"AMERICANA."

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 37, 13 February 1926, Page 21

"AMERICANA."

A DIVERTING COLLECTION. AN INGENUOUS COUNTRY. (By CYRANO.) Many persons, the writer included, will refuse to regard Mr. H. L. Mencken as a thoroughly well-equipped critic of the American people. He is so obviously the superior person, so plainly a man of imperfect sympathies. But it is possible for a severe critic of Mr. Mencken to enjoy much of this strange book, " Americana," this collection of curious extracts from the American Press that obliging correspondents of the "Ameri- j can Mercury' have sent to that journal, j The purpose of "Americana" is, says j Mr. Mencken, to show what is going on in the mind 3 of the masses —"the great j herd of undifferentiated, good-humoured. I goose-stepping, superstitious, sentimen- | tal, credulous, striving, romantic j American people." It would be more ; accurate to say that it reveals something of what is going on in the American mind, and with this and other reser- | vations it has value as a sociological document. The enjoyment of much of the book depends on the point of view. To many some of Mr. Mencken's choice of passages about religion ■will be distasteful and even offensive. Mr. Mencken has a low opinion of Christianity, and takes no trouble to hide his opinion. Yet some of those who disagree with him may approve his inclusion of a North Carolina clergyman's classification of Billy Sunday with John the Baptist; and the | proposal of an Ohio legislator that reporters in the Press gallery, as well as his fellow legislators, should be compelled to learn the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. With these may be bracketed the opinion of an Arizona paper that "there has been nothing finer since the day of the Christian Crusaders than the Elks' financing the relief work of the Salvation Army during the world war." Also Solomon advertised by a preacher as a "six-cylinder sport," and an "old bird." Once or twice one has a slight suspicion that the humour may he intentional, and have eluded . Mr. Mencken. "Had an Optimist, Co-oper-ative Exchange, Lion's, Kiwanis or a Rotary Club flourished in the days of the Exodus, with old Mo-es as President, the children of Israel would have reached the Promised Land in forty days instead of forty years." "Why Write Books?" There are so many good things in "Americana" that it is difficult to know which plums to hold up for inspection. "Why write books?" asks an editorial. "Everybody reads the newspapers, and the papers are giving the public what is worth reading and knowing along almost every line imaginable." A Georgian legislator opposes grants for libraries on the ground that there are only three books worth reading in the world—the Bible, the Hymn Book, and the Almanac. The measure failed to pass. Here is another educational gem, from an Arkansas professor's remarks on broadcasting. "The very fact that .1 man in some town in Arkansas is listening to one of our University processors is worth a great deal to the University, even if the man does not understand what the professor is talking about.*' And a screen star solemnly declares her opinion that Elbert Hubbard is "the greatest philosopher that ever lived." "Boosting," of course, has its paragraphs. At Brown University, Rhode Island, a Junior Kiwanis Club is being organised, which will include "men on the campus interested in boosting the name of Brown.*' A professor at the lowa State College says that Dcs Moines has the largest per capita ice cream consumption in America; the State has the second largest gold-fish farm in the world, and makes the best American overalls; and "there is no group of two and a half million people in the world who worship God as the lowans do." Laws, "blue" and otherwise, receive much attention. The author of the Kansas anti-cigarette law calls on students not to produce a certain opera for the reason that the heroine smokes.' An Arkansas official rebukes the community for a spirit of levity at executions. "People get the idea that electrocutions are social gatherings, but none of this kind will be held while I am warden. An execution is a serious matter and should be considered as such." Politics are not forgotten. "If Governor Fields is right," says a Kentucky •statesman, "I am going to stand by him because he is right. If he is wrong I am going to stand by him because he is a Democrat." Dickens should have thought of that when he wrote "Martin Chuzzlewit." An lowa newspaper advances a devastating reason why La Follette should not be supported. 'Tor more than 20 years Senator La Follette has not made a really patriotic speech. On no Fourth of July has he stood up and said to the young men of Wisconsin that this Republic is the greatest country in the world. In view of Senator La Follette's history the 'Capital' would like to inquire on what ground he is entitled to receive one vote for the office of President." Yet this could be irony. Is it possible that it is? The colour question of course appears. "It is true that the parties are negroes," says a judgment; "but they appear to give testimony, in every way worthy of belief." Two wealthy negroes in North Carolina take a sleeper. "White citizens are aroused, and it is said the Ku Klux Klan will be asked to give Moses a warm reception I on his return." The Test of a Klansman. "A man may wear a red necktie, a green vest, and tan shoes, and still be a gentleman," says a Cleveland hotel booklet. "No lady, ladies, or female person or persons . . ." runs a notice in an Arizona hotel. A New York barber ventures into physiology. "After the hair is cut it should be singed in order to close up the ends. This prevents your catching a cold in the head through the open ends of the hairs." , How you may tell a member of the Ku Klux Klan: "The way you. can tell a Klansman is by looking at a clean, upright man who does not live with another man's wife." Let it not be supposed that this is all of America by any means. Besides, it must be borne in mind that by nature the American, is more ingenuous and articulate than the Englishman. The "Times Literary Supplement" says in a review of this book that English philistinism is sullen or silent, while American is genial and assertive. An English actress might think that Elbert Hubbard was the greatest of philosophers, but it is very improbable that she would say so, and if she did, a discreet sub-editor would blue-pencil the absurdity. In every country you could compile a catalogue of ignorance, self-satis-faction and wrong values by a careful selection from the newspapers. It was a famous English weekly, renowned for its intellectuality, which said, when Tennyson was made a peer,

that the honour went from the House of Lords to the poet, not from the poet to the House, whereupon Swinburne wrote in his rage: "The Lords, our Gods!"' And when King Edward died a London journalist said that this was the greatest event since the time of Christ. "Americana," by- H. L. Mencken (Martin Hopkinson and Co., Ltd.. London).