THE GREATER AMERICAN TRAGEDY
Calverton, V. F.
THE GREATER AMERICAN TRAGEDY By V. F. Calverton Editor. the mo dirn Quar ABTXm from tts "saw .«**Mr. An Tragedy. By Theodore Pulasu X. T. Bom a Liverish*. > vol*. SMS) la net peculiarly...
...Let me remember...
...The Williamsburg Bridge was being built then, and hall a block Of tenement property bad been cleared away, right in front Of the church—good riddance at fancy condemnation prices...
...It is because we like fairy tales and because our ruling classes need them in their business that the mythical Washington stilt survives...
...Representing this class, Washington does not have the human appeal that Lincoln has...
...NoW mm Isaac te armameet...
...Tet the moral critics in th* United States, still living mentally In the eighteenth century, will read into the novel a score of ethical lessons...
...We arenot dupes of...
...Then he showed mo some o: the skill He had acquired at Ford ham, by kicking me full in thi stomach...
...The dirty scandals of our upper classes are as continuous a feature of the newspapers as slapstick is of the movies...
...th* picture" of a character aa he grew out of his social environment, regardless of moral, evil or edification...
...But I hav< Always remembered that I am "a dirty Sheeny...
...Its substance is' not new, sad its situations, taken to- outline, savor ot tha raelodramatks...
...More in amass than,fright the red full face of a prlestlj Gentleman*, white collar, black frock, and a cross or which Waa a naked man's miniature...
...Jack London was further^ away...
...There is no representation of parties in proportion to the vote cast and no thought of a second ballot to insure a majority election...
...Their time is counted by the slow Clock-beats and factory whistles, as they blow Tbe measured hours which destiny fulfills...
...But then, that was perhaps becaus* He was speaking then to Clean Sheenies, like Sen iff Morgan thau And Strauss...
...Weary of strife...
...awpp*as...
...They mobbed Federal tax gatherers...
...Though born in the United States, he is now an alien...
...THE DUTCH UPLIFT fROM Rotterdam comes one of the most suggestive news items that haver appeared in a decade...
...Sipnificant American Novels American literature has tew Important novels to record...
...The brains of American capitalism are running to fat and fatuous conduct is the result...
...With this background of American social life, the official actions of a few government bureaucrats in relation to Countess Cathcart are revolting...
...And thou surely art no Craven, grim and ghastly ancient Raven, fleeing from our Hell of a Shore-" Quoth Kid Craven: "Never again, old topper...
...Afternoon of Afternoons, Sunny, golden lark...
...This I heard Then I felt a fun fist on the cheek, that swung me arounc On a pivot to Involuntarily follow Christ's biddance By turning the other cheek...
...SMS) la net peculiarly anpflern te spirit or peculiarly original te structure...
...The accumulation of wealth by Malays exercises a "bad influence" upon them...
...In 1917 Debs said that the war was a commercial struggle...
...Dorr was sentenced to imprisonment for life at hard labor...
...LaFcHletCs bed stft nsoet l.aoa.OtO Votes...
...Exploiting troops of Negro slaves and white bondmen, many of its members speculating in Western lands, maintaining its class rule by a restricted suffrage and unequal representation, the Virginia aristocracy was conspicuous for its' upper class' habits, customs and manners...
...This landed aristocracy was a minority cohesion of wealth politics and religion which retained political control by refusing equal representation to the small farmers in the less fertile upland counties...
...If intelligent Europeans laugh, we laugh with them...
...As la the novels of Zola, the indefatigable collection of detail, ths slew, steady accretion of infinitesimals, lends to tha narrative a realism that is almost photographically complete and which In the process of Interpretation acquires artistic power...
...A Dutch East an rubber syndicate has - been formed which combines a number of rubber and tobacco shipping companies...
...Disillusion Yesterday my planet moved Around yen as Its son...
...The boys yelled for me *T-o get It I warily climbed the fence: warily only because Of the sharp rods...
...Washington was not wholly committed against the return of a monarch while some of his political friends were negotiating with Prince Henry of Prussia to come over and take charge of affairs...
...Their overbearing attitude has become such js to make it desirable in the interests of Dutch prestige that the trade be taken over entirely by Dutch hands/* The "morality" of capitalist civilization toward the less advanced peoples has rarely* been so aptly portrayed...
...your reservations NOW, STUPID BUREAUCRATS IN the evolution of society the time comes when a new ruling class ceases to think...
...And than at fear ths follows...
...The merger is intended to displace Chinese who have engaged-^ in the shipping business because the Dutch business men charge that the traffic between "the Chinese buyers and native Malays has been exercising a bad influence upon the latter...
...Coughing thru the gassy air— The stuffy, sooty, smoky air...
...Since then Johnnie and others have gone to hell...
...Is aajj abw but a small union that tojj recognised objects to aa oo**g| aa* yeai acp a convention tn CsS that was representative of tassorjj gsnlsafiaaa failed to persuade ssjajj tho snore piaaafnl aaloa* to eflMl a labor party...
...Enough...
...Its supremacy is opposed to human progress and its agents tend to range from the commonplace to the stupid...
...They will deprive the Malays of the opportunity to accumulate wealth and indulge in vices by grabbing the opportunity sad Indulging in the vices themselves...
...THE NEW LEADER DINNER THE annual dinner of The New Leader has come to be a feature looked forward to by our friends with anticipation...
...Why not MB tbe work bow and build for the &*SjJa asjeoees or* the workers...
...On* can almost Imagine himself reading in "Tbe Spectator" an account of the book by Addison or Steele: The excellence of 'An American Tragedy* resides In Its strong description of the ends to which vice wiU bring those who encourage and cultivate it It is a novel of fine and eloquent Instruction...
...That's enough...
...Act, we repeat, and act now...
...I am pleased to see tha* at union plane to sWmianls aba Oa* munist left-wing element, bat d) do** suck a fefward-looklas ora^anal tlon as the A. C. W. continue Its esSj ot being aa "outlaw" aaloa ot ana* Its leadsi * are forevsf prsaaxel "solidarity** of labor on both too aw .aocale aad political fields but Oh don't practice what they preach...
...Representation becomes an absurdity...
...As aa old time SecaaTsTj j can see no great future for the Seafdll tet Party- A saocessful polities...
...This is writte/i to urge all friends who desire to attend tho dinner to send in their reservations within a day or two after this appears...
...been considering closer otssaladj| In the needle trades...
...Stephen Crane ia Tho Bod Badge of Courage made aa advance...
...Men hold office for more than a year after they have been defeated and new men must wait a year before they can be seated...
...I had no sooner gotten back to the sidewalk., than s jstrong arm Seized me by the neck's scruff, aad twisted me around to view...
...Socialists might well take the initiative in holding mass meetings and associate other organizations of the workers with them in making this question a national issue...
...One Italian, sentenced far ta*B murder ef a bank watchman, ae»j| same hysterical, screamed, l**e*n the chair and table of Me sot'l aoainst tho bars of/his door, anwf the sheets ef hi* bed te shreds, asdj oven sought to strangle hiinssrf apal tere eventually be vess eversewemf-J and removed to a cell in a dh*fsrsst| start of the building to ho ibsssasjl as to his asnity...
...A party may cast a little less than 50 per cent...
...aaTfg Is aoaoaaatrPj a compromise b**a**|fl there, bat without soy aexrtfaW^ real vital prtastplsa...
...The secret agreements of the Allied Powers have verified everything he and other Socialists said about the war...
...After the war ended Wilson expressed the same opinion in a speech in St...
...Nothing of Holmes, nothing of Howella, nothing of Frederic, Bellamy, Phillips can be placed In that category, from aa esthetic point of view...
...But of all of tha works of these sundry literati...
...You were tbe tree...
...Of course, intelligent people immediately thought what would happen if Europe were to take the same attitude toward Americans...
...Have a care for all these folk...
...For thought of God, are substituted mills...
...by chance a ball rolled behind the spiked gTatini That enclosed the sacred edifice...
...Raus mit em...
...Tha convention **PJ that more education is needed.— The New Leader...
...fjH are millions of men snd women for a real labor party...
...4tmd lad tlamslsss brand...
...sooner we wfll get saesj Where...
...But we protest that there are a few civilized human beings who are challenging the rule of our new barbarians...
...They are especially disgusting considering that they are males...
...He was jailed not for disagreeing with Woodrow Wilson, but for disagreeing with Wilson at the right time...
...It is satisfied with its supremacy, be- comes reactionary in its outlook, and its intellectual leaders tend to become mediocre...
...REPRESENTATION BY A VOTE of 73 to 2 the Senate has voted in favor of the constitutional amendment which provides that the President, VicePresident arid members of Congress shall take office the third Monday in Janu'ary instead of thirteen months after their election, as now...
...Trade unions and sympathetic organizations should immediately take action to inform members of the House of their support of this resolution...
...In the meantime issues may have changed as well as the views of the voters...
...Worship I waa...
...Dorr is remembered in Rhode Island while the names of his jaliers are forgotten...
...of the vote ___over a large area and be disfranchised...
...More time to dream before their day is done...
...Praise has come from many quarters...
...haras you have easO] ad th* smsaTsmsted Ckrtfcing WartaS Union...
...In the early forties Thomas Dorr led farmers and mechanics in a suffrage rebellion in Rhode Island...
...GEORGE WASHINGTON GEORGE WASHINGTON stands out as a cold figure in the perspective of a hundred years...
...90^^/L^to%m%%\, oat -eaaavae***Softcoal Grimy, smutty, belching smoke...
...Indeed, the fate of Dreiser's Clyde Griffith is in so many ways but a replica of the fate of Lillo's George Barnwell...
...This is the third time in four years that the Senate has adopted the proposal, but the House has each time failed to act...
...muM Js**ph If*— PCefley, , gem Sreakton, zeseea* Our correspondent is mistakes *MB the Amalgamated...
...aad, the ***ag wa begin work tor a real labor *Jm£ along tho lines of the British I4JBJ Party, the...
...Debs, we repeat, did not urge physical force...
...a white wave, sobbing, > Ton were the sea: t was a young leaf, trembling...
...Louis...
...So thtewaal what death wee like here I base -' eried, preyed, they loot their MJaeayb yet the deadly pros*** was ia M way halted, far all their terror...
...Thirteenth of September...
...What are , tbe Dutch business men to do about it...
...The daily press is a special product of our bourgeois class and what it serves bears the stamp of the capitalist system as a scar records the story of a wound...
...Some were taken and dragged as prisoners through the streets of Philadelphia for the amusement of perfect ladies and gentlemen of the upper classes...
...J clothing workers aad the aba* worlfeTS are all split up an over the nation, at both fields, aad its toy opinion tut H tetbs selfishness of th* leaders nm% Why should any of no become ufmM hearted over ths result In the TN astloaal election...
...The present requirement that a new Congress shall meet a year and a month after its members are elected has had interesting results...
...For peace and idle singing, pain and woe...
...Two governments claimed the support of'the people, one that excluded great masses from the franchise, the other enfranchising them...
...Thomas Bell Sweeney...
...This was tha signal...
...We boys, Spanish Included, used to play pussy cat And ball in the lot One day...
...Naturally, we all want this to be a big affair and one long to be remembered by those who attend...
...Considering that she mythical "public" of the press is not interested in either the profits of owners or the wages of the miners, why should the latter be interested if that "public" ftessss...
...What is required is a complete overhauling of our whole representative system, but this is not possible so long as a majority regard the United States as the holy land and the "Fathers" of the Constitution as saints...
...It is compelled to oppose all suggestion of social and economic change for such change can only be accomplished at its expense...
...Aad It is la Dreiser's description of the passions, his expression of them, his selection of episode to reveal them, his choice of observation to Interpret them, that makes Dreiser a genius Instead of a wit, that makes An American Tragedy a colossal creation Instead of a mediocre melodrama...
...It was hero—the saseoaaatl The hour ef death was at hand...
...I reached the ball and started ovei again...
...The present system is a survival of the age that knew no railroads...
...The Sunday supplements are filled with suggestive garbage that is an index to what is in the minds of millions...
...Washington and Hamilton sent an army against them...
...Debs is deprived of his citizenship because of his opposition to the war...
...I recall these things clearly, as clearly as I remember What he said and did...
...Ver Vase...
...It is today the product of many experiments and much discussion, criticism and suggestion...
...Order...
...The same thing is true of state elections...
...Since that time Upton Sinclair's The Jungle deserves mention, and th* novel* of Sherwood Anderson...
...Certainly an enterprise of this kind is worthy of this annual gathering...
...It* protagonist la a character of week.' irresponsible type, whoa* aspirations are devoted neither to th* promise aad passion of tho poetic life nor to tho elusive task of reshaping aa unjust aad Joyless world...
...THE CASE OF DEBS THE introduction by Congressman Berger of a resolution in the House for the restoration of the citizenship of Eugene V. Debs should provoke an instant response all over the country...
...crime of Debs was not only that he told the truth when it was unpleasant to tell it, but that he expressed it when it was more essential to know it than later...
...re-creating/ Too gave me life, —Kate Herman...
...The old system of district representation and plurality elections which have been discarded by most progressive nations survive here...
...A Jlght lit long pgo...
...He was the finest flower of the Virginia aristocracy possessing the fertile lands of the tidewater region...
...So fai I have Refused to follow that part of his malediction...
...Not to be outdone by the National Security League recently, the American Defense Society has discovered in William N. Haskell, appointed 'by Governor Smith is command the New York National Guard, a Bolshevik...
...morning tha keepers in charge sJV the deadly work coming silsaap along ths main passage and draw, ins th* heavy green curtain* wSJpwftioh the cells were equipped as" that none might ess tha fatal pre* assaiaa which was yet to return slang tho trsnsvere psssege frees th* eld death house to the ml si rsssa: room, tknd yet with Clyde aad aft...
...In fact, the moralist could easily classify It with th* dramas of Steele and Llllo snd the novels of Richardson...
...It is content to preserve what is and to oppose what must be...
...But this is not the only absurdity of an eighteenth century charter...
...Like all of Dreiser's novels, it is written in a halting, circumlocutory, obese prose...
...But it was Sister Carrie, in the early twentieth century, that deserves to be called th* second ^American novel of genuine vigor and force if not finished distinction...
...Act and act promptly...
...They strike because they need .a cure for Ills - Inflicted by that iron beast that kills Their souls...
...It was Voltaire, however, who "rote in hla Preface to Herod aad Marianne that: "when the pseslewe are to net dascribed, nearly the same ideas oeesr te everybody f hut ft ie in the expression of thorn that th* man ef genius is easily discerned from tho wit, and the poet from tha scribbler...
...Oa tbto a*f leader* la ovary aehool fall to ss*^ there are too many selfish IseaSf amMgous to lead aad boss jiilass ^ both the trades aaloa and th* Mfl political movement*, aad thus wsB*M division in place of solidarity...
...At the moment when this hypocritical farce was staged,, banker Stillman and his wife were on the Atlantic destined for an European port...
...THE CHATTER BOX Ghetto Idyll—III On the block where I lived the first years of a boyhood, That made for such lieutenants of industry as Kid Twist And Johnnie Spanish, there stood, and still stands A church, a big roomy church called Saint Something or other...
...our official dunces...
...He was the richest man in the States and knew the social prestige that goes with the accumulation of property...
...Strikers They know not why tbey strike, and yet I know...
...It is a peculiar "moral** twist which these Dutch capitalists exhibit, hut like their kind in all countries they are capabkc^r^^H^ The New leader Mail Bag SsaSaarity auaal « LsuasbT fmM Editor...
...Arrangements must be completed and the number of tables required 1 must be ordered in advance...
...His citizenship must be restored...
...Get to hell out of here, you dirty Sheeney...
...They strike because their babes they want to feed Instead of hot and hungry mouths of steel Which never have small teeth to bite for fun The father's finger...
...Moreover, our parvenue aristocrats have for years been notorious because of their amorous "affairs,"* No other ruling class in modern times has more thoroughly reduced the marriage relation and the general relations between the sexes to a basis of exchange...
...Wh/rever burden bearers be we keep the Torch a-glow: And wending jfar on life's highway, And passing around the turn, The message that we leave shall say "Let the Torch still burn...
...aMSj stead, at tan o'clock, and in sisw* ? to quiet all those who war* left, *4 sold lunch waa breeeht in sad eR | fared, but with none eating aavofJM Chinaman over the way...
...Haskell answers that he had only said of the Russians that they "aren't ragged...
...Yet with its present high standard we are still considering improvements from time to time...
...Only the promised support of President Tyler to the reactionaries contributed to the defeat of the rebellion...
...As for sffflaag with tbe A. r. of L. we ore tocHssdJfj think that the Anaaigamated...
...Blushes From Long Neglected Contribs Gondola Afternoon of Afternoons...
...I was- alone and .singing, too...
...It Is true the bourgeois class is not extolled la ."Aa American Tragedy" as It was la The London Merchant** (1781...
...This law of social progress has a striking demonstration in the amazing stupidity of government officials who ordered the detention of Countess Cathcart on the ground of her "moral turpitude...
...Freak Norris came near writing an important novel...
...and because they need More time their sore and aching limbs to heal...
...Harrison Riley...
...In this way "Dutch prestige," which has suffered, wffl be recovered...
...A few years later the Rhode Island Legislature released this rebel and restored him to citizenship...
...They tend to acquire the "vi***" of white business men by assuming an "overbearing attitude" toward others...
...The Scarlet Letter has historical significance...
...Following the Scopes trial, the exclusion of Countess Karolyi and Saklatvala, our Ku KIux contribution to philosophy and the general tendency now to rewrite American history in terms of Frank MerriweH's nickel terrors, all Europe may well laugh at us...
...but that might even be/ forgotten in view ot the great lesson of moral retribution that tbe novel may be said to Inculcate...
...Candor compels the admission that if office-holding depended upon a qualification which they would impose»ofnces would go begging...
...Torch Bearers Bearers of the Torch are we...
...Other rebels in American history have been taken in arms...
...These men are Hebrews, Zionists...
...And art is concerned fundamentally with the emotions and not tho intellect...
...Theodore Dreiser was drawing...
...I' dreamed the while of Venice Aad rowed ia Central Park...
...On second thought they decided that it might be well to investigate him but that worthy reached Canada before the smellers could reach him...
...His offense was to think so that others could hear him...
...Easy enough...
...This is a greater American tragedy...
...SB "AN night Ions and a It day toaja when they were net present, he 2B this crawling ta snd fro sad a***, j ins, sne>these who were awake aSjH ^trying as read to pass tho time wesaj compelled to listed to his musWnejH prayers, the dick ot the beads *fd9 rosary on which he waa numeartsjB numberless Our Fathers and HefU Marys...
...He favored independence, but an independence that would not endanger the supremacy of his class...
...Th* Now Leader: IS your Jan...
...This unties other unions tn the needle trade* SBJ...
...Wills Cather and Edith Wharton...
...ftp Mifttt dm)9tPM sa(H sell >n his henee and knee*, kiseftjfl the floor, licking th* fast af a anJB Chris* on a cress that had kasH vshi fasrfl"** A lem he) ^svaavtl fwfa#etta^*jflfeB vteited by an Italian brother eastf eieter fresh from Italy snd S*S whoss benefit gt certain ssPaTsjB was rawiavod to the old death heesaS But as all now whispered, Paeeas*|fl wee mentally beyond any help than might lie in brothers snd sisters...
...When it was discovered that the male who had shared this "turpitude" had entered the country without being molested the official fat-heads began to squirm...
...We are curious to know what this evil influence is and are informed that the big profits realized by the Malays have infected the latter "with the vices of the newly rich...
...This is one of those truths that every intelligent human being recognizes but which nobody thinks it well to mention...
...The New "Leader has won a conspicuous place in the history of Socialist journalism...
...A Feast for the Moral Critie Strangely enough and quite contrary to Dreiser's purpose, "An Americas Tragedy" is a feast for tbe moral critic...
...Convicted of employing force against the Government, the prisoners were later released by executive action...
...In the winter of 1786-7 it appeared that the poor debtors and soldiers would oust the aristocracy that ruled in Massachusetts and that the revolt would spread to all the states...
...Ethan From* is the only American novel that can bear comparison, aad its social ¦cop* Is so limited, aad its substance so astringently condensed, that it fails to give the sustained sense of power that la to be derived from Aa American Tragedy...
...Debs confined his actions to making speeches...
...Oh, Moral Turpitude, what a mess you've gotten our saintly Jumbo Us Into at Washington...
...It is doubtful whether more conscientious service has ever been given to any other publication of its kind in the United State...
...Oa its face, it promises little to poet or prophet...
...The addition and multiplication of phrases aad parentheses, nevertheless, gives a formidable solidity to the book that a mors finished, fragile stylist would hav* boon unable to create...
...Remember the time and the place, Thursday, February 25, 7 p. m.,- at Park Palace, 3 and 5 West 110th street...
...M(H r-aatHM %H th* ippr«xmu 44nlZ9 *th*a> Imtmfttoi •Assess...
...Aa American Tragedy is aot written la aa arresting style that detains through sheer Joy of rhythm or pure euphony of phrase...
...Sidney Hertsberg...
...Te*P and I were nbivaree, ' la ecstasy I spaa...
...The poor farmers in western Pennsylvania Apposed the collection of the excise tax on their whiskey in 1794...
...i was a pal* dream, fading...
...And the Irony—the incisive, caustic irony—of it all is that such moral purpose was remotely alien from the latentlon of the author...
...You were God...
...If there were a nation of Jews established sigh thousand Stiles from Cannon Street, the sacred fence of Saln1 Something Or Other, would not be defiled anymore by the lntrusioz Of dirty Utile Sheenies...
...The first must be demanded and the second is not wanted...
...Get the hook...
...Perhaps...
...It reflects in solemn and dignified manner the improvement in the morality of oar literature...
...We should have bfl everlastingly at It aad baflt afjra powerful labor party la thai asaT*#J As I see K that's the only thing Sj us to do right bow...
...As in the dramas ot Steele, virtue Is rewarded and vice is punished...
...asfcassns with hla, OJyeWwIS rtvaW -a eoJ*a*w**V Paseuele hj| aa*49nbraaa*| astst mm9$m\f •i^Kt a\l*i*J...
...We social rebels bear no responsibility for our stupid bureaucrats...
...An extra-legal convention of the masses framed a new constitution and had it adopted in a referendum vote...
...Art is devoted to the projection of th* passions la their relationship to their social origins, limitations-and development...
...wa* ^ splendid start...
...His method was unsentimental and objective...
...An American Tragedy is indubitably the most notable aad effective...
...No reader can rise from it unbeneflted and uninstru'eted...
...Sara Owen...
...And for all I know, that Christian gentleman may be tin same Who but yesterday expressed a heartfelt solicitude for t nation Of Jews in Palestine...
...tho others waking and sitting up si tho sound...
...In places, however, Dreiser has outwrltten himself and actually achieved the elegant...
...S. A. de Witt...
...He deserves not only a restoration of his citizenship papers, but the thanks of Congress...
...MfttOV tlsslt Hm) *jeabbbbbb| ¦i'vam t*s> ssb^wmo...
...It required months for some members of Congress to reach New York and later Washington: If the Constitution was responsive to changes in society the proposed change would have been made many years ago...
...If we could eliminate its treatment of sex and Introduce in Its place an element of artificiality and sentimentalIsm, the novel, through no conscious desire of tho author, would please the palates ot the bourgeois critics of the early eighteenth century...
...Or maybe it was with deeper motive, this flow of milk anc honey Unto the oppressed of Israel from their olden oppressors These monslgaors are as shrewd In dealing with gods anc men As they are in real estate...
Vol. 3 • February 1926 • No. 6
