The sun., 1916-12-31
Believes War Was Foreshadowed by
Decadence in Art---Count Leo's
Letter to the Gar

what unnnlSneO ana L Ieei suIe thos
he would have worked hard upon II
and revised It many times before per-
hitting its production on the stage
When I read IL I found that while the
! plot was similar to that of my novel.
the treatment was entirely different.
He laid the scenes in high society
while I depicted the atmosphere o!
the peasant class.
MY novel Is altogether different
in conception from my fathers play.
OF course I do not dare invite COM
parison between my work and hat oil
my father-that would be childish
bu; I shall publish 1t only because 1t
is absolutely different in treatment"
1 asked Count llya Tolstoy for his
! Impressions concerning the outbreak
Of the war. and for the reasons of his
coming to America at this time to talk
about the life and work Of Leo Tolstoy
He said:
First Of all. war is an evil. and nc
evil can result in good. Therefore ! dc
not expect any great improvements OF
reforms as a result of this a
Fl have been asked in this country
ny u ilou5 ilttti " -
on art. on poetry, on Russian dances
on European literature to-day. A dy-
ing man cannot speak and does not
think OF such matters. Europe Is like
a dying man now. and we who come
from Europe cannot calmly discuss tho
arts. poetry. literature, music OF
dances.
With regard to the causes that led
TO this wal I can say this: I travelled
extensively through Europe before tho
war. and everywhere ! observed that
il vas a period Of terrible decay and
moral decline in all domains of spir-
ltual %endeavor. in art. in music and in
literature. Everywhere | saw the tri-
umph Of the tango. the spirit Of Conan
Doyle. the Pinkerton detective stories
the immoral Sanine in Russian litera-
ture. futurism in art. ~decadence in
poetry,
The entire emptiness of lie before
the war was symbolized In the tango
] recall having seer a book bound in
the style of Russian peasant shoes
entitled n Slap AT Public Opinion
also recall that in Moscow a fanatic
S''''l'u iN'piu = IldSltI DieNt It's "a pro-
test against the classic forms of art
In all these manifestations of hysteri-
cal emptiness | saw evidence of the
hopeless decline of mankind. There.
fore i believe the causes of this wal
should he sought in the downfall oi
some of the sublime ideals Of mankind
Another cause of this war may h,
found in the excessively developed feel.
ing OF patriotism. which | consider
among the baser feelings. akin 10 ego.
tism. Patriotism is a natural feeling
inherent in all OF us. but 1t must h,
combated rather than encouraged. ant
believe that ii is a grave error tina
we are everywhere singing its praise.
in song and story.
III my father had lived To soc thi.
war ! am sure he would have die
Immediately after the outbreak of thi.
terrible catastrophe. He could no
have witnessed these horrors an,
IlN"d. When such a hurricane II
sweeping the nations ven n voice lik,
my fathers could not have been heard
Il have come to America to speal
about my father. about his work. hi,
life and his ideals. This is tho onl,
country where liberty. freedom OF tn,
press and freedom Of conscience max.
II possible for me to speak about thi,
great world figurc. In Europe to-da,
they no longer understand nor do the,
want To hear about the Tolstoy ideals
Besides. my father was always NOR,
Interested in America than in Europe
and judging from tho large numbcI
Of letters he received from AL part
Of America, il seems to me that Amer
lea was more apprcCiativc Of m,
fathers work than certain countrie
in Europe
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