The San Francisco call., 1899-02-26
WITH ENTIRE FRANKNESS.
M@@%@%9%~%~% %ep< o @+@*@<8*0$S
BY HENRY JAMES.

/
Concerning a new paper which comes.
| under my notice / have nothing TO say
savesaS to a single article which nap
pens to be an attack upon Ambrose
Bierce. l have been led to believe that
Mr.. Bierce is competent to fight his own
battles and ordinarily would have no
impulse to defend him. So far as the
assault bears upon the ability of Bierce
as a critic / regard it as perfectly just.
His expressed opinion of the literary
product of any person is absolutely
without value. Whether he is incom-
petent to judge or for mere perverse-
ness chooses to be absurd is a point
| upon which information is difficult 10
| obtain. But the article in question is
grossly stupid in that it denies to Bierce
credit for capacity to do good work,
when as a fact many intelligent people
| here and abroad hold that he is the
writer of some of the best, the strong
est and the most striking stories ever
couched in model English. Certainly
these tales will be remembered long
! after the circumstance that Bierce ever
| wrote for daily paper shall have been
forgotten. Whether his Sunday letter
is good or bad matters little, for in
week-as all other work of the kind
it is lost to recollection. To formulate,
classics for daily paper would be an
exaggerated method of wasting pearls.
The average reader does not want clas-
sizes, and getting them would consider
himself aggrieved. Were Bierce to write
at his best he would shoot ideas so far
above the heads of his following that
/ ~ n ia a
telescope mental eye. But my indig-
nation is due to the embodylng IN the
denunciatory screed of brutal and
malign attack directed against man
who, having been befriended and en-
couraged by Bierce, presumes to ad-
mire and perhaps unconsciously to 1mf-
tate him. To this man nature has given
a physical cross to bear and bravely
he bears it. Yet the ambushed assa11-
ant taunts him with the misfortune not
to be escaped, gibes at the anguish
above which the sufferer has risen, and
then seems to think a point has been
scored. In all my experience as
reader I never ran across an outrage
more fla rant, covert thrust more
cowardly given. AS a smaller reason
for protest there appear to indicate au-
| thorship of the unholy affront to
decency the litials III. J.' Lest some
superficial student of current journal
ism may think I am guilty 1 hasten to
| disaVow the iniquity. Occasionally the
duty of saying harsh things arises, and
while 1 do not shirk it L do not hide
| behind initials. Such subterfuge is
worse than the crime of being anony-
nous, for it may cast suspicion upon
the guiltless. Before L reach so de-
graded a state as to devote to wanton
ridicule of the afflicted such feeble habit
of phrase as may be mine may lose
the power to place word on record.
Professor Paul 'osev: I Il perfect
ly willing to concede that you are
crank, but it is distressing to observe
that you spell it with a K.
Dennis: Having read your contribu-
tions, am convinced that there is
about your name something singularly
appropriate. 4"5n..
That James Creelman should now be
near the scene of activities in Manila
| is a genuine misfortune. OF all the
newspaper correspondents who ever
misled the public. I regard him as the
most constituencies and unreliable.
One might read a detailed account of
battle, written by Creelman, de-
scription of the charge, the retreat and
the burial of the dead, and yet not
have the slightest assurance that bat
tie had occurred. Up to the present
people have had a clear idea of the
progress of matters in the Philippines.
Now they are certain to be confused,
for there will be Creelman reports and
truthful reports. and not all are pre-
pared to draw the distinction. I am
sorry that some of the men who went
from here to renresent local papers did
not remain. Sol Sheridan and Corporal
Healy for The Call, Mart Egan for the
Chronicle and Douglas White for the
Examiner all sent accurate AMI inter
esting reports White was handicapped
by the absurd commissions given him
by his paper, and ponderous title. but
he did his work we'll Notwithstanding.
| ANY one of thee men was worth
dozen Creelmans but the trouble
seemed to be over and they were with
drawn. Then Creelman was forwarded,
and we realize with pangs that the ac-
tual trouble has just begun. Happily,
ing Otis and Aguinaldo how to conduct
a war that he will not have time to
cable much but a record of his own
valuable emotions.
I hope there is no treason in express
sion of the wish that the good and great
Mr.. Alger would perceive the beauty
of retiring with his honors thick upon
him and rest in a bower of the laurel
with which he has been showered. II
he cannot take this view of the case
still no treason-to see him kicked out
of the Cabinet would be a pleasing
spectacle. Probably there was never in
the family Of Presidential advisors
man more incompetent, more distaste-
full more lacking in public confidence.
People recognize the fact that the War
Department had a vast task to per-
form, and that while this was per-
formed with expedition every stage of
development reeked with scandal. with
favoritism and with rotten beef. The