The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-08-23
WRITINGS THAT COME BACK.

" .
turbiuu the old order. always making
trouble for the machine. They held the
machine in contempt, and reciprocally
the machine treated them with con
tcmptuous shifts.
With the incoming of the present
/ administration, however. them liter
ary fcllers have notably conc to the
front In the diplomatic appointments
especially have they shown forth chief
And vet, there is fly in the ONT
ment Although they seem 10 be pre-
ferrcd by the present administration
their sins often find them out. Prcsi-
! dent Wilson himself during the Presi-
/ Dental canvass last year was con
! frouted with a good many awkward
! things that he had written in his com
ments upon various nationalitles. His
drastic objections to some of the type
! of immigrants that come to this coun'
| try were especially stinging, and doubt
less cost him good many votes; but,
under the circumstances, he could af-
| ford to lose a good many, since tho op-
position was practically cut in two.
Perhaps tho most distinguished VIC
tim, aside from the President himself,
of his own literary fluency, is Embas-
sador Walter II. Page, who has the Lon
don mission. Mr.. Pages offense has
put him in bad odor all at once among
the Southerncrs (they have Just found
out about it) because OF his story
,n11 lad
''Thc Southerner Mr.. Page himself
was born in North Carolina, and so the
Southerners felt that they had one of
their own people in London when Mr.
Page was given the Embassadorship TO
Great Britain. But alas and alackl
That unfortunate book of his 1.-THE
Southerner - is under the severest rep
rotation, to say nothing Of denun-
citation, on the part of Southerners, and
Mr. Page is decidedly queercd' by
leading article is directed against Mr..
Page on account of this book. The
objection to it is that from the com
ments made upon Southern life, senti
ment and feeling therein, it is held
that Mr.. Page is not a gentleman, but
was of the low class commonly called
"poor whites: his associates were not
gentlemen, and his antcccdents "have
defective sense Of the difference that
exists between right and wrong Sec.
ond, in that book Mr.. Page holds Con.
fedcrate veterans in utter contempt,
opposing them throughout, and abusing
their. organizations and other Southern
Hpatriotic bodies, - such as the Daugh
ters Of the Confederacy. In it he de-
mics that there is any intellectually
among women of the South He found
the desolatiou of the South caused by
the Civil War "laug ghable - The hero
of the book, on his return from Har-
ward, began to work for the 'SsociaI
uplift' of the negro, in the hope of
obtaining political prcferamcnt through
the negro vote That same hero be-
came disgusted with his cousin Mar
garet, his early love, because of her de-
votion to what he eontemptuously
terms the "patron saints Lee and
jackson, and because she saved from
destruction some Confederate relics
That same hero is made to speak fre
quently of the lack Of culture among
ali the people with whom he came in
contact. and he willfullv misrepre
sents'' the character Of Confederate
officer. He, being Southerner, "is
ashamed Of being a Southerner." And
apparently worst of all, she holds there
is no negro "social problem. He does
not find any objection to the "mar-
riagc of a mulatto girl TO white
man, and che meets the negro woman
on ferns of equality
That is surely a pretty stiff indict
mcut of ambassador Page, from the
Southern standpoint and some of it is
pretty bad from any standpoint. 1t
is not surprising TO note that Senator
Bacon of Georgia, perhaps the most
distinguished Senator from any of the
Southern States, has suggested in the
Senate that this matter bc inquired in
TO. and intimatcd that if the work as
criticised by Southern women had been
known, and that Mr.. Page was its
author, his confirmation as Embassa-
dor could not have been had in the
Senate.
Heretofore there has been but little
difficulty IN matters Of tins kind, be-
cause foremost writer's, while not IN
frequently appointed, AS in the case of
Mr.. Pages predecessor, the Hon White
law Reid, and in the case Of Mr.. Mot
Icy and others, there does not seem TO
have been any objection heretofore to
what these autNors b,d written. IT
seems, however, that it is not enough
that an author shall have produced and
published a book. but that this book
shall be acceptable 10 certain preu-
diced classes, and especially it must be
acceptable TO tho Confederate seuti-
meHi. We submit that this sort of
objection is distinctly cousurable, and
must urge in behalf Of that ccnsure
that there is no more reason for keep