New-York tribune., 1920-01-05
Copyright. 1920. New York Tribune /
By
Heywood Broun

and in every possible way was given
reason to envy Beckett" Shaw deserves
another chance from "The Nation"
With one or two more fights under his
belt he may even yet challenge compari-
son with Mr.. Bennett as sporting
writer. a.
We have received letter from Mr..
John Spargo, which we shall print In
full next Saturday, in which he takes
exception to our statement that, al
though he believed the sedition law was
not only morally wrong but injurious
to Americas fighting efficiency, he made
no protest during the war. He incloses
copies Of two speeches delivered by him
during the war in which he made Wig
orous protests against what he consid-
cred were repressive measures on the
part Of the government. Accordingly,
1t is only fair for us to admit that we
were less than just to Mr.. Spargo in our
article. Although other parts of his
letter give wholly different impression,
at least one sentence still conveys to us
the implication that Mr.. Spargo tends
to confuse loyalty with conformity.
"In great war;" he writes, "you are
either supporting or you are not sup
porting the national cause"
"Sapporting" can stand little de-
fining. The theory of solidarity was
carried so far in this country during the
war that anybody who ventured to sug-
gest that the War Department was not
doing stupendously successful Job IN
building airplanes was at once set down
as disloyal citizen. 1t seems to US
that it is entirely possible for US to re-
main loyal to Harvard University, even
though we are willing to admit that CO.
lumbia has bigger and better gym
nasium. Nobody can be quite as loyal
to nation as he ought to be unless he
has some suggestion for making it
better.
We find that all the great actors are
not dead, after all. There are live ones
in Russia, we learn from reading Oliver
M. Sayler's "The Russian Under the
Revolution" Speaking Of the actors of
that much distressed country Mr.. Sayler
says "SiS Of them. in addition to
Stanislavsky, are artists of the first rank,
ANY one of the seven would be acknowl-
edged leader of our stage IL his gifts
could be transferred and made intel
ligible in our theaters." That Is as NAV
be, but we are more convinced than ever
that nobody can give much idea of the
art of an actor by writing about him.
Mr.. Sayler, for instance, is intent uuon
conveying the greatness of Katchaloff,
ana ne writes mo one in the Russian
tneater can say If you please with more
urbanity than Katchaloff" The state
ment leaves us cold. In fact, it does not
even tempt us to try and convince Rus
slans that Ethel Barrymore is a great
actress by recording the simple fact that
NOBODY IN America has ever equaled
her in the pathos Of saying That's all
there is. There isn't any more"
Anybody who is not already in the
middle OF book ought to lose no time
IN beginning w Fl. Hudson's "Far Away
and Long Ago. which has just been is
sued by DutSon in it's seventh edition.
Anybody who is in the middle of a book
ought to let 1t wait until he, too, has
read this most enticing autobiography
about childhood, Argentina. owls. o.
triches and South American cowboys.
! E<<ickless Resolutions
lFFam Tho Reitinlora Aaacrdcaul