BOOK REVIEWS
Indian Arts in North America. By George C. Vaillant. (New
York and London, Harper & Brothers,
1939. 63p. 96pl.,
$5.00.)
This book is essentially a volume of
plates illustrating the
arts of the North American Indians. Each
of the ninety-six
plates is a photograph of an actual
specimen from either a pre-
historic or historic Indian group. The
illustrations were selected
with three factors in mind, "the
tribal style, the potential interest
to a modern audience, and the
susceptibility of the specimens
to photographic reproduction." Many
individuals and institutions
cooperated in assembling the photographs
under the general su-
pervision of Mr. Vaillant.
In the seven short chapters which
accompany the plates the
author describes the racial, cultural
and environmental background
of the Indian tribes whose works are
illustrated. He traces the
movements of peoples from Asia to the
New World and points
out that the diversity of art in North
America may be attributed to
the immigration of diverse groups into
various geographical areas.
He states that art reached its greatest
development among seden-
tary groups who had a sufficient food
supply.
In Chapter V the author discusses Indian
art that was pro-
duced before contact with white men. The
Eskimo excelled in
making practical objects and their ivory
carvings and masks were
in a way by-products of their good
craftsmanship. The North-
west Coast tribes made some stone
figures. In California, bas-
ketry was the principal art. The lack of
art among the plains
tribes is attributed to the fact that
they were nomadic. In the
northeastern area among an agricultural
people art was rather
highly developed. The art of this area
is typified by the fine
Hopewell tobacco pipes made in the
images of animals. The
tribes of the southeastern area
surpassed all others in ceramic
(84)
BOOK REVIEWS 85
arts and the working of shell. The
southwestern peoples had a
high development in weaving and pottery
making.
The next chapter is taken up with a
description of Indian
art after white contact. In the pueblo
area there has been a con-
tinuity in pottery making, there is some
painting and masked
dancers, or kachinas, are carved. Among the Navajos, rug
weaving is important and there is silver
working and sand-paint-
ing. In the Southeast the cultures
disintegrated too rapidly with
the coming of Europeans for art forms to
survive. This is also
true in the main for the northeastern
tribes. In the Plains area
the introduction of the horse and the
amassing of great personal
wealth created an elaborate development
of dress and objects of
adornment. In the California area the
basket-making art con-
tinued. In the Northwest Coast region
the richest art developed
after white contact. This took the form
of wood-carving. Totem
poles, carved boxes and other objects
were fashioned with great
skill following highly conventionalized
designs. The Eskimo con-
tinued to carve in bone and ivory.
The concluding chapter summarizes the
art achievements of
the American Indian and appraises it in
a general way. Vaillant
states that "encouragement of
Indian decoration and art might
make just such an integrating force as
would enable Indian com-
munities to change from their present
condition of being complete
almoners. The Indian's arts, too, should
be a background to the
creation of a national art. At present,
save for the survivals of
Indian culture in the Southwest and for
some heroic attempts
made by governmental agencies to revive
Indian arts elsewhere,
our native American heritage is being
allowed to disintegrate."
The book possesses a cultural time chart
and a map showing
house types and food animals of various
areas. In addition to
the table of contents and list of plates
there is a selected bib-
liography. The plates are well-executed,
and due to the nature
of the book no index is needed.
R. G. M.
86
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Lewis Evans. By Lawrence Henry Gipson. (Philadelphia, His-
torical Society of Pennsylvania, 1939.
246p. Maps. $7.50.)
It is not necessary to discuss the
importance of the car-
tographer. He has always been
indispensable both in the making
and in the relating of history. And
among the greatest of the
American cartographers the name of Lewis
Evans holds a high
place. Mr. Gipson shows that Evans was a
scientist and a poli-
tician in addition to being a map maker,
but it seems likely that
he will continue to be remembered
chiefly for his maps.
Lewis Evans was born about 1700 in Wales. What
he did
for thirty-six years after that date we
may never know, but he
turned up in Pennsylvania in 1736,
connected in some way with
Benjamin Franklin. His life comes more
clearly into focus in the
few years following, first as a surveyor
and draughtsman and
amateur naturalist--the friend of Peter
Collinson of England and
John Bartram of Pennsylvania and
acquaintance of Peter Kalm.
Next he is a lecturer on electricity and
associate of Franklin.
Then we see him as the cartographer and,
finally, the man of
affairs. Just before his death in 1756
he was involved in a con-
troversy with Governor Morris of
Pennsylvania over the proper
policy of the British Government in its
contest with France which
landed him in jail in New York. Evans
thought the English
should spend more energy in the Ohio
Valley and less in Canada.
The Pennsylvania Historical Society has
made a fine book
of Lewis Evans. Paper, form, and
typography are beautiful. The
author has been forced to spread his
facts thin to make a big
book, but that seems not to have been
his fault but owing to the
dearth of sources. The last half of the
volume consists of a re-
print of Lewis Evans' Brief Account
of Pennsylvania . . . pub-
lished first in 1753 and a facsimile of
his Geographical, Historical,
Political, Philosophical and
Mechanical Essays . . . Numbers I and
II, published in 1755 and 1756. The book
also contains repro-
ductions of Evans' "A Map of
Pensilvania, New-Jersey, New-
York and the Three Delaware
Counties" (1749); a revised copy
of the same map (1749);
"Pensilvaniae, Novae-Caesareae,
Novi-
Eboraci, Aquanishuonigae, et Canadae . .
." (1750); "A Map of
BOOK REVIEWS 87
the Area in dispute between Pennsylvania
and Maryland" (1753);
and "A general map of the Middle
British Colonies, in Amer-
ica . . ." (1755). The last was
Evans' most famous map and
was pirated and copied for fifty years.
Lewis Evans is a valuable reference tool and an interesting
story of the intrigue and excitement
that form the more colorful
side of the life of a cartographer.
K. W. M.
India Rubber Man; the Story of
Charles Goodyear. By Ralph F.
Wolf.
(Caldwell, Idaho, Caxton Printer's, 1939. 291p.
$3.00).
Rubber, now indispensable to modern
living, was known
to the white man for several hundred
years, but was practically
useless because of its characteristic of
becoming iron-hard when
cold and soft and sticky when warm. With
the discovery of the
process of vulcanization, rubber could
be made to retain its elas-
tic, resilient quality and at the same
time be made stronger and
easier to use in the manufacture of a
multitude of articles.
After years of patient work, when not in
the debtors' prison.
Goodyear in 1839 discovered the
principles involved in vulcan-
ization. But this discovery was far from
being the climax in his
long struggle with rubber. Though he had
solved the rubber
problem, no one else believed it and the
losses which manufac-
turers and investors had suffered up to
that time in efforts to
use unvulcanized rubber made the sale of
the idea almost fruit-
less. In 1844, ten years after he had
first begun his experiments
and five years after the actual
discovery of vulcanization, Good-
year received a patent for the process.
He never benefited from
the discovery in either England or
France but even with those
markets lost he might have made millions
in the United States
had it not been for his carelessness in
handling money and the
sharp business men and manufacturers
with whom he did busi-
ness.
Half of the volume deals with his life
and experiences up
88 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
to the time of the patenting of his
discovery. The latter half
deals with his experiences in
manufacturing, with licenses, and
fights with patent infringers. The
latter became so numerous
and flagrant in their violations that in
1851 a suit was filed in
Goodyear's name in the U. S. District
Court of New Jersey, re-
ferred to afterwards as the Great India
Rubber Case.
With Rufus Choate, famed trial lawyer,
as counsel for the
defense, the Goodyear group knew only
one man capable of
matching wits with Choate and that was
Secretary of State, a
candidate for the Presidential
nomination of the Whig Party,
Daniel Webster. That Webster might take
the case was almost
unthinkable. And Webster said it was
unthinkable until a fee
of $15,000 was offered and then, in
spite of his many duties at
Washington and other previously offered
excuses he took the
case, for he said, "This fee I must
have, for it will pay fifteen
thousand dollars of my debts, and that
is what I am striving to
do. . . ." The author comments that
"strangely enough there was
no uproar made over this decision of the
highest-ranking cabinet
officer to discard temporarily his
official garb and assume the
guise of a private citizen long enough
to line his pockets" (p. 174).
The account of the trial and Webster's
victory almost steal the
show from Goodyear but after some fifty
pages we are back to
the India Rubber Man.
Wolf, in a journalistic style, has written
what he claims is
the first biography of this man, whom he
calls a "queer fanatical
fellow," whose observations that
gum mixture (containing sul-
phur) behaved in a totally unexpected
fashion on a hot stove,
resulted in a business that will produce
the better part of a billion
dollars worth of goods this year, in the
United States alone. He
suggests further that we might
"multiply this by two, at least,
and add the hundreds of millions
invested in the plantations that
produce the raw material; the total
value of the fruit of that
single idea advanced with such
passionate pertinacity by the India
Rubber Man a hundred years ago" (p.
279). While enthusiasm
on the part of an author for his hero is
expected, the reader will
find that earlier in the volume it is
revealed that the same dis-
covery was made in England, Sweden and
Germany at about the
BOOK REVIEWS 89
same time. The reader may judge whether
or not the develop-
ment of this great industry might not
have come from one of the
other discoveries.
Although the volume is not documented
the author reveals
a careful use of the sources indicated
in his bibliography and a
thorough familiarity with the subject.
The author collaborated
with Howard Wolf in the writing of the
only recent comprehen-
sive history of rubber, entitled Rubber:
The Story of Glory and
Greed.
W. D. O.
The Rampaging Frontier. By Thomas D. Clark. (Indianapolis,
Bobbs-Merrill, I939. xvi ?? 350p. $3.)
A conscientious reviewer might wonder if
this assignment is
in the nature of work. The apparatus of
scholarship is evidenced
by the careful annotations and over 160
items of bibliography,
but the book reads rapidly and smoothly,
hurdling over climaxes
of racy stories, entirely unimpeded by
this apparatus.
We used to read about the "Wild
West." Dr. Clark's pic-
turesque imagination was needed to
recreate the "rampaging"
West of 1775-1820, that first American
frontier beyond the Alle-
ghenies, now four or five generations
removed. In few volumes
are its life and customs presented in
entirety. The first observation
that occurs is that this country has
decidedly degenerated into a
nation of "panty-waists," whom
our "half-horse, half-alligator,"
roaring, gouging, hard-fighting
ancestors would never recognize.
Others have noted the value of this book
as a source for
students of manners, customs and social
life, the psychosis of a
crude civilization. As Professor
Schlesinger once remarked, this
period is the medieval times in
America. Clark's descriptions
fit the lawlessness of border
medievalism--but we must not push
that analogy. The merit here lies in the
presentation of a new
genus. This book is more than a rambling
storehouse from which
disagreeing theorists can pull psychic
plums. In spite of apparent
aimlessness, it is an organized
presentation. Being stuff with
90 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
general appeal, the chapter headings are
disguised with phrasal
"come-ons." Thus we have
"Varmints" to describe the animal
environment, "Boom Poles and Paddle
Wheels" to convey the
importance of river transportation and
life about the waterways.
The fifteen chapters may be roughly
divided into four groups,
comprising the general background,
communication, types of so-
ciety, and amusements and humor. The
final chapter on the
Yankee peddler is unclassifiable. Under
the first group, we
read about the physical environment,
animal environment, and
the general characteristics of the
inhabitants. The second group
deals with rivers and taverns. The third
reveals politicians, preach-
ers, the legal profession, and embryonic
attempts at rank and
position. The fourth describes the
frontier zest for story-telling,
racing, cards, dancing, and music, and
the place of women in this
boisterous life.
Yet this is no sociological treatise in
disguise. The author
did not think of his subjects and then
conceal them under inci-
dents and stories. He let them come to
him untreated. In fact
he has so saturated himself with the
language that he could prob-
ably qualify as a member of that society
were he transported
there in a time machine. He contents
himself with a few observa-
tions or rounded descriptions of the
subject in each chapter, letting
his pen run from incident to incident,
and topping off with the
choicest stories apropos.
Ohio readers can stock up on their
collections of tall tales.
The Ohio Valley is the center of a great
part of this roistering
life. The frontier described ranges from
Ohio, Kentucky, Ten-
nessee, Illinois, and Indiana, to
Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas,
and Missouri. The lower central South is
left out of the pic-
ture. Kentucky is predominant.
There is a travel quality about the book
which is understood
when scanning the bibliography. It is
natural that stories about
the people of this day should come from
travelers. The well-
known British, French, and American
travelers are all used with
discrimination. Dickens is cited once or
twice, and one feels his
American Notes vindicated. The description of the voracious in-
habitants feeding (p. 110), which Clark
compiles from Fearon,
BOOK REVIEWS 91
Hall, and Hoffman is for all the world
the counterpart of a
similar scene in Martin Chuzzlewit. How
near we are to our
beginnings!
Clark uses not only travelers but many
other sources, and
if students wish to enjoy and read,
completely unaware of the
painful extractions of scholarship, they
should turn to The Ram-
paging Frontier.
CURTIS W. GARRISON.
Conquest of the Southern Plains;
Uncensored Narrative of the
Battle of Washita and Custer's
Southern Campaign. By
Charles J. Brill. (Oklahoma City, Golden
Saga Publishers,
1938. 323p.)
The hero of the Conquest of the
Southern Plains is Black
Kettle, the Cheyenne, or Satanta, the
Kiowa, or perhaps Magpie,
another Cheyenne, or any one of a dozen
other noble redmen--
all heroes. There is no confusion,
however, in finding the villain
--he is George Armstrong Custer,
should-be unemployed general
from Ohio. Custer, says the author,
"was merciless to man and
beast. He was ruthless in treatment of
his foes. An Indian
was an Indian to him; and it is a matter
of record that he killed
more Indian women and children than
warriors. That he never
was successful in capturing an Indian
warrior in battle can be
substantiated. His sole prisoners of war
were decrepit old men,
squaws, and papooses. Not once, during
his ten years' crusade,
did he ever defeat in battle the red
knights who opposed him."
Brill has attempted to show (1) that the Battle of the
Washita was more critical than it has
been considered; (2) that
the Battle of the Little Big Horn has
been talked about too much;
(3) that Custer was a "rat";
and (4) that the policy of the
United States Government in the Southern
Plains was need-
lessly severe and downright dishonest.
It is popular in the twentieth century
to sympathize with the
Indian in his poor treatment by the
whites and Brill will have a
hearing; but it is probably due the
memory of the "unemployed
92 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
generals" to remember that such a
sympathy was not popular in
the days of Custer and that it would
have been very hard to treat
the redman honorably. People seem to
demand a scapegoat.
The author has drawn his information
from the stories of
Magpie and Little Beaver and Left Hand
in addition to the official
reports. He has included thirteen
appendices to corroborate his
statements but he would have been much
more convincing had
he used a good system of documentation.
In a book where so
many popular stories are contradicted
the proof should be con-
veniently at hand.
K. W. M.
The Singin' Gatherin'; Tunes from the
Southern Appalachians.
By Jean Thomas and Joseph A. Leeder.
(New York, Silver
Burdett Company, 1939. 113p. Illus.
$1.50.)
Folk-lore has long been considered
important to the scholar
in the field of the social sciences as a
reflection of the institutions
of a people, but it has been hard to use
because of its ephemeral
nature. There are portions of the
earth's surface, however, where
those influences which have complicated
beyond all reason the
motives which govern the lives of most
of our "civilized" peoples
have not destroyed the force and
simplicity of their folk-lore.
One such place is in the Southern
Appalachian region. Here, Miss
Jean Thomas has spent much of her life
with the people, learning
their ways and interpreting them to the
outside world. Her
"Singin' Gatherin'" has been
attracting more and more attention
each of the nine years of its existence
and has furnished her and
Joseph A. Leeder, of the Music
Department of Ohio State Uni-
versity, with the materials for their
book, The Singin' Gatherin';
Tunes from the Southern Appalachians.
The songs in the book are divided into
ten classifications:
Answering-Back Songs; Play-Game Songs
for the Least Uns;
Work Songs; Come Ye and Warning
Song-Ballets; Love Ditties;
Hymn Tunes Handed Down; Christmas
Singin'; Mountain In-
struments and Their Usage; The Infare;
and The Singin'
BOOK REVIEWS 93
Gatherin'. The book has many fine
photographic illustrations,
contains brief histories of the songs
and directions for their play-
ing. It is designed for use in schools
and recreation groups as
well as by students of history,
sociology and music.
Miss Thomas' annual Singin' Gatherin',
by introducing the
folk-songs of Kentucky to the world of
"hill-billy" crazes and
"jazz-band" interpretations
may hasten the death of the folk-
song. On the other hand, the Gatherin'
may continue to be a
vital part of the life of the
mountaineer for many years. But
whether it does or not, it will be
remembered better now that it
is in printed form.
K. W. M.
Dances of Our Pioneers. Collected by Grace L. Ryan; music
arrangements by Robert T. Benford;
illustrations by Brooks
Emerson. (New York, A. S. Barnes &
Co., c1939. 1969.
Illus., music. $2.00.)
This volume makes a fitting companion to
the Singin' Gath-
erin', by Thomas and Leeder, reviewed elsewhere in this issue.
More and more, recreation leaders are
turning to the games,
songs and dances of our earlier history
as sources of entertain-
ment which more adequately meet their
problems of providing
clean fun for adolescent youth and
inexpensive recreation for
adults who need to forget for an evening
the hardships produced
by economic inequality. For community
recreation where all ages
and sexes must be considered folk dances
are unequaled in pro-
viding enjoyment. This point is well
recognized by Lynn Rohr-
bough of Delaware, Ohio, who has turned
an old barn into a
place where, at regular intervals,
recreation leaders may come
to participate in singing the old songs,
enter into the spirit of the
old time play-party, and dance the
country dances, the better to
acquaint themselves with them.
This handy book is excellent in every
way because, besides
describing clearly the formations and
changes of quadrilles
(square dances), contra, circle and
couple dances, it provides the
94 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
"calls" and music, as well as
illustrates pictorially many of the
terms used. These illustrations are
especially well done. There
is an index, a glossary, and an analytic
table of contents.
Miss Ryan, who is in the Department of
Physical Education
at Central State Teachers College, Mt.
Pleasant, Michigan, is
to be praised for her excellent
contribution to the preservation
of this part of our folk culture, and
the publishers are to be
congratulated for producing so beautiful
a volume at so attractive
a price.
C. L. W.
Old Forts and Real Folks. By Susan Burdick Davis. (Madison,
Wisconsin, Zoe Bayliss and Susan Davis,
1939. 332p. $2.00.)
Old Forts and Real Folks is an adaptation of personal nar-
ratives from Wisconsin history for
reading by children. The
author is Dean of Freshman Women in the
University of Wis-
consin, and has had considerable
experience in story-telling for
children, having been Instructor in Children's
Literature and the
Art of Story-Telling at the University
of Wisconsin, and having
already published a book entitled Wisconsin
Lore for Boys and
Girls.
Miss Davis feels that from the stories
of Wisconsin's past
children will draw inspiration to live a
better life. As an at-
tempt to make local history a practical
working force the book
is interesting. For example, the author
draws from the story
of a medical experiment by Dr. William
Beaumont, pioneer
physiologist, such sage advice as
"don't neglect your raw cabbage,
carrots, and lettuce," and
"treat your stomach like a friend and
helper; in this treatment lies much of
your health." This is
probably the most pointed example of
practical history in the
book but many of the stories have been
selected for their moral
lessons.
K. W. M.
BOOK REVIEWS 95
It Takes All Kinds. By Louis Bromfield. (New York, Harper
& Brothers, 1939. 690p.)
While it is neither set in his native
state nor rich in ar-
chaeological or historical significance,
this book, the latest work
of the Ohio-born Louis Bromfield, is
worthy of mention as a deft
analysis of contemporary and
near-contemporary types, selected
from both the national and the
international scene. A full-bodied
volume, It Takes All Kinds is
made up of three full-length
novels, two novelettes, and four short
stories. The assured fa-
cility of the master craftsman is
apparent throughout, as is also
a mood and manner faintly reminiscent of
the writing of Somer-
set Maugham--which means that Louis
Bromfield's latest work
is a stimulating and entertaining,
albeit somewhat superficial,
volume.
L. R. H.
American Potters and Pottery. By John Ramsay. (Boston, Hale,
Cushman and Flint, 1939. 304p. Illus.
$3.75.)
Mr. John Ramsay, a resident of Canton,
Ohio, is known to
many in this state as a collector and
specialist in early American
pottery. This volume is not intended to
be a history of American
pottery although the introductory
chapters afford an historical
treatment of the subject. Neither is the
volume a study of the
manufacture of pottery, although there
is an excellent discussion
of the various types of American pottery
and certain technical
aspects of the subject pertaining
particularly to glazes and other
data of value to the collector. But the
historical and technical
data, as comprehensive as it is, has
been compressed into a small
space, for the book is essentially a
check-list of some 1200 Amer-
ican potters. Ramsay has selected the
more important, giving
their names, location, date, names of
their successors, or any
changes of ownership, and the date of
final closing. To these
facts are added data on the types of
ware made, marks used,
or other distinguishing characteristics,
with occasional reference
96
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
to the text or to illustrations. It has
not been possible for the
author to give all these facts about all
the potters included in the
list and it appears that the closing
date is the most difficult to
pin down.
There are nearly 100 illustrations and
over 100 potters' marks
which make this book indispenable to the
serious collector. The
work is geographically spotty, Ramsay
thinks, since he has been
able to work only in territory which has
already been studied
and reported, omitting some states where
really important ma-
terial remains to be studied. But it is
our opinion that since it
covers the really important ceramic
producing states, including
among others, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
and Ohio, that the
author's criticism of his own work
should not detract from any
estimation of its value as it stands.
W. D. O.
Wild Flowers of Ohio. By Harold L. Madison. Pocket Natural
History, No.7. Botanical Series, No.1. (Cleveland, O.,
Cleveland Museum of Natural History,
1938. 190p. Illus.
$1.50.)
This admirable little booklet will fill
a long-felt need for a
field-book on Ohio wild flowers. There
are a number of excellent
field-books on wild flowers, but they,
unfortunately, are all written
and published on the Atlantic coast and
invariably contain a large
number of plants not found in the Middle
West, and, conversely,
omit some of our most familiar species.
The book is of a size which will fit
easily into the coat
pocket or hand-bag. It is well printed
and substantially bound
in water-resistant fabricoid. No less
than 825 species of plants
are briefly described and figured with
attractive line drawings
by Miss Ruth C. Mayer. Thus, the great
majority of our Ohio
wild flowers and not a few of our
flowering shrubs are included.
If one were disposed to be critical,
criticism might be made
of the selection of plants to be
treated. It will be noted that a
number of very rare plants have been
included (several of which
BOOK REVIEWS 97
have never been found in Ohio) while
some of our most abun-
dant species have been omitted. No two
persons, however, would
probably agree on this subject, since it
must remain largely a
matter of personal opinion, and the
criticism is slight as com-
pared with the general worth of the
publication. The Cleveland
Museum of Natural History and all
concerned in the production
of the book are to be congratulated on
this real service to the
nature lovers of Ohio.
EDWARD S. THOMAS.
Rifles Beyond Fort Pitt. By Elizabeth Hawthorn Buck. (Phila-
delphia, Penn Publishing Company, 1939.
240p.
Illus. $1.50.)
This book, which the publishers
recommend for boys and girls
from ten to fifteen, deals with a
chapter in American history which
ought to appeal to older readers. It is
a story of a young scout in
1779, fighting with the frontiersmen
against the Indians and
Tories on the Pennsylvania border and in
the Ohio country. The
story is told in fourteen chapters, with
three illustrations.
The latter part of the book is of
distinct interest to readers
of Ohio history since the author traces
the frontiersmen across
Ohio, through Schoenbrunn, Gnadenhutten,
on to Upper San-
dusky and Sandusky. According to the
story, the hero even
penetrates the stronghold of British
power at Detroit. On the
return trip to Pennsylvania the
incidents of Brady's famous leap
and Brady Lake are portrayed. The story
of his visit with the
Moravian Christian Indians in the
Tuscarawas Valley is given
in a chapter entitled Gnadenhutten.
While mention is made of
the slaughter of the Christian Indians
there in 1781, yet the story
is really that of Schoenbrunn.
Mrs. Buck has previously given us
another story of the
western frontier entitled Moccasins
in the Wilderness.
H. L.
98 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
The Changing West: An Economic Theory
About Our Golden
Age. By William Allen White. (New York, Macmillan Com-
pany, 1939. 144p. $1.50.)
Mr. White uses the term "West"
to mean the territory "West
of Buffalo and Pittsburgh, north of the
Ohio River, onward to the
Pacific coast from Los Angeles to
Seattle." This section contains
twenty-four states.
Considered culturally, this territory
gave rise to the growth
of human liberty under economic
conditions which marked its
path to a sectional civilization. The
Protestant church and the
"little red schoolhouse," the
"two basic free institutions" upon
which the West was built, caused the
development of a unique
civilization or, as the author says,
"a new thing for mankind."
The forces generated by these basic
institutions were "the prac-
tical acceptance of the Christian
philosophy," and the tenets of
credit and democracy. These tenets, Mr.
White believes, are pro-
foundly middle-class.
In writing this very interesting and
readable essay--it is
hardly more than an essay, 144 short
pages--the author has added
to his own youthful optimism some of the
theories of Frederick
Jackson Turner and of Thorstein Veblen.
He has pictured the
three waves of migration into the West,
the waves that Turner
spoke of as, first, the squatter
pioneer; second, the farmer who
purchased his land, taking advantage of
the pre-emption law; and
third, the man of capital and
enterprise. These succeeding waves
of humanity brought a steady and
dependable rise in the price of
land. This "princely increment of
land values," transmitted and
distributed by the democratic process
into fluid capital, formed the
source for the prosperity of the western
farmer. However, by
the turn of the century the frontier had
disappeared and with it
went the unearned increment in land
values. "The sun had set
upon the Golden Age," and the farm
problem had arisen to plague
the politicians.
Perhaps the chief reason the farm
problem has not been
solved is due to our failure to
understand that there are many farm
problems. The wheat grower of the
plains, the "barnyard cattle-
BOOK REVIEWS 99
man," and the owner of the
irrigated farms in the Arkansas River
Valley have different problems which
demand different solutions.
But to Mr. White one thing is certain:
To save the farmers from
becoming a degraded peasantry, "we
must even subsidize in vari-
ous ways the business of farming."
The major solution of the
farm problems, however, will be found,
perhaps, in the solution
of our industrial problems, for the
"western farmer must rise or
fall upon the purchasing power of the
industrial worker." And to
insure equality and justice for the
industrial worker, the author
believes that collective bargaining
power for labor must be firmly
established. Man cannot bargain alone
with the buyer of labor
who represents a great corporate
industry.
Thus Mr. White has given us an essay on
social salvation. He
might have titled it, "Have faith
in democracy--and work to de-
stroy the economic inequalities that
have arisen in our society."
But this reviewer cannot believe that
the author's solution will
come out of the West, for the western
farmer usually has been
opposed to the labor movement.
EUGENE O. PORTER.
The Westward Movement. By Ina Faye Woestemeyer with the
editorial collaboration of J. Montgomery
Gambrill. (New
York, D. Appleton-Century Co., I939.
500p. Illus. $3.00.)
There are about 125 selections in this
volume, arranged to tell
the story of the Westward Movement,
taken from biographies,
guides, legal documents, books on
exploration and travel, and such
widely differing sources as personal
letters and fiction.
The material has been grouped into three
main sections: first
"The Lure of the West," second
"The Spread of People from
Coast to Coast," and third
"Progress of the Frontiers of Culture."
Miss Woestemeyer first assembled these
readings as a "Profes-
sional Project" in her work for the
Ed.D. degree at Teachers
College, Columbia University, with
special reference to the needs
and interests of high school pupils.
Selections have been made from such
sources as the Journal
100
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of Conrad Weiser, Colonial Records of
Georgia, Niles' Register,
Flint's Recollections of the Last Ten
Years, Bryce's American
Commonwealth, Roosevelt's Ranch Life in the West, Mark
Twain's Roughing It, and Life
on the Mississippi, and Ogg's The
Old Northwest.
The readings are not extensive enough to
serve the purpose
of the mature student nor was sufficient
care exercised in re-
producing the selections accurately, but
the book brings together
readable and interesting passages into a
general narrative treatment
and should encourage the high school
student to delve further into
the original works cited.
W. D. O.
The Delectable Country. By Leland D. Baldwin. (New York,
Lee Furman, Inc., 1939. 715p. $2.75.)
Every circumstance of life in the Ohio
and Mississippi valleys
during the last decade of the eighteenth
century was exciting.
That decade was packed with story-making
conditions and epi-
sodes. Nothing was certain--not even
death and taxes. Few
realized what government they were
living under and fewer knew
or cared much what government they would
have tomorrow. The
realities of life were plain enough and
cruel enough but they were
not sobering. The people were wild and therefore
did interesting
things. It is hard to see how a story
about them could be anything
but thrilling, and Mr. Leland D. Baldwin
has made of The
Delectable Country a good story of these times and people.
David Braddee knew his way around the
river and was quite
an all-around hero. He could out-fight
and out-brag even Mike
Fink. He could kill Indians with the
best. He could land a keel-
boat below the cut at Pittsburgh like a
veteran. He could out-
debate the blue-bloods of the city. He
could love tenderly a good
woman and he could make a fallen woman
take new interest in
life. He could make Christians of
villains. He could talk Latin
with a Spaniard. He could even gouge the
eyes from a starved
BOOK REVIEWS 101
bear. In short, he was a real man and a
real hero as anyone can
see.
David's many-sided character was
developed by Mr. Baldwin
to bring into the picture as great a
portion of the life of the period
as possible. Although David himself may
seem a little unreal at
times he was associated with real people
and he did real things.
He was at the center of things during
the Whiskey Insurrection
of 1794. He saw all sides of life in
Pittsburgh and New Orleans
and was well acquainted with all the
towns and settlements in
between. Into his life came real men
like Hugh Brackinridge,
David Bradford, Daniel Strong, General
Daniel Morgan, the
Nevilles, Alexander Hamilton, Don Manuel
Gayoso de Lemos, and
many others.
The first half of the book is chiefly
devoted to the story of
the Whiskey Insurrection. Mr. Baldwin is
a historian and one
of his fields of research has been the
Whiskey Insurrection in
western Pennsylvania. He has published a
scholarly history of
the subject and he knows what he is
writing about. Toward the
end of the Whiskey Insurrection portion
the reader is likely to
begin expecting to see notes at the
bottom of the pages, but this
does not last long. The story drifts out
of the fact-recital stage
and resumes the smooth reading tempo of
the first few chapters.
The last half of the book deals with
life on the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers. David Braddee is
lured away from the search
for "the delectable country"
in the realm of literature and learning
to the paradise of adventure only to
find that the search is not
ended--that the quest must be continued
in the "way of the Lord."
This reviewer's desire that David would
come to his senses and
take Hugh Brackinridge's advice was left
unrequited by the hero's
early death. One is left with the same
sort of feeling that he
would expect from finishing the story of
an eighteenth century
Studs Lonigan. At any rate if you want history you can trust,
in a form you can read, get a copy of
Leland D. Baldwin's The
Delectable Country.
K. W. M.
102 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Blazing the Way West. By Bliss Isely. (New York, Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1939. 286p. $3.00.)
This is a history of the French
explorers and trappers who
found the lakes, rivers, and portages in
the wilderness that was
their North American empire. Mr. Isely
begins with Cartier and
Roberval and then narrates the
activities of Champlain, Nicolet,
Radisson and Grosseillers (the author
calls him Chouart), Talon,
Frontenac, Cadillac, Jolliet and
Marquette, and LaSalle. But the
book is not limited to a consideration
of the early French ex-
plorers; it deals too with the French
traders who operated be-
tween the lower Mississippi Valley and
the Spanish settlements
in what is now Texas; it treats also of
the Chouteaus and other
enterprising merchants who traded out of
St. Louis after the
Louisiana Purchase. The story is brought
to a close with a hasty
narration of the Whitman expedition to
the Oregon country, and
of Juneau's removal to Alaska.
Mr. Isely has not written here a history
of colonial wars, for
his attention is always on the men of
the West and their activities
as explorers, trappers, and traders.
Another principal concern of
his is to point out the many names of
towns, rivers, and lakes in
our West which are French in origin. He
gives an interesting ex-
planation for the name of the Republican
River, a tributary of the
Missouri.
At times the style seems developed to
astonish the reader at
the hardships suffered by the early
explorers, for instance, the
contrast drawn between the discomfort of
George Washington's
first crossing of the Alleghenies with
the comfort in which one
may cross them today. There is in this
book some of the apparatus
of scholarship, but few or no new
interpretations and conclusions.
The characters remain the same if not
less sprightly and less well
developed than in Professor Wrong's Conquest
of New France.
This obviously is not a book for a
professional historian; but
for one who knows little or nothing
about the French pioneers in
the West, it will present a workable,
fundamental picture. There
are numerous illustrations, nine maps, a
guide to pronunciation, a
bibliography, and an index.
JOHN H. McMINN.
BOOK REVIEWS 103
We Who Built America. By Carl Wittke. (New York, Prentice-
Hall, Inc., 1939. xviii ?? 547p. $5.00.)
The title of this work sounds like a
crusade, but is justified
from every stand. Favorable reviews in
the press testify to its
wide appeal and substantial importance.
The casual footnoting
and absence of bibliographical
"front" will doubtless obscure from
the press's lay readers the mountainous
work backing the thousands
of interesting facts presented. The
variety of citations to books,
monographs, propaganda pamphlets, and
popular works is amazing.
In addition to the usual literature on
our immigrants, Dr. Wittke
has gleaned from the most unsuspected
quarters. Publication of
this bibliography would be useful. Added
to that are hundreds
of references to the American and
foreign-language press.
This adds up to a book of deceiving
simplicity. Those who
rush between its covers to feed a
crusading zeal will stay to par-
take of a feast. The reviewer must come
out a gourmand. The
work seems like an encyclopedia, but the
facts are carefully se-
lected, each chapter is well
proportioned according to its im-
portance, each section well balanced,
and the book as a whole has
a totality of effect. This is due to the
plan.
In the "Introduction," Dr.
Wittke compares the enactment of
drastic restrictive legislation against
immigrants following the close
of the World War, in its effect, to the
passing of the frontier in
American history. That is the major
reason for a work of this
kind. "Since 191O, there has been
almost no gain in the foreign-
born population (white) of the United
States." (p. xvii) On the
last page he writes, "The Story of
American immigration has been
told." He regards his work as a
review or tentative summary,
stimulating others perhaps to complete
more definitive studies as
the spadework for a more complete study.
While he attempts in
this book to review immigration in its
broadest political, economic,
and cultural implications, he has
confined himself to a historical
rather than a sociological treatment.
Dr. Wittke assumes, of course, that our
American civilization
is basically Anglo-Saxon and our
population is, by a vast majority,
English. The best statistics indicate
that since 1790 something
104
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
like 36,000,000 aliens arrived in the
United States. He then studies
this phenomenon under three headings:
"The Colonial Period"
(97 PP.), "The Old
Immigration" (300 pp.), and "The New Im-
migration and Nativism" (113 pp.).
The Negro is omitted because
of an "adequate and steadily
expanding literature" available. The
first period is essentially a cultural
study of the colonial Dutch,
French, Irish and Scotch-Irish, Germans,
and a few minor groups.
These chapters are probably the best
summaries now available.
The immigrant colonial contribution was
not important politically
but led to spreading democracy, and
religious toleration.
"The Old Immigration" treats
mainly of the Irish, the Ger-
mans, and the Scandinavians, with a
chapter on the Swiss, Dutch,
Russian-Germans, Welsh, French, and
Jews. The old immigra-
tion contributed the greatest flood,
rising in the 1840's, and reach-
ing a maximum in 1890. However,
"The New Immigration" from
southern and eastern Europe, the Czechs
and Slovaks, Poles, Ju-
goslavs, Russians, Hungarians, Italians,
Greeks, Armenians, Por-
tuguese and Spanish, reached their peak
by the decade, 19O1-191O.
Dr. Wittke rather summarizes the new
immigration without at-
tempting final conclusions. On this
account these chapters have
less appeal, and the treatise as a
whole, rather ends on a question
mark, in spite of the ending of an era.
In this the author is true to
history. Vertical reading is possible in
this work. An essay or
book on immigration could be made up of
the "Introduction," the
two chapters entitled "The
Immigrant Traffic," which describes the
transportation and arrival of colonial
and old immigrations, the
first part of Chapter 14 on the new
immigration, and the last chap-
ter on "Closing the Gates." Or
one could take the two chapters
on the Germans. Except for the
discussion on music, the chapter,
"Culture in Immigrant Chests"
is just a little disappointing, but
consistent in historical description
rather than an interpretation.
As Dr. Wittke remarks, it sometimes
resolves into a catalogue.
This is a good book for every library.
It answers questions.
If we know where Santa Claus originated,
do we know about bowl-
ing? Who were the Mathewites? What is
the origin of the Kin-
dergarten? Why did the Irish stay in the
cities? Yet all these
BOOK REVIEWS 105
facts are built up in their proper
chapters into a compact architec-
tural unity, leaving a rounded
impression.
The book is an inspiration to historical
and sociological
students. It penetrates American history
in every era. Dr. Wittke
shows admirable restraint. It might have
resolved into another
interpretation of our historical
development. He describes the
activities and influence of each group,
and passes on. The rela-
tion of the Frei Gemeinde in the
1840's to the Unitarian and tran-
scendental movements would be a fine
subject for study. The
description of the German cooperatives
(p. 238) is suggestive. The
role of religion in America was
tremendously influenced by the
immigrant. They escaped to the America
of religious freedom
often to get away from a growing
liberalism. Is that one reason
why we are the bulwark of conservatism?
The study of immi-
grants as a means toward the
understanding of international his-
tory is an old approach. This movement
is often the natural tie
between our history and the Old World.
The importance for local
history is obvious, and, of course local
history studies of these
groups account for many of the author's
sources. How much
light it throws on many of our friends
and acquaintances! None
of us are without friends bearing
foreign strains. Often they
account for important trends in the
business and industrial history
of our community. A notable production
might also be made of
selections from immigrant narratives, or
"American letters."
Ohioans will find new and absorbing
details, such as the de-
scription of German life in Cincinnati
(p. 212), frequent
mention
of Friederich Hassaurek, the equality of
German and English
languages in Cincinnati schools of the
1840's, and the unconstitu-
tionality of the Anti-German Language
Law (p. 234). There is
an interesting description of the
communistic experiment of Zoar
in the chapter on "Immigrant
Utopias." Right here should be
mentioned the inadequacy of the index
from the subject standpoint,
which is greatly to be deplored. The
statement about the Jo-
sephinum at Columbus will be news to
many (p. 228).
The reviewer is tempted to call this
study a footnote to Mal-
thus. The opposition of labor to
unrestricted immigration since
1O6
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the appearance of the United American
Mechanics (p. 485) is sig-
nificant. No doubt many
interpretations will be inspired. But
this is a story of the masses filling up
the land, breaking up old
settlements, rebuilding, and founding
greater ones, as our civiliza-
tion was hammered out on the anvil of
"Americanization" (p.
xviii). It is the story of "We Who
Built America," and we hope
the past tense has no unintentional
significance.
CURTIS W. GARRISON.
The Wars of the Iroquois: A Study in
Intertribal Trade Rela-
tions. By George T. Hunt. (Madison, University of Wiscon-
sin Press, 1940. 209p. $3.00.)
Professor Hunt has made no effort to
write a history of the
Iroquois. He has merely tried to answer
a question he has raised:
"Why did the Iroquois do the things
they did?"
In arriving at an answer to this
question Professor Hunt at-
tempts to disprove three theories that
have been advanced by other
writers. One theory, advanced by Francis
Parkman, is that the
Iroquois were inherently possessed of an
"insensate fury" and a
"homicidal frenzy." A second
theory, advanced by Lewis H. Mor-
gan who used Cadwallader Colden
"liberally as a background," is
that the Iroquois derived their strength
from their superior politi-
cal organization. "The League of
the Iroquois, produced by a
superior Iroquois intellect, rendered
the five Nations invincible."
And their motive for exterminating their
enemies was the desire
to establish universal intertribal
peace. The third theory, advanced
by Frederick Jackson Turner and others
of his school, is that the
Iroquois were able to give expression to
their "natural passion for
conquest and butchery" because they
were well armed by a greedy
Dutch West India Company.
Professor Hunt shows, however, that the
League of the Iro-
quois was no more effective than the
loose Powhatanic or Cherokee
leagues, the Algonquin confederacy, or
the Choctaw republic. In
fact, there never existed political
unity among the Five Nations.
BOOK REVIEWS 107
No ambassador ever was able to speak for
all the tribes. The
Onondagas made treaties of peace with
enemies of the Mohawks
and the Mohawks refused to aid the
Senecas and Cayugas against
the Susquehannahs. Indeed, it was very
seldom that the five tribes
joined with each other to fight a common
enemy.
In answer to the Turner theory,
Professor Hunt shows that
it was contrary to the policy of the
Dutch West India Company
to sell guns to any Indians. As a matter
of fact, ten years after
Fort Nassau was established the Iroquois
"not only had no fire-
arms but even feared them
excessively." On the other hand, the
French policy was to sell firearms to
all converted Indians. In
fact, the French used trade in arms and
other goods as the hand-
maid of religion. And William Bradford
in his Plimouth Planta-
tion blamed especially the French for supplying the Indians
with
arms.
Nor were the Iroquois merely possessed
of an insensate fury.
Nicholas Perrot, one of the greatest of
the French woods-rovers,
wrote that "although ambition and
vengeance are two passions
which imperiously possess the minds of
the savages, self-interest
carries them still further, and has more
ascendancy over them."
Also, as Professor Hunt points out,
"trader fought trader and
hunter fought hunter, but trader and
hunter never fought each
other."
The author believes, therefore, that the
wars of the Iroquois
were the results of their efforts to
control the fur trade. By 1640
New York state had been depleted of
fur-bearing animals and the
Iroquois were compelled to fight for
control of the northern and
western fur trade or perish.
This reviewer believes that Professor
Hunt, in his judicious
use of source material and in his
logical interpretation of acces-
sible facts, has arrived at a conclusion
that justifies his thesis. He
has made a real contribution to the
history of the American In-
dians. The book is well documented,
contains three appendices, an
extensive bibliography, a brief critical
analysis of the chief sources,
and an adequate index. The author writes
with ease and, although
1O8 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the nature of his study demands a
didactic rather than a narrative
style, he has produced an unusually
readable book.
EUGENE O. PORTER.
Squawtown: My Boyhood among the Last
Miami Indians. By
R. H. Hall. (Caldwell, Idaho, Caxton
Printers, Ltd., 1939.
209p. $2.50.)
This is the story of a small boy who
went with his parents to
live on an Indian reservation in
Indiana.
Before the "Great Trek" of
1841, when there was agitation
to segregate the Indians west of the
Mississippi River, Chief
Francis Godfrey of the Miamis used his
influence with government
officials to effect a compromise. The
Godfreys, their relatives, and
their close friends which included a few
Potawatomis, about three
hundred in all, were allowed to remain
in Indiana. They were
given a reservation, later called
"Squawtown," of three thousand
acres located about three miles south of
Peru in the fork of the
Wabash and Mississinewa rivers. The
Indians were also allotted
an annual pension of fifty dollars each
for two generations. When
Chief Godfrey died in 1859 he was
succeeded by his son Gabriel
who proved himself a careful guardian of
his people. He encour-
aged white men to come to the
reservation to teach the Indians
farming. To pay the white men for their
trouble Chief Gabriel
granted them a generous tract of land
free of rent.
The Hall family moved to the reservation
in 1875 and re-
mained there for several years. This
book is an effort to recap-
ture the impressions those years made
upon young Hall. His story
is of experiences that any boy might
have in school, on the play-
ground, and in the fields. Perhaps the
adult reader would have
preferred a more serious study of the
customs, superstitions, and
every-day life of the Indians; but to
have written of these things
the author would have lost the boy's
point of view. Mr. Hall does
make some interesting comments however.
He writes that "there
is very little difference fundamentally
between them and the
BOOK REVIEWS 109
whites." They are "less
talkative and are socially timid in a mixed
or white environment, but . . . their
inferiority complex is
probably no greater than that in the
lower stratum of white society
when the whites of that class are thrown
with their social su-
periors."
The experiment to train the Indians to
be self-sufficient was
a failure. The author believes that the
annual pension destroyed
their initiative and morale. They were
not interested in farming
and could not learn to bind wheat or
oats so that the sheaf would
hold. They were "either lazy or too
inherently proud to do man-
ual labor."
This book is well written and has an
unusual charm that ap-
peals both to adults and children. Its
value lies in the fact that it
has saved for posterity a picture of the
little Miami reservation
which has disappeared because of white
aggressiveness and the
death of the Indians.
EUGENE O. PORTER.