Ohio History Journal

BOOK REVIEWS

Ohio Newspapers . . . A Living Record. By Robert C. Wheeler. (Co-

lumbus, Ohio History Press, Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society, 1950. 257p. $6.50.)

Ohio Newspapers . . . A Living Record is a fascinating new approach

to the history of Ohio. By facsimile reproduction of newspapers, dating

from 1690 to 1946, we are given an intimate view of history in the making-

"day by day impressions of common life and of the reactions of the people

to social and political phenomena."

One hundred and twenty-six newspapers have been reproduced on 11 by

17 inch pages, and are accompanied by one hundred pages of historical

commentary. The facsimiles themselves are legible photographic repro-

ductions of newspapers. Included as supplementary material are twenty pages

of illustrations tracing the development of the newspaper printing press.

The book does not attempt to tell a complete story of Ohio or of Ohio

journalism. Its primary interest lies in presenting "some of the important

periods and events in the history of the state." The newspapers included

in this collection form a continuous record, dealing with such incidents

as General Jackson's victory at New Orleans and the first public demon-

stration of the electric light, as well as accounts of the "Underground

Railroad" and Lincoln's assassination. And special attention may well be

given to the columns of advertising and want ads, for in these we come

dose to the needs and interests of the men living in Ohio's past.

It is instructive to the modern student of the newspaper to note that

matters of far-reaching importance to Ohio's economy-such as the drain-

ing of the Black Swamp in the northwestern section of the state-were

frequently dismissed with the slightest of comments. Historical trends which

now seem obvious were often overlooked, while matters now long forgotten

were elaborately discussed. In one paper, a discussion of the annexation of

Texas rates only eleven lines, while one hundred and thirty lines were

used to refute the belief that comets influence fruit crops and the nation's

health.

We often raise the question today: What is the function of the news-

paper? Should it entertain or inform? The newspapers here presented faced

that same question.

Interestingly enough America's first newspaper Publick Occurrences (p.

22), which appeared only once in Boston on September 25, 1690, and was

then suppressed by an order from the British colonial governor and council,

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Book Reviews                         209

notes as one of its purposes, "That people everywhere may better understand

the Circumstances of Publique Affairs, both abroad and at home." The

publisher also notes that he will "take what pains he can to obtain a

Faithful Relation of all such things."

However, in the New-England Courant, a weekly established by James

Franklin on August 7, 1721, we read that "the main Design of this Weekly

Paper will be to entertain the Town with the most comical and diverting

Incidents of Humane Life, which in so large a Place as Boston, will not

fail of a universal Exemplification."

The following random excerpts show the value of this volume as a

source book for students of history:

The St. Clairsville Gazette of July 21, 1832, hailed the Jackson Bank

Bill Veto as "a second declaration of independence."

The August 2, 1814, issue of the Weekly Recorder published in Chilli-

cothe contains a long article advocating the Lancastrian system of educa-

tion. The editor says: "As many valuable discoveries and improvements

have been recently made in arts and sciences, it is not unreasonable to

suppose that the mode of conducting the business of education, which

was used in the days of our fathers, and is yet pursued by many teachers,

is susceptible of some real and considerable improvements."

We see what high hopes were held out for the canals-begun July 4,

1825, at Licking Summit near Newark. By 1833 the entire length of the

Ohio and Erie Canal, 333 miles from Cleveland to Portsmouth, including

feeder lines, was completed-a change that profoundly shifted economic

life in Ohio.

The Salem Anti-Slavery Bugle, in its issue of February 26, 1847, trumpeted

its opposition to the Mexican War. We note that the successful flight of

the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk got a half column of space on page 12

of the Dayton Daily Journal. "Theatre Gossip" got a full column on the

same page. Entertainment won out over information.

Frankly, I don't see how a school or college can teach history without

a copy of this book handy for ready reference. The Ohio State Archae-

ological and Historical Society should be congratulated for making it

available.

EDGAR DALE

Ohio State University

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210      Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

Owen Glen. By Ben Ames Williams. (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co.,

1950. ⁶²9p. $3.50.)

In dealing with his chosen period the writer of historical novels has two

major alternatives. He may place actual figures of history in imaginary

situations and permit them to resolve their problems in a manner consistent

with their respective characteristics as understood by history. This can be a

risky business.

Instead the novelist may have the people created by his own imagination

play their parts in an authentic historical environment. In writing Owen

Glen, another of his period pieces on the American scene, Ben Ames

Williams has followed the second and safer of these two methods. For

this novel the setting is the mining district around Jackson, Ohio, in the

last decade of the nineteenth century. The historically important part of

the plot is the emergence of the organized labor movement in the southern

Ohio coal mines.

The interest of the book for the student of history is enhanced by some

of the devices employed to give the story its historical framework. The

editorials and local news items of the weekly newspaper, around whose

office much of the action revolves, and the musings of its editor on con-

temporary problems accurately describe the interests and amusements of

a small Ohio town before the turn of the century. Further they reveal

something of the intellectual temper of the country at the time. The faith

of most Americans in the inevitability of progress, their lively interest in

politics, and the ease with which they were duped by the jingoist spirit

of Spanish-American War days were all part of the background of Owen

Glen's early life.

Contrasted with the prevailing serenity of life in Jackson in 1890 was

the insecurity of that part of the citizenry who depended upon the inter-

mittent work in the coal mines for a living. The slow transformation of the

miners' inarticulate questioning of the justice of their economic status into

the vigor of organized union activity in the United Mine Workers

is depicted through Owen Glen's rise to prominence in union circles.

Owen Glen's father had been a miner and a devoted member of the

Knights of Labor. He found it difficult to comprehend that the future of

organized labor depended upon other methods than mysterious initiations

and secret rituals. Meanwhile his son rose from local to district offices in the

new union, and his concept of the power of the movement grew as the

scope of his activities widened.

Owen Glen's rise in the union was aided by his gift of oratory and the

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Book Reviews                          211

sensitivity of Welsh ears to eloquence. Mr. Williams understood the Welsh

heritage of the people about whom he wrote and could have described at

greater length the blending of Welsh tradition and folklore into the

American scene. This reviewer regretted that he did not choose to develop

this aspect of southern Ohio culture more fully.

Along with the theme of Owen Glen, miner, runs the parallel story

of Owen Glen, adolescent. Although the two do not always combine into

a convincing unity of character, the latter theme is done with tenderness and

understanding and makes for some very pleasant reading.

The service of the historical novel to the study of history may be variously

regarded. Its writer may be the bete noire of the professional historian, or he

may be the interpreter of history to the people. The kinder of these judg-

ments applies more accurately to Ben Ames Williams in Owen Glen.

WILLIAM L. FISK, JR.

Muskingum College

 

 

Simon Cameron's Adventure in Iron, 1837-1846. By James B. McNair.

(Published by the Author, 1949. xi+160p. $3.85.)

Simon Cameron had a remarkable political career. As a young man he

was a Democrat; but after numerous political somersaults he finally landed

in the ranks of the Republican party, where he became a figure of national

importance. He was closely associated with four presidents, Jackson, Polk,

Buchanan, and Lincoln. All of them made uncomplimentary statements

concerning his character. Jackson described him as a man "not to be

trusted by anyone in any way"; Polk characterized him as a "tricky man"

in whom no reliance could be placed; Buchanan referred to him as "a

scamp," "an unprincipled rascal" and as always a "disorganizer" when his

"personal interest came into conflict with the success of the party"; and

it is well known that Lincoln reluctantly appointed Cameron to a cabinet

office and as quickly as possible got rid of him. Yet in both the Democratic

party and later in the Republican party, Cameron showed his consummate

skill as a shrewd politician. For nearly half a century Cameron dominated

the smooth rolling Republican machine in Pennsylvania; and upon his

retirement from politics he was able to transmit this despotic power to his

son and co-worker, James D.

Cameron was as successful as a businessman as he was as a politician.

He was a self-made man who died a millionaire. He began his business

career as an apprentice in the printing trade. He edited and owned a

number of small influential political newspapers in Pennsylvania. But he

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212      Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

soon saw the money-making possibilities of building canals and railroads.

He became a contractor for the construction of sections of the Pennsylvania

canal and for a canal linking the Mississippi River with Lake Pontchartrain.

He helped to build a network of railroads in Pennsylvania with himself

as cashier; and he successfully engaged in insurance, the iron business, and

other business enterprises.

The present work is an account of Simon Cameron's interest in the iron

business between the years 1837 and 1846. It describes "the formation and

dissolution of the partnership of Simon Cameron, S. F. Headley, Samuel

Humes, and Thomas McNair" for the manufacture and sale of iron. The

study is based on the letters written or signed by Simon Cameron which

have been in the possession of the McNair family but are now in the

H. E. Huntington Library in California.

The account gives a good description of the manufacture and marketing

of iron products in the eighteen thirties and forties, the financial vicissitudes

of some iron firms during the panic of 1837 and the inherent weaknesses

of the partnership form of business. The author shows how the firm became

bankrupt through its inability to obtain credit and Simon Cameron's ruthless

sacrifice of his partner Thomas McNair when the business was hard pressed.

The author has cleared up a number of minor disputed points in Cameron's

career and has given a clearer picture of Cameron's iron business and his

business ethics. The work is marred, however, by its poor organization,

lengthy quotations, and frequent digressions from the main theme.

REGINALD C. McGRANE

University of Cincinnati

 

 

The Laws of Illinois Territory, 1809-1818. Edited, with an introduction,

by Francis S. Philbrick. (Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library,

XXV; Law Series, V. Springfield, Illinois State Historical Library, 1950.

cccclxxvii+386p. $2.50.)

The title of this volume does not describe its contents. The laws of

Illinois Territory (pp. 1-363) and an introduction to them (pp. xvii-liv)

come to less space and bear only a small fraction of the footnotes attached

to an exhaustive treatise on national power over the territories from the

era of the Revolution to about 1809. Professor Philbrick's theme is the

illiberal quality of the Ordinance of 1787, which historians, as he shows,

have insufficiently recognized. "The Ordinance," he contends, "was a

successful attempt to gain for reactionaries the control over federal terri-

tories which liberals had wrested from them in their own states" (p. ccclvii).

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Book Reviews                           213

He demonstrates this in detail, tracing the origins of the ordinance in over

two hundred pages (pp. clxxix-ccclxxxvi) and all of 549 footnotes, some

of them prodigiously long. Much more of the Introduction relates to the

Northwest Territory than to Illinois.

The exposition is impressive; Philbrick's case is a good one, and his-

torians should hearken to it for the light it sheds both on the West and

on the East. It is unfortunate that his book and Merrill Jensen's The New

Nation (New York, 1950) appeared so close together that neither could

include comments on the other. But if anything remains to be done with

the ordinance, probably it is to explore why, over the last century or so, it

came to fly false colors. Possibly historians, falling into the common occu-

pational hazard of being unhistorical, have attended too much to results,

to the development of government in the later territories, which had more

freedom than the Old Northwest had under governor and judges; possibly

they have been swayed by nineteenth century hostility to Chief Justice Taney,

who made it necessary for northerners to identify the cause of liberty with

the cause of national municipal authority in the territories. Philbrick denies,

however, even that results were benign: "The tradition of actual tutelary

training is a mere myth" (pp. ccclv-ccclvi). This point seems debatable,

while correct in the main. Although recent changes in the American colonial

system, as in Puerto Rico especially, may make Jefferson's Ordinance of

1784 seem less unworkable than historians have been accustomed to call it,

still Jefferson himself imagined that he drew the people of Mississippi

and Louisiana into democratic ways through processes considerably short

of democratic; and in later years the link of the territorial system continued

to seem to facilitate the processes of political acculturation in the West

(for a recent view, see Dorothy O. Johansen in Pacific Historical Review,

XVIII [1949], 485-499). Yet it was that in large part because the Ameri-

can people had the political vitality to modify and still more to evade and

ignore the basic plan for territorial government.

As for the laws of Illinois Territory, their editor says that few "are

individually of any particular interest" (p. xvii); his introduction to them

concerns chiefly the nature of the judical system (pp. xxi-liv), and does not

include supplementary material such as the lists in his edition of The Laws

of Indiana Territory (Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library,

XXI). Clarence Carter in his two volumes on Illinois Territory went into

material of more general historical interest, and at the same time excluded

territorial legislation, already partly covered in Philbrick's edition of Pope's

Digest, 1815 (Collections, XXVIII, XXX); Edmund J. James half a cen-

tury ago edited the executive register and the legislative journals of 1812.

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214      Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

The present edition of the laws is drawn chiefly from printed editions,

most rare, some twentieth century reprints. If Professor William S. Jenkins'

project of assembling microfilm copies of territorial laws is ever completed,

perhaps such editions will be less necessary (however convenient) for

other territories.

The work seems remarkably free from error. One would have profited

by a fuller index: it would be helpful, for instance, to have listings of all

historians whose works are discussed, instead of only some of them. The

style occasionally demands simplification (for example, "Such a separation

could not, by him, be logically made" [p. cxvi]), but on the whole the

editor presents an impressive body of research effectively and even with a

good deal of spirit. It is to be hoped that the title will not limit its

circulation.

EARL S. POMEROY

University of Oregon

 

 

The Republicans and Federalists in Pennsylvania, 1790-1801: A Study

in National Stimulus and Local Response. By Harry M. Tinkcom. (Harris-

burg, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1950. viii+354p.,

bibliography and index. $1.75.)

This is the second of several projected volumes delineating the political

history of Pennsylvania since 1776. It follows that of Robert L. Brinhouse,

The Counter-Revolution in Pennsylvania, 1776-1790 (1942).

Professor Tinkcom's book begins with the adoption of the constitution

of 1790, a frame of government directly modeled on the federal consti-

tution and calculated to protect the interests of the upper class. It replaced

the radical and cumbersome constitution of 1776, which had proved so un-

satisfactory. Thomas Mifflin, a moderate, was the first governor under the

new constitution and held office for three terms (to 1799).

The location of the federal capital in Philadelphia in 1790 gave prestige

to local Federalists and they and their opponents alike hoped that after

ten years it might remain there.

From 1790 to 1796 no true party fission was dearly discernible. Most

Pennsylvanians were unionists, and erstwhile antifederalists asked only that

a bill of rights be added to the constitution to guard individual liberty.

But many opposed Hamilton's schemes, feared the aristocratic designs of

the Federalists, and distrusted the utilization by them of the great power

established in the new federal instrument. Opposition to Jay's Treaty, to

the whiskey tax, to Washington's treatment of Genet, and to the adminis-

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Book Reviews                            215

tration's rapprochement with Britain, led to the formation of Democratic

Societies. Thus in a state which was relatively united internally there

eventually ensued a division over national affairs.

By 1796 and the election of Adams, party divisions were discernible.

By 1800 Republican victory was in sight, and the Federalists completed

their discomfiture by obstructionist measures in the legislature and congress

of that year. Thus by 1801 Republican victory was complete.

Federal policy (the stimulus) rather than state was responsible for this

evolution. The ruthless suppression of the Whiskey Rebels, the ratification

of Jay's Treaty, interference in the Presque Isle land development, adminis-

trative Francophobia and the enactment of a direct tax to finance a war

against an ally, the Alien and Sedition acts, all weakened the Federalist

cause and strengthened the democrats (local response). The administra-

tions of Washington and Adams were the recession of the counterreform

which had inevitably followed the hightide of revolution. But, and this is

important, the conservatives had given the ship of state a mighty anchor

in 1787 and a decade of firm and orderly government. Only the extreme

measures of the Adams administration were sufficient to make definitive,

Pennsylvania's adherence to the party of Jefferson.

This reviewer's chief criticisms of Tinkcom's book are that it is needlessly

attenuated, that it is dull when its subject matter is so dramatic, and that

there is too little attention given to motivation and cause and effect. For

instance a casual reader would have extreme difficulty in discovering the

causes and necessity for the coercion of the whiskey makers, or why an

army campaign was needed to clarify a simple legal procedure in the collec-

tion of an insignificant excise. Moreover, there is no evaluation of local

response to funding, assumption, the establishment of the United States

Bank, and no explanation of how the Democratic Societies in ten years

forged a Republican state out of a Federalist one. Finally no clear-cut

appreciation of public sentiment in this frontier state on any issue is gained

by the reader; for instance Fries's revolt is covered in a paragraph, with

no elaboration of its causes or consequences. It would seem that another

revision by the author, including considerable reorganization and excision,

would have made it a more useful and worthy account of this vital period

in Pennsylvania history.

ALFRED B. SEARS

University of Oklahoma

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216      Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

Confederate Leaders in the New South. By William B. Hesseltine. (Baton

Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1950. 147p. $2.50.)

In this series of lectures delivered at Louisiana State University, Pro-

fessor Hesseltine draws his materials from studies of the postwar careers of

585 leaders prominent in the civil and military life of the Confederacy.

A central theme of the lectures is the variation in thought and counsel on

the part of these leaders, variation which is as truly evident in the prewar

and war years as it is after 1865.

The first phase of the monograph deals with the confused state of mind

in the South after Appomattox. Out of this confusion, according to the

author, there evolved two schools of thought symbolized by Jefferson Davis

and Robert E. Lee, respectively. The one championed the Old South, the

other accepted in good spirit the arbitrament of war and looked to the

future. There were differences of attitude in these two men, but in the

reviewer's opinion they are exaggerated. The statements that "men divided

along the lines of Davis and Lee in religion, in education, in politics, and

in economics" (p. 41), and that Lee went as far as "full acceptance of the

new social order" (p. 57) illustrate the tendency toward extremes of inter-

pretation.

The second section of the book has the title "Clashing Counselors in

Church and School." Many of the leaders of the Old South became or re-

mained ministers and educators in the new era. Here one finds men of

such varied outlook as Ellison Capers, brigadier general who became an

Episcopal minister and manifested deep interest in the colored race; Robert

L. Dabney, a Presbyterian who vigorously defended the Old South and

denounced all efforts to unite the sectional branches of his church; the

Catholic leader Patrick K. Lynch, who, despite his active Confederate sym-

pathies during the war, went North during reconstruction preaching con-

ciliation and seeking money to rebuild convents and churches destroyed by

Sherman's army; and J. L. M. Curry, who never regarded the South as in

error in the past but cooperated with northern educators in rebuilding the

educational system of the defeated section.

The third section of the monograph emphasizes the advent of the old

leaders into business enterprises-their connection with railroad and en-

gineering ventures and with manufacturing establishments. Politics is not

neglected, but is considered largely in relation to economic life. The many

lawyers in the new South usually fit nicely into the developing scheme of

politico-economic relationships. Some southerners showed no inclination

to collaborate in any political way with northerners; others became avowedly

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Book Reviews                         217

Republicans; but "the great majority of Confederate leaders who went into

business or into politics bent an expedient knee to circumstance and sought

a formula for a compromise which would accommodate the practices of the

victorious North to the mores of the Old South" (p. 115). That com-

promise consisted in permitting the conquered section to handle its racial

problem, in return for which southerners would use northern capital for

the advantage of both sections and would follow in politics a conservative

course that safeguarded these propertied interests. These sectional tendencies

were evident in many economic categories, but, though the author does not

say so, were absent for approximately two decades after 1865 in respect to

cotton manufacturing in the South. The traditional cotton cycle-southern

raw product to northern factories-did not die easily.

Though they do not fit as appropriately into the author's picture as many

of the leaders considered, one wonders why there is no mention of Robert

M. T. Hunter and only several brief allusions to Wade Hampton. This

monograph, necessarily limited in scope, is a stimulating earnest in regard

to many avenues of further study.

HENRY H. SIMMS

Ohio State University

History of the Girtys. By Consul W. Butterfield. (Columbus, Ohio, Long's

College Book Company, 1950. xiv+426p., notes, appendices, index, and

errata. $7.50.)

"Girty" was a name to conjure up fear, terror, and a healthy respect

throughout the frontier regions of the Old Northwest and Upper Ohio

River country in the latter quarter of the eighteenth century. Simon, the

most noted of the renegade whites of that period, became almost a mythical

character. He was credited with the most diabolical schemes, methods of

torture, and trickery in the sabotage of America's efforts to consolidate its

claims to the Old Northwest after the Revolution. And the deeds of his

brothers were often confused with his in the reports and rumors on the

frontier.

Although Butterfield's subtitle explains that this volume is "a Concise

Account of the Girty Brothers-Thomas, Simon, James and George, and

of Their Half-Brother, John Turner," it is primarily an account of Simon

and his times. Born on the Pennsylvana frontier, living in Indian captivity

as a lad, serving as a scout in Dunmore's War, acting as a guide for traders

into the Indian country, and possessing an envious facility in several Indian

tongues, all made him well equipped for the path he chose to follow across

the pages of frontier history.

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218      Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

On March 28, 1778, a group of men including Simon Girty, Alexander

McKee, and Matthew Elliott, all of whom were men of influence and of

wide experience in Indian affairs, deserted from Fort Pitt to the British.

Reporting to Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton at Detroit, they all

became important and influential agents of the British in their efforts to

maintain control of the Old Northwest.

Inasmuch as Girty's story is well known to students of frontier history

it need not be recounted here. The facts are ably presented by Butterfield

in this volume. It is rather more pertinent to note briefly his method. The

History of the Girtys is a prodigious culling of the truth from the vast

amount of fiction, legend, and half-truth that abounds. Much of this

debunking is relegated to footnotes and dismissed with remarkable ease by

the author. "But this is clearly erroneous" (note, p. 2), "these, however, are

fictitious" (p. 116), and "Roosevelt makes the glaringly erroneous statement"

(note, p. 129) are examples of similar assertions appearing by the score.

It is to be regretted, however, that this is so summarily and emphatically

accomplished without further statement of proof or citation. Theodore

Roosevelt's The Winning of the West comes in for a full measure of

criticism, and indeed is given special attention in one of the appendices.

Butterfield's volume has stood the test of over three score years and

remains the best and most complete volume on its subject. It is here re-

published by Long's College Book Company as one of a series of "Basic

Western Classics." At a fraction of the cost of the History of the Girtys as a

rare book, a real service is rendered by this limited reprint edition.

DWIGHT L. SMITH

Ohio State University

 

Prelude to the Future: The First Hundred Years of Hiram College,

1850-1950. By Mary Bosworth Treudley. (New York, Association Press,

1950. 288p., illustrations, and index.)

The Western Reserve Eclectic Institute was established in Hiram

Township, Portage County, Ohio, in 1850 by members of the Disciples

of Christ Church, under the leadership of A. L. Soule, Zebulon Rudolph,

and William Hayden. A. S. Hayden, the first principal, was succeeded in

1858 by Hiram's most famous son, James Abram Garfield, whose influence

determined to a large extent the direction the institution was to take. In

1867 the name was changed to Hiram College and steps initiated to bring

the school up to college grade.

The record of this school parallels in many ways the history of many

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Book Reviews                            219

of the small denominational colleges in the state. Its humble beginnings in

a pioneer community, the long financial struggle to keep the institution in

operation, the devoted self-sacrifice of its faculty, the passion for learning

of many of its early students, and the gradual broadening of curricula to

meet the changing demands of education are rather generally typical.

In other respects Hiram's history is distinctive. Although established

and supported by the Disciples, the school has never been narrowly sectarian.

Most of the successful teachers and administrators in the early period were

indigenous to the Western Reserve, many were themselves former students

of the Eclectic Institute. In more recent times Hiram's contribution to

educational method is the study plan in which the student concentrates

upon a single subject at a time, completing the course in a single

term. This method was especially effective for the accelerated training

program during World War II.

The author of this centennial history of Hiram College has, to use

her own words, a "birthright claim" to the Hiram fellowship. It is per-

haps for this reason that she writes so understandingly of the philosophy

of education of the small college and treats the persons who have played

its major roles with keen insight and judgment tempered with justice.

Among these are Almeda A. Booth, Burke A. Hinsdale, Ely V. Zollars,

Miner Lee Bates, and Paul H. Fall. Dr. Treudley's style is cear, with many

an apt phrase, and her story moves rapidly without superabundant detail.

The book is well printed and attractively bound. Several of the illus-

trations, however, were apparently made from poor photographs, which

detracts somewhat from the physical appearance of the book. Only one typo-

graphical error was noted; on page 80, the final s was omitted from

the name of William Dean Howells. It is correctly printed in the index,

however.

As Earl James McGrath states in the Foreword, it is customary for

colleges to publish a centennial history. It is a practice to be much com-

mended, for each is related to the development of the state and nation.

Because of Hiram's connection with the Mormon movement, its association

with James A. Garfield, and its parallel with the history of the Western

Reserve, Dr. Treudley's book should appeal to the general reader as well as

to the religious and educational historian and the more limited constituency

of the college itself.

S. WINIFRED SMITH

Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society

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220      Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

The Stark County Story. By Edward Thornton Heald. Vol. II, The

McKinley Era of Stark County, 1875-1901. (Canton, Ohio, Stark County

Historical Society, 1950. xvi+706p., maps and illustrations. $10.00.)

Few counties are so fortunate in their historians as Stark County is in

Edward T. Heald. For in this second volume of his county's story Mr.

Heald has again shown how local history can be told entertainingly yet

accurately.

Mr. Heald's story of this prosperous Ohio region during the last quarter

of the nineteenth century-the McKinley Era-was originally presented

in the form of seventy-seven radio scripts broadcast over Canton's WTBC

during 1949 and 1950. A few people may be disturbed by the lack of unity

resulting from history told by short stories, but the present writer did not

find this unduly distracting. In any literary form it is difficult to weave

together the numerous facets of human activity on the local level after

the frontier stage. Certain of the scripts have been amplified before in-

clusion in this volume. Many listeners of the radio broadcasts will want to

read these graphic and instructive chapters in their county's past.

But non-Stark County residents will find this volume of particular in-

terest not only for the brief, straightforward account of McKinley (drawn

from the readily available sources) but also for the wealth of social history.

Typical scripts portray the careers of prominent politicians and industrialists,

the development of business, industry, and finance, and the rise of schools

and churches. Outstanding, however, are the scripts dealing with the social

and cultural backgrounds: the Canton singing societies, Thayer's military

band, the temperance crusaders, market day in Canton, and Canton and

Alliance in the gay 90's, and so forth. In these scripts there are invaluable

bits of source material, for Mr. Heald has searched his county for those

elderly citizens who recall the 80's and the 90's and can add personal im-

pressions to the printed sources.

One important story is omitted--that of the working and living con-

ditions of the laboring man. Certainly the depressing slums, the wretched

wages and miserable working facilities present in all sections of industrial

America of this period must have existed in Canton and Alliance. For a

well-rounded history these facts should have been given. Two minor points

of criticism center around the unique and cumbersome footnote system

of the author and the old-fashioned format and binding of the volume.

LT. EVERETT WALTERS, USNR

Naval Training Station,

Newport, R.I.

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