The Contributors' Column

Henri Frédéric Amiel, a Swiss scholar and poet, was for many years a professor at the Academy of Geneva. Parts of his Journal Intime which to ‘sick souls’ means so much, were published in 1882, just after his death, and were translated into English, John Sheridan Zelie, the discoverer and translator of these letters of wise and sympathetic counsel, is pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Troy, N.Y. L. Adams Beck, English traveler and scholar, deeply versed in the lore of the Orient, has fortunately become a familiar contributor to the Atlantic.William Beebe is still pursuing his observations at the New York Zoölogical Society’s Tropical Research Station at Kartabo, British Guiana.

Christina Krysto, born in Russia, sends from California this romantic chapter of family history. Jean Kenyon Mackenzie, born a poet, became a missionary, and, more recently, the happy chronicler of her father’s life, under the title of The Fortunate Youth.Edward Yeomans is a Chicago manufacturer who has given much thought to educational problems. The Atlantic Monthly Press is to issue this spring a volume of his inspiriting messages to teachers. Howard Snyder, Northern-born, and for many years a planter in Mississippi, continues his series of pictures of the plantation negro as seen with his own eyes. Marion Pugh Read sends us this story from Lynn, Mass.

The incident at the funeral meeting [she writes] was an actual one. The boy, who had been a ne’er-do-well, was killed accidentally, and the funeral was preached while I was there. According to their absolutely rigid belief, there was no alternative but that he had gone ‘straight to Hell’; and if, even so, not all those mountain preachers would have been so relentless, the one this day did not flinch from what seemed to him an opportunity to drive his lesson home.

Florence Converse is a member of the Atlantic’s staff. Alida Chanler was in charge of the Radio School at the Walter Read Hospital for some time during the war. George M. Stratton, Professor of Psychology at the University of California since 1908, has been president of the American Psychological Association, and is advisory editor of the Psychological Review.Grace E. Polk is probation officer of the Juvenile Court at Minneapolis.

Alice Brown, novelist, essayist, poet, and playwright, was a life-long friend of Miss Guinev, who died last year in Oxford, and whose name the Atlantic loves dearly to recall. George Boas, of the English Department of the University of California finds in his own experience the material for the stories he is kind enough to send to the Atlantic.Walter Prichard Eaton, student of the drama and of nature, lives in Sheffield, Massachusetts. Paul V. West is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin. Nancy Byrd Turner, a Virginian writer of both prose and verse, chiefly for children, has been for several years editor of the ‘ Children’s Page ’ of the Youth’s Companion.

James D. Phelan, for six years past United States Senator from California, was formerly Mayor of San Francisco. Henry R. Brigham, a Boston attorney, gained great experience during the war as counsel for the United States Housing Corporation, Guglielmo Ferrero, the Italian historian of Rome, and penetrating student of contemporary polities, is a not infrequent contributor of ours.

The Atlantic believes in informed debate, but Seldom finds altercation of value. We are sorry, then, for the widespread discussion of a paragraph in Mr. Booth’s recent paper, ‘The Wild West,’ which, in telling the story of an Easterner earning a rough living by casual labor, referred, incidentally, to the tragedy of Centralia. The principal reference is as follows: —

It has not been disproved that the I.W.W. Hall which was the scene of bloodshed had twice before been raided by the respectable faction, and that no defense had been made by the pariahs; that this third raid, on Armistice Day, 1919, was expected by the I.W.W., and that they had asked for police protection. None was given — with what result the world knows.

Of this paragraph the Centralia Chronicle has this to say: —

The Atlantic Monthly has admitted to its usually authentic columns this damnable statement, assuming that it was true. It is a contemptible lie, with certain facts perverted beyond any semblance of truth. The good people of Centralia have a just grievance against the Atlantic Monthly. It is due for this usually conservative magazine to investigate the facts and make an abject apology to, not only the citizens of this peaceful little city, but to the ex-service men who were marching in that peace parade totally oblivious of the red-handed conspiracy that had been planned to start an industrial revolution in this locality.

The following letter represents as well as any we have received the gravamen of the charge against Mr. Booth.

To THE EDITOR OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY
SIR, —
On behalf of the people of the State of Washington and particularly on behalf of the ex-service men of this State, we are writing to make formal protest against the serious and unwarranted charges on the character of Washington’s ex-service men contained in an article entitled: ‘The Wild West,’ by Mr. Edward Townsend Booth, and which appeared in the December issue of the Atlantic.
Such reflections on the patriotism and loyalty of so large a part of our population cannot go unchallenged.
The article in question contains this statement, among others: —
‘It is a notable fact that a large percentage of the men who are floating in the West this season saw service in the American Expeditionary Force. These men are usually the “reddest” of all and the most inclined to violence.’
We are at a loss to understand what basis of fact can substantiate such an accusation. During the recent world conflict, Washington sent 63,775 of her sons to the colors, and of this number 30,126 are to-day enrolled in the American Legion. We indignantly deny the charge or the insinuation that these men are ‘ the “reddest” of all and the most inclined to violence-’
The splendid respect for law and order shown by the Legionaires of Centralia at the time of the Armistice Day Massacre in 1919, gives the lie to such an accusation. Probably no finer example can be produced by any state in the Union. With real provocation fur far more drastic action, but because they stand first and foremost for law and order, the Centralia Legionaires took the assassins who had poured their murderous fire into the ranks of the parading veterans — took these assassins red-handed, with their guns still smoking, and marched them to the city jail. There the ex-service men stood guard until the arrival of the State Militia on the following day. Order was maintained in Centralia by former service men—by those who are ’the “ reddest” of all,’ according to Mr. Booth; but that such is the ease is proved by the statement of the commanding officer of the State Militia on his arrival in Centralia.
In simple justice to the men the State of Washington sent to the colors during the World War, we challenge the statement by Mr. Booth that there were ex-service men on both sides, trained in the violence attendant upon present-day warfare. The impression given by that statement is distinctly contrary to the facts.
On the one side were the members of the American Legion, parading without arms, in celebration of the signing of the Armistice. On the other side were representatives of the worst elements in Washington’s population. Only two of them were ex-serviee men. Neither of those two served with the American Expeditionary Force, and neither was in the army for any length of time. One was an I.W.W. organizer when he was drafted, and his short time in uniform did not at all alter his character. Another was imprisoned for evading the draft, and broke jail. Still another of the Centralia I.W.W. murderers was arrested for seditious utterances during the war. Yet another had been tried two years before, as one of the ring-leaders in the Everett massacre. These instances illustrate the type of men who planned and executed that monstrous ambuscade on Armistice Day.
Mr. Booth’s references to Centralia are references likely to be made by one who has read all the I.W.W. propaganda on the subject and has not attempted to seek out the truth for himself.
The trial of the I.W.W. at Montesano consumed seven weeks and resulted in seven of the defendants being found guilty of murder. The entire Centralia Tragedy was given a thorough airing during those seven weeks — and there stands the verdict. The records of that trial are open, and anyone may read the testimony of both sides. These facts stand out unmistakably clear, and the records of the trial support them: —
The I.W.W. expected a raid on their Hall. For days they had been told by one of their members —
The statement by Mr. Booth that the I.W.W. requested police protection in vain is unqualifiedly false, and is typical of the sort of propaganda being spread about the country by the I.W.W., in an attempt to make martyrs of the convicted assassins.
in the light of Mr. Booth’s article, we feel it. is our bounden and urgent duty to formally protest to you against the serious reflections that have been cast by the article on the State of Washington, and its people; and to protest as well against an increasingly noticeable tendency on the part of Eastern publications, to publish articles purporting to be serious reviews of economic, social, and political conditions in the Pacific Northwest but whose authors, either through inability or bias, or for other reasons, fail to verify their statements and assertions from authentic and readily accessible sources.
We ask, therefore, that you give space in the next issue of the Atlantic Monthly to this communication, in correction of the false impressions created and conveyed by Mr. Booth ’s article. Simple justice to the ex-service men of the State of Washington demands that you do so.
Louis F. HART
Governor of the State of Washington
TIIOS. N. SWALE
Commander, The American Legion
Department of Washington

We are not given to sympathy with the I.W.W., nor, on the other hand, do we think it fair to hold up Mr. Booth either as a ' Red,’ or as wilfully inaccurate. In considering the facts# the reader must realize that the I.W.W. headquarters, formerly in another house in the same city, had been raided in 1917; sworn testimony was introduced at the trial, and that testimony corroborated,

to the effect [we quote from the American Legion’s own account] that they informed Centralia authorities of their belief that a raid was to take place on Armistice Day, and that they asked protection without any definite action being taken to afford it. Circulars were distributed, testified Smith, appealing to the citizens of Centralia. Believing that lawful protection would not be given them, in the event a raid was held, the I.W.W, secretary said that the resolution to arm themselves sprang into being and effect.

Certainly, this gives some color of truth to Mr. Booth’s statements. Further, al1 hough Governor Hart states correctly that the trial resulted in seven of the defendants being found guilty of murder, it is accurate to add that these men were found guilty of murder in the second degree, which, after the illogical custom of American juries, shows a disposition to shirk the responsibility of an irrevocable decision. Finally (we have already continued this discussion at considerable length), mention must be made of the fact that on the night of the fight, the prison of Centralia was forced open, and one of the I.W.W. prisoners taken out by a crowd of ‘unknown avengers ' (we quote again from an official account by the Legion), and hanged.

In this whole matter the Atlantic declines to be on the defensive. We are in entire sympathy with law and order. We regard with horror such awful occurrences as took place at Centralia. Each and all of the condemned men were probably guilty of bloodshed. But we should be false to the basic principles of this magazine were we to admit that the Centralia tragedy was not indicative of social disease far more serious than our critics seem to imply, and not to be eradicated by the imprisonment, or even the execution, of seven very undesirable citizens.

A word for the etymological this, from the editor of the Buffalo Medical Journal.

EDITOR ATLANTIC MONTHLY
DEAR SIR, —
I have noted your use of the word thigmotaxis in a recent issue. While it would be tetrerythism on my part to pose as a Greek scholar, it occurs to me that the word should be thigmotataxis, and that, instead of being used in the simple sense employed, it should be reserved for the systematic arrangement of philanthropic drives.
Very truly yours,
A. L. BENEDICT.

Curiously enough, the thigmotataxically inclined can learn more of this subject by referring to the paragraph beginning at the foot of page 310 of this issue.

It is worth remarking how completely the critics of Mr. S. Miles Bouton’s paper in the January Atlantic differ among themselves. He paints the Swedes all wrong, writes one. They are not worth painting, writes another. Others content themselves with saying that criticism of the U.S.A. is unpatriotic — rather a broad statement at a time when the U.S.A. is changing before our eyes.

A Congregationalist pastor sends this suggestive letter.

DEAR EDITOR, —
To those of us who cherish the idea of this country being a ‘melting-pot,’ such a paper as S. Miles Bouton presents in ‘What Is the Reason?’ in the January Atlantic causes at first a flush of shame. But then we remember two facts which bring us comfort.
First: it is surely true that the intoxication of war in these past six years has given us all a severe headache. It is no wonder that many of these foreign-born peoples have chafed under the restrictions necessarily imposed. Now they seek relief in the dreamland of their youth.
Second: I recall the statement of a Swedish pastor in our neighboring city of Worcester, who claimed that in five years the vast majority of the Scandinavians now returning to their native countries will have returned to this country, disappointed in the home land, awakened to the opportunities and privileges that this land offers.
A concrete example of this truth has been evidenced here in our little town this past month. As soon as the war ended, our Italian fruitdealer sold out and left for ‘sunny Italy.’ He has just returned. He says that Italy is not the same. He looked back to the Italy of his boyhood through the rosy eyes of remembrance. He went back to see it through the eyes of practical experience with American customs and privileges. He has come back to S-to live out the rest of his life. The United States, after all, is a good country.
Let us not be swept off our feet by the backwash of the war. In due time the question, ‘ What is the reason?’ will answer itself.
Sincerely,
ROBERT G. ARMSTRONG,

Another reader, whose profession gives him opportunities to generalize far more usefully than most of us, writes as follows:

TOLEDO, OHIO, 3 Jan., 1921.
EDITOR OF THE ATLANTIC
DEAR SIR, -
I his afternoon I bought a copy of the current issue of the Atlantic in the railroad station at Detroit, and read with much interest the article . ^ hat Is the Reason.-' by Mr. Bouton. Then having still to wait for my train, i looked at a display ot Michigan crops, with advertising recounting the advantages of a farm in Michigan. Among the advertising cards under the glass of the counter was one which read: —

TRUE PATRIOTISM

Our owm feeling is that the Reason which Mr. Bouton seeks is complex. That America is still the land of infinite opportunity is part and parcel of the Atlantic’s inmost convictions. Here still dwells Hope. But, conscious of the privileges we ourselves enjoy, we Americans are too prone to consider immigrants who have followed our blazed trail as, in a very crass sense, the scum of the earth. Wops and Squareheads, Frogs and Dagoes, they are to many of us; and all that such a nomenclature connotes enters into our attitude toward them. There is no space here to do more than make the blunt point; but is not this, in part, the Reason?

Miss Keeler ‘having fun with her mind’ has provided many readers with brand-new forms of solitaire. Witness many letters from strangers, and this paragraph from one of her own.

What amuses me most is that, when I was writing that article, I tried to draw out mv friends as to how they had fun with their minds, and could n’t, one of them; and now they all write me at length how they do it. Some are jolly enough. Miss L-tying a big magnet to a string, walking about the lawn to retrieve shingle-nails from the repaired roof, and when she got tired of walking, sitting on her verandah and casting out her line! Four pounds of nails, too!

Bookstore gossip is good gossip. Here we set down the authentic record of a library conversation overheard by a chance buyer.

DEAR ATLANTIC, —
Since you seem to be interested in the subject of bookselling just, now, perhaps this dialogue, overheard at Christmas in a leading book-store in one of the largest cities of the country, may throw some light on your problem.
Lady. — May I have ‘The Dolly Dialogues,’ please?
Junior sales-clerk (to senior sales-clerk). — There’s a party here wants some dialogues.
Senior sales-clerk. —Well, tell ’em we ’ve got nothing outside of Landor’s Imaginary Conversations.
If the bookselling business were to devote _as much thought and time to the training of its salesmen as do many other lines of business, perhaps people might be more tempted to buy books.
Sincerely,
H. W. YOXALL.

Lovers of all the ‘beasties’ will care for this letter.

CHICAGO, December 31, 1920.
DEAR ATLANTIC, —
May I enter a word of appreciation of Robert M. Gay’s very wise question in the January Atlantic concerning the identity of pigs and people?
It has long been part of my creed (usually ridiculed) that, if man practised his acts of faith and obeyed as truly his laws as all animals do theirs, man would be a more admirable and less pitiable object.
Living as I do ‘cooped up’ in one rather large room, for which I pay a weekly sum to the woman who owns it, the aching of my heart for any sort of an animal is unassuaged. So I content myself with petting stray dogs, picking up (much to the horror of most of ray friends) occasional flea-bitten cats, and gazing for hours in the windows of all animal stores. In time I become reduced to a chattering state of imbecility that attracts the attention of sane passers-by. Because talking to a puppy through a half-inch of plate-glass is, of course, evidence of insanity.
And, contrariwise, I can’t agree with Professor Gay that all animals are prospective friends, any more than are all people. Nothing disturbs my peace of mind and ruffles my beatific disposition more than a hen, — any hen, — especially a hen that sings, with eyes half shut, on a warm, enervating afternoon in sunny summer.
As for slimy pets; I’ve kept lizards and found them somewhat satisfactory, except that with five, no matter how often you name them, you can’t tell them apart. I’ve been able to tell one set of two from another set of two, and the fifth from all four, but I never could separate the twos. Turtles, especially small ones, do very well.
They have distinctly varied dispositions, manners — even morals and habits. 1 had two at one time, each about the size of a silver dollar. Their names were Joe and Laura (after a lost love and a hated rival), and 1 must admit that, in spite of all my plans and biased notions, Laura did prove up the better of the two. Joe was sullen, sluggish, and vindictive, while Laura had the pleasant manners and unholy calm of a high-born lady. They Were great friends of mine until they developed a softening of the shell, so that I was forced to consign them to the freer waters of a near-by park lagoon.
There was once a man — a Norwegian farmerfriend of mine — who had a pig. It followed him like Mary’s lamb. Well, one day—but that’s another story.
Sincerely,
ELEANOR B. ATKINSON.

A cheery friend of the Atlantic sends us a sheet of ‘Songs of Rejoicing for Women to Hum round the Home,’

How fresh and bright this world of ours! What music greets the ear! what color the eye! Every girl a hummer in every humming home!

To many readers of the Atlantic who, in response to our urgent appeal for starving China, have responded with a generosity for which we are lastingly grateful, we owe a word of explanation. The record of America in the Orient as the disinterested friend of China carries with it a plain duty common to all of us; but the Atlantic feels a peculiar responsibility in this crisis, because the President, in his appeal for 15,000,000 starving Chinese, has requested both Air. MacGregor Jenkins, publisher of the Atlantic, and the editor, to serve on the New England committee. We can offer absolute assurance of the economy with which collections are made. We can also guarantee that moneys sent through the Atlantic office will, within a fortnight’s time, be converted into actual food in the hands of the very capable American relief committee in the stricken districts. The advertising pages of this issue carry a story on this topic which everybody ought to read.

Rev. Theodore R, Ludlow, who writes the interesting pages following on ‘Famine Days in China,’was formerly Assistant Professor of Political Science at Austin College, Texas, and for five years was Professor of Political Science at Boone University.

During the war he worked with the Chinese Labor Battalion of the American Expeditionary Force in France, and has recently become Rector of St. Paul’s Church in Newton Highlands, Mass.