The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-07-07
AMBASSADOR PAGE
BITTERLY ATTACKED
Magazine Criticizes His Attitude
Toward Southerners in
Writings.


statements Walter II. Page. ambsssa-
dor to the court of St. James. made In
his book, The Southerners." in which
il is declared he abused and deridcd
SouthcrnerS through a false portra yal
of them. the editors of Neales Maya
zine, in their July issue, question Mr..
Pages ability TO represent the Ameri-
can people. The sharp criticism of the
ambassador, who is native OF the
South. is the first Offering in the pub
location, and is entitled Ambassador
Page No Southerncr."
The novel, The Southerners." first
appeared as serial in the Atlantic
Monthly, and was written by Mr.. Page
under the pseudonJm Of Nicholas
Worth" Besides the review of the
book there is editorial comment in
Neale's Magazine questioning Mr.. Pages
Americanism. one paragraph of which
reads:
But Ambassador Page seems to hold
the American section in which he was
born and reared-a section that COM
prises about one-fourth the area and
nearly one-fourth of the population OF
the United States-to be un-American
because sectional We are all Amcri-
cans--unless MIR. Page be an eXcep-
tion-and worthier Americans because
OF our affection for the ward, borough,
city. county and state in which we
live"
Some OF the criticisms of Mr.. Page in
the review of his book follow:
I'VE found that Nicholas Worth. the
profcssed author OF the book, was a
man whose environment III the South
had evidently been among persons who
were not recognized in that section as
typical-in fact, who had no social
recognition whatever. but who lived to
themselves and We're looked down upon
by whites and blacks alike.
81
are so coarse that Will not bring
them into this review. 1t Is sufficient
to say that they We're used to villify
the white race.
Nicholas Worth'and his kind never
stood socially high in the South; he was
no gentleman; his associates were
not gentlemen; his antcccdents had a
defective sense of the difference that
exists between right and wrong.
nicholas Worth holds Confederate
veterans i'll utter contempt. and
throughout his book Confcdcrates are
roundly abused. and he also abuses
their organization and other southern
patriotic bodies, such as the Daugh-
tiers of the Confcdcracy. Nicholas
Worth denies that there was any in
tcllectuality among the women OF the
South lie frequently speaks Of the
lack of culture OF all the people among
whom he was reared.
Nicholas Worth, the Southcrner is
ashamed OF being a Southerncr. lie
holds that there is no negro social
problem. He does not find objection
able the marriage of a mulatto girl TO
II white man. He meets the negro wo-
man on the terms OF equality.
lie says that he found his intel
lectual emancipation at Harvard. lie
does not seem ever to have been In amy
sort OF home in the South-unless in
the home OF some negro; OF, should We
say L!at lie seemed quite at home
when among negroes?
"fhroughout the book Nicholas
Worth continually dWclls on his intel
lectual superiority to the people Of the
section where he was born. He praises
his own scholarship as ii amazed that
a skull so small AS his had the ca
pacity for storing away so much crudi-
ton. AS an evidence OF his extraordi-
nary knowledge, he says: Yet not a
man or woman who alluded to "schol
arly diversion knew even the Greek
alphabet, nor tsic) had any desire TO
learn IT.
The book now becomes important
because of Mr.. Pages position as the
ambassador of all the American people
to Great Britain. In London the hook
is being hailed as Il true expression Of
the South. for Mr.. rage was born in
the South. and they naturally suppose
that a Southern President appointing
:; man of Southern birth has appointed
a representative Southcrner.'