[*BLACKWELL FAMILY
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL*]

Correspondence
Letters to the Editors[Feb 15, 1930 - Boston Post]

AGAINST JIM CROWISM

[ASB]

To the Editor of the Post:
Sir—Let me thank you for your editorial on the segregation of the gold star mothers who belong to the colored race.
It is bad enough when private individuals draw the color line; but if they choose to, that is their privilege. When the government does it, however, that is a disgrace to us all.
AN OLD BOSTONIAN

[Alice Stone Blackwell]been a medium of understanding between
the cultures of the old world and
the new. Judaica, a bibliography of the
great Jewish collection at the library,
was compiled by her. She believes that
occasional focusing on racial literature 
breeds good-will, and that there might 
well be also an Italian, Syrian, or
Chinese Book Week. It is useful to show
the American trained children of these 
races that their nationalists also have 
something to contribute. 

Requests for material to use for Jewish
Book Week have come in from all 
directions, and it is hoped that by next
 year, there will be such an exhibit in
 every large city in co-operation with the
national conference of Christians and Jews.

Alice Stone Blackwell
Boston, May 6.JEWISH BOOK WEEK

To the Editor:

May 10_16 is Jewish Book week. The observance of it has grown 
steadily since it was first sponsored by Miss Fanny Goldstein,
librarian of the West End branch of the Boston Public Library,
ten years ago. This year, with the cooperation of the American
Jewish Committee and the National Conference of Christians and 
Jews, an appealing exhibit of good will literature has been assembled
to serve the cause of peace, tolerance, and American citizenship.
The main public library of Boston is rich in [valuable] priceless material 
relating to the Bible and Hebrew scholarship. Every year, during 
Jewish Book Week, it displays many of these treasures. The special
branch libraries that serve Jewish communities also have special
exhibits. 
Some new suggestions offered for this year's observance were
Jewish Nobel Prize winners, plus other prizes and honors conferred
upon Jews; the Jewish woman in literature; and joint good-will meetings 
with Jewish and non-Jewish speakers especially stressing the
Jew's contribution to civilization through literature.

Miss Goldstein has for years done noteworthy good-will work in
the West End Branch library. To thousands she has been a medium of
understanding between the cultures of the old world and the new.
"Judaica," a bibliography of the great Jewish collection at the main 
Boston library, was compiled by her. She believes that [it is useful to]
occasional focusing on racial literature breeds good will, and 
that there might well be also an Italian, Syrian or Chinese Book
Week. It is useful to show the American-trained children of these
races that their nationalities also have something to contribute. 
This year requests for material came in from all directions, and
it is hoped that by next year there will be such an exhibit in 
every large city, in cooperation with the National Conference of 
Christians and Jews.

With so much that is painful appearing in the daily news, it is
a pleasure to see Jewish Book Week made an occasion for promoting
[good will and]  peace and good will.

Alice Stone Blackwell
Boston, Mass.114   THE CHRISTIAN REGISTER   February 18, 1937

Our Churches in the Flooded Areas
President Cornish gives a Brief Account of the Known Damage to 
Date, and Makes an Appeal

Will you help the flood-stricken Unitarian 
churches?
     Our hearts go out to the churches which 
have suffered in the unprecedented flood
of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.  From 
the vivid accounts and by the appeal of the
Red Cross we have known for several weeks
of the colossal suffering and loss, and now
at last we begin to realize what this means
to two of our Unitarian churches.
     We have seven churches in the flooded
areas: Marietta, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio
(two churches); Memphis, Tenn.; Louisville, 
Ky. (two churches); and New Orleans, 
La.  Let me account for them all. The
Marietta church has been under water.  The
two churches in Cincinnati and the Clifton
Unitarian Church in Louisville are uninjured.  
The First Church in Louisville has
been under water.  Memphis has escaped 
damage.  The crest of the flood at this 
writing has not reached New Orleans, and 
it seems probable that no damage will occur 
to that church.
     The illustration on this page shows the 
condition of the Marietta church.  We
quote from a letter received from the minister, 
Rev. Hal H. Lloyd:
     "The water has risen to a depth of three
feet in the auditorium of the church.  The 
kitchen, assembly room, one small room,
and two coatrooms, together with the 
toilets and all equipment, have been completely 
sunk in water.  Some articles like
the piano and rugs were taken out and 
put in the auditorium, where it was 
thought the water would not rise so high.
Much painting will be needed in the auditorium 
and vestibule.  All floor coverings
have been ruined.  Fortunately the floors
in the basement are of concrete, but the 
plaster on the walls is badly damaged and 
much of it has fallen.  The water pipes are
frozen.  Until a few days have passed it 
will be impossible to know the complete
damage.  In our parsonage the water was 
55 inches on the lower floor and of course
the basement was full of water.


    "After the flood last year, when the water
was within a foot and half of the ceiling
of the Sunday-school room, President Cornish 
asked if we needed help, but we did our 
best and got on without it.  We spent 
about $200 decorating and repairing. But
this time all Marietta in the flooded district 
was fooled, and so was the government.  
We moved to where we really
thought we were safe, but the water still
rose.  The property of many of our members 
is under water.  We are going to have
a very hard time paying out.  One of the 
officers of the church is cut off from communication;  
another had water to the 
second floor of his home.  I have talked
with a third officer.  We think our damage
will be about $1500.  There is no way now
of knowing exactly.  We are all in a great 
mess and confusion, but we have accomplished 
much."
     Rev. Richard W. F. Seebode, minister
of the First Church in Louisville, was in
the East when the rivers began to rise, and 
 flew back from New York.  Here is his 
statement, much abbreviated:
     "I am happy to say that every member
of our congregation is safe.  Some have 
suffered serious property loss.  The church
 had fourteen inches of water beneath the 
pews.  The basement was completely submerged.  
The damage will run to about
$7,000.  How this sum is to be raised is 
one of the problems we are wrestling
with."
     Mr. Gustave Breaux, long a member of 
the First Unitarian Church in Louisville,
and for some years a valued director of the 
American Unitarian Association, sends us
what he calls [?] experience of the
average citizen marooned by flood waters 
in Louisville." He says:
     "Think of Louisville, a city of 330,000,
being under water and 200,000 flood victims 
wandering homeless. The flood
tragedy came to Louisville on Thursday
afternoon, January 21.  On Friday there 
was suppressed excitement and the worst
was feared.  It had been raining for thirty 
days and this culminated in a sleet storm 
and snow.
     "Let me relate briefly my enforced confinement 
for eleven consecutive days in a 
big apartment house.  No water, no heat,
no lights or gas for cooking, no elevator or 
radio.  No communication with the outside 
world, except when a boat was sent to 
evict some inmate by special permit.  The
city under martial law; Broadway a rushing 
torrent. The dual menace of fire and the 
absence of sanitation. Drinking water
with iodine was rationed to apartment
buildings. Such was Louisville for a solid
period of physical discomfort and mental
distress. But what a spirit of cheerfulness
based on brotherhood! The worst is over. 
Louisville has turned the corner toward rehabilitation."
     We ask you to help these churches.
Remember all business has been disrupted.
There has been a tremendous financial
loss due to the dislocation of life, as well as to the terrible destruction wrought by the flood.  Loyal as the constituents of these two churches undoubtedly are, they can 
not, unaided, take up the burden of rehabilitation. 
Note that help was offered to the Marietta church in last year's flood, and was declined.  We need for Marietta
$1500, and for Louisville $7,000.  These
figures are based on first estimates.  Final
estimates cannot yet be had, for the water
still surrounds and partly fills the churches.
     Will you help?  Many times before, our
fellowship has given to sister churches generously 
when emergencies have arisen.
The Charleston earthquake crashed the
church tower down through the roof.
The Unitarian churches of the country
rebuilt the roof and tower.  At the time 
of a former flood, funds were hastily gathered 
for the Dayton church.  We always
have helped.  This time all our churches
will wish to help again.  Will you not take
up this matter at once and send us your
gifts?
     We have just received a cablegram from
out Unitarian friends in Great Britain:
     "Overseas and Foreign Committee of 
General Assembly, deeply concerned at 
news of tragic flood disasters, expresses
sympathy of British Unitarians with
Unitarian churches in stricken region.
Mortimer Rowe, secretary."
     Checks should be made payable to 
Parker E. Marean, treasurer, and sent to 
25 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.
     On behalf of the Executive Committee
of the American Unitarian Association,
          Louis C. Cornish,
               President.February 18, 1937     THE CHRISTIAN REGISTER     113
OUR FORUM
CHARLES R. JOY EXPLAINS
To the Editor of The Christian Register:
     I am besieged with letters and inquiries
concerning the reason for my refusal to
accept the nomination as administrative
vice president offered me by the Board of 
Directors. My motives are being gravely
misunderstood. I have been reluctant to
explain. In justice to myself, however, I
now feel compelled to set forth frankly
the reasons for my decision. This I can
best do by making public the letter I have
written to the Board of Directors, declining
the nomination.
February 6, 1937.
To the Members of the Board of Directors:
     When the Board of Directors adjourned
on Tuesday, January 12, after three
months of deliberations, none of the present
officers of the Association had been asked
to accept a renomination to any office whatever.
They assumed, therefore, that there
were to be no renominations. It was with
considerable surprise that I heard after
adjournment of my renomination as administrative
vice president, an office which
will probably be abolished at the annual
meeting in May. I regret for your sake,
and for mine, the embarrassment caused
by the public announcement in the press
and in The Christian Register that a nomination
had been offered to me which I then
for the first time, and without any word of
explanation, declined to accept. This embarrassment
might have been avoided if
the Board had consulted the officers of the
Association before announcing the nominations.
     It was the understanding of the Board, I
am told, that those who accepted the
nominations as administrative vice president
should be appointed by Dr. Eliot to
other positions. Dr. Eliot has offered to
me the secretaryship of the proposed Department
of the Ministry, the chief duty
of which will be the supplying of pulpits
and the placement of ministers. This was
the work I used to do for the Association,
and before that, for the Unitarian Ministerial
Union as secretary of the Committee
on the Supply of Pulpits. I know the
duties involved. I have declined to accept
this particular post, and no other has been
offered to me.
     One of the positions which, with the
approval of the Board, the new president
will have the power to fill, is of great importance.
Next to the president, the
executive vice president in the new organization
is to be the chief administrative
officer. That post has not, however, been
assigned to any of the experienced present
officials of the Association.
     Seven years ago I was asked to leave an
important parish to take a post of dignity
and wide responsibility. My office was to 
be one of a general administrative nature,
with a voice and an influence in the determining
of policies. The work proved to be
varied, interesting, honorable, and, until
the depression crippled our efforts and the
resulting unrest appeared, personally rewarding
in happiness. So much did I enjoy
the work that I declined to consider in
recent years the overtures of three of our
leading churches. I am now asked to
accept a post which would mean a distinct
demotion, as Dr. Eliot has willingly conceded.
I should have no vote or place on
the Board, the Executive Committee, or
the Administrative Council. I should be a
member only of a consultative group, to be
called the Staff Council, which will have
little influence, power, or significance.
My office would be held at the will of a 
single man from year to year. I should be
confined largely to a desk at headquarters,
devoting my time to matters of placement
and pulpit supply, a troublesome and
petty routine, which has never taken in
the past anything like the full time of an
officer of the Association. The work would
offer little scope for the interest, experience,
and knowledge which are the natural
fruits of seven years of broad Association
activities. I would not have accepted this
assignment seven years ago when I came
into the service of the Association. I cannot
do so now.
     With appreciation of the confidence expressed
in me by the Board, I am, nevertheless,
compelled to decline the nomination.
If Dr. Eliot is elected, my heartiest
good wishes will be extended to him and all
those who will be associated with him.
Charles R. Joy.

S.J. MAY AND LUCY STONE
To the Editor of The Christian Register:
     With much interest and pleasure I have
read the recent article about Rev. Samuel
J. May. A strong friendship and affection
existed between my mother and Mr. May.
After her graduation from Oberlin in
1847, she became a speaker for the Massachusetts
Antislavery Society. Mr. May,
as agent of the Society, made the arrangements
for her lectures. She got into
trouble because she mingled woman's
rights with her antislavery addresses so
much. There were many points of resemblance
between the position of a married
woman and that of the slaves. In most
of the states, her husband had a legal right
to beat her. All her earnings belonged to 
him. She could not make a contract, and
could not sue or be sued. She could not
make a valid will without her husband's
consent, unless she left everything to him.
In that case his consent was taken for
granted. He was the sole owner of the 
children, could (?) from their
mother, could give them away for adoption 
without her consent, and could bequeath
them by will to strangers. In one
case an unborn child was thus willed away
from the mother. The law expressly said
that the husband could thus dispose not
only of living children but of any child
likely to be born.
     On one occasion, when my mother's
heart had been especially stirred on the 
woman question, she mixed woman's rights
with her lecture so much that Mr. May
felt obliged to tell her (which he did very
kindly) that, on the antislavery platform,
this would not do. She answered, "I know
it, but I could not help it. I was a woman
before I was an abolitionist, and I must
speak for the women." She proposed to
resign her position as a lecturer for the 
Antislavery Society; but they were unwilling
to give her up, as she had been one
of their best speakers. A little, simple
country girl, she had great natural eloquence.
Mobs would sometimes listen to
her when they howled down every other
speaker. It was finally agreed that she
should continue to lecture for the Antislavery
Society on Saturday evenings and 
Sundays - times that were regarded as too
sacred for any church or hall to be opened
for a lecture on woman's rights - and the 
rest of the week she should speak for woman's 
rights on her own responsibility.
     Mr. May himself was in favor of equal
rights for women. The Unitarian ministers
were ofterner in sympathy with the 
antislavery movement than the orthodox
Congregational Church. Some of them
were even hospitable to the idea of woman's
rights. My mother herself had become a 
Unitarian at Oberlin through listening to
Professor Finney's lectures on God - a
result that the professor certainly had not
intended to produce.
Alice Stone Blackwell
Cambridge, Mass.

UNIVERSALIST - UNITARIAN
To the Editor of The Christian Register:
     "So far as is known, this is the first time
that a church of the Universalist denomination
has asked a Unitarian society to ordain
a minister for it." This comment is
contained in the interesting account in The
Christian Register of January 28, of the ordination
of Helgi I.S. Borgford at the
Channing Church on January 12, at the 
request of the Church of the Redeemer,
Universalist, of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
     As a matter of record, may I say that I
was ordained in November, 1924, at the
First Universalist Church in Haverhill,
Mass. That church requested King's
Chapel, the minister of which, at the time,
was Rev. Harold E.B. Speight, to call an
ordaining Council. I was, then, ordained
to the Unitarian ministry, Unitarian and
Universalist ministers taking part in the 
service, and immediately applied for dual
fellowship with the Universalists. This
(Continued on page 119)SUFFRAGE AND PATRIOTISM.
To Editor of Herald and Journal:
Every political party in the United 
States now has a suffrage plank in its 
platform. The Republicans (who are 
keen for pressing the war to a victorious 
close) voted 165 to 33 for woman 
suffrage recently when the measure went 
through the lower house of Congress. 
They evidently do not believe with Mrs. Robinson that equal suffrage 
means pacifism, socialism and military downfall.
New York city contains 62 legislative 
districts. Last fall the Democrats carried 
34 districts, the Republicans 18 and 
the Socialists 10, but woman suffrage 
carried the whole 62. Not one district 
went against it. This effectively disposes 
of her claim that it was carried 
mainly by the Socialist vote.
The suffrage states of the West went 
ahead of the East in supplying their 
quota of volunteers.  Equal suffrage 
Australia has already sent one man in 
12 to the front---all volunteers---and the 
Australian and New Zealand troops, 
after a generation of equal suffrage, 
have been distinguished for their 
bravery.  In Canada the equal suffrage 
provinces of Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, 
Saskatchewan and British Columbia 
are said to have sent one man in 
14 to the front, while anti-suffrage 
Quebec is also anti-war.
Socialism is more prevalent today in 
Cincinnati and Milwaukee than in Denver 
or Cheyenne, where women have 
been voters for many years.
Mrs. Robinson quotes an anonymous 
report that a meeting of Finnish deputies 
came near voting to murder every 
member of the "bourgeoise" over 8 
years old. This bears all the ear-marks 
of the myth that agents of the Kaiser 
have been diligently circulating to excuse 
his intention of grabbing Finland 
and Russia. But it is sober fact that in 
the late Armenian massacres the anti-suffrage 
Turks did not even draw 
the age limit at eight. And when a Red 
Cross nurse begged a Turkish commander 
to spare the children he answered, 
"Women have no business to meddle in 
politics!"
Mrs. Robinson says equal suffrage 
would increase the cost of government. 
If so, that cost ought to be highest in 
the suffrage states. According to the official 
report of a commission appointed 
by Gov. McCall, "The governmental expenditures 
of Massachusetts per capita 
are 25 per cent. higher than those of any 
other state in the union. The state debt 
is more than 100 per cent higher than 
that of any other state, and 640 per 
cent. higher than the average per capita 
debt of all the other states."
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL
Dorchester, March 20.       1917LET THEM CHOOSE.

To the Editor:

A bill has been introduced into our legislature
to give juries in murder trials the choice between emposing
a death sentence, or imprisonment for life.  At present the 
death sentence is mandatory in cases of first degree murder,
no matter how young the culprit. Another bill would abolish
capital punishment.

These two measures have been introduced year after year.
They have had many distinguished supporters including Lewis E.
Lawes, warden of Sing Sing, Herbert C. Parsons, former
commissioner of Probation for Massachusetts, Sheldon Glueck,
professor of Criminology, Harvard, and 70 members of the 
Mass. Bar.  The late Benjamin Cardozo, Justice of U.S. Supreme
Court, wrote, "The next generation may look upon the death
penalty as an anachronism, too discordant to be suffered,
mocking with grim reproach all our clamorous professions of 
the sanctity of life."

If you favor one or both of these measures, please write
to your senator and representative and tell them so.

Alice Stone Blackwell.

Cambridge, Mass.What Holmes and Brandeis Thought

Beginning with the mild observation
that "Congress certainly cannot forbid
all effort to change the mind of the 
country," Justice Holmes expanded on 
his thesis that a word is not a deed and 
democracies should be very tolerant in 
curtailing words by legal penalties.  He
proceeded:

In this case sentences of twenty 
years' imprisonment  have been im-
posed for the publishing [uttering]
of two leaflets that I believed the 
defendants had a much right to 
publish as the government has to
publish the Constitution of the 
United States now wainly invoked
by them ***

When men have realized that
time has upset many fighting
faiths, they may come to believe
even more than they believe the 
very foundations of their own conduct 
that the ultimate good desired
is better reached by the free trade
in ideas --- that the best test of truth
is the power of the thought to get 
itself accepted in the competition
of the market * * * That * * * is
the theory of our Constitution * * *
We should be eternally vigilant
against attempts to check the expression 
of opinions that we loathe
and believe to be fraught with 
death, unless they so imminently 
threaten immediate interference
with the lawful and pressing purposes 
of the law that an immediate
check is required to save the country.

Those who are disposed to apply this
dictum to the offending paragraphs in 
Mr. Browder's speech, and they seemed
to be many in official circles here today, 
will not be in the least enthusiastic 
about bringing the Communist
spokesman to court on a conspiracy
charge in addition to the open and factual 
charge under which he has already 
been cited by the government.  As for
Mr. Browder's criticism of the President, 
Justice Holmes was dealing with
assaults on President Wilson, beside 
which the Boston utterances are Chesterfieldian. 

The Hyde Park dispatch brings up an 
issue of high policy which no "White
House circle" will decide, but only Mr.
Roosevelt himself.  It appeared today
the conspiracy suit suggested would
not be greatly encouraged in Washington.

The Executioner

AGENT OF DEATH: The Memoirs 
of an Executioner. By Robert 
G. Elliott, in collaboration
with Albert R. Beatty.  Illustrated. 
315 pp. New York:
E. P. Dutton & Co. $3.

ROBERT G. ELLIOTT was
the man who touched off 
the apparatus which put
Bruno Richard Hauptmann to
death, and Ruth Snyder and Judd
Gray, and, before that, Sacco and 
Vanzetti.  He was executioner
for six States, and he was the 
law's instrument, thus, in the 
final punishment of 387 persons
--the largest number ever electrocuted 
by any one man.  He
came to this grim occupation 
through a life-long interest in 
electricity and an appointment to
the staff of electricians at the 
prison at Dannemora.  When he
went back after an interlude of 
war and private business to serve
as Warden Lawes's executioner 
at Sing Sing, he was speedily employed 
in the same capacity by
New Jersey, Vermont, Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania and Connecticut 
also. He was a man of genial 
temperament, normal interests, 
and very happy family life,
who died at the age of 65, a few 
days after completing these memoirs.  
And he did not believe in 
capital punishment. 

But since the law requires capital 
punishment he was convinced
that electrocution should be the 
method used.  And since he had 
this job, he believed in doing it 
quietly and well.  He shunned
publicity, and he was said to be 
the most difficult man in America 
to photograph. His readers
may think at first that he was 
over-sentimental in emphasizing
his innocence of murderous intent, 
as the law's instrument; but 
a glance at samples of his correspondence 
will make it plain that 
he had good cause to be sensitive.
The morbidity, in this life-story,
was not the executioner's, but the
public's.  And some glimpses of 
unhealthy attitudes, on the part 
of individuals or crowds, are very
unpleasant and sadly suggestive.

The book as a whole, however,
is not sensational.  It is not the 
tears of a murderess, but the 
prosaic, grisly details of executions, 
which are hardest for the 
reader to bear.  And it must be
stated frankly that this strange
autobiography is genuinely interesting.  
Some of the individual
cases are very interesting.  So
are the author's own comments
and conclusions and summaries.

The youngest of the men he 
executed was 18,  the oldest 70.
Nearly three-fourths of them
were under 30 years old.  It 
seemed to the executioner that 
society's most important duty
was in prevention.  He didn't believe 
that capital punishment met
the case.[*8-17-31*]
FAVORS INSURRECTION
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     No outburst of public indignation
has been caused by the coast guard's
capture of a boat load of "insurrectors"
on their way to Cuba; but it
does not follow that Machado's "tyrannies
leave the heart of America cold."
I can answer for one American - and
I believe there are many more - who
longs to see a successful insurrection
in Cuba; but we realize that a filibustering
expedition is illegal, and that 
the coast guard had to seize the boat.
Acquiescence is one thing, however,
and "solid satisfaction" quite another.
     Everyone who heard Senator David
I. Walsh speak after his return from
Cuba, everyone who followed the exposures
in the New York World and 
in the labor papers, everyone who has
heard Cubans of education and character
describe the situation in that 
unhappy island, knows that the Cubans
have better cause for a revolution
than ever the American colonists
had.
     Machado's atrocities are not as
spectacular as Gen Weyler's, but they
are fully as bad. If the facts were
generally known, indignation would
be universal throughout that part of 
the American public which is capable
of indignation over a foreign wrong.
It is already widespread among our
progressive elements.
     If a European or Asiatic country is
subjected to tyranny, we are not directly
responsible. But, under the
Platt amendment, the United States
guaranteed to Cuba a republican form
of government, and the people are
not getting it. We guaranteed safety
of life and property, and in Cuba
neither life nor property is safe, if
the owner is unfriendly to Machado's
regime. Worst of all, Machado is believed
by the Cubans to have the support
of the United States.
     You say: "The thought of another
insurrection in Cuba, to be followed
by our intervention, leaves the great
American people too tired for words"
- implying that our intervention
would follow. Machado could not
maintain himself in power for a week
against his enraged and disgusted
people but for the belief that his overthrow
would bring American intervention
in his behalf.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL
Chilmark, August 12, 1931.


Recollection of
Mrs. Livermore
To the Editor of The Herald:
     Let me thank you for giving an
account of Mary A. Livermore. A few 
facts may be added.
     For many years Mrs. Livermore
was called the queen of the lecture
platform. She gave one of her lectures
entitled "What shall we do
with our daughters?" more than
1200 times She edited the Woman's
Journal of Boston during its first
two years of publication, 1870 and 
1871. For more than a generation
that paper was the chief journalistic
organ of the woman's rights movement.
She was large-hearted and
generous, and helped a great number
of unfortunate persons.
     Her married life was exceedingly
happy. She said that her husband
converted her to woman suffrage,
and that he had encouraged and 
urged her to enter upon public work,
when she herself was afraid to attempt
it. She survived him for some
years. She had saved enough money
to make her amply comfortable in
her old age; but she lost it, through
trusting a friend to invest it for her.
She found herself obliged again to 
take up her labors.
     She was to me a dear and revered
personal friend; and she was a great
friend of my parents. For many
years Mary A. Livermore, Julia Ward
How and Lucy Stone stood together
for everything good in Massachusetts,
and to a large extent in the
nation as well.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL
Cambridge.
[*Boston Herald
Sep 3rd, 1941*]


Believes Women 
Discriminated Against
To the Editor of The Herald:
     It has been brought to my attention
that the Massachusetts Civil
Service Commission has issued a 
call for an examination for the office
of assistant registrars for the municipal
election in Boston. This call is
issued to male citizens only.
     The amendment to the constitution
enfranchising women. and, the
passage of the enabling act have
opened to Massachusetts women all
office - state, county and municipal.
This is the first instance that I have
known where the commission has
chosen to disregard the law.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Cambridge.
[*10-7-41*]


Monday, April 3, 1939
Child Refugees
Editor of UNITY:
     The child refugees sent out to various lands bring to
mind a poem by Gabriela Mistral. She was lately appointed
by the government of Chile as Minister to Costa Rica and the 
other Central American countries. Her poem may be rendered
into English thus:
Little Feet
Oh tiny feet of children
Blue with the cold, unshod!
How can they see, nor cover you - 
O God.

O little feet, sore wounded
By every stone and brier,
Chilled by the snows in winter,
Defiled by mire!

Man, blind, knows not that where you go,
In valley or on height,
You always leave behind a flower
Of living light -

That where your little bleeding soles
You set, O childish feet!
The tuberose in her snowy bloom
Becomes more sweet.

Since in straight paths day after day
Ye travel bare.
Be as heroic, little feet,
As ye are fair!

Two little suffering jewels,
Doomed to a bitter lot!
How can the people pass you by
And see you not?

     Gabriela Mistral is the pen name of Lucilla Godoy
Alcayaza. Once an obscure, little country school teacher, she
is now famous and beloved throughout Spanish America.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Cambridge, Mass.


MR NEVINSON AND 'SUFFRAGETS'
[*Nov 18*]
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     The death of the famous war correspondent,
Henry W. Nevinson, recalls
an incident that endeared him to
many women.
     Long ago in England, when the
"suffragets" were being grossly abused
and ridiculed by the press, correspondents
of two great London newspapers,
Messrs Nevinson and Brailsford, resigned
their positions in token of
their indignation. This is not mentioned
in any of their obituaries. It
should not be forgotten.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Cambridge, November 14, 1941.Martha's Vineyard Gazette Aug 26 1941

A Woman with a Puppy
     The dog show on Sunday was a lot of fun, as it always is, but
there were some moments which come nearer than most to being
memorable. That word "memorable" is a tricky one, and one never
knows in advance what will turn out to be that way, yet we venture
that most of those present will remember fondly and with reminiscent
smiles the scene when Miss Cornell's dachshund puppies were tipped
out of their container into the ring. For an instant it seemed as if
the supply of small, appealing, beautiful-eyed dachshund puppies
was inexhaustible. And then one could see that there were really
only seven, and a couple of parents taking things with a certain
dachshund dignity.
     Then, a little later, Miss Katharine M. Foote, the heart and soul
and strong right arm of the Martha's Vineyard Animal Rescue
League all these many years, stood in the ring with one of the puppies
clasped in her arms. Francis Hackett, all impromptu, made one
of the most gracious of little speeches about her, and Cornelius S.
Lee led three cheers. To see this tireless, gentle, persevering, unassuming
woman of 80 standing there with the puppy in her arms, was
to see a symbol of something fine. Those who remember this moment
will have something to kindle them in discouraging times.
     It is one thing to love animals and to hate cruelty and suffering,
and quite another to make continual sacrifices for this love and this
hate. Miss Foote, when she took up for animals and for humanity,
and against suffering and abuse, not only when it was pleasant but
when it was hard and disagreeable. She knew the necessity of hard
physical toil, of assuming the difficult tasks of a crusader and prosecutor
at times, and she devoted herself to animals twenty-four hours
a day.
     And so it was good to be present at this tribute to Miss Foote at
80. We understand that there are plans under way for making Miss
Foote's work more secure, and we hope they may come to fulfillment
with the whole-hearted aid of the community. Meantime, in this most
generous of summers, during which sojourners on the Island have
given unstintedly to many causes, the Martha's Vineyard Animal
Rescue League, should not be forgotten.BELLAMY ANTIDATED
To the Editor of the Post:
     Sir-Edward Bellamy's imaginary
description of education in the 20th
Century was antidated by the reality,
in some parts of South America.
     My first Latin-American friend, a
young woman from Chile, told me,
some 30 years ago, that in Chile education 
was free, clear through the university.
     Poor children who showed unusual
talent were sent abroad to finish their
education, at government expense. She
added that on of the most distinguished 
women physicians of Chile had
been the daughter of a poor washer-woman, 
whose Indian blood showed in
her face.  The little girl was so bright 
that, after learning all she could in
medical studies in France.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL


6
The Boston Post
Established 1831
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(Issued daily by Post Publishing Co.)
February 21, 1933.  NO. 18: VOL. 557
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to the use for republication of all news despatches 
credited to it or not otherwise credited 
in this paper,  and also the local news
published herein.  All rights of republication
of special despatches herein are also reserved. 
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1933
NOURMAHAL
Now that Vincent Astor's big
yacht has served the coming President 
on his last vacation before taking 
office, it will no resume poking 
around the islands of the equator for[*Letters to Editors
Nov. 2, 1932*]
[*New Haven Journal Courier
Oct 25 1932*]
"OFFICIAL" TREATMENT.
To the Editor:
     Sir: - Edith Berkman, who is to
be deported to Poland for being a 
member of a left-wing labor union,
is a girl of remarkable character.
She has won the affection and esteem
of many persons who do not share
her political views.
     She is dangerously ill with tuberculosis,
and is confined in the Central 
New England Sanatorium at
Rutland, Mass. Dr. John B. Hawse,
a prominent physician, lately examined
her, when she was on the point
of deportation, and pronounced her
quite unfit to travel. She is also
suffering from violent spasms of the 
diaphragm, a nervous disorder which
Dr. Hawes calls "a most distressing
and vital part of her ailment," and 
which he considers to have "an extremely
bad effect on her tuberculosis."
     The nervous trouble had its origin
in the annoyance inflicted upon her
by officials. It seems superfluous, to
say the least, to surround a frail
consumptive patient with armed
guards, or to turn a searchlight into
her room every hour during the
night to make sure she is there, on
the absurd assumption that her
friends will try to kidnap her. Dr.
Hawes writes, "A different and more
friendly atmosphere would be of the 
greatest help to her."
     On Octo. 9 she completed a year
of detention as a Federal prisoner.
Her friends are urging upon Secretary
of Labor Doak that she be
either admitted to bail, or released
on her own recognizance, for treatment
elsewhere.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, Oct. 22.


AS TO LUCY STONE
To the Editor of The Herald:
     It is pleasant to read that Jane
Addams would like to include Lucy
Stone among the 12 greatest women.
But the press report errs in  calling her
the founder of the Lucy Stone League.
That was not founded till many years
after my mother's death. Miss Addams
would not have made that mistake.
     Lucy Stone was the pioneer of woman's
rights. She converted both Susan
B. Anthony and Julia Ward Howe to
woman suffrage.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, Dec. 21.
[*12-26-32*]


PRINCE LEARNED SPANISH
To the Editor of the Post:
     Sir- Our competitors for Latin American
trade do not rely upon finding
somebody there who can speak English.
They send representatives who
can talk the tongue of those countries.
When the Prince of Wales made his
recent trip to South America, as a 
super-salesman for British goods, he
had the sense and tact to learn
Spanish first.
     This is not said to disparage the
worth of French and German. But by
all means let us include Spanish and
Portuguese, too, if we plan for trade
with Brazil.
C.M.G.
[*Nov 18 1932 (ASB)*]

[*Oct. 4 1932*]
Forced Labor in Haiti
TO THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR:
     Dr. C.C. Tansil, in his recent lecture in Washington,
gave a very one-sided account of the American occupation
of Haiti. For instance, as reported in your columns,
he said in regard to road building:
     "The Haitian males were forced to work, for under a 
law of 1864 they could be compelled to labor certain days
of the week. While they rebelled against what they
termed 'tyranny,' the United States officials were obdurate.
Haiti began to pick up."
     The United States officials wanted to build a great
military road, and to build it with unpaid labor. Under
the old law, Haitians could be required to do a few days'
work on the roads near their homes. Now all sorts of
Haitians - doctors, lawyers and merchants, as well as
peasants - were seized and made to work for a much
longer time on a road far from their homes. It is said
that they were kept behind barbed wire, and they were
certainly treated as peons. They looked upon this as an
outrage, and it led to an uprising, in which 2000 Haitians
lost their lives, according to the estimate of our own Admiral;
3000 according to the estimate of the Haitians
themselves.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Chilmark, Mass.


[*1932 Oct. 12*]
SOAKING THE POOR
To the Editor of The Republican: -
    When we urge a substantial increase
in the federal income taxes of 
millionaires and near-millionaires we
are told that we want to "soak the
rich." But almost all the schemes 
proposed and actually put over are
schemes for soaking the poor. A very
slight increase has been made in the 
tax upon the big incomes; but a tax
has now been placed on incomes
that are below the cost of a decent
living - incomes that had hitherto
been exempt from taxation.
     "Block-aid" is another device for
getting the relief money out of the 
poor instead of out of the rich, since
the poor people live in poor blocks,
and the rich people, who need no relief,
live in rich blocks, or in detached
houses. The salaries of underpaid
school teachers and other public
servants are cut; the employes
of great companies are called upon
to make "voluntary" contributions,
which really means that they must
contribute or be fired. Now the cry
is, "Share the work!" This means
that those who are now employed -
and most of whom have had their
pay cut several times already - must
have it cut again for the benefit of
the unemployed - and for the benefit
of the employer, who is to get
more workers without paying out an
extra dollar. It is impossible to follow
the course of events without
warm indignation.
     Meanwhile the multimillionaires go
to live in states like Florida, that
have no state income tax. The only
way to reach them is by a stiff federal
income tax upon the incomes in
the higher brackets.   L.M.J. [*(ASB)*]
Boston, [November] October 10, 1932.


HAND-PICKED
To the Editor of The Herald:
     The Indian "delegates" to each of
the successive round table conferences
might very well have been described as
hand-picked. They were all appointed
by the British viceroy.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, Nov. 20.
[*11-23-32*]


[*Nov. 2. 1932*]
VALUE OF SPANISH
To the Editor of the Post:
     Sir - I want to add my word as to the
worth of Spanish. Apart from its great
commercial value, which has been
stressed by your correspondents, and
apart from the large cultural value of 
the literature of old Spain, there are
real cultural treasures to be found in
the literature of Spanish America, especially
in the poets. No one who enjoys
beautiful thoughts can afford to be ignorant
of the poems of Amado Nervo
of Mexico and Gabriela Mistral of Chile.
Those who enjoy exquisitely musical
poetry will revel in the work of Ruben
Dario of Nicaragua. Colombia has a
whole galaxy of poets. One, Francisco
Botero, is a Negro, who has come up 
from the very poorest of the people by
his talent, and is now said to be looked
upon as second only to Valencia. Many
others might be cited, from different
Latin American countries. By all means
let us encourage the study of Spanish!
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL
3 Monadnock street, Boston.

ONLY A PROFESSOR
[*11-8-32*]
To the Editor of the republican:-
     An amusing story was told the other night at the Ford Hall forum in Boston by Prof Douglas C. MacIntosh, who is refused American citizenship because he says he would not fight in a war which he thought unjust. He told of this first trouble with the immigration authorities 23 years ago, when he left Canada to go to Yale. The inspector on the train said, "Are you going to the United States to work?"
     "Yes."
     "Have you got a job?"
     "Yes."
     "Where was the contract signed?"
     "In Canada."
     "Then you must get off at the next station. You cannot enter the United States."
     Prof MacIntosh answered, "But the President of the United States is a member of the corporation that has hired me."
     The inspector looked puzzled. "What are you going to do?" he asked.
     "I am going to be a professor at Yale university." (At this time President Taft was a member of the university corporation.)
     "Oh, well," said the inspector, "if you are going to be a professor, you can enter. I thought you said you were going to work."
      ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, November 15, 1932

SHARING THE WORK
To the Editor of the Republican:-
     "Share the work" really means, "Force the poor to share their wages." What a howl would go up if it were proposed to cut out as large a slice of the unearned incomes as is now being cut out of the earned ones!
    ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, January 14, 1933.
[*Jan 16 1933*]

CONVINCING
     MISS ALICE STONE BLACKWELL
has been looking up the statistics
of divorce in this country. The information
she has at hand, showing as it
does that one marriage out of eight
ends in a legal separation, is very disquieting.
But, as Miss Blackwell has
pointed out in a letter to the New
York Times, there is a brighter side to
the picture.
     Among the graduates of colleges for
women there is only one divorce to 55
marriages. Evidently the educated
woman gets on far better with a husband
than her less learned sister who
stopped school after obtaining her high
school diploma or after being "finished"
at some seminary.
     There is, however, a group which is
less likely to run onto the rocks - [?re]
marriages are broken up than the 
graduates of women's colleges. If the
product of a coeducational college
takes a husband the chances are 75
to 1 that she will keep him as long as
they both shall live.
     Apparently getting a divorce is not
a proof of smartness and certainly not
of culture. As a matter of smooth
and happy living education seems to
be distinctly a success. And coeducation
is even better.
     For the past half-century prophets
of evil have been moaning that education
unfitted a girl for family life.
This can be said no longer by those
who look at the divorce ratios.

Education and Divorce
To the Editor of The New York Times:
     In the United States at large we
have about one divorce to eight
marriages. Among the graduates
of the women's colleges there is 
one divorce to fifty-five marriages,
and among the women graduates of
co-educational colleges one divorce
to seventy-five marriages. Evidently
they make better wives than
the average, and also have more
judgment in picking out young men
who will make good husbands. And
the best showing of all is made by
the co-educational colleges.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, Mass., March 29, 1933.
[*March 31., 193*]
[*Letter to Ed*][*ASB - Letters to Ed-*]
[*Boston Herald*]
[*Nov. 14, 1927*]

DEPLORES RACE PREJUDICE
To the Editor of the Herald:
     The discussion of color prejudice in 
the "Causerie" suggests some reflections. 
     The writer mentions that a colored 
man who was excluded from a barber 
shop and a colored women who was 
excluded from a normal school of gymnastics 
recovered damages.  He points 
out the fact--it is a fact, though regrettable--
that many white persons in 
Boston dislike contact with colored 
people.  He asks: "If it is illegal to 
bar persons of color from hotels, theatres, 
schools and conveyances, and the 
majority of the voting public who 
make the law really want them barred, 
there would seem to be inconsistency 
somewhere."
     In my opinion, the majority do not 
want them legally barred.  There is an 
inconsistency, but it is the kind of inconsistency, that we see in many other  instances.  The very people who smuggle 
things in whenever they come home 
from Europe would not vote against 
any proposal to repeal the protective 
tariff.  They would vote against abolishing 
taxes to the government, though 
they dodge their own taxes whenever 
they can. 
     In Massachusetts, the majority of 
our citizens believe that colored persons 
ought to enjoy equal rights before 
the law, even though they may personally 
try to avoid contact with them.  
The very man who will not sit down 
by a colored person in the street car 
would oppose the introduction of Jim 
Crow cars here.   
     The writer in "Causerie" asks:  "If 
the negro's color . . . is no bar to 
companionship in hotels, on steamships 
and in trains, why don't we have 
him in the parlor and at the marriage 
alter?"  Legal rights are one thing and 
social privileges another.  A white man 
who does not want to invite a colored 
man into his parlor need not do it.  
But in Boston our bet citizens--best 
morally and intellectually--do invite 
colored friends into their parlors and 
are neither ostracized not lynched for 
it.  A white person who does not wish 
to marry a colored person need not 
do so.  If every man whom we should not 
wish to have marry our daughter were 
to be barred from the street cars, the 
street cars would have to go out of 
business.
    Most of us would probably agree with 
Prof. William Burghardt du Bois when 
asked about intermarriage.  He answered:  
"I think marriages are most 
likely to be happy and successful when 
they take place between members of 
the same racial group.  But I believe 
that a colored man has a right to marry 
anybody who is willing to marry him."  
That is the law in Massachusetts.
     Good citizens ought to hit race prejudice 
wherever it shows its ugly head.  
It exists not only against the negroes, 
but against the Jews, and with many 
persons, against all foreigners.  Give 
it an inch and it will try to take an 
ell.   A. S. BELKNAP. 
Boston, Nov. 9.
[*(Alice Stone Blackwell)*]MERELY A PROF.
To the Editor:
     Sir: - An amusing story was told
the other night at the Ford Hall
Forum in Boston by Prof. Douglas
C. MacIntosh, who is refused American
citizenship because he says he
would not fight in a war which he
thought unjust. He told of his first
trouble with the immigration authorities
23 years ago, when he left
Canada to go to Yale. The inspector
on the train said, "Are you going to 
the United States to work?"
     "Yes."
     "Have you got a job?"
     "Yes."
     "Where was the contract signed?"
     "In Canada."
     "Then you must get off at the next
station. You cannot enter the United
States."
    Prof. MacIntosh answered, "But
the President of the United States is
a member of the corporation that
has hired me."
    The inspector looked puzzled.
"What are you going to do?" he
asked.
     "I am going to be a professor at
Yale University." (At this time
President Taft was a member of the 
university corporation.)
     "Oh, well," said the inspector, "if
you are going to be a professor, you
can enter. I thought you said you
were going to work"
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, November 14. [*1934*]


Springfield Republican
SPRINGFIELD, SAT., NOV 4, 1933
TURKEY AND INDIA
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     Turkey is getting a good many bouquets
on its 10th anniversary. Some
friends of home rule for India think
it inconsistent that the allies should
have been willing to concede full national
independence to Turkey 10 years
ago, while India, 14 years after the
war, is still kept under a complete
British dictatorship.
     The Hindus are more intelligent
than the Turks. The occasional riots
between Hindus and Moslems in India
are said to require the continuance of
British rule; but they have never been
half so bad or so bloody as the Armenian
massacres in Turkey.
     We do not grudge home rule to the
Turks; but it is hard to see why it
should be conceded to Turkey and refused
to India.   T.M.J.
Boston, November 2, 1933.


A SOCIALIST DIAGNOSIS
[*Dec. 30 1932*]
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     "Must we starve?" was the title
of a striking address lately given
by Scott Nearing before the Ford
Hall forum in Boston. There was a
great crowd, and hundreds were turned 
away.
     Starvation, Scott Nearing said, was
one of the oldest foes of the human
race. In America and western Europe,
we thought we had got the better
of it. Two men, however, predicted
that widespread starvation was
ahead - Malthus and Karl Marx.
Malthus believed there would be
starvation because the human race
would multiply so fast as to outrun
the food supply. Experience had
proved him to be wrong. The Mississippi
valley could feed the whole
human race, even if it should double
or triple in numbers.
     While Malthus expected starvation
due to scarcity of food, Marx predicted
that we should have starvation
in the midst of "a paradise of plenty."
This is what has happened. Marx
held that it would come inevitably
with the development of the capitalist
system, under which the owning
group pays the workers only part of
the product of their work, and keeps
the rest as profits. Periodically, the
profits accumulate till they clog the
machinery of business. Then the
workers cannot find work, and money
cannot find a profitable investment;
and this is bound to grow
worse and worse.
     The capitalist system is more highly
developed in America than anywhere
else, Germany and England
coming next; so the United States
has today the largest number of people
who must starve unless fed by
private charity or public relief and 
Germany and England come next.
     Nearing said it was surprising how
few people in this country had read
Marx's book, "Capital." It is now the
economic Bible of a large part of
Europe. It foretells exactly what is
now happening before our eyes. (I
was one of those who had never read
it, and I made up my mind to do so.)
     Nearing's conclusion was that we
must starve, or live on charity, if
we continue the capitalist system;
but that we need not continue it.
C.M.G.
Boston, December 26, 1932.


RANSOMS
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     Laws forbidding the payment of a 
ransom to kidnappers will be harder
to enforce than prohibition. With
many of our people, an abstract respect
for law has been too weak to
make them give up the pleasure of a 
glass of liquor. Will it be strong
enough to make them sacrifice the
life of a beloved child?
     The kidnappers should be attacked
by every means that is likely to prove
effective; but this is a stupid way to 
try to do it.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Chilmark, August 5, 1933.


IN THE "POWER AGE"
To the Editor of the Post:
     Sir - A remarkable article is contributed
to one of the current magazines
by Walter L. Polakov on the
extent to which electricity has revolutionized
our industries. He says we
are no longer living in the machine
age, but in the power age. In answer
to the charge that the new inventions
throw men out of work, he says:
     "If, instead of dropping men from
the payrolls, we would drop off hours
of work, allowing science and engineering
to create leisure, security and higher
culture, and if for these shortened
hours we would pay more, in proportion
to increased productivity, instead
of less in proportion to restricted sales,
the stimulated use of more power would
soon restore our stability."    L.M.J. [*(ASB)
Jan. 13, 1933*]


"UNEMPLOYED ROBOTS"  [*1933*]
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     "One Billion Unemployed Robots" is 
the title of a remarkable article by
Walter L. Polakov in the New Republic
of the 4th. It shows how the
introduction and improved use of 
electric power have revolutionized our
industries. The writer says we are no
longer living in the machine age but
in the power age. His concluding
words are worth study: -
     " 'If your electric eyes and vacuum
tubes are replacing human labor and 
throwing men out of work,' asks an
editorial in Electronics, 'what real advantage
are they to society as now
constituted?' There is but one answer.
The new power production is
a very real danger 'to society as now
constituted.' It is as dangerous as a
high explosive in the hands of a baby
or a maniac. But if, instead of
dropping men from the pay rolls, we
would drop off hours of work, allowing
science and engineering to create
leisure, security and higher culture,
and if for these shortened hours we
would pay more, in proportion to increased
productivity, instead of less
in proportion to restricted sales, the
stimulated use of more power would
soon restore our stability." L.M.J. [*(ASB)*]
Boston, January 5, 1933.  [*Jan 6*]


SALES TAX DEFEATED
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     The Oregon Legislature adopted a
sales tax; but it was referred to the
voters, and the people have defeated
it, 3 to 1. A sales tax is thoroughly
vicious, for it throws the main load
of taxation upon the poor. Three
cheers for Oregon!   H.T.U. [*-ASB*]
Boston, August 5, 1933.Letters to Editors

Our Mail Bag
Voters, Men and Women,
Err, Learn by Experience
To the Editor of The Herald:
     A correspondent of The Herald, who
is so ill-informed that he is not sure
women can now vote throughout the
United States, calls for the repeal of
woman suffrage, because a number of 
women gave him foolish reasons for
the way they meant to vote. He should
ponder the words of the immortal Mrs.
Poyser: "I am not denying that
women are foolish. God Almighty made
them to match the men!"
    He might also think over the prediction
made by Col. Thomas Wentworth
Higginson, who was a great champion
of women in his day. He said: "When
women have the ballot, they will often
vote ignorantly, or angrily, or selfishly,
just as men do; and they have the
same right that men have to make
these mistakes, and to learn by them."
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, Nov. 13.

A CRUEL HUMBUG
To the Editor of the Post:
     Sir - There is a great drive of propaganda
going on in behalf of a sales tax.
Do not let us be fooled by pretty
phrases.
     We are told it would produce "ample
revenue." This means that it will take
a huge sum of money out of the public.
We are told our system of taxation
ought to be "more broadly based."
This means that taxation ought to be
extended to those of our people who
are so poor that they have hitherto
been exempt from direct taxation.
Finally, we are told that this would
be a "painless" way to raise the 
money. As if there would be no pain
when a man so poor that he can hardly
live has to pay a few cents extra
on every little purchase he makes! It
is a cruel humbug.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL
Chilmark Aug 5/33


A DANGEROUS TAX
To the Editor of the Post:
     Sir-Let me thank you for your editorial,
"A Dangerous Tax." The salt
tax has been abolished by almost all
civilized countries where the people
have any voice in their own affairs. The
persistence of the British government
in maintaining it in India has long been
a root of bitterness.
     Three committees of Englishmen were
lately sent to India to investigate and
make recommendations to the British
Parliament as to what form the proposed
new constitution for India shall
take. The committee on finance has
reported. It recommends the continuance
of the salt tax and all the other
old unpopular taxes, with an additional
tax upon matches-another tax that
fails with disproportionate weight upon
the poor.
(ASB) C.M.G.


Bolivar.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
     The celebration of Bolivar's anniversary
recalls the lines in his honor by
the Colombian poet Rafael Pombo,
which may be thus translated into English:
Thou fillest all of South America;
From the Atlantic shore to Potosi,
No snake, no brier that did not wound
thy feet,
No palm that did not wave to honor
thee!
Hero, thy last antagonist is Time.
Thy triumph waxes as the years decay;
For even our errors and our meannesses
Make thee stand out still greater every
day.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Chilmark, Mass., July 28, 1933.


TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1933
MODEL OF ILLIBERALITY
To the Editor of the Post:
     Sir-The women of the Philippines
will not be the first woman in the 
Orient to vote. When China first became
a republic, women not only voted
but were chosen to parliament. In India
women vote, though under narrow
restrictions. The newly-granted provincial
franchise is a model of illiberality.
It is as if Massachusetts were
ruled by some foreign power- say
Japan-and it decreed that there should
be just three women members of our
State Legislature, neither less nor more;
these three to be elected by women
only, but the women to have no vote
for any of the other members.
     Three committees of Britons had been
sent to India to investigate and recommend
how much more freedom India
ought to have, if any. Almost all the 
Indian women who appeared before the
committee which dealt with the franchise
said they would rather form part
of the general electorate; but no regard
was paid to their wishes.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
3 Monadnock street, Boston.

HITS NEW TAX BILL
To the Editor of the Post:
     Sir-Let me thank you warmly for
your editorial against the increased
burden thrown upon the very small incomes
by the new tax bill. It reaches
down into the pockets of those who lack
enough to live upon decently, and who
have always hitherto been exempt for
that reason, instead of getting the
needed money from the well to do, the
only people who could pay it without
suffering. It is indeed, as you say, a
betrayal of the public.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston.


People's Forum
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
To the Editor of the Forum:
     Sir-The Christian Register of
May 19 has a ripping good editorial
on the Lindbergh case. It says, in
part:
     "The actual criminals are not at
this moment identified, but there
are certain accomplices, accessories
before the fact, who should be
recognized at once as criminally responsible.
     "Who are these accomplices?"
     "They are the citizens of this
country who have promoted and encouraged
lawlessness and the subversion
of government; the people
who have been patrons, and liberal
patrons, of illicit traffic of all kinds;
the people who have stood facing the
flag, their right hands outstretched
in the pledge of allegiance, while
their left hands have been distributing
largesse, spreading corruption,
among sworn officers of government,
supporting and strengthening traffic
operated in contravention of law;
the people who have betrayed their
flag while saluting it; the followers
of Judas, not manly enough to defy
government, but wretched and sordid
enough to undermine it in clandestine 
commerce.
     "Who is responsible?"
     "Every man who bribes a public
official; every man who gives a policeman
a cigar for a parking privilege;
every man who pays money
to a bootlegger; every man who
gives comfort or support to the enemies
within his country; every man
who seeks to corrupt the officers
whom he has elected to administer
the laws; every man who in small,
selfish, underhanded ways is disloyal
to the government of the
United States of America."
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, May 20. 1933

VERDICT DEPLORED IN SOUTH
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     It is pleasant to see that the shameful
verdict in the Scottsboro case
meets with disapproval in the South.
Many newspapers uphold it, but others
condemn it in the strongest terms.
     The Richmond Times-Dispatch says:
"The apparent lack of fairness in trying 
these seven hapless Negroes is
deplored by the vast majority of
southerners." The News Leader of the
same city says, "The men are being
sentence to death primarily because
they are black. The second trial confirmed
all the suspicions aroused by
the first."
     The Raleigh News and Observer,
Josephus Daniel's paper, calls it "an
outrageous verdict," and says:
"Southerners have a deeper interest
in the case than people elsewhere,
since all southern justice in the eyes
of the world will be discredited by
the shocking verdict in Decatur."
     The Chattanooga News blames both
sides for stirring up local feeling. It
says: "The Scottsboro case was a
battle of prejudices. Indeed, it has
become such a mixture of propaganda
and prejudice that we cannot
conceive of a civilized community
taking human lives on the strength of
the miserable affair."   T.N.R. (ASB)
Boston, April 24, 1933.


Letters to the Monitor
Tom Brown in America
TO THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR:
     Many readers who have enjoyed the "Tom
Brown" stories will be interested in this account
of Thomas Hughes's American colony,
sent me by a friend from Rugby, Tenn.:
     This deserted village, he says, has an interesting
history. Fifty-four years ago, Thomas
Hughes (author of "Tom Brown at Rugby")
came over from England, seeking a location
for a colony of young Englishmen who wanted
to spread out in a new land. His aim and 
hope was to work out some form of Christian
Socialism, under the aegis of the Church of
England, or its American branch. A dozen or
more families came from England, and were
joined by sympathizers from New England
and from Cincinnati, making about fifty
families in all, and they bought 40,000 acres
of land in the Cumberland mountains of 
Tennessee.
     Like most colonies of idealists, they knew
very little about farming, and less about business,
and the scheme gradually disintegrated.
Now there are half a dozen of the original
settlers left, with their descendants, and a 
few newcomers, and most of the old houses
stand vacant or have burned. A pretty little
Gothic church, a school building, a library of
7000 volumes (a memorial to Thomas
Hughes) and a dozen homes constitute the
village.
     What impresses me is the caliber of the 
people. The idealism of their forebears has
stamped them with an eager reaching out
for the things of the spirit. The man who
delivers our milk is one of the original young
Englishmen. His grandfather was a bishop of
Calcutta, and his father was curate to Queen
Alexandra when she was Princess of Wales.
He is gentle, unassuming, and absorbed in
his rather limited range of reading.
     A charming neighbor, whose father from
Cincinnati was one of the original settlers,
keeps us supplied with books and magazines.
Two sisters, fine women, do unceasing work
for their mountain neighbors.
     Uppington House was built for Thomas
Hughes's mother. The original is in Berkshire,
where Thomas Hughes was born, his 
grandfather being rector. All the houses here
bear the names of the owners' homes in England.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL
Chilmark, Mass.
Aug 30, 1934



RUSSIANS EAGER FOR PEACE
Sentiment Shared by Army Officers -
Soldiers Help in Harvesting
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     President Roosevelt says his main
object in recognizing Russia was to
promote world peace. In a recent address
in Boston, Anna Louise Strong
said that in Russia the eagerness for
peace is universal. She has been in
that country longer than any other
American; she speaks Russian, and
her work as a journalist has taken
her all over Russia.
     The Red army, she says, is strictly
for defense. Its members spend less
than half their time in military practice,
and the rest in receiving education.
All the soldiers are taught trades;
and they help out in all kinds of 
civilian emergencies. She visited a 
collective farm that was short of
hands to get in the harvest. They had
appealed for soldiers to help them,
and 270 had been sent. The personnel
of this collective farm included 50
Americans and a few thousand Russians.
     Until the soldiers came, the Americans
had been the star workers; but
the soldiers beat them. As haste was
urgent to save the grain, the Americans
worked right along till they were
utterly exhausted. The next day they
were not good for much. The operations
of the soldiers were timed by a 
bugle. They worked for 50 minutes,
then rested for 10 minutes, then
worked for 50 minutes more, and so
on. They made much more rapid progress,
and were not used up at night.
(This is said to have been the way
in which Stonewall Jackson was able
to make such amazing marches during 
our own Civil war. At intervals
he made his man lie flat on the ground
and rest for 15 minutes.)
     The next day the soldiers asked the
farm people if they were getting any
baths. The far was 15 miles from
the river, and in the rush of harvesting
they were going unwashed. The
soldiers had water carted over from
the river, and each soldier got a 
shower-bath every night. Then they
asked the farm people if they were
getting any newspapers. They were
40 miles from a railroad, and had not
seen a paper for three weeks. The
soldiers were getting papers. They
offered to secure them for the farm
people, and advised them to have the 
paper read aloud at supper. Another
day they made suggestions about sanitation,
etc.; and it was all done so
tactfully that no one felt off[?]
The soldiers had been taught how [?]
impart such information to the peasants.
     Miss Strong had talked with officers
of the Red army, and found that they
all wished for peace. They are absorbingly
interested in the five-year
plan, with which war would interfere.
According to socialist theory, another
world war would lead to a world revolution:
but they no longer believe
that a world war is necessary in order
to have a world revolution; and,
in view of the great destructiveness
of the new methods of warfare, they
fear that another world war would
destroy not only capitalism but civilization.
Russia, Miss Strong says, is
solidly and genuinely for peace.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, November 25, 1933.


THE ARMENIAN SUFFERERS
[*Oct 16 - 1916*]
To the Editor of the Transcript:
     May I add my word in behalf of the appeal
for the Armenian relief fund?
     The hundreds of thousands, now on the 
brink of death, are almost wholly women
and children. They have gone through indescribable
sufferings. They are innocent
of any offence; and they are perishing in
multitudes every day. If relief is to do
them any good, it must come quickly. Contributions
should be sent to Henry D.
Forbes, National Shawmut Bank, Boston.
     Lord Bryce's report, just out, shows on
the testimony of many American and European
eye-witnesses that cruelties have
been committed which have no parallel in
modern history. The appeal comes with
especial force to those of us who have for
years had many personal friends among
the Armenians, and who know their worth.
Two Red Cross nurses, in Bryce's report,
tell how they saw one of the many long
processions on the way to death:
     "One day we met a company of exiles
who had said goodby to their prosperous
villages and were on their way to Kamakh
Boghaz. We had to draw up a long time
by the roadside while they marched past.
The scene will never be forgotten: a very
small number of elderly men, a large number
of women - vigorous figures, with energetic
features - a crowd of pretty children,
some of them fair and blue-eyed, one little
girl smiling at the strangeness of all she
was seeing, but on all the other features
the solemnity of death. . .  And so they
passed, some of them greeting us on the 
way--all these poor people, who are now
standing at the throne of God, and whose
cry goes up before Him."
     How well we can picture those pretty
children, and the vigorous faces of the
elders, we who know the Armenians! What
a loss to the world that so much fine human
material should have been so ruthlessly 
destroyed!
     If the survivors are to be saved, $200,000
must be raised within the next few days.
Everyone with a human heart should help.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL
Dorchester, Mass.


[*Letters to Ed*]
BRITISH RULE AGAIN
To the Editor of The Republican: -
   A "British Subject" declares in The
Republican that without British rule,
Hindus and Moslems would destroy
each other. But riots between Hindus
and Moslems are much more frequent
in British India than in the part of 
the country that is ruled by Indian
princes. Various explanations of this
have been offered; but the fact itself
is beyond dispute.
     Most Indians, and many foreign observers,
believe that the British authorities
in India rejoice in the disagreements
between Hindus and Moslems,
and have sometimes deliberately
fostered them. The British policy
in India has always been "divide and 
rule" This has been frankly acknowledged
by Lord Elphinstone and others.
     Hindu and Moslem rioting has been
particularly bad under the present
viceroy, perhaps because of the atmosphere
of violence that he has created
and encouraged. Peter Freeman,
ex-member of Parliament, has described
the brutal beating up of a
group of peaceful home rulers in
Madras, of which he was an eyewitness.
He said such sights could be
seen in almost every large city of
India.
     Dr. H.C.E. Zacharias, who has just
written a big book on India, says of 
the policy of the present administration:
"Surely the notion that if only
you hit Indians hard enough over the 
head they are bound to love you and 
become good customers of yours, is
the last word in silliness."
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Chilmark, August 9, 1933.


RUSSIA'S RED ARMY
To the Editors of The Republican: -
     Walter Duranty, the able Moscow
correspondent of the New York Times,
is not a eulogist of the Bolsheviki, but
he is emphatic in his opinion that
Russia's "Red army" is no menace to
the outside world. In the ninth of a 
series of articles which he is writing
from Paris to the Times, he says: -
     "As to the true purpose of the Red
army and the whole gigantic scheme
of military preparation, your correspondent
is prepared to stake his reputation
on the fact that at present it
is purely defensive, and, for all he
can see now, will be so in the future.
Europe's nightmares of a "Red horde'
sweeping forward to world conquest
are, in this correspondent's opinion,
either anti-Soviet propaganda, 'tout
court', or atavistic bogies of Attila,
Tamerlane and the Turks.
     "Previous dispatches have shown
how 'self-contained' Stalinism is, and 
how thoroughly it had adopted Voltaire's
advice to 'cultivate your own
garden.' The Soviet's garden is big
enough and rich enough in all conscience
to be worth cultivating, but
one must never forget that the Bolsheviki
themselves are still haunted
by their own bogy of capitalist intervention,
and, whether one hates the
Bolsheviki or approves of them, or is
wholly indifferent, it cannot be denied
that the years 1918 and 1920 gave
them certain ground for misgivings
on the subject."
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, June 30, 1931.(?) copy
HE BOSTON HERALD, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1939
Race and Suffrage
To the Editor of The Herald:
     The allusion to Susan B. Anthony
and Lucy Stone, quoted in your recent
editorial, calls for a little explanation.
     When the fourteenth amendment
to the United States constitution
was being put into shape both
Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone
tried hard to have it changed so as
to give nationwide suffrage to women,
not merely to colored men.
     Lucy Stone went to Washington
and labored with Charles Sumner,
who had the amendment in charge,
urging him to include the women.
He believed in woman suffrage, but
did not favor including it in the 
amendment, as he was sure this
would make the adoption of the
amendment impossible. He told her
that he had sat up all one night
and had rewritten the amendment
fourteen times in the effort to avoid
using the word "male," but he could
not express his meaning without it.
     Miss Anthony thought that unless
the women could be included the
amendment ought not to pass.
Lucy Stone said it was a "very sad
condition of powerlessness and helplessness
to be without a vote, and
that she could not lift a hand to
keep the black man from getting
out of that terrible pit."
     Susan B. Anthony, when the effort
to include the women failed,
worked hard to defeat the whole
amendment.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Cambridge.


A MODERN VERSION
To the Editor of The Herald:
     You remark that "the insane person
often differs from the rest of us in his
disdain of half-way measures."
     This recalls some lines from Arthur
Hugh Clough's modern version of the
Ten Commandments:
"Thou shalt not kill - but needst not
strive
Officiously to keep alive.
Thou shalt not covet - but tradition
Approves all forms of competition."
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Dorchester, Feb. 13.


Springfield Republican June 30 1942
Springfield Republic
TRIBUTE TO THE PRESIDENT
By a Poet of the Republic of 
Colombia
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     President Roosevelt has made a 
deep impression upon our Latin-American
neighbors.
     A Colombian poet, Alfredo Gomez
Jaime, sent me a poem, "To Roosevelt."
This version was made for
The Republican, at my request, by
Mary Francisco Carroll. The poem
was interesting to me. I hope it 
will be of interest to your readers.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Cambridge, June 28, 1942.

Roosevelt
[Alfredo Gomez Jaime]
Great lord of America, gallant admiral,
who governs the ship of the world
powerfully
'mid the perils of the storm:
The violent passion of the elect encourages
you
and from the prow you gaze upon the
turmoil
with the clear smile of peace.

You are strength and soul:
Your hand of steel and gold
Beneath its silken gloves hides
Its imperial force:
the hand of a giant that with firm
insistence
placed at the throat of tyranny
will turn into moaning its vain exaltation.

On a Cyclopean anvil,
by thunderous blows,
You sharpen the swords of liberty.
And magnificent, firm, at peace in its
exploit
Rises your silhouet like a mountain
O'er the mad river of humanity.

Over there, against the canvas of the 
horizon
cutting across plains and splitting
forests,
the symbols of death, destruction and
havoc,
the tragic horsemen of the Apocalypse,
turn midst flames, in magic circles
filling the earth with horror and 
pain.

And you, oh citizen of free America,
stanch before the whirlpool of the 
Homeric struggle,
with neither saber at your waist nor
marital pomp,
govern the impulses of a proud people
that in its cyclopean arms of a giant
will make the forces of evil perish!

Only you who know how to turn
aside hurricanes,
who subdues storms and humbles
Titans,
master of an army that no one
dreamt of:
upon stretching out your right hand
o'er the boundaries,
you will be able proudly
to subject by their rough manes
the wooden horses of fire that the
prophet saw.
It makes no difference, admiral, that
an enraged sea
shakes the ship of the world between
thunderbolts
and that it should wish to dash it
against stones.
There is one eye that illuminates the
sky,
blue, exquisite: your noble desires,
it shall see triumph, in eternity.

'Tis God, who midst the abundance
of blood and weeping,
makes to flourish, conquering the
consternation,
the great dawn of eternity. . . .
Because in His burning, infinite
crucibles,
in which He forges geniuses and 
melts suns,
He prepares the future of humanity.
The Woman on a Pedestal.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN - Sir: The anti-suffrage
theory of the woman on a pedestal has
seldom been better taken off than in the following
lines entitled "The Kittens and the Model," recently
written by an English suffragist:
"On a nice chiffonier, on a bright little mat,
Sat a perfectly beautiful crockery cat,
So prim and so proper, so smiling and neat,
And her crockery kittens were grouped at her feet.
Said Fluff to her sister, 'Oh, look! Only see!
That cat is a model of what we should be.
If we curl our tails stiffly and sit upon mats
We may presently grow into beautiful cats!
That cat never hunts, and she never climbs tree;
She doesn't chase leaves that are blown by the
breeze,
Or play with a ball or the end of a string;
Oh, no! She would never attempt such a thing!
We must give up such habits and imitate her.
I wonder if it is improper to purr?
It is plain that no cat ought to work or to play;
She should sit on a mat with her kittens all day!'
Her sister said, 'Rubbish!' (She was not polite,
But still I consider her sentiments right.)
We mustn't do nothing but simper and smirk;
Our muscles and claws were intended for work!
I won't change my habits, however you fuss,
For man made that model, but Nature made us!"
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
DORCHESTER, MASS. December 11 1909


Believes Women Succeed Slowly
in Effecting Legal Changes.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
     A correspondent points to "salutary changes"
obtained by women and argues that women do
not need a vote. It is true that a great many
legal changes for women's benefit have been
secured - mainly by the hard work of the suffragists -
but how long did it take to get them?
In Massachusetts it took fifty-five years to get
the law making mothers equal guardians of
their children with the fathers. In thirty-four
out of the forty-six States the father is still
the sole guardian.
     If women were forbidden to use the railroad
across the continent and complained of the injustice,
it would be no answer to tell them
that it is possible to get from New York to
San Francisco by going around Cape Horn.
     Your correspondent quotes Henry Ward
Beecher on the power of indirect influence.
Mr. Beecher was the first President of the 
American Woman Suffrage Association. In a
speech delivered half a century ago, he pointed
out that all the people and interests opposed to
having any good object accomplished are in
favor of limiting women to "indirect influence"
in bringing it about. This is just as 
true to-day. Every vicious interest in the 
United States, to which women are hostile,
would rather take its chance with women's indirect
influence than run the risk of women's
vote.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Dorchester, Mass., Nov. 9, 1909.  Dec 4/09


IN BAD COMPANY
9-20-30
To the Editor of the Transcript:
     "I hear you said every Democrat is a 
horse-thief. Is that so?" a neighbor once
asked an old-line Republican. He answered,
"No. What I did say was that 
every horse-thief is a Democrat; and that
I will stand to."
     Not everybody who is opposed to prohibition
wants the saloon back; but everybody
who wants the saloon back is opposed
to prohibition; and in Massachusetts
everybody who wants the saloon
back wants to scrap our State enforcement
act, as a first step towards it.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Chilmark, Sept. 19.
Gandhi Today
Editor of UNITY:
     The recent attempt to kill Gandhi with a bomb is
the second attack lately made upon him. Both were
due to the anger of the more bigoted element among
the orthodox Hindus at the rapid progress of the movement
to do away with untouchability.
     Gandhi has been making a speaking tour through
India in behalf of the untouchables, with enormous
audiences and much enthusiasm. At Deogarh, a crowd
of orthodox Hindus rained blows upon his car with
their lathis (bludgeons), almost bringing down the hood,
which would probably have suffocated the inmates.
Others lay down across the road so that the car could
not go on without running over them. Gandhi's friends
hauled them away; but Gandhi left the car, and walked
more than a mile, alone and unarmed, to the place of
meeting. He was surrounded by orthodox Hindus
carrying bludgeons and black flags; but no one ventured
to touch him.
     A large group of his opponents entered the meeting
to break it up. Gandhi bowed to them, smiling, and 
told them that such tactics were unworthy of orthodox
Hindus. They began singing, to drown his voice; but,
as he kept on speaking to them, they quieted down and 
listened. Miss Muriel Lester says in a press interview;
"It was a real victory for non-violence."
     Gandhi is now continuing his tour on foot.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL
Boston, Mass.
July 23, 1934
UnitySpringfield Republican Jan 31, 1934
MUSSOLINI AND HITLER
Notes of an Address by Prof Salvemini
of Harvard
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     Many Americans are somewhat in
love with Fascism at a distance. They
should have heard the address on
"The Corporate State" given the
other day by Dr. Gaetano Salvemini,
professor of Italian history at Harvard,
before the school of politics conducted
jointly by the Massachusetts
League of Women Voters and Radcliffe
college.
     In Italy, he said, only one party is
allowed to exist. There is no freedom
of speech, or of the press. Mussolini
said: "I decree that capital and labor
shall have equal rights, and live like
brothers in the Fascist family." But
it has not worked out in that way. In
each province there are six associations
of employers, six of employes
and one of the professional men. The officers
of all these organizations are
appointed by Mussolini and are removeable
by him. The large employers
and the great industrialists confer,
and tell Mussolini whom they
would like to have appointed to represent
the employers, and he makes
the appointment accordingly. But
neither the small business men, nor
the professional men, nor the workers
have any voice in the matter.
     The officers of the labor organizations
are imposed upon them from
above, to control them. They have no
say as to how many hours they shall
work, what pay they shall get, or
what fines they must pay if they express
dissatisfaction. On the tribunals
set up to settle disputes, the workers
have no representation. Strikes are
forbidden, and are punishable with
seven years in prison. "Fascism is a 
big bureaucracy, which controls labor
solely in the interest of the great employers," 
said Prof Salvemini.
     In answer to the question, "What
are the personal relations between
Hitler and Mussolini?" he said: "Mussolini
is like a cat that has given
birth to a tiger. While Hitler was
making his campaign, he had the enthusiastic
support of all the Italian
newspapers" - which, of course, are
all under government control. "When
he was elected, they all expressed
jubilation for three days. Then the 
enthusiasm died down, and the relations
now are cool. Mussolini used to 
be, the biggest dictator in Europe.
Now he is no longer so, and he does
not like it. He used to be able to 
make saber-rattling speeches with
impunity, though he does not really
want war. Now Hitler could bring on
war at any time; and the cat has retreated
before the tiger."
     In answer to a question whether
Mussolini's rule was approved by the
majority. Prof Salvemini said that if
it were it would not be necessary to
keep a huge armed force at every
point, ready to put down any manifestation
of discontent, nor to muzzle
the press so closely and penalize all
dissent. In the last five years, the
special tribunals appointed to deal
with cases of disaffection have sent
3000 persons to prison. He believes
that, in a free election, Mussolini
would be defined five to one.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, January 28, 1934.
A Friend of Pit Ponies
TO THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR:
     The appeal made in The Christian Science Monitor in behalf
of the pit ponies is very touching.
     Keir Hardie, the Scottish Labor member of Parliament
worked in a coal pit in his youth. Sylvia Pankhurst says, in
"The Suffrage Movement":
     He had plaintive recollections of the hard lot of the pit ponies
he knew in his boyhood. The dearest of them was Donald, whom
he rescued from the lads who were lighting a fire of straw under
him because he would not go, and who obeyed him at once, most
willingly, when he laid his hand gently on his soft nose. When
Keir Hardie moved from that pit, poor Donald plunged into a pond
and drowned himself.
     She tells another interesting story of Keir Hardie. He was
a teetotaler, but he once remarked, in joke, that when his
political principles triumphed, he would celebrate with a big
glass of lager.
     "No, no, don't break teetotal, Hardie!" Phillip Snowden pleaded
earnestly, dropping into broad Yorkshire. "You don't realize what
a great influence it has with men to be able to say that you are a 
teetotaler!"
Boston, Mass.     ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
[*July 21, 1931*]

RUSSIA'S RED ARMY
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     Walter Duranty, the able Moscow
correspondent of the New York Times,
is not a eulogist of the Bolsheviki, but
he is emphatic in his opinion that
Russia's "Red Army" is no menace to
the outside world. In the ninth of a
series of articles which he is writing
from Paris to the Times, he says: -
     "As to the true purpose of the Red
army and the whole gigantic scheme
of military preparation, your correspondent
is prepared to stake his reputation
on the fact that at present it
is purely defensive, and, for all he
can see now, will be so in the future,
Europe's nightmares to a 'Red horde'
sweeping forward to world conquest
are, in this correspondent's opinion,
either anti-Soviet propaganda, 'tout
court', or a stavistic bogies of Attila,
Tamerlane and the Turks.
     "Previous dispatches have shown
how 'self-contained' Stalinism is, and 
how thoroughly it had adopted Voltaire's
advice to 'cultivate your own
garden.' The Soviet's garden is big
enough and rich enough in all conscience
to be worth cultivating, but
one must never forget that the Bolsheviki
themselves are still haunted
by their own bogy of capitalist intervention,
and, whether one hates the
Bolsheviki or approves of them, or is
wholly indifferent, it cannot be denied
that the years 1918 and 1920 gave
them certain ground for misgivings
on the subject."
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, June 30, 1931.


SHAW AND MRS BROWNING
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     In reading your comment upon
Bernard Shaw's speech in Russia, I
was reminded of Elizabeth Barrett
Browning's poem, "A Curse for a Nation,"
written while the United States
still sanctioned Negro slavery. She
said (I quote from memory): -

"An angel came to me last night,
And he said, "Write!
Write a nation's curse for me,
And send it over the Western sea."

I faltered, taking up the word:
"Not so, my Lord:
For I am bound by gratitude,
By love and blood,
To brothers of mine beyond the sea
Who stretch out friendly hands to me."

"Therefore," the voice said, "shalt thou write
My curse tonight
From the summits of love a curse is
driven
As lightning is from the steeps of heaven."

"Not so," I answered him once more.
"My heart is sore
For my own land's sins; for little feet
Of children bleeding along the street.

"For almsgiving through a door that is
Not open enough for two friends to kiss,
For parked-up honors that gainsay
The right of way.

"For an oligarchic Parliament,
And bribes well meant.
What curse to another land assign
While heavy-souled for the sins of mine?"

"Therefore," the voice said, "shalt thou  write
My curse tonight-
Because that thou couldst see and hate
A foul thing done within thy gate."

"Not so," I answered him again,
"To curse, choose men;
For I, a woman, have only known
How the heart melts and the tears run
down."

"Therefore," the voice said, "shalt thou
write
My curse tonight,
Some women weep and curse, I say,
(And no one wonders), night and day.

"And thou shalt take their part tonight,
Weep and write.
A curse from the depths of womanhood
Is very salt, and bitter, and good."

And so I wrote, and wept indeed,
What all may read:
And thus, as was enjoined on me,
I send it over the Western sea.

     Bernard Shaw has shown himself
well able to hate "a foul thing done
within his gate," and he has also
freely blamed the bad features of the 
Bolshevik regime. He has therefore a
good right to praise its real achievements,
when he sees them.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Chilmark, July 30, 1931.


AGAINST SALES TAX
To the Editor of the Post:
     Sir-A sales tax is suggested as one
way of raising revenue. That is a 
very unjust tax, as it falls most heavily
on the poorest of the people.
     It proposes to tax you on what you
spend. The poor man has to spend
his whole income, and so he is taxed
upon his whole income. The rich man
only has to spend a small fraction of
his, and can bank the rest; so he is
taxed upon only a small part of his
income, unless he chooses to launch
out into great expenditures. It is a 
graduated income tax, graduated the
wrong way.  C.U.
[*Sept. 19 1931*]


SHAW AND MRS BROWNING
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     In reading your comment upon
Bernard Shaw's speech in Russia, I
was reminded of Elizabeth Barrett
Browning's poem, "A Curse for a Nation,"
written while the United States
still sanctioned Negro slavery. She
said (I quote from memory): -
"An angel came to me last night,
And he said, "Write!
Write a nation's curse for me,
And send it over the Western sea."
I faltered, taking up the word:
"Not so, my Lord:
For I am bound by gratitude,
By love and blood,
To brothers of mine beyond the sea
Who stretch out friendly hands to me."
"Therefore," the voice said, "shalt thou
write
My curse tonight
From the summits of love a curse is
driven
As lightning is from the steeps of heaven."
"Not so," I answered him once more,
"My heart is sore
For my own land's sins; for little feet
Of children bleeding along the street.
"For almsgiving through a door that is
Not open enough for two friends to kiss,
For parked-up honors that gainsay
The right of way.
"For an oligarchic Parliament,
And bribes well meant.
What curse to another land assign
While heavy-souled for the sins of mine?"
"Therefore," the voice said, "shalt thou
write
My curse tonight-
Because that thou couldst see and hate
A foul thing done within thy gate."
"Not so," I answered him again,
"To curse, choose men;
For I, a woman, have only known
How the heart melts and the tears run
down."
"Therefore," the voice said, "shalt thou
write
My curse tonight,
Some women weep and curse, I say,
(And no one wonders), night and day.
"And thou shalt take their part tonight,
Weep and write.
A curse from the depths of womanhood
Is very salt, and bitter, and good."
And so I wrote, and wept indeed,
What all may read:
And thus, as was enjoined on me,
I send it over the Western sea.
     Bernard Shaw has shown himself
well able to hate "a foul thing done
within his gate," and he has also
freely blamed the bad features of the 
Bolshevik regime. He has therefore a
good right to praise its real achievements,
when he sees them.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Chilmark, July 30, 1931.

SHAW AND MRS BROWNING
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     In reading your comment upon
Bernard Shaw's speech in Russia, I
was reminded of Elizabeth Barrett
Browning's poem, "A Curse for a Nation,"
written while the United States
still sanctioned Negro slavery. She
said (I quote from memory): -
"An angel came to me last night,
And he said, "Write!
Write a nation's curse for me,
And send it over the Western sea."
I faltered, taking up the word:
"Not so, my Lord:
For I am bound by gratitude,
By love and blood,
To brothers of mine beyond the sea
Who stretch out friendly hands to me."
"Therefore," the voice said, "shalt thou
write
My curse tonight
From the summits of love a curse is
driven
As lightning is from the steeps of heaven."
"Not so," I answered him once more,
"My heart is sore
For my own land's sins; for little feet
Of children bleeding along the street.
"For almsgiving through a door that is
Not open enough for two friends to kiss,
For parked-up honors that gainsay
The right of way.
"For an oligarchic Parliament,
And bribes well meant.
What curse to another land assign
While heavy-souled for the sins of mine?"
"Therefore," the voice said, "shalt thou
write
My curse tonight-
Because that thou couldst see and hate
A foul thing done within thy gate."
"Not so," I answered him again,
"To curse, choose men;
For I, a woman, have only known
How the heart melts and the tears run
down."
"Therefore," the voice said, "shalt thou
write
My curse tonight,
Some women weep and curse, I say,
(And no one wonders), night and day.
"And thou shalt take their part tonight,
Weep and write.
A curse from the depths of womanhood
Is very salt, and bitter, and good."
And so I wrote, and wept indeed,
What all may read:
And thus, as was enjoined on me,
I send it over the Western sea.
     Bernard Shaw has shown himself
well able to hate "a foul thing done
within his gate," and he has also
freely blamed the bad features of the 
Bolshevik regime. He has therefore a
good right to praise its real achievements,
when he sees them.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Chilmark, July 30, 1931.[*Aug 13 1931*]
WASHINGTON POST, THURSDAY
What Post 
Readers Say
Contributors to this column are
urged to use brevity in their communications.
Occasionally over-long
letters are not used because of lack
of space. Short letters - the shorter
the better - are recommended.
MISGUIDED "PATRIOTISM"
To the Editor of the Post:
     Sir-Let me thank you for your editorial
showing up the folly of the man
who wants to have all American engineers
deprived of their citizenship if
they go over to help manage tractor
factories in Russia, or otherwise to aid
in developing its natural resources.
Some of the ultra-patriots who profess
the greatest horror of Russia are eager
to have us adopt the very worst features
of the Bolshevik regime, its
tyranny and intolerance.
     Look at the scandalous case just reported
from Ohio. A sheriff, without
any process of law, has forcibly broken
up a summer camp for poor children,
and compelled their return to their
homes in several different States, because
the camp was conducted by Communists,
and the children were being
taught Communist slogans. Could anything
be more stupid, as well as more
un-American? No amount of Communist
propaganda could do so much to convince
those children that the government
is cruel and oppressive as to take
them forcibly from a place where they
were enjoying country air and kind
treatment and send them back to the
city slums. They will never forget the
lesson. If they do not become the most
extreme "reds," it will not be the fault
of that sheriff. Yet most likely he really
supposes himself to be a patriot!
C.N.T.


SHAW AND MRS BROWNING
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     In reading your comment upon
Bernard Shaw's speech in Russia, I
was reminded of Elizabeth Barrett
Browning's poem, "A Curse for a Nation,"
written while the United States
still sanctioned Negro slavery. She
said (I quote from memory): -
"An angel came to me last night,
And he said, "Write!
Write a nation's curse for me,
And send it over the Western sea."
I faltered, taking up the word:
"Not so, my Lord:
For I am bound by gratitude,
By love and blood,
To brothers of mine beyond the sea
Who stretch out friendly hands to me."
"Therefore," the voice said, "shalt thou
write
My curse tonight
From the summits of love a curse is
driven
As lightning is from the steeps of heaven."
"Not so," I answered him once more,
"My heart is sore
For my own land's sins; for little feet
Of children bleeding along the street.
"For almsgiving through a door that is
Not open enough for two friends to kiss,
For parked-up honors that gainsay
The right of way.
"For an oligarchic Parliament,
And bribes well meant.
What curse to another land assign
While heavy-souled for the sins of mine?"
"Therefore," the voice said, "shalt thou
write
My curse tonight-
Because that thou couldst see and hate
A foul thing done within thy gate."
"Not so," I answered him again.
"To curse, choose men;
For I, a woman, have only known
How the heart melts and the tears run
down."
"Therefore," the voice said, "shalt thou
write
My curse tonight,
Some women weep and curse, I say,
(And no one wonders), night and day.
"And thou shalt take their part tonight,
Weep and write,
A curse from the depths of womanhood
Is very salt, and bitter, and good."
And so I wrote, and wept indeed,
What all may read:
And thus, as was enjoined on me,
I send it over the Western sea.
     Bernard Shaw has shown himself
well able to hate "a foul thing done
within his gate," and he has also
freely blamed the bad features of the 
Bolshevik regime. He has therefore a
good right to praise its real achievements,
when he sees them.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Chilmark, July 30, 1931.


RENT IN RUSSIA
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     Single taxers have smiled over a few
words in Bernard Shaw's recent address
to the Independent Labor party.
As reported in the New York Times, he
said: -
     "In Russia they pay rent; but the
difference is that here we pay rent to
a gentleman who may go and blow it
all at Monte Carlo. In Russia you
pay rent to the local Soviet, which
uses it for public purposes, of which
you get the benefit. In other words,
the people of London are fools; the
people of Moscow are sensible."
T.G.
Chilmark, August 10, 1931.
[*Aug. 15 1931*]


[*Sept. 26 1930*]
AS TO FOREIGNERS
To the Editor of the Post:
     Sir-An amusing little play, lately
given before a gathering of club women,
has a lesson for those who may be
inclined to look down on "foreigners."
     Two girls are reading of a shooting
affair in the foreign quarter of the city,
and one of them says she wishes all
foreigners could be deported, "bag and 
baggage." Unknown to her, a ring that
she is wearing is a wishing ring, and 
things begin to happen.
     An unergetic baggage agent, "from the 
firm of Unfriendly Thoughts," comes in
and has his men ship off the telephone
to Scotland, the country of Alexander
Graham Bell; the radio to Italy, the
birthplace of Marconi; the rugs to
Persia and Turkey; the books and 
papers to Germany, which invented
printing; the china to China, etc., etc.
When the house is pretty well stripped,
a big American Indian in a feather
headdress comes in and orders the two
girls out of the country as "foreigners."
     In dismay, the young woman turns
her ring and reverses her wish; whereupon
the Indian goes away, and all the
things come back. But the girls decide
that they are "never going to take any
more chances on calling up the firm of
Unfriendly Thoughts - for baggage transfer
or any other sort of business. There
is no telling what other branches they
have!"
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL
Chilmark.


RUSSIA'S RED ARMY
To the Editor of The Republican: -
     Walter Duranty, the able Moscow
correspondent of the New York Times,
is not a eulogist of the Bolsheviki, but
he is emphatic in his opinion that
Russia's "Red army" is no menace to
the outside world. In the ninth of a 
series of articles which he is writing
from Paris to the Times, he says: -
     "As to the true purpose of the Red
army and the whole gigantic scheme
of military preparation, your correspondent
is prepared to stake his reputation
on the fact that at present it
is purely defensive, and, for all he
can see now, will be so in the future.
Europe's nightmares of a 'Red horde'
sweeping forward to world conquest
are, in this correspondent's opinion,
either anti-Soviet propaganda, 'tout
court' or atavistic bogies of Attila,
Tamerlane and the Turks.
     "Previous dispatches have shown
how 'self-contained' Stalinism is, and 
how thoroughly it had adopted Voltaire's
advice to 'cultivate your own
garden.' The Soviet's garden is big
enough and rich enough 'in all conscience
to be worth cultivating, but
one must never forget that the Bolsheviki
themselves are still haunted
by their own bogy of capitalist intervention,
and, whether one hates the
Bolsheviki or approves of them, or is
wholly indifferent, it cannot be denied
that the years 1918 and 1920 gave
them certain ground for misgivings
[on] the subject.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL
[?]ston, June 30, 1931.Commends Women Doctors
To the Editor of The Herald:
     With some surprise I have read
the letter of Betsy Crabtree about
women doctors. During the world
war the women physicians and surgeons
showed what they could do,
and won general respect and admiration.
Since then there has, undoubtedly,
been a reaction, due in
part to the lowering of morale and
the widespread demoralization that
follow every great war, in part to
the professional jealousy of the less
generous among the male physicians,
and in part to the fascist movement
which seeks to restrict all women
by force to the kitchen and nursery.
     But the New York Infirmary for
Women and Children, founded in
1857 by Drs. Elizabeth and Emily
Blackwell and Dr. Marie R. Zakrzewzka,
and staffed wholly by women
doctors, is still in successful operation.
So is our own New England
Hospital for Women and Children,
founded only a few years later, and
likewise staffed wholly by women.
Both institutions are doing much
good.
     In her "Pioneer Work for Women,"
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell describes
the obstacles that the early
women doctors had to meet. When
Johns Hopkins opened its medical
school to women, there was a brilliant
celebration. Among those taking
part in it were the wife of the
then President of the United States,
the wife of the President-elect, and
a long list of dignitaries. Dr. Emily
Blackwell said to me that this
marked the great change since the
early women doctors in New York
were almost ostracized. Hardly any
one but the Quakers would employ
them.
     Betsy Crabtree says she can think
of but few famous women doctors.
Many doctors, both men and women,
who are only locally famous, are
doing admirable work. Dr. Charlotte
J. Baker of Point Loma, Calif., has
assisted more than 1000 babies into
the world and has never lost the
life of a mother. A medical missionary
in Manchuria, only 27 years
old - Sister Maria, sent out by the
Maryknoll foreign mission - is doing
most remarkable work, medical, surgical
and philanthropic, and is almost
worshipped by the people. (By
the way, when some one is wanted
to do difficult and dangerous work
in foreign lands, without fame or 
pay, no doubt is expressed about
the competence of women.)
     Betsy Crabtree can have but a 
small and superficial acquaintance
among women doctors if she thinks
they are generally "dehumanized."
But it is true that there is still
plenty of anti-woman prejudice.
Therefore every man or woman who
believes in fair play ought to hit it,
and hit it hard, whenever it shows
its ugly head.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Cambridge.


[*A.S.B's Letters to Editors, under pseudonyms*]
[*Boston Post 1948*]
MINERS IN NEED
To the Editors of the Post:
     Sir - Let me thank you for your editorial
on the mean trick lately played
on the wives of the striking coal miners.
     One of the worst things brought out
by the Congressional investigation is
that the authorities, instead of keeping
order impartially! are bullying the
strikers, and shutting their eyes to all
the lawless violence committed against
them. 
     The suffering is extreme, from cold
and hunger, and lack of doctors for
the sick. Contributions may be sent
to the Emergency Committee for Strikers'
Relief, 156 Ffth avenue, New York
city. The money will all go for food
and medical relief.
B.S. [*Alice Stone Blackwell*]MISS BLACKWELL CAN speak
with authority at the centenary of
the birth of her mother, Lucy Stone,
which will be celebrated Aug. 13 at
Orange, N.J. Alice Stone Blackwell's
name needs no advertisement
in this state, or in any other where
the cause of woman suffrage is discussed.
She has been a consistent,
wise and constructive worker in this
cause throughout her life thus far;
and this will continue to be her dearest
undertaking throughout the remainder 
of her life. Miss Blackwell
is one of our foremost citizens - 
though she is not allowed to vote.
Some day she will vote. What her
mother did was done under great
difficulty, hardly realized today, for
though there remains today a persistent
and vigorous opposition to
the further extension of suffrage to
women, there is so unmistakable,
and so clearly an irresistible an impulse
and impetus to the equal suffrage
cause, that work done now is
done in the sun of encouragement,
and with assurance of ultimate success.
In Lucy Stone's day there was
no such external encouragement; yet
Lucy Stone was encouraged. Her
encouragement was from within -
she knew her cause was just, that it
was logical; and she knew that justice 
and logic are the greatest weapons
in the modern world, and that in
a republic they are invincible. Lucy
Stone, a pioneer in the work of giving
women the vote, is one of the
great figures in American history.
Miss Blackwell is her worthy daughter,
in whom Massachusetts takes 
pride.
CAMP JOTTINGS.
     Journeying among the Green Mountains, 
with frequent changes of cars at little 
stations, each prettier than the last, it is 
not possible to write a set editorial.  I 
can only jot down a few points which 
have struck me, not for the first time, 
during a summer sojourn in the Shaybacks' 
camp by Lake Memphremagog.
     The whole experience of the camp was 
a signal disproof of the doctrine that a 
woman is incapable of exercising government.  
A party ranging in numbers from 
fifteen to thirty-one, and consisting 
largely of young folks at the most effervescent 
age, was ruled with a rod of iron 
by one small woman.  Neither did she 
verify the idea that if by any chance such 
a lusus naturae could be found as a 
woman capable of exercising government, 
she must be a disagreeable person.  As a 
despot, our captain was equal to the Czar 
and the Sultan put together; but she was 
a benevolent despot, and possessed in 
large measure the love, as well as fear, of 
her subjects.
     Another fact illustrated in camp was 
that the college girl is not always the 
pale and spiritless being some writers like 
to depict her, wrecking her health in vain 
efforts to master Greek and Latin, and 
other subjects too hard for the feminine 
brain.  We had among our party a Vassar 
girl, a Wellesley girl, and a Smith College 
girl, all three distinguished for scholarship, 
and all three in flourishing health.  
The Vassar girl, tall and graceful as a 
lily, instead of having to be waited upon, 
was a tireless waiter upon others.  The 
Wellesley girl was as rosy and roly-poly 
as though no exceptional skill in mathematics 
lay hidden under her golden hair.  
But the Smith College girl was the most 
surprising of the trio. You would hardly 
find such a picture of blooming and 
abounding health among a hundred 
farmers' daughters taken at random.  To 
a weary and overworked woman, it was a 
cordial merely to look at her; and among 
her mates she went by the nickname of 
"Hercules."  Yet this girl, who looked as 
if she had never seen a book, had won 
the two hundred dollar prize for the best 
entrance examination at Smith College, 
and mastered without apparent effort 
lessons that taxed the best powers of her 
classmates.  All three walked, rowed, 
swam, played games and did housework 
with equal unconcern and gayety, the only
difficulty being to keep the Vassar girl 
from doing more than her share.  She 
assigned the housework among the different 
campers, and always allotted most of 
the hard and disagreeable tasks to 
herself.
     Another delusion shattered in camp was 
that women would lose their influence if 
they took to wearing divided skirts.  
Gymnastic suits were the fashionable 
camp wear; and the eye soon became 
so accustomed to them that no one 
thought anything about them.  Every 
woman enjoyed whatever degree of popularity, 
respect and "influence" her 
personal qualities entitled her to, quite 
irrespective of the divided skirts.  Indeed, 
when any one put on a long dress in order 
to pay a visit to Newport or Magog, it 
was apt to be hailed with ridicule by the 
boys, who had not yet arrived at the 
complimentary age, but were still in the 
stage of frank and blunt sincerity.
     The Shayback camp is nothing if not 
cosmopolitan.  This year it included a 
French girl, a Scotch girl and a Swedish 
girl; last year there were a German and 
an Armenian; and it is beyond computation 
how many nationalities have been 
represented since the camp was started, 
twenty years ago.  But, once in camp, 
people of all races and professions 
speedily adapt themselves to the Shayback 
atmosphere.  The camp spirit permeates 
them, as if the clear water of Lake 
Memphremagog were poured into glasses 
of different shapes:

     The water unchanged, in every case, 
     Shall put on the figure of the vase.

     The conventional woman soon shortens 
her dress; the timid one learns to sleep 
without fear in an open tent; the indolent 
one goes long distances in search of 
cardinal flowers, raspberries, or fir 
balsam; the clergyman ceases to be a 
fisher of men, and becomes instead a 
fisher of perch and lunge.  People accustomed 
to all styles of living learn to eat 
porridge and chowder with an appetite.  
A few exceptions, who could not or would 
not adapt themselves, are still quoted as 
awful warnings; but they only emphasize 
the rule.
     This year we had in our party three 
teachers of gymnastics.  One was the 
young "Duchess of Birchbay Camp," 
so called because she owns the land 
on which the camp stands.  Her health 
was as variable as the climate of 
Birchbay.  One day she would be 
bound hand and foot with rheumatism, 
walking with difficulty, supported between 
two friends.  The next she would 
perform all sorts of antics with unrivalled 
agility, and dance the Highland Fling.  
The second gymnastic teacher was a 
slender, dark-haired girl from West 
Virginia, with a face like an alabaster 
vase with a lamp inside it.  The third was 
a dark-eyed, fresh-colored Swede, less 
than a year in this country, but speaking 
English admirably, with less accent than 
the little Scotch lassie, and saying in it 
things better worth hearing than nine 
Americans out of ten.  She could give 
interesting details about the family life of 
Bjornsen and Ibsen, and was proud of 
Sophie Kovalevsky. She played Logomachy, 
profanely called "Presbyterian 
whist," with two veterans players, and 
more than once beat them -– a noteworthy 
achievement for a foreigner in a game 
that consists in making as many English 
words as possible out of a given combination 
of letters.  Better still, she was 
ready to leave beautiful cool Birchbay for 
hot New York, and sacrifice the last two 
weeks of her short vacation, in order to 
teach a penniless fellow country woman to 
give massage treatment, and thus enable 
her to earn a living.
     The world is full of quiet examples of 
courage.  A bright, handsome young 
French woman who had just come to this 
country to be a governess, bore the 
abrupt change from the heart of Paris to 
the heart of the Canadian woods with the 
spirit and gayety of her nation, the more 
admirable in this case, inasmuch as she 
had never left home before.  She hid her 
tears of homesickness, laughed at her 
own fears of robbers and of thunderstorms, 
listened with unwearying courtesy 
to our uncouth attempts at French conversation, 
and looked resolutely at the 
bright side of everything.
     Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book" was 
a favorite among the camp boys, and the 
most prominent dishes at table (all agate 
ware) were named for characters in the 
book.  A certain squat pitcher was 
"Mowgli, the Frog;" a smaller one was 
"The Wog," –short for pollywog; the 
big gray pitcher was "Old Two Tails," 
the elephant; and the little cream-pitchers 
were "the Maltese Kittens."
     It was hard to tell what to admire 
most in camp -– the green woods and 
beautiful lake, with the distant mountains 
and every-varying cloud-effects; the administrative 
ability of the captain, who 
kept everything running smoothly; the 
pluck and cheerfulness of the Duchess, 
which no amount of suffering could 
quench, or even dim; the inexhaustible 
energy of our boys, who dug a rock 
weighing a ton out of the lawn a day or 
two before I left, in pure zeal for public 
improvement; the unwearying kindness 
and sweet temper of the girls; the wisdom 
and benevolence of the few elders amid 
the riotous crowd of effervescent youth; 
the picturesqueness of the two pet lambs; 
or the tameness of the squirrels, who ate 
peanuts out of our hands, and opened our 
cracker-boxes and helped themselves to 
crackers before our eyes.  The soft sound 
of the wind in the trees and the water on 
the shore was in our ears day and night.  
A brown hare darted about before my 
door in the early morning, and nibbled 
clover with his long sensitive ears 
pricked up.  Sometimes a bird flew into 
the tent before I was up in the morning.  
And yet there are people who go to 
fashionable watering places for their 
vacation, and live in hotels, and sleep 
under roofs when they might camp out!
A.S.B.58C
ARGUS PRESS-CLIPPING BUREAU
Otto Spengler, Director
352 Third Ave. New York.
Clipping from
NEW YORK TIMES
2 DECEMBER 
(?)
NON-VOTERS' IMPOTENCE.
Believes Women Succeed but Slowly
in Effecting Legal Changes.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
     A correspondent points to "salutary changes"
obtained by women and argues that women do
not need a vote. It is true that a great many
legal changes for women's benefit have been
secured-mainly by the hard work of the suffragists-
but how long did it take to get them?
In Massachusetts it took fifty-five years to get
the law making mothers equal guardians of
their children with the fathers. In thirty-four
out of the forty-six States the father is still
the sole guardian.
     If women were forbidden to use the railroad
across the continent and complained of the injustice,
it would be no answer to tell them
that it is possible to get from New York to
San Francisco by going around Cape Horn.
     Your correspondent quotes Henry Ward
Beecher on the power of indirect influence.
Mr. Beecher was the first President of the
American Woman Suffrage Association. In a 
speech delivered half a century ago, he pointed
out that all the people and interests opposed to
having any good object accomplished are in
favor of limiting women to "indirect influence"
in bringing it about. This is just as
true to-day. Every vicious interest in the
United States, to which women are hostile,
would rather take its chance with women's indirect
influence than run the risk of women's
vote.    ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Dorchester, Mass., Nov. 9, 1909.


Buffalo N.Y. Courier
Monday - Dec. 19, 1910

SUFFRAGETTE'S GRIEVANCE.
To the Editor of The Courier:
     The account of the militant doings in
England which has appeared in your
columns gives no explanation of the 
women's grievance.
     For the last forty years a majority
of every House of Commons have been
professed believers in woman suffrage.
Suffrage bills have passed their second
reading over and over-in the early
times by smaller majorities, in late
years by very large ones-but never
once in these forty years has the bill
been allowed to come up for third
reading and final vote. The cabinet
controls the time of the House, and the
cabinet ministers have always declared
that the time could not be spared.
Impatience with this policy of obstruction
led to the militant movement.
     The suffragettes intermitted the military
tactics for ten months, to see
whether their bill would be allowed to 
reach a decisive vote in the Parliament
just ended. It passed its second
reading by a majority of 110. When
Mr. Asquith the other day said that he
would not grant time for it to (?)
for the third reading, militancy was
renewed and the cabinet ministers
were mobbed.
     In our grandfathers' time a bill widening
the suffrage for men was held up
for a short time in the House of Lords.
The result was widespread rioting,
bloodshed and arson. In Bristol alone
the mob burned the custom house,
three prisons and forty-two private
dwellings. The violence committed by
the women has been much exaggerated.
Augustine Birrell says that he
was not kicked; but even if it had
been all exactly as reported, it would
have been nothing compared with what
these women's grandfathers did. Israel
Zangwill says that in the light of history
England has reason to be grateful
to the women for "the feminine
mildness of their methods."
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Dorchester, Mass.

NY Times
Dec 22. 1910
Men Who Oppose Suffrage.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
     A correspondent objects, as too broad, to
Julia Ward Howe's statement that the anti-suffragists
have not yet found a dozen respectable
men living in the enfranchised States who
assert over their own names and addresses that
woman suffrage has had any bad results. Your
correspondent, who is himself anonymous, says:
"The great majority of men in Colorado do
not like woman suffrage, and when they tell
of its failures they always sign their letters."
He instances the late Gen. Palmer. Will he
please give the names and addresses of the
eleven others? I can recall only two or three.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Dorchester, Mass., Dec. 20, 1910.


Boston Herald - Jan. 22, 1935
Not Banned from Mail
To the Editor of The Herald:
     Of what use is it to forbid the performance
of a bad play when any one
can get it and read it? I have not read
the play now under discussion, and do
not know how objectionable it may be.
But, unless a thing is bad enough to be
refused the use of the mails, the effort
to suppress it only gives it an immense
advertisement. The author and the
publisher must be chuckling in their
sleeves.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, Jan. 20.


Boston Herald Nov. 27, 1934
"Oppressed Husbands"
To the Editor of The Herald:
     Referring to your editorial "Oppressive
Husbands," a lawyer is reported as saying
that a husband ought to have the
legal rights to "discipline" his wife. Husbands
had a legal right to beat their
wives in all the states of the Union
where the law was founded upon tha(?)
of England. Massachusetts was the first
state to abolish it.
     Away back in the 17th century, Judge
Sewall-who so repented his share in
the witchcraft delusions that he did
public penance for it - secured the passage
of the following, among the 
"Liberties" adopted by the General 
Court:
     "Every married woman shall be
free from bodily correction or stripes
by her husband, unless it be in his
own defense, upon her assault. If
there be any just cause of correction,
complaint shall be made to authority
assembled in some court, from which
only she shall receive it."
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, Nov. 25.


Letters to the Editor - A.S. Blackwell
N.Y. Tribune
Jan 20, 1911
SENATOR HECKER AND SUFFRAGE.
To the Editor of The Tribune,
     Sir: M. Eleanor Phillips says in your
columns that Senator Hecker will probably
introduce an amendment for the repeal
of woman suffrage in Colorado, and
that the effort "seems to be in a fair way
of succeeding."
     Senator Hecker says in "The Denver
News";
     "There is not a word of truth in these
stories (about his intention to introduce
such a bill). I do not think the question
will be raised in the approaching Legislature,
and even if the proposed bill is introduced
I do not believe there is a sane
(?) who thinks it would have the ghost
chance of passing."
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Dorchester, Mass., Jan. 16, 1911.


A Converted Novelist.
Editor People's Column - Mrs. Flora Annie
Steel, the novelist, who was formerly an anti-suffragist
but has been converted, contributes
to the Englishwoman for December and interesting
article on "The Curzon-Cromer Combine."
In it she takes up the list of reasons lately
put forth by Lords Curzon and Cromer against
equal rights for women, and disposes of them
with acuteness and humor.
     To the argument that women must not vote
because they do not fight, she says: "The
production of the munitions of war is as much
a necessary part of war as military service.
The sword has to be forged before it can be
waved. Women go down to death daily in order
to provide the state with that most valuable
of all munitions-soldiers."
     To their plea that casting a parliamentary
vote once in five years would interfere with
maternity, Mrs. Steel says "Here I must 
speak with great diffidence; for I am only a 
mother myself, and I know how small a qualification
that is held to be. Still, I honestly
confess I fail to see how the acquisition of the 
scant political knowledge which is necessary
to enable a man to vote could interfere more
with the proper production of right rearing of
children than does the present ceaseless round
of trivialties in which the women of the upper
classes waste their lives, or the ceaseless
round of drudgeries and insufficiently remunerated
labors over which the women of
the lower classes lose theirs."
     Mrs. Steel says the lack of humor in such
arguments "is only equaled by those ladies
who stand on a public platform in order to
proclaim their belief that their proper place
is at home." Alice Stone Blackwell
Dorchester.

Brook Daily Eagle
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (?)
NINE SUFFRAGE VICTORIES.
Alice Stone Blackwell Recounts Those
of 1910 With Some 
Satisfaction.
Editor The Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
     The year 1910 was marked by nine victories
for woman suffrage, four in
America and five in the old world. Washington
gave women full suffrage; New
Mexico gave them school suffrage and
the right to hold local and county school
offices; New York gave taxpaying women
outside the large cities a vote on bonding
propositions, and Vancouver gave
municipal suffrage to married women who
have the qualifications required of men.
Widows and spinsters had it already.
    On the other side of the ocean, Norway
made municipal woman suffrage universal
(three-fifths of the women had
it before); Bosnia gave the parliamentary
vote to all women owning a certain
amount of real estate; the Diet of the
Crown Province of Krain (Austria) gave
suffrage to the women of its capital city;
Laibach; the Gaekwar of Baroda (India)
gave the women of his dominions a vote
in municipal elections, and the Kingdom
Wuertemburg gave women engaged
in agriculture a vote for members of the
Chamber of Agriculture, and also made
them eligible.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Dorchester, Mass. January 10, (?)

NY POST
Sumner for Woman Suffrage.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING POST:
     SIR: Among the tributes to Charles
Sumner, it should be remembered to his
credit that he was a friend of equal rights
for women. Sumner said, "In the progress
of civilization, woman suffrage is sure to
come." Since he spoke those words, it has
come in five States of the Union and several
foreign countries.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Dorchester, Mass., January 16.
BOSTON HERALD JAN. 22/35
Not Banned from Mail
To the Editor of The Herald:
     Of what use is it to forbid the performance
of a bad play when any one
can get it and read it? I have not read
the play now under discussion, and do
not know how objectionable it may be.
But, unless a thing is bad enough to be
refused the use of the mails, the effort
to suppress it only gives it an immense
advertisement. The author and the
publisher must be chuckling in their
sleeves.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, Jan. 20.


BOSTON HERALD, NOV. 27, 1934.
"Oppressed Husbands"
To the Editor of The Herald:
     Referring to your editorial "Oppressed
Husbands," a lawyer is reported as saying
that a husband ought to have the
legal right to "discipline" his wife. Husbands
had a legal right to beat their
wives in all the states of the Union
where the law was founded upon that
of England. Massachusetts was the first
state to abolish it.
     Away back in the 17th century, Judge
Sewall-who so repented his share in
the witchcraft delusions that he did
public penance for it-secured the passage
of the following, among the
"Liberties" adopted by the General
Court:
     "Every married woman shall be
free from bodily correction or stripes
by her husband, unless it be in his
own defense, upon her assault. If
there be any just cause of correction,
complaint shall be made to authority
assembled in some court, from which
only she shall receive it."
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston, Nov. 25.
Spfld. Republican Dec. 28, 1934
INDIAN ELECTION.
To the Editor:
     Sir: - A press dispatch from India
says that, in the elections just held,
the Nationalists made almost a clean
sweep, in every part of the country.
Another press dispatch says that, although
"the Ghandists" carried the
election, the government will retain
control of the new legislature
"through its official members."
     This brings out very clearly two
points: (1) that India wants a new
deal; and (2) that the so-called "constitutional
reforms" are only the old 
deal in a new guise. The government
will continue to be a British
dictatorship.
     The outcome of the election is the 
more remarkable because the Tory
government of Britain had arranged
the suffrage for India on a strictly
Tory basis, with the great landlords
and the other vested intrests having
an altogether disproportionate representation.
     One result of the election is both
pleasing and surprising. Gandhi's
movement to do away with "untouchability"
has been making great
progress, so much so that many of
the orthodox Hindus were enraged,
and, a while back, some of them
even tried to assassinate him. In preparation
for this election, the "Orthodox" 
organized themselves into a 
political party. All their candidates
but one have been defeated.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston,


Christian Science Monitor
Wealth and Wisdom
TO THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR:
     President Roosevelt has given $1000, that
had been willed to him, back to the testator's
family. This recalls an incident in "Sir
Charles Grandison," by old Samuel Richardson,
called the father of the English novel.
     A man whose life Sir Charles had saved
from robbers left him a large fortune, cutting
off near and needy relatives whose father
had offended him, though the young people
themselves were innocent. Sir Charles turned
the money over to the children. He said, "I
will never be a richer man than I ought to
be." If everybody lived up to that fine saying,
most of our troubles would vanish.
Boston,    ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.


Boston Traveler - Nov. 23, 1934
MUSSOLINI OFFERS NO CHOICE
People's Editor:
     Let me express my gratitude for
the editorial on Mussolini, and his 
announced intention of beginning to
militarize all the little boys in Italy
from their very cradles. He may talk
peace, but actions speak louder than
words.
     The comparison with Sparta, however,
is hardly just. The Spartans
believed in their sever regime, and 
followed it of their own free will.
Mussolini gives the Italians no choice.
He takes great precautions to make
any expression of dissent impossible.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Boston.


C.S. Monitor, Dec. 26, 1934
New England Pies
TO THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR:
     The president of the New England Bakers
Association says Massachusetts ranks very
low in per capita consumption of pie.
This shows a great change. In "Oldtown
Folks," Harriet Beecher Stowe describes the
preparations for the Thanksgiving dinner of
a prosperous farmer's family in early New 
England:
     The making of pies at this period assumed vast
proportions. Pies were made by forties and fifties
and hundreds, and made of everything on the
earth and under the earth.
     The pie is an English institution which, planted
on American soil, forthwith ran rampant and
burst forth into an untold variety of genera and
species. Not merely the old traditional mince pie,
but a thousand strictly American seedlings from
that main stock, evinced the power of American
housewives to adapt old institutions to new uses.
Pumpkin pies, cranberry pies, huckleberry pies,
cherry pies, green-currant pies, peach, pear and
plum pies, custard pies, apple pies, Marlborough
pudding pies, - pies with top crusts and pies without, 
-pies adorned with all sorts of fanciful flutings
and architectural strips laid across and round, and
otherwise varied, attested the boundless fertility
of the feminine mind, when once let loose in a 
given direction.
     The surplus pies were stored in a large,
cold northern chamber, where they remained
safely frozen, and were drawn upon for the
use of the family all the winter: "Pies baked
at Thanksgiving often came out fresh and
good with the violets of April"
Verily, times have changed!
Boston.   ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.WHY HURRY?
To the Editor-The Legislative
Commission to investigate subversive
activities asks for the passage of
12 new laws. In our Legislature
all bills have to be introduced in
the first part of January, in order
to allow ample time for their study
and discussion. A Legislative Commission
is privileged and may put
in bills at any time, but it is contrary
to the whole spirit of the law,
and also to equity, for such a commission
to delay its report until the
very end of the session and then try
to jam through in its closing days
a number of highly controversial
measures. A few of the recommendations
will command general approval
but most of them are highly
debatable.
Our citizens should write at once
to their Senators and Representatives,
asking them to delay action
on these measures until the next
session, to allow time for their full
study and discussion. To legislate
in haste is often to repent at leisure.
It is significant that the commission's
report has called out the
enthusiastic approval of Mayor
Hague of Jersey City!
Cambridge. Alice Stone Blackwell.