The Contributors' Column--November Atlantic

THE DAY WE DO NOT CELEBRATE

The Sixtieth Anniversary of so human an institution as a magazine has an interest a little more substantial, perhaps, than sentiment pure and simple. The Atlantic, therefore, felt justified in planning for its sixtieth birthday a number which should look back with approval on its history and offer some optimistic suggestions of its future usefulness in the world. But as November, 1917, drew near, it became very plain indeed that the least of the things which it is our monthly business to talk about is a far more interesting and an infinitely more valuable topic for discussion than we ourselves can be, and that the best celebration we can off er to our readers is to dispense with recollections and promises, and to do instead our regular month’s work as efficiently and well as in us lies.

When the war is over, there will, we trust, be other Atlantic birthdays.

Vernon Kellogg, formerly Professor of Biology at Leland Stanford University, has already spoken to great effect in these pages concerning the German régime in Belgium and the lessons to be deduced from it by the world at large. It is in no small measure due to the experience he gained as Mr. Hoover’s right-hand man in the C. R. B. that he now occupies an important position in the Federal Food Administration at Washington. His pronouncements on the vital question of food conservation therefore have an official weight.

In his remarkable paper, ‘The Man Who Lost Himself,’Professor Lavell speaks of accidentally coming across a copy of Who’s Who for 1910. This was before his memory was wholly restored. ‘ To see my real name and record,’ he says, ‘made my heart beat with disturbing violence, and I was a little dizzy as I replaced the book. But it affected not at all my resolution not to disclose my identity until I felt that the cure was at least well begun.’ Readers of the Atlantic will be interested to know what he read: —

LAVELL, CECIL FAIRFIELD, Professor of the History of Education and Dean of the Faculty of Education, Queen’s University, since 1907; b. Kingston, Canada, 28 Nov. 1872; 7th son of Michael Lavell and Betsy Reeve Lavell. Educ. Kingston Collegiate Institute and Queen’s University, M. A., 1894; Fellow in History, Queen’s, 1895-96. Studied further at Cornell and Columbia Universities and in Italy; Staff Lecturer in History. Universities Extension Society, Philadelphia, 1899-1905; Prof, of History. Bates College, Me., 1905-06; Trinity College, 1900-07. Charter Member Ontario Historical Society. Publications: Italian Cities, 1905; magazine articles, etc.

Margaret Lynn, a member of the English Department of the University of Kansas, is an Atlantic contributor of long standing. Few American writers know the prairie and its people better than she. It is not usually known that Sir Cecil Spring Rice, British Ambassador to the United States, is an Orientalist of note. ‘The St. Gaudens Monument at Rock Creek Cemetery,’the subject of his sonnets, ‘is the Greco-Romanesque presentation of Kwannon, the sexless God or Goddess of Mercy, — a conception common to the East and embodied in the Arabic idea of God, “the all merciful" — “qui suit tout, peut tout pardonner.” ’

The first and second installments of the novel, ‘ Professor’s Progress,’which began in the September number, may be summarized as follows:—

Professor Latimer, an elderly, full-fleshed, city-dwelling scholar, has, to use his own words, been very hard to live with since August, 1914. The war has shaken the very foundations of his comfortably ordered life. His pet theories and formulæ have been shattered, and after three years of argument and vain attempts to readjust his philosophy he stands on the verge of nervous collapse. He finally leaves town, under doctor’s orders. for a walking trip up-country. War and all topics connected with it are taboo. The starting-place of his Odyssey is the hamlet of Williamsport, where his sister Harriet has her home — a quiet New England backwater; but even here the war lifts up its horrid head. After a heated argument with Nicholas Runkle, the village skeptic, and a one-sided discussion with a stray guinea-pig, the Professor finally sets out alone on the highroad, in search of peace of mind.

Before he has gone far he accidentally makes the acquaintance of Gladys Winthrop, a ‘movie queen.’ and her entourage. One of the latter, a mild young man named Archibald Perkins, decides to accompany the Professor afoot, and as they stroll along he tells the half-humorous, halftragic story of his blighted career as a playwright. Perkins’s quiet endurance of calamity deeply impresses Professor Latimer, who is given further food for thought by the uncomplaining courage of a consumptive woman with an idle, tippling husband, at whose farm they stop for lunch.

The next stage of the pilgrimage brings the Professor and his companion to the headquarters of the Intercontinental Film Corporation, where a great drama of Mexican life is being staged. At the moment of their arrival Juanita Alvarez (otherwise Gladys Winthrop) is struggling unsuccessfully with an emotional scene which is being spoiled by the bad acting of the man impersonating her father. The disgusted manager, spying the Professor’s seigneurial whiskers, urges him to take the part of the hidalgo; Latimer, carried off his feet by excitement, assents, and plays the scene triumphantly. Acting for the movies, however, makes no appeal to him as a permanent career, so, bidding his new-found friends farewell, he takes once more to the road.

Bernard Iddings Bell, our readers will remember, is dean of the Protestant Episcopal cathedral of Fond-du-Lac, Michigan. Samuel McChord Crothers is pastor of the First Unitarian Church at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and, incidentally, owner of a rock-ribbed New Hampshire farm, where he cultivates his leisure to the great profit of this magazine.

Arthur Russell Taylor is rector of the Episcopal church at York, Pa. Frances Lester Warner is a member of the English Department in Mt. Holyoke College. The Dutch author of ‘The German State of Mind’ has more than a local reputation, and has distinguished himself in more fields than one. Mrs. John Richard Green, widow of the most famous of modern English historians, has won an independent reputation through her own historical work, particularly through her Henry H, in the English Statesmen Series, her Town Life in the Fifteenth Century, and The Making of Ireland and its Undoing. Upon Ireland she is an authority.

The exquisite music of Arthur Symons’s verse is heard only too rarely nowadays. His poems in this number will recall to many of our readers a critique by Wilbur M. Urban, in the Atlantic Monthly for September, 1914, which contains perhaps the most penetrating estimate of this great impressionist yet published.

There is so much in the Atlantic’s article on the I.W.W. to stir current prejudice that in considering it we ask our readers to note the exceptional experience and information of the author, Carleton H. Parker, at present Dean of the School of Business Administration and Head of the Economics Department of the University of Washington. Dean Parker is under appointment by the War Department as mediator in all labor troubles which may arise in the construction of the Pacific Coast cantonments. This makes his third Federal detail on western labor problems. In 1915 he investigated for a Federal Commission the I.W.W. riot in the California hop-fields, which resulted in four deaths, and is known in the West as the Ford-Suhr case. Several years ago he worked as a miner in the gold and coal mines of British Columbia for a year and a half. While a member of the Western Federation of Miners, he went through a coal strike on Vancouver Island.

Through his now famous book, The PanGerman Plot Unmasked, André Chéradame was well known to thousands of Atlantic readers before he addressed them direct in his paper, ‘The United States and Pan-Germanism,’ published in the June number, which rightly made a nationwide impression. M. Chéradame, as every one knows, for many years before the war spent his time, money, and intelligence in studying the thousand ramifications of the Pan-German scheme for world-domination; but it was not until this scheme was on the verge of realization that the world at large gave heed to his Cassandra-like utterances. It is not the custom of the Atlantic to give so largely of its space in a single number to one author as it here devotes to M. Chéradame’s notable series; but we feel that the three articles, taken together, form the most striking and comprehensive analysis of the German menace, present and future, as it affects this country and the world, that has yet been published.

The following table, prepared by M. Chéradame, gives a concise summary of Germany’s present position of vantage as explained in detail in the body of the second article: —

GERMANY’S WAR-GAINS

SEVEN ELEMENTS IN TWO GROUPS

The first group includes: —

The advantages derived directly from Germany’s aggression, comprised in

a single element.

The plunder accruing from the occupation of enemy territory. This may be analyzed as follows: —

(a) The value of the 500,000 sq. km. of Montenegrin, Serbian, Roumanian, Russian, Belgian and French land held by the Germans.

This value, estimated according to the national fortunes of the respective countries before the war, — the area and population of the occupied portions being taken into consideration, — is in the neighborhood of 155 billion francs.

This figure, though naturally only approximate, is probably far below the real sum. We know that the entire national fortune of France, with its 530,000 sq. km., was put before the war at 325 billion francs. The valuation of the 500,000 sq. km. of occupied territory at 155 billions seems therefore an underestimate—especially when one remembers that these 500,000 sq. km. include Belgium and the North of France — the richest districts in the world.

(b) The plunder of human beings, supplies and property (laborers, war material, provisions, minerals, raw products, manufactured products, personal property, art objects, war levies, specie, jewels and securities) which has been going on, in some cases for as long as three years, throughout the occupied territories. This booty unquestionably represents a value of tens of billions of francs.

These tens of billions should be deducted from the total of the national fortunes of the invaded districts. The plunder in question is composed of property or supplies already used up by the Germans or taken away by them into Germany; the value it represents, therefore, no longer exists in the invaded districts.

Charles Johnston, a deep student of contemporary religious problems, is a citizen of the world whose present stopping-place is Bergenfeld, New Jersey. His most recent contribution to the Atlantic was a striking biographical portrait of General Brusiloff, the interest of which was heightened by the fact that his wife is the great Russian’s sister-in-law. E. H. Wilcox is a recognized English authority on Russian affairs. James Norman Hall and his brilliant record in the Great War are too well known to need further emphasis here. When last heard from, Sergeant Hall was already looking forward to his discharge from the American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly, near Paris.

From the editorial columns of the Kan-

The second group includes: —

The advantages which Germany has assured herself for the present or for the future through the creation of Pan-Germany, which in turn results from

(a) Germany’s burglarization of her own allies — Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey.

(b) The seizure by Germany and her allies of Serbia; in all,

six elements:

First Element. — The Pan-German loans which throw Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey into a state of absolute financial dependence on Berlin.

Second Element. — The value of Germany’s monopoly in exploiting the latent resources of the Balkans and Asia Minor, resulting from the PanGerman loans.

Third Element.—The inherent value of the creation of Economic Pan-Germany. This cannot fail to be a powerful instrument for the acquisition of wealth.

Fourth Element. — The value of Military PanGermany, which is a guarantee of the security of Economic Pan-Germany.

Fifth Element.—The value of the enormous economic profits assured to Berlin through the existence of Pan-Germany at the cost of Russia. These are a direct consequence of the establishment of Military Pan-Germany.

Sixth Element.—The taking over by Germany of at least 21 billions of French credit. This is a consequence of the establishment of Economic Pan-Germany,

sas City Star comes this glad acknowledgment of an encounter with Nicholas Runkle, village skeptic of Williamsport: —

The anonymous author of ‘ Professor’s Progress’ in the Atlantic Monthly introduces a character who believes that Dr. Cook discovered the North Pole, that New York City has n’t anything like the population the census gives it, and that Kitchener did not perish at sea, but is imprisoned in the Tower of London for having sold military secrets to the Germans,

In the Atlantic story his name is Nicholas Runkle, but we think he must have several names, because he frequently writes letters to this newspaper over other names than that. But there is no question that he is the same man. That is plain from the character of the information he imparts. Before the war he wrote to tell us that John Wilkes Booth was alive and conducting a shoe store in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but latterly he has confined himself to telling us things about the war. At times he is pained at our lack of interest, but not wholly surprised at it, because he knows that newspapers do not want the truth and are afraid to print it. Somebody ‘keeps it out’ — probably Wall Street. But for that matter he thinks most anybody can keep a piece of news out simply by calling at the office and explaining that he is a tax-payer.

But he was at a loss to understand why we did not print the fact about the American army being sent to Russia. He cannot see the value of keeping this news secret when the Russians need every bit of encouragement they can get. The army went by way of the Philippines and Manchuria, stopping in Japan for luncheon. This in itself was significant as showing that Japan is in the secret and probably preparing to send out an army of its own. Either that, or it will send one to San Francisco as soon as Russia has drained the country of troops. By the way, did we know that General Brusiloff was an American, a distinguished Confederate general who refused to be reconstructed and fled to Russia after Lee’s surrender? He is sworn to secrecy himself, but if we care to look into the matter we will have no difficulty in identifying him.

The fact that there is a German army in Mexico is, of course, well known to us, but he supposes we have refrained from printing the truth at the request of the President. Perhaps we are right, but, viewing it in a broader light, would it not encourage the French to reveal that the Crown Prince himself is in command of that army, having been sent there to redeem himself after his failure at Verdun? He thinks it would, and will himself immediately write to the President and urge this view upon him. He is sorry that our pro-British affiliations — probably not unconnected with Lombard Street — have caused us to suppress the fact that King George was captured by the Germans when his Majesty was visiting the British front and was reported to have fallen off his horse. He has been in Berlin ever since, and the person whom the great majority of Englishmen suppose to be George is the Czar of Russia, who looks very much like him and who was lent to England for the purpose by Kerensky. Kerensky himself, by the way, used to run a restaurant in Akron, O. His real name is Billings — William S.

Wc do not know where the author of ‘ Professor’s Progress’ encountered our correspondent, but we are glad they have met. Mr. Runkle, if that is his name, has a world of information that the other Runkles whom he has not been able to reach through the newspapers would be thankful to acquire. Perhaps they could tell him something in return, and thus the te-rewth would be spread.

BRAVO, CALIFORNIA!

In September, we commented upon the effectiveness of the Atlantic’s ‘peaceful penetration ’ in the Far West, but, to show that there were still fields to conquer, we cited the amazement of a subscriber in discovering a Californian who regularly read the Atlantic.

In response, comes this flattering unction from a second Californian friend: ‘Your story,’ she writes, ‘brought to my mind a real flash from my own experience. I spent last winter in California and visited in more than forty households. The Atlantic lay on the reading-table of each and every one, whether the home was a modest bungalow or the lordly residence of one of the marvelous Californian estates.’

California papers please copy.

Now that we are in the mood for the more intriguing form of compliments, we may quote from a letter which comes this morning from North Carolina: —

‘I was sitting in the station the other day,’ writes our friend, ‘idly watching a girl sitting next to me.’ (Here it’ should be observed that our correspondent is not of the masculine gender.) ‘The girl had,’ so runs the letter, ‘an Atlantic, a Saturday Evening Post, and The Garden Magazine. She had finished reading the Atlantic, and was turning the leaves of the second periodical when another girl approached, greeted her, and sat down. While the two talked, up came a man and asked Girl No. I whether, if she had finished with the Atlantic, he might borrow it. I watched him as he bore it to a waiting companion, and soon they were deep in discussion. I fell to wondering what the article was which called forth such an animated debate when I became aware of the girls beside me.

‘ “ Did you know that man? ” asked Girl No. 2.

‘ “ Never saw him before,” said Girl No. 1.

‘ “ Well, was n’t he fresh? ”

‘“Why, no; it was the Atlantic he wanted. How could he be fresh?”’

We wish we could answer the query of a correspondent who writes from Rockford, Illinois, as follows: —

GENTLEMEN: -

A few months ago, either in April or May, 1917, you published in your Contributors’ Column a single verse from an old poem found in a scrapbook of 1860. The first line is ‘Only sometimes we lie.’ An acquaintance of mine is working out a musical setting for it, and is quite anxious to learn the title of the original poem.

A painstaking search through the column fails .to bring the verse to light. This is a pity, for the opening line seems to promise an abundance of self-revelation we should be sorry to miss.