Evening star., 1926-04-13
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM

OUR TIMES: The Turn Of the Cen
tury: 190O-1904, Mark Sullivan.

OUR TIMES: The Turn Of the Cen
tury; 19001904. Mark Sullivan.
Charles Scribner's Sons.
Almost any general statement holds
undisputed right of way. This Is so
because the most Of us are lazy in
our minds, more inclined to take with
out question that which is handed us
than we are to probe for the truth or
untruth of the offering. Take for in
stance the familiar saying that the
newspaper Is the greatest Of schools.
Maybe 1t is. But, just for exercise,
let's look into the content OF this
statement. A school Is an institution
of learning. so the definition runs.
Well, q newspaper is certainly fuliy
Established institution whose avowed
purpose Is the diffusion Of informa-
ton. AS to its size and spread, indi'
Gated in the general claim for It, we
turn to the great fiocks of prosper
ing papers, to circulation records, 10
piled newsstan nds, to every person on
the street, in the office, in the home
relying on the daily paper as he does
on the morning meal. 1t looks as II
lthroughout the civilized. world practi'
cally everybody goes to school to the
newspaper. This is also the most
accessible and democratic OF tnstitu'
tions-no examinations for admission,
no credentials Of any sort required.
Merely q cent or two a day, and there
YOU are In full matriculation. 1t has
q curriculum, inclusive and diversified
beyond comparison. The distinction
of this one. however, Is that, Unlike
those Of other institutions OF learn
ing, 1t concerns itself with nVe cur
rent matters, whereas the others
loiter persistently within the domain
of the past. And this curriculum is
purely eclectic. You take Wnat you
want and leave the rest.
A self-disciplinary school, 1t may
be, wherein you may train yourseH
to choose between the generally I'M
portant and the narrowly trivial. IL
looks, all in all, like 8. SURPRISING
school, this school Of the newspaper.
Nothing missing here that is found
in other institutions of learning save
the faculty. There are no teachers
in sight here. So, reading along day
by day, we are likely to find our
selves in possession Of innumerabie
parts Of many things, without power
to assemble these parts into units OF
fact and meaning. Maybe the editor
is the teacher. At times he may be,
but clearly he has other work to DO
than that Of interpreting the daily
sheet. Still pursuing, we come upon
the real teachers of the newspaper.
This is the news writer OF long ex-
perience. Of many important and IL
Eliminating associations. one who
senses the drama Of the passing days
and Is able to project this drama, not
only in its action and colors, but in
its implications and real significance
as we'll Perhaps the name Of this
considerable newspaper man Is jour
nalist I don't know the exact line
between the two. He Is. however.
certainly the one upon whom the
daily reader must rely for co-ordt-
mated facts, for units Of information
and opinion, for the drifts OF thought
that possess the public. for the moods
that seize commonwealth as well as
individuals, for the forecasts and
guidance that such inspired treatment
supplies. Sometimes this super news
man takes us, the readers. under
tutelage week by week. But some
times with q further reach backward
and around for longer sight and
deeper portent he opens up a. wider
| vision to us and trains us to q better
understanding Of today and tomorrow.
This man is the head teacher in the
| newspaper school to which we all go.
| y = * y
And for the purpose in hand, the
name Of this teacher is Mark Suln-
van "Our Times" is his lesson book.
This book spreads a cross-section Of
! American life at the Turn Of the
Century" The wide circuit is dotted
and lined with the full sum Of its own
| events. Not Government and politics
alone find place here, but everything
else as we'll that serves to round
these years of American activity. The
matters that shape politics and in
fluence governments stand here also
industry and trade; labor and its COM
plement, capital; money in its essen
tial meaning and in its working
capacity.
The pleasures Of the people appear
here also-the songs that were sung
at this period and the tunes that were
played; the dramas that lasted in high
success their little days: the novels
that were read; the sports that
loosened the muscles Of the players
and the minds Of the onlookers. A full
and human setting forth delights one
at this point. About these various
activities are gathered in a friendly
and natural grouping the men and
women who created and sustained this
collective life of America a quarter
century ago. Innumerable photo
graphs accompany these word pic
lures, and, maybe for the first time,
we come face to face with the looks
of many a one with whom we have a
clear, indirect acquaintance by way
Of some achievement of one or an
| other Of them.
! x < x x
Within this general picture-so
graphic, so many-sided, SO deeply in.
teresting-three men enlist the atten-
ton Of the author to a certain over
slfadowing Of the others. Rather two
figures for while Mr.. Sullivan names
three, he studies but two, since the
third one is outside the period under
survey. William Jennings Bryan,
Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson
these are the three.
"The greatest single cause Of the
mood Of irritation and unrest in Amer
lea that expressed itself, successfully,
in Bryan. Roosevelt and Wilson, was
the end Of free land and of other nat
ural resources. To put it more ex-
actly, it was the increase in the popu-
lation of the country in proportion to
the quantity of land. The same
amount of land was there-but the
number Of people who wanted it had
increased and was continuing to in
crease greatly. That contributed to
the rise Of Bryan. But Ehe more di-
rect cause Of Bryan's rise was the in
crease Of the population of the coun-
try out Of the proportion to the sup
ply Of gold.''
| X u * X
The quotation cited merely indicates
the quality and method Of study ap-
piled to the Bryan period by Mark
Sullivan, and later to the Roosevelt
period. It is the method that Is the
chief concern here. BY r1aY Of It the