The Washington herald., 1920-03-04
In the Linelight
By George Perry Morris.

The return Of Paul Elmer More to
active Journalism Of the literary
type IL an important event. Follow
ing the death Of Wendell Phillips
Garrison. for 30 long q time arbiter
Of the fate Of authors whose books
were reviewed In the Nation, MI.
More ascended to the tripod and
dictated who should review AS
books and who BIS. He did not re-
tain the position as long - his ad-
mirers wished that he would. Pos
sibly his philosophic soul irked un-
der the necessities OF getting. out
q weekly, though he had long
served an apprenticeship In making
The Independent, under the editor
ship of william Hayes Ward, one of
the finest Of the weeklies. Since re-
tiring from The Nation Mr.. More
has been a frequent writer for the
periodical created by Henry Holt,
and first known as The Unpopular
Review and now as the bipartisan
Review. It Is to formal charge Of
the literary department. Of this
quarterly he now comes.
Those who have read the many
essays of Mr.. More gathered to-
gether by him in successive vol
umes Of the "Shelburne" series know
the breadth of his intellectual in
terests and the ardor of his cham
pionship Of the classical as over
against the realistic in literature.
Along with Prof. Shore, Of the Uni
versity Of Chicago; Prof. Stuart p
Sherman, Of the University of Illi-
nois. and Prof. Irving Babbitt and
Prof. Bliss Perry, of Harvard. he
has combatted the critics and au-
thors who s neer at Victorian and
Edwardean ideals, who chatter flip
PANTY of the Puritan taint" on
standard British and American lit
erature, and who both preach and
practice naturalism. He is a patri-
clan aristocrat, ii must be admitted,
and is rather scornful on the
herd" whether they be viewed as
citizens or purchasers of literature.
To an extent not equalled by many.
IL any. of his contemporaries. he
knows the deeper thoughts of the
Oriental seers and makers of phi
losophies and religions; and just be-
cause he has this wider Asiatic, as
we'll as European and American
background. he makes his assail-
ants seem like adolescent provin-
cials-which some of them are
when he retorts to their attacks.
John j. O'Shea, Of the Catholic
Standard and Times Of Philadelphia,
who. has just died. had a record OF
service in church journalism COW
ering a longer period and witness
ing more striking ecclesiastical, po-
~ I'll oh ho q n
Roman Catholic editor in this coun-
try could say he had seen. His
career began on the famous Free.
mans Journal in Dublin: IT in
cluded all TIE privations and all the
world acclaimed achievements OF
the old fashioned war correspond
ent, but a major part of it was in
the service of distinctively church
periodicals and was crowned, from
a literary and scholastic point OF
view, by his editing of the Ameri-
can Catholic Quarterly Review. His
biographies of eminent clerical
leaders and his formal writings on
policies and events in the history OF
the church in the United States are
to prove increasingly valuable as
time goes on. II 1t came to po-
lemics. and II often did early in his
career, he was trenchant, but he
saw an irenic era in journalism fol-
low a contentious one and he die
not regret the change.
Miss Julia Lathrop, chief of the
Child Welfare Bureau of the De-
partment of Labor. has earned the
rest and change of scene which her
coming trip to Czecho- -Slovakia will
give her. Her "ingrowing con-
science" plus her many additional
labors during the war have kept
her on duty to an extent Spartan
rather than Laodicean in kind. She
will be the guest of the great pres
ident of the new nation; and OF
course while there will do her part
to make that country even more
than IL Is today an oasis of common
sense, efficient government in a
destr of blighting. combative hyper,
nationalism. The Masaryks, father
and daughter. have a clearer vision
as to what the modern state should
be and do than any other two peo-
pie in Europe who are in power
They studied Miss Lathrop's work
while they were in this country.
They now want her personal. eX-
pert advice on conditions that have
to be seen to be fully understood.
At home she has had to battle with
selfish reactionaries for her official
place and her opportunity to labor.
There she will be honored.