Did What Wilson Did To Mexico masses of the people would not join he ranks of Carranza. Obregon then impressed the "First Chief" with the idea that he must cater to the I. W. W. element. Again we pick up the red thread through the maze. An alliance was formed with the adicals, and their organization was made an official arm of the "government" and the nucleus of the first proletarian army. The I. W. W. of communist organization in Mexico, sprang from the Graphic Arts Confederation, founded 1910 by two Spanish Communists. A little later, in 1911, some of its members separated and formed the "Casa del Obrero Mundial" (House of the Workers of the World) as a branch of the I. W. W. of the United States. Early m 1911, the expenses of this Mexican organization were being paid by the revolutionaries. When Madero came Carranza did not know that this compact would take him to the enactment of the Constitution of 1917, and later on to his assassination. With the aid of the "Workers of the World" and with a free hand to plunder, Obregon was in a position to meet Villa, who was coming from the north. The encounter took place in the vicinity of the city of Celaya. They fought until Villa retired because of lack of ammunition. The sufferings of the Mexican peo-· Page 911 none of your business how they go about the business. Haven't the European nations taken as long as they wanted and spilled as much blood as they pleased in settling their affairs? Shall we deny that to Mexico because she is weak?" Above all, if President Wilson had wanted to relieve my unfortunate country, he should have used the legal and efficacious means he had at hand. That is, the embargo on arms and ammunition. ple during the struggle between Car- VILL ranzistas and Villistas is very accurately described in a note addressed by President Wilson to Carranza and Villa on July 2, 1915. After stating that for more than two years Mexico had been in revolution and that the leaders, at the very hour of success, had disagreed and turned their arms against one another, President Wilson said: into power, his brother Gustave incor- M porated the Casa del Obrero Mundial in the "Blackjack," as an instrument of intimidation and terror. Carranza established the Mexican I. W. W. openly and assisted its work until it was transformed into the C. R. O. M. (Confederacion Regional Obrero Mexicana) or Mexican Regional Confederation of Labor. THE HE formal compact between the "Workers of the World" of "Casa del Obrero Mundial," dated at Vera Cruz, February 17, 1915, contained nine clauses and was officially signed by representatives of both parties. The "Workers of the World" agreed to make active propaganda among the Mexican Laborers in behalf of the Carranzista revolution; they would form revolutionary centres and superise the organization of workers into abor unions; they would fill the ranks of the Carranzista army on condition hat (Clause 9) "The workers who ake no arms in the Constitutionalist Army and the workingmen who give heir services for attention to and treatent of the wounded, or other similar ervices, shall have but one denominaon whether they be organized in comanies, battalions, regiments, brigades r divisions. s "Reds." All shall be designated The Carranza "government" on its art agreed to furnish the necessary inds and to enact and enforce decrees o improve the conditions of labor in Texico. EXICO is apparently no nearer the end of her tragical troubles than she was when the revolution was first kindled. And she has been swept by civil war as if by fire. Her crops are destroyed, her fields lie unseeded, her work cattle are confiscated for the use of the armed factions, her people flee to the mountains to escape being drawn into unavailing bloodshed, and no man seems to see or lead the way to peace and settled order. There is no proper protection either for her own citizens or for the citizens of other nations resident and at work within her territory. Mexico is starving and without a government. . . . I therefore publicly and very solemnly call upon the leaders of factions in Mexico to act, to act together and to act promptly for the relief and redemption of their prostrated country." The note ended by stating that if the factions did not make peace, the government of the United States "will be constrained to decide what means should be employed by the United States." These words of President Wilson sound strange in the light of the facts. If he was anxious to see peace and order reestablished in Mexico, he should not have abandoned to Carranza the port of Vera Cruz; he should not have encouraged factional war by stating as he did on January 8, 1915, in his speech at Indianapolis: "It is none of my business; it is none of your business how long they take in determining it. It is none of my business and it is ILLA, his fortunes on the decline, answered President Wilson's note indicating his willingness to accept the suggestion; Carranza's reply was that he would not compromise with his enemies and would never admit the right of the President of the United States to interfere in the internal affairs of Mexico. Carranza's rebuff caused President Wilson to turn again to South America. As a result, the representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Guatemala at Washington, joined the United States in suggesting to the Mexican factional leaders that they send representatives to a conference to compose their differences and organize a government. Villa accepted and appointed his delegates. Carranza again refused. Then, President Wilson sent another personal representative to Mexico to try to find out what should be done as between Carranza and Villa. The new investigator was Mr. Paul Fuller, an eminent international lawyer, equipped with fluent Spanish and a knowledge of the people concerning whom he was to make his report. Mr. Fuller grasped the situation as it was, and advised President Wilson that Villa was right and that Carranza was "an impossibility" devoured by personal ambition. Then, to the consternation of those who foresaw its consequences, President Wilson recognized Carranza on October 19, 1915, as the head of the de facto Government of Mexico. It was stated in justification of the recognition that the United States yielded to the recommendation of the six American nations that joined in the attempt to seek a solution of the Mexican problem. The facts are otherwise. Tremendous pressure was brought to bear upon the conference by President Wilson through the State Department, before the South Americans gave their assent. The recognition of Carranza was (Continued on Page 916) ►►Speaking of Books Beveridge's Lincoln Edited by FRANCES LAMONT ROBBINS By Lawrence F. Abbott Abraham Lincoln 1809-1858. By Albert J. Beveridge. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company. Two Volumes. M ORE than one magnum opus is too much to expect from an author, especially when his active life has been spent in a field not conducive to literature. Let it be said at the outset, therefore, that the admirers of Senator Beveridge's "Marshall" will be a little disappointed in his "Lincoln" if they allow their anticipations to outrun their reason. The "Marshall" stands in a class by itselfthe finest piece of historical biography produced in America and one of the three or four finest in the English language. The "Lincoln," which was incomplete when death struck down its brilliant author, can be called only a studious and extraordinarily painstaking contribution to the ever growing mass of Lincolncana. The "Marshall" is definative, final, unique. It is not only a flowing and absorbing story, but it is doubtful if anything can ever add to it or supplant it as an accurate and historical picture of the life and times of one of the finest and most influential of the "fathers" of the country. The "Lincoln" must take its place among a dozen other works in its class, although it may prove to be a mine of information to future writers on the subject, for Mr. Beveridge's industry in exhuming and citing buried and forgotten political, personal, legal, legislative and journalistic records is wellnigh incredible. Indeed, this perhaps proved to be his undoing. For the two volumes now posthumously published, which take Lincoln only to the verge of his nomination for the Presidency. are so full of notes and oratio obliqua that the reader sometimes cannot "see the woods for the trees." It is true that from the mass of documentary and oratorical evidence which Mr. Beveridge accumulated Lincoln frequently shines out a very human and alluring figure. But these are nuggets that require somewhat laborious mining. On the whole Mr. Beveridge was so conscientious and painstaking, so determined not to let political prejudice or personal idolatry sway his pen, that his book is a little lacking in sustained narrative interest. Aside from the monumental and definitive biography by Hay and Nicolay (in ten volumes, and few people read ten volumes on any given subject in this radio and movie age), the present reviewer believes that the amateur of The Most Discussed Books THIS list is compiled from the lists of the ten best-selling volumes sent us by wire by the following book-shops each week: New York-Brentano's; Rochester-Scrantoms Inc.; Cleveland-Korner & Wood; St. Louis-Scruggs, Vandevoort, & Barney; Los Angeles-Bullock's; that it is the purpose of this criticism write down or minify the Beveridg biography. It is a dignified and usef piece of work. Perhaps if it did no suffer by comparison with the "Ma shall" it might be called a great piec of work in the realm of historical stud It is certainly a credit to the author memory. There remain to be said two thingsone of the author and one of his sub ject. Senator Beveridge was himself a interesting historical character. Bor on a farm in Ohio in 1862, he once sai of himself in an autobiographical not that "from the age of twelve he led life of privations-plowboy at twelve railroad laborer at fourteen, logger an teamster at fifteen." He put himsel through high school and college, studie law and was elected to the Unite States Senate from Indiana at thirty even years of age, chiefly because of hi renown as "an orator and Republica campaign speaker," to use his OW phrase. He was facetiously referre to by his legislative colleagues as "th boy Senator," and there were those wh said of him, as Lord Melbourne said o Lord Macaulay, that they wished the were as cocksure of anything as he was of everything. After serving the Ru publican party for twelve years as a orthodox party senator, he followed Roosevelt into the Progressive party and in that famous contest he coine two phrases which contained, and stil contain, much epigrammatic truth"the invisible government" and "pas prosperity around." Having retired or been ousted, from active politics, he turned his attention to political history and his "Marshall" is the fruit of that fortunate change-a striking illustra tion of the old Hebraic saying that he that loseth his life shall save it. H threw himself into the study of American history, and as he did so his partisanship grew steadily less and the sweep of his view constantly broadened. His "Marshall' has been criti cized because of its lack of sympathy with Jefferson. This lack of sympathy. if it existed, was the last vestige of his party training. Not long before his death he told the present reviewer that if he were to do the "Marshall" over walked from the court room down to the river when the hearing had ended. Emerson said that that was what he had been doing. "No," Lincoln replied, "not as these college bred men study it. I have learned my lesson. These college bred fellows have reached Ohio, they will soon be in Illinois, and when they come, Emerson, I will be ready for them." gain he should considerably modify his stimate of Jefferson. It was perhaps his reaction against the bitterness of artisanship and sectionalism that led im to over-emphasize, as many readers f the "Lincoln" will feel, the unleasant faults of the abolitionists, the nsignificant peccadilloes of Lincoln and he glamorous virtues of the Southern planters and philosophical secessionists. Notwithstanding Senator Beveridge's vident desire to be fair to Lincoln's opponents and contemners, the figure of the "great emancipator" merges from his pages, solitary, sometimes melancholy, often pathetic but always shining. There are those who seem to think that Lincoln's election to the presidency effected in him a mysterious sea change, that, like Saul into Paul, he was converted by a kind of lightning stroke from a vulgar country pettifogger into the noble statesman who wrote the Gettysburg Address. Nothing could be further from the truth. Lincoln's progress an evolutionary, steady. self-determined progress. as Senator Beveridge clearly shows. He was not a twice-born man. But although intensely human, his patience and complete freedom from vanity and resentment be described by scarcely any other adjective than divine. A can was single incident related by Senator Beveridge justifies such a superlative. In the famous From that time on, insists Emerson. who often heard Lincoln thereafter, his style and manner of speech and argu his fee, he "returned it, saying he made no argument, and was entitled to no pay beyond the original retainer." Watson, who "disbursed the funds," again sent the check to Lincoln, insisting that, since he had prepared his argument, "he was as much entitled to the fee as if he had made the argument." Lincoln then accepted. Not for years did Harding or Stanton change their minds about Lincoln. Harding thus admits the continuance of his prejudice: "When Lincoln was named for President by the party to which I belonged, my disgust was such that I felt I could not vote for him and I did not intend to, but the situation had become so ominous by election day that I finally took a Lincoln and Hamlin ballot. closed my eyes, and with great reluctance dropped it in the box." In the same campaign Stanton, who was an aggressive Democrat, attacked Lincoln with unbridled violence, as a person without sense, manners, or character. Yet he changed his mind, and we shall hear him tell Harding how badly both were mistaken in Lincoln and how supremely great was the man whom they had once insulted. Lincoln, too, remembered them, never for a moment with bitterness or resentment, however, but with understanding and appreciation. As President, he offered one of them the office of Commissioner of Patents and, when a great day came, made the other his Secretary of War. From "The Woodcut of Today at Home and Abroad," pub. by The Studio, Ltd. McCormick reaper case of 1855, George Harding, a distinguished patent lawyer of Philadelphia, and Edwin M. Stanton appeared for the defendants. Harding thought it desirable to employ a local Illinois lawyer as counsel and "Abe" Lincoln was engaged. In the trial, however, both Harding and Stanton ignored him and in various ways treated him with contempt and humiliation: "I am going home to study law! I am going home to study law!" he [Lincoln] exclaimed repeatedly, as he and Emerson [one of the defendants] With this question the reviewer must leave what has been both a pleasant and an unpleasant duty. It is unpleasant to be compelled by honest conviction to say that the two volumes before us will enhance the fame of neither the author nor his hero. It is pleasant to be compelled by honest conviction to say that the two volumes before us will enhance the fame of neither the author nor his hero. It is pleasant, however, with equal honesty to acknowledge that they will confirm. the judgment already justly recorded. of the pre-eminent qualities of the one FREE! Plans for a New Kind of HALLOWE'EN PARTY! Send the coupon below now and get free complete plans for a new kind of Hallowe'en Party-plans for a whole gay evening full of surprises for all your friends. New ideas for invitations, decorations, costumes, games, stunts, prizes. Use Dennison Party Goods And remember that for Hallowe'en or any other kind of party, whether it's for your home, club, lodge or school, you can get everything you need to make it a big success at your local stationery, department or drug store where Dennison party goods are sold. Crepe paper, decorations, place cards, novelties, the Dennison book of Crepe Paper Costumes and the Party Magazine. But send now for the free plans for your Hallowe'en Party. And why not the Hallowe'en, Harvest and Thanksgiving Number of the Party Magazine at the same time-it's only 20 cents. DENNISON'S, Dept. 117-X | Please send free, the plans for a Hallowe'en Party! Name....... I T is to the Ludwig vogue that we owe the translation today, eight years after the original publication, of the German biographer's "Goethe: The History of a Man," and some will find the obligation of dubious validity. This edition, almost 650 pages long, is but half the length of the original, which must, therefore, have contained a lot of wind. Patent as are the qualities of the edition before us, it will not incite to burning curiosity those who, before opening Ludwig, were cold about Goethe; it may fan to a flickering flame previously existing embers of curiosity. An American writing of Lincoln, say, assumes his greatness; so does a German writing of Goethe. The average American then will find too much assumption in Ludwig's "Goethe" and 'must accept and discount the fact, as he will accept, as a basic assumption, the greatness of Lincoln, in any but an iconoclastic biography of the President. In "Goethe" the average American reader will find a high-pitched Lyricism. Ludwig seems to be presenting his discovery of Goethe, rather than Goethe. One is sometimes confused and baffled by a lack of a clear relation of consecutive fact; the chronology is a little mixed. Written at a time when an international Ludwig vogue could hardly have been dreamed of, "Goethe" was written for those who knew their Goetheana so well that they did not need to be reminded of dates. Ludwig's "Goethe" is rather a huge biographical and literary essay, based on these two chief themes, in so far as it may be said to have any thematic substructure: 1. That Goethe's love-life was an important factor in his creative life, determining the context of his work, and 2. That he was what he was by virtue of the fact that he reconciled the struggle within him between his genius and his daemon. These qualifications out of the way, we may say that this book has brilliant, even glowing, passages; that it is Ludwig's most personal expression in biography; that it does encompass the great German poet in the many-sidedness of his life and work; that, panegyrical as many of the passages sound, the book in its entirety does exhibit the subject in his greatnesses and in smallnesses. Furthermore, Lud does give us a picture of the mil which was Goethe's background, a portraits of contemporaries who cros Goethe's path and affected his cour He shows the curve of Goethe's velopment in his career and in his and exhibits a sure grasp of the v mass of data upon which he has erect this structure of a biographical a literary essay. If "Goethe" is not t greatest biography that has come fr Ludwig, it is his most personal book. Ludwig relates the life lived to t creations conceived, shows the ma ways in which Goethe was a typic German bourgeois, a provincial offici in a small town who cut himself o from the main currents of the tim Ludwig's text justifies the use of t sub-title "The History of a Man," f Goethe could be as small in his person relations as he could be great philosophical and poetic expression We see him envious of Schiller, befor he is obliged to accept him. We see hi jealous of his petty privileges. H had the cheap pride of intellect whic makes a man want to shine in man fields. We see him sucking dry of thei scholarship an artist and a scientist. W see him in all kinds of squabbles of the kind which originate in love of powe and authority. Bourgeois-poet, h loved his food and his wine; we see hin striving to publicize himself at a tim when his reputation was assured. W see him apeing the court; he confers the Goethe order, first, second and third class, but he envies Byron his meteor like career, without wishing to emulate him. At first he is little more than the attendant of the Duke who gave him his life job at Weimar. His obligations make him anti-democrat, anti-revolutionist. In semi-fictional interludes Ludwig portrays the daily life of Goethe, during various decade-posts of his life. gives us animating descriptions, the testimonies of contemporaries concerning his appearance and bearing, tells us of his relationships with his women. his family, his intellectual peers, those who came to Weimar. To Goethe's relations with Schiller he gives perhaps his most faithful attention. The volume is enriched with quotations from the whole range of Goethe's prose and poetry, his correspondence, his conversations, anecdotes touching him at every stage of his life. "Goethe" is a beautiful and powerful testimony to the power of the poet on the Germanspeaking people. (Please turn to page 917) Hamilton Gibbs Ben Ames Williams Beulah King Henry Seidel Canby Augustus Thomas R. E. Sherwood Mary Roberts Rinehart Coningsby Dawson A COMPLETE survey of the writing vocation, consisting of of forty brilliant chapters by prominent and successful specialists, and an inclusive analysis of the literary market. The special requirements of more than a thousand magazine and book publishers, newspaper syndicates, and editors are listed with information invaluable to both professional and amateur writers. IF YOU ARE a well-established author, with the help of this book you should be able to clear out many of your unsold manuscripts and find inspiration for work better suited to the changing tastes of the reading public. IF YOU HAVE never tried to write, the FREE LANCE WRITER'S HANDBOOK offers you a fascinating opportunity. No one has any measure of his own capacities until he sees his work in print. The number of magazines is so large - the book publishers so eager for noveltythat any piece of good writing will be welcomed somewhere. There is no short cut to successful authorship but there is a sure road. THIS "HIS book is stoutly built to withstand the constant handling it will receive from successful writers who keep it at elbow for reference. Yet none of the beauty demanded by the bibliophile is sacrificed to this practical necessity. It is handsomely bound in red silk (Aldine T. Cloth); the radiant sheen of this material and its smoothness to the touch is well known. It is stamped on the shelfback and recto with gilt foil and blind. The paper is Warren's No. 66, giving the pages bulk enough so that they turn easily, pleas is doubled when you can appreciate, intellectually, the craftsmanship of the writer as well as enjoy, emotionally, the story itself. That is why Literary America has adopted this book, as a new-found approach to intelligent and independent reading. THE FREE-LANCE WRITER'S HANDBOOK ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS WHAT shall I write about? HOW shall I writeit? WHERE can I sell it? 1000 LITERARY MARKET REPORTS ANDchapters by Henry Seidel Ginby MaryRoberts Rinehart Hamilton Gibbs Augustus Thomas, Ben Ames Williams. Ivy lec, Coningsby Dawson Katharinchullerton Gerould John Farrar, RESherwood-and 260ther authorities AMO MONG the thirty-six contributors of chapters to this book, seven are editors, or managing editors, of general periodicals and special magazines of the writing craft and publishing trade. Fourteen are successful short-story writers; five are well-known novelists. Included also are the dean of American playwright-producers, the best-known publicity counsel, two college teachers of creative writing, a well-known war correspondent, advertising copy-writers and freelance journalists, a radio broadcaster, an interviewer, a photographer, a specialist in juveniles, a scenario-writer, and experts in every conceivable special type of writing. ant to the touch without overgloss. The type used in the first 250 pages (The Survey) is 10 point Old Style, in the second part (The Manuscript Market) 8 point Old Style. As a book, it fills completely the requirements "buoyant to hold, but heavy in knowledge, a temptation to the eye and to the hand." Doneon the presses of, and bound by, The Plimpton Press of Norwood, distinguished makers of fine books for the leading American publishers. The Experts Say: The Inde...dent: "It is doubtful if anyone has collected before uch useful information as is to be found in this volume arranged by the editor of THE WRITER. From Christmas greeting cards to the novel itself chapters run completely covering the field, each section being written by one whose conspicuous success in that line of endeavor makes his comments of really practical value." The Bookman: "I do not know of any question with which a young writer or an old one-plagues the editor that it does not answer satisfactorily. Here the great esoteric world of writing is thoroughly revealed." The Saturday Review of Literature: "With the great increase in advertising, the business of publishing magazines, newspapers, books- has become one of enormous extent, and as a result more and more people are turning to writing as a means of livelihood. This book is a successful attempt to aid such people by showing them how to write salable matter and how to place such matter successfully when written." The New York Times: "The candid, sometimes brutal and always well-written counsel of such writers as Ben Ames Williams, Henry Seidel Canby, Katharine Fullerton Gerould, and Augustus Thomas. The force of example counts for as much as the sound suggestion." New York Herald Tribune: "There is much valuable information in this book and it has been intelligently arranged." Seattle Post Intelligencer: "Of all books purposing to help the beginning writer and one that can be of use to professional writers too-THE FREE-LANCE WRITER'S HANDBOOK is the best." Louisville Herald Post: "A highly valuable budget of good hard sense attractively presented."' Cincinnati Times Star: "A book of great importance and inestimable value." Oakland Tribune: "It is a volume for the table of everyone who would earn money by pounding a typewriter or pushing a pen, for it is written by men and women who are of the craft and know its secrets." Toledo Blade: "A stimulating array of fact, opinion, testimony, counsel and rule as collected from numerous sources and contributed by persons of experience in various fields of writing." Richmond News Leader: "The young writer who has this will need nothing else - except the ability to write.” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: "At last the almost perfect guide for the person suffering with the itch to write. At last the secrets of the trade are available." Cleveland Topics: "It is a unique and interesting volume and quite worth while not only for the writer but also for the reader." Kansas City Star: "It contains intimate shop talk of editors, publishers, and authors which throws light on the whole field of professional writing." America: "All the data that is convenient for the amateur and the professional writer to have within easy reach, and a large amount of information about the technique of composition and publication as well as a variety of suggestions as to how to make writing more effective both in itself and in its financial returns." Dominicana: "The general principles of writing can be found in many books but such concrete suggestions as this handbook contains are seldom seen in print.' Salt Lake Telegram: "Hundreds of authentic reports from the manuscript market... alone should be worth the price of the book." THOMAS FLEET COMPANY 909 College House, Harvard Sq., Cambridge, Massachusetts. Send me a copy of THE FREE-LANCE WRITER'S HANDBOOK. I will pay the postman $5.00 plus parcel post charge. If I return the book within one week after it is received, you will refund my money immediately. Name.. Address .... If you prefer, send remittance of $5.18 with order. |