Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-01-28

aha fixed institutions brought back
INTO human society of the eighteenth
entury that humanity which had oeen
50 rudely eliminated"
The century in question was perl"u
Of. great unrest in France. Democracy
was gathering itself for an assault on
a,itocracy. There were signs oil II "'
early as 1929, when Mortesquieu wrote
from England that "In London therS
Is liberty and equality. y fre"C'
btstorian has remarked that Monies
mieu was mistaken but that the eN-
,ression OF opinion is notable. Tor II
formulated the motto of the he'o'u''o,'
,frty years before it began. len yea
,fter Montesquieu' visit to Ene!ahu
he MARQUIS d'ArCcnson in his Con =
,derations sur lie Commencement oe Ia
france" declared that two things were
,ecessary to the well being OF the S'ale
That all the citizens should be eQua,
rnonp themselves and that men shou'"
: sons of their labors: the mobiles are
hc drones of the hive. " Ihere was
nan no political freedom in France ho
conomic freedom and no freedom oil
boupht or of religion. Noltairc had to
;ve on the border of Switzerland so
hat IL steps were taken to punish him
aFrance for his opinions he could step
cross the frontier into Swiss territory
md safety.
~ have made this hasty and insum :
.snt summary of conditions that pre- c-
t,,led when the French encyclopaedia
Tre "dissolving in their analYtlca'
ucible all cousecrated beliefs Oc ,
,use IL is intensely interesting II
frty intelligent and thoughtful Amer
ans are persuaded that conditions III
,is country are such as to justify u
milar "dissolving of consecrated oe-
sfsu in order that the way may DC
~pared for a better system. Arc we
twentieth century America 10 see
,litical and economic revolution re-
,mbling in any way that when oc-
,rred In eighteenth century France
ven the most cursory reading OF tnis
pk forces one to the conclusion tha'
: men who wrote it think that some
nd of n revolution is necessary II
Il impending. They are all under
e. ~ xears old and most of them are
" j8er forty, Harold T.. Stearns, the
ltor and directing spirit, IS only
a ATTY one and he is the most pessi
btic of the lot. If their views are
Jared by any considerable number OF
ther men Of their generation then
,mething is bound TO happen within
senty five years. If. however, the
ook is written by lot of highbrows,
,at Is, as some one has said, men edu-
tied beyond their intelligence, then its
separation was merely an exercise IN
armless dialectics.
r Is certainly in part futile exer-
else in dialectics. II. l.. Mencken' s
..v on "Politics' is about as ill-in-
,rmed and unconsidercd dlatToe ds
/ GER got between the covers OF oooK.
x is made up, first, Of criticism OF
~ constitutional provision requiring
.,nators and representatives in Con
ress 10 be citizens of the states from
Aich they are elected, and praise of the
,ritish system which permits member
,f Parliament to be elected by any con-
tituency regardless Of the place OF his
!vuidence, as though system that
ysrks well in a centralized government
overing a small area would work well
n n decentralized federation covering
= lore than half a continent. The second
art of Mr., Mencken's essay is devoted
O n denunciatiou Of Congress for pass
ar the prohibitory amendment to the
constitution along with the charge that
ie amendment was jammed through by
h, anti saloon people because the con-
ressmen had no moral courage. The
oan who will seriously charge, as Mr..
dencken does, that Congress did not
pccurately put into effect the will of the
najority OF the people in this matter is
Us narrow minded and parochial and
uninformed as Mr.. MencEen charges
Congress with being.
Now take John Macy's essay on
Journalism as another example OF
iiItile dialeCtics. 1t can be disposed of
IN a few sentences. Mr.. Macy is a
writer on literature Of wide knowledge
ind much sanity. Whatever he says on
his subject deserves respect. But he
was at one time. il not now, member
of the !. w. w, and is al present
socialist. He entertains the views about
newspapers that are not socialstic
which are held by all radicals who are
tiepleased because the editors will not
permit their space to be used for radi-
al propaganda. The only daily news
paper for which he has a good word Is
oil oh Ia, 4.
mirable, and the only weeklies that
meet his approval are the New Re.
public, the Nation and the Freeman.
sech of which has radical leanings. The
American press is far from perfect.
Every one connected with II will admit
this and every one could make a long
lat OF its defects which would 20 10 tho
cotton of the matter much more thor
oughly than Mr.. Macy has gone. Most
" them, however. would insist that n
gfrst majority of the defects arise from
tho imperfections of human nature and
from the necessary limitations that are
placed upon every institution which
seeks 10 have any influence in organized
mfesy.
.heH. STEARNS himself writes upon
'&s.rhe Intellectual Life" and finds
that vthe intellectual life of women is
practically the intellectual life Of the
nation." And this intellectual life, he
says, Is not intellectual at all but SO
Biological. ''rhe question Of funda-
nentnl euds is seldom raised for ex-
a1aple the desirability of the modern
{nniiy tbs desirability of children
1'nVing with health, the desirabilty Of