Evening star., 1932-11-19
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH e., BOH ERMAN.

(I2uOe BOSSrS, DSIllOCIdtr IiCdeS
Albert j. Beverage. Progressive Reptib-
licsh, very syr1pethetically in his biog-
raply, "Bsveridge and the Progressive
Era" Mr. Bowers explains his choice
OF Beveridge as subject: During fi1S
boyhood in indianapolis. Albert j. Bev-
eridge. even before his election to the
Senate, was ane Of the gods OF nv
idolatry. Though not il sympathy with
much Of his political philosophy, there
was no resisting the lure of his brilliant
eloquence nor the charm of his person.
atty" This serves also to explain the
interesting quality of the book. Whether
o. not We agree with Eeveridge'5 po-
ntical views we are captivatcd by his
varied personality and his whirlwind
activities. He was born when the
p2ople Of the North were rejoicing over
Grants victory at Cofintn in 1852. and
the roar of artillery. the clash of steel,
the fluttering of tattered flags" we're
/ 0 be symbolic of his career. His boy
hood was typical of that of so many Of
our cout1trys great rfler1-poverty, hard
lips, education wrested from society
by rigorous effort, every step toward
achievement won by almost unalded
personal struggle. At Is. Beveridge
wpS in charge OF a logging camp. where
lie was entrusted with the manage
h1ent of a rough group of illiterate men.
physically powerful. and impatient CT
discipline or restraint" He settled one
riot of the drunken, fighting men by
giving them such a 'tongue-lashlng
that they ended in laughter-his first
sbel, binding oratory. He worked his
Way through De Pauw University, put
ting both his meager funds and his time
on a budget system. While others
played he. worked and at graduation
he was already recognized as an ur1-
usual orat5r. had taken part in the
Blaine campaign. and had almost COM
pletely broken down his health But
ne was Young, and few months in
Western Kansas as partner to cowboy
!. restored him so that he was able to
continue preparation for the goal he
had set hiinself-to become flrst-clasa
lawyer and speaker.
X -
Ten wears after his admission to the
) Indiana bar Beveridge was elected to
the United States Senate at the age
of SO. He was politically ambitious;
he knew his power as an orator; he
had formed some very decided opinions
about public affairs. He was an ardent
itnpetialist and immediately after his
election went to the Philippines TO
learn all he could about the new pos
session OF the United States, which he
was determined should be kept. His
career in the Senate was a succession
of fights-against the admission OF
4 Territories to statehood for political
reasons. for packing-h house inspection
legislation. for child labor amend
mem to the Constitution, for Roosevelt 8
/ fout -battleship program, for tariff
board-and it mattered little to him II
the fight was a head-on one against
. one OF the most powerful political
BOSSES in fact he probably liked 1t al
the better on that account. His duel
with QUAY ended With visit of Bev-
: cridee to Quay's sick room. AS the visitor
, was departing the old politician said:
Il shall be dead In a few months, and
the papers will say Matt Quay, boss,
! is dead Had lived my life differently
: they would say. Death of Matthew s.
| QUAY. statesman Take warning By
, me. young man. A person so decided
= in both personality and opinions as
Beveridge could not fail to make
enemies. and in 1910 he was defeated
for reelection to the Senate. His COM
melC was. VI wal. II - oil
right: IL years of hard work, clean
record; I am content.
x
Those who believe that the literature
. ef a country is as important as It's poll
tics will not think Beveridge's defeat a
misfortune. for had he continued IN
the Senate he would probably never
have become historian. While in the
= Senate he had written magazine articles
and two books. The Russian Advance"
= and The Young Man and the World. :
: AS a very young man Beveridge had
D been an enthusiastic admirer of Chief
S Justice Marshall and it had been what
: he called the one real ambition of my
{ life" to write biography of this great
maker of legal precedentS. Shortly
after his retirement from the Senate
5 he set to work on it, and, after the
2 collapse of the Progressive party, OF
which he was one of the leaders. de-
: voted himself to it almost completely
: | He was opposed to our entering the
: World War; which he considered pri-
, iilarily European quarrel, and
throughout its duration was engrossed
, In his writing, emerging only occasion
t ally for patriotic speech. Soon after
I the United States entered the war he
J offered his services to President wilson
writing of the Marshall was done in
a one-ruoffl small stone house adjoining
l the Beveridee house at Beverly Farms
Mass, on the table he had used in the
Senate. marked with the burns from
MS cigarettes. When the biography was
completed 1t was, to the surprise OF
even his friends, welcomed by histo-
= rians as work Of scholarship though
Beveridge had had no orthodox his
torical training. Criticism came in
a however. from many sources because
OF his obvious antipathy toward Jeffer-
son, but his anti-Jeffersonian feeling
was Of the very fiber of his nature.
d After the publication OF the Mar
dorships, offered by President Harding,
and began his biography of lincoln
He planned 1t ''on exactly the same
4 scale, on the same plan, and by the
s same method that did the Marshal" y;
E but, when the second volume of the
2 four projected was nearly finished
5 death put an end TO his work He
had not grown old with the years and
e had not greatly changed Always he had
+ seemed as he was when first he went
E to the Senate-youthful. brilliant and
t colorful. For he had not rusted in
/. inactivity, and to the end he had con-
/ tinued a marvel of industry, eager for
r the adventure Of high achievement"
e
Archibald Marshall has added an
S other of the dull-blue cloth volumes to
the long row which he has already
4 been responsible for ON many library
shelves. They look very well on the
shelves, but when one comes to read
Z them 1t seems that most of the late,
ones could be spared They are all
portrayals of English country life OF
the nineteenth century, that leisurely
. yet altogether responsible life on gem
! erotis estates which is now almost a
! thing of the past The early novels
! also have characters which impress US
with their vitality and quiet action, III
keeping with, this type of fiction. Per