FEINBERG/WHITMAN GENERAL CORRESPONENCE Swinton, John Feb. 1865 - Jan. 1892 & undated Box 17 Folder 17 The envelope is self-addressed to Walt Whitman and was sent by him to John Swinton, who used it about Feb. 25, 1863. The letter from John Swinton is headed "Friday" and is in the Feinberg Collection. The letter and envelope are mentioned in WITH WALT WHITMAN IN CAMDEN, Vol. 1, p. 416. 14015 HAMILTON AVENUE DETROIT 3, MICHIGANNEW YORK FEB [?] 1863 3 U.S. POSTAGE U.S. 3 [?] John Swinton see notes July 3 1888 Walt Whitman Care Mayor Hap-good, paymaster U.S. Army cor 15th & F sts Washinton D.C. John Swinton[* seenotes Oct 3 1888*] [*copy.*] The Times Office New York Feb. 6. 1865 To the Lieutenant General Commanding Armies United States : I respectfully and earnestly ask the Lieutenant General, in behalf of a deeply distressed Mother and family, that he will give directions that one of the special exchanges be made in favor of Capt G. W. Whitman, 51st New York Vol. ---and another in favor of Lieut. T. [B] Pooley 51st N.Y. Vols. The former has been in active service for four years, has borne himself bravely in battles east and west, including Vicksburgh and Jackson. and has an aged widowed mother in deepest distress. Both of the above officers have been promoted from the ranks for brave conduct on the field, and both are now, or were lately, in C. S. Military Prison, Danville Va. & In giving the order of release the Lieutenant General will be gratefully remembered by the prisoners, by their parents & friends, and by his Devoted admirer, John Swinton.Feb. 5 - New York My dear Walt - I most cheerfully write the note you request to Gen. Grant, though I do not know that it will be of any service. I enclose it to you, for the reason that in the new aspect of the Exchange question you may not think it worth mailing. Since your letter was written, the statement has been published (and you have doubtless seen it) that Grant has made the arrangements for a general exchange which is to be begun immediately, and carried on with all possible promptitude. It may be, and I trust will be, that under these circumstances your brother will be at once exchanged in the regular mode. However, I leave this for you to decide by what you may have heard when you get this. Hoping you are now in health and that your lost brother may be soon returned to you and his mother Forever yours J Swinton Swinton to Gen Grand see note Oct. 3 188853 1865 February Letters on George Whitman. A.MS. (2p. 31 3/4 x 19 3/4, 31 x 13 1/2 cm.) Written in ink on a large sheet of lined stationery, with Traubel's notation in upper corner (see notes Oct 3 1888), 155 words: Copy. The Times Office New York Feb. 6. 1865 To the Lieutenant General Commanding Armies United States: I respectfully and earnestly ask the Lieutenant General in behalf of a deeply distressed Mother and family, that he will give directions that one of the special exchanges be made in favor of Capt G. W. Whitman, 51st New York Vol.--and another in favor of Lieut. S.[B.] Pooley 51st N. Y. Vols. The former has been in active service for four years, has borne himself bravely in battles east and west, including Vicksburgh and Jackson, and has an aged widowed mother in deepest distress. Both of the above officers have been promoted form the [*[over]*] 854 ranks for brave conduct on the field, and both are now or were lately, in C. S. Military Prison, Danville Va. [paragraph symbol] In giving the order of release, the Lieutenant General will be gratefully remembered by the prisoners, by their parents & family, and by his Devoted admirer, John Swinton. Accompanying is a letter in Swinton's hand (above written by WW), with Traubel's notation on verso (see notes Oct 3 1888), and also in WW's hand in pencil (Swinton to Gen Grant) : Feb. 5 New York My dear Walt-- I most cheerfully write the note you request to Gen. Grant, though I do not know that it will be of any service. I enclose it to you, for the reason that in the new aspect of the Exchange question you may not think it worth mailing. Since your letter was written, the statement has been published (and you have doubtless seen it) that Grant has made the arrangements for a general exchange which is to be begun immediately, and carried on with all possible promptitude. It may be, and I trust will be, that under these circumstances your brother will be at once exchanged in the regular mode. However, [more] 855 Letters on George Whitman: 2 I leave this for you to decide by what you may have heard when you get this. Hoping you are now in health and that your lost brother may be soon returned to you and his mother Forever yours J Swinton (See With Walt Whitman in Camden, II, 426.) New York Sept. 25,- 1888. Swinton Walt Whitman see notes Sept 18 1888 Friday 6.P.M My dear and great Walt As you did not come out yesterday afternoon, I did not expect you to day. I hope to be present when you come up for this package. I would be, did I know when you would come. I want to see you the I may get another copy of the "Leaves" and inscribe an X for the expense of their publication I am profoundly impressed with the great humanity, or genius, that expresses itself through you. I read this afternoon in the book. I read its first division which I never before read. I could convey no idea to you of how it affects my soul. It is more to me than all other books and poetry The poem in the "Broadway" has supreme passages and thoughts; but itdoes not seem to one perfectly artistic Art, as opposed to poetry, simply means the best, highest, most natural, most effective form of expression. I salute you as the poet, of my heart, my interest, my ideality, my life Yours truly J SwintonNew York, Oct 19 1870 Dear Walt I delivered the books to Mr. Reid for the "Tribune" - and had some audience talk with him abut a review article. I was afraid of Ripley but Reid confirmed my impression that Greeley is or has been favorable, and he agreed to speak to Greeley, and see what could be done in the premises. —The conversation was exhaustive— that is to say I exhausted the powers I for the time being possessed—and the upshot was the rather limited result above mentioned. In any event, if the matter goes to Ripley, it will have gone to him by a friendly line. I read the "Vistas"—not in the morning but at night There are many good and striking ideas, with plenty of opportunity for difference of opinion and criticism. Yours, J. Swinton Department of Justice Washington Sept. 14, 1871 My dear John Swinton : I have rec'd your note & enclosures. I have several things to write or talk to you about -- but at present I only enclose these two clips --- & I wish you would see that one is offered to Evening Post, & the other to any paper you think best --- perhaps either commercial Adv. or the Standard. I am well as usual, W. W. if pub. please send me a paper 134 East 38th St, New York, June 23/1874 My beloved Walt - I had read the sublime poem of the "Universal" once and again, and yet again - seeing it in the Graphic, Post, Mail, World, and many other papers. It is sublime. It raised my mind to its own sublimity. It seems to me the sublimest of all your poems. I cannot keep reading it every once of a while. I return to it as a fountain of joy My beloved Walt. - You know how I have worshipped you, without change or cessation, for twenty years. While my soul exists, the worship must be ever new. It was perhaps the very day of the publication of the first edition of the "Leaves of Grass" that I saw a copy of it at a newspaper stand in Fulton street Brooklyn. I got it, looked into it with wonder, and felt that here was something that touched on depths of my humanity. Since then you have grown before me, grown around me. and grown into me I expected certainly to go down to Camden last fall to see you. But something prevented. And, in time, I saw in the papers that you had recovered - The New Year took me into a new field of action among the miserables. Oh, what scenes of human horror were to be found in this (city last winter). - I cannot tell you how much I was engaged, or all did for three months. I must wait till I see you to tell you about these things. I havebeen going toward social radicalism of (late years, and appeared here at the Academy of Music lately as [Primort?] and orator of the Rochefort meeting. How I would like to see you, in order to temper my heat, and expand my narrowness How absurd it is to suppose that there is any interest in the brain of man who can generate the poem of the "Universal" I would parody Lincoln and say that such kind of ailment ought to spread. My beloved Walt - Tell me if you would like me to come to see you, and whether I can do so within a few weeks. Yours always John Swinton [*John Swinton*] [*see notes April 9 1888*]431 Stevens st. [*[Acc. 19, 078]*] Camden N Jersey April 12 Dear John I have adopted your suggestion & written (same mail with this) to Wm Swinton, Stedman Ward, J Miller DV Seeger Mr Jardine I am entirely satisfied with your letter, (as with Bachanan's and Rossettis action in London.) I am pleased well with what you write me in, & are doing by, you letter of 7th & thank you.. Things go on with me much the same as usual of late Walt Whitman When you see any thing notable or pungent about me or my affairs send it to me, as I neither see or hear much hereMr C. J. Groot Haight House cor 5th Ave & 15th St city134 East 38th St New York April 24, 1876 My dear Walt - Please [set] send 3 sets on account of my list of 5. Let 1 set be directed, to me, and the other to John Russell Towning, Herald : office, who has written me to get a set for him, and with whom you will please communicate about the matter. As you may be interested in his note, I enclose it for you to look it -- after which, please return Yours John Swinton (over)P.S. I have just replied to Yours, telling him you will forward him the set, and received his subscription therefore. J.S.POSTAL CARD. WRITE THE ADDRESS ON THIS SIDE -- THE MESSAGE ON THE OTHER U.S. POSTAGE ONE CENT CAMDEN MAY 31 N. J. John Swinton 124 East 38th st New York City[*1878*] [*F 5-31 RP*] 431 Stevens st Camden N J May 31 Letter & enc : recd -- Thanks ----- will write more fully soon ----- middling comfortable to - day W.W.Postal Card U.S. Postage One Cent Camden May 6 N.J. Write the address on this side - the message on the other John Swinton 134 East 38th street New York City431 Stevens St. Camden N Jersey May 6 - noon I think I may be - nay must be - wrong in Friday's letters saying I wrote to Wm S. with "no answer" result - I think I left writing him to the last & then omitted it by mistake. I will write to him in a day or two - W.W.CROSS-REFERENCE GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE Swinton, John to WW, Sept. 1877 See GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE Smith, A. Talmon, Sept. 24, 1877. Box 15 THE LARGEST MOUNTAIN HOTEL IN THE WORLD HOTEL KAATERSKILL EDWARD A. GILLETT. LESSEE Katterskill (P. O.) N. Y. Aug 12 1882 My Dear Walt Nine years ago, I delivered before a German Society of New York City a lecture on American literature, in which a great deal was said about you. Last winter, after the M.S. had lain all these years in a trunk, I spoke it twice again,—before the Philosophical Society of Brooklyn and that of Williamsburgh. . . But now comes the fun for you. Some months ago, I sent the lecture, by invitation, as an essay to the great literary magazine of Russia, the Sagranitschuy Viestuik of St. Petersburgh—There it was put into the Russian language and into the Olympian Magazine. Now I have the magazine, and you have a very heavy puff in the organ which is studied by all the powerful and intellectual classes of Russia—about a quarter or a fifth of the whole article. I guess this is your first introduction The Largest Mountain Hotel in the World Hotel Kaaterskill. Edward A. Gillett, Lessee. Kaaterskill, (P.O). N.Y. 188 __ to Rooshia, to the Czar and his subjects—and I am sure it would be satisfactory to you —You will never read it in the beautiful Russian—for it is a dreadful language; but it is enough for you to know the facts. I have been staying here for a week, and now leave in two or three days: but back in the City about in end of the month. Yours truly John SwintonJOHN SWINTON'S PAPER, 21 PARK ROW New York, Feb. 13 1885 My dear Walt - The last honor that decorates the brow of genius is now yours, and it is that I herewith introduce you to a live New Zealander. - a professor from New Zealand - Prof Brown J Canterbury College, New Zealand, - He's an admirer of the bard of [Panmamor?] (that is hoped) and is anxious to meet you; and so I give [him] this note to you - I know you will be glad to meet him, I shake your hand John SwintonA thousand thanks for a beautiful book. John Swinton New York, July [20?] , 83US POSTAL CARD. NOTHING BUT THE ADDRESS CAN BE PLACED ON THIS SIDE. NEW-YORK JUL20 7 PM 83 Walt Whitman Camden New JerseyCARTE POSTALE Ce côté exclusivement réservé à l'adresse. CAMDEN, N.J. NICE JAN 8E 16 28 JANV. 9AM 90 1890 ALPES MARTIMES REC'D. Walt Whitman Camden New Jersey United States of AmericaNice, France, Jan. 16, 1890 My dear Walt - I am still here an invalid - nervous prostration. - - To you, far longer an invalid, I send affectionate memories. The latest thing of yours I have seen is a noble piece - "Welcome to Brazil", printed in the Paris N.Y. Herald. I congratulate your on being able to do such work Every yours John Swinton [*Care JS. Cook & Co 22 Old Broad St London, England.*]UNION POSTALE UNIVERSELLE POST CARD—GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND (GRANDE BRETAGNE ET IRLANDE) THE ADDRESS ONLY TO BE WRITTEN ON THIS SIDE. [*STOCK NEWINGTON, S. O. 7 MY27 90 N.*] Walt Whitman Camden New Jersey United States of AmericaLondon England, May 26/91 My dear Walt - I am here from Rome and I see in the papers here your lines of [congrat] American salutation to Queen Victoria. They are genuine lines of the original Walt, whom I knew years ago. - I congratulate you. - We are staying here with a cousin of mine, who is one of the warmest admirers of yours that can be found any where. Mrs Swinton sends compliments. Every yours John Swinton [*Care J. S. Morgan & Co 22 Old Broad St London, E. C. England*]see notes Feb 3 1892 Walt Whitman Camden New JerseyCamden, N.J. Jan 22 6AM 92 Rec'd69 West 88th St. New York Janry, 21, 1892 My dear Walt I salute you. I am delighted to read the news of your improvement. With memories of other days, Faithfully John SwintonUnited States Postal Card. Write the Address Only on this side - the message on the other To John Swinton 134 E. 38th St. New York City431 Stevens st. cor. West. Camden, N. Jersey, June 24 Your good letter rec'd this morning. Come & see me whenever you can. Its very easy - 6 or 8 trains fro & to N.Y. every day & night come either by boat to Amboy, & so directly here to Camden Depot, (only 60 road from this house) or from Jersey City to West Philadelphia Depot, & go down Market St. by horse cars to Camden ferry at foot of it. I am about the same. Jeff is here with me (from St. Louis) for a couple of days. W.W.Times Office Wednesday night 2 o'clock My dear Walt -- You will find the article you sent will be in the Times of this morning. When it is published , I have crowded out a great many things to get it in, and it has take the precedence of army correspondence and articles which have been waiting a month for insertion. It is excellent -- the first part and the closing part of it especially. I am glad to see you are engaged in such good work at Washington. It must be even more refreshing then to sit by Pfaff's privy and eat sweetbreads and drink coffee, and listen to the intolerable wit of the crackbrains. I happened in there the other night, and the place smelt as atrociously as ever. Pfafflooked as of yore. I read your article in proof and hope it's all accurate enough. "The field large the reapers few" is the finest paragraph. Everything in New York moves on pretty much as usual. It's the same old town—only different. My brother William sailed for Port Royal ten days ago—to be present at the attack on Charleston—if it is to be attacked. Do you know Conway of Kansas? He is a good man If you don't know him, and if he would be of any service to you in any way, I know he would be rejoiced to serve you, if you mentioned my name to him. The article has some things in it that I could recognize you by, but not many. I like it better on that account than I should otherwise. Hoping that Vicksburg may soon fall. J SwintonHedman, some days ago, told me that a lady acquaintance of his had spoken to him about selling your books, and he asked me to send you her name with the suggestion that you write to her of what he (Hedman) had mentioned. She is Mrs. C. S. Groot Haight House cor. 5th Av. & 15th st, N.Y. City [*(sent circ's April 26)*]see note Aug. 11, '90 UNION POSTALE UNIVERSELLE POST CARD—GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND (GRANDE BRETAGNE ET IRLANDE) THE ADDRESS ONLY TO BE WRITTEN ON THIS SIDE. CAMDEN, N.J. U T AUG EDINBURGH 11 6AM JY 31 1890 90 REC'D. Walt Whitman Camden New Jersey United States of AmericaEdinburgh, Scotland, July 31, 1890 My dear Walt - Again I salute you. I wish I had been at the birth-day fest, and heard the beauteous words of my friend Bob Ingesoll about you. We shall leave here soon for New York. Ever yours, John Swintonsee notes Sept. 6 '88 Swinton Walt Whitman Introduces Prof. Brownsee notes Oct 15 1888 Walt Whitman, Esq. Washington D.C. Swinton[*Swinton*] [*(about Whitman)*] New York Jan 12 W. D. O'Connor, Esq. Washington D.C.The envelope addressed by Walt Whitman to John Swinton postmarked Camden, April 12 (no year, but after 1873), is listed in the Checklist of Walt Whitman's Correspondence, 1957, p. 148. The whereabouts of the letter is unknown. 14015 Hamilton Avenue Detroit 3, MichiganCamden Apr 12 N.J. John Swinton 134 East 38th Street New York City87[*The Comrade NY Jan 1902*] The death of John Swinton removes a notable figure from the world of advanced thought in New York. He was not a Socialist, true, but he was a singularly honest and fearless defender of the interests of the working class as he conceived them. There are few such men and the world is made poorer by his death. Honor to his memory! Younger men taking up the fight and advancing far beyond his position, shall find inspiration to noble service in that memory! "The elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up, And say to all the world "This was a man!""The Standard Publishing Company of Terre Haute, Ind., are publishing another pamphlet from the vigorous and facile pen of that indefatigable writer, Father McGrady. Its title is "A Voice from England," and it is a critical review of the brochure of the English Jesuit Priest, Father Rickaby, in which he denounces Socialism as "the crying evil of the age." Father McGrady very completely and vigorously exposes the weakness of this attack. J. S. Books Received. TOWARDS DEMOCRACY. By Edward Carpenter. Cloth $1.75. Chicago, Stockham Pub Co. A VISIT TO GNANI. By Edward Carpenter. Chicago, A. B. Stockham & Co. THE CHURCH OF THE RECONSTRUCTION. An Essay on Christian Unity. By Rev. Edward M. Skagen. New York, Thomas Whittaker. SOCIALISM, What it is and what it seeks to accomplish. By Wilhelm Liebknecht. Price 10 cts. Chicago, Charles H. Keer & Co. ORGANIZED SELF-HELP. A History and Defense of the American Labor Move- 20th Season. 302d Dinner of Ye Twilight Club Thursday, Dec. 19th, 1901, at The St. Denis. Subject for Discussion: "Sunday and the Saloon."OWL TALKS 302d Dinner, Thursday, December 19th, 1901. "When a great question exists, it will not fail to be agitated." --Bacon. "This country wants no 'Continental Sunday.' It is a matter beyond dispute that the decay of religion in Europe has coincided with and has been furthered by lax observance of the Sunday. The Catholic Church is far from being opposed to legitimate recreation on Sunday. But in the eyes of the Church, Sunday is primarily the home day, the day of rest from the material ends of life, and of introspection and consideration of man's spiritual side. The great enemy of home is the saloon, and the greatest obstacle to spiritual contemplation is indulgence in intoxicating drink."---Archbishop Corrigan. "ONE OF MANY.--Smith--" What became of your friend Brown?" Jones--" Dead, poor fellow. Died by hanging." Smith--" Hanging! Is it possible !" Jones--" Yes ; hanging around saloons."--Chicago News. THE Christmas holiday season is a bad time for dinners, yet the whole community is so deeply interested in the question of " Sunday and the Saloon" that the attendance on the present occasion was exceptionally large, and extra tables had to be provided. For the first time since the Club's formation the Secretary came near having to remain at home on account of the grip, but while he had to skip the dinner, the talk was so stimulating that he was more than repaid for the sacrifice, though several of the merry jests had a very chestnutty flavor. General George W. Wingate presided and while he said it was his intention not to express any preferences regarding the subject under consideration, he made a set speech in introducing each speaker and aired his opinions at length. But that is one of the chairman's privileges. Mr. Oppenheimer protested that he always had to lead a forlorn hope and to make a breach in every difficult or unpopular topic. As one of the so-called ignorant foreigners who form so large a share of the population of New York he wanted to know why drinking a glass of beer was any more sinful on the Sabbath than on a week day ? If we convert a simple act into a moral transgression, we don't inspire respect for the laws or help their enforcement. It is a case of the small boy and the green apple, and the boy should alone bear the consequences of his error. The Raines' law sandwich dates from the Talmud which contains 300 pages of DON'TS, yet they are as easily evaded as any modern code. We should either let the liquor law stand as a legal fiction or admit that it is absolute, and substitute something more rational in its place. Charles G. Dobbs did not agree at all with the previous speaker and thought his arguments were made of very thin air. He denounced the desecration of the Sabbath and said the open saloon will destroy the home. Only the lowest grade of liquor dealers want the saloons open. If they were fit places for women and children he might not object. The museums and the Y. M. C. A. are open, and there is no real need for the saloon on Sunday The Chairman said the throngs who frequent Coney Island on Sunday couldn't get inside of the museums, and they want beer and will have it. The side door induces men to sit longer in the saloon on Sunday than at other times and they, therefore, drink more. Edwin C. Walker, president of the Liberal Club, remarked that the same influences which oppose the Sunday saloon also opposed the Sunday museum. It is not a question how shall the saloons be opened ; they are open everywhere. Calvin, Luther and Melancthon were not Puritanical. We must recognize the primal human appetites. Germany is the land of the beer garden, yet the home has not been destroyed there. The chief fault is "perpendicular drinking." Let us not make a fetish of Sunday. If drinking is wrong, why not stop it on every other day. In Iowa and Kansas things are worse, not better, because of prohibition. The Chairman said the New England Sabbath is a day of stagnation. His experience in "dry" towns was that you simply paid more for worse liquor. The whole question is one of public decency and preserving Sunday as a day of rest. Rev. Isaac K. Funk, the temperance advocate, referred to Mr. Oppenheimer's illustration of the boy and the apple, and said it is the family, not the drinker, who suffer most. In Europe there is an increasing consumption of strong drink, with a proportionate decline in the United States. This is a result of the temperance agitation, which, like the anti-slavery crusade, has gradually educated the public conscience. American industrial preeminence is largely due to the greater sobriety of our workmen. The European artizan loses one-fifth of his time through drink. He favored local option. Let the people of the vicinage whose homes are influenced by the saloon decide. He had no product of New York and the age. I am only a poor professor now, with more duties than cash, and the city of Low and Croker is an almost unattainable paradise. Still I hope that something may bring me this season to trot around with the old warhorses, to whom my very cordial word of remembrance." Robert Graham, Secretary of the Church Temperance Society, who expected to be present, wrote: "The open Sunday saloon means the destruction of the home, and the home is the cradle of the nation. The workingman leaves his home in the early morning and returns late at night. He sees his children only on Sunday for protracted intercourse. For him it is God's day as well as the wife and children's day. He wants---or ought to want---the day of rest for worship, for enjoyment, for pleasure, for the knitting up of the loosened strands of family life, for a sight of the green fields, for a ramble on the shore, and the last place toward which his feet should gravitate is that which in many cases would send him home a spectacle for gods and men, and a picture which the eyes of children should not see. It may be said that the saloons are open, though nominally closed, and that such a breach of law is more demoralizing than the open saloon. Have we a police force, and are we going to confess that we have not the ability to carry out the enforcement of the law in a reasonable, temperate and fair way? The Church Temperance Society holds that this can be done, and done without hardship, and to the quiet, orderly and decent observance of the day of rest." Ernest H. Crosby writes: "I regard the Sunday closing laws, as applied in New York City, as a great mistake and unsupported by the conscience of the community. The best thing to do with a bad or unsuitable law is to neglect it. I favor local option by election districts. Joel Benton, though an expert on the subject was "closed up by the authorities," and not allowed to speak. The following verses are from his Christmas poem in Success: The sun sinks down its narrow path, And shadows darken vale and hill,-- The north wind shakes the house with wrath, From raftered roof to slumbering sill. It croons in Memory's minor key Sad murmurs through the chimney flue; The fields are dull,---you cannot see, In the dim sky, one hint of blue. But still, as centuries before, Earth's millions welcome Christmas in,--- The singing waifs are at the door, For feast and music to begin. THE NEXT DINNER Will be held on Thursday, January 9th, at 6 P. M., sharp, at the St. Denis Hotel, Broadway and Eleventh Street. The subject for discussion will be: "Shall we ' Maroon' the Anarchists?" Respectfully, CHARLES F. WINGATE, Secretary, Tickets, $1.50. No. I William Street. Try and attend this first dinner of the new year ; bring a friend. JOHN SWINTON. "When I am dead, lay a sword on my coffin, for I was a soldier in the war for humanity." --Heine. John Swinton was one of the oldest members of the Twilight Club. He was present at the sixth meeting in1883, and for some years, until his health failed, he was a frequent attendant. He was always listened to with interest, and he was elected one of the Executive Committee in 1886. He required a big subject or some sort of opposition to sir his blood. One speech, which he made after his return from Europe, was the most remarkable of any delivered before the Club. The subject was Socialism. Col. Dawson presided, and Swinton electrified his audience by describing the vast meetings he had attended at Hyde Park, and his observations in Edinburgh, Paris and other cities. Everywhere he saw the many-headed and many-minded mob suffering untold misery in silence. It seemed wonderful that they did not revolt and overthrow their oppressors. But he added, "Calibrand is sitting at the feet of Cadmus and learning his letters." When Swinton sat down a member tugged his neighbor's sleeve and said: "Let's get out and go home before anyone else spoils that wonderful speech." The newspapers have not done justice to John Swinton's unique personality. He was an experienced journalist, the right hand of Henry J. Raymond, in the Times, and the no less capable lieutenant of Mr. Dana, whose place on the Sun he filled for a year at a time without the public suspecting the absence of his trenchant chief. He was also a brave and eloquent advocate of the truth as he saw it, ready to speak on any platform and to any audience; before the Nineteenth Century Club at the Waldorf-Astoria, or to a mass meeting of strikers on the East Side. He was a living exponent of Mill's "Essay on Liberty," and neither adverse criticism nor threats of arrest could overawe him. Lastly, Swinton was a poet who saw visions and who spoke in parables, and with an eloquence and vigor that was peculiarly his own. Swinton was a bit of a genius. He had all of Carlyle's whirlwinded eloquence, and he like to denounce men and things. But he had the saving grace of humor, and could laugh ta this own extravagance. "Last week," he once said: "I spoke to 3,000 Bohemians at the Cooper Union, and they were carried away with enthusiasm. Not one in the ten understood a word I said, and he got it wrong." A man is to be judged by his friendships, and this violent iconoclast numbered H. J. Raymond, C. A. Dana, Whitelaw Reid, Henry George, James Redpath and Murat Halstead among his friends. doubt as to the result. The majority should rule. If the saloons win we will strive to create a more enlightened sentiment, but if they fail, then the law should be strictly enforces. The Chairman said that Mayor Low was pledged to provide more liberal Sunday laws, and if he fails to do so, Tammany will be back in the saddle in two years. It is a grave responsibility that must be met. Louis Windmuller cited the case of Springfield and Holyoke to show the difficulties of local option. Men from the dry town cross the line to the wet town and fill up every Sunday. The tenement house dweller likes to entertain his friends as we do in our clubs, but there is no place other than the saloon. The St. Louis and Milwaukee beer gardens are not disreputable. Why can't we have American beer gardens? He condemned Roosevelt's strict enforcement of the excise law and favored the English Sunday closing plan. Prof. Atwater declares that alcohol is not a poison. He seconded the chairman's view that the political results of inaction in this matter may be most serious. Andrew Deyo said that though a temperance man, he had felt it a duty to prepare for the meeting by thoroughly investigating the workings of the Sunday liquor law. He had been profoundly interested, but had hardly recovered from the effects of his survey. He made a lucid comparison between the bargain counter and the saloon and the consequent popularity of both places. The Chairman said he did not take much stock in the physiological teaching in the schools. Forbidden fruit tastes sweet---yet there is less drinking than formerly. The Secretary, who had almost lost his voice, could not resist telling of a successful experiment made by Mr. John E. Milholland in the Adirondacks, where he presented a small library to each saloon in the vicinity and found it well thumbed and appreciated. He also induced a village saloon keeper to provide a hot free lunch and to refuse to sell whiskey on election day, and thus prevented a single case of drunkenness in the place. A recent canvass in fifty-six London workshops showed 10,000 for Sunday closing and only 1,000 for opening. Among 4,000 "publicans," in London, 2,324 favored closing. There is no hope of obtaining from Albany any change of the Raines' law. Local option has proved successful in Massachusetts, New York, outside of cities, Iowa, and in nearly all the Southern States. Mr. C. Frank Crawford spoke of the difficulty of suiting everybody in matters of law. He was opposed to the theory that a country should be ruled to please its foreign population. He came to New York a stranger from Canada, but he did not expect everything to be run this way. If men live in hovels, it is largely because of the saloon. He could not see the logic of Prof. Adler's advice to exclude the habitual drunkard from the saloon and yet allow new ones to be created without limit. Why should liquor be a greater necessity on Sunday than meat? Unless Mayor Low enforces the law, he will be as culpable as Croker. The Chairman remarked that alcohol may be a dreadful poison, but after a day's duck shooting, in bad weather, a little whisky is a great comfort. Mrs. Emma M. Beckwith, who once received 100 votes for Mayor of Brooklyn, said she was grateful that she did not have to decide the drink problem. She could not understand why the saloons are so much more essential than other stores. People should learn to control their appetites, and not have to depend on laws to make them lead wholesome lives For herself, she was on the fence. After hearing all the different arguments presented, she favored local option, but to-morrow she might think differently. This closing remark of the last speaker well expressed what the Quakers would call the sense of the meeting. It is seldom that a problem is so difficult of solution and that one is still uncertain in one's mind, even after hearing it so thoroughly discussed from all points of view. Letters of regret were received from Justice Jerome and other invited guests, and the following letters were read at the dinner:-- Frank Moss, who had an engagement to speak in Philadelphia, wrote: "Local option by small districts is a good thing and should include the question whether saloons should be admitted into the district at all, thus giving home districts the opportunity to protect property against depreciation, etc. Election districts are not too small." Rev. James M. Ludlow, of East Orange, author of "The Captain of the Januzaries" wrote: "Thanks for notice of the gathering of Bats on December 19. If possible, I will drop in with an empty stomach and full heart. Sunday saloons! I know little about them ; don't visit them on Sundays; have a sneaking suspicion that Rainsford is about right. The poor men want cheap parlors. Until we can provide them, the attempt to close saloons will be like shooing away a herd of buffalos. Let me know what the Twilighters are determined upon, for I don't want to be found trying a back door uselessly. Sincerely, yours in the dusk." Rev. E. C. Bolles wrote from Tufts' College: "I take much pleasure in reading the reports of the Twilight Club, with Deyo, Fuller, Benton and Skerry on deck. May they live long to argue, chaff, smoke and eat in the circle of the Olympians. There are clubs and dinners in Boston, but none can rival the congregation of Twilighters, the unique Louis F. Post, in The Public, compares Swinton to Victor Hugo, and had he lived in Paris he might have rivaled Rochefort as a leader of the radicals, and, perhaps, become one of the Immortals. Americans could not understand "John Swinton's Paper," but to a Frenchman it was just right. On that account, and because he had no distinct plan of reform, the paper failed, and Swinton lost a small fortune. He thought the workmen ungrateful, but the time was not ripe till Henry George came with his positive programme. Swinton was a John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, and everyone appreciated his self sacrifice. Swinton, like Carlyle and Dr. Johnston, was best in a monologue, and I have listened with delight as he wandered from one topic to another, telling of men he had known, or of his wide and varied experience. He was sometimes caustic in his comments, but at heart no one could be kinder or more generous. He was not pessimistic, despite his deep disgust with social hypocrisy and greet, but like a true democrat he had an abiding faith in humanity. Like everyone else, he liked to be remembered, and while seeking health abroad he seemed to keenly appreciate the little notes sent by his friends. In a letter from Rome he wrote: "I have read the circulars containing the reports of the three banquets, and I must say that the themes debated and the debates upon them are elevated to a degree that is astounding. Long 'live the Twilight Club!' If I ever get back to New York in health, I should certainly enjoy its meetings." The writing is that of an invalid, but the heart is warm and true. While the world to-day echoes with praises of Carnegie, Rockefeller and Morgan for their munificent gifts to found libraries, hospitals and colleges, let us not forget the men who gave their lives to the cause of the people. Swinton was negative in nothing, but a staunch believer. He wrote to a friend: "You ask me to give you the title of any book that has been a comfort in sorrow. I answer, THE BIBLE." At another occasion he wrote to a friend in affliction: "I send you my truest and most tender condolence over the death of your young and loved daughter. Doubt not that you will see her again." His friends will rejoice to think that while his end was racked with pain, he faced the great ordeal with faith and fortitude. When people talk of this or that successful editor, I feel that Horace Greely, Henry George and John Swinton will be remembered long after the money-grabbing news gatherers are forgotten. They were all prophets, not waiters. As Byron says: "They never fail who die in a just cause. The block may soak their gore, their heads may sodden in the sun, But still their spirit walks abroad. Though years elapse, and others share as dark a doom, They but augment the deep and sweeping thought, That overpowers all others, and conducts the world at last to freedom." His signature was so bold and so characteristic that it is worth reproducing. J M SwintonThe Public 1901-2- ON THE WAY TO NAZARETH. It was many ears after the crucifixion, when an aged Judean, while walking along the highway near Nazareth, saw coming toward him a youthful Galilean. The aged man held in his hands a scroll, which he read as he walked. As the twain drew nigh to each other the Galilean saluted the Judean and accosted him. "What readest thou?" he asked, in a gentle tone. "The Law," replied the other. "Has seen the Gospel?" inquired the Galilean. "Aye!" he answered in a trembling voice, "but that is not for me. I am Iscariot!" "And art thou," spake the Galilean, "the Judas of that name who betrayed the Christ?" " 'Twas I!" he cried, in agony and with distorted visage, as he gazed at the Galilean. "But who art thou?" "Thy friend," replied the other. "I have no friend on earth or in heaven," said Judas. "When I read the Law I am affrighted, and when I pray to the One God I see Him frown. I am Iscariot!" "Thy friend I am, dear Judas. Look on me." The Galilean's voice was gracious as he spoke, but Judas shook as smitten to the soul. He flung himself at the feet of the Galilean, who had called him friend, and kissed them. "The Gospel is for thee, dear Judas," said the friend, as Judas lay upon the ground, in tears. "Nay, nay," said Judas. "I bartered off my soul and I sold my master, Him who was divine. 'Twas said I hanged myself, and it is true, but I did not die, though hanged." "And yet, dear Judas, know His Gospel is for thee," said the other with firm voice to the aged Judean, sunk in despair. "By what authority speakest thou?" asked Iscariot, as he looked into the Galilean's face.. "Speakest thou for Peter, John, or other brethren, lost, though yet alive; the men whom once I loved only less deeply than I loved the Christ? Who art thou?" cried the aged Judean, "and whence they authority?" "The authority, dear Judas, of Him who was crucified, and who spoke the words, 'No one who cometh to Me shall be cast out.' " "Those words are not for me," wailed Iscariot. "Aye, for thee each word, dear Judas, and for thee alike the last cry of the Christ, that all might be forgiven. I speak for Him." "But who art thou?" exclaimed Iscariot once again, as he saw that love illumined the face of the Galilean who stood before him. "It was I who spoke the words while on the cross, and here I speak them once again to thee." "The Christ?" asked Judas. "He whom once I loved, whom I betrayed, for whose loss I wept these weary years, and for whose betrayal I'll lave my heart in tears till death?" "Thy sins, dear Judas," softly spoke the Galilean, "are forgiven. To-day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." ---John Swinton. both houses adjournment was taken to January 6, 1802. House. Pursuant to its adjournment on the 13th, the house reassembled on the 17th, and pro- From want, and stunted minds, and hearts ungrowing, These sorrows are my own. It is not all, that through the highways passing, Your faces pinched and worn with hungers deep Make prints upon my heart and brain that haunt me In waking hours and sleep; Nor is it all, that in the downy softness Of my warm bed, mine ears are filled again With piteous cry of little children's wailings, Till I, too, moan with pain; But I do starve within me from your starving, Your spirits stunted with the body's strife; For humankind is one divine-made being, Fed by th' Eternal Life; And flowing rich from God, and strong, and healthful, It waxeth poor within your souls ungrown, And feebly coming on, it brings but weakness To all hearts, from your own. For lack of skillful brain now dwarfed within you, Of human love that never came to birth--- The love your hearts alone could have begotten--- Stunted is all the earth. The world is poor and feeble, wanting manhood, Your manhood, that with ruthless hand she slays; When will she learn to cease from this mad slaughter, For which her life she pays? When will she justice yield to all her children? Then, every heart free-grown, from each may roll Some wave of Life's great joy and inspiration To every human soul. JANE DEARBORN MILLS. HOW WE LOVE THE FILIPINOS. Do we tax the Filipinos? We do tax the Filipinos. Which way do we tax the Filipinos? We tax the Filipinos both ways, coming and going. We fix the tariff on our goods going to the Filipinos and Filipino goods coming to us. In this way we save the Filipinos much time and annoyance. Do we love the Filipinos? You bet we love the Filipinos. We will give them a nice Christmas gift of independence with a lovely string tied to it. Also a nice tariff bill.---Toledo Bee. REMEDIES FOR ANARCHY MUST NOT CONTRAVENE JUSTICE. Legislators who betray the commonwealth, judges who poison the fountains of justice, municipal authorities which come to terms with crime, all these are regular contributors to the campaign fund of anarchy. ought to be possible to combine the national principles entertained by the Kansas City platform with the state policies urged by the Johnson Democrats and the clean politics advocated by the Kilbourne democrats, and thus put the Democratic party of Ohio in good fighting trim.---The Commoner of December 20. You can find almost any kind of a boy, except the one whose sympathies in a fight between a cat and dog are with the cat.---Atchison Globe. The Public 581 (p. 486), with the addition noted above, is as follows: Total prisoners. Deaths. Rate per year per 1000. June 865,410 77 109 July 93,940 1,412 180 Aug 105,347 1,878 214 Sept 109,418 2,411 264 Oct 111,879 3,156 336 Nov 118,255 2,807 276 The suspicions heretofore noted that the October report was being held back because it probably showed an increase in the number of deaths in fairly confirmed. JOHN SWINTON. With the death of John Swinton ---conventional journalist but unconventional agitator---there passes away another pioneer of the modern American labor movement. Swinton stood for no particular phase of labor agitation, but for labor agitation in general. Though he sympathized with trade unionists, he was not wedded to trade unionism. Though he had much in common with socialists, he was not a socialist. Though he sympathized with anarchists, he cared nothing for the philosophy of anarchism. He welcomed Henry George's teachings, but he did not espouse them---he did not even grasp them and probably never tried to. He neither had nor wanted a reform programme. So far as his mind was affirmative at all, it was so only poetically. Robust, fighter though he was, as well as poetical in temperament, he fought as an iconoclast, trusting with the confidence of the poet that when the bad has been torn away something good will spring up in its place. But while he pushed every programme aside, he encouraged the makers and promoters of all programmes. Belonging to no school of labor agitation, he gave Godspeed to every school. "Stern old iconoclast" that he was, it appeared to make little difference to him how the existing industrial order might be got rid of, or what order might replace it. Since nothing could be worse, as he viewed the matter, the first thing to do was simply to get rid of it. A strenuous rebel against the existing order, he was always ready to volunteer in a fight with any other rebel for its overthrow. The same spirit had animated him in that earlier form of the American labor struggle known as the anti-slavery conflict, from which he and the late James Redpath and also Wendell Phillips---- so unlike personally but so like in humanitarian impulse and rugged crudeness of method----emerged into the modern labor movement. Slavery was to him the sum of all iniquities, and his ideal of an anti-slavery leader was John Brown, of Ossawatomie. But Swinton's all-round hero was Victor Hugo. This great poet and agitator of France was his model if he had a model. Had his environment been similar to Hugo's, his career would doubtless have resembled the Frenchman's. If, like Hugo, he had no programme as an agitator, like Hugo he had convictions; and his convictions, like Hugo's, were on the humanitarian side. Vague though they were in outline, in character they were intense. A life-long friend of Charles A. Dana, yet Swinton never swapped the impulses of his earlier manhood for gilded flesh pots, as Dana did; and Dana's loyal friendship for Swinton, which ended only with his own death, testifies to his lingering love for the democratic aspirations to which, in common with Swinton, he had once been devoted. As a rebel waging guerrilla warfare upon hoary wrongs, Swinton's service was doubtless valuable. If he did no more, at any rate he helped stir up stagnant respectability. Better appreciated twenty years ago than now, he may be still better appreciated in the future. Though is usefulness was limited by the negative character of his crusading, he leaves behind him nevertheless a record for moral courage which is badly needed in these days when records of brute bravery are held up to young men as worthy examples. NEWS The verdict in the naval court of inquiry, organized in August last to report upon the conduct of Rear Admiral (then Commodore) Schley in Cuban waters during the Spanish war, has been rendered. Upon several questions at issue the court is divided. Admiral Dewey, the president, having made special findings at variance with some of the findings of the official verdict. This court was appointed at the request of Rear Admiral Schley himself (p. 250), his conduct having been, as he asserted in a letter of July 22 to the navy department, scurrilously impugned by the recently issued third volume of Maclay's history of the navy, the first two volumes of which were then used as a text book at the naval academy. As at first announced, the court consisted of Admiral Dewey, president, Rear Admiral Lewis A. Kimberly and Rear Admiral E. K. Benham (p. 265); but Admiral Kimberly having asked to be excused, Rear Admiral Henry L. Howison was appointed in his stead (p. 280); and Admiral Howison being deposed for his bias (372), the final appointment (pp. 375-76) was of Rear Admiral Francis M. Ramsay. The court as organized consisted, therefore, of Dewey, Benham and Ramsay. Its verdict, accompanied by Admiral Dewey's dissenting report, was made public on the 13th. A comparison of these two documents with the official directions of the department (p. 265), under which the court acted, yields the following result as to eight of the inquiries propounded, namely (1) Schley's conduct in the Santiago campaign; (2) his movements off Cienfuegos; (3) the reasons for his going from there to Santiago; (5) the movements of the flying squadron off Santiago; (5) Schley's disobedience of department orders; (6) the question of coaling the flying squadron; (7) the question of destroying the Spanish cruiser Colon at the entrance to Santiago harbor in May, 1898; (8) and the question of withdrawing the flying squadron from Santiago harbor to a distance at sea at night: Regarding the second inquiry, Schley did not proceed with the utmost dispatch to Cienfuegos and blockade that port as close as possible, as he should have done. And no efforts were made by him "to communicate with the insurgents to discover whether the Spanish squadron was in the harbor of Cienfuegos, prior to the morning of May 24," although he should have endeavored to do so on May 23 "at the place designated" in the memorandum delivered to him at 8:15 a. m. of that date. Regarding the first, fourth, fifth and sixth inquiries, that he did not proceed from Cienfuegos to Santiago 582 The Public with all dispatch, nor dispose his vessels with a view to intercepting the enemy in any attempt to pass him, as he should have done; but that he reduced his speed to allow a disabled vessel of his squadron to remain with it. That upon arriving at ta point 22 miles south of Santiago, he changed his course to the westward for Key West; and that upon receiving orders 14 hours later to ascertain whether the Spanish fleet was in Santiago harbor (the department having been informed that it was), and if so to see that it did not leave without a decisive action, he disobeyed the order for alleged lack of coal, although at that time his squadron wad abundantly supplied with coal and the sea was in such condition as to enable him to take on coal from his collier. That he made no effort to ascertain whether the Spanish squadron was in the harbor of Santiago, but left the harbor entirely unguarded from May 26 at five p. m. until May 28 at about six p. m. Regarding the first and seventh inquiries, that he established a blockade of Santiago harbor at six p. m. on the 28th. But that he made no attempt on May 29 and 30 to capture or destroy the Spanish vessels at anchor near the exit from the harbor, as he should have done; nor did he do his utmost to capture or destroy Spanish vessels which he attacked on the 31st. And regarding the first and eighth inquiries that he did not during the blockade withdraw at night from the entrance to Santiago to a distance at sea. But that his conduct in connection with the events of the Santiago campaign prior to June 1, 1898, was characterized by vacillation, dilatoriness and lack of enterprise, and that his official reports regarding the coal supply and the coaling facilities of the flying squadron were inaccurate and misleading, although his conduct during the battle of July 3 was self-possessed and he encouraged, in his own person, his subordinate officers and men to fight courageously. On the following points Admiral Dewey dissents in some particulars, though not in all. He reports as his opinion in opposition to the official verdict---- Regarding the second inquiry, tht Schley's passage from Key West to Cienfuegos was made "with all possible dispatch, Commodore Schley having in view the importance of arriving off Cienfuegos with as much coal as possible in the ship's bunkers;" and that "the blockade of Cienfuegos was effective." Also that "in permitting the (British) steamer Adula to enter the port of Cienfuegos" Schley "expected to obtain information concerning the Spanish squadron from her when she came out." Regarding the first and fourth inquiries, that the passage from Cienfuegos to a point about 22 miles south of Santiago was made with as much dispatch as was possible while keeping the squadron a unit; that the blockade of Santiago was effective; and that "Commodore Schley was the senior officer of our squadron off Santiago when the Spanish squadron attempted to escape on the morning of July 3, 1898," and being in absolute command "is entitled to the credit due to such commanding officer for the glorious victory which resulted in the total destruction of the Spanish ships." As to (9) Schley's turning movement during the naval battle of July 3, 1898; and (10) the propriety of his conduct in connection with a controversy with Lieut. Commander Hodgson, navigator of the Brooklyn, the official verdict finds: Regarding the ninth inquiry, that "by commencing the engagement on July 3 with the port battery and turning the Brooklyn around with port helm, Commodore Schley caused her to lose distance and position with the Spanish vessels---especially with the Viscaya and Colon; and that the turn of the Brooklyn to starboard, made to avoid getting her into dangerous proximity to the Spanish vessels, toward the Texas caused that vessel to stop and back her engines to avoid possible collision. And regarding the tenth inquiry, that he did injustice to Lieut. Commander Hodgson in publishing only a portion of the correspondence which passed between them. No dissent is made by Admiral Dewey to these findings, except as dissent may be inferred from his opinion as quoted in the preceding paragraph. The result of the inquiry may, therefore be fairly summed up as follows: 1. That Schley was dilatory in proceeding to Cienfuegos, in found by Benham and Ramsay and not by Dewey. 2. That he neglected to endeavor to communicate with the insurgents at Cienfuegos until the 24th of May, although advised to do so by orders received early on the 23d, is sustained unanimously. 3. That he did not proceed with dispatch to Santiago is sustained unanimously; except that Dewey credits him with as much dispatch as was consistent with keeping his squadron a unit until he reached a point 22 miles south of Santiago. 4. That he disobeyed department orders in refusing promptly to reverse his home voyage and reconnoitre Santiago harbor, is found unanimously. 5. That he left Santiago harbor unguarded from May 26, when orderd to invest it, until May 28th, is found unanimously; except that Admiral Dewey credits him with making the blockade effective when begun, and this the official verdict dos not dispute. 6. That he was derelict with reference to the Spanish vessels on May 29th, 30th and 31st is found unanimously. 7. That in general he was vacillating, dilatory and lacking in enterprise is found by Ramsay and Benham, and inferentially not agreed to by Dewey. 8. That his coal reports were inaccurate and misleading is found unanimously. 9. That his conduct in the naval battle of July 3 was self-possessed and courageous and encouraging to his subordinates is found unanimously. 10. That he made a tactical error in opening the battle and in turning from the enemy toward the Texas during the battle, is found unanimously. 11. That he was unjust to Lieut. Commander Hodgson is found unanimously. 12. That he is entitled to the credit of the victory off Santiago is not found by Ramsay and Benham, but is found by Dewey. At the request of Admiral Schley, Secretary Long has suspended action on the findings of the court until objections filed on the 18th can beconsidered. These objections are 31 in number. Those which are directly relevant to the verdict are substantially as follows: (1) Evidence as to proceeding with dispatch to Cienfuegos was restricted by the court, and the only evidence allowed was contrary to the finding; (2) no place for communicating with the insurgents was designated in the memorandum received May 23; (3) the aforesaid memorandum was sent with reference to an entirely different purpose; (4) a close blockade of Cienfuegos was proved to have been maintained; (5) it was positively proved that the Adula was allowed to enter upon promise to come out within 24 hours with information as to presence of Spanish fleet; (6) it was proved that Schley's squadron was ordered to remain off Cienfuegos, whether Spanish fleet was there or not; (11, 14 and 15) proof as to coaling possibilities overwhelmingly contradicts the verdict; (12) verdict ignores the overwhelming proof that Capt. Sigsbee reported to Schley that the Spanish fleet was not in Santiago harbor; (16 and 18) in condemning Schley with reference to his attacks on Spanish vessels in Santiago harbor on May 29, 30 and 31, the verdict ignores the proven fact that the was only reconnoitering and that his