Book Reviews
The Life of Mr. Justice Clarke: A
Testament to the Power of Liberal
Dissent in America. By Hoyt Landon Warner. (Cleveland: Western
Reserve University Press, 1959.
ix+232p.; frontispiece, bibliography,
and index. $5.00.)
In the past few years there has been a
marked revival of interest in the
United States Supreme Court as is shown
by the flood of articles, mono-
graphs, and books that have appeared on
the court and its members.
Such interest may reach a high point
when the full-length study of the
court (which has been made possible by
the bequest of Mr. Justice
Holmes) gets well under way. Since
Ohio, which may be thought of
more frequently for its contribution to
the presidency, has provided the
supreme court with eleven of its
members, including three of its chief
justices, the work of these Ohio
jurists undoubtedly will be in for more
systematic attention.
These developments are all to the good.
Although extensive work
has been done on such Ohio justices as
McLean, Chase, Taft, and Day,
further study would greatly improve our
understanding of the work
of Waite, Matthews, and Swayne, and
some hard digging may be neces-
sary if we are to properly appreciate
the work of a few others. Until
the appearance of Professor Hoyt Landon
Warner's study of John
Hessin Clarke, which is the subject of
this review, it could be said that
some particularly hard digging would be
needed in his case, since only
meager biographical materials were
available. Indeed Mr. Justice Clarke,
either from modesty or reticence, did
not encourage such an undertaking,
expressing the somewhat surprising view
that his life was "not suffi-
ciently unusual or important" to
justify a biography.
In consequence, Professor Warner had
"to start from scratch" in this
undertaking, seeking out, organizing,
and interpreting the scattered ma-
terials that might throw light on his
subject. Fortunately his previous
explorations into the social and
political aspects of a rapidly industrial-
izing Ohio in the period of
"progressive reform" (1897-1917), had pre-
pared him well for his exacting task,
which he has performed in a manner
BOOK REVIEWS 423
that does full credit to his scholarly
apprenticeship. It may also be said
that he has presented his findings in a
clear-cut and interesting fashion.
The result is a well-etched vignette of
the long and varied life of Mr.
Justice Clarke from his birth in 1857
in the little Ohio village of New
Lisbon (now Lisbon) until his death in
California in 1945. Thus we
see him after his graduation from
Western Reserve College in 1877,
beginning his professional life as a
small town lawyer, first at Lisbon,
then at Youngstown (1878-99); then
through long years in Cleveland
as counsel for various large railroad
corporations (1898-1914); followed
by six years on the United States
Supreme Court (1916-22). We also
see his long-continuing association
with the Youngstown Vindicator and
Telegram, both as an editorial writer and part owner; his
political
activities as a twice defeated
candidate for the United States Senate; and
his battles against "bossism"
and Calvin S. Brice, "bigotry" and the
A.P.A.; his relationship with Tom L.
Johnson, Newton D. Baker, and
their associates (such as Fred Howe,
Brand Whitlock, and Peter Witt)
in the "reform movement" that
was bent on making Cleveland a "City
on a Hill"; his later-day
activities in behalf of a world order that would
make for peace, as part of the League
of Nations Non-partisan Associa-
tion (in which he battled vigorously
for the ideas of Woodrow Wilson);
and his still later role as an
"elder statesman" of the Democratic party,
in which he supported the program of
Franklin D. Roosevelt as against
the views of his long-time friend
Newton D. Baker. We also see him
at every stage of his career (with the
exception of one unhappy experi-
ence as a "Gold Democrat" in
1896) giving strong support to the
program of the Democratic party.
His judicial career, it will be noted,
represents the shortest and in its
later stages perhaps the least
congenial phase of his long working life.
Indeed the evidence suggests (1) that
he was never completely happy
with his work on the supreme court; and
(2) that he derived more
satisfaction from his work on the
district court, where he was in charge
of his own program, than from his
duties on the higher court, where it
was necessary to arrive at some form of
collective judgment. It also
shows (1) that he wrote 12 opinions
while on the district court as com-
pared with 129 opinions and 23 dissents
as a supreme court justice; and
(2) that his opinions generally reflect
the social and political views which
had drawn him toward the progressive
wing of the Democratic party
in state and national affairs. Thus we
find him supporting a broad
extension of national and state powers
over the economy and approving
numerous regulatory and social-welfare
laws. In the civil liberty field we
424 THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
find him expressing interest in the
individual's rights to fair trial and to
protection from arbitrary procedure,
although his opinions in a number
of cases arising out of war-time
measures are somewhat mixed.
In his brief six years on the court he
could not be expected to have
made the contribution of a Holmes,
Brandeis, Cardozo, or Stone, even if
he were interested in doing so.
Actually it seems that he was never
given to wide philosophical
speculations on the larger problems of law
in society. Nevertheless, his opinions
clearly reflect his view that the
constitution should be looked upon as
"a working charter for a living
government" and that it was
"perfectly adaptable to conditions of life
of which its framers never
dreamed." Although he strongly defended
the power of judicial review, he urged
that it be exercised with great
discretion and never in a way that
would encroach upon the preroga-
tives of the people's representatives.
He was particularly sensitive to the
effects of five-to-four decisions
and proposed that the court adopt a
rule declining to hold a statute
unconstitutional whenever two or more
justices concluded that it was
valid. While urging the adoption of
such self-imposed limitations on
the court's power, he strongly opposed
various plans that would impose
external limitations on the court. Thus
he opposed (1) a suggested
amendment to permit congress to
overrule a supreme court decision by
a majority vote; (2) Theodore
Roosevelt's scheme for reversing court
decisions by popular referendum; (3)
various proposals for the recall
of judges; and (4) the Ohio
constitutional limitation requiring the
concurrence of all but one of the state
supreme court judges to hold
void state legislation unless affirming
a judgment of the court of appeals.
This provision differed from his own
proposal in that it was imposed
from without the court.
In the light of his criticism of such
plans, it came as a surprise to many
that he would take a public position on
the court reorganization plan of
1937, despite his privately expressed
misgivings at the "restraining influ-
ence" of some of the court's
decisions. He did so, however, and his
statement (made in a nation-wide radio broadcast)
that the plan was
"clearly constitutional" was
greatly appreciated by President Roosevelt,
if not by his former associates on the
court. In taking this position he
was probably running true to form, both
from the standpoint of his basic
political and social philosophy and his
strong party loyalty.
In summing up his career, Professor
Warner concludes that the con-
tributions which he made to the judical
process and to world peace, while
important, are probably secondary to
his influence as a militant crusader
BOOK REVIEWS 425
for better standards of life on many
fronts. He sees his total career as a
testament to a certain flexibility of
mind and generosity of spirit which
not only made him responsive to new
ideas but impelled him to a vigor-
ous course of action to adjust existing
institutions and practices to the
changing needs of society.
In presenting this study of Mr. Justice
Clarke, Professor Warner has
performed a very useful service and is
to be commended for his efforts.
Needless to say, there are one or two
small slips (for example, William
Jennings Bryan is inadvertently
referred to as "the Kansan" on page 50,
and Justice Cardozo's name is
misspelled on page 121). Then, too, some
readers may question the emphasis given
to the "liberal elite" (following
Richard Hofstadter) and the "upper
class dissent" (following Eric F.
Goldman) in fitting Mr. Justice Clarke
into the context of his times.
Even those who have some reservations
on this matter, however, would
have to agree that Professor Warner has
done an excellent job and that
the Western Reserve University Press
has produced a handsome book.
A useful bibliography and index is
appended and a gracious introductory
note by Dean Carl F. Wittke is to be
found on the dust-cover.
Ohio State University FRANCIS R. AUMANN
Portrait of America: Letters of
Henry Sienkiewicz. Translated and
edited by Charles Morley. (New York:
Columbia University Press,
1959. xix+300p.; frontispiece and
index. $5.00.)
Most Americans who know the name of
Sienkiewicz know him as the
author of Quo Vadis?, but
relatively few are aware of the fact that he
spent several years in the United
States, from 1876 to 1878, as a young
journalist whose impressions of America
were sent home in the form
of letters to be published in the
leading newspapers of Warsaw. Sien-
kiewicz originally came to the United
States to select a site for a little
Utopian colony which a handful of Poles
wished to establish in California
on the model of Brook Farm. He chose
Anaheim, in southern California,
which was a predominantly German
community, but within a few months
the little communitarian venture had
collapsed. Sienkiewicz' reports
to his fellow countrymen on what he saw
in America were a significant
contribution to the extensive travel
literature produced by Europeans
after longer or shorter sojourns in the
United States.
Professor Morley's translation makes
these letters available for the
426 THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
first time in English in book form.
Little of the author's brilliant style
seems to have been lost in this
excellent translation, which preserves
the spirit and literary flavor of the
original. The translator has added
brief introductions, some explanatory
notes, and an index, and by skillful
elision has reduced repetition to a
minimum.
Sienkiewicz covered the country from
New York to San Francisco,
and described life in America as he saw
it both in urban centers and on
the raw frontier. He crossed the
continent by railroad, and with the
enthusiasm of a naturalist and a poet,
wrote of its vast natural resources,
the vitality of its boom towns, and the
steady migration into the Far
West. In New York, he was disturbed by
the city's materialism,
vulgarity, and spoils politics, but he
was favorably impressed by its
schools and the freedom of religion
which existed in America. The better
he came to know the American people,
the more he came to respect
American democracy, which had repelled
him at first, and he wrote
glowingly of social equality, the
dignity of labor, the rights of private
property, and the benefits of public
education.
In his account of the West, Sienkiewicz
discussed the status of Indians,
Negroes, Chinese, and Mexicans and life
among the squatters in the
mountain canyons of California. He went
on a bear hunt, shot buffalo
in Wyoming, and descended into a silver
mine in Nevada. In concluding
chapters he described Chinese and
Polish communities in the United
States. For his countrymen he painted a
realistic picture of the hard-
ships, misery, and loneliness of the
newly arrived immigrant, but he also
pointed out the promise of American
life for those willing to make the
initial sacrifices. He regarded the
United States as a natural home for
minority groups, for there was no
forced assimilation here, and the new-
comer found not only an asylum in the
United States, but the same legal
rights for foreign-born and
native-born.
These are but a few of the gleanings
from this noted Polish traveler's
observations about America, when the
republic had just completed the
first hundred years of its history.
Some of these observations were the
inspiration for some of Sienkiewicz'
later short stories. His letters were
written in a style that makes them
fascinating reading even for those
who may not be especially interested in
them as source material for
United States history.
Western Reserve University CARL WITTKE
BOOK REVIEWS 427
Ohio Town Names. By William D. Overman. (Akron, Ohio: Atlantic
Press, 1958. ix+155p.; bibliography.
Cloth, $4.00; paper, $3.00.)
Few types of research combine
fascination and frustration to the same
degree as the study of geographical
names. The investigator is con-
fronted by numerous changes in the names
themselves and in their
spelling, by contradictory traditions,
and by grotesque local legends
nearly as fantastic as the supposed
origin of Moscow in Clermont County
from a boy's call as he searched for
"Ma's cow." The rewards are the
fascinating reminders of national,
state, and local history reflected by
the place names.
This fascination is illustrated again
and again in an attractive paper-
bound compendium (a hard-cover edition
is also available) of Ohio town-
names assembled by William D. Overman of
Akron. In a brief preface
he analyzes the most common origins of
names. Each entry in the body
of the work includes the location of the
community, a note on its found-
ing, the origin of its name, and a
reference to one or more of the sources
in the bibliography. The entries are
concise and informative. There is
also at the end of the volume a list of
towns that have changed their
names. Except that this list might have
been alphabetized according to
the current names, it is difficult to
see how the format and arrangement
of the book could be improved. It is
convenient and functional.
Useful as it is, the book has its
limitations. For one thing, as the
title indicates, it does not touch names
of counties, townships, or streams.
These would require a book of equal
scope. The list of altered names
is also selective; a complete index to
name-changes like the one under
way at the Ross County Historical
Society is an enormous, perhaps
insuperable task. Moreover, this book is
not an index to all towns. In
one relatively small category, the
letter "K," at least fifteen of forty-odd
settlements are omitted: Keno, Kerr,
Key, Kidron, Kileville, and others.
A few entries might be more informative;
that Kingsbury derives from
Kingsbury Creek, for example, enlightens
very little.
Despite these limitations, however, this
is the most useful and com-
plete index to Ohio town names ever
published.
Wittenberg College WILLIAM COYLE
With Pipe and Tomahawk: The Story of
Logan, the Mingo Chief. By
Grace Stevenson Haber. (New York:
Pageant Press, 1958. 126p.;
illustrations and bibliography. $3.50.)
When Chief Logan's nephew, Tod-kah-dohs,
was a lad, his aunt
428 THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Alvaretta told him that the Great
Spirit made men to love one another,
red and white, and his uncle added that
it was often easier to kill than
to let live.
This attitude was the guiding principle
of Logan's life from the time
when he became magistrate and head of
all the Iroquois Indians on the
banks of the Susquehanna throughout his
migrations farther west to the
Ohio country. During the series of
conflicts between the Indians and
the French and English and between the
Indians and the Americans,
Logan counseled both white and red men,
urging them to use under-
standing and moderation. His honesty,
dignity, and bravery won him
the affection and trust of both Indians
and palefaces as he constantly
negotiated and prayed for peace.
Then, when Logan was about fifty years
of age, there occurred the
massacre of Yellow Creek. Logan was at
the time following the hunter's
trail, and when he learned of the
slaughter of his youngest brother and
of his only surviving sister, "he
shook the ashes from his peace-pipe and
pulled the tomahawk from his
belt." Within a few months he had taken
thirty scalps and prisoners, but he had
"thrown away his life-time honor
among the white men."
Saddened, torn by conflicting emotions,
Logan watched the relentless
encroachment of the white men on Indian
lands and realized the fate of
his race. His own fate was to be
equally tragic.
Careful research has preceded the
writing of this book, which according
to the jacket, is designed primarily
for the twleve to sixteen age group.
Historical events are meticulously
traced, and descriptions of the customs
and life of the Indians are
interestingly pictured. But a more consistent
narrative approach and a more sustained
point of view would have given
the story greater appeal for young
readers. A great deal of information
is contained in these pages. Mrs. Haber
has absorbed the temper of
those early days of restlessness and
ruthlessness and has portrayed them
not only in words but in her own
charcoal drawings. There is an
embarrassment of riches in her
material.
Oxford,
Ohio MARION M. HAVIGHURST
The School Library in Ohio, with
Special Emphasis on Its Legislative
History. By Frederic D. Aldrich. (New York: Scarecrow Press,
1959. viii+237 p.; illustrations,
bibliography, appendix, and index.
$5.25.)
This book is a thesis written by the
author as a part of his doctoral
studies at Western Reserve University.
It is well documented and
BOOK REVIEWS 429
contains a comprehensive bibliography
and an index. A chronological
presentation of major legislation
concerning school libraries in Ohio
appears in an appendix.
The author describes the educational
foundations in territorial Ohio
and the few instances where libraries
were in existence at the time. He
presents a picture of the emerging
interest in schools and libraries during
the early years of Ohio statehood in the
first half of the nineteenth
century. The state's first constitution
covered the period 1803-51, and
by the middle of this period leading
school men were urging tax-
supported public schools and public
school libraries.
The second constitution, adopted in
1851 and still in force, established
the principle of full state
responsibility for schools, setting the stage for
the general school law of 1853, which
included provision for school-
district libraries. From this point the
author then traces the decline or
demise of the school-district library
of that period: the schools more or
less abdicating financial
responsibility for the service; the consequent
shifting of such responsibility to other
political subdivisions--city, vil-
lage, and township--and the development
of the State Library.
A considerable part of the book is
given over to library progress
since 1900, which has been the period
of greatest development.
In his conclusions the author points
out several areas of need which
library leaders must
tackle--"leadership in the improvement of school
library standards . . . recruitment
program for qualified school librarians
. . . serious neglect in the present
school library program . . . publishing
or interpreting [school library
statistics] . . . unevenness in school library
services both in quality and
quantity."
The interpretation of present library
laws (p. 185) may be questioned.
The author says statutes now in force
in Ohio permit too much leniency
in allowing various subdivisions to
establish libraries. Since 1947 new
libraries may be established only by
the county. The other three sub-
divisions--city, township, and
school-district--were allowed to continue
any libraries already in existence, but
they may not establish new ones.
For better understanding of the present
situation we wish the author
had distinguished more clearly between
"school libraries" and "school
district libraries," currently and
since 1923 a distinction of considerable
importance and concerning which there
is great confusion even on the
part of school boards and school
administrators. A school library is one
organized by a school to serve the
school. It does not serve the public.
A school-district library is one which,
although established by resolution
of a board of education, is a public
library created to serve the residents
430
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of the school district. It is not a
school library to any greater extent
than is a library organized by
resolution of the legislative authority of
the other political subdivisions--city,
township, or county.
The author has done an excellent job in
bringing together the available
information on the vexing problem of
school library service, a problem
for which no satisfactory or adequate
solution has yet been found. School
library service in Ohio will make great
strides in the next half-century
(1950-2000), and this study provides an
excellent background for any
future developments. But it does even
more. Since public library ser-
vice in Ohio has been so closely
interwoven with schools--a situation
unique to Ohio--the book covers a much
broader area than the title
would indicate.
Ohio State Library WALTER BRAHM
The Ohio Company: Its Inner History. By Alfred P. James. (Pitts-
burgh: University of Pittsburgh Press,
1959. xxiv??375p.; map,
appendices, bibliography, and index.
$6.00.)
In this latest book about the Ohio
Company, Dr. James has written
an essay of 185 pages presenting a
resume of the company's "inner his-
tory." Deliberately keeping to a
narrow compass and avoiding the
broader issues which are discussed in
other books, he directs his attention
to documentary material both old and
familiar or newly found. Dr.
James states that the thorough student
of the Ohio Company should
consult Kenneth P. Bailey's The Ohio
Company of Virginia (1939), and
Lois Mulkearn's George Mercer Papers
Relating to the Ohio Company
of Virginia (1954).
As a result of this procedure certain
important matters are sidestepped.
A discussion of Christopher Gist's
instructions is omitted because "stu-
dents of the field of history are very
familiar with them" (p. 40). On the
other hand, commerical transactions,
often of the most minute pro-
portions, and records of litigation,
often unexplained, stud the text.
Deluged by facts, many of them difficult
to correlate and of little signific-
ance as textual matter, the "inner
history" is not the sort of intimate
narrative which the reader might have
expected from the title.
It does, however, amplify Bailey's work
and draws on materials from
Mrs. Mulkearn's. The text stands midway
between a chronicle of events
and a calendar of historical documents.
As such, much of the narrative
part of the book has limited
readability. The presentation of so much
data concisely is a problem not eased by
the author's style. His opening
BOOK REVIEWS 431
sentence, "Important human
organizations or institutions have two as-
pects in common," may be cited as
an example.
The second part of the book is made up
of appendices. One lists
chronologically 1,228 documents relating
to the company. Another
prints ninety of them selected for
various reasons. No doubt, the list
will be of value to those writing
histories of the Ohio Company, and
the printing of the documents may be
useful even if their transcriptions
are not entirely accurate.
It is Dr. James's hope that the
additional data and new light contained
in his book may furnish a different and
fuller interpretation of the
company. In summarizing on page 184, he
states, "Thus with the data
now available, one can no longer accept
the old idea of the great financial
losses of the Ohio Company." This
summary is not in conflict with
Bailey, who made it clear twenty years
ago that whatever loss the
members of the company sustained, it was
inconsequential. In his con-
clusion, Dr. James observes of the
company: "In one respect it was a
notable success. Its place in history is
beyond cavil."
Historical Society of
Pennsylvania NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT
Western Lands and the American
Revolution. By Thomas Perkins
Abernethy. (New York: Russell and Russell, 1959. xv+410p.;
maps, bibliography, and index. $7.50.)
Most students of the old Southwest will
need no introduction to this
book, since it has stood for more than twenty
years as the most important
study of its kind pertaining to that
region. However, it is a work with
rather unusual characteristics which,
now that they are being per-
petuated through a reprinting of the
book, call for renewed identification
and appraisal. To begin, Abernethy's
concern is not with land, as his
title might suggest to many readers, but
with land speculation, and,
although the period of the American
Revolution is centrally placed in
his narrative, the author by no means
confines his attention to that war.
The subject of the book is, in fact, the
politics of speculation in the lands
of Virginia's western claims, from the
organization of the Ohio Com-
pany in 1747 to the end of the
Confederation and the near-approach of
Kentucky's admission to the Union in
1789.
Dealing with affairs which the men
involved attempted to keep as
private as possible, Abernethy displays
a resourcefulness of scholarship
which compels admiration, but he
frequently presents his interpretations
with an unelaborated finality which can
be misleading. For example,
432
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
in reviewing the conduct of George
Morgan as supplier to Fort Pitt
during the Revolution he draws upon
excellent manuscript sources, but
in passing judgment (severely adverse)
upon Morgan's motives he gives
no indication that his opinion is widely
at variance with that expressed
in an authoritative biography of the
man--a biography which he cites
as a reference. Footnotes throughout the
work are restricted to the
identification of sources, a practice
which, while it makes for compact-
ness, denies to the reader the
reassurance which supporting quotations
might provide.
Ever since the original publication of
this book in 1937, its record of
the decisive western influence sometimes
exerted by great speculators
has served to counterbalance a
well-established tradition of historical
writing celebrating the democratic
triumphs of ordinary frontiersmen.
Today, in so far as the book belongs in
the general line of inquiry made
famous by Beard's Economic
Interpretation of the Constitution, its
reappearance may have yet another
counterbalancing effect. By coin-
cidence, the most ambitious attack yet
directed against Beard's position
in the study just cited has come forth
this year. In the face of the con-
siderable attention which the book
embodying this attack has already
attracted, it is to be hoped that the
fact will not be forgotten that highly
placed men sought and obtained official
protection for their special
economic interests at the founding of
our nation. If Abernethy's work
is still as much read as its
republication implies, this would seem to be a
hope well founded.
University of California, Los
Angeles WILLIAM D. PATTISON
Guide to Manuscripts and Archives in
the West Virginia Collection. By
Charles Shetler. (Morgantown: West
Virginia University Library,
1958. x+160p.; index. Paper.)
Between 1936 and 1953 five reports on
acquisitions in the West Vir-
ginia Collection were issued. The
holdings listed in those reports and
collections acquired through June 30,
1958, have been included in the
present Guide.
There are 715 entries covering
approximately 1,130 collections, which
vary in size. The sizes of smaller
collections are given in terms of the
number of items they contain. Other
units of size used are folder, for
manila folders of letter or legal size;
box, for metal-edge letter or legal
size document cartons; file cabinet
drawers, for standard vertical file
units; bundle, for odd-sized materials
not filed in any of the above units
BOOK REVIEWS 433
but shelved with the collection. Volumes
are bound manuscript volumes
shelved apart from the manuscript boxes.
Each entry carries a description of the
types of papers and documents
in the collection, biographical data for
personal papers, the date spans
of papers, source of collection and date
of acquisition, size of collection,
and a list of writers of letters for
some of the collections.
In addition to the manuscripts, the West
Virginia Collection includes
about ten thousand books and pamphlets
and an extensive file of West
Virginia newspapers. There are sixty
loose-leaf notebooks of genealo-
gies of West Virginia families, as well
as cemetery and early marriage
records for some of the counties in the
state.
Unfortunately, many of the three million
items are typescripts, photo-
stats, microfilms, newspaper clippings,
and printed matter. The Guide,
however, should be of value to West
Virgina historians and genealogists.
Indiana University ELFRIEDA LANG
The Royal Governors of Georgia,
1754-1775. By W. W. Abbot. (Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press
for the Institute of Early
American History and Culture, 1959.
ix+198p.; map, bibliographic
note, and index. $5.00.)
In lean and sinewy prose Abbot has
written a penetrating account of
royal government in Georgia. His
narrative centers on the three
governors, each of them sharply etched,
who represented the crown until
Georgia and her sister provinces did
away with royal governors alto-
gether. The research is meticulous and
based almost wholly on primary
sources, many of them still unpublished.
Abbot chose John Reynolds, Henry Ellis,
and James Wright as his
protagonists not only because they held
the commanding position in the
colony but also because their leadership
quickened the economy of
Georgia. His early chapters show how
population and trade grew under
the enlightened policies of Ellis and
Wright, and quite properly he
stresses the cooperation between
governor and merchant-planters that
made this rapid growth possible. The
policies of the governors respecting
lands, Indians, taxes, and the currency
were worked out in consultation
with the men who held economic and
political power. The political
struggle which developed between people
and governor forms a large
part of the book, but it does not
obscure the constructive role played
by the royal government. Thus Abbot's
narrative achieves balance, a
balance often lacking in historical
analyses of events leading up to the
American Revolution.
434 THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
One of the strengths of this book is
the author's ability succinctly to
suggest the meaning of events with
considerable imaginative insight,
soundly applied. Deftly he assays the
impact of the stamp act crisis on
Wright's character and on Georgia's
political climate, although there
was much less turmoil over the stamp
tax in Georgia than elsewhere.
Again, he distinguishes perceptively
the differences between the revolu-
tionary struggle in Massachusetts and
the merely aggressive struggle in
Georgia. The contest between the
governor and the assembly in Georgia
prior to 1774 grew out of conflicts
faced by other colonies earlier and
was conditioned by Georgia's greater
dependence on Great Britain. In
this period revolutionary sentiment in
Georgia was mainly a wavering
reflection of the radicalism of South
Carolina. These distinctions and
the emphasis on the constructive
efforts of the royal governors give this
study of Georgia larger significance;
it is here that Abbot breaks the
bounds of merely local history.
Carefully analytic though it is, the
book has pace. In fact, a dis-
criminating sense of word and phrase
and a knack for arresting metaphor
make it a delight to read.
Marietta College ROBERT J. TAYLOR
The Union Reader: As the North Saw
It. Edited by Richard B. Har-
well. (New York: Longmans, Green and
Company, 1958. xxii+362p.;
illustrations and index. $7.50.)
Richard B. Harwell, one of our
harder-working scholars of the Civil
War period, has put together a
collection of writings and a number of
official papers in what is called The
Union Reader, "as the North saw
the war." It presents colorful
phases of the great conflict as seen by
both the men who fought it and those
who viewed it from the home front.
The material, arranged chronologically,
as though to present a running
story of the war, is an assortment of
letters, songs, speeches, prison
experiences, battle orders, and
humorous writings. There is some per-
sonal narration which, at this late
date, may seem of little consequence;
yet in it lies the story of the men who
fought at Shiloh, Fredericksburg,
Bull Run, Winchester, and on the sea.
One of the brighter sections of the
book is an account of a day in an
army hospital by Louisa May Alcott,
written after the battle of Fred-
ericksburg. There is a dramatic account
of the battle of Winchester
by a man in the ranks, but it is a
misnamed "Sheridan at Winchester,"
the famous general making his
appearance only to the extent of less
BOOK REVIEWS 435
than a dozen lines. Our personal
preference is Dr. Steiner's description
of the occupation of Frederick,
Maryland, locale of the Barbara Fritchie
myth.
The editor's introduction, a thing of
extraordinary length, sets a high
standard, but the reader suffers a
sudden descent when he plunges into
the text. In other words, we think Mr.
Harwell might have produced a
finer book had he himself written it
and used mainly excerpts from the
pieces he quotes in entirety.
Ohio Historical Society ROBERT S. HARPER
From Wilderness to Empire: A History
of California. By Robert Glass
Cleland. Edited by Glenn S. Dumke. (New
York: Alfred A. Knopf,
1959. vii+445+xvip.; maps,
illustrations, bibliographical essay, and
index. $6.95.)
With a thousand newcomers arriving in
California daily to take up
residence, the westward movement
continues unabated. The next census,
it is confidently predicted, will show
that one in twelve Americans is a
Californian. From the overcrowded
beaches along the Pacific shore,
across the traffic-snarled freeways of
Los Angeles, to the trailer-jammed
camping grounds of Yosemite, the
boat-infested waters of Lake Tahoe,
and the packed parking lots of the
gleaming new shopping centers that
spring into existence overnight among
the citrus groves, scurrying
Californians bustle about as if driven
by demons. Little time in such
an atmosphere for a contemplative study
of history.
Yet, in history-past and in
history-in-the-making the state abounds.
Just a few miles from the institution
where the present reviewer teaches,
a sparkling, new electronics-missile
plant shoulders up against a Francis-
can mission that was established when
Americans on the other coast
still considered themselves loyal
subjects of George III.
The present volume offers a revised and
reduced version of the late
Professor Robert Cleland's earlier
two-volume study of California his-
tory, now more than a dozen years old.
It is the product of a peculiarly
happy set of circumstances. Glenn S.
Dumke, president of San Fran-
cisco State College and formerly
professor of history at Occidental
College, where he had earlier studied
under Professor Cleland, has suc-
ceeded admirably in reducing the length
without altering the spirit of
Cleland's volumes. Skillfully
incorporating the results of recent scholar-
ship in a number of places where
revision and amendment were needed,
Dumke has added an intriguing chapter
describing "California at Mid-
436
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Century" and a most useful
bibliographical essay on "The Literature of
California History."
The work remains largely narrative in
approach and style. Very help-
ful maps and illustrations increase its
usefulness. Altogether, the volume
provides for the student of history and
the general reader as well a con-
cise and fascinating account of the rise
of the Golden State--the land of
sunshine and smog, Mt. Whitney and Death
Valley, cactus and sequoia,
John C. Fremont and Earl Warren, oranges
and oleanders, beatniks and
cultists, Barbary Coast and Huntington
Library.
Los Angeles State College DAVID LINDSEY
American Automobile Manufacturers:
The First Forty Years. By John
B. Rae. (Philadelphia and New York:
Chilton Company, 1959.
xii+223 p.; illustrations, notes on
sources, and index. $6.00.)
Judging from the number of references
cited, 644 in twelve chapters,
John Rae, professor of history at the
Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology, did a prodigious amount of
research in gathering the factual
material incorporated in this history of
the automobile manufacturing
industry. His sources include early
motor magazines and periodicals,
newspapers, a few manuscript
collections, and selected monographs deal-
ing with the pioneers in this field.
While he does not recount all the
quarrels and controversial aspects of
the early days of this industry in
great detail, he read enough about them
in various sources to enable him
to form opinions. His conclusions are
set forth in a brief and succinc
manner.
Professor Rae says that "the most
important single contribution to the
founding of the industry was the bicycle
business." He goes on to say
that, on the technical side, an
astonishing number of features of auto
construction originated in the bicycle:
pneumatic tires, wire wheels, ball
and roller bearings, differential axle,
variable speed transmissions, and
steel-tube frames. He says further, that
the men whose approach to
auto manufacturing was from the engine
to the vehicle rather than from
the vehicle to the engine were a
diversified group ranging from college
trained engineers through highly skilled
mechanics to self-taugh
mechanics. He shows how the
internal-combustion gasoline motor came
to have general acceptance over other
motive powers like steam or
electricity. He traces the evolution of
a host of small and independent
companies through combinations and
mergers eventually resulting in the
few giant companies of today.
BOOK REVIEWS 437
There is an amazing amount of
information crammed into this little
volume, and the fact that it is indexed
makes it of great value as a
reference work. The author has
succeeded as well in presenting this
huge catalog of facts, dates, and data
in an interesting narrative.
Akron, Ohio WILLIAM D. OVERMAN
William Dean Howells: The
Development of a Novelist. By George
N.
Bennett. (Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1959. xvii+
220p.; illustrations and index. $4.00.)
Apart from its steady intelligence, Mr.
Bennett's book is useful because
it is a particular kind of book.
It does not try to embrace all of the
many-sided Howells: the critic, the
editor, the playwright, the literary
influence, etc. Instead it focuses upon
his growth as a fiction artist, and
it sticks to the point. In so doing,
its analyses of the novels assume that
the reader already knows Howells pretty
well; it is a book aimed at a
well-informed, probably a professional
audience. Happily, being a pro-
fessor (of English, at Vanderbilt) has
not kept the author from writing
well. While other students of Howells
are conscientious and precise,
Mr. Bennett is in addition graceful and
concise. It is a pleasure to watch
him set up the target, then hit the
bull's-eye every time. His style is
nearly as attractive as Howells' own.
Because of the busy Howells
"revival" of the past ten or fifteen years,
it is no longer possible to be wholly
original in writing a book on this
subject. But Mr. Bennett thinks for
himself. He rejects a number of
faddish or automatic assumptions. He
exposes the unreliability of
Howells' idealized reminiscences of his
early transplantation--for in-
stance, of the influence of a Boston
plating upon a young Ohio-bred
author, or of close friendship with the
Brahmin aristocrat, James Russell
Lowell. And of Howells' fifteen-year
stint as editor of the Atlantic
Monthly, for example, Bennett makes the cogent case that, far
from
being the ideal meal ticket for an
apprentice artist, the fatiguing grind
coupled with the cozy promise of sure
acceptance of whatever he wrote
undoubtedly hurt Howells' achievement
as a novelist.
Bennett's principal heresy, however, is
his refutation of those who
persist in prizing Howells' fiction
for its extra-literary values--whether
sociological, economic, or political
ones. Such critics (whose heyday
was the socially conscious 1930's, but
whose vogue hangs on) have pro-
nounced Howells' "economic
novels" of the early 1890's to be his best
work, and have felt that his later
fictions were disappointing surrenders
438
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
to the commercial market. But Bennett is
interested in Howells pri-
marily as an artist, not as a
propagandist or social philosopher; and while
he respects the economic novels, he
makes clear their rather frequent
failure to amalgamate story and
idea--that is, their failure, whatever else
they were, to be really well-integrated
works of art.
In rescuing Howells' books from their
"equally confining praise and
blame as social documents and economic
treatises," Bennett returns them
to their status as literature, judging
them as such. And throughout his
cool-headed book he avoids the tendency
of too many Howellsians to
inflate Howells' excellence into a
dubious superiority. In a typical
sentence Bennett asserts simply that
"Howells is well enough served by
the truth."
"It is less important," he
concludes, " that the accolade of greatness
should be withheld from
[Howells]--though he had at least moments of
greatness--than that he should be
granted importance in appropriate
terms." In clearly defining these
terms, which were philosophical and
artistic, Bennett's book helps us to
understand better a fine, if unfashion-
able, American artist.
University of Illinois, Chicago JAMES B. STRONKS
Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic
History of the Latter-day Saints
1830-1900. By Leonard J. Arrington. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1958. xx+534p.; maps,
illustrations, bibliography
and index. $9.00.)
This volume does much to fill the gap
which its preface notes in the
economic history of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints
Writing in cooperation with the
Committee on Research in Economi??
History, Professor Arrington, who is
associate professor of economics
at Utah State University, has combined
both interpretive synthesis an
voluminous descriptive detail.
The author's thesis, which remains
clearly in focus thanks to frequent
recapitulation, holds that Mormon
economic and religious institutions in
the nineteenth century were inseparable
and that the church made it's
economic program the means to the
establishment of the Great Basin
Zion. In a "triumph of superb
organization over the many obstacles
presented by desert colonization,"
the Mormon Church stimulated pro-
duction of an agricultural surplus, but
attempts to produce sugar, iron
woolens, and lead could not be supported
by an agricultural economy
alone. Nonetheless, the
"gathering" went on; the priesthood drew up
BOOK REVIEWS 439
tithing for credit and labor and
"called" workers to new enterprises to
achieve the Mormon goal of shared
self-sufficiency. The completion of
the Pacific railroad in 1869 threatened
the Mormon kingdom with
engulfment by the nationalizing
processes at work in the rest of the
nation. For two decades the church met
this new challenge with its now
traditional collective response,
including a notably successful cooperative
movement. But the growth of
"anti-Mormon" legislation in congress
brought capitulation of the kingdom
after the passage of the Edmunds-
Tucker act of 1887 to forces it could
no longer resist. Self-contained
Mormon society, characterized by the
"unity and cooperation of church
and business," could not survive
the individualistic and laissez-faire
trends of the nation after the Civil
War.
The hand of the economist as well as
the historian is evident in the
discussion of the Great Basin as an
underdeveloped region and in the
analysis of the Mormon barter economy.
The author points up a host
of paradoxes in Mormon economic
development: the judicious mixture
of private and public enterprise; the
"unhallowed windfalls" accruing
from such boons as the Gold Rush of
1849; intensive community life in
a region of dry farming; and Mormon
autarchy subjected at every turn
to the course of national growth.
Sympathetic treatment is given Mor-
mon ideals, although Professor
Arrington observes in the paternalism of
Brigham Young a tendency to give divine
sanction to economic policies
fashioned from the exigencies of the
moment. "By the end of the cen-
tury," he concludes, "the
most objectionable--and some of the most
praiseworthy--aspects of Mormon life
were eliminated. Nevertheless,
. . . the ideals and methods of the
Great Basin Kingdom still inspire
a million and a half members" (p.
352).
One might wish in this informative
volume for clearer delineation of
the geographic limits of the Mormon
Great Basin Kingdom, more de-
tailed description of Mormon irrigation
and fuller discussion of the dis-
senting opinions voiced in the councils
of the saints. But perhaps the
most serious criticism for the general
reader is the author's excessive use
of quotation. For justification he has
cited the inaccessibility of his source
material (p. viii), but he has
satisfied the specialist at the sacrifice of his
narrative. Moreover, the specialist
will take greatest interest in the final
119 pages (one-fifth of the book)
devoted to bibliographic essay, notes,
and index. In sum, here is a scholarly
analysis of one of the most
??emarkable manifestations of American
communitarian utopianism and
of its conflict with the new America of
the post-Civil War era.
Miami University RONALD
SHAW
440
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Martin Van Buren and the Making of
the Democratic Party. By Robert
V. Remini. (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1959. ix+271p.;
bibliography and index. $5.00.)
In writing this book, Professor Remini
of Fordham University inter-
rupted his study of Martin Van Buren's
career to produce a work which
describes the New Yorker's
"contribution to the formation of the Demo-
cratic party." The book deals with
the years 1821-28 and examines Van
Buren's relationship to national
politics and New York affairs.
It is evident that the Little Magician
became disgusted with Monroe's
policy of party amalgamation soon after
he arrived in Washington to
serve in the senate. As a figure who was
already well known because of
the prominence he had achieved in New
York, he undertook the resus-
citation of the old Republican party. He
believed the congressional
caucus was the only device that could
unite those who were still loyal
Jeffersonians. His course in insisting
that a caucus be held and the
tenacity with which he and most of the
other radicals supported the ail-
ing Crawford are detailed in this work.
Remini shows very clearly the
magnitude of the disaster which befell
Van Buren at the close of the
1824 campaign. He also refutes the
widely held theory that the New
Yorker, anticipating a deadlock in the
house balloting, intended to desert
Crawford for Adams.
As for Adams, Van Buren feared his
acceptance of Monroe's "fusion"
policy and his deviation from
Jeffersonian principles. The appointmen??
policy of the new president and his
nationalistic program forced the Little
Magician into a working arrangement with
the Jackson-Calhoun men
The manner in which Van Buren brought
the radicals and the divers??
Jackson groups together into a fairly
cohesive party is told in the las??
forty percent of the book. The author
contends that the New Yorke??
was the guiding strategist and organizer
in this important politica??
development. In this connection his
discussion of the tariff of 182??
which was previously printed in a
scholarly journal, overturns old??
concepts.
It is obvious that Remini is well
acquainted with the Fox of Kinde??
hook; furthermore, he is successful in
presenting an understanding ar??
balanced picture of the man. The work is
incomplete, however, becau??
it is apparent that the reaction of
westerners to Van Buren's politic??
efforts was not seriously canvassed.
Similarly, contemporary opini??
in the Atlantic states has not been
fully measured. One wonders if V??
Buren's reversal of position on internal
improvements was not influenc??
more by the impending completion of the
Erie Canal than by a matt??
BOOK REVIEWS 441
consideration of Jeffersonian
principles. There is no supporting cor-
roboration for the claim that Van
Buren's statements regarding the
Missouri Compromise were pro-southern.
What evidence is there that
the new Jackson party accepted Van
Buren's brand of Jeffersonianism,
as the author implies?
It must be added that it is
disconcerting to find sources used in the
footnotes which are not listed in the
bibliography (Ch. 3, n. 24; Ch. 8,
n. 28; Ch. 13, n. 23). A changing style
is used in citing the publications
of the American Historical Association
(pp. 252, 257, 258). Mahlon
Dickerson was from New Jersey, not New
York (Ch. 10, n. 6); the
Cumberland Road toll gates bill was
passed during the first session of
the seventeenth congress (Ch. 3, n. 1).
Despite its shortcomings, this book is
worth reading if handled with
the proper caution.
Ohio Wesleyan University RICHARD W. SMITH
History of the Progressive Party,
1912-1916. By Amos R. E. Pinchot.
Edited with a biographical introduction
by Helene Maxwell Hooker.
(New York: New York University Press,
1958. xii+305p.; ap-
pendices and index. $7.50.)
In the usual discussion of the
Progressive party in general histories,
Amos Pinchot, when he is mentioned at
all, is linked with his brother
Gifford. The two appear like twin stars
in the political firmament, the
more illustrations Gifford inevitably
eclipsing the lesser known Amos.
This volume removes its author from the
enveloping shadow of his
older brother and reveals the man
himself. Amos Pinchot, for the most
part, pursued an individual course; it
was only briefly at the birth of the
Progressive party that he ran in tandem
with Gifford; but soon there-
after the two parted political company. Unlike
his brother, Amos held
no public office; he served his party
behind the scenes in committee
work, fund raising, and writing campaign
literature. Later he became
a self-appointed gadfly to the
Progressive leaders Theodore Roosevelt
and George W. Perkins.
Pinchot's History is an intensely
personal, selective, and critical one.
In no sense is it a comprehensive
account. Helene M. Hooker, the editor,
who teaches English at Queens College,
has been obliged in her long and
indispensable biographical introduction
to round out the picture of many
significant events in the life of the
Progressive party, even those in
442
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
which Pinchot himself played an
important role. The History was begun
in the 1920's as the
political counterpart of a much more ambitious
economic study which was abandoned, and
even the History was never
completed--five chapters remain
unrevised and the final one unfinished.
The History does not alter the
major outline of the party's rise and
fall as presented by George Mowry in Theodore
Roosevelt and the
Progressive Movement, but it does add dimension to the story and
corrects some of the interpretation.
There are provocative portraits of
the three principals of the party in
1912--Roosevelt, Perkins, and Frank
Munsey--which reflect Amos Pinchot's
ambivalence toward them. The
author was repelled by their favoritism
toward trusts yet attracted by
their personalities and political
skills.
This volume contains the fullest account
in print of the dilemma which
faced the Republican progressives during
December 1911 and January
1912, in choosing between Robert M. La
Follette and Roosevelt as their
presidential candidate. The record here
indicates that Mowry has been
too severe in charging that Amos Pinchot
and others played "a double
game," "broke faith with La
Follette," and "with indecent haste . . .
transferred their fealty." Amos
Pinchot's approach was open and direct,
but it proved to be impossible to
persuade either man to support the
other or to withdraw. By the end of
January, Amos, his brother, and
a few others were convinced that La
Follette was losing ground poli-
tically, that he could never defeat
Taft, whereas Roosevelt with his
immense popular appeal did have a chance
to win. The most serious
charge that can be made against them is
that these men yielded to ex-
pediency in shifting from the more
progressive La Follette to the less
progressive Roosevelt.
Another episode that receives extensive
documentation is the mysteri-
ous disappearance of the plank endorsing
the Sherman act from the
progressive national platform of 1912.
An exchange of letters between
Pinchot and Roosevelt on the subject of
the plank and the trust question
in general is printed in full in the History.
Pinchot, a determined foe
of the trusts, pinned the responsibility
for the elimination of the plans
on Perkins, financial angel of the party
and also a director of the steel
and harvester trusts. Roosevelt made a
labored and involved defense of
Perkins and the action taken, which did
not satisfy Pinchot, nor does
it satisfy this reviewer.
It was Pinchot's continued distrust of
Perkins, who remained a
manager of the party, that led to the
author's break with the Progres-
BOOK REVIEWS 443
sives in 1914. In an open letter he
demanded the removal of the man
"who has been monopoly's ardent
supporter . . . a handicap to the
party and a fraud on the public"
(p. 54), in order to make very clear
that the party took the people's side in
"the struggle between democracy
and privilege." Pinchot's attack
proved to be virtually a one-man re-
bellion; he did not carry the members of
the national committee with
him, and Perkins survived. Mowry's
interpretation of the episode as
discrediting Perkins is, therefore,
questioned by the editor. The fact is
that the party manager did win a vote of
confidence and that it was
Pinchot in defeat, not Perkins, who felt
compelled to leave the party.
After 1914 Amos Pinchot became even more
of a political maverick.
Because of his opposition to war he
joined the Volunteers for Wilson
in 1916 and campaigned for the Socialist
candidate for mayor of New
York City. He defended labor unions,
supported The Masses, an avant-
garde socialist publication, and protested the denial of
mailing privileges
to socialist newspapers. After the war
he joined the Committee of 48
to found a third party with La Follette
as its nominee, but the latter
declined. In 1932 Pinchot supported Franklin
D. Roosevelt, then turned
against the New Deal, alarmed by the
tremendous expansion of govern-
ment in Washington and by the foreign
policy of the president. Pinchot
died in 1944 in the midst of the Second
World War, which he had
decried, a melancholy figure who felt he
had lived and fought in vain.
But his pessimism was unjustified. He
had the moral courage to con-
tinue the campaign for individual and
minority rights after losing many
a battle and the breadth of spirit to be
charitable towards his opponents.
Amos Pinchot emerges from this volume as
a man of intellectual tough-
ness and moral strength who in a minor
role served his party and his
country with distinction.
Kenyon College LANDON WARNER
Teapot Dome. By M. R. Werner and John Starr. (New York: Viking
Press, 1959. x + 306p.; illustrations
and index. $5.00.)
This is another of those self-styled
"complete stories told for the first
time." The authors are free-lance
popularizers whose previous produc-
tions include Barnum, Brigham Young, and
Privileged Characters for
Werner and Hospital City for
Starr. The story of the Teapot Dome
conspiracy is based on the hearings of
the senate committee investiga-
tions of the oil scandal, the court
records of the ensuing trials, "the press
444
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
clippings of the investigation and
trials," reports of the treasury depart-
ment secret service men assigned to
trace the Liberty Bonds given by
H. F. Sinclair to Secretary Albert B.
Fall, and personal interviews with
detectives, government lawyers, friends
of Harry M. Daugherty, United
States Senators, and officials of the
navy department, department of
justice, and the police force of the
District of Columbia.
The story is told against a background
of two politicians: the im-
pecunious plotter and suddenly affluent
Secretary Fall, and the alleged
puppet-president Warren G. Harding. Fall
bamboozles Harding, the
navy, Daughterty, congress, et al. into
transferring the jurisdiction over
government oil leases to the interior
department and then makes the
famous leases of the Teapot Dome reserve
to Harry F. Sinclair, and of
the Elk Hills reserve to Edward L.
Doheny. In return Fall receives
Liberty Bonds from Sinclair and cash
from Doheny. The hero's role is
played by Democratic Senator Thomas J.
Walsh, who dominates the
special investigation by the senate
committee on public lands and surveys,
chairmanned by Republican Senator Reed
Smoot. The evasiveness, lying,
contempt, and arrogance of Fall and his
benefactors are meticulously
reported. Court justice is sought by
President Coolidge's special counsel,
Owen J. Roberts and Atlee Pomerene, who
prosecute twelve lawsuits
with varying results. The leases are
cancelled. Fall and Doheny are
acquitted in a joint trial. The
Fall-Sinclair joint trial results in a mistrial
because of jury tampering. Sinclair is
then acquitted, but Fall is con-
victed in separate trials. However,
Sinclair is convicted of jury tamper-
ing, as well as of contempt of the
senate. Others are acquitted of
contempt of the senate and of perjury.
There is no completeness or finality to
this allegedly complete story.
The authors do not understand the legal
intricacies which resulted in
the seemingly inconsistent verdicts.
They merely reflect on the defense
attorney Frank J. Hogan's integrity and
on the bias of juries. The
authors show no adequate knowledge of
the development of twentieth-
century oil capitalism, which is just as
logical a background for the story
as is politics. And in describing
"the foray of the Harding administra-
tion against the government" they
accept the popular anti-Harding
thought-pattern with its exaggerated and
hearsay "evidence." Above all,
the study is practically unfootnoted,
most of the twenty-odd footnotes
being merely explanatory and not
documentary.
University of Toledo RANDOLPH C. DOWNES