Evening star., 1930-05-24

An unappreciative public looks upon
| the editing by Gutzon BorSluIn, the
| sculptor, of former President Coolidge's
| 500-word history Of the republic, as
destructive and unwarranted. Mr.. Bor-
glum's function, it is pointed out. is to
carve the history on Mount Rusnmore
in the Black Hills, rather than to
| edit it.
Writing, man, isn't ink, it's hearts
blood!" exclaims the Raleigh News and
Observer, with the added statement:
| The old adage that Hell hath no fury
like q woman scorned might very well
be amended by the addition, or the
sensitive soul whose copy is edited The
fool who rushes In is q piker compared
to Mr.. Borglum." The ST. Paul Pioneer
Press advises that seemingly 1t would
copy back to Mr.. Coolidge to be re-
edited" and makes this statement as
to the situation: 1.-THE Coolidge contri-
button takes the form of o series OF
definitions. With q deft pencil, Mr..
Borglum turns 1t into swift narrative
| with a new hero named the people,
This may be art, but 1t Is not history,
for the people did not declare the
eternal right to seek happiness, self
fend that right at any sacrifice. Neither
did the people assemble in convention
to make charter of perpetual union,
the Constitution The American colonies
may be said to have done these things.
The representatives Of the people may
have done them. The people acquiesced,
perhaps Their representatives may
have ratified the acts"
Probably Mr.. Coolidge Is smiling a
bit," remarks the Albany Evening News.
HE knows that he devoted much time
to eliminating every unnecessary word
But Mr.. Coolidge hasn't got to 'sculp'
those words. That is Mr.. Borglum'S Job
and if he prefers to change the script
and feel like movie director, no doubt
Mr. Coolidge will let him. But at least
it is hoped there'll be no controversy
over it. There have been controversies
with Mr. Borglum before. But we pre-
sumo that the mountain Is chuckling
bit with Mr.. Coolidge"
ton, which Mr.. Coolidge has submitted"
says the Hartford Times, would in our
judgment be more difficult than to carry
out the work of inscribing. If there is
any amending to be done, advice should
be that the author be permitted to
attend to 1t himself" The Charleston
Daily Mail protests: "Gutzon Borglum Is
no doubt great sculptor, but he has
yet to qualify as a great student of Gov
eminent, especially of the American
Government as founded by the fathers.
as we call them. He is not historian.
He is neither lawyer nor Interpreter of
law. It is not question Of what Mr..
Borglum thinks about liberty and other
things, but what Interpretation Of 1t
was put into the Declaration OF Inde-
pendence and in the Constitution. On
these points ex-President Coolidge Is
more competent to speak than the
sculptor"
Recalling the young copyreader who
'took 1t upon himself to attempt to
boil down one of Bernard Shaw's critical
articles from 1,500 to 800 words" the
Chattanooga News offers the judgment
on the present. incident: "Mr. Borglum
has his own ideas on history. The un-
fortunate contretemps at Stone Noun
tain proved that fact. Admittedly a
talented artist, yet undoubtedly Mr..
Borglum thus far has had more trouble
carving things in mountains than he
has had In writing history. Next time
we decide to cut up mountain, We
suggest that we let Mr.. Borglum write,
the manuscript and give Mr.. Coolidge,
Mr.. Hoover or some other statesman O
stone mason's apron and chisel and
tell him to 60 to work, and to follow
"The American people are likely to
agree" thinks the Ann Arbor Daily