Evening star., 1927-10-23
A Proposed Bonfire.

While it may be that the least said
the better concerning the anttBritish
campaign OF Mayor William Hale
Thompson Of Chicago, the situation In
Chicago today affords most interest
ing sidelight on one phase OF Ameri'
can municipal politics. 1t has been
said of His Honor the Mayor that he
is not exactly sure in his own mind
of who King George of England Is,
or what, IL anything, the King has
done. But Mayor Thompson never.
fheless chose King George as his chief
target for attack during his mayoral'
ity campaign, and building platform
of 100 per cent Americanism" he
rode to victory. Now he Is trying to
get rid of Chicago's superintendent OF
schools, DIR. McAndrew, and DIR. Nc
Andrew, highly regarded by the coun'
fry's foremost educators, Is on trial
before a Board of Education which is
acting in the role Of prosecutor, judge
and jury. One charge against DR..
McAndrew is insubordination, but that
is buried and lost sight Of under the
more picturesque and appealing charge
Of spreading pro-British propaganda
in the public schools, one form OF this
alleged propaganda being the use Of
the famous history. Of which Wash
ingtonians have heard before. by Prof.
David Saviile Muzzey Of Columbia
University.
But now the campaign has found
wider mark. II is discovered. to
the horror of Mayor Thompson and
his intellectual associates, that the
public libraries Of Chicago are cram.
med full Of books which an innocent
American child. digging into research
with that avidity for which Chicago
children are 90 famed, may find, and
reading have his mind tainted with
the thought that all Americans are
not such Hly-white saints az one might
believe, and furthermore that all for
cign nations are not made up Of des-
pots. tyrants and villainous schemers
seeking to set their claws upon the
golden heart Of America. So the
mayor has appointed U. J. Sport
Hermann, theater owner. yachtsman
and trustee OF the Chicago Public Ii
.brary. to rid that institution OF all
.'pro-British volumes" and Mr.. Herr
mann. scorning the assistance Of his
torians, launches on his task with en-.
thusiasm, vowing to read all suspected
books himself and burn impure vol
umes in a public ceremony on the
lake front.
There IL a small Industrial city in
the valley Of the Ohio which has won
the name Little Chicago" because Of
its many unsolved murders. chicago's
underworld. its gang warfare. its beer
kings" and its wide-open gambling
hells have attained for It a distinction
among American cities that is unique
and far from enviable. And now Chi
cago goes further afield and seizes
upon intolerance as a new form Of en-
deavor. 1t is particularly cowardly
and stupid kind OF intolerance, far
more dangerous in its possibilities
than all the armies and all the navies
which the abused King Of England
could muster for assault against our
sacred shores: far more poisonous and
insidious than ali the books In the
world that dare describe the England
of 1776 as anything but a nation Of
4ron-shod despots.
Poor Chicago! Should there even
.tuate from this mess a bonfire of
books, what sad contrast there will be
between its licking flames and that
burning torch OF liberty held aloft by
the embattled forefathers OF this coun.
try a century and half ago!
-e@eoo~<