BOOK REVIEWS
The Old Northwest as the Keystone of
the Arch of American
Federal Union: A Study in Commerce
and Politics. By
A. L. Kohlmeier. (Bloomington, Indiana,
The Principia
Press, Inc., 1938. 257p.)
This interesting, if somewhat tedious,
monograph is a study
of the economic or commercial
development and political im-
portance of the Old Northwest down to
the Civil War.
The Old Northwest with its vast expanse
of fertile soil and
its other resources soon attracted a
large population. In the course
of time the region "had sufficient
voting strength to hold the
balance of power as between the
Northeast and the Southeast,"
two sections whose economic interests
were irreconcilable. Mean-
while the Old Northwest was developing
economic interests of its
own, and so adopted the policy of
alternately supporting one or
the other of the eastern sections to
secure advantages to itself.
Good lands in the Northwest enabled the
pioneers to produce
a surplus for which a market had to be
found. The struggle of
the Old Northwest until the Civil War,
and until today, has been
for better facilities of transportation
which would enable it to
send its surplus to world markets at the
lowest cost and to im-
port the things it needed at
transportation rates which would not
be prohibitive. In order to win the
assistance of the Federal
Government and of other states in
perfecting transportation lines
to it, the Old Northwest threw its
political influence to that eastern
section which promised greatest support
at a given time.
There were three important natural
gateways to the East.
The first one, the southern route,
followed the Ohio and Missis-
sippi rivers to the Gulf. The eastern
route crossed the moun-
tains from the upper Ohio. The
northeastern gateway went from
the eastern end of Lake Erie down the
St. Lawrence or the
Mohawk and Hudson River valleys.
Kohlmeier traces the vari-
ous steps in the development of these
routes to the East from
the incorporation of the Potomac Company
by Virginia in 1784,
(164)
BOOK REVIEWS 165
through the development of the steamboat
and the construction
of roads, canals, and railroads up to
the Civil War.
After the War of 1812, the invention
of the steamboat, and
the construction of the Erie and Ohio
canals, the population of
the northern part of the Old Northwest
began to increase at a
rapid rate. As this happened, the
Northwest itself split along
sectional lines because of the natural
economic alliances of the
northern and southern parts with the
northeastern and south-
eastern sections of the United States.
The construction of canals and railroads
had little effect
upon this sectionalism in the Old
Northwest, except perhaps to
increase it. In 1860 the Ohio Valley,
including the Old North-
west as far north as the National Road,
was as closely connected
economically with the South as in 1835.
The lake region was
perhaps more closely connected
economically with the Northeast
than in 1835. The development of
transportational facilities had
followed the natural gateways, and each
eastern section assisted
in perfecting those lines which
connected it with the Old
Northwest.
At the same time, however, the two
sections of the Old
Northwest were united by geographical,
cultural, economic, and
perhaps other factors. The outbreak of
the Civil War found
each section of the Northwest
sympathizing with its respective
section in the East. This very division
in the West perhaps made
for continuation of the Union. There
could be no good dividing
line in the Northwest, yet each section
of it was dependent upon
a different part of the East.
"Obviously," writes the author,
"the Old Northwest could not as a
whole join either Northeast
or South and it did not."
Therefore, he declares, "the fact is
today apparent as it was to the majority
in 1861 that no part of
the country was more desperately in need
of preservation of the
Union than was the Old Northwest."
The Lincoln government delayed closing
the Mississippi trade
until the Ohio Valley had time to
realize from actions taken by
the Confederacy that it was the seceding
states and not the
National Government that would hinder
the trade in case of war
or separation. With this in mind the Ohio
Valley turned its sup-
166
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
port to the maintenance of the Union,
without, however, per-
mitting itself to be dominated by the
East.
Scarcely any of the ideas and
conclusions in this volume are
new. It is a presentation of old
conclusions backed by new evi-
dence. Copious footnotes cite reference
after reference to federal
and state reports and to the records,
statements, and reports of
the numerous railroad companies and
municipal boards of trade in
the Old Northwest. This commercial
history is a contribution.
A major deficiency in the volume is its
lack of a bibliography.
Although the footnotes are abundant,
such important works as
the following are not cited:
Charles Henry Ambler, A History of Transportation
in the Ohio
Valley (Glendale, California, 1932).
Henry Clyde Hubbart, The Older Middle
West, 1840-1880 (New
York, 1936).
Ulrich B. Phillips, History of
Transportation in the Eastern Cotton
Belt (New York, 1908).
Henry Clyde Hubbart, "Pro-Southern
Influences in the Free West,
1840-1865," in Mississippi
Valley Historical Review, XX (1933-34), 45-62.
E. Merton Coulter, "Effects of
Secession upon the Commerce of the
Mississippi Valley," ibid., III
(1916-17), 275-300.
R. S. Cotterill, "Southern
Railroads and Western Trade, 1840-1850,"
ibid., III (1916-17), 427-441.
JAMES H. RODABAUGH.
Chief Justice Waite, Defender of the
Public Interest. By Bruce
R. Trimble. (Princeton, Princeton University Press, etc.,
1938. 320p. $4.00.)
In recent years a tendency among
American biographers has
been to devote their researches to the
lives of secondary figures
in American history. Among these figures
are the justices of the
United States Supreme Court, excellent
biographies of several of
whom have appeared in Carl B. Swisher's Stephen
J. Field,
Craftsman of the Law (Washington, 1930), his Roger B. Taney
(New York, 1935), and Francis P.
Weisenburger's Life of John
McLean (Columbus, 1937). In the light of present interest in
the Supreme Court, these biographies are
of considerable im-
portance. A recent biography deserving
rank with the preceding
BOOK REVIEWS 167
works is the one now under review, the
only life of the man who
served as Chief Justice during the years
1874-1888.
Morrison R. Waite was born in Lyme,
Connecticut, in 1816.
His parents came of respected old
Connecticut families. After
an elementary education in the refined
and cultured atmosphere
of Lyme, Waite attended Yale. Among his
classmates there were
Samuel J. Tilden, William M. Evarts,
Edwards Pierrepont, and
Benjamin Silliman. After his graduation
in 1837, young Waite
followed in the footsteps of Waites
before him (his father,
Henry Matson Waite, served as associate
justice of the Con-
necticut Supreme Court of Errors,
1834-1854, and in 1854 be-
came Chief Justice), and began the study
of law. After a year
in his father's office, following a
preconceived plan, he set out
for Maumee, Ohio, in the fall of 1838.
In 1839, Waite was admitted to the Ohio
bar. After several
years of riding circuit with the judges,
he became a recognized
authority in the law of real estate, and
very soon developed into
a successful business lawyer, often
carrying important cases to
the Ohio Supreme Court. His time was
devoted generally to real
estate, banks, ferries, and later,
railroads, and after the Civil War,
his "practice was an unbroken
succession of successful appear-
ances for railroads and other
corporations." The practice was a
lucrative one and served to raise him to
an influential position in
community and state. He moved to Toledo
about the mid-cen-
tury, became part-owner of at least two
public utilities and the
Toledo National Bank, acquired
considerable real estate, and was
elected alderman. From the Harrison
campaign in 1840 till he
became Chief Justice he was prominent in
politics, first as a
Whig and later as a Republican. He did
not care for political
office, however, although he was drafted
twice to run for Con-
gress, which he did unsuccessfully.
Waite's reputation was made as a lawyer,
and not as a
politician. In 1872, on the
recommendation of William M. Evarts
and others, Grant appointed Waite one of
the counsel to the Amer-
ican agents in the arbitration of the Alabama
claims at Geneva.
When Waite returned he was unanimously
chosen by Lucas
County Republicans and Democrats in
conventions to represent
168
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
them in the Ohio Constitutional
Convention of 1873, of which he
was later elected president. While at
the convention, he received
his appointment as Chief Justice.
Waite became Chief Justice during one of
the most trying
times in the history of the country.
Problems facing the Court
arose out of the Civil War and
reconstruction, out of the develop-
ment of western states, and out of the
economic and social revolu-
tions which followed the war. Questions
before the Court in-
volved the reconstruction acts,
interpretation of the war amend-
ments (especially the fourteenth),
transcontinental railroads,
agrarian movements, control of public
utilities and rates, relation
of states to liquor traffic, strikes,
anarchist riots, polygamy,
Chinese immigration, and state and
municipal debt repudiation.
Waite attempted to eliminate the Court
from politics. He
refused to be considered a presidential
candidate in 1876, saying
that he believed the Chief Justice's
position should not be per-
mitted to be political. A friend of
Hayes, Waite refused to sit
on the electoral commission in the
Hayes-Tilden contest. In his
fourteen years on the bench he gave the
opinion of the Court in
more than 1,000 cases. The Chief Justice
was a conservative
and, as the radicals had feared he
would, rendered opinions cur-
tailing the powers of Congress under the
fourteenth amendment.
In general he upheld the state against
the National Government.
On the other hand he consistently
enhanced the power of the
state over the individual. Government
was looked upon as the
agent of the collective will. Law to him
had a reformative
nature; it existed for the benefit of
the greatest number, and in-
dividual rights (Waite had no great
belief in the sanctity of
rights) were required to give way to
state legislation. On the
theory of government and of individual
rights the Court split,
Justice Field holding many times that
the states could not deny
fundamental rights set forth in the Bill
of Rights.
The decision in the case of Munn vs.
Illinois was perhaps
Waite's greatest contribution to the
development of American
law. Here, and in the rest of the
Granger cases, he argued that
railroads, elevators, etc., were of
"public interest" and ceased to
be "juris privati" only.
Therefore, they were subject to regula-
BOOK REVIEWS 169
tion of rates by state legislatures.
Rate fixing was held to be at
the discretion of legislatures and was
not to be disturbed by the
courts. This decision ushered in a short
period of collectivism
in American jurisprudence, and also
presented a different view
of the sacredness of vested rights than
Marshall had announced
in the Dartmouth College Case. When the
Munn decision was
reversed, Waite dissented on the ground
that until Congress had
acted, transportation, although it may
be a part of interstate com-
merce, was subject to state control.
Waite interpreted the "due
process" clause loosely, maintain-
ing that "appropriate regulation
of the use of property is not
'taking' property within the meaning of the constitutional pro-
hibition." He elaborated on his
doctrine of "public interest" in
his interpretation of the contract
clause in cases involving railroads
and other public utilities. He was
always careful to protect the
public interest against the evils of
business combinations. Waite
denied, or at least limited, the effect
of the Dartmouth Case when
he subordinated vested rights to the
public interest. The sig-
nificant result of this was that it
strengthened the control of the
states over intrastate businesses and of
the Federal Government
over interstate corporations. With
regard to commerce and other
powers Waite showed the same tendency to
extend the powers
of the state and national governments
over corporate interests.
The author holds that Waite's opinions
entitle him to be
classed as one of the first judges to
apply the so-called "sociolog-
ical interpretation" upon the law,
and so may be said to have
been a forerunner of the Holmes-Brandeis
school of constitutional
philosophy. He was not a brilliant
student of governmental
theory. He was, however, a business man
and a corporation
lawyer who understood the
unscrupulousness of big business. His
opinions, therefore, do not abound in
theories, but rather offer
practical methods of doing what he saw
must sooner or later be
necessary, namely, to regulate business
for the benefit of the
whole community.
Trimble has presented interesting
pictures of life in north-
west Ohio and in Washington, and has
devoted many pages to
present the Chief Justice in his human
character. This is an
170
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
interesting volume and should be
attractive especially to students
of constitutional history. Few errors
mar its pages: There is
a discrepancy in dates found on page 25;
"Groesbeck" is mis-
spelled on pages 69, 76, and 77; on page
24 "George Silliman"
should be "Benjamin Silliman."
One important criticism this
reviewer would make: The quotations are
too extensive and there
are too many of them. At times virtually
whole pages are de-
voted to quotations. This, in the
reviewer's opinion, considerably
detracts from the interest of the book.
A classified bibliography, a table of
cases, and an index con-
clude the volume.
JAMES H. RODABAUGH.
The Life of John McLean: A Politician
on the United States
Supreme Court. By Francis P. Weisenburger. (Columbus,
Ohio State University Press, 1937.
224p., front. $2.25.)
This is the first full-length biography
of the first associate
justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States appointed from
the Old Northwest. The public career of
John McLean began
with his election to the House of
Representatives in 1812. The
crisis over the condition along the
northern frontier turned him,
like many other young westerners to the
war party, and, follow-
ing the rather inglorious termination of
the war, he advocated
bills to indemnify persons for property
lost in the public service,
and to grant pensions to officers and
soldiers. There he supported
the United States Bank and protectionist
principles. The western
question brought him into line with John
C. Calhoun, who, at
this period and before the
particularistic reaction, was a cham-
pion of internal improvements and
western interests.
In 1816, after having declined to be a
candidate for the
United States Senate, McLean resigned
his seat to accept a place
on the Ohio Supreme Court. After serving
six years on the
bench, he was appointed commissioner of
the General Land Office
at Washington. In 1823 James Monroe
appointed him post-
master general, in which capacity he
proved an able administrator.
BOOK REVIEWS 171
Upon the accession of Andrew Jackson to
the Presidency McLean,
because of geographical considerations
and to console him for
his failure to obtain a more favorable
cabinet position, was ap-
pointed to the Supreme Court of the
United States, a position
which he held until his death in 1861.
The author has developed his subject
against a large back-
ground of historical events. McLean is
shown to have been
always a politician and to have yielded
scruples in order to ad-
vance his ambitions. Behind an
unassuming demeanor, he had
the vaulting ambition that for over
thirty years spurred him to
seek the goal of the Presidency. His
political maneuvering while
a member of the august tribunal is
unparalleled in American his-
tory. He curried favor with the
Jacksonian Democrats, the anti-
Jacksonians, the anti-Masons, the Whigs,
the Free Soilers, the
Know-Nothings, and finally the
Republicans. In only three presi-
dential campaigns (1840, 1844, 1852), out of eight
occurring dur-
ing his thirty-two years on the bench,
did McLean fail to make
known his availability.
There is much of McLean the politician
but little of McLean
the jurist in this biography. This does
not, however, detract
from the narrative for McLean
contributed little or nothing to
constitutional law. His most notable
contribution, his dissenting
opinion in the Dred Scott Case, was
political rather than legal.
Evidence seems to indicate that his
determination to write a dis-
senting opinion was done in the hope
that it would quiet the
discontent which had been occasioned by
his decision in the slave
case (ex parte H. H. Robinson).
Then, too, as the campaign of
1856 loomed large on the political
horizon this political oppor-
tunist, after consulting with his
friends, decided to define clearly
his position on the slavery issue. The
author intimates, but does
not state, that McLean's dissenting
opinion was, in part, respon-
sible for the coming of the War between
the States.
Weisenburger has based his biography
upon thorough and
scholarly research. His chief reliance
has been upon the McLean
manuscripts located in the Library of
Congress, but he has also
used public documents, memoirs,
monographs, newspapers, period-
icals and a long list of secondary
works. A check on the author's
172 OHIO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
footnote items reveals the fact that a
high standard of accuracy
has been maintained. Since the author has been meticulously
accurate one should, perhaps, apologize
for mentioning the fact
that the misspelling of Peggy O'Neil (p.
68) is reproduced in
the index. The responsibility for the
omission of accents rests
with the publisher, rather than with the
author.
The author has produced a well-balanced
biography written
in a readable style. No person
interested either in Ohio history
or in constitutional history can afford
to neglect this biography.
It should be particularly enlightening
to those persons who con-
tinue to believe "that jurists of
the Supreme Court are creatures
removed from the economic and political
turmoil, who make de-
cisions unaffected by personal
background or by the subtle
influences of class and section."
JOHN O. MARSH.
The Genesis of Western Culture--The
Upper Ohio Valley, 1800-
1825. By James M. Miller. Ohio Historical Collections, IX.
(Columbus, Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society,
1938. 194p., illus. $2.50.)
Dr. Miller has chosen a difficult but
rich subject for his study;
and, despite his modest deprecation that
"nothing impresses me
so insistently as the futility of a
complete and accurate estimate"
of the genesis of western culture, he
has succeeded in writing a
readable, scholarly, and significant
book. It needed to be written,
and all students of life in the Ohio
Valley are indebted to the
author for the data he has brought
together and for the keen
appraisal he has given it.
The subject itself is tricky. Just what is culture? and
more particularly, "western
culture" between 1800-1825? The
author gives a common sense, workable
definition: The term
shall be defined to include "the
efforts of groups of people to
improve their intellectual, spiritual,
and aesthetic environment."
One pitfall is located and posted at the
outset; we must not be
misled by the vast library of books,
journals, letters, and docu-
BOOK REVIEWS 173
ments from Michaux to Dickens which has
laid undue stress on
the dirt, drunkenness, hardship, and
brutish life of the early set-
tlers, and recounted the tales of horror
"too full of light from
burning cabins and torture fires, full
of red hands, red scalps,
and red Monongahela liquor." Behind
this spectacular story is
the quiet, persistent efforts of men and
women to cultivate and
propagate the decencies of life and the
fruits of culture.
Miller wisely chooses the period when
the cultural forces on
the frontier were still simple and
homogeneous and yet rather
firmly defined, and centers attention on
the four most important
communities in the upper Ohio Valley:
Pittsburgh, Marietta,
Cincinnati, and Lexington, Kentucky. The
migrations of Penn-
sylvanians, New Englanders, and families
from the Middle At-
lantic States are traced over the
well-known routes; and the settle-
ments are related to the topography of
the new country, to the
Indian villages, and to the trade
routes. This section of the study
is handled with admirable economy and
clarity. Then, against
this carefully designed background, we
are given a picture of the
life of the communities, not as a series
of "Indian fights and
legislative assemblies," but in
terms of the diverse types of men
who built these new villages as places
in which they might live
and work and rear their children. They
were useful men, often
with colorful characters--these frontier
carpenters, teachers, min-
isters, lawyers, doctors, editors,
stage-drivers, "Pike boys," and
tavern keepers. They built homes for
themselves, they founded
colleges, organized churches,
established law and order, published
newspapers, and fostered the seed of
community culture in music,
art, and literature.
The body of the book is a rather
inspiring record of the
work of four of these "cultural
types" in particular: the Minister,
the Lawyer, the Teacher, and the Editor.
The material here as-
sembled on the life and incredible
dedication in toil of the min-
isters, the circuits they rode, and the
sermons they preached, is
especially valuable. Miller has shown
with painstaking care how
the great labors of the professional men
and women produced the
cultural institutions and activities
which in time transformed the
primitive settlements, made life
supportable on the lonely frontier,
174
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
and prepared the way for the development
of a true civilization
in the Ohio Valley.
Although The Genesis of Western
Culture is closely docu-
mented it is vivid and has movement. The
author deserves com-
mendation for a precise and lucid book
on an extremely difficult
and illusive subject.
HARLAN HATCHER.
Industrial Valley. By Ruth McKenney. (New York, Harcourt
Brace and Company, 1939. 379p. $3.00.)
Industrial Valley is the story of labor in Akron, Ohio, from
1932 to 1936, with an epilogue called
"Three Years After" which
brings the story up to date. It deals
largely with the organization
of rubberworkers in the three largest
rubber factories (Goodyear,
Firestone and Goodrich), and it is told
from the worker's point
of view. The arrangement of the book
with its dated paragraphs
in chronological order has afforded the
author a means of placing
a staccato-like emphasis which persists
through the book. Her
vivid portrayal of the life of the
people, her dramatic accounts
of the efforts to break picket lines,
the satiric and humorous
passages, and the dialogue in the
language of the factory, is all
skillfully built into a story, the
measured cadence of which will
keep the reader absorbed until the
volume is finished.
The author emphasizes in her preface
that "This is a true
story of Akron, Ohio. It is also a true
story of America's indus-
trial valleys the country over,"
but it should be pointed out that a
cataloging of accurate dates and the
recounting of a series of
incidents, as reported in the press,
does not necessarily constitute
a true story of Akron. Whether the
author was incapable of
recognizing the significance of other
dates in these years and other
incidents, which have been omitted, or
whether she selected those
which tell the story from her point of
view is beside the point.
The fact is that the book is not a
history. Although they may
not succeed, historians try to select
materials and incidents which
portray as impartial a view as possible;
but this volume, even
BOOK REVIEWS
175
though it may tell a story that should
be told, was not written,
in the reviewer's opinion, with an
effort to be impartial. It is
unfortunate that the author in the
prefatory remark emphasizes
so strongly that it is a true story of
Akron.
The book is inaccurate in many details,
but on the whole it
gives the impression which the reader is
intended to get. One
receives the idea, for instance, that
the Tennessee and Virginia
mountaineers, who constitute over
one-half of Akron's popula-
tion and a majority of the
rubberworkers, were largely six-foot
giants. The inference is that the strain
of operating the tire-
building machines under the speed-up
system, requires men of
great strength and stature.
The sit-down strike at Firestone is
interesting, not alone be-
cause it was probably the first in this
country but more significant
perhaps is the account of its origin.
These rubberworkers received
the idea from an Akron printer who was a
party to a "sit-down"
strike in Sarajevo in 1914 during the
crisis which preceded the
outbreak of the World War. Little did
this printer think when
he was reminiscing one evening in his
shop that the few truck
tire-builders who heard him would start
the epidemic of sit-down
strikes that swept over the country a
few years ago.
The account of the organization of the
rubberworkers into a
democratic industrial union and how the
movement had its in-
ception in a committee hastily formed to
move evicted families
back into their homes in the early years
of the depression is a
revealing one. From this nucleus grew a
Central Labor Union
of men who had an idea that they needed
to band together to
counteract the conditions in the
factories which they wanted to
correct. They sought the aid of William
Green of the A. F.
of L. who sent a representative to
organize them but when the
workers wanted action he procrastinated
saying that "Rome wasn't
built in a day." The workers wanted
democratic control of the
union too, with the right to elect their
own officers and, in spite
of Green's threat that he would withdraw
all financial support
if he could not name the officers, they
forced him out of control
in Akron. Thus the door was left wide
open for John L. Lewis
to come in and organize the whole
industry under the C. I. O.
176
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
The author indicates the influence of
outside agitators and the
communistic group in this movement and
leaves us with the im-
pression that the movement was started,
not by outside agitators,
but was a spontaneous one originating in
Akron among the
rubberworkers.
Miss McKenney is elated by the success
of the series of
strikes in Akron and believes that the
labor problem is a long
way toward solution. She writes:
The C. I. O. was first a bulwark for the
working people of Akron,
and, after them, for the small
businessman who was dependent upon their
wages; but, beyond that, union
organization taught the rubberworkers
pride of class. Americans do not live by
bread alone. Mass industry has
not crushed the spirit of the free-born.
Rubberworkers, no matter how skill-
fully they work on the conveyor belt,
are not robots. A membership card
in the U. R. W. A. [United Rubber
Workers of America] is the rubber-
worker's declaration of freedom. The union
is the answer of American
workingmen to the impersonal
dictatorship of a faraway Board of Directors.
Finally in the epilogue the author
declares that the union
having accomplished a measure of success
in getting contracts
signed with the managers went into
politics and in the Ohio
primary fight in the summer of 1938
helped defeat the Governor
who was running for renomination because
he "stood on his strike-
breaking, union-smashing record."
W. D. O.
Our First Great West: In
Revolutionary War, Diplomacy and
Politics. By Temple Bodley. The Filson Club Publications,
XXXVI. (Louisville, John P. Morton &
Co., 1938. 321p.,
illus., maps.)
The author of George Rogers Clark and
the History of Ken-
tucky before the Louisiana Purchase, after twenty years of re-
search and study, presents a history of Our
First Great West.
Bodley's expressed purpose, as stated in
the preface, has been to
make available source materials "to
historians who will hereafter
write about the western phase of
Revolutionary history." Written
in a heavy and uninspired style, the
text often approaches a com-
BOOK REVIEWS 177
pilation of quotations from sources,
which, in many instances,
are readily available to students of
American history. In seven-
teen chapters, arranged neither
logically nor chronologically and
alternately labeled
"Politics," "Diplomacy," "War," the author
relates in a somewhat controversial
manner the not entirely
unfamiliar story of the struggle in war
and diplomacy for pos-
session of the trans-Allegheny region.
After outlining the prin-
cipal events leading up to the British
occupation of the region
west of the Alleghenies following the
termination of the Seven
Year's War, Bodley unfolds the story of
the western movement,
the Indian Wars, the northern land
companies claiming interest
in western lands under Indian grants,
and the conditions exist-
ing in the West on the eve of the
American Revolution. It is
against such a background that the
author discusses such topics
as the political conflict over the
trans-Allegheny lands in the Con-
tinental Congress, Clark's conquest of
the Illinois, the confusion
in the territory following Clark's
retirement, the jealousy of the
landless colonies for Virginia's great
western domain, and Vir-
ginia's cession of her western lands to
Congress. Finally the
objectives of the French Alliance, the
war aims of the Spanish,
and the conflict of American and
European interests are analyzed.
The author properly concludes that the
winning of the West was
due to the efforts of George Rogers
Clark; that it was held in
diplomacy by the efforts of John Jay. In
the closing sections
of the volume the author develops the
thesis, and quite success-
fully, that Lord Shelburne's diplomatic
efforts at the close of the
American Revolution were directed to the
restoration of the
Illinois to the English.
Since this volume was prepared
principally for the historian,
it is most unfortunate that greater care
was not exercised in
editing and proofreading. Citations are
sometimes to volume
and page, sometimes only to volume.
Another type of error, for
which the editors and author are jointly
responsible, is the failure
to give the date, place of publication,
and edition of works cited
(pp. 1, 10, 11, 17, 23, 28, 75, 157, 178,
179, 188, 195). Quota-
tions are sometimes inaccurately
transcribed and mixed, changes
are made in spelling and punctuation,
and words and phrases are
178
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
omitted or inserted without indication.
Thus, for example, a
single quotation of forty-four lines
contains eighty-one errors (pp.
206-207).
A similar lapse in historical accuracy occurs in other
sections of the book (pp. 18, 30, 48,
49, 127, 179). Then, too,
there is some inaccuracy of citation and
statement of fact, e. g.,
the author's reference to [Clarence
Walworth Alvord], The Mis-
sissippi Valley in British Politics, II, appears on pages 100-101
and not on page 101 as cited (p. 48);
his quotation from the
Illinois Historical Collections is found in volume VIII, page 224,
and not in volume VII, page 223 (p. 93).
Unfortunately Bodley's
quotation from Justin Winsor, The
Western Movement appears
on pages 158-160 and not on page 168 as
cited (pp. 132-134).
Similarly a reference to the American
Historical Rexiew, X, ap-
pears on pages 251-252 and not on
page 249 (p. 128). It might
be well to point out also that
Jefferson's Ordinance was drafted
in 1784 and not in 1794 as stated on
page 182.
In addition to an occasional lapse in
historical accuracy, the
work is further marred by the author's
failure to maintain an
impartial tone in discussing such topics
as Anglo-American rela-
tions, Lord Dunmore's War, the
"stupid anti-slavery clause" in
the Ordinance of 1787, and New York's
claims to western lands.
Indeed, the uninformed student would
complete the author's dis-
cussion of the Dunmore War blissfully
ignorant of both the
remote and immediate causes of the
conflict. Furthermore the
author has included in the text
extraneous matters which have
little connection with the topics under
consideration. While it is
not the purpose of the reviewer even to
suggest how history
should be written, it would seem that
the author's adulation of
certain historians (pp. 55-56, 237) and
adverse criticism of others
(note, p. 31, 163) properly belong in a
critical essay on authorities
which, it appears, he did not see fit to
include in the volume.
It should be clear at this point that
this volume, although
useful, does not measure up to the
possibilities of the subject.
It is only fair to say that few of the
present conclusions about
the period will need radical revision in
the light of Bodley's
researches. The reviewer lays the book
down with the feeling
that the author has missed an excellent
opportunity to present, in a
BOOK REVIEWS 179
single volume, a nice synthesis and
correlation of facts treating
of Our First Great West in war,
diplomacy and politics. The
value of the work is enhanced by maps,
photographs, an appendix,
and an index prepared by the Filson
Club.
JOHN O. MARSH.
Panuck, Eskimo Sled Dog. By Frederick Machetanz. (New
York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1939.
94p., illus. by the
author. $1.50.)
Here is a story of an Eskimo boy and his
dog, Panuck, who
braved the terrors of an Arctic blizzard
to get help for his father
who had been injured on the trail.
Although a native of Ohio,
Machetanz lived with an uncle for over a
year and a half at
Unalakleet, Alaska, and is therefore a
real sourdough and knows
the Eskimo intimately. The story is
interestingly written, but
the author is first of all an artist,
and thousands of Ohioans are
familiar with his covers for the
football programs at the Ohio
State University which he has done since
he was an under-
graduate in the institution. There are
over fifty illustrations,
ten of them in color, which portray
vividly all the action incident
to the development of the story and the
colors give the reader
an accurate appreciation of the beauty
of the North.
The volume, simultaneously placed on
sale in the United
States and England, should have a wide
appeal to the youth in
both countries, for what boy is not
interested in the Far North?
The book might well be adopted as
collateral reading and should
have a place in every school library
because of its accurate por-
trayal of the life of the Eskimo, its
brief but instructive introduc-
tion to simple words of their language,
the diagrams showing the
method of hitching up a dog team, and
other educational features.
Readers of the OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HIS-
TORICAL QUARTERLY will be interested to know that Mr. Machetanz
designed the cover for this journal when
the change was made in
its format a few years ago.
W. D. O.