SIR: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LET US SPEAK UP FOR FRANCE I must write to express my approval of the article in the May number of your periodical, France in the Dock, by Stéphane Lauzanne. I have been wondering why some American has not spoken out in behalf of France, when we hear that "Germany cannot pay what has been demanded," and at the same time, "France is trying to get out of paying her debts." France has larger debts than Germany, and has suffered the destruction of much of her means of securing wealth-at the hands of Germany. Let us speak up for France. NANCY VIRGINIA AUSTEN. New York. SIR: THE MYSTERY OF HAMLET Of course an Editor is not responsible for the sentiments included in a contributed article, but the sentiments of Prof. Thompson in the article on Hamlet in the current number of THE REVIEW are so adverse to my own that I must here and now enter my protest against it. If the play of Hamlet had been written under the conditions and for the purposes named in this article, Prof. Thompson ought to know that the play would not have been allowed to be acted, nor could it have been registered for printing. He should further have known that if either of these had been accomplished a Star Chamber Proceeding would have been instituted immediately, and I think that a Star Chamber Proceeding should now be instituted against such unmitigated slanders as are contained in this article. It seems to me that it is time to throw aside the Baconian lunacy, and the anti-Stratford negations, and have the truth told by the Professors of English in our Universities in America. This article is much more objectionable than any Baconian doctrine that ever was advanced which refutes itself because of its absurdity, and University Professors are supposed to tell the truth, and not advocate through means of criticisms any plain palpable misconstruction. I do not mean any of the above statements as the slightest reflection upon your part in the publication of the article by Prof. Thompson, but I do protest against the continued misrepresentation of the poet and all of his plays. S. S. ASHBAUGH. Washington, D. C. SIR: SANE VIEWS OF IRELAND I have just read The Irish Free State by P. W. Wilson. It is gratifying to a Canadian to find in American literature such a sane, impartial review of the situation. It is a real treat to read an American publication of such moderation and saneness as your March number. I am afraid I have read all too little of it in the past. Winnipeg, Canada. JASPER HALPENNY, M. D. SIR: ENGLISH IN NEBRASKA SCHOOLS In the May number of THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, Mr. Willis Fletcher Johnson, commenting on Affairs of the World, speaks of "the decision of the Supreme Court of Nebraska, upholding the constitutionality of the law prohibiting the teaching of foreign languages in the public schools, at least below a certain grade". Mr. Johnson is in error. The constitutional right of the State to prescribe a course of study to be pursued in the public schools, and to exclude foreign languages therefrom, has never been questioned in the Supreme Court of Nebraska, and it is doubtful whether there is a lawyer in the State who would have the temerity to question it in that court. The law which Mr. Johnson refers to prohibits the teaching of any subject in any language other than English, in any "private, denominational, parochial or public school", and the teaching of any language, other than English, in any such school, to any pupil below the ninth grade. It contains a proviso to the effect that it does not apply to schools held on Sunday or some day of the week observed by the patrons as the Sabbath, but that it shall apply to all schools held at any other time. (Laws of Nebraska, 1921, p. 244.) The question involved in the case upon which Mr. Johnson comments was, whether it is within the police power of the State to prohibit denominational and parochial schools, which give a full course of instruction in the public school branches, including English, from giving religious instruction in a foreign language, or teaching a foreign language to pupils under the ninth grade, when such instruction is given at such times and under such circumstances as not to interfere with the regular course of study prescribed by law. Again Mr. Johnson, after stating some considerations in favor of the law as he assumed it to be, says: "This consideration is reëmphasized by the notorious fact that most of the opposition to the Nebraska law comes from an alien element which has insolently proclaimed its purpose to remain permanently alien and to rear its offsprings as aliens; and which demands that American citizens shall provide and maintain schools for that delectable purpose." We are not ready to accept that statement. We have a large proportion of the "alien element" in Nebraska. So far from having "proclaimed," in solently or otherwise, its purpose to remain alien, it has been swift to adopt our manners and customs, to identify itself with our institutions and to educate its children in English. Columbus, Nebraska. I. L. ALBERT. [The regrettable error first noted in Mr. Albert's letter was due to misleading news dispatches. That the majority of Nebraska citizens of alien origin have been prompt to accept American institutions and to educate their children in English, is most readily and gladly to be believed; but that at least an active minority sought to resist the latter course seems quite obvious from the fact that the law in question was disputed all the way up to the Supreme Court. That a certain faction of aliens there and in other States has loudly proclaimed a purpose to remain alien in speech and spirit is too well known to admit of controversy.-W. F. J.] Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW AUGUST, 1922 JUDAISM AND WORLD RESTORATION BY THE REV. DR. JOSEPH SILVERMAN THE paramount problem of to-day is the restoration of the world to normal conditions. It is a vast, complex problem involving political, economic, social and moral issues of a national as well as international character, and requiring for its solution the concentrated efforts of the best minds in various domains of thought and action. No one, who has made even a cursory study of these issues and the many new questions constantly arising, will undertake dogmatically to offer a panacea. The treaties that ended the late war, the League of Nations, the International Court, the Washington Conference resulting in a partial limitation of armaments, the Genoa Conference, and the forthcoming Hague Conference, while not affording a specific cure for the world's evils, present certain practical remedies for the most pressing needs and justify the conviction that the consummation of universal peace and prosperity is within the range of possibility. If this note of optimism will swell into a general chorus of radiant hope and dissipate the dismal croakings of despair, it will aid in the speedy recuperation of nations and their subsequent coöperation for the welfare of humanity. While many agencies, political, industrial, capitalistic, educational, etc., are contributing their theoretical and practical measures towards an elucidation and solution of these great world perplexities, it is pertinent to ask, what part Religion can and will take in the rebuilding of the world. That Religion is Copyright, 1922, by North American Review Corporation. All rights reserved. VOL. CCXVI.-NO. 801 vitally interested in the salvaging of humanity is self-evident, but whether it will become an active factor in resurrecting the dead bones of our civilization and investing them with a new body and soul is a mooted question. Religion has often failed the world in a great crisis such as the late war presented. The great religions lost the opportunities of preventing the war, as well as of bringing it to a close. The war was an evidence of the impotence of religions to redeem mankind from sin and transgression. This fact cannot be successfully parried. The war lords who were responsible for the inception and continuance of the stupendous holocaust were members and supporters of the Church. They even claimed to be inspired by the Almighty to undertake the butchery of God's children. The Church stood aghast and helpless at such monstrous arrogance and blasphemy. As an organized institution for the moral redemption of mankind the Church failed. The various religions, however, compensated in a measure for this egregious fiasco by using their best offices, at home and in the field, to assuage suffering and comfort the sick, the dying and the sorrowing. Such remedial ministrations, as well as the preservation of the morale of soldiers and civilians, saved religion from a complete collapse. The religions of the world still live, but they are again on trial. They could not save the nations from almost totally destroying one another. Will they be of valuable service in cementing peace, insuring prosperity, and restoring the joy of living? This question can perhaps best be answered by inquiring why religions, or at least the organized churches of the dominant religions, failed to save humanity against itself. Because these churches have been more interested in saving themselves than humanity. In their platforms or creeds they professed to seek truth and human brotherhood; but in reality it transpired that they sought to establish their particular theology as the absolute truth, and their own group or sect as the elect and the basis of a universal brotherhood. Theology, not ethics, became the crux of human salvation. Men were judged, not by the purity of their lives, but by the particular brand of their theology. Men of the noblest ethical character were punished, tortured and even put |