New-York tribune., 1921-09-27
Doubt EXPRESSED That ,lt WIN Be
Without Bias.

TO the Editor Of The Neic ,'orn Times:
Ono can scarcely take issue with the
purpose Of the knights Of Columbus
to publish e History OF tho United
States. Their history will doubtless
prove Interesting whether or not 1t will
be valuable contribution to the field
must. as always, be left Is the judg-
ment of persons other than. and fndc-
pendent OF. the authors,
Here is the rub. BY loudly. pro-
claiming their own impartiality. and at
the same tnc making grave and
widespread charges OF propaganda"
against others. the knights show
rather trucutent disposition to attempt
TO fix the place of their own work in
advance of it's publication.
History without some bias. conscious
or unconscious. has probably never becnA
written. and whether we have auE
cause to regret this is an open question
The more viewpoints the meriier. .EThe
knights Of Columbus arc doubtle@NAZll
equipped to give us the Americ&A IsSall~
olic (and perhaps Irish) /vA*aNsoSpa.
Would it not be wiser for thcnJ ThaAkA
to attempt this, rather than the YYaAsH
which they have unAertaken-a Msks
which an author of fl less dellbe$ate'
predictions would find difffcht
enougho M
THE TINES recertly quoted the X u
G. publication cShamittee as saying that
Germany. EYgHnd and Japan had all
maintained i fmpudsst' propaganda
agencies IN 5he unifeSN Nstates. Was
it by an &frsight thaA ANheya failed to
mention sRlcertain refAShli& in the
listI orNas i because heg gpartisans
much upbn offensive polifNs INA nd''n MOB B
r, JAMES II. HeE1&dAN.
New York. Sept
re the Editor OF The Ne,c York 7YmA
In letter published In today0M TSMEs
John 4. sskennedy makes soneeAstht te-
ments inaregard to the knights A Nc
lumbus Which must be surprisngVASNa
great. many Of your readers. He WsasSA
"We are anti-nothing. The KniEaS
Of Columbus have no racial bias" as sss
has generally been believed that mSSa
OF the knights were bitterly anti-Ena{
lish Nnd that the organization itself
ssssssszssxHsaaAtila to the Masonic Order.
AS to h2vNN no racial bias. how does
MIR. Kennedy Nare this statement with
the one put NeXSSS>> their american
History CommissiS pshllshed in your
issue Of Sept. sahich. referring
to the n1oSshent to$sxe Magma
CharSaasDay in all. sgsesasing
assSStries. the commission staSss
sgAaAhts OF Columbus will oppose u
The reason given for this
tson'-namely. that observing this
sdMAHsrsary late in June would eclipse
@oyNYNn Independence Day--cannot be
GiyWsssS serious yonsid,ration
1 E&Ader IL the Knights OF Columbus
woumW oppose the Observance here OF
MagS@a Ciaarta Day If that famous docu-
NJ ad been drawn up In Ireland and
Y .XA BRIAN PENDLEToN.
ToAEt Editor OF The Ncto York Times:
sA33Xliow me to commend the letters OF
Messrs. Edward G. Billings and VIII
liam Todd in connection with the pro-
posed blessing to be bestowed upon the
country by the knights Of Columbus.
refer TO the ~ red-blooded history Of
America free from propaganda. which
is to correct the amazing Ignorance In
regard to history now prevailing among
us. Are we sure this will not be called
a " History of Greater ireland -?
So the Knights Of Columbus think
they can Improve on Bancroft, Losing.
Barnes and our other eminent histo-
rlans. Surely arrogance and self-con-
ceit can go no further. We do not
want any red-blooded - histortes-a
historian should be calm and dispas-
sionate and not in the interest of any
ono faction.
It Is a pity that Mr.. Kennedy does
not know what the root stock of
America is. He cannot go far in his
researches, however, without informing
himself on this point.
VIII he include In his history the pari
played by the Irishman Conway. the
inverteratc foe OF Washington. who with
his caba1 worked to undermine and
weaken tile Cornmander-in-C Chief during
the terrible Winter at Valley Forge
and afterward, but whose coaspiracv
was tlWart@d by General I.afave9fep
{s'cc The True Lafayette" by George
Morgan. q valuable addition to olli.
literatGre.)
am Of Revolutionary stock. My
grea t-great- grandfather veg a Colonel
of Horse in the Revolution. and 1 can
not stand for amy such n8nsenSe as that
PROPOSED b. the knights Of Columbus.
NJ, e., NJ Z. BOWMAN.