, 1922-03-17
TAINTED HISTORY.

schools Of the country regarded as inaccurate, mis-
leading, untruthful and altogether unfit to guide stu
Known as Muzzeys School History, written by David
s Muzzey.
Some Of the specifications taken from the book itself
viii readily appeal to American citizens generally as
scarcely to be tolerated in schools where facts and IN
biased truth are presumed to be the basis OF informa-
ton impaired.
For instance on page sos this is found:
"a clique Of Wall Street bankers practically man
aged the country during Grants presidency; and ever
since that time the great capitalists who have financed
our railroads, our mines, our oil fields, our steel mills
and our packing houses have expected and received
from congress favors and immunities which have made
them fsbulously rich and bred in many of them the
belief that the government exists primarily for the
purpose Of protecting and increasing their private
wealth. Corruption, bribery and graft are the newt
able results of the undue influence of money in
politics"
That statement IS not only inaccurate but false. It
directly charges congress with being under the inhu-
ence of big money interests, and alleges that corrup-
tlon, bribery and graft are the inevitable results of
such inference. Teachers are expected to teach their
pupils that congress is filed with corruption, bribery
and graft. The statement is bolshevistic in that it at
tempts to AIRY the public mind against the govern
ment, regardless of what political party or individuals
may be in control.
Page 526. "Their (the Republican, high tariff was
%cnriching a few protected manufacturers at the OK
pense of the many consumers"
That statement is not only inaccurate but false. It
is a fact capable of demonstration that the purchas-
ing power of the people has never been SO great as
when the country was under a high tariff, and never
50 poor as when 1t was under a low tariff un1nffuenced
by other circumstances, such as n war.
Page 53S. @The lumber men, the whiskey distiTlers,
the oil, lead and sugar reiners, the rope makers, the
iron smeIters, with many other captains of indus
try were consolidated into great trusts Their wealth
gave them immense influence in congress, and this
influence was exerted steadily against the reduction
of tariff duties, which shielded them from foreign
competition"
That statement Is inaccurate. Big manufacturers
have no more influence in congress than labor organ
izations, agricultural organizations and other associa-
tons of citizens. the agprepate of which Influence re-
suits in Legislation of most benefit to the country as
a whole. It is only partially true that manufacturers
are shielded from foreign competition by a high tariff.
labor itself derives the greatest benefit from such a
shield.
Page SOL. 1.-THE opponents of protection claimed
that the tariff benefited the trusts alone; that the in
creased American capital due to the tariff went into.
the pockets of the manufacturers as profits, not to the
workers as wages."
true, but the impression conveyed to the mind of the
student is false and inaccurate. As a matter of fact
the argument itself is false, and the author makes no
attempt, either at this point or elsewhere in the book,
to present the side of the friends of protection.
Page sos. 'Had our government adopted this wise
policy Cthe policy of withdrawing the public domain
from private entry and sale) a generation earlier, it
would have been able today to draw from its seles of
timber and water power, its leases of coal and oil
lands, a revenue sufficient to run the federal govern
rnent without the imposition of a tariff, which ham
pers foreign trade, taxes the laboring man on almost
every necessity of life, and by its protective clauses
still further enriches the corporations which have
IN III NS ISOuICtS u O~ OpuIeuJI
country
That statement is not only inaccurate but false. A
tariff has an effect quite opposite to that described.
Had the public domain been Withdrawn from entry as
the author advocates, the west would today be in an
undeveloped state. It was only the incentive to profit
that induced the building of the transcontinental rail-
roads and that encouraged our pioneers to make the
sacrifices they did. AS a matter of fact the western
states have paid into the treasury far more in taxes
than federal royalties and leases could have yielded.
Page 59S, footnote. "The mineral output of the
country is worth over 81, 900, 900, 900 a year. A gov
eminent royalty of 10 per cent on this sum would
yield a revenue equal to that collected from our high
tariff" /
The impression conveyed by that statement is in
accurate. Had the government refused title to min
eral lands and taxed their development by the mpo-|
sition of a Is per cent royalty the mineral output of
the country would today be far less than the sum
named.
These are but a few of the statements made in the
book against which objections can be raised.
In the treatment of American war heroes, and IN
cidents that inspire pride of country m young minds
they have been dismissed with cursory paragraphs.
Tie people have a just right to complain of this par
ticular history and they are doing it with a VIII.
The Minneapolis Journal, quoting hfr. Bryan, szyz
"You shall not swing our ancestors from a tree by a
golden tail"
The New Orleans Times-Picayune observes that as
soon as shoe leather gets back to pre-yar levels. the