Evening star., 1952-12-13
The Case of the Battling Quote

Like good many other Americans, the
literary detectives Of the Library of Congress are
still having hard time-after all these weeks
trying to track down the source of an impressive
quotation used by Governor Adlai Stevenson in
his final speech of the presidential campaign
The Star is sympathetic. It is sympathetic
because it, too, has failed thus far in it's own
laborious sleuthing efforts. It has failed even
though it has enjoyed heady moment when it
believed-mistakeny, alas-that it had worked
out def1nitive solution to the mystery
The quotation in question, of course, is this:
On the Plains OF Hesitation bleach the bones OF
countless thousands aolso, ON the cue OF Utc-
tory, rested-and resting, died. UNDERSTANDABLE
enough, because of their cadence and the majestic
somberness of the thought they express, it is
widely assumed, or suspected, that the words
must be translation from some ancient Greek
writer like Homer or xenophon, or perhaps
Latin like Virgil or Sallust That may be so,
but nobody has yet proved it. On the contrary,
despite the seeming probability that this superb
sentence derives from the classics, 1t is con-
ceivable that all such scholarly preconceptions
are wrong and that one must get to the heart
of the puzzle by looking for more prosaic and
more contemporary sources.
At any rate, The Star, as one of the many
perplexed researchers into this matter, feels
obliged to declare to the public that the following
information needs to be taken into careful con-
sideration: % That Governor Stevenson himself
has indicated that he got the quotation from an
advertisement published 80 years ago; (2) that
the advertisement, which was printed in 1928,
was designed to caution people against what
might happen to them If they neglected to sub
scribe to the mail-order courses offered by the
International Correspondence Schools; (3) that
it was titled "The Warning of the Desert, by Will
liam Lawrence; and a. that William Law
renee" was the nom de plume of celebrated
copy writer named George w. Cecil, now vice
president of N. W. Aver & Son of Philadelphia.
AS written by Mr. Cecil, the 1923 advertisement
makes the memorable sentence read as follows:
"On the Plains Of Hesitation bleach the bones of
countless millions who, on the dai0n of victory
sat do,Un to ac1it-and iUaitino died. The italics
are supplied here to mark the minor variations
between the original text and the text as quoted
by Mr.. Stevenson. A simple process of ratiocina-
ton, as practiced by the best ctional detectives
leads to the deduction that the eloquent Governor
wrought the few changes in order to achieve what
he regarded as better literary or oratorical
effect Ratiocination also suggests that Mr.
Cecil himself, and nobody else, should be credited
with having coined without even a slight bor-
rowing from classical sources-the now-famous
phrase.
But can The Star, like the self-satisfied
Hercule Poirot when he solves one Of Agatha
Christie's mysteries, proclaim that this settles
the matter? No, it cannot. For it has learned. in
long-distance talks with him, that Mr.. Cecil does
not really know whether he or Homer or Virgil,
or somebody like that, is the real author. Quite
possibly, he says the sentence is q child Of his
own brain, but he cannot be sure. The Library
of Congress thus must continue with its sleuth-
ing. The Star is sorry that it has not been able,
despite first impressions, to clear up the bathing
case.