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,
208
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
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
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
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).
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.
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-
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
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,
208