The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-03-18

DAVID GRAHAM PHILLIPS
Author S Of That rbe s; opsnns Political
Mr.. Phillips introduces his readers to
MS boSs' as q young lawyer in a western
city, striving for foothold He is tempt
ed into politics, and accepts a seat in the
legislature at the hands of local boss,
thereby becoming mere political tool.
Inc Ideals his mother has. fostered in
ms mind as a lad and youth are too dear
and too real to make the position COM
Portable. He revolts against his boss, and
then he learns what bosssm means-gen-
teel poverty for himself and mother. and
a BAR to his marriage with the girl lie
loVes-genteel poverty, whose worst fea-
ture Is its power to make one afraid
Wisdom in the Rpenins.
He is soon ripe for the view that neither
honor nor honesty. can win other than
sporadic and more or less hypocritical
homage-practical homage--among a peo-
pie whose permanent ideal is wealth. no
matter how got CIR how used" 1t is many
steps, including political managership for
combination of big corporations with po-
tltlcal interests, to the position of master
BOSS Of the nation, but that is where at
last lands this young man who at first
bill. He becomes boss of the United
States, the maker and rrnaker of presi-
dents. the. high priest of practical pat
riotisn, -, which srneans "fassyield to the
powerful few sa minimum of what thew
could compel, to give to the PROSTATE but
potentially. powerful many at least enough
to keep them quiet-a Stoma chful. The
world may have advanced; but patriotism
still remains the art of restraining the
fl111 eft oh
Of empty Ones"
-, Book to StartIe the Patriot
The reader Of "The Plum Tree" who
has a spark of genuine patriotism left,
will find that spark blazing hot, famed
not by pride but for fear for his ma
ton, as he advances thru the pages of
the book. The power behind the throne
as pictured is still an idealst at heart. as
ne was when a young man seeking
a career as a lawyer, but an ideal
list who believes the ends Justify the
MEANS that arrogance and~misrule must
be curbed, even if brides have to be given
to get the power. Ones fear is giveu pla y
at the thought Of such unlimited power in
the hands of boss of the opposite sort
The boss of Mr.. Phillips, however, gives
ground for faith in the secret ballot and
in partizanship. -
It's Possible infuence.
The general idealist may be disposed to
quarrel with Mr.. Phillips "practical'' phi-
losophy as blemlsh in his work, but he
ana most others, we venture will not
deny for moment that Mr. Phillips has
written a book Of very unusual strength:
a BOOK whether written with the purpose
or not), that should do something to purify
politics by giving publicity to the methods
by which the scattered powers Of the peo-
pie are brought under the control of the
few; a book Of absorbing interest, tight
ening its hold upon the reader from page
to page thruout; a book without pad
ding condensed indeed almost too far
for those unfamiliar with politics, and a
book showing increased skill in every di-
rect1on on tho part of the author
The Bobbs-M Merrill company, Indian
apolis.
REPORTS THAT WINSTON CHURCH.
ILL is POLITICALLY DEAD SEEM TO
BE E<AGGERATED.-W Churchill,
author of 1.-THE Crossing,' writes to the
editor of the Evening Post:
How did your usually wel1-informed
editor get the idea that I am out of poli
tics? l am happy to assure him that am
now serving my second term in the New
Hampshire legislature, and I trust that
the other literary gentlemen whom he
mentions are not as dead politically as
ne would make them out. Your political
editorial writer, must learn not to believe
everything he reads in his newspapers, be-
cause there is a boss in New Hampshire
who owns newspaper, and who publishes
a funeral notice of me nearly every week.
And yet 1 refuse to die. Your editorial
says that literary men are looked upon
with suspicion by politicians Everybody
is looked upon with suspicion by poIiti-
clans. When I am dead will drop YOU a
line ~, - ="
Owing to the lack of suitable editions MANY
French plays of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries are seldom read in American schools
ana colleges. With the purpose of widening the
range of study in this field CHM & Co. are plan
ming to issue scholarly editions of number of
the best plays of this period. The first of these
publcati tons will include Rotrou's "Saint Genest''
and Yeneeslas"- and will he edited by Pro.
lessor L. F. Crane of Cornell university.
THE READERS QUESTION BOX
(Readers sending serious questions about books
OF technical or purely literary sort, or about
matters pertaining to the book world, to The
Uneasy Chair in care Of The Minneapolis Journal.
will be answered here to the best Of The Chairs
ability and resources.l .-
J. A.-The lines, ,,
Just for a handful of silver he left u.s.
Just for a rfband to stick In his coat
are from "The Lost Leader'' and when Brown
ing wrote the he had IN mind