The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-02-27
SOME NEW BOOKS.
All Of which Mr.. Foraker snwi
Fart Of which ne was.

for the uovcrnorshiD of Ohio. in 1888.
10 the time of his last ,and unsuc-
cessful) Senatorial candidacy In 1914,
no mar mad a Cioser view of the con-
temporary life of the Republican party
than had JOSEPH BENsOS FORAKER.
whose autobiography. Notes Of a BusU
Lite tStewart and Kidd Company. Gin
cinnati), il certain to he. in respect
Of general interest ana historical inn
portance. Of the most notable pub
lications Of the year. much more sig
nincant than its characterlcss title
serves TO indicate. II is odd that an
author shci.. '~"rs chosen a title at
once so unlike h.- known self and 80
Inadequate to the circumstances of
his book. The years Of ex-senator
FOraker's participation in conventions.
campaigns and State n national
legislation and administration consti-
tute an era not less definite In our ma
tlonal political history thar in the his
tory Of the authors party.
II is startling. in following Mr.. For
aker's narrative. to perceive with GU
mulative clcarncss how completely the
anne constantly recurring in his
DIXIE, udII1eS Itdl SNdIlu " NV iiN-
tory Of the Republican party in thos"
three decades and that were so few
years ago heard throughout the lane
In m speech, have dropped out
Of the days news. how utterly they
belong to an ended epoch. "A finished
chapter. The author poses. all the
more forcefully because wholly hy
logical implication. the question
whether the new directors Of the
course Of the ship of state are AZ
competent n~avieators as their predc-
cessors: whether this day is the equal
Of that day in the intellectuals that
combine the ideals Of statecraft with
its probabilities. The one blemish in
the ex-Senator's virile book is his bit
ter resentment against the new order,
an irreconcilability which detracts, by
its inevitable suggestion Of personal
disappointment. from the otherwise
compelling force of the arraignmcnt.
In the closing chapters Mr.. Foraker's
text Is weakened by his tone. hut
the literary fault unuuest.onahly adds
to the individual character Of the
work.
One minor but interesting phase 80
the somewhat melancholy east Of the
Foraker book AS n living authors re-
c~apitulat!on OF a chapter of pas; hif-
tory Is the service in the civ!l wa.
which with him as with other mon
whose names will easily follow the
hint. notably Major Mckinley. became
a factor in the political personality in
that period which began with the close
Of the Reconstruction. IN 1857 Gov.
Foraker "struck a responsive chord
in the South" by a paragraph in his
annual message TO the Legislature. in
which he reported the unkempt con-
dition OF the Confederate cemetery
near Columbus and urged that the
State should put and keep 1t In order.
It IA property of the United States
Government but seemed to have been
overlooked al the national capita. as
no funds had been appropriated for its
care. Gov. Foraker expressed his POI
sition with complete freedom from
ambiguity: THE hatred and detesta-
ton that all loyal people must ana
should ever entertain for the destruc-
tive political doctrines that these men
fought for ought not to stand in the
way Of either a cordial feeling toward
the living who have abandoned such
heresies or a proper regard and Chris
tan respect for the graves Of the
dead who. although wrong. Vet heroic
ally and valorously commended for the
convictions they entertained"
That message was promulgated oni"
q little in advance of President tIcve-
lands order for the return of cap
tured Confederate battle flags to tho
Southern States. The Presidents order
was so wordcd as to include flags in
custody Of Northern States. and was
made without Congressional author
ization. 1t aroused instant keen re-
sentiment. either honestly increased ~
artificially nourished 10y the facts that
Cleveland himself had not been a SOL
der. that he had vetoed pension hil!S
had refused to speak on the GcttNs-
burg battlefield when visiting 1t Oil =
cially and had given apparent in'en-
tional offence to the patriotic public
sentiment of the country" by Soin-
fishing on Memorial Day.
The Union veterans of ONO bonn
barded the Governor with letters and
kilograms. One. Capt. T.. Carson Of
Hillsboro. wired The old soldiers of
n captured rebel flags. Intense feel
Ing here amorG the boys wlo wore
the blue" The Governor wired back;
mo rebel flags Will be surrender /
while ! am Governor In tn" cani.
paign Of that year. 1887, the two tclc
grams were reproduced on Il earl,
under the nag, with the motto. 40
Surrender OF Captured Rebel FLAGS
and circulated as a campaign doC',-
ment. That was tWcnty-nine years
ago. twcnty-one years after the war:
q characteristic episode Of "A period
whose stress can hardly be appre-
ciatcd by the younger American citi-
ems Of this day Of intersectlonal
friendship.
II was in that same year inCiden-
tally. hat Gov. Foraker made his APP
pointment OF William II. Taft 10 the
State Superior Court bench To fiji a
vsca7cy left by the resignation of the
Hon. Judson Harmon, Attorncy-Gen-
eral OF the United States in Clcve.
lands second Administration. twice
Governor Of Ohio and one of Mr.. Will
sons rivals for the Democratic Iresi-
Dental nomination in 1912. Mr.. Fora
ker himself was admitted to the pruc-
tice Of the law in 1859, az Cincinnati.
where he had permanently located
after graduating in the first class of
Cornell University. Mr.. Foraker :
first employment was as "a notary
public. S~tcnography was not then IN