Communications
COMMUNICATIONS CATHOLIC PUBLICITY New York, N. Y. TO the Editor:-The November 20 issue of The Commonweal carries an article entitled Catholic Publicity, by Michael Williams, containing statements...
...The right of individuals to protest against an injustice is as much a right as free speech...
...The farther goods are transported to find the most profitable market for the capitalists, the greater the amount of capital required and the greater the deduction from the proper compensation to labor...
...It is difficult for us here to understand American party politics but this I know, that the man who conceived the League is the noblest of men and the nation that made prohibition a law is the noblest of nations...
...Accompanying it were several pages of quotation from official despatches, from which we have made the selection appearing below.-The Editors...
...Meynell is shown by the enthusiastic reading of the memoir by her daughter Viola, for the world is ever eager to learn more about that very rare woman...
...Bond-Carpenter's review of The Balkan Pivot, by Charles R. Beard and George Radin, which appeared in The Commonweal a few months ago, stated that European opinion generally regarded the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina as having proceeded from "the German policy of Drang nach Osten...
...It is my opinion that Mr...
...The Russian ambassador at London to Iswolsky...
...all that is guaranteed is that Congress shall pass no law denying it...
...the difficulties which have arisen during the settlement of the questions pending between Austria, Turkey and Bulgaria, prove, however, that the Serbian demands must be limited as much as possible in the interests of peace...
...She wrote: "As to the League of Nations, it is still my hope and prayer...
...M. P. CONNERY...
...and I think if we ever have a mitigated prohibition and a new generation growing up without the desire and habit of alcohol, we shall owe this great reform to women...
...The citations follow: (Iswolsky, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, to Nelidoff, Russian ambassador at Paris...
...Boyd-Carpenter's reply is published herewith...
...Skinner says that audiences resent frank mention of the professional sinner and her trade...
...Letter, October 23-November 5, 1908...
...As such they deserve careful thought, and this they have had...
...they present a question not of propriety, but of wisdom...
...In spite of the urgent desire to help Serbia, one is clearly aware here that the efforts of the powers must be briefly directed to preserve Serbia from annihilation, but that it would be impossible to obtain, without war, from Austria other than economic concessions for Serbia...
...All such capital is produced by labor but is not a particle of benefit to labor, because all such capital is owned by capitalists and no part of it can be available to feed, clothe and shelter the workers...
...It must be understood that these are selected from many hundreds of telegraphic and written despatches which passed between the cabinets of Europe prior to and succeeding the forcible annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria...
...On this same page of the article there is a statement which indicates that the protests of individual Christian Scientists to the circulation of an unjust biography on the life of Mrs...
...I am sure you will not fail to recognize the great significance of this letter...
...When I referred to the Christian Science Committee on Publication as "a propaganda organization of the Christian Science Church," it was no part of my intention to use the term "propaganda organization" in any invidious sense...
...Out of strong and even repulsive materials, he has contrived to produce a lesson that may be taken to heart by all men...
...Protests of individual Christian Scientists may not properly be interpreted as a boycott or as suppression...
...If a country were really wealthy it would have but little capital and therefore there would be but little burden on the workers...
...Economic justice can be approximated only as the nations of the world lessen the amount of their international trade...
...He has not ceased to let the Berlin Cabinet thoroughly understand that France follows the policy of the Russian government in this crisis in all points, and will uphold in the most loyal manner the treaty of alliance which binds her to Russia...
...The Commonweal is outstanding in its advocacy of economic justice and it is not understandable to the writer how such an article as We and the British can find space in its columns...
...Pichon, very much upset by these reproaches, emphasized to me the loyalty and absolute frankness which he has always observed in his policy toward Russia, and he hastens to justify the action of the French representatives accused by Your Excellency...
...A nation's welfare is now measured by the quantity of capital it possesses, but it is only evidence of the wealth of the few...
...Quite different...
...that they will do more harm than good by exciting curiosity and causing the book to be read...
...It seems to me that the danger of a Turkish-Bulgarian conflict is, thank God, obviated...
...My dearest friends have always been those of your dear country...
...Telegram, January 15-28, 1909...
...Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke in their edition of Shakespeare's plays, wrote as to Measure for Measure, after alluding to sources of the plot: "Shakespeare with his knowledge of human nature, has adapted them for his purpose of dramatic moral teaching, by making them the groundwork of this noble and profoundly perceptive play...
...The principal scene is duplicated in the opera La Tosca, which is often presented and acclaimed...
...Consequently, the only way in which this Amendment can be violated, thus giving the Supreme Court of the United States jurisdiction, is by an act of Congress interfering with the religious conduct of the citizens...
...She finally adds: "I love America and Americans more than ever...
...The greater the amount of capital required, the greater the rate of interest the payment of which persists in keeping the real wages of labor on the border-line of subsistence...
...This impression is confirmed by all information which it receives from official and from private sources...
...that the protests will be misconstrued and used to advertise the book...
...TO the Editor:-It appears that the sentence and idea in my review of The Balkan Pivot to which Professor Herz-field takes exception is: "Few persons in Europe believe other than that this Austrian seizure was part and parcel of the Germany policy of Drang nach Osten...
...A careful reading of this shows obviously that religious liberty is not guaranteed to the citizens of the states...
...Hardinge today communicated to me his personal opinion, that the general situation would be under less tension if Russia would declare in Belgrade that Serbia must count neither upon territorial concessions nor upon full autonomy for Bosnia and Herzegovina...
...The possible emendation of this sentence might be: "Few persons acquainted with German-Austrian policy in Europe, etc," This might make more plain what I had in view, but to convey fully the facts on which this was based and is based would fill too many pages of The Commonweal, so I am enclosing copies of despatches dealing with the Austro-Serbian crisis and Russian Pan-Slavism, which passed between Paris and Petrograd, London and Petrograd, Belgrade and Petrograd, between November, 1908, and April, 1909...
...The drawback about Shakespeare's plays on the stage now is his blank verse and poetical language, so pregnant with deep meaning...
...The capitalist system cultivates inefficiency so that the workers may be exploited...
...MRS...
...Extend the quantity of international trade, and the quantity of capital necessary for its transaction will be increased...
...The play has been withheld from the stage in this generation, except when the peerless Adelaide Neilson and the gifted Modjeska appeared in it...
...MEASURE FOR MEASURE New York, N. Y. TO the Editor:-I always read with interest the articles of your dramatic critic about current plays, but I beg leave to take exception to his derogatory remarks in your issue of December 25, 1929, about Shakespeare's Measure for Measure...
...It appears to me that the British government is clearly aware of the seriousness of the situation...
...He has evidently forgotten Camille and the number of recent plays of similar nature...
...But I am sure that among your readers most would prefer to hear what is really better and higher...
...DRANG NACH OSTEN" (Mr...
...The nature of the criticisms in your article indicates plainly that the critics have not known what Christian Scientists do in this regard or upon what basis their protests are made...
...MEYNELL'S VIEWS New York, N. Y. TO the Editor:-The appreciation of Mrs...
...Christian Scientists are convinced, partly by experience, that Mrs...
...On page 78 this article speaks of the Christian Science Committee on Publication as "a propaganda organization of the Christian Science Church...
...COMMUNICATIONS CATHOLIC PUBLICITY New York, N. Y. TO the Editor:-The November 20 issue of The Commonweal carries an article entitled Catholic Publicity, by Michael Williams, containing statements regarding Christian Science which give a wrong impression, and I would appreciate the privilege of space in your publication to correct these statements for the sake of accuracy...
...It has been observed here that the Russian government has not yet replied to the English inquiry as to with which concessions-Serbia, in Russia's opinion, ought to content herself...
...Among a bundle of letters written me by Alice Meynell just after the war I found one of the greatest interest, as showing both her sincere idealism and her whole-hearted endorsement of the League of Nations and prohibition also...
...Unless Congress so acts, and it is morally certain it will not do so, the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction and the question cannot come before it...
...Eddy spoke truly and wisely when she said, 'A lie left to itself is not so soon destroyed as it is with the help of truth-telling.' (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, page 130...
...In regard to whether the authorities of the Christian Science Church have or have not overstepped the boundaries of what constitutes fair and proper propaganda, a very debatable issue seems to have been created, about which I do not feel qualified to express a judgment.-Michael Williams...
...International trade produces the immense bulk of shipping, docks, terminals and railroads, all of which are owned by capitalists and represent a vast product of labor that has been appropriated from the workers...
...The large majority of theatre-goers at present prefer to hear repeated on the stage what they hear in ordinary life, with its slang, coarse suggestions and profanity, or news of divorces or murder trials, or just tittle-tattle...
...But now with the "new freedom" in discussing sex relations on the stage, in books and everywhere, it seems advisable and curiously apt, as the Theatre Assembly stated, to produce the play at this time...
...C. Bachem...
...Surely, no fair-minded and thoughtful observer having correct information would deny or deprecate the exercise of such a right...
...Philomena R. Marsicano...
...Such counsels as these present a question by themselves...
...Orwell Bradley Towne, Christian Science Committee on Publication...
...In my other articles in the series, of which the particular article referred to by Mr...
...In a public statement on this matter, the Board of Directors of the Mother Church, the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, has said in last week's issue of the Christian Science Sentinel, "Fair and friendly observers may, however, say that protesting against an objectionable book is unwise...
...In that scene, however, the woman murders her would-be seducer for her lover's sake...
...Alice Warren...
...Adherents of other religious denominations assert and exercise the same right...
...WE AND THE BRITISH Providence, R. I. TO the Editor:-"And whatever happens, the British commonwealth and the United States will continue to buy each other's goods in increasing quantities just as though neither realized that, according to Communist dogma, they should regard each other as deadly enemies," says John Carter in The Commonweal for December 25...
...As he assures me, they have followed the instructions sent them...
...The Russian charge d'affaires at London to Iswolsky...
...it does not establish a right but rather prevents the federal government from interfering with the individual states in regulating the religious conditions within their boundaries...
...Christian Scientists assert the right to defend and protect their religion and the individuals connected with it from misrepresentation...
...Letter, February 18-March 3, 1909...
...Towne formed a part, I was careful to state what I believed to be good reasons for upholding the proper use of propaganda by religious and civic organizations...
...Grey tells me he has taken this step in order to clear the situation of every misunderstanding...
...Permit me in closing to say that the quotations from the Encyclopedia Britannica upon the economic situation of these two provinces, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the comments on the standard of education and impartiality of the Austrian government to all forms of religion, have but little to do with the political policy of the Austrian and German government...
...There remains the danger of an Austrian-Serbian conflict, the most dangerous of all...
...Chevy Chase, Md...
...This is not correct because it is the province of this Committee to correct misstatements about Christian Science and injustices done to Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of this Church, which may have appeared in print, and to give out accurate information in each case...
...We are doing and we shall do all that lies in our power to prevent such a conflict, but should it break out, the possibility of a general war would become at the same moment most imminent...
...Like all Shakespeare's plays the wonderful thing is the delineation of different characters, and in Measure for Measure he added another beautiful type of womanhood, the saintly novice Isabella...
...It is perfectly clear from all my conversations in Berlin that a radical change has taken place in the general European situation...
...Since Austria precisely fears that Russia, and possibly certain other powers, might support the impossible Serbian demands, a step of this nature, undertaken by Russia at Belgrade, would do a great deal to pacify the Vienna Cabinet and thereby increase the possibility of a peaceable solution...
...Above all I should like to know how you, with your great experience in European politics, judge of the possibilities which might result from the present crisis...
...these instructions coincide exactly with our intentions and if Crozier, dazzled perhaps by the brilliance of Vienna society, in which he wishes to create a good position for himself, has proved a bit less energetic in form than he should possibly have been, the same cannot be said of Jules Cambon...
...Of this he has been able to convince Prince Bulow so well, that the Chancelor in a recent conversation, in which possible eventualities were discussed, remarked to Jules Cambon: " 'You will place yourself at the side of Russia, just as we will place ourselves at the side of Austria.' " Boyd-Carpenter...
...Eddy have been both misunderstood and exaggerated...
...Shriver is absolutely wrong in assuming that this question can ever come before the Supreme Court of the United States as a violation of the First Amendment, namely: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...
...Telegram, February 11-24, 1909...
...The Russian ambassador at Paris to Iswolsky...
...This is a new accusation against Communists, but propagandists use prejudice to deceive...
...Grey informs me that he has declared to Cambon that he wishes to inform the French government that the London Cabinet has promised the Russian government its diplomatic support in the question of the compensation of Serbia and Montenegro...
...but Measure for Measure is a story about man's lust and man's judicial hypocrisy, and it carries vigorous denunciation of these sins...
...Let me quote what Shakespearean authorities have said about this play: William Hazlitt in one of his famous lectures states: "This is a play as full of genius as it is of wisdom...
...It is the grand scheme which has robbed human beings of their skill in order to rob them of their product, and has succeeded in accomplishing its end...
...Professor Karl Herzfeld protested this statement in the issue of November 13, I929...
...READING THE BIBLE IN SCHOOL New York, N. Y. TO the Editor:-Appearing in The Commonweal of November 27 is an article by Mark O. Shriver discussing the Reading The Bible in School, from which I quote the following: "Sooner or later the Supreme Court of the United States will be called on to determine whether the reading of the Bible in classrooms, without sectarian comment, is or is not an infringement of religious liberty and a denial of the constitutional right of the individual to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience...
...This is an Amendment limiting the power of the federal government...
Vol. 11 • January 1930 • No. 11
