Evening star., 1922-06-04
DR.. MUZZEY DEFENDS HISTORY
OF WHICH HE IS THE AUTHOR
Declares Citizens Association Goes Far
Beyond Propriety and Decency' in
Criticiizing School Textbook.

the stories OF lSrael putnam, MAD
Anthony Wayne. Mollie Pitcher and
others, and for this | am accused of
the suppression Of undoubtedly historic
facts.
"Meant to Be InvidiOus.-
The word suppression is meant to
be invidious: to imply dishonesty,
propaganda, etc. But every historian
has to suppress ten facts to one that,
he prints. 1t Is simply a question of
selecting the best facts On the au-
thors opinfon) to relate. Do the
citizens of Piney Branch really want
their -year-old sons and
daughters to be fed on hero tales
pest suited to the fifth grade? l
have hundreds of letters from stu
dents. as well as teachers, testifying
to the enthusiasm for american
democracy which the book has in
, splred In classes. My history, says
the report. 'Obscures the great prin-
elpies upon which the republic is
founded Yet the report does not
deal at all with principles, but only
PICKS out laboriously such alleged
errors as have been referred TO. 1t
accuses me of 'belittling' British error
and wrongs of $50 years ago, when,
as matter of fact. l dwell on those
errors in detail and never palIiate
mem, though do try to explain them.
rms is my fault. 1 might retort upon
| my critics by asking whether
magnifying British errors Of $50
years ago would be any more iustifi-
able than undertaking them. My
OBJECT has been to give the facts
without eXaggeration one way or
the other.
"CIass Hatred" Charge.
| am accused Of attempting to
spread class hatred by arrayine the
poor against the rich There are
ii'e counts against me here. First,
II ~ hat
my text labor's claim that it is or
eahlzed to oppose capitals right to
own and control labor for its own
greedy and selfish ends There is
no page reference given for this quo
tation, and l have not vet found il
| IN the revised text. But L think Mr.,
1ompers would agree that this is
essentially what labor is organized
ior- II any one reading what | have
10 say of the labor movement, on
passes 4z3' 436. 44s and 449, can find
any attempt to array the poor against
I the rich, he must have a keen sense
| Tor misinterpretation
| , second. L refer to the decisions OF
! the supreme court upholding Debs'
| convection and declaring the income
TAX OF 1924 unconstitutional as IN
| crea sing the discomfort OF the rauI-
| Cals with the administration (p 4io)
! oan anybody who reads page of the
| radical propaganda of the middle 80 :
! doubt the truth of my statement
ana Is 1t arraying poor against rich
| to mention it?
| ;, Ihird A sentence is taken out OF
lts context on page 4i3 and quoted to
prove me a supporter of the claims of
radical agitators. This is the most
objectionable device of a critic In
that paragraph l am discussing The
Dlscontent of the Radicals am
giving their point of view-a resume,
or their call to organize. The lam
suase my critics quote as represent
ing my point of view is clear from
! the context as the radicals point OF
view. This is my .adroit way OF
arraying poor against rich. on pages
4ae-9 condemn that point of view
declsi"ely. My critics omit my opln-
ion because they wish to attribute the
radical opinion to me in order to de-
preclate my book.
Free Silver Campaign Issue.
Fourth. l refer to the free silver
campaign of 1896 as a bitter battle
between the western pIowholder ana
the eastern bondholder' | ask any
student of American history if that
is not exactly what it was
Firth, and most serious, I refer to
one party fn 1886 as controlled 10y
the business power behind the throne
OF government and refer to the other
party (the Bryanites) as the 'people's
party This is a deliberate falsehood
The text is on page AIS tpage not
cited by my critics.. There l speak
or true peoples party which should
nave solidified to combat economic
evils and contrast il with the other
party of my critics citation q. e. the
Tree silverites), unsparingly condemn
ing the latter (bottom of page 44S
and page 449). This is one of the
most glaring Misrepresentation OF
my critics. Another case of misstate-
ment on the part of my critics is
their comment on my account of the
British impressment of American sea-
men (page 1SD.
After quoting my remark that
British frigates cruised along our
shores from New England to Georgia
stopping our ships at will, boarding
them and taking off scores of sailors
on the ground that they were British
! deserters,' my critics say, a few lines
below: Not a single statement IN
condemnation of Englands high
handed course in boarding our vessels
and impressing our Seamen-not even
an admission that she did this The
last startling clause my critics inert
on the ground of an if in my eXpla-
nation of why the British boarding
lieutenant acted in the high-handed
course which I describe. This if my
critics transfer to the fact and not
the explanation of the impressment
and represent me as not even admit
ting England impressed the men.
Called "Despicable Sophistry.'
Could there be a more despicable
sophistry? And when / give as a
reason for the British lieutenant's
| impressing many real Americans
among the suspected deserters the
fact that "Englishmen and Ameri-
cans were not so easy to tell apart
(as for example, Frenchmen and
Amertcans) 1 am accused of "excus-
ing" England. Evidently any at
tempt to get at the mind of an Eng
lishman, or to state his point of view
in 1775 or 1872 is British propaganda
Il am accused of making my book
| a vehicle for partisan arguments
that are unsound, unpatriotic and
wholly unfit for school children to learn.
sound. l do so to condemn them. 1t
is not unpatriotic to discuss any ar
gument, whatever. Nor are any kind
of political arguments unit for high
school seniors to learn. AS to my
partisanship, 1 could show my critics
scores of letters from students ask
ing me please to settle a dispute in
the class as to whether l am a re-
/, publican or a democrat and other
scores of letters from critics scolding
me for my sympathy with high tariff
or low tariff, east or west. socialism
of letters on both sides are approxi-
mately equal. A few weeks ago l
received a twenty-page letter from
teacher in New England town,
saying that he liked the book but was
sorry that I was so anti-Britsh. If
only could be just to England! But
I seized every occasion Gn the civil
war, in the Manila incident, etc) to
put her in an unfavorable light!
Stunt lacrymae rerum!