New-York tribune., 1912-08-30
NOT CONVINCING.

In his candid and rather Ginning
ANALYSIS Of Governor Wilson's chances
Of election Colonel Harvey lays stress
on the unfortunate effect produceu
upon mauy foreign-bon voters 10y Ger
tain passages from the Democratic
nominees historical writings. In MS
"IIistory of the American People Ut.
Wilson spoke most disparaglngiy oI
the immigration to this country from
Poland. Hungary and Italy, and gave
il as his opinion that the Poles. hun
earjans and Italians admitted uldcr
cur laws were less desirable accesSl"hS
to our laboring population than would
brvc been the Chinese coolies WHOM
Congress had leeSlated to bar out
Colonel Harvey does not underral'
the injury done 10 Governor wilson :
candidacy by these indiScrert asSer-
films lie ccnSurcS the Hearst news
uapclS for exploiting the l'emocrau'
candidates historical judgments ana
then falls into the curious com uNioh
Of attributing all responsibility TOR 'Hc
damage caused not To- the candidate
who nut the offensive opinions Tor
ward a. diSpasSionate history. but 10
the newspaper editor who merely re-
produced them rs matters "f current
poli,ical interest. Colonel Harvey ah-
sohtelv rcverseS the ordinary rules OF
literary responsibility when he says:
ATTEMPTS since made [since the nomi-
nationI to convince these tens Of thou-
sands of naturalized citizens that the
quotations from Mr.. Wilson's historical
writings were gross pcrNersionS oi ms
real belief and sentiment nav" aNall'u
little. II Is with the greatest dfncuIlN'
under the most fqvorabl" conditions.
that an idfo HrC can be disl"dged
from. minds accustomed 10 grasp but
single thought OF direct personal bear
ing. and the effort becomes Wcllmgh
hopeless when, as In this case, the
promoters Of the prejudice. despite
their friendly professions, studiously
refrain from counteracting the e1ect or
their own doings
Why should the prejudice against
Governor Wilson created by his own
deliberate expressions Of opinion be
charged up To newspapers which have
only copied verified extracts from ms
most famous historical work: Neither
Governor Wilson nor Colonel Harvey
denies the authenticity Of the passages
IN which the coming of the Poles. Hun
garians and Italians was deplored and
their infcriority to Chinese was as
serted. Nor have any steps been taken
bv the historian or his publishers 10
withdraw or modify the passages IN
question. In fact, only rccently-since
the Baltimore conventional circular
was issued by Harper & Bros. making
n special offer of the History Of the
American People" unmodified and un'
cxpurgated. This circular says that the
, history "was the result Of twenty
, years Of study, and its authoritative
mess has never been challenged"
If that be so, how can Governor
Wilson or any one representing him
contend that the quotations from the
book are gross perversions of his real
belief and sentiment? The quota
! tions sneak for themselves. They can
not be explained away by saying that
they have been reproduced in un-
friendly quarters and in an unfrlendly
spirit. If they are gross perverSions'
Of their authors real belief and SEN
timent" why have they been permitted
10 stand In an edition sold for use in
the present Presidential campaignf
The public would take Colonel Har-
vey's curious explanation more seri-
ousIy If he could produce any evidence
that Governor Wilson has really re-
vcrsed his views on Polish, Hungarian,
Italian and Chinese immigration and is
ready TO prove his change of heart by
amending his history