesting. Nor did 
 
 he, for the sake of popularity, ever lower 
 his standard. There will be much discussion 
 as to his place in literature, discussion 
 that will, as usual, settle nothing. It is 
 enough now to know, and to say, that he 
 reflected distinction on American literature, 
 and affected very deeply the thought of a 
 whole generation. The volume of his work 
 was amazingly large, and he kept at it to 
 the very end. He was a kindly, cheerful, 
 optimistic man, who always saw what was 
 best in people, and who did much to make 
 fashionable the gospel of hope and courage. 
 
 WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 
 
 Oranfire (Texas) Leader 
 
 The death of William Dean Howells is re- 
 gretted not only in the circle of his literary 
 friends and associates; it is mourned by the 
 American people. The bereavement fis no 
 more keenly felt by those who write than 
 by those who read. Americans in all walks 
 of life unite at his bier in common sorrow 
 at the passing of a life of surpassing 
 achievement and service, whose influence 
 touched every hamlet in every State of the 
 great Republic he knew and loved so well. 
 Unquestionably he was the foremost inter- 
 preter of American life in this or any other 
 generation — ^and his active years compre- 
 hended all that period since Lincoln, before 
 the war. "The Rise of Silas Lapham," pub- 
 lished in book form in 1888, is still regarded 
 by many as the greatest American novel, 
 and continuously, since his delightful "Vene- 
 tian Sketches" of 1866, succeeding volumes 
 have not merely eiihanced his standing in 
 the realm of letters, but have immeasurably 
 enriched that literature which is represen- 
 tative of the best in the development of the 
 Nation. 
 
 WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 
 
 Springfield Union 
 
 William Dean Howells held not merely a 
 high place in American literature of this 
 generation, but a place of peculiar favor in 
 the hearts of American literary people. He 
 loved literature and for more than fifty 
 years was busy planting and cultivating in 
 its gardens and plucking its choicest flowers. 
 What he may have lacked in brilliancy, he 
 made up in the nicety and accuracy of his 
 judgment, and the sympathetic friendship 
 he had for every effort from any quarter 
 for the development of higher standards in 
 our literature. He became the dean of our 
 literary profession, the mentor of literary 
 people, the wise and faithful teacher, guide 
 and friend. 
 
 It is eight years ago last March since a 
 company of 300 of the leading literary i)eo- 
 ple of America gave a dinner in honor of 
 
EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 237 
 
 his seventy-fifth birthday in New York. For 
 most men such an event might have seemed 
 the culmination of a notable career. Yet it 
 proved but the beginning of a golden twi- 
 light of his days, during which he strolled 
 on among the gardens of literary ideals; 
 regularly from the "Editor's Easy Chair" of 
 Harper's magazine giving expression to that 
 genial philosophy and unwavering optimism 
 that were the natural results of his tempera- 
 ment and of his life-long habit of looking 
 only for the best and finding something of 
 it in everything. 
 
 QUALITY 
 
 Country Gentleman 
 
 Drop into almost any community in the 
 United States and ask for the farmer who 
 is making the best and surest profits and 
 about nine and three-quarters times out of 
 ten you will find a man who is producing a 
 quality article of some kind. It may be 
 com, cranberries, ducks, steers, cotton, 
 apples, oranges or watermelons, but it is 
 just a little better than the average and it 
 sells for more because of its extra quality. 
 
 Such producers by climbing a few rungs 
 above the average avoid the competition of 
 the majority. They do not have to compete 
 with the farmers who do not know the 
 value of their product; they are not pitted 
 against the alien farmer and the labor of 
 his wife and numerous children, nor do 
 they have to stand in the selling line with 
 the lazy and leave-it-to-luck fellows. 
 
 Last year a lot of money was dropped on 
 hogs and the swine population fell off ma- 
 terially, but not pure-breds. Robert J. 
 Evans, president of the National Swine 
 Growers* Association, says in a recent state- 
 ment: 
 
 "During the present bred-sow season just 
 closed better prices have prevailed, a better 
 sentiment pervades the breed interests, there 
 has been a better fellowship between breed- 
 ers of the various breeds and there has been 
 a more friendly rivalry in the sales of the 
 various breeds. None has gone backward; 
 the movement has been to the front, and 
 more men have made money from their 
 sales this season than has been known in 
 the history of hog production." 
 
 "GASHED AND GULLIED FIELDS" 
 
 Breeder's Gazette 
 Our recent references to the loss by sur- 
 face drainage of the "cream" of agricultural 
 soils in the foremost farming states have 
 elicited several expressions of approval of 
 the remedial measures suggested. A sub- 
 scriber writes that in the course of a trip 
 last week through a number of Indiana 
 counties he observed "hundreds of gashed 
 
 and gullied fields." He remarks that on 
 his own farm he prevents the washing away 
 of the best or topsoil by spreading straw 
 and the residues of corn-stover and shredded 
 fodder upon surfaces subject to erosion, and 
 in the low places toward which the water 
 runs off the land. "I try especially to pre- 
 vent the formation of gullies in my fields," 
 he says, "and to keep my soil from wash- 
 ing away into streams, where it is i>erma- 
 nently lost to agriculture. The best prac- 
 tice is to establish a perpetual sod on either 
 side, and upon the floors if possible, of 
 gullies and gashes. There are strips and 
 areas in all undulating fields iwhich should 
 be kept permanently in grass, in order to 
 prevent the formation of gullies, and the 
 consequent loss of soil." 
 
 Grass roots in the soil and a mat of grass 
 upon the surface make the erosion of roll- 
 ing land practically impossible. Grass re- 
 stores the "heart" of soils; it puts fiber into 
 them. An old sod is full of fiber. Its soil 
 particles are held together so firmly by a 
 network of roots that serious washing can- 
 not take place. Our combelt cropping sys- 
 tems, in which grass growing is notoriously 
 neglected, have taken the bulk of the fiber 
 out of our best soils. Lay down more land 
 to grass, and raise more live stock to graze 
 it. There ds no other way to prevent the 
 loss of soils by washing, and conserve their 
 fertility. 
 
 THE LEFT WING OF DISCONTENT 
 
 Pittaburg Press 
 
 There is no warrant for getting alarmed 
 because a few radical leaders in the ranks 
 of organized labor are trying to stampede 
 the American workingman. Every labor 
 movement throughout the world has its left 
 wing of discontent. Nature abhors unanim- 
 ity of opinion. 
 
 In Great Britain, where the Labor party 
 is politically very strong, it is not as a 
 whole socialistic. A left wing, consequent- 
 ly, has developed, known as the Independent 
 Labor party. Its program is the establish- 
 ment of a socialistic society. 
 
 In Germany, where the Socialists are in 
 power, a left wing also has developed. It 
 is called the Independent Socialist -party. It 
 wants to go farther than mere Socialism 
 and establish a soviet government. 
 
 Even in Russia, where the Soviets rule, 
 there is a left wing. It is the Anarchist 
 party. It is constantly working to overturn 
 the Bolsheviki and to substitute a form of 
 government consisting of no government. 
 If an Anarchist government is ever estab- 
 lished anywhere, it will undoubtedly have a 
 left wing of its own. Probably its program 
 will demand the execution of good babies 
 
238 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 who never cry, and the careful rearing of 
 all howling little protestants against life. 
 
 No new phenomenon, therefore, has been 
 created by America's left wing labor lead- 
 ers. Every country has the like. And per- 
 haps, after all, it is well that it should be 
 so. The left wing is the yeast. In small 
 amounts its activity is beneficent. It saves 
 the mass from the stagnation which causes 
 decay. 
 
 ELIMINATING THE FARMER 
 
 National City Bank Circular 
 The most serious feature of the agricul- 
 tural situation is the continued loss of labor 
 from the farms. The Department of Agri- 
 culture, on the basis of reports from all 
 sections of the country, estimates a reduc- 
 tion of 12 per cent in hired labor from a 
 year ago and that the amount of hired labor 
 is only 72 per cent of what it was before 
 the war. The rise of wages and the shorter 
 hours of labor in the town industries are 
 accountable for this constant drain. 
 
 It does not require an argument to con- 
 vince any thoughtful person that this drift 
 away from agriculture to the town indus- 
 tries is the result of artificial conditions and 
 fundamentally wrong. Men are not worth 
 so much more to society in the town in- 
 dustries than upon the farms as to justify 
 this situation in the present state of world 
 affairs. 
 
 If the crops are short and prices go 
 higher, presumably the wage-earners of the 
 city will want further increase of pay to 
 compensate them, and this will raise indus- 
 trial costs still higher. Perhaps by that 
 time, also, the demands for a 44 or 40-hour 
 week will be due, and another installment of 
 farmers will move to town, where the living 
 conditions are so attractive. Then, with 
 still higher prices for farm products, wages 
 in the towns will have to be lifted again, 
 until the last farmer has been convinced of 
 the folly of resisting the movement, and 
 wages for everybody in town are finally 
 high enough to enable them to live without 
 any crops! 
 
 The Farm Demonstrator of the Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture, located at the State 
 Agricultural College of New Hampshire, 
 says that this year practically completes 
 the elimination of hired labor for the farms 
 of New Hampshire. The next effect he says 
 will be the elimination of small farmers and 
 of men working with restricted capital. 
 Such men simply sell off their stock and 
 hire out by the day at the nearest mill or 
 job that pays wages. After making fairly 
 careful estimates in six leading counties, 
 it is his opinion that this year will see the 
 
 elimination of at least 1000 farmers in New 
 Hampshire, so far as their being producers 
 of surplus food products. 
 
 MUSIC AND LANGUAGE 
 
 The Villager 
 
 General Mangin urges the resumption of 
 Wagner at the Paris Opera; lah, yes, but 
 that means Wagner in French and by 
 Frenchmen! Few of us will disagree with 
 General Mangin's abstraction that music 
 has nothing to do with patriotism. At our 
 own Metropolitan Opera House, Parsifal is 
 being given, and at Covent Garden Sir 
 Thomas Beecham is presenting Tannhaeuser 
 and Tristan; German music, to be sure, but 
 it is in the English language and without 
 German singers; let it be announced that 
 Parsifal will be sung in New York or Lon- 
 don in the German tongue and by Germans, 
 and there you have an altogether other pair 
 of shoes. 
 
 Music does not touch patriotism, but lan- 
 guage touches it all over; music, when it is 
 unmixed with some other art, is not inter- 
 national but universal. Language is the 
 essence of particularism; without it there 
 cannot be nationality, and it is the recogni- 
 tion exactly of this that has made us 
 suddenly awake to the menace of the for- 
 eign-speaking groups in America. The 
 repugnance of patriots is not for Wagner 
 the composer, any more than it is for Bach 
 or Beethoven or Brahms; it is for the moth- 
 er tongue of German ambitions, the lan- 
 guage of German purposes. 
 
 The consideration arises, of course, 
 whether Lohengrin in French and Parsifal 
 in English are, after all, Lohengrin and 
 Parsifal. We all know what Wagner's busi- 
 ness sense led him ultimately to concede 
 about operas in translation, but his aesthetic 
 sense said something different. "A poetic 
 idea which I have conceived as amid certain 
 surroundings and with certain relation- 
 ships," he wrote in A Communication to 
 My Friends, "can only achieve its whole 
 effect when it is reproduced in the same 
 surroundings and with the same relation- 
 ships." To Wagner, poetry was the male 
 half of music, and poetry "is shaped by the 
 deep working force of speech itself." The 
 speech, of course, was the German speech. 
 
 KEEPING UP THE VICIOUS CIRCLE 
 
 Iron Trade Review 
 
 Restriction of output by labor organiza- 
 tions is one of the greatest factors in the 
 present high level of prices. This restric- 
 tion is not only a result of the shortening 
 of the workday and the multiplying of men 
 on the job, but also is a result of the con- 
 stant strikes and walkouts. 
 
EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 239 
 
 With the country hun^y for all forms of 
 manufactured articles and raw material as 
 a result of the war demand extending over 
 several years past, production is far under 
 normal in most lines as a result of unrest 
 and lack of effort on the part of workers. 
 The average worker has a false viewpoint 
 on this situation, exactly opposite from the 
 truth. He seems to feel that if he divides 
 his job with another worker, but gets full 
 pay for his half -work they both profit by 
 the act- But he does not consider that he 
 and his fellow workers are consumers also, 
 buying what has been produced by like 
 workers in other lines. With a double 
 wage bill to pay for the normal production 
 of one man the price on the things the 
 workman needs likewise is increased to 
 that extent or more. As things have worked 
 out, the increase in price more often than 
 not has included other additions commen- 
 surate with that in the wage item. Conse- 
 quently the workman himself actually is 
 obliged to pay out in a larger proportion 
 than he receives. If the average workman 
 would speed up and produce twice as much 
 as formerly he would find that what he buys 
 would cost him on a correspondingly de- 
 creasing scale. By his present attitude he 
 simply is defrauding himself as well as his 
 employer and the public. 
 
 JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY 
 
 Milwaukee Journal 
 
 To a few men it is given to make their 
 brothers laugh, and they are a dear posses- 
 sion whom we mourn. To some comes the 
 g^Ift to move men to tears that with their 
 sadness bring heart-cleansing. And others, 
 all too few, have the magic touch that moves 
 to smiles that are close akin to tears — 
 smiles at the things we ourselves did in 
 almost forgotten days; heartaches that those 
 days of long ago passed so swiftly, never to 
 return. Of these was James Whitcomb 
 Riley, the Hoosier poet, whose too early 
 death leaves the world poorer. 
 
 Riley's work was to remind us that the 
 common was not always the commonplace. 
 To familiar everyday things he brought the 
 glory of the love that lighted them. He 
 showed us humble, humdrum lives trans- 
 figured by the nobility of human kindness. 
 He spoke to the hearts of children and to 
 the childlike hearts of simple men and 
 women and, who knows, to many who would 
 give all other treasures to become again as 
 a little child. 
 
 It is pleasant to think that only last au- 
 tumn, the nation was celebrating his birth- 
 day — that before he left us he learned from 
 thousands of the place he had made himself 
 in their hearts. Would he ask a better 
 
 requiem than one of his own homely poems ? 
 Could he return to hear our eulogies, would 
 not the best tribute be, that we remember 
 the things he wi'ote for us ? We may think 
 of him as answering the message that he 
 sent in that well-loved poem. Out to Old 
 Aunt 'Mary's : 
 
 For my brother so far away, 
 This is to tell you — she waits today 
 To welcome us — Aunt Mary fell 
 Asleep this morning, whispering "Tell 
 The boys to come . . . And all is well. 
 
 ADVERTISING CUTS SELLING COSTS 
 
 Popular Storekeeper 
 
 The high-cost-of-living is the universal 
 hardship of the present day. So great and 
 so frequent have these rises been, few peo- 
 ple stop to realize there have been any 
 exceptions to the general rule. The fact is 
 that there have been numerous exceptions, 
 and all of these exceptions belong to the 
 same great class — that of nationally adver- 
 tised goods. 
 
 The old idea that the cost of advertising 
 raised prices dies hard, but the business- 
 man knows better. He knows that selling 
 goods is costly business — no matter what 
 the goods or what the selling methods. He 
 knows that anything which creates demand 
 on a large scale, and thus makes selling 
 easier, is bound to reduce selling costs and 
 thus helps to reduce prices. Evidence is 
 better than argument; facts are better than 
 theories; a few representative cases are all 
 that is necessary to bear out these state- 
 ments. 
 
 A producer of a well-known food spe- 
 cialty is selling his goods at twenty-five per 
 cent less to the wholesale grocery trade than 
 four years ago. When the manufacturer of 
 another famous breakfast food began ad- 
 vertising, his goods sold at fifteen cents a 
 package. Today the package is fifty per 
 cent larger and the price remains the same. 
 The makers of a famous photographic 
 camera, when they began advertising years 
 ago, made one camera which took a very 
 small picture and sold at $25. Today they 
 make a far better camera which isells for 
 $10; another, which took a 4x5 picture, sold 
 for $68; they sell a far better camera now 
 for $20; and so on through the line. 
 
 Then take the most conspicuous example 
 of them all — ^the automobile business; and 
 compare the $5,000 or $10,000 cars of ten 
 years ago with the equally good cars of 
 today, selling for a fraction of the money. 
 In every case the manufacturer either has 
 been able to lower the price or improve the 
 quality at no increase in price. 
 
 How has he done it ? By means of adver- 
 tising, which has created demand on a larger 
 
240 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 scale and thus permitted production and dis- 
 tribution on a larger scale. Result — im- 
 proved manufacturing efficiency and reduced 
 selling costs. All of this in face of a steady 
 increase in the cost of labor and raw ma- 
 terials, which, with advertising eliminated, 
 might in many cases have fairly doubled 
 the price of the goods. "A triumph of eco- 
 nomical marketing," is the only possible 
 verdict in the face of these facts. 
 
 THE INDUSTRIAL CONFERENCE SPLIT 
 
 New York Evening Sun 
 
 We decline to take a pessimistic view of 
 the consequences of the snapping of rela- 
 tions between the labor group and the rest 
 of the Industrial Conference at Washington. 
 Mr. Gompers put on his hat and stalked out, 
 breathing smoke if not fire. He said, "The 
 die is cast," a portentous outgiving, but 
 we all know Mr. Gompers, and, when he got 
 outside, we imagine he had a very sober- 
 ing sense of responsibility for the step he 
 had taken and its possible results. 
 
 As for the thing that happened and pro- 
 voked the "walk-out" of ithe labor delega- 
 tion, it is easy to impute blame. But there 
 was an open vote and presumably it repre- 
 sents the convictions of the majority of 
 the Conference, whether right or wrong. 
 Supposing it had gone the other way, that 
 the majority had been for labor's proposi- 
 tion, and supposing that the employers' 
 group had picked up their hats and seceded, 
 what would Mr. Gompers have then said ? 
 
 In other words, if things don't go labor's 
 way, Mr. Gompers won't play any more, but 
 if they do go labor's way, every one else 
 must acquiesce smilingly. This looks strik- 
 ingly like an absurdity. It is an attitude 
 not calculated to appeal to the horse sense 
 or the spirit of fair play of the man in the 
 street. 
 
 Now as to the hints at industrial war 
 which some of Mr. Gompers's associates 
 muttered in the ears of the reporters, it 
 need only be said that at least a condition 
 of guerrilla warfare exists already. With 
 strikes pervading the country and the 
 miners grimly resolved, what use is there 
 in shaking any raw-head-and-bloody-bones 
 threats in the public face. Would or could 
 Mr. Gompers have called a universal armis- 
 tice, off-hand, had his collective bargaining 
 resolution been passed? 
 
 We rather think not. Things would have 
 gone on pretty much as they were and as 
 they will be. Perhaps the chief difference 
 may be that Mr. Gompers, a trifle dis- 
 quieted over his own somewhat adventurous 
 plunge, may interest himself behind a verbal 
 barrage, very earnestly in the real cause 
 
 of peace and adjustment. We do not ap- 
 prehend any (great disaster from the hitch 
 in the conversations of the last few days. 
 
 THE 2.75 PER CENT CONCURRENCE 
 
 Springfield Union 
 
 Just what is to be the effect, if any, of 
 the 2.75 per cent beer bills that various 
 States, including our own, are engaged in 
 passing is entirely uncertain because of the 
 increasing cloudiness of the whole situation 
 regarding the enforcement of the Eighteenth 
 Amendment. While in this State it is said 
 to be the purpose to hold over the measure 
 pending the receipt of the decision of the 
 Supreme Court in the test cases, in New 
 York the State excise department is pre- 
 pared to issue licenses under the 2.75 per 
 cent act of the Legislature without await- 
 ing the action of the court. The excise 
 commissioner announces that he will be 
 guided solely by the laws of the State and, 
 if they conflict with the Federal laws, it 
 will be entirely up to the Federal agents to 
 enforce the Federal act. 
 
 To the uncertainties involved in this view 
 may be added those of the different view 
 taken, for instance, by Judge Heady of our 
 Police Court, that, while the Federal law 
 supersedes all State liquor laws, a State 
 court has no jurisdiction until State laws 
 are passed in concurrence. If a State court 
 has no jurisdiction unless State laws con- 
 cur, it of course follows that its courts 
 could have no jurisdiction over cases under 
 a 2.75 per cent act if passed by the Legis- 
 lature. 
 
 The whole trouble inevitably comes from 
 the provision for concurrence in the amend- 
 ment itself, which fails to specify whether 
 the concurrence must be complete or may 
 be one of degree. If the amendment gives, 
 or rather leaves, the States any discrimina- 
 tion at all in the matter, it implies that a 
 State may exercise its judgment in the de- 
 gree of concurrence and thus may concur in 
 the amendment to the extent of a 2.75 per 
 cent act. But all this is only symptomatic 
 of the complete uncertainty of the whole 
 matter, and it by no means follows that if 
 the Supreme Court determines all questions 
 relating to the cases now before it, all the 
 brooding uncertainties will be thereby re- 
 moved. 
 
 HOW THEY VOTED FOR "CAL" 
 
 New York Evening Post 
 "I calculate," said a woodohopper in the 
 aggregation of structures known as Florida, 
 Mass., "to walk five miles, come election, 
 and back to the wood lot. I'm votin' for 
 Cal Coolidge." 
 
EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 241 
 
 Several others, as it turned out, were of 
 the same mind, and yet when on the eve 
 of election a gentleman frequenting the lob- 
 bies of Boston hotels offered $1000 on 
 Coolidge to $400 on Long, he found no one 
 willing to take him. At the last minute a 
 Boston paper cautiously remarked that "the 
 pendulum of political fortune swung a little 
 further in favor of Governor Coolidge than 
 it had." 
 
 There was hardly a hamlet in the state, 
 however, which did not have its Coolidge 
 rally on "the night of November 3, and men 
 who had "quit bothering about politics," 
 aroused by this singular occasion, went 
 through the countryside getting votes for 
 the governor, ably assisted by their wives. 
 
 Springfield gives credit for the over- 
 whelming result there to "our quiet Repub- 
 lican reserve." "The Senate may 'just as 
 well work today," said the Republican on 
 the election. "Nothing that any senator 
 says can be as important in the news as 
 what Massachusetts does." The Rev. Dr. 
 Newton M. Hall, of Springfield, contributed 
 this call to the "Men of Massachusetts": 
 
 O men of Massachusetts! 
 
 The clarion call goes forth. 
 From Bunker Hill to Grey lock. 
 
 Stand up and show your worth! 
 
 Stand up and fight for freedom, 
 As your fathers fought of old, 
 
 For the honor of the Bay State, 
 For freedom's flag unrolled. 
 
 There are those who hate the banner 
 For which your sons have bled; 
 
 They would smirch its sacred colors, 
 They would flaunt their rag of red. 
 
 We fight for law and order. 
 For the safety of the state; 
 
 We storm the walls of evil, 
 The citadel of hate. 
 
 The skies of cold November 
 Now shine with clearer light. 
 
 When the men of Massachusetts 
 Shall vindicate the right! 
 
 The nation waits your verdict; 
 
 Then sound it full and strong! 
 "No treason in the Bay State, 
 
 No place for cowardly wrong!" 
 
 men of Massachusetts! 
 
 The ancient call goes forth; 
 From Plymouth Rock to Berkshire 
 
 Stand up and prove your worth! 
 
 But the most interesting part of the Mas- 
 sachusetts victory was the aftermath of 
 comment in the press. It was as if the 
 whole country joined in a sigh of relief 
 and a shout of triumph. Little papers and 
 big hastened to say that while, of course, 
 they had been sure of it all the while, they 
 still felt mighty glad. 
 
 THE NEWSPAPER REPORTER 
 
 Nashville Tennesseean 
 
 It is the custom for the layman of limited 
 knowledge of the world and the people in it 
 to speak of a newspaper reporter disparag- 
 ingly; to talk with him condescendingly; 
 and to take unto himself an air of su- 
 periority when one is near. Reporter? — ^he 
 says so himself — Oh, a reporter is a young 
 chap trying to make an honest living until 
 he gets into some more businesslike line of 
 work. In other words, a creature to be tol- 
 erated. Thus is his own ignorance shown. 
 
 Yet we wonder, does the "average busi- 
 ness man" fully understand the functions of 
 a reporter, his business ideals, and the power 
 which he may wield at times? Not all re- 
 porters are young chaps "trying to make an 
 honest living." Some are old men making 
 magnificent incomes. 
 
 Several years ago we were traveling with 
 one of these older men, who has reported 
 every great world event in the last genera- 
 tion, a man who knows intimately some of 
 the great statesmen of five countries, and a 
 person who paid an income tax on a yearly 
 salary of over $25,000. A fussy little chap, 
 who looked as though he might be a vendor 
 of suspender buttons on commission, came 
 puffing into the smoker and inquired: 
 "What's your line, brother?" 
 And the man whose name was a house- 
 hold word among readers in America and 
 England answered casually: "Oh, I'm just 
 a reporter." 
 
 "Must be pretty bad to be a reporter at 
 your age," was the response. "Well, I live 
 in Cincinnati, and if I can ever do you a 
 good turn, come in and see me." The older 
 man thanked him gravely. Half an hour 
 later the fussy little man was telling the 
 smokingroom crowd that "so-and-so is one 
 of the; (biggest writers in America." And 
 there was "so-and-so" sitting opposite him, 
 having been ignored after the opening sen- 
 tence, because he had had the modesty to 
 label himself "just a reporter." 
 
 Reporters? Yes — ^they range from the 
 youngster just out of college to the veteran 
 Frederick Palmer, who calls more famous 
 generals by their first names than any 
 other living man; from the quiet fellow in 
 the small town who goes about his business 
 
242 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 without puffing out his chest, to genial 
 Irvin S. Cobb, whom the Germans thought 
 important enough to be sentenced to death 
 in 1914— but whom they didn't dare shoot. 
 
 We've read many interesting books, but 
 we believe that the most interesting volume 
 that could be written just now would be 
 one compiled by one of our reporters, who 
 could write with facility on "The Four- 
 Flushers I Have Met." To the average man 
 chronicling the day's activities for the 
 press, brass is seldom mistaken for glitter- 
 ing gold, though the rest of the public may 
 frequently be deceived. 
 
 Knowing reporters as we do, if we were 
 in business the last thing we would think 
 of doing would be to condescend to a re- 
 porter. Sometimes the latter has the mem- 
 ory of an elephant, which may be used on 
 occasion. 
 
 THE KANSAS SYSTEM 
 
 Indianapolis News 
 The attack on the Kansas system of in- 
 dustrial courts made under dramatic circum- 
 stances by Alexander M. Howat, president 
 of District No. 14, United Mine Workers 
 of America, was by no means unexpected. 
 In fact, it is only an incident in a series of 
 attacks in which Howat has taken a leading 
 part. The bill creating the industrial rela- 
 tions court was opposed by a lobby gathered 
 from all parts of the country, a circum- 
 stance to which Governor Allen attributes 
 the precipitate passage of the bill; and two 
 days after the bill was passed the miners, 
 under Howat, went out as a protest against 
 the act, but returned to work when the 
 state's attorneys began an investigation. 
 
 The law which has so deeply offended 
 Howat's school of economists does nothing 
 more alarming than introduce a compulsory 
 step between a proposed wage agreement 
 and the strike or lockout. It obliges no one 
 to work. It provides for the incorporation 
 of unions or associations of workers, recog- 
 nizes the right of collective bargaining and 
 gives full faith and credit to contracts made 
 in pursuance of this right. It protects 
 workers who bring a grievance to the court 
 and provides a severe penalty for an em- 
 ployer who seeks to influence the testimony 
 of a worker by threats of discharge or 
 wage reduction. Neither employer nor em- 
 ploye shall hold up production until the 
 court has been consulted. 
 
 Thus it is not the court against which 
 Howat and his kind rail, but the assumption 
 by the people of Kansas of the right to 
 compel quarreling men to give cool thought 
 to their differences before they deprive the 
 people of their right to necessary commodi- 
 
 ties. Kansas has taken a step toward plac- 
 ing the right to food, shelter and fuel above 
 the right to strike. Only incidentally has 
 it snatched Howat's favorite club away, but 
 that is all he sees in the law. Without his 
 club, he roars and is rather a pathetic 
 figure, but withal a comparatively harmless 
 one and not to be taken too seriously by 
 those who see his present plight as only an 
 incident in his career. 
 "ROSY RAPTURE" AT THE 
 
 DUKE OF YORK'S 
 Illustrated London News 
 Not even the brilliant talents of a Barrie 
 can convert a revue into something else 
 than its inconsequent self, nor does the at- 
 mosphere of home and baby which he affects 
 in his example harmonize too well with the 
 machinery of burlesque, wild dancing, and 
 beauty-chorus. The material in which an 
 artist works cannot but influence his lart, 
 and so, notwithstanding the piquancy of a 
 combination of Sir J. M. Barrie as author 
 and Gaby Deslys as actress, with its conse- 
 quence of this embodiment of gaiety being 
 involved in scenes of domestic sentiment, 
 we hardly get the best sort of satire or the 
 prettiest fancy of which our English Puck 
 is capable under these conditions. His 
 travesty is devoted to stage devices and 
 stage fashions which are already rather 
 demodes, and which soon exhaust their 
 humorous possibilities. Skits on the prob- 
 lem play and the triangle of sex, on stage 
 husbands who hide dn wardrobes, and 
 heroines of melodrama who shiver in the 
 snow, are a bit old-fashioned nowadays; and 
 the Barrie travesties of David Copperfield 
 and Sir Herbert Tree are no better and no 
 less superficial than average burlesques in 
 revues. The best thing in Rosy Rapture is 
 the little episode in which Mile. Deslys as 
 French peasant girl and Mr. Jack Norworth 
 as English Tommy make love with the help 
 of a phrasebook and with Lord Kitchener's 
 homily to soldiers in mind, and give us also 
 a new version of Sally dn Our Alley; that 
 is the daintiest of ideas — Barrie at his best. 
 No less happy is the set of moving pictures 
 describing the adventures of the baby in 
 his perambulator discovering for his actress 
 mother "how to be happy though at home." 
 There are songs and dances and jokes to be 
 sure, and a beauty-chorus which is beau- 
 tiful, and "Gaby" herself is delightfully 
 vivacious, and Mr. Norworth has a tongue- 
 twisting ditty, and Mr. Eric Lewis is fine 
 fun as a butler urging the chorus to fling 
 themselves into a polka — in fact, it would 
 be quite a good revue if we had not ex- 
 pected something so superlatively good from 
 a Barrie revue. 
 
EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 243 
 
 LIKES TO HEAR SLANG 
 
 Buffalo Express 
 
 There is one college professor who is not 
 appalled when he encounters slang. He is 
 Thomas A. Knott, of the University of Chi- 
 cago. He says: 
 
 "In the presence of slang I stand un- 
 appalled, because slang does not corrupt the 
 English language, and as long as there re- 
 mains a cultivated group of men to speak 
 it, slang never will corrupt the English lan- 
 guage. Slang is not abnormal. It is a sort 
 of vagabond speech that is all the time cross- 
 ing the boundary of our conventional dia- 
 lect. It is often merely certain words which 
 suggest undignified aspects of an idea or 
 object otherwise dignified. 
 
 "One of the most fertile sources of slang 
 is found in our sports. When a man breaks 
 a shoelace when he is in a hurry, he goes 
 to the golf game for the expression *I'm 
 stymied.' 
 
 "Other expressions which have their 
 origin in sport are *to get by,' from foot- 
 ball; 'serve a hot one,' from tennis, and 
 'slip one over,' from baseball. Then from 
 the great national game we draw such 
 phrases as 'ante up,' 'stand pat,' 'raw deal,' 
 aaid 'all in.' 
 
 "Some slang consists of ingenious meta- 
 phors. In this class are 'He's got a flat 
 tire.' 'He is a false alarm,' and 'He has 
 slipped his trolley.' " 
 
 Ajnong the words which got their start 
 from slangy metaphor, Professor Knott cites 
 the following: "Inculcate, literally to grind 
 in with the heel; instigate, literally to stick 
 a goad into a steer; companion, literally a 
 simultaneous eater of bread; and threat, lit- 
 erally to eat voraciously. 
 
 "Slang denotes growth. The only lan- 
 guage that has no slang is the language 
 that men have ceased to speak, a language 
 that is dead." 
 
 OUR COMING AMERICAN 
 
 Wichita Beacon 
 
 A girl in passing a car wanted a news- 
 paper. When the car stopped she called a 
 newsboy and reached out a coin. 
 
 The car started too soon. The girl drew 
 in her hand disappointedly. But she stopped 
 in amazement, then thrust out her hand and 
 stretched it farther as she got up and 
 leaned out of the window. 
 
 That little barefoot newsboy was running 
 alongside the car, holding up his paper to 
 the girl! 
 
 A good, hard spurt, a thrust forward, and 
 up went the little arm with the newspaper. 
 The girl caught it and threw back the coin 
 as the car speeded ahead. 
 
 The coin fell to the ground. 
 
 It was only a cent, but it meant so much 
 to the newsboy. He did not know he had es- 
 caped being crushed between the car and 
 an auto as he ran along to sell his paper. 
 He did not realize his tender little bare 
 feet had been endangered by running over 
 cobblestones where nails and glass might 
 have cut them. 
 
 All he did know was, he hadn't caught 
 that cent. So he bent down to look for it. 
 He looked and groped, but that cent seemed 
 to have passed into the great beyond for all 
 he was concerned. 
 
 Suddenly the boy stood up, took a short 
 glance at the spot of exploration, then at the 
 papers under his arm, smiled and ran back 
 to his corner. 
 
 "Whut d'ye read? Poipers." 
 
 There was an American business-man in 
 the making! 
 
 CIVILIZATION: A VENEER? 
 
 Youth's Companion 
 
 . The events of the last few years have 
 caused many people to ask themselves 
 whether civilization, though the product of 
 centuries, is not merely a coating over the 
 natural passions and cruelties of man, and 
 whether it has not now been worn so thin 
 that it cannot be expected to last much 
 longer. Although this view seems to us 
 unwarranted, we cannot hold the belief that 
 mankind is destined inevitably to advance 
 in civilization. The one clear lesson of the 
 war is that if civilization is to be preserved 
 and improved, it can be only through man- 
 kind's unflagging effort. It is not a spon- 
 taneous growth of nature. Untended, it 
 will deteriorate and wither away. 
 
 How many people have seriously asked 
 themselves what civilization is? How 
 many, if asked to define civilization, would 
 vaguely reply that it meant luxuries and 
 conveniences, labor-saving inventions, rail- 
 ways, aeroplanes, automobiles — progress in 
 the arts and sciences? But civilization is 
 barren of results if its achievements are to 
 be measured only or chiefly in such terms. 
 
 The essence of civilization is that it shall 
 enable men — races of men — to live together 
 on terms of common understanding and 
 mutual forbearance. Progress lin the arts 
 and sciences, improvement in means of 
 transportation, communication and trade 
 should facilitate common understanding and 
 mutual forbearance. But they are only in- 
 struments, and if people use them stupidly 
 or wickedly, they are instruments, not for 
 good, but for evil. It is the task of educa- 
 tion to teach people to use those instru- 
 ments in the right way and for a good 
 
244 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 purpose. The Germans had a system of 
 education, thorough as far as it went, but 
 they had no vision of the true aim of educa- 
 tion. They glorified a thing that was not 
 civilization. They did not desire civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 In America, as elsewhere, people have be- 
 come habituated to violent methods of 
 settling controversy. Riots, strikes, blood- 
 shed, lynchings, the vile brutalities of the 
 mob, are of such frequent occurrence as to 
 cause grave anxiety to every thoughtful 
 American. The law is framed to give pro- 
 tection to all citizens; it is the concrete ex- 
 pression of the effort and struggle of men 
 to achieve civilization; upon obedience to 
 the law civilization rests. 
 
 THIS BUSINESS OF BORING 
 
 Saturday Evening Post 
 
 It's a poor auger that won't bore both 
 ways. 
 
 When the stanch American workingman 
 finds that imported mossy-chinned tinkers 
 in his labor organizations are boring from 
 within he promptly reverses the process and 
 bores from without into this alien inner 
 body. That was what happened jin a big 
 shipbuilding company in Baltimore when a 
 few radicals an;iong the employees began 
 scattering their cerise circulars painting the 
 charms of Russia's industrial freedom. 
 
 A Loyal Workers' Group sprang into be- 
 ing spontaneously, full-panoplied against 
 the internal menace. Their strategy was 
 simple; at once defensive and offensive. 
 They merely turned in to their foremen the 
 names of the disease breeders, well known 
 to themselves from months of association, 
 inscrutable perhaps to their employers. 
 
 Agents of the Department of Justice ar- 
 rested six. The company dismissed forty- 
 five malcontents. The inconsiderable total— 
 fifty-one in a plant of seven thousand satis- 
 fied workers. 
 
 It's the ripe old story of the single bad 
 apple boring from the center of a barrel of 
 wholesome fruit. Except that in this case 
 the spread of putrefaction was halted almost 
 at its inception. 
 
 It should be significant to employers in 
 general that the halt was effected in the 
 first instance by the laborers themselves. 
 They must have been accustomed to fair, 
 man-to-man dealing with their bosses in 
 that plant. When they foresaw the danger 
 for their employers they gave the alarm 
 and spat out the germs. 
 
 No highfaluting temporizing about class 
 consciousness here. Mass consciousness, if 
 you will — the sound sane consciousness of 
 
 tkt rreat dependable mass of the American of the year, and laid off in idleness 
 
 people — employer and employee, producer 
 and consumer, brain worker and brawn 
 dealer — serried solidly against the insidious 
 borers who seem so satisfied with having 
 made Russia what she is today. 
 
 WHAT ADVERTISING DOES FOR LABOR 
 
 Printers' Ink 
 
 The man who works for wages seldom 
 realizes that the firm's advertising directly 
 affects him and all men who invest services 
 instead of capital in the industrial enter- 
 prise. 
 
 Too often even the worker who thinks 
 constructively, considers production as com- 
 plete in itself. When raw materials plus 
 machinery, plus management and labor pro- 
 duce the finished product he often feels that 
 the process is complete. He forgets the 
 fact that until the finished product is in 
 the hands of its users there is no money for 
 either capital or labor to divide. 
 
 The place of advertising and salesman- 
 ship in the distributive process, and its bear- 
 ings on the contents of his pay envelope are 
 not pointed out to him often enough. 
 
 The president of a large manufacturing 
 company discovered by investigation a curi- 
 ous fact. His men, good Americans all of 
 them, imagined that the real profits in the 
 business came from the sale of common 
 stock in Wall Street. The difference be- 
 tween the par value and the selling price 
 they believed was pocketed by the firm. The 
 president blamed himself for this misappre- 
 hension and started to remedy it by some 
 bulletin board posters within the plant. He 
 realized that leaving the economic education 
 of his men to the street-comer orator was 
 short-sighted policy. 
 
 Does not every employer owe it to ihis 
 customers, his stockholders and the public 
 to enlighten his men upon the workings of 
 modem business ? In this task it would be 
 well to point out the value of the firm's 
 advertising, and its place in the economic 
 scheme. Unless a man is told to the con- 
 trary he may believe that the advertising 
 is done merely because the boss "wants to 
 see his name in the papers." 
 
 It could well be pointed out to ihim that 
 some of the greatest industries in America, 
 employing a large number of workers, have 
 been developed almost entirely through ad- 
 vertising. Advertising has actually created 
 occupations which would never have ex- 
 isted, except for its use. 
 
 A fact of even greater interest to labor 
 is the regularity of employment offered by 
 firms which are consistent and regular ad- 
 vertisers. Those industries in which men 
 are worked long hours for a certain period 
 
 for 
 
EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 245 
 
 another, are almost without exception in- 
 dustries which have never built up a regular 
 market through advertising. Instances in 
 which the use of advertising has made 
 seasonable products into all-year-round, 
 may be found in large number in the files of 
 Printers' Ink. 
 
 Advertising as business insurance; as a 
 builder of good-will on the part of the buyer, 
 and pride in craftmanship on the part of 
 the maker affects the worker's future as 
 well as the owner's. 
 
 One factory which realizes how closely 
 its advertising touches on morale, labor 
 turnover, and mental attitude, has adopted 
 the policy of having each piece of copy 
 submitted to a committee of the workers for 
 criticism and suggestion. The advertising 
 manager says that as they have a share in 
 the making of the product, they are en- 
 titled to a share in suggesting what is said 
 about the product, and in sharing responsi- 
 bility for its performance. 
 
 The manufacturer of today cannot afford 
 to leave the education of his workers en- 
 tirely to the professor of the soap-^box. It 
 is time the charge that we are a nation of 
 economic illiterates is denied. Telling the 
 workers how advertising helps all the part- 
 ners in industry is a step in the right direc- 
 tion. 
 
 PART TIME MARRIAGE 
 
 San Francisco Bulletin 
 
 Nothing is more interesting than a new 
 experiment in marriage, though for that 
 matter every marriage is an experiment. 
 But apart from the something different in 
 every union of two persons, is there really 
 anything new in marriage, anything that 
 has not been tried before? 
 
 Fannie Hurst, a popular short story 
 writer, is a very original woman in fiction, 
 but in fact she is merely an imitator. Her 
 supposedly novel form of marriage with 
 Danielson, the pianist, is no novelty. Many 
 centuries before George Bernard Shaw 
 imagined he was doing a new thing by ar- 
 ranging to live apart from his wife from 
 the day of their union, there were couples 
 who maintained separate homes and who 
 saw each other only at intervals. Among 
 the aristocracy of various countries (it has 
 been practiced from the earliest times, and 
 the historian has yet to discover that such 
 marriages were any happier than those of 
 people who lived and loved together. 
 
 The only element of novelty in the Shaw 
 case was the advance publicity given it. 
 Haughty aristocrats do not announce that 
 they intend to live apart. It would not 
 sound as at all unusual, and then they are 
 
 not dependent upon press agents as a means 
 of income. Novelists, dramatists and others 
 who live by popular favor must advertise, 
 and it was good business when Bernard 
 Shaw exploited part-time marriage proposi- 
 tion. It was not a success, but no one ex- 
 pected it would be. The success or failure 
 of a marriage depends upon the nature of 
 the contracting parties, not upon the nature 
 of the contract. No matter what words or 
 even conditions are put in or left out of the 
 contract, there is still the question of com- 
 patability, and it decides everything. 
 
 If Fannie Hurst and her husband are 
 suited to each other and have sufficient of 
 the spirit of compromise to tide over the 
 minor and inevitable misunderstandings, 
 they will be happily married in spite of their 
 suspicions as to the institution of marriage. 
 The world wishes them happiness in their 
 experiment, though many a woman will 
 resent the suggestion that a more conven- 
 tional form of marriage tends to bring a 
 wife of artistic talents "down to a seden- 
 tary state of fat-mindedness." Many a 
 mother has written books that will be re- 
 membered long after we have forgotten the 
 most popular magazine stories of the day. 
 
 OUR CRITCIAL FREIGHT SITUATION 
 
 Railway Age 
 
 If ever there was a time when transporta- 
 tion conditions imperatively demanded that 
 shippers and receivers of freight should, for 
 their own interest, and even their own salva- 
 tion, co-operate to the utmost with the 
 railways in securing the most efficient pos- 
 sible use of railroad facilities, that time is 
 now. 
 
 Almost the only possible way in which the 
 amount of freight the railroads can haul 
 can be immediately increased is by securing 
 the movement of every ton of freight pos- 
 sible with every car that is available. The 
 amount of freight that can be moved with 
 existing facilities is absolutely dependent 
 upon how much freight can be loaded into 
 every car, and how many miles a day every 
 car can be made to travel. 
 
 The number of miles per day that each 
 car can be made to travel is mainly de- 
 pendent upon the efficiency with which the 
 railway managements and employees do 
 their work. It* is also largely dependent, 
 however, "upon the promptness and celerity 
 with which every shippper loads cars and 
 every receiver of freight unloads them. As 
 to the heavy loading of cars, that is a mat- 
 ter which is mainly in the hands of the 
 shippers. The only way the railways could 
 force heavier loading of cars would be by a 
 general advance in minimum carload 
 
246 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 weights, and while probably there should be 
 such an advance made, it would meet with 
 opposition and might do injustice to many 
 shippers. 
 
 The most effective thing the shippers 
 could do to help themselves, and help the 
 industry and people of the United States, 
 in the present emergency would be for 
 every individual shipper, regardless of min- 
 imum carload weights, to follow the policy 
 of loading every car with every pound of 
 freight that it could carry. The average 
 capacity of the freight cars of this country 
 exceeds 40 tons. The average tons loaded 
 per loaded car at present is only about 28 
 tons. It should be easily practicable to 
 increase this average loading 10 or 15 per 
 cent. The effect would be to make it prac- 
 ticable for the railways to handle 10 or 15 
 per cent more freight business than they 
 otherwise would be able to. Surely, it must 
 be plain to the business interests of the 
 country that their own welfare, if not their 
 actual economic salvation, is dependent upon 
 an increase in the amount of freight moved. 
 
 Some shippers' organizations are carry- 
 ing on an agitation among their members 
 to influence them to increase the loading 
 of cars. The manufacturers of Portland 
 cement and of steel have long been among 
 the leaders in promoting heavy loading. 
 The American Newspaper Publishers' Asso- 
 ciation recently has been circularizing its 
 members urging them to unload cars as 
 promptly as possible. Such agitation ought 
 to be carried on by every organization of 
 industrial concerns in the country. The 
 railways are doing a good deal of this kind 
 of work and are going to do more, but 
 uninformed or prejudiced people are likely 
 to think that they are doing it for their own 
 selfish interest, and therefore to be less re- 
 sponsive to appeals from the roads than to 
 appeals from organizations of concerns of 
 their own class. 
 
 Even if normal conditions with respect to 
 the handling of freight traffic existed it 
 would be impossible for the railways, with 
 their present facilities, to handle all the 
 business that would be offered to them. The 
 conditions, however, have been rendered ex- 
 tremely abnormal by certain recent develop- 
 ments, the most important of which have 
 been the coal strike and the recent railroad 
 strikes in all parts of the country. 
 
 Business men and the general public ought 
 to be made to understand that the present 
 transportation situation is very critical, and 
 is likely to become desperate unless every 
 individual concern contributes all possible 
 toward relieving it. 
 
 THE MISSION OF THE COLLEGE 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 With the nearer approach of the Ne"\ 
 Year we find a more serious concentration 
 of thought upon the stability and functions 
 of American colleges. Harvard's great en- 
 dowment fund is nearing its completion. 
 One by one our colleges are finding them- 
 selves again after the strain of the great 
 war, to whose exigencies they so patriotical- 
 ly responded. Financial reconstruction may 
 be necessary in many cases, and more or less 
 academic readjustment to the needs and 
 problems of peace is to be expected. But 
 over and above all looms the permanent 
 question — if question it be — of the true, the 
 common, and the perennial mission of these 
 institutions of higher knowledge. 
 
 And first, the public may ask itself, what 
 is the distinction betweeen college and uni- 
 versity? If we are to define or to develop 
 the meaning of the college proper, it may 
 be as well to begin by differentiating it 
 from the university as a whole. The college 
 is the university's heart and soul, but it 
 does not constitute the whole, nor neces- 
 sarily the main part, of the university's 
 body. In addition to the graduate depart- 
 ment in our large universities there are the 
 great and growing special schools of profes- 
 sional learning and preparation. The law 
 school, the divinity school, the medical 
 school, the agricultural school, the business 
 administration school, and various other 
 branches of the big university tree, combine 
 with the college proper, with the central 
 trunk, to make up an educational plant of 
 vast aims and complex scope and life. But 
 the nucleus, the inspiring center of it all, 
 is the college, dedicated to the study of gen- 
 eral, as the special schools are dedicated to 
 the study of special, lines of human thought 
 and achievement. The special schools are 
 necessarily more practical and narrow, and 
 less theoretical and broad, than is the col- 
 lege, but the same great spirit that created 
 the college permeates the whole institution; 
 and if, as often is the case, the student in 
 the special schools is also a graduate from 
 the college, he may build his own profes- 
 sional life-work on the broad foundations of 
 general culture and training. 
 
 But without further reference to the pro- 
 fessional schools, what should the college 
 itself stand for in modern civilization and 
 in its own national life? Only one answer 
 seems possible. To maintain its distinctive 
 mission the college must insist, throughout 
 the undergraduate courses of study, upon 
 the synthetic, the philosophical treatment of 
 all the branches of learning taught. The 
 supreme social principle of interdependence 
 
EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 247 
 
 olds good even when applied to the domain 
 f purely academic search for truth. For 
 o branch of human thought or action or 
 spiration can stand alone, and no branch of 
 earning can find its own proper place in 
 uman study save by grace of inclusive 
 onsideration. Not only technical "phi- 
 jsophy," but also the philosophic aspect of 
 terature, art, the sciences, economics, his- 
 ory, civics, and the rest, must be insepara- 
 le and permanent attributes of the col- 
 3giate education of the future. No degree 
 f A. B., or other degree purporting to 
 tand for a liberal education, should be con- 
 erred without assurance that its recipient 
 as acquired something of the vision and 
 erspective that spring from such philo- 
 ophic methods of study and individual 
 bought. 
 
 Specialism is as much out of place in 
 ollege as it is in place in special and pro- 
 essional schools. Neither the professional 
 lan nor any other college graduate who 
 spires to serve his country either through 
 olitical life or through any great form of 
 ublic life, ecclesiastic, industrial, or other, 
 an do so largely and constructively and at 
 he same time safely, unless he has acquired 
 he synthetic, all-inclusive view >of human 
 ffairs, past and present. Mere technical 
 xpertness will not suffice here, nor will 
 eneral but unco -ordinate d culture serve, 
 'he search for truth is holy because it is a 
 earch for the whole truth, and the spirit of 
 cademic endeavor is holy because it seeks 
 he truth of life in all its fulness. And 
 othing but such a spirit will serve to lead 
 rganized man onward. No pilot can steer 
 nless he can get his bearings; all his 
 nanual skill is useless unless he can get 
 oints whereby to direct his course intelli- 
 ently. And the bearings of humanity's 
 reat movements, past and present, involve 
 
 knowledge, more comprehensive than de- 
 ailed. To such ordered comprehensiveness, 
 such wholeness of view, may our Amer- 
 can colleges be dedicated, and may they 
 end out men and women who are far- 
 ighted and true-sighted because broad- 
 ighted and deeply instilled with the wisdom 
 vhich the past has bequeathed to the 
 (resent. 
 
 FOUR OMINOUS "PANS" 
 Harvey's Weekly 
 
 Writing in the April 15th number of the 
 levue des Deux Mondes, M. Rene Pinon 
 utlines a programme of trouble ahead 
 vhich involves startling possibilities. It 
 imounts to nothing less than an alignment 
 >f all Bolshevist Russia with all Islamitic 
 md vagabond Asia against Western Europe 
 md the two Americas. Its slogan is "Asia 
 
 for the Asiatics" and Bolshevist chaos for 
 the rest of the world. It involves four 
 ominous "Pans": Pan-Germanism, Pan- 
 Islamism, Pan-Touranism, and, worst of all, 
 Pan-Bolshevism; all welded together into a 
 united war organization which M. Pinon, 
 in the title of his Revue article, calls "Asia's 
 Offensive." 
 
 Insurrections in Egypt, insurrections in 
 India, undermining Western European and 
 American countries with Bolshevik-inspired 
 and Bolshevik-financed strikes and labor in- 
 surrections, to be followed by the substitu- 
 tion of Soviets for all existing Governments 
 — ^all these stirring numbers are on the pro- 
 gramme which the French writer spreads 
 before us. The English are to be driven 
 from India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and 
 wherever their rule is over Mohammedan 
 peoples. The French must go from Syria 
 and North Africa; the Greeks from the 
 Asia Minor coast and from Thrace, if they 
 ever get into Thrace. As for other than 
 Soviet forms of Government, they simply 
 must get off the earth. 
 
 These, in broad outlines, are a portion of 
 the objectives in a new world war where, 
 again, the survival or the utter destruction 
 of Western civilization will be the issue at 
 stake. The plans of campaign, according 
 to M. Pinon, are not only matured, but are 
 in process of active transformation into facts 
 accomplished. There have been insurrec- 
 tions in India and in Egypt. There have 
 been Bolshevik-inspired strikes in Europe, 
 notably in France, in which the disclosed 
 objective was the overthrow of the existing 
 Government and the substitution of Soviet 
 rule. Recent dispatches tell of the defeat 
 by Bolshevists of an English force in Persia. 
 The London Daily Mail of recent date says: 
 The whole Bolshevik policy in this 
 region [the shores of the Caspian] is 
 directed to undermining and destroying 
 British prestige in Persia, and the move 
 is likely to have a serious repercussion 
 in India. 
 
 All of which is in line with what M. Pinon 
 wrote for the Revue over six weeks ago. It 
 is in line with the entire Bolshevik-Islam 
 League objectives, as formulated in a series 
 of meetings beginning at Moscow in July 
 and continued at Erzeroum in August; in 
 Berlin in January of this year and at Con- 
 stantinople January 29th, when all the 
 orators predicted a great decisive struggle 
 in the near future between Asia and Europe 
 for the "complete emancipation of human- 
 ity," the "emancipation," of course, to be on 
 the Lenine-Trotzky Bolshevik model. 
 
 The bulk of all Russians being but the 
 survivors of the great Zenghis Kahn bar- 
 
248 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 baric inundations of savagery, it only needs 
 reinoculation with hereditary instincts to 
 revert to its original Tartar impulses and 
 again swell into another devastating flood 
 of Asiatic barbarism. A large portion of it 
 is already Mohammedan. The binding tie of 
 Bolshevism will bring in all the others. 
 Then, joined with Pan-Islam, the Asiatic 
 hive is ready to swarm. Even Hadjaz, lately 
 aligned with the Allies in fighting the Turk, 
 by clumsy British intriguing against French 
 Syrian influence, is developing hostility to 
 all Christians. 
 
 In a word, all Asiatic fanaticism is to be 
 merged with all Russian Bolshevism into an 
 unholy alliance. Its Central Committee sits 
 in Moscow. Under It are two sub-commit- 
 tees: One is the Committee of the Orient, 
 with headquarters in the Anatolian prov- 
 inces held by Mustapha Kemel. The head- 
 quarters of the other is Berlin. This last 
 committee's field is Europe and Northern 
 Africa. Switzerland is the general clearing- 
 house of the intrigue. Between that country 
 ' and Constantinople, Moscow, Berlin, the 
 Caucasus, and Egypt there is a constant 
 coming and going of emissaries. 
 
 Altogether it is quite an alarming picture 
 which M. Pinon presents. But he says: 
 The dangers which menace Europe 
 would vanish, would never even have 
 existed, if an entente more alert, more 
 compact, more careful of general inter- 
 ests had been established among the 
 great victorious Allies— England, Bel- 
 gium, France, Italy, with or without 
 America — to create an unshakable Con- 
 tinental system and to organize the 
 Orient. Then we would see the forces 
 of destruction dissolve and the features 
 of a new Russia begin to appear. If, on 
 the contrary, the Allies are unable to 
 oppose the insurmountable barrier of 
 their far-seeing and ordered union to 
 the offensive of Asia while it is still an 
 uncertain and unorganized menace, then 
 perhaps we shall see, as in the time of 
 the Roman Emperors and Zenghis 
 Kahn, Asia's inexhaustible reservoirs of 
 men overflow anew the old world to the 
 submei^ence of everything. 
 
 TODAY'S CENTENARY 
 
 OF HERBERT SPENCER 
 
 Boston Herald 
 A Ulysses in the world of thought, 
 "strong m will," as Tennyson's hero was, 
 "to strike, to seek, to find and not to yield," 
 began his life 100 years ago with the birth 
 of Herbert Spencer. There was little in 
 his inheritance, and less in the merely for- 
 mal schooling which he enjoyed, to forecast 
 
 his absorption in philosophical interests. It 
 was not implied by his work as a civil en- 
 gineer, by his activities as journalist and 
 teacher, or by the dozen or more inventions 
 which he tried to make useful. The promise 
 lay deeper than these in the intellectual 
 make-up of a man who, early a lover of 
 science, found himself also "beset by a pas- 
 sion for finding out the causes of things." 
 Social and political questions first engaged 
 his attention, and he embodied the nucleus 
 of much of his subsequent writing in a book 
 on "Social Statics." The wider outlook came 
 through his chance meeting with a phrase of 
 Von Baer, which describes organic develop- 
 ment as "a change from a state of homo- 
 geneity to a state of heterogeneity," and it 
 was by application of the thesis to the whole 
 universe that Spencer evolved his "System 
 of Synthetic Philosophy." The task was tre- 
 mendous and the pathway bristled with dis- 
 suasives. Emerson dubbed the venturesome 
 student of phenomena "a stock writer," and 
 Thomas Wentworth Higginson disapproved 
 of his "propensity to write on a great many 
 subjects." Spencer suffered all his life from 
 poor health; such was the financial handi- 
 cap that had not his slender resources been 
 supplemented by a fund of $7000, raised by 
 his admirers in America, the publication of 
 his many-volumed work would have ceased 
 mid-way. 
 
 There was meanwhile a highly interest- 
 ing emotional and human side open to ob- 
 servation. Carlyle noticed in Spencer "a 
 triumphant superiority to natural instincts"; 
 for Dr. Hooker he was "a bright, vivacious 
 personality, a man very much at home 
 among the actualities of life and, withal, 
 brimful of humor." Friends pronounced the 
 philosopher "clubable"; he played billiards, 
 was fond of rowing and delighted in nat- 
 ural scenery. Yet many strange dislikes 
 found expression in his "Autobiography." 
 When he saw a ruined abbey or the remains 
 of a castle, he did not care "to learn when 
 it was built, who lived there or what catas- 
 trophies it witnessed." Nor when near a 
 battlefield did he ever visit one, "not having 
 the slightest curiosity to see a place where 
 many were killed and a victory achieved." 
 He enjoyed music, yet poetry bored him, 
 "Prometheus Unbound" being the only verse 
 which aroused his enthusiasm. He found 
 many absurdities in classical art; he crit- 
 icised plays in a fashion that prompted 
 Huxley to say that "Spencer's idea of a 
 tragedy is a deduction killed by a fact." An- 
 other characteristic was aloofness from 
 worldly allurements. He could not be 
 tempted to accept degrees, though many 
 were offered. "I don't want to get on," he 
 
EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 249 
 
 once wrote; "I don't think getting on is 
 worth the bother." On the occasion of his 
 visit to the United States in 1882 he de- 
 clined a lecture tour, though the bids ranged 
 "up to $250 a night." 
 
 Lately it has been the fashion to dis- 
 parage Spencer, as earlier it was the fashion 
 almost to worship him. Since 1900, when 
 H. Macpherson hailed him as "among the 
 sceptred immortals," there has been much 
 critical gnawing at his system, with grow- 
 ing distrust of its vast generalizations and 
 questioning of its ponderous formulae. 
 Much of it has been supplemented; some of 
 it has been superseded. Religion long ago 
 discarded Spencer's supposition that its 
 reconciliation with science was to be 
 achieved through the recognition by both of 
 an "Unknowable"; physicists decline to be 
 satisfied with his account of the evolutionary 
 process as "an integration of matter and a 
 concomitant dissipation of motion," and 
 biologists regard as inadequate his effort 
 to sum up life as "a correspondence between 
 inner relations and outer relations." But as 
 Spencer outdid many of the specialists in 
 his mastery of the facts, so he served science 
 superbly in the long travail which he gave 
 to their unification. He popularized evolu- 
 tion as did no other thinker of his time. 
 He left an inspiring example in what Prof. 
 Pringle-Pattison calls his "power of con- 
 ceiving of a great ideal and carrying it for- 
 ward through countless difficulties to ulti- 
 mate realization." 
 
 THE LISTENER 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 It is certainly a curious effect — that when 
 at last the full "official," so to speak, biog- 
 raphy of the founder and center of a literary 
 cult appears, it turns out that the idol not 
 only has clay feet but is wholly of mud 
 throughout. It is poetic justice, however, 
 for this Samuel Butler, author of "The Way 
 of All Flesh" and "Erehwon" (1835-1902) 
 made his reputation and vogue by casting 
 mud upon his contemporaries — ^was, in fact, 
 before Roosevelt delimited and named the 
 tribe — champion mud-slinger of the nine- 
 teenth century. Moreover, he flung his mud 
 not alone over persons — human genius such 
 as is universally revered — Tennyson, Dar- 
 win, Beethoven— but upon things as sacred, 
 accepted, and essential to life and social 
 well-being, as marriage and family life and 
 affection. He deliberately adopted this role 
 of "Bad Boy." In one of his notebooks ap- 
 pears this: "I am the Enfant Terrible of 
 literature and science. If I cannot, and I 
 know I cannot, get the big-wigs to give me 
 a shilling, I can, and I know I can, heave 
 
 bricks into the middle of them." He was 
 the son of a clergyman and grandson of a 
 bishop, and educated at Cambridge Univer- 
 sity, yet in another note he wrote: "There 
 will be no safe and comfortable development 
 of our social arrangements — I mean we 
 shall not get infanticide, and the permission 
 of suicide, nor cheap and easy divorce — till 
 Jesus Christ's ghost has been laid; and the 
 best way to lay it is to be a moderate 
 Churchman." But his worst offending was, 
 in his "Way of All Flesh" (as that leader in 
 American criticism, Stuart Sherman, says), 
 "pouring poison on the roots of that imag- 
 inative love in which all normal men and 
 maidens walk at least once in a lifetime as 
 in a rosy cloud shot through with golden 
 lights." 
 
 Edward Shanks, too, one of the best of 
 English critics, in the new London Mercury, 
 expresses unmeasured disgust over the reve- 
 lations of the elaborate Butler biography — 
 for which by the way, Butler himself made 
 the most painstaking preparations and be- 
 queathed the necessary funds — although he 
 had once suggested that his biography ought 
 to begin: "The subject of this memoir was 
 the son of rich but dishonest parents." But- 
 ler claimed sympathy on account of the 
 austerity of his father. But he once wrote 
 to a friend that he was proposing an essay 
 on the "trials of a middle-aged man through 
 not having lost his father at a suitable age." 
 His father's unpardonable sin was in not 
 dying early and so enlarging his son's in- 
 come. His relations with women are left 
 very much in the shade by this voluminous 
 biography, as is also his exile in New 
 Zealand for five years, after which he re- 
 turned with $40,000 earned in sheep-raising. 
 But one episode, bordering, apparently, as 
 nearly upon romance as so coarse and low- 
 minded a blackguard could possibly come, 
 was his literary intimacy — almost partner- 
 ship — ^with a Miss Savage, who read his 
 books in manuscript, and criticised and 
 praised them, and abused his enemies to his 
 heart's content. The only trouble was his 
 growing fear that she was bent on marrying 
 him. His characteristic memorial to this 
 love is preserved in two sonnets; the follow- 
 ing lines from which sufficiently tell the 
 squalid story: 
 She was too kind, wooed too persistently, 
 Wrote moving letters to me day by day; 
 
 Hard though I tried to love I tried in 
 
 vain. 
 For she was plain and lame and fat and 
 
 short, 
 Forty and overkind. 
 
250 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 *Tis said that if a woman woo, no man 
 Should leave her till she have pre- 
 vailed; and, true, 
 A man will yield for pity if he can, 
 
 But if the flesh rebel what can he do ? 
 I could not; hence I grieve my whole 
 
 life long 
 The wrong I did in that I did no wrong. 
 
 It is easy to see how the legend that the 
 theme of "Man and Superman" was borne 
 in upon Bernard Shaw from Butler's in- 
 fluence. It is true that at the "Erehwon" 
 dinner, engineered by Butler's literary and 
 business legatee, Streatfield, the solemn me- 
 morial feast of Butlerians at which there 
 can be but two toasts, "His Majesty" and 
 "Samuel Butler," Shaw, on one occasion, 
 said something about the "future-penetrat- 
 ing" social-reforming notions of Butler. 
 But it surely is a shame to couple the 
 hearty, healthy humor and effervescing ex- 
 travagances of Shaw reforming diatribes, 
 always wholesomely and aggressively al- 
 truistic in spirit and intention, with the 
 gloomy, self -centered pessimism and moral 
 ugliness of Butler. Mr. Gilbert Cannan and 
 D. H. Lawrence, and the other young Brit- 
 ish literary artists, with their preoccupation 
 with sex and nose for the noisome, may 
 parade with the Butlerians as apostles. But 
 it is more likely, as Mr. Sherman points 
 out, that Shaw went to the second Erehwon 
 dinner "not quite certain whether he had 
 come to give or receive honor, whether he 
 was to be regarded as the beloved disciple 
 or, rather, as the one for whom Butler, 
 preaching in the Victorian wilderness, had 
 prepared the way." The sham and posing 
 as well as malevolent character of all But- 
 ler's iconoclasm among the Victorian great 
 in poetry, literature, science and art is final- 
 ly and fplly confessed in his presumption in 
 trying to push Darwin from his seat by 
 cramming a few months in the British 
 Museum Library, to dethrone Beethoven by 
 Handelian rulades and sonatas, with the 
 aid of his ill-paid secretary and present 
 biographer. This Butler was really a busi- 
 ness man, with department-store ambitions 
 to sell everything under one roof, and never 
 really belonged in either literature, science 
 or art, except by his vicious will to adver- 
 tise himself. 
 
 HEAT TREATMENT IN GUN EROSION 
 
 Scientific American 
 
 There are few problems in the metallurgi- 
 cal and allied arts that have proved more 
 puzzling to the investigator, or have re- 
 ceived a more thorough investigation than 
 that of the causes and cure of gun-erosion. 
 Perhaps the clearest and most complete dis- 
 
 cussion of this subject is that of Professor 
 H. M. Howe, in a paper read at the latest 
 meeting of the American Institute of 
 Mining Engineers. He showed that erosion 
 was the effect of heat-treatment, due to 
 the extreme high temperature of the pow- 
 der-gases. Any sudden heating and cooling, 
 as we have long known, has the effect of 
 hardening the surface of the bore. In a 
 badly eroded gun the thickness of the 
 hardened layer varies from one ten-thou- 
 sandth of an inch at the muzzle to sixty- 
 three ten-thousandths at the breech. Dr. 
 Howe does not agree with the widely-held 
 theory that this hardening is due to car- 
 burization; he believes it merely a result of 
 heat-treatment. There is too much carbon 
 dioxide in the powder-gases to permit car- 
 burization by the monoxide. 
 
 Now we must remember the heating up 
 of the liner is very rapid and lasts for a 
 very small fraction of a second. An ex- 
 tremely fine film of the metal is suddenly 
 raised above melting point; but the wave 
 of heat starts flowing away to the exterior 
 of the gun. The ferrite and cementite in 
 this heated form merge and form austenite. 
 As the heat passes out through the gun, 
 the metal just beyond the thin fused film 
 cools below the limit at which transition to 
 austenite can occur. After the projectile 
 has left the gun, the layer in which aus- 
 tenite has been formed cools again, and this 
 cooling is accompanied by some reversion in 
 the steel toward its original condition. This 
 reversion of phase takes more time to effect 
 than the change of the gun steel to aus- 
 tenite. Some of the latter therefore remains 
 unaltered and, being rapidly chilled, is con- 
 verted into martensite. On each successive 
 discharge additional austenite is formed and 
 in this way the thickness of the hardening 
 layer increases progressively. The result is 
 that the original tough face of the liner is 
 replaced by a hard, brittle layer of mar- 
 tensite. Since the temperature gradient of 
 this layer is very steep, the transformed 
 metal is too brittle to adjust itself to the 
 resulting differential expansions, and cracks 
 are formed. On the lands of the rifling, 
 these are generally transverse, but in the 
 grooves the principal cracks are longitudinal. 
 But why is the bore of the gun enlarged? 
 What becomes of the metal that is worn 
 away? Professor Howe agrees with the 
 view we have long taken in this matter: 
 that since a fine film of the interior surface 
 is fused by the heat of the white-hot pow- 
 der-gases, the gases in rushing forward out 
 of the gun, wipe off and carry away a 
 certain amount of this film. The quantity 
 is small enough at each discharge, but the 
 
EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 251 
 
 accumulated wastage of many rounds serves 
 gradually to enlarge the bore, especially 
 towards the breech of the gun. 
 
 Although the nature and progressive effect 
 of erosion are thus satisfactorily explained, 
 there is not much prospect of any successful 
 remedy being applied. The Krupp firm in 
 Germany has from time to time asserted 
 that they had produced a non-erodible steel; 
 but samples cut from captured German 
 guns show that while the metal is of good 
 quality it contains no new ingredients. 
 
 THE FLIVVER MIND 
 
 The Review 
 
 It is impossible not to feel sorry for Mr. 
 Henry Ford. That he has brought his 
 troubles on himself ought not to extract all 
 human compassion from the laugh he has 
 raised. He is in great part the victim of 
 circumstances. As a nation we are too much 
 given to encouraging ultra crepidam excur- 
 sions on the part of our successful men. 
 The man whose native ability in a particular 
 field brings him into the public eye is under 
 peculiarly dangerous temptation. He finds 
 himself in the exploited class of the very 
 rich, without knowing how to defend him- 
 self in the position. He does not feel the 
 humility in the face of good fortune which 
 the sudden inheritance of wealth might en- 
 gender. He is cut oif from the normal out- 
 lets of enjoyment which habituated posses- 
 sion of wealth would have furnished him. 
 He lives in a million-dollar house, but he is 
 not very comfortable in it. Art, music, and 
 literature afford him neither relaxation nor 
 stimulus. For sports he has neither time 
 nor inclination. For the disposal of his 
 wealth to the general good he is v/holly de- 
 pendent on the possible wisdom of others. 
 Even the simple social relations which he is 
 qualified to enjoy are probably pretty well 
 spoiled for him by the encumbrance of 
 riches. • -'i'^^^ 
 
 Some of these things he may learn to 
 use, but the road may well be a hard one. 
 It will be the more difficult in proportion as 
 he carries over into new fields the spirit and 
 the methods that have made him successful 
 in his own. There he has been a cloud- 
 compeller, a moulder of men, tyrannical oyer 
 circumstance; in short, a success. Having 
 once in his life rushed in with a success 
 denied to angels, he feels no proper distrust 
 of his own powers to keep him from rush- 
 ing in again and yet again under a special 
 license of Providence. The prey of every 
 designing person, of every sort of intriguing 
 suggestion, his overweening self-confidence 
 marks him as the hero of an inevitable 
 tragi-comedy. Bid him run for the Senate, 
 for the Senate he runs. Suggest to hii?' 
 
 that war is a terrible thing — very well, we 
 will stop the war. Persuade him that some- 
 one has written him down an anarchist — he 
 starts a libel suit the only possible result of 
 which, regardless of legal decision, is to 
 write him down an ass. 
 
 It is not Mr. Ford's large ignorances that 
 make him ridiculous. A clever lawyer can, 
 if he sets out, make a fool of almost any- 
 body on the witness stand. In matters of 
 this kind all the advantage lies with the 
 attacking party. The victim soon becomes 
 sullen, frivolous, or fatigued to the point of 
 admitting anything that promises soon to 
 get it all over with. We know very few 
 people who could at a moment's notice dis- 
 course informingly on the causes of the 
 War of 1812. Most of us have flivver minds, 
 and they are quite good enough for the 
 day's business, and indeed a credit to the 
 possessor, since many people have no minds 
 at all. For the flivver is versatile as well 
 a wonderfully efficient. It will saw wood 
 and haul a plough, besides an apparently 
 unlimited number of the owner's uncles, 
 cousins, and aunts. It may even, with a 
 self-starter, oversized tires, and shock- 
 absorbers, present an impressively stylish 
 appearance. But it is still a flivver, and 
 there, are lots of things in this world of sin 
 and sorrow that a flivver ought not to try 
 to get straight. The flivver mind, even 
 though endowed with wealth, surrounded by 
 people fertile in ideas for the ingenious 
 spending of it, its considerable vacuities 
 stuffed with good intentions, ought also to 
 be willing to recognize its limitations. 
 
 The trouble lies not with Mr. Ford's ig- 
 norance, painful as the exhibition of it may 
 be to himself and to the world. It lies 
 with the things he has been pathetically 
 brought to believe that he knows. There 
 again he does not deserve unqualified blame. 
 He merely repeats as best he can what he 
 supposes, not without reason, to be the views 
 of all really superior minds. He will be an 
 ignorant idealist if he must, but an idealist 
 he will be. The lure of intellectual display 
 is stronger and subtler than the attraction 
 of mere material ostentation. And material 
 ostentation does not command the attention 
 it once did. But when a dazzling intellectual 
 display means only a magnification of one's 
 own native kindly and generous, if muddled, 
 feelings, the lure is irresistible. 
 
 "History is bunk. I live in the present." 
 Have we not in New York a school where 
 some of our ablest intellectuals are dedi- 
 cated to the scientific establishment of this 
 proposition ? 
 
 "I was against preparedness." Were not 
 all our humanitarians in like case? 
 
252 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 "War is murder." Would any conscien- 
 tious objector, whether he happened to be 
 caught in the toils of the draft or not, pre- 
 sume to doubt it? 
 
 "The war was engineered by the news- 
 papers and the bankers for profit." The 
 Nation would not put it so crudely. 
 
 "The Germans drank beer and the French 
 drank wine. That made them irritable and 
 started the war." The country is now ruled 
 by a group of people who would regard such 
 a theory as quite irrefutable. 
 
 "I would hoist the flag of humanity." 
 There are plenty who would pull down the 
 stars and stripes for him, if he didn't care 
 to do it himself. 
 
 "If the war just concluded does not bring 
 universal peace, I am in favor of another 
 great war without delay to clean up the 
 situation." All our ex-pacifists are looking 
 forward quite excitedly to this war. 
 
 If not the very words, these are the things 
 which Mr. Ford allowed himself to be per- 
 suaded it was his duty to preach to his 
 countrymen. We may blame him for being 
 gullible. Most of us will not wish to blame 
 him too much. Like Mr. Ford we are very 
 easy-going. In action, the American people 
 often, like Mr. Ford, exhibit traits that 
 argue something like an infantile mind — a 
 mind that dwells in a world almost unreal, 
 where things most unattainable come for 
 the asking and achievement seems to wait 
 only for the outstretched hand. In this 
 view, the gulling of Mr. Ford, the exploita- 
 tion of his wealth and his good-natured 
 ignorance, becomes a moral fable of such 
 tremendous import, conveys a warning so 
 clear and to the point, that his own pitifully 
 diminished head sinks quite out of sight. 
 
 SPENCER'S "EDUCATION" 
 
 WHAT IS WORTH WHILE? 
 
 IGNORANCE OF PARENTS 
 
 WANTED: SIMPLER KNOWLEDGE 
 
 By Arthur Brisbane 
 
 Pittsburg Press 
 
 Herbert Spencer, English philosopher and 
 teacher, was born April 27, 100 years ago. 
 Read some paragraphs on his book, "Educa- 
 tion." 
 
 Spencer was self-taught, that made him 
 think about education. He was a railway 
 engineer at 17. After 30 he began writing 
 seriously and spent his life thinking seri- 
 ously. 
 
 When he was 40 he announced the outline 
 of "The Synthetic Philosophy," in 10 vol- 
 umes. He was not a careless worker. He 
 finished the book 36 years later, and seven 
 years after that he died. 
 
 To say "Think your way through all of 
 Spencer," would be like saying, "Oblige me 
 by drinking up Lake Michigan." Everybody 
 will accept a little of Spencer from his book 
 on education. 
 
 Two books on education every father and 
 mother should read, Spencer, and Rousseau's 
 Emile. Froebel, the German, and Pestalozzi, 
 the Swiss, may also be read. Spencer and 
 Rousseau you must read. 
 
 Spencer divides his book into four chap- 
 ters: 
 
 "What Knowledge is of Most Worth." 
 "Intellectual Education." 
 "Moral Education.'* 
 "Physical Education." 
 
 We intellectual savages acquire mental 
 clothing or education as the wilder, jungle 
 savages acquire bodily clothing, more for 
 show than real use. 
 
 Humboldt's Indian on the bank of the 
 Orinoco cared nothing for personal comfort, 
 but would work 14 days to get money to 
 buy paint, then smear himself and be ad- 
 mired. 
 
 And his wife, "who would not hesitate to 
 leave her hut without a fragment of clothing 
 on, would not dare to commit such a breach 
 of decorum as to go out unpainted." 
 
 All travelers tell you that colored beads 
 are more prized by wild tribes than sub- 
 stantial cloth. Captain Speke tells of Afri- 
 can attendants, "who strutted about in goat- 
 skin mantles when the weather was fine, 
 when it rained took them off, folded them 
 up and went around naked, shivering in the 
 rain." 
 
 First among savages came decorations to 
 gain admiration; clothing for comfort fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 First among us intellectual savages comes 
 mental ornamentation, something that will 
 enable us to show how much we know. 
 
 Knowledge for real use is to come later. 
 
 In at least 99 cases out of a 100, we want 
 to be "educated" for the sake of admira- 
 tion. The Englishman sends his boy to Ox- 
 ford to learn Greek and Latin, not that he 
 will use them, but that he may have "the 
 education of a gentleman." 
 
 The farmer in the country teaches his 
 little girl to play the piano, not that she 
 will ever be a musician, but that she may 
 show off by pounding out "The Maiden's 
 Prayer" while neighbors say, "She ought to 
 go to Paris to study." 
 
EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 253 
 
 Not what we are, but what we can make 
 people think we are, is the uppermost 
 thought shown in the way we dress our 
 women, as in the way we dress our minds. 
 
 We are ignorant, glib, ready, loquacious 
 and take a good deal of trouble to get the 
 mental paint to decorate ourselves. There, 
 as a rule, education ends. 
 
 Francis Bacon said every man must de- 
 termine "the relative values of knowledge." 
 There are many kinds of knowledge — which 
 are worth while? 
 
 Spencer says, "To prepare us for complete 
 living is the function which education has to 
 discharge." 
 
 Among different "knowledges" Spencer 
 says: 
 
 First, knowledge of self-preservation; 
 without that we wouldn't last. 
 
 Second, indirect self-preservation; know- 
 ing how to make a living that you may go 
 on living. 
 
 Third, knowledge of the duties of parents, 
 for while the state is higher than the fam- 
 ily, it cannot prosper, unless the family is 
 properly cared for. 
 
 Next, after education that prepares for 
 parenthood, comes education, that prepares 
 for citizenship, and last "the miscellaneous 
 refinements of life," music, poetry, painting, 
 etc. They come distinctly LAST. 
 
 Education is valuable in two ways. First, 
 as knowledge, and second, as discipline. 
 
 There is absolute knowledge, such as 
 "twice two make four," or "the resistance 
 of water to a body moving through it varies 
 as the square of velocity." That knowledge 
 will be as valuable and necessary a million 
 years hence. 
 
 There is another kind of knowledge, of 
 history, of literature, important because such 
 knowledge feeds the mind and helps it to 
 grow. It will be totally unimportant a mil- 
 lion years from now, when all that we know 
 of history and literature will not be worth 
 three lines. 
 
 We need to know about ourselves, but in 
 the world 10,000 men know about a car- 
 buretor for one that knows about the Eus- 
 tachian tubes that carry infection to the 
 ears and cause mastoiditis in children. 
 
 The man who would blush if he put the 
 accent on the wrong syllable in the word 
 Iphigenia, say on the ante-penult, instead of 
 on the penult, where it belongs, is not 
 ashamed to confess that he never heard of a 
 ductless gland. 
 
 Many ask: "Of what use is education?" 
 Mathematics builds your houses, railroads 
 
 and bridges. Physics gave you the steam 
 engine. Chemistry gives your fertilizers, 
 medicines, dyes, methods of obtaining cop- 
 per, zinc, gold, also your home distilling. 
 
 Biology, study of life, is worth while. It 
 tells you that when your sheep are dying of 
 "the staggers" you can save them by taking 
 out a little "entozoon" pressing on the brain. 
 A soft spot in the skull tells where. 
 ^ Is geology useless? Not exactly. Mil- 
 lions have been saved by knowledge that in 
 digging for coal you should stop when you 
 come to a fossil found in old red sandstone. 
 There is never any coal below that. And 
 so on indefinitely. 
 
 Mothers should read Spencer's pages on 
 "Results of Parental Ignorance." For one 
 parent that seriously studies the problem of 
 raising children, 40 farmers study seriously 
 the problem of raising pigs. Pigs cost 
 money and are salable. 
 
 About the mind, as about the body of the 
 child, parents know little. 
 
 "She (the mother) knows nothing about 
 the nature of the emotions, their order of 
 evolution, their functions or where use ends 
 and abuse begins. She is under the im- 
 pression that some of the feelings are wholly 
 bad, which is not true of any one of them; 
 and that others are good, however far they 
 may be carried, which is also not true of 
 any of them." 
 
 Necessary instincts and emotions the 
 mother looks upon with horror. She acts 
 upon her child "by threats and bribes, or 
 by exciting in it a desire for applause, thus 
 cultivating hypocrisy, fear and selfishness 
 in place of good feeling." 
 
 And "while insisting upon truthfulness, 
 she constantly sets an example of untruth, 
 by threatening penalties which she does not 
 inflict. While inculcating self-control, she 
 hourly visits on her little ones scoldings for 
 acts that do not call for them." 
 
 The formal instruction of children is begun 
 too soon, instead of letting them learn, as 
 one should all through life, that which one 
 learns most easily at the time. Children at 
 first should learn with their eyes and ears 
 only, getting in that way, before they are 
 seven, more information than in all the rest 
 of their life put together, including the use 
 of their language and their bodies. They 
 must not then be crowded with such things 
 "as grammar, which should come quite late." 
 
 When a child dies of scarlet fever and 
 the doctor says it died because weakened 
 by overstudy, it is for the mother "small 
 
254 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 consolation that she can read Dante in the 
 original." 
 
 We haven't many mothers in this country 
 that read Dante in the original, but many 
 that force knowledge unwisely upon their 
 children, ruining digestion and nervous sys- 
 tem, foolish enough to believe that the way 
 "to give my child the advantages I lacked" 
 is to stuff that child with knowledge as a 
 Strasburg goose is stuffed with food to make 
 its liver swell. 
 
 An ant in the path is much interested in 
 the dead caterpillar, not interested in the 
 live cattle. And, as Herbert Spencer puts 
 it, "men are indifferent to the grandest 
 phenomena — care not to understand the ar- 
 chitecture of the heavens, but are deeply in- 
 terested in some contemptible controversy 
 about the intrigues of Mary Queen of Scots." 
 Or as an American might put it, "care a 
 lot about scandal but not a cuss about 
 astronomy." 
 
 As you read and think about education, 
 slowly climbing the hill to old age, do not be 
 discouraged by the mass of detail or let it 
 hold you back. 
 
 The young surgeon, if conscientious, must 
 study anatomy at least half a dozen times, 
 and think he knows it each time, before he 
 KNOWS it. You need not know so much 
 about it. There were when Herbert Spencer 
 wrote 320,000 species of plants, 2,000,000 
 different kinds of animal life, and many more 
 of each are listed now. 
 
 With books, even the great books, it must 
 be with the majority of us as with cities. 
 You may know something about Paris, Lon- 
 don, Rome, the Athens of today and of 2000 
 years ago, without actually seeing those 
 cities, without studying every block and 
 every street. 
 
 Photography has made possible wide, in- 
 spiring knowledge of foreign places. What 
 man has not clearly in his mind the Palace 
 of the Doges in Venice, the magnificent 
 chapel decorated by Michael Angelo in St. 
 Peter's, the Taj Mahal, the great wall of 
 China, the locks in the Panama Canal, the 
 Washington monument — a hundred other 
 things worth while? 
 
 Some day an intelligent group of stu- 
 dents will do for knowledge, for great books 
 and important lives, what the camera has 
 done for knowledge of places and things. 
 
 a rat at the other; the giraffe's long neck, 
 the armadillo's armor. 
 
 You need not have read, as Buckle is said 
 to have done, 30,000 volumes, or even the 
 6000 that Voltaire read and marked, in order 
 to have the skeleton of an education. Get 
 the skeleton, fill it out at leisure. 
 
 You need not know the names of 2,000,000 
 different animals to be interested in the 
 pouch that holds the half -formed baby kan- 
 garoo, the animal that is a duck at one end, 
 
 Appleton & Co. print Spencer's books. 
 
 Some intelligent person should put in one 
 volume all the absolutely essential dn Spen- 
 cer, Rousseau, Pestalozzi and Froebel, in 
 plain language. 
 
 While we rebuke ourselves for our short- 
 comings, especially our shortcomings as 
 parents, we may find dismal comfort in the 
 fact that our English cousins, when it comes 
 to being "very, very bad," are possibly 
 worse than we are. For one mother here 
 that rolls over her new-born child and 
 smothers dt to death, there are a dozen in 
 England. You would find with difficulty in 
 America such parents as Spencer describes 
 in the following lines: 
 
 "What kind of moral discipline is to be 
 expected from a mother who, time after 
 time, angrily shakes her infant because it 
 will not suckle her, which we once saw a 
 mother do? How much love of justice and 
 generosity is likely to be instilled by a 
 father who, on having his attention drawn 
 by his child's scream to the fact that its 
 finger ds jammed between the window sash 
 and the sill, forthwith begins to beat the 
 child instead of releasing it? That there 
 are such fathers is testified to us by an eye- 
 witness." 
 
 Pride, however, is a weakening vice; avoid 
 it. We lack here much of the brutal igno- 
 rance at the bottom of the British structure. 
 We lack also the educated men that shine at 
 the top of that structure. 
 
 Read Spencer. 
 
 THE INFANTILE SCOURGE 
 
 Hartford Times 
 
 A Hartford physician writes for the Times 
 this informing article on this dreaded 
 disease: 
 
 Infantile paralysis is a highly infectious 
 and communicable disease, caused by a 
 minute micro-organism of virus which in- 
 vades the brain and spinal cord, and has 
 been secured in artificial culture. This virus 
 exists in the central nervous organs and 
 upon the mucous membrane of the nose, 
 throat, and intestines of the persons having 
 the disease. 
 
 The micro-organism may be carried in the 
 nose and throat of healthy persons who 
 have been in intimate contact with those 
 having the disease, and may be by such car- 
 
EDITORIALS DEVOTED TO INTERPRETATION 
 
 255 
 
 riers transmitted to others, chiefly chil- 
 dren, who develop the disease. Whatever 
 the type of the disorder — ^mild, severe, or 
 complicated — the virus is invariably present. 
 
 The virus leaves the body of an infected 
 individual in the secretions of the nose, 
 throat and intestines, and enters the body 
 by the mucous membrane of the throat and 
 nasal passages. Having entered, it multi- 
 plies rapidly, after which it penetrates to 
 the brain and spinal cord by the lymphatic 
 canals connecting the nasal passages with 
 the skull. 
 
 Being retained in the secretions, the virus 
 is readily distributed by coughing, sneezing, 
 kissing, and the intestinal discharges. More- 
 over, the virus, thrown off is not readily 
 destroyed by the means and methods used 
 to destroy ordinary bacteria. Exposure to 
 sunlight destroys it quickly, however. 
 
 Experiments show that the virus is not 
 conveyed by the blood-sucking insects, such 
 as biting flies, mosquitoes, bedbugs and lice. 
 Houseflies, contaminated with the virus, 
 may transfer it after having come in con- 
 tact with the infected secretions, but while 
 held under suspicion as potential mechani- 
 cal carriers, the agency is not any new 
 indictment of the insect. 
 
 Not all children are susceptible to the 
 disease, but it would be unsafe to speak of 
 any as absolutely insusceptible. Again, the 
 disease may be so light as not to occasion 
 any paralysis. The period of incubation 
 after exposure does not generally exceed 
 eight days, but it may occur in two days, 
 or be deferred to two weeks or even longer. 
 
 The danger of communication is probably 
 greatest during the very early and acute 
 stages, but the infectivity may persist for 
 weeks. One attack confers insusceptibility 
 ever after. Like measles and scarlet fever, 
 all forms of infantile paralysis — ^paralytic, 
 meningeal and abortive — confer immunity 
 after recovery. 
 
 Because of the virus attacking and at- 
 
 tachmg itself to the brain and spinal cord. 
 It is reached only with difficulty. The only 
 irug which has shown any useful degree of 
 activity is hexamethylenamin, which can en- 
 ter the membranes as well as the substance 
 of the spinal cord and brain, in which the 
 virus is deposited. It avails only in early 
 stages. 
 
 The person having the disease and all as- 
 sociated with him must be regarded as sus- 
 pects, but the spread is subject to ready 
 control under restricted and supervised san- 
 itary conditions. Proper sanitation goes far 
 to stop the spread, and habits of cleanliness, 
 care and self-denial go far to prevent the 
 spread of the malady. 
 
 Kill the flies. Protect the discharges by 
 screens. Do not permit those in charge of a 
 case to handle food for sale to the general 
 public. The person sick with infantile 
 paralysis must not be kissed. Preferably 
 all cases should be removed to the hospital. 
 This isolation, together with sanitary con- 
 trol of the household where they originate, 
 diminishes danger. 
 
 The death rate varies. Of those who sur- 
 vive, some make complete recovery, while 
 others are crippled. The disappearance of 
 the paralysis may be rapid or gradual, be- 
 ing complete in a few days or not till after 
 weeks or months. If the crippled condition 
 occurs, it may be amenable to proper ortho- 
 paedic treatment. Fortunately, few are left 
 helplessly crippled. 
 
 At present there exists no safe method of 
 preventive treatment by inoculation, vac- 
 cination or specific measures. Reliance must 
 be on proper sanitary means. The tendency 
 of infantile paralysis is toward recovery. 
 The present epidemic, serious as it is, is 
 not something new, for Dr. Simon . Flexner 
 of the Rockefeller Institute says that for at 
 least nine years New York has not been free 
 from it. There is no better authority, and 
 to Dr. Flexner we are indebted for the sub- 
 stance of this article. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 EDITORIALS OF CONTROVERSIAL TENDENCY 
 
 Here following are reprinted speci- 
 mens illustrating forms and methods 
 of the editorial when it tends to be 
 controversial; i. e., when its underly- 
 
 ing purpose is to enforce a point, to 
 debate or dispute a question, or to 
 convince or persuade the reader. For 
 discussion, see Part I, Chapter VII. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S VAGARIES 
 
 Hartford Courant 
 
 The vagaries of Washington are many. 
 Here we have the announcement that the 
 labor bureau has decided that membership 
 in an organization to destroy our Govern- 
 ment is nothing for which a member should 
 be sent out of the country he would de- 
 stroy, while a Lieutenant of the English 
 army, who left here to go into the war in 
 1914, has been refused permission to return 
 to his home because the London war office 
 agreed to send him his passport and then he 
 didn't get it. So he is in New York and 
 faces deportation, while the Socialists can 
 stay here and laugh at his plight. 
 
 THE BOSS OF BUFFOONERY 
 
 Brooklyn Standard Union 
 
 A clumsy and stupid boss like Murphy 
 quite naturally ordered his technical experts 
 to do the stupidest thing in the clumsiest 
 way. 
 
 Desiring to express the general repudia- 
 tion of the Wilson Administration, they 
 could think of nothing else than to turn the 
 whole thing into buffoonery and demand, as 
 a substitute for the League of Nations, "im- 
 mediate, universal and complete disarma- 
 ment." 
 
 Not a dollar for the United States Army, 
 Navy or coast defense. 
 
 Unpreparedness to the point of totality. 
 
 That is the Tammany proposal for Amer- 
 ican policy. 
 
 Bah! 
 
 A MAN OF FINE CALIBRE NEEDED 
 
 Montreal Star 
 
 An increasing number of questions involv- 
 ing important interests of Canada and the 
 United States press for settlement. The 
 decision to create a separate department to 
 adjust these questions, with a Canadian 
 minister at Washington at its head, affords 
 a practical solution of the problem. 
 
 The results of the new departure will 
 depend very largely upon the calibre of the 
 
 man chosen as Canada's first diplomatic 
 representative at a foreign capital. The 
 place will be one of peculiar honor and re- 
 sponsibility, worthy of a rare type of abil- 
 ity, and the country will expect a careful 
 choice. 
 
 A DANGEROUS ALLIANCE 
 
 Richmond Times-Dispatch 
 
 If we could establish the League of Na- 
 tions, the surest imaginable way to make it 
 a dismal failure would be to adopt the 
 French suggestion that all the Allies en- 
 gaged on the winning side in the war pool 
 their war debts in one gigantic bond issue. 
 The prospects that in a year or two some- 
 body would be unwilling or unable to pay 
 would be excellent. Many individual cit- 
 izens know from sad experience that as a 
 means of busting an entente, the apple of 
 discord was harmless compared with a joint 
 note, for a benevolent purpose, constructed 
 by a number of bosom friends. 
 
 PUNISH THE FOOD GAMBLERS 
 
 Houston Post 
 
 It is becoming increasingly apparent that 
 drastic measures must be taken in this coun- 
 try to prohibit speculation in food supplies. 
 Such speculators are becoming a menace to 
 peace and the existence of the nation. 
 
 If the Government can imprison labor 
 leaders for interfering with the distribution 
 of food supplies, it can put stripes on spec- 
 ulators who get control of food supplies and 
 interfere with their distribution by holding 
 them for higher prices. It all amounts to 
 the same so far as the public is concerned. 
 
 The Department of Justice should play no 
 favorites. 
 
 HOW DO THEY LIKE IT? 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 How do the workers in the industries that 
 have had to shut down on account of the 
 railroad strike like the present strike? 
 
 Do the strikers themselves, finding food 
 prices boosted even further by their foolish 
 action in leaving their work, think they 
 have accomplished anything worth while ? 
 
EDITORIALS OF CONTROVERSIAL TENDENCY 
 
 257 
 
 What do the railroad travellers of the 
 country think of the strike ? 
 
 What is the attitude of the general public 
 toward it, finding food and fuel stocks 
 diminishing ? 
 
 There was never a more unpopular labor 
 movement in America from any point of 
 view. 
 
 TIME THE AVENGER 
 
 Buffalo Express 
 
 If ever a man was vindicated by events, 
 that man is Henry Lane Wilson, the ambas- 
 sador to Mexico whom the present Adminis- 
 tration found in office and removed and 
 who has lately been telling the story of his 
 experiences to a Senate committee. If ever 
 a man's judgment was discredited by events, 
 the judgment of Woodrow Wilson in Mex- 
 ican matters has been discredited. Yet the 
 more Henry Lane Wilson is vindicated and 
 Woodrow Wilson is shown to have been 
 wrong, the more bitterly Democratic news- 
 papers declaim against Henry Lane Wilson, 
 even when they cannot offer one word in 
 justification of the President. It is such 
 partisanship that makes successful rule by 
 the Democratic party impossible. 
 
 BY THE BURLESON ROUTE 
 
 Chicago Evening Post 
 
 A package of mail for The Post reached 
 this office about four o'clock on the after- 
 noon of April 1. It came from Boston, and 
 the postmark shows that it was received at 
 the Boston office at eight o'clock on the 
 evening of March 26. The Chicago post- 
 mark shows that it reached Canal street at 
 three o'clock on the afternoon of April 1. 
 It was, therefore, six days, all but five 
 hours, in transit. And it had on it a spe- 
 cial-delivery stamp and the legend "Special 
 Delivery" written across the envelope in 
 conspicuous letters. We are just wondering 
 if it had come by ordinary delivery how 
 long it would have taken to reach us by 
 the Burleson route. 
 
 ONE CENT 
 
 Omaha News 
 
 An ingenious professor of mathematics 
 has figiired out that 1 cent, invested at the 
 beginning of the Christian era (1919 years 
 ago) at the rate of interest equal to the 
 government Liberty bonds, that is, 4^4, per 
 cent, with interest compounded to date, 
 would make one hundred thousand globes of 
 solid gold, each the weight of the earth. 
 
 The earth weighs six and twenty-one 
 ciphers tons. But the 1 cent with its ac- 
 cumulations, reduced to a minimum weight 
 in gold at the rate of $20 in the ounce. 
 
 would, he says, make one hundred thousand 
 planets of the earth's weight! 
 The moral is: Save the pennies! 
 
 AN UNQUALIFIED INSULT 
 
 Springfield Union 
 It matters not whether it be the British 
 flag or the flag of France, Italy, Japan, 
 Sweden or any other country with which the 
 United States is at peace, the burning of it 
 in public by any persons is an insult and 
 affront to the country whose flag is so mis- 
 treated that cannot be overlooked by the au- 
 thorities. Men and women have a perfect 
 right to sympathize with Ireland in its de- 
 sire for freedom and self-government, but 
 they have no right in this country to man- 
 ifest their sympathy in acts of hostility to 
 the British Government. That species of 
 propaganda must be curbed, not simply be- 
 cause it is directed against Great Britain, 
 as in this case, but because it is improper 
 and unlawful. We know how we would re- 
 sent the burning of an American flag in 
 London by sympathizers with Porto Rican 
 independence, if any such outrage took 
 place. The respect we demand for our own 
 flag we must be willing to accord the flags 
 of other nations with which we are at peace. 
 
 WHY ADVERTISED STORES SUCCEED 
 
 Denison (Iowa) Review 
 
 The advertised store gives the people news 
 in which the people are interested. The 
 closer an item of fact comes to the personal 
 affairs of the people the more persons are 
 interested in it. There are few items in a 
 newspaper that come closer home to our 
 daily life than an announcement that a merr 
 chant has a lot of goods which he can offer 
 at an unusually low price. 
 
 When you get a lot of people to reading 
 about a store and what it is doing and offer- 
 ing, the same people will soon be seen visit- 
 ing that store. The desire is so keen to 
 avoid the high prices that any suggestion of 
 economies attracts a crowd. 
 
 A store that advertises bargains impresses 
 them as a store where there is life and mo- 
 tion and things going. So the advertised 
 store is the well filled store, and the well 
 filled store is the store that does a big 
 business. 
 
 THE CHURCH 
 
 Leesburg (Ohio) Citizen 
 
 Admitting that in many ways the church 
 has fallen short of its high destinies, there 
 are still so many wonderful accomplish- 
 ments which are for the good of men, that 
 criticism would seem paltry indeed. 
 
 There is more honesty in the church than 
 out of it. 
 
258 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 There is less immorality in the church 
 than out of it. 
 
 There is more charity performed in the 
 name of the many church branches and 
 subsidiaries than by other institutions. 
 
 For two thousand years the principles of 
 right, equality, and brotherhood have been 
 promulgated by earnest men and women, 
 the product of the churches. 
 
 The church is the strongest guardian of 
 public safety, because it has, and is standing 
 for brotherhood and equality, under which 
 Liberty thrives. 
 
 WHY SOME MEN ARE FAILURES 
 
 Collier's Weekly 
 
 A whisky ad declared: "Total abstinence 
 is a form of fear — and fear is the cause of 
 failure. Cast out fear." A profound 
 thought, this. But why confine it merely to 
 the matter of abstinence from alcohol? 
 You don't smoke? Then, of course, you're 
 a coward. You abstain from profanity? 
 Be a hero; indulge in oaths "moderately." 
 Do you often beat your wife ? What, never ? 
 Some booze magnate may accuse you of 
 showing the white feather if you don't 
 knock her down — "in moderation." That 
 advertisement clears up for us the puzzle 
 of why there are so many failures in the 
 world. They simply don't booze; that's all 
 the trouble. Be a hero! Get soused and 
 succeed! 
 
 WHERE'S NEW YORK? ASK MURPHY 
 
 Buffalo News 
 
 Tammany is still in the saddle — still the 
 dominant factor in the New York State 
 Democracy. There was a test of strength 
 at the Albany conference of the delegates 
 to the San Francisco Convention on the 
 question of whether the unit rule should 
 prevail and the decision was overwhelm- 
 ingly for this device for Tammany control. 
 The vote for unit rule was a vote of con- 
 fidence in Tammany Hall — ^more particularly 
 in the leadership of Charles F. Murphy. 
 It means that the choice of Mr. Murphy for 
 the presidential nomination is the choice of 
 the New York State Democracy. It is 
 simply regard for form and ceremony that 
 requires the attendance of the other dele- 
 gates. Mr. Murphy will be the recognized 
 representative of this sovereign State at San 
 Francisco; all the rest will be nowhere. 
 
 SOMEBODY'S GETTING THE MONEY 
 
 Capper's Weekly 
 
 "I sold a fine No. 1 beef hide to a large 
 dealer in hides," writes W. E. McWharter, 
 a Cisco, Tex., reader of Capper's Weekly, 
 "but he would pay me only fifteen cents a 
 pound for it, saying that was as much as 
 
 the market would bear. Up town I went 
 into a saddle and harness store to get a 
 piece of leather to half-sole my shoes and 
 was informed that $2 a pound was as cheap 
 as the storekeeper could afford to sell it." 
 Wherefore Mr. McWharter would like to 
 have the men searched who stand between 
 these two. 
 
 If the Government is to stop profiteering 
 not only will it have to search and punish 
 profiteers, but must shorten the profit-line 
 and reduce the number of profit-takers. In 
 this it will be ably seconded by the co- 
 operators if it will give them half a chance. 
 
 MR. DANIELS'S TWO FACES 
 
 Halifax, N. S., Herald 
 
 International interests will be revived this 
 week in the Sims-Daniels naval controversy 
 by evidence designed to show the amazing 
 two-facedness of President Wilson's naval 
 minister. 
 
 Daniels in Washington condemned Sims's 
 "pro-British" sympathies. In London in 
 July, 1917, Daniels said the presidential 
 reprimand Sims received for voicing those 
 sympathies at the Guildhall, in 1910, "now 
 had become a decoration of honor." 
 
 In Washington, Daniels anathematized the 
 admiral for succumbing to his British en- 
 vironments. In London, Daniels "rejoiced 
 that the United States navy during the war 
 was represented in England by a courageous, 
 wise and brave man who understood the 
 very heart of the struggle and entered into 
 it with sympathy and heartfelt feelings 
 toward his British comrades." 
 
 THE YARDSTICK 
 
 Kennebec Journal 
 
 "More pay, less work, whole loaf, loaf all , 
 the time." 
 
 All in favor stop and think it over. This 
 is the tendency of "labor" as understood by 
 a good many people who inhabit these good, 
 comfortable United States. How long will 
 they remain good and comfortable if the 
 brawn and muscle that ought to be rebuild- 
 ing the losses occasioned by the war with 
 redoubled vigor and industry, sulk and 
 strike and slack? 
 
 All the clap-trap stuff about the industrial 
 class becoming possessors of industry we 
 now know to be nothing but another way of 
 saying that a business would run as well if 
 the president and the janitor changed places. 
 It is nonsense to suppose that the men who 
 have put their lives and brains into trying 
 to make a success of their business can 
 be replaced with unskilled hands without 
 detriment to that particular business, and 
 if the practice become general, to all busi- 
 ness. Whether the theorists and alleged 
 
EDITORIALS OF CONTROVERSIAL TENDENCY 
 
 259 
 
 philosophers like it or not, there is a certain 
 quality called common sense that has a dis- 
 turbing habit of popping up and measuring 
 things by its yardstick — and its measure 
 finally has to be the standard. 
 
 DIGNIFY THE NOMINATION 
 
 Topeka State Journal 
 Many men now living can remember the 
 tim.e when a candidate for the presidency 
 would not have thought of campaigning for 
 his own election, even after his nomination. 
 It was considered as lowering the dignity 
 of the office. Now we see self-appointed 
 candidates and candidates who are induced 
 to enter the race by admiring friends, pa- 
 rading up and down the country asking the 
 people for their support in primaries and 
 conventions. But it is doubtful that under 
 the changed custom we are getting any 
 better presidents. Grover Cleveland, one of 
 the country's great presidents, remained 
 quietly in Buffalo while the country chose 
 him to fill the highest office in the land. 
 The modern method of selecting presiden- 
 tial candidates is supposed to voice the will 
 of the people, but does it ? When the work 
 of the national conventions has been finished 
 it is not improbable that a majority of either 
 party will prefer somebody else to the men 
 that will be offered to them for support at 
 the polls. 
 
 JUST A MATTER OF COMMON SENSE 
 Watchman-Examiner 
 We do not have to have many of the 
 things that we are having. It would not 
 be pleasant or convenient to get along with- 
 out them, but we could do it. More frugal 
 fare at the table, with less variety of viands; 
 the wearing of our old clothes a little 
 longer, even if Dame Fashion did sneer a 
 bit; less frequent visits to places of amuse- 
 ment, and cheaper seats when there; the 
 curtailing of indulgences which are of no 
 real benefit; and all this as a frank confes- 
 sion that we cannot afford to do otherwise, 
 and not with the half -ashamed air of those 
 who are following a whim or a fad for a 
 time—this would do more to relieve the 
 situation than all our wailing over high 
 prices and our railing at profiteers from 
 now until Doomsday. And this would be 
 the part of simple, plain common sense. 
 
 DEPORT VICTOR BERGER 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 The demand of the American Legion, in 
 convention assembled at Minneapolis, for 
 the deportation of Victor Berger, has the 
 real ring of straight Americanism. The 
 resolution adopted called for the enactment 
 of legislation by Congress under which the 
 
 conduct of Berger will be punished by his 
 deportation to the country whence he came. 
 When the resolution was proposed the dele- 
 gation from Wisconsin was on its feet with 
 the following demand: "The entire delega- 
 tion from Wisconsin considers it a signal 
 honor to move and we do move the adoption 
 of this resolution." Massachusetts followed 
 suit with another second, and the resolution 
 was adopted by acclamation. 
 
 Congress will make a serious mistake if 
 it fails to heed this demand of the Legion, 
 for the Legion, in making it, is the voice of 
 loyal America. Berger is one of a mischief- 
 making minority in this country today for 
 whom America is unwilling longer to make 
 room. 
 
 SOME UNDRESS HISTORY 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 In 1794 a Berlin actress was accused of 
 an offense against morality and decency 
 when she appeared on the stage in bare 
 arms. In 1800 the daring wife of a rich 
 banker of Switzerland walked in the garden 
 of the Tuileries with nothing between her 
 body and the open atmosphere but a gauze 
 veil. In 1817 English ladies discarded all 
 clothing except silk tights and a transparent 
 chemise, and wore rings on their bare feet. 
 
 These incidents in the history of scanty 
 fashionable attire for women are related 
 by the New York Evening Sun to show that 
 what we are now undergoing in the way of 
 doubtful dress are nothing new under the 
 sun. The urge to uncover and reveal be- 
 comes irresistible about once every hun- 
 dred years, it seems. Let us be thankful 
 that at least two of every three generations 
 escape the craze for immodesty. 
 
 STAGE SET NOW FOR 
 
 WILSON'S RENOMINATION 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 "Not acceptable— W. W.," written by Mr. 
 Wilson to Senator Hitchcock as the presi- 
 dential decision on the final text of the reser- 
 vation to Article X, choked the treaty to 
 death. 
 
 Why ? Presumptuous mortal, seek not for 
 reasons from the god of obstinacy and au- 
 tocratic authority! 'Tis enough to know the 
 decision, when signed "W. W." True, the 
 world was ready to accept gladly the Amer- 
 ican reservations. But what chance has the 
 world without the "OKeh" of W. W.? None. 
 
 So the treaty is laid out in lavender until 
 such time as the baffled and boiling execu- 
 tioner of his party sees fit to exhibit again 
 the remains, punctured by his own ipse dixit. 
 We suspect, with inward hopes, that time 
 will be after the nomination of Mr. Wilson 
 for a third term. 
 
260 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 DEFEAT THOSE COUNCILMEN 
 
 Fall River News 
 
 Mayor Peters also stands to his guns in 
 support of the decision rendered by Massa- 
 chusetts in the election which gave so tre- 
 mendous endorsement of the determination 
 of the governor, police commissioner and 
 mayor to make no terms with the striking 
 policemen. 
 
 Defeated in that desertion of duty and 
 thrown out of employment, those former 
 policemen want to sneak back into the 
 service. They got the nerveless City Coun- 
 cil to resolve in favor of their appoint- 
 ments as firemen. These were men who did 
 what they could to turn Boston over into 
 the control of riotous mobs. They deserve 
 no more employment in the public service. 
 They have shown themselves unfaithful to 
 public duty and should be left to seek private 
 employment. So Mayor Peters vetoed the 
 obnoxious resolve. The council would turn 
 the positions of firemen over to these men, 
 rather than to the hundreds of certified sol- 
 diers and sailors of the World War who are 
 on the waiting list for appointment when 
 vacancies occur. No member of the City 
 Council who voted for this disgraceful effort 
 to give these men the preference over men 
 equally competent, but who are not de- 
 serters, should ever be again elected to 
 membership in the City Council. 
 
 EAT MORE FISH! 
 
 New England Fisheries 
 
 There are certain varieties of fish which 
 are just as delicious as any meat and a good 
 deal cheaper in price, too, but until recently 
 no concerted action was ever taken to de- 
 velop the fishing industry to its present 
 level. In days gone by fish was consumed 
 mainly by people living on the coasts or 
 near large bodies of water. Today, with all 
 the modem methods of preserving food for 
 long journeys, inland and otherwise, the 
 value of fish as a food is being introduced 
 inland. 
 
 There is sufficient fish to go around for 
 every man, woman and child in this coun- 
 try, and the cost of it is within the reach of 
 everyone. 
 
 It would seem, therefore, that, in view of 
 the outstanding features of the subject, the 
 Department of Justice could do much better 
 for the public if it would devote some of 
 its energy toward helping along an increased 
 consumption of fish instead of meat, which 
 is consumed on too large a scale altogether. 
 Let the people have meat — they need no 
 further education on that subject — but let 
 them have fish and know the true value and 
 cheapness of fish as well. 
 
 IN RE SYMPATHY FOR WILSON 
 
 New Bedford Standard 
 
 Senator John Sharp Williams, addressing 
 the Mississippi legislature, said: "When 
 Garfield was shot, was there a Democrat but 
 expressed sorrow? Has anyone seen words 
 of sympathy for the President in any Re- 
 publican paper?" 
 
 Words of sympathy were general at the 
 time the President was stricken on his 
 Western trip, and sympathy would undoubt- 
 edly be felt and expressed now if Mr. 
 Wilson was in the situation Garfield was 
 in between the time he was shot and his 
 death. Garfield did not exercise the func- 
 tion of President; he was admittedly in- 
 capacitated; it was generally known that he 
 was on his death bed. Concerning Mr. Wil- 
 son's condition, on the other hand, there has 
 always been a mystery. We are assured 
 that he is himself again; either he is exer- 
 cising the powers of the President, or they 
 are being unlawfully exercised in his name. 
 Statements bearing his name go before the 
 world. Under the circumstances continued 
 professions of sympathy would be absurd. 
 
 The Democrats seem to be in the position 
 of claiming that Mr. Wilson is in full pos- 
 session of his faculties, and at the same time 
 berating the Republicans for not pouring 
 forth sympathy for a sick man. 
 
 MR. DEBS AS A BOLSHEVIST 
 
 Syracuse Post-Standard 
 
 Eugene Debs, accepting the Socialist nom- 
 ination in Atlanta prison, says that he is a 
 Bolshevist, which is to say that he is not a 
 Socialist. His qualification of his bolshe- 
 vism in his own mind squares his profession 
 of bolshevism with his profession of so- 
 cialism: 
 
 "I did not mean I was a Russian Bol- 
 shevist in America, but that I was fighting 
 for the same thing in America that they 
 are fighting for in Russia." 
 
 "What they are fighting for in Russia" is 
 the creature of Eugene Debs' imagination. 
 What they have got for their fighting is 
 more to the point. 
 
 Russia is under control of an oligarchy, 
 which holds its power by terror. 
 
 It has a government of a small minority, 
 which allows the laborer in Petrograd 20 
 votes to one for the peasant, and denies to 
 the man who has made any success in life 
 any vote at all. 
 
 It has a government which denies freedom 
 of speech and the press. 
 
 It has a government which has reimposed 
 serfdom, long ago abolished by the czar. 
 
 It is these things that the Russians have 
 secured from Bolshevist success, and it is 
 
EDITORIALS OF CONTROVERSIAL TENDENCY 
 
 261 
 
 what they got, not what they fought to get, 
 that counts. 
 
 The Review 
 
 The Nation has routed the defenders of 
 Kolchak — horse, foot, and dragoons. It 
 prints an official dispatch "for Colonel House 
 from Bullard, Tokio," to which the Nation 
 "is happy to give first publication," which 
 states that Kolchak's "personality is of 
 small significance," that he is "dependent 
 on the support of reaction elements," that 
 "several units have already revolted against 
 the brutality of officers," and that Allied 
 support of him "is a feature regrettable." 
 The mere fact that this communication came 
 from a person officially employed by the 
 United States might, of course, not make it 
 the last word on the subject. But the Na- 
 tion has grounds more relative than this. 
 With impressive brevity, it appends to the 
 dispatch merely this simple comment: 
 Mr. Bullard was, next to Mr. Sisson, 
 
 Mr. Creel's star reporter in Russia. 
 Only two removes from the great Creel, and 
 almost as authoritative as Sisson! No won- 
 der the Nation is happy. 
 
 THE SHAMELESS BONUS VOTE 
 
 New York Evening Post 
 
 For fit characterization of the House ac- 
 tion Saturday in passing the Bonus Bill 
 under gag rule we must go to House mem- 
 bers. "A blatant fraud," Representative Pell 
 called the bill; "an outrage," Representa- 
 tive Evans, a bonus supporter, termed the 
 procedure; "the most outrageous maneuver 
 ever made in the House," said Champ Clark; 
 "indefensible," said former Republican 
 Leader Mann. If the intention of Congress 
 had been to complete the disgust of think- 
 ing men for the whole blanket -bonus plan, 
 it could not have acted more effectively. Is 
 any considerable body of voters going to 
 be misled by this cheap and empty bid for 
 soldier support? The stifling of debate, 
 the acceptance by scores of Representatives 
 of tax provisions they believe improper, the 
 support of the bill by other scores who at 
 heart oppose the bonus, were all predicated 
 on the knowledge that the Senate would 
 never pass the measure. This attempt to 
 bunco the veteran ought to recoil on the 
 heads of those who made it. 
 
 THE PRICE OF SHOES 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 "Shoes could be sold at lower prices than 
 in 1918, when dealers agreed that $12 should 
 be the maximum charge," says the expert 
 of the federal trade commission. A member 
 of the committee of the senate investigating 
 
 shoe prices says leather companies exceeded 
 100 per cent profit in 1918, when shoes re- 
 tailed at half what is charged now. 
 
 American shoes sold for less in England 
 during the war, than in this country. Cloth 
 shoes can be manufactured for less money 
 than leather ones, but they sell for the same 
 prices; and low shoes, which require about 
 one-third less leather than highs, sell for the 
 same price. The prices of women's common 
 shoes are put up to make up for losses in 
 extreme styles that change with each sea- 
 son, and the extreme styles are made not 
 because of a demand for them, but because 
 the manufacturers order and fix the styles. 
 
 The foregoing remarks are a summary of 
 sworn testimony. The reader may draw his 
 own conclusions from them. 
 
 IT NEEDS ANDERSON 
 
 New York Evening World 
 
 William H. Anderson, head of the Anti- 
 Saloon League in this State, jeers at Gov. 
 Smith for urging a referendum to establish 
 the true attitude of the people of New York 
 toward ratification of the Prohibition 
 Amendment. 
 
 Such a referendum, scoffs Anderson, 
 "would settle nothing." 
 
 Wouldn't it, though ? 
 
 To make a thorough test of It, let Ander- 
 son run for Governor of New York on the 
 issue of Nation-wide Prohibition, and see 
 whether something wouldn't be settled. 
 
 Besides settling Andersonism, it would 
 show what the voters of the Empire State 
 think about the invasion of the Federal Con- 
 stitution and the overriding of State rights 
 by an arrogant body of fanatics who have 
 discovered there is no intoxication like the 
 intoxication of power exerted in suppress- 
 ing other people's liberties. 
 
 Include Anderson and thereby insure one 
 of the most thoroughgoing and convincing 
 referenda ever held anywhere. 
 
 LOOK TO YOUR PANTS 
 
 Emporia (Kan.) Gazette 
 
 Our good friend and co-worker the Kansas 
 City Star, which is, all things said and done, 
 the greatest civilizing force in the Missouri 
 Valley, is tremendously excited because the 
 Kansas Republican convention did not de- 
 clare for universal military training. In 
 the big page advertising in the Dakotas, 
 General Leonard Wood's advocates declared 
 that he was "NOT in favor of compulsory 
 military training." The people want to rest 
 up. They are willing to prepare when they 
 are convinced that the League of Nations 
 is gone and we must arm to the teeth to 
 protect ourselves in a warlike world. But 
 they're not sure the world is warlike. They 
 
262 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 wish to look around. Kansas is loyal. It 
 was just as enthusiastic in the election of 
 1916 as the Star was itself. Hughes never 
 got out from under the endorsement of the 
 German American Alliance. Wilson was 
 promising to "keep us out of war." One 
 was bad; the other worse. Kansas didn't 
 care much; neither did the Star. But 
 Kansas is no more pacifist than Funston or 
 Allen or Harbord or Plumb or John Brown 
 or any of the long line of militant Kansans. 
 When the Star hisses pacifist at its good 
 Kansas friends who are, of course, quite 
 wickedly improvident in Micawbering around 
 the globe waiting for something to turn 
 up, it recalls the Mark Twain story of the 
 boy on the steamship. He rushed down to 
 the woman's cabin yelling "fire," and was 
 told by a calm, old lady to go get his pants 
 and come back and tell them all about it. 
 By the time the Star gets its pants on it 
 will see things differently. 
 
 THE FILM-MAKERS' DUTY 
 
 Boston Herald 
 The General Court would never have 
 passed the motion-picture censorship bill 
 had there not been a substantial public de- 
 mand for it. Without doubt that demand 
 was due to the offenses of a minority of 
 the film makers and producers. Unpleas- 
 antly suggestive titles, pictures of a re- 
 pugnant character, the importation of scenes 
 in the picturing of literary masterpieces that 
 never were in the pages of the authors 
 themselves — these and other things have 
 produced a revulsion of sentiment on the 
 part of the great numbers of persons who in 
 general appreciate the vast value of the 
 picture play, both for entertainment and for 
 education. Now that the Governor has 
 vetoed the bill the opportunity that awaits 
 the producers is obvious. That opportunity 
 comes with something of the force of a 
 challenge. The majority are saved now 
 from the infliction of a censorship which 
 the minority alone deserved. It will be to 
 the interest both of the majority and the 
 minority, as well as of the public, to see that 
 the demand for a censorship is not renewed. 
 Many of the best film makers themselves 
 have said publicly again and again that the 
 whole solution of the problem is to be found 
 in better films." 
 
 PUBLIC AFFAIRS 
 
 New York Evening Post 
 
 Americans who have read with indigna- 
 tion that the Fiume agreement of Dec. 9 
 (whatever that is) was revised on Jan. 9 
 without Mr. Wilson's knowledge (in a sense 
 yet to be ascertained) will now be glad to 
 learn that the President's protest (as it will 
 
 be revealed some day) has been not without 
 effect, and that the original form of Lloyd- 
 George's rejoinder to Mr. Wilson (concern- 
 ing which we know nothing) was discarded 
 for a much more diplomatic reply by Lord 
 Cecil (of which we know less), without in- 
 ducing the President to deviate from his 
 position in his second note (the context of 
 which we can eagerly surmise), now under- 
 going revision in the State Department (to 
 a degree we may vividly conjecture). 
 
 The case may be stated even more clearly 
 in algebraic terms. Let X be the Dec. 9 
 agreement, Y the January agreement, Z the 
 President's protest, Q the original Lloyd 
 George reply, R the reply as modified by 
 Cecil, S the President's second note, and T 
 the State Department's revisions. Then the 
 present situation may be represented by X 
 multiplied by Y minus Z plus Q minus R 
 divided by S plus T. The only thing the 
 public does not know is the value of X, Y, Z, 
 Q, R, S and T. 
 
 GRADUATING INTO THE HOME 
 
 Congregationalist and Advance 
 
 Mount Holyoke is raising an endowment, 
 like other colleges, and recites for the in- 
 terest of the public the good work that has 
 been done. In answer to a criticism that 
 the training of mothers had not been prop- 
 erly emphasized in this report of its work, 
 President Woolley wrote to the editor of The 
 Christian Work: 
 
 I suppose that when Mount Holyoke 
 recited the work of graduates who had 
 made names for themselves in science, 
 teaching and administration the names 
 of those who were making excellent 
 wives and mothers were omitted simply 
 because we take that for granted. ()ne 
 of the features of the campaign upon 
 which we are entering is emphasis upon 
 the distinguished men in the country, 
 among whom are ex-President Taft and 
 Ralph Connor, who are the sons of 
 Mount Holyoke women. I do not know 
 how Mount Holyoke ranks with other 
 colleges in the number of married grad- 
 uates an^ children, but I do know that 
 the college has a very large percentage 
 of its graduates in the home. 
 
 In the answer to the same inquiry Presi- 
 dent Nielson of Smith College wrote: 
 
 Most if not all of the women's colleges 
 have emerged from the blue-stocking 
 stage and devoted themselves to the 
 educating of women with a view to their 
 taking a normal place in our society — 
 in the majority of cases by becoming 
 wives and mothers. 
 
EDITORIALS OF CONTROVERSIAL TENDENCY 
 
 263 
 
 The standard of home life has been raised 
 
 and enriched everywhere in America as the 
 graduates of our institutions for the higher 
 education of women have taken up the duties 
 of the family life. 
 
 UNDERWOOD AS SENATE LEADER 
 
 Brooklyn Eagle 
 
 Because of the withdrawal of Gilbert M. 
 Hitchcock of Nebraska, Oscar W. Under- 
 wood of Alabama will become the Democrat 
 leader in the United States Senate. A dead- 
 lock has lasted too long already. Party 
 men everywhere are glad to see it broken 
 by consent. 
 
 The minority leader in the Senate, when 
 the Senate and the Administration are not 
 in party harmony, holds a position of ex- 
 treme delicacy, and needs, to meet its de- 
 mands, a rare combination of firmness, tact 
 and intellectual honesty. Underwood, in the 
 judgment of most Americans, possesses this 
 combination. If he lacks a sense of humor, 
 which is often invaluable in straightening 
 out tangles, the deficiency will not be nota- 
 ble, as the Senate is now constituted; or, 
 if noted, it will be tacitly accepted as evi- 
 dence of accordance with senatorial stand- 
 ards. 
 
 In such a place no man can make himself 
 the mere mouthpiece of the President with- 
 out suffering loss of prestige. Also, no 
 man can incur needless clashes with the 
 President without making himself ridicu- 
 lous. Mr. Underwood will do neither. In- 
 cidentally, no statesman south of Mason and 
 Dixon's line has so much of the confidence 
 of the conservative business public of the 
 North and East as this Alabama man. He 
 is not and has never been sectional in his 
 trend, in any Claude Kitchin sense. Taxa- 
 tion plans fair to all sections will be in- 
 sisted on if he is in a position to have his 
 way. For several reasons, then, we may 
 regard Oscar W. Underwood as the right 
 man in the right place. 
 
 WEARING TOM REED'S MANTLE 
 
 Louisville Courier-Journal 
 
 Have we another "Czar Reed"? 
 
 In the House of Representatives, Mr. 
 Byrnes was speaking in favor of his reso- 
 lution for the appointment of a committee 
 to investigate the expenditures of the par- 
 tisan and futile House war "investigations." 
 He said that more than fifty investigations 
 had been authorized by the House covering 
 every activity of the Democratic Adminis- 
 tration and that there had been serious 
 interference with every executive depart- 
 ment of the Government. Throughout the 
 whole series of inquiries, he charged, the 
 Republicans had made concerted attempts 
 
 to attack the President, and said expenses 
 had been piling up "world without end." 
 He wanted an accounting as to amounts 
 spent, declaring that "the true purpose of 
 the Republicans was to endeavor to obtain 
 material for the coming campaign." "You 
 had a year in which to investigate," he 
 declared. "You have discovered no fraud, 
 and you owe it to the taxpayers of America 
 to put an end to your extravagant expendi- 
 tures before you recess or adjourn. Put up 
 or shut up." 
 
 It was "shut up" for Mr. Byrnes, on the 
 decree of Speaker Gillett, who refused to 
 let him proceed with his speech. As his 
 allotted time expired Mr. Byrnes requested 
 five minutes more. "The chair declines to 
 recognize the gentleman," announced the 
 aspirant for the Czar's mantle. 
 
 Champ Clark, the Democratic leader, 
 asked unanimous consent that ten minutes 
 be given Byrnes, but the Speaker was ob- 
 durate. Unanimous consent or no unani- 
 mous consent, Gillett used his office to snuff 
 out criticism of Republican extravagance 
 and partisanship. 
 
 "It's a fine House," commented Clark. 
 No doubt he would have pleased Gillett if 
 he had said, "It's a fine Czar." 
 
 The incident serves to call attention to one 
 of the most farcical accomplishments of the 
 present Congress. 
 
 WHAT EX-GOV. BALDWIN WANTS 
 
 Hartford Courant 
 
 Former Governor Baldwin of this State 
 answered the question "What do you want 
 in the next President?" but named no candi- 
 date. He may want Mr. Hoover, but he 
 certainly does not say so. That he favors 
 a third term for the present incumbent can 
 hardly be read between the lines: 
 
 I want a man who will favor ratifica- 
 tion of the German treaty, with amend- 
 ments, making it plain that we assume 
 no obligations to use our military forces 
 in foreign war, unless Congress sanc- 
 tions it. 
 That does not look like Mr. Wilson. 
 
 I want a man who will consider such 
 or any other amendments on their 
 merits and not reject them for personal 
 or party reasons. 
 
 Still no indication that our President is 
 referred to. 
 
 I want a man who will smooth the 
 way to proper amendments, by ascer- 
 taining if the other great Powers would 
 be likely to object to them. What the 
 great Powers agree to the small ones 
 will accept. 
 Lese majeste, to say the least. 
 
264 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 I want a man who will not push far- 
 ther the bounds of presidential power. 
 
 I want a man who will treat his polit- 
 ical opponents with candor and courtesy. 
 That may eliminate a large number from 
 among the persons acceptable to Governor 
 Baldwin and it surely shows where he stands 
 regarding President Wilson. 
 
 A PLACE FOR AN ENGINEER 
 
 Compressed Air Magazine 
 
 Assuredly the most important domestic 
 problems pressing for a solution are eco- 
 nomic ones. The standards of living have 
 been generally lowered among nearly all 
 classes, which is only a natural consequence 
 of the events of the last five years. Agri- 
 cultural and mineral production, interna- 
 tional obligations and trade, distribution of 
 essential supplies and transportation are 
 paramount considerations. 
 
 They are intimately connected with en- 
 gineers and engineering and undoubtedly 
 require essentially such a training and ex- 
 perience embodied in the definition "En- 
 gineering, the art of organizing and direct- 
 ing men and controlling forces and ma- 
 terials of nature for the benefits of the 
 human race." 
 
 Looking over the list of past Presidents 
 of the United States reveals the fact that 
 there have been fourteen lawyers, three 
 soldiers, five teachers, two planters, one 
 tailor and one publisher. Washington is 
 classed as a planter, but we also remember 
 he was a surveyor and a soldier. 
 
 Engineers do not appear. However, this 
 lack of precedent is no bar, as little heed 
 is being paid to tradition or precedent in 
 the reconstruction of the economic fabric. 
 
 Is there not a real conscientious question 
 arising in the mind of every patriot that a 
 representative from the engineering profes- 
 sion is the best calculated person to "steer 
 the ship of State"? 
 
 NO SPECIAL CLASS FAVORS 
 
 Weekly Circular of William H. Barr, President 
 of the National Founders' Association 
 
 A concerted effort should be made to 
 bring about such a change in public opinion 
 as will force the Congress and the State 
 legislatures to impose upon labor unions the 
 same responsibilities which are imposed 
 upon business. They should be placed on 
 eactly the same plane and footing as the 
 business men. They should be subjected 
 to the same laws, the same rules, the same 
 penalties for violation of the laws, and they 
 should stand four-square before the people, 
 the courts and the country. 
 
 There is nothing which is so disastrous to 
 a country as the setting up of a privileged 
 
 class. If there be any who doubt this, it is 
 evident that they have not read the history 
 of our country. The unionists for more 
 than twenty years have been especially priv- 
 ileged in the United States, and particularly 
 so during the last seven or eight years. 
 They are exempt from many laws which 
 are binding on business. They cannot be 
 held responsible, financially or legally, for 
 what they may do, except in extreme cases. 
 This has begotten arrogance, defiance of 
 the courts, defiance of the people, destruc- 
 tion of property, attempt to create com- 
 mercial chaos and it has bred the spirit of 
 revolution. The present Communist party, 
 the I. W. W., the National Non-partisan 
 League, and other similar groups of un- 
 desirables, are the direct result of pamper- 
 ing and conciliation and deals by politicians 
 with labor unions. It is time to destroy 
 this menacing alliance. It cannot be de- 
 stroyed under present practices if business 
 men are negligent in their political duties 
 and indifferent to what is going on. Let us 
 set up the standard of fair play and equity, 
 and demand that every business man and 
 particularly every member of a Legislature, 
 State or national, shall subscribe to it. Let 
 us ask no favors and let us demand that no 
 special favors shall be granted to any other 
 class. 
 
 DIRECT PRIMARIES 
 
 St. Louis Globe-Democrat 
 
 There are two fundamental objections to 
 the primary system. One is that it is too 
 expensive, both to the State and the candi- 
 dates, who are required to make two cam- 
 paigns. This expense is very large, as is 
 shown by the controversy over the charges 
 made by Senator Borah, that large sums oi 
 money are being expended by presidential 
 candidates. It has been suggested that 
 $15,000 in each State would be a reasonable 
 maximum expenditure to be allowed bj 
 law for each presidential candidate. Thai 
 would mean a total of $720,000, quite a suir 
 for a candidate who did not have resources 
 of wealth behind him, which resources art 
 always open to suspicion as to the disinter 
 estedness of those who devote them to thai 
 purpose. 
 
 The other objection is that voters arc 
 deprived of the privilege of expressing thei] 
 preference for those who do not get thei] 
 names on the official ballot, unless they ex 
 ercise the privilege by writing in a name 
 In this respect some of the State presi 
 dential primaries have this year been ex 
 tremely farcical. These evils of the systen 
 would be mitigated somewhat if the orig 
 inal purpose of the primary system ha< 
 been achieved, that of loosening the hold o 
 
EDITORIALS OF CONTROVERSIAL TENDENCY 
 
 265 
 
 bosses upon the party machinery, and espe- 
 cially upon the selection of candidates, but 
 in that respect the effort has failed. There 
 is no perceptible decrease in the power of 
 the bosses. 
 
 A third objection, perhaps not so funda- 
 mental as the other two, but serious, espe- 
 cially when the office of President of the 
 United States is concerned, is that it leads 
 to an undi^ified scramble for the nomina- 
 tion, something the best type of men are 
 loth to engage in. Even in the matter of 
 local offices this has the effect of prevent- 
 ing some of the most desirable material for 
 officials from holding public office at all. 
 The official nominating primary election has 
 discredited itself, and should take its place 
 among the things that were. 
 
 THE "MILLIONAIRE" MYTH 
 
 Manufacturers' Record 
 
 John M. Evans, a representative in Con- 
 gress from Montana, inserted in the Con- 
 gressional Record of May 11 this statement: 
 
 "In the last published report of the In- 
 ternal Revenue Bureau of the Treasury 
 Department, that of 1917 — the figures for 
 1918 and 1919 are not yet tabulated — ^we 
 find this startling situation: 
 
 "In 1914 there were 2348 millionaires in 
 the United States. In 1917, the last date for 
 which the figures are collected and sum- 
 marized, there were 6664, or an increase of 
 4316 in three years. Dividing them into 
 classes, according to occupation, there were 
 manufacturers 920, new millionaires made 
 during the war. There were farmers and 
 stock raisers, 120; of corporation officials, 
 716. There were lawyers and judges to 
 the number of 206. There were 27 doctors. 
 There were 452 women in the list." 
 
 With all due respect to Mr. Evans, we 
 state unequivocally that the Internal Rev- 
 enue Bureau did not in 1917 declare that 
 there were 6664 millionaires in this country. 
 There is not a statement of that character 
 to be found anywhere in its report. It 
 simply made no report at all on the number 
 of millionaires in the country. What it did 
 do was to report "incomes," and it is by 
 capitalizing these incomes that Mr. Evans 
 and scores of others have arrived at their 
 ridiculous conclusions as to the number of 
 millionaires in the United States. 
 
 There are numbers of men who make 
 $15,000 some years and who have no cap- 
 ital at all. We have heard of a man who 
 reported an income of $250,000 which he 
 thought he had made on stock deals, but 
 when the time came to pay the tax iij June 
 he did not have five cents. If an income of 
 $40,000 a year did, in fact, mean that the 
 recipient thereof was a millionaire, there 
 
 would be thousands of millionaires. But it 
 is not true. There are, for instance, some 
 potato growers in Florida and South Caro- 
 lina who this year will show very large 
 incomes and will have to pay a tax on them, 
 but they lost money last year and the year 
 before. 
 
 The Bureau of Internal Revenue has 
 never undertaken to say how many million- 
 aires there are in the United States, and 
 when any man says the bureau has issued 
 an official report on that subject he does 
 not know what he is talking about. 
 
 WAR INDUSTRIES WHICH MUST BE 
 PRESERVED 
 
 New York Sun and Herald 
 
 The war taught us that it is both very 
 unwise and very costly for the United States 
 to be dependent upon a foreign supply of 
 materials essential to the defense of our 
 country. Germany before the war had at 
 least two world monopolies which greatly 
 aided her in the struggle, well nigh made 
 her victorious in its earlier years and cor- 
 respondingly hampered and imperilled the 
 Allies. 
 
 The dye monopoly of Germany was the 
 basis of perfecting her poison gases and 
 making material required in explosives. The 
 patriotic and imperative creation of the dye 
 industry in the United States during the 
 war, with the consequent development of 
 superior poison gases, is a well known part 
 of our industrial war history. Equally im- 
 portant, but not so well known to the public, 
 is the discovery and development during the 
 war of the magnesite mines in the United 
 States. This country always had relied upon 
 Germany and Austria for the mineral mag- 
 nesite required by the steel companies to 
 make the linings of their open-hearth fur- 
 naces. Without magnesite it would have 
 been difficult to make steel, and without 
 steel our war would have been lost. 
 
 About 300,000 tons of crude magnesite a 
 year are consumed in the United States by 
 the steel companies, but before the war 
 only 10,000 tons a year were produced in 
 the United States, with only one magnesite 
 mine operating. The miners in the States 
 of California and Washington discovered 
 and developed during the war about sixty- 
 five mines, and after erecting large treat- 
 ment plants were able to supply all require- 
 ments of the American steel companies. 
 
 The Germans and Austrians are again 
 seeking to control the dye and magnesite 
 industries of the world; but the recent fa- 
 vorable action of the Senate Finance Com- 
 mittee indicates that a tariff will be placed 
 on imports of these essential materials so 
 that the industries created during the war 
 
266 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 for the protection and triumph of our 
 country may have an opportunity to become 
 firmly established and form a permanent 
 part of our industrial national defense 
 system. 
 
 By a tariff, or by whatever additional 
 means may be necessary to serve that end, 
 the United States Congress ought to make 
 sure that this country never again shall be 
 found naked of the fundamentals of protec- 
 tion against a military Power, German or 
 other, that may compel us to take up arms 
 in defense of our liberties, our rights and 
 our lives. 
 
 Put the American dye and magnesite in- 
 dustries on an imperishable foundation. 
 
 OTHER PEOPLE'S WINDOWS 
 
 The Review 
 
 To the Editors of The Review: 
 
 As one of your "oldest subscribers" I hail 
 the appearance each week of the Review, 
 bringing joy to our home in the New Eng- 
 land hills. But I registered a mental pro- 
 test when in one of the recent issues I read 
 "Fed up with the French." I remembered 
 how in the past I had been cheated by the 
 customs house officials and overcharged by 
 the ticket-sellers and hotel keepers in Ger- 
 many — but never in France — and how the 
 London cabby had looked through his trap 
 door to see whether I wore English or 
 American shoes — ^and had doubled the fare 
 accordingly. I remembered, too, an inci- 
 dent of my last trip on the Bar Harbor 
 express. I had had a conversation with a 
 young New Englander, recently discharged, 
 who expressed great bitterness because he 
 had had to pay a large price for a knife in 
 France and had, he thought, been over- 
 charged for eggs. It happened that we got 
 off at the same station, and I inquired his 
 name and learned that his father was one 
 of the selectmen of the little lake village 
 where I spend my summers. Then I re- 
 called that the selectmen had assessed my 
 cottage twice as much as that of the more 
 valuable property of the fai*mer next to me; 
 that this same boy's aunt charged us above 
 the current rate for eggs and was so careful 
 to pick out all the big ones for the Boston 
 market that at times I have wondered 
 whether she had not changed her hens for 
 pigeons; that this boy's cousin, who plays 
 golf on our hillside links, had a short time 
 since "borrowed" a dozen golf balls from my 
 locker; that the village clergyman, who is 
 a distant relative of this boy's, after selling 
 me my property on the lake, arranged with 
 a friend to claim that the title was faulty 
 and that the lake front had belonged to him 
 and not the clergyman, and the two had 
 tried for six months to blackmail me out of 
 
 an additional sum of money for the land; 
 all these things because I am to these 
 people a New York millionaire, though in 
 reality a college professor on an inadequate 
 salary. And these are not the only evi- 
 dences that the wooden nutmeg type still 
 survives in New England; my friends and 
 neighbors have had similar experiences. 
 
 It seems to me that it might be as well for 
 us to forget for a while the mote in the eye 
 of the French peasant, and consider the 
 ways of our own peasantry, and for very 
 shame cease to criticize. 
 
 Veritas. 
 
 "GRAHAM GUILTY" 
 
 Burlington Free Press 
 
 "Graham guilty." These two words have 
 tremendous significance for the common- 
 wealth of Vermont and the people thereof. 
 Not only a former governor of the State, 
 but also the people of Vermont were on 
 trial. It was an unfortunate case where 
 either one or the other must stand con- 
 victed. 
 
 If a State official could take money from 
 the State treasury under cover of depart- 
 ment orders and put it into a bank and 
 check a£:air;-:t the deposit for the payment 
 of his priv? ta bills, and have a Vermont jury 
 pronounc:; the offender innocent of offense, 
 then it ./juld follow that the public moral 
 tone c' our people had reached a low ebb 
 indeed. The conviction of Graham, wholly 
 outside of all other considerations, is there- 
 fore a moral triumph for Vermont and 
 Vermont's people. 
 
 It is a remarkable coincidence that the 
 man who as a candidate for governor near 
 the beginning of the century brought 
 charges against Graham's manner of con- 
 ducting the auditor's office should be gov- 
 ernor when that official was brought to tri 1 
 for the outgrowth of a questionable syster 
 nearly two decades later. It is still mc] e 
 significant that he should be one of those 
 who contributed to the fund to help make 
 good to the State treasury the funds whic - 
 the former auditor had manipulated. 
 
 When Governor Clement took his presen 
 office, there was a general feeling that there 
 was "something rotten in Denmark," and 
 that he should "rip up things." The con- 
 viction of Graham after so much political 
 pressure to prevent it, and the disclosures 
 made in that connection have changed this 
 suspicion into a profound certainty. It is 
 up to the Republican party in Vermont toi 
 complete the political house-cleaning it has; 
 now so auspiciously begun. Nothing short 
 of this will remove the stain from our com- 
 monwealth, which stood for honest as well 
 as courageous Americanism. 
 
EDITORIALS OF CONTROVERSIAL TENDENCY 
 
 267 
 
 Glorious Vermont; here she stands, proud 
 )f her history as the first real independent 
 republic on the American continent, as well 
 iS the mother of heroic men and noble 
 ivomen. It is for this generation to pass 
 Dn that grand heritage to future sons and 
 iaughters of Vermont! 
 
 IRRESPONSIBLE LEGISLATION 
 
 Boston Globe 
 
 Few know exactly the provisions of the 
 Bonus bill which has been rushed through 
 :he House of Representatives at Washing- 
 ;on. 
 
 Even the correspondents vary in report- 
 ng the total involved, and speak of $1,600,- 
 300,000, $1,750,000,000 and $2,000,000,000 
 in successive breaths. It is quite safe to 
 say that the many Congressman who voted 
 *Aye" and most of those who were opposed 
 are equally ignprant. The bill was jammed 
 through in less than an hour, without dis- 
 3ussion, and the chances of a law thus made 
 doing the justice required and desired are 
 infinitesimal. 
 
 It is said that the bill will receive de- 
 liberate consideration in the Senate, but 
 that will not be the fault of the House. So 
 far, the affair has been managed in a way 
 reminiscent of the granting of a traction 
 franchise by a City Council in the days of 
 long ago. The bonus idea has undoubtedly 
 generous support from the country, but the 
 way it has been handled by the House is 
 distressing. 
 
 When we turn from Washington to Beacon 
 Hill the situation is even less pleasing. Our 
 Massachusetts legislators have voted an ap- 
 propriation for themselves. 
 
 Almost one-fourth of the legislators, ac- 
 cording to an order adopted by both Houses, 
 are to serve on a recess commission on 
 codification of the laws of the Common- 
 nirealth. A committee of five could do the 
 work, and probably about five of the 61 to 
 Berve will do it. But each member will 
 draw $1000 and a liberal allowance for 
 Hfmileage," which should help out during the 
 ^'acation season. 
 
 'i The worst enemies to representative Gov- 
 ernment are irresponsible and greedy repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 NO MORE HURRYING FOR MR. LANSING 
 
 Kansas City Star 
 
 Mr. Carranza's brisk reply to Mr. Lan- 
 sing's latest Jenkins note probably will mark 
 the beginning of another lull in the corre- 
 spondence. There are reasons why Mr. 
 Lansing cannot show the speed of his Mex- 
 ican correspondent. He has tried speed and 
 found it disastrous. Not the going so much 
 as the. stopping. 
 
 Stirred to action by Senator Fall's revela- 
 tions of Mexican duplicity, Mr. Lansing 
 lately started out in the most spirited man- 
 ner to show that he was really secretary of 
 state and in charge of this government's 
 foreign relations. For a few days the coun- 
 try witnessed the most astonishing activity. 
 A senate resolution was prepared — prepared 
 in the state department itself, according to 
 Senator Fall — calling upon the President to 
 sever diplomatic relations with Mexico and 
 withdraw recognition from Carranza. Mr. 
 Lansing and Senator Fall were in complete 
 agreement as to the necessity of this action 
 and as to the procedure to effect it. The 
 state department seemed to be really func- 
 tioning, and the secretary to have forgotten 
 his experience in Paris, where he found 
 independent thought and action were not 
 among the qualifications expected of a sec- 
 retary of state. 
 
 But this speed didn't last. The brakes 
 were applied from the White House, and 
 the country viewed the amazing spectacle 
 of a frock coat, striped trousers, gloves and 
 silk hat — symbols of the state secretaryship 
 — describing the graceful curve in the air 
 provided by natural law for all bodies 
 stopped suddenly in full career. 
 
 No, we do not look for any immediate re- 
 sumption of activity by the state depart- 
 ment in re Jenkins. It has taken its flier, 
 so to speak, and probably will be content to 
 stay on the ground for a while. 
 
 RULES FOR THE STORY WRITER 
 
 Indianapolis Star 
 
 One Mrs. Gerould, a favorite of magazine 
 editors as a short-story writer, is laying 
 down the law for other story writers and 
 takes O. Henry's work as an example of 
 what a story should not be. "In a short 
 story," she says, "there are situation, sus- 
 pense, climax. O. Henry gives the reader 
 climax, nothing else." His stories, she 
 says, are simply expanded anecdotes, and a 
 lot of harm is being done by schools and 
 colleges that use his works, because this 
 use will spread the pernicious idea that he 
 is a master of the short story. She further 
 declares that in a short story one should be 
 able to imagine, from the way the charac- 
 ters act, how they would act under an en- 
 tirely different set of circumstances. "The 
 really great short-story writers make us 
 know their characters." 
 
 No doubt they do, and a good many peo- 
 ple who have delighted in O. Henry's fiction 
 have a pretty clear idea of some of his 
 characters. They get a fairly vivid picture, 
 for example, of at least three of the per- 
 sonages in "A Municipal Report." Did 
 she ever happen to read that? It is not 
 
268 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 likely, however, that any reader of that re- 
 markable tale ever took thought of what 
 those characters would do under other cir- 
 cumstances. In any story they would be 
 unusual creations who would arouse such 
 curiosity. Most persons do not know them- 
 selves well enough to waste time in specula- 
 tion over what they might do under given 
 conditions; much less do they imagine sit- 
 uations for characters in fiction. 
 
 Many are the rules that have been laid 
 down for the writing of short stories, but 
 the really great short stories ignore all the 
 rules. Even Mrs. Gerould does not follow 
 her own standard in a recent somewhat in- 
 decent tale describing the experiences of a 
 young man and woman shipwrecked on a 
 barren island; it would be impossible for 
 anyone to guess how those persons might 
 behave elsewhere. For that matter, it does 
 not seem likely that any reader would wish 
 to know. And how would she apply her 
 rule to the horrible story, the work, it might 
 almost be said, of a depraved imagina- 
 tion, in which she depicts the spread of a 
 loathsome plague in war ? The truth is that 
 few story writers are sufficiently invulnera- 
 ble to lay down rules of any sort. 
 
 NO NAVY FOR CANADA 
 Seattle Post Intelligencer 
 
 When Admiral Jellicoe, representing the 
 British Admiralty, visited the self-govern- 
 ing units of the empire some months ago, 
 he suggested a navy for Australia and one 
 for Canada, to be furnished by those do- 
 minions, with the assistance of some con- 
 tributed ships of war from Great Britain. 
 Canada has not warmed to this suggestion, 
 though Australia has shown interest in the 
 project, chiefly through its position of isola- 
 tion in the Pacific. But Canada has a large 
 war debt, its contribution of men and money 
 to the late war was very great, and it has a 
 large work of reconstruction to accomplish, 
 as well as to provide capital for the develop- 
 ment of its great new country. So building 
 a navy for Canada has not been a popular 
 idea. Recent newspaper stories indicate 
 that not only has no move been made in 
 behalf of new warships, but that even the 
 few war vessels that Canada already pos- 
 sessed have been "scrapped." 
 
 Writing for the Vancouver Sun, F. H. 
 Gadsby says: 
 
 The sadly solemn fact is that Canada 
 has never been in love with her navy. 
 What Sir Wilfrid Laurier did in the 
 matter was under pressure from the 
 imperialists, and what Sir Robert Bor- 
 den failed to do in a similar direction 
 was a squeeze from the same quarter. 
 Our navy, actual or potential, pleased 
 
 only a few imperialists, put Quebec's 
 nose out of joint, offended the West and 
 left the East cold. It was mighty poor 
 business all around. It sopped up a lot 
 of money, caused a lot of bad feeling 
 and had no practical results worth men- 
 tioning. 
 
 When we scrap our navy we with- 
 draw from all this overseas madness. 
 Moreover, we shed a great deal of ex- 
 pense and a rather sniffy crowd of 
 British naval officers whom we bor- 
 rowed to teach us the tricks. We love 
 England, no doubt, but not enough to 
 support an expensive navy whose duty 
 it would be to mix in all the mud pies 
 they make in Europe. 
 Fortunately, the American continent is to 
 have ample sea protection through the grow- 
 ing navy of Uncle Sam. This sufficed for 
 many years in the past, with perfect se- 
 curity to Canada, and, with the ambitious 
 American programme of naval construction 
 now in progress of development, Canada will 
 have more reason than ever to feel secure. 
 As Mr. Gadsby remarks: 
 
 We are friendly with the Eskimos and 
 the Yankees, and, these sources of in- 
 vasion being discounted, we haven't an 
 enemy in sight that we couldn't fend off 
 with one birch bark war canoe. The 
 United States is building a bigger navy 
 than England's, and if Japan ever 
 threatens to bite us in the leg we feel 
 perfectly safe there, too. 
 
 IT PAYS TO PAINT 
 
 The Country Gentleman 
 
 Of course it costs money to keep the 
 farmhouse and the barns painted while oil 
 and lead are hitched to the soaring kite of 
 the H. C. L., but then it costs not to paint, 
 and in the long run it costs more. Sooner 
 or later all up-to-date farmers will hold as 
 an agricultural axiom that it pays to paint. 
 
 Paint preserves. Most farmers realize 
 that it pays to keep their tools and ma- 
 chinery under cover, but for the very same 
 reason the buildings, too, ought to be kept 
 under cover — a cover of paint. After a time 
 large sums of money must be laid out in 
 repairs upon unpainted buildings. It is true 
 that a farmer may carelessly go ahead like 
 Louis XV of France, who, when the mut- 
 terings of revolt grew ominous, remarked: 
 "After us the deluge." Well, the deluge 
 came in the French Revolution, when poor 
 innocent Louis XVI was the victim. The 
 farmer who doesn't paint because, he says, 
 "the buildings will last as long as I will," 
 is simply entailing trouble upon those who 
 come after him. 
 
EDITORIALS OF CONTROVERSIAL TENDENCY 
 
 269 
 
 Paint promotes. It not only keeps the 
 buildings from running down and rotting, 
 but it increases their value. Take a shabby- 
 looking set of farm buildings, give the 
 house a dress of white and the barns a coat 
 of red, and the market value of the farm 
 is increased far beyond the cost of the paint- 
 ing. It is evidence of a lack of good busi- 
 ness-sense for a farmer to allow his farm 
 to depreciate in value for lack of a little 
 paint. Moreover, when one farmer paints 
 up, every other farmer in the neighborhood 
 feels challenged to go and do likewise; and 
 as they paint, they promote not only the 
 cash value of the community but its charm 
 as a place of residence as well. Paint has 
 more to do than many farmers realize with 
 keeping their boys contented on the farm. 
 
 Paint proclaims. In a moment you know 
 that where the bams are unpainted and 
 where the paint on the house is only a 
 ghost of its former glory, the farmer is a 
 bit shiftless and that without much doubt, 
 other parts of his farm life are getting 
 down at the heel. Paint makes it clear 
 that the farmer is living in the twentieth 
 century, that he is a "live one." Shakspere 
 makes Polonius say to Laertes: "The ap- 
 parel oft proclaims the man." 
 
 In like manner paint proclaims the farmer. 
 
 THE TEACHER 
 
 The Delineator 
 
 She never wrote the books she meant to 
 write, though you couldn't talk with her five 
 minutes without wanting to write down 
 some of her sentences. She never traveled 
 much, though she couldn't go through the 
 stupidest little village without finding some 
 new and curious historical or literary or 
 human bit distinctly worth hearing about. 
 She never even wrote down her own lec- 
 tures — which would have saved her an enor- 
 mous amount of time. 
 
 Each year she read over the books she 
 talked about and got again a fresh impres- 
 sion, to give to her students. She was ac- 
 tually and truly more interested in other 
 people's careers than her own. She was as 
 pleased when she was told — the very first of 
 anybody, of course — that one of her pupils 
 had a new position or had sold a poem as if 
 she had published a perfect novel herself. 
 She was never too tired to write the letter 
 that kept some struggling young thing from 
 knuckling under and losing her self-respect. 
 She treated the girls who to her mind were 
 worth bothering with at all as if their minds 
 were exactly as good as hers and their opin- 
 ions valuable. 
 
 When she died, her obituary, with its list 
 of her publications, was not particularly im- 
 pressive. It was mostly the kind of 
 
 "scholarly" work necessary to holding a pro- 
 fessorship. There are a few learned or- 
 ganizations that will pass resolutions, and 
 someone else will take her classes. 
 
 But there are at least a hundred other 
 women who honestly feel that they have a 
 solemn and very special obligation to the 
 world — to hand on her vivid power, to spread 
 her ideas and ideals, to do themselves some 
 of the things she always wanted to do and 
 would have done if she hadn't been a bom 
 teacher and if to her mind a keen-spirited 
 young human life hadn't been the most in- 
 teresting and important thing on earth. 
 
 Because there are women like her, and 
 because the women's colleges are the places 
 where girls can get just this kind of in- 
 spiration for life, we firmly believe that 
 American fathers and mothers ought to 
 stand behind the colleges better than they 
 ever have. When you hear the word 
 "drive," don't go away and sulk because 
 someone wants some money. Such women 
 will give your daughters the springs of suc- 
 cess in any case because they can't help 
 being good teachers. But it isn't fair to 
 make them worry and scrimp all their lives 
 when they have dreams and glory and 
 happiness to give. 
 
 A HOLIDAY FOR HATE 
 
 Boston Commercial Bulletin 
 
 The establishment of certain days as 
 holidays marks a distinct step in the prog- 
 ress of civilization. Some thousands of 
 years ago the Jews established the custom 
 of one holy day in each week, and in various 
 countries other days have been set apart in 
 memory of some person or event. 
 
 Holy days were designated as days of 
 rest from ordinary vocations, to be devoted 
 to religious observances and to the per- 
 formance of ceremonies to keep alive the 
 memory of some great service or blessing 
 to mankind. Having its origin in this man- 
 ner, the holy day became a day of rest, of 
 patriotism and of good will, and these char- 
 acteristics were retained after the spelling 
 was changed to holiday. 
 
 The plan of creating holidays purely from 
 motives of laziness is a very modem idea, 
 and for human happiness and progress it is 
 particularly unfortunate that there is now 
 a demand for holidays to be devoted to the 
 fostering of discord and hatred. 
 
 May Day was formerly in England, and 
 in other countries of Europe, a day of re- 
 joicing at the coming of Spring and the 
 blossoming of trees and plants. It was a 
 day of joy and appreciation of the beauty of 
 nature, and while there may have been oc- 
 casional brawls due to over indulgence in 
 
270 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 nut brown ale, the day was always regarded 
 as a day for frolic and fun. 
 
 School children welcome all holidays and 
 vacations, not realizing that the important 
 days for them are those in which they are 
 acquiring knowledge to equip them for the 
 journey of life. 
 
 As children desire as many holidays as 
 possible, so many workers believe that the 
 more days they are idle and the shorter the 
 number of working hours, the better it will 
 be for them. They are taught by dema- 
 gogues to believe that in some mysterious 
 way their employers can afford to pay them 
 for six days of work when they labor but 
 five days, and that the rise in prices of food, 
 clothing and rent are not due to inefficient 
 or inadequate labor, but to profiteering by 
 employers, who are represented as the arch 
 enemies of those whom they employ. It es- 
 capes notice, as a rule, that many a man 
 working with his hands is himself an em- 
 ployer of labor, having invested his savings 
 in stocks or bonds of productive industry. 
 
 The demand is now being formulated that 
 May Day shall be made a holiday in Amer- 
 ica. There has been already one day estab- 
 lished as labor's holiday in September, but 
 the professional agitators claim that labor 
 must have a new holiday on May Day. 
 There is no suggestion of establishing a new 
 holy day for any religious or patriotic pur- 
 pose, and the demand for this holiday ap- 
 pears to rest upon the desire for a day of 
 idleness, in which workmen can cultivate 
 hatred of capitalists with whom they are 
 associated in industry. 
 
 Those who believe that "Blessed are the 
 peacemakers" should not ignore the corol- 
 lary, "Accursed are the trouble-makers." 
 Our politicians are beginning to learn that 
 it does not pay to grant everything that the 
 trouble-makers demand, and there is little 
 likelihood that the pernicious influence of a 
 small number of men whose power rests on 
 hatred of their fellow men will meet with 
 success in establishing a new day of idle- 
 ness, by changing May Day to Hate Day. 
 
 DISGRACING AMERICA 
 
 Logansport Pharos Reporter 
 
 Some American newspapers are making 
 American character very cheap, holding us 
 up to the world as a bunch of hare-brained 
 egoists in a manner that is sufficient to turn 
 the stomach of any person with judgment. 
 
 Whenever a question or disagreement 
 arises between the United States and an- 
 other government and our diplomats take 
 up the issue, the two governments carefully 
 and judicially and honestly consider the mat- 
 ter and finally the American point is con- 
 ceded, immediately this crack-brained section 
 
 of the public press sends up a cry "they 
 were afraid of us — we forced them to yield." 
 pestiferous piffle. These paragraphers 
 cannot get the idea through their heads that 
 two honest people can get together, con- 
 sider a question and settle it upon a basis 
 of exact justice and righteousness. No, we 
 scared 'em, and they were forced to yield — 
 putting us in the attitude of the big plug- 
 ugly that rules by force and not by justice. 
 
 This same kind of folks would stand out- 
 side the court-house while a trial was going 
 on, threatening and howling anathema at 
 the jury and when the verdict was brought 
 in "we forced them to bring in that kind 
 of verdict." For the sake of ordinary de- 
 cency and American dignity, cut out such 
 stuff. 
 
 In every phase of American diplomacy 
 where the contention of America has pre- 
 vailed, we believe it was because both sides 
 saw that justice was on the side of the de- 
 cision, and rendered the verdict because it 
 was just and not because "we scared 'em — 
 we forced 'em." 
 
 THERE WERE MOTHERS BEFORE 
 SYSTEMS 
 
 Gary Times 
 
 Somehow when we hear tiny babes yell- 
 ing their little heads off because they are 
 hungry and the mothers calmly making the 
 tots wait ten or forty minutes or whatever 
 the time may be, we always wonder if they 
 are not carrying the system business too far. 
 
 Somehow when we note the clammy side 
 of some mothers who do not believe that 
 sympathy and affection for a babe should be 
 carried beyond a certain point, we think 
 how different it was in the good old days. 
 
 Too much system hurts little babies. Dr. 
 Joseph E. Winters of Cornell University 
 says so, and he is a high authority on chil- 
 dren's complaints. It will comfort many 
 persons to hear this man speak out. It is 
 not only the bodies of babies which are 
 starved. Too often another precious thing 
 is quite destroyed. Babies and mothers 
 were invented a long time before doctors 
 and nurses. Centuries before modern 
 science took to weighing infants before and 
 after meals there grew up, from the de- 
 pendence of the child on the mother, a mar- 
 velous bond of sympathy. It is the helpless 
 babe's only source of comfort, and it sur- 
 vives as the one consolation of many a 
 woman in her old age. But too much "sys- 
 tem" in raising babies destroys this fine 
 product of evolution. 
 
 If a baby is always and forever to be left 
 alone to "cry it out," according to the direc- 
 tions of the trained nurse, the seed of this 
 sympathy is never sown. Wrapping a child's 
 
EDITORIALS OF CONTROVERSIAL TENDENCY 
 
 271 
 
 cut finger in antiseptic gauze is a safe and 
 sane process, but it is the kiss that really 
 cures. It is mother's understanding of "how 
 it hurts" that makes wee Billy a brave boy. 
 And just that way, even as little children, 
 grown men sometimes want their mothers. 
 There is no substitute for this normal 
 sympathy between mother and child, and it 
 is sure to be stunted, or may never grow 
 at all, if orphan-asylum methods — too much 
 system— are permitted to interfere with 
 their intimate personal relations. 
 
 THE FARM THAT KILLS 
 
 St. Paul Pioneer Press 
 
 James Whitcomb Riley understood better 
 than anyone else what the country heart, 
 its life, its Love, and its home surroundings 
 might be, and what it has, in many in- 
 stances, been. For it is precisely because 
 this human side of country life has died out 
 of so many farmers that rural-life confer- 
 ences are considered necessary. 
 
 The other side of modern farm life is 
 almost a direct negative of everything the 
 poet conceived it to be. It is a life without 
 heart or love or any attractive home. It is 
 an unceasing battle of insufficient natural 
 strength against exhaustless nature. It is 
 an abundance of drudgery without abun- 
 dance of rest. Its love is consumed in grub- 
 bing for pennies. Its children are a neces- 
 sary evil until they can earn their board and 
 a little more. Its home is a place of last 
 resort maintained only for the necessities 
 of eating and sleeping. There are no books, 
 no music, no rugs, no laces, where these 
 simple refinements could be afforded. There 
 are no conveniences for the wife. Instead 
 of these there is abundance of ugly looking, 
 harsh sounding, and heartless machinery. 
 There is everything in mechanics and 
 profitable husbandry. But not home. 
 
 Such is the product of farming for profit 
 only. Such are the farms that drive young 
 men to beer parties and girls to the city 
 kitchen, the shop and the brothel. They 
 are not the farms that the poet knew. They 
 are the farms that the devil knows best, for 
 they are boy-killers, girl-killers, wife-killers, 
 and the devil's recruiting stations. They are 
 the reasons why rural-life conferences were 
 invented. Unless they can be redeemed for 
 humanity they should be damned, and the 
 city should be driven back to the land or to 
 starvation. 
 
 WHERE WE DON'T WANT TO LIVE 
 
 Erie Dispatch 
 
 There is a town in the United States where 
 we do not want to live, and where, God will- 
 ing, we never will live. This town differs 
 from, other tovras of the United States in 
 
 that it seemingly is lacking in those ideals 
 and principles which are the foundation of 
 American liberty, justice and honor. 
 
 The town we speak of is [Nameless], 
 Iowa. We never have been there; in fact, do 
 not know the size of the town, nor its pop- 
 ulation, nor do we ever care to look up 
 these statistics. 
 
 In the news columns of The Dispatch of 
 yesterday was a story over which was writ- 
 ten: "No headlines would apply on this 
 story." That truly was a fact, for the story 
 told of a troop of Iowa national guards- 
 men, two-thirds of whom refused to take 
 the oath of allegiance to the United States. 
 The captain of the troops received from 
 [Nameless] citizens (he lived in Nameless) 
 this telegram: 
 
 "You tried to take our boys to war; you 
 need not return to this town." 
 
 We repeat, we do not know anything of 
 [Nameless] — never heard of it before — but 
 we are willing to predict that a town with 
 this spirit will never amount to anything, 
 for the ideals of the citizens are rotten to 
 the core. 
 
 ARE WE LAW MAD? 
 
 Meridian Star 
 
 From good authority we learn that dur- 
 ing the past ten years law-making bodies 
 in the states and nation have passed 62,550 
 laws. During the same period the British 
 parliament passed 1600 laws. 
 
 Probably four-fifths of these American 
 laws were made in response to the call of re- 
 formers of one kind and another, as it is 
 the custom to demand a new law every time 
 a neighbor's chicken flies over the fence or 
 a dog growls or the ladies change their style 
 of dress. 
 
 This fact calls for the suggestion from 
 Commerce and Finance, Theodore H. Price's 
 splendid periodical, that "the pay of con- 
 gressmen be increased to $25,000 a year and 
 that each representative and senator pay 
 for the printing and the dissemination of 
 every speech that he makes, of every bill 
 that he introduces, of every argument that 
 he advances, of every document that he 
 sends through the mail, etc., etc. That this 
 $25,000 cover his mileage and [the pay of] 
 his secretary; that it cover the expense of 
 funeral junkets and other junkets, and that 
 he get not one cent more from the United 
 States government and that he involve the 
 United States in no expense beyond this 
 $25,000 a year limit. The same idea might 
 be applied to state legislatures, the limit 
 of payment being reduced to, say, $2500 or 
 $3000 basis." 
 
 We do not believe such a change as that 
 suggested would afford the desired remedy. 
 
272 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 inasmuch as it would still encumber the 
 country with the large legislative bodies we 
 now have, with laws made in conference 
 committees rather than in the legislative 
 bodies themselves. 
 
 What is needed to secure a real reform in 
 our lawmaking bodies is smaller numbers of 
 lawmakers — in the nation, for instance, 
 from four to eight representatives and a 
 single senator from each state, and a state 
 body of proportionate size. 
 
 With such a body in practically continu- 
 ous session, the members being paid fair 
 salaries, the people would, we believe, be 
 far better "represented" than they are now, 
 and much of the present legislative waste 
 would be eliminated. 
 
 SHOULD TWINS BE DRESSED ALIKE? 
 
 Sacramento Union 
 
 Down the street came two little girls, each 
 dressed in a blue and white frock, a large 
 white straw hat with black velvet ribbons 
 hanging down the back, white stockings, 
 black strapped slippers and a little white 
 purse. They were as alike as two peas. 
 
 "Twins," murmured a passerby, turning 
 to look after them and smiling. But one 
 woman who turned looked grave, and said 
 to her companion: 
 
 "They are sweet to look at, to be sure, 
 but I cannot help feeling that it is a mis- 
 take to dress twins exactly alike. Indi- 
 viduality should be developed in every 
 possible way, and encouraging exact duplica- 
 tion has a decided tendency to crush indi- 
 viduality. I knew of twins a few years ago 
 who were made almost nonenities by a 
 mother who persisted in making them dress 
 alike, wear their hair alike, talk alike, think 
 alike, although they were really entirely 
 different in their natural inclinations. If 
 allowed to grow simply and normally, each 
 child would have become an interesting in- 
 dividuality, expressing her own ideas in her 
 own way; but from their childhood the par- 
 ents continually boasted, in their presence: 
 
 " 'Whatever one does, the other does; they 
 cannot bear to be separated a moment; they 
 even have the same little tricks of manner, 
 and use their hands just alike. They eat 
 the same things and wear the same things 
 always.' 
 
 "Of course, the children heard this day 
 after day until they knew it was expected 
 of them to behave exactly alike and do the 
 same things in the same way. As a conse-. 
 quence, they watched each other and grew 
 self-conscious and affected. They were in- 
 teresting merely in so far as they were 
 exact duplicatesf of each other; not in so 
 far as they developed individual traits, 
 which should have been the case. 
 
 "I think the parents of twins should, 
 from the first, dwell as little as possible 
 upon their similarity. They should be 
 dressed as differently as possible, and as soon 
 as practicable they should be encouraged 
 to choose their own clothes, their own foods, 
 their own activities, their own manner of 
 speech. In fact, I feel that it would be 
 wise to separate them from time to time, 
 not only so that they could not be allowed 
 to become dependent upon each other, but 
 so that each would be free to develop with- 
 out being influenced by the other or by the 
 traditional law that twins be just exactly 
 alike. Their resemblance to each other 
 should be ignored as far as possible, their 
 hair should be differently dressed, and their 
 talents cultivated along different lines un- 
 less it should be found that they really 
 have the same endowment and tastes. They 
 should not, of course, be forced to be dif- 
 ferent, any more than they should be forced 
 to be alike. 
 
 "In other words, a twin should be left 
 freer than most persons to develop naturally 
 and individually." 
 
 THE GOOSE AND THE GANDER 
 
 New York Sun 
 
 In the soft coal fields the miners are de- 
 manding a scale of thirty hours of work a 
 week and sixty per cent more pay. Coal is 
 so essential to the nation's industry and 
 business, to the people's comfort and liveli- 
 hood, that a strike of the miners would 
 stagger the country like a sudden and ter- 
 rific shock of war. It is for this reason that 
 the leaders empowered to call the strike are 
 confident that they will gain their demands. 
 It is for this reason that some of them bold- 
 ly declare that, whatever the consequences 
 to the individual or to the nation, this thing 
 shall be. 
 
 But what is sauce for the goose is sauce 
 for the gander. 
 
 How would the coal miners like it if the 
 fanners refused to do enough work to raise 
 the wheat needed to make bread for the gen- 
 eral public? 
 
 How would the coal miners like it if the 
 farmers refused to do enough work to raise 
 the com needed to feed and fatten the cattle 
 and sheep from which come the public's beef 
 and mutton, to feed the hogs from which 
 come the public's pork and ham and bacon, 
 to feed the poultry from which come the 
 public's eggs? 
 
 How would the coal miners like it if the 
 farmers refused to do enough work to raise 
 the hay and other produce needed to feed 
 and fatten the cows from which come the 
 public's milk and butter and cheese? 
 
EDITORIALS OF CONTROVERSIAL TENDENCY 
 
 273 
 
 How would the coal miners like it if the 
 fanners decreed that for the small surplus 
 of products raised beyond their own food- 
 needs by their half workday, from planting 
 season to harvest moon, the public must 
 pay them fabulous prices — $10 a bushel for 
 wheat, $8 a bushel for corn, $2 a pound for 
 meat, $1 a quart for milk, $4 a pound for 
 butter? 
 
 How would the coal miners like it if the 
 farmers swore that they would have their 
 inordinate prices without work, though the 
 American people, men, women and children, 
 must suffer famine and the country be 
 plunged into ruin? 
 
 And what applies to the coal miners ap- 
 plies, of course, to other workers. If the 
 brutally selfish, the suicidally voracious 
 message came from the American farm that 
 either the people of the United States could 
 ransom their lives on the terms laid down 
 to them or they could starve, how would 
 the coal miners, how would the longshore- 
 men, how would the shipbuilders, how would 
 the expressmen, how would the railway 
 workers — how would they like it? 
 
 SINGLE TAXES 
 
 Wall Street Journal 
 
 It was Blackstone who said: "It is a re- 
 ceived and undeniable principle of law that 
 all lands in England are held immediately 
 by the King." It is true that some of our 
 single-taxers, although not all, and notably 
 not John S. Codman, writing in the Free- 
 man of April 14, have not sufficiently real- 
 ized that this principle of English common 
 law is continued in our right of eminent 
 domain. But the theory of the single-taxer 
 that a tax on land amounting to rent would 
 obviate all other taxes is disproved by daily 
 experience. 
 
 When the 16th amendment to the Con- 
 stitution, that authorizing a tax on all in- 
 come "from whatever source derived," was 
 before the State Legislatures, it was argued 
 that here at last was a Federal tax which 
 would make all other levies unnecessary or 
 negligible. Excise on liquors might be re- 
 tained, and import duties for protection, but 
 both of them for purposes implying some- 
 thing other than revenue. 
 
 Here is where single-taxers, and many 
 other economists not so committed, under- 
 rated the tax-wasting capacity of our 
 squandering legislators at Washington and 
 the State capitols. Their ability to spend 
 wastefuUy is only limited by the as yet 
 untested last cent the taxpayer can bear. 
 When once the politician tastes blood we 
 see what he can do to the income tax, with- 
 out relieving the burden in any other direc- 
 
 tion, except almost accidentally, through the 
 prohibition amendment. 
 
 Government, to the politician with no con- 
 ception of how wealth is created, or con- 
 served for the creation of more wealth, is 
 merely an agency for spending everything 
 the tax collector can raise. Those who have 
 suggested to Congress taxes with a well- 
 distributed burden have always regretted it. 
 A tax on sales to the consumer would be 
 good in principle, and ought to eliminate 
 those taxes on production which paralyze 
 the source of revenue while they are multi- 
 plied to the consumer. But Congress at 
 present is considering a direct consumption 
 tax only as an addition to the indefensible 
 levies it should replace. 
 
 A tax on income is a fair tax, but it 
 becomes destructive when, as at present, it 
 destroys the year's accumulations for re- 
 newals and betterments. A tax on a process 
 of trade is always bad. But Congress and 
 our State Legislatures tax without restric- 
 tion, method or principle. The single-taxer 
 would live only to see his proposition share 
 the same fate as the taxes on income or 
 direct consumption — not a relief but an 
 added burden. 
 
 TO THE TEST 
 
 New York Evening World 
 
 The United States Supreme Court yester- 
 day granted to the State of Rhode Island 
 permission to institute original proceedings 
 to test the validity of the Eighteenth 
 Amendment, which imposes Prohibition 
 upon every State in the Union under the 
 Federal Constitution. 
 
 The State of Rhode Island will contend 
 that Federal enforcement of the Eighteenth 
 Amendment within the boundaries of Rhode 
 Island constitutes an invasion of the sov- 
 ereign rights and police powers of the State. 
 
 Unless the American people have become 
 indifferent to the foundation principles of 
 their Government, every other State wOl 
 look upon the case which Rhode Island 
 brings into the Supreme Court as a test of 
 State sovereignty growing out of one of the 
 most clearly defined and momentous issues 
 that has arisen since the Constitution went 
 into effect. 
 
 We believe a majority of Americans are 
 still capable of straight thinking on this 
 question. 
 
 We believe a majority can consider the 
 meaning and bearings of Nation-wide Pro- 
 hibition as forced into the Federal Constitu- 
 tion, without confusing moral purposes with 
 the fabric of constitutional Government and 
 without letting the desirability of accom- 
 plishing a certain amount of good shut their 
 
274 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 eyes to unjustifiable methods productive of 
 unlimited wrong. 
 
 Article X of the original ten Amendments 
 to the Federal Constitution declares: 
 
 The powers not delegated to the Unit- 
 ed States by the Constitution, nor pro- 
 hibited by it to the States, are reserved 
 to the States respectively, or to the 
 people. 
 
 Nowhere does the Constitution delegate to 
 the Federal Government power to enact 
 sumptuary laws regulating the personal 
 habits of citizens in the several States or to 
 send Federal agents into the territory of a 
 State to enforce such laws. 
 
 How can the Eighteenth Amendment stand 
 unless the Tenth Amendment is repealed? 
 
 If Nation-wide Prohibition had come 
 about by the progressive spread of Prohibi- 
 tion to State after State, each State passing 
 and enforcing its own Prohibition laws, the 
 Nation could have become bone-dry through- 
 out and no man could have questioned the 
 constitutionality of the process. 
 
 But so long as one single State held to 
 local-option, and the smallest community in 
 that State elected to remain "wet," the Con- 
 stitution of the United States as it used to 
 be would have protected that community's 
 right. 
 
 A deplorable indication of growing flabbi- 
 ness, ignorance and indifference in the atti- 
 tude of Americans toward their own Con- 
 stitution and Government has been the 
 apathy with which many of them have 
 watched a fanatical minority enslave legis- 
 lators and ruthlessly change the character 
 of that Constitution and Government. 
 
 That the change was accomplished with- 
 out giving the people a chance to vote on 
 it seems to matter little to those Americans 
 who have forgotten that freedom was as- 
 sured them by the Fathers only on the as- 
 sumption that they would cherish and 
 guard it. 
 
 During the past year an increasing num- 
 ber have begun to think more clearly. 
 
 They see that there were ways of attack- 
 ing the liquor evil other than by an im- 
 mensely greater evil. 
 
 They see that to lift the saloon from its 
 degradation it was not necessary to degrade 
 the Federal Constitution — turning it into an 
 instrument of tyranny which destroys per- 
 sonal liberty and overrides State sov- 
 ereignty. 
 
 Millions of Americans were too preoccu- 
 pied with war, too blind to what was being 
 done to them, to resist when their liberties 
 were taken away. They realize now the 
 true nature and enormity of the theft. 
 The case of Rhode Island is the case of 
 
 each one of forty-seven other States, regard- 
 less of its particular status as to Prohibi- 
 tion. 
 
 Infringement of State rights, once started, 
 will not stop with a National Prohibition 
 Amendment. The bars once down, the field 
 will be too tempting. 
 
 Rhode Island should go into court with 
 the greatest lawyers in the land to present 
 and urge her case and with the support of 
 an overwhelming majority of the citizens of 
 every other State behind her. 
 
 Rock-bottom issues are at stake upon 
 which depends the faithfulness of American 
 democracy to its own principles. 
 
 IS BOLSHEVISM AN ISSUE 
 
 Indianapolis News 
 
 The denunciation of the Russian policy of 
 the peace conference and President Wilson 
 by Rajrmond Robins, headliner for Senator 
 Johnson, suggests the question as to 
 whether Bolshevism is an issue in the cam- 
 paign. Other people have denounced the 
 Russian policy of these eminent men, but 
 on quite other grounds. Their theory was 
 that the allied and associated power should 
 have come promptly to the rescue of the 
 Russian people against those whose policy 
 it was to exploit and murder them. France 
 is today convinced that such action should 
 have been taken, and is bitterly opposed to 
 the establishment of any relations with the 
 Lenine government. But Mr. Robins went 
 to Russia, made an investigation, and came 
 out without being in any way shocked. The 
 President did not follow his advice. The 
 fair criticism of the allied and associated 
 powers is, not that they pursued a wrong 
 policy, but that they did not seem to have 
 any policy at all. The problem, of course, 
 was one of enormous difficulty. 
 
 The American people should not allow 
 themselves to be blinded to the awful crimes 
 of the Bolshevists and their leaders. Miss 
 Hettie M. Adams, who has lived long in 
 Russia, and has rendered distinguished 
 service in connection with the Red Cross in 
 that country, gives a picture that is most 
 impressive. "The Bolshevists will tell you," 
 she says, "that the children in soviet Russia 
 are under their special protection . . . 
 and that therefore the children are entitled 
 to particular care and attention — educa- 
 tional, moral and physical." Yet all order 
 and discipline have disappeared from the 
 schools. There are committees of children 
 which decide what shall be studied and who 
 shall teach them, and these committees have 
 power to dismiss the teachers. Conditions 
 have improved somewhat of late, but only 
 because experienced teachers "have taken 
 pity on the children and practically at the 
 
EDITORIALS OF CONTROVERSIAL TENDENCY 
 
 275 
 
 risk of their own lives have by almost 
 superhuman devotion and patience rewon 
 the love and respect of the children." These 
 teachers, and all others, are subjected to 
 the strictest Bolshevist discipline and super- 
 vision, and if suspected any so-called "coun- 
 ter revolution" acts are dealt with "in a 
 merciless manner." 
 
 "The moral chaos" in the schools, which 
 are "mixed," under this system, or lack of 
 it, is said to be "too appalling to imagine." 
 There are, it is said, very few children left 
 in Bolshevist Russia. The schools are closed 
 for months at a time "owing to terrible 
 outbreaks of infectious diseases and total 
 absence of heating." Miss Adams says that 
 she visited houses in Petrograd in which 
 there were "two or three degrees of frost in 
 the rooms." There was practically no light- 
 ing and a total lack of sanitation. Through 
 the severest winter months many people 
 lived in cold, hunger and sickness, with no 
 electric light, no oil and no cand.es, "only 
 miserable night lights when procurable." 
 Her account closes thus: 
 
 There was neither water no? soap 
 with which to wash clothes, anJ they 
 simply had to be w*rn till they had 
 become too horribly dirty, and then 
 burned, with no hopes of obtaining a 
 fresh supply. If children receive one 
 (totally inadequate) meal a day they 
 are lucky. The wan, pinched and 
 stricken faces one s^es in the streets 
 give one an idea of the misery the/ are 
 suffering. They are no longer children, 
 but care-worn, listless, wizened human 
 beings, old long before their time. Ill, 
 hungry, cold and miserably clad, they 
 are obliged to stand ior many hours in 
 the streets in order to obtain some piti- 
 fully small ration of milk or other sup- 
 plies. 
 
 Such is "happy" Russia under the soviet 
 system. 
 
 THE LIP-LAZY AMERICAN 
 An Editorial 
 
 Ladies' Home Journal 
 
 It is generally said that the American is 
 the most slovenly spolen person in the 
 world. This is, naturall/, an exaggeration, 
 as are all general statements. 3ut_ that 
 there is a distinct basis for the ur.desirable 
 reputation cannot be denied. 
 
 The average American is lip-laz7. Thou- 
 sands of us speak back of our teeth, nr 
 through our noses, or behind our lips. "We 
 do not open our mouths when we speak; Cr 
 if we do we yell or scream. A vell-mody- 
 lated voice is the exception; clear enuncioi^ 
 tion is exceeding rare. ' 
 
 I was very forcibly impressed with this fact 
 at the Americanization Conference held in 
 Washington last spring. Here was gathered 
 a company largely made up of pedagogues; 
 of men and women high in positions of 
 public instruction or education, who, in 
 their places, were recognized as authorities 
 in teaching; whom their communities had 
 raised to positions where what they said 
 counted for much in the direction of public 
 training. Yet one could only in the excep- 
 tional instance understand what was said. 
 During the four days of the conference I 
 heard over 100 persons speak from the plat- 
 form and the floor. Of all these speakers, 
 only eight, by actual count, opened their 
 lips and clearly enunciated their words. In 
 a number of instances the speakers could 
 not be understood within twenty feet of 
 where they were speaking. The majority 
 could not be heard at the back of the small 
 auditorium. 
 
 The humorous aspect of the situation was 
 that each of these speakers was discussing 
 the subject of teaching English to the 
 foreign-bom; in other words, each was 
 teaching a language that, while undoubtedly 
 he understood it, he could not make under- 
 stood because of an absolute ignorance of 
 vocal placement: of the use of the lips or 
 the voice. 
 
 And yet these speakers were going to be 
 the leading factors in instructing the for- 
 eign-born! As a matter of fact, of the 
 eight speakers whom I counted as speaking 
 distinctly three were foreign -bora! The 
 American-born, the instructor of the new 
 American, was deficient in the very element 
 which is so vital in the work at his or her 
 hand! 
 
 Note in any gathering in which you find 
 yourself within the next few days, pulalic 
 or private, and watch how many persons 
 open their lips and speak distinctly,^ and 
 the result will be surprising and humiliat- 
 ing. 
 
 "I do not expect ever to speak in public. 
 Why trouble?" is a favorite argument in 
 defense of lip-laziness. But it is not a ques- 
 tion of whether one is destined to speak 
 in public or not. How often do we find our- 
 selves in a position where something that 
 we know or have to tell — some experience — 
 is of interest to a home company or to a 
 small group. Those of us who teach in 
 classroom or in Sunday-school, or who speak 
 in small meetings of club, guild or what not, 
 who appear, in plays or entertainments, or 
 whose vocations in life depend on the use 
 of the voice in explaining or selling — the 
 necessity for clear speech is vital to thou- 
 
276 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 sands. In "business matters it is almost m- 
 dispensable to man or woman. No matter 
 how thoroughly conversant we may be with 
 a subject, if the capacity is not there to 
 express that knowledge clearly, if the proper 
 use of the lips or the voice is foreign to us, 
 we are placed at a decided disadvantage. A 
 clear enunciation, a knowledge of the em- 
 phasis on the right words, the capacity to 
 make the lips express what the mind knows, 
 are absolutely vital and may mean the dif- 
 ference between getting our message "over" 
 .or not. 
 
 Notice the next time you see a play with 
 a cast of English actors and listen how dis- 
 tinctly each line is spoken, how clear-cut is 
 the enunciation, and how, with little ap- 
 parent effort, the voice "carries" to the most 
 remote part of the theater. 
 
 Why do the English speak better than the 
 Americans? 
 
 In the answer to this question lies the 
 crux of the whole matter. 
 
 Proper attention is ^iven in all English 
 schools to proper enunciation, vocal place- 
 ment and the use of lips and voice. An 
 English boy or girl is taught, in earliest 
 years, the vaiue of distinct speaking. 
 
 What emphasis do we place on this subject 
 in our schools and colleges? None at all, 
 practically speaking. Here and there you 
 will find, in the curriculum, a glimmer of 
 recognition of the value of this needful 
 study, but what acknowledgment does the 
 average school or college give to vocal 
 placement; and, if given, what value is 
 pla(?6d upon it? There lies our trouble, and 
 it <^s a fault we should correct. 
 
 Our children should be taught, not alone 
 to learn the English language, but also how 
 to speak it. Before this is done, however, 
 we elders must ourselves first get a realiz- 
 ing sense of the importance of the gift of 
 "^ clear speech. There is no earthly reason 
 why the American should go on with his 
 present slovenly method of speech; his lip- 
 laziness. One can learn to speak distinctly 
 with the same ease as one drifts into speak- 
 ing unintelligibly. 
 
 There is a ray of hope in the growing 
 realization of the value of the voice on the 
 part of the telephone companies and of the 
 recent establishment of a Society of Amer- 
 ican Speech in New York. The railroads 
 and all transportation companies are also 
 beginning to realize that an integral part of 
 good service is that their conductors shall 
 speak clearly. Business houses are awaken- 
 ing to the fact that the good salesman is 
 the man who knows how to use his voice. 
 But if we were to get this realization more 
 
 clearly into the minds of those who control 
 our institutions for the education of the 
 young, it would be more to the point. We 
 must begin with the child and see to it not 
 only that it speaks clearly but that it un- 
 derstands the value of why it should. 
 
 There are some things in our American 
 life that we should not carry on, and one 
 of them is our universal habit of lip-laziness. 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT HAS 
 
 CROSSED THE RUBICON! 
 
 It Cannot Allov Any Body of Men to Defy 
 the Law— That Would Be Rebellion! 
 
 Philadelphia Public Ledger 
 
 The Government of the United States cer- 
 tainly cannot afford to fool with this strike 
 situation. It cannot afford to have it said 
 at any price that a private organization 
 within the commonwealth can openly defy 
 the Government of the nation and get away 
 with iti A Government which cannot and 
 does not assert and enforce its superiority to 
 any body of men, however powerful, within 
 the namon it assunes to govern, abdicates in 
 the mcst cowardly and contemptible manner 
 open ^ any Executive. It does not matter 
 in th^ least whether the powerful body be- 
 fore \fhich it bows is a cabal of titled rebels, 
 a conspiracy of predatory capitalists, a class, 
 or a jnob. A Government that backs down 
 befori a flagrant defiance of its authority 
 ceasei automatically to be a Government. 
 
 Th^ situation would be entirely different 
 if tm Administration had not taken a hand 
 in this strike. Then it would be precisely 
 what the acting president of the United 
 MinelWorkers ren.inds us is one of the con- 
 stitut onal rights of the workers of America 
 — the right to stoj work at will. That right 
 has npt been abrogated, curtailed or even 
 challekged. What the Government has done 
 is to mtervene under wartime legislation in 
 a matter which threatens the ability of the 
 nation to "carry on," and, having inter- 
 vened land havir.g declared a bituminous 
 coai strike at this time to be "unlawful," 
 the Gpvernment is bound effectively to 
 prevent the "unlawful" act or call upon the 
 nation to give it the further power needed 
 to do sf 
 
 It mutet be perfectly clear to any thinking 
 man, be he coal miner or operator or lawyer 
 or politcian, tha: no Government can pos- 
 sibly declare a thing to be "unlawful" and 
 then sit down in impotence and permit it 
 to go oi. What are the laws for? What 
 is the Government for? What in such a 
 case becomes of law and order and the 
 
EDITORIALS OF CONTROVERSIAL TENDENCY 
 
 277 
 
 )ower of the sovereign people to govern 
 ;hemselves ? 
 
 The Government has struck a direct and 
 ;elling blow by securing an injunction re- 
 straining the officers of the United Mine 
 Workers of America from all strike activi- 
 ;ies. They are to recall the strike orders 
 ilready issued and refrain froni encourag- 
 ng, promoting or financing t^e strike in 
 my way. It is a pity that the blow did not 
 'all sooner, for its lateness must leave the 
 ess educated among the working miners in 
 5ome degree of doubt. But that will soon 
 Jure itself. ,' 
 
 The great thing is that tKe Government 
 las now put the judiciary oehind the en- 
 forcement of the law and removed every 
 vrisionary vestige of the ground from be- 
 neath whatever contention tne Labor leaders 
 might be tempted to put up against the 
 statement that their strike is "unlawful." 
 Whatever it was before, there can be no 
 excuse for questioning no# that it is "un- 
 lawful" to disobey an ordeil of the court. 
 
 Still the Government milst do better than 
 this. The strike leader^ proposed quite 
 openly and brazenly to defv the Government 
 and perform an "unlawful" act, wMch is 
 surely an act of Rebellioji! And the first 
 retort of the defied Government is to go to 
 [law with them. It looks just a little too 
 ^uch like a tactical campaign betweei two 
 legitimate belligerents. The Goveri.ment 
 proposes to hamper, annoy and reduce to 
 impotence its "enemy." I|; "turns his flank" 
 with an injunction or cuts his vital connec- 
 tions by not allowing the ppstman to call! 
 
 Surely a Government \jhose authority is 
 challenged must do someihing more vigor- 
 ous and effective than thit! 
 
 There is no doubt abou^ the damage that 
 a prolonged coal strike wt)uld inflict on the 
 community. There is no doubt abort the 
 right of the community tp intervene. The 
 coal miners' leaders well! know that they 
 wield a terrible weapon. It is an "un- 
 lawful" weapon. It is now doubly "unlaw- 
 ful" through the injunction. To persist 
 would be to rebel, to declare war on the com- 
 munity, to defy the courts, i 
 
 If this should occur and if the American 
 public should lie down under it, they could 
 no longer shoot out the lip at the docile 
 Russian "public" under thei knout of Lenine., 
 
 This does not mean, of course, that the 
 demands of the working Jniners are being 
 prejudged or may not be met. What the 
 public, through the Presi<lent, projoses, is 
 examination and something as nearly ap- 
 proaching arbitration as fe possible in such 
 
 a case. Absolute arbitration fails where 
 one party to the arbitration cannot be com- 
 pelled to abide by the award. But a 
 friendly meeting with the operators and rep- 
 resentatives of the Government is promised. 
 The thing, however, which could not be 
 tolerated is that the miners should go dog- 
 gedly and defiantly ahead doing the "un- 
 lawful" thing which the Government has so 
 stigmatized and enjoined, and has pledged 
 itself to exhaust all the resources at its 
 command to stop. 
 
 The demands of the miners look to the 
 casual bystander to be extreme. They want 
 a 60 per cent increase in pay, a six-hour 
 day and a five-day week. But the man who 
 does his work at a city desk, in a well-aired 
 factory or in the open fields should not sit 
 in premature or hasty judgment on this 
 claim. The lot of the coal miner is a hard 
 one and he deserves special consideration. 
 
 Still the question must arise, when we see 
 his leaders so brazenly defying the Govern- 
 ment and the law, whether this demand is 
 bona fide and based genuinely on the miners' 
 labor conditions. There are demands being 
 made in the world that are not bona fide, 
 but are only intended to inspire and precipi- 
 tate Revolution! Yesterday's Associated 
 Press dispatches from Paris carried, for ex- 
 ample, the following: 
 
 Paris, Oct. 31 — Heavy preasnire is be- 
 ing brought to bear by syndicalist lead- 
 ers upon railway men to endeavor to 
 induce them to join the movement for 
 a revolutionary general strike Novem- 
 ber 7. Revolutionary orators at a 
 meeting of the Federation of Ssmdical- 
 ists Thursday called upon the railroad 
 men to demand an increase in wasres of 
 1000 francs ($200), not, as Citizen 
 Sirolle admitted, with the idea of gain- 
 ing it, but with the sole object of creat- 
 ing difficulties by the failure to obtain 
 their demands. 
 
 Railway brakemen and switchmen 
 had asked for a salary of 3800 francs 
 ($760), and from all indications it 
 seemed the demand would be granted. 
 M. Sirolle, therefore, proposed that 
 they should ask for 4800 francs ($960), 
 because the comrades must be kept busy 
 with claims for increased wages. 
 We are as far as possible from saying 
 that this lis the case with the coal miners. 
 We support th6 Government policy of bring- 
 ing the several parties together to investi- 
 gate precisely this question of the soundness 
 and sincerity of their demands. But frank 
 confessions like the above must give the 
 American people "furiously to think," espe- 
 
278 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 cially when such men as Foster lead the 
 steel strikers and when the leaders of the 
 coal strike make such ferocious attacks upon 
 the fair and earnest efforts of the Adminis- 
 tration to bring about a satisfactory and 
 peaceful settlement. 
 
 LAW AND THE JUNGLE 
 
 Omaha Evening World-Herald 
 [This editorial by Harvey E. Newbranch, was 
 awarded the prize of $500 offered by the Puhtzer 
 School of Journalism, Columbia University, for the 
 editorial judged to be the best contribution to public 
 good within the year.] 
 
 There is the rule of the jungle in this 
 world, and there is the rule of law. 
 
 Under jungle rule no*man's life is safe, 
 no man's wife, no man's mother, sister, chil- 
 dren, home, liberty, rights, property. Un- 
 der the rule of law protection is provided 
 for all these, and provided in proportion as 
 law is efficiently and honestly administered 
 and its power and authority respected and 
 obeyed. 
 
 Omaha Sunday was disgraced and humil- 
 iated by a monstrous object lesson of what 
 jungle rule means. The lack of efficient 
 government in Omaha, the lack of govern- 
 mental foresight and sagacity and energy, 
 made the exhibition possible. It was pro- 
 vided by a few hundred hoodlums, most of 
 them mere boys, organized as the wolf -pack 
 is organized, inflamed by the spirit of an- 
 archy and license, of plunder and destruc- 
 tion. Ten thousand or more good citizens, 
 without leadership, without organization, 
 without public authority that had made an 
 effort U organize them for the anticipated 
 emer^ncy, were obliged to stand as on- 
 lookers, shamed in their hearts, and witness 
 the hideous orgy of lawlessness. Some of 
 them, to thedr blighting shame be it said, 
 respectable men with women and children in 
 their homes, let themselves be swept away 
 oy the mob spirit. They encouraged if they 
 did not aid the wolf-pack that was con- 
 / spiring to put down the rule of law in 
 / Omaha — that rule which is the sole protec- 
 tion for every man's home and family. 
 
 It is over now, thank God! 
 
 Omaha henceforth will be as safe for its 
 citizens, and as safe for the visitors within 
 its gates, as any city in the land. Its re- 
 spectable and law-abiding people, compris- 
 ing 99 per cent of the population, will see 
 to that. They have already taken the steps 
 to see to it. The first step was taken when 
 the rioting was at its height — taken be- 
 latedly, it is true, because they had placed 
 reliance on the public authorities to safe- 
 guard the order and good name of Omaha. 
 The blistering disgrace of the riot has 
 aroused them. There will be no more fal- 
 tering, no more fickleness, no more pro- 
 
 crastination, no longer the lack of a firi 
 hand. The military aid that has been calU' 
 in is only temporary. It serves to insul 
 public order and public safety for the daj 
 for the week. But the strengthening oi 
 the police force of the city, its efficient or- 
 ganization under wise and competent leader- 
 ship, is a policy that public sentiment has 
 inaugurated and that it will sternly enforce. 
 As to that there will be neither equivocation 
 nor delay. Nor will there be any hesitancy 
 or laxnass in the organization, and rigid 
 use if need be, of civic guards to keep the 
 streets and homes and public places of 
 Omaha secure. 
 
 The citizenship of Omaha will be anxious 
 that the outSide world should know what it 
 was that happened and why it happened. 
 Let there be no mistaking the plain facts. 
 The trouble is over now. It was a flare-up 
 that died as quickly as it was born. Omaha 
 is today^ the same safe and orderly city it 
 has always been. It will be safer, indeed, 
 hereafter, and nore orderly, because of the 
 lesson it has so dearly learned. And the 
 flare-u^ was the work — let this fact be em- 
 phasized — of a f2w hundred rioters, some of 
 them Incited by an outrageous deed, others 
 of thdm skulkerg in the anarchistic under- 
 brush] who urged them on for their own 
 foul purposes of destroying property and 
 paralfzing the aim of the law. If the miser- 
 able negro, Brovni, had been removed from 
 Omaha in time, as he should have been; if, 
 failing to remove him, the public authorities 
 had taken vigorous measures to prevent the 
 congvegation anc inflaming of the mob, the 
 riot would never have occurred. An or- 
 ganised and intelligently directed effort in 
 advince would have preserved the good 
 name of Omaha untarnished. It would have 
 prevented the lynching. It would have saved 
 our splendid new court house from being 
 offered up in fla^mes, its defense with the 
 mob-victim in it, a costly sacrifice on the 
 altari of law and order. There would have 
 been no thought, even, of the amazing at- 
 temp; to lynch the mayor of Omaha, bravely 
 and honorably discharging his duty as chief 
 magistrate in resisting the wolf-pack. 
 
 It A;Tould be impossible to speak too strong- 
 ly in condemnation of the rioters or in the 
 uncompromising demand for their stern and 
 swift bunishment, whoever they be, wher- 
 ever fiey can be found. They not only 
 foully murdered a negro they believed to 
 be guilty. They brutally maltreated and 
 attempted to murder other negroes whom 
 they kjiew to he innocent. They tried to 
 lynch ijhe mayo.'. They wantonly pillaged 
 stores and destroyed property. They burned 
 the coilrt house In the sheer spirit of 
 anarchj they pulled valuable records from 
 
EDITORIALS OF CONTROVERSIAL TENDENCY 
 
 279 
 
 leir steel filing cases, saturated them in 
 isoline, and burned them. They burned 
 )lice conveyances and cut the fire hose, in- 
 ting the destruction by fire of the entire 
 ty. Their actions were wholly vile, wholly 
 dl, and malignantly dangerous. There is 
 )t a one of them who can be apprehended, 
 id whose guilt can be proved, but should 
 » sent for a long term to the state prison. 
 nd toward that end every effort of every 
 >od citizen, as well as every effort of the 
 iblic authorities, from the humblest po- 
 leman to the presiding judge on the bench, 
 ust be directed. There can be no senti- 
 entalizing, no fearful hesitancy, no con- 
 )ning the offense of these red-handed crim- 
 lals. The pitiful bluff they have put up 
 ^ainst the majesty of the law, against the 
 iviolability of American institutions, must 
 
 2 called and called fearlessly. 
 
 To the law-abiding negroes of Omaha, 
 ho, like the law^biding whites, are the 
 ist majority of their race, it is timely to 
 3eak a word of caution as well as a word 
 f sympathy and support. Any effort on 
 tie part of any of them to take the law 
 ito their own hands would be as culpable 
 nd as certainly disastrous as was the effort 
 £ the mob. In the running down and mal- 
 reating of unoffending men of their color, 
 lerely because they were of that color, they 
 ave been done odious wrong. They nat- 
 rally and properly resent it. They natural- 
 7 and properly resent having been confined 
 
 3 their homes, in trembling fear of their 
 ves, while red riot ran the streets of the 
 ^ty. But their duty as good citizens is 
 Precisely the same as that of the rest of us, 
 11 of whom have been outraged and shamed 
 ,s citizens. It is to look to the law for their 
 protection, for their vindication, and to give 
 he law every possible support as it moves 
 n its course. The law is their only shield, 
 .s it is the only shield of every white man, 
 10 matter how lowly or how great. And it 
 s the duty of all, v/hites and blacks alike, 
 
 to uphold especially the might of the law — 
 to insist, if need be, on its full exercise — in 
 protecting every colored citizen of Omaha 
 in his lawful and constitutional rights. 
 
 For the first time in many years — and for 
 the last time, let us hope, for many years 
 to come — Omaha has had an experience with 
 lawlessness. We have seen what it is. We 
 have seen how it works. We have felt, how- 
 ever briefly, the fetid breath of anarchy on 
 our cheeks. We have experienced the cold 
 chill of fear which it arouses. We have 
 seen, as in a nightmare, its awful possibili- 
 ties. We have learned how frail is the 
 barrier which divides civilization from the 
 primal jungle — and we have been given to 
 see clearly what that barrier is. 
 
 It is the Law! It is the might of the 
 Law, wisely and fearlessly administered! It 
 is respect for and obedience to the Law on 
 the part of the members of society! 
 
 When these fail us, all things fail. When 
 these are lost, all will be lost. Should the 
 day ever come when the rule that was in 
 Omaha Sunday night became the dominant 
 rule, the grasses of the jungle would over- 
 spread our civilization, its wild denizens, 
 human and brute, would make their foul 
 feast on the ruins, and the God who rules 
 over us would turn His face in sorrow from 
 a world given over to bestiality. 
 
 May the lesson of Sunday night sink 
 deep! May we take home to our hearts, 
 there to be cherished and never for a mo- 
 ment forgotten, the words of the revered 
 Lincoln: 
 
 "Let reverence of the law be breathed by 
 every mother to the lisping babe that prat- 
 tles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, 
 seminaries and colleges; let it be written 
 in primers, spelling books and almanacs; 
 let it be preached from pulpits and pro- 
 claimed in legislative halls and enforced 
 in courts of justice; LET IT BECOME 
 THE POLITICAL RELIGION OF THE 
 NATION." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 EDITORIALS OF ESSAY NATURE 
 
 In Chapter VIII of Part I the 
 editorial-essay was considered. The 
 articles here reprinted represent the 
 kind of writing in which editorial and 
 essay characteristics unite. In some 
 
 of the preceding divisions appear cer- 
 tain longer editorials that can be 
 classified as editorial-essays. The 
 student should turn back and ex- 
 amine those also. 
 
 AMY LOWELL'S COLLECTION 
 
 OF MODERN VERSE 
 
 The Review- 
 Messrs. Doubleday, Page and Company 
 give notice of a "Bookshelf," comprising 
 fifty-four volumes of representative modern 
 verse, selected by Miss Amy Lowell, and 
 offered for sale, in collected form, at the 
 New York bookstores of the firm. The 
 choice of Miss Lowell as chooser is saga- 
 cious, and the inclusion in her list of four 
 volumes written by herself is altogether 
 right and proper. Books in the "old idiom" 
 are allowed a minority representation; one 
 anthology and three books of criticism are 
 included. The series is to furnish an "au- 
 thoritative guide" to people interested in 
 new verse who have heard "the clamor of 
 the fight from far." (The metaphor is in- 
 teresting as sjmiptomatic of the outbreak of 
 poetry in our time in the commercial notices 
 of publishers; today not only the vines, but 
 the elms that support the vines, bear 
 grapes.) If there is any weakness in the 
 interesting plan of Messrs. Doubleday and 
 Page, it lies possibly in the vagueness of 
 the constituency to which they appeal. Un- 
 doubtedly they can find persons who need to 
 be guided to the primary text-books in 
 modem verse. Presumably they can find 
 persons who are willing to read fifty-four 
 volumes of modern poetry, though the Re- 
 view would shrink from participation in 
 the search. But where is the reader to be 
 found who belongs in both these classes? 
 One hardly spreads a bookshelf before per- 
 sons who are obliged to inquire the road to 
 the library. Depths of ignorance commonly 
 go with shallow curiosities. Miss Lowell's 
 list will certainly interest critics, but the 
 man whom Messrs. Doubleday and Page 
 have in mind would be better served by 
 counsel to read the Monroe-Henderson an- 
 thology through in connection with Miss 
 Lowell's "Tendencies in Modern American 
 Poetry." 
 
 In partial compliance with a suggestioi 
 of the publishers, the Review will give her( 
 and now a brief summary of the chief stepi 
 in the radical movement of contemporary 
 verse. 
 
 In 1855 Walt Whitman published "Leavei 
 of Grass." He handled many topics am 
 used many words which were strange to tb 
 poetry of his day, and he wrote in a rhyme 
 less and metreless verse of which th 
 rhythms were indefinite and variable. Th 
 verse was thought to be new and free. It 
 freedom was unquestionable; its novelty ha( 
 to be judged in the light of the fact tha 
 poetry which looked like prose and pros 
 which sounded like poetry were not un 
 known, or even very unusual, in Englis] 
 and other literatures. More must be knowi 
 of prose rhythm and more of free-verse 
 rhythm before the amount of originality in 
 the latter can be fixed with any permanence. 
 
 Whitman, then, was a double innovator: 
 an innovator on the side of matter and dic- 
 tion, and an innovator on the side of 
 technique. Both of these novelties had se- 
 quels. The sequel in England, which may 
 or may not have been a result, was an ex- 
 pansion in matter and diction on lines not 
 markedly Whitmanesque. In 1874 W. E. 
 Henley published his "Hospital Sketches." 
 Kipling's electrical "Barrack-Room Ballads" 
 and "Seven Seas" came out in 1892 and 
 1896. Thomas Hardy's grim verse had its 
 beginning in "Wessex Poems" in 1898. In 
 1913 came the shock of John Masefield's 
 "Everlasting Mercy," a poem riotous in dic- 
 tion and setting, though its teaching was 
 meekness itself. Meanwhile, the plays and 
 tales of Mr. W. W. Gibson had put into 
 the plainest language the crudest facts in 
 the lives of humble men and women. 
 
 Innovation in England, then, applied itself 
 mainly to subject and vocabulary — in France 
 it laid hold of versification. Between 1890 
 and 1893, a group of young French poets, 
 very unlike Whitman, but very tired of the 
 
EDITORIALS OF ESSAY NATURE 
 
 281 
 
 )ld French verse-forms, fell in with Whit- 
 nan's liberated rhythms. M. Viele-Griffin 
 published translations of the American poet 
 n his review, Les Entretiens politiques et 
 itteraires. M. Henri de Regnier, between 
 1890 and 1900, put elasticity and versatility 
 nto French rhythms, without robbing them 
 Df their ancient stay of rhyme. M. Paul 
 Fort, fertile in "Ballades" between 1894 
 md 1898, made the boundary between verse 
 and prose waver and oscillate in the freak-» 
 ish diversity of his experiments. 
 
 These undertakings in France found an 
 eager and adroit pupil in Miss Amy Lowell, 
 an American poetess, whose "Sword-Blades 
 and Poppy-Seed," dating from 1914, was 
 followed in 1916 by "Men, Women and 
 Ghosts." Free verse, as Miss Lowell wrote 
 it, may be defined as a rhymeless form in 
 which the verses (or lines) obey no single 
 or common law. But while her coadjutors, 
 mostly English, perfected the fine and 
 fragile technique of the form, Miss Lowell 
 herself was turning to another form known 
 as "polyphonic prose." Polyphonic prose, 
 though sprinkled with rhyme and assonance, 
 is prose to the eye, and its basis is a richly 
 rhythmed and strongly segmented sentence, 
 the members of which show a balance that 
 is both exquisite and monotonous. Miss 
 Lowell is experimenter and expositor quite 
 as much as poet. She placed militant pref- 
 aces, like vedettes, in front of her books of 
 jverse, and, viewing them, very properly, as 
 non-combatants, supplied them with body- 
 guards in the shape of two critical treatises, 
 "Six French Poets" (1915) and "Tendencies 
 in Modern American Poetry" (1916). 
 
 America had thus reclaimed from France 
 the metrical impulse which France in the 
 early nineties had borrowed from- Whitman. 
 She was also to reclaim from England — 
 or perhaps merely to revive in herself — the 
 impulse towards liberality of subject in 
 which she had anticipated or prompted the 
 mother country. The very curious thing is 
 that these things happened at almost the 
 same time; the formal revolt and the ma- 
 terial revolt were practically simultaneous. 
 "Sword-Blades and Poppy-Seed" was issued 
 in 1914. In 1914 and in 1915 appeared 
 "North of Boston" by Robert Frost and 
 "Spoon River Anthology" by Edgar Lee 
 Masters. Neither of these books lacked nov- 
 elty in form, but the significance of both 
 lay in their material, in the appropriation 
 by poetry of realistic intensities which had 
 hitherto been relinquished to prose on the 
 ground that they were homely or sordid. 
 They were very different books in other 
 -ways: Mr. Frost gave poignancy to inner 
 lieartbregks; Mr. Masters imparted grim- 
 
 ness to melodrama on a civic scale. But 
 together they formed the complement to 
 Miss Lowell's work; America had fathered 
 both tendencies; like parted brothers they 
 rejoined each other at their common birth- 
 place. 
 
 The result of these coincidences must have 
 surprised everybody. The public took fire; 
 books of poetry were bought, were read, 
 were sought by publishers; poets wrote un- 
 der new stimuli for a widened audience, and 
 an amazed nation called itself to account, 
 in criticism and debate, for its unexampled 
 interest in poetry. Into the worth or dura- 
 tion of this movement it is not the purpose 
 of this meagre and imperfect summary to 
 inquire. We have carried Messrs. Double- 
 day and Page's reader as far on his journey 
 as we could, and we now abandon him, with 
 a friendliness not untouched with compas- 
 sion, to his fifty-four volumes. 
 
 WHAT IS VALUE? 
 HOTTENTOT VENUS 
 BLACK POPPY, 100-YEAR EGGS 
 THE $17,000 ROOSTER 
 
 Arthur Brisbane in Pittsburgh Press 
 
 What is value? An African savage will 
 give 30 cows for a bride. A Hottentot will 
 pay twice as much for a fat bride as for one 
 half as fat. With you, perhaps, it would be 
 just the other way. 
 
 The "Hottentot Venus" who died in Paris 
 many years ago, and whose exact figure was 
 preserved, in wax or plaster, in the museum 
 of the Jardin des Plantes, would surprise 
 you if you could see it. Even a description 
 would surprise you. It would take up too 
 much space, as the lady herself does. 
 
 Her mother had fed her on camel's milk- 
 stuffed her with it. Hottentot mothers stuff 
 their young daughters as Strasbourg farm- 
 ers stuff geese, when the mothers marry 
 them off at their fattest. The proudest 
 bridegroom has the fattest bride. Our girls 
 starve themselves, and freeze themselves. 
 
 At one time in Holland a black poppy 
 bulb was worth a fortune, although that 
 flower is much more beautiful and interest- 
 ing with the many marvelous colors that 
 the sun lends to it. 
 
 Here you pay a dollar or more in winter 
 for 12 eggs, and console yourself with the 
 thought that they are, perhaps, absolutely 
 fresh. 
 
 The Chinese mandarin will pay 10 times 
 the price for eggs 50 or more years old, 
 and consider them a great delicacy. 
 
 In the intestines of the spermaceti whale, 
 that carries the big reservoir of valuable 
 
282 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 fat in its head, are found occasionally lumps 
 of ambergris, a substance disagreeably con- 
 nected with the biliary apparatus. He who 
 finds a great lump of this absolutely worth- 
 less material in the inside of a whale, or 
 washed up on the shore, has found a for- 
 tune. 
 
 The ignorant in the east attach great 
 importance to it for use in medicine. West- 
 erns use it in preparing perfumery. Some 
 have used it in flavoring food. Macaulay 
 tells you in his "History of England" that 
 'the favorite dish of Charles II was eggs and 
 ambergris. 
 
 Many in this country support themselves 
 by digging ginseng root. It is sent to the 
 Chinese, who pay extravagant prices for 
 it, considering it the most valuable medicinal 
 remedy in the world. To us it is absolutely 
 useless. Perhaps its aromatic stimulating 
 properties help defend the Chinese against 
 germs with which their insides are afflicted, 
 thanks to lack of plumbing and decent 
 sewerage. We laugh at the Chinese, who 
 sets such value on ginseng or on eggs older 
 than himself. 
 
 What about the American who, having 
 five or ten millions more than he can spend 
 sanely, works himself to death trying to get 
 five or ten millions more? 
 
 When you have enough, gold is worth 
 even less than ginseng. On a desert island 
 you might keep alive chewing a ginseng 
 root. It would do you no good to chew gold. 
 
 When Macbeth made his second visit to 
 the witches they put into their hell broth, 
 among other things, the following: 
 
 Baboons' blood, fillet of a fenny snake, 
 eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and 
 tongue of dog, adder's fork and blindworm's 
 sting, lizard's leg and howlet's wing. 
 
 As late as Shakespeare's day many would 
 have paid huge sums for such ingredients in 
 a witch broth to make power for themselves 
 or trouble for others. They would have paid 
 even more if they could have added, as 
 Shakespeare does, a witch's "mummy, maw 
 and gulf of the ravin'd salt sea shark," and 
 especially the "nose of Turk and Tartar's 
 hps" and "finger of birth-strangled babe." 
 
 We of today know that there is not any 
 special power in all that mixture; we would 
 not pay 10 cents for it. 
 
 But many of us are paying many times 
 10 cents to well-meaning doctors for mix- 
 tures not more valuable, some of them much 
 more harmful. 
 
 We know more than we used to. Thou- 
 sands of years ago in Rome, on a high hill, 
 they erected a temple to fever, with com- 
 plimentary words on the front of it, and 
 spent money trying to placate the evil 
 power, fever, that killed so many through 
 centuries. 
 
 The other day a few scientific men, ex- 
 posing themselves to danger, proved that if 
 you kill the mosquitoes that planted the 
 fever in the blood of the Romans you need 
 no temple to fever, or any placating of the 
 "malignant power." 
 
 From this you gather that wherever else 
 real worth may be located, it is surely to be J 
 found in science, in the intelligence that | 
 grows in the brain of man, as the ambergris 
 grows in the whale's insides. 
 
 The American public pay Bamum a for- 
 tune for the pleasure of looking at a white 
 elephant, no more interesting than an ordi- 
 nary elephant. 
 
 Rulers of Siam insisted always on having 
 a sacred white elephant near the palace. It 
 was really the religion of the little boy that 
 ke«ps a couple of toads and a garter snake 
 — if his mother will let him. 
 
 The public also paid Barnum for the priv- 
 ilege of looking upon his "What is it," a ^ 
 miserable creature with the frontal angle of 
 a marmoset, forehead one-eighth of an inch 
 high. 
 
 The deformed idiot was "worth" half a 
 million dollars. Much more than Shake- 
 speare, Milton and Dante combined. 
 
 The Empress Catherine of Russia was one 
 of the first rulers to be vaccinated against 
 the smallpox, and it took. She was grateful 
 to the little boy from whose arm was taken 
 the smallpox virus injected into her body. 
 She thought it impossible to exaggerate the 
 "value" of that little drop of poison, so she 
 created that boy "The Duke of Smallpox." 
 
 The same empress bought all the books 
 and fixings in the house of Voltaire, at Fer- 
 ney, when he died — his paintings, his books 
 with the interesting notes on the margins. 
 Lenine or Trotsky should dig them up and 
 give them a special place of honor in some 
 museum, if they haven't done it already. 
 Probably that empress attached more im- 
 portance to the poison that protected her 
 unimportant system against smallpox than 
 to Voltaire's entire life time. So "What is 
 VALUE?" 
 
 The other day, on the way to Cuba, there 
 passed through New York City a game 
 cock "worth" $17,000. When he gets to 
 Cuba he will have sharp steel spurs fas- 
 tened to the stumps of his natural spurs, 
 
EDITORIALS OF ESSAY NATURE 
 
 283 
 
 and while crowds gesticulate, applaud 
 and bet he will fight until some other rooster 
 puts a steel shaft through his brain. After 
 that, he will be worth not $17,000, but 17 
 cents — too muscular and tough, except for 
 soup. Even so, he will be really "worth" 
 more as a dead rooster than Caesar as a 
 dead ruler. 
 
 We wonder why the Hottentot likes his 
 wife five feet wide at the hips. We wonder 
 how the Turk can take any pleasure in the 
 society of a lady whom he has bought. 
 
 We wonder especially at the $17,000 value 
 put on the fighting rooster. 
 
 Yet we erect expensive monuments to 
 men that among human beings are worth no 
 more than the fighting rooster among 
 animals. 
 
 We shall be better fitted for criticizing 
 the price put on fighting roosters and the 
 value attached to Hottentot Venuses when 
 we build more monuments to thinking men 
 and fewer to mere fighters. 
 
 CLEMENCEAU AND THE 
 
 PRESIDENCY OF FRANCE 
 
 The Outlook 
 
 When some men accused him of wanting 
 to be king, Theodore Roosevelt answered 
 the fools according to their folly by remark- 
 ing, with the characteristic falsetto break 
 in his voice that betrayed his amusement: 
 "They don't know kings, and I do. A king 
 is a cross between a perpetual Vice-Presi- 
 dent and a leader of the Four Hundred." 
 
 One might as well be a king as be Presi- 
 dent of the French Republic. It is well that 
 the world was spared the spectacle of 
 Georges Clemenceau trying to fill that role. 
 When his political enemies the other day 
 prevented his election to that high, orna- 
 mental, very necessary, but chiefly symbolic 
 office, they did him as well as France a 
 service. The French have a keen sense of 
 the fitness of things; and they have shown it 
 in revolting at the idea of caging the 
 "Tiger." 
 
 In order to understand what the Presi- 
 dent of the French Republic is, an American 
 must remove from his mind most of the 
 ideas which he associates with the office of 
 President of the United States. When the 
 American Constitution was formed, the 
 English king exercised much greater powers 
 than he exercises today. The American 
 President has inherited much, if not all, of 
 that monarchical power, and has received in 
 addition much, if not most, of the power of 
 the English Prime Minister. Meantime the 
 power of the English king has declined. To- 
 day the King of England is chiefly the 
 hunian symbol of the British Empire's unity 
 
 and glory. Now what we have united into 
 one office here in America the French have 
 kept separate. They have created two Pres- 
 idents. One, the President of the Republic, 
 has much of the function of the English 
 kmg— not the English king of the eighteenth 
 century, but the English king of today. The 
 other, the President of the Council of Min- 
 isters (or, as we commonly say, the Pre- 
 mier) has a function very similar to that of 
 the English Prime Minister. It is the Pres- 
 ident of the Council that has the real gov- 
 erning power; it is the President of the 
 Republic that, as it were, simply bears the 
 scepter and wears the crown. For the 
 preservation of our liberties we Americans 
 trust chiefly to the limitation of four years 
 which is placed upon our monarchical pres- 
 ident's term of stewardship. The French, 
 on the other hand, keep the President of the 
 Council constantly under control, turning 
 him out at will, while allowing the orna- 
 mental and symbolic President of the Re- 
 public to enjoy his honors for seven years. 
 The president of the Republic dwells apart 
 in the Elysee Palace, makes speeches, pre- 
 sides at ceremonies, and signs documents. 
 The President of the Council dwells where 
 he will, and is in the midst of the political 
 conflict, guiding the Government with one 
 hand and with the other defending his own 
 position against those who would turn him 
 out. 
 
 It is in this political conflict, giving and 
 taking blows, that Georges Clemenceau has 
 always been engaged. Most of the time he 
 has been either in political office, or else, 
 when out of it, hammering those who were 
 in. To place this man where his sole duty 
 would be to represent a republic's version 
 of royalty would seem to be inartistic, and 
 that France cannot very well be. 
 
 Not that Georges Clemenceau would not 
 have served very well as a symbol of France, 
 the real France, the France not of the boule- 
 vards, but of the conservative, home-loving, 
 thrifty, valiant, rational, contented, alert, 
 philosophical people whom the war discov- 
 ered to the world; but, we have no doubt, 
 he would nevertheless have seemed to him- 
 self, to France, and to the world very much 
 out of place. 
 
 Indeed, the French came very near doing 
 the inartistic thing out of gratitude for 
 what Clemenceau had achieved on behalf of 
 his country. They brought him to the very 
 gate of the Elysee Palace, and told him that 
 that was where they would like to see him 
 spend in dignified ease the remaining days 
 that are to crown his life; but they perhaps 
 wondered at the last minute what the 
 "Tiger" would do to that residence, and 
 
284 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 they certainly drew back at the thought of 
 what such a residence might do to thQ 
 "Tiger." So, through their Senators and 
 Deputies, they selected a man whom Roy- 
 alists and Socialists could agree in choos- 
 ing. It is a pity that the second thought 
 of the French did not occur to them until 
 after Clemenceau had acquiesced in the pro- 
 posal and the world had assumed that his 
 unpretentious figure was about to be used 
 as a National decoration, that his penetrat- 
 ing and often mordant personality would be 
 employed in gracing urbane and ceremonial 
 occasions. As a consequence, the Germans 
 are likely to interpret his defeat as an in- 
 dication that France is losing the spirit that 
 carried her through the war, and the extreme 
 pro-Bolshevist Socialists are already inter- 
 preting his defeat as a tribute to the grow- 
 ing power of their anarchistic communism. 
 Of course it is neither. France has not 
 forgotten what Clemenceau did for her, nor 
 is she likely willingly to throw away the 
 fruits of the victory which she could not 
 have won but for his indomitable will. 
 
 It was when the fortunes of France had 
 reached their lowest ebb that Clemenceau 
 came into the control of the government. 
 It was not merely that the military power 
 of France and her allies seemed to have 
 reached its limit with little prospect of 
 speedy reinforcement from America, but 
 that the courage of the people was being 
 sapped from within. French resistance to 
 the Germans had been weakened by the 
 work of two types of defeatists. On the 
 one flank there had come attacks from men 
 who were out-and-out materialists. The 
 most sordid of these were engaged in in- 
 trigues that finally led to the trial and ex- 
 ecution of Bolo Pasha. These people mis- 
 represented the spirit of France, but were 
 nevertheless not without power in affecting 
 her course On the other flank were de- 
 featists of another type. These were the 
 sentimentalists. They argued that the Ger- 
 man people were democratic at heart and 
 that the time had come for France to recog- 
 nize that the war was not to be won by 
 overcoming them, but rather than peace was 
 to be secured by welcoming the Germans as 
 brothers und^^r a new internationalism. 
 These sentimentalists were not obviously 
 sordid and corrupt. They were therefore 
 the more dangerous. In spite of the ex- 
 perience received at the hand sof the Hun, 
 they, like kindred spirits in America, wel- 
 comed the thought of peace without victory. 
 Though the sentimentalists so far as they 
 were sincere, hated the materialists, and the 
 materialists despised the sentimentalists. 
 
 they were in practice allies in working for 
 defeat. 
 
 What added to the confusion was the fact 
 that these two enemies of the cause of lib- 
 erty and law masqueraded under false 
 names. The sentimentalists were called 
 idealists. The sordid materialists were dig- 
 nified by the name of realists. As a matter 
 of fact, there was neither realism nor 
 idealism in either group. The idealist is 
 one who holds fast to a great conception. 
 The realist is one who refuses to ignore the 
 facts of life. The sentimentalists were will- 
 ing to sacrifice an ideal in order to salve 
 their emotions. The materialists ignored the 
 most potent fact of life — ^the willingness of 
 men to die for an ideal. And yet appar- 
 ently intelligent men of common sense were 
 in danger of being swept into the defeatist 
 current by imagining that the sentimental- 
 ists represented the ideal of the war, and 
 that the materialists were the only ones who 
 saw the hard facts. 
 
 It was at this juncture that Clemenceau 
 became the political leader of France. At 
 once, he showed himself to be the implacable 
 enemy of sentimentalist and materialist 
 alike. Under his guidance the foul crew 
 that would have sold out France to the 
 Hun was broken up; and also under his 
 guidance the sentimentalists who were 
 preaching anti-patriotic internationalism 
 were gradually reduced to at least tem- 
 porary impotence. As a consequence Clem- 
 enceau incurred the enmity of both groups; 
 but, by the same token, he won the confi- 
 dence of France. He proved himself both 
 realist and idealist. As realist he dissipated 
 the illusions about the facts of the situa- 
 tion and the character of the beast that 
 France was fighting. As idealist he re- 
 newed the faith of France in the cause for 
 which she fought and in ultimate victory. 
 
 During the months of strain that preceded 
 the armistice, Clemenceau made his mis- 
 takes. He is not of suave disposition. He 
 can use words that stab. He has none of 
 Lincoln's power of conciliation. He can be 
 dogmatic and exasperatingly inconsiderate 
 of sensitive natures. He is not averse to in- 
 cisive satire which does not become grateful 
 by virtue of its being true. Yet with all 
 his sharpness he won not only admiration 
 and support, but even affection. In his visits 
 to the soldiers at the front, in his terse 
 summons time and time again to the spirit 
 of the French people, in his fearless 
 handling of dangerous political situations, in 
 his whole course, he well earned his title. 
 Father Victory. 
 
 What Venizelos, the Greek Premier, said 
 of himself may be said with equal truth of 
 
 
EDITORIALS OF ESSAY NATURE 
 
 285 
 
 Georges Clemenceau. Speaking extem- 
 poraneously to a group in Paris, one of 
 whom was a representative of The Outlook, 
 Venizelos said something like this: "I am 
 an idealist. But I am also a realist. As I 
 understand it, idealism is not opposed to 
 realism, but to materialism." Since the 
 armistice, as before, Clemenceau has proved 
 himself to be an idealist who is big enough 
 to be at the same time a realist. Nobody- 
 has ever accused him of sentimentalism, but 
 many have accused him of materialism. 
 Though there is nothing of the sentimental- 
 ist about him, no Frenchman has proved 
 more clearly than Clemenceau that he is a 
 lover of his country. And though people 
 who imagine that one has to be a mate- 
 rialist in order to face the facts have accused 
 him of materialism, it is because Clemen- 
 ceau could face the facts that he proved 
 himself the only kind of idealist that is of 
 any use when ideals are put to the test. 
 
 This great Frenchman, veteran of num- 
 berless political battles, whose compact, aged 
 body that survived an assassin's attack is 
 matched by an equally compact and vigorous 
 mind, has served the world in serving 
 France. He needs no office to embellish his 
 name. The enmity which the foes of civ- 
 ilization have attached to him is a worthier 
 and more enduring decoration. Some day 
 Americans will realize better than they do 
 now that by his sturdy insistence on keeping 
 ideals attached to facts he served their 
 country as well as his own. 
 
 TEXTILE PROFITEERS 
 
 They Were in Minority, But Yam Prices 
 Show How Far They Went 
 
 Lincoln Cromwell, who durincr the war was buyer 
 of knit goods for the War Department and had 
 charge of knitting mill production for the War In- 
 dustries Board, addressed the National Association 
 of Hosiery and Underwear Manufacturers at its re- 
 cent convention in Philadelphia. That part of the 
 address dealing with reconstruction conditions in the 
 textile industry is presented herewith. 
 
 By Lincoln Cromwell 
 
 New York Times 
 
 We may almost say that the war has de- 
 monetized wealth. When you put out a 
 dollar on mortgage six years ago you loaned 
 a definite purchasing power measured in 
 cotton or steel or personal service. When 
 that dollar comes back to you today its value 
 has changed astonishingly. According to 
 Bradstreet, in January last, it was worth 
 on the average only 45 cents. If you take 
 that dollar to the wholesaler, its value has 
 shrunk to 54 cents in exchange for fuel, 41 
 cents for farm products, 40 cents for food, 
 
 38 cents for lumber, 34 cents for house fur- 
 nishings and 30 cents for clothing. 
 
 In hosiery prices that old dollar is now 
 worth about 40 cents on the average sales, 
 but only 20 cents in buying women's mer- 
 cerized 220 needle stockings and 24 cents 
 in a standard grade of women's black cotton 
 stockings. In underwear it will average 
 with the clothing list at about 30 cents. 
 But when the knitter tries to buy cotton 
 yarn with that old dollar, the colloquial 
 comparison with 30 cents is a compliment. 
 It has withered to 15 cents in buying fine 
 mercerized yarns, to 20 cents in fine-combed 
 and carded yarns, and to 25 cents in coarse 
 carded yams. It will, however, buy from 
 40 to 45 per cent of its former labor value. 
 
 A striking exception from these figures is 
 the cost of transportation, for the old dollar 
 is still worth 66 cents in the passenger train 
 and 75 cents in the freight car. These 
 figures for the United States, showing an 
 increase of the wholesale price index from 
 100 to 221, are less startling than the in- 
 creases abroad, where neutral countries 
 have fared as badly as the belligerents. 
 The index today is 300 for Norway, 307 for 
 Sweden, 203 for Holland, 240 for Switzer- 
 land, 238 for Paris and 288 for England. 
 Mr. Bryan's free silver coinage was a plan 
 to allow debtors to pay in dollars then 
 worth 50 cents. That would have been a 
 moderate hardship on the creditor compared 
 with the change made by the great war in 
 the value of the fixed incomes of the moneyed 
 class. But high prices have been beyond 
 human control. 
 
 Some Real Profiteering 
 
 This is not, however, to give a clean bill 
 of health to everybody. Some mean advan- 
 tage has been taken. In many towns a wage 
 increase in the mills has been followed the 
 next day by higher prices in the stores. 
 Federal agents have arrested some retailers 
 under the Lever law for charging unjust 
 profits, but these were small game for the 
 profiteer hunters. A Brooklyn haberdasher, 
 arrested for selling a raincoat at 100 per 
 cent profit, committed suicide. Huge profits 
 have been made by speculation in wholesale 
 stocks, in machinery and in mills. Silks 
 have been sold and resold five times before 
 reaching the retailer. They were often paid 
 for by trade acceptances discounted at the 
 banks, thus inflating credit and increasing 
 prices at each sale. 
 
 Incidentally, I know of one silk mill which 
 was sold three times before it was finished. 
 A church was sold for a silk mill in Scran- 
 ton and a saloon in Paterson. Second hand 
 machinery has brought the price of new, 
 and some mills have earned their cost price 
 
286 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 in six months. Prices have advanced so 
 fast and so steadily that manufacturers 
 could not help making money. 
 
 Of all textile prices, however, the ad- 
 vances on cotton yarns were in a class by 
 themselves. Such advantage has been taken 
 of the famine in cotton yams that prices, 
 especially for the finer counts, are stupidly 
 high and excite resentment. The profiteer- 
 ing landlord who boosts rents 150 per cent 
 has a heart compared with the cotton yam 
 spinner whose prices range from 4% to 7 
 times what they were in 1915. The ad- 
 vances look even more unreasonable in the 
 actual prices, showing No. 30 carded peeler 
 pushed up 90 cents a pound from 25 cents 
 to $1.15; No. 30 combed peeler up $1.31^ 
 a pound from 33^^ cents to $1.65; and fine 
 numbers like 801-2 mercerized up $5 a pound 
 from 86 cents to about $6. 
 
 Any attempt to justify present yarn prices 
 on a basis of fair profit to the mill and de- 
 cent regard for living costs to the public 
 must explain away the 100 per cent stock 
 dividends declared by spinning mills, and 
 the statements of profits issued by several 
 groups on the flotation of additional stock 
 to increase control of this business. It is 
 the big abuses of opportunity which dis- 
 credit the whole capitalistic system and ex- 
 pose us to the danger of State regulation. 
 We are soon going to hear a loud call for 
 Federal licensing and other control of busi- 
 ness. If that calamity befalls us, it will be 
 due as much to some cotton yam spinners 
 as to anybody else. Their kind of unsocial 
 greed v^rrote Schedule K into the Payne- 
 Aldrich bill and so discredited the Taft Ad- 
 ministration that its defeat was sure long 
 before 1912. 
 
 Heaven help the United States if that 
 spirit has influence with the Chicago con- 
 vention! A necessary part of our recon- 
 struction is a rebellion against grossly ex- 
 cessive profits. It will occur when the public 
 learns who are making them, and refuses to 
 pay a tribute which is unjust and dishonor- 
 able. It is just as dishonorable when cap- 
 ital goes into partnership with labor to raise 
 prices and divide the spoils as when capi- 
 talists or labor leaders play the highwayman 
 all by themselves. 
 
 Textile Price Outlook 
 
 We are making slow progress in building 
 up reserve stock of goods, or of raw mate- 
 rials. Agricultural costs are likely to in- 
 crease. The world needs more cotton than 
 is grown, more wool than is clipped. There 
 will be no quantity of linen while Russian 
 trade is barred. The little news coming 
 out of Japan shows her in serious domestic 
 trouble which may stop speculation there 
 
 and lower the price of silk, but prices of the 
 other textile materials are apparently firm. 
 We must expect fabric prices to hold up 
 unless they are lowered by increased pro- 
 duction overtaking the demand when com- 
 petition will squeee the profits of makers 
 and distributers — or unless wages are cut. 
 There is evidence that labor is settling down 
 to steadier work, that production is increas- 
 ing, and that competitive conditions are re- 
 turning in some lines. 
 
 Nobody expects wages to be cut. No de- 
 cent citizen wants them cut. I do not trust 
 myself to say in public what I think of 
 some mills which recently proposed that all 
 in their city shut down three days a week 
 "to put labor in its place" as they express it. 
 But unless experience fails us now, the ex- 
 traordinary high prices and high interest 
 rates mean the end of a period of industrial 
 activity. It may not come this year. But it 
 will come. It may bring only a temporary 
 drop in prices, for if it comes soon the 
 shortage of supplies will put prices up 
 again just as it did last year. But it will 
 surely bring unemployment. We shall then 
 enter the critical phase of our reconstruc- 
 tion. 
 
 P'or in that day labor, union and nonunion, 
 will protect itself with a new power and a 
 clear idea of what it needs. It will scorn 
 the charity of bread lines. It will demand 
 employment. If it cannot find private em- 
 ployment it will demand it from the public, 
 paid for by taxes on the rich. The heaviest 
 burden of the working class is its constant 
 dread of losing a job. You who are used to 
 yearly contracts, to the running of busi- 
 nesses established in the patronage of hun- 
 dreds of customers, who have reserves of 
 capital and ability to take care of yourselves 
 in time of sickness or of trouble, rarely ap- 
 preciate the precarious hold of the workmen 
 on an economic independence. Many em- 
 ployments expose him to personal dangers. 
 If he is sick or disabled, his pay stops. If 
 a mother stays home to care for a sick 
 child, her pay stops. 
 
 Most manufacturers get uneasy weeks 
 before they are out of orders. But nearly 
 every man and woman in their mills is em- 
 ployed only from day to day under all the 
 risks of the business and often liable to dis- 
 charge at the mere whim of an overseer. 
 Remember, too, that the employer's work is 
 busied by a range of duties which puts va- 
 riety and interest into his work, whereas the 
 specialized labor of modern industry has 
 reduced each operation to a monotonous 
 grind, deadening ambition and lessening 
 loyalty to the employer. The same disparity 
 continues in the leisure hours of the cap- 
 
EDITORIALS OF ESSAY NATURE 
 
 287 
 
 italist and the laborer. The workman is 
 deprived now even of the social relaxation 
 he used to get over a glass of beer. It is 
 small wonder that the five million men who 
 touched bigger things in our army and 
 navy, and the many million men and women 
 who worked at home in the novelty and 
 excitement of war work, have found their 
 old employments so much like drudgery and 
 have fallen down in their daily output. 
 
 Capitalism vs. Socialism 
 
 Do not think that I have turned Socialist 
 and gone over to maudlin sentimentality. 
 On the contrary, I am so sure that the capi- 
 talistic basis of society is the only system 
 that can produce enough to keep today's 
 population alive, that the chance of per- 
 sonal gain is the only incentive to make men 
 work enough, that life is safest where pri- 
 vate property is best protected, and that 
 State socialism is a bankrupt theory, that I 
 am pointing out a few of the inequalities 
 which always have and will exist, but which 
 a real reconstruction will try to relieve. 
 The greatest injustice in life is that one man 
 is born with ability and another without it. 
 No form of Government can make them 
 equal; neither socialism, Bolshevism, nor 
 any other ism can prevent one man from 
 failing while another succeeds. The first 
 colony at Plymouth started as communists, 
 but so many wasted their time hunting in- 
 stead of plowing in Summer that half of 
 the colony died of scurvy the first Winter, 
 and in self-protection they had to abandon 
 their share-and-share-alike theory. 
 
 The bees are perfect Socialists, but until 
 men are born and bred as much alike as the 
 bees in a hive, some will always be getting 
 rich and others staying poor. Debs, Hay- 
 wood, Foster, Gruneau and Howat probably 
 have at the hands of stupid employers suf- 
 fered cruel injustices. I grant their sin- 
 cerity and personal unselfishness, but their 
 rage against capitalistic society will not con- 
 vert the American people to revolutionary 
 ideas. I would suggest that we study closer 
 the conditions which unbalanced Debs and 
 his kind, and see if we cannot learn of some 
 things to avoid in the future. There has 
 been a lack of honor and justice somewhere 
 when workmen are driven to follow an- 
 archists. 
 
 In our labor reconstruction I hope to see 
 the workman made more secure in his job 
 by better business management. This as- 
 sociation is doing a fine service by inform- 
 ing its members about requirements of the 
 trade and about stocks on hand. Fuller 
 knowledge of conditions will allow planning 
 further ahead, keep prices steadier, and 
 avoid breaks in employment. 
 
 OUR NEW ATTITUDE 
 
 TO PEACE PROBLEMS 
 No Surrender of Our Interest in Their Set- 
 tlement Despite Treaty Entanglement 
 
 MIGHT 
 
 INVOLVE 
 
 US 
 
 LATER 
 
 Firm Stand Against Opportunist Compro- 
 mises and a Broad Outlook for the Future 
 
 Special to the New York Times 
 
 WASHINGTON, April 3.— The attitude 
 taken by the American Government in deal- 
 ing with allied tentative proposals for a 
 solution of the Turkish problem is now 
 realized here as involving considerations of 
 great importance, not only because of its 
 bearing on a situation that constitutes one 
 of the world's storm centers, but also on 
 account of its revelation that in the absence 
 of the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles 
 the Washington Administration has adopted 
 a new method of dealing with outstanding 
 European issues. 
 
 The note on the Turkish situation was 
 handed to M. Jusserand, the French Am- 
 bassador at Washington, on March 24. It 
 stated the attitude of Washington in favor 
 of the expulsion of the Turk from Constanti-^ 
 nople, the establishment of a northern fron- 
 tier for the Arabs on ethnographic lines, 
 the protection of Russian vital interests in 
 any arrangement made concerning the gov- 
 ernment and control of Constantinople and 
 the straits, and dealt with the disposition 
 of Turkish Thrace, as well as the future 
 status of Armenia, Mesopotamia, Arabia, 
 Palestine, Syria and the Turkish islands. 
 The note itself contains proof of the new 
 attitude in the conduct of American foreign 
 policy in its bearing on the situation in 
 Europe. 
 
 "The President feels, however," it said 
 after expressing the inadvisability of hav- 
 ing this Government in present circum- 
 stances represented by a plenipotentiary in 
 the Turkish peace treaty conferences, "that 
 as this Government is vitally interested in 
 the future peace of the world, it should 
 frankly express its views on the proposed 
 solutions of the difficult questions connected 
 with the Turkish treaty. While it is true 
 that the United States of America was not 
 at war with Turkey, yet it was at war with 
 the principal allies of that country and con- 
 tributed to the defeat of those allies, and, 
 therefore, to the defeat of the Turkish Gov- 
 ernment. For that reason, too, it is be- 
 lieved that it is the duty of this Govern- 
 ment to make known its views and urge a 
 solution which will be both just and lasting." 
 
288 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Must Be Consulted 
 
 The turning point in this new policy came 
 on Jan. 19, when Secretary Lansing, by 
 direction of President Wilson, cabled in- 
 structions to American Ambassador Wal- 
 lace at Paris to "take up with M. Clemen- 
 ceau and Mr. Lloyd George the question of 
 the way the Kussian and Italian problems 
 have been handled and ascertain their point 
 of view." This was the note that precipi- 
 tated the new exchanges of correspondence 
 between Washington, London and Paris over 
 the Adriatic question. It meant that, de- 
 spite the jeopardy in which the Treaty of 
 Versailles had been placed by the attitude 
 of the Senate, the executive branch of the 
 American Government insisted on being con- 
 sulted with regard to the future settlements 
 to be made concerning the Adriatic, Hun- 
 garian and Turkish phases of the general 
 peace settlement. 
 
 "Is it the intention of the British and 
 French Governments," the Lansing note of 
 Jan. 19 asked, "in the future to dispose of 
 the various questions pending in Europe 
 and to communicate the results to the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States?" 
 
 This was followed by the President's note 
 of Feb. 10, also sent by Mr. Lansing, in 
 which he made plain that President Wilson 
 felt that the Adriatic issue had raised the 
 fundamental question whether the Ameri- 
 can Government could on any terms co- 
 operate with its European associates in the 
 work of maintaining the peace of the world 
 by removing the primary causes of war, and 
 in which warning was served that the Pres- 
 ident might have to take under serious con- 
 sideration the withdrawal of the Treaty of 
 Versailles and the Franco -American agree- 
 ment of defense from the Senate. 
 
 Isolation at an End 
 
 The substance of the new policy — ^which 
 had its turning point in the exchange of 
 notes over the Adriatic issue, and again has 
 been revealed in the note of March 24 on 
 the Turkish settlement — is one of refrain- 
 ing from plenipotentiary participation in the 
 framing of the remaining peace treaties 
 and, in the absence of ratification of the 
 Versailles Treaty, of keeping aloof from 
 collective action with the European powers, 
 but without any essential isolation of the 
 United States or surrender of American in- 
 terest in the settlement of the European 
 problems raised by the war, the armistice 
 and the Peace Conference. While under ex- 
 isting circumstance it is not possible for 
 the United States to refuse to concern itself 
 with European international affairs the 
 
 )H|' United States is vitally interested in what 
 
 is done in the unfinished peace settlements; 
 that we were vitally interested in the war 
 and the aims for which it was fought; that 
 we entered the war to achieve certain ob- 
 jects, and that we are opposed to the 
 triumph of imperialism or the revival of 
 militarism in Europe, or to any shaping of 
 peace settlements by reversion to the old 
 order of diplomacy such as might compro- 
 mise the future peace of the world. 
 
 The Administration's position is therefore 
 that the United States has too great an 
 interest in the kind of peace settlements 
 which are yet to be made in Europe — and 
 they remain unmade so far as the Adriatic, 
 Hungary and Turkey are concerned— to be 
 ignored. The President considers these in- 
 terests so vital — treaty or no treaty — that 
 he will continue to speak, independent of 
 the treaty, in an effort to point the way, as 
 he sees it, toward peace settlements of a 
 just and lasting character, feeling that 
 America has a direct concern in any wrong 
 settlement of questions such as might pre- 
 cipitate future wars in which the United 
 States might become embroiled through an 
 endangering of its rights abroad or on the 
 high seas. 
 
 A feeling relative to European affairs 
 has been gaining ground here that the spirit 
 of common cause in which the allied and 
 associated Governments decided that the 
 peace settlement should be framed, which 
 prevailed at the moment of the armistice 
 and revealed itself in allied acceptance of 
 the American platform of the Fourteen 
 Points, has been dissipated, and that, instead 
 of displaying a genuine and sincere effort 
 on the part of all European Governments 
 and peoples to join in a supreme effort to 
 settle down in international relations on 
 principles of justice and fairness, such as 
 might abate international hatred and de- 
 crease armaments, much of Europe is 
 aflame with what for want of a better phrase 
 has been called imperialistic ambition. 
 There is ample evidence of the spirit of 
 annexation and actual practice is revealing 
 the old methods of secret diplomacy against 
 which American spirit has revolted. 
 
 The question is now being asked in Wash- 
 ington whether the advantages gained by 
 close international association or through ; 
 being parties to the formulation of the new 
 treaties, were sufficiently counterbalanced by 
 the laws of free expression and free ad- ' 
 vocacy of principles, agreed to at the time 
 of the armistice, but which have been lost 
 in proposals for remaining peace arrange- 
 ments. 
 
EDITORIALS OF ESSAY NATURE 
 
 289 
 
 Clear Attitude on Russia 
 
 The most interesting evidence of the new 
 policy adopted in the American note on the 
 Turkish problem is the manner in which 
 Russia is mentioned. Close students of the 
 situation were quick to detect the very dif- 
 ferent tone in which Russia is drawn into 
 account in this note, as compared with past 
 performances. Ever since the Bolshevist 
 revolt in Russia, although Russia has been 
 an international topic more than any other 
 European question, consideration of Russia 
 has been either along the line of aiding a 
 suffering people or of counteracting the 
 spread of Bolshevism into the rest of the 
 world. For thirty months responsible 
 molders of foreign policies have scarcely 
 mentioned Russia as an actual factor in the 
 international equation. Only in this newest 
 American note is Russia so treated. The 
 United States takes the initiative, in its 
 Turkish note, in considering that "future 
 Russia" will be an active factor in the 
 family of nations whose participation along 
 certain lines in foreign affairs must be 
 anticipated by the other powers. 
 
 "This Government," the new American 
 note declares, "is convinced that no arrange- 
 ment that is now made concerning the gov- 
 ernment and control of Constantinople and 
 the straits can have any elements of per- 
 manency unless the vital interests of Russia 
 in those problems are carefully provided for 
 and protected, and unless it is understood 
 that Russia, when it has a government rec- 
 ognized by the civilized world, may assert 
 its right to be heard in regard to the de- 
 cisions now made. It is noted with pleasure 
 that the questions of passage of warships 
 and the regime of the straits in war time 
 are still under advisement, as this Govern- 
 ment is convinced that no final decision 
 should or can be made without the consent 
 of Russia." 
 
 Thus three important facts stand out, in 
 an analysis of these allusions: 
 
 First, the American Government records 
 its faith in the restoration of Russia, and 
 when it speaks of Russia being destined to 
 have a Government that can and will be 
 recognized by the civilized world, it means 
 that the American Government regards the 
 present Soviet regime as a mere passing 
 phase and looks forward to the restoration 
 in Russia of a strong constitutional Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Second, the entire spirit of friendship in 
 carefully providing for and trying to pro- 
 tect Russian interests in the straits, as ex- 
 pressed in the note, shows it is the desire of 
 the American Government to shape its Rus- 
 sian policy so as to have the Russia of the 
 
 future friendly to the great powers and the 
 United States. The whole aim of this policy 
 is built around the idea of what Russia is to 
 be in the future rather than on what she is 
 today. 
 
 Third, an understanding and appreciation 
 of Russia's importance in the correlation be- 
 tween nations, as well as evidence the note 
 offers that America, looking forward, seems 
 to realize that, after Russia is restored, she 
 will be vigorous and influential in interna- 
 tional affairs; and that if such a Russia has 
 reason to feel that she has been injured or 
 dealt with in an unfriendly way, the founda- 
 tion would be laid for future serious world 
 disturbance. 
 
 The American policy as thus revealed, 
 however, is fully consistent with the main 
 principles that have guided this Government 
 in its attitude toward Russia during the last 
 year, and which have been emphasized in 
 these dispatches. In these months the 
 United States seems to have been the only 
 country which has had anything like a defi- 
 nite, underlying principle running through 
 its Russian policy as opposed to the short- 
 sighted opportunism in the Russian policy 
 of European Governments. 
 
 Maintains Our Attitude 
 
 The American Government has stood out 
 against the disintegration and dismember- 
 ment of national Russia and refused to ac- 
 cord recognition to the new States of 
 Esthonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Ukraine 
 and the Caucasian republics carved out of 
 Russian territory. It has never given its 
 approval to the idea of the so-called "cordon 
 sanitaire," or sanitary barrier, between 
 Russia and the Central Powers, and it has 
 • steadily opposed the imperialistic claims of 
 the Russian border States which, although 
 now benefiting from an application of the 
 principles of nationality and justice, have 
 turned their ambitions toward annexationist 
 experiments. 
 
 Similarly, with full sympathy for the lib- 
 eration of Poland and the establishment of 
 Polish independence within an ethnographic 
 frontier, the American Government has con- 
 sistently opposed imperialistic ambitions of 
 Polish landlordship and militarism such as 
 were revealed in the demand in Poland's 
 peace terms to Soviet Russia for the sur- 
 render of Russian sovereignty over 20,000,- 
 000 Russians east of the line of 1772, which 
 was the eastern frontier before the first 
 partition of Poland. 
 
 The same point of view was consistently 
 maintained by the American Government in 
 its opposition to the annexation of Bessara- 
 bia by Rumania. Washington insisted that 
 
290 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 the Bessarabian question should be settled, 
 without detriment to Russian interests, by 
 a just and impartial plebiscite. 
 
 Again, in its attitude toward the allied 
 proposals for trading with Soviet Russia, in 
 the advocacy of which certain European 
 elements seemed to be inspired by motives 
 of political expediency or immediate profits, 
 the United States, looking still to the fu- 
 ture, took its stand against having any gov- 
 ernmental dealings whatever with, or recog- 
 nition of, the Soviet Republic. That position 
 is still being maintained. While individual 
 Americans, if they so wished, might em- 
 bark on trade ventures with Russia, the 
 Government let it be known that they must 
 do so on their own responsibility. 
 
 American policy thus has been framed on 
 broad general lines, without running coun- 
 ter to or taking advantage of the future 
 interests of the Russian people as a whole, 
 and without prejudicing American relations 
 with the Russia of the future. 
 
 THE KILLING OF THE TREATY 
 
 Philadelphia North American 
 
 Although clearly foreshadowed, and to 
 some extent discounted, the defeat of the 
 peace treaty must seem to every thoughtful 
 American an event of extreme gravity. The 
 certain and possible consequences are so se- 
 rious that all those who bear any part of the 
 responsibility must be prepared to offer con- 
 vincing reasons in justification of their 
 course, or to suffer lasting condemnation. 
 In any case the struggle which began in the 
 senate eight months ago, but which really 
 had its inception at least three years before, 
 will provide one of the most important chap- 
 ters in American history; for there have 
 been involved not only far-reaching issues 
 of international policy, but fundamental 
 principles of this nation's system of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 This marked the third defeat of the treaty 
 by the senate. On November 19, exactly 
 four months before, it was voted down 
 twice, only to be revived in February and re- 
 considered. But last Friday's action was de- 
 cisive, for the treaty was returned to the 
 president, with formal notice that it had 
 been rejected. So far as the senate is con- 
 cerned the disposition is final; to reopen the 
 case would require resubmission of the 
 treaty by the president, and there is no 
 likelihood that he will take such action. He 
 has fulfilled his threat to make the peace 
 of the world an issue in the presidential 
 campaign. 
 
 With astonishing hardihood, the presi- 
 dent's partisans represent him as a cham- 
 pion of ratification, and the adverse vote as 
 
 a calamity which he strove to avert. The 
 facts are precisely contrary to this pre- 
 tense. On the direct issue of ratification 
 he was on the negative side. The senators 
 whom he accuses of obstructing peace are 
 those who voted to ratify the treaty; those 
 who obeyed his orders voted to kill ^ it. 
 Thus while the essential result was rejec- 
 tion, through failure to get a two-thirds 
 vote in the affirmative, it is on record that 
 the senate, by a clear majority, voted to 
 ratify, and that effective approval was pre- 
 vented by Mr. Wilson. 
 
 Apart from this, the outstanding feature 
 was the president's loss of support since the 
 former test. The first vote on November 19 
 showed 35 Republicans and 4 Democrats for 
 ratification, 13 Republicans and 42 Demo- 
 crats against; upon reconsideration 34 Re- 
 publicans and 7 Democrats voted to ratify, 
 while the adverse group was made up of 13 
 Republicans, as before, with 37 Democrats. 
 Hence there was a majority of 16, and then 
 of 9, against ratification. Last Friday, on 
 the contrary, the vote was 49 to 35 in favor 
 of ratification. The majority included 28 
 Republicans and 21 Democrats, the minor- 
 ity 12 Republicans and 23 Democrats; thus 
 
 14 Democrats joined the original 7 in dis- 
 obeying the orders of the president. All of 
 the twelve senators absent or not voting 
 were paired, and, a two-thirds majority be- 
 ing required, each one against ratification 
 was paired with two favoring it. If the 
 entire membership had voted the result 
 would have stood: For ratification, 34 Re- 
 publicans, 23 Democrats, total 57; against, 
 
 15 Republicans, 24 Democrats; total 39. No 
 very close analysis of these votes is neces- 
 sary to refute the charge that the issue was 
 decided upon motives of partisanship. As 
 a fact, on few important questions have 
 party lines been more nearly obliterated. 
 
 A Democratic senator — Mr. King of Utah 
 — gave the most concise possible explanation 
 of the result. "It was due," he said, "to the 
 implacable hostility of some Republicans and 
 the indefensible position of some Demo- 
 crats." The former comprised a group of 
 senators who felt that the league of nations 
 covenant could not be made safe for this 
 country even by the reservations adopted; 
 the latter comprised those Democrats who, 
 regardless of their personal convictions, 
 adopted the president's view that the whole 
 treaty should be killed rather than that 
 American rights and interests in the league 
 of nations should be safeguarded by the 
 reservations which a decisive majority had 
 approved. 
 
 Obviously, however, the senate's action 
 cannot be fairly judged without study of 
 
EDITORIALS OF ESSAY NATURE 
 
 291 
 
 the preceding incidents in the prolonged 
 and intricate contest. And that past history- 
 is necessarily a record of President Wilson's 
 actions and utterances, which have dictated 
 or influenced every development. 
 
 Even before the United States entered the 
 war he had undertaken to direct the course 
 of the settlement, and long before the conflict 
 closed he had declared in the name of this 
 country a peace program embodying fea- 
 tures distinctly foreign to American tradi- 
 tions and policies. In support of this plan 
 he asked the nation to sign a blank check 
 of authority by electing a congress con- 
 trolled by his partisans. His request was 
 denied, for a congress was elected with a 
 majority in both houses against him. 
 Nevertheless, although he had promised to 
 abide by the result, he disregarded it by 
 going to Europe and pledging the United 
 States for all time to engagements which 
 the nation had never authorized and to which 
 it was manifestly opposed. 
 
 His main purpose was to merge the power 
 of this country in a world league, upon the 
 theory that this sacrifice of American na- 
 tionalism would benefit mankind; that cause 
 he considered, he said, "greater than the 
 government." He had a secondary object, 
 however; he was determined to nullify the 
 constitutional power of the senate as a co- 
 equal part of the treaty-making power, and 
 to create an executive absolutism in this 
 function of the government. It was for this 
 reason that he excluded the senate wholly 
 from his confidence, and denied to that body, 
 for the first time in American history, rep- 
 resentation upon a treaty-making mission. 
 
 When presenting the league covenant to 
 the international conference, in February, 
 1919, he made the baseless assertion that 
 he had an "imperative mandate" from the 
 American people so to do. Upon returning 
 temporarily to this country a few weeks 
 later he found strong opposition to his 
 course, but expressed complete disregard for 
 it. On the eve of his second departure he 
 received formal notice, signed by forty-one 
 members of the incoming senate, that the 
 league covenant as framed would not be ac- 
 cepted, but his response was an angry de- 
 fiance. He would, he declared, so inter- 
 twine the peace treaty and the covenant that 
 they could not be separated "without de- 
 stroying the whole vital structure," and he 
 proclaimed that America must "make the 
 supreme sacrifice, without counting the 
 cost." 
 
 In the face of constantly growing pro- 
 tests he carried out his plan, and on July 10 
 presented to the senate the combined treaty 
 and covenant. The defects and dangers of 
 
 the instrument were so obvious that drastic 
 reservations were demanded; but President 
 Wilson declared forthwith the position from 
 which he never receded— that the nation 
 must accept every obligation he had pledged 
 and that the senate must ratify without 
 modification the document he presented. 
 Failing to bend individual senators to his 
 will, he undertook to coerce them by in- 
 citing public opinion against them. During 
 the month of September he toured the coun- 
 try, and in a series of speeches advocated 
 acceptance of his work, while denouncing 
 the opposing senators as "contemptible 
 quitters," pro-Germans and enemies of 
 peace. No more elaborate ^d determined 
 propaganda was ever conducted, but its 
 demonstrated result was to intensify the de- 
 mand, both throughout the country and in 
 the senate, for reservations to the covenant 
 which would preserve American sovereignty 
 and independence. 
 
 When the tour was near its end the presi- 
 dent became ill, and he was compelled to go 
 into seclusion for nearly six months. Mean- 
 while the treaty had been under prolonged 
 consideration in the foreign relations com- 
 mittee and in the senate, and in November 
 fifteen reservations were adopted, supported 
 by the votes of from three to ten Demo- 
 crats in each case. They were included in the 
 resolution of ratification. On November 18, 
 the day before the final vote was to be taken, 
 President Wilson wrote a letter requesting 
 the administration senators to vote down the 
 resolution, and his order was obeyed, the 
 senate adjourning immediately thereafter. 
 
 His supporters said he would resubmit the 
 treaty at the new session, but he held that 
 it was still before the senate, and, after 
 remaining silent for two weeks, while nego- 
 tiations for compromise went on incessant- 
 ly, he issued curt notice that he would con- 
 sent to "no compromise or concession of 
 any kind." Efforts to find a basis of settle- 
 ment continued, nevertheless, and he was 
 compelled to reveal more nakedly his arbi- 
 trary purpose. On January 8 he wrote a 
 letter condemning all reservations. "I do 
 not accept the action of the senate as the 
 decision of the nation," he said, and declared 
 that rather than accept the treaty with them 
 he would "submit it for determination at 
 the next election." So little sway did par- 
 tisanship have in the senate that even after 
 this sweeping rejection of compromise the 
 opposing groups continued their own efforts 
 and reached agreement on virtually all of 
 the reservations except that affecting Ar- 
 ticle X. 
 
 On February 1 came an incident which 
 completed the discrediting of the president's 
 
292 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 intolerant position. One of his main argu- 
 ments had been that America must make 
 "the supreme sacrifice" because "our fidelity 
 to our associates in the war is in question." 
 But it had long been known that the Allies 
 were ready to assent to all the vital Ameri- 
 can reservations, and their position ^ was 
 made known definitely in a letter published 
 by Viscount Grey, British ambassador in 
 Washington. Addressing his countrymen, 
 he explained the constitutional powers of 
 the senate, repudiated the charge that reser- 
 vations would involve bad faith, justified 
 the limiting of this country's obligations 
 under the league, and explained why it was 
 wise to provide against the possibility that 
 a president might make engagements which 
 congress and the people might disapprove. 
 
 President Wilson never publicly com- 
 mented upon this letter, but he showed that 
 solicitude for our associates in the war was 
 not the reason behind his arbitrary posi- 
 tion; for, after the senate had readopted 
 the reservations — again by bi-partisan vote 
 — he wrote once more condemning them, and 
 a few days ago returned the draft of a com- 
 promise reservation with the peremptory 
 marginal note, "This is unacceptable to me." 
 
 A survey of the record shows three funda- 
 mental reasons why the league idea, which 
 in the beginning had strong support in this 
 country, fell into discredit and finally met 
 repudiation. First, President Wilson, by 
 written appeal, made it a partisan issue, 
 and it never recovered from that blighting 
 designation. Second, he attempted to nul- 
 lify the constitutional powers of the senate, 
 a course which neither that body nor the 
 people would tolerate. Third, he undertook 
 to force upon the country a revolutionary 
 change in policy, involving a surrender of 
 that freedom of judgment and action which 
 is the first prerogative of nationhood and 
 which has been the means through which 
 America has served the cause of liberty for 
 a century and a half. 
 
 When it was shovra that no such sacrifice 
 was necessary, the Allies themselves assent- 
 ing to the reservations, the last pretense 
 supporting his contentions was swept away, 
 and he was revealed as one who put his 
 personal will above the interests of the coun- 
 try and the welfare of the world. 
 
 A single word from President Wilson, at 
 any time during the last six months, would 
 have insured instant ratification of the 
 treaty of peace and the league of nations 
 covenant, in a form safe for America and 
 satisfactory to the stricken nations of Eu- 
 rope that have pleaded for our co-operation. 
 But that word he would not utter; rather 
 would he "break the heart of the world" 
 
 than bend his will to that of the Ameril 
 people. Is it to be doubted where histoi 
 will apply the description which an adminis 
 tration organ strangely applies to the cours 
 of the senate — a "prolonged and disgracefi 
 exhibition of mean-spirited partisanship an^ 
 incompetence?" 
 
 THE MOOD OF THE IRISH MIND 
 
 By Lloyd R. Morris 
 
 The Outlook 
 
 To the poet, as to the politician, the 
 duality of Ireland has always been appar- 
 ent. Ignoring the facile and somewhat 
 casual distinction drawn by his more vol- 
 uble compatriots, the poet of the Celtic 
 renascence has celebrated an Ireland hav- 
 ing its existence in the world of reality, and 
 another, none the less real, in which the 
 most familiar dwellers are vision and imag- 
 ination. The paths which have led to this 
 legendary and fabulous country are as vari- 
 ous as the spirit of its discoverers, but the 
 voyage itself has had a special significance 
 in its relation to English literature of the 
 past quarter-century. 
 
 The writings of Lady Gregory afford per- 
 haps the best of introductions to the body of 
 literature produced in Ireland during the 
 past thirty years because, superficially at 
 least, they exemplify the qualities common- 
 ly assumed to be characteristic of the lit- 
 erary expression of the renascence. Three 
 of its major preoccupations have profoundly 
 influenced her work — the revival of interest 
 in Gaelic tradition and legend, the discovery 
 of peasant life as the subject-matter of a 
 literature, and the use of peasant idiom as a 
 means of literary expression. To a very 
 high degree her work has been the result of 
 a conscious desire to justify these interests 
 which in the early days of the literary re- 
 nascence had not acquired the force of an 
 accepted theory of art, but were tentative 
 principles put forth by Yeats, A. E. and 
 Douglas Hyde. 
 
 It was from Yeats that Lady Gregory bor- 
 rowed the programme on which she founded 
 her long series of books. Yeats began with 
 the desire to create a body of literature 
 founded upon national tradition and directly 
 expressive of national spiritual life, written 
 in a language at once poetic and colloquial. 
 He found the subject-matter of this litera- 
 ture in the ancient folk-tales and its lan- 
 guage in the imaginative and vigorous idiom 
 of the peasantry of the western counties. 
 To Lady Gregory, who possessed the knowl- 
 edge of Gaelic which he lacked, Yeats sug- 
 gested the scheme of a modern rendering of 
 the old folk-tales in this idiom, which is es- 
 sentially but a literal translation of col- 
 
EDITORIALS OF ESSAY NATURE 
 
 293 
 
 loquial Gaelic. The genesis of the pro- 
 gramme was "Cuchulain of Muirthemne," 
 published in 1902, and with the passage of 
 time and the achievement of greater lit- 
 erary maturity Lady Gregory developed a 
 distinctly individual ability to record con- 
 temporary peasant life in Galway in its own 
 terms, a talent which she carefully fostered 
 by assiduously collecting peasant dialect in 
 her native parish of Kiltartan. 
 
 Her latest book — "Visions and Beliefs in 
 the West of Ireland"— is a substantial rec- 
 ord of her many years of diligent observa- 
 tion and immediate contact with the peas- 
 antry of Kiltartan. The two volumes are a 
 note-book of those conversations in which 
 discussion has turned upon the subject of 
 the supernatural; they are a direct tran- 
 scription of actual experiences, arranged and 
 edited for publication, but presumably in no 
 wise modified. The first and most striking 
 impression derived from the book is a re- 
 newed conviction of the faithfulness and the 
 essential realism with which Lady Gregory, 
 in her creative writing, has rendered the 
 spirit and the atmosphere of life in the 
 western counties. For in these brief and 
 fragmentary records there is the concrete, 
 pungent expression and image-making qual- 
 ity of the peasant mind and the peasant 
 idiom which have been revealed in her plays, 
 and with more conspicuous art, though no 
 more scrupulous fidelity, in the plays of 
 Synge. To a very high degree the colloquial 
 speech of the country folk is an accurate 
 index to^ their psychology. Poetic and in- 
 stinct with a superbly exuberant beauty of 
 phrase, it seems the expression of an imme- 
 diate reaction to experience, and, in the 
 case of the Kiltartan people, is obviously 
 unconscious of any art. It has something 
 of the quality of that magic wonder at 
 familiar things, the fresh, unconventional 
 vision so characteristic of imaginative chil- 
 dren. Take, for example, the description 
 of the banshee given to Lady Gregory by a 
 spinning woman: 
 
 "The Banshee is all I ever saw myself. It 
 was when I was a slip of a girl, picking po- 
 tatoes along with the other girls, we heard 
 crying, crying, in the graveyard beyond at 
 Ryanrush, so we ran like foals to see who 
 was being buried, and I was first, and leaped 
 up on the wall. And there she was and gave 
 me a slap on the jaw, and she just like a 
 countrywoman with a red petticoat. Often 
 they hear her crying if any one is going to 
 die in the village." 
 
 Equally vivid and suggestive is the way in 
 which a woman from the shore describes the 
 cry of the banshee: 
 
 "One time there was a man in the village 
 was dying, and I stood at the door in the 
 evening and I heard a crying — the grandest 
 crying you ever heard— and I said, 'Glynn's 
 after dying, and they're crying him.' And 
 they all came to the door and heard it. 
 But my mother went out after that and 
 found him gasping still. 
 
 "Sure enough, it was the Banshee we 
 heard that evening. 
 
 "And out there where the turf-boat is 
 lying with its sail down outside Aughanish, 
 there the Banshee does always be crying, 
 crying, for some that went down there some 
 time." 
 
 Of the visions and beliefs of the country 
 folk of Kiltartan much could be written by 
 way of commentary. Mr. Yeats, in two 
 characteristic essays appended to the vol- 
 umes under consideration, strives, with no 
 little show of scholarship, to connect them 
 with the main current of traditional mys- 
 tical philosophy to which his own theories 
 of both life and art owe so much. But the 
 conformity of belief which he adduces is 
 hardly a profitable consideration to any but 
 the student of folk legend and its relation 
 to historical systems of supernatural phi- 
 losophy. And any interpretation which pro- 
 ceeds by postulating the analogy of a 
 philosophical theory fails, by reason of its 
 dependence upon intellectual subtleties, to 
 explain the most primitive expression of 
 faith. 
 
 The essentially individual quality of the 
 Kiltartan cosmology, that which distin- 
 guishes it from the lore of other imagina- 
 tive folk, is the sheer poetry immanent in 
 its animistic conception of nature. The Irish 
 peasant creates and localizes a tradition of 
 familiar presences with which he peoples 
 the neighborhood of his home. There are 
 places under the special protection of the 
 Sidhe — raths and forths and thorn bushes. 
 The Sidhe themselves dwell in Tir-nan-Og, 
 the country of the ever-young, which lies 
 close beyond the borders of the world of 
 daily existence. They appear to the mortal 
 eye as clouds of dust borne by the wind, or 
 as a flock of wool floating idly in the au- 
 tumn air, as bird, or beast, or blade of grass. 
 They may be friendly to man, in which case 
 his work prospers, or with joyous malice 
 plague him should he disturb their life. 
 From them wise women and old men derive 
 their power to foretell the future, heal the 
 sick, and cast magic spells. The Sidhe call 
 "away" to their world many of the dwellers 
 in this, usually by a touch, or a glance from 
 the evil eye of a neighbor, or some unwonted 
 "terror." Those who have been "touched" 
 or called disappear from the world of life 
 
294 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 into that of shadow, leaving a body not their 
 own, but the like of it, in their place. Some- 
 times those who have been called "away" 
 return for a brief space, or, when old and 
 useless to the Sidhe, to die and get burial 
 on earth. To certain people only is the 
 faculty of seeing these presences given; 
 usually it is a reward for some simple act 
 of kindness, such as leaving a bit of milk or 
 a few potatoes in the house of a night for 
 the little folk to sup on. The dead are 
 frequently among them, and they will give 
 counsel to their friends in this world. Cer- 
 tain familiar objects of our daily life par- 
 take of this spirit of activity; butter is one, 
 and there are certain animals which are 
 "sheoguey" or haunted. 
 
 Perhaps the most significant characteris- 
 tic of this other world is the fact of its co- 
 existence with the abiding Catholicism of 
 the Irish peasantry. Religious belief has 
 added to. it only an interpretation; it has not 
 shaken the primitive faith. The Sidhe have 
 been identified with the fallen angels and 
 the unquiet spirits of the dead. Tir-nan-og 
 is a vision of purgatory, and the Fool of 
 the Forth, or Amadan-na-Briona, the su- 
 preme power of evil, is but an aspect of 
 Satan. Priests can, if they will, perform the 
 magic cures of the wise women that have 
 their knowledge of the Sidhe. But, it seems, 
 this practice is discouraged, and the use of 
 this wisdom is, in the main, left to "knowl- 
 edgeable folk" who are in ecclesiastical 
 disfavor. 
 
 "Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ire- 
 land" is a notable contribution to folk 
 poetry and a valuable revelation of the mood 
 of the Irish mind. To some it will make 
 apparent a peculiarly emotional and imag- 
 inative sensitiveness which is characteristic 
 of this mood. To others, less incredulous 
 and less disposed to accept a^ final the sanc- 
 tions of demonstrable scientific fact, it will 
 convey some sense of the tenuity of the 
 shifting boundaries which separate a world 
 of tangible reality from one of spirit. The. 
 incredulous have for their position the au- 
 thority of a great poet, though a harsh 
 critic of Ireland, who, in a dialogue of "A 
 View of the Present State of Ireland," re- 
 marked that Irish superstition was in no 
 sense noteworthy, since "it is the manner 
 of all barbarous nations to be very supersti- 
 tious, and diligent observers of old customs 
 and antiquityes; which they receave by con- 
 tinuall tradition from theyr parents, by re- 
 cording of theyr Bards and Chronicles, in 
 theyr songes, and by daylye use and ex- 
 amples of theyr elders." 
 
 Tentatively we may find the explanation 
 of this quality in the harsh reality of their 
 
 lives and in the consequent revolt against 
 the despotism of fact, which opposes to the 
 world of actual experience demonstrated by 
 physical sense a world of beauty revealed 
 in visions. "Your old m.en," it was once 
 told another nation, "shall dream dreams, 
 your young men shall see visions." 
 
 THIS IS THE LIFE 
 
 Boston Evening Globe 
 
 A good woman who used to cultivate the 
 young idea in a suburban high school had a 
 pet aversion to the phrase, "common peo- 
 ple," which she labored incessantly to have 
 her pupils share. She said that people could 
 be poor, illiterate, barbaric, cruel, selfish, 
 but not common. No living, breathing 
 human being was uninteresting. Reference 
 to the less-privileged, hard-scrubbing 
 classes, which make up so large a part of 
 our citizenship, as "the common people" was 
 to her mind the most atrocious of libels. 
 
 Would you like to find romance outside of 
 the movies (in real, instead of reel life, as 
 the caricaturist puts it)' Then look about 
 you — in home, shop or office. Select the 
 nearest person and you can say: "This is 
 no common man or woman. Here is a 
 volume which could yield an absorbing story. 
 Over it I should laugh and weep." 
 
 It would be impossible to get the whole 
 story. If the person, in a frank and con- 
 fiding mood, were to divulge everything 
 within his or her knowledge, the mystery of 
 that human life would be still far from 
 explained. The most you could hope for 
 would be a peek into it. 
 
 Must you have romance? Then, delve 
 into your own personal story. What are you 
 — and why? Can you imagine your cave- 
 man progenitors of the dim, obscure ages 
 shaping habits and characteristics to be in- 
 herited by you and associated with your per- 
 sonality these thousands of years later? 
 What do you know, anyway, about that 
 amazing self of yours? How little you can 
 find out. 
 
 Introspection 
 
 Poor Jean Jacques Rousseau did what few 
 persons dare to do. He explored the inner 
 recesses of his own soul, stripped it stark- 
 naked and held the mirror up for public 
 scrutiny. His intention was to reveal him- 
 self — to let everybody see what manner of 
 man he was. But as no man can explain 
 himself, he merely succeeded in approach- 
 ing the brink of madness. 
 
 Listen to Jean Jacques, testifying to the 
 strange threads of superstition engrafted 
 in the woof and warp of his mind by cen- 
 turies of fanciful forbears: 
 
EDITORIALS OF ESSAY NATURE 
 
 295 
 
 "The dread of hell frequently tormented 
 me. One day, meditating on the melancholy 
 subject, I exercised myself in throwing 
 stones at trees. I said: *I will throw this 
 stone at the tree facing me; if I hit my 
 mark I will consider it as a sign of salva- 
 tion; if I miss it, as a token of damnation/" 
 . . . He was careful to choose trees that 
 were large and conveniently near. 
 
 Do you dodge around ladders? Are you 
 wary of black cats ? Do you front-face with 
 a nervous jerk when you catch yourself look- 
 ing at the moon over the wrong shoulder? 
 
 Whoever pleads guilty may blam_e the 
 idiosyncrasies of his antediluvian ancestors. 
 It takes a long time to shake off old habits 
 and notions. 
 
 Why Be Bored? 
 
 What a wonderful, complex creature is 
 every man and woman. In you are the sins 
 and virtues of your line, diluted or rein- 
 forced by what your own mind has absorbed 
 in its rough-and-tumble contest with the 
 world. 
 
 Childhood impressions have stamped 
 themselves upon your brain while it was 
 most plastic, and helped to mold your ideas 
 and prejudices, your methods of thought 
 and action. Very likely to put on your left 
 sock before the right one every morning. 
 
 What has environment — time and place — 
 done for or against you? If you are mar- 
 ried and have children what whim of fate 
 decreed that your peculiar inherited traits 
 should be merged with those of the particu- 
 lar partner you chose and be passed on to 
 your children and children's children? 
 
 A bachelor, past middle age, casually dis- 
 cussed a few days ago an incident of his 
 ov/n life. A barefoot country boy in a rural 
 school, he struck up an acquaintance with 
 a little girl. Some controlling influence 
 transplanted him from country to city, still 
 cherishing the memory. A few years 
 passed. Then, skating one afternoon on 
 Boston Common, he looked up — and saw the 
 girl. Just a glimpse. He wanted to hail 
 her. Boyish timidity closed his mouth. 
 Other years flitted by. The man, full-grown 
 and traveling with a theatrical troupe, was 
 playing in a Massachusetts city. Again, 
 from somewhere, the same girl popped up 
 before his vision. And once more he hesi- 
 tated, and let her pass. 
 
 What might have happened had he re- 
 newed the acquaintance ? What intervened ? 
 Did this spoil a romance ? Did it affect two 
 lives? If he had married, would he be 
 happier or unhappier than he is today, 
 richer or poorer, a more useful or a less 
 useful citizen? Who knows? 
 
 But don't be bored by life. Don't depend 
 for romance upon weak, artificial imitations 
 of the real thing. 
 
 What Controls You? 
 
 Appreciation of the grandeur and at the 
 same time of the fatalism of human life is 
 the best antidote for vanity and conceit. 
 The most precious birthright of man is his 
 inherent capacity for developing will power 
 and a measure of control over his destinies. 
 No matter how he may be buffeted by Fate, 
 it is his duty to exercise always, so far as 
 he is able, that little rudder of control. 
 But, in reality, what limited control he has! 
 Of how little avail is the rudder of man on 
 the storm-tossed sea of life! 
 
 Did the assassination of an Austrian noble 
 at a remote place, called Sarajevo, set forces 
 in motion which were ultimately to trans- 
 form you from a light-hearted traveler, 
 dilly-dallying along the byways of life, into 
 a fighting man with a gun on his shoulder? 
 
 Are you thinking today as you were 
 thinking in 1914? Are you thinking about 
 the little world inside the four walls of 
 your house, or are you thinking about the 
 tangled forces of the big world outside, 
 which hold you and your home and the fu- 
 ture of your children within their control? 
 
 Individually, we are of no importance; to- 
 gether, millions of us, thinking about our 
 great common home, the world, we can 
 shape and direct our destinies. 
 
 "A Few Faint Clews'* 
 
 Profound humility has characterized 
 those few illustrious figures who have be- 
 come immortal. The really great man is 
 humble because he feels he is merely an 
 instrument being used for some purpose far 
 greater than he. From the army of "com- 
 mon people" an unseen, unfathomable power 
 has selected him to lead. Lincoln, with a 
 picture of human slavery photographed on 
 his mind from boyhood, knew only that he 
 was fated to oppose the advance of that 
 power, and dismissed his personal fortunes 
 with a line from Shakspere: "There is a 
 destiny that shapes our ends." 
 
 Victor Hugo, in "Toilers of the Sea," 
 philosophises: 
 
 "There are times when the unknown re- 
 veals itself in startling ways to the spirit of 
 man. A sudden rent in the veil makes 
 manifest things hitherto unseen and then 
 closes again upon the mysteries within. 
 Sometimes such visions effect transfigura- 
 tions. They convert a poor camel driver 
 into a Mahomet; a peasant girl tending her 
 goats into a Joan of Arc." 
 

 296 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Walt Whitman reads a biography and 
 ponders over it: 
 
 And is this then (said I) what the 
 
 author calls a man's life? 
 And so will someone when I am dead 
 
 and gone write my life ? 
 (As if any man really knew aught of 
 
 my life.) 
 Why even I myself, I often think, know 
 
 little or nothing of my real life, 
 Only a few hints, a few diffused faint 
 
 clews and indirections 
 I seek for my own use to trace out here. 
 Life is a wonderful heritage, never drab 
 or common. (The potentiality of "common" 
 lives has been too often demonstrated.) 
 The great, contemplating the mystery, are 
 humble; by conscientiously striving to fol- 
 low "a few faint clews and indirections" 
 mankind redeems the birthright and gropes 
 patiently upward to the light. 
 
 — Uncle Dudley. 
 SATURDAY NIGHT THOUGHTS 
 The Springing Up of Flame 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 The most beautiful, the most memorable 
 thing, I sometimes believe, in the long rec- 
 ord of human emotion and experience, is the 
 springing up of flame. The match is struck. 
 The glowing coals on the hearth are drawn 
 together; they smoulder and smoke and 
 suddenly burst out in cheerful, flickering 
 light. One needs to get back to primitive 
 conditions to feel the full comfort and 
 beauty of that experience. Have you ever 
 felt the difference at the close of day, after 
 a long march through the dripping woods, 
 when a camp site is chosen and after many 
 difficulties the wet fuel is at last coaxed 
 into a flame? 
 
 At that very point of the first deliberately 
 kindled fire, man, who for all his clawless 
 nakedness is lord of the world, parts com- 
 pany with the beasts of the field and forest. 
 Pittsburgh and Detroit and Cleveland, Shef- 
 field and Birmingham, all leaped prophetic 
 in that first jet of kindled flame. Mowgli 
 nursing his torch with the red flower in 
 blossom to wave in the face of the tiger is 
 a symbol of the whole earth's history, the 
 story not merely of the jungle, but also of 
 Thebes and Nineveh, of Athens and Rome, 
 of Boston and Washington. When it dawned 
 on the primeval man that the terror of the 
 volcano and of the thunder cloud was a 
 servant to be tamed and housed, a friend 
 and fellow-workman, the long record of 
 what we call civilization had begun. 
 
 So much of our racial history is summed 
 up and brought to recollection in this mo- 
 
 ment of the outbursting flame that it is noi 
 strange that we feel ourselves not merely a 
 home but are often brought into a medita 
 tive mood by the hearthside. The flower o: 
 flame! No wonder we have coupled it witl 
 aspiration and desire, with inherited emo 
 tions and visions of the future, with th( 
 suggestions of thought that come we kno"v 
 not whence, with the swift illumination o; 
 vision, with unlooked-for springing up a 
 affection between those who yesterda; 
 were strangers, with the disciple's glow o 
 heart when he first feels the guiding am 
 uplifting dominance of a master. Given i 
 mind at ease, a quiet hour and a seat by 
 the upleaping flame, and we all see visions 
 in the firelight. It is, no doubt, excellent 
 economy to have the latest form of steam 
 or hot water heat in all your rooms. But it 
 may not be good economy of thought to 
 miss the age-long companionship of the 
 leaping flame. 
 
 All those whose work in any wise makes 
 drafts upon the faculty of invention know 
 the exhilaration of that flowering up of 
 mental heat that sets the hand or tongue 
 at work. There is the orator. He has 
 thought and brooded over what he is to say, 
 but it is all like a dull and smouldering fire 
 in his soul until he stands upon his feet and 
 looks into the eyes of his audience. Then 
 the flame breaks forth and from his burning 
 words a thousand hearts are kindled. The 
 inventor feels his way, plans and experi- 
 ments, but always meets a difficulty or suf- 
 fers a check. And then in some happy 
 moment the right solution of his problem 
 dawns upon him like a burst of clear flame 
 among the embers. We have to allow in 
 our own experience for these smouldering, 
 often smoky, times which precede attain- 
 ment. When we feel least capable of our 
 best accomplishment we have no right to 
 despair. Our business is to draw the scat- 
 tered embers of smouldering thought to- 
 gether and to give thanks that something 
 of the sacred fire remains. We are not quite 
 just sometimes, in our impatience, with our 
 own laggard selves. For we do not under- 
 stand how necessary these times of prep- 
 aration often are to prepare the way for 
 some special triumph of attainment. 
 
 We are not quite just either to one another 
 in our expectation that the fire of thought 
 or of wit must be continuous and always 
 equally ablaze. It is said of Talleyrand that 
 he would sit quite silent in company, not 
 always in appearance even listening; and 
 then, suddenly and unexpectedly, would say 
 some memorable or startling thing, witty or 
 
EDITORIALS OF ESSAY NATURE 
 
 297 
 
 keen or cynical. But if a man has made 
 his reputation as a humorist whenever he 
 opens his mouth in company everybody is 
 suddenly agog with laughter, even though 
 he merely remarks that the weather prom- 
 ises to rain before morning. Some of us are 
 wise enough to know when we are at our 
 best; and, when we are not, to withdraw 
 from social presence and competitions. When 
 Luella is weary of gadding and of gossip 
 she takes refuge with a novel or her knit- 
 ting in her own secluded room. But vanity 
 pushes us forward, or necessity compels us 
 to take our part in the competitive world 
 when it would be better for our peace of 
 mind to be in our beds. Luella, who has 
 her own reserves of seclusion, always ex- 
 pects her favorite novelist to be equally 
 brilliant in all his books and even pages. A 
 lapse into dullness is what she cannot bear; 
 When she goes to church she complains if 
 the preacher is not at his most thoughtful 
 and eloquent best in every sermon. We are 
 not quite just, I say, in this matter. We 
 forget that the equal days and weeks come 
 hurrying round, but that no man — not Na- 
 poleon, nor Wellington, nor Dickens, nor 
 Fenelon — is always at his best. When any 
 man is always at his best, in fact, it is 
 usually because his highest level is not 
 really high. But how much poorer this old 
 world would be if there were no masters 
 and no masterpieces, and their appearance 
 is often like the sudden springing up of 
 flame. 
 
 I like to think that there are smouldering 
 lives, lives on fire at the heart and full of 
 promise, which never come to full expres- 
 sion in these hurrying days, but which will 
 reach their moments of the leaping up of 
 flames, their glorious self-expression and 
 their consoling recognition, in some expe- 
 rience that is to come. God is not so hope- 
 less of us as we are of each other. He is 
 patient with these lives of slight apparent 
 fulfilment, these smouldering fires which 
 seem to have no spirit of unleaping in them 
 and never burst into a flame. We may be 
 quite mistaken as to our neighbors' quality 
 as we may be grievously astray about their 
 usefulness. Perhaps they keep alive a fire 
 of the heart which will only come to evidence 
 in their children. Great mothers are the 
 root and not the flower of genius. What 
 was Shakspeare's mother like, we wonder. 
 Or perhaps these silent lives are partners 
 of those who shine so that the honor of the 
 leaping flames in justice must belong to 
 both alike. They remind us of the great 
 dark stars of which we are told, where 
 bright and dark go on in a continual com- 
 
 panionship of revolution, one about the 
 
 other. 
 
 There are, then, inspiring and evocative, 
 as well as flaming and scintillating people. 
 We lean upon those who never get the 
 credit that we stand. We go to some of 
 our acquaintances, that by their influence we 
 may learn to make the best of our own 
 powers. They are like flint to steel for the 
 kindling of the spark that lights the tinder 
 of the brain. I knew a poet who was dumb 
 until he found the inspiration of a friend. 
 There was a preacher once who told me that 
 he never could have made the sermons that 
 his congregation loved if it had not been for 
 conversation with a few quite humble, un- 
 known and unlettered souls. These unknown 
 people somehow made it possible for him 
 to draw the scattered embers of his thought 
 and faith together until, under the breath 
 of his necessity, they burst into a flame. 
 
 And the part these helpers and inspirers 
 play in life is as necessary as it is beau- 
 tiful. What is Numa without Egeria? 
 What would Dante have found to tune his 
 lyre in place of Beatrice? The artist must 
 have his model, the reformer his cause, the 
 patriot his fatherland, A world of smoul- 
 dering, ineffective, utterance-bound great 
 geniuses, unhelped, uncared for and unin- 
 spired — a world of solitary Rembrandts or 
 Petrarchs or Beethovens — might be the 
 most helpless of all the worlds our imagina- 
 tion could picture. We are wrong in 
 thinking that the sudden flame of high 
 achievements belongs wholly to the act or 
 utterance that is deliberately shaped for 
 some large audience or in careful thought of 
 world-wide fame. Often they come in the 
 service of a few. The inspirations and at- 
 tainments of duty and affection which are 
 effective in the thoughts of workers are also 
 am.ong the beautiful and priceless things of 
 life. 
 
 A very small encouragement will often 
 wonderfully suffice to bring the smouldering 
 embers of courage in some timid or waver- 
 ing heart into a flame. The best of us are 
 strangely sensitive to the atmosphere that 
 others make around us. If we cannot, then, 
 or cannot always, be on the heights our- 
 selves, we can at least encourage other folks 
 to climb. And it may happen, since we are 
 so weak and so often turned aside from our 
 own high attainment, that our best accom- 
 plishment in life may be in helping others 
 to attain. I had rather be an encourager 
 than to be always prating about what I 
 have done or sometime mean to do. I fear 
 
298 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 rather to hold others back than to fail to be 
 as big a personage as I esteemed myself in 
 the years of adolescence when it seemed as 
 if I might accomplish anything I wished. 
 
 Ah, but the fire that is man's servant and 
 his friend must be served and tended. How 
 beautiful we say is the springing up of 
 flame! The earliest fires of affection, the 
 first days of friendship are so wonderful! 
 Yes, but how many married lives grow cold 
 and all their fires of love drop to ashes for 
 lack of tending. How much more beautiful 
 the love that burns with steady flame to 
 its golden anniversary. Do not let affection 
 fade and die. You have nothing more 
 precious, nothing so beautiful. Give it the 
 tendance that it needs continually and it 
 will last to warm and glorify your hearts. 
 
 BEQUEATHED ENERGY 
 
 The Nation (London). 
 
 If there is one pitfall more than another 
 against which the young Darwinian is 
 warned by his teachers, it is that of sup- 
 posing for one moment that an acquired 
 character can be inherited. However lustily 
 the blacksmith may swing his hammer, till 
 his own muscles swell like loaves, his son 
 will not thereby be more than normally de- 
 veloped. And so, when a race of pigeons 
 produces, generation after generation, more 
 and more expert tumblers, the diligence ap- 
 plied by a particular bird to the art does not 
 give an extra advance to his progeny. It 
 is only a symptom of the progress of the 
 tumbling habit, long ago determined by the 
 departure in that direction of a germ cell. 
 Conversely, the first dodo that neglected 
 its flying exercise did not thereby condemn 
 its chicks to a weakness of wing likely to 
 go further if it was not checked. It was 
 the environment that had affected the germ 
 cell of the first lazy dodo. We are allowed 
 to believe, perhaps, that ever so many gen- 
 erations of special exercise or idleness added 
 together would produce an heritable quality 
 — as though a thousand times nothing would 
 make something — but we must not think 
 that somatic modifications acquired by one 
 generation can be handed to the next. 
 
 A somewhat destructive interpretation 
 reconciles most of us to this hard prohibi- 
 tion. Almost the only malcontent is Pro- 
 fessor Henslow, who, in the realm of botany, 
 refuses to give up the right of a parent to 
 bequeath something of its individual expe- 
 rience. And now, from America, comes a 
 new protagonist who, for all he says of 
 them, may never have heard of Weismann, 
 Mendel, or even Darwin, but who puts in a 
 claim for somatic inheritance, and backs 
 it with substantial credentials. Mr. Caspar 
 
 L. Redfield's book is called Dynamic Evoli 
 tion (Putnam). His message is that th 
 breeder for specific quality, whether in 
 trotter, a milker, or a setter, must be care 
 ful to have sires and dams at their highes 
 dynamic development. The surplus energ 
 that is theirs will then pass to their progenj 
 and give them a better start in life tha 
 the parent had. The significance of hi 
 claim does not yet appear. Some of th 
 surplus energy of the sire comes fror 
 growth, and is racial. By all means, say 
 every school, brefed only from mature par 
 ents. That is elementary wisdom. But M^ 
 Redfield asserts that the energy that com" 
 from work also can be inherited. Does th 
 matter? Have we denied that the energe 
 blacksmith will not have an energetic soi 
 But, says Mr. Redfield, you cannot ha 
 energy without location and direction, ai-„ 
 in whatever organ work has put the energy 
 in that organ will it be inherited. He couh 
 scarcely go nearer saying that the black 
 smith's son will inherit unusual biceps. 
 
 Excessive use would soon thin out th( 
 word "energy" into an empty name. I 
 seems apt enough, however, to explain tht 
 quality that distinguishes the Americai 
 trotter. A hundred years ago there wat 
 not a horse in the world that could trot i 
 mile in three minutes. Now, the record haj 
 shrunk to two minutes. "Whence came thij 
 increase in amount of available energy?' 
 asks Mr. Redfield. "You can't get some- 
 thing out of nothing." The usual reply tc 
 the question is that when trotting came 
 into fashion, enormous numbers of the trot- 
 ting strain were produced, and by continual 
 selection among these great numbers 
 swifter and swifter animals were found 
 The 3.10 trotter was the best of, say, a 
 hundred of its contemporaries, the 2.30 
 trotter the best of twenty thousand. By 
 multiplying the numbers, we have given 
 greater scope to the tendency to vary. 
 
 Mr. Redfield seems to have a better reply 
 than that. The method of the breeders of 
 trotting horses has been, from one cause and 
 another, perfectly free from the fallacy of 
 inherited acquired characters. One horse is 
 trained and raced, and another of the same 
 family kept for reproducing. So long as 
 the right blood is obtained, owners prefer 
 to send their mares, not to the champion 
 himself, even if he be available, but to a 
 brother or uncle or nephew. But line after 
 line has falsified the hopes of its backers, 
 and_ time after time the champion trotter 
 of its day has sprung from a neglected 
 pedigree. Whenever that has happened, it 
 has been possible to point at one or both of 
 the factors of superior dynamic develop- 
 
EDITORIALS OF ESSAY NATURE 
 
 299 
 
 ] ment in the immediate ancestors of the new 
 J champion. Those two factors are time and 
 ""work. A horse may acquire his energy 
 speedily on the race-track, or in the course 
 '^of more years of a normal, healthy life. 
 ^\ Thus, of the fifty-eight sires of stallions 
 »' able to do the miles in two minutes and ten 
 ^y seconds, forty-five with records averaged 
 ^.Uiearly ten years of age, and thirteen with- 
 in' out records averaged nearly fourteen years 
 "'of age. 
 
 ® The reader will see that, in spite of what 
 ^'we have said, champions do become the 
 l'^ sires of champions, and that in considerable 
 ^^ numbers. That is just the point. There 
 ^ are twenty or thirty thousand registered 
 ? trotters, and it is estimated that only 5 per 
 'jcent of these are bred from parents with 
 ' records. There are only a hundred and 
 ''' eighty capable of trotting a mile in two 
 ^' minutes and ten seconds or under, and of 
 J these, 67 per cent were by sires with records. 
 ''In one of his tables, Mr. Redfield compares 
 Hhe respective progeny of full brothers. It 
 can, perhaps, be understood that a non- 
 i( record horse will sire more foals than his 
 [t record brothers. Those that reach the class 
 If of performers are compared, with the re- 
 sult that eighty-eight horses with records 
 sired thirty-three perfonners apiece, and 
 ninety-six full brothers of the same horses 
 without records sired ten performers apiece. 
 Not content with that, he examines the his- 
 tory of those non-record sires, and finds 
 that some of them were trained though not 
 raced, and that these had a better average 
 of performer progeny than the others. In 
 other words, he shows by individual cases, 
 and from large masses of fact, that a horse 
 that has been practiced for speed is more 
 likely to have speedy offspring than an- 
 other horse of the selfsame blood that has 
 not been practiced. 
 
 The energy it has acquired by work is 
 handed on, and endows the foal in the 
 organs that acquired it in the parent. 
 
 In a recent book. Professor Arthur Thomp- 
 son especially warned us against believing 
 that the setter could bequeath the skill it 
 had itself acquired. The setter is one of 
 Mr. Redfield's object lessons. Laverack be- 
 gan with a "stray pair he purchased from a 
 neighbor," and in forty years had "the best 
 setters in the world." He simply bred in 
 and in, working one pair of dogs in the 
 field till they were old, then breeding an- 
 other pair from them. 
 
 The results were so astounding that ex- 
 perts would not believe that his niethods 
 were correctly stated, the age at which his 
 dogs bred (six, seven, or eight years) being 
 as great a stumbling-^block as the fact that 
 
 he never took in new blood. Descendants 
 of these dogs, crossed with those of Llewel- 
 lin, founded the American strain about 1870, 
 and an examination of the pedigrees of the 
 six champion American setters of today 
 proves that their lines of descent are 
 "through the dogs which were trained and 
 ran for prizes in field trials," and the av- 
 erage time between the generations is over 
 six years. Younger sires than that, how- 
 ever good they were, have been eliminated 
 as ancestors, except one which was trained 
 for field trials "at a very early age." 
 
 That is, in part, the case presented by 
 this searching of pedigrees. It may be that 
 its hostility to the doctrine of somatic un- 
 teachableness is modified by the statement 
 that this dynamic inheritance mainly fol- 
 lows the same line as does secondary sexual 
 character. Thus, the energy of the dam 
 does not go as available energy to her son, 
 but reappears in the daughters of the next 
 generation. In its simplest terms, it means 
 that the young but thoroughly adult father 
 gives to his son no more than the racial 
 inheritance and possibilities that he him- 
 self received. In a few years' time he is 
 another being, and therefore another father. 
 Circumstances have led to the greater exer- 
 cise of some set of muscles, some function 
 of the brain, or to responsiveness of the 
 nerves to some certain stimulus. These ex- 
 ercises have induced an accretion of energy 
 somewhere, and something passes in the 
 same direction to the son. Perhaps this is 
 a very volatile part of one's inheritance. 
 If not closely followed up, perhaps it soon 
 vanishes. In a state of nature, whatever 
 one receives is usually made the most of. 
 It may be that a woodpecker that has dealt 
 with particularly hard trees cannot hand on 
 his acquired skill. But it may be that he 
 can hand on the increase of dynamic power 
 stored in his neck muscles, and that may 
 make an unusual woodpecker of his son. 
 THE DRIFT OF OUR TIMES 
 
 Indianapolis News 
 
 Signs of the Times 
 
 Comparative Method 
 
 The Philadelphia Public Ledger recently 
 printed a letter from an anonymous corre- 
 spondent predicting revolution as a cer- 
 tainty, and commending it as desirable for 
 reasons that would hardly commend them- 
 selves to those who are supposed to be 
 leaders in the so-called revolutionary move- 
 ment. Our trouble, according to the writer 
 of the letter, is that we have debased the 
 church and the college, and "pay a peddler 
 of life insurance or a drummer of shoes or 
 a hard-boiled plumber ten times what we 
 pay a teacher or a preacher." In the old 
 
300 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 days, so we are told, "we h^d loyalty, 
 patriotism, respect for constituted author- 
 ity, and college graduates who were not 
 only educated, but who were generally gen- 
 tlemen." "The country," so the writer con- 
 tinues, "may not have noticed it, but it was 
 a good investment," since "the system pro- 
 duced honest, loyal, law-abiding citizens." 
 The Ledger does not take so gloomy a view, 
 and is in no fear of a revolution, but it 
 agrees with its correspondent in thinking 
 that our national life is far from what it 
 ought to be. It says that "in our fatuous 
 worship of materialism, our fat and com- 
 placent prosperity, we have turned a con- 
 temptuous eye on the twin pillars of stabil- 
 ity and power — religion and education. 
 . . . Class war, anarchy and massacre 
 have sealed the graves of the nations which 
 worshiped at the altars of gross indul- 
 gence." In these days pessimism is more 
 fashionable than optimism. Nevertheless, 
 let us see whether it is not possible, without 
 minimizing any of the evils, which are gross 
 and glaring, to extract some ray of light 
 from the gloom that seems to hang over 
 Philadelphia. Perhaps the causes for it are 
 local. It may be that the letter is that of 
 a young man without sufficient perspective, 
 or an old one who gilds the past with a 
 glory that never belonged to it. To- one 
 using the comparative method the first 
 thought that comes to mind is that there 
 has been something that looks very much 
 like progress during the last half century. 
 In such discussions as this memory is as 
 useful as observation. 
 
 Looking: Back 
 
 A recent writer in the London Times dis- 
 coursed on "The Gap Between Generations." 
 It is impossible for a man to form a fair 
 judgment of his times unless he is able to 
 bridge that gap. For instance, there are 
 millions of people in America who know 
 little, and of course nothing experimentally, 
 of the social and political morality of Amer- 
 ica in the days following the civil war. It 
 would be well for disheartened souls to give 
 some time to the investigation of that sub- 
 ject. They were the days of the Tweed 
 ring, Fisk, Gould, Judges Barnard and Car- 
 dozo, days in which materialism was ram- 
 pant, and corruption touched and poisoned 
 every department of the government. The 
 speculation then went beyond anything 
 with which we are familiar even today. The 
 ramifications of the whisky ring reached 
 even the doors of the White House. Then, 
 as now, there were millions of honest. God- 
 fearing people. But the point that it is 
 now desired to make is that everjrthing that 
 
 the Philadelphia authorities say, and mucl 
 more, could have been said of the years be- 
 tween 1865 and 1875. Politics was corrupt 
 beyond anything that we can now imagine. 
 Public opinion was poisoned, and tolerated, 
 if it did not justify, offenses which would 
 today if proved send those guilty of them 
 to the penitentiary. Writing of those times, 
 Whitman says: 
 
 The spectacle is appalling. We live 
 in an atmosphere of hypocrisy through- 
 out. The men believe not in the women, 
 nor the women in the men. A scornful 
 superciliousness rules in literature. A 
 lot of churches, sects, etc., the most 
 dismal phantasms I know, usurp the 
 name of religion. An acute and candid 
 person, in the revenue department in 
 Washington, who is led by the course 
 of his employment to regularly visit the 
 cities, north, south and west, to investi- 
 gate frauds, has talked much with me 
 about his discoveries. The depravity of 
 the business classes of our country is 
 not less than has been supposed, but in- 
 fintely greater. The official services of 
 America, national, state and municipal,^ 
 in all their branches and departments,* 
 except the judiciary, are saturated in 
 corruption, bribery, falsehood, mal- 
 administration, and the judiciary is 
 tainted. The great cities reek with re- 
 spectable as much as nonrespectable 
 robbery and scoundrelism. The best 
 class we show is but a mob of fashion- 
 ably dressed speculators and vulgarians. 
 But the man who made this stem, yet 
 true, analysis, saw beyond it all, and realized, 
 none more profoundly, that there was plenty 
 of virtue in the nation to save it, and he 
 gave the reasons for his unshakable faith. 
 
 Progrress 
 
 The state of the country, politically, so- 
 cially, educationally and religiously, was 
 much worse then than it is now, and there 
 were too the same melancholy predictions, 
 yet no revolution followed. Yet it would be 
 that mistake, and most illogical, to conclude 
 that because there was no serious trouble 
 then there will be none now. But it is as 
 great a mistake — and this is the point — to 
 base our reasoning on the theory that the 
 evils, which all deplore, are new, and worse 
 and more menacing than ever known before. 
 For that is not true. Perhaps one may 
 measure the nation's ability to triumph over 
 dangers somewhat by its past successes in 
 meeting and overcoming them. So far, how- 
 ever, from condemning present criticism, 
 even of the extreme sort, one must recog- 
 nize it as one of the elements in all the 
 
EDITORIALS OF ESSAY NATURE 
 
 301 
 
 victories that have been won, and as most 
 necessary today. But for that the country 
 might indeed be in grave peril, as is always 
 the case with any country of which it may 
 be said: 
 
 So, with a sullen "All's for the best," 
 The land seems settling to its rest. 
 Nothing can be more deadly than resigna- 
 tion to abuses as inevitable and irremedia- 
 ble. There was nothing of this forty years 
 ago, and there should be none today. But 
 despair and pessimism are equally for- 
 bidden, for they paralyze action and destroy 
 faith. Nor is there any basis for them. 
 No man can be a prey to them who makes 
 the suggested comparison, and who realizes 
 how great has been the progress made in 
 the last half century. It is due to the in- 
 herent soundness of the people, and to the 
 clear-sighted courage of the men who de- 
 voted themselves to the great work of re- 
 form. Always the need is for leadership, 
 and the supreme leadership is that of ideas. 
 It is also well to realize that things will 
 never be as they ought to be, or as we 
 should like to have them in free societies — 
 ^r in any other — as long as society is com- 
 posed of human beings. Many of our social 
 defects are the result of defects in indi- 
 vidual character. 
 
 Principles 
 
 Faith 
 
 The study of the past ought to have the 
 effect of greatly strengthening men's faith 
 — faith in God, in humanity, and in Amer- 
 ica. It is in this great faculty that people 
 today seem to be most lacking. Knowledge 
 of the past, and of the achievements of men, 
 must endow men with faith in the future. 
 Whitman had it. After saying that "in any 
 vigor the element of the moral conscience, 
 the most important, the verteber to the state 
 or man, seems to me entirely lacking, or 
 seriously enfeebled or ungrown," he con- 
 tinues, "behind this fantastic farce, enacted 
 on the visible stage of society, solid things 
 and stupendous labors are to be discovered, 
 existing crudely and going on in the back- 
 ground, to advance and tell themselves in 
 time." One of the most touching and pa- 
 thetic of prayers is this: "And the apostles 
 said unto the Lord, increase our faith." It 
 should be often on the lips of men, for with- 
 out faith there can be neither courage in 
 facing difficulties, nor power in action. There 
 are always reinforcements the existence of 
 which the doubtful and timorous do not even 
 suspect. "If," said Emerson, "the single 
 man plant himself indomitably on his in- 
 stincts, and there abide, the huge world will 
 
 come round to him." Kipling makes his 
 old soldier in the armies of Napoleon say 
 that "nothing is stronger than a man." To 
 think of this country, therefore, as the mere 
 prey or sport of supposedly natural forces 
 is to think wrongly; while to yield to any 
 such conclusion is to make almost certain 
 the triumph of such forces. It is not in 
 this weak and fatalistic spirit that the 
 American people have dealt with emergen- 
 cies. Rather they have faced them in the 
 firm belief that they could be, as they have 
 been, mastered. Emerson, to quote him 
 again, puts it thus: 
 
 Neither can we ever construct that 
 heavenly society you prate of out of 
 foolish, sick, selfish men and women, 
 such as we know them to be. But the 
 believer not only beholds his heaven to 
 be possible, but already to begin to exist 
 — not by men or materials the states- 
 man uses, but by men transfigured and 
 raised above themselves by the power 
 of principles. To principles something 
 else is possible that transcends all the 
 power of expedients. 
 
 Inspiration 
 
 Those people who almost seem to revel in 
 forebodings, and are unable to see any light 
 even on the distant horizon, would be much 
 happier and more useful, and at the same 
 time contribute much to the forces of 
 righteousness, if they would occasionally 
 take a bravely cheerful view of present 
 conditions. What the world needs almost as 
 much as it needs food, is inspiration. And 
 nothing is more inspiring than faith in ac- 
 tion, hope in the process of realization, or 
 courage in the hour of danger. These can- 
 not be had from the prophets of evil, the 
 fearful and the faithless. But there is a 
 still deeper faith, and that is in the tough- 
 ness of the social order. Those who are 
 haunted by fear may get some cheer out of 
 these words of Sumner: 
 
 The great stream of time and earthly 
 things will sweep on just the same in 
 spite of us. It bears with it now all 
 the errors and follies of the past, the 
 wreckage of all the philosophies, the 
 fragments of all the civilization, the 
 wisdom of all abandoned ethical sys- 
 tems, the debris of all the institutions, 
 and the penalties of all the mistakes. It 
 is only in imagination that we stand by 
 and look at and criticise it and plan to 
 change it. Every one of us is a child 
 of his age and cannot get out of it. He 
 is in the stream and is swept along with 
 it. All his sciences and philosophy 
 come to him out of it. Therefore the 
 
302 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 tide will not be changed by us. It will 
 swallow up both us and our experi- 
 ments. It will absorb the efforts at 
 change and take them into itself as new 
 but trivial components, and the great 
 movement of tradition and work will go 
 on unchanged by our fads and schemes. 
 The conclusion is, not that men should 
 despair of improving conditions — for the 
 life of Sumner himself was devoted to that 
 object — but rather that we must be content 
 with small results due to efforts to modify 
 "the tendencies of some of the forces at 
 work, so that after a sufficient time, their 
 action may be changed a little." "It is," 
 he says, "at any rate a tough old world," 
 as many a reformer has found to his sorrow 
 — and many a revolutionist. People should 
 try to acquire both a depth and a breadth of 
 view. The more clearly they see the less 
 likely are they to be panic-stricken. Cour- 
 age will come to them, and a wonderful 
 strengthening of their faith. And out of 
 these they will get an inspiration that will 
 flow far beyond the limits of their own life, 
 which will give courage and kindle hope. 
 
 Will 
 
 There is an old prayer in which God is 
 anproached as One "who alone canst order 
 the unruly wills and affections of sinful 
 men." The petition is: "Grant unto Thy 
 people, that they may love the things which 
 Thou commandest, and desire that which 
 Thou dost promise; that so, among the 
 sundry and manifold changes of the world, 
 our hearts may surely there be fixed, where 
 true joys are to be found." "The unruly 
 wills and affections of sinful men" — surely 
 
 it is from these that the danger comes. 
 And they are to be controlled through love 
 of the right and desire for the good. Men 
 must build, if they would build permanently, 
 on the unshakable foundation of righteous- 
 ness. In our meditations on reform and re- 
 construction we do not give much thought to 
 the human will as a disturbing element, but 
 it is well that we should do so. For the 
 will is the man, and society is but man writ 
 large. There is abundant reason for hope- 
 fulness, and would be even were conditions 
 much worse than they are, as b^d as they 
 were fifty years ago. The men of that day 
 were conquerors, and so may we be. The 
 surprising thing is, as a financial expert 
 recently showed, that the reaction in this 
 country from the war is much less violent 
 than it was supposed it could be. Many 
 seem to imagine a perfect social order, and 
 then to find fault because present condi- 
 tions do not measure up to that standard. 
 Troubles there are, too many of them, and 
 have been, and as far as one can see, always 
 have been, and as far as one can see, always 
 will be, troubles. The important, the vital 
 thing is that men should not be daunted by 
 them. One can always "front the hour," 
 and "hope the best" even though one "fear 
 the worst." It is always possible to "cast 
 off the works of darkness" and to "put on 
 the armor of light," and "walk honestly 
 as in the day." The world owes much, more 
 perhaps than it realizes, to him of whom 
 it can be said: 
 
 A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays 
 
 And confident tomorrows. 
 
 "In returning and rest shall ye be saved; 
 in quietness and in cohfidenc© shall be your 
 strength." 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 EDITORIALS AKIN TO THE CASUAL ESSAY 
 
 The characteristics of the essay of editorials that here follow are brought 
 casual mood or subject were ex- together because each is in some re- 
 plained in Part I, Chapter IX. The spect akin to the casual essay 
 
 THE DOOM OF THE DAMN 
 
 Haverhill Gazette 
 
 "The best comes out," says the Rev. James 
 I. Vance of the Inter-Church Movement, "not 
 under the lash of the oath, but under the 
 spell of an example." 
 
 Thus does Dr. Vance prove the inefficiency 
 of profanity as a getter of results. 
 
 Modern man, staunch believer in efficiency 
 in all things, will not long tolerate the in- 
 efficiency of profanity. This itself indicates 
 the close approaching doom of cussing. 
 
 RHODY ISN'T SO LITTLE 
 
 New York Sun 
 
 It has been declared by reputable mathe- 
 maticians, and nobody has taken the pains 
 to put it to practical test, that all the people 
 in the world could stand on the ice of Lake 
 Champlain and have room to turn around 
 comfortably. We mention this as a comfort 
 to persons who may fear the overcrowding 
 of Rhode Island in the event of that State's 
 successfully resisting the enforcement of the 
 eighteenth amendment. 
 
 The surface of Lake Champlain is only 
 600 square miles, while the land surface of 
 Rhode Island is 1067 square miles. Little 
 as Rhody appears on the map, there would 
 be room in her for all the inhabitants of the 
 United States and each could have four 
 times as much space as there is in a Harlem 
 hall bedroom. Surely that's elbow room. 
 
 SIMPLICITY 
 
 Tyler (Texas) Tribune 
 
 Simplicity is a quality it is well to pos- 
 sess. In dress, manners, writing or speech, 
 the absence of excessive or artificial orna- 
 ment is desirable. Elaborate attire may 
 gain some favored glances in the cabaret 
 party, but it's the simple frock or hat that 
 wins approval of the correct dresser every 
 time. Likewise the forceful writer and 
 orator wins the largest audiences, because 
 he writes or speaks in the language most 
 people understand. Unfortunately, many 
 make the mistake of trying to impress the 
 
 world with their importance and intelligence 
 by assummg an unnatural air. The great 
 game of bluff at times may accomplish a 
 great deal. It may win temporarily and 
 brmg one considerable satisfaction and 
 some success. But eventually— if given a 
 chance— It will react disastrously, because 
 It IS wrong. The wily politician doesn't 
 electioneer m a Prince Albert and silk hat. 
 Ihose who win the greatest support and 
 favor must meet the people on common 
 ground More than this, they must live and 
 speak like the majority, so they may know 
 their whims and fancies and be humble. 
 
 STRAW HAT DAY 
 
 Sun and New York Herald 
 
 In the ancient days, meaning three or four 
 years ago, May 15 was the day sacred to the 
 straw hat. Those were warm times. All 
 the commuters' gardens were planted by the 
 end of balmy April, and men who rule their 
 costume by the calendar went through the 
 first fortnight of May with beads on their 
 brows and prayers in their hearts that Straw 
 Jlat Day might hurry. 
 
 Now men spend their straw hat money for 
 extra coal and wear their ulsters over their 
 old suits. What was once the period of early 
 summer raiment, Panama, Bangkok and 
 Mackinaw lids, and drinks with ice in them, 
 has become the sad tail-end of winter It 
 was only two degrees above freezing Friday 
 morning m Cincinnati and Milwaukee. Is it 
 because those towns, beerless, must be cheer- 
 less also? Has the Gulf Stream anything 
 to do with New York's temperature. 48 
 degrees above in the middle of May? Or 
 fi^} we blame it on the weather-man's pet, 
 that high pressure which seems continually 
 to be developing in the Northwest? 
 
 bometimes it seems as if Sol, the formerly 
 reliable celestial furnace man, had been 
 listening to the soap-box orators and had 
 joined the foolish of earth in their inclina- 
 tion to lay off the job. Or has he accepted 
 a retainer from the felt-hat barons of 
 Danbury ? 
 
304 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WKITING 
 
 LEVELING UP LUDENDORFF 
 
 The Review 
 
 I wonder if the world seems as queer and 
 topsy turvy to you as it does to Ludendorff 
 and me. Ludendorff and I are writing pieces 
 for the papers. It's my regular job. I am 
 used to it. It's a new game to Ludendorff, 
 but it's his way and my way of making a 
 living at the present juncture in the on- 
 ward march of civilization. After all the 
 turmoil and convulsion, after all the rack 
 and ruin, as the murk clears and the dust 
 settles down, Ludendorff and I are revealed 
 each at the old typewriter pounding out 
 copy. I am sure there is a great moral 
 lesson in the spectacle if I could only formu- 
 late it and drag it to light. 
 
 The whirligig of chance and the sportive 
 little gods that control men's destinies have 
 never done anything more comic. When I 
 think of what Ludendorff was! Only a year 
 ago I was huddled in a hole wondering 
 whether he was going to gobble me up. He 
 was a menace to the world, breathing fire 
 and slaughter and destruction. His word 
 put great masses of armed men in motion, 
 and death and devastation followed in their 
 track. Now, in our office, his stuff goes up- 
 stairs to the composing room at night 
 slugged "Heinie" and gets put on page four 
 with the furniture ads. 
 
 ENRICHING FARM VOCABULARY 
 
 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle 
 
 Attention is called to the fact that modern 
 agriculture is running away with the dic- 
 tionary. In other words, the progress of 
 farming is producing a vocabulary faster 
 than the dictionary can assimilate it. Per- 
 haps it would be more accurate to say that 
 industry connected with the soil is coining 
 words and phrases faster than the guides 
 of polite language are willing to give them 
 sanction. Possibly the haste in which this 
 creating of language is done is such that 
 the result in some cases is crude enough to 
 warrant hesitation as to its official accept- 
 ance into the family of legitimate words and 
 phrases. Be this as it may, the fact re- 
 mains that there are in daily use in agricul- 
 tural literature words that cannot be found 
 in the dictionary. "Blood-line" is an exam- 
 ple of wandering from the beaten path by 
 stock breeders. It is not in the dictionary; 
 no one knows whether it should be written 
 as one word, with a hyphen, or as two words ; 
 yet its use is common. Other examples 
 quoted are: "Overrun," a term used to ex- 
 press the determining factor of profits in 
 creameries; "standard bred" and "trap- 
 nests." An effort is being made to stand- 
 ardize the use of such terms, and already 
 
 some thirty of them have been taken up 
 for consideration. It would seem that agri- 
 culture is destined to acquire a list of tech- 
 nical terms as distinctive as are those of 
 the arts and sciences. Probably it has a 
 perfect right to do this. 
 
 "IT SOUNDS FAMILIAR'* 
 
 Indianapolis News 
 
 In the query column of the book supple- 
 ment of a recent issue of the New York 
 Times, under the head of "Appeals to Read- 
 ers," may be found the following: 
 
 Can any of your readers tell me where 
 to find the saying "To suffer fools 
 gladly"? It was used in the "Red 
 Planet" without quotation marks, but 
 it sounds familiar. 
 
 Doubtless some of the readers to whom 
 this appeal was addressed will in due course 
 respond. That, at any rate, is our hope. 
 It is sometimes the case that words which \ 
 are the most "familiar" are most difficult 
 to trace, especially when, as here, they do 
 not appear in that bible of the newspaper 
 worker, "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations." 
 But there are other bibles, one in particular 
 — namely that "appointed to be read in 
 churches" — and there are also concordances, 
 and to these the author of this rather pa- 
 thetic "appeal" is respectfully referred. 
 With this tip the search can be easily prose- 
 cuted, and in his quest the searcher may 
 renew his acquaintance with many another 
 phrase that "sounds familiar," but which 
 may have been eclipsed by the "Red Planet." 
 
 "GONE ARE THE DAYS" 
 
 Portland Oregonian 
 
 It was bound to come. In these rebellious 
 times, when every craft and industry is 
 rebelling against this or that, and raising 
 wages and elevating prices, from toothpicks 
 to platinum trinkets, there was no escaping 
 it. Destiny was at work. The only mem- 
 ber of society who isn't rebelling, and who 
 is far too busied at keeping three jumps 
 ahead of the hounds, is the ultimate con- 
 sumer. And now the peanut growers have 
 formed a combine. Peanuts, once the in- 
 alienable right of every spendthrift with a 
 nickel, are to become the refreshment only 
 of persons of means. 
 
 Old Black Joe's lamentable refrain, "Gone 
 are the days," borrowed even as the peanut 
 from the sunny South, may well become the 
 shibboleth of genuine national despair. Even 
 without the combine the peanut epicure saw 
 the sack dwindle as the coin changed hands, 
 but could not stay his mania for the harm- 
 less, nutty and nutritious refection. There 
 came a day when he could spread the entjire 
 
EDITORIALS AKIN TO THE CASUAL ESSAY 
 
 305 
 
 nickel's worth in the palm of one hand and 
 count them o'er, a rosary — a rosary, and now 
 the Southern planters have formed a com- 
 bine. Too well the ultimate consumer 
 guesses the portent. In fact, he doesn't 
 guess. He knows. The once lowly peanut, 
 pal of the park bench and friend and com- 
 fort of the friendless, is about to enter the 
 peerage of prices. On the menus of to- 
 morrow, doubtless, it will vie with asparagus 
 tips in March and the first delectable fruitage 
 of the depths of Chesapeake Bay. 
 
 BREAKING UP THE ATOM 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 Another scientific sharp, inspired by 
 Einstein, has projected himself into the 
 limelight by a startling announcement. He 
 has "broken up the atom," and finds it to 
 be composed of two elements, the positive 
 and negative, always in motion and never 
 at rest. Several other disclosures, especially 
 that as to time and space, made by this 
 savant are equally of concern to the public. 
 His assertion that time and space are pon- 
 derable in a sense analogous to matter, and 
 that light emanates from atoms and does 
 not radiate, "went over the heads" of his 
 associated scientists, and undoubtedly will 
 over that of the public. 
 
 Einstein may have located the fourth di- 
 mension, and Langmuir have discovered the 
 source of light, if not the exact beginning of 
 matter, but the great American public will 
 continue to divide its attention between 
 reading returns from the primary elections 
 and the box scores of the ball games. The 
 people are well assured of one of the prop- 
 erties of matter exhibited in connection with 
 a law of physics. If "Babe" Ruth, for ex- 
 ample, hits the ball squarely on the trade- 
 mark, it will almost inevitably result in a 
 home run. Likewise, although light may 
 not be radiated in the sense we understand 
 it, and the atom be ever-present and capable 
 of passing through matter, the knowledge 
 that Palermo struck out fourteen Wichita 
 batters and won a fine victory for the 
 Rourke family is infinitely of more local 
 importance. Bre'r Langmuir may have the 
 pig by the tail in the scientific world, but 
 his concept of news values requires adjust- 
 ment. 
 
 THE COST OF DAINTINESS 
 
 Chicago Evening Post 
 
 It well may be that daintiness, especially 
 in regard -o food, is well worth all it costs. 
 But let us admit that it does cost and that 
 it has something to do with the present high 
 prices. 
 
 Take the case of the original package. 
 Our grandparents, yea, our parents, bought 
 
 butter from a tub, "crackers" from a barrel 
 and chipped beef from the end of a flitch. 
 
 But how different today, since the advent 
 of the germ in educational circles! We will 
 pay as much for seven or eight ounces of 
 biscuits, done up in a pasteboard carton, and 
 prettily labeled, as would buy a pound of 
 them, even today, out of a barrel.. Add a 
 wrapping of oiled paper, "hermetically 
 sealed," to the carton and we will be content 
 with six ounces for the same money. 
 
 Chipped beef presents the same case. 
 Done up in glass or tin, we will pay twice 
 the price per pound for it that we would pay 
 for the bulk. Attach a little key for ready 
 opening — a tin is such a mussy thing other- 
 wise! — and we will stand for another cent. 
 
 So it is with butter, prunes, raisins, figs, 
 fancy flours and scores of other foods. It is 
 all right, too — if we don't forget that these 
 refinements have added to the cost of living. 
 
 There is, also, a daintiness that is not all 
 right — the daintiness that will pay more for 
 white-shelled eggs than for brown-shelled 
 eggs; that will pay more for a dozen eggs 
 in a carton than outside of one, and that 
 will pay still more if the eggs are sorted to 
 the same size. 
 
 Salesmen are schooled to play upon this 
 finickiness of the city housewife. Farmers 
 are taught the same thing by their rural 
 papers and Government bulletins. As a 
 result, the city housewife goes to market 
 with a heavier purse and comes home with 
 a lighter basket. 
 
 Let us be dainty, but not too dainty. 
 
 DESPERATE DAYS 
 
 New York Evening Sun 
 
 It is all very well for the butcher and the 
 baker to raise prices; for the laundryman 
 and the printer to quit work. To edit the 
 old proverb a bit, one man's meat — the 
 butcher's — is another man's poison — the 
 consumer's, when he pays for it. Eat grass 
 and grow wise, like Nebuchadnezzar. As 
 for clean clothes, the two million doughboys 
 can instruct the rest of us in the art of 
 doing without indefinitely. Readers of 
 books and magazines may reread and med- 
 itate upon the old ones too long forgot, while 
 they wait for the typesetters to resume work 
 on the inspiration of today. 
 
 These interruptions of habit may be 
 turned to good account in the way of dis- 
 cipline. But here comes a calamity without 
 comfort, unforeseen and hardly to be cred- 
 ited now that it is upon us — the strike of 
 drug clerks. This is not, as some will at 
 once lightly suggest, a mere matter of dis- 
 turbing the equanimity of the querulous 
 invalid. It will not do to quote Shakespeare 
 on the advisability of throwing physic to 
 
306 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 the dogs. For this is not primarily a matter 
 of physic. It is far more serious than that. 
 The drug clerks' union is aiming at the 
 vitals of the modern drug store, its heart 
 and lungs — ^the candy counter and the soda 
 fountain! With what diabolical cleverness 
 they have waited till the nation leaned most 
 heavily on their sustaining counters in the 
 dry days of prohibition. Well they know 
 that the public is dependent upon them for 
 the very elements of life, for nourishment, 
 for stimulation. The soda fountain and its 
 adjacent candy counter are the town pump, 
 the tavern, the corner grocery, the sewing 
 circle of days gone by. The very fabric of 
 our social and political life is woven here. 
 Can the nation support this final blow? 
 
 FOOD FOR THE GETTING 
 
 Indianapolis News 
 
 It is desirable to know the wild flowers 
 and appreciate their beauty, but it is equally 
 important to know weeds and know what 
 varieties may be put into a pot and trans- 
 formed into greens for dinner. Greens have 
 been selling at the Indianapolis market for 
 25 cents and 30 cents a pound — even the 
 noxious dandelion commanded a price of 
 10 cents a pound. Any man who failed to 
 take good care of his lawn had enough 
 dandelions to mix with more expensive 
 greens, so there was no necessity for buying 
 dandelions. Other varieties of greens were 
 not so easily obtained unless they and their 
 habitat were known. 
 
 In these days of maximum prices for 
 necessaries the householder should cultivate 
 a knowledge of wild greens. James B. 
 Elmore, of Montgomery county, ran for the 
 Democratic nomination for representative 
 and was defeated by a close margin. His 
 disposition to be of service to his fellow- 
 men in the general assembly has been 
 thwarted, temporarily, but he Tias served 
 the public with his pen thus: 
 
 Much indoor life stagnates the blood. 
 And makes a torpid liver; 
 
 But soon the sun sends piercing rays. 
 And makes the leaflets quiver. 
 
 I long for viands tart and good 
 To start arterial streams; 
 
 My heart leaps up with joy and hope 
 When Katie gathers greens. 
 
 Katie should have no monopoly in the 
 greens-gathering industry. The greens are 
 here, and there, and everywhere, ready for 
 the harvest. Their food value is admitted by 
 dietitians. Their flavor adds zest to any 
 meal, however good, and the exercise of 
 gathering them will tend to reduce the waist 
 line, induce deep breathing, and develop 
 little used muscles. Later on the garden 
 
 will furnish green things for the table, but 
 pending their harvest, the wild greens 
 beckon. 
 
 BLUE SHIRTS FOR SALARIED ONES 
 
 Louisville Courier-Journal 
 
 The blue shirt was once upon a time the 
 familiar garb of the wage-earner, the white 
 shirt the conventional garment of the office-, 
 holder and the salaried man in industrial 
 life. The time is coming, and presently will 
 have arrived, when the salaried classes, in- 
 cluding governors, will have to wear blue 
 shirts, or none. Any white shirt sold with 
 the equivalent of the shoe guarantee, "war- 
 ranted not to rip, tear or run down at the 
 heel," is, nowadays, a luxury about which 
 a governor, a college professor, a profes- 
 sional man, a clerk, must think twice before 
 buying. Both times he thinks that when 
 the present supply comes to an end he will 
 be embarrassed, financially and otherwise. 
 
 Inasmuch as the "biled" shirt is getting 
 out of the reach of the classes which once 
 affected its distinctive elegance, it may be 
 well for those classes to consider the possi- 
 bility that by adopting a style of dress 
 which has, historically, won sympathy, they 
 may rehabilitate themselves. When the 
 S5-cent collars and the white shirts are worn 
 by none but wage-earners and profiteering 
 proprietors; when the bank clerks, the edu- 
 cators, the salesmen in shops, the office- 
 holding class, salaried folk generally, shall 
 have been forced into the blue shirt because 
 it is more economical, not only in cost price, 
 but also in maintenance, perhaps a wave of 
 sympathy for the wearers of the blue shirt 
 will sweep through the land. Possibly it 
 will be said, upon the political stump and 
 elsewhere, that the honest college professor 
 in his blue shirt and overalls, with his din- 
 ner pail upon his arm; the honest physician 
 in wholesome blue; the surgeon with his 
 blue shirt sleeves rolled up; the governor 
 with the bright blue patches upon the faded 
 blue elbows of his proclaiming garment, 
 ought to have "living salaries" and ought 
 to be encouraged to aspire to the possession 
 of at least enough biled shirts for Sunday 
 wear. 
 
 MENACE OF THE 
 
 NOMINATING SPEECH 
 
 New York Evening Post 
 
 There is one thing of which the candidates 
 at Chicago and San Francisco should be 
 more afraid than of one another; and that 
 is the men who put them in nomination. 
 Imagine the scene. "Alabama," calls the 
 secretary. "Alabama yields to Michigan," 
 announces the chairman of the Alabama del- 
 egation. Thereupon an alert or impressive, 
 
EDITORIALS AKIN TO THE CASUAL ESSAY 
 
 307 
 
 as the case may be, figure rises in the Mich- 
 igan delegation and slowly makes its way 
 towards the platform. The easy grace of 
 the man's bearing attracts all eyes; the cut 
 of his Palm Beach suit wins all hearts. Be- 
 fore he has reached the steps leading up to 
 the crowded stage he has every delegate's 
 undivided attention. He begins to speak, 
 and his first sentences kindle emotions that 
 have lain undisturbed for four long years. 
 The end of his opening period is marked by 
 waves of applause upon which the presiding 
 officer's gavel has no more effect than Mrs. 
 Partington's broom had on the ocean. When 
 he has been speaking for five minutes he re- 
 ceives an ovation. The riot that follows his 
 revelation of the name of his candidate is 
 perfunctorily for the candidate, sponta- 
 neously for himself. When, after half a 
 dozen ballots, it dawns upon the convention 
 that it is hopelessly deadlocked, three dele- 
 gates from Oklahoma change their votes to 
 the man who made the nominating speech, 
 and it is all over. 
 
 We do not say that this is going to happen 
 at Chicago or San Francisco, although some- 
 thing very much like it did happen at 
 Chicago in 1880, when Garfield's nominating 
 speech for Sherman, coupled with his tactful 
 work in behalf of his candidate on the floor, 
 made so excellent an impression upon the 
 convention that he became the first Repub- 
 lican "dark horse." We do say that, with 
 nobody wildly enthusiastic over the three or 
 four candidates who have the most votes 
 pledged, it behooves these candidates not to 
 take any unnecessary risks. It is reported, 
 for instance, that Gov. Allen is to place Gen. 
 Wood in nomination. Is it wise to give 
 some volatile Kansan the opportunity of 
 yelling, "Oh, you Henry!" at the unpsycho- 
 logical moment? How embarrassing it 
 would be for a candidate who wds following 
 his nominator over the telegraph to read: 
 "Interruption. Cries, 'Why don't you speak 
 for yourself?' Tremendous cheering." 
 
 The only guarantee against this unwel- 
 come outburst is for candidates to choose 
 the dullest speakers of their acquaintance. 
 But this course has obvious disadvantages. 
 The one safe procedure would seem to be 
 for the candidate to arrange to be placed in 
 nomination by a spell-binder constitutionally 
 disqualified for the Presidency. 
 
 ' THE NECTAR WE CALL HONEY 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 American honey is much sought after in 
 England, so much so that 8,000 tons of it, 
 worth five and a half million dollars, have 
 been shipped there in a single year. Durmg 
 the war the demand was lively owing to 
 
 the shortage in sugar, and Englishmen en- 
 joyed something very good they had never 
 tasted before. 
 
 The flavor and quality of honey depend 
 largely on what the bees feed upon. At its 
 best it is principally the nectar of clover 
 and flowers; at its poorest it comes from 
 sugars fed the bees by men who make a 
 business of selling it and not eating it. 
 But all honey has one excellent quality 
 sugars have not. It is what the doctors call 
 an "inverted sweet;" that is, one which is 
 ready for immediate digestion when it en- 
 ters the stomach. Sugar is not, nor are any 
 of the candies made from sugar. They must 
 all undergo a chemical process in the 
 stomach before the juices of that active or- 
 gan will take them up. Wherefore honey 
 is the most healthful of all sweets, and a 
 true natural food. 
 
 Literature fairly drips honey. Perhaps 
 the best known and most widely quoted of 
 all references to it, is the famous verse 
 written on the fly leaf of a Bible belonging 
 to a pitman in an English county: 
 God made bees. 
 
 And bees made honey; 
 God made man. 
 
 And man made money; 
 Pride made the devil. 
 
 And the devil made sin; 
 So God made a coal pit 
 To put the devil in. 
 
 The Bible is full of references to honey. 
 Jacob sent down to Egypt to the man who 
 was his long mourned son Joseph, "a little 
 honey;" the manna sent down from heaven 
 during the exodus tasted "like wafers made 
 with honey;" there was a swarm of bees and 
 honey in the carcass of the lion Samson had 
 killed with his bare hands, from which came 
 the riddle in Judges: "Out of the eater came 
 forth meat, and out of the strong came 
 forth sweetness;" and John the Baptist's 
 meat was "locusts and wild honey." 
 
 Honey is a food to be eaten with care. It 
 is not wholesome with roast meat, and made 
 the bread of the Hebrews sour, but with 
 milk or cream or hot buttered cakes made 
 with sour milk, it is most palatable. 
 
 LEADERSHIP AND CHARACTER 
 
 Youth's Companion 
 
 It is a common fault with most of us that 
 as we advance in opportunities for cultiva- 
 tion and a widened outlook, we grow im- 
 patient of whatever is trite. We smile when 
 we hear a man say, "I don't know much 
 about art, but I know what I like"; and 
 when we meet a stranger who knows some 
 of our intimate friends in Moose Jaw or 
 Medicine Hat, and he exclaims, "What a 
 
308 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 small world it is!" we leave him with the 
 fervent wish that it were larger. 
 
 But is not our dislike of the trite and the 
 commonplace robbing us of certain moral 
 values that, as a people, we once greatly 
 prized? Are we not forgetting that trite 
 means merely "worn by use": a condition 
 that is in itself a certificate of usefulness? 
 Nothing gets worn that a large number of 
 people do not find of service. 
 
 Our superior and sophisticated attitude 
 toward life has impelled us to send to the 
 intellectual attic many of the good old 
 pieces of moral furniture that our fathers 
 valued — ^the excellent aphorisms about thrift 
 and industry; the relation between economy 
 and wealth; above all, the insistence that 
 success and leadership in life depend on 
 character. 
 
 If a wise man should be asked to name the 
 books that, next to the Bible, have exerted 
 the widest influence for good on people of 
 the English-speaking race, he would be 
 pretty sure to put Smiles's Self-Help some- 
 where in the list. It is marked neither by 
 originality of matter nor by special grace 
 of style, but is merely a collection of com- 
 monplaces meant for the guidance and en- 
 couragement of young men, especially such 
 as have their own way to make; neverthe- 
 less, it burns with a moral fervor that not 
 only warms the heart of him who reads it, 
 but makes steam in his intellectual boiler, if 
 the boiler is good for anything. From cover 
 to cover it is one continuous reiteration of 
 the old truth that character, and character 
 only, is the basis of leadership. Do young 
 men of today read Self-Help? 
 
 It is a mistake to drop the old truisms and 
 smile at the trite moralizations. Three 
 times in every hundred years the world 
 brings forth a new generation, born as 
 helpless and as dependent in mind and in 
 morals as in physical strength. It must 
 grow, as its predecessors grew, on precept 
 and wise teaching no less than on experience. 
 What is trite to us may be fresh to our 
 children — ^nay, is fresh to them, if we pre- 
 sent it in the right way. From the days of 
 Solomon — yes, from the days of Adam — 
 down to the present the plain, old-fashioned, 
 patiently wrought moral truths have held 
 the world together. Instead of dropping 
 them because they are worn with use, let 
 us drive them home at every opportunity. 
 
 WHEN BOOTS WERE TRUMPS 
 
 Omaha Bee 
 
 In the big shoe factories of New England 
 fifty machines and one hundred people take 
 part in the manufacture of each pair of 
 shoes, which go through two hundred proc- 
 esses before they are ready for the retailer. 
 
 One Massachusetts factory has a daily pro- 
 duction of 14,000 pairs of shoes, each pair 
 being in process of manufacture fourteen 
 days. 
 
 It is a far cry back to the days when a 
 single man made a pair of boots from start 
 to finish in two or three days actual work- 
 ing time, but men now in the "youth of 
 their old age" can remember when every 
 little village had a half dozen or more 
 bootmakers, who found steady and re- 
 munerative employment all the year around 
 on the bench making or mending footwear. 
 Incidentally, the old-time shoe-shops were 
 forums in which about every mooted ques- 
 tion in religion, science and politics was dis- 
 cussed, rivaling the blacksmith shops for 
 open debates. 
 
 These towns and village followers of St. 
 Crispin began to feel the need of tutelar 
 support back in the 80's, when factory pro- 
 duction was improved in quality and fit and 
 greatly increased in quantity. Deserted by 
 his patron saint, the bootmaker began to 
 fade away. When he died, nobody took his 
 place. And boots disappeared with him. 
 The factory men could make two pairs of 
 shoes, nearly, out of the leather required 
 for one pair of boots, and found it profitable 
 to push shoes, for summer wear, at least. 
 Young men entirely discarded boots, except 
 in the country, and in a few years they 
 passed out for the general public, although 
 old men continued to wear them winter and 
 summer. We have heard old men say their 
 legs were chilly in July weather without 
 boot tops around them. 
 
 The boot period was a great one to live in. 
 From the red-topped, copper-toed boots of 
 boyhood to the de luxe boots of elegant 
 young manhood, they were a joy. About 
 1885 a custom-made pair of box-toed French 
 calf boots, with beautiful glossy Morocco- 
 leather legs, cost around $14 and were the 
 aristocrats of footwear, good for two or 
 three years' service, winter and summer. 
 They conferred upon their owner the same 
 social distinction now enjoyed by those who 
 own and use evening clothes and a silk hat. 
 
 By the early 90's, machinery and shoe cor- 
 porations had driven out individual shoe- 
 making, just as industrial competition has 
 done away with the old village tanneries 
 and woolen mills, and the automobile in- 
 dustry has destroyed the small town car- 
 riage factories. So runs the world away 
 from many things. 
 
 WEATHER 
 
 Youth's Companion 
 
 The first interest that invades our sleepy 
 heads when we wake in the morning, the 
 first topic of conversation at any hour in 
 
EDITORIALS AKIN TO THE CASUAL ESSAY 
 
 309 
 
 the day when we meet a friend and the last 
 subject to receive our speculative considera- 
 tion when we open the window before pop- 
 ping into bed for the night is usually the 
 weather. This year, in most parts of the 
 country, the weather has been exceptionally 
 interesting and disagreeable. It has inter- 
 fered seriously with our comfort, our enjoy- 
 ment and our business. In a period when 
 people's dispositions were already tried by 
 the high cost of living and by after-the-war 
 animosities, disturbance and unrest along 
 comes weather of a most violent and per- 
 sistent sort and intensifies the general glum- 
 ness. 
 
 Rightly regarded, weather, even bad 
 weather, is a tonic and a disciplinarian. Of 
 course there are some extremes of me- 
 teorological activity for which no good word 
 can be said — tornadoes, hurricanes and bliz- 
 zards; but the ordinary or even the out-of- 
 the-ordinary run of bad weather is a bless- 
 ing in disguise, as the superior prosperity 
 and progressiveness of the inhabitants of 
 countries exposed to such vicissitudes dem- 
 onstrates. Variety in weather seems always 
 to mean versatility in man. 
 
 The reason is, of course, that people are 
 not going to be dominated by unfavorable 
 weather if they can help it. Where the 
 conditions of climate are nearly always fa- 
 vorable and a living is to be had with the 
 smallest possible effort it is different; people 
 are readily submissive to benign circum- 
 stance. But the fight to overcome condi- 
 tions unfavorable to easy living has de- 
 veloped the most valuable qualities of 
 character. The complaints against the 
 weather that have been so general and so 
 just this year, though they have indicated 
 disgust, have seldom been without the note 
 of dogged defiance. 
 
 To defy bad weather in act as well as in 
 thought is for the healthy person the best 
 way fdealing with it. There is certainly 
 no better way of working off the sullen 
 spirit that it sometimes engenders. Few 
 storms are so severe that one who is in 
 good physical condition and who is appro- 
 priately clad will not be the better for get- 
 ting out and battling with them. Bad 
 weather cuts us off sometimes from pleas- 
 ures to which we had looked forward, but. 
 if we take it in its own challenging spirit 
 we shall find in it pleasure of another and, 
 it may be, a more substantial kind. 
 
 THOSE WHO TENDED BAR 
 
 New York Sun 
 
 We are informed that all of England is 
 amused over the assertion of a London 
 newspaper that Sir Eric Geddes, the British 
 Minister of Transport, was once a bartender 
 
 in the United States. Sir Eric himself is 
 reported to have "smiled enigmatically" 
 when asked for details. The fact that he 
 mixes good cocktails is offered as circum- 
 stantial evidence of his past! But that is 
 in England. On this side of the water there 
 have been times and regions when every 
 social male could make a potable cocktail. 
 Americans did not leave the delicate task 
 to a butler. 
 
 To our way of thinking it would be more 
 depressing if it were discovered that Sir 
 Eric, after being First Lord of the British 
 Admiralty and a Major-General in her army, 
 had gone and become a bartender. Over 
 here there have been many examples of bar- 
 tenders who have risen to wealth and to a 
 power that extended beyond the precinct of 
 the bar. One became a master in finance 
 and left not only a fortune of a hundred 
 millions, but a memory among his associates 
 that his word was unbreakable. Another 
 former bartender became one of the highest 
 officers of this city's government and a man 
 of the greatest zeal in educational affairs. 
 
 It has been stated repeatedly, and with- 
 out contradiction from the hero of the tale, 
 that John Masefield tended bar in Sixth 
 avenue; and when that first class poet paid 
 a visit to New York a few years ago he 
 went to call on his former employer to 
 see how the old place was getting on. We 
 do not believe that Robert Bridges ever 
 served drinks professionally; and sometimes, 
 upon comparing his products with Mase- 
 field's, we have wished he was as broad in 
 song, if not in experience, as John is. 
 
 When we hear that the eminent So-and-so 
 was a bartender or a hod carrier or an 
 efficiency expert in his unformed youth we 
 do not lift our eyebrows. We do not even 
 ask whether he was good at his early trade. 
 If Sir Eric was ever a bartender we must 
 assume, from the character of his wider 
 public employment during the war, that he 
 was a good bartender. 
 
 THE SNUG BUTTERY 
 
 Chicago Tribune 
 
 In this season of falling leaves and rising 
 prices we are moved to speak of the sense 
 of protection against the inclemency of the 
 first and the relentlessness of the second — 
 the sense of protection there is to be ex- 
 tracted out of contemplating the buttery all 
 snugged down for the winter; all snug and 
 smug, with fat smiling quart jars and jam 
 pots and jelly glasses. 
 
 There is also the sense of protection that 
 comes of the ruddy glow of the fireplace 
 and the snowfiakes whirling against the 
 window-pane. A fine sense of luxury this, 
 even if the ruddy glow is only a mental ex- 
 
310 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 ercise produced by the clanking of the 
 steampipes or the rattle of the poker in the 
 old base-burner. 
 
 Again we say it is a fine sense of luxury; 
 warmth and the boisterous snow; but how 
 infinitely reassuring to be thus genially con- 
 scious of protection while at the same time 
 conscious of that abundant fortification in 
 the pantry — a fortification built by your 
 own homely initiative and prudent fore- 
 thought. 
 
 What will tomatoes fetch this winter? 
 You should worry with your dozen of quart 
 jars portly and sagely nodding approval of 
 your wisdom. How much will jelly be; 
 clear as ruby — ^breakfast cheerless without 
 it? No matter, the top shelf will tell you 
 it doesn't matter. 
 
 Does the price of the zestful chili sauce 
 appall you ? Certainly not, for a dozen, two 
 dozen quarts of it grin in the buttery. Dill 
 pickles? A huge crock is in the corner, 
 with a stone holding the contents under the 
 brine. Stuffed peppers, fine for blustering 
 December ? They, too, hide in the brine. 
 
 We can't all have Ichabod Crane's dreams 
 come true — "every roasting pig with a pud- 
 ding in his belly and an apple in his mouth; 
 the pigeons snugly put to bed in a comforta- 
 ble pie and tucked in with a coverlet of 
 crust; the geese swimming in their own 
 gravy; and the ducks pairing cozily in 
 dishes, like snug married folks, with a de- 
 cent competency of onion sauce — " but we 
 can have the sense of honest and prudent 
 comfort and protection which come of wise 
 and economical provision. 
 
 High prices always will be high if our 
 native wit and forethought fall into disuse. 
 Housewives no doubt will resent the imputa- 
 tion that they lack the" creative impulse, yet 
 the first blast of winter will be proof to 
 many that a dozen jars of tomatoes pre- 
 served at home is worth more than whole 
 years devoted to developing temperament. 
 
 Let's think of higher things, but also of 
 potatoes in the bin and squashes that make 
 pretty fair "pumpkin pie." Let's have art 
 and also artichokes, music and muffins; 
 esthetics in moderation and asparagus in 
 cans; culture and cabbage and philosophy 
 and flapjacks. The caveman would have 
 taken a house in town much sooner had the 
 cavewoman known how to put up stuff for 
 the winter. 
 
 THE KINGS WHO FLED 
 
 New York Sun 
 
 Royalty of the twentieth century breed in 
 exile is not an awe or pity inspiring lot. 
 The fall of princely houses has not been 
 dignified by the masterful bearing in the 
 
 ordeal of renunciation which true believers 
 in the divine right of one man to rule an- 
 other might have been expected to display. 
 There were noble opportunities to write 
 splendid tragedies in the dethronement pro- 
 ceedings which followed close on the armis- 
 tice, but actors competent to take advan- 
 tage of them were not in the cast. They did 
 not fight, but , fled, forsaking their regal 
 crowns, but not forgetting the golden crowns 
 they could lay their hands on. 
 
 A prince properly convinced of his divine 
 privilege and obligation, with the spirit to 
 defend it, had a splendid stage on which to 
 fight for that for which he had strutted. 
 Defiance to a "misled" people, fidelity to the 
 station and the office to which God had 
 called him, refusal to compromise for per- 
 sonal comfort, even for life itself, the un- 
 flinching pose of a man exalted by blood 
 and training and something beyond human 
 will; how magnificently one man might have 
 died for his caste, died for the system he 
 exemplified, died for the honor of the pre- 
 rogatives his rebellious subjects threatened 
 to take from him! Not one of the princes 
 was dramatic, to say nothing of heroic. 
 Each and every man and woman of them, 
 following the example of the self -proclaimed 
 bell wether of the flock, surrendered with 
 more discretion than valor or ran as fast 
 as his legs or an automobile could carry 
 him. 
 
 The Czar provides a better figure for 
 those who would make monarchs attractive 
 than any of the others. He at least went 
 into a mystery, and as he departed bore 
 himself well. But all the others offer poor 
 material for hero building. They quit cold, 
 earning honorary membership in the safety 
 first society as soon as trouble obscured the 
 sun of divine right under whose rays they 
 had profitably basked so long. A horde of 
 the fat and the skinny, the mad and the sane, 
 young and old, laid hands on their posses- 
 sions and took it on the run for cover. If 
 they believed what they taught, they 
 painted themselves cravens; if they ran be- 
 cause they did not believe, they confessed 
 themselves frauds. They dealt a blow to the 
 king or to the kingship, whichever way the 
 mind turns; they abandoned an ancient in- 
 stitution in its hour of peril to make sure 
 they might continue for a little time to 
 wear whole skins. 
 
 There have been kings who lived for their 
 countries and their peoples. There have 
 been kings who died for their countries and 
 their peoples. None of them is numbered 
 among those who had engagements else- 
 where when the signal came for the brave 
 to risk something or to lose all. 
 
EDITORIALS AKIN TO THE CASUAL ESSAY 
 
 311 
 
 PERSONALITY PERVADES MODERN 
 ADVERTISING 
 
 New York Evening Post 
 
 Shakespeare once said, "The play's the 
 thing," or he made Hamlet say it, and every- 
 body ever since has seemed to take that 
 for a profound psychological revelation. But 
 they ought to know that Shakespeare had 
 never read Freud, and couldn't qualify as 
 even a tyro in psycho-analysis. And maybe 
 Bacon wrote him, after all, and that would 
 entirely change the complexes. Personality 
 is the thing. Why, the play couldn't get 
 anywhere if there were not good chunks of 
 personality inserted in the press-agenting 
 of the heroine or the playwright. And ad- 
 vertisements! You remember how they used 
 to be clever, scintillating things crammed 
 with information about some brand of ar- 
 ticle, but reading a great deal more like an 
 encyclopaedia excerpt than an advertise- 
 ment. 
 
 When father got a far-away look one 
 evening and mused orally what a wonderful 
 thing a college education was, we all knew 
 he had been taking liberal draughts of that 
 description of how Cheops (was it Cheops ? ) 
 built the pyramids, that formed three pages 
 of the brochure of the Aphrodite Dental 
 Company. Or if mother, quite apropos of 
 nothing, told us at dinner that the ancients 
 had no forks, we felt that she had been 
 studying the literature of the Siamese Spice 
 Company, which includes wonderful histori- 
 cal accounts of customs and manners. 
 
 But now it all reeks of personality. There 
 is a spectral hand clapping you on the back 
 every time you take off a label or open a 
 package. Last night, for instance, just to 
 introduce that personal element right here, 
 Charles sent a box of candy— nothing ex- 
 travagant; that wouldn't be Charles — just 
 a nice, homey one-pound box, but fresh and 
 good, as far as it went, of course, and the 
 nicest little note in it tiv^m the manufac- 
 turer, telling me how much trouble he had 
 taken to have it nice and wholesome for me, 
 and if I didn't think it fresh I was to take 
 it right back. Not to wait a minute or count 
 the trouble of rushing out to the nearest 
 drug store in the rain, or telephoning 
 Charles about it at all. Well, it was nice of 
 him, and it made me feel that perhaps I 
 was prejudiced about not liking nougatines 
 and so much cocoanut in the fillings. It's 
 personality that counts. I have had many 
 a five-pound box that didn't measure up to 
 this one at all. 
 
 And just the other day I had a letter 
 from Wimbel Brothers telling me about their 
 reductions in fall garments, and not urging 
 me to buy a thing:, you know, but so chatty 
 
 and assuring, and ending up with the re- 
 mark, "Madame, you don't know what five 
 dollars would do for your wardrobe!" Well, 
 of course, I do know, for even five cents 
 spent on hooks and eyes would make a lot 
 of difference at times, but it was nice to 
 feel that someone else realized that I had 
 my problems and wanted to help me out! 
 And I went right down and bought a nice 
 little fur piece for $190 that I wouldn't have 
 known I needed if it hadn't been for that 
 personal touch. It is personality that 
 counts. 
 
 THE PORTER'S TIP 
 
 Chicago Tribune 
 
 Probably the two bits which the spend- 
 thrift American traveler, having luxuriated 
 under blankets of a peculiar rigidity, the 
 composition of which is known only to the 
 Pullman company, and having dressed with- 
 out fracturing his skull, bestows upon the 
 porter who tendered such creature com- 
 forts as may exist in a sleeping-car, hits at 
 some important props in our economic wel- 
 fare. 
 
 Chairman Walsh and the committee on 
 industrial relations evidently suspect that 
 an evil hides behind this quarter which the 
 average traveler deposits with the person 
 who dusted him thus effectively. It may be 
 making the Pullman company rich by mak- 
 ing possible an avoidance of paying proper 
 wages. It may be destroying the self- 
 respect of the porter, but we doubt it, ex- 
 perience never having discovered one who 
 did not look as if he had all the self-respect 
 of a person with a bank account. 
 
 We suspect that the first sleeping-car por- 
 ter who got the first two bits from a traveler 
 nearly fell over in astonishment and was 
 unable to express himself adequately. We 
 suspect that the whole system was orig- 
 inated by the travelers themselves and that 
 they will continue to hand out two bits in 
 the morning regardless of what changes are 
 made in the wage scale. 
 
 Naturally we want the money to go to the 
 porters and not to the Pullman company, 
 and for that reason we might insist that the 
 company pay wages that would be adequate 
 if there were no gratuities or would refund 
 the latter to the passenger in the form of 
 lower rates. 
 
 But we also suspect that the habit of tip- 
 ping the porter is something not to be ex- 
 plained by any orthodox economic theory; 
 that it inheres in the grandiloquence of the 
 average traveler who wishes to consider 
 himself a person important enough, in the 
 peculiarly important circumstances of his 
 travel, to hand out two bits to an obliging 
 gentleman of color and that he would resent 
 
312 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 any legislative fussiness which deprived him 
 of this expression of his own generosity and 
 solvency. As to the colored person who 
 takes the tip, we suspect that his self- 
 respect is proof against this subtle sugges- 
 tion. Anyway he earns the fee and it makes 
 gracious the person who gives it. 
 
 There are very few remnants of the feudal 
 system. Why destroy the one convenient 
 method by which a person of modest income 
 and small authority can, for a moment, at- 
 tain and realize the subtleties of the grand 
 estate ? Purchasable at two bits, the sensa- 
 tion is cheap. Many a man has spent a $20 
 bill and had his egotism flattered less. 
 
 CLOTHES AND THE MAN 
 
 Saturday Evening Post 
 
 Every year, on. the twelfth of February, 
 in scores of our home towns, draped flags, 
 bright bunting and wreaths of laurel draw 
 the eyes of passers-by to the statue of a 
 certain man a smug English critic said was 
 crude. 
 
 This man of bronze is stooped and grave. 
 His face is lined with care and strain. To 
 cool, appraising eyes he may seem a sorry 
 figure. His unbarbered hair is not brushed 
 sleekly back. His old-fashioned collar lies 
 in loose and homely rolls. There is too 
 much bronze broadcloth in that long and 
 skirted coat. It must have flapped in every 
 wind as he shambled awkwardly along. His 
 shapeless trousers, ridged by wrinkles with- 
 in wrinkles, bag sadly at the knees, as if 
 from too long careless use, or perhaps from 
 frequent kneeling. The lines of his stout 
 and clumsy boots melt into no suave neat 
 curves. 
 
 Survey this man of bronze from chin to 
 toe. No trace of style or smartness meets 
 the eye. Libraries have been written to do 
 him honor, but none who praised him ever 
 said: "He dressed richly and in the height 
 of fashion." If this was the epitaph he 
 strove to win, he lived in vain. 
 
 Yet this plain ungainly man won a na- 
 tion's love and the world's esteem. There 
 are still those who think his life was not a 
 failure. In his own day some hated him, but 
 far more worshiped him. Men liked to 
 speak of him as Old Abe; and when he 
 called them from their homes and farms 
 and countingrooms to take up arms they 
 came by regiments and brigades, chanting 
 as they tramped down country lanes and 
 city streets: "We're coming, Father Abra- 
 ham, three hundred thousand strong." Other 
 hundred thousands followed; and this plain 
 and care-bent man in baggy trousers, who 
 loved them every one, was master of their 
 fate. His was the great heart that saved 
 the nation. 
 
 Matthew Arnold, after visiting the White 
 House, said Mr. Lincoln was crude. He 
 might have said the same of mountain 
 chains, of stars, of the sea, and of all ma- 
 terial things in which men find grandeur and 
 sublimity. Posterity has more important 
 things to say of Mr. Lincoln. It is not in- 
 terested in how he dressed. It does not hold 
 his lank awkwardness against him. It re- 
 members what he was, what he suffered and 
 what he did. 
 
 Mr. Arnold would not have put his blunt 
 epithet upon the prince of dandies or upon 
 the master of the art of pleasing, yet Beau 
 Brummell, dying in exile, insane and penni- 
 less, left little behind but a tradition of 
 dandyism and impudence; and Lord Chester- 
 field is better membered for the scorching 
 letter the shabby dictionary maker ad- 
 dressed to him than for any page he ever 
 wrote himself. 
 
 If biographies were as commonly read as 
 novels there would perhaps be a lessened 
 demand for style at any price; and the cot- 
 ton plant would again provide us with shirts 
 and hose while the silkworms took a well- 
 earned rest. 
 
 ON KEEPING A BAROMETER 
 
 The Independent 
 
 The Irishman "keeps a pig." The old 
 maid "keeps a cat." It is much more fun 
 to keep a barometer. That is to say, it is 
 more fun if you are interested in the 
 weather. And you are. If you will not 
 admit it, you are either an untrustworthy 
 witness or a lusus naturse, a jest of nature. 
 
 Weather is one of the three great univer- 
 sal experiences of mankind. All men are 
 born, all men die, all men are "weathered." 
 The rain falls alike upon the just and unjust, 
 or would if it were not that the unjust have 
 the umbrellas of the just. In winter we all 
 shiver, in summer we all sweat. And all 
 the time we all talk about the weather. 
 There is no other perfectly common topic of 
 conversation; because there is no other per- 
 fectly common experience. Men talk to their 
 fellows about the weather, not because they 
 cannot think of anything else to talk about, 
 but because it is the one thing about which 
 they know that their fellows have thoughts 
 ready for exchange. 
 
 Since you will talk about the weather, you 
 should keep a barometer. It is better than 
 a pig, in that it produces nothing that you 
 can sell, and you may therefore know that 
 your motives in keeping it are unsullied by 
 greed. It is better than a cat in that it 
 drinks no milk, yowls no yowls, sheds no 
 hair. It is better than a dog in that — but 
 no, we cannot admit it. Nothing is better 
 than a dog. 
 
EDITORIALS AKIN TO THE CASUAL ESSAY 
 
 313 
 
 Keeping a barometer is a peaceful occu- 
 pation. It hangs silent on the wall, de- 
 manding nothing, asserting nothing, merely- 
 recording an impalpable fact — the pressure 
 of the air. 
 
 But keeping a barometer is an exciting 
 occupation. When you come down to break- 
 fast to find its needle hovering througii a 
 narrow arc away up in the fair region above 
 the thirty mark, a gentle thrill runs through 
 you at the thought that the wonderful 
 weather we have been having is to continue. 
 When the needle executes a two-inch swoop 
 in a few hours, as it did one day last winter, 
 you tingle with the expectation of the "big 
 wind" that is surely coming, and hurry- 
 down to stoke up the furnace. And when 
 the storm is still roaring and the cheerful 
 little needle begins to climb, you know with 
 a rebound of spirit that the worst is over. 
 An exciting occupation in its own quiet way. 
 
 An absorbing occupation no less. The last 
 thing at night when you have locked up, 
 put out the cat, set the screen before the 
 embers in the fireplace, and are all ready 
 for the ascent to bed you turn to the faithful 
 disc on the wall and set the index finger 
 fair over the needle. So when morning 
 comes and you stop on the way to the front 
 porch for the morning paper to see what 
 the elements have prepared over night for 
 you, the discrepancy between the finger and 
 needle tells the tale. An absorbing occupa- 
 tion indeed. 
 HOW WE ARE SUPPOSED TO SPEAK 
 
 Chattanooga News 
 
 It is not necessary now to be reared in 
 the south in order to write so-called southern 
 dialect. There are publications which tell 
 the amateur how to construct it. One of 
 these is known as the Editor, and it has a 
 large circulation among scribblers. Here is 
 advice given for correct use of "words" and 
 phrases of the rural central south. 
 
 "The people who most use these expres- 
 sions are older persons, who 'growed up 
 endurin' or jist ater the war, and so didn't 
 have no chanst toe (to) git no edication or 
 larnin*.' 1 
 
 "Air for are. Ast for asked. Hep for 
 help. Hope for helped. Drean for drain. 
 He dim (climbed) a tree. Shet and shot, for 
 shut— 'Did you shet the gate?' 'Yes, I shot 
 hit (it).' Hearn tell for heard. Mighty for 
 very; mought for might — 'He mought hev 
 bin mighty sick! I dunno (don't know).' 
 He wuz (was) thar (there) all day. I was 
 not afeared of him. He was scared of me. 
 Nigh about guv out, for wearied. Fur for 
 far— 'How fur is it to the village?' 'Not 
 much furder.' Like for lack— 'It likes two 
 hours to dinner yit.' Ketch and kotch for 
 
 catch and caught — 'Did you ketch that air 
 (that) boss?' 'Yes, I kotch him.' Tuck for 
 took. Chuesday for Tuesday. Kyards for 
 cards. Gyarden for garden. Mr. Kyarter 
 for Mr. Carter. Banch for bench. Shore for 
 sure, for surely — 'She shore is purty 
 (pretty).' 
 
 "A plug is a shabby horse. A fiste is a 
 small dawg (dog). A stob is a stake or 
 small post. A clod-hopper is a small bare- 
 footed boy. Slickers are dumplings. Chin 
 music is abusive language. 
 
 "These old people eat sallet (greens), 
 ingerns (onions), 'lasses, 'possum and taters 
 and cow-cumbers (cucumbers). 
 
 "Among petty offenders of the law and 
 their associates, court costs and fines in 
 trivial suits are referred to as coffee money 
 — 'They (the magistrate and the constable) 
 tuck him up (arraigned him) jist because 
 they wanted a little money to buy sugar and 
 coffee.' 
 
 " 'All rigged out' or 'all duked up' means 
 to be dressed in one's best clothes. To 
 'spruce up' means to take extra care with 
 one's person and clothes when he begins to 
 think about choosing a wife (applied espe- 
 cially to a widower). To 'kick the bucket' 
 or to 'jump the poplar log' means to die — 
 'He liked (came very near) to kicked the 
 bucket.' " 
 
 If any of our country people don't talk 
 like the above, they might study the model 
 and make their speech accord with their 
 reputation. 
 
 THE QUADWRANGLER 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 From a careful reading of this week's 
 Nomad — and the Quadwrangler invariably 
 reads the Nomad carefully— it is apparent 
 that that worthy person, while quite willing 
 to be among the first to discuss the wearing 
 of overalls will probably be the last man 
 in the United States to wear them himself. 
 Which is all fair enough. For his part the 
 Quadwrangler can make no promises. He 
 comes in frequent contact with college men, 
 visits colleges occasionally and the situation 
 may some day arise when he will simply 
 have to don denim if he wants to meet his 
 campus friends on equal terms. But one 
 thing he must say for himself. If he ever 
 does wear them it will be, not in place of a 
 regulation suit of clothes, but in addition 
 or supplementary thereto. This, of course, 
 will not be economy. In fact, it will be about 
 as sound policy as attempting to reduce the 
 high cost of eating by buttering both sides 
 instead of one side of a piece of bread. 
 Economy or no economy, however, the Quad- 
 wrangler has all the troubles he needs al- 
 
314 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 ready. He is not going to flirt with pneu- 
 monia by shedding two or three thicknesses 
 of clothing. 
 
 In discussing overalls the Quadwrangler 
 has at last found a subject he knows some- 
 thing about. He has worn overalls, worn 
 them day in and day out from 5.30 in the 
 morning until 7.30 at night. He has worn 
 them on the farm and in the factory. As 
 far as he is concerned they do not represent 
 clothes. All they represent is hard work, 
 which is probably one reason why he is not 
 falling all over himself in his efforts to join 
 the blue denim army that is now being 
 mobilized. In addition overalls are not 
 warm except in mid-summer, when they are 
 hot. Taken by themselves they are most 
 emphatically not a garment to be worn dur- 
 ing such springs as we are accustomed to 
 have here in New England. 
 
 That college men everywhere have taken 
 to overalls is not surprising. Neither is it 
 of any especial significance. But if they 
 hadn't— then we would have had a state of 
 affairs. One of the easiest things in this 
 world is to get students to do something out 
 of the ordinary. It's a great deal easier 
 than getting them to study or to attend to 
 any other of their routine duties. This over- 
 alls business was just what they were look- 
 ing for. It was made for them, in fact. 
 Some of them, too, are taking it seriously. 
 Here is the Williams Record, for instance, 
 first appealing to that mythical thing called 
 college spirit and then asking the students 
 of the college to wear their oldest clothes, 
 if patched so much the better, in order to 
 refute once and for all the imputation that 
 Williams is a rich man's institution. 
 
 The Quadwrangler is not so long out of 
 college that he can't remember most of the 
 details of a somewhat similar movement 
 that had its vogue when he was an under- 
 graduate. It is not recorded that the cost 
 of living was high in those times, but for 
 some reason or other word went round that 
 the proper garb was a blue flannel shirt 
 and corduroy trousers, plus, of course, such 
 luxuries as socks and shoes. One word was 
 enough. In the beginning and after virtu- 
 ally all the money in sight had been spent 
 we had a situation which required consid- 
 erable ironing out. Some men had two 
 shirts and one pair of trousers, some had 
 two pairs of trousers and one shirt, some 
 had just a" shirt or just a pair of trousers 
 and some, of course, had nothing at all. 
 But when it was all over— so fraternal and 
 generous are the ways of the college under- 
 graduate—everybody had at least one shirt 
 
 and one pair of trousers. It was a mar- 
 velous feat of co-operative clothing. 
 
 KING ALBERT IN THE HEART OF 
 AMERICA 
 
 New York Sun 
 
 I'he special train bearing the Belgian 
 royal party eastward from the Pacific coast 
 stopped for fifteen minutes at Hutchinson, 
 Kansas, and the News of that town remarks 
 that thousands of Hutchinson people saw 
 their first real king and queen and King 
 Albert and Queen Elizabeth saw some real 
 folks "as they looked over the mass of hu- 
 manity that swarmed around the station 
 grounds to give them a hearty welcome." 
 
 Hutchinson is not far from the geograph- 
 ical center of the United States. It knew 
 all about Belgium because it had sent of 
 its own accord several carloads of its chief 
 products, flour and salt, to the Belgian 
 people during the war. It was the only real 
 stop of the train in Kansas; "the other 
 stops," it was explained by the News, "at 
 Emporia and Newton, were merely for a 
 change of engines." Even if it had only a 
 few hours for preparation, Hutchinson was 
 determined that the fifteen minutes should 
 show that it appreciated the honor that had 
 come to it. 
 
 The municipal band did not know the 
 Belgian national hymn, but "fortunately 
 Director Famey was able to get the music, 
 and after the band had worked all afternoon 
 it could give a pretty good rendition of 
 "La Brabanconne." The schools were dis- 
 missed and the number of children was in- 
 creased by the entire enrolment of the 
 schools of the neighboring Pretty Prairie. 
 A reception committee was hurriedly 
 formed; the women were to present to the 
 Queen a bouquet of American Beauty roses 
 tied with black and yellow ribbons; the men 
 to give the King souvenirs of salt and flour 
 "as symbols of the food sent to Belgium 
 by Kansas." 
 
 In arrangements so hastily made there 
 were likely to be some hitches. The train 
 was to stop in front of the telegraph sta- 
 tion; "the committee waited, but the train 
 pulled a hundred yards ahead through some- 
 body's bonehead." Mayor Humphrey and 
 one or two members of his committee pushed 
 their way through the crowd on the station 
 platform and aboard the train just as it 
 was about time for it to leave. Says the 
 News: 
 
 "The King shook hands with the 
 
 Mayor like an American candidate for 
 
 alderman. 
 
 " 'We're sure glad to see you,* the 
 
 Mayor told the King. He tried to work 
 
EDITORIALS AKIN TO THE CASUAL ESSAY 
 
 315 
 
 in some *your royal highness' stuff, but 
 
 it didn't slip easily off the tongue of the 
 
 Mayor. He's not used to talking to 
 
 kings." 
 
 King Albert said that he understood 
 Hutchinson had 30,000 people and that they 
 all seemed to be at the station. "They are, 
 every one," replied Mayor Humphrey. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth was invited "to make a 
 few remarks," but she smiled and shook her 
 head. "When he speaks," nodding toward 
 the King, "I have nothing to say." One of 
 the men present assured her she was in 
 Kansas, "where women generally speak first 
 and always have as much to say as the 
 men." "The Queen," says the News re- 
 porter, "appeared interested, but declined to 
 make any public remarks." There could be 
 no doubt of the heartiness of the reception 
 when the royal couple appeared on the plat- 
 form of the rear car. The King began, "I 
 wish to thank you for this greeting" — but 
 he did not finish his speech. The train 
 started. Again "somebody's bonehead." 
 The King and Queen waved adieu, and all 
 Hutchinson sang as it never sang before 
 'Till We Meet Again." 
 
 It was a glorious fifteen minutes. A 
 dozen or more little girls whose cheeks 
 were kissed by the Queen and little Charles 
 Pratz of Pretty Prairie, who shook hands 
 with the King, will talk about it in years 
 to come. "We like that King, he is demo- 
 cratic," said Hutchinson. "We shall never 
 forget Hutchinson," said King Albert. And 
 both spoke with sincerity. 
 
 THE AGE OF GLASS 
 
 Scientific American 
 
 Surely the Cinderella among materials of 
 construction is glass. By day through count- 
 less windows that keep out wind and 
 weather, the sun pours his rays into our 
 dwellings, offices and factories. By night 
 every lamp aglow spreads its light through 
 a glass chim.ney, shade or bulb. It is through 
 glass lenses that the lighthouse sends its 
 warning beam, that ships may sail past 
 shoal and reef in safety to port. 
 
 We are so accustomed to it all that we 
 never realize how helpless we should be 
 without this substance for which we know 
 no general substitute. With its transpar- 
 ency for light it combines almost perfect 
 impermeability for gases and very consid- 
 erable strength, qualities indispensable in 
 the construction of electric light bulbs and 
 
 X-ray tubes. How many men owe their 
 lives to the good offices of glass in accurate 
 diagnosis with X-rays we must leave it to 
 the surgeon to estimate. 
 
 Pliable, heat-resisting mica has advan- 
 tages for certain uses; so has flexible cel- 
 luloid. But these can never supplant glass 
 for ordinary use. Even the one vice of glass 
 — its extremely dangerous character when 
 wrecked by accident — has, by modern art, 
 been cut to a minimum, where special pre- 
 cautions are called for, by the familiar wire- 
 net reinforcement, or the less familiar cel- 
 luloid core. 
 
 Glass has given into man's hand the in- 
 strument to wage effective battle against 
 that insidious enemy of his race — the elusive 
 microbe, visible only under the high power 
 of the microscope. Through glass lenses the 
 astronomer peers into space that has no 
 bottom, making observations from which he 
 can predict the future with mathematical 
 precision, and unraveling the mysteries of 
 world creation and decay. 
 
 How many of us go through life bespec- 
 tacled, and never give a thought in thank- 
 fulness to the good offices of Cinderella! 
 Even the blind, in case of cataract, can be 
 made to see by skillful removal of the eye's 
 natural lense and substitution of one of this 
 wonder substances. 
 
 Glass has made possible photography with 
 its record of family histories, of the faces 
 of our friends, of places visited and of the 
 scenes of our holiday frolics. 
 
 The artistic possibilities of glass in other 
 directions are probably not yet fully ex- 
 ploited. Church windows are one of the 
 better known applications in this field; 
 many other examples which might be men- 
 tioned will doubtless occur to the reader. 
 Whatever we have achieved in these direc- 
 tions, that much more might still be done 
 must have been vividly impressed on all who 
 gazed in admiration at the Jewel Arch 
 lately erected in New York to celebrate the 
 homecoming of our men from France. 
 
 If there is still a shadow of doubt as to 
 the significance of glass in modem civiliza- 
 tion, let us but estimate the daily attend- 
 ance at the moving picture theaters, re- 
 membering that without the camera's glass 
 eye the whole performance would be im- 
 possible. No glass, no movies. Glass has 
 been known from antiquity, but its common 
 use is comparatively recent. Ours has been 
 spoken of as the age of steel. It might 
 equally be pronounced the age of glass. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 EDITORIALS HAVING HUMAN INTEREST 
 
 In Part I, Chapter X, the nature 
 of the "human-interest appeal" is 
 explained. The editorials here re- 
 printed illustrate various aspects of 
 
 human-interest. They appeal to some- 
 thing in our general interest in our 
 fellows, or to instinctive feelings, not 
 to less fundamental things. 
 
 FOOD FOR HENS 
 
 Boston Globe 
 
 It is a gentleman farmer in New York 
 State who says: "I am dividing my flock of 
 Rhode Island Reds into units. One portion 
 I am feeding sweet corn to produce eggs of 
 a sweet flavor, so in cakemaking it will not 
 require as much sugar as ordinarily. Then, 
 in order to produce eggs for milk punch, I 
 am feeding another lot of hens two spoon- 
 fuls of Medford rum in their mash; I am 
 also feeding to some hens red carrots to pro- 
 duce dark eggs, those being especially fitted 
 for vegetarians." Has he lost his interest in 
 sherry chickens? 
 
 MAKE IT THE STYLE 
 
 Western Advertising 
 
 Most baby-carriages are not oiled and 
 they squeak or shriek their protest to the 
 unheeding ears of their feminine proponents. 
 
 Women do not understand mechanics or 
 explanations mechanical, nor do they pay 
 attention to so masculine a line of reasoning. 
 
 How then can you induce women to oil 
 the axles of a baby-carriage? 
 
 Follow the line of least resistance. Don't 
 argue; be convincing. 
 
 Tell women that "they" have silent-run- 
 ning baby-carriages this season; that a pro- 
 testing squeak indicates a lack of good 
 form; that to be in style, vehicular silence 
 is golden. Discover the "Open Sesame" 
 into the mind of woman and your appropria- 
 tion for advertising is multiplied. 
 
 SKOOKUM JIM 
 
 Cleveland Plain Dealer 
 
 At Carcross, Yukon territory, Skookum 
 Jim is dead. Measured by the result of his 
 life and work, Skookum Jim must be ac- 
 counted a great man. Yet he was only a 
 poor Indian, of meager intelligence, and of 
 no outstanding merit. 
 
 It was Skookum Jim who, twenty years 
 ago, discovered gold in the Klondike. Doubt- 
 less he had only the vaguest understanding 
 of the significance of his find. He told 
 about it, though, and the news circled the 
 
 world with the speed of fire. And in a 
 short time Skookum Jim was forgotten, and 
 innumerable camps of gold-crazed adven- 
 turers dotted the wild northland. 
 
 As for Skookum himself, it is stated that 
 he once possessed as much as $100,000 in 
 gold. It did not do him much good. No 
 poor Indian of Skookum's antecedents and 
 upbringing could find any possible use for 
 $100,000. 
 
 Perhaps the greatest utility of Skookum 
 Jim's discovery was not the location of gold- 
 deposits. The Klondike rush called the 
 world's attention to Alaska, and this was 
 distinctly useful. Those who had thought 
 of the northern realm as a dark and frozen 
 wilderness, learned of their error. Other 
 riches, more substantial than gold, were 
 disclosed by prospectors. Farms were laid 
 out in the vast interior; cities and towns 
 came into being. And now railways are 
 being built by the American nation to make , 
 certain the wise and economical develop- 
 ment of the land. 
 
 All this has been subsequent to Skookum 
 Jim's discovery, and indirectly its conse- 
 quence. The illiterate Indian became an 
 unconscious benefactor. Perhaps some 
 time in the future an historical society from 
 some great Alaskan metropolis will hunt up 
 Jim's grave at Carcross, Yukon territory, 
 and erect a monument to him. 
 
 WHEN SCHOOL'S OUT 
 
 Haverhill Gazette 
 
 All indications, pointing to the near fu- 
 ture, strongly hint of much livelier and 
 happier times in the great American homes 
 wherein little children reside. 
 
 The answer is vacation time! 
 
 For, lo, these many days mother has been 
 rustling and hustling about in the early 
 morning, getting sonny or daughter off to 
 school. And all through the morning and 
 the afternoon there has been a lack of 
 youthful cheerfulness. 
 
 Now there will be the merry laugh' and 
 the smiling face of "our little kiddies," to, 
 
 i 
 
EDITORIALS HAVING HUMAN INTEREST 
 
 317 
 
 keep the cheerful spirit uppermost round 
 the household. 
 
 The real love that goes out to the little 
 ones, and the pleasure in having them 
 around, is stronger than the bit of bother 
 they bring through littering up the house 
 and constantly shouting, "Can I have a piece 
 of bread and jelly?" 
 
 Somehow the world has just got to envy 
 the mother and dad who have tiny tots and 
 feel sort of sorry for the folk who keep only 
 a pet poodle. 
 
 Incidentally, the Ohio State Medical Asso- 
 ciation blames the so-called "Society Bug" 
 for the low birth-rate. 
 
 "PRAY BEFORE BEING MARRIED" 
 
 Ohio State Journal 
 
 Here is a Russian proverb that might be 
 made good use of. It certainly would dispel 
 a multitude of sorrows, especially the last 
 one, which would prevent many hasty mar- 
 riages and relieve the courts of many di- 
 vorce cases. It takes matrimony out of the 
 pale of whims and makes a divine consid- 
 eration of it. The proverb runs this way: 
 
 "If you go to war, pray; if you go on a sea 
 journey, pray twice; but pray three times if 
 you are going to be married." 
 
 Good advice, all of it. There is too much 
 that is hysterical in the matrimonial ven- 
 ture, and a little praying will tend to re- 
 lieve the mind. 
 
 SLICK SHIRTS 
 
 Dallas News 
 
 A Dublin reader who signs herself Lizzie 
 writes in to inform State Press that he is 
 an old grouch because he criticises silk 
 shirts. Bless your heart, Liz, State Press 
 is not old. He is young and superlatively 
 beautiful. Moreover, Elizabeth, he abso- 
 lutely did not criticise silk shirts. If he had 
 one, he would wear it, and probably would 
 leave his coat off all the time at that. It 
 was the price he criticised, not the shirts. 
 If State Press ever had enough money to 
 buy a silk shirt, he wouldn't be in this stuffy 
 office now writing literature. Instead he 
 would be out in California riding a surf- 
 board or picking pineapples off the bread- 
 fruit trees, or eating ice-cream cones under 
 an umbrelly on somebody's prune plantation. 
 State Press has never owned a silk shirt, 
 Betty, never. One time, he will admit, he 
 had one on for a few days. It happened 
 when the cook got her washing mixed up 
 with State Press's, and one of the cook's 
 husband's shirts landed in State Press's 
 drawer. State Press wore it surreptitiously 
 and with great enjoyment until the next 
 wash day. It was yellow with red stripes 
 and didn't have a hole in it. 
 
 THE PULLMAN BEDROOM 
 
 Columbia Record 
 
 We have with us today the Pullman bed- 
 room. It exists not as a vague and horrible 
 premonition of something evil that is liable 
 to happen in the future of days of conges- 
 tion, worse congested, but it actually is, it 
 has its being, it is a fact. And a very 
 stuffy fact it is withal. 
 
 A hotel-keeper in Hartford in Connecti- 
 cut was first obsessed with the inspiration 
 to construct this ingenious torment for his 
 guests, and now a widely known hotel in 
 Detroit has converted twelve of its large 
 sample rooms into Pullman bedrooms, pro- 
 viding seventy-two "berths," for each of 
 which it gets two dollars a night. The 
 theory, as explained by mine host, is that 
 the potential guest will find the Pullman 
 bedroom more inviting than the prospect of 
 spending hours in a vain search for rooms 
 elsewhere in the city. Doubtless the theory 
 is sound. Men sometimes will do anything 
 when driven to it. 
 
 Community baths to every six patrons, 
 pasteboard doors and old-fashioned visits by 
 the bell boy to arouse the sleeping guest in 
 the morning, are features of this new and 
 modern service. 
 
 One cannot help thinking how this ar- 
 rangement could be greatly improved to 
 make it seem a bit more real by putting a 
 flat wheel under one corner of the cot in 
 the Pullman bedroom; and if live steam 
 could be piped beneath the cots to alternate 
 with a refrigerator plant and the whole en- 
 shrouded with the panoply of real Pullman 
 plush curtains, how nice and homelike it 
 would all seem. 
 
 DESIRE 
 
 The Delineator 
 
 It was a day or so before Christmas. We 
 were in the subway crush in New York City, 
 fighting to get home to supper with the rest 
 of the four million. A well-groomed, tired- 
 looking man who got on with a friend at 
 Wall Street clung to the strap next to ours. 
 
 "Once," he said across us to the friend, 
 jammed on the other side, "I spent a Christ- 
 mas at the Grand Canon. For days the 
 memory of it's been haunting me. With 
 all the unrest and worry of these after-war 
 days, I tell myself nothing would seem so 
 near heaven as to lock my office door and 
 go out there for Christmas. I know exactly 
 how it would look. The big gash, with the 
 snow sifting into it, white drifting down on 
 blue depths. The sun would slip clear just 
 before setting. For a moment you'd see the 
 black ribbon of river a mile below and the 
 canon walls, every color of the rainbow and 
 the snow drifting and shimmering like 
 
318 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 wavering mist. Nothing can give you the 
 idea of eternity that the Grand Canon does. 
 And the peace of it and the silence! Lrord, 
 Lord, the silence! I wish I could spend 
 Christmas there. I believe I'd get back some 
 of the religion I've lost here. Lord, the 
 quiet of it!" 
 
 Then he stopped speaking with a sigh as 
 though the hideous uproar of the subway 
 discouraged him. 
 
 HEROISM FROM THE AVERAGE MAN 
 
 Kansas City Times 
 
 Word comes that a gas explosion has 
 buried a party of workmen in the Cleveland 
 water works tunnel. Seven men are hastily 
 gathered to go to the rescue. They stumble 
 and fall, overcome by the fumes. Eleven 
 more are summoned. There is no time to 
 wait for the life-saving oxygen helmets. All 
 they know is that their fellows are dying 
 there, but that some of them may be saved 
 by prompt action. They rush in, and six of 
 them are suffocated. But they have saved 
 one of the first rescue party. Then the 
 helmets come and a third party rescues the 
 survivors. 
 
 Under the thrill of battle men take part 
 in forlorn-hope charges. They press for- 
 ward in the face of machine-gun fire to 
 capture a trench. But in that Cleveland 
 tunnel there was none of the pomp and cir- 
 cumstance of war. The rescuers simply 
 dived into a hole in the dark, on the chance 
 of saving a few workers, and they con- 
 tinued when they knew almost certain death 
 lay ahead. 
 
 Such incidents as the self-sacrificing de- 
 votion of those tunnel workers make us 
 proud of the human race — proud that in the 
 final crisis the average man is ready to 
 answer the call of duty with his life. 
 
 SPINNING LITTLE GOLDEN THREADS 
 
 Cincinnati Commercial Tribune 
 
 ^ It is an easy matter to give a person a 
 little bit of praise once in a while when it is 
 warranted. 
 
 The majority of us take too much for 
 granted. We expect a great deal and take 
 everything as a matter of course. 
 
 Even your best friend likes to hear a 
 complimentary word. 
 
 If your husband does something which 
 you appreciate very much, tell him so. Com- 
 pliment him with enthusiasm. 
 
 If your wife does something above the 
 average, tell her how proud it makes you. 
 Encouraging words have a marvelous effect 
 sometimes. 
 
 At any rate, they make life run smoother. 
 
 And what better work can you do than 
 
 make home happy to those nearest and 
 dearest ? 
 
 Between the closest friends too much is 
 taken for granted sometimes, and a pleas- 
 ant surprise and show of appreciation spins 
 a golden thread of sympathy and under- 
 standing as nothing else can. 
 
 ABAFT THE FENDER 
 
 Wall Street Journal 
 
 Recently in Los Angeles an electric car 
 and a jitney bus came together quite ex- 
 temporaneously. There were no fatalities, 
 but the jitney was practically demolished, 
 and the accident was brought into court. 
 One of the passengers on the electric car 
 was a "Jackie" from the monitor Cheyenne. 
 Sis version of the accident, as expressed in 
 a letter to the claim-agent of the trolley 
 company, follows: 
 
 "I was standing on the starboard fo'castle 
 of the car when the gasoline cutter hove in 
 sight off our port bow. We were making 
 about fifteen knots, and the cutter was 
 coming about the same along another chan- 
 nel. It was clear weather and not much 
 ground swell. 
 
 "Our chief engineer blew his siren and 
 reversed his propeller, but he couldn't heave 
 her to in time to keep from ramming her. 
 There wasn't even time to get out the life- 
 preservers or sound the emergency call. We 
 smashed in a couple of the little craft's 
 compartments. Her captain stuck to his 
 post. The jitney went down like a sub- 
 marine. 
 
 "I think the cause of the wreck was that 
 the jitney's binnacle light was out." 
 "WHAT IS MY GREATEST PROBLEM?' 
 
 Building Trade with Farmers 
 
 Do you sometimes stop and say to your 
 self, "What is my greatest problem?" or d 
 you just keep on plugging away doing what 
 ever seems most necessary at the time? 
 
 If you do the first, we will venture to sa; 
 you are finding means to solve your prob 
 lems practically as fast as you reach thena 
 You know it is only when one knows wha 
 is wrong that a remedy can be found 
 Usually it is comparatively easy to wori 
 out problems that we know all about. 
 
 But when we do not know just what should 
 be changed, we really cannot be expected tol 
 arrive at a solution at once under that pro- 
 cedure. All the while other problems are 
 piling up so fast that when we have worked 
 one out, we are hardly likely to make the 
 most of it because so many other thing?, 
 take up time. 
 
 It often happens that a man who becaus 
 of the very nature of his work is so clo» 
 to it that he can hardly see out — and thia 
 seems to apply quite extensively to countryf 
 
 I 
 
EDITORIALS HAVING HUMAN INTEREST 
 
 publishers — to back off a ways and view the 
 situation from a little distance. Frequently 
 he can see the whole working of his job to 
 a much better advantage and, therefore, find 
 ways in which to make his efforts more 
 effective. Sometimes when things seem 
 particularly complicated, just arbitrate, take 
 off a half hour, time yourself, think out 
 your whole line of procedure, what you are 
 doing, and what you ought to be doing to 
 meet the situation. You will find perhaps 
 that it is not quite as hard to readjust and 
 to do some little thing you ought to be doing. 
 The writer knows from experience that this 
 helps — known problems are easier to solve 
 ;han unknown problems. 
 
 WHEN THE DEW IS ON THE CORN 
 
 The Review 
 
 The Daylight-Saving law, a happy by- 
 product of the war, was repealed by the 
 ^otes of Congressmen who explained their 
 iction as due to pressure from the farmer, 
 ^'arm workers of today, we are told, will 
 lot be dragged into the fields while wheat 
 md com are still dripping with the dew. 
 3ow old-time farmers, lured into city life 
 luring the past twenty or thirty years, must 
 •ub their eyes and look again as they read 
 ill this in the morning paper! The farmer, 
 shivering at the thought of the dew, un- 
 willing to set his foot on the grass until 
 lure that his shoes will not be dampened! 
 A^hat a contrast with the time when, as a 
 >oy, you hiked over the pasture-field looking 
 imong clumps of pawpaw bushes for old 
 5elim, long before rosy-fingered Aurora 
 hot the hilltops with her shafts of gold. If 
 lis erratic grazing drew you under the honey 
 ocusts in the still imperfect light, you might 
 ven have to sit down in the dew and extract 
 , thorn from your foot, like the boy who has 
 ome down to us in bronze from some thorny 
 leld of the old Mediterranean world, though 
 linus his sculptural dignity and plus a more 
 omprehensive outfit of clothes. And after 
 ou had caught your horse and curried him, 
 aten your breakfast and reached the field 
 ;'ith the double-shovel cultivator of that day, 
 here was still dew enough on the corn to 
 oak through your shirt and trickle down 
 our sides as you went back and forth be- 
 
 . ween the rows. If you had not appeared 
 ntil the dew was gone, your neighbors 
 
 j|/ould have thought something wrong. 
 
 BLUE-BEARDS OF TODAY 
 
 Boston Herald 
 
 The Barbe-Bleue of the 17th century 
 'rench novel has been outdone several times 
 ccording to the news dispatches of the last 
 ew months; for he married seven wives in 
 uccession, six of whom mysteriously dis- 
 
 319 
 
 'appeared, while today Egypt claims a Blue- 
 beard who has married twenty women, 
 ± ranee has one whose record mounts higher 
 still, and California presents us with the 
 story of another, with some thirty marriages 
 to his credit in less than twenty years. 
 ±lenri Landru, whose case has been exploited 
 m the newspapers not only of France, but 
 of ^ngland, used to advertise for middle- 
 aged widows, "object matrimony," and in- 
 duce them to move out to a villa in a distant 
 Pans suburb, whence they never were seen 
 to emerge. Just how Landru disposed of 
 the bodies of his victims is not known and 
 he has manifested an agile wit in prodding 
 the police inquisitors over their failures. 
 But the Los Angeles Blue-Beard is the most 
 interesting— and repulsive— of them all. He 
 always carried with him a mysterious black 
 •leather bag, so the papers say, and it con- 
 tained a card index of his victims, with their 
 names, tastes, special foibles, and personal 
 information at length. With this aid to 
 memory and a series of form letters which 
 won the confidence of many women James 
 K. Huirt played upon the whims of his vic- 
 tims, and so successfully that, when sev- 
 eral of them met by legal arrangement and 
 confronted him, they at once became mutual- 
 ly jealous and acrimonious. Yet he admits 
 his thirty-odd marriages and confesses the 
 murder of at least one of his "wives." What 
 a tale the French romancer might write out 
 of the materials in the news of today. 
 
 PROOF BY FINGER PRINTS 
 
 Boston Herald 
 
 It appears to be established beyond all 
 reasonable doubt that the finger prints of no 
 two persons are alike. Take a print of the 
 fingers of any one and it will be, and con- 
 tinue to be, infallible evidence of identity. 
 No end to the variety of the lines has been 
 found, and each print differs so from every 
 other that persons accustomed to read them 
 can make no mistake. These things have 
 been hard to believe. But if there remains 
 a doubter he may be convinced by what has 
 just happened in the United States district 
 court at Brooklyn, New York. Private 
 George W. Barry of the Forty-fourth Coast 
 Artillery of the United States Army was 
 tried for the murder of Sergeant Frank H 
 King and was acquitted. Standing at the 
 bar m his military uniform, wearing a Vic- 
 tory ribbon and four bronze stars for Can- 
 tigny, Chateau-Thierry, St. Mihiel and the 
 Argonne, he heard the verdict with a sigh of 
 relief and turned smilingly away to leave 
 the court. But he found himself faced by 
 three police officers, one from Omaha, Neb., 
 and two from Council Bluffs, la., with a 
 warrant for the arrest and extradition of 
 
320 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 George Walter McGuire. They spoke to 
 him and, after a look of surprise, he threw 
 his hands out submissively, saying, "Well, I 
 guess I'm through." 
 
 Who was McGuire, and how was he iden- 
 tified ? Nothing about the past of "Barry" 
 came out at the trial except that he en- 
 listed in the army at San Diego, Cal., in 
 April, 1916. But his photograph and finger 
 prints had been sent to police departments 
 throughout the country, and the police at 
 Omaha and Council Bluffs saw that the 
 prints were those of McGuire, a criminal 
 they knew. In 1906, at the age of 14, he 
 had been sent to a reform school for truancy, 
 in 1909 had been sentenced to three years' 
 imprisonment for burglary, in 1912 had 
 served thirty days for carrying concealed 
 weapons, in the same year had been sent to 
 prison on another charge of burglary, and 
 in March, 1916, had been arrested for rob- 
 bery, but had escaped before the date fixed 
 for his trial. No news of him had been 
 obtained until the "Barry" finger prints 
 were seen. They were the proof of the 
 young man's identity, and the key to his 
 record. Criminals may well dread the lines 
 on their fingers as a natural provision for 
 "the punishment of evil-doers." 
 
 KILLED BY A POEM 
 
 Oklahoma City Oklahoman 
 
 John M. Thurston, former United States 
 senator from Nebraska, who has just died, 
 was a distinguished member of that body 
 at a time when its deliberations were graced 
 by a classic flavor now departed. Thurston 
 himself was a man of polite learning, much 
 given to polished phrase and rounded period. 
 He did not quite attain to the luster, ele- 
 gance, and opulence of allusion that set 
 Ingalls apart from and above the rest, but 
 great riches of mind and wealth of fancy 
 were his, and he dispensed them proudly on 
 many a galleried occasion. 
 
 It was that fancy, bursting into an im- 
 passioned poem, that drove Thurston out 
 of public life. The lyric began, 
 
 I said to the rose, rose, red rose. 
 Will you lie on my bosom tonight? 
 
 It had hardly appeared when the poet- 
 asters of the press took it up in an impish 
 chorus of parodies that swept the country 
 with gales of laughter. Of those parodies 
 the cleverest and most destruc+ive was that 
 addressed to the lunch in fervia persiflage — 
 
 I said to my lunch, lunch, late lunch, 
 
 Will you lie on my stomach tonight, — 
 and which galvanated through the whole 
 gamut of nightmare terrors. 
 
 There was another, too, which bemoaned 
 the carmine curse of long indulgence in re- 
 
 frain to "My nose, red nose." The resuH 
 was that Thurston, the eloquent and th( 
 practical, a commanding figure in both th( 
 forum and the field, to whom leadership an( 
 following paid deference, now walked th( 
 way of ridicule flanked by the tittering o: 
 the crowd. 
 
 He never recovered, politically, from thai 
 poem. 
 
 COUNTING THE DAYS 
 
 Kansas City Star 
 
 Back home in the little town, which is 
 typical of all the little towns of Kansas an( 
 Missouri, this has been a week of prepara 
 tion. Mother has gone about the houseworl 
 with a faraway look in her eyes. Dad has 
 spent a lot of time out in the woodshec 
 where the fishing tackle is stored. For, yoi 
 see. Bill is coming home next week. 
 
 The day they have looked forward to foi 
 a year and a half is very near now. It is t( 
 them the day of all the days in their lives— 
 the day when the boys of the 35th come bad 
 to the home town. 
 
 Mother already is planning the dinnei 
 that Bill shall eat that day of days. All the 
 home-cooked delicacies that Bill used to lik( 
 so well when he was a boy will be on th( 
 old oak table that day. Mother has worriec 
 a lot whether to bake lemon pie or that rich 
 crustless apple pie that only she can make 
 She recalls that Bill was very fond of botl 
 and she is sure that if she bakes one the 
 other would be the one that Bill would have 
 liked best. Of course. Mother will compro 
 mise and bake them both. 
 
 For several days, too. Mother has beei 
 going over Bill's civilian clothes, airini 
 them, using a dab of gasoline here and ther< 
 and pressing them so they will be ready f o: 
 him. And the pictures and little persona 
 knickknacks of Bill's room have been duste< 
 time and again and put in just the prope 
 place. There won't be a thing missing whei 
 old Bill, who went through the gas and bloo< 
 and mire of the Argonne, returns an 
 "shucks" his uniform. 
 
 Out in the woodshed Dad is putting ne\ 
 lines on the old cane fishing poles and won 
 dering whether that deep hole out in Ot\ 
 Creek or that one on Big Sandy would b 
 the best fishing place. 
 
 They don't talk much about it back home 
 somehow the most sacred things of life ar 
 a little hard to discuss. But when they s; 
 down at the table Mother looks at that Ion 
 time vacant spot — the one in front of whic 
 she used to set the most tempting dishe; 
 And Mother's glance wanders to the caler 
 dar. She is counting the days — now so fe^ 
 —until The Day. 
 
EDITORIALS HAVING HUMAN INTEREST 
 
 321 
 
 SOMEBODY MADE IT 
 
 Dayton News 
 
 Somebody made this old world. It did not 
 just happen. Great intelligence was dis- 
 played in the making — in the plans. It 
 works too perfectly, it runs too smoothly, 
 for it to have been the result of an accident, 
 or left to its own volition. 
 
 If you were to find a piece of perfect 
 machinery — a watch, for instance — ^there 
 would be no doubt in your mind about its 
 having been made by an intelligent person. 
 You would observe the wheels — how they fit 
 each other, how they perform their func- 
 tions in unison, how the whole mechanism 
 co-operates for a purpose. You would know 
 by gazing upon it that the maker had great 
 intelligence, wouldn't you? 
 
 Well, the earth is more perfect in its 
 proportions than any piece of machinery 
 made by the hands of man. It performs its 
 functions more accurately. It "never slips 
 a cog," but goes round and round on time 
 to a dot. It is more beautiful than anything 
 made by man — more delightfully tinted and 
 colored, and proportioned. Every feature 
 of it is perfection itself; every citizen knows 
 its own place and attends to its own busi- 
 ness. The trees and shrubs and plants, the 
 birds and fishes and the beasts of the field, 
 the human beings — each performs its own 
 functions with accuracy. The blossom of 
 the rose comes upon the rosebush and no- 
 where else. The quail hatches other quail, 
 and robins bring forth robins. The sun 
 does not get in the way of the moon, and 
 the stars do not interfere with each other. 
 It is a perfect machine, doing exactly that 
 which the creator of it evidently planned 
 for it to do. 
 
 It was here when you came upon the 
 scene. It will be here when you depart. 
 You are only a visitor upon the face of the 
 earth, permitted to tarry here for but a little 
 while. So it should be your pleasure — cer- 
 tainly it is your duty — to pass through the 
 world as gracefully as possible, to mar it 
 as little as possible, and to make it a little 
 better for the next fellows to come after you. 
 
 SHOULDERING THE BURDEN 
 
 Philadelphia Public Ledger 
 
 The men the world learns to respect are 
 the men who do not side-step and stand from 
 under and "pass the buck" when it is a 
 question of assuming a responsibility. 
 
 The rest of us feel a sense of relief when 
 a task is loaded upon their already over- 
 burdened shoulders, for we have reason to 
 think it will be done, and done well.^ In the 
 past their performance has kept faith with 
 their pledges. ' Their consistent faithfulness 
 in well-doing gives us to expect that they 
 
 will continue to do as they have done. We 
 have learned to trust them, because they 
 have been true. 
 
 Out of the generality of mankind certain 
 strong souls emerge like a high, bold rock 
 through clouds, and we groping and wander- 
 ing valley-dwellers love to raise our eyes to 
 them, as to the fixed stars, for they seem to 
 determine our places, and they assure us 
 that the foundations of the world, our world, 
 are not yet moved. 
 
 The responsibility of leadership is this — 
 that it gives a quickening confidence to those 
 who follow. The leader has the light and 
 he lets it shine before men, and should he 
 lead a host astray his is the monstrous 
 shame and sin. If he went wrong by him- 
 self it would only be for his solitary soul 
 that he would be answerable to his Maker — 
 but to guide many into the mazes of error 
 instead of to the heights where truth and 
 peace abide is a hideous, unmitigable wrong. 
 In recent years the world has had that spec- 
 tacle before its eyes in the misuse of his 
 power by a ruler drunk with the notion that 
 he had a monopoly of the agency of God on 
 earth — and by following its leader, who was 
 lost in that illusion, an empire fell. 
 
 The brave man accepts his cross and car- 
 ries it. He knows that if he puts it by and 
 says that it does not belong to him he 
 thereby imposes an extra burden upon shoul- 
 ders that may not be so strong as his own. 
 But to wear the load and to march with it 
 is not necessarily grievous exercise. A 
 strong man welcomes the chance to try his 
 strength — life is for him a game, "a brave 
 gymnasium." He does not fret and cavil 
 when he is asked to do more. He springs 
 forward, a joyful volunteer. He is not 
 looking for the irreducible minimum of work 
 and the preposterous maximum of wage. 
 
 There comes a time when the burden must 
 be shifted to another carrier. The loyal 
 "old guard" is not immortal. The veterans 
 must give place to their juniors, and "the 
 feet of the young men" must tread the steep 
 and rocky path that their elders took before 
 them. Not reluctantly and resentfully are 
 those of the new generation to come to the 
 relief, but with a joyous acquiescence in 
 the ruling of destiny that finds for them a 
 use and a place in the world. 
 
 HOW MUCH? 
 
 The Delineator 
 
 It was a tea-party and little Margery was 
 there by special favor. There had been 
 much conversation about the high cost of 
 living and much bemoaning of the get-rich- 
 quick methods of the butcher, baker and 
 garage man. 
 
322 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Margery listened in well -trained silence 
 for a time; then with the abrupt simplicity 
 of the eight-year-old mind she said: 
 
 "Mother, how much money do you have 
 to have before you are rich?" 
 
 A little laugh went round the room; then 
 Margery's mother said lightly, "Enough to 
 keep one from worry." 
 
 "How much is that?" asked Margery. 
 
 "You make me think of Paul Dombey, 
 
 Margery," exclaimed Mrs. A . "He asked 
 
 his father what money was. And his father 
 replied that money was something that 
 could accomplish anything. And Paul said, 
 'Then why didn't it save my mother?' and 
 the astute older Dombey had no reply." 
 
 "Well, what is money?" shrilled Margery. 
 
 There was a short silence. Then Mrs. 
 
 A said soberly, "I guess money is about 
 
 what you make it, my dear; a little, some- 
 times, is a blessing and a great deal a 
 curse." 
 
 "I was thinking last night," said Mar- 
 gery's mother, "that if I were back where 
 I was ten years ago I'd be doing my own 
 housework and not caring a fig about ser- 
 vants' wages. And John would be working 
 in the garden Saturdays instead of playing 
 golf." 
 
 "Oh, I know how you feel!" exclaimed 
 
 Mrs. S . "It seems sometimes as if it 
 
 would be a relief if a crash would come and 
 we'd all have to go back to the simple days 
 of our grandmothers. Heavens! How it 
 would simplify our problems!" 
 
 Margery wriggled in her chair. "But 
 you don't tell me how much money makes 
 you rich," she insisted. "I want to be rich 
 some day, and I must know." 
 
 Little Miss R , the librarian, leaned 
 
 forward to take the child's hand. 
 
 "Oh, my dear!" she exclaimed. "It's not 
 money that makes one rich. The people 
 with money I know are mostly stupid and 
 mostly unhappy. I have little money, but 
 I count myself rich. I know through my 
 work most of the great minds of the ages. 
 I have enough salary to feed and clothe 
 myself decently and to save toward my old 
 age. And I envy no one. Who says I'm 
 not rich?" 
 
 The child looked puzzled. Then she said: 
 "Aren't all great people rich? I mean, 
 don't they have lots of money?" 
 
 "Very, very few great people have been 
 rich," replied the little librarian. "Much 
 money clutters up the mind so that there is 
 little room for the finer things." 
 
 "Were Christ and Abraham Lincoln 
 poor?" asked the child. 
 
 "They were the richest men in the world, 
 because they had everything but money," 
 said Miss R , 
 
 Margery sat staring thoughtfully at the 
 cream-tart in her hand. Her mother sighed 
 and smiled. "I feel as if I'd had a pretty 
 fair sermon, thanks to Margery and Miss 
 R ," she said. 
 
 "But nobody's told me how much money 
 makes you rich," shrilled Margery. "And I 
 want to know!" 
 NEW MISSION OF THE AUTOMOBILE 
 
 Helena Independent 
 
 Do you know the Gypsies have taken to 
 automobiles ? 
 
 During the week Helena had a band of 
 these distinguished visitors camped near the 
 city. They traveled in eight high-power 
 automobiles. The King had an eight-cylin- 
 der automobile which was as near a palace 
 on wheels as any Gypsy ever possessed. 
 Romany, he said, had sold and given away 
 its nags and parked its red wagons. Beg- 
 gars on horseback have give away to the 
 beggars in automobiles. 
 
 With the horse the Gypsy has been asso- 
 ciated since the bands first began to rove 
 over Europe in 1417. It is said their lan- 
 guage is modern Aryan Indian and they 
 are likely descended from Indian tribes; 
 hence in the earliest stories and drawings 
 of his people, the horse was the one beast 
 that was the companion of his wandering. 
 He rode it out of that unknown Asiatic 
 land from which he came and it has helped 
 him in the world-wide roaming. 
 
 Besides being a fortune teller, a musician 
 and a tinkerer, the Gypsy is an original 
 David Harum. As a trader he has no equal. 
 The Gypsy knows the charm which will 
 transform a jaded nag into a race horse and 
 the dye which will make a roan steed of a 
 despised piebald. 
 
 When the Gypsy king appeared at a 
 Helena garage to buy oil and gasoline, he 
 had all his automobiles looked over, and 
 when time for payment came he pulled out 
 a roll of long green which would choke a 
 Great Northern tunnel. The garage-owner 
 almost fainted. "No silver, nothing but 
 bills," chuckled the Gypsy. 
 
 What does he do for a living? 
 
 As Irvin Cobb and other writers of pure 
 English would say: "You can search me." 
 Perhaps the Gypsy is trading automobiles. 
 Perhaps the automobile will civilize the 
 Gypsy as no other influence has been able 
 to do. No people of the world have pre- 
 sented a stranger problem; students of 
 races and languages have never been able 
 to understand how these nomads, without a 
 common creed of religion, history or tradi- 
 tion, retained wherever they went the pe- 
 culiar characteristic that forces them ever 
 on their restless, endless roaming. Nations 
 
EDITORIALS HAVING HUMAN INTEREST 
 
 323 
 
 ave tried to tame them, to settle them 
 own into good citizens. But the Gypsy has 
 
 sisted. 
 
 But the Gypsy has taken to the automo- 
 ile. It represents a phase of citizenship, 
 [e must now be registered, numbered and 
 agged. The automobile cannot be run on 
 :rass, nor com stolen from the farmer's 
 leld. The Gypsy, like other unfortunate 
 wners of automobiles, must buy gasoline. 
 
 Will this fix a Gypsy's place of residence? 
 Vill he have a home as well as an auto- 
 nobile? If the motor car accomplishes 
 his, it will have worked out a problem 
 p-hich every government in the world long 
 go gave up as hopeless. 
 
 A FARMER'S BEST CROP 
 
 The Country Gentleman 
 
 There is a little farm hidden away in a 
 luiet valley among the mountains of Ten- 
 lessee whose boy and girl output is a splen- 
 lid illustration of the old saying that a 
 'armer's best crop is his children. Nine 
 hildren in all have gone forth into the world 
 ^rom the cabin home of this farm, seven 
 ^rown to manhood and womanhood, while 
 two others, a son and a daughter, are still 
 securing an education. 
 
 These boys and girls sprang from the 
 same Southern-highland stock from which 
 Abraham Lincoln also came, and wherever 
 their lot has been cast they have made good, 
 they have been conspicuous for their interest 
 in the common welfare, and without excep- 
 tion they have been men and women of fine 
 Christian spirit. 
 
 James was the eldest, and the lure of 
 business drew him out of the mountains to 
 Chicago. At the time of his death, while 
 still a young man, he was recognized as the 
 second best salesman for a great Western 
 grain company. In the midst of his busy 
 life, however, he had not only gladly found 
 time to attend church, but to act as one of 
 its official board. 
 
 William, who came next, was not satisfied 
 until he found himself in New York City, a 
 
 student at Columbia University. He had 
 only a few dollars in his pocket when he 
 left home. Character and grit carried Wil- 
 liam forward until he filled one of the 
 largest pulpits in a great city — until his 
 influence extends from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific. 
 
 Fred took a different line. He became in- 
 terested in those who were mentally defec- 
 tive, and at length was appointed the super- 
 intendent of a hospital for the insane in one 
 of the New England States. 
 
 Henry felt the fascination of the auto- 
 mobile business, but much as he enjoys 
 selling cars this is only the way he makes a 
 living. The thing in which he is supremely 
 interested is a little mission church which 
 he and his wife founded and very largely 
 support. 
 
 Thomas, like his brother, William, felt 
 the call to the Christian ministry, and is 
 the pastor of an important church in one 
 of the Atlantic States. 
 
 Mary, having felt the enlargement of mind 
 and heart which comes through a liberal 
 education, resolved that other girls in the 
 mountains should have the same oppor- 
 tunities which had come to her. She be- 
 came a teacher in a school for the children 
 of the mountaineers of North Carolina. 
 
 Andrew studied the healing art. For 
 twenty-two months he served as a surgeon 
 in the British Army, never more than 3000 
 yards behind the firing line except for brief 
 furloughs. After the war he resumed his 
 practice in one of our seaboard cities. 
 
 If an explanation is asked for this splen- 
 did crop of boys and girls it is to be found 
 in part in a Christian school and college 
 and church which had been established in 
 the mountains a few miles from the place 
 of their birth. On the farm they learned to 
 toil, to save and to be self-reliant. Then 
 these mind and character building institu- 
 tions lifted the horizon circle of their imag- 
 inations above the rim of their native valley 
 and, while they still loved the mountains 
 with an undying love, sent them forth as 
 builders of the higher life of America. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 EDITORIALS TOUCHING HOME INTERESTS 
 
 Local, or home-subject, editorials 
 are discussed in Part I, Chapter XL 
 
 Additional illustrations of the 
 torial of local subjects follow. 
 
 edi- 
 
 TEXAS WANTS THE PLUMS 
 
 Houston Post 
 
 The directors of a cotton mill in an East- 
 ern State have recommended a stock divi- 
 dend of 100 per cent, increasing the 
 capitalization to $4,800,000. Another com- 
 pany declares a stock dividend of 66 2-3 per 
 cent and raises the capitalization to $8,000,- 
 000. If the manufacturing of cotton is such 
 a profitable industry, why not build cotton 
 mills in Texas, where one-third of the 
 world's crop is produced? Why are Texans 
 allowing manufacturing interests in other 
 States to monopolize this important and 
 profitable end of the cotton industry? 
 
 PULL TOGETHER 
 
 Earlville (la.) Phoenix 
 
 Did you ever see a team of big, powerful, 
 well-trained horses pull a heavily-loaded 
 wagon out of a mud hole? Did you notice 
 how they leaned forward in their collars, 
 steadily, slowly, and pulled together ? Does 
 the man at the next bench, counter or desk 
 need your help? Help him out. Tomorrow 
 you may need his help. Ben Franklin said, 
 "If we don't hang together we will hang 
 separately." Stick together. Co-operate 
 with the man above you and below you. Co- 
 operation is the very life of national and 
 personal prosperity. Pull together! 
 
 A BOOSTER POEM IN PROSE 
 
 Bloomfield (Neb.) Journal 
 
 Tell me not in mournful numbers that the 
 old town's on the bum; rouse up from your 
 peaceful slumbers and come help us make 
 things hum. If we go to work in earnest 
 we can make things hit on high; "dust thou 
 art, to dust returnest," is a song of by and 
 by. All the past has gone forever — you 
 can't call one moment back — and the future 
 may come never; this is true so help me 
 Mack. Now's the time to do the boosting, 
 do not wait tomorrow's dawn; you may in 
 the grave be roosting, all your chance of 
 boosting gone. Lay aside your little ham- 
 mer, grab a horn and toot a few; squelch 
 the kicker's dad-burned yammer with a 
 joyful blast or two. Our old town is sure 
 
 a pippin and we ought to boost it big; when] 
 we hear some growler yippin, we should biff 
 him on the wig. Those who do not like our 
 city ought to straightway hit the grit — 
 boost for Bloomfield — that's my ditty — or 
 arise and straightway "git." 
 
 FARMERS AGAINST BILLBOARDS 
 
 Grand Junction (Iowa) Globe 
 
 Farmers in some parts of the country are 
 advocating laws prohibiting billboard ad- 
 vertising and other such enterprises along 
 main-traveled roads. They claim such signs 
 decrease to a marked degree value of farm 
 lands and are unsightly to the traveling 
 public. In eastern states where much of 
 this kind of advertising was done years ago, 
 it has all been removed now. Such large 
 signs were placed so close to the intersec- 
 tion of highways and near railroad cross- 
 ings that travelers could not see approach- 
 ing vehicles and moving railway trains. 
 
 KICK IN OR KICK OUT 
 
 Anthony (Kan.) Republican 
 
 What Anthony needs is more of the spirit 
 which has been manifest here the past 
 twelve months. The spirit in Anthony to- 
 day is for progress in every line. Progres- 
 sive business undertakings, progressive 
 schools and churches, progressive thought 
 — these are what Anthony boasts today 
 and we cannot get too many of them. 
 But there is one thing Anthony does not 
 need and that is the wet blanket personified. 
 We do not need chronic kickers, grouches 
 and other impediments to advancement. All 
 we can say to this type of person is if you 
 don't like progress in the community, move 
 out. 
 
 Let's make this Anthony's slogan: "Kick, 
 in or kick out." 
 
 GET THE HOME TOWN SPIRIT 
 
 Henry (111.) Republican 
 
 While you can't force people into senti- 
 mental affection for their home town, you 
 can make them see solid reasons for pride 
 in it. 
 
EDITORIALS TOUCHING HOME INTERESTS 
 
 325 
 
 Take Henry as it stands today. Does it 
 show steady advance every year? Homes 
 and business buildings are most tasteful, 
 kept in better order. Private grounds and 
 streets are neater. Citizens raise more 
 shrubbery and flowers, and many other im- 
 provements are made. It's a fine town and 
 people who come here and see it with in- 
 terested eyes say so. 
 
 When people begin to be proud of their 
 home town, to realize that it is a privilege 
 to live among such kindly, intelligent and 
 wide-awake people, you have taken the first 
 step toward developing home-town feeling. 
 The result is to make people realize it as 
 privilege to belong to such a community and 
 have a share in its hopes and enterprises. 
 
 A GOOD FEATURE 
 
 Boston Post 
 
 That the local option clause of the new 
 Sunday amusement law was put in the 
 measure to excellent effect is shown by the 
 working of the statute thus far. 
 
 No such public playing of games and in- 
 dulging in sports is possible in a city or 
 town that does not desire it — or, at least, in 
 which their responsible officials, presumably 
 reflecting public opinion, will not approve. 
 Such is the case in Melrose, whose board of 
 aldermen rejected the plan at its latest 
 meeting. So there will be no Sunday sports 
 in Melrose for some time. 
 
 A referendum of the question to the whole 
 people of a community would, perhaps, have 
 been more in line with true democracy. But 
 the present plan is acceptable enough. 
 
 BUILDING-LINE PROPOSITION 
 
 Springfield Evening News 
 
 There will be wide interest locally in the 
 announced new building-line policy of the 
 board of public works, which is to test its 
 right to enforce the proposed policy on resi- 
 dential streets where it is not intended to do 
 widening or other elaborate improvement- 
 work. In this case releases from all abut- 
 ters have not been secured, so that there 
 is a chance of an interesting legal contest 
 which will, no doubt, be thoroughly threshed 
 out. For long we have been hearing of this 
 proposed building-line policy, and it will be 
 gratifying to see the matter argued out and 
 fought out to a finish, if necessary, in order 
 that the city may know precisely where it 
 stands in this matter. The establishment 
 of a precedent is a desideratum to be await- 
 ed with keen interest. 
 
 NOT QUITE ALL 
 
 Boston Post 
 
 Speaking of the inconvenience caused by 
 the running of railroad trains on the new 
 
 "daylight-saving" scheme in Massachusetts, 
 a local newspaper observes that "all the 
 people have to remember is that their trains 
 are one hour ahead of their watches." 
 
 That would be all right if it were uni- 
 versal; but it is not. There are quite a 
 number of trains on the New Haven, the 
 Boston & Albany and the Boston & Maine 
 leaving Boston at the old time; that is to 
 say, their leaving time has not been put 
 ahead an hour, as in the cases of most of 
 the trains. That, too, must be remembered, 
 and it is likely to be an important thing to 
 recall on occasion. 
 
 REMOVE THE BILLBOARD 
 
 New Bedford Standard 
 
 With an authorized committee of the board 
 of commerce urging the adoption of an ordi- 
 nance for the regulation of billboards, the 
 city council ought not to be shy about un- 
 dertaking the matter. If there were no 
 other reason for opposing the billboard to 
 the full extent of the permissive law than 
 its offensiveness to the eye and the mind, 
 that were enough to undertake its regulation. 
 But it is fully recognized to be a fire hazard, 
 a promoter of rubbish heaps in the public 
 eye, a menace to life and limb under stress 
 of the wind, a promoter of iniquity, as well 
 as a blot upon the landscape. 
 
 To take it beyond a twenty-five-foot limit 
 from any building used as a dwelling and 
 twenty-five feet off back from any public 
 street or sidewalk would legislate it out of 
 existence so far as the populated sections of 
 the city are concerned. That is its fit fate. 
 The day will come when the rural landscape 
 will be safeguarded from this offense. Let 
 this community make progress in that direc- 
 tion by refusing sanction to it upon the city 
 residence streets. 
 
 Springfield Union 
 
 As stated by the Hampden County Im- 
 provement League, the need of intensive 
 home gardening this year is greater than 
 during the war period, as the farm produc- 
 tion is certain to be much less than in any 
 of the last three years, due chiefly to the 
 scarcity of farm labor. The volunteer farm 
 workers, available in war time, have dropped 
 out of the situation, and the conditions that 
 confront the farmers are discouraging in 
 many respects. With their three years of 
 experience the home gardeners of Massa- 
 chusetts and elsewhere are in a position to 
 add materially to the food production of 
 this part of the country, and it behooves 
 them for their own good as well as for the 
 general welfare to carry on their gardening 
 with even greater energy and zeal. Home 
 gardening has been a large factor in holding 
 
326 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 down prices of many vegetable products in 
 the last three years, and will serve a similar 
 purpose this year if everybody with a gar- 
 den plot will do his share. 
 
 THE TOWN IN WHICH WE LIVE 
 
 Dwight (Kan.) Advance 
 
 A stranger drove into a little country town 
 the other day. He pulled up by the side of 
 the first native he met and inquired: "What 
 sort of a town is this one, a good one or a 
 bad one?" 
 
 The native scowled. "It's the rottenest 
 burg on God's green earth," he replied and 
 swore. 
 
 The stranger drove on. He drew up by 
 the side of the next man he met. "What 
 sort of a town is this one, a good one or a 
 bad one?" he asked again. 
 
 The native blew out a cloud of blue smoke. 
 His features lightened up. "Why," he de- 
 clared as he threw out his hands, "this is 
 the bulliest little ranch you ever entered, 
 stranger. If you're looking for the real 
 thing you need hunt no further; it's here." 
 
 Which man was right ? Both had lived in 
 that town the same number of years almost 
 to a day; both were about the same age, and 
 both were blessed with this world's goods 
 to about the same extent. Yet they held 
 diametrically opposed opinions. One was an 
 optimist, the other a pessimist; one was a 
 smiler, the other a groucher. They were 
 both confronted by exactly the same condi- 
 tions, yet each viewed them from opposite 
 angles. 
 
 Which man do you think was right, 
 reader? "Thou art the man." You are the 
 man who lives in Dwight, Morris county, 
 Kansas. What do you think about your 
 town? V/hat sort of a town is yours; a 
 good one or a bad one? Answer. 
 
 FOR MOTHERS AND BABIES 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 The Social Service Department of the 
 Board of Lady Managers of the Providence 
 Lying-in Hospital has undertaken a com- 
 mendable work in establishing a home for 
 mothers and babies, to be occupied by them 
 when they leave the hospital. A house on 
 Smith street has been secured and the board 
 now wishes to equip it. Accordingly an ap- 
 peal is made to the public to contribute old 
 furniture and other household articles. It 
 is a modest appeal and will of course meet 
 with a prompt and generous response. 
 
 All kinds of domestic articles are needed, 
 in particular a refrigerator, a kitchen table, 
 chairs, carpets and rugs, bureaus, cribd and 
 baby carriages. Anyone who is willing to 
 give any of these good things to this good 
 cause is requested to notify the Social Serv- 
 
 ice Department, Providence Lying-in Hos- 
 pital, 109 Washington street. The telephone 
 number is Union 1350. 
 
 This plan involves no serious drain on 
 anybody. It is only a plea for "cast-offs." 
 It asks simply for second-hand furnishings, 
 such as are lying useless at the present time 
 in many Providence attics. Let the new 
 home have without delay whatever its benefi- 
 cent plans require. 
 
 BANKS ARE REALIZING 
 
 Bucklin (Mo.) Booster 
 
 W. R. Morehouse of the Guarantee Trust 
 and Savings Bank of Los Angeles, in a 
 recent address to arouse the interest of ad- 
 vertising among financial institutions, had 
 the following to say to his listeners: 
 
 "The old mistaken notion that it is un- 
 dignified for banks to advertise has been set 
 aside. Many banks which looked with in- 
 difference on advertising prior to the war 
 (content with an occasional statement of 
 the bank) used it extensively in the sale of 
 war bonds or savings stamps." 
 
 Posters and banners which under no ordi- 
 nary circumstances would have been allowed 
 to adorn the walls of these banks, were 
 used in superabundance. 
 
 By using these mediums to sell war securi- 
 ties, hundreds of banks have been converted 
 to the sound value of advertising. 
 
 The best banks in all parts of the country 
 now have display advertising in their local 
 papers, and these institutions make a strong 
 play for human interest copy and ideas. 
 
 We would call your attention to the Bank 
 of Bucklin advertisement found elsewhere in 
 these columns. Here you no longer see the 
 bare statements of assets and liabilities, 
 topped off with a list of the directors and 
 the officers. Instead there are direct ap- 
 peals for deposits, clear cut and appealing 
 explanations of what this institution can do 
 for our readers. These advertisements are 
 designed to convince the most casual reader 
 of the size and strength of the institution. 
 In these advertisements are concentrated a 
 combination of all the skill of the technical 
 advertising man and all the banker's knowl- 
 edge of the multitudinous ways in which the 
 bank touches the life and business of every 
 man, woman and child in this community. 
 
 MAKING EDUCATION A 
 
 MORE FINISHED PRODUCT 
 
 Amherst Student 
 
 It is to be hoped that a larger number of 
 Amherst men than usual will be studying at 
 Oxford next winter. The qualifying Oxford 
 entrance examination and the Greek require- 
 ment are no longer prerequisites for receiv- 
 ing a Rhodes Scholarship. These two facts 
 
EDITORIALS TOUCHING HOME INTERESTS 
 
 327 
 
 ought to increase the interest of Amherst 
 undergraduates, and especially of the grad- 
 uating class, in the opportunity for three 
 years of study at Oxford without cost. 
 
 It is the aim of the Rhodes selecting com- 
 niittees in the United States to send Amer- 
 icans to Oxford who will be leaders on their 
 return. Following this purpose, they do not 
 select men on the basis of their scholastic 
 record alone, but on all around ability and 
 leadership. In the past, they have not al- 
 ways been successful in securing the kind 
 of men that they wanted and many book- 
 worms have crept in. Now the committees 
 are trying harder than ever to reach their 
 ideal of a Rhodes Scholar and there is an 
 excellent opportunity for men who are 
 leaders in college activities to study in 
 England during the short winter terms and 
 to travel in the long summer vacations. The 
 opportunity to gain such an education with 
 its advantage of an increased breadth of 
 vision is a chance which Amherst men can- 
 not well afford to overlook. 
 
 MORE ONE-WAY STREETS 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 There is nothing experimental in making 
 one-way highways of Angell and Waterman 
 streets, two of the most important thorough- 
 fares between the business center of Provi- 
 dence and the country east of the Sekonk. 
 The plan was tried for several weeks last 
 winter during the snow blockade and worked 
 so well that there is every reason for be- 
 lieving that the new order will be approved 
 by motorists and drivers of horses. 
 
 Angell street traffic in particular will be 
 benefited by the change, for at more than 
 one point the roadway is too narrow for 
 electric cars and two lines of automobiles, 
 and cross streets are so numerous that no 
 one is likely to be greatly discommoded by 
 the one-way rule. Some confusion in the 
 enforcement of the regulation is to be ex- 
 pected, but the probability is that in a few 
 days the traffic officers will have compara- 
 tively little trouble as the rule is simple 
 and easily remembered — follow the direction 
 of the electric cars, east on Waterman from 
 Prospect and west on Angell to Prospect. 
 
 Both streets need repairing, but the 
 easterly part of Waterman is especially 
 rough and ought to be resurfaced at once. 
 These highways are too important to be 
 neglected the remainder of the year. 
 
 "INFORMATION SERVICE" 
 
 Herrick (S. D.) Press 
 
 "Information Service" is a new phrase. 
 It came in with the war. The government 
 found that it needed something more than 
 guns and ammunition and uniforms to win 
 
 the war with. It needed co-operation and 
 unified action on the part of the people. 
 
 The government also learned that you 
 can't fight a war unless the people under- 
 stand what the war is for. So it created a 
 vast machinery of propaganda and informa- 
 tion to communicate the facts about the 
 war to the people. In a few months, by 
 publicity articles, moving picture films, four- 
 minutes, etc., a great service of information 
 was created. It revolutionized the spirit of 
 the people! It fired the heart of the nation 
 to action and won the war. 
 
 As the government created a great In- 
 formation Service to arouse the people to 
 the need for fighting the war with all their 
 might, so an Information Service is needed 
 all the time to help the community to fight 
 its battles and solve its problems. 
 
 There is the problem of economic com- 
 petition. There is the problem of business 
 success against the difficulties of the com- 
 mercial field. There is the problem of 
 human inertia and laziness and vice. There 
 is the problem of ignorance, and how it is 
 to be combated by education. And so on 
 with many others. 
 
 Now, to fight the battles of the community 
 against the obstacles and enemies to suc- 
 cessful life and progress, requires the educa- 
 tion of popular sentiment. The community 
 needs to unify and arouse sentiment for civic 
 progress, just as the government needed to 
 unify and arouse war sentiment. And the 
 home newspaper is the Information that 
 performs this function. 
 
 YOUR TOWN 
 
 New Canaan Advertiser 
 
 No town, county or community will ever 
 prosper to any great extent, where there is 
 a division or strife of any nature. People 
 in towns should strive to help each other, 
 for in helping others you invariably help 
 yourself. There is no man that cannot assist 
 in the growth, prosperity and development 
 of his town. However small his influence, 
 it has its effect. Opposition is the life of 
 trade and merit wins. No town will prosper 
 and grow where a lack of enterprise and 
 push on the part of its citizens is felt. The 
 true motto of each and every citizen of a 
 town is and should be: To assist and help 
 your neighbors, encourage business of all 
 kinds (don't fear any danger in gorging the 
 market in this line), do all you can and 
 encourage all in the matter of improvement 
 in making the town attractive and giving 
 it a homelike appearance. When this is 
 done people from a distance will form a 
 good opinion of the place, and it will be an 
 inducement for them to locate with us and 
 become permanent and substantial citizens. 
 
328 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Dallas News 
 
 It must be evident to everyone that the 
 Lone Star Gas Company will not spend a 
 large sum of money to get an adequate sup- 
 ply of gas if an increase in the^ rates is 
 made contingent on the success of its effort. 
 It will not, because such a proposal is 
 inequitable. It is morally justified in re- 
 fusing, and that moral justification is a 
 guaranty that it will persist in its refusal. 
 In The News* opinion the most sensible 
 thing for the Mayor and Commissioners to 
 do is to enter into a contract on the basis 
 of the Lone Star Gas Company's proposal, 
 as modified by the suggestions of Judge 
 Etheridge. If they cannot bring themselves 
 to doing that, they ought at least to give 
 the people of Dallas an opportunity to ex- 
 press their opinion of that proposal. The 
 News believes they would vote for the ac- 
 ceptance of it, because while it is a specula- 
 tive adventure to which it would commit 
 them, it is a speculative venture which offers 
 large odds in their favor. If the Mayor 
 and Commissioners cannot bring themselves 
 to do either of these things, then there is 
 but one other thing they can do compatibly 
 with their duty to the people of Dallas. 
 This is to terminate the negotiations, and 
 advise the people to provide themselves with 
 wood and coal. The Mayor and Commis- 
 sioners are paltering, and paltering, with- 
 out making failure less inevitable, will make 
 it more distressing and costly to the people 
 of Dallas. 
 
 CITY CONTROLLED TREES 
 
 Indianapolis News 
 
 Municipalities contract for street paving 
 and assess the cost of the improvements 
 against the property <iwners. This practice 
 has been upheld by the courts and is in 
 general use. A writer in the American City 
 believes that cities should exercise control 
 over the selection, planting and care of shade 
 trees, assessing the cost to the property 
 owner because a living tree, properly cared 
 for, adds to the value of the taxpayer's 
 property. 
 
 A vacant lot with a few large trees on 
 it is worth more than a lot without shade, 
 or with only young trees. Real estate deal- 
 ers emphasize the value of a forest tree on 
 property that is for sale. The American 
 City writer makes this suggestion: 
 
 Providing shade on city streets is as 
 much a municipal function as providing 
 lights or sidewalks, and therefore should 
 be undertaken by public officials. Nega- 
 tive control of requiring permits for 
 planting, pruning and removing is little 
 better than no control. Probably the 
 most satisfactory provision is through 
 
 an unpaid commission of three or five 
 members — men who should be appointed 
 to long terms, since it takes two or 
 three years for a commissioner to 
 realize the needs and scope of the work. 
 ... All things considered, it is 
 probably desirable to assess the cost of 
 tree planting against property owners 
 on a frontage basis, while maintenance 
 may be provided out of general funds. 
 In this section popular approval goes to 
 the sycamores, maples and elms, although 
 other shade trees would thrive as well and 
 would lend variety to the picture. In re- 
 cent years efforts have been made to per- 
 suade property owners to plant nut trees. 
 Cone-bearing trees do not do well in com- 
 munities where there is much soft coal 
 smoke, but nut trees give satisfaction and 
 might well be planted. They have an eco- 
 nomic value in addition to the shade they 
 furnish. 
 
 WHERE DO THE POLICE STAND? 
 
 Kansas City Times 
 
 Would it be intrusive to inquire just where 
 the police department stands on the para- 
 mount issue of highway robbery in this 
 town? It may be a delicate question with 
 an election coming on in the spring, but 
 with platforms being announced every day 
 and people taking sides it seems a not un- 
 reasonable demand that the police come out 
 flat-footed or otherwise and line up some- 
 where. 
 
 For instance, if they would line up on the 
 boulevards they might learn that the hold- 
 up industry is violating the zone system and 
 operating, illegally many persons believe, 
 in districts reserved for residence purposes. 
 The city counselor probably could inform the 
 police board what the charter says about 
 it. We do not know. But anyway it is a 
 nice legal question whether people coming 
 home from the theater can be held up and 
 robbed practically at their own doors after 
 having escaped from down town. There 
 ought, it should seem, to be some regulation 
 somewhere. Perhaps cards ought to be 
 issued to persons going home showing they 
 already had been exposed to robbery in the 
 recognized holdup districts, which should 
 guarantee them immunity in their own 
 neighborhoods. A citizen ought to be safe 
 somewhere, unless, of course, he is an open 
 and notorious Republican. 
 
 The attention of the police board is in- 
 vited to the problem. The commissioners 
 should at least look into it and see if it is a 
 police matter. It may turn out, of course, 
 that these boulevard holdup men are within 
 their rights. It may be that the persons 
 robbed in the residence districts had used 
 
EDITORIALS TOUCHING HOME INTERESTS 
 
 329 
 
 tifair tactics in evading payment at prop- 
 'ly designated holdup points. In such case 
 ley ought to be severely censured and for- 
 it their license to use the streets or some- 
 ning. But the facts ought to be ascer- 
 lined. The police owe it to themselves, and 
 nything the police owe to themselves ought 
 be paid. Let's have a declaration of 
 rinciples all round. The holdup men are 
 ut with their platform, the public is pretty 
 rell settled in an attitude of strong opposi- 
 ion to it, and now if the police would an- 
 ounce, by card or open letter or something, 
 he campaign could start. 
 
 OLD HOTEL NAMES 
 
 Boston Transcript 
 
 The old American House, on Hanover 
 itreet, which gives up the ghost after sixty- 
 ive years of continuous service as a hotel, 
 vas the parent of a thousand "American 
 louses" all over the country. The name 
 tself was older than that of the building. 
 The building, still virtually intact, erected 
 n 1851, had had a predecessor on the same 
 jpot, to which the name American House had 
 Deen given in 1835. In the years which were 
 :he high noon of the nineteenth century no 
 new town was opened up in Wisconsin, 
 [owa, Nebraska or California without its 
 American House, called after our original, 
 rhat was the period of flamboyant spread- 
 eagleism which was satirized in Dickens's 
 "Martin Chuzzlewit," and of which the Hon. 
 Elijah Pogram was the shining example. 
 
 English names for hotels, such as the 
 Westminster, the Windsor, the Victoria, the 
 Buckingham, and so on, were then decidedly 
 at a discount. It was the period which gave 
 us such names as the American, the United 
 States, the Revere House, the Eagle Hotel. 
 It followed the epoch of fantastic and pic- 
 turesque old titles such as the Blue Bell, the 
 Indian Queen, the Red T^ion, the Green 
 Dragon, the Blue Anchor and the Bunch of 
 Grapes, all of which had their names from 
 the sign which swung before their doors. 
 
 A CITY WITHOUT SONGS 
 
 New York Herald 
 
 If the wise man who said he would rather 
 write the songs of a people than make their 
 laws were alive now he would weep over a 
 city staggering under the weight of its laws, 
 but without songs of its own. For they have 
 all disappeared— those songs relating to 
 New York, its people, localities and cus- 
 toms, that were so common here a quarter 
 of a century and more ago. 
 
 The patriotism stirred by the attack on 
 Fort Sumter was quick to find expression in 
 such ditties as "Just Before the Battle, 
 Mother," "Rally Round the Flag, Boys," 
 
 "When This Cruel War Is Over," and 
 "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" The spirit of 
 the flash age that followed was truthfully 
 reflected in a song about John Fisk, who 
 "may have done wrong, but he thought he 
 did right, and he always was good to the 
 poor." The period of dullness and quiet that 
 succeeded the panic of 1873 gave oppor- 
 tunity to Dave Braham, than whom no song 
 writer has ever voiced the feelings of New 
 York more accurately or tunefully. His 
 songs were first heard at Harry Clifton's, in 
 East Houston street, and later sung by the 
 Harrigan and Hart company, of which he 
 was musical director. "The Babies on Our 
 Block," "My Dad's Dinner Pail," "Paddy 
 Duffy's Cart," "The Mulligan Guards," and 
 a score of others, were of the very soil of 
 the older wards of New York. 
 
 Alienists who have studied the idiocy of 
 balladry are of opinion that musical de- 
 generacy has reached its lowest possible 
 depths in some of the jingles, barren of both 
 wit and melody, that have taken the place 
 of those real songs that still live in the 
 memory of an elder generation. 
 
 FOOD FOR BROWN STUDENTS 
 
 Providence Journal 
 
 One of the admittedly perplexing prob- 
 lems at Brown University is that of properly 
 feeding the undergraduates. Many schemes 
 have been suggested in the past, but none 
 has proved entirely satisfactory. 
 
 Theoretically the students might be ex- 
 pected to get board on their own account; 
 the first business of the university is sup- 
 posed to be to provide them with an educa- 
 tion. But the trouble with^ this theory is 
 that a good many students, if left to them- 
 selves, do not get enough wholesome food. 
 A considerable proportion of them look 
 anaemic or improperly fed. The truth is 
 that these boys eat irregularly at down-town 
 restaurants, often or usually at quick-lunch 
 places, where they are apt to order sand- 
 wiches, pie, doughnuts and coffee — a diet 
 that certainly is not best calculated to meet 
 their physical needs. 
 
 Years ago the college authorities were 
 averse to fraternity boarding houses. It 
 was thought wise that as many student ac- 
 tivities as possible should center on the 
 campus. But present conditions have led to 
 the establishment of a number of fraternity 
 dining rooms with the full approval of the 
 authorities. Yet even so, the problem is far 
 from solution. 
 
 There seems no inducement to the private 
 boarding-house keeper of a generation or 
 half a generation ago to advertise for busi- 
 ness. The cost of food has risen to a point 
 where the margin is very small between 
 
330 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 expenditures and income. What, then, is 
 to be done? , • , ^. 
 
 It has been suggested that the solution is 
 for the university itself to provide an under- 
 graduate commons, regardless of profits. 
 The Brown Union dining-room closed some 
 time ago because of lack of patronage, and 
 anyone who has had anything to do with 
 maintaining a dining-room in the Union un- 
 derstands the financially precarious charac- 
 ter of the enterprise. Once upon a time the 
 university established a refectory in the for- 
 mer President's house at the corner of Col- 
 lege and Prospect streets, where the John 
 Hay Library now stands, and later it set 
 up another in a house at the corner of 
 Thayer and Waterman streets, on the site of 
 the present Biological Laboratory. But for 
 one or another reason both undertakings 
 were abandoned. 
 
 Should not the university now establish 
 a commons sufficient to accommodate all 
 undergraduates who do not live at home, 
 and supply wholesome meals at a fair price 
 — at a price, indeed, that may entail a sub- 
 stantial loss to the college treasury? The 
 present arrangements — or rather the lack of 
 arrangements — ought not to be permitted to 
 continue. The college should do what it 
 can, not merely to educate its students, but 
 to keep them in bodily health, on which their 
 effective mental efforts of course depend. 
 
 STATEN ISLAND 
 
 New York Times 
 
 When a strike cripples Staten Island's 
 transportation system and people in the in- 
 terior who have work to do in Manhattan 
 cannot get to the ferry except on foot — a 
 serious matter for those in remote parts — 
 the borough feels its isolation and complains 
 of neglect by the City Government. It is a 
 familiar cry and loses nothing by iteration. 
 If the municipal ferryboats should cease to 
 run for any reason, the Staten Islanders 
 would be in grave difficulties. There would 
 remain only the little ferry at Tottenville, 
 on the southern side of the island, the an- 
 cient craft that on the west side plies to 
 Elizabethport, and the Bayonne boat as 
 means of communication with the outer 
 world. Only dire necessity would drive an 
 islander to cross over to Perth Amboy and 
 seek access to Manhattan by the Pennsyl- 
 vania Railroad, a long route that consumes 
 much time. Only less irksome and time- 
 wasting is the outlet through Elizabethport, 
 where the waterfront is three or four miles 
 
 1 
 
 Penrij 
 
 from the New Jersey Central and the Pen 
 sylvania. In the present emergency travel 
 ers could be carried by the Rapid Transii 
 road, which is still in commission, to the 
 Bayonne ferry, where, on the Jersey side 
 there is a connecting trolley link with t' 
 Jersey Central. With the municipal ferri 
 unavailable, no Staten Island commut 
 could reach Manhattan in time to do mor« 
 than half a day's work at the utmost, and> 
 as the return journey would be formidable 
 comparatively few residents, a mere cor 
 poral's guard, would answer to the call of i 
 duty that must exact so much from them. 
 
 It is the fashion to say that Staten Islanc 
 is "marooned" when the usual transporta4 
 tion facilities are crippled, and the expres 
 sion is aptly descriptive, if not original. Bu^ 
 there is more to consider than the incon 
 venience of several thousand commuters wh( 
 want to earn their day's bread; Statei 
 Island, if no ferries on any side of th< 
 island were running, would be completely 
 shut off from the States of New York anc 
 New Jersey, and yet Richmond is a borougl 
 of the Greater City and supposed to b< 
 within the pale of civilization. Staten Islan 
 entirely isolated might soon have very littl 
 bread at all, all its industries, local an( 
 interstate, paralyzed. If it came to tha 
 pass in the depth of Winter, there would b< 
 dearth of coal as well as of provisions, anc 
 the islanders' plight would border oi 
 tragedy. 
 
 Richmond is the least progressive of th( 
 boroughs, largely because several miles o: 
 water separate it from Manhattan and j 
 mile or more of harbor from Brooklyn, anc 
 partly because it is the Cinderella of thi 
 group of boroughs that make up the Create: 
 City, and is therefore overlooked — neglected 
 say its people. A tunnel between the east 
 ern part of the island and Bay Ridge, or thi 
 Fort Hamilton section of Brooklyn, wouh 
 be a difficult and costly improvement, bu 
 partial relief could be provided by tunnelini 
 under the Kill between the west shore an< 
 Bayonne. Connection could be made wit] 
 the Central of New Jersey by building \ 
 branch line of half to three-quarters of ', 
 mile. A tunnel at this point would b 
 feasible and not costly, for it is only \. 
 short distance of blue water between th 
 two States. Express trains from St. George 
 to Communipaw could make the run in les 
 than forty-five minutes. In furnishing thi 
 outlet for the Staten Islanders New Jerse; 
 should be willing to co-operate. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 SOME BRITISH EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 
 
 Next following are reprinted ex- 
 imples of editorial writing from 
 5ome of the more familiarly known 
 British journals. Not enough jour- 
 lals are included nor enough articles 
 from any one journal to make these 
 selections thoroughly representative; 
 3ut so far as the collection goes, it is 
 probably typical, and the material is 
 sufficient to enable the student to 
 form a fairly accurate impression of 
 :he kind of subject likely to be treated 
 oy the British editorial, and of the 
 nethod and manner of the treatment. 
 ) As a means to forming a tentative 
 estimate of the characteristics of the 
 British editorial, students are ad- 
 
 vised to make a catalog of eight or 
 ten items naming what he regards 
 as the leading characteristics of the 
 American editorial-article, its style, 
 manner and method, and then to 
 study the British editorials in com- 
 parison with the American by means 
 of this catalog. This will afford him 
 material for a number of short 
 papers, or critiques, and these can be 
 combined into a longer thesis or 
 essay. That in such comparisons 
 one should approach the subject in 
 the purely investigative spirit, with- 
 out prejudice for or against either 
 the British or the American editorial, 
 scarcely needs pointing out. 
 
 THE VILLAGE CRAFTSMAN 
 
 London Daily Mail 
 
 New evidence is being evinced of a prac- 
 ical phase of the movement to brighten 
 ullage life. It is recognized that an essen- 
 ial part of this idea is to give the villagers 
 ome spare-time work which shall be pleas- 
 ,ntly suited to them and lucrative as well, 
 n what better way could this be done than 
 ly reviving local arts and crafts ? 
 
 At the great Bath and West of England 
 )how at Salisbury visitors saw the old spin- 
 ing wheels and looms in action. They could 
 ^atch the making of baskets in osier and 
 ush, the skilled use of the blade in cleft 
 ak and ash work, the fashioning of horse- 
 hoes on the anvil and not in the machine, 
 [andsome wrought iron, lace made on the 
 Id-fashioned pillows, toys of wood and fur, 
 nd many other articles bear evidence of 
 lis revival of the village craft. 
 
 It is a pity these old industries ever fell 
 way, but there is satisfaction in finding 
 lat the reservoir of the accumulated expe- 
 
 ence of centuries of country craftsmanship 
 as not dried up. 
 
 THE NEW RENT BILL 
 
 London Daily Mail 
 
 Dr. Addison's new Rent Bill clinches two 
 ils which The Daily Mail hammered home, 
 scraps the old confusing Restriction Acts 
 
 under which many tenants did not get their 
 "rights," and it raises the protected rental, 
 in London, from £70 to £105, and propor- 
 tionately elsewhere. And premiums are 
 definitely forbidden as well as profiteering 
 in furnished houses. 
 
 The main features will be none the worse 
 for a little discussion. Apparently rents of 
 houses hitherto protected are to be liable to 
 a 15 per cent increase of the rent paid on 
 August 3, 1914; 5 per cent only of such in- 
 crease being allowed within the first year of 
 the new Act. But in addition, where the 
 tenant is not under any express liability for 
 repairs, a further increase of 25 per cent 
 of the standard rent (August 3, 1914, rent) 
 may be levied, provided the house is in a 
 sanitary and habitable condition. 
 
 On the other hand, tenants need not pay 
 the increases for houses which are insan- 
 itary or in a state of disrepair. That side of 
 the present Rent Acts has been a dead letter. 
 
 EMPIRE DAY 
 
 London Daily Mail 
 
 Although at home Empire Day is not yet 
 a holiday in its own right — as it should be — 
 its meaning for every Briton received a full 
 share of appreciation on Whit-Monday. 
 
 On this day of all in the year men of 
 British race and loyalty, whether in the 
 great Dominion continents or in the tiniest 
 
332 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 ocean islet, were drawn together in kinship 
 of spirit, in pride of achievement, and in a 
 sense of responsibility. They rejoiced freely 
 in the knowledge that the British Empire 
 needs no apology. 
 
 All the world over the word of an English- 
 man stands for justice. Wherever the 
 Briton sets up his flag he claims fair play 
 and equal opportunity for all without dis- 
 tinction of race, creed, or colour. 
 
 The British Empire is a unique common- 
 wealth of free nations — no less essential to 
 the good of mankind by its triumphant vin- 
 dication of free institutions in the war than 
 by its readiness, now as ever, to sustain a 
 world-burden in the arduous era of peace. 
 
 THE WINE OF SENTIMENT 
 
 London Daily Mail 
 
 "Of course I cannot afford it," said my 
 host, as he ordered a second bottle of Veuve 
 Cliquot, "but to me champagne is not merely 
 a wine. It is a symbol. I drink it as a 
 tribute to our gallant Allies. It is a token 
 of my admiration for France." 
 
 Regarded thus, it becomes almost a pious 
 duty to drink champagne on every possible 
 occasion. With every glassful one has the 
 satisfaction of feeling that one is helping a 
 great French industry and assisting to re- 
 establish France. Pleasure and duty are sel- 
 dom so happily coupled. 
 
 But apart from any altruistic and unselfish 
 considerations, what would the world be 
 without champagne? It is the wine of 
 wines. There is no substitute. 
 
 There are many sparkling wines, but the 
 best of them is a poor thing compared with 
 champagne. No cork pops quite like a 
 champagne cork, and there is a subtle pleas- 
 ure in the mere sight of the amber-coloured 
 wine foaming and bubbling in slender- 
 stemmed glasses. 
 
 There is magic in this bottled sunshine. 
 It ministers to sight, smell, and palate. A 
 sip of it dispels gloom and brings to the 
 drinker something of its own joyous sparkle. 
 It is, indeed, the wine which maketh glad 
 the heart of man. 
 
 There are many splendid wines, soft, silky 
 clarets, rich, generous Burgundies, and right 
 royal ports. But they have their times and 
 seasons. There is something almost solemn 
 about them, especially about old vintage 
 port. Champagne is the wine of our lighter 
 moments, the harbinger of gaiety and good 
 cheer. No festivity is really complete with- 
 out it. 
 
 Sentiment clusters round champagne. It 
 is the wine of great occasions, from the 
 launching of a battleship to the launching 
 of a married couple or the christening of a 
 
 child. Many who never drink wine at other 
 times reserve it for special events, birth- 
 days, high festivals, and the like — an out- 
 ward and visible sign of rejoicing. 
 
 Pre-eminently a sociable wine, it calls for 
 companionship. There are dour, selfish fel- 
 lows who may be seen in club comers soli- 
 tarily drinking a pint on their own. But 
 they miss the true pleasure. To crack a 
 bottle with a crony is the way of enjoy- 
 ment. How many old friendships have been 
 renewed and old feuds forgotten over a 
 bottle of "boy" ? A. E. M. F. 
 
 LONDON CHANGING HANDS 
 
 Some Mammoth Buildings 
 
 London Daily Mail 
 
 London changes more slowly than any 
 other great capital. Peking and Tokio have 
 undergone a more radical transformation 
 during the past twenty-five years. That is 
 part of London's charm. 
 
 But London is now on the eve of big de- 
 velopments, many due to the incoming of 
 new men and new wealth, some from the 
 provinces, some from the very ends of the 
 world. 
 
 You find evidences of them everywhere. 
 Walk down Kingsway, London's newest 
 thoroughfare, and notice the American 
 names there, such as Armour; Gaston, Wil- 
 liams and Wigmore — Gaston, the newest of 
 New York's great millionaires, who laid the 
 foundations of his fortunes in London in the 
 early days of the war — Ingersoll and East- 
 man. Bush, who domiilates New York with 
 the illuminated dome of his super-sky- 
 scraper, is making ready to dominate the 
 finest site in business London at the bottom 
 of Kingsway. 
 
 The incoming of the Continentals resem- 
 bles the old Huguenot immigration. The 
 Huguenots fled from religious persecution, 
 bringing us new industries and wealth; the 
 new Continental arrivals, fleeing from Bol- 
 shevism and unrest, are also bringing, many 
 of them, qualities that will help to make 
 London still more great. 
 
 The amusement industry is being revolu- 
 tionized. Two powerful groups, mainly com- 
 posed of South Africans, Canadians, and 
 Americans, are fighting to secure dominating 
 sites for the erection of picture palaces finer 
 than any so far known in Europe, holding 
 from 5000 to 6000 people, sumptuously fitted 
 and with orchestras that will attract the 
 music lovers who now go to the Queen's 
 Hall. 
 
 The next great expansion will be in 
 hotels- Even when all the old hotels are 
 released from Government control we shall 
 not have nearly enough, especially since 
 
SOME BRITISH EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 
 
 333 
 
 London has become the world's political and 
 social center as well as its commercial cap- 
 ital. The unit of size will probably be the 
 thousand-roomed hotel, and the manage- 
 ments of these will aim at securing a large 
 percentage of permanent residents. 
 
 The great increase of London land values, 
 which has come during the past year be- 
 cause of the rush of population here, is go- 
 ing to make rebuilding on a large scale an 
 economic necessity. Business men will not 
 be able to afford to maintain small estab- 
 lishments on costly sites. An idea of the 
 new building line of control in London can 
 be obtained from the new block of flats now 
 nearing completion at the corner of Park- 
 lane and Oxford-street. 
 
 The increase of land values will have an- 
 other effect. There are in the older suburbs 
 many square miles of streets which are in 
 a process of steady deterioration and decay. 
 It has not been worth the while of the 
 owners to rebuild them so far, but with rents 
 and values going up they will soon find that 
 it no longer pays them to keep things as 
 they are. Some of the old houses rented on 
 lease for about £100 a year are fetching 
 from £400 to £500 a year let out in floors. 
 New buildings on their sites will yield from 
 five to ten times as much. 
 
 A great development is coming in educa- 
 tion here. Every higher educational institu- 
 tion in London today is overwhelmed with 
 applications for admission; London Univer- 
 sity, the hospital schools, and the technical 
 schools cannot cope with the flood. Men 
 who formerly went to Vienna and Berlin for 
 post-graduate courses are now flocking to 
 London. 
 
 London will become in vhe immediate fu- 
 ture the greatest center of medical educa- 
 tion in the world. The University of London 
 has today the opportunity of attracting to 
 itself the pioneer students of five continents 
 as the University of Paris now does. The 
 Regent-street Polytechnic has the chance to 
 make itself the rival of the Boston "Tech," 
 and to take the place Charlottenburg once 
 held. 
 
 WHY NOT EVERYWHERE? 
 
 London Daily News 
 
 An article by our Housing Commissioner 
 shows that a Middlesex township has built 
 houses which can be sold at £450 and are at 
 least as good as those for which private 
 builders ask £1000. It has been done by 
 methods which are open to every other local 
 authority and have been urged upon the 
 Government by disinterested experts. If the 
 Government had really cared about houses 
 
 it could have seen that they were adopted 
 throughout the length and breadth of the 
 land. The plain fact is that it did not. 
 
 SECRET EVILS 
 
 London Daily News 
 
 The dreadful misery of venereal disease 
 has thrust itself upon the public notice in 
 several recent cases in the law courts. The 
 agony of the girl whose death has just been 
 investigated by a Southport coroner defies 
 silence. It is but one voice from a great 
 underworld of suffering which is largely si- 
 lent. Doctors and other experts know its 
 extent. The public cannot afford to ignore 
 its existence. The danger to the State and 
 the sufferings of the individual give ground 
 for drastic action, but they do not justify 
 that attitude, so common since the war, 
 which believes that the main thing is to pre- 
 vent the disease. The vital thing is to fight 
 in every possible way — and some of the 
 most effective ways are indirect — the gen- 
 eral condition of things in which this evil 
 arises. There are worse things than a dis- 
 eased body. But whatever else may be 
 called for, a system of cure in active opera- 
 tion is urgently necessary. The scheme 
 exists, though there is grave doubt if in 
 many places it is more than a scheme. The 
 large number of young women at present in 
 our medical schools gives promise that be- 
 fore long one of its most serious handicaps, 
 the shortage of women doctors, may be re- 
 lieved. There is no cause for panic nor for 
 a meaningless publicity, but this sad case 
 shows the need for a more general under- 
 standing of the evil and its cures. The 
 matter is too grave for secrecy, but it will 
 never be mended by false sentiment or un- 
 reasoning alarm. 
 
 ACROSS A TABLE 
 
 London Daily News 
 
 The prospect of the opening of some kind 
 of conversations, formal or informal, be- 
 tween M. Krassin and prominent members 
 of the British Government will force once 
 more to the forefront the urgent question 
 of a clear understanding with Russia. Into 
 the state of mind of the school of publicists 
 who denounce the mere suggestion of a 
 meeting between the Prime Minister and M. 
 Krassin, and protest against the acceptance 
 of Russian gold in payment for British man- 
 ufactures, it is profitless to enter. In view 
 of the vital importance to the world of the 
 re-entry of Russia into relations — commer- 
 cial at least if not at the moment diplomatic 
 — it would be a gross and unpardonable 
 dereliction of duty on the part of Mr. Lloyd 
 George if he failed to seize the oppor- 
 tunity of discussing the whole situation 
 
334 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 frankly across a table with the ablest, and 
 in many respects the most reasonable, mem- 
 ber of the Government of Russia. To the 
 Prime Minister's critics Russia — which, as 
 Signor Nitti recently had the good sense 
 to remind the world, so far from being an 
 enemy of Great Britain and Italy and 
 France, is an ally who has fallen on mis- 
 fortune — is an object of more bitter hos- 
 tility than Germany herself. There was 
 general acquiescence in the decision of the 
 Supreme Council to meet the Germans face 
 to face at Spa. To meet a single Soviet 
 Minister in London is an enormity. The 
 Treaty of Versailles empowered the Repara- 
 tions Commission to give Germany leave to 
 purchase the food and raw material neces- 
 sary before she paid a penny of indemnity. 
 Russia, it is now contended, must not part 
 with an ounce of her gold for such pur- 
 poses because the creditors of Russia have 
 first claim on her resources. It is of some 
 interest to consider how Italy and France 
 and other Allied Powers would fare if the 
 same lunatic principle were applied to them 
 by their creditors. 
 
 On that point it is safe to attribute to 
 the Prime Minister enough sanity to enable 
 him to realise that unless Russia is permit- 
 ted to reorganise her industry, particularly 
 her transport, there is not the smallest 
 chance of her meeting those claims which, 
 in peace offers which the Allies consistently 
 ignored, she has repeatedly undertaken to 
 honour. But there is every reason to hope 
 that any conversation the Prime Minister, 
 or any of his colleagues, has with M. Krassin 
 will cover a much wider field than that. Nor 
 is the need for explanations all on one side. 
 The Soviet Government has sent its second 
 reply to the League of Nations, and has 
 issued at the same time an appeal for jus- 
 tice to the Allied Powers. The basis of both 
 documents is the allegation that the League 
 by countenancing lawless aggression on the 
 part of one of its members, and the Allies 
 by actively conniving at that action by one 
 of their number, have in the one case con- 
 doned, and in the other case promoted an 
 act of hostility against Russia. The un- 
 welcome feature of the allegation is that it 
 IS irrefutable. This country for all its 
 virtuous horror at the crimes the Bolsheviks 
 have committed— and they have committed 
 crimes, at which politicians whose own 
 hands were clean might justly express 
 hoiTor— has chosen deliberately to put itself 
 in the wrong in relation to Russia. The 
 Council of the League of Nations, which ap- 
 pears to be sinking from depth to still lower 
 depth of impotent futility, has uttered no 
 word of rebuke or protest in regard to the 
 
 Polish offensive. It has even shown itself 
 capable of discussing a campaign against 
 typhus in Poland without a single public 
 reference to the steps Poland is taking to 
 disseminate typhus and frustrate preventive 
 measures. The refusal of Moscow to admit 
 the proposed commission of inquiry may not 
 be in Russia's own interest, but it is a per- 
 fectly fair and a perfectly natural com- 
 mentary on the bankruptcy of the League in 
 regard to the whole matter. Now Mr. Lloyd 
 George is to take the stage. Mr. Lloyd 
 George's record in regard to Russia for the 
 last sixteen months has been that of a man 
 who throughout saw the right course to take, 
 and throughout lacked the courage to take 
 it. Once more an opportunity is offered him. 
 This time the forces in his favour are 
 stronger and the forces against him less 
 formidable. He has much to retrieve, but he 
 could still in large measure retrieve it. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF GET YOUR WHACK 
 
 By Canon Langbridge 
 
 London Daily News 
 
 The things that happen outside a man 
 don't matter very much. The ups and downs 
 of bacon and butter are less important than 
 the drama of our hearts. One grows accus- 
 tomed to almost any surroundings. Life is 
 much the same with or without a collar. 
 One can do without wine; one can do with- 
 out a club; one can almost do without books. 
 
 Nearly all of our necessaries are luxuries. 
 I am not entirely satisfied that food is the 
 great thing that we make of it. The sitting 
 down four times a day to a deliberate and 
 formal meal is a foolish and wasteful re- 
 dundancy. Wordsworth lived pleasantly on 
 what his cupboard sent on; a bear, I dare- 
 say, pulls along quite nicely on his fat. 
 When I look round and see the vast ma- 
 chinery of the world, I ask myself: "Is it 
 worth while ?" I think of the dreamy Pacific 
 Islands, where people wait for the cocoa- 
 nuts to drop, and only the fussy and neurotic 
 think of knocking them down. It may be 
 needful now and then to knock nuts and 
 niggers down, but some men are altogether 
 too fond of the game. 
 
 They tell us we must produce more, or 
 come to grief. But there is another way of 
 helping ourselves; we can want less. Here 
 and there we are retrenching. Now that our 
 stylish people have taken to overalls, we 
 are sewing up our tailors pretty well. For 
 myself, indeed, I thought overalls a little 
 dressy; perhaps a little arrogant. I thought 
 it was almost pushing into the Birthday 
 Honours. I am making shift with fringed 
 trousers and broken boots; but I hope I am 
 
SOME BRITISH EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 
 
 335 
 
 setting:, in an unostentatious, clerical way, 
 a good example. I hope I indicate the sim- 
 ple life, if not the higher life. I hope it 
 won't be brought up to my disadvantage 
 that the things are my best. 
 
 But I hardly dare to think that the self- 
 denying life is having a great run. From 
 what I hear there is too much champagne 
 going on for real mortification of the flesh; 
 I doubt if mortification can be done on cham- 
 pagne. There are better ways. If every 
 woman in society would have one less di- 
 vorce, that would really be a start. Some- 
 times I think we are almost self-indulgent 
 in silver foxes and diamond clasps. We 
 trust our spiritual peace too much to silver 
 foxes. And are we not almost rashly de- 
 pendent on our skunks? There is a place 
 for everything. Let us keep our skunk 
 in his. 
 
 I thought, a little while ago, we were 
 stripping off the fal-lals of life. I thought 
 we were packing our world smaller, were 
 putting first among our possessions our 
 emotions, aspirations, efforts. But the re- 
 action has set in. There is a slump in the 
 better life. Psyche's wings are folded; we 
 pray to the muck-fly today. 
 
 Often I ask, in all earnestness, Bret 
 Harte's sarcastic question, "Is our civilisa- 
 tion a failure, or is the Caucasian played 
 out?" Are our standards sound? Is the 
 boy with a money-box better than the boy 
 who spends his money on tarts? He is 
 nearer, perhaps, to being a self-made man, 
 but wouldn't he be as well-off if God had 
 made him ? Is it not the boys with money- 
 boxes who start companies with 10 per cent 
 Preference shares, organise public-spirited 
 raids, invent quick-firing guns, run up the 
 Union Jack and plunge us into the joys of 
 civilisation and war ? Is the gospel of "Get 
 your whack and a bit of somebody else's" 
 really worth preaching? 
 
 When I read the news I fancy that we 
 might be rather less proud of the man that 
 makes money and of the money that makes 
 man. Sometimes I wonder if we might not 
 take advantage of the high cost of paper to 
 wind up our daily journals instead of raising 
 their prices. Nobody, I suppose, has ques- 
 tioned the propriety of winding up our 
 weeklies (and our rather too stronglies), in 
 their own winding sheets. The story of 
 civilisation in its present instalment is not 
 inspiring. There is something wanting in 
 man as he fills our printed record; I rather 
 think it is his soul. There does seem to be 
 
 temporary cessation of the soul; I doubt 
 if the film beauties will set it in action 
 gain. 
 
 We must get the game of grab out of life. 
 While every nation is working for its pe- 
 culiar gain, a league of nations is a league 
 of pickpockets. While every class treats 
 every other class as its enemy, society is a 
 brotherhood of assassins. While every man 
 is on the make, the make is the smoke of 
 Tophet and the fire of Gehenna. A nation 
 of shopkeepers we were once; we have 
 grown to be a nation of profiteers. What is 
 profiteering but living for yourself? 
 
 There is only one way of inheriting the 
 earth — not grabbing it. There is only one 
 way of getting your rights — giving other 
 people theirs. While every man wants the 
 best of the bargain, everyone is apt to get 
 the worst of it. More pudding is not more 
 peace. 
 
 I am weary of the truth, ostentatiously 
 proclaimed, piously assumed, that man shall 
 live by bread alone — or by its modem equiv- 
 alent of five courses. 
 
 A NEW EGYPT 
 
 Peace, Education and Employment. 
 
 By the Rt. Hon. G. N. Barnes, M. P. 
 
 London Daily News 
 
 In this country the general view of the 
 Egyptian worker has been that of a miser- 
 able wretch held to labour in the interests 
 of foreign bondholders. To some extent I 
 shared that view myself, for I lived more 
 or less in the memories of the "military 
 operations" of the 'eighties, and the con- 
 troversies to which they gave rise. 
 
 But I know now that, whether true or 
 false then, the view has no relation to 
 present-day facts. What proportion of the 
 national resources are devoted to the pay- 
 ment of interest on foreign bonds is a mat- 
 ter upon which I have no information, but 
 it can be but negligible. The whole unified 
 debt of Egypt is but £90,000,000, and the 
 Government probably own as much as would 
 cover it in State railways, docks, irrigation 
 works and other public enterprises. And, in 
 addition, the Egyptian Government is the 
 prospective beneiElciary legatee of the Suez 
 Canal Company, whose lease expires in 
 1968. Moreover, the incidence of taxation 
 is such that wealth gets off without paying 
 anything, so that, even if it were true that 
 Labour was taxed to pay foreign bonds, it 
 would simply mean that Labour was taxed 
 to relieve capitalists at home. 
 Cotton Profiteers 
 
 The economic condition of Egypt is by 
 no means as bad as it has sometimes been 
 painted. Judged by the ordinary standards, 
 Egypt is rich beyond the conception of the 
 average Englishman at home. The country 
 
836 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 has been immune from the ravages of the 
 war. In fact, the war has taken money 
 into the country. And, during the war, the 
 planting of cotton has gone on apace, and 
 has been extraordinarily remunerative for 
 the last year or two. It is said that cotton 
 prospects are so good this year that the 
 yield is expected to show 100 per cent in- 
 crease in money value over the yield of last 
 year. But all this material prosperity has 
 not been an unmixed blessing. It has pro- 
 duced a "new rich" of a particularly unde- 
 sirable kind. Fabulous fortunes have been 
 made by land owners and speculators, some 
 of them of foreign birth and interests, and 
 many of them illiterate. Feverish specula- 
 tion has resulted in cotton being grown in- 
 stead of grain. It is even said that growing 
 grain has been torn up to make room for 
 cotton. The increased activity in cotton has 
 been the subject of edicts by the Govern- 
 ment, prescribing the limits of cotton 
 growth. These have caused discontent, and 
 are said to have been evaded by the farming 
 community. 
 
 From the revenue point of view the in- 
 creased wealth due to cotton means nothing 
 but disturbance, for cotton contributes noth- 
 ing to the public exchequer. The revenue 
 is maintained entirely by taxes on land, ac- 
 cording to fixed principles, and on imports. 
 There is also a sort of super tax on date 
 trees, ranging from sixpence to a shilling 
 per tree. 
 No Income Tax in Egypt! 
 
 But the income of the rich — new or old — 
 goes scot free. There is no income tax. 
 Nor can there be such a tax while the 
 capitulations remain in force; for these ex- 
 pressly exempt the foreigner from taxa- 
 tion, and it is impossible to tax the native. 
 Taxing the foreigner would therefore ap- 
 pear to be a real need in Egypt. 
 
 The revision or abolition of the capitula- 
 tions would seem to be one of the most 
 urgent reforms in Egypt; for it is only in 
 this way that there can be an alteration of 
 a system of taxation which is so flagrantly 
 unjust. 
 
 Another reform no less urgent is the pro- 
 vision of work for those who cannot get em- 
 ployment in agriculture. Egypt has hitherto 
 been almost entirely an agricultural country. 
 But, as an agricultural country, it is now 
 peopled up to its capacity. There are in 
 Egypt fifteen hundred people to the square 
 mile, which is a greater density of popula- 
 tion than in any other country. And, at the 
 same time, there is a system of land owner- 
 ship under which, at the death of an owner, 
 the land becomes the joint or equal prop- 
 erty of all his sons. For the worker this 
 
 has been a good thing in the past, for it 
 has made a large number of men inde- 
 pendent of employment by the capitalist or 
 landlord. But it has reached its limit. It 
 has been swamped by growing numbers. 
 There are now nearly a million holdings of 
 less than half an acre. 
 
 There is but little alternative work. There 
 is a large sugar pressing plant about fifty 
 miles below Assuan, and there are a few 
 factories in the Delta area; but these are 
 conspicuous because there are so few. 
 Egypt, if she is to maintain her growing 
 population, must not only grow cotton. She 
 must turn it into cloth. 
 
 It is true that there are irrigation works 
 in hand, and in view, above Assuan, which 
 may bring an additional two millions of 
 land under cultivation in the next twenty 
 years; but these will only provide for the 
 normal increase of population. 
 The Educated Native 
 
 There is also the question — ^akin to that 
 just mentioned — of the employment of the 
 young educated Egyptians. Many of them 
 come from the prosperous farmer, or effendi 
 class, but, after being maintained in Western 
 ways either in Lower Egypt or Europe, till 
 the end of their studies, they have no in- 
 clination to go back to the rural districts. 
 They are a burden to their parents and a 
 source of trouble to the community. I can- 
 not but think that room could be made for 
 them to a larger extent in the public 
 services. 
 
 And, arising from this same considera- 
 tion, the educational system could surely 
 be overhauled in such a way as to provide 
 education nearer the homes of the children. 
 
 All these things mean money. In so far 
 as they involve changes in public adminis- 
 tration, there should be little difficulty. The 
 money is there. What is needed is power to 
 divert it from where it is now being spent 
 in riotous living into the channels where it 
 might bless and fertilise the land. 
 
 But money from outside is needed for the 
 development of industries; and for this the 
 main thing is security. Egypt is now as- 
 sured of external security. That has been 
 bought at a great price in British blood and 
 treasure. What she needs now is peace 
 within her borders, so that industries may 
 be begun and maintained to give employ- 
 ment to her teeming millions. 
 
 And, over and above all material changes,, 
 there is the change that can only be made: 
 by the people themselves, namely, the im- 
 provement in the status of women. That is 
 the most important change which Egypt, 
 needs. It will come but slowly, involving,, 
 as it does, religious sanctions and an altera- 
 
SOME BRITISH EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 
 
 S37 
 
 tion in social habits which are deeply rooted 
 in the past; but as it comes, all else may be 
 added and Egypt may emerge as a free and 
 independent people. 
 
 UNDER THE CLOCK 
 
 London Daily News 
 [This reprint illustrates the editorial melange, 
 medley, or miscellany. Such columns or departments 
 of mingled chronicle, comment, and reflection, are 
 carried in both newspapers and magazines.] 
 
 Among living explorers, none has packed 
 more adventure into life than Capt. Frank 
 Wild, the right-hand man of Shackleton in 
 many a dark, cold corner of the Southern 
 Seas, who left London yesterday for Portu- 
 guese East Africa, where he hopes to de- 
 velop a certain area for tobacco-growing. 
 A direct descendant of the great Capt. Cook, 
 he has been a member of most of the Ant- 
 arctic expeditions during the past 20 years. 
 After serving in the Navy, he accompanied 
 Scott on the Discovery in 1901-4, went South 
 again with Shackleton in 1907-9, and Maw- 
 son, 1911-13, and again with Shackleton in 
 1914. He went out in the open boat trip to 
 Elephant Island when Shackleton's party 
 was marooned. Small, spare, trim-bearded 
 — a Captain Kettle figure of a man — no 
 more efficient explorer ever traversed the 
 Antarctic wastes, and none has had less to 
 say about it. 
 
 It was a very near thing that the 2d postal 
 rate, which we are to have next month, was 
 not introduced instead of the Id rate when 
 Rowland Hill's reform was brought about, 
 for the Select Committee appointed in 1837 
 to inquire into the postal question, as a 
 result of Hill's pamphlet, "Post Office Re- 
 form," formally recommended a 2d rate, 
 though the Id rate was suggested for adop- 
 tion. A 2d rate would not have been ac- 
 ceptable to Rowland Hill and to those who 
 supported him, for it would have rendered 
 his scheme useless, as a uniform rate was 
 the essence of his plan, and a 2d rate 
 would have left the local Id posts still in 
 existence. 
 Canon Rawnsley 
 
 Canon Rawnsley's square, bearded figure 
 always seemed perfectly at home among the 
 hills he loved, though he did not go to live 
 in the Lakes till he was 27. His efforts to 
 help men as near to nature as they knew 
 how to go were not merely academic. Only 
 a few years ago, I was on a tramping, camp- 
 ing holiday, when I met him in the Kes- 
 wick High-street, and, though a complete 
 stranger, introduced myself with some diffi- 
 dence to ask if camping was allowed in 
 Borrowdale Park. He was very sorry to say 
 that the danger from fires was considered 
 
 too great, but I had a most difficult job in 
 refusing his pressing invitation to camp in 
 his own garden for as long as I liked. 
 
 Ireland has caused a good deal of pro- 
 fanity in her long history, and the inhab- 
 itants of Montana have a lamentable freedom 
 of speech, so it may be permissible to quote 
 the comment of a visitor from Montana on 
 the subject of Ireland, sent me by a friend 
 interested in "split" words: 
 
 The trouble with Ireland is that she 
 
 wants to be too inde-God-dam-pendent. 
 A man who takes so much trouble to swear 
 is beyond hope of reform. 
 
 Anent the tender age at which Mr. Will 
 Thorne began to earn his living, several 
 other Labour leaders made an early start. 
 Mr. William Carter, M. P. for Mansfield, 
 worked "the clock round** in a brickyard at 
 the age of ten, whilst at the same age Mr. 
 J. G. Hancock, another miners' M. P., was 
 driving a donkey in the Pinxton pit, often 
 working eight shifts in one week. 
 
 The people who visit the second-hand 
 bookshops are often as entertaining as the 
 books themselves. Take, for instance, the 
 burly and bucolic gentleman in a billycock 
 hat who, so a friend tells me, was seen out- 
 side one of these establishments the other 
 day, lost in the pages of Maeterlinck's "Life 
 of the Bees." The traffic of the pavement 
 surged about him, but still he read on, and 
 when the watchful shopkeeper came to the 
 door from time to time, he found him read- 
 ing yet. At last he closed the volume with 
 an approving grunt, and, tapping its cover 
 with a thick fore-finger, addressed the book- 
 seller. "I suppose, now," he said, "you 
 don't happen to have a book by this chap 
 on cows?" 
 
 Maeterlinck's beautiful idyllic story of the 
 bees has more discriminating readers. I re- 
 member a dear woman near Glossop, in 
 Derbyshire. She kept bees in her garden. 
 For many years she had worked in the mill. 
 Her two books, which represented the two 
 great passions of her life, were the Bible 
 and Maeterlinck's "Life of the Bees." She 
 saw a long way into them both. 
 Big Hailstones 
 
 The Royal Meteorological Society has pre- 
 served some interesting details of the storm 
 at Richmond, Yorks, which I described yes- 
 terday. Hailstones roughly circular, and 
 from six to seven inches in circumference, 
 were picked up and carefully measured. 
 Some of the biggest were photographed as 
 soon as they fell, and copies of these photo- 
 
338 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 graphs can be seen in the rooms of the 
 R.M.S. Hailstones are frozen rain, and 
 their size, on reaching the earth, depends 
 on the distance they fall and the tempera- 
 ture of the air through which they pass. 
 Usually they attain the size of marbles, but 
 under certain exceptional conditions a num- 
 ber combine together and reach the ground 
 as single hailstones as big as a man's head 
 and weighing fully a pound, as was the case 
 during a storm in April, 1907, in Indo-China, 
 as was testified to by the Director of the 
 Central Observatory of that French Colony. 
 
 A feature of the forthcoming Handel 
 Festival at the Crystal Palace will be the 
 great organ, which has been overhauled and 
 brought up to date. Over £8000 has been 
 spent on the instrument, which was original- 
 ly built by Gray and Davidson for the first 
 Festival in Mutiny year (1857). Special at- 
 tention has been devoted to the voice stops. 
 Mr. Walter Hedgcock, the Palace organist, 
 will be taking part in his ninth Festival. 
 Week-end Weather 
 
 A depression to the south-east of England 
 will probably influence the week-end weather 
 unfavourably, and unsettled conditions may 
 be expected, with very little sunshine and 
 the possibility of slight rain. 
 
 THE HUNTER COMMISSION'S REPORT 
 
 London Times 
 
 Mr. Bonar Law's statement that "the 
 natural opportunity for a debate on the 
 Hunter Report would be upon the Vote for 
 the Secretary of State for India" is unfor- 
 tunate and ill-advised. What will be the re- 
 sult? The day set apart for the equivalent 
 of the old Indian Budget debates will be 
 devoted to a heated wrangle about General 
 Dyer and Amritsar, and many other im- 
 portant Indian questions, which ought to be 
 discussed in the House of Commons, will be 
 ignored. During the past year Parliament 
 has effected great constitutional changes in 
 India, certain aspects of which require fur- 
 ther consideration. There is also the prob- 
 lem left by the Afghan war, the issue pre- 
 sented by Waziristan, the future control of 
 the frontier, the proposed reforms in the 
 Indian Army, and various other matters, all 
 of which should be ventilated in an Indian 
 debate. We do not welcome the prospect of 
 an Amritsar day in the House of Commons, 
 and incline to the view that the controversy 
 should be closed as soon as possible; but as 
 both the House and the public are clearly 
 anxious for a debate on the Hunter Com- 
 mission's report, a special day should be 
 set apart for it. When so many great ques- 
 tions are arising for settlement in India, it 
 would be a mockery of the control supposed 
 
 to be exercised by Parliament to neglect 
 them in order to discuss the Dyer case alone. 
 
 FUTURE OF CAPTAIN FRYATT'S SHIP 
 
 London Times 
 
 Last night an announcement was issued 
 that Captain Fryatt's ship, the Brussels, is 
 to be offered at auction on the Baltic Ex- 
 change on June 23. The only other intima- 
 tion was that only British subjects will be 
 allowed to bid. This qualification, at any 
 rg,te, will distinguish the auction from the 
 rather sordid sale of the River Clyde, of 
 Gallipoli memory, at the end of January. 
 Then there was no restriction whatever. 
 The River Clyde was bought for Spanish 
 account, and the subsequent offer of a num- 
 ber of British shipowners to buy her back 
 for the nation, in order that she might be 
 preserved as a national memorial of British 
 heroism, was unavailing, since no substi- 
 tute ship for the buyers could then be dis- 
 covered. 
 
 The sentiments surrounding the name of 
 the Brussels are, in some respects, even 
 more precious. It was not from her decks 
 that British soldiers, with high courage, 
 swarmed to their deaths, but from her deck 
 one British seaman, whose name will al- 
 ways be revered, stepped to a martyr's 
 death. After she was captured by the Ger- 
 mans, she was sunk by them at Zeebrugge, 
 refloated by the British Admiralty, adjudged 
 a Belgian prize, and presented by Belgium 
 to Britain at an impressive ceremony on 
 April 26 last, "as a mark of its recognition 
 of the heroism of the British Navy." On 
 that occasion M. Poullet, the Belgian Minis- 
 ter of Marine, described the decision of the 
 Belgian Government to restore the ship to 
 Britain as "a supreme homage to the British 
 Navy." 
 
 That act was deeply appreciated by this 
 nation. If the ship is to be sold at auction, 
 then the subsequent course seems to us 
 clear. The money which is obtained for 
 the hull must be applied to some cause as- 
 sociated with the names of Captain Fryatt 
 and of Belgium. To what better use could 
 the money be put than to the erection of a 
 permanent memorial to Captain Fryatt in 
 Belgium, if Belgium will permit that ? Her 
 generous act of April suggests that she 
 would welcome it. What form the memo- 
 rial should take will depend on the sum 
 realized. The associations aroused by the 
 heroism of her master, her later degrada- 
 tion, her subsequent salvage, and her char- 
 acter as a precious link between two Allied 
 nations, must not be allowed to fade into 
 the past with the fall of the auctioneer's 
 hammer. 
 
SOME BRITISH EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 
 
 339 
 
 GENTLEMEN, THE KING! 
 
 London Times 
 
 Today is the fifty-ninth anniversary of 
 the birth of the King. It will be remem- 
 bered in the hearts of his people in every 
 continent, in remote islands, and in the ships 
 that dot the oceans. To the peoples of the 
 British Empire, the Sovereign is a symbol 
 that has broadened and deepened in the 
 historic evolution of our Constitutional 
 Monarchy and of the Empire. The most 
 recent, and in many respects the most mo- 
 mentous, expansion of the idea of sov- 
 ereignty is in its relation to Empire. Not 
 many years since, men spoke of the loyalty 
 of our fellow-subjects in the Dominions as 
 if it were to the British King. It is no 
 longer so. The King is the King of each of 
 his peoples, as well as of all his peoples 
 collectively. The Prince of Wales, visiting 
 the Dominions, goes to them, and is received 
 by them, not as the Heir-Apparent of the 
 British Sovereign, but as the Heir-Apparent 
 of their own Sovereign. It is a distinction 
 with a difference, whose complete realization 
 will solve many difficulties. But on the 
 King's Birthday the personal rather than 
 the symbolic note will vibrate through the 
 British peoples. Simple dignity, a broad- 
 based sense of duty, and a sympathetic in- 
 terest in all that concerns every section of 
 the nation characterize His Majesty King 
 George. Stately functions, the pomp and 
 the dangers of war, the splendours and the 
 perils of the sea, our sorrow and our joy, 
 our pursuits and our pastimes have engaged 
 him in turn, and have drawn from him re- 
 sponses so fitting and so helpful that only 
 a genius for Kingship could have inspired 
 them. For his sake, and for our own sakes, 
 employing the phrase of British home life 
 in all respect and in all sincerity, we wish 
 His Majesty many happy returns of the day. 
 In celebrating the King's Birthday, our 
 thoughts will turn also to the Prince of 
 Wales, whose devotion to duty must not be 
 suffered to overtax his strength. Last De- 
 cember, on the Prince's return from Can- 
 ada and the United States, we thought it 
 right to urge that he should be spared 
 some of the calls upon his priceless gifts of 
 sensitive sympathy and generous emotion. 
 We trust that a week of rest will restore 
 him, and that on his return to England the 
 King will insist that a real holiday be 
 granted to him. 
 
 THE CABINET AND THE BOLSHEVISTS 
 
 London Times 
 
 To the amazed disgust and indignation of 
 our French Allies, Mr. Lloyd George has 
 dragged his colleagues into negotiations 
 
 with Lenin's colleague and emissary, the 
 Bolshevist Commissary Krassin. The com- 
 munication from a French statesman who 
 proved himself a strong friend of England 
 in the war, which we publish today, con- 
 firms the warning of our Special Corre- 
 spondent in Paris on Monday as to the 
 severe shock to French feeling caused by 
 the recent actions of Ministers. The nego- 
 tiations with the Soviet Government have 
 naturally heightened the uneasiness and 
 the perplexity of our Allies. The Journal 
 des Debats — an organ which measures its 
 words — does not hesitate to speak of the 
 "dangers of the policy which seems to be 
 embarked upon in London." Audacious and 
 dishonest attempts to disguise the real char- 
 acter of that policy merely excite contempt 
 in Paris. The French had their experience 
 of Krassin, when, in the guise of a repre- 
 sentative of the Russian Cooperative, he 
 met M. du Halgouet and Mr. Wise in 
 Copenhagen. They then satisfied them- 
 selves that the talk about trade is moon- 
 shine, that Russia has nothing practically 
 to export, except the gold which belongs to 
 her foreign creditors, and that any imports 
 sent to her would go not to the Cooperatives 
 but to the Soviet Government, which would 
 utilize them in the first place for its mil- 
 itary ends — including the war against our 
 Polish Allies. A memorial from a member 
 of the Soviet Sovnarhos, the "Committee of 
 the People's Economy," dated in March last, 
 which has reached us, is excellent first-hand 
 evidence on the real prospects of this trade. 
 The writer speaks with great frankness. 
 He confirms the worst that has been stated 
 about the economic condition of Russia, 
 which he declares is still deteriorating.; 
 Russia is now building forty or fifty loco- 
 motives yearly, against the 800 to 100( 
 which she turned out under the old regime 
 Experts say that railway communication 
 must cease altogether the month after nextl 
 many factories are closed and the output oi 
 such large works as remain open is abou^ 
 ten per cent of what it was before the war.\ 
 The workmen are "bondsmen," and, as is \ 
 the way with slave labour, they desert and \ 
 steal rather than work. Farming, to which \ 
 Mr. Lloyd George bids us look for those \ 
 "bulging com bins," is of all industries the 
 worst off. Only twenty per cent of the 
 arable land is under the plough, there is 
 no seed, and horses are scarce. The estates 
 under Soviet management do not produce 
 corn enough to feed the labourers on them, 
 and the peasants — like the French peasants 
 under the Terror — will not grow more food 
 than they require for their own consump- 
 tion.' Even if international commercial rela- 
 
340 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDlTORIAL-WRITING 
 
 tions were restored, the position, this Soviet 
 official declares, would scarcely improve, be- 
 cause traffic of all sorts will be difficult for 
 years to come. There are no means of pro- 
 duction, he remarks, and there is no incen- 
 tive to work. In these circumstances few 
 will share the Government optimism on the 
 results of barter. 
 
 To barter, Ministers affirm, the contem- 
 plated trading will be strictly confined. The 
 Russian gold is not to be touched on any ac- 
 count. To touch it would indeed be danger- 
 ous after the formal protest lodged by 
 France against the accieptance of a consign- 
 ment in Sweden. We are not sure that even 
 other commodities exported by the Russian 
 Government will be quite safe from attach- 
 ment by its creditors. All its property would 
 seem, on general principles, to be assets sub- 
 ject to its debts, and we do not suppose that 
 even this Cabinet would have the evil cour- 
 age to ask Parliament to give its property 
 any exceptional privilege. We have yet to 
 learn the views of Ministers upon another 
 form of commercial transaction. Lenin, Mr. 
 Lloyd George will remember, has been hold- 
 ing out the grant of "concessions" as a bait 
 ever since the days of Prinkipo and Bullitt. 
 M. Krassin, we understand, is dangling it 
 anew. He explains that they would be for 
 a term of years, and would then revert to 
 the Soviet Government. The memoir from 
 which we have quoted adds further particu- 
 lars. They would be granted upon condi- 
 tions, and among the conditions are that the 
 concessionaires should adopt the Soviet sys- 
 tem of pay and labour regulations, and 
 "recognition and submission to the Soviet 
 Republic." The restrictions may detract 
 from the value of the concessions in the eyes 
 both of politicians and of the haute finance 
 which has been urging them for months to 
 make terms with Lenin. We shall await 
 with interest the first mention of concessions 
 from the well-informed circles about Mr. 
 Lloyd George. The repayment of Russia's 
 debts is another stale bait now again being 
 employed. Krassin, we believe, has not 
 dared to go farther than to drop hints that 
 the matter might be discussed. On the 
 other hand, he is careful to disavow any 
 obligations under the law of nations. That 
 "great ligament of mankind" does not exist 
 for the Bolshevists. Of course not. "Ac- 
 cording to the fundamental principles of 
 the Communist Party," our friend, the mem- 
 ber of the Sovnarhos observes, "wars must 
 go on so long as all existing States are not 
 transformed into Soviet Republics. This," 
 he adds, "is a basic principle." Accordingly, 
 he foresaw in March that the Bolshevists 
 
 would certainly be at war with Poland "a^ 
 soon as circumstances permitted, because of 
 the impossibility of a Socialist-Communist 
 State being able to conform to its ideals, if 
 situated in juxtaproximity to Bourgeois 
 States." Open war, however, is not always 
 essential. The end may also be achieved "by 
 the judicious inoculation of its ideas (Bol- 
 shevist ideas) by peaceful means." He in- 
 stances the expenditure of 80,000,000 of gold 
 roubles in Koltchak's rear and of 70,000,000 
 in Denikin's rear as gratifying examples of 
 successful corruption, and he states that 
 "vast sums of money are being sent into 
 Poland in the rear of the Polish armies for 
 the same purpose." The money, he assures 
 his colleagues, is not lost to the Soviet Gov- 
 ernment. It is requisitioned as soon as the 
 Reds reoccupy the territory where it has 
 been laid out, and thus "returns almost in 
 full to the State Exchequer." Deficits in 
 that department can be made good, he points 
 out, by further requisitions in gold from 
 the bourgeoisie. 
 
 We have several times had occasion to 
 quote the Prime Minister's reprobation of 
 the Bolshevism with whose paid agent he is 
 now negotiating. Lord Curzon, our readers 
 may wish to be reminded, has heartily 
 agreed with him. Whether he agrees with 
 him now is another question. If Mr. Lloyd 
 George was shocked by "the horrors of 
 Bolshevist rule," which he felt "so great 
 that there is a sort of disgust when you 
 come to deal with its leaders," if he branded 
 them as "assassins," if he knew that their 
 system "simply governs by terror," if he 
 condemned it as "deadly," as "brutal," and 
 as "horrible," if he pictured its chariot as 
 "drawn by plunder and terror," if he pro- 
 claimed that "the horrors of Bolshevism 
 have revolted the consciences of mankind," 
 and judged that "rapine and plunder are es- 
 sential parts of its policy," his Conservative 
 colleague was of one mind with him. In the 
 House of Lords this aristocratic guardian of 
 the Conservative tradition assured his noble 
 hearers that the Bolshevist Government 
 owed their position to "terrorism" and to 
 "crimes," that they had attained it "by the 
 aid of mercenaries," that their Government 
 pursued its policy "with relentless ferocity," 
 and that this policy is "to annihilate its 
 enemies, to destroy the social order in 
 Russia, and to spread the tentacles of its 
 poisonous influence throughout the world." 
 The idea of recognizing the Bolshevists was 
 abhorrent to him. "The Bolshevists," he 
 declared, "are persons whose ideas, doc- 
 trines, and deeds we all of us detest." With 
 his chief, and like his chief, has his Lordship 
 
SOME BRITISH EDITOHlAL-ARTICLES 
 
 341 
 
 "found salvation," and is he now in personal 
 negotiation with the official representative 
 of Bolshevism? His conversion would be 
 .even more edifying- than that of his leader. 
 
 THE FUTURE OF GAS 
 
 London Times 
 
 At the annual general meeting of the In- 
 stitution of Gas Engineers on Tuesday, Sir 
 Dugald Clerk, the President, spoke in con- 
 fident terms of the future of the gas in- 
 dustry. He insisted, however, that one con- 
 dition of its proper development is that it 
 should be hampered as little as possible by 
 legal interference, and at the same time 
 deplored the mistaken tendency on the part 
 of some legislators to depreciate the rela- 
 tive value of gas as compared with elec- 
 tricity. Though their respective capacities 
 for the production of light and power are in 
 all probability very much on a par, gas is, 
 of the two, by far the more efficient as a 
 generator of heat. To secure the expansion 
 of which the industry is capable it must, he 
 said, be supplied at the lowest possible price 
 consistent with financial stability, in order 
 to compete with the necessarily cheaper 
 heat-unit in the form of coal. In 1917, of 
 twenty million tons of coal carbonized in 
 this country, slightly more than half went to 
 the production and distribution of coal gas, 
 while the rest remained available in the 
 ; shape of coke and semi-liquid tar and oil. 
 If gas could have been generated from the 
 whole coal at a sufficiently high thermal 
 I efficiency, without the production of coke, 
 ; sixteen of the twenty million tons would 
 have been available for distribution. That 
 ■would mean that the same amount of coal 
 mow carbonized would produce a supply of 
 <gas of more than three times the potential 
 heat, light, and power requirements of the 
 country. Sir Dugald Clerk apparently be- 
 lieves that there is a distinct possibility that 
 this process may some day be practically 
 realized, and on general lines he recommends 
 the formation of a research committee for 
 the study of all kinds of gas appliances and 
 the encouragement of invention and dis- 
 covery in connection with the industry. The 
 importance of the economic production of 
 heat and power and light is so great that 
 there are strong grounds for hoping that 
 his scheme will be carried into effect. A 
 cheap and abundant supply of gas is one of 
 the essentials of the satisfactory solution of 
 the housing problem. In this country we are 
 not so favourably situated as certain dis- 
 tricts in Canada, where the volume of nat- 
 ural gas is so rich that it costs less to leave 
 the street lamps burning all day than to 
 , pay men to extinguish and re-light them. It 
 
 is some consolation to learn that so com- 
 petent an authority as Sir Dugald Clerk 
 considers that there is still much progress 
 to be made in the scientific production of 
 the manufactured article, and that he is 
 urging the gas engineers to keep that end 
 in view. 
 
 THE REPUTE OF THE POLICE 
 
 Manchester Guardian 
 
 In the opinion of one of the Government 
 inspectors of constabulary, whose report for 
 the past year is now issued, the result of 
 the police strikes has been that "the whole 
 body of the force has suffered a loss of 
 public confidence, and it will take every pos- 
 sible effort of the rest to regain for them- 
 selves the high position in public esteem 
 which has been lost." His argument is that, 
 having broken one of the pledges which a 
 State must demand of those who serve it in 
 emergency— not to withhold service,— the 
 police have laid themselves open to doubt as 
 to their veracity in other matters, such as 
 the giving of true evidence. In so far as 
 this view is based on a clear realisation that 
 the status of the constable, like that of the 
 fireman, the soldier, and the sailor, differs 
 from that of other workers, it is sound. But 
 we think the report over-labours the point. 
 The country holds the police in too much 
 respect to have its mind altered by the fact 
 that a part of the force took the wrong 
 means to have very real grievances righted 
 at a time when that means was being suc- 
 cessfully used or threatened by almost every 
 other kind of worker. The issue was settled 
 to the satisfaction of the bulk of the police 
 and of citizens, and, having established the ' 
 fact that doffing helmets is a civically im- 
 possible analogy to downing tools, most of 
 us are content to let bygones be bygones 
 and to repose the trust in the constable to 
 which long acquaintance and an orderly dis- 
 position have accustomed us. 
 
 COLOUR IN JUSTICE 
 
 Manchester Guardian 
 
 At Badagry, Nigeria, in 1909, a sum equiv- 
 alent to £55 was stolen from a Government 
 office. Suspicion was attached to the Dep- 
 uty Registrar, an educated African named 
 Philip Coker, who was responsible for the 
 key. In the following year Coker was tried 
 at Lagos before the Chief Justice and three 
 assessors. By the assessors he was unani- 
 mously held to be innocent; but the Chief 
 Justice, overruling them, sentenced him to 
 nine months' imprisonment. On his release, 
 ruined and outcast, Coker entered upon the 
 uphill task of clearing his character. He 
 collected funds, mortgaged family posses- 
 sions, and appealed to both local and Im- 
 
342 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 perial Governments. His effort was con- 
 tinued for five years; and then, at the end 
 of 1915, the Supreme Court reviewed the 
 case and, without any qualification, declared 
 Coker innocent. In setting aside the con- 
 viction, the Chief Justice, Sir Edwin Speed, 
 said there had been a miscarriage of justice, 
 and that the victim was entitled to com- 
 pensation for a grievous wrong. Mr. John 
 H. Harris, of the Anti-Slavery and Abo- 
 rigines* Protection Society, who sets forth 
 the story in a letter to the "New States- 
 man," points out that if the wrong had been 
 done to a white civil servant the Government 
 would presumably have made amends by 
 ordering reinstatement to office, payment of 
 the ten years' arrears of salary, and restora- 
 tion of pension. In the case of Philip Coker 
 the Secretary of State for the Colonies de- 
 cides that, as an act of grace, an award of 
 £100 shall be made. We make two com- 
 ments upon this affair, which touches the 
 fundamental principle of British colonial 
 rule. First, that any man, of whatever race 
 or colour, who could carry through a fight 
 for self-vindication against odds so heavy 
 has proved himself to possess personal qual- 
 ities of a noteworthy kind. Secondly, that 
 the refusal of the fullest measure of recom- 
 pense to a public servant in the position of 
 Coker leaves on the British name a scar 
 which should be instantly and completely 
 removed. 
 
 AMERICA AND ARMENIA 
 
 Manchester Guardian 
 
 There is a skilful approach, as well as a 
 characteristic fineness of spirit, in Mr. 
 Wilson's Message to Congress on behalf of 
 Armenia. The President notes as "provi- 
 dential" the coincidence that the Senate's 
 resolution expressing hopes of early peace 
 and full national restoration for the Ar- 
 menian people was passed almost at the 
 moment when the San Remo Conference 
 invited the United States to accept a man- 
 date. In pressing Congress to agree, Mr. 
 Wilson is aware that he is "urging a very 
 critical choice," but at the same time he 
 feels that the appeal is made in a spirit 
 accordant with "the wishes of the greatest 
 of Christian peoples." Hence, though know- 
 ing full well the weight of the opinion and 
 feelmg against him, Mr. Wilson ventures to 
 speak in "earnest hopefulness." The Mes- 
 sage, we cannot doubt, will make a deep 
 impression upon the American people, al- 
 ways ready with sympathy and aid for 
 Armenia. But it would be foolish to pre- 
 tend that this appeal, or any other, could 
 make any material difference to the situa- 
 tion. The forces which have kept the Unit- 
 ed States outside the League of Nations are 
 
 numerous and complex. The argument that 
 must, unless a miracle is to happen, deter- 
 mine the refusal of Congress to have any- 
 thing to do with mandatory responsibility 
 in the Middle East is perfectly simple. The 
 terms of the "settlement" for the Moslem 
 world, like those of the Treaty of Versailles, 
 are impossible. No peace worth the name 
 can be built upon them. By what persua- 
 sion, then, could the United States, after 
 rejecting the Covenant of the League as now 
 written, be induced to shoulder responsibility 
 for the administration and protection of an 
 undefined country which, to the American 
 Congress and Government, is the most dis- 
 tracted region of a continent wholly strange 
 to American political experience? The 
 President's Message is, as our New York 
 correspondent rightly says, a dramatic ges- 
 ture. As for the request of the San Remo 
 Conference which prompted it, coupled with 
 the previous offer of a mandate to the 
 League of Nations, we can characterise it no 
 otherwise than as a sheer evasion of re- 
 sponsibility. 
 
 A SATELLITE FOR MANCHESTER? 
 
 Manchester Guardian 
 
 Mr. Ebenezer Howard, the chief pioneer 
 of the garden city movement in this country, 
 has written a letter to warn us that when his 
 Association can spare time from its present 
 plans for the new "satellite city" for Lon- 
 don at Welwyn it will turn its attention to 
 Manchester. All very well, he says, in effect, 
 to develop on the best possible lines the 
 vacant lands that lie nearest to you, but 
 better still start afresh further out and build 
 the ideal city, attaching it with rapid and 
 cheap transit to the main center. We shall 
 welcome his approaches when they are made, 
 for clearly, in any imaginative regional plan 
 for the development of the great industrial 
 area of which Manchester is the nucleus, 
 there is both room and need for an entirely 
 new residential center to the planning of 
 which will go that concern for picturesque 
 architecture, open spaces, and modern ap- 
 pliances which makes up the garden city. 
 The success of the Burnage garden suburb 
 goes far to prove that a similar experiment 
 farther out and on a bigger scale would be 
 well backed. There can, indeed, be no ques- 
 tion that as transport facilities increase, in- 
 cluding, as we may expect, transport by air, 
 industrial communities will refuse to live in 
 rows of "boxes with lids on" near the fac- 
 tory, but will demand that their non-working 
 hours be spent in air and scenery as fine as 
 the land round them for fifty miles can give. 
 The garden city movement is still only in its 
 raw but lusty and likeable youth. As often 
 with youth, it is marked by a certain self- 
 
SOME BRITISH EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 
 
 343 
 
 consciousness and idiosyncrasy. No one, for 
 instance, could mistake Letchworth or 
 Hampstead for a perfectly normal place in 
 which to live. Their buildings are too con- 
 sciously varied and picturesque to be quite 
 natural, their appearance of mellow me- 
 dievalism too complete to be convincing, and 
 the concern of their inhabitants for reforms, 
 causes, and cultures just a shade too ardent 
 to make the plain man feel quite at home. 
 But the plain man, even though he be 
 middle-aged, conventional, and obtuse, can- 
 not walk their shady avenues nor contem- 
 plate their trim and gracious spaces and 
 their combinations of antique gables and 
 labour-saving devices without a pang of 
 envy. Sooner or later he will seize upon 
 the pioneering ideas for which they stand, 
 and make them his own and comfortably 
 commonplace. That is a fact on which the 
 far-sighted planners of a great industrial 
 district must reckon, and Mr. Howard's let- 
 ter is a useful reminder of it. 
 
 ARE THE DOCTORS SO BAD? 
 
 Manchester Guardian 
 
 At this week's conference of the Man- 
 hester Unity of Oddfellows the Grand Mas- 
 er said at least a few hard words about the 
 ioctors. They thought too much of money, 
 16 said; they made a business transaction of 
 lealing; they were not out so much to lessen 
 uffering as to get paid. This is what comes 
 )f having the work of lessening suffering for 
 I profession. After all, we all stand out for 
 )ur wages. And nobody upbraids us for that. 
 ^ life insurance canvasser is not censured 
 )y moralists for thinking of his commission 
 nd declining to support himself upon his 
 onsciousness of alleviating the household 
 nxieties of many widows. No one re- 
 roaches a bootblack for making a business 
 ransaction of adding glitter to our drab 
 treets. If someone complained of a sti- 
 endiary magistrate for expecting such 
 ross as gold, or Treasury notes, over and 
 bove the satisfaction of doing justice and 
 bating wrongs, we should all laugh. But 
 
 kind of confused sentimentalism leads 
 lany people to expect of doctors and nurses 
 
 measure of unworldliness which they 
 rould not ask of anyone else. People work 
 p in their minds an idealised picture of the 
 octor or the nurse as a saint always on tap, 
 r an "angel in the house," and when this 
 tained-glass vision turns out not to be a 
 ision, but humanly self -protective and only 
 sasonably good-natured, like everyone else, 
 ley get angry and feel they have been 
 Dbbed of their beautiful ideals, instead of 
 >oking into their own froward hearts and 
 sking how much plumbing or bookkeeping 
 
 or drafting of leases they have done wholly 
 or mainly out of pure love of mankind. 
 
 There is the more need to be slow in rail- 
 ing at doctors because their profession, like 
 all professions of succour in emergency, is 
 one on which, anyhow, heavy levies of 
 gratuitous work are made by circumstance. 
 A sculptor never finds anyone lying by the 
 road and on the point of perishing unless he 
 can at once be given a small bas-relief for 
 which he is unlikely to pay. Not in church 
 only, but wherever he goes, the doctor or 
 surgeon may be faced at any moment with 
 an ineluctable collection-plate. Unlike the 
 fashionable barrister, whom the admirable 
 ethics of his profession allow to charge you 
 some hundreds of pounds for being in an- 
 other court, doing something else, while your 
 case is being lost for lack of him, the doctor 
 does not even have an opaque substance like 
 a barrister's clerk interposed between his 
 heart and the occasionally heartrending 
 spectacle of his patient's difficulty in paying 
 him. So almost every doctor lets himself 
 be preyed upon to a pretty large extent, the 
 kind-hearted ones because they are kind- 
 hearted, and the other ones because it would 
 be indirectly damaging to seem anything 
 else. Of course every honourable practi- 
 tioner of any kind of profession, trade, or 
 form of labour tries to give the world full 
 value for his keep. But in some occupations 
 — in that of public entertainers, for example 
 ^ustom and circumstance virtually extort 
 inordinately more of gratuitous labour than 
 they do in others, and in such cases we may 
 do well to be more than usually slow to 
 impute to the heavily-taxed persons any ex- 
 ceptional degree of cupidity. 
 
 THE GOOD AND BAD CRITICS 
 
 Manchester Guardian 
 
 The other day we tried here to rig up 
 danger signals at a few of the points where 
 people most often fall into confusion about 
 the purpose served by a critic, if he be any 
 good. The imperfection of our efforts is 
 established in another column by a corre- 
 spondent who, with sturdy British cheerful- 
 ness, falls into all the old confusion once 
 more. He evidently feels that wherever 
 there is a work of art — a play or a picture, 
 a statue, a piece of music, or a novel — 
 there is laid up somewhere a dossier, or 
 definite body, of relevant "truth" to be told 
 about it — something like the judgment of a 
 perfectly wise and just County Court Judge 
 on a case, only with an "objective standard 
 of beauty" to take the place of British law, 
 — and that the critic's job is the scientific 
 application of this general standard to par- 
 ticular works of art, the result being good 
 
344 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 or bad according to the measure of "truth" 
 or accuracy in this business of scientific sur- 
 veying or casting-up. Indeed, there could 
 hardly be a better description of the kind of 
 criticism that fails, and must fail, because 
 it tries to do a thing that is at the same 
 time not worth doing and beyond the wit of 
 man to do. There is no such thing as a single 
 objective standard of beauty. Every great 
 critic's standard of beauty is different from 
 that of every other. Indeed, it can hardly 
 be called a standard at all; it is a sense, a 
 capacity for emotion of some kind, in pres- 
 ence of some works of art. And his crit- 
 icism is his expression of this sense — ^not 
 his scientific estimate of how many marks 
 Mr. Smee, R. A., has earned by his admir- 
 able perspective and Mr. Dick Tinto by his 
 excellent sense of tone and Mr. Gandish by 
 his all but immaculate values, but his ex- 
 pression of the purely personal emotion, 
 whatever it may be, that the work excites 
 in himself. Of course there is a kind of 
 truth that he tries for, like every other ex- 
 presser of a purely personal sense of fact — 
 that is, like every other artist. But it is 
 not truth to some supposed body of laws 
 and standards of beauty. It is simply truth 
 to himself, the courage of his own impres- 
 sions, candour in the expression of an in- 
 dividual experience which will probably be 
 not exactly that of any other person; for 
 nature does not make any one person's tem- 
 perament the absolute replica of another's. 
 The kind of criticism that incurs and 
 deserves the contempt of original artists — 
 and critics too — is that which puts on the 
 airs of the scientific pundit and sets out to 
 tell artists how to paint and actors how to 
 act, warning A that the objective standard 
 of beauty requires him to paint with a high- 
 er impasto, and B that the eternal truths of 
 art demand of her a different make-up in the 
 part of Berenice. Such criticism, with its 
 current suggestion of the existence of a 
 definite ideal perfection familiar to the 
 critic, but imperfectly unveiled to the artists 
 criticised, has a perilous resemblance to that 
 of the elderly men who attend international 
 football matches and vociferate "Feet! 
 feet!" and other august instructions to the 
 players with the severity of Olympians vexed 
 by the madequacy of man. To the critic 
 of this kind — the man who, as Americans 
 say, would show artists how— the obvious 
 retort is "Why don't you do it yourself?" 
 and there is no getting over the fact that 
 it is a more or less damaging retort to 
 almost any critic whose critical manner im- 
 plies a special knowledge of the law and the 
 prophets. The only critic whose work lasts 
 long, or counts for much, is he who keeps 
 
 to the modest — ^but really much bigger — job 
 of confessing, in the old phrase, "the adven- 
 tures of his soul among masterpieces." He 
 will often, in doing this, have a superficial 
 air of assessing, interpreting, or restating 
 what the original artist has expressed al- 
 ready, just as Turner has a superficial air 
 of stating to you the topographical facts of 
 a landscape. But, in essence, he will never 
 do only that, any more than a great illus- 
 trator will merely retell in black and white 
 what an artist in words has already told in 
 a way that leaves nothing more to tell. Fine 
 critic and fine illustrator alike attempt the 
 original expression of some personal delight, 
 wonder, or imaginative stir occasioned to 
 them by the work of art before them, so that 
 the most famous and valuable of criticisms, 
 like Pater's descant on the "Monna Lisa," 
 are really as original and independent works 
 of art as their subjects, and would retain 
 their value long after those subjects had 
 disappeared, just as Thackeray's beautiful 
 and tragic illustrations to "Esmond" do not 
 depend for most of their value upon their 
 relation to the sad sunshine filling the book. 
 But the world is somehow intent on press- 
 ing upon the poor critic the character of an 
 expert witness, potent in courts of law, but 
 unloved and unreadable. 
 
 SIR O. M. EDWARDS 
 
 An Appreciation 
 
 By Gerald B. Hurst, K. C, M. P. 
 
 Manchester Guardian 
 
 In Sir Owen Edwards Welsh nationalism 
 has lost its greatest exponent. His writings 
 penetrated every Welsh village. His name 
 was idolised wherever Welshmen fore- 
 gathered. To him all the young idealists in 
 Wales have looked for guidance for the last 
 thirty years. 
 
 His own country, however, will never 
 realise how much Edwards gave up to its 
 cause. He started academic life with suc- 
 cesses hardly paralleled at Oxford. He could 
 write brilliantly, and his outlook was in- 
 tensely original and detached from all con- 
 ventions. Yet every moment of leisure 
 which his tutorial work at Lincoln College 
 allbwed him was applied to the study and 
 propagation of Welsh literature, to editing 
 Welsh papers, and to his vast correspon- 
 dence. His only book in English — the volume 
 on Wales in the "Story of the Nations" 
 series — hardly reflects the range and grip oi 
 his historical scholarship. It indicates bet- 
 ter one of his other gifts— that of intensity 
 of interest in all human affairs. Though in 
 his politics, as in his teaching, he was too 
 much a poet and mystic and infinitely too 
 
SOME BRITISH EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 
 
 345 
 
 modest to win the public eye or to seek to 
 develop a very definite political philosophy, 
 he was often a singularly penetrating ob- 
 server. His nationalism was utterly devoid 
 of the acrid flavour which taints many types 
 of nationalism. As member for Merioneth 
 in 1900 his model was Tom Ellis, not Lloyd 
 George; he could never become a partisan. 
 The real Edwards emerged when you walked 
 with him among the hills around his native 
 Llanuwchllyn and he greeted every passer- 
 by with some friendly and familiar phrase. 
 His love for Wales was a passion, but it 
 was the passion of the poet, not the politi- 
 cian. For himself he had no ambitions. In 
 one of his last letters to me he wrote: "My 
 ambition now is to get a perfect system of 
 education in Wales. Then I dream of leisure 
 to write Welsh books." Alas! it was only 
 a dream. 
 
 The rare gentleness of Edwards's charac- 
 ter gave added charm to his gift of epigram. 
 When someone alluded to the picturesque- 
 ness of a certain king, he answered. "He 
 will not be picturesque much longer; Pro- 
 fessor X. is writing a book about him." 
 Undergraduates were invariably impressed 
 by his polite "Do you remember such and 
 such facts?" He never said "Do you 
 know?" Many hundreds of his old pupils 
 all over the world will recall quiet hours in 
 the chapel quadrangle at Lincoln, where he 
 would suggest, in a halting voice and with 
 diffidence, the ways in which their essays 
 fell short of the very highest literature. He 
 rarely hinted that any essay of theirs could 
 be really bad. 
 
 He brought into his short spell of public 
 life the tolerance and detachment of a seer. 
 His only active dislike was for Mr. Cham- 
 berlain. The Boer War he hated as unjust; 
 it was the real cause of his retirement from 
 Parliament. He could hardly talk of it. On 
 all other issues he would speak and write 
 with an eager brilliance. In the early years 
 of the century he deplored our neglect of the 
 Far East, which (as he wrote to me in 1903) 
 was ignored in favour of sport. "I would 
 do away with all cricket and football, as an 
 experiment, for a hundred years. Other na- 
 tions through better education and harder 
 work are taking our markets from us; 
 Russia is drawing nearer our most valuable 
 possessions. Meanwhile we are gallantly 
 winning a cricket match. Hayward is the 
 hero of the hour, and all England rings! 
 My politics are simple. I want two things — 
 (1) an efficient system of education; (2) Im- 
 perial expansion — all the Pacific islands, all 
 Africa, including Madagascar; all Asia up 
 to the present Russian boundary, with China 
 and Japan as allies. I want a Dictator who 
 
 would execute Y. for bribing, Mr. Chamber- 
 lain for talking, and Professor Z. for writ- 
 ing histories." This is bracing language for 
 a Welsh Nationalist in 1903! 
 
 In 1907 Edwards left Oxford to be Chief 
 Inspector of Welsh Education, but his hard 
 official work in London and Wales was tem- 
 pered by his innumerable personal relation- 
 ships, which demanded from him endless 
 encouragement and advice. The sadness of 
 the mountains had always coloured his tem- 
 perament, and illness and bereavement 
 weighed down his last years. He felt the 
 war as many other teachers must have felt 
 it. "The best have fallen," he wrote to me 
 in 1918. "And I have been thinking much 
 of men whose papers I read in scholarship 
 examinations — Jack, who died gallantly; 
 Edward Thomas, the nature-loving mystic, 
 who also died in action; Scott-Moncrieff, 
 who died in an Arab tent; Ball, whose boat 
 capsized in the Nile; Osborne, one of my 
 first scholars, who was saved clinging to the 
 keel of one of the boats of the Leinster 
 Castle; J. Olive Wardrop, who escaped from 
 the Bolshevists, — there is a weighty proces- 
 sion of them." 
 
 It may be that such men were as truly 
 influenced by the wonderful unselfishness of 
 Edwards's life as by any of the intellectual 
 exercises which it was his duty to set them. 
 For all Lincoln men of my own time he was 
 the ideal Fellow, and no congratulation on 
 some success in the House of Commons could 
 give me more pleasure than the note in 
 which he rejoiced that "you represent the 
 most Welsh part of Manchester." That 
 thought v/ould have occurred to no one else. 
 Edwards might well have become a great 
 writer. He preferred to serve his race in 
 ways which excluded material success and 
 abundant fame. As a consolation he has 
 left all whom he knew the abiding impres- 
 sion of essential goodness. His goodness 
 begot hope. In the last letter which he 
 wrote to me, he said, "I believe the world 
 is becoming right." 
 
 RAILWAY COMFORT 
 
 London Daily Telegraph 
 
 We accept with that gratitude which is 
 the hope of favours to come the edict of 
 the Minister of Transport that railways are 
 to allow as much luggage free as we could 
 take in 1914 and as much more as we choose 
 to pay for upon a scale not extortionate. 
 The restoration of this old privilege will 
 lighten the anxieties of the mothers of 
 many families whose task in providing ade- 
 quate clothes for holiday-making children 
 while observing the war restrictions upon 
 trunks was a miracle very exhausting to 
 the performer. But we trust that this is not 
 
346 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 the last word of the Ministry of Transport 
 or the railway companies on the summer 
 service. Not less to be desired than an in- 
 crease in the amount of luggage is the re- 
 vival of the old system of luggage in ad- 
 vance. Never within the memory of any 
 living Londoner was it so difficult for a 
 traveller with baggage to obtain a convey- 
 ance between the stations and his home. It 
 is impossible for any but those who live in 
 inner London to hope for a taxi cab, and 
 even such fortunate beings often find that 
 hope tells a flattering tale. We are beset 
 by the paradoxical condition that the vast 
 development of mechanical transport has 
 made the beginning and the end of a jour- 
 ney far more uncomfortable than in the days 
 of the hansom and the "growler." So the 
 opportunity to send luggage in advance 
 would be more valuable than ever. We do 
 not know whether, with their straitened re- 
 sources in vehicles and labour, the railway 
 companies, or any of them, can re-establish 
 the system. It is plain that unless it can 
 be worked efficiently the public is better 
 without it. A railway official has suggested 
 in our columns that luggage should be sent 
 by goods train as merchandise. But, with 
 goods traffic in its present condition, this is 
 B. dubious expedient. Uncertainty or long 
 delay in the arrival of personal luggage is a 
 worse evil than a disagreeable and expen- 
 sive journey to and from the station. We 
 hope, therefore, that the companies will 
 spare no effort in organisation to give us 
 back this part of the old facilities. There 
 is another amenity of the days before the 
 war which was much prized and which can 
 impose no great strain upon any railway — 
 the reservation of seats for long journeys. 
 This used to be possible, we believe, upon 
 all lines. It is now permitted only upon 
 one or two, and there only for one or two 
 trains. We can imagine no reason why it 
 should not be general. If some small ex- 
 pense is caused by the booking, a small 
 charge might be levied, as is in one case, 
 at least, already the practice. There is 
 no doubt that for long holiday journeys, 
 which in the nature of things must be ar- 
 ranged some time beforehand, the vast 
 majority would gladly pay the booking fee 
 for the certainty of a seat without a 
 struggle or a long wait. The railway com- 
 panies surely should themselves desire the 
 system as enabling them to estimate with 
 certainty the accommodation required and 
 frame adequate and definite plans in ad- 
 vance. In the long run it will be found that 
 what makes for the comfort of the passenger 
 makes not only for the prosperity of the 
 
 railway but for the better organisation and 
 smoother working of traffic. 
 
 THREE KINGS 
 
 Lamond, Busoni, D* Albert 
 
 By Norman Wilks 
 
 London Daily Telegraph 
 
 It is one of the privileges of the artistic 
 world that our kings are ever with us. 
 Earthly thrones may fall, and empires dis- 
 appear, but the kings of our choice never fail 
 to hold their sway; though it be only in the 
 memory of our hearts. They seldom fail us. 
 Tried, as they are, a hundred times by the 
 ordeal of battle, we feel safe in their keep- 
 ing; we have reliance in their generalship, 
 and we are proud to offer them our homage 
 and our love. If you are willing to wander 
 into the countryside of thought, I would take 
 you with me to the courts of three great 
 kings, I would stroll with you through their 
 palaces and their gardens, and with you 
 would wonder at the gifts they have to offer 
 us. Being well aware of the dangers that 
 lurk in palaces, and the fact that compari- 
 sons are not considered quite polite in our 
 musical life, I would, however, ask you 
 before we start to throw off your doaks of 
 prejudice and politeness for the heavier 
 raiment of candour and truth. For remem- 
 ber, we are to move in the courts of kings. 
 
 We will make no apology for our excur- 
 sion, but knowing (as everybody does know) 
 that there are still a quantity of pistols, 
 and a greater number of imbeciles at large, 
 we would make it quite clear that we have 
 no wish to appear provocative, nor have we 
 any intention of wandering into the side 
 paths of criticism by counting wrong notes. 
 We will tread as lightly as we can, so that 
 even the most violent revolutionary will not 
 be annoyed by our step. 
 
 Those of us who heard Lamond play 
 Beethoven the other day must have com- 
 pared his readings with those of d* Albert 
 and Busoni involuntarily. These three will 
 be our chosen kings, Let us then agree 
 that they are monarchs worthy of our ^ 
 homage and consideration. j 
 
 Every artist holds a court worthy of him- 
 self. A regular concert-goer could give a 
 fairly correct guess at a programme from a , 
 glimpse of an audience alone. Who, for ex- ' 
 ample, would expect to find the vast public 
 which chuckles in unalloyed delight at one 
 of our priceless Ballad Concerts, sitting with 
 nodding head and smiles of conscious wis- 
 dom before Dr. Allen and the Bach choir? 
 or — the kind friends (and enemies) who 
 gather to hear the latest Matthay recruit, 
 
SOME BRITISH EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 
 
 347 
 
 kneeling in open-eyed amazement at the feet 
 of Mr. Howard-Jones? 
 
 The study of audiences is a fascinating 
 one, Chez Monsieur Eugen d' Albert, a ' 
 Scotchman by birth, we find the usual au- 
 dience that flocks to hear any real artist of 
 renown; a few curious dames who are, per- 
 haps, more interested in the player himself, 
 but a goodly crowd, earnest, ready to be 
 taught, and very willing to appreciate. 
 D'Albert showers his gifts on us with a cer- 
 tain arrogance. There is no question here 
 of compromise or pity. He would almost 
 seem to say, "It is a matter of complete 
 indifference to me whether you like my gar- 
 dens." But you do like them — sometimes in 
 spite of yourself — you are held by the castle 
 he builds before your eyes because it is 
 strong and not to be destroyed with a sigh. 
 You cannot get away from the overpower- 
 ing will, the sense of beauty as a whole, the 
 outline of a master-painter. And faith re- 
 vives; faith in the genius of our race, faith 
 in the glory of Beethoven, faith in the 
 marked superiority of the male over the 
 female pianist, faith in the classic school, 
 faith in porridge, faith in hard work. 
 
 Feruccio Busoni. What visions spring to 
 the memory at this name! Busoni is a king; 
 he is not ashamed of his calling; a real 
 pianist, virtuoso, musician and poet. Busoni 
 holds a right regal court. It does not mat- 
 ter in which capital of Europe he appears. 
 Here are the connoisseurs of all the arts — 
 the most beautiful of women — a cosmopol- 
 itan assembly — an audience unique. (But 
 our piano teachers and our pianists are not 
 there tonight!) 
 
 Busoni casts a spell over his audience. He 
 transports you into a land of dreams. He 
 takes you as he will through a fairy palace 
 of wondrous beauty, of mystic scents and 
 priceless stones; to a garden of unknown 
 flowers where soft, white girls and golden 
 boys gently play; to the arms you long for, 
 and the lips you wish to kiss. A great joy 
 throbs in your hearts. This poet has given 
 you back your youth. You have hope once 
 more in the joys of life, in the beauty of 
 beauty, in the wonders of human ecstacy — 
 you are intoxicated. 
 
 Frederic Lamond. Here are memories, 
 too, but a different crowd. Look closely into 
 this court. Musicians, students, the curious 
 —yes — but who are these? The halt, the 
 lame, and the blind; the world-weary and 
 the toilers; the disappointed and the sad. 
 Here is the greatest gathering a King can 
 have. Lamond never for one moment holds 
 you by his virtuosity or by his power. You 
 forget the piano — you are one with Lamond 
 and a world of sufferers. He builds no 
 
 castle; he tells no story. He creates a 
 mysterious light. You see it reflected in 
 the upturned faces, and a great calm, a feel- 
 ing of serenity, a sense of divine peace falls 
 over all. Now is added to the never- 
 forgotten walk on the hillside the compell- 
 ing wonder of a calm night at sea, the 
 glimpse of a mother's joy, one more su- 
 preme moment in our life. You do not wish 
 to shout, you would rather kneel and pray. 
 Is Lamond aware of the pricelessness of his 
 gift? The greatest of all gifts — charity. 
 Maybe unconsciously, for, as he returns to 
 us and smiles, the lined and rugged face we 
 know so well becomes transfigured. 
 
 NATIONAL HEALTH 
 
 London Daily Telegraph 
 
 A very remarkable development of na- 
 tional health policy is foreshadowed in the 
 Interim Report — a summary of which ap- 
 peared yesterday in our columns — ^presented 
 by the Consultative Council on Medical and 
 Allied Services. The Council is associated 
 with the Ministry of Health, and it was 
 invited by tile Minister — at the time of its 
 appointment, seven months ago — to consider 
 the question of forming a systematised 
 medical service, set up on a basis of local 
 areas, but applicable, area by area, to the 
 whole country. When we say that the Re- 
 port foreshadows a remarkable develop- 
 ment, we mean that there is every prospect 
 of legislation founded upon it being laid 
 before Parliament, and those are in error 
 who may be inclined to regard the scheme 
 as too sweeping to be taken seriously. What 
 the Interim Report proposes is the estab- 
 lishment in the local area — say, for example, 
 in a good-sized county — of a complete or- 
 ganisation of medical service which should 
 place at the disposal of every person, what- 
 ever his social status, the advantages of the 
 best medical treatment that science has de- 
 vised. This would be effected by the setting 
 up of a system of primary health centers, 
 each one "the rallying-point of all the med- 
 ical services, preventive and curative," of 
 its district; with, above these, a much small- 
 er number of secondary health centers, 
 whose work would be of a more specialised 
 character, and largely in the hands of con- 
 sultants. These, in their turn, would be in 
 relationship with the teaching hospital of 
 the district, to which cases of unusual difii- 
 culty would be referred. The layman's first 
 inquiry, on having such a plan laid before 
 him, would be, What about my own doctor?" 
 No one, rich or poor, has any idea of hand- 
 ing himself or any of his family, in sickness, 
 over to a medical bureaucracy, and having 
 
348 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 his case dealt with by an expert whose very 
 name he may never have heard. But the 
 scheme of this Report, so far from contem- 
 plating anything of that sort, makes the 
 patient's own doctor" the very foundation 
 of all the rest. The primary center, which 
 is the essential feature of the plan, would 
 be staffed entirely by the general practition- 
 ers of the district; and attendance on the 
 patient at his own home or at the doctor's 
 surgery — ^what the Report calls "domiciliary 
 service" — would remain the basis of med- 
 ical practice. It would continue, however, 
 with the enormous advantage for both pa- 
 tient and doctor that the technical resources 
 of the primary center would be at the doc- 
 tor's disposal — those processes of investiga- 
 tion, costly apparatus, facilities for special 
 treatment, and many other matters which 
 the general practitioner cannot personally 
 place at his patient's service, and which, as 
 things are today, he can only procure with 
 difficulty and expense, and sometimes cannot 
 procure at all, for his more well-to-do pa- 
 tients. If a case needed to be dealt with 
 under hospital conditions, it could be so 
 treated at the primary center, the patient, 
 though removed from his home, still being 
 under his chosen medical adviser's care; 
 while if the nature of the case made re- 
 moval to a secondary center and treatment 
 by specialists advisable, the general practi- 
 tioner would still have every opportunity of 
 keeping in touch with the patient and re- 
 suming attendance on him upon his dis- 
 charge. 
 
 From every point of view, then, the or- 
 ganised service proposed by the Report 
 would be a vast improvement on what is 
 possible under the existing conditions. What 
 raises the necessity of some change of this 
 sort is, as the Report makes clear, the im- 
 mensely increased complexity of medical 
 treatment, which, as it has grown much more 
 effective than it used to be, has at the same 
 time become, in many directions, much more 
 than an unaided medical practitioner can 
 grapple with, or a patient of limited means 
 can afford. Bacteriology, bio-chemistry, 
 radiology, electro-therapeutics— all these, 
 and many other branches of special study, 
 are luxuries in medical practice; but they 
 should not be, for they are often necessary 
 for effective treatment. In many even of 
 the commonest diseases the co-operation of 
 at least three separate experts is required if 
 the best possible is to be done for the suffer- 
 ers. We make this statement not on the 
 authority of the Report, but on that of the 
 Cavendish Lecturer of 1918, who, we re- 
 member, devoted himself to pointing out 
 this characteristic of modern healing sci- 
 
 ence, and advocating the establishment of a 
 national medical service on lines broadly 
 similar to those now laid down. That Cav- 
 endish Lecturer is now Lord Dawson of 
 Penn, and chairman of the Council which 
 has just presented its Report. The essence 
 of the scheme now formulated has, in fact, 
 been under professional discussion long- 
 enough to deprive it of any startling novelty 
 for medical men. It has, indeed, been ac- 
 tually adopted and fully worked out by the 
 public authorities and the medical profes- 
 sion in the county of Gloucestershire, thanks 
 to the energy and enthusiasm of its medical 
 officer of health. Dr. J. Middleton Martin, 
 upon whose detailed scheme the proposals 
 of the Report are based; and there has been 
 experimental action in the same direction 
 elsewhere. The real difficulty is that of 
 cost. To establish at a stroke, in all parts 
 of the country, the whole of the organiza- 
 tion proposed, from the primary centres to 
 the teaching hospital — which would have to 
 be built and equipped in any area where 
 none exists already — is plainly out of the 
 question in the present state of the nation's 
 finances. But the establishment of the pri- 
 mary centres, which is the heart of the 
 scheme, may be found feasible; for patients 
 who now pay for medical treatment will be 
 required to do so still, while the more effec- 
 tive treatment of all disease and the better 
 organization of preventive methods would 
 lead to the saving of a mass of expenditure 
 at present incurred in connection with public 
 health. The Consultative Council's interim 
 Report, however, is not much concerned with 
 this question; it is issued only to give an in- 
 dication of the trend of the Council's de- 
 liberations and conclusions up to the pres- 
 ent. Whatever form may be given to the 
 legislation which the Government intends to 
 put forward, it will at any rate be such as 
 to show this country still where it has been 
 so long — in the leadership of the world 
 where matters of public health are con- 
 cerned. 
 
 SCIENCE AND COMMERCE 
 
 London Dai'y Telegraph 
 
 London University has been much in the 
 public eye of late, and we welcome every in- 
 dication of belief in its brilliant future, 
 worthy of the capital of the Empire. Only 
 a few days ago the Government made its 
 ruling body the offer of a magnificent site 
 near the British Museum, which, we hope, 
 it may be found possible to accept, so that 
 Bloomsbury may become the new academic 
 centre of London. Yesterday the King and 
 Queen laid the foundation-stone of an exten- 
 sion to the London School of Economics. 
 This is a building hidden away in a corner 
 
SOME BRITISH EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 
 
 349 
 
 of the old Clare Market, and relatively few 
 Londoners have been aware of its existence. 
 Yet in no department of the University has 
 there been a keener intellectual activity than 
 in this quiet backwater, and the large num- 
 ber of day and night students taking its 
 courses is the best tribute at once to the im- 
 portance of the subject and the zeal — in 
 some cases, perhaps, the proselytising zeal 
 for advanced State Socialism — with which it 
 is taught. The Director of the School, Sir 
 William Beveridge, the author of a treatise 
 on "Unemployment," which at once became 
 the text-book not only of students, but of 
 statesmen and trade-union leaders, has an 
 institution under his care which is obviously 
 capable of wielding very great influence 
 upon the social and industrial development 
 of the times. The word "Economics," it must 
 be allowed, has rather a chilling and de- 
 pressing sound, so closely is it allied in the 
 popular mind with the old "dismal science" 
 of abstract Political Economy, and with 
 clouds of doubtful statistics which effectu- 
 ally darken counsel. The nineteenth cen- 
 tury suffered severely from the pronounce- 
 ments of professors who preached a very 
 one-sided doctrine, against which at length 
 the conscience of humanity revolted, and the 
 scrapping of ancient economic shibboleths 
 has gone on so vigorously that many people 
 have rushed to the equally fatal conclusion 
 that there is no such thing as truth in eco- 
 nomics at all, and that skilful politicians will 
 always contrive to evade the painful reck- 
 oning for the broken laws of political eco- 
 nomy. "We should like, therefore, to empha- 
 sise the fact that the revolt from the older 
 political economy does not mean that the 
 science is valueless, but rather that its prin- 
 ciples must always be subjected to the new 
 tests which experience supplies, and, so far 
 from its being an unprofitable study, there 
 is none which is more imperatively required. 
 Moreover, economics has a much wider con- 
 notation than is often supposed. There 
 could be no greater mistake than to sup- 
 pose that the students of the School of 
 Economics spend their days exclusively in 
 picking to pieces the theories of Adam 
 Smith, Ricardo, Mill, Marx, and all the 
 later exponents of the science. Sociology, 
 political and public administration, geogra- 
 phy, commercial law, ethnology — all these 
 are embraced under the word "Economics," 
 which thus assumes a new importance and 
 makes a wider and much more powerful 
 appeal to those who hold that the highest 
 form of knowledge is the knowledge which 
 bears practical application to the every-day 
 affairs of life. 
 
 In an admirable speech, the King drew 
 
 attention to the part which the School of 
 Economics is now playing in relation to the 
 new Faculty of Commerce in London Uni- 
 versity. The movement for this was 
 launched about two years ago at a Mansion 
 House meeting, and the building of which 
 the King laid the foundation-stone yester- 
 day will be the outcome of the late Sir 
 Ernest Cassel's munificence and the gen- 
 erous response which was made by the busi- 
 ness community of London. A Faculty of 
 Commerce, of course, is designed to teach 
 the science of commerce and to give degrees 
 in commerce. Let no one say that commerce 
 cannot be taught, or that classes in com- 
 mercial subjects are useless! It would be 
 as sensible to say that engineering and 
 surgery cannot be taught. The commercial 
 mind needs training in the science of com- 
 merce, and the London School of Economics 
 sets out to supply it by courses of study in 
 banking and currency, foreign trade, trans- 
 port, accountancy, and business methods. It 
 is perfectly true that those who built up the 
 magnificent fabric of British commerce were 
 not learned in the science of industry, and 
 that their vigorous individualism triumphed 
 over the lack of scientific training. But 
 that is nothing to the point. What we have 
 to remember is that all these various sub- 
 jects have been investigated scientifically, 
 and that if we are to hold our own against 
 the competition of the future, our business 
 men must be business scientists. The pres- 
 ent situation is purely temporary. If there 
 is little or no competition, it is because our 
 chief Continental rival is out of the running 
 and the demand for British goods is world- 
 wide. But that will not last for ever, and 
 when competition does begin again in 
 earnest we shall hear to a certainty the old 
 complaint that the British manufacturer is 
 not so scientific as his rivals, and did not 
 profit, as he ought to have done, by the 
 opportunity which he had to reconstruct on 
 the latest scientific lines. The reports issued 
 a year or two ago by the Board of Trade 
 and the Ministry of Reconstruction sounded 
 a note of warning in respect of the conserva- 
 tism of many employers, the antiquated or- 
 ganisation of their businesses, and the poor- 
 ness of their methods of production and 
 what is called the "economic lay-out." 
 America has led the world in mass-produc- 
 tion. Here in England observers are sur- 
 prised at the very large number of rela- 
 tively small firms, each with a separate or- 
 ganisation, separate establishment charges 
 and arrangements for buying and selling, 
 and each producing an enormous multiplicity 
 of articles. The very last quality which we 
 desire to disparage is our British individ- 
 
350 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 ualism; but the fact remains that for the 
 purposes of international trade mass pro- 
 duction holds the winning cards, because its 
 costs are lowest and least energy is fruit- 
 lessly expended. The British trader has 
 still to accustom himself to think of trading 
 in terms of science. Take Transport for 
 example. There is already a whole litera- 
 ture on the theory and practice of Trans- 
 port, mostly American in origin. That is 
 not to say that we have not as good railway 
 operators here as on the other side of the 
 Atlantic. As a matter of fact, the war 
 problem was handled far more skilfully here 
 than on the great American railroads, which 
 for a time were reduced to chaos. But we 
 have been very slow to realise that we sim- 
 ply cannot afford the wasteful luxury of a 
 multiplicity of railway companies in these 
 small islands, each going its own way and 
 as far as possible ignoring the existence of 
 its rivals. Scientific commercial training 
 ought to have convinced the business world 
 of this long before the war. The same argu- 
 ment applies all round. Science — in the 
 widest sense of the term — must be wedded 
 to commerce. There is no danger in this 
 country of the theorist spoiling the practical 
 man. The trouble is that our strong genius 
 for the practical has led us to disdain the 
 theoretical, while learning has disdained the 
 "common touch" of trade. The King con- 
 gratulated London University on the ever- 
 widening basis of its studies and on having 
 freed itself from Bacon's censure of the uni- 
 versities as "the homes of ignorant dogma 
 and sterile disputation." There is no true 
 divorce between theory and practice, and we 
 hope it will be one of the ambitions of the 
 University of London to make its Faculty of 
 Commerce of world-wide reputation. 
 
 IMAGINATION 
 
 London Daily Express 
 
 Imagination belongs chiefly to children 
 and poets. 
 
 Both of them refuse to accept existence 
 as fi dreary round. To them the world is 
 full of mystery and delight; the western 
 wind is Romance, and raindrops the grief 
 of fairies. 
 
 The rest of us in our superiority can 
 smile at children and poets — ^but not with- 
 out a touch of envy. 
 
 We lose the Imaginativeness of childhood 
 too soon. Life is stem and exacting, but it 
 would hold much more charm iiwe could 
 still hear the "tongues in trees" and find 
 the "books in the running brooks." 
 
 If imagination has gone it is worth pur- 
 suit. If books or music do not bring it back, 
 
 seek out some blue-eyed youngster and learn 
 again the wonderful wisdom of immaturity. 
 Don't be ashamed of imagination. It is 
 a younger brother to genius. 
 
 A LESSON NEEDED 
 
 London Daily Express 
 
 A wide and desperate search for a grey 
 car presents many of the excitements of a 
 cinema thriller or of transpontine melo- 
 drama. It also presents the public and all 
 good motorists with excellent reason for as- 
 sisting the police in any possible way. This 
 grey car has been responsible for the death 
 of a harmless pedestrian. Having done very 
 evil work, it has vanished into the night out 
 of which it came. It is not the first car to 
 kill and run away. It may not be the last. 
 But it is imperative that those who thus dis- 
 grace all decent law-abiding motorists should 
 be so severely punished that others of their 
 kind may deem it safer to face at once the 
 music of their own mischances. No mo- 
 torist, of course, deliberately slaughters a 
 person on the road, and some accidents are 
 inevitable. Those, however, who drive on 
 after racing down any person or animal add 
 to what may be pure mischance a cal- 
 lous brutality and cowardice that deserve a 
 long term of imprisonment. It is for the 
 courts to strike terror into these particular 
 bandits of the road. Every honest motorist 
 will applaud the sternest action. 
 
 TWOPENNY POST 
 
 London Daily Express 
 
 On Tuesday we go back to twopenny 
 postage, and it is impossible to regard this 
 retrogression as other than disastrous. It 
 may be an inevitable part of the effort to 
 reduce the annual loss on the operations of 
 the Post Office. It should have been a last 
 resource when all other means of keener 
 business management had been exhausted. 
 It is an argument against any further ex- 
 periments in State control or nationalisation 
 of essential public services. 
 
 It is asserted comfortably that the public, 
 growing used to the new imposition, will 
 continue to write as many letters as penny 
 postage induced. That seems to us a rash 
 prophecy. There must come a time when 
 higher charges compel the community to 
 scrutinise very jealously all those petty 
 luxuries which facility has persuaded it to 
 rank as necessities. But if the volume of 
 public and private correspondence is sensi- 
 bly diminished we shall have sacrificed great 
 advantages for a h3^othetical return. When 
 Sir J. Henniker Heaton instituted imperial 
 penny postage he forged a link that has 
 bound together our great imperial family as 
 
SOME BRITISH EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 
 
 3S1 
 
 firmly as it has cemented the sundered lives 
 of households. We run grave risks of sep- 
 aratist ignorance in adding again to the cost 
 of letter postage. We take a line of least 
 resistance which may lead to much mischief. 
 
 LIFE OF THE MAYFLY 
 
 By Guy C. Pollock 
 
 London Daily Express 
 
 The mayfly is up. That is a fact attested 
 by all the newspapers, duly recorded, in- 
 controvertible; an excuse for much wild and 
 ignorant speculation by pseudo-entomolo- 
 gists; a cause of baseless hopes and need- 
 less regrets to many honest anglers. 
 
 I heard of the mayfly first in April this 
 year. I saw him and her ten days ago on 
 the chalk brook — a few perfect specimens 
 ignored by appetiteless trout. I have little 
 doubt that as I write every pounder of the 
 chalk brook is feasting madly on the sub- 
 imago. I fear that by today the "carnival," 
 as it is called, will be over. This year, as 
 it seems to me, the great mayfly hatch, 
 which tempts large trout to surface feeding 
 on any stream which holds trout and breeds 
 mayflies, may be rather a failure. It began 
 prematurely, aided by unseasonable March. 
 It was checked by the monstrosities of 
 April. It will peter out before June is under 
 way in sparse and spasmodic efforts instead 
 of arriving with a Gargantuan rush to fill 
 with excitement the period May 25-June 6, 
 to cause the angler's knees and heart so to 
 shake that he undergoes a series of tem- 
 pestuous disasters. 
 
 Dance of Death 
 
 But this mayfly is surely one of the most 
 enchanting and curious of God's creatures. 
 You may see him now by many rivers — a 
 creature the size of a fair moth, with large 
 gossamer wings of exquisite colour, green 
 or brown, according to sex, with long an- 
 tennae; an airy, fairy creature, dancing for 
 ever the dance of love and death, up and 
 down, up and down, over every riverside 
 bush and tree; hatching on the water in 
 droves, which cover the surface with deli- 
 cate boat-like creatures sailing down, till, 
 with dried wings, the fly may haply escape 
 the trout and take flight to shore; leaving 
 a scum of empty shucks behind after hatch- 
 ing; returning to the water to die when the 
 new generation is secure. 
 
 Life begins when the female, having 
 danced her little love with the male, makes, 
 iying, for the river, drops her eggs — over 
 3000 eggs per fly — on its surface and falls, 
 spent, exhausted, to be gobbled by a greedy 
 sh or swept up by a hawking swallow. 
 
 River Nymphs 
 
 Some of the eggs live — a strange life on 
 the bed of the river's underworld — and by 
 degrees become the grubs, the nymphs in 
 their case which, when May is midmost, be- 
 gin to struggle, swimming, towards the 
 surface. 
 
 Then pounce the trout, boiling and bulging 
 just under water, devouring what they may 
 of nymphs before the surface is reached. 
 
 Those that escape shed the nymphal case, 
 unfold the lovely wings, and, again by 
 chance escaping (in the early days the trout 
 are still scared of this large fly), fly ashore. 
 There, once more, they shed a skin, and, 
 lightened, perfect the imago or completed 
 fly, join the unceasing dance of the males, 
 or, being females, seek their partner in this 
 airy ballroom of the courtship which spells 
 death. "La vie est vaine; un peu d'amour." 
 Two delirious, dancing minutes, and the fe- 
 male struggles off to lay her eggs and die; 
 the male dies where he falls, and his little 
 death enriches the dust to which we all 
 return. 
 
 Strange life history of one of Nature's 
 most perfect triumphs of beauty! So much 
 for so little. A very microcosm is the may- 
 fly, and I think of that tar with which man 
 smothers roads and, as they run too close 
 to rivers, thereby destroys for ever the 
 mayfly and the trout and all that lives most 
 lovely and desirable beneath the once pure 
 waters, as I think of the wars and pes- 
 tilences which prey on man — himself a 
 mayfly, ephemeral, transient, obedient to 
 laws and purposes beyond his puny range. 
 
 ANOTHER OIL DISCOVERY 
 
 The Mexican Eagle Stripped of Its Plumage 
 
 Is Britain to Be Plucked Next? 
 
 London Daily Express 
 
 The "Daily Express" has made another 
 significant discovery in connection with the 
 struggle, now reaching a climax, for the 
 Mesopotamian oilfields. 
 
 Three weeks ago we first exposed the na- 
 ture of the negotiations instituted by Lord 
 Harcourt's committee, by which the Royal 
 Dutch-Shell group offered to place a large 
 number of its subsidiary companies under 
 the legal control of the British Government 
 in return for equal exploitation rights and 
 complete management of the Mesopotamian 
 oilfields. In our almost solitary fight against 
 this arrangement we showed that the sub- 
 sidiary companies offered by the combine 
 
352 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 were either those within the Empire — and 
 consequently already under British legal 
 control — or in territories susceptible to Brit- 
 ish influence, or in the storm centers of the 
 world. 
 
 Included in this formidable list were all 
 the Mexican interests of the Royal Dutch- 
 Shell group with the exception of the val- 
 uable Mexican Eagle Oil Company. The 
 "Daily Express" has been investigating the 
 reason for this, and the sensational dis- 
 covery made adds one more startling 
 feature in the extraordinary world-wide 
 struggle now going on for the Mosul petro- 
 leum fields. 
 
 Three Stages 
 
 The controlling interest in the Mexican 
 Eagle was formerly held by Lord Cowdray. 
 The Royal Dutch-Shell Combine, with its 
 eye keenly alert to any competitive organ- 
 isation, purchased Lord Cowdray's shares, 
 thus acquiring ownership of the company. 
 Possessing the majority of the stock, it 
 then imposed on the Mexican Eagle Com- 
 pany a binding agreement which placed the 
 management for a period of years in the 
 hands of the Royal Dutch, thus assuring 
 that combine that it would have the physical 
 control of the company and the disposition 
 of its output. 
 
 Having thus stripped the Eagle of its 
 plumage, the Royal Dutch-Shell group and 
 its associates disponed of its shares through 
 a pool in which Mr. C. S. Gulbenkian, the 
 famous Armenian financial associate of the 
 combine, was actively interested. 
 
 The Royal Dutch-Shell Combine no longer 
 owned the Mexican Eagle. 
 
 But — without any financial outlay it had 
 fastened the firm grip of the trust on the 
 only thing it wanted, the company's output. 
 The Mexican Eagle Company, therefore, was 
 not included among the subsidiary organisa- 
 tions to be placed under British legal con- 
 trol, for the very good reason that the com- 
 bine no longer owned it, although it is not 
 unreasonable to suppose that the present 
 functionless directors would be very glad to 
 secure the protection of the British Navy. 
 
 In a bare outline, that is the history of 
 a financial adventure which establishes a 
 new and most efficacious method of eradicat- 
 ing opposition. 
 
 A Parallel 
 
 There is a close parallel between the Mex- 
 ican Eagle negotiations and those now under 
 consideration in regard to the Mesopotamian 
 oilfields. By the agreement originating with 
 Lord Harcourt's committee it is proposed: 
 
 To place the entire Mesopotamian ex- 
 ploitation under Royal Dutch-Shell 
 Management. 
 
 To place, in this venture, the Anglo- 
 Persian Oil Company, in which the Brit- 
 ish Government holds two-thirds of the 
 stock, under Royal Dutch-Shell Man- 
 agement. 
 
 Management is what the Royal Dutch- 
 Shell group principally desires. 
 
 With Management it does not need to care 
 how much stock in the Shell Company is 
 held by British subjects. Once it has the 
 Management the shareholders in the Meso- 
 potamia venture would have neither less nor 
 more power than the shareholders of the 
 Mexican Eagle Company today. 
 
 With Management the Royal Dutch-Shell 
 Combine can exploit the Mesopotamian 
 petroleum fields just as much or as little as 
 the world interests of the combine dictate. 
 
 With Management the Royal Dutch-Shell 
 group can direct the output from Mesopo- 
 tamia to any market, which will not tend to 
 lower petrol prices in the British Empire. 
 
 With Management the Royal Dutch-Shell 
 group has its hand on the Mesopotamian tap, 
 to shut it off altogether if deeemd desirable. 
 With Management the Royal Dutch-Shell 
 group can renew its grip on the Anglo- 
 Persian Oil Company, a private organisation 
 in which the British Government holds the 
 majority of stock, and which in two years' 
 time will be able to supply the petrol needs 
 of the British Empire. 
 
 Is the British Government, the prin- 
 cipal shareholder of the Anglo-Persian 
 Oil Company, to be reduced to the im- 
 potency now enjoyed by the shareholders 
 of the Mexican Eagle Company? 
 
 Is the British Government to surren- 
 der our one chance of oil independence? 
 
 Previous Attempt 
 
 This is not the first time that the Royal' 
 Dutch-Shell group of international financiers 
 has tried to strengthen its oil monopoly at 
 the expense of the British Empire. Early 
 in 1914, when a Bill was brought into Parlia- 
 ment for acquiring a majority interest in the 
 Anglo-Persian Oil Company, a most violent 
 opposition was engineered by the Shell 
 Transport and Trading Company, junior 
 partner of the Royal Dutch. 
 
 Mr. Winston Churchill, then First Lord of 
 the Admiralty, dealt with this opposition in 
 the House, and subsequent events offer a 
 remarkable tribute to his prescience in this 
 matter. His clear understanding of the sit- 
 uation at that time gives the "Daily Ex- 
 
SOME BRITISH EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 
 
 353 
 
 press" hope that he can now be counted on 
 the side of those who are opposed to the 
 ill-advised scheme which has been recom- 
 mended by Sir John Cadman, Sir Robert 
 Home, and other Government advisers. 
 
 "We have no quarrel with the 'Shell'," 
 said Mr. Churchill. "We have always found 
 them courteous, considerate, ready to oblige, 
 anxious to serve the Admiralty and to pro- 
 mote the interests of the British Navy and 
 the British Empire — at a price. The only 
 difficulty has been price. On that point, of 
 course, we have been treated with the full 
 rigour of the game. But it seems to me 
 that our relations might become, from our 
 point of view, even more pleasant if, instead 
 of being compelled, as we might easily be, 
 to accept whatever price they might think 
 it right to charge, we had an independent 
 position." 
 
 To serve the British Empire — at a price. 
 
 The "Daily Express" has no quarrel with 
 the Royal Dutch-Shell group for such tac- 
 tics, but is the British Empire to have noth- 
 ing to say regarding that price? 
 
 The lesson of the Mexican Eagle, stripped 
 of its feathers, is now revealed to the people 
 of this country. 
 
 Are we to submit to the same plucking 
 process ? 
 
 CHURCH UNION COMING 
 
 Weekly Scotsman 
 
 There has come to the Churches in Scot- 
 land a day of great opportunity, and on 
 Tuesday the General Assemblies met it in a 
 great spirit. In the General Assembly of 
 the Church of Scotland the opposition to 
 Union could scarcely muster twenty votes, 
 and in the United Free Assembly the minor- 
 ity dwindled to fifty. In a full house, the 
 United Free Assembly, in a scene of great 
 enthusiasm, by an overwhelming majority 
 passed a deliverance "gladly recognising the 
 importance of the step" taken by the Church 
 of Scotland, "as a real and generous step 
 towards the effective removal of all the ob- 
 stacles to Union by the withdrawal by Par- 
 liament of all statutory restraint . . . 
 of the liberties, rights, and powers of the 
 Church." There had been misunderstand- 
 ing as to whether the United Free Church 
 stood behind the Church of Scotland with 
 moral support in the approach of the latter 
 to Parliament. To those who knew the 
 spirit of the United Free Church, and who 
 are familiar with the wise statesmanship 
 that guides its affars, there was never any 
 ioubt as to the fact that it would give every 
 possible support to the Church of Scotland 
 in the effort to remove all obstacles to 
 
 Union. But all have not the same oppor- 
 tunity of knowing the true mind of Church 
 leaders; and through a loose use of words 
 misconceptions can easily arise. But Tues- 
 day's gathering declared the mind and spirit 
 of the United Free Church on the critical 
 question of the Church's future. "The As- 
 sembly hope that these claims will be recog- 
 nised in their fulness by Parliament" — ^this 
 is the declaration of the United Free Church 
 regarding the Church of Scotland's ap- 
 proach to the Legislature. The importance 
 of this declaration is that the Government 
 cannot have any further doubt as to wheth- 
 er the United Free Church will accept the 
 Articles as a basis of Union for the future 
 Church of Scotland, cannot doubt that the 
 two great Scottish Churches are at one in 
 their desire and eagerness for Union, and 
 cannot but realise that the full force of 
 public opinion in Scotland is behind the 
 proposals made by the Church of Scotland 
 asking that the obstacles to Union be re- 
 moved. When one remembers the years of 
 storm and stress through which the sun- 
 dered Churches have come; when one recalls 
 the bitterness of the controversies that 
 raged in the name of the Prince of Peace, 
 and the devastating blight that was cast 
 over the religious life of the nation, then 
 one can only wonder at the change that 
 has been wrought. The ancient realm of 
 Knox and Melville and Henderson bids fair 
 to set another great example before the 
 world. 
 
 RED-COATS 
 
 Ijondon Daily Chronicle 
 
 The Army Council has decided that though 
 khaki will continue to be the working dress 
 of the Army, there is to be a return to pre- 
 war uniforms for full-dress occasions. We 
 hope that this decision will be revised by a 
 higher authority. Khaki is now the colour 
 which the whole nation associates with sol- 
 diering. The pre-war, tin-soldier uniform 
 is no longer calculated to appeal even to 
 the kitchen-maid, for whom it was orig- 
 inally designed. The Army is an honourable 
 service, and no longer needs the bait of a 
 red uniform. Let us keep the "Beef-eaters," 
 the Chelsea Pensioners, and if necessary the 
 Horse Guards, as decorative souvenirs, but 
 spare the nation the expense of Sunday 
 clothes for the whole Army. 
 
 STRIKE FAILURE IN FRANCE 
 
 London Daily Chronicle 
 
 For nearly three weeks the General Con- 
 federation of Labour has been straining 
 every nerve to paralyse industrial life in 
 France by a series of concerted strikes, and 
 it is now at the end of its resources. It has 
 
354 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 yielded, it has called off the general strike, 
 it has suffered a crushing defeat; and the 
 programme of Direct Action in France has 
 received such a set-back as it will not re- 
 cover from for many a long day. The 
 movement started among a small number 
 of fanatics on the executives of the railway- 
 men. It was taken up by the General Con- 
 federation of Labour, who at once ordered 
 the seamen, the dockers, and the miners to 
 cease work. The railwaymen themselves 
 responded but feebly to the appeal; most of 
 the miners refused to stir; and the dockers 
 and seamen came out in some ports and re- 
 mained at work in others. 
 
 It was evident from the first that this 
 attempted blow at the life of the State was 
 directed by a group of men who were fight- 
 ing not merely for improved conditions of 
 work or more pay, but who desired a politi- 
 cal revolution. Some of them have been 
 proved, by the discovery of documents, to 
 be in touch with Communist organisations 
 in Moscow. All of them, in their own pro- 
 grammes, demanded a political revolution, 
 which they wished to effect by force. It was 
 here that they completely failed to carry 
 with them the rank and file of their own 
 men. When they demanded the constitu- 
 tion of a national and economic committee 
 to reorganise production, and an interna- 
 tional consortium for the distribution of raw 
 material, they were using language which 
 they had not even taught trade unionists to 
 understand. 
 
 The revolt was a lamentable failure to 
 make the strikes effective. The men as a 
 whole would not come out for these political 
 purposes. When this first failure became ap- 
 parent the Confederation tried to extend 
 the war by calling out electricians, under- 
 ground workers, motor-bus drivers and 
 metal workers. But here again their suc- 
 cess was short-lived. Public opinion was 
 definitely against them. Volunteers rushed 
 to the support of the Government, just as 
 they did in England at the time of the rail- 
 way strike. The Government itself, more- 
 over, acted with commendable firmness. It 
 realised that this was the war of a few 
 upon the nation as a whole. It refused to 
 negotiate with the plotters, and did not 
 hesitate to arrest the ringleaders; and it 
 has been able to assert once and for all in 
 France the principle that the State will not 
 tolerate movements aimed at its own ex- 
 istence. 
 
 HOUSING 
 
 London Evening Standard 
 
 An ounce of practical work is worth a ton 
 of talk and criticism. At the present time 
 
 there is far too great a tendency for those 
 
 who are interested in housing questions — 
 and who is not? — to spend their energies in 
 criticism. 
 
 Thus we read that "simultaneous demon- 
 strations throughout the country are pro- 
 posed to compel the Government" to put an 
 end to the shortage of houses. What good 
 could such demonstrations possibly do? The 
 Government knows existing conditions per- 
 fectly well and is at its wits' end to over- 
 come the three bunkers of bureaucratic 
 inertia, labour inertia, and the shyness of 
 capital. This is not the time for mass meet- 
 ings of protest; it is the time for work. 
 
 Never before were people less restricted 
 in their ways of handling a difficult situa- 
 tion. In regard to the housing shortage the 
 public, regardless of political convictions, is 
 ready to tolerate for the time being any 
 practical suggestion for getting houses 
 built. State socialism, municipal socialism. 
 State-aided private enterprise, syndicalism, 
 etc., are all being tried. There is room for 
 all, and there is absolutely no excuse for 
 those whose only contribution is criticism 
 and abuse. 
 
 Progress in house-building has admittedly 
 been slow, and the three difficulties men- 
 tioned above are still serious. The Govern- 
 ment has relied too much upon bureaucratic 
 action and municipal bureaucracies have 
 been cramped by Whitehall bureaucracies. 
 The Maidstone Rural District Council has 
 just written to the Ministry of Health com- 
 plaining that "the Council has from the be- 
 ginning been thwarted in every possible 
 way." Whitehall has adopted far too rigid 
 a standard, and far too little attention has 
 been given to the fact that, after all, local 
 authorities are elected by the people. 
 
 Labour difficulties are as great as ever, 
 and the man in the street is utterly be- 
 wildered by the contradictory allegations 
 that (1) there is unemployment among 
 builders, and (2) insufficient labour is avail- 
 able. Moreover at the moment the trade 
 unions are meeting accusations about "ca' 
 canny" by cries of "You're another" to the 
 employers and merchants. This neither ex- 
 cuses nor explains. It is time all these 
 controversies were ended and a great effort 
 concentrated on this vital and urgent social 
 problem. 
 
 The money difficulty is being tackled. The 
 loan of the three Home Counties has been 
 over-subscribed, and several cities show a 
 very good record in the sale of housing 
 bonds, though these are at present the excep- 
 tions. The London Housing Committee is 
 ready for its campaign, and attractive ex- 
 
SOME BRITISH EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 
 
 355 
 
 planatory leaflets are being issued. Its 
 •bonds are guaranteed by the L. C. C, but 
 are issued on behalf of the metropolitan 
 borough councils. It is hoped to raise 
 £5,000,000, and the facts that at the moment 
 there is insufficient money even for the 
 12,000 houses which are in hand, and that 
 50,000 houses are wanted at once as a mini- 
 mum, should be sufficient to impress upon 
 the Londoner the duty of investing his 
 money. 
 
 These are the main difficulties. It is very 
 easy to say that this or that trouble would 
 not be so acute if the authorities had not 
 pursued such and such a policy. With many 
 such critics we should be inclined to agree 
 were it not for one consideration, namely, 
 that criticism will not build houses. We 
 have all to pocket our pet political theories 
 for the time being and help any scheme 
 that is going to produce more accommoda- 
 tion. When the houses are built we can 
 discuss whose method was best. 
 
 LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM 
 
 London Daily Mirror 
 
 Poor romance, it is forever suffering 
 from the buffets and interferences of cold, 
 passionless men of science. 
 
 The latest blow has fallen from a lecturer 
 before the Royal Institution. He has struck 
 a death blow at lovers' dreams. He was 
 aware of no evidence, he said callously, that 
 lovers frequently dreamed of their beloved. 
 With that verdict dies one of young love's 
 prettiest beliefs. 
 
 It will be useless for the love-sick swain 
 to protest again that his Chloe is ever in 
 his thoughts, day and night. No more may 
 she part from him avowmg that she will 
 dream all night of his tender care. 
 
 According to science, these young folk 
 will probably dream of elephants or loco- 
 motives or of incidents that happened long 
 before they met one another. Dreams are 
 irrational, fantastic, and the dreamers, so 
 the savants tell us, are as irresponsible 
 lunatics. 
 
 All this is very sad. We feel that science 
 might at least leave lovers' dreams alone. 
 There is some knowledge that is better sup- 
 pressed. 
 
 Who will care now to place a piece of 
 wedding cake beneath the pillow in hopes of 
 a flitting vision of a husband to be? As 
 like as not if she dream of anybody it will 
 be a deceased great-uncle, so the Royal In- 
 stitution will have us believe. C. H. 
 NO STATE DOCTORING! 
 
 London Daily Mirror 
 
 The scheme for a national medical service 
 outlined by Dr. Addison's Consultative 
 
 Council on Medical Services may have many 
 attractive features about it, but we feel 
 that this is not the time to rush heedlessly 
 into any new great national scheme involv- 
 ing, as it must, very great expenditure of 
 public funds. 
 
 Before such a national organisation be 
 created it should be carefully considered 
 from every point of view. The great ma- 
 jority of the public would oppose most 
 strenuously any attempt to deprive it of 
 complete freedom of choice in taking med- 
 ical advice of any kind. 
 
 Our experiences of the panel system have 
 not proved an unqualified success, and there 
 is a general feeling — and one not unjusti- 
 fied we feel — that where the State steps in 
 the doctor deteriorates. And it is still a 
 debated point among medical men whether 
 research work is not better carried out by 
 individual and private effort than unde!' 
 Government control. 
 
 But these are matters that must be most 
 carefully investigated. 
 
 We may be sure that the promoters of the 
 scheme have in mind a gigantic plan to 
 ensure what they will call its "effective 
 functioning." It is an impossible project 
 just now. We should have to begin by 
 swelling the Ministry of Health with a mass 
 of new officials. Where that would end no 
 man can foretell. 
 
 As a nation we cannot afford to undertake 
 any more huge State schemes. We must 
 return to solvency before we start on new 
 ventures, no matter how attractive. 
 
 We must not be stampeded by "idealists" 
 in so expensive and important a matter. 
 
 THE GREAT SLUMP IN THEATRELAND 
 
 Degeneration from Art to Trade 
 
 By Martin Webster 
 
 London Daily Mirror 
 
 In this article our expert reviews the causes of 
 the serious falling off in attendance at theatres 
 and music-halls. 
 
 It would seem that the nation is con- 
 fronted with the immediate prospect of a 
 period of unctuous and flattering civility on 
 the part of managers, proprietors and 
 "presenters" in the theatrical trade. These 
 gentlemen's manners are invariably a 
 barometer of their fortunes. 
 
 In fact, the slump is well in progress at 
 the present moment, accompanied by the 
 usual signs of panic. 
 
 On Monday last. Bank Holiday Monday, 
 half the theatres and variety houses in the 
 
356 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 West of London were half empty. 
 
 On Tuesday one theatre with an estab- 
 lished success to its credit played to a few 
 shillings over or beneath seventeen pounds. 
 
 One fashionable musical comedy that 
 started with a preliminary blaze of trumpets 
 has never paid its way on a single night's 
 takings since the theatre opened its doors. 
 
 The plain truth is that the London theatre 
 is in the throes of one of the most pro- 
 nounced slumps of modem times, and the 
 prospects for the future are anything but 
 propitious. 
 
 At the moment the general managerial 
 plea is to blame the condition of things or 
 the weather. 
 
 But the weather is not entirely to blame 
 for the present gloomy state of the box- 
 offices. 
 
 Several things have contributed to the 
 great slump in theatreland. 
 
 The Public Economising 
 
 The first essential contributor to the sit- 
 uation is the fact that at last the pleasure- 
 seeking public has started to economise. 
 
 The money that was made so easily in war 
 days was spent easily, whilst the months 
 that followed the armistice were simply a 
 time of revel in which people pillaged "nest 
 eggs" and emptied "long stockings." 
 
 The magnates of the theatrical trade, with 
 their usual perspicacity in such matters, 
 took in the situation at a glance. 
 
 As one of them remarked to the present 
 writer: "You have only to open the doors of 
 a theatre in these days to fill your house," 
 and acting on this assumption all manner 
 of cheap, pretentious, shoddy and futile pro- 
 ductions were thrown at the public with the 
 "take it or leave it" air with which some 
 people throw bones to the dog. 
 
 It was a policy that paid. 
 
 You remember what the old aunt in "Mr. 
 Britling Sees It Through" said on her death- 
 bed about the Kaiser. "He was not a man 
 who ought ever to be allowed to make a war 
 —not even a little one." 
 
 In the same way theatrical tradesmen who 
 ought never to have been allowed to make a 
 fortune— not even a little one— amassed 
 riches and emerged into the magnates of 
 today. 
 
 What will these gentry do now ? 
 
 Many of them never worried about pro- 
 ducing plays at all. Why should they when 
 they could make fortunes by letting and 
 sub-letting theatres at gross profiteering 
 rentals ? 
 
 The Outlook for Managers 
 
 This section will be scampering about to 
 dispose of their sites and their leases. 
 
 Others of the producing class without the 
 imagination to realise that the public brain 
 is clearing now that the fevers of war have 
 evaporated will continue to try to tempt back 
 their patrons with old, cheap and shoddy 
 goods. 
 
 It would not surprise me if the present 
 slump is not the first sign of an approaching 
 dissolution of the theatrical trade in this 
 country as it stands today in opposition to 
 that other all-conquering trade, the cinema. 
 
 And really, if it is so no one need greatly 
 worry, except the poor artists. 
 
 Many of these would, of course, find 
 cinema work, whilst the ladies of the beauty 
 chorus, who largely regard the theatre as 
 a place in which to exhibit their charms, 
 could invade cabarets or promote mannequin 
 shows. 
 
 With the clearing out of the profiteering 
 renter normal plays would have a chance in 
 what theatres were left. 
 
 With the departure of the present army of 
 presenters to the congenial task of helping 
 to make London a cinema city, we might 
 once again speak of the "dramatic profes- 
 sion" without having our tongue in our 
 cheek. 
 
 As a trade, the theatre would be largely 
 dead, but as an art it would stand the chance 
 of a new lease of life. In which case the 
 visions of so shrewd a judge as Miss Lena 
 Ashwell would be justified. 
 
 A HINT TO FRANCE 
 
 Endangering the Entente 
 
 Pail Mall Gazette 
 
 The querulous tone of certain French 
 newspapers towards Great Britain does not 
 for the lime being receive much attention, 
 and so far no harm is done. But since a 
 sharp turn of events might alter the case, 
 there are some things which may be use- 
 fully said in the matter. The French Press 
 varies in status and character in a fashion 
 which cannot always be detected from a 
 distance. Certain orgaiis offer a trustworthy 
 reflection of public opinion, while others are 
 practically at the disposal of anyone who 
 will take the trouble to secure their support. 
 The present campaign against the British 
 Government is joined in by a sufficient num- 
 ber of the latter class to raise the suspicion 
 that mischievous manipulation is being car- 
 ried on by the enemies of the Entente. All 
 the same, there is a basis of spontaneous 
 
SOME BRITISH EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 
 
 357 
 
 discontent in France for such organs to 
 exploit, and we must hope that the French 
 public will show sufficient discernment to 
 resist having its feelings made the tool of 
 interested agitation. The Government and 
 people of this country have during and since 
 the war given the solidest proofs of their 
 regard for the welfare and interests of 
 France. Both in the assistance of French 
 economic recovery and in the meeting of 
 French political views, they are anxious to 
 give whatever token is possible of genuine 
 national friendship. This applies to the set- 
 tlement with Germany, to the handling of 
 the Russian question, and to every matter 
 of diplomacy or business. The only influ- 
 ence that could chill this attitude would be 
 an impression that France felt no recogni- 
 tion of it and was unable to realise that 
 every Great Power has interests of its own 
 and international settlements can only be 
 reached by a spirit of give-and-take. There 
 is a genuine, if not an immediate, danger 
 of this asset of British good will being lost 
 to France if circumstances should play into 
 the hands of those who pull the strings of 
 her less reputable journalism. It is a warn- 
 ing that we offer on solid grounds and in the 
 friendliest spirit. 
 
 TINO AGAIN 
 
 The Duty of the Powers 
 
 Pall Mall Gazette 
 It might have been thought that the talk 
 of a possible return of ex-King Constantino 
 to the throne of Greece was but the echo of 
 the futile and febrile intrigues which are 
 always carried on around the persons of re- 
 jected Royalties. It would seem, however, 
 it is more sinister than that, and is the 
 echo of a political movement in Greece it- 
 self. M. Venizelos evidently thinks the 
 tactics of the discredited Opposition, who 
 are exploiting the personal popularity of 
 the ex-King, are dangerous enough to war- 
 rant the re-establishment of martial law, at 
 any rate until peace is secured in the Near 
 East. M. Venizelos must not be allowed to 
 fight this battle single-handed, the whole 
 weight of the Entente must be thrown into 
 the struggle against reaction in Greece. 
 The Powers have not created a Greek Em- 
 pire to see it fall under the sway of the ex- 
 Kaiser's sister; the mere suggestion of such 
 an evil contingency should invite the most 
 emphatic declaration that such a situation 
 could never be permitted. Self-determina- 
 tion of peoples cannot be allowed to go the 
 length of nullifying all that we have fought 
 for during the past years. The egregious 
 Tino may or may not still have friends in 
 
 Greece, may or may not be himself the 
 harmless booby he seems. The fact remains 
 that as a catspaw of his wife and her family 
 he was for a long time one of the most 
 sinister figures in Europe. In this country 
 the blood of our murdered men will cry for 
 ever against him, and to permit him to 
 return to the scene of his mean treachery 
 to the Allies and his base flirtation with the 
 enemies of mankind would be a crime and a 
 folly as grave as it should be unthinkable. 
 We hope that the Supreme Council will deal 
 with this matter at once, and by a timely 
 pronouncement put an end to the incipient 
 conspiracy which that great patriot and 
 sincere friend of the Allies, M. Venizelos, is 
 now combating. 
 
 FOOD CONTROL 
 
 A Reply to Mr. McCurdy 
 
 By Harold Cox 
 
 Pall Mall Gazette 
 
 A week or so ago I wrote an article deal- 
 ing with the contention of the Food Min- 
 istry that the maintenance of food control 
 was necessary to keep down prices. I point- 
 ed out that prices cannot be reduced unless 
 one of two things happens — either supply 
 must be increased or demand must be dimin- 
 ished. By the nature of the case, the Food 
 Ministry can do nothing to increase supply; 
 that is the work of capital and labour in 
 field and factory. Nor can the Food Min- 
 istry diminish demand, except so far as it 
 enforces a strict system of rationing. But 
 rationing is impracticable as regards many 
 commodities; and, even in cases where it is 
 practicable, it is intensely unpopular; it 
 involves heavy administrative expenses and 
 provokes corruption. 
 
 To this article Mr. McCurdy, M. P., the 
 Food Minister, wrote a reply which appeared 
 in certain London and provincial papers. He 
 opened the article by saying that the work 
 of the Ministry of Food was "a pure busi- 
 ness proposition." I agree. The Food Min- 
 istry's work is the business proposition of 
 maintaining its own existence. And it de- 
 votes itself to this business with unfailing 
 zeal. It has gathered round itself a group 
 of Socialists, humorously called a Consum- 
 ers' Council, and with their aid it is inces- 
 santly pulling the wires of public opinion 
 with a view to scaring politicians into the 
 belief that anarchy would ensue if the em- 
 ployees of the Ministry had to earn their 
 living as private citizens. 
 
 Food Ministry Powerless 
 
 Mr. McCurdy *s attempted reply to the 
 arguments I used is an illustration of the 
 pure business activities of the Food Min- 
 
898 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDirORIAL-WRITING 
 
 istry. With an air of philosophic detach- 
 ment, he writes: "When supplies are for 
 practical purposes sufficient to meet the 
 world's demands, it will, I hope, be possible 
 for the Food Controller to retire." But the 
 really practical question is, "What can the 
 Food Controller do now or at any time to 
 bring down prices?" Mr. McCurdy does not 
 venture to challenge the proposition that 
 prices cannot be brought down unless either 
 the demand is reduced or supply is in- 
 creased. He implicitly accepts that proposi- 
 tion, and proceeds to discuss the alternative 
 possibilities of reducing demand or increas- 
 ing supply. The former he rejects as im- 
 practicable, except "within narrow limits," 
 and he says emphatically: "I repeat, the 
 remedy for the present plague of high prices 
 is increased supplies." 
 
 I am not concerned to dispute these con- 
 clusions, for they only strengthen my argu- 
 ment that the Food Ministry is, and by the 
 nature of the case must be, powerless to 
 reduce prices. For if an effective reduction 
 of demand is impossible, there is nothing 
 left for the Food Ministry to do but in- 
 crease supply. It would be interesting if 
 Mr. McCurdy in his next communication to 
 the Press would explain in what way his 
 Department has increased, or can increase, 
 the supply of a single commodity. The two 
 thousand men and women in the Food Min- 
 istry are neither delvers nor spinners. They 
 add nothing whatever to the world's pro- 
 duction of wheat or cloth or iron or coal. 
 Nor do they or he in the least degree stim- 
 ulate the supply to the public of commodi- 
 ties already produced. 
 
 The Public Pays 
 On the contrary, all the operations of the 
 
 Ministry and of its counterpart, the branch 
 of the Board of Trade which till recently 
 was dealing with imported meat, tend to 
 check supply. Not only do these Depart- 
 ments discourage producers and traders by 
 fixing maximum prices, but in specific in- 
 stances the Ministries have themselves 
 diminished supply by acquiring control over 
 large stocks and holding up those stocks in 
 the hope of some day selling them at a 
 profit. 
 
 Mr. McCurdy may reply that in so doing 
 they have only done what an ordinary busi- 
 ness man does. The answer is that an ordi- 
 nary business man is subject to two restrain- 
 ing forces from which the Food Ministry is 
 exempt. A private trader who holds out 
 for a higher price than the state of the 
 market justifies quickly finds himself under- 
 cut by a rival. Even if there is a ring — 
 as Mr. McCurdy fairly argues may occur — 
 the members of the ring have to fear the 
 risk that their goods may remain so long 
 unsold that the final sale may mean a heavy 
 loss to them. But a Government Depart- 
 ment runs neither risk. It has no competi- 
 tion to fear; it establishes for itself an 
 absolute monopoly, and uses the whole 
 power of the State to shut out competitors 
 who might undersell it. Nor do the Minis- 
 ters and officials who compose a Government 
 Department run the slightest financial risk 
 if, by refusing to cut a small loss, their De- 
 partment becomes involved in a greater 
 loss. They will have succeeded in prolong- 
 ing their own official existence, and the 
 whole of the loss will fall upon the shoulders 
 of the taxpayers or will be added to the 
 National Debt for future generations to 
 bear. 
 
Part III. 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY THEORY AND STUDY 
 
 I. IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 A Jonrnalist's Testament 
 
 What journalism ought to be, what 
 it can be, and how it can most nearly 
 become what it should be, especially 
 in the policy and practice of its edi- 
 torial page — these perpetually inter- 
 esting and commanding problems 
 constantly re-present themselves, now 
 
 Preserve and protect with steadfastness 
 and determination the record, traditions and 
 achievements of The Times, and continue 
 its fixed and leading policies and methods; 
 uphold its aims, purposes and aspirations in 
 all large and essential particulars, and 
 throughout the varying mutations of pres- 
 ent-day journalism, perpetuate unimpaired 
 its independent and unfettered course. 
 
 Constantly, consistently and loyally up- 
 hold and defend the Constitution and the 
 Flag, the Congress and the courts, the ex- 
 ecutive power within its prescribed and law- 
 ful limitations, and cherish the Army and 
 Navy, those bulwarks and strong arms of 
 the Government. 
 
 Stand undeviatingly for Liberty under 
 Law, for industrial and all other forms of 
 republican freedom, and for sound govern- 
 ment as the surest safeguard of the nation, 
 the state, the city and the home. Bravely 
 face in their defense, whenever the need 
 comes, the frenzied mob and the prescrip- 
 tive madness of the hour. 
 
 Stand for honor, honesty and order in the 
 state, the nation and the home, and for that 
 private and that public morality which are 
 essential to the perpetuity of sound, human 
 government. While courageously support- 
 ing these virtuous principles, at the same 
 time opposf with all your might their op- 
 
 in new and now in old guises. In the 
 quotations following, the student will 
 find himself brought close to the spirit 
 of twentieth-century journalism, ex- 
 pressed and interpreted by men and 
 women to whom it has been revealed 
 through service and experience ! 
 
 posites and whatever tends to the demoral- 
 ization of human society or jeopardizes the 
 safety of the land or the rights and lib- 
 erties of its citizens. Antagonize unceas- 
 ingly all allied private or semi-private 
 industrial combines which would unlawfully 
 wrest from the free-bom American citizen 
 his guaranteed constitutional rights to in- 
 dustrial, personal or political freedom and 
 make him the slave of an arrogant and 
 monopolistic trades despotism. While strik- 
 ing hard and deserved blows against these 
 and other intolerable evils, keep in mind 
 that better state when there shall be "peace 
 upon earth and good will among men." 
 Scourge as with a whip of scorpions dis- 
 honesty, pretense, hypocrisy, scoundrelism, 
 treason to Truth and the country and every 
 form of evil that threatens with destruction 
 the home, the community or the country, or 
 at the same time encouraging every sound 
 tendency and condition in human society 
 that makes for its preservation, stability 
 and endurance on high and right lines. 
 
 Stand for sound, rational and tested busi- 
 ness methods and policies in the manage- 
 ment of the Times newspaper, as well as in 
 the conduct of commercial and public 
 business, in order that this journal and all 
 honest people may "live long and prosper," 
 grow in grace and be happy. Hold up the 
 
360 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 hands and cheer the hearts of the lowly and 
 deserving, no matter how humble they may 
 be; quail not before the aggressions of un- 
 just power, and live and die game and true. 
 Fear God and do right. 
 
 Encourage all free, independent and 
 honest labor, no matter how humble, so it 
 be honestly conducted; at the same time 
 not hesitating to support and defend power- 
 ful financial, commercial and industrial al- 
 liances, provided they, too, operate honestly 
 and legitimately, when organized to accom- 
 plish mighty and worthy tasks too formida- 
 ble to be undertaken by single individuals; 
 for true it is that it is not the size of the 
 operation, but the integrity with which it is 
 conducted, that determines its legitimacy. 
 Always bear in mind the demonstrated truth 
 that it is, after all, the sane, brave, level- 
 headed, self -restrained, right-hearted, honest 
 men and women of the land upon whom rests 
 and will always rest, the responsibility for 
 holding the family, society, business, govern- 
 ment and the country together. 
 
 Continue the upstanding and long-pursued 
 policy of this journal in working, day in 
 and day out, for the upbuilding on sound 
 lines of the favored and favorite city and 
 section wherein The Times and its makers 
 have their homes; and continue also to aid 
 and abet the unhalting advance of all Cal- 
 ifornia, the entire Pacific Coast and the 
 "ultimate West." 
 
 Ever place patriotism, duty and honor, 
 public and private morality and the true 
 interests of the State and country before 
 mere commercialism or material success in 
 the conduct of The Times. Thus may this 
 journal of ours be caused to grow in 
 strength, usefulness and power, able to 
 plough through the turbulent sea of jour- 
 nalism like a full-rigged man-of-war. 
 
 Harrison Gray Otis. 
 
 A forecast fulfilled. — A journal, conducted 
 as a newspaper, being a fearless purveyor, 
 and, when needed, equally fearless inter- 
 preter, of the news, is, in the intelligent 
 public opinion, the newspaper of the future. 
 The day of the organ, if not past, is 
 rapidly passing. The people, as they gain 
 culture, breadth of understanding, and in- 
 dependence of thought . . . more and 
 more demand the paper that prints the his- 
 tory of each day, without fear of conse- 
 quences, the favoring of special theories, or 
 the promotion of personal interests. 
 
 Adolph Ochs, in 1891. 
 
 Editorials of a past generation. — I have 
 
 recently had occasion to examine the bound 
 files of newspapers of twenty-five years 
 ago. I was in the work then, but I want 
 to tell you of the amazement I felt in exam- 
 ining the editorial pages of that time. 
 
 I had never realized the extent of the 
 process by which the editorial has been broad- 
 ened and humanized. The leading, almost 
 the only, theme then was politics, and par- 
 tisan politics at that. I do not think I 
 exaggerate when I say that 90 per cent 
 of the editorial space was given to our 
 party's success, the other party's failure, 
 the preferment of individuals in the party 
 organization, praise of the fellows who bear 
 our brand and ridicule of the fellows who 
 bear any other brand. Everybody on our 
 side was right, and everybody on the other 
 side was wrong, and the editor of the rival 
 sheet was generally an intellectual weakling 
 or a moral pervert. There was no recogni- 
 tion of merit in the men prominent in the 
 opposite party, or in anything that they did, 
 and in a paper of one party it was impos- 
 sible to find even a fair news statement of 
 any legislation by the general assembly of 
 the other. 
 
 Osman C. Hooper. 
 
 Reaction against tainted news. — There 
 were in the news and feature columns cer- 
 tain elements that were destined to make 
 for the renaissance of the editorial columns. 
 In the public mind, the news and feature 
 columns are dedicated to facts; the editorial 
 columns, to the newspaper's opinions and 
 policies as an institution. Many editors, 
 noting the power of the news and feature 
 columns and the impotency of the editorial 
 columns, sought to convey their own opin- 
 ions, exert their own influence, subtly, in- 
 sinuatingly, and reprehensibly, through the 
 news and feature stories. The result is the 
 forcing up again of the editorial columns. 
 The public is awakening to the fact that it 
 has been getting opinions mixed with its 
 facts, and it is demanding that the two be 
 kept separate; the facts in the news and 
 feature stories; the opinions in the editorial 
 columns. 
 
 Again certain far-sighted editors and 
 wise newspapers understand the public at- 
 titude in this regard. These editors and 
 these newspapers made a rigid distinction 
 between that which is impartial news and 
 that which is partial editorial, and they 
 compel the separation of the two, to the 
 advantage of their readers, the promotion 
 of the public welfare, and the eventual profit 
 of their newspapers. 
 
 The editorial power ... is coming 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 361 
 
 back. The public is resenting ideas forced 
 on it through the news stories. The best 
 newspapers today are keeping news and 
 opinion separate, strictly, formally, defi- 
 nitely, always and utterly. 
 
 Frank S. Baker. 
 
 Reasons for past eclipse of the editorial. — 
 
 A national tendency also interfered to put 
 the editorial writer in the background — the 
 universal American mania for hurry. As 
 the reader no longer had the time or the 
 inclination to study out the shades of edi- 
 torial thought, so the editorial writer no 
 longer had the time to draw long and fine 
 distinctions ... As the newspaper be- 
 came more and more a news-gatherer rather 
 than a news-interpreter, the magazine ap- 
 proached more closely the Greeley-Bennett 
 ideal of the newspaper without the latter's 
 unscientific grossness. Even the growth of 
 intelligence, which the editorial writer had 
 done so much to promote, contributed to his 
 downfall. No longer did the news reader 
 cry, "Tell me how to think," but "Tell me 
 what happened; I can think for myself." 
 The writer was thrust into nothingness by 
 the Frankenstein he had created. 
 
 Roy M. Crismas. 
 
 Break-up of old editorial domination. — No 
 
 man and no one set of men can run a nation 
 of intelligent people. The break-up of per- 
 sonal editorial power was rapid and com- 
 plete. The master journalists who came to 
 the top about the time of the Spanish- Amer- 
 ican war were sensitive enough to realize 
 that the old personal journalism was in dis- 
 pute. They changed the front of American 
 journalism in response to the feeling of 
 resentment. They proposed to give the 
 readers not what they thought the readers 
 ought to have, but what they thought the 
 readers wanted. 
 
 Frank S. Baker. 
 
 Better ed'torial era.— The lowest point 
 reached by the editorial page may be placed 
 at about twelve or fifteen years ago (circ. 
 1900). Since that time the pendulum has 
 been swinging in the opposite direction. 
 Now it is recognized generally that the 
 two departments are equally important. 
 Neither can be neglected. The successful 
 newspaper must publish comprehensive and 
 accurate news; it also must entertain intel- 
 ligent opinions and be courageous enough to 
 express them. 
 
 H. W. Brundige. 
 
 A new ethics and a new ioumalism. — 
 
 Practically every newspaper before 1900 
 had been, as Mr. Watterson asserted, a law 
 unto itself, without standards of either 
 work or duty; its code of ethics, not yet 
 codified like those of medicine and law, had 
 been, like its stylebook, individualistic in 
 character. The most important change to 
 leave its mark upon the journalism of the 
 period was not in the gathering of news^ 
 not in the speed with which it could be 
 placed before the public, not in the owner- 
 ship and control of the journal from the 
 individual to the incorporated company, but 
 in the ethical advance made in all depart- 
 ments of the newspaper. New standards of 
 ethics were established, not only for the 
 editorial, but also for the advertising and 
 circulation departments. Yet the press but 
 reflected again the trend of the times, for 
 it was an era of moral awakening. Collier's 
 Weekly in "taking stock" asserted: "Fifty 
 years from now, when some writer brings 
 Woodrow Wilson's "History of the American 
 People" up to date, we think he will say 
 that the ten years ending about January 1, 
 1914, was the period of the greatest ethical 
 advance made by this nation in any decade." 
 James Melvin Lee. 
 
 Broadened viewpoint in discussion. — On 
 
 the whole, the editorial page of the present 
 is less mercenary, less partisan, less abusive 
 than that of a generation ago. It discusses 
 issues from a broader viewpoint, and is 
 fairer to individuals. You may recall that 
 it was Horace Greeley, the greatest editor 
 of his time, who in an outburst of narrow 
 partisanship declared: "Not all Democrats 
 are horse-thieves, but all horse-thieves are 
 Democrats." The editor who today would 
 indulge in such silly and insulting twaddle 
 would be regarded with deserved contempt. 
 H. W. Brundige. 
 
 World war and editorial page. — The war 
 
 from the start did much to revive the in- 
 terest in the editorial page. Unfamiliar 
 with European- geography, unacquainted 
 with the economic and political situations 
 in the warring countries, readers found they 
 must have the news interpreted through the 
 editorial. The war made readers more 
 thoughtful and the thoughtful reader has 
 always been a reader of the editorial page. 
 Once again American journalism found it- 
 self divided into two groups, one of which 
 was pro-Ally, the other, pro-German, in 
 its editorial sympathies. The editorial bat- 
 tles between the two developed military 
 critics in the editorial sanctum. The en- 
 trance of America into the Great European 
 War brought these two factors together into 
 
362 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 practically a harmonious press, with only 
 here and there an exception to prove the 
 general rule. 
 
 James Melvin Lee. 
 
 Reaction of controlled opinion. — The evil 
 
 resulting from the attempt to control edi- 
 torial opinion through patronage has not 
 been so widespread as believed by many 
 and, while still existing, is rapidly decreas- 
 ing. The more intelligent advertisers do 
 not now attempt, nor do they desire, to 
 control editorial policies. They have found 
 that such control exercised by them merely 
 decreases the advertising value of the me- 
 dium. Advertising to be effective must com- 
 mand the confidence of the readers. 
 
 H. W. Brundige. 
 
 Bay-tree prosperity that passes. — Why is 
 
 it that newspapers which serve private in- 
 terest, subordinate the newspaper's quality 
 as a public trust to its status as a private 
 enterprise, taint the news with editorial ex- 
 pression ever so subtly injected, win to more 
 financial success than the sort of newspaper 
 which I believe the only true newspaper? 
 If you will examine the history of such news- 
 papers — and they are one and all survivals 
 from the days of personal journalism — you 
 will find them newspapers unable to with- 
 stand competition. . . . But eventually 
 the personal journals lose their hold and 
 perish. For they are founded on the wrong 
 principles of an outworn journalism. 
 
 Frank S. Baker. 
 
 The bought -and-paid-f or press. — Men who 
 
 scent wholesale conspiracies in other indi- 
 viduals usually wind up in the observation 
 wards in our hospitals, but your next-door 
 neighbor is privileged to believe in day-and- 
 night conspiracy of the press without fear 
 of having his sanity questioned. Indeed, 
 he may be exalted by his doubt. And so 
 we hear of agreements among newspapers 
 to ignore this happening, to suppress that, 
 and to vilify this or that defender of the 
 rights of the people. In New York City, so 
 deep are the clefts between the various 
 newspapers, that you could never possibly 
 get their heads to sit down around a table, 
 much less break bread together. Yet I hear 
 constantly that we have all agreed to per- 
 petuate this outrage or that wrong, to ac- 
 cept bribes aggregating millions, or to sit 
 silent in the sight of sin for our own 
 pocketbook advantage. I was myself asked 
 the other day in a mass meeting: "Is it 
 not true that you are owned by Wall 
 Street?" 
 
 Although the law has compelled us of the 
 metropolitan press to print the names of 
 all the stockholders and bondholders for a 
 year past, it did not surprise me to read 
 an article in a current magazine by a dis- 
 tinguished citizen of Indiana to the effect 
 that newspapers ought to be compelled to 
 tell the influence behind them. I have so 
 often heard this rumor, that I have mort- 
 gaged myself to Wall Street, with the name 
 and address of the banker, that I am sur- 
 prised at nothing. Not if he should throw 
 his private books open to a Bristow or a 
 La Follette, could a New York editor hope 
 to down this entertaining fiction. He would 
 only hear that his books were doctored, or 
 that he was hiding behind somebody else's 
 skirt, or that it was the point of view of 
 the men he associated with that really did 
 the mischief — so discredited are newspaper 
 managers with certain sections of the peo- 
 ple and certain cross — very cross — sections 
 of the politicians. If you think I exag- 
 gerate, please bear in mind the bitter at- 
 tacks on the Associated Press the present 
 winter has witnessed. — (1914). 
 
 Oswald Garrison Villard. 
 
 What prevents decadent pages. — The pe- 
 riod of the greatest decadence in the edi- 
 torial page happily is passed. During this 
 period there were editors who contended 
 that the editorial page was of less conse- 
 quence than the style or size of the type 
 used on the first page. The editor today 
 who belittles the importance of the editorial 
 page is looked upon as archaic or ignorant. 
 The decadence of the editorial page was co- 
 incident with the ascendancy of the business 
 office over the editorial department. The 
 rehabilitation of the editorial page began 
 when the business office learned that the 
 character of the publication and the quality 
 of its circulation were factors in achieving 
 success too important to be neglected. 
 
 H. W. Brundige. 
 
 Dirty dollars. — For years The Chicago 
 Tribune has declined annually $200,000 or 
 more which it could have if it would print 
 patent medicine and disreputable medical 
 advertising. This was a matter of con- 
 science — a dislike for dirty dollars. 
 
 James Keeley. 
 
 Alleged subserviency to advertisers. — 
 
 Critics [who charge that big advertisers con- 
 trol the papers] have not gone to department 
 stores for information. Department stores 
 feel that they have not been treated squarely 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 363 
 
 by newspapers. They assert that a man can- 
 not have a harmless fit in their buiJdings 
 without some account getting into the news- 
 papers, while he may have as many fits as 
 he chooses in a smaller store without a 
 single liije in the newspapers to record the 
 fact. Department stores maintain that 
 every time th'eir delivery wagons have an 
 accident the fact is made known in the press 
 with the name of the store printed conspicu- 
 ously in the account, while hprses attached 
 to wagons of smaller stores may run away 
 and do considerable damage with news- 
 paper readers none the wiser about the 
 event. Department stores feel that the 
 newspapers might render a little editorial 
 assistance in matters of public convenience 
 and public safety, such as a bridge joining 
 two buildings occupied by the same store; 
 they assert that the newspapers are un- 
 willing to endorse such enterprises lest the 
 charge be brought against them of being 
 influenced by advertising. Almost every de- 
 partment store has its tale of woe about the 
 lack of co-operation from newspapers in an- 
 nouncing the welfare movements started 
 among employees. On the v/hole, depart- 
 ment stores present just as strong a case 
 against the newspapers as do the critics. 
 Did not this condition obtain, there would be 
 more reason to suspect truth in the charge 
 that advertising possibly influences the news 
 and editorial columns. 
 
 James Melvin Lee. 
 
 The advertiser's "pull." — If the advertiser 
 makes possible the newspaper, what becomes 
 of the independence of the editor? The an- 
 swer is plain and substantial. The indi- 
 vidual advertiser does not make possible the 
 newspaper; nor does a sensible advertiser 
 attempt to control an editor. It is the bulk 
 of advertising carried in a newspaper which 
 makes possible the publication of that 
 paper; and the very fact that individual 
 advertisers contributing the bulk are com- 
 petitors among themselves makes each one 
 subject to the general conditions created by 
 the whole. The Seattle Times recently lost 
 from its columns a customer who has for 
 three or four years been paying that paper 
 $2000 a month. This customer would not 
 meet the conditions created by the adver- 
 tising community; and the management of 
 The Times would not make an exception of 
 its rules for that particular case. The loss 
 of that customer has strengthened the posi- 
 tion of The Times among the other adver- 
 tisers of the community. It has in an 
 indirect way increased the income of the 
 paper. Now certainly that one advertiser 
 was unable to shake the independence of 
 the editor, or turn the publisher from his 
 
 judgment as to what constitutes good gov- 
 ernment for the advertisers in The Seattle 
 Times. 
 
 Joseph Blethen. 
 
 Being right or being popular. — Every 
 editorial page must have a "policy." It 
 must stand for some things and against 
 some things. An editor may prefer being 
 right to being popular, or he may prefer 
 being popular to being right. ... Of 
 the two, it is easier to be popular, and in 
 the majority of cases it is more profitable. 
 The easiest thoroughfare to popularity is 
 via the obvious. If an editorial writer will 
 confine himself to the iteration and reitera- 
 tion of such fundamental truths as afford 
 no room for dispute, he will make few 
 enemies. One may denounce a wife-beater, 
 or a sneak-thief, in the most emphatic 
 terms, with absolute impunity. One may 
 call loudly for the suppression of tubercu- 
 losis without any loss of subscriptions or 
 advertising revenue. But the editor who 
 is not afraid to take the unpopular side of 
 the argurnent, who puts right above sub- 
 scription lists and justice above advertising 
 receipts, is the editor who is not forgotten. 
 This, however, is more a matter of ethics 
 than of journalism. 
 
 Tom Dillon. 
 
 The honest editor. — It is the honest editor, 
 however small the circle of his readers, who 
 reaps the greatest rewards intellectually and 
 spiritually. What financial or circulation 
 success could compare with the satisfaction 
 which came to a New York editor a couple 
 of years ago who felt himself compelled to 
 antagonize an obviously unfit candidate for 
 the United States Senate, a mere tool of 
 what are known as "the interests." The 
 candidate sent word that there was locked 
 up in his safe information which would 
 drive that editor out of town and put his 
 newspaper out of business. No money, I am 
 sure, could represent to that editor the equiv- 
 alent of the thrill that came to him when 
 he received this message, sent for his man- 
 aging editor, whose desk was loaded with 
 ammunition with which to oppose this po- 
 litical tool, and to say to that managing 
 editor and executive officer: "Mr. Smith, you 
 may fire when ready." The newspaper is 
 still here, and so is the editor, but the can- 
 didate is still a candidate, and the office is 
 filled by some one else. 
 
 Oswald Garrison Willard. 
 
 Honesty of the press. — It not infrequently 
 happens that public men are able to ma- 
 neuver themselves into public favor in spite 
 
364 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 of truthful accusations of evil doing against 
 them, and at the cost of newspaper prestige. 
 In recent years many instances of this kind 
 have been recorded. Some uplifters attrib- 
 uted this to the belief that the papers are 
 now given to misrepresentation, whereas in 
 former days the press was more truthful. 
 One has only to read the papers of 25 or 50 
 or 75 years ago, in the light of established 
 history, to prove the idleness of such an 
 allegation. Not in many years has a man 
 been editorially lied about so maliciously as 
 Abraham Lincoln was. Calumniation, spe- 
 cious reasoning and cold disregard of fact 
 are not now vital forces in newspaper po- 
 litical battling, but they were, 50 years ago. 
 And in Washington's time printers' ink was 
 employed with a villainy of purpose that 
 would paralyze the pen of a modern editor. 
 Herbert Hunter. 
 
 The right sort of editor. — The right sort 
 of an editor is one of the most useful citizens 
 of the Republic. There are three classes of 
 editors. One class abuse everything and 
 everybody they are not paid to let alone. 
 The second class possess a great, benevo- 
 lent, humanitarian point of view of things 
 and try to make this world better and wiser. 
 The men in this class are deserving of all 
 praise and are a credit to their profession. 
 A third class merely record facts as they 
 appear; and these cannot properly be classed 
 as journalists. ... It takes more cour- 
 age, more common sense, more information, 
 more system and more general intelligence 
 to conduct a good newspaper than any other 
 business a man can get into in this life. 
 Hon. Champ Clark. 
 
 Prostitutes of the profession. — No com- 
 mercial returns, however great, can com- 
 pare with the moral satisfaction attained 
 by the editor whose lance is ever ready for 
 the^ public enemy, however armored. No 
 achievement of huge circulations can com- 
 pensate for the lack or loss of public re- 
 spect. To sell one's self and one's opinions 
 either for hire or for dividends seems to me 
 utterly base and utterly treasonable to one's 
 country— far more despicable than what 
 
 foes by the name of treason in war-time, 
 he most contemptible figure in our Amer- 
 ican life seems to me the editor who ac- 
 cepts a high salary as a retainer cynically 
 to advance the fortunes, political or other- 
 wise, of his employer. He is the chief pros- 
 titute of our profession, he is the one who 
 injures it most, however great the audience 
 to which he boasts his daily appeal. At his 
 
 door and his master's lie chiefly the respon- 
 sibility for the lack of popular confidence in 
 the press of today. You cannot deceive 
 everybody all the time. Amuse them you ( 
 may; sway them in times of excitement; 
 blind even the altruistically inclined for a I 
 while when they try to believe that good - 
 may come out of evil; to win their respect 
 is impossible. But even if hypocrisy, 
 cynicism, and corruption combined could 
 achieve all they set out to do, beyond dol- 
 lars it has no rewards and no satisfactions, 
 certainly none that are lasting and worth 
 while. 
 
 Oswald Garrison Villard. 
 
 Truthfulness. — The whole code of journal- 
 istic ethics may be summed up in this 
 little word of five letters, TRUTH. To 
 pursue the truth relentlessly, and having 
 captured it to publish it to the world fear- 
 lessly, is certainly as worth while a task as 
 any man may undertake. There may be as 
 many honest differences of opinion as there ' 
 are newspaper men, about the details of 
 newspaper making. There is no scientific 
 formula, and in the very nature of things 
 there cannot be. But I do not believe that 
 there can be an honest difference of opinion 
 as to the ethical standard that must guide a 
 newspaper man if he has the slightest con- 
 ception ■ of the tremendous effect his work 
 is bound to have on the thought of those 
 who read his newspaper. 
 
 H. N. Rickey. 
 
 Adapting the page to the times. — Times 
 
 have changed. A newspaper still has a won- 
 derful directing power upon its readers, but 
 it must be by fairness and through the 
 newspaper's leading the readers to think— f 
 to generate thought and not by strongly ex- I 
 pressing the personal opinions of the editor. 
 Conclusions should be left to the readers 
 largely. If your editorials and news are 
 written so as only to lead readers to reach 
 the reasonable final judgments which you 
 desire, your paper's influence with its sub- 
 scribers will be far more effective than if 
 you attempt to force them to your deter- I 
 minations. Readers like to reach their own 
 decisive opinions, and if you are fair and 
 frank in placing the truthful premises be- 
 fore them, you can be sure that in most 
 instances they will reach the very conclu- 
 sions which you desire; but they will think 
 that it is the result of their own reasoning, 
 and that is much more to be desired. It, 
 too, greatly pleases the reader himself. In 
 my serious judgment, a column of brief 
 editorials is sufficient space to devote to this 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 365 
 
 department of a paper in the average city. 
 This is about all one writer can produce 
 each day and keep up to high quality; and 
 about all that readers want to digest. 
 
 James H. Callanan. 
 
 Business-journal editorial ideals. — The 
 
 editor of a successful business paper must 
 constantly dwell upon the heights — he must 
 be a seer and a prophet. It is his duty to 
 blaze new trails, to dream practical dreams, 
 to lead the thought of his trade. What is 
 needed most today in the trade journal field 
 are editorials with backbone; editorials that 
 say something and that stop when they've 
 said it; editorials that are unafraid, not 
 dictated by manufacturers seeking special 
 privilege; editorials that call a spade a 
 spade, that cry out against the exploitation 
 of the dealer, or against anything that would 
 close the door of opportunity to the youth 
 of our land; editorials that attack trade 
 abuses, unfair practices, misrepresentation 
 and all the various tricks and devices that 
 still persist in high and low places; edito- 
 rials that expose the charlatan and the 
 bounder; editorials written by men having 
 warm, rich American blood in their veins, 
 and that are full of constructive criticism; 
 editorials that consider first the interests of 
 the general public and the dealer; edito- 
 rials that never cringe, fawn, ape, behave 
 like lick-spittles nor truck to the petty 
 vanities of those seeking to prostitute the 
 dealer to unworthy ends; editorials that our 
 subscribers' sons ought to read if they want 
 their boys to keep up the best traditions 
 of he business; not the jelly-fish kind, not 
 the spineless variety affected by some papers 
 that are afraid to call their souls their 
 own, but the clean-cut, wholesom.e opinions 
 of the leaders of the best thought in the 
 world of business. 
 
 W. H. Ukers. 
 
 justice, as a social safety valve, as the 
 guardian of our liberties. 
 
 Oswald Garrison Villard. 
 
 Exalted purpose of journalism. — The edi- 
 tor who is true to himself and to his pro- 
 fession and to his clients, who are all man- 
 kind, and not merely the few who buy his 
 wares, is sure to profit by that nobility of 
 purpose which invariably exalteth. Let me 
 record solemnly my inmost, most earnest 
 belief that only as the profession to which 
 we belong lives up to this ideal, shall its 
 influence with the public wax, shall it regain 
 its lost prestige, shall it in full degree exer- 
 cise its functions of serving the people, of 
 controlling their servants, the politicians, of 
 keeping our moral and our national life 
 pure by bringing forward the new, modern- 
 izing the old, by giving vent to every appeal 
 for aid, to all fault-finding, to every in- 
 
 Service rendered by the press. — The great 
 
 service of the Press is that it promotes free 
 discussion — above all, that it disseminates 
 information; and implicitly, while no jot of 
 influence is disclaimed, the journalist of the 
 present day confesses that his first function 
 is not comment. We have heard a hard- 
 headed Scot sum the position up in the 
 words, "Give us your news, not your opin- 
 ions; we can form our opinions for our- 
 selves, if you will tell us accurately what is 
 happening." A compatriot of that speaker, 
 a famous mathematical coach, celebrated for 
 his wide outlook on life and his shrewd wis- 
 dom, once said, "I find nowadays that those 
 who read leading articles are either the very 
 old or the very young." It is to a public 
 feeling such as is represented by these words 
 that is due the modern curtailment of the 
 merely opinionative part of newspapers, or 
 perhaps its transference to columns where 
 experts write under their own names. 
 
 James D. Symon. 
 
 The paper is an institution. — "The edito- 
 rial is only one man's opinion and is worth 
 just that much." That is not true. One 
 editorial writer, in answering that flippant 
 estimate, truthfully declared that "the 
 average newspaper editorial discussing 
 public affairs is the opinion of an institu- 
 tion. And what is an institution? It is a 
 great idea given practical expression, an 
 idea that has lived and is glorified by tradi- 
 tion. The newspapers of this country — the 
 reputable newspapers — are founded on cer- 
 tain broad principles, which are funda- 
 mental, clear and unmistakable. The men 
 who write the editorials are familiar with 
 the newspaper's principles, its traditions, 
 and its aspirations; and when they write an 
 editorial of importance, they express the 
 views of the institution." Osman C. Hooper. 
 
 The editorial is its paper. — An editorial 
 has been defined as the expression of the 
 views of an editor. This definition does not 
 take into account the personality that at- 
 taches to the modern newspaper, and the 
 impersonality that attaches to the editorship 
 because of its collective character. A better 
 definition is that the editorial is an expres- 
 sion of the views of the newspaper itself. 
 In its larger sense the editorial is an inter- 
 pretation of events, viewed from the stand- 
 point of certain definite principles or policies 
 adopted or advocated by the newspaper. 
 H. W. Brundige, 
 
366 
 
 EDITOKIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 The paper as parish priest. — The big de- 
 velopment of the modern newspaper will be 
 along lines of personal service. The news- 
 paper that not only informs and instructs 
 its readers, but is of service, is the one 
 that commands attention, gets circulation, 
 and also holds its readers after it gets them. 
 The newspaper must be of service today, 
 not only in politics and morals — not only as 
 it has been in the past in fighting the 
 battles of the people against tyrants and in 
 holding them in check when they have been 
 tempted to revenge outrages — but it must 
 be of social service. It must not only plead 
 with people to swat the crook, but must also 
 urge them to swat the fly. It must not 
 only help in the fighting for a clean city, 
 but must aid the clergy and others in the 
 fighting for a clean home. It must not only 
 teach patriotism, but must show the folly of 
 the annual massacre on July 4. ... It 
 must enter into the everyday life of its 
 readers and, like the parish priest, be guide, 
 counselor, and friend. I have often thought 
 that a newspaper can most closely realize 
 its real mission the nearer it comes to at- 
 taining the ideals of the parish priest and 
 the clergyman in his ministrations to his 
 flock. And the newspaper's flock is often 
 numbered in the hundreds of thousands. 
 
 James Keeley. 
 
 main as oracles in sole possession of their 
 fields. . . . When all men think alike 
 the spice of life will be gone, initiative will 
 be smothered, and the world will be reduced 
 to a dull level of mediocrity. 
 
 James Keeley. 
 
 Applying the advertiser's money. — That 
 publisher succeeds best who best serves his 
 readers. A paper which would suppress 
 news or deceive its readers at the command 
 of any advertiser or group of advertisers, 
 would speedily become a hand-bill. It is the 
 publisher's business to take the advertiser's 
 money and therewith secure the best editorial 
 talent, the brightest reporters, the cleverest 
 artists, the most modem machinery, the 
 largest force of carriers, and the most mod- 
 em building, with which to produce that 
 manufactured product known as a news- 
 paper. 
 
 Joseph Blethen. 
 
 Ideal impossibilities. — An ideal paper, 
 broadly speaking, is impracticable. The 
 people can endow a newspaper. No one 
 else can. There are too many men of many 
 minds ... to make an ideal paper pos- 
 sible. Oatmeal may be the ideal breakfast 
 food, ... but it never has been uni- 
 versally adopted and never will be until all 
 palates are set in the same gustatory key. 
 So what might be the mental oatmeal to 
 some would prove caviar to the general 
 multitude. Even class and technical papers, 
 which one would think should speak with 
 unanimity and authority, do not long re- 
 
 Journalism a profession. — There are peo- 
 ple who will still believe that "anybody can 
 run a newspaper." But brains and educa- 
 tion are demanded to guide newspapers, 
 more and more as time goes on. Some years 
 ago the printer often became an editor, and 
 this v/as all very well for those times. Some 
 of these men excelled. Some became famous 
 journalists and writers. It will be rare from 
 now on when a man "at the case" can so 
 develop. A higher educational standard 
 among readers demands better equipped men 
 intellectually as newspaper writers. 
 
 Therefore I believe in schools of journal- 
 ism; not because these alone will make for 
 success, any more than a college diploma in 
 every individual case will be a passport to 
 a successful career, but because better equip- 
 ment is ever necessary in the newspaper 
 field. Our vocation is no longer a happen- 
 so, but ... a profession, honored and 
 respected among men, demanding equip- 
 ment of high standard and with opportuni- 
 ties for human uplift which carry tremen- 
 dous responsibilities. Capable newspaper 
 writers are in greater demand each year 
 and publishers must depend more and more 
 upon these schools for instructing students 
 in newspaperdom for their supply of 
 writers. 
 
 James H. Callanan. 
 
 The "soul department." — Back of all and 
 
 greater than all, is an invisible department 
 which I would call the spirit of the paper. 
 It is vested in the controling ownership. It 
 should hold itself responsible for the charac- 
 ter and honor and reputation of the publica- 
 tion. It is the conscience of the institution 
 — that one thinking mind which forever asks 
 itself, "Is this right?" The management 
 may be the brains, the editorial the heart, 
 the advertising department the digestion, 
 and all the minor departments the arms and 
 legs and eyes and ears of that peculiar in- 
 stitution, a technical paper; but that in- 
 visible, responsible, controlling conscience is 
 the soul of the whole thing. It may seem 
 strange to you, but most technical news- 
 paper diseases originate in, and concern, this 
 soul department. For there are good, bad 
 and indifferent souls. Most of the weak- 
 nesses, most of the wrong practices, most 
 of the crookedness, meanness, injustice, ar- 
 rogance and fear shown by any paper are 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 367 
 
 caused by the wabbly soul behind all the 
 outward show of what, but for it, might be 
 a great institution. 
 
 John A. Hill. 
 
 The journalist an idealist. — It is a pleas- 
 ure to welcome to Massachusetts the repre- 
 sentatives of a profession who are ever so 
 keen to detect a sham and so ready to realize 
 and appreciate a reality. There never was 
 a time in our history when the importance 
 and the responsibility of the press were 
 greater than at the present day. A true 
 journalist is not a realist, but an idealist. 
 Art lies in depicting the character, in telling 
 the meaning of the thing that is either 
 painted, spoken or written about, and so 
 journalism lies in telling the people the 
 character of the news of the day and inter- 
 preting to them its meaning, in order that 
 they may get the real and the true meaning 
 of the things that are passing on about 
 them from day to day. It is the choice of 
 that which is essential and the rejection of 
 that which is accidental, and there never 
 was a time when there was more need, more 
 necessity for those who can teach the people 
 by the voice of the word and through the 
 journals of our country than the present. 
 Hon. Calvin Coolidge. 
 
 with the practical equipment and the sin- 
 cere and vigilant purpose to present the 
 news honestly and without prejudice, and 
 to interpret it with independence and fair- 
 
 ness. 
 
 Demands of American journalism. — In all 
 
 its angles there is in American Journalism 
 a demand and an urgent need for men of 
 ability; men possessing the cardinal virtues 
 — prudence, justice, temperance, and forti- 
 tude; faith, hope and charity; men who love 
 their country and their fellowmen; men of 
 courage and convictions; men with vision 
 and imagination; men who are thorough and 
 painstaking — who take a pride in their work 
 and whose heart and soul are in it; men 
 who do not think they know it all, but can 
 learn from others; men who are constantly 
 seeking for and acquainting themselves with 
 the newest, the best, and the most effective 
 work done by others, and with the intelli- 
 gence to understand what they learn and 
 to apnly the knowledge to their under- 
 takings; men who are thoroughly grounded 
 in the very rudiments of newspaper-making; 
 men who know a proof-press, a shooting 
 stick, a quoin, a rotary press, linotype, an 
 autoplate; a monkey dash as well as a 
 column rule; with not only a nose for news, 
 but olfactories to scent odors and detect 
 rottenness; men with a sense of proportion 
 and of values, and with an eye for impres- 
 sive and pleasing typographical display; 
 men who in circulation know the real from 
 the artificial, and in advertising know the 
 genuine from the deceptive; above all, men 
 
 Adolph S. Ochs. 
 
 Newspapers as a constructive force. — It 
 
 is well to note how greatly the teaching, 
 the "curriculum," of the newspaper has been 
 enlarged. No longer ... is the news- 
 paper devoted alone to the recording of cur- 
 rent events and their interpretation, but em- 
 braces all that helps "for the upbuilding 
 physically, commercially and morally" as a 
 great constructive force. The newspaper 
 teaches ... all that pertains to the in- 
 dustries or manufactures, to agriculture, 
 transportation, commerce, sanitation, public 
 improvements, good roads, domestic science 
 and economy; efficiency and system and the 
 relations to the people of the great public 
 utilities and corporations that have grown 
 up within fifty years, and their necessary 
 and just regulation. As a great conserving 
 and constructive force, the newspaper has 
 become an institution and has gone vastly 
 beyond the confining restrictions of its name 
 unless it be conceded that all that is inform- 
 ing, in a broad sense, is news. 
 
 B. B. Herbert. 
 
 The potent editorial page. — There are two 
 factors in the making of a newspaper that 
 have to do peculiarly with the interest of 
 the public; namely, the news section and the 
 editorial page. The news section deals with 
 current events; it recites the story of cur- 
 rent happenings of the world and deals 
 especially with contemporaneous local af- 
 fairs. The newspaper's mission here is to 
 present impartially and fairly to its readers 
 what the public desires to know, and should 
 know, of current events. 
 
 The editorial page of a newspaper is preg- 
 nant with a greater responsibility and is a 
 more potent force for good or evil than are 
 the news columns, and, in my opinion, is 
 one of the greatest forces for the good or 
 evil in the world. 
 
 A newspaper without a live editorial page 
 is like a ship without a rudder; it may be 
 a purveyor of news, but it fails in its 
 greater mission as a molder of public 
 thought and opinion; and if a newspaper 
 fails in this respect, it is a failure indeed. 
 Charles H. O'Neil. 
 
 Far-circling influence of editor. — The edi- 
 torial writer has one of the most wonderful 
 opportunities of service that are given to 
 men. He may do several very important 
 
368 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 things. He may teach, attack, defend, 
 praise, exhort, inspire, or amuse. All that 
 the orator in pulpit or elsewhere can do, 
 the editorial writer can do— if he have the 
 same qualities — much more effectively. An 
 orator is fortunate if he is able to speak to 
 2500 persons, but an editorial writer on a 
 paper with no more than 1000 circulation, 
 may speak, at a conservative estimate, to 
 4000 persons. What wonders, then, may an 
 editorial writer do if his thought goes into 
 a paper with 100,000 circulation! 
 
 Osman C. Hooper. 
 
 Good character indispensable. — I wish to 
 assure you that character is absolutely es- 
 sential to the success of any newspaper man 
 or woman. It is a fallacious idea that a 
 newspaper can be corrupt editorially and can 
 succeed financially. Perhaps this is a de- 
 batable assertion, but I am confident that 
 the day is rapidly coming when the un- 
 scrupulous newspaper will have to heed the 
 warnings of public opinion. 
 
 Charles B. Welch. 
 
 The motto of "I serve." — Editorial utter- 
 ances must be verified and guarded with 
 eternal vigilance — all the readers are on the 
 jury. If you do not think they are awake 
 make a mistake or a misstatement and see 
 how quick and sharp you get called. An 
 unjust insinuation, a criticism from a writer 
 without full information, may do great in- 
 jury. Prejudice, narrowness, indigestion, 
 cocksureness, conceit and ingrowing disposi- 
 tions should not be allowed in editorial 
 chairs. If you aspire to editorial honors — 
 and no man should be, or generally is, 
 honored more than the conscientious editor 
 of a technical paper — saturate your soul 
 with the meaning of the word "helpfulness." 
 Like the Soldier King of France, inscribe 
 upon your banner, "I serve." 
 
 John A. Hill. 
 
 No service, no success. — To achieve en- 
 during success, the full measure of success 
 (the paper) must be something more than a 
 business proposition — much more than a 
 money-making chronicler of fact and dis- 
 seminator of news. It must conserve and 
 promote the community welfare. A news- 
 paper whose interest extends not beyond its 
 circulation and advertising revenues — a 
 paper of sordid aim and endeavor only — 
 builds itself upon an insecure foundation. 
 It cannot last. . . . Journalism of the 
 twentieth century furnishes abundant proof 
 that real success is achieved along broader 
 and better lines. Infinitely more difficult is 
 it for a newspaper to succeed without char- 
 
 acter than for a man without character to 
 achieve anything really worth while in life. 
 
 Scott C. Bone. 
 
 The "if" that explains influence. — If fun- 
 damental honesty and sincerity is the 
 watchword of the editorial department of a 
 newspaper, I assure you that that news- 
 paper will be a powerful factor in the life 
 and thought of its community — a power that 
 will be greater than the pulpit, stage or 
 forum for the betterment and elevation of 
 mankind. Charles H. O'Neil. 
 
 The way to dusty death. — No paper that 
 permits its advertisers or the personal, so- 
 cial, and financial friends of its editor to 
 control or taint its news and editorial col- 
 umns ever has become a big newspaper, a 
 successful newspaper, or a newspaper that 
 is respected by the people. 
 
 James Keeley. 
 
 The papers that fail. — ^You, as editors, 
 have in very large measure, the public in- 
 terest in your keeping. It is a sacred trust 
 and grave responsibility. You cannot prop- 
 erly lightly consider it. To serve it you 
 must cast aside self and apparent selfish in- 
 terests. If you serve the public interest well, 
 if you are faithful to your responsibilities, 
 you need have no fear of your ultimate 
 personal business success. The news- 
 papers that fail financially, it will be ob- 
 served, are not those that "snuggle" close 
 to the hearts of their constituency by rea- 
 son of their splendid integrity and their 
 broadness of spirit, that endeavor to bring 
 out the best in man rather than the worst. 
 On the contrary, it will be observed, that 
 the newspapers that have to struggle and 
 most frequently fail, are those that forget 
 their bounden, natural duty, and try to put 
 self ahead of the public interest; news- 
 papers, whose editors, lacking in apprecia- 
 tion and the quality of divine-human-senti- 
 ment that makes for the broad-gauged man 
 and the ideal editor, cannot hope to gain 
 human sympathy, love and support when 
 they themselves breed discord hate, dis- 
 sension and selfishness. 
 
 Charles H. O'Neil. 
 
 Convictions in country editing. — Personal 
 convictions are valuable in editing. The 
 profession of editing demands these con- 
 victions, plenty of them, and a strong, in- 
 sistent type, too. The country newspaper 
 cannot be dissociated from its editorship, 
 and since it must take its stands and make 
 its pronouncements on matters of public 
 concern in the community, the editor miist 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 369 
 
 be prepared for responsibility. Most coun- 
 try editors are so prepared, and express 
 their convictions. But they are not truly 
 appreciative of the worth of their convic- 
 tions. Country editors generally hold them- 
 selves too cheaply. 
 
 F. A. Hazeltine. 
 
 Honor of the press. — I have never seen a 
 man wise enough to be a censor. You would 
 need censors for censors, and the proud 
 thing about our profession, and the thing 
 about it that made me more than ever proud 
 to belong to it, was that during this great 
 war, in which we had to request members 
 of the press not to print news that might 
 give information to the enemy, I do not 
 recall a single instance, in which members 
 of my profession were asked not to print 
 thenews, that they violated the request of 
 their government. 
 
 Josephus Daniels. 
 Reported in The Fourth Estate (1920). 
 
 Adherence to ideals. — I would be among 
 the last to believe that an editorial writer, 
 an editor, or anybody else should be merely 
 a social retainer and should sacrifice his 
 ideals. I spoke of idealism. Well, it is 
 the great, big fact in the new editorial page. 
 More crimes than have been committed in 
 the name of Liberty have been committed 
 in the name of "The public wants it." Con- 
 sider it. That's what every disreputable 
 salesman of a bad thing says. 
 
 Dante Barton. 
 
 The class newspaper. — You can address 
 yourself to a small select class or you can 
 appeal to the whole community. If you 
 print a class newspaper your task is easy. 
 An afternoon paper in New York and an- 
 other in Boston are specimens of this kind. 
 Their circulations are not large, neither are 
 they subject to violent fluctuations. They 
 are, so to speak, habits — and hereditary 
 habits, too. When an old resident dies, they 
 lose a subscriber, and when a son comes of 
 age they get one, 
 
 James Keeley. 
 
 Gospel of editorial optimism. — Show me 
 a town in which the people look on the 
 bright side of life, are progressive and 
 thrifty, and I will show you that its leading 
 newspaper is edited by a man who is an 
 optimist. The newspaper editor, even more 
 than the clergyman in his pulpit, should 
 preach cheerfulness to the sorrowing, pa- 
 tience to the headstrong, hope to the dis- 
 couraged, and the ultimate triumph of truth 
 
 to those who have been ground into the 
 dust by circumstances or their own folly. 
 Frank LeRoy Blanchard. 
 
 Influence of press toward betterment. — 
 
 It was the newspapers that brought about 
 child labor reform. Newspapers have dealt 
 with one great evil after another. Slowly 
 the individual responds to the newspaper's 
 information and reforms come about. News- 
 papers have established the fact that it is 
 in the existence of evil and not the pub- 
 lication thereof that the wrong exists. We 
 cannot exclude the foul air of the sewer 
 from our house unless we clean the sewer. 
 Talcott Williams. 
 
 The editor and public spirit. — The editor 
 with a grouch, or a mean disposition, can 
 do more to upset a community than half 
 a dozen agile-tongued gossips. Have you 
 ever visited a city or village where the 
 inhabitants seemed to spend the most of 
 their leisure time in saying disreputable 
 things about their neighbors, or in running 
 down the town, and whose every remark 
 was characterized by the tang of ill feeling ? 
 If you have, you may depend upon it that 
 they only reflect the views and the spirit ex- 
 pressed by the editor in the columns of the 
 local newspaper. 
 
 Frank LeRoy Blanchard. 
 
 The public's vicarious thinking. — The 
 
 press has no soul, never had and never will 
 have; the press is simply one man or a 
 number of men speaking to the community. 
 The people of this country are too busy or 
 too lazy to think for themselves. They 
 would rather pay someone else to think for 
 them. The newspaper man is paid to think 
 for the public. He must think loud enough 
 to be heard by all his subscribers. We don't 
 want a saint at the head of a paper, but we 
 want a man of the people. He mustn't be 
 more learned than the public, but what he 
 knows he must know better. 
 
 Rev. Father David S. Phelan. 
 
 The vast majority of people do not think 
 deeply. Just as most people prefer to have 
 their religion thought out for them, so are 
 they willing to let others do most of their 
 serious thinking of all kinds for them, 
 whether they are willing to consent to it 
 before it is done or are willing to admit it 
 after it has been done for them. 
 
 F. G. Cooper. 
 
 Giving words to the reader's thought. — 
 
 The view of the newspaper is really a re- 
 
370 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL^WRITING 
 
 flection of what men are thinking at the 
 moment. The plain man, however, thinks a 
 great deal more than he can express. He 
 is not a philosopher, and he cannot discover 
 the reasons for his opinions, or more ac- 
 curately, he cannot express his reasons in 
 a philosophic way. This is what the "able 
 editor" has to do for him, and the moment 
 he sees it in print he hits the sheets with 
 his hand, and exclaims to his neighbor in 
 the railway carriage: "That's exactly what 
 I've been thinking all along." At the same 
 time, it never occurs to him that the philo- 
 sophic statement of the case is due to the 
 skill of the editor, and that he himself would 
 never have arrived at it without the help 
 of his newspaper. 
 
 James D. Symon. 
 
 The public is ethical. — The majority of 
 subscribers are ethical. They accept a news- 
 paper and its efforts at face value. The 
 paper becomes a part of their home or busi- 
 ness life. Its presence each week or each 
 day is looked for eagerly. If it fails to 
 reach them regularly they are disappointed. 
 They read and enjoy what it contains. They 
 accept the news of the world, and the 
 stories, as facts. If they do not agree with 
 an occasional editorial they are fair enough 
 to concede the editor the right to his opin- 
 ion, for after all the paper is his. They 
 have no axes to grind. 
 
 A. R. Fenwick. 
 
 Identity with the community. — To help it- 
 self attain the maximum of success, the 
 country newspaper must be thoroughly rep- 
 resentative of its community. To represent 
 properly its community, to do credit to its 
 editor and publisher, to achieve the desired 
 financial success, it must be more than a 
 mere compendium of the community hap- 
 penings. Fully one-half of the newspaper 
 failures that occur are failures only because 
 the editors and publishers have failed to 
 grasp the opportunities their fields offered. 
 In making the kind of a newspaper that 
 will win, in almost any town or city, it is 
 not so much money that is needed as energy 
 and initiative. 
 
 Wright A. Patterson. 
 
 The paper that represents its people. — The 
 
 requirements of a small community are 
 greater than those of a large city. In a 
 small town, an all-round newspaper man is 
 needed; no sailing under false colors; what 
 is in him is soon known. The editors and 
 publishers of the great daily newspapers 
 are removed from the people, they occupy a 
 lofty place from which they gaze with 
 
 cynical eyes upon the transactions of the 
 world. Their personality is unknown to the 
 people. Not so with those occupying sim- 
 ilar positions on the smaller daily news- 
 paper; they are in the same atmosphere of 
 ideas and sympathies with the people; they 
 reflect the sentiments of their communities, 
 for they come daily in contact with almost 
 every element of their constituency. Briefly 
 stated, the small daily newspaper is repre- 
 sentative of the people, the metropolitan 
 daily seeking to be. 
 
 Adolph S. Ochs. 
 
 Country editors and their folk. — ^The 
 writer on a country paper is in much closer 
 touch with the subscribers than a city writer 
 can be. She knows full well the little prej- 
 udices and jealousies existing between town 
 folks and the farmer population, and must 
 use tact in dealing with them. A news- 
 paper should be the medium by which trade 
 is attracted from the surrounding country 
 to that town, and it should be the constant 
 study of the country editor to interest the 
 country population, not only in the paper, 
 but in the town, and to interest the town 
 people in the surrounding country. 
 
 Mrs. T. E. Dotter. 
 
 The journalist as community interpreter. 
 
 — The journalist walks between the living 
 masses and dead knowledge. The true jour- 
 nalist's life is builded into the structure of 
 society. His first duty is not to the indi- 
 vidual, not to class, not to party; it is to 
 his community, whether it is a small town 
 or a great city. 
 
 Talcott Williams. 
 
 Human nature and its mirror. — Human 
 nature is about the same everywhere, and 
 in every village of a thousand people may 
 be found about all the varieties of life and 
 character and all the elements of human in- 
 terest, its joys and sorrows, ambitions, and 
 tragedies. It is the office of the journalist, 
 whether in town or city, "to hold the mirror 
 up to nature" and reflect in the pages of 
 his paper the life of the community in 
 which he lives. The way in which he does 
 this reflects his genius or lack of genius. 
 Mrs. T. B. Dotter. 
 
 Growing into one's public. — My advice to 
 the young editor is, to get a grip on the 
 community which he enters. That advice 
 does not contemplate any policy of rushing 
 in to have the town in your possession with- 
 in a week. In fact, that is the opposite of 
 the advice I mean to give. The country 
 town is peculiar. It cannot be seized of a 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 371 
 
 sudden. Rather, it is to be taken by careful 
 advances, with many a quiet exhibition of 
 depth and information and good sense. 
 
 F. A. Hazeltine. 
 
 Friendly country contact. — The country 
 newspaper is published and edited and writ- 
 ten a whole lot nearer to its clientele than 
 the city newspaper is, and has much more 
 of a personal touch than the city newspaper 
 has. The farther you get away from your 
 people the more coldly and impersonally 
 you deal with them, and so it is with the 
 great metropolitan journals. You have not 
 arrived at that stage. 
 
 In any city you realize that in the columns 
 of your newspapers every day the editor 
 does much as the scientist does when he 
 comes out here before the class and analyzes 
 the contents of a compound. He states, 
 often mercilessly, the facts about events, 
 whether or not they injure the people that 
 are concerned. But in the country press, 
 while we must give the facts to do justice 
 to our readers, to do justice to ourselves it 
 is necessary to use a little diplomacy, and 
 a little discrimination; because we are closer 
 to the people. 
 
 Frederick Ornes. 
 
 The editor as "folks."— The reason for the 
 country newspaper's influence — and its in- 
 fluence is much deeper and of a more con- 
 tinuing nature than that of the metropolitan 
 newspaper — is that it remains closer to the 
 people. The real life of the people of his 
 community is the life of the editor. He 
 shares personally their triumphs and their 
 defeats, their joys and their sorrows. With 
 this the fact, it must be apparent that the 
 country editor, to be successful, must be 
 adaptable, of winning personality, a "mixer." 
 F. A. Hazeltine. 
 
 Readers who trust the paper. — The feeling 
 of trust that subscribers have toward a 
 newspaper they believe to be honest, cannot 
 be overestimated. Many remarkable exam- 
 ples are on file to that effect. It is said that 
 citizens of Kansas City spending the sum- 
 mer at Eastern summer resorts do not read 
 the local newspapers, but wait to see what 
 their own Star says, although it comes to 
 them several days late. A whole volume 
 could be written of experiences in the office 
 of the Kansas City Star to this effect. The 
 close personal feeling of subscribers for the 
 Star is shown in the numerous small items 
 that constantly appear in its columns asking 
 the whereabouts of relatives that have 
 moved away. This personal feeling of con- 
 fidence in their favorite newspaper is well 
 
 shown in many country newspaper offices, 
 where the editor will show you dozens and 
 dozens of subscribers who have moved away 
 to distant communities, but still take the 
 "old home newspaper." 
 
 J. B. Powell. 
 
 The subscriber who whispers "paid for." — 
 
 Were I asked to make a list, I would place 
 at the head of the unethical public the man 
 who believes that money enters into every 
 policy, interest and act of a publisher. Every 
 time any newspaper in any community takes 
 a stand on any moot question, this man's 
 first effort is to discount the influence of 
 the publication by whispered insinuation 
 that the action is the result of pay. If a 
 paper sides with a public utility corpora- 
 tion on any question he is quick to insinuate 
 that the corporation controls the publica- 
 tion. If it takes the opposite view, then 
 its action is because the corporation would 
 not agree to pay the price of support. 
 Price, that's it. Price is the first and last 
 word he knows. 
 
 A. R. Fenwick. 
 
 The No-Man*s-Land of journalism. — The 
 
 editorial page is the debatable ground of 
 journalism. It is the vague and nebulous 
 page, which affords more room for contro- 
 versy and less room for agreement than 
 any other page in the paper. All other 
 pages of the newspaper are based on fact; 
 the recital of facts. The editorial page is 
 based on opinion concerning facts, and 
 there are as many opinions as there are 
 men. 
 
 Tom Dillon. 
 
 Supremacy of editorial direction. — Our ex- 
 perience has taught us that there is just 
 one way to get and hold the confidence of 
 enough readers to make our newspapers 
 successful. That is for the editorial end 
 to control. 
 
 Broadly speaking, we know that an intel- 
 ligent and unfettered editorial department 
 will create a newspaper that enough people 
 will buy to make an advertising commodity 
 that an intelligent and energetic business 
 office can sell to advertisers. 
 
 We make editorial control in our concern 
 automatic so far as it is possible to do so, 
 by putting the composing room under the 
 control of the editor. The composing room 
 foreman gets his orders from the editor. 
 The composing room foreman sets such type 
 and only such type as the editor orders set. 
 The editor determines absolutely what goes 
 into the forms. 
 
 H. N. Rickey. 
 
372 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Advertising value hangs on editorial page. 
 
 —The only gpod way to sell advertising now 
 is through the editorial page. An editor 
 must know of what he speaks. Confidence 
 in his paper follows, and public confidence 
 in a newspaper gives it its greatest value 
 as an advertising medium. 
 
 A. C. Boughton. 
 
 Equal yoke-fellows. — I have been in both 
 departments [business; news], and if any- 
 one should ask me to decide [which is the 
 more important], I would simply say that 
 the answer is identical with the answer to 
 the ancient query, "Which came first, the 
 hen or the egg"!" 
 
 James Keeley. 
 
 Good editing and good business. — The first 
 essential in making the newspaper a busi- 
 ness proposition is to make it a good news- 
 paper from the editorial standpoint. If you 
 don't have good editing you can't have a 
 good business proposition. In order to give 
 the subscribers their money's worth, the 
 country newspaper must approach the merit 
 of the city newspaper. 
 
 H. F. McDougal. 
 
 The newspaper as a personality. — While 
 it cannot be denied that news comes first, 
 so many other features have been added that 
 it is at least approximately accurate to 
 describe the newspaper as a personality. 
 . . . The newspaper becomes endowed 
 with human traits. It succeeds or fails, is 
 liked or detested, as a personality. You 
 buy a certam make of slioes because they 
 are comfortable and look well. You pat- 
 ronize a particular butcher because you 
 think he gives you good meat. But a 
 newspaper or periodical is on a different 
 level. You like Collier's, for instance, be- 
 cause of its independence, its audacity, its 
 ideals, its background of wide reading and 
 careful thinking, its bearing as a gentleman. 
 Or you detest it as brash, headstrong, 
 crackbrained. So with the New York Times 
 or Evening Post, the Philadelphia North 
 American, the Chicago Tribune, the Los 
 Angeles Times or Express. Each one of 
 these periodicals has acquired a personality 
 all its own. 
 
 H. J. Haskell. 
 
 Putting in individuality. — We cannot all 
 be editors of metropolitan dailies, but all 
 of us can take something that is in us and 
 with our hands transfer it into our news- 
 papers so as to give them what I choose to 
 call a personality. That is, make them so 
 different from other papers, that in distin- 
 
 guished company, like city dailies, or high- 
 class country weeklies, they will stand out 
 and reflect an individuality all their own. 
 Let me illustrate: We heard much yesterday 
 about the Christian Science Monitor. It is 
 characterized, and perhaps justly so, as the 
 best daily paper in the United States. It 
 must be, or the propaganda for which it 
 stands would not be benefited by it. The 
 Monitor is different from any other daily 
 paper in the country that I know anything 
 about, and it is just that which makes it 
 popular. 
 
 T. J. O'Day. 
 
 The impersonal idea. — As every one 
 knows, the large majority of editors and 
 editorial writers do their work anonymously. 
 This anonymity gives to the editorial the 
 impersonal weight of the newspaper itself. 
 Indeed, the newspaper editorial is the prod- 
 uct of many minds. One man may write 
 it, but he is speaking not alone his own 
 belief, but the belief of those with whom 
 he is associated, the belief of the one who 
 in the end must take responsibility for the 
 utterance, if there is to be any liability for 
 it. There, again, is exemplified how diffi- 
 cult it is to say that an idea belongs to 
 any one person. The anonymous article 
 will, in the long run, be far more effective 
 than an article which carries some unJcnown 
 man's name. The privilege of writing as if 
 one were speaking for the public gives the 
 writer far greater freedom and far greater 
 confidence in the effectiveness of what he is 
 writing than if he simply stood up in meet- 
 ing and said his say. 
 
 Dante Barton. 
 
 Old times, new times, and personality. — 
 
 What place does the personality of the 
 newspaper editor and the editorial-writer 
 have in the new editorial page? There 
 never was a time when there wasn't "a last 
 of the old-time editors." Colonel Henry 
 Watterson is one of the several of these 
 that are now in captivity; yet forty years 
 ago Mr. Watterson lamented the passing 
 of his editorial predecessor George D. Pren- 
 tiss — lamented it as if we ne'er should see 
 his like again. Personality has as good a 
 show now as it ever had. I haven't any 
 doubt that I am talking now to at least 
 three men, who, in the course of fifty years 
 or so, will figure in the annals of their time 
 as the last of the old-time editors. 
 
 Dante Barton. 
 
 Unknown editors and well-known papers. 
 
 — The modern newspaper has become im- 
 personal. Today there are few great editors, 
 but many great newspapers. The identity 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 373 
 
 of the editor has been largely merged and 
 often completely sunk in that of the news- 
 paper itself. I doubt if the average citizen 
 today can call the names of the editors of 
 six of the most influential and widely read 
 newspapers in America. What the editor 
 has lost in reputation the newspaper itself 
 has gained. The impersonal publication has 
 acquired personality and individuality. The 
 newspaper has come to have a defined char- 
 acter and reputation. This character is 
 moulded and shaped by adherence to well- 
 iefmed principles, which in turn confer char- 
 acter and reputation upon the newspaper 
 tself, rather than on any one of the large 
 ?roup of men who are concerned in its 
 Dreparation and publication. 
 
 H. W. Brundige. 
 
 The mystery of editorial survival. — The 
 
 nost unaccountable ready writer of all is 
 probably the common editor of a daily 
 japer. Consider his leading articles; what 
 ;hey treat of, how passably they are done. 
 3traw that has been thrashed a hundred 
 ;imes without wheat; ephemeral sound of a 
 ;ound; such portent of the hour as all men 
 lave seen a hundred times turn out inane; 
 low a man with merely human faculty 
 )uckles himself nightly with new vigor and 
 nterest to this thrashed straw, nightly 
 ;hrashes it anew, nightly gets up new thun- 
 ier about it; and so goes on thrashing and 
 ;hundering for a considerable series of 
 rears; this is a fact remaining still to be 
 iccounted for in human physiology. The 
 itality of man is great. 
 
 Thomas Carlyle. 
 
 New editing, new life. — The editorial view- 
 point is nine-tenths of the newspaper. There 
 was a period in the history of American 
 journalism when the expression of any such 
 belief would have been out of joint with the 
 times, if not unwarranted. Nevertheless, 
 the importance of the editorial viewpoint 
 persisted, and once more the editorial is re- 
 asserting itself, coming again into its own. 
 Of course, there was a reason for the tem- 
 porary eclipse, and that reason overlaid yet 
 another reason. The reason for the eclipse 
 was that the reader resented domination by 
 the editor, and that domination by the 
 editor sprang from a mistaken view of the 
 editor's intellectual importance. 
 
 Frank S. Baker. 
 
 The editorial page and the paper's tone. — 
 
 To most publishers and to many editors 
 there came with something like a rude 
 awakening a realization of the fact that 
 the public forms its opinion of a newspaper 
 more upon the merits of its editorial page 
 than upon the quantity of the news pub- 
 lished. It is the opinions expressed on the 
 editorial page that win the respect and 
 regard of readers or incite their disapproval 
 or displeasure. 
 
 The spirit of the publication finds ex- 
 pression in the editorial page. By this ex- 
 pression of opinion the reader judges the 
 publication. He finds it either broad or nar- 
 row, prejudiced or unprejudiced, fair or un- 
 fair, tolerant or intolerant, sympathetic or 
 unsympathetic, kind or brutal, clean or 
 vulgar, sincere or tricky, truthful or un- 
 truthful. 
 
 The character of the paper as expressed 
 in its editorial page gives tone to the whole 
 publication and lends credibility to or casts 
 suspicion over the news columns. 
 
 H. W. Brundige. 
 
 Editor precedes the preacher. — A news- 
 paper editor and publisher who comprehends 
 the drift of the times and who is intellec- 
 tual, keen and well-poised enough to sug- 
 gest sane sociological remedies and help to 
 lead the people into the right solution of 
 our pressing problems, has the greatest pro- 
 fession of all, even greater than the 
 preacher's, who has stood first, generally, 
 but who must now, in the opinion of most 
 observers, take second place. A daily news- 
 paper's audience or congregation is greater, 
 and its discourses far more frequent, than 
 those of the pulpit teacher. The human 
 interest pervades all fields of business and 
 professional activity to-day. A wholesome 
 newspaper is the greatest instrumentality 
 for good that we now have, in a sociological 
 
874 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 sense, and certainly this field is one which 
 demands greater attention today as exem- 
 plifying among men that admonition of the 
 Master, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." 
 James H. Callanan. 
 
 Dual function of the newspaper. — The 
 
 honest newspaper prints the news from day 
 to day, trying hard to be accurate, rigidly 
 excluding its own opinions and wishes from 
 the facts. The honest editorial writer en- 
 deavors to interpret the significance of the 
 news. There is a dual function present: to 
 print the news and to interpret it. 
 
 Frank S. Baker. 
 
 Good and evil in proportion. — I do not 
 
 wish any newspaper to tell me that the 
 world is all very good and try to convey 
 the impression that there is no evil and 
 wrong to be righted. If that impression 
 went out, the great forces of moral reform 
 would stay their hands. There would be no 
 incentive to sacrifice for a better land. I 
 want no newspaper to tell me that every- 
 thing is bad, everything is wicked. If so, 
 there would be no hope nor call to labor. 
 
 I want no expurgated newspaper. It is 
 our duty to give "a map of busy life," to 
 tell to our readers the truth and all the 
 truth, sometimes in its hideousness, that the 
 conscience of men may be aroused and evils 
 righted. But let us put also in it these 
 lines of light and beauty which illumine our 
 race and make this generation stand out in 
 the history of the world as doing more noble 
 and unselfish deeds than any decade in the 
 history of the world. 
 
 Josephus Daniels, 
 as reported in The Fourth Estate. 
 
 The editor's unknown readers. — There is 
 no editorial-page class, as there is a sport- 
 ing-page class, marine-page class, market- 
 page class, or society-page class. We can- 
 not designate any certain proportion of our 
 readers as readers of the editorial page. 
 The reader whose first interest may be in 
 the condition of Jack Johnson may, as soon 
 as he has finished the sporting page, turn to 
 the editorial page, and it is equally likely 
 that he never reads the editorial page at 
 all. We do not know who reads our editorial 
 page, or why he reads it. We do not know 
 the sort of editorial he likes or dislikes, for 
 the simple reason that we are not asking 
 him his opinion, or seeking his conven- 
 ience, but quite to the contrary we are try- 
 ing to impress our opinions on him. And 
 every discreet person has learned that this 
 is a difficult and dangerous thing to do. 
 
 Tom Dillon. 
 
 Cartoon or editorial. — The attitude taken 
 by all the commentators, strange to say, has 
 been that of archeologists rather than his- 
 torians, they having adopted the view that 
 the editorial has gone and gone for good, 
 that nothing has succeeded it, and (some- 
 times) that it is a very grievous but inevita- 
 ble thing. So general is this view and so 
 slight its foundation that it is surprising 
 that it should be accepted so unquestion- 
 ingly. Granted that the editorial has gone 
 and gone for good, is it necessarily true 
 that it has had or will have no successor? 
 I think not. . . . The editorial has had 
 an able successor in the cartoon, but the 
 reasons for this succession have been due 
 wholly to psychological principles and not to 
 accident. 
 
 Roy M. Crismas. 
 
 The popular and the academic compromise. 
 
 — In the [British] leaderwriting of the day, 
 however, there is just compromise. . . . 
 We may take it that the best newspaper- 
 writing is, on the whole, a little more pop- 
 ular and unrestrained than the general level 
 of Parliamentary speaking, which, as we 
 have pointed out elsewhere, is severely un- 
 adorned. In the weekly reviews, even to a 
 greater extent than in the daily Press, the 
 academic touch is manifest and paramount; 
 but this is no new tradition, for from the 
 first the style and tone of these reviews has 
 been more distinctly the expression of aca- 
 demic minds, and the appeal of these papers 
 is in the first instance to the so-called edu- 
 cated classes. To quote Mr. Escott, "Never 
 certainly was higher intellectual qualifica- 
 tion and better social antecedents possessed 
 by newspaper writers of every kind than 
 they are today." 
 
 James D. Symon. 
 
 Public blended into editorial-writer. — As 
 
 many considerations enter into the making 
 of an editorial policy, so many things enter 
 into the make-up of an editorial writer, and 
 the great reading public is one of those fac- 
 tors. The influences are sometimes subtle 
 and hardly discernible, but they are none 
 the less potent. They blend in making him 
 useful, in proportion as he has sought to be 
 of real service in the community, the re- 
 sult varying of course according to the part 
 of the community he has sought most to 
 serve. I take it, however, that newspapers 
 would rather serve the good than the evil 
 and constantly exert themselves to that 
 end. That is my experience and my observa- 
 tion. If there are newspapers of another 
 purpose, they are the exceptions. 
 
 Osman C. Hooper. 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 375 
 
 I Thought before words. — Anybody can get 
 a vocabulary by reading — or by a little 
 study, certainly. The words are in the 
 dictionary, and printed in other books, and 
 you can see what they mean. But the vo- 
 cabulary doesn't do you any good unless you 
 have something to say. You should acquire 
 the ability to write snappy sentences, the 
 long paragraph or the short paragraph; but 
 your real attempt should be spent on finding 
 something interesting enough to make it 
 worth while telling. The use of a great 
 many tricks of style is the poorest part of 
 ill poor forms of writing. 
 
 Jack Bechdolt. 
 
 Second-hand thought not wanted. — The 
 
 nen and women to whom the country editor 
 iddresses himself are men and women en- 
 aged in the most important work of the 
 vorld, the work of producing the things 
 leedful for life. They daily hold communion 
 vith nature in its visible forms. They are 
 earned men and women, schooled in the 
 Teat University of Nature. They have 
 beyed the command of Solomon; they have 
 :one to the ant, considered its ways, and 
 lave grown wise. But they are not book- 
 vorms; they are not political economists; 
 hey are not tariff experts in the sense that 
 he late Senator Aldrich was a tariff expert, 
 he country editor owes in common honesty 
 these people that he shall not pass on 
 them the second-hand opinions of some 
 ther person as his own personal opinion, 
 'hey know him and presumably they have 
 orne confidenxie in him, else they would not 
 e subscribers to his paper. 
 
 Bernard Finn. 
 
 Modern editorial style. — Another thing 
 lat may be said for the modern editorial 
 age is that it is better written than ever 
 sfore. In the period of experimentation 
 )me things were learned. One was that 
 ords were intended to convey thought. The 
 2ople are too busy with their own affairs 
 » waste time on superfluous verbiage. The 
 d florid style of editorial writing, abound- 
 g in rounded sentences interspersed with 
 lotations and classical allusions, has given 
 vay to the direct method of expression. 
 H. W. Brundige. 
 
 Neither dull nor machine-made. — More 
 id more, newspapers are coming to print 
 ort, sparkling editorials about things of 
 eryday life. Arthur Brisbane, chief edi- 
 rial-writer for the Hearst newspapers, 
 akes a powerful appeal to thousands of 
 aders every day because he writes in a 
 raight-from-the-shoulder style on topics of 
 
 universal interest. The political editorial 
 has its place, but it should not be allowed 
 to overwhelm all other topics. Nor should 
 the editorial columns be machine-made, cut 
 and hewn to fill in every issue a certain 
 definite space, regardless of the importance 
 of the subject matter. Better far to print 
 light miscellany to fill up the page than a 
 lot of, ponderous, perfunctory editorials. 
 Charles G. Ross. 
 
 The editor's universal contacts. — ^You can 
 
 get a great deal of the joy of creation in 
 writing for the editorial page. You come 
 in contact with life at more points than is 
 permitted to most other men. You get the 
 contact, whether your work is called re- 
 porting or is called editing or is called 
 editorial writing. Your range of reading 
 takes in politics, social service, art, science, 
 fiction, poetry, law, history, and all that 
 makes the world go round. Your expe- 
 rience makes you a spectator of the human 
 comedy. Your writing will take you also 
 into the domain of memory; back to the 
 old home town. It will give you touch with 
 all creative forms of literature, and will 
 take you as far into the future by the 
 power of imagination as your memory car- 
 ries you into the past. 
 
 Dante Barton. 
 
 Writing against one's conscience. — An- 
 other so-called weakness of modern jour- 
 nalism is that editorial writers must on 
 special occasions write opinions not believed 
 to be just and right because the chief-of- 
 staff insists that their policies are those of 
 the newspaper. Tiffany Blake, chief edi- 
 torial writer of The Chicago Tribune, put 
 the case in its proper light when he gave 
 this justification of such work. He thought, 
 when a writer was, on the whole, in sym- 
 pathy with the editorial policies, he might, 
 in minor cases, support certain measures 
 with which he did not agree. A man in 
 joining a political party does not necessarily 
 imply that he supports every plank of the 
 platform, but that he thinks that his party 
 comes the nearest to agreeing with his views 
 about the questions of the day. As a mat- 
 ter of practice, however, an editorial writer 
 on the larger dailies seldom has the dis- 
 agreeable task of writing what he does not 
 believe. A question is thrashed out at the 
 editorial council, and after a decision has 
 been reached as to where the paper shall 
 stand, the writing of the editorial is given 
 to the man to whom the subject most ap- 
 peals, because experience has shown that 
 he can generally produce the most forcible 
 and convincing appeal on the subject. 
 
 James Melvin Lee. 
 
376 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 The writer a composite. — The editorial 
 writer, if his service has been considerable 
 in any one place, is not simply himself. He 
 is a composite, in which are to be found 
 elements of himself, the owner of the paper, 
 the director of its policy, the great public 
 he addresses, the public enemies he is priv- 
 ileged to fight, the weak and the oppressed 
 he is able to fight for, "Old Subscriber" who 
 writes for the Mail Bag, and the poet who, 
 in excusing her effort, offers the informa- 
 tion that she "sometimes has feelings and 
 thoughts which to express in words a sac- 
 rilege would be." 
 
 Osman C. Hooper. 
 
 The four essentials.— In his editorial work 
 each apprentice should be drilled on the four 
 essentials of technical journalism, namely: 
 accuracy, tim.eliness, clarity, and brevity. 
 Accuracy of course comes first, because if 
 an article or statement is inaccurate it 
 would have been better if it had not been 
 published, but the other qualities follow 
 closely. Timeliness means imagination on 
 the part of the author, that is, the concept 
 of what the reader wants, when he wants 
 it, andi the way he wants it. Imagination 
 of this kind, or the "sense of news," can 
 be cultivated in most apprentices and is 
 greatly stimulated by plenty of time spent 
 in editorial field work. Timeliness means 
 also the expansion of those parts of an ar- 
 ticle, whether it is a news event or a de- 
 scription of a machine tool, which the 
 average reader wants expanded, and con- 
 densation of the rest. Clarity and brevity 
 mean not only clear, concise writing, but 
 such a knowledge of the trade that the 
 article is expressed in language understood 
 by the industry. The apprentice should be 
 taught that if each of the 10,000 readers 
 wastes a minute in learning the meaning of 
 an article because it is not clear or in read- 
 ing it because it is not concise, the time thus 
 wasted amounts to twenty-one days of eight 
 hours each. Hence, half a day on the part 
 of the man who wrote the article is well 
 spent if by so doing this minute on the part 
 of each reader can be saved. The true 
 editor, to paraphrase the definition of the 
 true engineer, is he who makes one word do 
 where otherwise two or more would be 
 employed. 
 
 Henry W. Blake. 
 
 The "musts" of editorial-writing. — The 
 
 editorial writer must know what he is writ- 
 ing about; he must write truthfully, he 
 must write entertainingly and well. His 
 workmanship must justify his authority, 
 and the measure of his success and the 
 
 success of the editorial page will be the jus- 
 tification of the assumption that he and his 
 page have the right to express opinion. The 
 reader must be made to feel that, whether 
 he agrees with the conclusion of the edi- 
 torial or not, it was worth his while to 
 read the editorial. If he cannot think the' 
 same as the editorial, he must feel that the 
 difference of opinion is not one of honesty 
 or fairness, but rather a fundamental dif- 
 ference which lies back of and beyond argu- 
 ment or logic. In other words, the antago- 
 nistic reader of an editorial must be made 
 to admit at least that there are two sidesi 
 to the question. J 
 
 Tom Dillon. | 
 
 The obligation to be interesting. — It is 
 
 the business of an editorial writer to make 
 himself read, and it may be set down at 
 once that, if he is not read, he is a failure. 
 Several things are necessary to his success.' 
 He must, of course, have knowledge; but aj 
 man might be a walking encyclopedia, anc? 
 still not be a success. To knowledge, he] 
 must add the right spirit, a spirit of opti-l 
 mism and human sympathy, and a will to 
 know and a power to discriminate among 
 the projects of progress. But even that is 
 not enough. To knowledge and spirit, he 
 must add a certain literary skill. He must 
 have the ability to present a matter in at-j 
 tractive guise, for it is no less the business 
 of the editorial than it is of the news story 
 to be interesting. 
 
 Osman C. Hooper. 
 
 Happy phrase, unhappy thought. — Inac/ 
 curacies in editorial columns are not at all\ 
 rare. Conclusions often are jumped at, W 
 be regretted after inquiry. But one of thq 
 commonest causes of error is the desire t& 
 turn a happy phrase, rather than a happjl 
 thought. "j 
 
 Herbert Hunter, j 
 
 The word-dumb and the, word-blind.- 
 
 Word-dumbness and word-blindness ar( 
 disabilities frequently found. The sentenci 
 that is clear to "A" is not clear to "B." h 
 word which "A" accepts in the sense iij 
 which it is used is received by "B" in a difl 
 ferent sense. The dictionaries have prettW 
 well defined, differentiated and classifieij 
 our words, but word-dumb writers we alv 
 ways shall have with us, just as we alwayl 
 shall have word-blind readers. It is nor 
 much of a task to describe a fire in law 
 guage that will not be misunderstood, bu| 
 it may be quite difficult to write an imporj 
 tant editorial so that the public will per 
 ceive its real meaning and motive. Pen 
 haps we should remind ourselves frequently 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 377 
 
 that the great mass of newspaper readers 
 have limited vocabularies. They are not 
 students of word-shadings. Simplicity and 
 directness of expression are newspaper 
 necessaries. Herbert Hunter. 
 
 The bases of good writing. — In remark- 
 ing that you had all passed the office boy 
 stage, . I naturally assumed that you had 
 mastered, to a reasonable degree, the art of 
 writing good English; that you had given 
 enough hours to arithmetic to get at least 
 part way through the higher mathematics. 
 These two things, especially the former, 
 are basic. At any rate, whether or not I 
 was too hasty, try to perfect your writing 
 by using, in so far as one can, good old 
 Anglo-Saxon words — words of one syllable. 
 How much sweeter is "build," than "con- 
 struct" or "manufacture." And why say 
 "donate" or "tender," when you mean 
 "give"? Colonel Prout, the greatest tech- 
 nical paper editor of his day, always car- 
 ried in his pocket a nrayer-book of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church; not that he 
 was a churchman, but because he was a con- 
 stant reader of the "Book of Common 
 Prayer," a model for simple language. 
 
 E. A. Simmons. 
 
 The lazy man's editorial — We are all fa- 
 miliar with the type of editorial which 
 says: "The board of health has framed 
 an ordinance which is to be introduced into 
 the council, making vaccination of school 
 children compulsory. This is a good thing. 
 Vaccination certainly ought to be com- 
 pulsory. Smallpox is a loathsome dis- 
 ease. It ought not to be allowed to 
 get a foothold in this community. The 
 ordinance should be passed." That is the 
 perfunctory or lazy type. It helps alienate 
 people from the editorial page. . . In 
 the case of the vaccination editorial it does 
 not require an expert to go to some common 
 reference book and learn what effect com- 
 pulsory vaccination has had in various 
 countries in Europe and to present some 
 really inf ormatory material. 
 
 H. J. Haskell. 
 
 Technical writing and literary finish. — 
 
 The apprentice should also be encouraged 
 to develop a style, for there is no reason 
 why the term "literature" should not be ap- 
 plied to technical as well as to other writ- 
 ing. He should not be satisfied with the 
 first draft or the second draft of what he 
 prepares, but he should be urged to go over 
 and over the articles again, considering it in 
 the light of the four essentials already men- 
 tioned, until it has a piano finish in every 
 
 particular. Much good will be gained, of 
 course, if he will read the works of standard 
 authors, both of poetry and prose, during 
 part of his non-working hours. He need 
 not imitate their construction, but he will 
 unconsciously gain facility of expression 
 and will enlarge his vocabulary by so do- 
 ing. Nor should he neglect the reading 
 and study of present-day newspaper writ- 
 ing of the best kind, particularly as shown 
 in the editorials. 
 
 Henry W. Blake. 
 
 Danger of entertaining editorials. — The 
 
 danger of the entertaining editorial is that 
 it often degenerates into drivel. A humor- 
 ous editorial, unskillfully handled, becomes 
 nonsense, and a pathetic editorial, written 
 without restraint, becomes bathos. There is, 
 of course, no rule for the maintenance of 
 good taste. Taste is a part of the inherent 
 equipment of the individual, and one of the 
 most interesting phenomena of taste is the 
 fact that he who lacks it can never be 
 made to see his deficiency. He who at- 
 tempts to write entertainingly without the 
 savi'rto- p-race of taste will rarely know why 
 he failed. Tom Dillon. 
 
 The "makings" of the technical editor. — 
 
 Where is the future technical editor to 
 come from ? There are three qualifications, 
 as I see it, which we look for, besides the 
 personal attributes of intelligence, probity, 
 accuracy, personality, industry, ambition, 
 enterprise, etc., which are needed in any 
 business. These three necessary editorial 
 qualifications are: (a) Ability to write 
 well, that is, a good knowledge of English 
 and facility of expression; (b) a technical 
 knowledge of the trade or industry to which 
 we cater, and (c) a special quality of know- 
 ing when an event or article is "news"; in 
 other words, journalism. 
 
 Unfortunately, there is no school of tech- 
 nical journalism. Hence, when we want a 
 man for the editorial staff, we either have 
 to take him from the field and teach him 
 the newspaper business, or else we have to 
 take some young man and train him in both 
 newspaper work and the technique of the 
 field to which we cater. 
 
 If the former plan is followed and we 
 take a man from the field, we should re- 
 member that it is unsafe to add a man to 
 the staff simply because he is an expert in 
 our particular industry. No one will make 
 a good editor who is not really fond of 
 writing, and while this quality can be ac- 
 quired, a man will make a better editor 
 where it is innate. It will generally be 
 found, I think, that most men in the in- 
 dustry who are fond of writing have con- 
 
378 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 tributed either papers to the association m 
 that industry or articles to the technical 
 paper in the field. For this reason it is 
 safe to say that the most likely source of 
 recruits to the editorial staff of a paper 
 is among: those who have contributed to it 
 during: the previous two or three years. In 
 fact, I think that if a census was taken of 
 the members of the editorial departments 
 of our diflFerent technical papers who have 
 entered journalistic work from the field, it 
 will be found that most of them beg-an 
 newspaper work as occasional contributors 
 to the paper whose force they afterwards 
 joined. 
 
 Henry W. Blake. 
 
 Varied and literary quality. — The problem 
 of newspaper editorial English is, to pre- 
 serve a good style and yet reach the large 
 class of persons who do not consciously go 
 in for style. . . . There are varieties 
 in style on the editorial page, and each 
 writer will try to write himself in various 
 moods into his work. One would get very 
 tired of meat and potatoes as a constant 
 diet, and would get equally tired of salads 
 and soups and relishes. A good meal has 
 some of various foods. . . . So, styles 
 should vary as tastes vary. Who would 
 have English literature be all Shakespeare 
 or all Walter Pater or all Kipling or all 
 Emerson? Who would want a newspaper 
 to be all of any one man or any one school 
 of writers? And here let it be said that 
 the great mass of newspaper readers do, 
 consciously or unconsciously, like a liter- 
 ary quality in their editorial pages, just as 
 they like sincerity and a square deal in 
 their editorial pages. 
 
 Dante Barton. 
 
 Leading by human interest. — It is won- 
 derful what a power a "human interest" edi- 
 torial page can become. It doesn't drive, 
 but leads. People take its precepts and 
 teaching unconsciously. 
 
 Charles H. O'Neil. 
 
 Apprentice training of the technical- 
 paper editor. — Aside from those at the head 
 •of the editorial staff of a few large daily 
 newspapers, no editors are more highly 
 paid than are those connected with the im- 
 portant technical journals of this country. 
 But the schooling of the technical editor is 
 harder; and the first part of the road over 
 which he must travel is as rough as with 
 either the trade or class journal. Usually, 
 he must have graduated from some col- 
 lege with an engineering course — ^mechani- 
 cal, civil, electrical or mining. Sometimes 
 he is then put at work in the editorial de- 
 
 partment at twelve or fifteen dollars a 
 week; but frequently, perhaps more fre- 
 quently, he must serve an apprenticeship 
 at the bench; or in building bridges and 
 tunnels, or laying track; or in getting out 
 coal and other products of the mine. Thus 
 equipped, he is much better fitted to dis- 
 cuss, with authority, the exacting subjects 
 with which the highly specialized technical 
 paper must deal; and his progress is usual- 
 ly faster, and greater, than that of the col- 
 lege man who went straight to a desk. Only 
 in the hard school of actual experience, there- 
 fore, is it possible for some men to fit them- 
 selves for the editorial chair. 
 
 E. A. Simmons. 
 
 Danger of the instructive editorial. — The 
 
 great danger in the instructive editorial is 
 the assumption that the readers of edi- 
 torials are interested in the things that the 
 editorial writer thinks they should be inter- 
 ested in. Our slack government, our high 
 taxes, our general public inefficiency, con- 
 stitute abundant proof to the contrary. A 
 question up for editorial discussion may 
 be of tremendous political or economic im- 
 portance, but of decidedly minor interest. 
 How far the editorial page should burden 
 itself with the education of the people to 
 an ideal sense of their duties, is a matter 
 for individual judgment. On an ideal edi- 
 torial page, perhaps this would be the first 
 and last consideration, but in the practical 
 world, the editorial page that doesn't pay 
 its own way is a poor editorial page, no 
 matter how high its ambitions or how noble 
 its mission. 
 
 Tom Dillon. 
 
 Take time to be brief. — Study to be con- 
 cise in editorial writing, as in news. Other 
 things being equal, the 200-word article is 
 more effective than one of twice that length. 
 E. W. Stephens, formerly editor of the 
 Columbia Herald, used to say that he never 
 wrote an editorial that would fill in tjrpe 
 more than the length of his pencil. As his 
 pencil wore down, his editorials got shorter 
 — and, he said, better. The long editorial 
 is often the lazy editorial. 
 
 Charles G. RoSs. 
 
 Newspapers and better literary standards. 
 
 — All signs point toward the newspapers* 
 becoming more and more the great demo- 
 cratic purveyors of literature to the mass 
 of readers of this country. And here is 
 the hopeful thing about it all: Human na- 
 ture is so constructed as to have an enor- 
 mous capacity for development. At the 
 same time it responds to ideals. Give it 
 something good and it straightway calls 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 379 
 
 0. something better. Audiences are con- 
 it^ntly being educated to more exacting 
 ■equirements. So we may confidently look 
 brward to a demand for better and better 
 'cading from the newspapers. 
 
 H. J. Haskell. 
 
 Putting life into country editing. — To be 
 
 n editor of a country weekly a man must 
 )e possessed of an over-abundance of en- 
 rgy, grit, and stick-to-it-ive-ness, and as 
 or patience, he should be endowed with all 
 he patience of Job and all the other great 
 )atriarchs combined. What we need in the 
 ountry weeklies to put them on a better 
 )aying basis is more life. We want to 
 et out of the old ruts and put our paper 
 n a higher plane. We have been down on 
 he bottom rung of the ladder long enough. 
 R B. Caldwell. 
 
 A brightened country editorial page. — 
 
 i'he editorial page of a country weekly may 
 >e made an attractive magazine page. 
 brightness is as important here as in the 
 ews columns. The editor will do well to 
 tudy other papers for ideas. To lighten 
 ts editorial page the Kansas City Star, 
 or example, prints, among other features 
 department of "Starbeams," consisting 
 f jokes, brief paragraphs^ on current 
 vents, and jingles. The Chicago Record- 
 lerald has a column of humor called "Al- 
 ernating Currents." "A Line-o'-Type or 
 wo" is a much-quoted feature of the Chi- 
 ago Tribune. Poems and light comment 
 nake up the "Just-a-Minute" department 
 f the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. But the 
 ountry editor is not dependent upon jokes 
 ,nd jingles to make an attractive page, 
 lany papers print a column of news from 
 eighboring counties, culled from exchanges. 
 Itate and world news of the week may be 
 ummarized, with brief comment. Letters 
 rom the people and the news of former 
 ears have already been mentioned as pos- 
 ible features. Perhaps a column might be 
 lade of anecdotes about people in the town 
 nd the county. Other special features 
 dll be suggested by local conditions. 
 
 Charles G. Ross. 
 
 Newspapers to be. — The time has come 
 when the country publisher can devote a 
 little more thought to getting out a paper 
 that will interest and entertain his read- 
 ers. . . . The taste of the reading pub- 
 lic has undergone a change in recent years. 
 Light and trivial matter that would have 
 been customary a while back will not do 
 now. . . . The new order of things will 
 be reached largely by elimination or short- 
 ening. . . . 
 
 On the ideal newspaper, people will be 
 employed who write tersely and gracefully, 
 and whose ability will be measured by their 
 judgment in weighing items, rather than 
 their ability to fill space. 
 
 The extensive circulation of city news- 
 papers and handsomely printed magazines 
 throughout the rural section has caused a 
 demand for better service among country 
 papers. The poorly printed paper with slip- 
 shod typography will no longer meet a 
 friendly constituency. The people have 
 become astute judges. They are not going 
 to demand the impossible, but they will 
 ask for the development of their country 
 paper in harmony with the general im- 
 provement in publishing and in other call- 
 ings. . . . The paper that interests its 
 subscribers, that makes them reach eagerly 
 for it, is the ideal newspaper, the naper 
 that grows in circulation without contests 
 or schemes.^ When people say they read 
 such an article in their paper, and speak 
 of it with animation, it makes others wish 
 to take that paper to enjoy the same enter- 
 tainment. 
 
 Edgar White. 
 
 Homely human honesty. — An editorial 
 page must necessarily reflect the individ- 
 uality of the person who presides over it. 
 I am strong for the "human-interest" edi- 
 torial, ■ for the homely subjects of com- 
 munity life, rather than "high brow" pro- 
 ductions of abstract interest. The editorial 
 page, if it fulfills its idealistic mission, 
 must occupy a plane so narrow that fanati- 
 cism, puny prejudices, and selfish duplicity, 
 shall be crowded out by the simple, homely 
 honesty of its printed word. 
 
 Charles H. O'Neil. 
 
 High treason in journalism. — I believe 
 uppression of news is more of a wrong 
 han the printing of a piece of news that 
 lossibly might better not have been writ- 
 en. By improper suppression a newspa- 
 )er sells its soul and betrays its readers, 
 'o my mind it is the high treason of jour- 
 ilism. 
 \ James Keeley. 
 
 Why Brisbane is Brisbane. — Arthur Bris- 
 bane, who is possibly the most widely 
 known editorial writer of the younger gen- 
 eration, is really not an editorial writer at 
 all. He is an editorial reporter, and the 
 qualities that make him a great reporter 
 have made him great in his present posi- 
 tion. 
 
 W. E. Nelson. 
 
38a 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Promoting home progress. — The editorial 
 in the country newspaper has as its 
 first care the promotion of those things 
 which, though relatively small compared to 
 some other things, are in the aggregate of 
 such vast importance to the country as a 
 whole. No great city paper can. effectual- 
 ly promote the little things that need to be 
 encouraged in every rural community. The 
 big papers have problems of their own that 
 they consider big. Greater than the prob- 
 lems of the city, however, is the problem 
 of progression in the rural districts, and 
 it is to this greater problem that the edi- 
 torial soace in the country papers should 
 be devoted, in the main, so that the country 
 papers may reach standards of service that 
 will give them a cause and a reason for 
 existence. 
 
 Bernard Finn. 
 
 Flea minds in editing. — Accuracy fades 
 in the militant presence of an obsession. 
 A man of one idea usually is a poor judge 
 of fact. A zealot usually sees red no mat- 
 ter how often the prism of knowlege may 
 be held before him. A man of this type 
 may cling to one notion all his life, or he 
 may change with the moon, baying in love 
 at the quickly shifting objects of his adora- 
 tion. This month he may be convinced that 
 all the woes of the world can be extirpated 
 by prohibition of the liquor traffic; next 
 month he flenses laboi^ unionism as the 
 arch enemy of civilization. Then he rages 
 at the cigarette or the pulpit as a dominat- 
 ing evil, and from one fad to another he 
 stretches himself, seeing only the front of 
 one, the top of a second, the side of a third, 
 but the bottom of none. Over-zeal often 
 exalteth superficiality. When the great 
 European war broke out many editors im- 
 mediately wrote blistering editorials con- 
 demning one or another of the nations in- 
 volved, pointing to this episode or that as 
 elemental causes of belligerency. Many of 
 them were not awake to the fact for some 
 60 days that the war was, in reality, 1,000 
 years in the making. 
 
 Herbert Hunter. 
 
 The party paper. — The party newspaper 
 is subject to incessant demand for publicity 
 from the men of its own political persua- 
 sion. Members of a party seem to feel a 
 sense of proprietorship of such a newspaper, 
 and assume the right to demand that pub- 
 lication of benefit to candidates be made 
 without regard to the effect upon it. It is 
 for this reason, I believe, that newspapers 
 generally are taking on a more independent 
 tone in politics, 
 
 A. R. Fenwick. 
 
 Two types of editorial page. — Today 
 there is no recognized editorial page stand- 
 ard, but there are two distinct types. Of 
 each type the pages are of varying merit 
 and quality. The editorial page in each 
 of these groups is written from entirely 
 different conceptions of the objects and 
 purposes of a newspaper. 
 
 One of these groups holds that the news- 
 paper is a mirror in which should be re- 
 flected events of interest. The mirror 
 should be perfect and the reflection true. It 
 should reflect human life as it is: the good, 
 the evil; the joys, the sorrows; the hopes, 
 the disappointments. 
 
 But after all the mirror is only a mirror. 
 It is a passive thing, lacking in understand- 
 ing, in force, and in human sympathy. 
 
 The other group holds that a newspaper 
 should not only truthfully portray the 
 events of the day, but it should do more. 
 It also should interpret these events and 
 show their relation to other similar oc- 
 currences. They hold that the purpose of a 
 newspaper is to be helpful and educational 
 in an active way; that it should discuss vi- 
 tal public questions, stimulate interest in 
 them, and lead intelligent public opinion. 
 
 Each of these groups finds expression on 
 the editorial page. 
 
 The one is active, sometimes militant. 
 
 The other is passive, sometimes cow- 
 ardly. 
 
 Each frequently is carried to extremes. 
 When the active or militant exceeds the 
 bounds and becomes unfair and abusive, it 
 is hated. When the passive becomes supine 
 and vapid, its cowardliness is reflected in the 
 news columns and the publication is re- 
 ceived with contempt. 
 
 H. W. Brundige. 
 
 Building industry through the press. — 
 
 Greater in value than any other one me- 
 dium is the newspaper in the industrial de- 
 velopment of a community of section. Not 
 only is the newspaper the greatest force in 
 the upbuilding of the community from a 
 soc^'al standpoint, influencing as it does the 
 energies and character of its citizens, but 
 it is^ also a great factor in guiding public 
 opinion in its relation to the encouragement 
 of all lines of industry. As an exploitation 
 medium, the newspaper is recognized peer 
 and, through its circulation, is one of the 
 strono-est pullers for population in the com- 
 munity. . . . The general character of 
 a newspaper, when considered as indicating 
 the character of the city in which it is pub- 
 lished, is of great importance to a com- 
 munity. The first thing a prospective in- 
 vestor does is study the newspapers pub- 
 lished in the locality where he plans to 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 381 
 
 place his funds. Often it is the newspaper 
 which first arouses the investor's interest 
 in that particular section. 
 
 R. H. Mattison. 
 
 Editorial self-defeat. — I am constrained 
 to believe that we newspaper publishers on 
 the average are prone to ignore the power 
 for good or evil that lies in our editorial 
 page, and lack in appreciation of our re- 
 sponsibility. We r.re often tempted to in- 
 ject false doctrines into our editorials, in 
 the hope of serving some selfish purpose. 
 This temptation is ours only when we lack 
 understanding of our power; for if we un- 
 derstand that our written word must stand 
 sis be weighed in that most delicate and 
 out before the world, and, in the final analy- 
 sensitive of all scales, the public conscience, 
 we shall appreciate that insincerity, dishon- 
 esty, hypocrisy and dissimulation in the edi- 
 torial page will betray and condemn them- 
 selves in spite of all the sophistry that we 
 can bring to bear. 
 
 Charles H. O'Neil. 
 
 "You yourself are the masses." — I am not 
 
 going to remind you that you are about to 
 start into a work which will "uplift the 
 masses." You may uplift the masses — I 
 hope you will — ^but keep in mind first of 
 all that you yourself are the masses. 
 Clara Chapline Thomas. 
 
 Teaching the people finance. — One of the 
 
 greatest needs of this nation to-day is a 
 clearer conception, a better understanding, 
 a more thorough knowledge of the eco- 
 nomic and financial problems of its people 
 in both their communal and individual 
 affairs. It is to the newspaper that the 
 great mass of people look for guidance. 
 Upon the financial editor, therefore, de- 
 volve a duty and a responsibility in the 
 moulding of public opinion on those ques- 
 tions so vital to the welfare of the whole 
 people. To this work he must bring abil- 
 ity, experience and understanding; and to 
 the extent that the financial editor is able 
 to think clearly and write convincingly — 
 with accuracy at all times — will his value 
 to his paper and his service to the com- 
 munity be measured. 
 
 Edwin Selvin. 
 
 has ever before had the chance that it now 
 faces, to become the great hub on which 
 the spokes of the world's commerce will 
 center when the awful war is over. And if 
 the business department will continue to 
 make the progress that it is now making, 
 and fasten "Truth" to its masthead so 
 firmly that nothing will ever dislodge it, 
 only the final bugle call will stop the on- 
 ward march of the business press. 
 
 E. A. Simmons. 
 
 Editing a financial page. — The success- 
 ful financial editor of a big daily newspaper 
 who sets out to gain recognition for his 
 paper as a financial authority has of ne- 
 cessity devoted years of preparation to the 
 work, probably commencing in his college 
 days when, studying economic and kindred 
 subjects. A thorough knowledge of finance, 
 investments, business, commerce, industry 
 and transportation is essential, this being 
 supplemented by constant reading and study. 
 
 As the financial editor develops his de- 
 partment so that by editorial excellence he 
 can attract an ever increasing volume of 
 financial advertising, his remuneration in- 
 creases in direct ratio to the added prestige 
 and advertising he is able to bring to his 
 paper. 
 
 He must at once be a writer, a business 
 getter, a teacher, an authority on financial 
 and business matters. The day is past 
 when the mere editing of routina financial 
 news is all that is required, to the handling 
 of which he need bring newspaper train- 
 ing alone. 
 
 Edwin Selvin. 
 
 Change in the country field. — The country 
 editor should keep in mind that communi- 
 ties shift and change. They do not main- 
 tain the same characteristics for long 
 periods. This is especially true of course 
 in any part of the country that is new or 
 undergoing development. People move 
 about. Ideas change, and so do ideals. The 
 profession of editing is something like talk- 
 ing to a procession. 
 
 F. A. Hazeltine. 
 
 Signed editorials. — In thrashing out a 
 problem at the editorial council different 
 phases of a subject are presented by vari- 
 ous members of the staff. The man who 
 writes the editorial frequently accepts 
 ideas from every member of the staff in 
 his presentation of the subject, and he 
 would be guilty of plagiarism if he should 
 attach his name to the editorial. The edi- 
 torial "we" is the real author of the edi- 
 
382 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 torial: the staff, through an individual 
 writer, has spoken for the paper. Only 
 where the editorial staff consists of a sin- 
 gle member would there be justification for 
 using Mr. Bryan's suggestion of signed 
 editorials. James Melvin Lee. 
 
 The unavailing feud.— The man who suc- 
 ceeds in lifting himself intellectually or 
 financially above the general level becomes 
 an object of envy and hatred. The demagogy 
 of weaker contemporaries is responsible 
 for many fallacious charges of untruth 
 against the successful newspapers, but these 
 usually are transparent and harmless,^ and 
 react like boomerangs. It is doubtful if an 
 editor ever gains anything by attacking his 
 successful contemporary. Newspaper fights 
 are of very little interest to the public. 
 Herbert Hunter. 
 
 Technical-paper editorial matter. — The 
 
 text pages of practically all modern techni- 
 cal journals may be divided into the edi- 
 torial, the descriptive, the general news 
 and the current news sections. These may 
 be considered separately, although two or 
 more of them are closely allied in the 
 handling of many subjects. 
 
 The outstanding developments and news 
 features of the profession or industry are 
 interpreted and discussed in the editorial 
 pages of the technical periodical. A great 
 variety of subjects is considered, even when 
 a technical paper covers quite a restricted 
 field. One editorial may have to do with a 
 feature of general interest to many other 
 branches of industry; another may be de- 
 voted to a highly technical subject of imme- 
 diate interest to a compartively small num- 
 ber of its own readers, while the next may 
 have to do with the ethics of the profes- 
 sion as a whole. In some cases the editor 
 or his advisers merely interpret the bear- 
 ing of the subject discussed on the affairs 
 of the readers of the paper. In other in- 
 stances there are interpretation and dis- 
 cussion, while many editorials contain 
 strong and authoritative arguments for or 
 against certain practices or methods. With- 
 out exception the editorial pages are de- 
 voted to the betterment of the profession 
 or industry, either from a technical or a 
 financial point of view, and frequently from 
 both, since the two go hand in hand. 
 
 The descriptive pages of a technical jour- 
 nal contain articles on an even greater 
 variety of subjects than are interpreted or 
 discussed in the editorial pages. These 
 are written with the idea of giving in the 
 best form the information of most interest 
 to those concerned. They are prepared by 
 
 members of the editorial staff from data 
 obtained in the field, or by men engaged 
 directly in the work described. Expres- 
 sions of opinion are eliminated from the 
 descriptive articles and reserved entirely 
 for the editorial pages." 
 
 James H. McGraw. 
 
 Organization of the technical staff. — The 
 
 editorial ladder is straight. That is, if 
 you start at the bottom, the climb to the 
 top is steady; and, because it is funnel- 
 shaped, there is usually a scramble at the 
 base and intense rivalry as the mass nears 
 the mouth. Fitness determines the win- 
 ner; and the rest continue to march for- 
 ward, either singly, in pairs, or three or 
 more abreast, according to the size of the 
 staff. In other words, in a small organiza- 
 tion the column soon narrows down to 
 single file; whereas with the larger papers, 
 especially those classed as technical, the 
 single file represents specialists, any one 
 of whom might be editorship timber; while 
 the rank and file work together in com- 
 pound units, a given number to each sub- 
 division. For instance, of the fourteen 
 members of the editorial staff of the Rail- 
 way Age Gazette with the title of associate 
 editor, or higher, there is one editor, him- 
 self a specialist, as I have already indi- 
 cated; and one managing editor who was, 
 prior to his promotion, chief mechanicsj 
 department editor. The other twelve 
 are divided as follows: Finance, one; traf- 
 fic, one; mechanical engineering, three; 
 civil engineering, three; news and miscel- 
 laneous, four. Of the fourteen, at least 
 six know how to make up the editorial 
 pages of the paper. Except in the news 
 department, few of them stay at their 
 desks for any considerable time at a 
 stretch. We believe in the policy of keep- 
 ing our editors out in the field where they 
 can see things at first hand; and in the 
 railway work this means that they must 
 travel from coast to coast. The day has 
 long since passed when the editors of a 
 high-class technical journal can sit on their 
 chairs and turn out a paper that will prop- 
 erly fill the field. 
 
 E. A. Simmons. 
 
 Three technical-journal aims. — Most of 
 us work under the handicap that our pub- 
 lications partake in a certain sense of the 
 characters of both a magazine and a news- 
 paper. We have feature articles like the 
 magazine, yet we carry to most of our 
 readers the first news which they have 
 about a great many events in the field, so 
 in this respect we have the characteristics 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 383 
 
 of a newspaper. In a sense, our technical 
 papers are a composite of Newton's Prin- 
 cipia, the New York Times and the Satur- 
 day Evening Post. Let us then strive to 
 emulate the scientific character of the first, 
 the newsiness of the second and the typo- 
 graphical features of the third. The fact 
 that correct make-up is so much more a 
 matter of taste than of mechanical rule 
 makes this question of especial importance. 
 Henry W. Blake. 
 
 The futile "big stick." — In the average 
 community there will be found some sort 
 of schism existing among the people. Some- 
 times it is religious, sometimes political, 
 sometimes commercial, sometimes just pure 
 human cussedness. Too often we see the 
 newspaper of the town handling the situa- 
 tion with a big stick — trying to drive the 
 opinionated prejudices of the editor down 
 the unwilling throats of the opposition. It 
 never works. The trouble is but accentu- 
 ated and perpetuated. This is an opportunity 
 for broad, wise and kindly leadership of the 
 editorial page, rather than a superheated, 
 rash, narrow and prejudical editorial policy. 
 Charles H. O'Neil. 
 
 Country editor, new style. — No more is 
 the country editor poverty-stricken. He 
 runs his paper on a business basis, doesn't 
 dun his subscribers through the columns of 
 his paper, but sends his bills through the 
 mails, collects promptly for his "ads," and 
 cuts off subscriptions the minute they are 
 not renewed. He doesn't feel the town 
 owes him a living; he makes one. 
 
 F. A. Hazeltine. 
 
 Joys of country editing. — The first joy of 
 a country editor's life is the independence 
 of it. He writes what he thinks. He has 
 a lifelong job. He stores up competence. 
 He has the opportunity to lend to his news 
 that personal color which makes it liked 
 by his readers. . . . Then there is the 
 joy of exercising power. The editor ex- 
 ercises the power, though credit for wield- 
 ing it must often be foregone. One must 
 be content with doing things and letting 
 others take the credit, for it is only by 
 playing on some persons' vanity that we 
 are able to get them to do any work. Yet 
 when we hear the new bell in the school- 
 house tower, or see the new town foun- 
 tain, or walk through the new park, we 
 know, just the same, who got those things. 
 . . . Next, there is the joy of acquaint- 
 anceship. The editor must fight against 
 the natural temptation to stay in his of- 
 
 fice and have the people come to see him. 
 The man just from college may be tempted 
 to stay inside with his books. But the 
 successful editor goes out among his read- 
 ers. Each year I look forward to my grand 
 annual tour through the county, to renew 
 acquaintanceships and subscriptions. In 
 that tour, I have to use sailboat, bicycle, 
 railroad, and even to tramp. 
 
 But the greatest joy is the joy of serv- 
 ice to your fellow men. The minister may 
 be called on often for help, but you are 
 called on more. And it is comparatively 
 easy to ring up the mill boss and get a 
 job for some man who's down on his 
 luck, or get him a place in a lumber camp. 
 It is gratifying to be in a position to sym- 
 pathize with your friends, to praise them 
 when they do good, to encourage them in 
 their enterprises, to share their joys, and 
 to mourn with them in their sorrows. 
 
 F. A. Hazeltine. 
 
 The small-town Scylla and Charybdis. — 
 
 The policy of the paper is important. While 
 it should always stand for all that is good 
 and progressive, whether it should take up 
 the cudgels for a political party or not is 
 a delicate matter. Yet it is one you may 
 have to face and upon which you may be 
 forced to take a stand. If the two domi- 
 nant political parties are about evenly di- 
 vided as to political strength, the first 
 thing you know you will have an opposition 
 newspaper started by some political bucca- 
 neer looking for office or political spoils. If 
 you can run an independent newspaper 
 without taking sides you are fortunate. If 
 you take up the cudgels for one party or 
 the other, you are bound to lose subscribers 
 who are members of the opposition. On 
 the other hand, if you represent the suc- 
 cessful political faction you are in line for 
 political spoils. By spoils I mean printing 
 of various kinds, both job printing and 
 legal publications, which are legitimate 
 sources of revenue. No matter which side 
 you espouse you cannot afford to be too 
 radical in your editorial column, because it 
 virtually amounts to stirring up a family 
 row. Your intimate acquaintance in the 
 community will not permit you to roast 
 the everlasting stuffing out of some neigh- 
 bor because he differs with you politically. 
 
 0. A. Ruffner. 
 
 The editor and the weather. — A subject 
 to be almost daily treated is the weather. 
 More people talk about the weather than 
 any other one thing, and yet the average 
 editor neglects to discuss it in the public 
 prints. There isn't anything of such com- 
 
384 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 mon interest as the meteorological changes. 
 There are few editors who appreciate this 
 fact. 
 
 It is the human interest again, you see. 
 The shift from hot to cold, or vice versa, 
 the snow-falls, the rain-falls, the high 
 winds, the excessive heat and cold, the 
 frosts, the thaws, the swollen streams — 
 these all are constantly attractive subjects 
 for discussion in almost every issue of a 
 paper, and yet how few publishers avail 
 themselves of it ? . . . It is the appeal 
 of the human interest. Heed it, my young 
 friends, when you are in control of the edi- 
 torial department. 
 
 James H. Callanan. 
 
 Three steps: preparation, duplication, 
 and circulation. — The two ground divisions 
 of newspaper work are editorial manage- 
 ment and business management. You 
 have profits, if you have any, and chari- 
 ties and gifts. The editorial department 
 of a newspaper doesn't directly earn any- 
 thing. It provides the paper which I must 
 sell before I can sell any advertising. The 
 men and women producing a newspaper 
 are not directly producing an income for 
 the paper. Assuming that the editorial 
 side of a newspaper is entirely one of ex- 
 pense, the little diagram follows. First, we 
 get all of the news we can get, all the good 
 service we can get; all the pictures, all the 
 good features and prepare it for printing, 
 and we have — ^what? We have the origi- 
 nal of the newspaper of that one day. Pro- 
 ducing that is our first business. Our next 
 step is producing by mechanical means 
 many copies of that first newspaper. The 
 original is produced in type and metal. No 
 man outside of the mechanical department 
 ever sees it. But our third piece of enter- 
 prise is to sell those copies and sell the 
 right to go in those copies to the people 
 who read them. I count those first three 
 steps the main essentials of a newspaper. 
 Joseph Blethen. 
 
 Thirty editorials and three cotton-mills. 
 
 — In Columbia, S. C, there is a daily news- 
 paper. The State, regarded in the South as 
 one of its best newspapers. A few years 
 ago a mechanical engineer, who had pro- 
 moted the establishment of cotton mills in 
 several communities, was desirous of see- 
 ing a cotton-mill erected in Columbia, his 
 home town. After months of hard work, 
 he had accomplished so little that he de- 
 cided to give up and move. . . . He 
 told the editor of "The State". The lat- 
 ter asked him to wait thirty days. 
 
 The next day "The State" published the 
 first of a series of thirty articles, one each 
 day for a month, on the desirability of a 
 cotton-mill in Columbia. Enough cotton 
 was grown in South Carolina and neigh- 
 boring states to keep the looms of such a 
 mill humming the year round. Cotton 
 goods were in demand all over the world. 
 Labor was abundant, the market would 
 absorb the product as fast as it could be 
 manufactured. The mill could not fail to 
 return substantial dividends. 
 
 Before the end of the thirty days a brick 
 manufacturer said he would furnish the 
 brick for the factory and take his pay in 
 the stock of the company. A lumber dealer 
 agreed to furnish the lumber, a manufac- 
 turer of cast-iron and steel promised to 
 supply these materials, and a contractor 
 guaranteed to put in the foundation — all 
 taking their pay in stock. Such was the 
 public interest that before the mill was 
 completed a second mill was under way; 
 and at the end of another year, a third, 
 having the largest floor area of any cotton- 
 mill in the world, was erected. 
 
 Cited by Frank LeRoy Blanchard. 
 
 The neighborhood's full of subjects. — The 
 
 newspaper should stand for the material as 
 well as the moral and mental betterment of 
 its community. Hence it should keep in 
 touch with the work of the commercial 
 club and the other organizations devoted to 
 the civic welfare. 
 
 The work of the charitable organizations 
 is filled with possibilties of human-interest 
 news. Extreme care should be used, how- 
 ever, in presenting information about char- 
 ity, lest the aim of organized charity — 
 helping men to help themselves — be de- 
 feated. 
 
 Frequent news notes of interest may be 
 obtained, too, from the schools. New 
 methods of teaching, improvements in 
 school buildings, changes in the teaching 
 staff, and all such matters relating to the 
 work of the schools, are of interest to 
 every parent. It is not enough to report 
 the routine meetings of the school board: 
 the editor should strive to keep his readers 
 informed of actual class-room conditions as 
 far as these are of public interest. . . . 
 Church news may also be developed into a 
 valuable feature. Stories may be made 
 from time to time of the activities of vari- 
 ous church organizations, such as the 
 woman's missionary societies and the young 
 people's unions. In the churches as in the 
 schools new methods and ideas are steadily 
 gaining ground. Not long ago, in a Cen- 
 tral Missouri town, a pastor established 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 385 
 
 the first church nursery in the United 
 States. . . . During the service the 
 pastor's study is coverted into a play-room, 
 where young women from one of the Sun- 
 day school classes entertain the children 
 with stories and games. That was an ex- 
 cellent story, widely reprinted throughout 
 the country. In another church the pastor 
 compiled data showing the relative attend- 
 ance of men and women at church services. 
 On his statistics he based a sermon. Here 
 was another good news and editorial story 
 of almost universal appeal. 
 
 Charles G. Ross. 
 
 Window-seat editorials. — The editorials 
 of my paper were run double column under 
 a heading that I called my "Window Seat." 
 To accomplish this I had my typewriter in 
 the front window, and I sat there and 
 wrote. Under this head was this: "Un- 
 der this head the editor wishes to write 
 upon subjects that appeal to him. It may 
 be politics, it may be religion, and it may 
 be about just things. If you like it, read 
 it; if not, pass it up and we will not feel 
 bad. This space is our playground — it be- 
 longs to us and no one else." It was very 
 gratifying indeed on each Friday morning, 
 as my paper appeared, to hear people say- 
 ing: "Well, let's see what O'Day has to 
 say in his windy seat," and they would 
 read this part of the paper first. I put 
 some good stuff in that column, much of 
 what you would call human-interest stuff. 
 Most of it was very ordinary, but I treated 
 it in a very extraordinary way. 
 
 T. J. O'Day. 
 
 1/ Effective principle of the cartoon. — The 
 
 direct more than the indirect appeal holds 
 sway with the ignorant, and hence the 
 simple pre-digested editorials in the Hearst 
 papers are more influential with the multi- 
 tude than the more complex ones in the 
 Evening Post and the Sun. For the same 
 reason pictures, illustrations, large type, 
 plans and drawings, have swayed the great 
 untutored part of the community. And as 
 the simple editorial is more direct in its 
 influence than the scholarly one, so is the 
 cartoon still more effective. It appeals to 
 the primal sense of man, the sense of 
 sight. And it is more potent than the edi- 
 torial in that it can reach all classes of the 
 community. The man in the office can see 
 and appreciate the fine artistic touches that 
 are beyond the vision of his cruder fellow. 
 The cartoon, while preserving its unity, can 
 appeal to more men of widely differing in- 
 
 stinct and education than can the editorial, 
 and its growth has been in proportion to 
 the decline of the latter. 
 
 Roy M. Crismas. 
 
 Cartoons as editorials. — What is the pres- 
 ent ideal of the cartoon. "The best and 
 most telling cartoons," says one authority, 
 ". . . are those which do not merely re- 
 flect public opinion, but guide it. . . . In 
 order to influence public opinion caricature 
 must contain a certain element of prophecy. 
 It must suggest a danger or point an inter- 
 rogation." La Touche Hancock says, "I look 
 upon the cartoon as an editorial; to be a 
 success it should point a moral." Charles 
 L. Bartholomew, the cartoonist of the Min- 
 neapolis Journal, calls cartoons "editorials 
 in outline," and asserts that the drawings 
 of an artist must "present an argument, 
 elucidate the news, or humorously hit off a 
 current event," thus leaving out of account 
 the power for the terrible and the sublime 
 which many of the cartoons of recent date 
 have shown their power to depict. Bar- 
 tholomew, however, believes implicitly in the 
 power of the cartoon. 
 
 Roy M. Crismas. 
 
 The transformed cartoon. — The cartoon 
 has not only undergone a transformation 
 in technique; it has changed in content and 
 purpose. It still retains, of course, its pri- 
 mary character of a political satire, but has 
 extended its function to the censorship of 
 moral and social conditions and the diffu- 
 sion of a broader, more philosophical, more 
 historical view of current events. Its pres- 
 ent aim is not the gratification of the pas- 
 sions of the moment, but the concrete ex- 
 pression in black and white of the great 
 unseen forces that move races and mould 
 their institutions. It seeks not to pander 
 to the partisan, but to give to the man of 
 the street the real inwardness of the day's 
 events in capsule form. 
 
 Roy M. Crismas. 
 
 A people's extension-institute. — Duty 
 pointed out the fact that it was not only 
 right to stop people from spending money 
 for nostrums generally useless and often- 
 times dangerous, but it was essential that 
 we do what we could to keep them in 
 health. So we engaged Dr. Evans, for- 
 merly Health Commissioner of the City of 
 Chicago, and President of the American 
 Medical Association, to act as Health Edi- 
 tor. He does not prescribe, but daily he 
 talks on the text "How to Keep Well." 
 This was an innovation which has been 
 followed by several metropolitan papers 
 
S86 
 
 EDITORULS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 and to-day the medical papers of the coiin- 
 -^- — '~~ "Medical Editors" in 
 
 try are crusading for 
 daily newspapers, 
 
 James Keeley. 
 
 All the arts and sciences are progressing 
 so fast that the weekly papers can scarcely 
 keep up with them— they can only give a 
 moving picture summary of important 
 events. Nothing stays put. The editorial 
 mind must be open, it must love the truth, 
 seek the new and be willing to forget the 
 old when it is superseded. 
 
 Being an editor of a technical paper tor 
 a year will drown a man in his own conceit 
 —or take it all out of him. 
 
 No man can be a successful editor who 
 has not something of the schoolmarm in his 
 blood. Teachers and editors often forget, 
 however, that the pupils to whom they can 
 do the most good are always coming to them 
 and leaving when they have been helped a 
 little. 
 
 Many editors educate themselves beyond 
 the capabilities of their readers to under- 
 stand; they forget that they themselves are 
 the only ones continuously in school. Keep 
 in touch with the work in your field. 
 
 No editor who sticks to his desk can hope 
 to be a success; he must go after things as 
 well as sift the voluntary contributors. 
 
 An established paper with a reputation is 
 an engine which can do much good and much 
 harm. Maybe editors ought to be licensed 
 like other engineers. 
 
 John A. Hill. 
 
 Editors should be selected from direct de- 
 scendants of King Solomon and his first wife 
 — experience is invaluable. 
 
 A small paper may have just as high 
 ideals as a big one, but it is more liable to 
 be fighting for the right to live, and often 
 obliged to do things the easiest way or 
 starve. Such conditions generally mean the 
 starting and developing of pernicious prac- 
 tices which, like other bad habits, are hard 
 to get rid of later on, either for the papers 
 or the men who have been trained there. 
 
 If you aspire to an editorial position, write 
 something that an editor will want to pub- 
 lish, and present it; it won't be long before 
 the editor and the proprietor will be watch- 
 ing you, and making noises like a salary. 
 ^ The editorial is the life blood of the pub- 
 lication. Its conduct is as important to the 
 paper as a well-behaved heart to an athlete. 
 
 John A. Hill. 
 
 Technical papers must aim at the men 
 who do things — men who are responsible 
 
 for results; they need and seek informa- 
 tion, and use it and appreciate it. On the 
 other hand, technical papers must be edited 
 with the assumption that the audience 
 knows the fundamentals of the business. 
 Kindergarten papers cannot accomplish 
 much. The readers are not in responsible 
 positions, they do not buy things nor in- 
 fluence buying, the advertiser will not pay 
 for them, and they themselves cannot sup- 
 port a paper without advertising. 
 
 An editor must not be above his business, 
 and the readers and advertisers are part of 
 the business. He must give the news— that 
 which originates with the advertiser just as 
 much as that originating with the reader. 
 Let him, however, use a little of that blood 
 inherited from Solomon to pick and choose, 
 select news and avoid the concealed advertis- 
 ing which the advertising manager offers 
 him— syndicated from Dan to Beersheba. 
 
 John A. Hill. 
 
 Personal journalism is gone in the cities. 
 There, newspapers are institutions, with in- 
 stitutional characteristics. But personal 
 journalism persists in the country field. 
 What the country paper says editorially 
 still is what the editor has to say about this 
 or that; and everybody knows the editor. 
 F. A. Hazeltine. 
 
 It isn't a mere matter of printing what 
 is fit to print. Every newspaper must have 
 a soul. 
 
 C. A. Kimball. 
 
 There is no shorter route to the compre- 
 hension and convictions of the mentally 
 inert voter than the cartoon, with its in- 
 finite possibilities of simplification in por- 
 traying the situation as one wishes to por- 
 tray it, and the votes of the mentally inert 
 sound just as loudly as any when they are 
 counted. 
 
 F. G. Cooper. 
 
 The editor who is looking for an office 
 is an editor who is compromising with his 
 duty to his newspaper, which is to be fear- 
 less in his editing. 
 
 F. A. Hazeltine. 
 
 In a few instances where powerful inter- 
 ests, whether through ownership or other- 
 wise, have dictated policies which were 
 against the interests of common' welfare, 
 the newspapers thus controlled have lost 
 steadily in circulation and become useless 
 even to their dictators because of lack of 
 influence. 
 
 James Melvin Lee. 
 
IDEALS, SIDELIGHTS, AND HINTS 
 
 887 
 
 A newspaper must lead its own life, and 
 be greater than its owner. It is a public 
 trust. It has no business to warp the facts. 
 Frank S. Baker. 
 
 It is not necessary that an editor and 
 publisher should be a pugilist or a duelist, 
 but it is necessary that he be made of such 
 stuff that he fears no one who prides him- 
 self on these barbarous characteristics. 
 
 Adolph S. Ochs. 
 
 As the world changes, the editorial page 
 should keep in advance of the change and 
 try to help it. The editorial writer should 
 feel the responsibility of his position. If a 
 person does not feel that he has been divine- 
 ly called into journalism, I sincerely believe 
 that he should turn his back and walk no 
 more in the paths of journalism. 
 
 Fred R. Barkhurst. 
 
 If I owned a big newspaper and had 
 plenty of money I would certainly have one 
 man to write funny news, and I would put- 
 it on the editorial page. Our editorial pages 
 are all too serious. Every one laughs. 
 
 E. H. Thomas. 
 
 We have something in our paper every 
 week which touches our neighbors with 
 whom we come in contact socially, and every 
 week, and it grinds us and hurts us to 
 have to publish something in our papers 
 that places our friends in an unfavorable 
 light; yet it very often happens that we 
 have to do so. 
 
 Frederick Omes. 
 
 AUTHORITIES QUOTED 
 
 [Titles and positions named are usually those held 
 at the date of the paper or address.] 
 
 Baker, Frank S., publisher, Tacoma 
 Ledger and Tacoma News-Tribune. 1914. 
 The editorial viewpoint. (Univ. Washington 
 Bui.) 
 
 Barkhurst, Fred S., managing editor, St. 
 Joseph Gazette. 1915. What the city paper 
 expects of its editorial writers. (Univ. Mis- 
 souri Bui.) 
 
 Barton, Dante, editorial writer, Kansas 
 City Star. 1913. The new editorial page. 
 (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Bechdolt, Jack, staff of Seattle Post-Intel- 
 ligencer. 1915. Address, The feature story, 
 Univ. of Washington. (Univ. Washington 
 Bui.) . 
 
 Blake, Henry W., editor in chief. Electric 
 Railway Journal. 1919. Editing the tech- 
 nical publication. (Address before the Con- 
 ference of Business-Paper Editors; press 
 report.) 
 
 Blanchard, Frank Le Roy, executive sec- 
 retary Advertising Club of New York, for- 
 merly editor of Editor and Publisher, et al. 
 
 1914. Community service. (Univ. Kansas 
 News-Bulletin.) 
 
 Blethen, Joseph, president Seattle Times. 
 
 1915. Address, Univ. Washington. Prob- 
 lems of management. (Univ. Washington 
 Bui.) 
 
 Bone, Scott C, editor in chief Seattle 
 Post-Intelligencer. 1914. The newspaper 
 as an agency for social service. (Address, 
 Univ. Washington; Univ. Wash. Bui.) 
 
 Boughton, A. C, St. Louis manager Man- 
 ufacturers' Record. 1915. The new era in 
 advertising. (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Brundige, H. W., editor Los Angeles 
 Tribune, Los Angeles Express. 1914. The 
 editorial page. (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Caldwell, R. S., Lewis County, Mo., Jour- 
 nal. 1913. Making a newspaper pay in a 
 town of less than 500. (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Callanan, James H., editor and publisher 
 Schenectary Union Star. 1914. The sur- 
 vival of the fittest in newspaper making. 
 (Address, New York University.) 
 
 Clark, Champ, congressman, speaker of 
 the House, etc. 1915. Address, University 
 of Missouri. (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Coolidge, Cafvin. 1920. Governor's ad- 
 dress to Editorial Association. (Newspaper 
 report.) 
 
 Cooper, F. G., Collier's Weekly. 1915. 
 Address, The work of the cartoonist, Univ. 
 Missouri. (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Crismas, Roy M. 1910. Thesis, Is the 
 cartoon superseding the editorial? (Univ. 
 Washington.) 
 
 Daniels, Josephus, publisher Raleigh News 
 and Observer. 1920. Reported by The 
 Fourth Estate. 
 
 Dillon, Tom, managing editor Seattle 
 Post-Intelligencer. 1915. The editorial 
 page. (Univ. Washington Bui.) 
 
 Dotter, Mrs. T. E., local editor Sullivan, 
 Mo., News. 1913. Country journalism for 
 women. (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Fenwick, A. R., editor Everett, Wash., 
 Tribune. 1916. The unethical public. 
 Newspaper Institute, Univ. Washington. 
 (Univ. Washington Bui.) 
 
 Finn, Bernard, editor and publisher Sar- 
 coxie. Mo., Record. 1915. The editorial in 
 the country newspaper. (Univ. Missouri 
 Bui.) 
 
 Haskell, Henry J., associate editor of 
 Kansas City Star. 1912. The editorial page: 
 what and why. (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
388 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Hazeltine, F. A., editor and publisher, 
 South Bend, Wash., Journal. 1914. Fear- 
 lessness in editing a country newspaper; 
 1909-10, Joys and opportunities of a coun- 
 try editor. (Univ. Washington Buls.) 
 
 Herbert, B. B., late editor and publisher 
 National Printer -Journalist. 1914. Educating 
 the newspaper man. (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Hill, John A., McGraw-Hill Publishing 
 Company; American Machinist, Power, Coal 
 Age, Engineering and Mining, et al. 1915. 
 Lectures in industrial journalism. New York 
 University. (Advertising and Selling, 
 pubrs.) 
 
 Hooper, Osman C, department of jour- 
 nalism, Ohio State University, formerly edi- 
 torial writer Columbus Dispatch. 1916. Ad- 
 dress, The editorial page, Ohio State Univ. 
 (Journalism Buls., O. S. U..) 
 
 Hunter, Herbert, editor Tacoma News. 
 1915.) Address, Accuracy. (Univ. Wash- 
 ington Bui.) 
 
 Keeley, James, managing editor and gen- 
 eral manager Chicago Tribune 1898-1914, 
 editor Chicago Herald 1914-1918. 1913. Ad- 
 dress, Newspaper work. Newspaper Insti- 
 Univ. Washington. (Univ. Washington Bui.) 
 
 Kimball, C. A., Columbia, Mo., Times. 
 
 Lee, James Melvin, director department 
 of journalism. New York University, for- 
 merly editor of Judge, etc. History of 
 American Journalism. (Houghton Mifflin 
 Co.) 
 
 McDougal, H. F., Maryville, Mo., Tribune. 
 
 McGraw, James H., president McGraw- 
 Hill Publishing Company; owner and pub- 
 lisher' of Electrical World, Engineering 
 Record, etc., etc. 1915. Lectures in indus- 
 trial journalism. New York University. 
 (Advertising and Selling, pubrs.) 
 
 Mattison, R. H., manager Exploitation and 
 Industrial Bureau, New Chamber of Com- 
 merce, Seattle. 1913. Address, The news- 
 paper and industrial development. News- 
 paper Institute, Univ. Washington. (Univ. 
 Washington Bui.) 
 
 Nelson, W. R., late publisher of the Kansas 
 City Times and Kansas City Star. 1914. 
 (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Ochs, Adolph S., owner Chattanooga 
 Times, publisher New York Times. 1916. 
 Address before the National Editorial Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 Otis, General Harrison Gray, late pub- 
 lisher of The Los Angeles Times. 
 
 O'Day, T. J., former editor Maiden, Wash., 
 Register, director of printing department 
 Washington State College. 1916. News- 
 paper individuality. Newspaper Institute, 
 Univ. Washington. (Univ. Washington Bui.) 
 O'Neill, Charles H., editor Walla Walla 
 Valley Spectator. 1916. The public inter- 
 
 est. Newspaper Institute, Univ. Washing- 
 ton. (Univ. Washington Bui.) 
 
 Ornes, Frederick, editor-owner Mt. Ver- 
 non, Wash., Argus; Stanwood Bulletin. 
 
 1915. (Univ. Washington Bui.) 
 
 Payne, Georgje Henry, History of Journal- 
 ism in the United States. (D. Appleton and 
 Company, 1920). 
 
 Patterson, Wright A., editor in chief 
 Western Newspaper Union, Chicago. 1913. 
 How the country newspaper may help itself. 
 (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Phelan, Rev. Father David S., editor West- 
 em Watchman. 1915. Fifty years of church 
 journalism. (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Powell, John B., editor and manager Mil- 
 lard's Review; formerly journalism staff, 
 Univ. Missouri. 1914. Building a circula- 
 tion. (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Rickey, H. N., editorial director Scripps- 
 McRae League of newspapers. 1914. The 
 making of a newspaper. (Univ. Missouri 
 Bui.) 
 
 Ross, Charles G., journalism staff Univ. 
 Missouri. 1913. The news in the country 
 paper. (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Ruffner, 0. A., editor Seattle News. 1915. 
 Address, Univ. Washington. The neighbor- 
 hood paper. (Univ. Washington Bui.) 
 
 Selvin, Edwin, editor and publisher Busi- 
 ness Chronicle of Pacific Northwest, former- 
 ly financial editor Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 
 
 1916. The editor's responsibility to his read- 
 ers' savings and investments. Newspaper 
 Institute, Univ. Washington. (Univ. Wash- 
 ington Bui.) 
 
 Simmons, E. A., Simmons-Boardman Pub- 
 lishing Company; Railway Age, Railway 
 Electrical Engineering, Railway Mechanical 
 Engineering, et al. 1915. Lectures in in- 
 dustrial journalism, New York University. 
 (Advertising and Selling, pubrs.) 
 
 Symon, James D., The press and its story. 
 (Seeley, Service & Co., London.) 
 ' Thomas, Miss Clara Chapline, Minneapo- 
 lis Tribune staff. 1913. City journalism for 
 women. (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
 Thomas, E. H. 1914. Newspaper Insti- 
 tute, Univ. Washington. (Univ. Washing- 
 ton Bui.) 
 
 Ukers, W. H., editor and publisher Tea 
 and Coffee Trade Journal, president New 
 York Trade Press Association. 1915. Lec- 
 tures in industrial journalism. New York 
 University. (Advertising and Selling, 
 pubrs.) 
 
 White, Edgar, article on Newspaper 
 Ideals, Inland Printer, June 1920. 
 
 Viilard, Oswald Garrison, editor and pres- 
 ident New York Evening Post, now editor 
 and owner. New York Nation. 1914. Ad- 
 dress, Some weaknesses of modern journal- 
 
EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 389 
 
 ism. (Univ. Kansas News Bulletin.) School of Journalism, Pulitzer foundation, 
 
 Welch, Charles B., editor Tacoma News- Columbia University, staff of New York 
 
 Tribune. 1913. Address, Reporters and World, editorial writer Philadelph a Press, 
 
 reportorial work, Univ. Washington. (Univ. etc. 1912. Reporter's digest of address, The 
 
 Washington Bui.) profession of journalism, Univ. Missouri. 
 
 Williams, Dr. Talcott, formerly director (Univ. Missouri Bui.) 
 
IL OUTLINE FOR STUDY OF EDITORIALS 
 
 Students who, for professional or other 
 reasons, wish to increase their intimate un- 
 derstanding of editorial-writing, or to make 
 themselves proficient in its manifold appli- 
 cations, will find help in the following out- 
 line. The questions provide a means of 
 studying the essentials of effective editorial 
 presentation as found in actual practice and 
 illustrated by it. Though designed mainly 
 for use in studying the editorials reprinted 
 in this volume, they are equally helpful 
 when applied to editorials in the current 
 journals and periodicals. 
 
 OUTLINE 
 
 L Adaptedness. 
 
 IL Purpose, spirit and type, 
 
 III. Sources. 
 
 IV. Structure and development. 
 V. Tone, style, and diction. 
 
 VI. The editorial page. 
 
 L ADAPTEDNESS 
 
 1. In what paper does the editorial ap- 
 pear ? 
 
 2. Character of this paper? Its edi- 
 torial policy? Agreement or conflict be- 
 tween the news policy and the editorial- 
 page policy? Agreement of the particu- 
 lar editorial with the paper's editorial 
 policy ? 
 
 3. Circulation of the paper? Is it local 
 or more than local? How extensive be- 
 yond the local territory? 
 
 4. Class of readers aimed at by the pa- 
 per? Their degree of education — high, 
 moderate, or low? Their occupations? 
 Their standards of living and of taste? 
 
 5. Influence of the readers' standards on 
 the editorial in question? Does it recog- 
 nize and adapt itself to the capacities of 
 these readers? Does it show excessive 
 yielding, or the contrary, to questionable 
 standards ? How ? 
 
 6. Does the editorial recognize and 
 adapt itself to the point of view of these 
 readers ? 
 
 7. Is it well or ill adapted to the "aver- 
 age" reader? Interest of the subject to 
 the average reader? Of the thought? Of 
 the treatment? 
 
 8. Has the writer shown sound judg- 
 ment in determining the length of the edi- 
 torial with reference to (a) his readers and 
 
 (b)_the subject and theme? With refer- 
 ence to _(c) the relative importance of the 
 ilrafter, and the space taken, in comparison 
 with the other editorials and the tot^ space 
 assigned to editorials? 
 
 9. Has the writer chosen the most suit- 
 able or effective aspects of the subject? 
 Significance of those chosen? Their ap- 
 propriateness? Their interest and appeal? 
 Can you siiggest better ones? \ 
 
 10. Is the editorial superficial ? Insub- 
 stantial ? Does it "side-step" the signifi- 
 cant aspects of the subject? 
 
 IL PURPOSE, SPIRIT, AND TYPE. 
 
 1. With what purpose is the editorial 
 written — to entertain, to instruct, to con-' 
 vince, or to appeal to the feelings? j 
 
 2. To what class of editorials do you 
 assign it (Part I, Chapters II-XII) ? To 
 what sub-class ? Give your reasons for 
 the classification? i 
 
 3. In its attitude, is the editorial fair?j 
 Does it reveal prejudice or bias? \ 
 
 4. In presenting the matter, is the edi- ' 
 torial honest? Does it suppress, distort, 
 or misrepresent facts? Has it been twisted 
 to agree with some special purpose or par- 
 ticular policy? Is it written too much 
 from the viewpoint of a limited or distinct I 
 class? Defend your criticism. ^ 
 
 5. Does the editorial tend toward a 
 wholesome influence? Does it give the 
 impression of approving, excusing, or be- 
 ing indifferent toward wrong? Does it 
 treat serious matters flippantly or frivo- 
 lously? Does it reveal sound taste and I 
 ideals ? 
 
 HL SOURCES. 
 
 1. Where or how did the writer get his^s 
 first idea for the editorial? 
 
 2. Whence did he draw his materials? 
 From the news-columns ? magazines? 
 records and documents? reference booksjf 
 general reading and information? inter- 
 views or intercourse with authorities and 
 specialists? personal experience? reflec- 
 tion? What is there by which you can, 
 judge ? 
 
 3. What has he done to modify or adapt 
 this material in order to fit it for editorial 
 presentation ? 
 
OUTLINE FOR STUDY 
 
 891 
 
 [V. STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
 1. To which of the four basic "forms of 
 literature" does the editorial belong — ex- 
 position, argumentation, narration, or de- 
 scription? (Cf. II, 1-2, above.) Is it sup- 
 pressed argument or advocacy? 
 
 2. Does it utilize any of the other forms 
 to help out in its development? 
 
 3. Are the introduction and connecting 
 lip of such parts skilfully managed? 
 
 4. Do these parts agree with the tone 
 and purpose of the editorial? Do they in- 
 crease its effectiveness? 
 
 5. Does the editorial employ quotation? 
 Does it quote incidentally, or is quotation 
 its chief dependence? Is the extensive 
 quotation justified? 
 
 6. Is the editorial long or short? Is it 
 eisurely in its advance, or rapid and force- 
 ful? 
 
 7. Does it depend upon any special 
 sources of influence or appeal, such as hu- 
 man-interest, timeliness, business or do- 
 mestic significance, local importance, and 
 30 on? Is the development built upon this 
 element ? 
 
 3. Does the editorial set forth its sub- 
 ject and theme at the first, or does it work 
 ap to the announcement of them further 
 Dn? 
 
 9. Is this announcement postponed to 
 ;he end? Is the effect more forceful as a 
 consequence? Is the editorial able to 
 liold the reader's interest through to this 
 postponed announcement? Does the edi- 
 orial close with some sort of surprise- 
 effect? 
 
 10. Does the editorial increase in vigor 
 and interest as it proceeds (i. e., has it a 
 climactic rise) ? Does the treatment pro- 
 duce suspense, or forward-grasping in- 
 terest ? 
 
 11. Do any of the parts show a climactic 
 development within themselves? 
 
 12. Does the editorial consist of one 
 imple, unified thought from first to last, 
 
 or is it composed of several distinct 
 thoughts built in together to form the 
 whole ? 
 
 13. If the development is climactic, by 
 what means is the Climax built up? 
 
 14. Is the close emphatic — strong and 
 impressive? What means is employed to 
 make it so? 
 
 15. If the ending is not of the emphatic 
 dnd, is it nevertheless complete and effec- 
 tive? Is this ending in keeping with the 
 ubject-matter and the method of develop- 
 ment employed? 
 
 16. Is an effective stopping-place 
 reached before the end? Is the editorial 
 justified in continuing beyond this stop- 
 ping-place? Does it reach another effec- 
 tive stopping-place, or merely trail on and 
 run out ? How * can this fault in it be 
 remedied? Is too much being crowded into 
 the editorial, or are too many phases of 
 the subject introduced? 
 
 17. Is the opening portion of the edi- 
 torial either too long or too short compared 
 with the rest? The closing portion? 
 
 18. Is the editorial rambling or diffuse? 
 Too compressed to be clear? to be thor- 
 ough? Does it attempt too much for a 
 single editorial? 
 
 19. What is the central or guiding, 
 thought? Is it definitely stated? If not, 
 is it clearly evident from the editorial? 
 
 20. Does the editorial take up the logi- 
 cal divisions of the central thought one 
 after another, separately, in regular 
 order ? 
 
 21. If not, how is the logical ordering 
 of the contents provided for? Is a logi- 
 cal framework, or skeleton, evident in the 
 editorial ? 
 
 22. Could the contents be given a better 
 order or arrangement? Outline it. 
 
 23. Is the connection of each main divi- 
 sion of the editorial with the other parts, 
 made clear? The connection between the 
 paragraphs? Between the sentences? Is 
 any insertion of connectives or transitions 
 needed to produce coherence? Is there 
 any over-use of connectives? 
 
 V. TONE, STYLE, AND DICTION. 
 
 1. In what mood and tone is the edi- 
 torial? Are these appropriate to its sub- 
 ject? To its purpose? 
 
 2. By what means is the tone produced ? 
 
 3. Is the editorial impersonal in man- 
 ner? Too much so? 
 
 4. Is it authoritative in manner? Pre- 
 tentiously or offensively so? Does it give 
 the impression of a condescending or "su- 
 perior" attitude? Of lacking conviction, 
 courage, or assured knowledge? Of being 
 a re-hash of others' views? 
 
 5. On what does its impression of au- 
 thority depend? Is the writer qualified to 
 write upon the subject? 
 
 6. What evidences of scholarship or 
 learning does it show? Of the writer's 
 special study of the subject? 
 
 7. What evidences of experience, or of 
 personal acquaintance with the subject, on 
 the part of the writer, does it show? 
 
392 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 8. What evidences do you find in it that 
 its writer is a man of shrewd, balanced 
 mind, and dependable judgment? 
 
 9. Does the writer estimate his public 
 accurately? Does he know how to make 
 a legitimate appeal to readers? 
 
 10. What personal traits, interests, and 
 sympathies does it indicate in its writer? 
 
 11. Does it reveal clear, simple, and di- 
 rect thinking? Confused or obscure 
 thought? Complex, intricate, and involved 
 thinking ? 
 
 12. How many words do the paragraphs 
 average? How many lines in type? Do 
 you find paragraphs that are too long or 
 too short, judging by the eye? 
 
 13. Are the individual paragraphs dis- 
 tinct, self-contained, complete units of the 
 thought? 
 
 14. Are the particulars within the para- 
 graphs well ordered and clearly connected? 
 
 15. At the opening of the paragraphs, 
 does the thought stand out so as to com- 
 mand immediate attention? 
 
 16. Do the paragraphs round out their 
 thought well at the end? What propor- 
 tion of them round it out by means of an 
 emphatic ending? 
 
 17. What is the longest sentence? The 
 shortest? The average length of the sen- 
 tences ? 
 
 18. Are there too many either of short 
 or of long sentences? Of any one kind of 
 sentence? (See Nos. 24-28.) 
 
 19. Are long and short sentences so dis- 
 tributed as to produce a pleasing alterna- 
 tion? Is there a tendency to use short 
 sentences to present details, and longer 
 sentences to sum them up? Are sentences 
 of different constructions distributed 
 through the paragraphs in a way to pro- 
 duce a pleasing variety? 
 
 20. Do the paragraphs begin with short 
 or with long sentences? With which do 
 they end ? Are the sentences used in these 
 positions effective? 
 
 21. Are the successive sentences so con- 
 structed that they "hitch on" to each other 
 closely? Clearly? Smoothly? 
 
 22. Are any sentences long or difficult 
 enough to require a second reading? 
 
 23. Are the sentences dull, flat, color- 
 less? Are they monotonous in structure 
 or tone? Are they so built as to make 
 their leading ideas prominent? 
 
 24. What proportion of the sentences 
 are simple? Compound? Complex? Are 
 there clauses that contain a string of sub- 
 ordinate constructions that depend on one 
 
 other in a way that is awkward or confus- 
 ing — as in this question? 
 
 25. Are sentences of suspended thought 
 (periodic sentences) used? To what ex- 
 tent? 
 
 26. Are inverted sentences used? To 
 what extent? Are the inversions made 
 for the sake of a good connection with the 
 preceding sentence, or for the sake of em- 
 phasis or distinction in the expression? 
 
 27. Are there sentences of antithesis, 
 or other forms of "balanced" or "parallel" 
 construction? Are they numerous? Do 
 they produce a good effect? 
 
 28. Are "loose" . sentences unduly fre- 
 quent? Are there weak, straggling, or 
 sprawling sentences? 
 
 29. Are the sentences unified, or are un- 
 related particulars joined in the same sen- 
 tence? Are there sentences of the string- 
 of -sausage-links kind? 
 
 30. Do the sentences show grammatical 
 correctness? Idiomatic naturalness and 
 vigor ? 
 
 31. Is punctuation so used in the sen- 
 tences as to set off their thought-divisions 
 clearly to the eye, thus aiding in quick un- 
 derstanding and accurate comprehension? 
 
 32. What punctuation-marks are least 
 used? 
 
 33. Does the editorial lack conciseness 
 of expression? 
 
 34. Is it too profuse in particulars and 
 details? Does it need general compres- 
 sion? 
 
 35. Does it employ hackneyed expres- 
 sions, or is it fresh and vital in vocabulary 
 and phrasings? 
 
 36. Are there adjectives or adverbs that 
 can be struck out without loss to the 
 thought? With benefit to the sentence? 
 Are there longer modifying elements that 
 can be omitted to advantage? 
 
 37. Does it use phrases as modifiers 
 where single words would do as well? 
 Clauses where phrases or single words 
 would be sufficient? 
 
 38. Does it show an over-fondness for 
 superlatives ? 
 
 39. Does it weaken its expression by 
 use of the pa<=sive voice where the active 
 verb is available? 
 
 40. Are its verbs specific? Its nouns? 
 Its adjectives and adverbs? 
 
 41. Are its words and phrasings chosen 
 to convey precise shades of meaning? If 
 not, were they chosen carelessly, or rather 
 
OUTLINE FOR STUDY 
 
 393 
 
 to convey the thought in a broader form 
 for the sake of general clarity to a larger 
 number of readers? 
 
 42. Are the words common? Familiar? 
 Reasonably understandable ? 
 
 43. Are technical or other unfamiliar 
 terms defined, or so managed as to explain 
 themselves ? 
 
 44. Do the unusual or unfamiliar words 
 justify themselves in the editorial in ques- 
 tion? What is gained by means of them? 
 
 45. To what extent are words of recent 
 origin used? Slang and cant? Provin- 
 cialisms? Colloquialisms? Do they jus- 
 tify themselves? 
 
 46. Is the vocabulary to be described as 
 pedantic ? Scholarly ? Popular ? 
 
 47. Do most of the expressions state 
 the thought outright, or do some of them 
 convey it by implication or suggestion in- 
 stead of by direct assertion? 
 
 48. Point out the words and expressions 
 that thus ''connote" rather than "denote" 
 ideas. 
 
 49. Point out the expressions that "con- 
 note" elements of feeling, emotion, imagi- 
 nation, and the liice. 
 
 50. Are figures of speech used? Are 
 they helpful? Appropriate? Are they 
 figures that promote clearness and concrete- 
 ness, or figures that promote force? 
 
 51. In general, is the editorial matter- 
 of-fact in expression, or does its diction 
 and manner have a touch of the literary, 
 imaginative, or artistic? 
 
 VI. THE EDITORIAL PAGE. 
 
 1. In what section of the paper is the 
 editorial page? In what part of the sec- 
 tion? Is this a prominent position? Is 
 the editorial page always in the same place ? 
 What kind of matter runs on the page op- 
 posite it? 
 
 2. What proportion of the page is de- 
 voted strictly to editorials? Is a fixed 
 daily space allotted to editorials? How 
 much? If no space is assigned, how much 
 variation is there in the space they occupy 
 from day to day? 
 
 3. What comes at the top of column 1? 
 Is it "standing matter"? Is there a pub- 
 lisher's-announcement ? On what part of 
 the page ? What does it contain ? Does it 
 differ from those in other papers? Does 
 the page carry more than one such an- 
 nouncement ? 
 
 4. At the top of column 1 of the edi- 
 torials, is there a standing statement of 
 the editorial policy or "platform" of the pa- 
 
 per? Have you seen this "flag nailed to 
 the masthead" in any other position on 
 editorial pages? 
 
 5. Does a weather editorial, a quotation, 
 or something else in the way of a regular 
 "feature," lead the matter in. the editorial 
 columns ? 
 
 6. Where is the "leading article," or 
 chief editorial, placed among the editorials 
 of the day? Is this also the longest edi- 
 torial ? How is the fact that it is the lead- 
 ing editorial indicated to the eye? 
 
 7. How are the "shorts" and "para- 
 graphics" fplaced with reference to the 
 headlined editorials? Is any filler per- 
 mitted, to "plug holes" at the bottom of 
 the columns containing editorials? 
 
 8. What is the length of the longest 
 editorials printed without a headline? 
 What position is given them with reference 
 to the other editorial matter? 
 
 9. Has the paper any special practices 
 concerning its editorials, such as limiting 
 them to a maximum length, printing but 
 one a day (of a fixed length), and the like? 
 
 10. What size of type is used? Are 
 some of the editorials set in smaller type 
 than the rest? Why? Is the type set 
 "solid," or is it "leaded out" to leave a 
 space of white between the lines? (In 
 this book, the text-matter is in 10-point 
 (long primer) solid; the reprinted editorials 
 are in 8-point (brevier) solid; the comment 
 following the specimens in Part I is in 6- 
 point (nonpareil) solid. Is any ornamental 
 typography introduced? 
 
 11. Are the editorial columns empha- 
 sized to the eye by giving them "display" 
 — as, by leading out; by using larger type; 
 by using a wider measure (i. e., a wider 
 column with fewer columns to the page, 
 or a line running across two columns); by 
 using a different type-face, as boldface or 
 italic instead of roman; by "boxing" the 
 editorial (printing it surrounded by lines 
 in the form of a box) ? 
 
 12. Is all the editorial matter given 
 equal display, or are some editorials given 
 increased display in comparison with the 
 rest ? What reasons do you see for empha- 
 sizing the editorial-columns or giving them 
 distinction to the eye by means of mechani- 
 cal devices? Does it result in a pleasing 
 impression? Make the page command at- 
 tention? Increase its effectiveness? Sug- 
 gest the relative importance of the edi- 
 torials ? 
 
 13 Are words or passages emphasized 
 within the editorial by printing them in 
 italic or boldface type, or capital letters? 
 
394 
 
 EDITORIALS AND EDITORIAL-WRITING 
 
 Do you deem this good practice? Is the 
 emphasis justified in the editorial you are 
 considering ? 
 
 14. In what "style" are the headlines 
 printed? — italic capitals, roman capitals, 
 boldface roman capitals, boldface capitals 
 and lower-case (small letters)? Are the 
 headlines of the same point and face as 
 the body-type of the editorial? If not, is 
 the combination of faces and sizes har- 
 monious ? 
 
 15. Are all the heads the same in style, 
 or is a different style of head used over 
 some of the editorials ? Do you see a rea- 
 son for the difference? Are all the edi- 
 torials that carry the same style of head 
 placed together? 
 
 16. Are headlines of more than one 
 "deck" or "bank" permitted? (A deck is 
 a distinct unit, or division, consisting of a 
 separate line or group of lines of type.) 
 
 17. Most editorial headlines are one-line 
 one-deckers. In the page you are studying, 
 are the words ever permitted to run over, 
 forming a two-line one-decker? Is the 
 two-line head as pleasing to the eye as the 
 one-line head? 
 
 18. Are any of. the heads "cut in" heads 
 (cut into the body of the paragraph on the 
 left-hand side) ? Are any of the cut-in 
 heads boxed? Do they look as well when 
 boxed? Are boxed heads used above any 
 of the editorials? Over any other kind of 
 matter on the page? 
 
 19. By what typographical device is the 
 end of the editorial and the break between 
 it and the next one, Indicated? By means 
 of "ornaments"? Of single lines ("rules")? 
 Of parallel rules? Of double rules (one 
 heavy, one light) ? Is the same device 
 used throughout? 
 
 20. Besides the editorials proper, what 
 departments or features appear regularly 
 on the editorial page? Do they appear 
 daily, or recur on stated days only? Are 
 literary, illustrated, or art features used? 
 Are they syndicated? 
 
 21. Is any news printed on the edi- 
 trial page? Any advertising? 
 
 22. What is the nature of the editorial- 
 page departments and features? Do they 
 justify their association on the page with 
 the editorials proper? To what ex- 
 tent are they in the nature of editorial 
 writings ? 
 
 23. Does the page carry editorials quoted 
 from other papers? Are they carried as a 
 department, or distributed like filler accord- 
 ing to the space available? 
 
 24. Are cartoons printed? Daily? How 
 often? How many columns wide? Are 
 they of the same size every day? Always 
 by the same cartoonist? Has the paper 
 its own cartoonist, or are its cartoons syn- 
 dicated ? 
 
 25. Is the subject of the cartoon always 
 a news subject? How often is it political? 
 Are human-interest cartoons used? Is 
 the cartoon usually editorial in its effect, 
 or does it incline toward illustration? 
 
 26. Are any other engravings ("cuts") 
 used on the page? Are they standing 
 cuts, such as pictures of department con- 
 ductors, designs symbolizing the nature of 
 the department, and the like? 
 
 27. Are letters from readers printed? 
 Is a regular department devoted to such 
 letters? Does it seem popular? How 
 much space is given it? To what 
 extent is controversy permitted in it? 
 Are letters printed that criticize the atti- 
 tude or policy of the paper? Are the 
 letters printed without comment, or is edi- 
 torial comment or response sometimes ap- 
 pended? Are the headlines placed over 
 the letters fair? Accurate? Do you dis- 
 cover any indication of faked letters? 
 
 28. Does verse appear on the editorial 
 page? Is it a daily feature? Of what 
 character is it? Is it timely? Topical? 
 Serious? Light? Is it always printed in 
 the same position? Is it supplied by a 
 syndicate or direct from the author? Does 
 the verse come regularly from a few writ- 
 ers, or some member of the staff, or from 
 general contributors? 
 
 29. Is the page printed with an art lay- 
 out, or other spread of illustration or an 
 ornamental or showy make-up ? 
 

 
 IRIPPUNG RHYMES by Walt Ma«)n|ii?;jr5S^'^l3 
 
 
 glance wiQ f»]r. "IVua do roor SMMraf cartr, and cive'> 'r!l »-*S 
 
 
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 ^\l'jr. ^^"^ ~ *• Z I Bobs e r v a is t | , "= w^is'pw £!iS^i!> ^ SJ^'^nvrSiS 
 
 
 
 
 
 WHERE ONE H^LFS ALL 
 
 A STRONG REUGIOUS 
 BACKGROUND 
 
 frvmott PatriolUm 
 
 Strcnftbcn* Busincu Moral* 
 
 TTffi UNITAWiW CAJffAIGN 
 
 •eeka $3,000,000 b«l«MO I 
 
 Avoids the heavy, and aims at easy readability and breadth of appeal. Inclines to good-^ 
 nature and humor in its attitude. — (Boston Post). 
 
THE sraiKGyrELD UN'ION: MONDAV. NOVEMBER n. IWO 
 
 ^' About evenly balanced between editorials, on the whole of serious purport, and the 
 diverse correspondence of The People's Forum. The features give variety and a leaven 
 I of lighter mood.— (Springfield Union). 
 
unn-T KCrVBLICXN! THUHSPAT, g|!.KlMIBe.K 
 
 Independent, cultured and scholarly in tradition and ideals. Its standards are reflected 
 
 in the way in which the page is dressed, unless the cartoon can be regarded afe a departure 
 
 from consei-vative restraint.— (Springfield Republican). 
 
THE NEW YOKK TIMES. MONDAY. NOVEMBER 22, 1920. 
 
 ' Srft"''No?.*lh'^^"i^V''^^^/^^^^ ^"^ ^^^""^^^' combining the older tone with the" modem 
 spirit. Note the division of more cursory editorials run under the heading "Topics of 
 
 the Times."— (New York Times). 
 
Compact, aggressive, vigorous, and aiming at both variety and readability. Like the 
 rimes, emphasizes the editorial interest rather than the interest in features. — (New 
 
 York World). 
 
. J»CO0flVU.lI. FIOUEA. TUUCAt. KUVt«l»»« It, IW. 
 
 THEFLORlDATmES-ViylOfI 
 
 THE FlORmA PUBUSHWC COWAKT 
 
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 SALVATION OF VS. COTTON SOinU 
 
 A COMBINATION FARMER 
 
 cm ».» 'bo mo.. I 
 
 PROSPEROL'S BUT FIZZLED 
 
 
 
 IS IT FOR THE GENERAL GOOD) 
 
 
 FLORIDA SUNSHINE 
 
 
 THE OVERTHROW OF WRANCa 
 
 SHORT TALKS 
 
 
 
 
 
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 ^,K^^j^|Jf^R£^:K 
 
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 Note typography, presswork, and display throughout page, and compare it in these 
 respects with the next following page. State and sectional matters are prominent. 
 
 — (Florida Times Union.) 
 
^HJ^.LH^..XS?^'^ 
 
 THK DAILY XEW8. TUESDAY. NOVEMBEII 10. 1»20. 
 
 
 COUPER US AND OTHERS 
 
 STOKY OP -A MAfI WHO LOVES HIS CAKE 
 
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 <g. Ir-rr 
 
 mHITlTiHET-Jit.iMi 
 
 Emphasizes features. Crowding is offset to some extent by drawings and ornamental heads. 
 Features and "reading-interest" are prominent. — (Chicago News). 
 
nn-WAtTCgK HEynyFt.. mospay. November i«. i»«) 
 
 
 
 TkaCarrccI Buu. 
 
 lU T>Ul I^t > 1.W WO.CII 1. 
 
 WouM B«r Mr. I 
 
 t FuiMn- Wma. 
 
 TOLD BY SEWTIWEL FILES- | 
 
 
 A balanced and neat-appearing page. Observe how it is dressed to proportion by dis- 
 tribution of boxed heads, illustration, and wide-measure. — (Milwaukee Sentinel). 
 
THE KAN SAS C ITY .STAR 
 
 i,'K,j::re.a 
 
 jyjsgajg 
 
 Well known f o r individuality and general high quality. Adheres to conservative 
 tvooo-raDhv and make-up. A thread of news-interest runs through most of its three-state 
 ^^ " ^ notes and comment.— (Kansas City Star). 
 
THU WICHITA EAahR. THURSDAY MOHMSG. XOV EMBER 2.>. 1020 
 
 
 
 
 home-subject tTottVnoo7-twiZ E^I^T'"^ ''"*" """' '"^^ 
 

 LEADING NEWSPAPER OF THE CXJAST 
 
 »rjn)A.T. 50TEXBEB 14. !»»• 
 
 Individual in display and balance scheme. Note news cartoon. Study the somewhat 
 
 ornamental dress of the page, and the use of 2-column, single-column, and 2- to 3- 
 
 column measures. — (San Francisco Chronicle). 
 

 Ki^Sfci^^^ 
 
 
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 OP ASSESSED FOR P^>^^ ^HE PENALTY 
 ;TI increase to 50CENTS^ ^^^^^„ ^,, 
 DAY AND TO $t-0« 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 3lM 
 3 1954 
 
 Li)21-l00m-7.'40 (6936s) 
 
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 YC 01420 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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